DVD Sales - Game Goes Into Overtime

February 11, 2008

There were no shortage of new releases last week, but The Game Plan remained on top of the DVD sales chart with 416,000 units sold for a two-week total of 1.58 million. Saw IV held strong in second place by selling 246,000 units for a total of 967,000, but this is below expectations. The first new release to chart was The Invasion, which sold just under 150,000 units, while Daddy Day Camp was in a virtual tie, selling just 500 fewer units, according to our estimates. The final film in the top five was 3:10 to Yuma with 121,000; by this time next week it should become the first release of 2008 to sell 2 million units.

There were numerous other new releases to chart starting with The Comebacks, which just missed the top five with 107,000 units sold during its opening week. Rounding out the top ten were a pair of TV on DVD releases (a very dissimilar pair of TV on DVD releases), as Hannah Montana - One in a Million outsold Aqua Teen Hunger Force 74,000 to 64,000. On a side note, I may be the only person on the planet to own both of those.

Next up was the direct-to-DVD offering, Lake Placid 2, which placed 19th with 53,000 units sold. It's quite rare for these type of release to chart, so the studio should be happy. 23rd place went to Feel the Noise with 51,000 while Curb Your Enthusiasm - The Complete Sixth Season was just behind with 50,000 units.

As for the Format War, Blu-ray won the week, again, with 74% market share to 26% for HD DVD. This is a staggering lead for Blu-ray, but less than previous weeks, mainly due to slumping total sales. Granted, neither format released anything marquee last week so sales were down on both sides, and neither side is releasing a $100 million movie until next week, so the numbers will continue to be down for quite some time. However, this is seasonal blip and not a sign that High Definition is a failure as some are claiming.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Filed under: Video Sales, The Game Plan, Saw IV, The Invasion, The Comebacks, Daddy Day Camp, Feel the Noise, 3:10 to Yuma