Our DVD and Blu-ray sales estimates are based on weekly retail surveys, which we use to build a weekly market share estimate for each title we are tracking. The market share is converted into a weekly sales estimate based on industry reports on the overall size of the market, including reports published in Media Play News.

For example, if our weekly retail survey estimates that a particular title sold 1% of all units that week, and the industry reports sales of 1,500,000 units in total, we will estimate 15,000 units were sold of that title. The consumer spending estimate is based on the average sales price for the title in the retailers we survey.

We refine our estimates from week to week as more data becomes available. In particular, we adjust weekly sales figures for the quarter once the total market estimates are published by the Digital Entertainment Group. Figures will therefore fluctuate each week, and totals for individual titles can go up or down as we update our estimates.

Because sales figures are estimated based on sampling, they will be more accurate for higher-selling titles.

Blu-ray Sales: King Begins Reign of the Century

October 19th, 2011

A pair of powerful new releases helped push the Blu-ray sales chart to record levels. The Lion King led the way with 1.57 million units sold, earning $46.46 million. If you add in The Trilogy Box Set, which sold 44,000 units / $3.33 million, the film earned nearly $50 million in opening week sales. I wasn't expecting it to sell this well. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for October 18th, 2011

October 18th, 2011

It should be a relatively good week in terms of DVD and Blu-ray sales with Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides leading the way. However, it's not a particularly deep week in terms of home market releases. Nor is it really strong when it comes to contenders for Pick of the Week. Degrassi: Season Ten is in competition, but in the end I went with Robotech: The Complete Series. More...

Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: African Cats

October 14th, 2011

Disney has been making nature documentaries for a long, long time. More recently, they set up a new label to specifically make these films, Disneynature, starting with earth, which was actually cut from a TV mini-series. Its theatrical run was a critical and box office success. Oceans did nearly as well with critics, but struggled more at the box office. African Cats slid a little more in terms of ticket sales, but does that mean it is also the weakest in terms of quality? More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for October 4th, 2011

October 5th, 2011

It's a maddening week on the home market. There were more than a dozen featured reviews this week, and what seems like an equal number that are late. (And that's not mentioning the more than a dozen Blu-rays and DVDs that arrived late last week that I still haven't gotten to. At least I don't have to worry about not having enough to do for the next few weeks.) There were a number of contenders for Pick of the Week, including The Walking Dead: Season One on DVD or Blu-ray. But in the end I choose The Lion King Blu-ray Combo Pack. More...

Fast Five Laps Competition

May 2nd, 2011

There's finally reason to celebrate at the box office as Fast Five surpassed even the high end expectations and helped the overall box office numbers to their best levels of the year at $159 million. This was up 17% from last weekend and was a stunning 56% improvement over the same weekend last year. Granted, 2011 still lags behind 2010 by $500 million at $3.04 billion to $3.54 billion, but this is great news in the short term, and perhaps its a sign of strength to come. More...

Easter Sweetens Box Office Results

April 25th, 2011

That's two wins in a row. This weekend pulled in $136 million, which was 5% higher than last weekend and an impressive 37% higher than the same weekend last year. Granted, Easter landed on a different weekend last year, but this is still an impressive win. Also, it helped 2011 close the gap on 2010 to 17% at $2.84 billion to $3.41 billion. It still going to take a lot just to catch up by the end of the year, but at least there's some reason to be optimistic going into the summer. More...

Weekend Preview: Can Madea Keep the Box Office Healthy?

April 21st, 2011

The box office is looking to extend its winning streak to two this weekend. There is some great news regarding that goal, as this time last year was really poor, with the three new releases earning less than $30 million combined. I would be shocked if Madea's Big Happy Family opened with less than that. With the Easter holiday, Rio and Hop should hold on well and 2011 should finally start digging itself out of the huge hole it is in. More...

2011 Preview: April

April 1st, 2011

Another month has gone by and 2011 has slipped further behind 2010's pace. March was a bit of an improvement over the first two months, but only in the most generous of terms. It still lost ground to 2010, but not at the same disastrous pace as January and February did. There is some good news, as last April was rather weak and there's a chance 2011 could actually gain ground. After all, only Clash of the Titans earned $100 million last year (although Date Night came awfully close). This year, there are three or four films that could hit the century mark. That would be welcome news indeed. On a side note, April is usually a bit of a dumping ground as studios fear going head-to-head with summer blockbusters opening in May. However, I get the feeling that this year they are hoping to extend summer by having it open a couple of weeks early. Maybe they'll succeed. More...