DVD Sales: Living it Up in Beverly Hills
February 15, 2011
Overall, new releases were rather weak, but we did see four films reach the top 30 on the sales chart this week, including a new number one. That film was Beverly Hill Chihuahua 2, which sold 712,000 units, generating $10.67 million in opening week revenue. Granted, this was half as many sales as the original, but that was a theatrical release and this was direct-to-DVD, so I think Disney has to be very happy with this release. In fact, they might be thinking franchise.
Red remained potent, earning second place with 321,000 units for the week and 1.48 million units after two. So far it has generated $19.67 million in total revenue, which is second best for the year so far. Secretariat was close behind with 268,000 units / $4.51 million for the week and 1.13 million units / $18.76 million after two. Let Me In opened in fourth place with 170,000 units / $2.37 million, which is a real shame given its reviews. Despicable Me climbed back into the top five with 129,000 units for the week for a total of 6.65 million units after nearly two months of sales. It has generated $115.12 million in sales so far, which is excellent, considering the state of DVD sales recently.
Conviction opened in eighth place with 94,000 units / $1.31 million, which is not bad for a film that never played wide, even semi-wide. Likewise, Never Let Me Go never played in more than a couple hundred theaters, so opening in 17th place with 45,000 units / $628,000 is a reasonable result.
It was another bad week for Blu-rays, with no new releases that truly shined in High Definition and the holdovers really fading. Red remained on top, but with just 140,000 units. Alice in Wonderland was very close behind with 130,000 units sold; this is actually quite good, considering a special edition DVD came out last year, which likely deflated demand considerably. Likewise, Beverly Hill Chihuahua 2 sold close to 110,000 units during its opening week, which is double the opening week sales of its predecessor. Secretariat and Let Me In were in a virtual tie for fourth place, both selling just over 70,000 units.
Filed under: Video Sales, Alice in Wonderland, Despicable Me, Secretariat, Let Me In, Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2, Never Let Me Go, Conviction, Red