DVD Sales - Did We See a Transformation in the Record Books?
November 3, 2009
It came as no surprise that Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen was the best selling new release and the best selling DVD on the chart this week.
During its first week of release, it sold 5.33 million units and generated $122.49 million in consumer spending at retail, which makes it the third-best selling DVD of the year and the second best in terms of revenue generated after just one week of release.
The Proposal was pushed into a distant second place with 613,000 units over the week for totals of 3.01 million units / $49.41 million after two.
Third place went to... Transformers, which sold 257,000 units over the week for a total of 15.63 million units after more than two years of release.
The DVD has sold nearly 1 million units so far this year.
Monsters vs. Aliens remains strong in fourth place with 230,000 units / $3.94 million for the week and 3.55 million / $61.96 million for the month.
Land of the Lost was next with 155,000 units / $2.61 million for the week and just 612,000 units / $9.92 million after two.
The direct-to-DVD sequel, Wrong Turn 3, opened in seventh place with opening totals of 107,000 units / $1.81 million.
The L Word - Season Six was 13th with 58,000 units, but thanks to its TV on DVD pricing, was seventh in terms of revenue generated at $2.15 million.
The final new release to chart was Blood - The Last Vampire, which opened in 29th place with 35,000 units / $613,000.
With the biggest hit of the year coming out on the home market this week, it comes as no surprise that Blu-ray sales were strong.
In fact, with $38.9 million in sales over the week, according to Home Media Magazine, it was the best week for Blu-ray sales in the format's history.
It was also 55% higher than last week and 185% higher than the same week last year.
Compared to DVD, Blu-ray represented 15.6% of total sales and 19.8% of the top twenty comparison.
As expected, Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen was the best selling Blu-ray of the week, and possibly the fastest selling Blu-ray of all time.
Nielsen VideoScan reported that just over one in four units of the film were sold on Blu-ray, which would give it opening week Blu-ray sales of 1.8 million units to go with its 5.3 million DVDs.
Paramount also reported that the film sold just over 7 million units in total, so the numbers match.
However, the studio said it sold 1.2 million units on Blu-ray, which is significantly lower, and why would they underestimate these numbers?
If the higher number is accurate, then Transformers - Revenge of the Fallen is the new fastest selling Blu-ray.
If the lower number is accurate, then The Dark Knight retains the record.
It might take a while to sort out.
Filed under: Video Sales, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers, Monsters vs. Aliens, The Proposal, Land of the Lost, Blood: The Last Vampire, Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead