For the week that ended on March 1st, Walt Disney Home Entertainment's
Big Hero 6 took the top spot on the Blu-ray-only and overall package-media sales rankings. This animated adventure, which took inspiration from the cult Marvel Comics property of the same name, brought the Mouse House commercial and critical praise following its release in November of last year. In addition to its
worldwide box-office gross of over $572 million (on top of an estimated $165-million production budget), the film was also this year's Academy Award-winner for Best Animated Feature. This week,
Big Hero 6 had a Blu-ray market share of 58%.
Next up on the Blu-ray-only chart was HBO Home Entertainment's
Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season. The television adaptation of George R. R. Martin's
A Song of Fire and Ice series is one of HBO's most-watched programs, and the network timed this Blu-ray release of its acclaimed fourth season to capitalize on the viewer interest over the Season Five-premiere in April. On the Blu-ray-only ranking,
Game of Thrones struggled to match
Big Hero 6's drawing power: it sold just over 5% as many Blu-rays as the Disney venture (and garnered an HD market share of 53%). Regarding overall package-media totals, the Season Four set came in fourth place - behind
Horrible Bosses 2 and
Sons of Anarchy: Season Seven, respectively - and sold 6% as many units as
Big Hero 6.
Finally, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's
Birdman rounded out the top three spots on the Blu-ray-only rankings. Director Alejandro González Iñárritu's technically dynamic media satire was one of the critical darlings of the 2014 awards season. Although it was only a modest box-office draw, earning
$40 million domestically on top of its estimated $18-million budget, the picture scored a robust
88% score on Metacritic and won Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture. On the Blu-ray-only ranking,
Birdman sold 4% as many Blu-rays as
Big Hero 6 and garnered an HD market share of 54%. On the overall package-media chart, the film came in seventh place (fifth and sixth went to
Dumb and Dumber To and
The Interview, respectively) and also moved 4% as many units as
Big Hero 6.
Top Ten Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 03/01/14:
- Big Hero 6
- Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season
- Birdman
- The Interview
- Horrible Bosses 2
- 101 Dalmatians
- Dumb and Dumber To
- Sons of Anarchy: Season Seven
- Whiplash
- John Wick
Top Five Home Media Sellers for Week Ending 03/01/14 (% of Blu-ray's Market Share Noted):
- Big Hero 6 (58%)
- Horrible Bosses 2 (18%)
- Sons of Anarchy: Season Seven (22%)
- Game of Thrones: The Complete Fourth Season (53%)
- Dumb and Dumber To (32%)
Top Five Blu-ray 3D Sellers for Week Ending 03/01/14 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
- Guardians of the Galaxy 3D (20%)
- The Book of Life 3D (4%)
- The Boxtrolls 3D (3%)
- Despicable Me 2 3D (2%)
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 3D (0%)