Blu-ray Sales: December 25-31: Halloween Ends Finally Takes the Crown from Top Gun: Maverick

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Blu-ray Sales: December 25-31: Halloween Ends Finally Takes the Crown from Top Gun: Maverick

Posted January 7, 2023 04:35 AM by Sean Greenwood

For the week that ended on December 31st, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment's Halloween Ends took the top spot on the Blu-ray-only chart. As with the previous film in the franchise, 2021's Halloween Kills, this film was announced after the box office success of Halloween (2018), and both sequels were intended to be shot back-to-back, with projected release dates in 2020 and 2021. However, the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic changed those plans, and forced Kills to a 2021 release, while Ends ultimately went before the cameras in 2022. Like its predecessor, Halloween Ends also received a controversial simultaneous release to theaters and streaming, which, along with relatively negative reviews from critics and audiences alike, resulted in a film that topped the box office on its opening weekend back in October, but with just over $40 million, almost $10 million less than Halloween Kills. Ultimately, the film would finish in theaters with a global box office take of over $104 million, the lowest of the trilogy by some distance. This week, Halloween Ends had an HD share of 66% and 31% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.

Slipping to second place on the Blu-ray-only chart after a record eight weeks on top is Paramount Home Media Distribution's Top Gun: Maverick. Originally announced in 2010, the sequel to the 1986 action blockbuster Top Gun saw several delays, including the death of director Tony Scott in 2012. When filming finally commenced in 2018, a projected release in June 2019 was delayed a year in order to complete the film's action sequences. That process would be further drawn out by the arrival of the coronavirus pandemic, which would see the film's release date moved several more times, before it finally opened in May 2022. After a 36-year wait, the result was an enormous success. Top Gun: Maverick opened to rave reviews and over $160 million over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, going on to make over $718 million domestically and even more internationally at over $770 million and counting, for a running total of over $1.4 billion worldwide. In June, the film passed $800 million to become the highest-grossing film in Tom Cruise's career, while later that month, it became only the second film since 2019 to cross the $1 billion mark, following Sony's Spider-Man: No Way Home. Top Gun: Maverick was also the highest-grossing film of 2022 until it was dethroned in January 2023 by Avatar: The Way of Water. This week, Top Gun: Maverick sold 97% as many Blu-ray units as Halloween Ends, with an HD share of 62% and 20% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.

Debuting in third place on the Blu-ray-only chart is Cinedigm's Terrifier 2. The horror sequel, which continues the graphically violent misadventures of Art the Clown, has become a cult favorite, grossing over $12 million on a reported budget of just $250,000--even sourcing part of the funds from a massively successful online crowdfunding project. Perhaps it's unsurprising, then, that this "micro-budget" horror film saw a multiple Blu-ray editions released, including an Amazon Exclusive Collector's Edition Blu-ray, a Walmart Exclusive SteelBook Blu-ray and even a Best Buy Exclusive 4K UHD edition. This week, Terrifier 2 sold 80% as many Blu-ray units as Halloween Ends, with an HD share of 70% and 26% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.

Top Ten Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 12/31/22:
  1. Halloween Ends
  2. Top Gun: Maverick
  3. Terrifier 2
  4. House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season
  5. The Woman King
  6. Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile
  7. Jurassic World: Dominion
  8. Thor: Love and Thunder
  9. The Batman
  10. Everything Everywhere All At Once
Top Home Media Sellers for Week Ending 12/31/22 (% of Blu-ray's Market Share Noted):
  1. Top Gun: Maverick (62%)
  2. Halloween Ends (66%)
  3. Terrifier 2 (70%)
  4. House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season (56%)
  5. The Woman King (49%)
Top Five Blu-ray 3D Sellers for Week Ending 12/31/22 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
  1. The Polar Express 3D (6.96%)
  2. Dune 3D (2021) (1.92%)
  3. Top Gun 3D (0.98%)
  4. The Wizard of Oz 3D (0.28%)
  5. Dr. Seuss' The Grinch 3D (0.01%)
Top Five UHD Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 12/31/22 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
  1. Coraline 4K (83%)
  2. The Batman 4K (43%)
  3. Thor: Love and Thunder 4K (42%)
  4. Dune 4K (2021) (40%)
  5. Everything Everywhere All At Once 4K (35%)