For the week that ended on February 18th, Walt Disney. Home Entertainment's
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever topped both the Blu-ray-only and overall packaged media charts in its second week. After the historic success of
Black Panther in 2018, including seven Oscar nominations and three wins, as well as making over $1.3 billion worldwide, a sequel seemed obvious. However, unbeknownst to the public and to the film's cast and crew, star Chadwick Boseman had been privately battling cancer, and would pass away suddenly in August 2020. While Boseman's death could have meant that the Black Panther character would be recast, Marvel ultimately made the decision not to do so and instead, writer and director Coogler re-tooled the script to focus on other characters. The 30th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is considered the final film of Phase Four of the series, and released in November 2022 to critical acclaim and box office success, earning over $181 million on its opening weekend. So far, the film has grossed over $858 million worldwide and was recently nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Angela Bassett, the first Oscar-nominated performance in a Marvel film. This week,
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever had an HD share of 57% and 22% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.
Debuting in second place on both charts is Universal Pictures Home Entertainment's
The Fabelmans. Steven Spielberg's latest is a family drama loosely based on his own childhood. When it opened nationwide in November 2022, it received critical acclaim, winning Best Motion Picture – Drama and Best Director at the Golden Globes and receiving seven Oscar nominations, including Best Supporting Actor for Judd Hirsch, Best Actress for Michelle Williams, Best Director and Best Picture. This week,
The Fabelmans sold 30% as many Blu-ray units as
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with an HD share of 64% and 40% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.
Returning to third place on both charts 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 stands as the second-highest-grossing film of 2022, behind
Avatar: The Way of Water, and recently earned six Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. This week,
Top Gun: Maverick sold 22% as many Blu-ray units as
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, with an HD share of 55% and 17% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.
Elsewhere on the charts, Disney's latest animated film,
Strange World, debuted at No. 4 on both charts, while the Blu-ray debut of Franco Zeffirelli's
Romeo and Juliet (1968), from the Criterion Collection, came in at No. 7 on the Blu-ray-only chart.
Top Ten Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 2/18/23:
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
- The Fabelmans
- Top Gun: Maverick
- Strange World
- Black Adam
- Legion of Super-Heroes
- Romeo and Juliet (1968)
- Everything Everywhere All At Once
- Violent Night
- Elvis (2022)
Top Five Home Media Sellers for Week Ending 2/18/23 (% of Blu-ray's Market Share Noted):
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (57%)
- The Fabelmans (64%)
- Top Gun: Maverick (55%)
- Strange World (52%)
- Black Adam (52%)
Top Blu-ray 3D Sellers for Week Ending 2/18/23 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
- Snow White and the Huntsman / The Huntsman: Winter's War (0.65%)*
- The Wizard of Oz 3D (0.43%)
- Top Gun 3D (0.37%)
- Aquaman 3D (0.06%)
*This appears to be an error, since there is no such release in 3D, although
The Huntsman: Winter's War 3D did receive an individual Blu-ray 3D release in certain international markets. If and when a correction is made, this article will be updated.
Top Five UHD Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 2/18/23 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
- Everything Everywhere All At Once 4K (30%)
- The Batman 4K (26%)
- The Fabelmans 4K (24%)
- House of the Dragon: The Complete First Season 4K (21.79%)
- Black Panther: Wakanda Forever 4K (21.51%)