Blu-ray Sales: October 22-28: The Meg Takes a Bite Out of Barbie

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Blu-ray Sales: October 22-28: The Meg Takes a Bite Out of Barbie

Posted November 3, 2023 10:40 AM by Sean Greenwood

For the week that ended on October 28th, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Meg 2: The Trench topped both the Blu-ray-only and overall packaged media charts in its debut. The action sequel saw Jason Statham again facing off against a giant prehistoric Megalodon shark and was directed by English filmmaker Ben Wheatley, who is known for several British horror and thriller films, such as Kill List, High Rise and most recently, In the Earth. The film opened in August 2023 to mixed reviews, but did well financially, placing second on its opening weekend (behind Barbie) with over $30 million, on its way to over $82 million domestically. However, the film did most of its business overseas, grossing over $312 million internationally, for a global haul of over $395 million. This week, Meg 2: The Trench had an HD share of 48%, with 13% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.

Dropping to second place on both charts in its second week is Warner Bros. Home Entertainment's Barbie. Greta Gerwig's film is set in Barbie Land, where Barbie and her fellow dolls live in harmony with Ken dolls, at least until Barbie has an existential crisis, leading her and Ken on a journey to the real world. Marking the first live-action adventure for the beloved fashion doll that debuted in 1959, expectations for Barbie were high, with a large marketing campaign and a key summer release date. The film opened to critical acclaim, grossing over $162 million on its opening weekend and outperforming expectations. There was also a bit of serendipity, as Barbie ended up releasing on the same weekend as Oppenheimer, a three-hour biopic about the "father of the atomic bomb", J. Robert Oppenheimer, which was released by rival studio Universal Pictures, but which was also positioned to be a blockbuster due to the success of its director, Christopher Nolan. However, instead of the two films cannibalizing each other, a social media phenomenon developed which was dubbed "Barbenheimer", whereby people sought to see both films back-to-back as a double feature. The result was a combined weekend gross of over $246 million for both films. But Barbie has also proved to be a juggernaut of its own, eventually grossing some $635 million domestically and over $1.44 billion worldwide so far, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie to become the highest-grossing film of 2023 to date. This week, Barbie sold 97% as many Blu-ray units as Meg 2: The Trench, with an HD share of 53% and 14% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.

And dropping to third place on both charts in its third week is Paramount Home Media Distribution's Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The latest film in the iconic robot franchise is a sequel to 2018's well-received Bumblebee and is set in 1994, where the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, must team up with the Maximals (who originally debuted in the Beast Wars: Transformers (1996-1999) TV series) to prevent the Terrorcons from bringing the planet-eater Unicron to Earth. Released in June 2023, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts received mixed reviews and has grossed less than $439 million worldwide on a reported budget of about $200 million, becoming the lowest-grossing film in the Transformers franchise so far. This week, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts sold 52% as many Blu-ray units as Meg 2: The Trench, with an HD share of 48% and 12% of units sold from the 4K UHD format.

Elsewhere on the charts, the Criterion Collection's release of The Others (2001) came in at No. 7 on the Blu-ray-only chart and topped the UHD Market Share chart for the week, with 80% of units sold from the 4K UHD format. Outside the top ten, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Godzilla (1998), which received a 4K UHD re-release with Dolby Vision HDR and a revamped Dolby Atmos remix this week, came in at No. 15, while Sony's Blu-ray release of The Boys: Season 3 came in at No. 18. Finally, Kino Lorber's Cujo, which saw a 4K UHD release this week, came in at No. 20.

Top Ten Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 10/28/23:
  1. Meg 2: The Trench
  2. Barbie
  3. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
  4. The Last Voyage of the Demeter
  5. Haunted Mansion (2023)
  6. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
  7. The Others (2001)
  8. Prey (2022)
  9. The Super Mario Bros. Movie
  10. Talk to Me (2022)
Top Five Home Media Sellers for Week Ending 10/28/23 (% of Blu-ray's Market Share Noted):
  1. Meg 2: The Trench (48%)
  2. Barbie (53%)
  3. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (48%)
  4. Haunted Mansion (2023) (46%)
  5. The Last Voyage of the Demeter (55%)
Top Blu-ray 3D Sellers for Week Ending 10/28/23 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
  1. Avatar: The Way of Water 3D (4.19%)
Top Five UHD Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 10/28/23 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
  1. The Others 4K (2001) (80%)
  2. Evil Dead Rise 4K (63%)
  3. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse 4K (31%)
  4. Talk to Me 4K (2022) (30%)
  5. Prey 4K (2022) (26%)