Blu-ray Sales, October 1-7: The Avengers Maintains Top Sales

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Blu-ray Sales, October 1-7: The Avengers Maintains Top Sales

Posted October 11, 2012 09:06 AM by Josh Katz

For the week ending on October 7th, Walt Disney Home Entertainment's smash hit The Avengers continued to dominate both the overall package media and Blu-ray-only sales charts. During its initial home media debut, the film made history with its record Blu-ray market share of 72%, and while that figure is down somewhat from the previous retail window, The Avengers has still maintained more-than healthy sales figures. Of its home media totals, The Avengers had a Blu-ray market share of 56% and a separate 3D market share of 19%, both of which helped the title vault past its competitors at positions two and three.

Case in point: the long-awaited Blu-ray upgrade of another Disney picture, the 1950 classic Cinderella. Cinderella came in second on the Blu-ray and overall home media rankings, and at first glance of the Blu-ray charts, it seemed to be jockeying closely for The Avengers' spot. The animated favorite sold 98% as many HD units as The Avengers and had a Blu-ray market share of 100%. However, that 100% figure did not carry the same weight as The Avengers' 72% market share last week - the Cinderella reissue is a Blu-ray exclusive rather than a cross-format title - and the total home media list showed Cinderella lagging much further behind the Joss Whedon-directed blockbuster; there, Cinderella sold 55% as many copies as The Avengers.

Finally, third place on the HD and total media rankings went to Dark Shadows. Director Tim Burton's darkly comedic adaptation of the iconic television soap opera proved slightly underwhelming with both critics and audiences after its theatrical premiere last May; the film, which cost an estimated $150 million to produce, grossed just under $80 million domestically. Even with its additional international earnings of $159 million, Dark Shadows' box-office take pales in comparison to Burton's previous big-screen foray (Alice in Wonderland, which made over $1 billion worldwide in 2010), so its third place ranking stands as a moderately positive result for its distributor, Warner Bros. Dark Shadows sold 30% as many Blu-rays as The Avengers and 45% as many total units, and it managed an HD market share of 38%.

Top Ten Blu-ray Sellers for Week Ending 10/07/12:
  1. The Avengers
  2. Cinderella
  3. Dark Shadows
  4. Snow White and the Huntsman
  5. The Hunger Games
  6. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part I
  7. Bond 50
  8. Battleship
  9. Thor
  10. Captain America: The First Avenger
Top Five Home Media Sellers for Week Ending 10/07/12 (% of Blu-ray's Market Share Noted):
  1. The Avengers (56%)
  2. Cinderella (100%)
  3. Dark Shadows (38%)
  4. The Hunger Games (29%)
  5. Snow White and the Huntsman (41%)
Top Three Blu-ray 3D Sellers for Week Ending 10/07/12 (Per % of Total Unit Sales):
  1. Titanic 3D (28%)
  2. The Avengers 3D (19%)
  3. Thor 3D (18%)
  4. Captain America: The First Avenger 3D (11%)
  5. Dr. Seuss' The Lorax 3D (7%)