For the week that ended on December 16th, Universal Studios' Ted won the top sales position on both the Blu-ray-only and overall package media charts. The film is the first live-action feature from Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, and the audience interest that MacFarlane has built up over the last ten years certainly bolstered his cinematic debut - the $50 million comedy grossed over $500 million worldwide. In terms of its home media showings, Ted bested even The Dark Knight Rises, and it had an HD market share of 49%.
Second place in the Blu-ray-only and overall package media charts belonged to Warner Home Entertainment's The Dark Knight Rises. Director Christopher Nolan's final entry in his Academy Award-winning Dark Knight trilogy suffered in comparison to Ted's figures; it only sold 55% as many Blu-rays (though it enjoyed a slightly higher HD market share of 51%) and only 52% as many total units as Seth MacFarlane's raunchy comedy. However, diminished interest does not mean no interest, and so The Dark Knight Rises continued to thrive in the top five sales positions, with the related Dark Knight Trilogy boxset also scoring high sales placements - spot five on the Blu-ray-only chart and spot six on the overall package media chart.
Finally, another Universal title rounded out the last of the top three spots on the Blu-ray-only list: The Bourne Legacy. This "sidequel" to the Bourne franchise disappointed critics and audiences somewhat when it premiered theatrically last August - after accruing a budget of roughly $125 million, the film grossed just over $113 million domestically. However, the picture did well on its small-screen debut, contending directly with both Ted and the various Dark Knight Rises-related products. The Bourne Legacy sold 49% as many Blu-rays as Ted and garnered a Blu-ray market share of 59%, and it also sold 41% as many total units.
If the sales were combined for The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight Trilogy would it then essentially be #1 (for the Dark Knight Rises)? Probably not... but that would have been cool. Instead, it sounds like Ted is almost completely outselling The Dark Knight Rises now.
Sort of off topic - but in reviewing the list of upcoming blu rays, I'm curious why there are so many re-releases of already existing discs. Is there something different about them such as improved quality? I'm confused.
