For the week that ended on January 20th, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment had the top Blu-ray and overall package media sales with its release of Taken 2. This sequel to the 2008 action hit netted Fox a healthy profit when it premiered theatrically last October - it grossed over $374 million worldwide on top of its estimated $45 million budget. Of its total home media sales, 44% came from the HD format.
Taken 2 dominated sales; no other titles even came close to it. In second place on the Blu-ray-only chart was Lionsgate's Dredd, and it only sold 8% as many Blu-rays as Taken 2 (new release The Possession came in second on the overall package media chart, and it only managed to sell 12% as many copies as the Liam Neeson actioner). Still, as Lionsgate announced earlier this week, this violent, hyper-stylized thriller has exceeded sales expectations, and its continued presence in the top five on the home media charts speaks well towards its small-screen future, even when considering the film's disappointing theatrical gross of $32 million worldwide. Dredd also managed a decent HD market share of 41%.
Finally, coming in at number two on the Blu-ray list was Disney's Frankenweenie. Director Tim Burton's first stop-motion-animation feature since 2005's Academy Award-nominated Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie made its home media debut at number two and dropped only slightly to third place last week. The film had an HD market share of 34%, and it sold 7% as many Blu-ray copies as Taken 2 and 9% as many overall units.
I'm embarrassed to own this, but I have many titles in my collection that are trash.
The original was good. They've given the 3rd installment the go-ahead, despite Neeson being tired of it (seemingly). Please let them get that one better than they did this one. I wouldn't have bought this had Amazon not had the $15 credit.
