According to Deadline Hollywood's Nikki Finke, quoting sources from 20th Century Fox, the Blu-ray edition of Avatar has sold 1.5 million units in the US and Canada during its first-day and has thus "blown away" the record for first-day Blu-ray sales, until now held by The Dark Knight, which had sold 600,000 units in December 9, 2008.
Note that neither Netflix nor Redbox are stocking Avatar yet, as both rental companies recently signed agreements with Fox to delay availability of titles from the studio for 28 days. Blockbuster, on the other hand, is.
I was so tempted to tell everyone I saw at the store to wait until November for the Ultimate Edition to get their money's worth. Oh well. Very impressive, though!
Wow, very impressive. Will have to say this is well deserving for the quality of the release (sans supplements). Go ahead and add $30 million onto that $2.7 billion total...life is good for Fox, Cameron and Blu-ray!
I told you AVATAR on BD will do miracles nobody believes me.Expect total sales worldwide around 4 million copies in two days and one week will reach the 6,000,000 copies around the globe.Wait and See.
Watched Avatar on Blu Ray last night and while it looks amazing, I never realized just how much 3D meant to that movie and I was one of the ones blown away by Avatar in the theaters. Other than how beautiful it looks in Blu Ray, there's really not much to the actual movie itself. Take away the 3D and the hype it's just an average action flick. It'll stick it in my popcorn movie section alongside the likes of Armageddon, Transformers and 2012.
not even star wars will have that kind of day 1. well, maybe.. they're b another 2 years worth of blu-ray players on the market.. have to wait and see.. but im still saying no.
Probably helped a lot that the Blu-ray also included the DVD for a couple of more bucks. So customers that think they may upgrade pretty soon just purchased the combo pack adding to the Blu sales.
I simply don't understand all of the people waiting until November for the special edition when a DVD/Blu-ray combo is available now for 20 dollars. This is a good day for Blu-ray.
Recent market momentum for Blu-ray enthusiasm was apparent, as Blu-ray sales of "Avatar" -- at 1.5 million copies -- well outpaced first-day sales of previous high-def top dog "The Dark Knight." An early industry estimate set overall disc sales of the title comfortably north of 4 million units, putting it well on track to become the year's top-selling release to date.
Finally Cameron can make some money off of Avatar the Box office flop that has only made 2.7 Billion plus so far! Just can't wait for the Ultimate Edition because this is one movie that I really am interested in the extras! OBTW if you haven't purchased the BBE (Bare Bones Edition) I say run to your nearest favorite retailer and take the plunge!
I just don't get it. Acting and story were terrible, CGI looks like crap and if it were not the "most expensive movie ever made" it would have never been nominated for Best Picture. Sheeple.
Got my copy in the mail from Amazon yesterday. Watched the first half of it as I was getting ready to go to bed. Will watch the second half tonight. Dang, this movie look great in my 73" Mitsubishi DLP. I saw the movie in an IMAX 3D and will definitely double-dip for the Ultimate release in November and then maybe, just maybe, get the 3D version as well when it comes out.
For a 2D extras free release. This is gonna encouage more. Studios wouldn't get away with screwing people out of extras and 3D if people didn't let them.
I guess superblast so a different movie. CGI looked bad? I love trolls that thread crap and say stiff like the CGI was s special effets.
Avatar may not be the best movie ever made, but the movie fun. The 3D made the movie an expierence. Great to see this movie break records. I don't care if the movie that broke records was Larry The Cable Guy Health inspector on Blu Ray. Blu Rays making record is go for the genre
I think Superblaster76 must have been watching a different movie then me, because the CGI is seemless. Watched about 45 minutes of it last night and the colors and the depth are amazing let alone how you feel immersed in the movie with the 5.1....wow. I just have to figure out what one scene to start using as my demo. I had been using the into to I Am Legend
considering the amount of people that saw this film...i had no doubt that it would break records.
was very very pleased with the quality from the "SUPERBIT" version. I care more about the a max bit on the video and great audio than extras that I never watch. So bravo on the transfer...always nice when it fills your 16:9 screen as well.
It's great to hear that the sales on this have broken a record. Hopefully it will help push Blu Ray to more of those that haven't taken the HD plunge yet. I ordered 2 copies myself, one for myself and one for my mother.
Sad thing is that the studios will twist this to support their 28 day hold on new releases. Truth be told, many had decided to buy this when it came out long before that policy had any effect on this title.
I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, I am looking forward to seeing it at home. Not sure if the lack of 3D will help or hinder the experience. We'll see.
So now that he has made such a success off of retelling Pocahontas, can we maybe get a SciFi, futuristic, blow your socks off retelling of King Arthur?
What can I say? Love it, love it, and love it. Enough said. Story, PQ and AQ SUPERB!Got blu/dvd for only $13.99. Don't mind double dipping in November. Can't wait.
picked up yesterday at TRU for $19.99
haven't watched yet, but will this weekend
Won't be double dipping on ultimate edition
Since I usually watch the special features once I'll either
rent the extra disc from netflix or borrow from friend
@DetroitSportsFan
Apple is no friend of Blu Ray either.
Steve Jobs says "Blu-ray is a bag of hurt, I don’t mean from the consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies, but the licensing is so complex. We’re waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing."
"Cost"? Yo Steve, I just added Blu Ray to two of my home PC's for $60 per machine.
Grand total of machine + Blu Ray drives = still cheaper than a Mac.
Apple is not helping the growth of Blu Ray.
Oh, and they thing HDMI is a waste of time as well.
There were some naysayers who said Avastar wouldn't sell since it was the bare bones edition, but l was not one of them. Yes I will double dip on this title as due to a mix up on Amazon's part l got it for only five dollars!
Just think if they would have done what they should have done and made Avatar available on Blu-ray only! Sales would have been astronomical not to mention the attach rate with people buying Blu-ray players with it.
Without 3D this is just one bloated anime/CGI saturated type movie. I'm hoping that by seeing it in its 2D "glory" that more people will come to realize that while it is an oustanding visual experience, it is not now nor will it ever be a good movie. In a good movie you come to care about the characters as you invest yourself emotionally in their story. Be honest did anyone care one whit about what happened to the characters in this movie. Did they have any personality? If they had died would you have shed a tear? Was the ending ever in doubt?
To paraphrase the greatest playwright of all time, Avatar is full of sound and fury but it signifies nothing.
It's funny that this one release beat out total sales for a whole week( last weeks sales) in just one day. I'm glad I was part of the 1.5 million this movie is great!
I'm dipping 3x, got my barebones from Amazon yesterday, waiting on the limited edition steelbook w/extra goodies from Amazon UK to ship out next week and than in Nov getting the "Ultimate Edition" as well.
@reidw
Its a great movie, connected with the characters, I drew a lot of emotion from this film, some may have not gotten that experience out of it as I did. I also didn't watch it in the 3D, I decided I'd rather watch it in 2D. Hands down its a great movie with great meaning behind it.
Here is an idea... being that I am sick of the whiny little haters that bitch about Blu-Ray getting all the good stuff and their beloved DVD getting the shaft..... Make the DVD Ultimate Edition Movie Only. I mean rumor has said BD at 4 discs. That is 6 to 8 DVDs. Why waste the effort on an inferior format when you can really drive home why filmmakers and fanboys are upgrading to the average person. I watched the disk last night, and while I will agree that a lot of the awe is gone with the lack of 3-D, this is the Fifth Element Superbit of BDs. It isn't just reference quality, it is beyond it. Using it to make consumers drool and torture your friends and neighbors with lessor systems is a moral imperative. LD of the current tech generation my ass. Bring the rain and force people to step up. Then again, I have an aunt who is still wondering why she can no longer buy VHS copies of everything. Rocking a two head with an analog single audio plug tv. She saw my Harmony One and thought it was one of my movie props. Some people can't be helped. The rest however, lose there options and they will come over. DVD was supposedly just a fad at one point too.
the November (or whenever) release with the Special Features is going to have to be a multi-disc release since this bare-bones already took up the whole disc (virtually)
BD has stayed consistently at about 10% of the disc market for almost the last half year despite the constant hype from the "converted". Avatar will bring this up a bit but frankly I like some others here are beginning to see BD as the new Laserdisc. The days of any form of packaged/physical media are numbered. BD will in the end only come to dominate if the studios take the plunge and pull the plug on DVDs completely. They should have done this about two years ago. It will never happen now no matter how big Avatar's sales are.
If you don't at least rent this you're crazy. Blu-ray might as well have been invented just for Avatar. It looks that good. I'm completely happy with it.
reidw - it takes time to phase DVD out and blu-ray in, probably a few years, if not more, depending on the area. There are a lot of countries around the world where most can't afford it, and DVD is either the only choice/option or still considered a luxury itself. The studios can't simply drop DVD support because then many would see the ownership element as a poor investment. The phase in period from DVD to blu will likely take more time than the VHS to DVD upgrade a decade ago. And downloads will play a part in slowing down that phase, but they're still years away themselves of being a true contender for competition, at least in the ownership market. Complete blu-ray adoption is a delicate balance between cost, availability and product. When HDTV's and blu-ray players become affordable enough, with every price point and quality tier covered (just starting to get there now, here in the States), along with good films available in most regions, then every average joe will "convert". TV itself will likely play a part as well, with more HD programming driving volume and appeal for HDTV sets, which will help to further lower cost, and raise consumer education overall, as older generations will have difficulty learning how to operate this new equipment with a gazillion options in a dozen menus, so the older someone is, the more stubborn they will be to change (TV's used to be simple, with only V-hold, color and brightness adjustments lol). Don't forget it's not all about the main tv in our living rooms that needs to be upgraded, many have DVD players for the kids in the car/mini-van, portable DVD players, computer/laptop drives, video cammeras, etc. there's a whole infrastructure that is undergoing the change, and as the world gets bigger and bigger (more people and more countries rising in evolution/technology/economy), it will, in turn, take more time for changes like these to fully mature. Downloads have even tougher adoption challenges, starting with the fact that someone needs to be a little tech savvy to figure out how to make it work (try teaching my grandmother how to download a movie onto her living room tv, and then convince her that she needs to buy a pc/server to store her movies and back them up with a 2nd hard drive! Oh, and she can't take a movie over a friend's house anymore). Who knows, maybe in the future we won't even need to carry our movie collections anymore, we'll all have access to every movie and show ever made through our TV service providers' massive databases (now growing every day), no more need for disc players and hard drives, etc. Until then, we have old DVD, new blu-ray or infant downloads to choose from. Your pick
Didn't think the film was that great ... not when I saw it in Real3D at a nearby Regal Cinema nor with this BD. So I rented it out of curiousity ... and all the praise is truly warranted. This is the finest looking BD I've seen.
My family and I watched it last night (3 of us) ... we watched it in "center slice" CIH 'Scope format using my ALens ... which is certainly very close to the way we all saw it in the theater. It was stunning. If you like this movie, you should absolutely buy this BD
blu3 you are clearly one of the converted. However I still believe that a cold turkey approach would force (yes I use that word) the vast majority of the public to upgrade immediately. This pussy footing around for years with each new technological advance has never worked except to make the adoption process long, slow and never complete. This applies to color TV, HDTV as well as BD, each of which has taken/is taking a ridiculous length of time to become the standard because they were always competing with older technology. Adding backward compatibility or selling two technologies at the same time slows down conversion. (Why your country didn't just mandate pure hi-def instead of only digital and just stop broadcasting standard definition last year is beyond me). You'd think by now that the BD folks would have realized this. It's time to stop making DVD's.
I just came back from a visit to my local Best Buy. This particular store is a new one that just opened up in an old Circuit City building. They have pretty much about the same sized selection in Blu Ray as they do on DVD. The video media section is pretty much evenly split between the two.
The Blu Ray players are out in the open taking up four 4' sections, DVD players are around the corner (out of the way) on two 4' sections. Half of what the Blu Ray options are, that says something on it's own.
Prices are dropping on them, I just picked up a new Samsung yesterday for $159. With the fact that pretty much all you can buy for a TV now days is HD and the growing selection of titles on Blu Ray... DVD days are numbered. What is going to be the final straw is going to be for Blu Ray players to drop below $100. Once that happens, game over.
reidw - Well, I was lucky in that I'm young enough to learn and appreciate all these new technologies and make enough of an income to afford it (by no means high end equipment, but at least an HDTV and a player to start). I know what you mean by your point of view and sure, a hardline approach like that would certainly speed things up, but it would also be disastrous in many ways, business wise. The challenge everyone faces is that adoption rates vary for many different reasons, like economy, licensing, etc., and manufacturers can't do these things in sequence because the general public world wide would never be able to keep up. These things are done in parallel because that way everyone can adopt at their own pace, economic or otherwise. It's like electric cars - we can't just stop making gasoline cars and force everyone to go electric over night - the world would crash, economically and socially. There has to be a transition period so that things keep on running smoothly from one to the other, and people have a chance to upgrade as they are able to over time. How much time? That depends on the region and whatever other factors are tied to that particular technology for it to evolve.
Stay positive
And congratulations to Avatar for the astounding numbers! While I agree that this isn't the best acting or the best story I've seen in theaters recently, it is one of the best experiences, and that's where it shines. It's not just a movie you watch, it's a movie you experience. I saw it in IMAX 3D in a theater that had speakers built into each chair, called "butt kickers" lol, and wow, we had a great time! So for me, my toughest choice will be which version to get at home - this barebones one, the ultimate edition in November, or a 3D one down the road. Right now I'm hoping the ultimate edition in November will be the same disc as this one with additional discs for the extras, making it an easy choice for me (if they downgrade the video and audio on the disc to make room for extras then I don't know!). And in the future I might do a 3D set up after 3D TVs and players have a few generations out and are affordable - in this case I won't mind double dipping on select movies just for 3D. But that's a little ways out for me. We'll see how it goes.
What has me on/off the fence is yes, the barebones need over the loaded Nov. issue.
But another factor is the firmware horror that is my BDplayer. If I drop 20.00 for a disc the manufacturer doesn't do a patch on for 1-3 months, I'll be over the edge PO'd.
I couldn't watch Snow White for 1.5 months after I bought it for this very reason.
I've bought 3 copies of Speed racer..ALL have failed to play completely through. My Transformers II still has issues w/ playback, FF.
It's these things that throw the average person w/o the tech savy off from adopting BD.
A vhs, or dvd..stick in player, watch. BD...loading..loading again, won't play, freezing up, hiccuping, upgrades which may incld, like mine....downloading firmware to flashdrive from pc, then pluuging drive into BD, and then load.......most older people aren't gonna want the hassle. I still know folks w/ their vcr flashing 12:00!
I've noticed some people speculating that the release of Star Wars on blu-ray will surpass Avatar's record. I am a huge Star Wars fan, but I really doubt Star Wars will see such numbers. You have to keep in mind that while most people were able to pick up Avatar for around $20, the blu-ray set for Star Wars will be well in the $100 range, making it less accessible to most people. Apples to oranges people, apples to oranges.
am I the only one who thinks this is bad news? I foresee a future with "bare bones" releases being available for months before releases with extras are available. this could very well become the new model for releasing hit movies. Bare Bones release then wait 6 months for a release with extras. I won't buy Avatar until they release the version with extras because I hate to think that by doing so I may be screwing myself when it comes to future releases.
Wonder if this will help or harm sales of any future editions? Seems unlikely that the next release could do this well, even if it is in the proper 3D version.
I went to Best Buy at 10am yesterday, and quickly left when I realized I could get AVATAR cheaper at the nextdoor Target. Was in both stores for about 5 minutes combined. During that five minutes I saw four other people grab multiple copies of AVATAR -- said to myself, this is gonna be big.
is this supposed to be a surprise? i think most people probably would get the blu-ray since it has the dvd, and most people wanting to see Avatar want to see it in HD. when they have the ultimate edition they should just let you take it in for $25 towards the new one.
After watching this movie for the first time, I really have a hard time seeing what all the fuss is about. I knew the characters and story were going to be thin (they were in Aliens and I LOVE that movie), but expected more out of the CGI. The shots in the jungles looked great, but so do Pixar movies. When real elements were intorduced, the CGI stood out way to much for something considered so groundbreaking. Maybe I had the bar set too high, but I don't get the hype. Of course, I'm glad people are enjoying it, and I hope this gets more Blu Ray players off shelves.
I've seen it 8 times in 3D, and 2 of those with IMAX.
I watched my Blu Ray of Avatar last night, in my little home theater, in darkness, on a 40-inch calibrated Samsung LCD.
If the fans of Blu Ray and Avatar are not raving on the sites today or soon, they don't have their displays calibrated. The astounding clarity is just short of making up for the absence of 3D. The 'distance' you can see into has a feeling of depth missing even in the 3D versions.
3D was replaced by the feeling of height that fine clarity gives.
I missed having ashes falling in my viewing space, looking past Home Tree seeds and arrows protruding from the screen, but I must say the final battle is as good or better in Blu Ray.
In my world, other than a few clunky lines of dialog there are no weaknesses. The continuity, the editing rhythm, the angles, the composition, all synergizing to emotional involvement-- just superb. It means something, if only to me, that I can watch it for the ninth time and still be thrilled.
This no-frills rendering delivers the ultimate Blu Ray. When the special edition comes out it will need to be the same rendering, with all the extras on a second disc. The Blu Ray 3D version will be a breakthrough yet again. Minds will be blown.
And no. I don't work for Newscorp or James Cameron.
Laughing here at all the posts from those responding to my original on the crap CGI. It is awful, it doesn't look realistic in any way, it looks silly. For how much money was spent I expect something that looks nicer than cut-scenes from a Final Fantasy game.
Damn fools who bought this on DVD. Because this is a movie made for blu ray and it looks beyond reference quality. It looks absolutely fantastic and it is the best blu ray i have ever seen
and i am sure when the DVD people see this on blu ray they will rush out to get a blu ray player because damn man. The PQ exceeds all expectations.
This title contains both a BLU-RAY and DVD copy. Some consumers do not own a BLU-RAY player yet and are just watching the movie on DVD.
It would have been interesting to know what the sells numbers would have been if Avatar was released on a BLU-RAY only without a DVD copy also included. We will never know.
picked up my copy at walmart for $20 and sold the dvd copy that it came with for $5 so got the blu for $15. and it plays in my 1st gen blu player.. sweet. and never watch special features so it dont bother me at all
This movie is not overhyped at all IMHO! People went to the cinemas to be ENTERTAINED! Sometime a movie can entertain the living shit out of you without being the best movie ever.
And you who said it has crap CGI. Thats one way to call something that loads of people worked hard on day and night for years. The CGI is OUTSTANDING! Suck on it troll boy.
Could someone here tell me what exactly is revolutionary or at least improved about Avatar's CGI? Or its 3D? For the life of me I couldn't see anything "new" in it when I saw it at the theatre. It was visually stunning but what was new and groundbreaking? Branches hanging off the edge of the screen? Ashes/dust/leaves faliing in front of your eyes? Seen that many times. That trick has been in every 3D movie since the The Creature From.. which I saw as a kid in 50's. (Yes, I'm dating myself). As for CGI, the motion capture was good but how was it different/more believable that the MC in dozens of recent flicks? Did anyone really feel that the military vehicles were more than pixels in a computer? They had no "weight" or mass. That is one barrier CGI still has to cross.
Add in the lack of character development, a predictable emotionless story, and some very uninspired dialogue and this film is a big no to me. One film I will never buy on DVD, BD, digital download or the whatever new forms of vapour media they invent in the next twenty years. Maybe 3D will catch on but in any case I hope that other directors and producers will find a way to use it for a story with more substance rather than just eye candy. Right now 3D is still just a gimmick, a good one but hardly worth the attention it is getting.
CGI had it's first great moment in 1993 with Jurassic park, where they integrated CGI into real sets. Since the 2000s, it's more the opposite, they are integrating real people in CGI sets. There are milestones along the way, 1999 The matrix was one, then the Stars wars prequels are another. I think that with Avatar, the lines are now totally blured, one cannot really distinguish where the real and the vritual meets. I think it's another milestone!
Got mine yesterday!!! Was released in South Africa on the 23rd April (Friday). All that I can say, this is the best looking Blu-ray disc, surely reference material!!! Picture & Sound is stunning. Surely 10 out of 10!!!
deromax, anyone who can't tell a CGI building, vehicle or object from the real thing needs glasses and not the 3D kind at that. I have yet to see a believable CGI set. From the get-go they look phony, cartoony, video-gamey. When you put people into such a set they also look like that.
Sadly no here has answered my question about what makes Avatar revolutionary. I contend that everything in it has been done before. I'm not saying Avatar may have done it better but words like milestone, revolutionary need to be backed up.
In case anyone thinks I'm just being negative, I'll give you an example of CGI that blew me away: the hair on the creatures in Pixar's Monsters Inc. THAT was a breakthrough in CGI.
fatkidkp: It might be worth buying it for you. For one thing as you have not seen it in 3D your opinion on whether this is a good or bad movie per se might be interesting. You'd be an unbiased viewer. Fact is once you've seen it in 3D, your 3D viewing experiece may cloud your ability to judge the movie objectively. You'd be free of any pre-judgements.
