Last week, Warner Bros. and Christopher Nolan's Batman franchise dominated both theatrical and home media markets; The Dark Knight Rises grossed over $165 million at the box office, while its predecessors - Batman Begins and The Dark Knight - rose to the top of the Blu-ray sales rankings. Batman Begins came in at number one with a robust HD market share of 81%, but The Dark Knight did not lag far behind. The Academy Award-winning sequel sold 92% as many Blu-rays as Batman Begins and had an even stronger Blu-ray market share figure of 84%.
Behind the Batman entries at number two was Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment's The Three Stooges. The Farrelly Brothers' long-in-development re-imagining of the classic slapstick icons - at one point, they were in talks with Jim Carrey, Sean Penn, and Benicio Del Toro to play the Stooges - garnered the studio a modest success when it premiered last April, earning $44 million on top of its $30 million production budget. On the Blu-ray chart, it sold 62% as many copies as Batman Begins and enjoyed a Blu-ray market share of 34%. While only time will tell if The Three Stooges will endure on home media, its kid-friendly counter-programming certainly helped it compete against the darker Batman features this past week.
However, the overall package media rankings shifted the placement of these three somewhat. On that list, The Three Stooges had a commanding lead at number one; Batman Begins sold 68% as many total units as the Farrellys' comedy, while The Dark Knight could only manage 60% as many units. These figures were a far cry from the Blu-ray-only list, and they also made room for American Reunion, which remained in the top five in its second week of sales, as well as the sci-fi-actioner Lockout, which made its home media debut on the 17th.
Intersting week indeed. 46% for American Reunion, pretty good for a comedy. Even 30%+ for Three Stooges is respectable all things considered. I'm waiting for a price drop on Lockout before I grab one. I saw it in theaters found it a fun if predictable popcorn flick. Also glad to see Wrath and Sherlock still in the top 10.
It's surprising that so many people didn't already have these titles. I thought everyone would have them by now. I'm looking forward to the box set, which i will gladly double dip
I bought my steelbooks editions yesterday only,at FutureShop (Canada). Too late for any contribution, but I'm glad of that double-dip! They look amazing! Can't wait for TDKR SteelBook and/or the possible Trilogy Box Set.
I honestly got over BB quite quickly after I saw it. TDK I saw early, and I really didn't get it or the hype. I think it became so big because the death of Heath Ledger. And this last movie I may suspect got some ironic fame from the shooting (or rather massacre) in Aurora.
Of course, I have yet to see this movie to get a real opinion. But it's me thinking out loud. Because at the very least, BB isn't to me very memorable. Maybe I'm just not a huge Batman fan, or fan of Christian Bale/Nolan?
But I do like the TV-series and the movie from the 60's.
Regardless of which, I still know I will buy all three latest Batman movies. Especially since I already have a numbered limited edition of BB on DVD, a poster signed by the 14 greatest names in BB, and I'm still curious to see TDK again and TDKR for the first time. (I have no plans atm to see it in theaters.)
I actually don't have Batman Begins on blu-ray. I was going to upgrade, but thought I'd just wait for the boxed set that's going to come out once TDKR hits.
