For the week ending on October 14th, Twentieth Century Fox's Prometheus dominated both the overall package media and Blu-ray-only sales charts. After months of pre-release hype, the Alien prequel debuted last June to divisive critical reactions and mostly enthusiastic box-office totals; to date, the film has amassed a worldwide gross of over $402 million on top of its estimated $130 million production budget. In some ways, though, this Blu-ray premiere was even more impressive - not only did Prometheus' sales totals top other home media competitors, but it garnered an HD market share of 76%, which bested the record Blu-ray market share of 72% that The Avengers enjoyed during its first week on the small screen.
While The Avengers saw its market share and overall revenue figures drop in the wake of Prometheus, the film still maintained a foothold in the Blu-ray-only and overall package media charts at position number two. The mega-blockbuster sold 27% as many Blu-ray copies as Prometheus and 40% as many total units, and its HD market share stayed high at 51%. Despite coming in second, The Avengers is expected to remain a fixture in home media sales; the continued popularity of its predecessors Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger certainly works in the film's favor.
Finally, third place is split between the HD and total media rankings. When considering Blu-rays only, Disney's 1950 classic Cinderella came in third; the animated favorite sold 24% as many HD units as Prometheus and had a Blu-ray market share of 100%. However, in overall units, a new release beat the Disney favorite: Warner Bros' star-studded musical Rock of Ages. Rock of Ages sold 29% as total units as Prometheus, and its HD market share was 36%.
Glad to see E.T. get a respectable #4 spot. Good for Prometheus and Avengers. I'm willing to bet the Dark Knight Rises blu-ray will hit 80% for the market share.
I think it may be that more kids will watch the Avengers, so some parents may only buy the DVD instead of a blu. Not many kids will want their parents to buy them Prometheus!!!
This is great news for the format period. The Avengers, Prometheus & Cinderella are truly the poster children of what high def can look like compared to DVD and downloads.
Downloads my ass, Blu-Ray here to stay.
i find this even more impressive when you take in to account that fox sold the digital version for about 3 weeks prior to the blu ray release. I dont know the numbers of digital versions sold, but this tell me that more people actually prefer the physical media to that of the digital.
Let's hear how many units of each were sold across each format and then we will see where the true victor lies!
Who would you say is the winner in the following hypothetical scenario?
1. Prometheus sells 3,800 Blu-rays + 1,200 DVDs....... 76% BD market share.
2. Avengers sells 3,600,000 Blu-rays + 1,400,000 DVDs...... 72% BD market share.
I hypothetically state that it wouldn't be Prometheus taking "the crown."
The numbers in these articles do nothing to explain the popularity, quality, or actual financial success of the films. In fact, it really is just a means of spinning information so that it SEEMS relevant when it really has absolutely no clout behind it.
How do units sold not matter if the total pool ends up shrinking? I appreciate Blu Ray as much as anyone on this forum, but without solid sales numbers, it's difficult to really say how successful the format is. In fact, it could be floundering and it's just illustrating how far DVDs have fallen. I don't necessarily think this is the case, but it's a possibility.
I brought this point up with the Avengers marketshare number and naturally all the fanboys clicked minus next to my comment. The same thing will happen here but I'll say it again anyway. If every copy of the Blu-Ray includes a copy of the DVD, how is it even possible for this number to exceed 50 percent? Combo packs were all over the store displays (I don't even remember seeing the DVD-only option). I got the 4-disc set for the extra bonus disc but apparently my purchase counts towards the 3D marketshare. I'll never touch the 3D disc. Combo packs make marketshare numbers completely meaningless. As seannyd pointed out, the units sold is very important with all the competition from digital, NetFlix, Red Box, etc. I'm not sure how much we really can celebrate.
People bought discs. That makes me happy. And I hope they love Prometheus as much as I do! 3 viewings, + bonus features already. Big movies come in a small blu ray case.
You can chalk this result up to the success of the viral marketing campaign, the use of social media (Facebook/Twitter) and the continuing discussion and analysis of the film on the internet.
In the theaters, Avengers simply had more repeated viewers. It was a flick that definitely had that kind of appeal. Where as Prometheus was more of a "watch it once and wait for it to come out on Blu-Ray" type flick (to me at least). Either way, the money made on both films guarantees upcoming sequels. haha
@Petra_Kalbrain Also, there's a DVD packaged with EVERY Blu-ray. When they start getting rid of this lousy "bonus", then I'll start being impressed by these percentages. Just keeping things honest here.
@Ulises_CM Exactly. Usually it's just a $5 difference to do so in the first week. They might as well include an HD DVD while they're at it. Outside of Blu-ray, every physical disc based copy is pointless and waste of energy and supply. The digital copy is the only bonus I care about. At least I can access that anywhere in the world.
I find it hard to believe someone who doesn't have a Blu ray player would buy the Blu ray combo b/c it includes a DVD. And I find it less likely that someone with a Blu ray player would get the combo, use the DVD and NOT watch the BD. You're going to have to do a better job explaining that to me.
I understand the the ultimate comparison would be a DVD only pkg vs a Blu ray only pkg. Still seeing as a Blu ray player plays both and a DVD player doesn't, someone w/ a Blu ray player could still buy a DVD only copy. I think numbers like these show that it's not the case.
I agree with previous posters in that we would need to see unit and dollar numbers to judge the success of the BD format vs. DVD, etc. Percentages only show us how different titles fared against each other and only then in market share for one week; not the way success is generally judged, in dollars and units. A timeline of total BD units sold and dollars earned vs. the same timelines for DVD and other types of media would show the progress of all media over time in real numbers. Hopefully this would illustrate the success of BD.
Rainman, not every shopper is as informed as we are. We walk into Best Buy knowing EXACTLY which version we want. Many people around here went on a hunt to buy the special Target version. Your average shopper walks into Best Buy, sees a huge Prometheus display that's pushing the combo packs. The TV ad is pushing this combo pack. The Best Buy ad is pushing this combo pack with only tiny print below mentioning the DVD-only edition at 2 bucks less. The combo pack is exactly what they are expecting to buy and the sticker on the front reassures them that it includes the movie on DVD. It's not inconceivable that people without Blu-Ray players bought one of the 2 combo packs.
I highly doubt your average joe with a DVD player buys BD combo packs. They have yet to buy into bluray all these years but somehow they're buying combo packs? No. They're still buying DVD's.
I think a majority of America doesn't really care what the packaging is like or what is included. If they want to buy the movie, they are going to either buy the cheapest version they can see on the shelf or go with the first one they see, in assumption that it's the only version available.
If you have a stand full of combo packs with no mention of a DVD-only version, people are going to grab the combo pack and toss it in their cart.
People who don't own Blu-ray players do not buy Combo Packs. And most people do not shop at Best Buys or haven't you guys read about Best Buy closing down stores all over the country and focusing on Mobile shops? People buy movies from Walmart and Walmart has tons of DVD only copies of new releases. They keep more copies of DVDs than of Blu-rays. In fact, people with DVD players don't even buy movies that much. They rent DVDs from Redbox.
The fact is that Prometheus broke the market share record weeks after Avengers did is because Blu-ray is on the rise as the definitive home video format.
I wish they'd stop charging me for an unwanted DVD when all I want is the Blu-ray Disc. I guess they really couldn't charge, usually $10-15 more for it. Gimme the Blu-ray only. Stick the DVD up yer arses.
I think the high numbers for Cinderella is what I'm most impressed by. Avengers is the biggest superhero movie ever, and Prometheus was priced very well. But to see these number for a title that is aimed more toward young girls and women is encouraging overall for the format, also look at the Titanic 3D numbers, even Prometheus was below it, and I seriously hate Titanic, but it's dominating in sales.
Cinderella debuted on DVD years ago. Most people who want Cinderella on DVD already own it, so it's numbers are less impressive and why it isn't a headline.
Don't ditch your dvd's just yet. There are countless dvd's that haven't got the blu treatment. Some may never get the blu treatment. Plus I've noticed alot of extras aren't being carried over to blu's.
I agree, frogjunk65. I think I'm going to have to start searching for rare DVDs now. A lot of movies will never see Blu-ray just like allot of movies were never upgraded to DVD.
