Blu-ray Sales Up 351%

Posted April 18, 2008 01:34 PM by Josh Dreuth


One of the reasons movie studios are hoping consumers adopt Blu-ray is in order to offset continually declining DVD sales. Since they plateaued three years ago, DVD sales have slowly decreased. The first quarter of this year was no different, showing an overall drop in DVD sales of 1.2% from Q1 2007. However, Blu-ray sales saved the day - just as studios have hoped they would - and when combined with DVD sales resulted in an overall increase in sales of 1% over last year. Steve Beeks, president and co-COO of Lionsgate commented, "Blu-ray had its second-best week ever in the seven days ending March 23, and we anticipate Blu-ray sales of $800 million to $1billion-plus for all of 2008, up dramatically from approximately $300 million last year." With the format war now over, studios are looking forward to the rest of the year as more and more consumers adopt the high definition format.
Source: Hollywood Reporter \| Permalink \| [Country settings]

News comments (39 comments)

Top reviewer

nathanp

Apr 18, 2008

I win!

Top reviewer

Top contributor

Lucy Diamond

Apr 18, 2008

Oh yeah.

I'm proud my 100+ helped that.

;o )

Good Job folks

Living Near Shamu

Apr 18, 2008

This should get all the studios moving faster. Come on HBO, we want BOB faster!

bluflu

Apr 18, 2008

As Michael Bay would say, "AWESOME!!!"

Hamawy

Apr 18, 2008

hope BD surpasses DVD by next April

Good news...I doubt BD will surpass dvd a year from now...maybe two. I think the biggest factor of upgrading to blu-ray...is that for all the people that still dont' have an HDTV, it's yet another thing to buy. Upgrading from VHS to DVD, meant people had to buy just another compoonent. With Blu-ray, some people will have to buy the player AND the TV. I just think the whole transition will take a little longer. Everyone do your part and turn all your friends and family onto blu-ray! Push vizio 1080p sets on them or something, just so they get a blu-ray player!

kaliraver

Apr 18, 2008

This is more excellent news for Blu-Ray and hopefully in a couple of years it will over take DVD!

daniel andrews

Apr 18, 2008

Projected sales at $1billion?! How does that compare to projected DVD sales in 08? How comparable will these figures be by next year?!

PS3-Playb3yond

Apr 18, 2008

That's awesome!

I wonder who still buys DVDs these days?

Top reviewer

mugupo

Apr 18, 2008

Of course many people DVD, due to fact that many blu-ray player and TV is still pretty pricey whe is not onsales, But think this holiday season will see a big close gap bewteen blu-ray and DVD. Fact is there's still no PC Game or software using blur-ray at this moment.

Top reviewer

Top contributor

that1guystudios

Apr 18, 2008

I think Blu-Ray will really take off from December 08-April 09 due to the Holiday shopping season combined with the HDTV rollover in the US.

I think that around 2010 Blu-Ray will head for a 50/50 split with DVD purchases,
and that eventually maybe even pass DVD sales.

(I personally think DVD will be around for about 10 years though...
it's just all too practical to just throw away, unlike VHS.)

jcdDigix

Apr 18, 2008

More good news to come! Keep buying Blu-ray folks.

EvolutionCherry

Apr 18, 2008

First HD-DVD now SD-DVD seems to be next.

maineventer44

Apr 18, 2008

I agree with Bango comments. VHS had a strong hold of the home video market for about fourteen or fifteen years then DVD came out, say about 1998. It wasn't until 2006 that VHS was phased out completely. It took about eight to ten years to phase out one piece of technology over another. I believe that it could take BLU-RAY less or maybe the same amount of time that it took for DVD to overtake VHS. But I DO believe that BLU-RAY WILL overtake DVD, one day!!!

KretzJ

Apr 18, 2008

OH yeah.... I'm liking those stats!

CptGreedle

Apr 18, 2008

Looks like the DVD sales are still slipping a little, and Blu-ray is already coming to save the day!!

Also, thanks for the "tip" at the bottom, I always have that problem with the weird text wrapping.

Rainman208

Apr 18, 2008

Good news but there's still work to be done.

There are A LOT of people who have no idea what Blu-Ray is or that there was even a format war. Sure these are the same people who aren't by any means tech savy and don't have a HDTV yet but there are more of them than I think most people realize.

BD marketing should do a series of commercials simply explaining what Blu-ray is and its benefits instead of just stating that certain movies are available in Blu-ray high def. You know break down the whole blue laser vs. red laser thing and that's why you need a new player. One of my co-workers bought some Blu-ray's and thought they would work in a SD-DVD player. I do as much as I can with word of mouth but I get hoarse easily. :-)

tru blu

Apr 18, 2008

Everyone on this site should be pleased, that we have contributed to the start of great things to come.

cecilyerby

Apr 18, 2008

I will probably never buy another DVD in my life now that I have experienced Blu-ray, but I think much of the decline in sales over the past three years is that there haven't been as many movies worth owning. I think the recent sequel, third movie, and remake trend has taken it's toll on the industry. Give us something new and creative and give us a reason to own it. Personal favorites over the past 3 years: Saw, V For Vendeta, The Island, & No Country for Old Men.

kknight

Apr 18, 2008

I can't wait till the day DVD becomes obsolete and everything comes out on Blu-ray! Since foreign countries haven't quite adopted to Blu-ray like us, that's the only time I buy DVDs and man, I kept asking myself, this movie would look/sound sweet on Blu-ray.

JT_Designer

Apr 18, 2008

Now if more computer companies would include a blu-ray drive by default this number would be 2-3x this. Ahem Apple..

JLP

Apr 18, 2008

Well that's certainly good news, BUT what would it take to get Para-cunt of its @SS?...

RYDES

Apr 18, 2008

One of the biggest things that will keep standard dvd around is the fact that tv shows, specifically older shows from the 70's to the 90's have found life on dvd. It was unheard of for a tv show to be available on vhs, and now nearly every show that has ever had a decent run on tv is out on dvd. This will keep the dvd format going for a while, even as newr shows which broadcast in HD become available on blu-ray.

TheRevXXX

Apr 18, 2008

I really can't see dvd ever getting completely wiped out. The huge difference I think compared to vhs vs dvd was that they couldn't be played on the same machine. It was too much of a hassle to have a piece of equipment for both formats where as today DVDs will always be able to be used. There really will be no reason for studios to stop producing dvds. Sadly, they are here to stay.

Keysersoze10033

Apr 19, 2008

Cool, my 87 (and counting) Blue-rays made a difference

Top contributor

saginawjuggalo

Apr 19, 2008

Great news! I know I've done more part.. Well over 100 Blu-rays here :-)

Dave

Apr 19, 2008

The dvd format is dead meat ...

BlackRabbit

Apr 19, 2008

hehe.. makes me want to buy another movie

Minimejer05

Apr 19, 2008

This is great news! Go blu!!

Excalibur-king

Apr 19, 2008

Blu-ray FTW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

stephen70

Apr 19, 2008

I only buy blu-ray from now on - just keep those sales happening and the prices comming down and Picture Quality going upwards please.
Good to hear that DVD is loosing ground it will force studios to switch to HD sooner.
The full HD digital stuff like planet earth is better than film transfer. The new 2K and 1080P digital cameras have deeper/sharper focus, less noise and better color than film.