Disc Sales: Hard Numbers in for First Half of 2007
Wed Aug 15, 2007 at 01:45 PM ET
Tags: Disc Sales, Industry Trends (all tags)

New data released Tuesday by Home Media Research provides a first look at actual disc sales numbers for the first half of 2007, and it's more good news for Blu-ray.

The research arm of Home Media Magazine says total sales of Blu-ray discs for the first six month of 2007 totalled 1.6 million units, compared with 795,000 HD-DVD discs sold in the same time frame.

While Blu-ray's 2-to-1 disc sales lead over HD DVD in 2007 has been known for months now, these figures are the first hard look at exactly how many discs have been sold by each format so far this year.

Of course, these numbers remain tiny compared to standard-def DVD sales. Both high-def disc formats combined have reportedly accounted for only 2.5% of overall disc sales so far this year.

Still, with overall DVD sales in a continued slump, high-def remains the one clear growth area for the home entertainment industry. As such, retailers are said to be making more room for both next-gen formats as we head into the crucial fourth quarter holiday shopping season.

What effect the increased shelf space, a packed release slate, and lower player prices will have on disc sales for the second half of the year remains to be seen, but needless to say, we'll be tracking developments as they happen...


Link for full story:

http://www.highdefdigest.com/news/sh...lf_of_2007/862

have we ever seen hard numbers that compare day & date releases of sd-dvd vs hdm?

everyone always comments on how much better sd-dvd sales are but sd-dvd has far more releases than hdm any given week

for example, this week on aug 14 these were released
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hdm:
Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme (Blu-ray)
Erin Brockovich (HD)
The Lookout (Blu-ray)
Meet the Fockers (HD)
Mercury Rising (HD)
Vacancy (Blu-ray)
What Dreams May Come (HD)
Wild Hogs (Blu-ray)


---------------------------
sd-dvd:
51 Birch Street
And Then Came Love
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for DVD
Boy Culture
Fracture
God Grew Tired of Us
Inland Empire
The Lookout
The Method (El Metodo)
Vacancy
Wild Hogs

Back to School (Extra-Curricular Edition)
Cria Cuervos - Criterion Collection
The Dark Crystal (25th Anniv. Edition)
Double Feature: Bean / Johnny English
Double Feature: End of Days / Virus
Double Feature: Halloween II / Halloween III
Double Feature: Tales from the Crypt - Bordello of Blood / Demon Knight
Double Feature: The Bone Collector / Sea of Love
Hamlet (2-disc Special Edition) (1996)
Labyrinth (Anniversary Edition)
A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)
Othello (1965)
Romeo and Juliet (1936)
Taxi Driver (2-disc Collector's Edition)
Triple Feature: Blue Crush / Honey / Josie and the Pussycats
Triple Feature: Psycho II / Psycho III / Psycho IV - The Beginning

Acts of Death
Bam Bam and Celeste
Black Widow
The Black Widow
Carved: The Slit-Mouthed Woman (foreign)
Doctor Strange: The Sorcerer Supreme
Drunken Monkey (foreign)
Murderous Intent
Puzzlehead
Your Life in 65 (foreign)

Anatomy 101: Showgirls

Anti-Social Studies 101: Escape from New York / The Usual Suspects / Leaving Las Vegas

Astronomy 101: Spaceballs / Buckaroo Banzai / Killer Klowns from Outer Space

Charlie Chan Collection, Vol. 3
Computer Science 101: WarGames / Antitrust / Hackers

Essential Directors - Martin Scorsese

The First Films of Samuel Fuller - Eclipse Series 5 - Criterion Collection

History 101: Platoon / Dances with Wolves / Windtalkers

Partying 101: Bio-Dome / PCU / Back to School

Romance 101: Heartbreakers / Legally Blonde / The Cutting Edge

Shakespeare Collection

All Creatures Great and Small - Series 7
Amazing Johnathan: Wrong on Every Level
Baby Looney Tunes, Vol. 4
Bramwell - Season 2
Brian Regan: Standing Up
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds: Live at Radio City Music Hall
Doctor Who - Robot (Episode 75)
Doctor Who - Survival (Episode 159)
Doug Stanhope - No Refunds
Dynasty - Season 2
Elvis: The Miniseries
Father Brown - Set 2
The Fugitive - Season 1, Vol. 1
The Kids in the Hall: The Pilot Episode
Kiss: Kissology Vol. II 1978-1991
Marco Polo (2007)
Masters of Horror - Valerie on the Stairs
Masters of Horror - We All Scream for Ice Cream
McLeod's Daughters - Season 3
Murder City (2004)
Overhaulin' - Season 3, Vol. 2
Pandemic (2007)
A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Vol. 7
Rowan Atkinson Live!
Veggie Tales: God Made You Special

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so when we see that hdm is only 2.5% that doesn't mean much.

i'd be much more impressed if they say something like the 300,000 copies of "300" sold on hdm was only 2.5% of all disc sales for that movie at that time.

Well, the blockbuster titles in HD surely outsell most other titles. 300 (on both formats) probably outsold ten title on your list combined. Most retailers will probably stock at most a copy or two of Cria Cuervos, for example.

The overall market share is still small enough that this is anyone's fight.

Over the first 8 months of the year, all Blu-ray and HD DVD titles combined sold approx 2.4 million units: 1.6 million for Blu-ray and .8 million for HD DVD, a 2:1 sales ratio.

On DVD, the movie "300" sold 5.1 million copies in its first week. That's one single movie in just one week, more than doubling the consolidated total of all Blu-ray and HD DVD for the year. Now let's imagine what will happen when the rest of the summer blockbusters start coming out.

Kind of puts that 2:1 sales ratio into perspective, doesn't it?

Let's remember that the first standard DVD title to top 1 million in sales didn't come along until 1999 (The Matrix). So when I see something like 300 selling 250,000 copies (albeit on two different formats) in the first full year of these new formats, I think those are pretty good numbers.

Did any DVD sell that well in 1997 (the first full year of American DVD sales)? I'm not sure that one did...

And with dvd being around for 10+ years and having over 130 million dvd players sold in the US, it seems kind of ridiculous to compare HD disc sales on a new title with the dvd counterpart.

I'd much rather have comparisons using dvd's first 1 1/2 years of existence.

I think so much has changed because of DVD, and the popularization of "home theater" in general, that using those numbers wouldn't be a very fair comparison. Buying movies on VHS was never as popular as DVD has become, so in those first few years, people just weren't geared towards buying (and re-buying) movies like they are today.

I think the sales have more to do with 300's visual style. I don't see Pirates or Spider-Man selling as many Blu-Rays.

I bet you Pirates does. The Blu-ray numbers for Spidey 3 might be a little skewed because some will be buying the boxed set while others will be getting the single version.

Pirates 3 will be a day & date title, so it "should" sell much higher than parts 1 & 2.

Agreed, Blu-ray sales are sad, HD DVD sales are beyond pathetic.

Both are selling poorly.

I think sales in Q4 will increase substantially especially with the mega Blade Runner 5 disc set and the Kubrick films. Part of the problem also so far is there's too many "crappy movies" being released in HD imo. Where's Gladiator, Braveheart, Jaws, etc...

excellent point

I'm very happy with my upgrade to hd-dvd so far. Who cares what the sales numbers are.

I think some people had some seriously unrealistic expectations for how these would sell.

I agree, especially for Universal who seems to be putting out more movies than any other studio, we have yet to see Jaws, Jurassic Park, or Back to the Future

Well, I had heard that Spielberg had put the kibosh on any of his movies being released in hi-def, but then I see Close Encounters being released, so who knows what's going on.

I really really would like the War of the Worlds limited edition to appear in HD. SPR would be nice too.

I still say that if Universal wants to release Jaws, JP, etc, they can with or without Spielberg's blessing. He does not own the properties outright, unlike George Lucas who owns all interest in Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Howard the Duck

Well they probably CAN...but that hardly makes it a good idea. Stepping on the toes of one of the most powerful talents in the industry is never a good idea, regardless if you can or not.

Universal can do what they want with Spielberg's movies, but messing with them probably isn't that good of idea. However, the Dreamworks sale to Paramount probably didn't really help the Universal -Spielberg relationship.

However, it seems that with Close Encounters, Universal has been willing to release it multiple times in multiple formats...perhaps Spielberg isn't as attached to the film as his other Universal films.

I have no idea what are you talking about! CE isn't property of Universal! Plain and simple!

Pro-B

I also wonder where Scarface is. I would think that Scarface would sell pretty well and possibly even move some HD-DVD players.