There's no place to put numbers, so I decided to create a specific thread to discuss sales. Let's start off with this article from the Hollywood Reporter.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080423/tc_nm/bluray_dc_2

"In the first quarter this year, 4.9 million next-gen movies were sold, 3.8 million of which were Blu-ray. That's half of the 9.8 million copies of 536 different titles that have been sold in the U.S. since the inception of Blu-ray and HD DVD."

That's a pretty good start. Q4 should be huge with Iron Man, Dark Knight, Narnia 2, Indy 4 doing well. Not sure how well Q2 is going to be. There doesn't seem to be many marquee titles scheduled the next couple of months. Hopefully Universal and Paramount can provide a boost when their titles show up in Q3.

Q2 sales could be interesting -- April has been pretty sparse, and out of the entirety of May, there are really only two big titles: Rambo and National Treasure 2. I'm only really planning on picking up Butch Cassidy... that entire month, and even then I might hold off for a sale since the master reportedly looks pretty lousy.

I completely forgot about National Treasure 2. I think that has a chance to move 150K copies. I think Rambo will do better than expected.

May and June seem to have alot of catalog titles. I'll definitely be buying my share. Master & Commander, National Treasure, Twister, Patton, V for Vendetta, Dirty Harry, Signs, and Men in Black will be definite purchases.

I saw the Nielsen numbers for last week were 84:16. Didn't see any individual title numbers though.

I did see them...but can't find them now. I Am Legend was #1 and Over America moved up the number #7 spot. I don't think anyone on this board even owns that title so it must be selling to people that need a quick cheap HD fix to show off to their friends.

Edit: Found it



Considering Blu-ray once again sold 8:1 over HD DVD...I don't see how that SI has yet to move.

I think you also have to think about when more players will enter homes. The PS3 is going to be the main driver of sales for at least the rest of this year, and it will only sell more once the big titles for it come out (MGS4, GTA4).

agreed. especially if the volume numbers in that hollywood reporter article are true. the two just don't jive at all.

I hope the studios don't screw themselves if they aren't happy with the numbers. There is a lot I would like to buy, but it isn't out.

I'm definitely looking forward to National Treasure, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Batman Begins, Gotham Knight, and Starship Troopers (with a new Profile 1.1 PiP track, I believe); as well as Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, The Dark Knight, Iron Man, Hellboy: The Golden Army, Cloverfield, and Hancock, all of which I am assuming will be streeting in Q4 and should move a fair number of units each.

Got these numbers from Grubert:

Q4 2007 BD sales: 3.1 million

Q1 2007 BD sales: 830,000

Keep in mind its been a year and that's a couple extra million PS3s sold as well, even at the new lower $400 price. Its almost a duhh that sales would be higher.

Still, that's a pretty dramatic increase.

Holidays typically will have a huge raise in sales anyway. We had many big titles come out in Q4 then Q1. But a few million extras players sold also help. Q4 also had weekly BOGOs as well. I know I personally bought at least 50 movies in Q4.

I would like to know if they included the Spiderman bundled in with the PS3. Sometimes thats done.

It would be interesting to see the revenue numbers for comparison, but I suppose the subsidies that made those BOGOs possible can be fudged in the numbers.

All in all, I'd say the 1Q volume is encouraging, though not overwhelmingly so, for the future of BD. It's certainly more encouraging than what I had estimated based on the weekly percentages vs. HD DVD. I'm pretty shocked that HD DVD sold over 1 million units in 1Q 2008. I know some people have scrambled to pick up titles while they can, but the general consensus has been that the disc firesale opportunities have been underwhelming.

I was pretty impressed with the amount of HD DVD stuff that was sold in the Q1'08.

Too bad its ramping down - I have a ton of titles that I still need!

Q1 still had a handful of big titles for HD DVD. American Gangster comes to mind...and thats it, lol.

The pie graph I am watching is the vs DVD one. To say that BD and HDM in general really matters, it needs to be over 10% week in and week out IMHO. I am a few issues behind so I have a whole stack of those charts laying around the house and I think the best week was like 8%. If they want volume in Q2 they need some major sales - the economy is tight and $25+ titles don't fit in mine or lots of others budgets, $20 for titles I really want happens sometimes - but really I need $15 disc wether from sales or BOGO deals.

Exactly. What with the hot DVD titles released in Q4 and the general holiday buying season, the following Q1 is usually slower.

However, in this case, BD sales in Q1 2008 were 22% bigger than BD sales in Q4 2007. That's impressive.

Are these actual consumer sales or "sales" included such as Netflix receiving a buttload of Blu-ray discs for rentals.

Consumer sales, per previous lengthy discussion at avsforum.

Not that Netflix is receiving anything like a buttload of Blu-ray discs, judging from the inordinate wait times subscribers enjoy.

I'd have to say The Lion the Witch & the Wardrobe will be pretty huge. That also comes out in May. Especially with Prince Caspian releasing a few days later.

Yes, and the PS3 selling better in Q4 of 2007 rather then any other quarter helped those sales as well (for Q1 2008). I imagine it may be a long time before we get numbers instead of %s. 22% increase can be an additional 50k-100k titles sold, and lets be honest, its not that impressive.

Uhh... We do have numbers. Mr. Cinema reposted them above.

And not only did you see them - you quoted them!

http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showpost.ph...2&postcount=11

Thanks for giving me the surreal moment of the day.

That chart is very deceptive. The number seems cherry-picked to look good for the BD format. Comparing the top ten selling titles in one format to the other doesn't tell the story. The 500th best selling DVD likely sells more than that top BD on any given week.

Said it before, and I'll say it again:
Without numbers, these percentages are meaningless.