Artman

I've bought more so far this yr than any other. Mostly due to all the $10 (or close to it) prices, plus a lot of catalogs I wanted came out. I expect my buying to decrease the following yrs as it'll eventually just be new releases. That'll actually be nice in a way...lol.

BuckNaked2k

Another very weak slate of releases, but a slightly better showing for Blu-ray this week:

Gizmo

I don't know if a $200 boxset being #1 is weak...it helped the revenue (as did S6 sales at $50).

Are we allowed to discuss sales numbers? I remember it being taboo a few years ago.

BuckNaked2k

That any TV show is #1 is indicative of a "weak week".

A strong week would include something like Iron Man 2 or Inception.

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 9/5:

beebs

Title is off. DEG reported numbers have DVD sell through down 24% based on first half of the year numbers over 2008 - 2010. When you factor in BR, the dip is merely 19%.

BR is not saving the industry by any measure of the market.

I think the way things are going physical sales will be sliding every year going forward.

doctorthodt

Any possibility that Iron Man 2 will be the first major release to break the 50% barrier?

edit: Nevermind, just looked it up and it seems that The Losers had a 51% BD share on opening week.

Gizmo

At $15 at Wal-Mart (and likely to be price matched by Amazon soon) it's very likely. But that type of stuff really does not matter when the revenue is still low. Plus, the $15 Iron Man comes with a DVD so who would spend more money for a DVD only copy at this point?

dvdjunkie32

This is scary for a collector like me. For years, my hobby has been to buy, sell and trade dvds. Now the selling part gets worse every year. I recently listed my Battlestar Galactica season 1 and 2 dvds on Ebay. I wanted to use the money towards an upgrade to blu-ray.

I was shocked to see the high bids only reach 5 bucks. Similiar prices on Amazon marketplace. That is practically giving the shit away for free. A set that originally cost me 30 bucks. I'm finding more and more of my tv seasons just have no resell value so I'm stuck with them.

If physical media does go away completely, I'm screwed when they stop making dvd players.

Gizmo

No more if, it's when. When is the thing we don't know. But when looks like it's coming faster then ever.

riotinmyskull

physical media will never go away. never.

BuckNaked2k

Word. People are still buying LPs!

Gizmo

Because LPs are cool now to 15 year olds.

orangerunner

There will a demand for them for many years to come even if it's in the form of a Blu-ray player.

They stopped making pre-recorded VHS tapes five years ago and yet you can still buy a Blu-ray/VHS combo machine.

The only issue might be the price as the technology becomes less in demand. A new release LP record that would cost $8.99 in 1989 (when records were mostly phased-out) now costs you $30 today because of low volume.

d2cheer

This.
But streaming is still going to become the norm.

big e

I think streaming and downloading will become the norm, with physical media taking a 3rd place backseat. Over the last couple months I personally have become more open to the idea of (legally) downloading a movie as opposed to buying a physical copy, although I have not downloaded anything yet. I just don't have the same vibe towards collecting as I did a few years ago. I don't think its burn out; I think it's just that over the course of 10 years, I bought pretty much everything that I'm interested in and there's just not that much else out there that I really feel the need to own with the exception of a handful of DVDs that are being released and, of course, Criterions.*



*This does not apply to Blu-rays. I am still actively buying those.

Mr. Cinema

I think streaming will be the norm for rentals, but that's it. We'll have streaming only rental plans eventually from Netflix, Amazon, and everyone else.

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 9/12:

Gizmo

Just look at the #1 Movie last week:


WTF? Are movie goers so starved for content they buy that dreck?

BuckNaked2k

Without looking, I've never even heard of that movie. (The Criterion release of Hemingway's The Killers, notwithstanding ). Just because it's #1, doesn't mean it's moved a lot of units. Also, look at the precipitous drop to the #2 title....only 40% of the volume of #1.

doctorthodt

In all fairness, no good, high-profile releases came out that week, so it makes sense that a piece of shit like Killers would top the charts.

Coral

I have to believe that BD sales cant be very good when old titles are in the top 20 still.

Anyone have a top 20 list for DVDs for that same period to compare?

Alan Smithee

Amazing- I have NONE of the titles on that list (I bought Superbad on regular DVD because I wanted the theatrical version, which even with 2 Blu-Ray discs they couldn't find room for it on that, and I'll buy Kick-Ass if it ever goes below $20.)

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 9/19:

Josh-da-man

Why DVD sales are declining:

1. Unemployment/recession. People are cutting down on luxury items and non-essentials.

2. The first ten years of the format saw tons of catalog titles flooding the market. You had five+ decades worth of movies and television coming to the format in the span of a few years. The vaults have been purged of almost everything salable.

3. Decline in retail space. Suncoast is gone. Circuit City is gone. Stores like Best Buy and Wal-Mart are shrinking the size of their CD and DVD inventory. There are fewer stores selling DVDs now than there were five years ago, and the ones that are still selling them are devoting less shelf space to them.

4. The DVD fad is over. People who have large DVD collections have slowed down their buying (either due to the above factors or a lack of space in their own homes has made the consumption more discriminating).