Mr. Cinema

How to Train Your Dragon was only counted for the first 3 days of release since it came out on Friday. I think the numbers would have been higher if it was released on a normal Tuesday. I believe the BD had a marketshare of 31%.

Gizmo

But so would DVDs marketshare (since 1 out of 3 copies sold were BD).

lizard

I don't think it would have had much effect because Dragon sales were likely very front-loaded and the window includes the weekend.Where did you read that? Just curious.

lizard

If one adds more units of a 31% BD/DVD to total units averaging 16% BD/DVD it would increase the BD percentage of the total. I believe that this was Mr. Cinema's point.

Mr. Cinema

blu-ray.com had the breakdowns.

lizard

^Thanks.

BuckNaked2k

Here's a link to the Top-selling titles with Blu-ray % for each.

lizard

^Looking at that list and being a fan of high def, I really appreciate Disney's strategy of releasing a BD/DVD set first, to be followed by a DVD only release later.

Of course, The Beauty and the Beast is a special case since it has been released on DVD before. Still, I wish there were more BD exclusive release windows, although that means that the advertising push for the release would have faded by the time the DVD only edition got released.


Edit: I'm a bit surprised that catalog release BatB outsold new release Iron Man 2:
Top 20 Sellers for the Week Ended 10/10/10

BuckNaked2k

^ Why are you surprised? That was the second week for Iron Man 2....and it still did 70% of what B&TB did....not too shabby.

lizard

^You're right. I missed that.

BuckNaked2k

Week ending 10/24:

lizard

^Both DVD and BD sales seemed to be down sharply due to the lack of a major new release. The biggest new title was Predators and it did only 52% of the BD volume of Dragon, which was in its second week (and despite Dragon having a much lower BD/DVD percentage, 26% vs. 42%).

I would guess that the same will be true for the past week (10/31) but that sales will pick up sharply next week with the Toy Story 3 release.


I wish these sales information sites would give real numbers instead of indexed percentages. (But we've been saying that since 2006.)

Gizmo

I think that week last year was Transformers 2, so it's not a shock to see it not as high (not like Predators is going to topple Transformers 2).

Gizmo

Some scary numbers.

This week had Sex and the City 2 releases. BTTF Trilogy. Aliens Anthology. Two very expensive releases.

It was lower then any other week in Q4 2009.

This is the 13th, out of 44 weeks (so far) where Blu-ray has been down compared to 2009.

Q3 2010 was lower then Q3 2009 in revenue

Sub-Zero

With Blu-ray struggling this much, could Blu-ray really be the last physical media format?

Gizmo

It is. No one is expecting another disc format.

Alan Smithee

What further improvements could be made, anyways?

Sub-Zero

I think that one thing that annoys a lot of people is all the updating that is required for Blu-rays, including firmware updates, player profiles, HDMI versions and so on. If there is another home video format, it needs to be simpler for the end user (that doesn't mean that it can't be updated or anything like that, but has to be easier for the "average person" to use).

Sub-Zero

That's too bad if it is true. Like a lot of people here, I like to collect movies and hope that studios make at least one more home media format.

Matthew Chmiel

Two very expensive releases that most didn't purchase.

Don't get me wrong, I love both of those franchises, but there's no way in hell that I'm paying more than $30 for the BTTF set (especially with that terrible packaging) and $50-60 (tops) for the Alien set.

How can you justify, in this economy, for someone to spend $50 (at most places) for a set containing three catalog titles or $90+ for four catalog titles?

However, I did buy Sex and the City 2 for my girlfriend. ($20 gift card + price matching Barnes & Noble = walking out of Best Buy with it for free).

Alan Smithee

Back to the Future once again has a slipcover with no shrinkwrap on it, which means that any store that sticks price tags on it won't sell many of them. (I swear that's the #1 thing that's kept me from buying a lot of discs recently.) Sex & The City 2 wasn't too well-received in theaters; don't know what to say about Alien other than at over $100 it's not exactly an impulse buy. I think the first Alien set on DVD sold well though- in fact some say a lot of players were sold when that came out. But how many times can we buy the same movies over and over again? The first "Alien" was the only one I really cared about, and you can't buy that on Blu-Ray separately.

I think future Blu-Ray players can eventually have all the kinks worked out of them. Mine's about 2 years old and has only had minimal problems (one disc I have won't play if the USB drive is plugged in), my main complaint about the format is the loading time on a lot of discs. Picture is great after that though!

Matthew Chmiel

So you're saying everyone should buy a PS3?

However, studios are to blame alongside the players in terms of loading times. Lionsgate is a huge offender.

orangerunner

They are in the developing stages of several higher capacity discs but I don't think they'll ever see the light in the consumer market.

Blu-ray is struggling as it is and how much better do you need? Razor sharp picture on a 250" screen?

I think Blu-ray will be the final consumer-grade physical format. Picture quality may improve even further but the method of delivery probably won't be from a disc.

BuckNaked2k

Don't conflate the proclivities of DVD Talkers with those of the general public.

Alan Smithee

The general public is stupid- they'd buy "Previously Viewed" VHS tapes for 10 bucks apiece if that were their only choice.