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'Wall-E,' 'Tropic Thunder' Top DVD Charts 'Iron Man' Rules Sluggish '08 Sales Date: 12/1/2008 |
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Pixar?s Wall-E topped the DVD and Blu-ray sales charts for the week ending November 23rd, with the comedy Tropic Thunder coming in second on both lists, but the Ben Stiller-directed Tropic Thunder managed to top the DVD rental charts. Last week Kung Fu Panda took the top spot on the DVD charts, while Hellboy II surprised analysts by finishing first on the Blu-ray and rental charts. This week Hellboy II slipped to #4 on the rental charts behind Tropic Thunder, Wall-E, and Kung Fu Panda. What could be the biggest weeks for DVD sales in 2008 are still ahead with holiday gift buying certain to add to the totals of current sales leaders and The Dark Knight likely to become the bestselling DVD of the year, but right now it appears that DVD sales will be down considerably against 2007's. Last year there were nine titles that sold more copies than 2008?s current DVD sales leader Iron Man?s nearly 8 million units. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has disappointed with 4.8 million in sales, which is only good enough for sixth place on the 2008 charts. Iron Man?s running mate from Marvel Studios, The Incredible Hulk, is the #2 superhero DVD of 2008 so far with 2.8 million sold followed by Hellboy II (1.4 million). It does appear that Kung Fu Panda (4.5 million) and Wall-E both have a good shot at beating Alvin and the Chipmunks (5.8 million) for the top animated DVD of 2008, though its unlikely that either one will get anywhere near the 12 million unit-level attained in 2007 by both Happy Feet and Ratatouille. With DVD sales weakening (Nielsen VideoScan reported a 9% overall drop during Q3), Hollywood is looking to Blu-ray to offset declines in sales in the aging DVD format. Blu-ray sales are up, but the question is, are they growing fast enough to make up for the decline in conventional DVD sales? Blu-ray authoring and manufacturing costs are still higher than conventional modes of manufacture, and the result is higher prices for Blu-ray discs creating a price differential that tends to depress sales. Holiday specials may help, but the answer may also lie in providing extras in Blu-ray releases that go beyond the improvements in sound and picture quality?Pixar?s Wall-E Blu-ray (see ?When is Finishing 2nd a Victory??) for example is a 3-disc extravaganza that includes a digital copy of the film that can be watched on computers and loaded on iPods and similar devices. Dreamwork?s Tropic Thunder, which finished a strong second to Wall-E in Blu-ray sales, also includes features that indicate that the Blu-ray format is finally coming into its own. Not only does the Tropic Thunder Blu-ray contain the uncut ?Director?s Cut,? it also includes a great range of extras all of which are presented in full 1080p high definition?a welcome change from most previous Blu-ray releases in which the poor visual quality of the extras makes a strong contrast with the immaculate look of the movie itself. Like Wall-E, Tropic Thunder is one of the best Blu-ray releases ever. It?s great to watch the ?making-of? features in high def, and it?s tons of fun to see the films? actors remain in character for the behind-the-scenes features, which are also presented in full high definition, and then there?s that great faux viral video for ?MTV? that may be the funniest thing in the entire package. Of course, it doesn't hurt that the extras are on top of the best comedy film of the summer, a raunchy send-up of the modern war movie genre that also savagely skewered the pretensions of ?serious? screen actors and the full panoply of self-important Hollywood types ranging from drug-addled overweight comedians to power-addled, overweight studio bosses. |
| Source: ICv2 |
