Woochifer
01-23-2009, 06:07 PM
FIRST THE GOOD NEWS
The latest Videoscan data shows the YTD market share for Blu-ray at 13%, which is more than double what Blu-ray averaged for all of 2008. Very clearly, the format got a huge boost from hardware sales during the holidays, and now the new BD player owners have shifted their purchasing to Blu-rays.
It seems that day-and-date new releases in particular are driving Blu-ray's market share, and The Dark Knight in particular completely reset the sales thresholds, becoming the first BD title to surpass 1 million and now 2 million discs sold. It was less than two years ago that Casino Royale was the first BD title to cross the 100,000 threshold, and it was less than six months ago that Wall-E and Iron Man first crossed the 500,000 mark.
WHAT'S THE NEXT DARK KNIGHT?
So now the question becomes what title will surpass The Dark Knight and when will that happen? Looking over the upcoming BD release schedule, I don't see anything that will come close to generating the activity that The Dark Knight did. In fact, I don't see much that looks all that inspiring over the next two months period.
WEAK UPCOMING SCHEDULE, AND A TWILIGHT BLUNDER
The only upcoming day-and-date releases that ranked among last year's top 10 movies are Madagascar 2 and Twilight. More disturbingly, the Twilight Blu-ray will be sold ONLY by Best Buy and Target for the first two months! Having one of the two biggest upcoming titles limited to two retailers during the initial release can only reduce the potential sales for that title, and limit the potential boost to the Blu-ray format itself.
While Blu-ray's increasing market share looks encouraging for the format's future, I also get the impression that disc sales will nosedive just as the format finally gains traction on the hardware side. There's just nothing on the new release schedule that will drive sales, and I don't think that catalog releases will carry the day either. If there's a time for someone, whether it's the studios or retailers, to try and boost sales by cutting disc prices, it's now. Blu-ray finally has some big time momentum, but consumers who venture over to the Blu-ray sections at Best Buy or Target see $30 price tags on the discs and promptly turn away. The time is right to start moving Blu-ray's price points further towards new release DVDs.
Here's the upcoming Blu-ray release schedule. Chime in if you see something that might turn into an unexpected hit...
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html
January 20, 2009
* 13 Going on 30 (Sony)
* Amusement (Warner)
* Antwone Fisher (Fox)
* The Deal (2008) (Peace Arch)
* Domino (Warner)
* El Norte (Criterion Collection)
* Election (Paramount Entetainment)
* The Express (Universal)
* Henry Poole is Here (Anchor Bay)
* Igor (MGM)
* King Kong (2005) (Universal Entetainment)
* Max Payne (Fox)
* The Notebook (Limited Edition Giftset) (Warner)
* The Pink Panther (2006) (Sony)
* Poison Ivy 4: The Secret Society (Warner)
* Repo! The Genetic Opera (Lionsgate)
* Saw V (Lionsgate)
* Unfaithful (Fox)
January 27, 2009
* Any Given Sunday: Director's Cut (Warner)
* The Bourne Trilogy (Universal)
* Dead & Buried (Blue Underground)
* Death Trance (Tokyo Shock)
* Groundhog Day (Sony)
* Hulk Vs. (Lionsgate)
* Lakeview Terrace (Sony)
* Open Season 2 (Sony)
* The Pink Panther (1963) (Fox)
* Pride & Glory (Warner)
* The Rocker (Fox)
* RockNRolla (Warner)
* Stomp Live (Well Go USA)
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Weinstein)
* Zodiac: Director's Cut (Paramount)
February 03, 2009
* Being There (Warner)
* Clerks II (Weinstein)
* The Cure: Trilogy - Live In Berlin (Eagle Rock)
* Friday the 13th (1980) (Paramount)
* Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself (Image)
* k.d. lang: Live in London (Image)
* Napoleon Dynamite (Fox)
* Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Sony)
* Office Space (Fox)
* Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (Sony)
* Secret Life of Bees (Fox)
* Sex Drive (Summit)
* Sideways (Fox)
* Space Buddies (Walt Disney)
* Taxi Driver (Sony)
* Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Weinstein)
February 06, 2009
* Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Paramount)
February 10, 2009
* Amadeus: Director's Cut (Warner)
* Boondock Saints (Fox)
* Chocolate (Magnolia)
* Donnie Darko (Fox)
* Doom (Universal)
* Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 / Bojack Returns (FUNimation)
* Frozen River (Sony)
* A History of Violence (Warner)
* Hurricane on the Bayou (Image)
* IMAX: Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk (Image)
* IMAX: Super Speedway (Image)
* Little Miss Sunshine (Fox)
* Miracle at St. Anna (Walt Disney)
* My Name is Bruce (Image)
* Nights in Rodanthe (Warner)
* The Pelican Brief (Warner)
* Pretty Woman (Walt Disney)
* Raging Bull (MGM)
* The Rundown (Universal)
* Soul Men (2008) (Weinstein)
* Street Fighter (Universal)
* A Time to Kill (Warner)
* W. (Lionsgate)
* The Way of War (First Look)
* When Weather Changed History (Madacy)
February 15, 2009
* Highlander: The Series - Season One (Legendary Heroes)
February 17, 2009
* Body of Lies (Warner)
* Capote (2005) / In Cold Blood (Two-Pack) (Sony)
* Changeling (2008) (Universal)
* Gandhi (Sony)
* High School Musical 1-3 (Box Set) (Walt Disney)
* High School Musical 3 (Walt Disney)
* High School Musical: Remix (Walt Disney)
* How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (MGM)
* Kramer vs. Kramer (Sony)
* The Midnight Meat Train (Lionsgate)
* One Long Night (Vivendi Visual)
* The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) (Fox)
* Quarantine (Sony)
February 20, 2009
* What Just Happened (Magnolia)
February 24, 2009
* The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Blue Underground)
* The French Connection II (Fox)
* The French Connection (Fox)
* Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (Fox)
* Kill Switch (Momentum)
* The Matador (2008) (City Lights)
* Neil Young: Archives Volume One - (1963-!972) (Warner Music Group)
* Ronin (MGM)
* Vanishing Point (Fox)
* The Who: Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 (Eagle Rock)
March 03, 2009
* Australia (Fox)
* Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Walt Disney)
* Brokeback Mountain (Universal)
* I've Loved You So Long (Sony)
* In the Electric Mist (Image)
* The Silence of the Lambs (MGM)
* Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic (Warner)
* Wonder Woman (2009) (Warner)
March 10, 2009
* Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology (Warner)
* Battle in Seattle (Screen Media Films)
* Cadillac Records (Sony)
* The Grudge (2004) (Sony)
* Gulliver's Travels (1939) (Koch Distributing)
* Let the Right One In (Magnolia)
* Pinocchio (1940) (Walt Disney)
* Primal Fear (Paramount)
* Role Models (Universal)
* Synecdoche, New York (Sony)
* Transporter 3 (Lionsgate)
March 17, 2009
* Lady Death: The Motion Picture (A.D. Vision)
* National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year (Lionsgate)
* Punisher: War Zone (Lionsgate)
* Quo Vadis (Warner)
* Rachel Getting Married (Sony)
* The Robe (1953) (Fox)
* Seven Pounds (Sony)
* South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season (Paramount)
March 21, 2009
* Twilight (Summit)
March 24, 2009
* The 400 Blows (Criterion Collection)
* Big Stan (Warner)
* Bolt (Walt Disney)
* Goldfinger (MGM)
* James Bond Collection Three-Pack: Volume 3 (Goldfinger, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough) (MGM)
* Kite Runner (Paramount)
* The Last Metro (Criterion Collection)
* The Matrix (Warner)
* A Mighty Heart (Paramount)
* Moonraker (MGM)
* Never Say Never Again (MGM)
* Passengers (Sony)
* Quantum of Solace (MGM)
* Things We Lost in the Fire (Paramount)
* UFC: The Best of 2008 (First Look)
* The Venture Brothers: Season 3 (Warner)
* The World is Not Enough (MGM)
The latest Videoscan data shows the YTD market share for Blu-ray at 13%, which is more than double what Blu-ray averaged for all of 2008. Very clearly, the format got a huge boost from hardware sales during the holidays, and now the new BD player owners have shifted their purchasing to Blu-rays.
It seems that day-and-date new releases in particular are driving Blu-ray's market share, and The Dark Knight in particular completely reset the sales thresholds, becoming the first BD title to surpass 1 million and now 2 million discs sold. It was less than two years ago that Casino Royale was the first BD title to cross the 100,000 threshold, and it was less than six months ago that Wall-E and Iron Man first crossed the 500,000 mark.
WHAT'S THE NEXT DARK KNIGHT?
So now the question becomes what title will surpass The Dark Knight and when will that happen? Looking over the upcoming BD release schedule, I don't see anything that will come close to generating the activity that The Dark Knight did. In fact, I don't see much that looks all that inspiring over the next two months period.
WEAK UPCOMING SCHEDULE, AND A TWILIGHT BLUNDER
The only upcoming day-and-date releases that ranked among last year's top 10 movies are Madagascar 2 and Twilight. More disturbingly, the Twilight Blu-ray will be sold ONLY by Best Buy and Target for the first two months! Having one of the two biggest upcoming titles limited to two retailers during the initial release can only reduce the potential sales for that title, and limit the potential boost to the Blu-ray format itself.
While Blu-ray's increasing market share looks encouraging for the format's future, I also get the impression that disc sales will nosedive just as the format finally gains traction on the hardware side. There's just nothing on the new release schedule that will drive sales, and I don't think that catalog releases will carry the day either. If there's a time for someone, whether it's the studios or retailers, to try and boost sales by cutting disc prices, it's now. Blu-ray finally has some big time momentum, but consumers who venture over to the Blu-ray sections at Best Buy or Target see $30 price tags on the discs and promptly turn away. The time is right to start moving Blu-ray's price points further towards new release DVDs.
Here's the upcoming Blu-ray release schedule. Chime in if you see something that might turn into an unexpected hit...
http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/releasedates.html
January 20, 2009
* 13 Going on 30 (Sony)
* Amusement (Warner)
* Antwone Fisher (Fox)
* The Deal (2008) (Peace Arch)
* Domino (Warner)
* El Norte (Criterion Collection)
* Election (Paramount Entetainment)
* The Express (Universal)
* Henry Poole is Here (Anchor Bay)
* Igor (MGM)
* King Kong (2005) (Universal Entetainment)
* Max Payne (Fox)
* The Notebook (Limited Edition Giftset) (Warner)
* The Pink Panther (2006) (Sony)
* Poison Ivy 4: The Secret Society (Warner)
* Repo! The Genetic Opera (Lionsgate)
* Saw V (Lionsgate)
* Unfaithful (Fox)
January 27, 2009
* Any Given Sunday: Director's Cut (Warner)
* The Bourne Trilogy (Universal)
* Dead & Buried (Blue Underground)
* Death Trance (Tokyo Shock)
* Groundhog Day (Sony)
* Hulk Vs. (Lionsgate)
* Lakeview Terrace (Sony)
* Open Season 2 (Sony)
* The Pink Panther (1963) (Fox)
* Pride & Glory (Warner)
* The Rocker (Fox)
* RockNRolla (Warner)
* Stomp Live (Well Go USA)
* Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Weinstein)
* Zodiac: Director's Cut (Paramount)
February 03, 2009
* Being There (Warner)
* Clerks II (Weinstein)
* The Cure: Trilogy - Live In Berlin (Eagle Rock)
* Friday the 13th (1980) (Paramount)
* Jeff Dunham: Arguing with Myself (Image)
* k.d. lang: Live in London (Image)
* Napoleon Dynamite (Fox)
* Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (Sony)
* Office Space (Fox)
* Rent: Filmed Live on Broadway (Sony)
* Secret Life of Bees (Fox)
* Sex Drive (Summit)
* Sideways (Fox)
* Space Buddies (Walt Disney)
* Taxi Driver (Sony)
* Zack and Miri Make a Porno (Weinstein)
February 06, 2009
* Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (Paramount)
February 10, 2009
* Amadeus: Director's Cut (Warner)
* Boondock Saints (Fox)
* Chocolate (Magnolia)
* Donnie Darko (Fox)
* Doom (Universal)
* Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13 / Bojack Returns (FUNimation)
* Frozen River (Sony)
* A History of Violence (Warner)
* Hurricane on the Bayou (Image)
* IMAX: Grand Canyon Adventure - River at Risk (Image)
* IMAX: Super Speedway (Image)
* Little Miss Sunshine (Fox)
* Miracle at St. Anna (Walt Disney)
* My Name is Bruce (Image)
* Nights in Rodanthe (Warner)
* The Pelican Brief (Warner)
* Pretty Woman (Walt Disney)
* Raging Bull (MGM)
* The Rundown (Universal)
* Soul Men (2008) (Weinstein)
* Street Fighter (Universal)
* A Time to Kill (Warner)
* W. (Lionsgate)
* The Way of War (First Look)
* When Weather Changed History (Madacy)
February 15, 2009
* Highlander: The Series - Season One (Legendary Heroes)
February 17, 2009
* Body of Lies (Warner)
* Capote (2005) / In Cold Blood (Two-Pack) (Sony)
* Changeling (2008) (Universal)
* Gandhi (Sony)
* High School Musical 1-3 (Box Set) (Walt Disney)
* High School Musical 3 (Walt Disney)
* High School Musical: Remix (Walt Disney)
* How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (MGM)
* Kramer vs. Kramer (Sony)
* The Midnight Meat Train (Lionsgate)
* One Long Night (Vivendi Visual)
* The Passion of the Christ (Definitive Edition) (Fox)
* Quarantine (Sony)
February 20, 2009
* What Just Happened (Magnolia)
February 24, 2009
* The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Blue Underground)
* The French Connection II (Fox)
* The French Connection (Fox)
* Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder (Fox)
* Kill Switch (Momentum)
* The Matador (2008) (City Lights)
* Neil Young: Archives Volume One - (1963-!972) (Warner Music Group)
* Ronin (MGM)
* Vanishing Point (Fox)
* The Who: Live At The Isle Of Wight Festival 1970 (Eagle Rock)
March 03, 2009
* Australia (Fox)
* Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Walt Disney)
* Brokeback Mountain (Universal)
* I've Loved You So Long (Sony)
* In the Electric Mist (Image)
* The Silence of the Lambs (MGM)
* Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic (Warner)
* Wonder Woman (2009) (Warner)
March 10, 2009
* Batman: The Motion Picture Anthology (Warner)
* Battle in Seattle (Screen Media Films)
* Cadillac Records (Sony)
* The Grudge (2004) (Sony)
* Gulliver's Travels (1939) (Koch Distributing)
* Let the Right One In (Magnolia)
* Pinocchio (1940) (Walt Disney)
* Primal Fear (Paramount)
* Role Models (Universal)
* Synecdoche, New York (Sony)
* Transporter 3 (Lionsgate)
March 17, 2009
* Lady Death: The Motion Picture (A.D. Vision)
* National Lampoon's Van Wilder: Freshman Year (Lionsgate)
* Punisher: War Zone (Lionsgate)
* Quo Vadis (Warner)
* Rachel Getting Married (Sony)
* The Robe (1953) (Fox)
* Seven Pounds (Sony)
* South Park: The Complete Twelfth Season (Paramount)
March 21, 2009
* Twilight (Summit)
March 24, 2009
* The 400 Blows (Criterion Collection)
* Big Stan (Warner)
* Bolt (Walt Disney)
* Goldfinger (MGM)
* James Bond Collection Three-Pack: Volume 3 (Goldfinger, Moonraker, The World is Not Enough) (MGM)
* Kite Runner (Paramount)
* The Last Metro (Criterion Collection)
* The Matrix (Warner)
* A Mighty Heart (Paramount)
* Moonraker (MGM)
* Never Say Never Again (MGM)
* Passengers (Sony)
* Quantum of Solace (MGM)
* Things We Lost in the Fire (Paramount)
* UFC: The Best of 2008 (First Look)
* The Venture Brothers: Season 3 (Warner)
* The World is Not Enough (MGM)