Our DVD and Blu-ray sales estimates are based on weekly retail surveys, which we use to build a weekly market share estimate for each title we are tracking. The market share is converted into a weekly sales estimate based on industry reports on the overall size of the market, including reports published in Media Play News.

For example, if our weekly retail survey estimates that a particular title sold 1% of all units that week, and the industry reports sales of 1,500,000 units in total, we will estimate 15,000 units were sold of that title. The consumer spending estimate is based on the average sales price for the title in the retailers we survey.

We refine our estimates from week to week as more data becomes available. In particular, we adjust weekly sales figures for the quarter once the total market estimates are published by the Digital Entertainment Group. Figures will therefore fluctuate each week, and totals for individual titles can go up or down as we update our estimates.

Because sales figures are estimated based on sampling, they will be more accurate for higher-selling titles.

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for June 24th, 2014

June 23rd, 2014

There's very little on the home market that stands out. 300: Rise of an Empire is the biggest movie coming out this week, but it is far from the best new release. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of new releases in competition for Pick of the Week. The A Hard Day's Night Criterion Collection Blu-ray is absolutely worth picking up, but there are no new extras for the Blu-ray, so that is a strike against it. Masters of Sex: Season One earned great reviews, but the extras on the DVD or the Blu-ray are only good. Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season Six is loaded, but its price is just too high. In the end, I rolled a dice and Star Trek: The Next Generation came out on top, but it really is a close race. More...

Analysis: March Bankability and the Top Dramatic Actors

April 1st, 2014

In the March update to our Bankability Index, our list of industry influencers increases to 14 people and we examine the top actors and actresses in dramatic roles in movies.

Overall, March's chart reflects the relatively modest start to the year at the box office. Samuel L. Jackson moves back into second place in the overall chart thanks to his appearance in RoboCop, Hans Zimmer was helped by his composing for Winter's Tale and Son of God (and will be further helped in April's chart through his involvement in Divergent–does the man ever sleep?). Leonardo DiCaprio continues to benefit from his producing roles in The Wolf of Wall Street, Out of the Furnace and Runner Runner. Finally, Frozen helps John Lasseter solidify his 11th place in the chart.

This month's new entry is Morgan Freeman, who got a very handy boost from his voice role in The LEGO Movie, and was also helped by some work we did on our archive of credits. That combination takes him to 14th on the Worldwide Chart, up 3 places from February.

All this activity has kept us pretty busy, but it's our new Bankability feature that really kept us burning the midnight oil this month: The Bankability Index Casting and Hiring Guides... More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Lego Adds Another Brick to Its Box Office Haul

February 24th, 2014

The LEGO Movie completed the threepeat in a dominating fashion earning more than 3 Days to Kill and Pompeii earned combined. On the other hand, neither of those films were that impressive, so beating both of them might not seem like a real accomplishment. The overall box office took a tumble, which is expected for a post-holiday weekend, but it still fell a little more than I would like, down 37% to $111 million. This is 7% more than the same weekend last year, so 2014 continued its winning ways in the year-over-year race. In fact, 2014 extended its lead to $150 million or 11% and now leads 2013 by a $1.51 billion to $1.36 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: LEGO Unstoppable at Top

February 23rd, 2014

The LEGO Movie will see off two more challengers for box office supremacy this weekend, according to studio estimates released on Sunday. 3 Days to Kill will open with $12.3 million, soft for a film that cost $28 million, while Pompeii will barely reach $10 million, disastrous for a film that cost $80 million or $100 million, depending on who you talk to. That leaves The LEGO Movie miles ahead, with a projected $31.4 million for the weekend and $183 million or so in the bank after 17 days in release. It'll be down 37% from last weekend—an impressive result considering last weekend was a holiday. More...

Weekend Wrap-Up: Lego Presides Over Presidents' Day

February 19th, 2014

The LEGO Movie again crushed expectations earning almost as much over three-days as most people were expecting it to earn over four. The new releases were not as lucky for the most part. About Last Night and RoboCop matched expectations, while Endless Love and Winter's Tale missed lowered expectations. Overall, the three-day box office pulled in $170 million, which was 12% more than last week and 20% more than last year. Over four days, the total box office was $199 million, or 12% more than the four-day period last year. Year-to-date, 2014 has extended its lead over 2013 to 8.5% at $1.36 billion to $1.25 billion. More...

Weekend Estimates: LEGO Towers Over All

February 16th, 2014

It's looking like a healthy President's Day weekend at the box office, with one impressive debut and several movies enjoying strong second, fourth, and even thirteenth weekends. The champion opener is About Last Night, a remake of the 1986 hit, which will open with about $27 million over three days, helped by a big $13 million Valentine's Day. With the film playing in only 2,253 theaters, that represents a terrific $12,000 theater average, and continues Kevin Hart's hot streak. Handily beating About Last Night at the top of the chart, though, is The LEGO Movie, with a projected $48.8 million over three days, and around $60 million over the full four-day weekend. That's down a decent 29% from last weekend, for a theater average of almost $13,000. More...

Weekend Predictions: RoboCop Starts First, but Last Night should get Last Laugh

February 14th, 2014

RoboCop opened on Wednesday, but failed to meet expectations, which leaves an opening for About Last Night to become the best of the new releases. Endless Love will also be competitive this weekend, meaning all three 1980s remakes could finish back-to-back-to-back. On the other hand, Winter's Tale could miss the top five. As for the holdovers, The LEGO Movie will crush all of the new releases and easily repeat as box office champion. By the end of business on Monday, it will have made enough money to cover its entire production budget. This time last year there were also four new releases, led by A Good Day to Die Hard. I think this year's new releases are a little weaker on average than last year's were' however, The LEGO Movie could make $50 million over the next four days, so it will carry 2014 to victory. More...

2014 Preview: February

January 31st, 2014

After a weak start, January rebounded and a couple of films on last month's preview cracked $100 million at the box office. Granted, Lone Survivor is technically a December release, but Ride Along will become one of the rare January releases to reach the century mark. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be too many February releases that have a real shot at $100 million. It is very likely that The Lego Movie will reach that milestone, but most of the rest of the movies will be lucky if they reach $50 million. Last February was very similar. We had one surprise $100 million hit, Identity Thief, plus a couple of solid midlevel hits, Warm Bodies, for instance. However, for the most part, the month was one miss after another. This means 2014 could continue its winning ways, or at the very least, shouldn't fall behind 2013's pace. More...