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 Sales: Dragons Prey on New Releases

November 2nd, 2010

New releases failed to make much of an impact on this week's DVD sales chart with only one placing in the top five and only two or three others in the top 30. This left How to Train Your Dragon on top with an easy win at 1.42 million units for the week. This gives it totals of 3.29 million / $70.40 million in consumer spending at retail, which makes it the third-best-selling DVD for any 2010 theatrical release and the eighth-best-selling DVD of the year. More...

DVD Sales: How to Tops the Chart

October 26th, 2010

We had a new number one release on this week's sales chart, with How to Train Your Dragon dominating with 1.87 million units sold / $39.63 million in opening week sales. More...

DVD Sales: Karate Chops Competition, But Beast Feeling Blu

October 19th, 2010

Several films could claim to be the champion of the home market this week, including one of the many new releases. The Karate Kid opened on top of the DVD sales chart with 1.22 million units compared to Iron Man 2 with 1.10 million units. However, the latter topped the former in terms of consumer spending at $22.15 million to $20.80 million. More...

DVD Sales: Iron Man Franchise Remains Golden on the DVD Sales Chart

October 12th, 2010

New releases walked away with the top two spots on this week's DVD sales chart, as well as four of the top six, and six of the top 30. Leading the way was Iron Man 2 with 2.82 million units generating $64.53 million in revenue during its opening week of release. This is weaker than its predecessor opened with, but the film compensated with stronger Blu-ray sales. More...

DVD Sales: Tinker Bell is Great on the DVD Sales Chart

October 5th, 2010

It was another week where new releases dominated the DVD sales chart with ten of them placing in the top 30. This includes Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, which took top spot with 920,000 units sold, while its opening week sales of $16.80 million were actually second best. This is a drop from The Lost Treasure; however, it did much, much better on Blu-ray than either of the previous releases. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for September 21st, 2010

September 20th, 2010

Some of the summer blockbusters are starting to filter their way onto the home market, but this week's list is still dominated by TV on DVD releases like Castle: Season Two, Modern Family: Season One, and 30 Rock: Season Four. All three of which were in contention for Pick of the Week, as were The Secret in Their Eyes on Blu-ray and Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue on Blu-ray / DVD Combo. In the end I went with Modern Family: Season One on Blu-ray. More...

Featured Blu-ray / DVD Review: Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue

September 19th, 2010

When Disney first announced that they were making a direct-to-DVD franchise based on Tinker Bell from Peter Pan, and that Tinker Bell was going to talk, the response wasn't overwhelmingly positive. Some where cautiously optimistic, while others were more guarded, given the reputation direct-to-DVD sequels have. However, the first film was a success, critically and financially, as was the second. Now that we are on the third film in the franchise, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, will these films become a trilogy of three hits, or have they pushed their luck too far. More...