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.

Contest: Ring In the New Year

January 9th, 2015

There are four wide releases / wide expansions next weekend with American Sniper and The Wedding Ringer leading the way. I'm not sure which film will come out on top; however, since American Sniper is expanding wide, The Wedding Ringer is the much better choice for the target film for this week's box office prediction contest. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Wedding Ringer.

Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going over, will win a copy of the Ong Bak Trilogy on DVD. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), without going under, will also win a copy of the Ong Bak Trilogy on DVD. Finally, one additional entrant will be chosen and they will also win a copy of the Ong Bak Trilogy on DVD. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for July 29th, 2014

July 28th, 2014

I is not a bad week on the home market, as we do have a $100 million hit coming out on DVD and Blu-ray. Unfortunately, this $100 million hit is Noah, which is a good movie, but not a Pick of the Week contender. Worse still, it is a very shallow week and on the first page of Amazon.com's new releases list, there are releases that on a normal week would be filler. There are a trio of Pick of the Week contenders: Finding Vivian Maier - Buy from Amazon; It Felt Like Love - Buy from Amazon; and Marty - Blu-ray Buy from Amazon. All three are worth picking up, but in the end I went with Marty as Pick of the Week. More...

Featured Blu-ray Review: Ong-Bak Trilogy

July 27th, 2014

The first Ong-Bak film looked like it would propel Tony Jaa to super stardom. That hasn't worked out just yet, but there were two other films made in the franchise, which is being released this week. It is just the previous Blu-rays being released in a box set, but I only reviewed one of these films previously, so I jumped at the chance to see the other two. Are they worth picking up if you don't have them already? More...

DVD Sales: Color Pulling in the Green

February 23rd, 2011

Due to a mixture of weak holdovers and depth in the new releases, we had seven DVDs debut in the top 30 sales chart this week. This includes a new number one, For Colored Girls, which sold 517,000 units and generated $8.41 million in consumer spending at retail. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for February 8th, 2011

February 8th, 2011

Wow. It's a bad week for DVD / Blu-ray releases. While there are a number of first run releases, none of them exactly shout Pick of the Week. The best bet as far as first run releases goes is Paranormal Activity 2, but the screener hasn't arrived yet. Same goes for Thelma & Louise, which is making its Blu-ray debut this week. So in the end I went with Doctor Who: Story 63: The Mutants as the pick of the week. Great story, powerful message, and lots of extras. More...

Per Theater Chart: Barney Leads the Way, In This Version Anyhow

January 18th, 2011

After an Oscar-qualifying run and a limited release in Canada, Barney's Version, finally started its theatrical run in the United States with an average of $16,310 in four theaters, which was enough to lead the per theater chart. Sort of. It's also playing in Canada, and despite the fact that Canada's considered part of the domestic box office when it comes to wide releases, smaller releases often don't have their box office numbers North of the border reported. This means it is possible that Phil Ochs: There But For Fortune remained on top with $12,377 in its lone theater. More...

Getting to the Heart of Limited Releases

January 14th, 2011

There's a wide selection of limited releases this week, including one that was previously thought to have a chance at opening wide. Unfortunately, as is usually the case at this time of year, there are not many quality releases and the best bet for mainstream success is Barney's Version, which previously had an Oscar-qualifying run. More...