Home Market Numbers: Sniper Steady on Top
June 14, 2015
The week ending May 31 was a terrible week for new releases with only one that sold more than 50,000 units on the combined home market chart. Fortunately, American Sniper held on a lot better than most releases do, and was down just 27% to 844,000 units/ $16.01 million in consumer spending for the week, giving it totals of 1.99 million units / $37.40 million after two weeks of release. It is now in fifth place on the 2015 combined chart, but again, given its box office, it should be higher.
The only new release of note was Seventh Son, which landed in second place with 243,000 units / $4.50 million during its first week of release for a Blu-ray share of 52%. This is much better than expected, especially for a film that earned less than $20 million domestically. 50 Shades of Grey slipped to third place with 157,000 units / $3.16 million over the week for month-long totals of 2.52 million units / $44.82 million. It is the best-selling 2015 release; however, there is not a lot of competition for that title at the moment. Paddington remained a strong seller with 70,000 units / $1.15 million for the week giving it totals of 745,000 units / $12.53 million, also after a month of release. Taken 3 rounded out the top five with 46,000 units / $852,000 units for the week and totals of 1.11 million units / $18.57 million. The film has broken even, but its home market numbers suggest it is certainly time to retire the franchise.
The best of the rest of the new releases was the Sons of Liberty mini-series, which landed in tenth place with 38,000 units / $585,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was just 11%... It's no wonder so many TV on DVD releases don't even bother with a Blu-ray release anymore. The Loft was right behind with 37,000 units / $638,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 41%, which isn't bad for a film of this genre. On the other hand, that's damning the film with faint praise all things considered. The final new release to chart was Cut Bank, which opened in 15th place with 29,000 units / $364,000. Its opening week Blu-ray share was 21%. This is much lower than the industry average; however, VOD releases tend to performer weaker in this regard than wide releases.
This week's numbers were from the week of Mother's Day, which helped the holdovers rise, and boosted the overall Blu-ray chart by 24% in terms of units and 17% in terms of revenue when compared to last week. Compared to last year, sales were 37% higher in terms of units while revenue was 30% greater. The overall Blu-ray share was 37%, which is perfectly fine for this time of year.
DVD sales were not as strong, but there was still a significant performance improvement from last week with growth of 18% in terms of units and 26% in terms of revenue when compared to last week. On the other hand, the numbers were mixed when compared to last year. There were 6.3% more units sold, but total revenue was 5.2% less.
Next week's new releases will be dominated by The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, but there's not a lot of depth. By comparison, next week last year, new releases were led by Lone Survivor on both the Blu-ray and DVD sales chart. However, RoboCop and Son of God were both significant players, giving 2014 much better depth.
Filed under: Video Sales, Seventh Son, The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water, The Loft, Fifty Shades of Grey, Paddington, Taken 3, American Sniper, Cut Bank, Taken