HollywoodInHiDef.com 06/02/08
The world just keeps getting more Blu as the end of the format war has led to consumers jumping into high-def discs with both feet
More than 11 million hi-def Blu-ray movies have been sold so far, according to data compiled by the Redhill Group for Home Media Magazine, and that’s even before the potentially biggest Blu-ray title to date hits the market on September 2: “Transformers.” […]
Sale-ing into Blu: 11 milion Sold & Transformers Coming
By Scott Hettrick, HollywoodInHiDef.com, Hettrick Blog
The world just keeps getting more Blu as the end of the format war has led to consumers jumping into high-def discs with both feet.
More than 11 million hi-def Blu-ray movies have been sold so far, according to data compiled by the Redhill Group for Home Media Magazine, and that’s even before the potentially biggest Blu-ray title to date hits the market on September 2: “Transformers.”
Projections based on preliminary data show that Blu-ray sales through May have already surpassed sales for all of 2007.
Blu-ray software sales in the first four months of this year more than quadrupled from the same period last year, climbing to 11 million since inception.
In an indication that the surrender of HD DVD had the overall effect everyone had hoped for in sparking the average consumer to feel comfortable jumping into the high-def market, this year’s Blu-ray software sales through April are more than triple the number of sales of Blu-ray and HD DVD combined during the same period last year.
To further illustrate the point, consumers are increasingly choosing Blu-ray over DVD when new releases are available in both formats. For example, a year ago each new top 10 release mostly generated only 1% – 2% of sales from Blu-ray, with a couple titles collecting as much as 5% on Blu-ray.
This year in the first quarter, the top three Blu-ray titles, “I Am Legend,” “3:10 to Yuma” and “No Country For Old Men,” saw 8% – 10% of their sales in the Blu-ray format. Catalog Blu-ray titles that were also in the top 10, such as “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End,” “300,” “Planet Earth: The Complete Collection,” and “Casino Royale,” saw overall DVD/Blu-ray sales jump to 18% – 28% for the Blu-ray versions of those titles during the first quarter.
The surge will no doubt continue with today’s official announcement from Paramount that “Transformers” will be coming to Blu-ray on September 2. A slew of additional heavyweight new and classic titles begins to hit Blu-ray this week with “Cloverfield” and Warner’s “Dirty Harry” collection and continues next month with “Top Gun” and special editions of Batman and Tom Clancy Jack Ryan movies and the “Starship Troopers” trilogy. Disney weighs in strong this fall with their first animated classic on Blu-ray October 7 in the most elaborate BD Live format yet on “Sleeping Beauty,” followed by the first of a groundbreaking new series of Disc Exclusive computer-animated movies, “Tinker Bell” on Oct. 28.