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.

Blu-ray Sales: The Fix is in for The Mechanic

June 1st, 2011

While The Mechanic had to settle for second place on this week's DVD Sales Chart, it led the way with ease on the Blu-ray Sales Chart with 230,000 units / $3.90 million. Its Blu-ray sales ratio of 37% is strong for a decidedly second-tier release. More...

DVD Sales: Never Repeats During First Full Week

May 31st, 2011

It's not like there were no new releases, but Justin Bieber: Never Say Never didn't have a lot of trouble keeping top spot on the DVD sales chart to itself. During its first full week of release it sold an additional 476,000 units, lifting its totals to 967,000 units / $17.26 million after two. Given its target demographic, Fangirls, it's not exactly surprising that it is selling so well on DVD. More...

DVD and Blu-ray Releases for May 17th, 2011

May 16th, 2011

It's kind of an odd week for DVD / Blu-ray releases. While it is a busier week than average when it comes to first run releases, none of them did well with critics and I don't think any of them will be big sellers. There are a few limited releases, TV on DVD releases, and catalogue titles that are vying to make up the difference. As far the best, there's not a lot here that can even compete with The Hustler's Blu-ray debut. More...

Heartbreaking Start to the Year

February 15th, 2011

On the one hand, we are only six weeks into the year, which means it is far too early to push the panic button. On the other hand, there's everything else. It was yet another disappointing weekend at the box office with the top two films barely earning more than last year's number one movie. In fact, even if you ignored last year's number one movie, this year was still weaker in terms of ticket sales. The total box office was $149 million, which was 71% higher than last weekend, but while that seems impressive, it was still 27% lower than last year. 2011 is already closing in on $400 million behind 2010 at $1.17 billion to $1.54 billion. Maybe this coming weekend we can catch a break and finally turn things around. More...

Will 2011 Finally See Some Heat?

February 10th, 2011

2011 is over a month old and we've only had one film that you could call a mid-level hit, two if you want to be generous. Worse still, none of 2010's holdovers have been big either. $100 million films opening in January are very rare, but films earning $100 million during the month of January are not that unusual. In fact, most years the biggest hit of January is a film released in December. So with no new releases or holdover pulling their weight, 2011 is off to a terrible start. This could be the weekend that changes that. Not only is it Valentine's Day weekend, but we should have the first $100 million hit of the year opening on Friday, plus a couple of potential mid-level hits. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the month, I was expecting two potential massive openings, but that appears less likely now. It also makes keeping pace with last year nearly impossible. More...

Contest: Room for More: Winning Announcement

February 9th, 2011

The winners of our Room for More contest were determined and they are... More...

Room Can't Fill the Vacancy at the Box Office

February 7th, 2011

The Super Bowl turned out to be a rather good game and it broke ratings records with 111 million people turning in to watch at least part of it. On the other hand, the box office was anything but record-breaking. Overall the box office was down 20% from last weekend to $87 million. Even worse, that was 24% lower than the same weekend last year. Year-to-date, 2011 is already $310 million behind 2010 with a total of $988 million. 2011 is almost two full weeks behind 2010's pace, and I don't think things will get a whole lot better next weekend. More...

Room for Improvement

February 3rd, 2011

It's a new month and the industry is hoping for a fresh start, as January was not a month that will remembered fondly. Unfortunately, a fresh start likely won't be the case. There are two wide releases coming out this week, but they are best described as middling. Conversely, this time last year, Dear John opened with more than $30 million, and there's almost no chance that will happen this weekend, so 2011 will fall further behind 2010. More...

2011 Preview: February

February 1st, 2011

January got off to about as bad a start as I feared, and already 2011 is behind 2010 by about $275 million. Even worse, last February was better than expected. Not only did Avatar add another $200 million to its coffers during the month, the new releases collectively topped expectations every week (even if some individual releases failed to do so). What does this mean going forward? It means 2011 will likely continue to lose ground on 2010. By the time March rolls around, the only thing box office watchers will be talking about is the slump. More...

Contest: Room For More

January 28th, 2011

Normally when our Oscar Contest kicks in, our regular box office prediction contest takes a break, but we got an extra copy of Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack, so it continues for at least one more week with The Roommate as out target film. In order to win, one must simply predict the opening weekend box office number for The Roommate. Whoever comes the closest to predicting the film's opening 3-day weekend box office (Friday to Sunday), regardless if they go over or not, will win a copy of Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2 on Blu-ray / DVD Combo Pack. Entries must be received by 10 a.m., Pacific Time on Friday to be eligible, so don't delay! More...