Record first day Blu-ray sales of Dark Knight

The release of the Dark Knight (Warner Home Video), Hellboy II (Universal Pictures) and Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium (Icon) on Blu-ray yesterday (8th December 2008) gave Christmas shoppers the opportunity to indulge in high definition heaven.

After the huge retail success of Mamma Mia (Universal Pictures) last week, figures released today from the BVA, according to Official Charts Company data, indicate that the Dark Knight sold a staggering 513,000 units in one day with 21% on Blu-ray disc.

Recent releases such as Iron Man (Paramount Home Entertainment), Wall.E (Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment), and Hancock (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) have also all seen a sizeable proportion of their initial Week 1 total sales on the Blu-ray format, demonstrating that the next generation of home entertainment is establishing itself with consumers even in these challenging economic times.

It appears that it is not just big blockbusters that are now proving popular on Blu-ray. Titles such as Planet Earth (2 Entertain) and Earth (Elevation Sales) have seen 25% of their sales this year sold on the format.

The past three months have seen Blu-ray volumes increase exponentially (please refer to the chart in the Notes to Editors). In November 2008 alone, Blu-ray sold almost 463,000 discs - a 66% increase on the previous month, demonstrating fans’ increasing appreciation of the benefits of the next generation of home entertainment. With up to six times better picture quality compared with standard definition DVD, consumers see a sharper and more realistic image. Likewise, Blu-ray provides a superior listening experience as well, with up to 7.1 channels of high definition audio.

With Blu-ray players better value for money than ever before, sales of hardware are increasing and this trend is expected to rise over the Christmas period as more and more consumers choose to upgrade their home cinema systems.

However, for the maximum high definition experience consumers must have a Blu-ray disc, plus a Blu-ray player or Playstation 3 plus an HD Ready TV. These three items combined will give a superlative home entertainment experience and Blu-ray will continue to march into the mainstream.

Recent comment published in the men’s weekly magazine Shortlist suggests that the Dark Knight, will ‘do for Blu-ray what the Matrix did for DVD.’ Back in 1999, 21% of total Week 1 sales of The Matrix were on DVD. This prophesy is exciting news for both the home entertainment industry and the consumer. 

Lavinia Carey, Director General of the British Video Association, says: ‘Since Blu-ray was adopted as a high definition format, sales have gone from strength to strength. The promising sales of Blu-ray discs demonstrate that increasingly more people are recognising the substantial increase in quality that Blu-ray provides.’

Some of the key statistics outlined in the most recent results include:

Blu-ray titles sales to date

Total Video Sales

257 million units +4.4% – 52 Weeks Rolling
204 million units +3.9% – Year to Date

Total Blu-ray Sales November 2008

2.5 million units +396% –  52 Weeks Rolling
2.2 million units +337% – Year to Date

Weekly sales of Blu-ray discs since launch (Units)