Sony just announced that Casino Royale has become the first high definition release to ship over 100,000 units, with over 50% of those sold through to consumers. Apparently its success surprised even Sony, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it only shipped 50k initially, resulting in a complete sellout after only a few days. Following up on its quest to not only surpass rival HD DVD, but supplant the existing DVD format, Sony Pictures counts only 9 months since Blu-ray's launch to the first 100,000 unit shipped mark, compared to eleven months for the first DVD to hit that number (Air Force One). With a 700 percent increase in disc sales since the PlayStation 3 launched, and all of its just-announced upcoming releases on the once rare 50GB discs, Sony sees all this as a clear sign Blu-ray is pulling away in the format war, not only in the U.S. but worldwide, as the U.K. release of Royale sold 10,000 in the first week despite being the PS3 pack-in bonus. Blu-ray was a slow starter last year, and now with one big title under its belt, we'll see if the format war is as close to being over as the BDA keeps telling us it is.

Read - SPHE press release
Read - Hollywood Reporter