Dark Knight Blu-ray set to break shipping records, sales records next?
Hopefully Iron Man isn't getting too cozy in the #1 Blu-ray spot, with over a million copies of The Dark Knight headed to store shelves on December 9. Iron Man set a first week mark of over 500,000 sold on an unknown quantity shipped, but it's probably a bigger question whether Warner can keep it's BD-Live servers working than whether it can take the top spot. VideoBusiness points out the old days of March '07 when Casino Royale shipped 100,000 units, or 300's 250k combined high definition disc launch last year. Number watchers will also be keeping an eye out for Blu-ray's share of first week sales; last year Transformers set records with 190,000 HD DVDs compared to 8.3 million DVDs, with Iron Man averaging around 10% how many will chose Batman the way it was meant to be seen?
Filed under: Blu-ray
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
DEEZNUTZ @ Nov 12th 2008 3:14PM
You can count me in for a day one purchase.
looseinthedeuce @ Nov 12th 2008 3:41PM
I've got a Blu-ray drive in my computer and have been getting Netflix Blu-rays. I have yet to actually buy a disc, but I've said The Dark Knight will be the first one I buy, so sure enough, it will be.
NewYorker111 @ Nov 12th 2008 3:49PM
What DEEZNUTZ said.
JimC @ Nov 12th 2008 4:05PM
Must have!
Steve @ Nov 12th 2008 4:11PM
Even though I've been a cheap bastard lately with regard to buying overpriced BD's, this is absolutely the must own title of the year. I hope that they want the record so bad that they lower the price further to stimulate some extra sales. Only time will tell though...
Multi-format-mayhem @ Nov 12th 2008 4:15PM
Yes I have mine ordered (at the best discount I could find on the net)
and yes I bought Iron Man
(dirt cheap thankfully, sh!te film but interesting audio track - gave the sub & centre-stage a good workout)
and I even have a pre-order in on Wanted too (again at the best discount I could find).
But.
3 movies which will spike the sales charts.
That's not a great story for the health of the format.
Mike @ Nov 12th 2008 6:33PM
And what were these deals and where?
Next week Target will have Ironman for sale for $19 and I plan to buy that. I saw DK at the movies an it was a let down... maybe a $12 movie if I ever decide to buy... Jack Nickelson did a much better job.
Multi-format-mayhem @ Nov 12th 2008 7:05PM
I paid $6.99 for Iron Man from a guy who decided to sell instead of return the recalled 1st issue (my LG has no problems with it).
Not bad eh?
Batman TDK is coming from Play.com @ £14.99 = $22.32 delivered
Wanted is also from Play.com for the same money (delivered).
The savings for those 2 are nothing like as good but I am under, er, shall we say pressure to produce them straight away rather than wait.
Mike @ Nov 13th 2008 12:24PM
Can you buy from deep dicount? they r having a 25% off sale that brings DK to about $21 and wanted $22.50 with free shipping.. not sure on tax. I plan to buy band of brothers set for about $42 and will find out then.
Multi-format-mayhem @ Nov 20th 2008 9:18AM
If you're still reading this.....
I just cancelled Batman & Wanted & have now got them coming @ £13.44/$19.95 delivered from The Hut.
They had a lunchtime promo.
Result.
F*ck you, BDA.
Rob @ Nov 12th 2008 4:59PM
"Shipped Units" doesn't mean "Units Sold." The studios can saturate the stores by sending a ton of units to retailers, and as a result increase the perceived units sold. This used to happen with the record industry when classical music albums were always on top of the charts. The reality was that record labels were also shipping extra inventory and the charts were configured to count "shipped units" instead of "sold units." So, all that inventory just sits in the retailers' warehouses. Granted, I'm sure "Dark Knight" will do great. But, it would not surprise me if the numbers are, once again, cooked just like they did with "Transformers" on HD-DVD.
SimbaDogg @ Nov 13th 2008 1:35AM
yeah, but umm...this movie was a box office smash. shipped units, for this movie, will almost certainly mean SOLD units. def going to be a record breaker for blu ray as far as day 1 sales, first week sales, and most discs sold. mark my worddds
Mark @ Nov 13th 2008 4:53AM
In this case I think its pretty obvious that it *is* going to sell a record breaking amount. If Warner have shipped over a million copies you'd better believe they think they're going to sell that many. I hope if they're forcing BD-Live on users that they've got their servers in order so we don't see a repeat of Iron Man.
daxiang12 @ Nov 12th 2008 5:50PM
500,000 Iron Man blu-ray sold in 1st week and accounted for 20% of overall sales? So, the DVD version sold only 2 million copies? Did I calculate something wrong?
UnnDunn @ Nov 12th 2008 6:22PM
In the first week.
Eric H @ Nov 13th 2008 11:47AM
I already have the batpod edition reordered.
LonnieDvD @ Nov 18th 2008 8:06PM
It's not only Blu-Ray records that are in danger, the Dark Knight will likely break Standard DVD records too. I certainly will grab it on day one, along with millions of other standard dvd owners.