"Spider-man 3" becomes the best selling Blu-ray title with 130,000 copies sold (1 Viewer)

[Robert Spalding]

according to Sirdvd.com:

"Spider-man 3" becomes the best selling Blu-ray title with 130,000 copies sold in the first six days. "Transformers" did 190,000 units on HD DVD in the same timeframe. Some have speculated that the "Transformers" numbers are exaggerated, but proof has not been presented and Paramount says that they have double checked the numbers.

On DVD Sony was more reluctant to reveal specific numbers, but said that the standard DVD version sold 4 - 5 million copies. "Transformers" did 8.3 million on DVD.

Link: http://www.sirdvd.com/2007/11/spider...l-but-not.html

 

[Randall Wetmore]

These numbers seem fairly good if it's true that Transformers only sold about 115,000 in its first week. I was hoping for 150,000+ though.

 

[Michael Boyd]

15,000 more than Transformers isn't much.

It's all about attach rates.

Anyway, I can't believe I think Transformers is a better film than Spidey 3. I never would have guessed that a year ago.

 

[Averry]

I really felt like Transformers was definately gonna be the biggest SD DVD of the year. It just seems like people liked it more than Spider Man or Pirates even though both of those movies made about the same amount of money.


As far as HiDef, I expect a blu-ray title to outsell and HD-DVD title. Those number ars definately close if you look at them competitively.

 

[Brandon Conway]

They're unclear on whether they are including the Trilogy box in those numbers, but I suspect they are.

 

[Michael Boyd]

That's the only way I would buy Spidey 3!

 

[ReggieW]

This is strictly anecdotal,

but at my local Fry's, every person I saw in the BD section holding a Spiderman title was holding the boxset. If I were blue, I would've bought the boxset for the first two films. Spiderman 3 alone just wouldn't have done it for me. I think Sony is intentionally being "vague" with their numbers to avoid the contoversey which Paramount (btw, who hasn't backed down from the 190,000 figure) was embroiled in. I think all of the studios, red or blue, will be a lot more vague when issuing sales numbers from this point out. Sony did not comment on the boxset either way, so we'll probably just have to wait for final sales figures.

 

[ReggieW]

Btw, I think the header is probably incorrect.

It appears that Spiderman 3 is the best-selling BD title for SONY. I believe that Warner's 300 is still the champ for single-week BD sales.

 

[Mike.B]

These numbers seem somewhat underwhelming to me, especially considering how big of a franchise Spidey is to Sony. I was expecting them to be higher.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

One must keep a few things in mind while trying to make any sort of meaningful comparison between Transformers and Spiderman 3 first week sales on HD.

1. Sony needs to clarify the sales figures after including the box set. I know 3 people other than myself who bought Spiderman 3 and all of us bought the box set. I think most fans will have done the same and Amazon's rankings clearly indicate that trend. Although, I would be really surprised if Sony has not already stated the inclusive numbers.

2. Sony has specifically stated that the copies bundled with the 40GB PS3 are not included in the sales figures. Personally I think that bundling Spiderman 3 with the PS3 amounts to cannabilizing it's own sales? After all the demographics of the 40GB PS3 customer is exactly the same as the Spidy fan. Thus, even though not all 40GB PS3 buyers may have eventually bought Spiderman 3, I am sure that a substantial percentage of them would have done so. In fact anyone planning to buy a 40GB PS3 over the next 2 months would not buy Spiderman 3 on Blu-Ray in anticipation of getting the title for free.

3. The SD DVD sales of Transformers and Spiderman 3 must also be compared and the correct way would be to look at the individual ratios of the HD version sales vis a vis the SD sales. I personally think Spiderman 3 over all sales would be far less than the record SD numbers put up by Transformers.

4. HD-DVD sales generally tend to skew higher intially and then taper off quickly. Blu-Ray sales on the other hand tend to have a relatively flatter sales graph and the sales continue on for a much longer time. (Ofcourse 'Planet Earth on HD-DVD' at Amazon, seems to be one title that has bucked this trend.)

5. HD-DVD customers have lesser number of blockbuster titles competing for their dollars compared to the Blu-Ray release slate over the next few weeks. Also, the release of 'Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock' and the 40GB PS3 in the same week will have competed with Spiderman 3 for the same consumer demographics, a demographic that would not have too much disposable cash at one go.

6. HD-DVD customers are generally believed to have a stronger attach rate. My theory for this, is that most people who bought into HD-DVD initially are early adopters who are generally more hardcore Home Theater fans and thus more avid collectors. Although this will become less and less of a factor as the number of HD-DVD owners grow, specially after the big $99 sale induced growth in HD-DVD ownership numbers. The difference in attach rates can probably also be explained by the fact, that a sizable number of the Blu-Ray base is the PS3, owners of which are probably more into gaming rather than Home Theater and/or movie collecting.

7. Finally and the most important of all factors is;

The only correct and most accurate way to make comparisons between the sales of the two HD formats is when a title is released on both formats. Otherwise, there are way too many ifs ands or buts. '300' was a good example of such a title, but even that was not a really fair comparison, due to one format having more and advanced features. I suppose we will have to wait a while for such a title, for the only title that could be eligible would be a 'big' Warner 'day and date' title with presumably the same features, now that profile 1.1 for Blu-Ray is available.

PS: 'Ocean's Trilogy' might be the closest thing to a comparable title we might have, this year atleast.

 

[Echo42987]

Personally enjoyed transformers way more then the new spiderman...I assumed that Transformers would out do it.

Did they make a BluRay version of Transformers? No right?

-Nick-

 

[TravisR]

Nope.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

Those figures reveal quite a lot I think. Now, keeping these figures in mind, compare the Spiderman 3 Blu-Ray (approx 130,000) figures with that of Transformers HD-DVD (approx 115,000) figures. Do the figures still "seem somewhat underwhelming"? I think not.

PS: Both, my son and I, enjoyed Transformers way more than we did Spiderman 3. Truth be told, I actually dozed off while watching Spiderman 3 in the theater, something which my son won't ever let me forget.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Not profile 1.1, but next week's Ocean's 13 (and Ocean's box sets) are identical for HD-DVD and BD.

 

[PerryD]

Ocean's 13 for HD-DVD will be a combo disc, and therefore will cost $5 more than the blu-ray version.

 

[Grant H]

Also, though 300 had more advanced features, the BD outsold it 2-1.

Of course the rebuke has been, "well, that film caters to the PS3 audience."

I suspect Spidey will keep selling well through Christmas, along with PS3s.

I liked Transformers, but not enough to buy a player just for it. I rented the DVD. If it ever comes to Blu-ray I'll buy it then, or if the war takes another big tilt toward HD DVD and/or semipermanent neutrality (like WB going HD DVD: both formats slowly die in too evenly matched a competition, buy while you can).

Watched SM3 first out of the trilogy set, and I still enjoy it most of the series. It's taken years for the first two to grow on me. 3 may be inferior on paper (could easily have been GREAT), but it's just a lot more fun for me. I always hated Maguire in the role, but he actually made me laugh in 3. I think a darker personality suits (no pun intended) him better. There's always been something creepy about him. He seems to be a lot more fun to watch when he's allowed to have some fun himself.

Watching the first film on Blu-ray this week with the TrueHD track (and sub) cranked up (subtle sounds really sound like they're coming from outside your home!) was by far the most enjoyable experience I ever had with the film. I enjoy the "Raimiisms" a lot more now than I did during its release. Not even sure I was an Army of Darkness/Evil Dead fan yet when I saw the film theatrically. If only my landlords would go away again so I could crank up SM2, and then SM3 again. Had to leave the sub off when I watched SM3 before.

 

[DavidJ]

I am not sure it was intended as a rebuke. People, myself included, expected it to sell well to the PS3 crowd because it is a "videogame-like" movie (not that there is anything wrong with that) and it did do well on Blu-ray despite the HD DVD having additional features.

I am a bit surprised at the number of people who bought the box. I too like the first two films much better than the third, but I am not buying the box because all indications seem to indicate more complete special editions for one and two.

 

[DavidJ]

Sanjay, do you have a good source for data on this trend? I am actually fascinated by this and would like to look into. So as not to derail the thread, you can just PM me the info. Thanks.

 

[troy evans]

I bought the Bluray 3-pack. Who knows when we will see special editions on this format. Alot of movies have been released on Bluray that I would call bare bones releases. I just didn't want to wait to see the Spider-Man films in all thier glory. I got my box for $61.00, that works out to $15.50 each for Spidey 1 and 2. For better PQ and AQ that's a damn good deal in my opinion. I guess everyone takes from these formats what they care about. I've been "special featured" to death and simply don't care as much about them anymore. Also, sometimes the more you know about a film seems to take away from the magic. I know more about some aspects of movies than I'd care to. Now, I do like some special features, but, they are not a must for me.

 

[Sanjay Gupta]

I am sorry but I can't think of or remember the exact sources for the same. I have garnered this impression primarily from press releases, news articles, blogs and forum posts. Although I cannot provide any direct links for now, I can assure you that I have read this on multiple occassions and from different sources.