Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

The Hollywood Reporter website has an interesting Article on the sudden rise of Blu-Ray disc sales now that the format war is over. Here is a link:

With HD DVD out, Blu-ray sales on the rise

Here is a quote:
This article paints a much brighter picture of the future of Blu-Ray than the recent Doom and Gloom posts around here would have you believe.

The Last paragraph has a major error on it tho.... Makes me wonder about their fact checking.

Re: Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

good news for hd movie enthusiasts!

$ talks, especially to the studios who are holding the big movies!!!

Re: Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

This article was already posted and discussed in the **Official HTF HD Formats Ind./Retailer/Studio Support Thread.

Does it really warrant another thread?

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Patrick, Sorry if this is a re-post but I had to stop reading some of the really large threads due to the constant doom and gloom posts. So I didn't know it was already posted.

Besides this article isn't really about studio support. It is about BD sales. So I think that does deserve a different thread.

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While I certainly have no say in what thread stays or doesn't stay open, I think this thread is a welcome change from all the gloom and doom posts.

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You mean doom and gloom are not welcome here???????






Crawdaddy

Re: Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

Only time will tell, but this quote says a lot:


I don't think that is a "niche"

And Crawdaddy, Only Shiny, Happy thoughts allowed in this thread.

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I didn't mean that (and I'm sure it's coming either way ) but I meant that it's nice to see a thread where the focus is on how Blu Ray's sales and popularity are growing.

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All joking aside, it appears that BRD pricing is coming down some, at least as far as Sony and Warner are concerned with both new and catalog titles. Checkout the MSRP for the releases below. Hopefully, this will become a trend with BR software.

DVD Times - The Bucket List (US BD) in May

DVD Times - Untraceable (US BD) in May - Artwork added

DVD Times - Youth Without Youth (US BD) in May - Artwork added

DVD Times - A Passage to India (US BD) in April - Artwork added

DVD Times - Anger Management (US BD) in May

Re: Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

Robert,

I would suggest that two of those titles (1 WB, 1 Sony) are still on the high side; at least for me. The three titles (all from Sony) that feature an SRP of under $30.00 are quite welcome though.

- Walter.

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Good news for BD.

But why don't they say how many titles they sold in an absolute sense? Why is the number of BR sales only given as a part of the DVD sales? Is this a new market figure?
He could have published the actual sales, IMO, or are those figures not available?


Cees

Re: Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

Walter,
The title "The Bucket List" is still playing in theaters and I think the $35.99 is reasonable compared to the SD DVD release of the same film with its 28.98 MRSP. At this time, we can't expect the BRD to be priced the same or similar to the SD DVD for films that are still on the studio's books as new productions. You're getting better presentations of the film on BR.

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Robert,

I wasn't thinking of those prices in relation to SD SRP values, just in terms of a 'magic' $30.00 price point for me; but I see your point.

- Walter.

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_Man_

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I gotta figure those $29.98 MSRPs might translate to $19.99 in store...maybe even cheaper on release week. Maybe that should be "I gotta hope...

Seems like good news to me.

========================

And, BTW, I'm all for the "sunshine and happiness" stance of this thread!

Re: Interesting Article on Blu-Ray sales Rising

Yeah, the pricing for those newly announced titles look solid to me given the context. I'll probably toss in a $ vote for classic catalog and pick up Passage to India myself.

_Man_

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It's strategic of them to avoid giving the actual sales numbers.

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And have you seen the prices on next week's wave of Blu-ray releases from Echo Bridge?

$9.95 @ amazon, $12.99 @ Best Buy and $12.99 @ Circuit City. Titles such as: Artie Lange's Beer League, Blackbeard, Category 7: End of the World, 10.5 Apocalypse: Complete Series, The Last Sentinel, Curse of King Tut's Tomb: Complete Series. Again, these might NOT be much-desired, high-profile titles...but it's also nice to see a "budget line" of discs released to provide perspective for those "A-list titles."

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I thought I read the first week( or was it 5 days?) units sold for 'No Country...' were in the range of 685,000 giving the Bd around 68,000. Going on the assumption these figures were accurate, in 'absolute' terms the dvd sales aren't that spectacular( especially for a crime/thriller that just won Best Picture and seemed to be fairly popular with 25-35 males among others). On the other hand, I think it's good for anyone that wants to see HDMs thrive, that the ratio is 10% and not 3 or 5%. Studios are simply not going to stop releasing NEW movies on disc-and hopefully 10% ( and going up?) would be incentive for the studios to go with a Bd release on more borderline/arthouse/limited appeal new releases. Catalog will still be a different story but hopefully the rising tide will raise all the boats, not just the shiny new ones.

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I'd say 68,000 units places the format well ahead of laserdisc, which is just fine with me.

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I'm *ready* to "go Blu" ... In fact, I've already purchased two Blu-ray discs (including last week's Enchanted) even though I don't own a deck yet!

In an attempt to rectify that situation, last night I made the trek to my local Best Buy with the intent of coming home with a Blu-ray deck. They had several players from Samsung, Sharp, and Sony all advertised as being Profile 1.1 compatible; and all were advertised as selling for less than $400. My first DVD player cost $380, so I felt the time was right!

Wouldn't you know, they didn't have a single Blu-ray stand-alone player available for sell at any price!! Furthermore, they couldn't even tell me when they might get some more in. They told me that since the format war ended they've been flying off the shelves.

So this is graphic proof, from my perspective at least, that there was a huge pent-up demand for HD media that was being held back by the format war.

I firmly believe now that Blu-ray will be considered a mainstream medium before the end of the decade!

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I had 30 Blu-ray titles either in-hand or enroute to me in the mail before I bought my first Blu-ray player (the PS3) two weeks ago, so I hear ya brother!

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Statistically speaking, there are a number of questions that I would ask about this. I suspect a number of the titles that were mentioned did not have broad audiences. As a result, dvd sales were lower. Transformers and Pirates of the Caribbean 3 had broad appeal and did huge dvd numbers. Of course, both were also released on one format only. If Transformers and POTC were released in both formats, the percentages would have been higher.

Seeing the numbers on I Am Legend would be more interesting. It made around $200 million which suggests it would have broader appeal than the titles the article mentioned although not as broad as Transformers or POTC3.

I would expect to see bluray sales to show some increase this year because most of the remaining early adopters will jump onboard. Also as Paramount and Universal put out their hd-dvd only hits on bluray, that will sustain the market. After that, the question is whether it can get beyond early adopters.

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Enchanted is really good with a great picture.

Did you try C.C. or Wally World?