'Happy Feet Two' Dances Way to Top Sales Spot

21 Mar, 2012 By: Thomas K. Arnold

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The approach of Spring Break continues to find studios stepping up their release schedules of high-profile titles, as Hollywood home video marketers take aim at out-of-school kids and their Easter gift-giving parents.

Three new releases landed in the top three slots on the weekly Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, which tracks all disc sales at most big retailers except Walmart and Sam’s Club, as well as Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart for the week ended March 18.

On the overall sales chart, Warner Home Video’s Happy Feet Two, which earned $64 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 1. Paramount’s The Adventures of Tintin ($77.6 million) bowed at No. 2 and 20th Century Fox’s The Descendants ($82 million) debuted at No. 3.

The first two films are animated family features; Descendants is an Oscar-winning dramatic comedy that stars George Clooney in a critically hailed performance as a wealthy father who tries to reconnect with his daughters after his wife is seriously injured in a boating accident.

On the Blu-ray Disc sales chart, all three films also captured the top three spots, albeit in a different order. The top-selling Blu-ray Disc was Adventures of Tintin, with Descendants following at No. 2 and Happy Feet Two trailing at No. 3.

Accordingly, Nielsen research shows Tintin generated 50% of its sales from the Blu-ray Disc format, compared to 32% for Descendants and just 23% for Happy Feet Two.

On Home Media Magazine’s weekly video rental chart, Adventures of Tintin was an easy winner, in part due to the fact that Paramount doesn’t delay shipping its new releases to rental dealers.

Sony Pictures’ Jack and Jill slipped to No. 2 after two weeks in the top spot, followed by another new release, Summit Entertainment’s The Three Musketeers, which debuted at No. 3.

 

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