'Oblivion' Arrives Atop Disc Sales Charts

14 Aug, 2013 By: Thomas K. Arnold

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A slew of new releases are hitting video stores as studios seek to take advantage of the final weeks of summer vacation. For the week ended Aug. 11, seven of the top 10 titles on Nielsen VideoScan’s First Alert sales chart, which tracks overall disc sales, are new.

The Tom Cruise sci-fi actioner Oblivion rode its $89 million box office take to a solid victory on the national home video sales charts for the week, debuting at No. 1 on both First Alert and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart.

On both charts, Oblivion sent Paramount’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation retreating to the No. 2 spot after one week at No. 1. Overall, G.I. Joe sold just 31% as many units its second week in stores as Oblivion did during its first week out, while on Blu-ray Disc the discrepancy is even greater, with G.I. Joe moving just 22.6% as many units. That’s not surprising, given that the high-definition edition accounts for 60% of Oblivion’s first-week sales, compared to just 43% for G.I. Joe.

Rounding out the First Alert top five are three more new releases: Lionsgate’s Mud (No. 3), a low-profile release with a cast headed by Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon that managed to pull in $21.5 million at the box office; season three of the A&E TV series “Duck Dynasty” (No. 4); and Universal Studios’ The Place Beyond the Pines, a crime drama with Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper and Eva Mendes that earned $21.4 million in U.S. theaters. Gosling portrays a former motorcycle stunt rider whose life intersects with that of an ambitious cop, played by Cooper; the ramifications of that chance encounter are still felt a generation later.

Warner’s 42 finished the week at No. 6, down from No. 3 the prior week, while Universal Studios’ Despicable Me came in at No. 7.

Three new releases follow: Lionsgate’s Wings, a Walmart exclusive, at No. 8, Walt Disney Studios’ animated classic Robin Hood (in its Blu-ray debut) at No. 9 and Universal Studios’ Riddick Collection, consisting of Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick, at No. 10.

On Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week, G.I. Joe repeated at No. 1 since Oblivion won’t be available at Redbox and Netflix for another three weeks. The Universal Studios comedy Admission, now off its 28-day holdback, came in at No. 2, followed at No. 3 by Mud.

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