‘True Blood’ Infuses Sales Chart

8 Jun, 2011 By: Thomas K. Arnold

"True Blood"

Who says TV DVD is dead?

HBO Home Entertainment topped both national home video sales charts the week ended June 5 with the complete third season of the hit HBO vampire series “True Blood,” an elegantly packaged set that costs three times as much as a movie on DVD or Blu-ray Disc.

A quarter of total sales came from the Blu-ray Disc version, which carries a suggested retail price of nearly $80.

True Blood: The Complete Third Season debuted at No. 1 on both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart. Sales were so strong that the previous seasons also returned to the overall top 20; the season-two set, released a year ago, landed at No. 9, and the season-one set from two years ago landed at No. 14.

The only high-profile theatrical release to come out on disc during the week, Summit Entertainment’s Drive Angry, a theatrical underperformer starring Nicolas Cage, debuted at No. 2 on both the overall and Blu-ray sales charts, selling just 31% as many copies as “True Blood,” according to Nielsen data. The film earned just slightly more than $10 million at the box office, on a budget pegged at $50 million.

Walt Disney Studios’ Gnomeo & Juliet, the previous week’s top seller, slipped to No. 3 on both charts.

In rental outlets, Drive Angry debuted at No. 1, according to Home Media Magazine’s rental chart. The Universal Studios comedy The Dilemma, with a $48.5 million theatrical take, finished at No. 2 after coming off its 28-day holdback from Netflix and kiosks.

Walt Disney Studios’ I Am Number Four, the previous week‚s top rental, slipped to No. 3.

About the Author: Thomas K. Arnold

‘True Blood’ Infuses Sales Chart

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About the Author: Thomas K. Arnold