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Schools are beginning their summer breaks, and the theatrical value of films coming to Blu-ray Disc and DVD is rising as fast as the temperatures in anticipation of all those kids with free time to burn.
The top seven spots on Nielsen VideoScan’s First Alert sales chart for the week ending June 9 went to new releases, led by Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Identity Thief, a comedy about, well, a stolen identity that stars Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy and Jon Favreau and grossed $134.5 million in U.S. theaters.
Coming in a close second was 20th Century Fox’s A Good Day to Die Hard, the latest installment in the Bruce Willis crime franchise that began with 1988’s original Die Hard. The latest film was a theatrical underperformer, with a domestic box office gross of just $67.4 million on a budget estimated at $92 million. And critics absolutely hated it, with chief film critic Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter opining, “It’s a bad day at the office for a durable 25-year-old franchise in A Good Day to Die Hard.”
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And yet demand on video was remarkably high, with the film selling 82 percent as many units as Identity Thief, according to Nielsen.
Indeed, A Good Day to Die Hard even outsold Identity Thief on Blu-ray Disc, bowing at No. 1 on Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart. According to Nielsen, A Good Day to Die Hard generated 49 percent of its total first-week unit sales from Blu-ray Disc, a far greater percentage than Identity Thief’s 34 percent.
Lionsgate’s Warm Bodies, a zombie comedy with $66.4 million in theatrical earnings, bowed at No. 3 on both sales charts, followed at No. 4 by Anchor Bay Entertainment’s Escape From Planet Earth, an animated comedy distributed theatrically by The Weinstein Co. that grossed $56.6 million at the box office.
Those four films generated a combined $325 million at the box office.
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The fifth season of the hit TV series Breaking Bad, from Sony Pictures, debuted at No. 5 on both charts, followed at No. 6 by the direct-to-video action sequel 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded, starring WWE superstar Randy Orton.
Falling Skies: The Complete Second Season, from Warner, debuted at No. 7 on First Alert and No. 10 on the Blu-ray Disc sales chart.
The prior week’s top-selling disc, Anchor Bay’s Dark Skies, fell to No. 20 on the First Alert sales chart its second week in stores.
On Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week, Warm Bodies debuted at No. 1, while the No. 2 spot went to the Universal Studios horror flick Mama, which just came off its 28-day holdback from key rental outlets.
The 20th Century Fox romance Safe Haven, which also became available at Netflix and Redbox last week after a month-long delay, broke into the top 20 rental chart at No. 3, followed at No. 4 by Escape From Planet Earth.
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