DVD Sales: Harry Potter And The Half-Sales Prince; DVDs Declining

Well, The-Numbers DVD Sales Chart is still running behind schedule, but there is a new chart to view this week, for the frame ending on December 13th.  Considering that this week should have been prime time for holiday shopping, there's just no way to look at these results and not be at least a little bit disappointed.  The harsh reality is that, the DVD industry, just like the CD industry, is on the decline.  Look at the image to the left, from the Wall Street Journal, to see what I mean.  Studios continue to claim that Blu-Ray sales are offseting DVD Sales decreases, but that's not really the case.  On the whole, less people are buying DVDs, and that is certainly appraent in this week's DVD Sales Chart.  You can read on to see the full chart, along with my slightly depressing DVD Sales Notes:

DVD Sales Notes:

-Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince certainly took off on the home market, but the speed that it left shelves was more along the lines of a Nimbus 2000 than a Firebolt.  Half Blood Prince sold 4.2 million copies in its first week, good for $49 million in revenue.  That number seems fine until you realize that the last installment of this franchise, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, which opened on this same week in 2007, sold 6.9 million copies in its first week, earning $143.4 million.  Clearly, both sales and prices have declined drastically since then.

-Second and third place went to two movies that earned just under $100 million during their theatrical releases.  The Meryl Streep and Amy Adams cooking feature Julie And Julia earned a solid $94 million in theaters, and it earned a similarly solid $16.7 million in its first week on the home market.  Meanwhile, the Johnny Depp old-school-gangster piece Public Enemies, which grossed $97 million at the box office, found $15.5 million worth of DVD revenue.

-There are so many possible puns for the movies in 5th and 6th place, but I'll try not to overdo it.  Up went up 2% this week, and Star Trek beamed up 3%.  The hot air balloon feature and the space shuttle picture both lifted off this week, selling over 500,000 units in their 5th and 4th weeks, respectively.  Up has reached a sky-high $121 million total, while Star Trek has found a not quite out of this world $76.8 million.

-The TV-on-DVD performer of the week is Lost - The Complete 5th Season.  With 451,459 units sold, the ABC drama came in 7th place, but with $16.5 million earned, the ridiculously awesome television series came in 3rd in terms of total revenue.  That makes me feel good.  I love LOST! 

-Kiddie movies and Christmas movies thrive at this time of year, as parents look for family-friendly stocking stuffers for their children.  That explains the reappearance of movies like Hannah Montana The Movie and It's A Wonderful Life.  Check out the full chart below:

DVD Sales Chart For The Week Ending December 13, 2009

Rank	Title	Units this Week	% Che	Total Units	Sales this Week	Total Sales	Wks
1	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	4,199,622	-.-%	4,199,622	$49,038,566	$49,038,566	1
2	Julie And Julia	983,131	-.-%	983,131	$16,742,721	$16,742,721	1
3	Public Enemies	884,440	-.-%	884,440	$15,463,372	$15,463,372	1
4	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	627,004	-61.5%	2,256,708	$10,454,038	$27,317,074	2
5	Up	527,053	2.2%	7,141,269	$9,881,137	$121,248,761	5
6	Star Trek	505,214	3.0%	5,292,868	$8,044,624	$76,799,943	4
7	Lost - The Complete Fifth Season	451,459	-.-%	451,459	$16,550,397	$16,550,397	1
8	Terminator Salvation	353,608	-64.9%	1,362,395	$5,654,192	$15,731,974	2
9	Santa Buddies	285,994	-34.4%	1,693,062	$5,550,543	$29,458,409	3
10	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	273,395	44.0%	8,801,439	$6,011,956	$197,164,619	8
11	The Ugly Truth	241,607	157.4%	1,491,887	$3,621,689	$23,845,237	5
12	Angels And Demons	211,661	-40.1%	1,391,793	$3,824,799	$22,082,111	3
13	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	210,821	44.2%	4,522,108	$3,443,930	$76,522,006	7
14	Four Christmases	196,542	-27.5%	1,181,962	$3,693,024	$18,228,545	3
15	A Christmas Story	176,804	85.1%	-	$1,785,013	-	481
16	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	176,384	10.8%	3,905,998	$2,791,594	$62,857,838	6
17	The Original Television Christmas Classics	161,265	28.8%	-	$3,223,687	-	274
18	National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation	156,646	58.4%	-	$1,759,996	-	630
19	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	149,087	-33.5%	-	$2,510,073	-	427
20	The Proposal	146,567	-6.6%	4,360,385	$2,228,859	$71,090,936	9
21	How the Grinch Stole Christmas	144,047	-.-%	-	$1,712,719	-	421
22	Hannah Montana The Movie	139,933	-.-%	3,189,925	$2,517,395	$54,125,422	17
23	Elf	137,748	91.2%	-	$1,183,255	-	265
24	Twilight	131,578	-15.2%	9,967,919	$2,862,150	$181,028,196	38
25	It's a Wonderful Life - 60th Anniversary Edition	128,508	-.-%	1,347,468	$1,849,230	$19,119,577	163
26	Monsters vs. Aliens	121,949	51.8%	4,633,877	$1,812,699	$76,746,361	11
27	My Sister's Keeper	119,018	79.9%	908,021	$2,355,366	$14,524,912	4
28	Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure	102,989	-15.4%	2,951,541	$1,605,599	$46,607,587	7
29	Funny People	94,191	-8.3%	392,755	$1,953,945	$7,514,074	3
30	Barbie and the Three Musketeers	67,379	-.-%	930,472	$841,564	$13,329,776	13