Transformers fastest-selling DVD, HD DVD this year
Q4 UPDATE: Benchmark to be challenged by Spider-Man, Shrek, others
By Ned Randolph -- Video Business, 10/22/2007
OCT. 22 | Box-office blockbuster Transformers has proved equally powerful on DVD, according to Paramount Home Entertainment. The studio said Monday that the Oct. 16 release sold 4.5 million DVD copies its first day and 8.3 million copies in its first week, making it the top day-one and first-week seller this year.
On DVD, the movie came out in a single-disc edition and two-disc special edition set.
That benchmark will be challenged this week when Sony Pictures Home Entertainment’s Spider-Man 3 hits retail, and repeatedly throughout the quarter, by such titles as Paramount and DreamWorks’ Shrek the Third on Nov. 13, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End on Dec. 4 and Warner Home Video’s Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Dec. 11.
The numbers represent North American sales, including Canada, and appear to include more than 1 million units shipped into the rental channel.
Paramount also said the title sold more than 100,000 HD DVDs in its first day on shelves, on the way to selling 190,000 units on HD DVD in its first week. The studio claims that is a first-day and first-week record for a high-definition title on either format.
Comparisons are complicated by the format war. The No. 1 high-def title so far has been Warner Home Video's 300, which sold 250,000 units on Blu-ray and HD DVD combined in its first week. In its announcement at the time, Warner didn't breakout the formats, but it's believed Blu-ray accounted for about two-thirds, or 165,000 units.
The Transformers DVD also is the top-selling October DVD release in the history of the home entertainment industry, Paramount said.
“The performance of the Transformers DVD and HD DVD has demonstrated the phenomenal success of this global franchise,” said Kelley Avery, president of worldwide home entertainment at Paramount Pictures. “We’re happy to be kicking off the fourth quarter with a title that clearly shows home entertainment releases are still an event that drives consumers into stores—which is a win for both content providers and retailers.”
The film made more than $700 million at the global box office. Paramount launched the discs with one of the studio's biggest marketing campaigns.
