‘Dark Knight’ Quickly Becomes Blu-ray Champion

Are you really that shocked?   ‘The Dark Knight’ sold a  record 600,000 copies on Blu-ray  on its first day of release on Dec. 9.   This made up about 21% of its total units sold, according to Warner Home Video.   The studio believes U.S. Blu-ray sales could hit 1 million high-def copies in week one—a format milestone—according to WHV president Ron Sanders.

“We think we will hit 1 million this weekend,† said Sanders. “What’s really encouraging about it is that the Blu-ray version did exceptionally well across the board. It wasn’t just selling in Best Buy or Wal-Mart, but also it did well in grocery and game stores. It was surprising to us just how well it did.†

‘The Dark Knight’ shattered the previous single-day Blu-ray sales of ‘Iron Man’, which  moved 260,000 high-def copies on its first day on sale Sept. 30, and 500,000 units in its first week.

‘The Dark Knight’ sold  about 3 million copies in both standard and high-def in the U.S. on its first day of release, according to Warner.   This doubles  the sales that Warner was projecting. Also, its overall standard and Blu-ray sales are 15% ahead of what Warner had predicted for day one.

The studio is especially pleased with ‘The Dark Knight’s  Blu-ray sales considering the relatively small hardware base for the format. Sanders believes there will soon be nearly a 100% attachment rate between the little more than 2 million Blu-ray set-top owners and ‘The Dark Knight’ copies.

“The last time a title had the ability to get to 100% was The Matrix,† said Sanders of when Warner’s  title was first released on DVD in 1999. “In that case, there were markets that sold as many units as there were [DVD] players installed at the time.†

Even though ‘The Dark Knight’Â  blew apart Warner’s initial estimates, the studio is not re-adjusting its year-end home entertainment assessments because of it. Sanders continues to believe that consumer spending might be down as much as 5% to 6% from 2007. He also is sticking to 2008 Blu-ray revenue reaching $650 million to $800 million, which represents lowered forecasting due to the soft economy.

However, Warner Bros. does believe ‘The Dark Knight’Â  is a good sign that the home entertainment category is behaving fairly well, considering having to operate in the worst economic environment in recent memory.

“The big titles continue to do well,† said Sanders. “The recession does not kill a category. There is more of a flight to quality, where the big titles perform well and the lesser titles perform worse—but the business does not shut down.†

What do you think? Â  Did you buy your copy already? Â  Blu-ray or standard def? Â  Are you still going to see it again when it gets the January 23rd re-release? Â  Let us know by commentin below!

Source: Video Business