â€˜The Dark Knightâ€™ crushes DVD and Blu-ray sales

18 Dec 08 02:20 by Randomus in category Uncategorized To news archive

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Even though Hollywood is having trouble convincing people to purchase Blu-ray movies, sometimes a huge blockbuster rolls around to help generate sales. This time around, "The Dark Knight" smashed sales records, selling 1.7 million Blu-ray units and totaling 13.5 million worldwide sales.

The film became the best selling DVD of 2008 in just one week. Furthermore, the 1.7 million Blu-ray purchases makes it the best selling Blu-ray movie title in history. In overall movie rentals, The Dark Knight debuted at No. 1, overtaking Wanted, which was pushed back to No. 2, according to Home Media Magazine.

Why the overall quality of the film in Blu-ray? According to Warner, Imax cameras were used to film parts of the movie, which offered "a revolutionary integration of film formats. The Dark Knight Blu-ray disc takes advantage of the marriage of IMAX(R) and 35mm formats by using the hybrid master to replicate the unique theatrical experience. The IMAX scenes are also included on the 2-disc Special Edition as bonus materials."

If you already own a Blu-ray player and want a new movie, The Dark Knight looks wonderful in Blu-ray.

The strong Blu-ray sales will likely be a relief for Warner, as consumers still have been hesitant to purchase Blu-ray players and create a second movie collection in a different format.

17 Comments

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5757; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 05:56

This movie is a must have! I saw it at the theater and it was great. I can safely say that it will probably cause a spike in blu-ray player sales...it's that good. People will plop down the money for a player just for this movie alone.

CPUSlayer: Posts: 103; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 06:02

What there trying to say is that Blue-ray format discs out sold Dvd-rom format? Or are they trying to say that Blue-ray format finally sold enough Roms that they are sorta 'braggin' about it?

CDan: Posts: 3532; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 06:26

Reportedly, the PQ on the DVD really sucks, but is great on the BD. Personally, I didn't care much for the movie, not much of a story. The BD does look great though, and sounds great too.

psychoace: Posts: 351; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 06:30

"The Dark Knight" smashed sales records, selling 1.7 million Blu-ray units and totaling 13.5 million worldwide sales."

When did 1.7 million become more than 13 million?

They are trying to say there are adopting to Blu Ray though cause of the higher numbers of sales.

BitRate: Posts: 411; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 07:06

I thought TDK was overhyped rubbish. Dull, inconsistent, poorly acted (except for Heath) and morbidly dark. Pure junk.

The "sales figures" for this title are indicative of the poor taste people have in films.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 11:33

@BitRate - or perhaps the poor taste in films you have?

iamrocket: Posts: 294; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 14:58

What this proves is that Hollywood whines about lack of sales, blames it on piracy, and whatnot, but if they put out something reasonably good, it WILL SELL!

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 16:15

"In overall movie rentals, The Dark Knight debuted at No. 1, overtaking Wanted"

Well I've been trying to rent the blu-ray version at Blockbuster, Hollywoodvideo and all rented out! might as well buy the damn blu-ray, $21 at BJs.

ferd: Posts: 251; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 16:59

@nutjob - you mean BitRate bought 1.7 million copies by himself?

SciFer: Posts: 193; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 22:45

Gomer Pile saying, "Surprise, surprise, surprise!"

SciFer: Posts: 193; Posted on: 18 Dec 08 22:52

I have a Sony Bravia 52" KDL-52WL135 and a PS3 and let me just say, WOOOWW, absolutely Prestine!

If you have all the works enabled it actually looks like its popping out of the screen. It feels as if you're actually there and you are seeing this with your own eyes, incredible!

Plexed: Posts: 73; Posted on: 19 Dec 08 00:41

The only movies worth buying in Blu-ray are porn when bad acting, poor scripts and unintelligible plots don't kill your enjoyment and video quality is everything.

guest: Posts: 15288; Posted on: 19 Dec 08 02:15

@Plexed: "The only movies worth buying in Blu-ray are porn..."

Is it worth to see those "things" in great detail and the uh-oh-ah in high definition audio?

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5757; Posted on: 19 Dec 08 03:17

Can you see the needle tracks on their inner thighs and forearms?

Crabbyappleton: Posts: 5757; Posted on: 19 Dec 08 03:22

Well, I think you just forgot how good it was. Take a look at the Dark Bailout clip!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1X6RQLZtoA

shaolin007: Posts: 883; Posted on: 19 Dec 08 10:24

Awesome movie. I am waiting until Redbox has a copy in.

1.7 million out of 13.5 million, hmm...12.6% of the total sales. Sounds about right. Bluray has been stuck around 10% for I dont know how long despite all of the players being sold at cheaper prices. I wonder what the reason is?

ivid: Posts: 405; Posted on: 20 Dec 08 23:09

1.7 million BR's in 1 week sounds pretty impressive regardless of how many DVDs sold.
Is anyone really surprised ? Its the 2nd highest grossing film of all time... anyone who has a standalone BR player or a PS3 (several million) will more than likely buy the BR edition over the DVD if they're going to buy it at all.
IMO this is one of the 1st "must have" BR titles. This reminds me of the Matrix DVD which was the 1st DVD to sell over 1 million and was the "must have" DVD at the time. It helped popularize and "show off" the format. Who didn't own the Matrix DVD back then ? http://www.cdfreaks.com/jochem/../im...es/2/smile.gif
Not only being a kick ass movie, the DVD itself was one of the 1st to really show off the awesomeness of DVD, the picture and surround sound were exceptional, extra features were amazing and somewhat revolutionary at the time etc..
In DKs case, overall the movie looks better and the IMAX scenes really show off the better image quality of BR. They're also trying to make the BD-live features cool and exciting, but I don't care for that myself. But kudos to Warner for trying, they are cool features (making your own Director's commentary..).

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â€˜The Dark Knightâ€™ crushes DVD and Blu-ray sales

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