As you know, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse on DVD and Blu-Ray hit shelves on December 4th. Right away - in other words, on opening weekend - the Eclipse DVD/Blu-Ray sold over three million units.
These numbers were comparable to opening sales figures for both the Twilight and New Moon DVDs (three and four million respectively), but Home Media Magazine quoted a Summit Entertainment rep to state: "With the first two titles, we had massive March opening events involving thousands of retail stores . . . We were going for a big bang, right out of the gate. This time we are releasing the film during the holiday season, a much more crowded time and one with vastly different consumer shopping patterns. So our whole plan is to look at what we're doing over a four-week period of time, and not a single night."
Well, according to The Numbers, after four weeks (up to the week of December 26th), over seven million Eclipse DVDs and Blu-Rays have been sold (7,111,305 to be exact).
In 2010, 7,829,281 The Twilight Saga: New Moon DVDs and Blu-Rays were sold, after having been released on March 20th. So, Eclipse's DVD sales were almost as strong as New Moon's in just four weeks time.
Eclipse was the fifth most-sold DVD in 2010, and New Moon was the third. In 2009, Twilight sold over 10 million copies. Twilight also had a March DVD/Blu-Ray release date. So, it should be interesting to see how many total units are sold for Eclipse. At this rate, Eclipse will likely trump both of the prior films in home entertainment sales.
“Inception” easily topped the competition to be last week’s most rented disc, according to Rentrak. But Leonardo DiCaprio and his fellow dream weavers were no match for Bella and Edward Cullen.
For the second week in a row, “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” was the best selling DVD.
Instead, Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending action flick had to settle for second place on the DVD sales chart.
The week’s other big release, “Shrek Forever After” struggled to elbow its way onto the DVD charts. The fourth film in the green ogre franchise managed to snag third place on the sales end, but could only muster up a fifth place finish on the rental charts.
Still Mike Myers’ brogue spewing monster had enough muscle to propel a seasonally appropriate tie-in up the sales charts. “Donkey’s Christmas Shrektacular” was able to capture fourth place on the sales list.
Still holding strong on the rental end of the business — action comedy “Knight and Day.” The Tom Cruise vehicle was the week’s second most rented disc for the second consecutive week. However, Cruise love didn’t translate into DVD sales as the film fell off the sales chart’s a week after hitting shelves.
Next week brings the release of the Mark Wahlberg and WIll Ferrell cop comedy “The Other Guys” and the men on a mission flick “The A-Team.”
Twi-hards came out in force over last week, as “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” captured the top spot on the sales charts. But tweens it seems don’t rent movies. The third film in the mega-grossing vampire franchise only managed to grab the sixth slot on the rental chart, according to Rentrak.The greying of the rental set was good news for Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. The pair’s “Knight & Day” was the week’s most rented film, despite being a box office also-run. The action comedy was the week’s fifth best-selling disc.
Also debuting last week, Nicolas Cage’s latest whiff, “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” was the week’s second best selling and third most rented disc.
The new releases toppled retro-action flick “The Expendables” from its perch atop the rental chart. The Sylvester Stallone vehicle had to settle for second place on the rental chart and sixth place on the sales end.
Not all premieres are equal, however. After failing to make much of an impression during their theatrical runs last summer, “Going the Distance” and “Vampires Suck” eked out eight and ninth place on the rental chart respectively. Neither film ranked among the week’s top selling discs.
Fading fast, Julia Roberts’ return to chick flickdom with “Eat Pray Love” slid off the sales charts and fell from the third to fifth place on the list of top rented films.
Next week brings a couple of heavy hitters to DVD, as “Inception” and “Shrek Forever After” both make their DVD debuts.
Eclipse, the third film in the “Twilight” franchise, still has plenty of bite with consumers.
The DVD and Blu-ray Disc of the film, which grossed $300 million in U.S. theaters, went on sale at midnight Friday, Dec. 3, and after two days had already sold some 3 million DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, according to Summit Home Entertainment.
The tally falls short of what either of the first two films did on their respective disc openings, but the marketing strategy is different and the release is expected to have longer legs throughout the holiday season, said Steve Nickerson, president of Summit Home Entertainment.
“With the first two titles, we had massive March opening events involving thousands of retail stores,” Nickerson said. “We were going for a big bang, right out of the gate. This time we are releasing the film during the holiday season, a much more crowded time and one with vastly different consumer shopping patterns. So our whole plan is to look at what we’re doing over a four-week period of time, and not a single night.”
To that end, Summit is committing three times the marketing spend to Eclipse in the post-street-date window that it committed to the two earlier titles.
The first two “Twilight” films sold an estimated 4 million discs each in their first two days in stores, Nickerson said. To date, Twilight, which was released in March 2009, has sold 10.5 million units, while New Moon, released last March, has sold 9.5 million units.
“We expect that come the beginning of the year, the performance of Eclipse will mirror that of the first two titles,” Nickerson said.
Collider has just released their review of the Eclipse Blu-ray, which was written by the winner of their Twilight super fan contest. Check out an excerpt below!
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse opens with a fresh-faced college kid attacked in a dark Seattle alley by an unseen menace, save for a flash of red hair, and left bitten and screaming on a dock in the pounding rain. Immediately, you know you’re in a more dangerous film than Twilight or New Moon. Ultimately, Eclipse is still more love story than horror film: a supernatural Wuthering Heights of the Olympic Peninsula. Altogether, it’s an intoxicating blend of vampires, werewolves and romance. The Blu-ray Special Features explore a quality film production, in more depth than has been marketed. The more time I spend with the Blu-ray, the more I like it.
Scene: Xavier becomes a vampire Rob: Xavier would make a wonderful hamburger… He’s just dripping with spread. Kristen: Ew, that’s so gross. Rob: Okay, how do we be serious about this?
Scene: The first meadow kiss Rob: There’s a lot of kissing in this film. I noticed that when I was watching. After a while, it made me a little uncomfortable.
Scene: Bella gets in her truck. Edward is waiting for her. Bella (in movie): “You scared me.” Rob (in commentary): I was trying to. (low voice) I thought you’d like that. (lower voice) I’m Batman.
Scene: Bella goes to the Wolf Pack house for the first time Kristen: She’s allowed to have other relationships. Rob (heated): Why? No, she’s not allowed to have other relationships! If I ever saw my girlfriend go around to this bunch of guys’ house with all their little shirt—with all their little bellies out and their fake tan nipples and their iron-on tattoos… Kristen: Edward is just a little bit more mature than you. Rob: Mature? Kristen: Yep. Rob: Nah. Kristen: He can handle it.
Scene: Boo Boo Stewart comes on screen Rob: (in Yogi Bear voice) Heya Boo Boo!
Scene: The tent Rob: God, he’s so brazen. I really don’t like Jacob. Look at him with his tattoo. Ugh. Kristen: Look at him cradling, his little head tucked in there. Rob: You look like you’re milking him.
With Twilight Saga: Eclipse debuting on DVD and Blu-rayon Saturday, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has scheduled the release of another movie featuring Twilight star Kristen Stewart. Drama Welcome to the Rileys will be available for home consumption on Feb. 1.
Also starring Golden Globe winner James Gandolfini (TV’s The Sopranos), the movie tells the story of Doug Riley (Gandolfini), who’s at a crossroads. Since the death of his teenage daughter, Riley has led a life of quiet desperation, but during a trip to New Orleans, he meets Mallory (Stewart), a runaway making a living as a stripper. Riley abandons his old life to save Mallory’s, until his wife (Oscar nominee Melissa Leo, Frozen River) shakes off the fears that have kept her homebound for years and comes looking for him.
Ally Sheedy (The Breakfast Club) also stars in Welcome to the Rileys, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and had a limited run in theaters.
The R-rated movie will be priced at $28.95 on DVD and $34.95 on high-definition Blu-ray, and both will include the featurette “Creating the Rileys.”
Asda has announced that select locations will be releasing Eclipse at midnight. If you can’t wait to get your hands on your own copy of Rob as Edward, check out the information below:
Twilight fans are in for an early Christmas present as over 200 Asda stores prepare to open at 00.01 on Monday morning, 6th December, for the launch of Eclipse on DVD. For the die-hard fans out there, there are two exclusive-to-Asda, special edition DVDs – Double Disk Fan Edition with limited Edition 3D sleeve and The Real World of Twilight: Destination Forks.
The Double Disk Fan Edition includes commentaries from Bella and Edward aka Kirsten Stewart and Robert Pattinson as well as deleted and extended scenes. A must-have companion for the books and movies, Destination Forks showcases the incredible beauty, mystery, moods, and places of the real Forks. The DVDs are available to pre-order for just £12.93 and £5.93 online at Asda.
Fans can pre-order the third instalment of the Twilight Saga online HERE for just £9.93 where there is an official countdown clock for devoted followers to monitor when the DVD and merchandise officially go on sale.
The release of New Moon on DVD saw thousands of fans queuing at Asda stores across the country from midnight and this year Asda is expecting it to be even bigger. Fans can check the list of selected Asda stores that will open at midnight HERE“
