‘Lucy’ Leads as New Releases Top Home Video Sales Charts

Consumers were eager for fresh entertainment the week ending Jan. 25, as four of the five top-selling discs were new theatrical releases.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment topped both Nielsen VideoScan sales charts with “Lucy” and “The Boxtrolls.”

“Lucy,” the sci-fi actioner with Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman that grossed more than $126 million in U.S. theaters, easily debuted at No. 1 on both the First Alert chart, which tracks overall disc sales, Blu-ray Disc and DVD combined, and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray sales chart.

“Boxtrolls,” an animated adventure with a domestic theatrical gross of $51 million, debuted at No. 2, again on both charts. According to Nielsen research, the film sold 41% as many discs as “Lucy,” but still managed to outperform 20^th Century Fox’s “Gone Girl,” which slipped to No. 3 on First Alert and No. 4 on the Blu-ray chart its second week in stores.

“Gone Girl” had debuted at No. 1 the prior week.

Rounding out the top five on the First Alert sales chart were two other new releases: Warner’s “Annabelle,” a horror prequel (to “The Conjuring”) that earned $84.3 million in theaters, debuted at No. 4, followed at No. 5 by Lionsgate’s “Madea’s Tough Love,” a direct-to-video animated comedy from Tyler Perry.

On the Blu-ray chart, “Annabelle” debuted at No. 3, while Disney’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” finished the week at No. 5.

Nielsen research shows that “Lucy” generated 51% of its first-week sales on Blu-ray, compared to 49% for “Boxtrolls” and 43% for “Annabelle.” “Madea’s Tough Love” was not available on Blu-ray.

On Home Media magazine’s rental chart for the week, Universal Studios’ “A Walk Among the Tombstones” rose up a notch to No. 1 after debuting at No. 2 the prior week.

Twentieth Century Fox’s “The Maze Runner” slipped to No. 2, while the rest of the top five remains unchanged from the prior week: Sony Pictures’ “The Equalizer” at No. 3, followed at No. 4 by Warner’s “This Is Where I Leave You” and Sony Pictures’ “No Good Deed” at No. 5.

Thomas K. Arnold is editorial director of Home Media magazine, http://www.homemediamagazine.com.

Top 20 Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart for the week of 1/25/15:

1. Lucy (new)
2. The Boxtrolls (new)
3. Gone Girl
4. Annabelle (new)
5. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Tough Love (new)
6. A Walk Among the Tombstones
7. Guardians of the Galaxy
8. The Drop (new)
9. The Equalizer
10. Frozen
11. Wolves (new)
12. The Maze Runner
13. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
14. The Grand Budapest Hotel
15. Maleficent
16. Taken 2
17. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
18. Left Behind
19. How to Train Your Dragon 2
20. No Good Deed

Top 10 Home Media Magazine rental chart for the week of 1/25/15:

1. A Walk Among the Tombstones
2. The Maze Runner
3. The Equalizer
4. This is Where I Leave You
5. No Good Deed
6. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
7. Boyhood
8. Guardians of the Galaxy
9. Let’s Be Cops
10. The Good Lie