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 20th 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:
- Lucy (new)
- The Boxtrolls (new)
- Gone Girl
- Annabelle (new)
- Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Tough Love (new)
- A Walk Among the Tombstones
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- The Drop (new)
- The Equalizer
- Frozen
- Wolves (new)
- The Maze Runner
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- The Grand Budapest Hotel
- Maleficent
- Taken 2
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Left Behind
- How to Train Your Dragon 2
- No Good Deed
Top 10 Home Media Magazine rental chart for the week of 1/25/15:
- A Walk Among the Tombstones
- The Maze Runner
- The Equalizer
- This is Where I Leave You
- No Good Deed
- Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
- Boyhood
- Guardians of the Galaxy
- Let’s Be Cops
- The Good Lie
