Toy Story 3 was released onto Blu-ray and DVD last week and had a fantastic first week at retail. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the home release of the film was at the top of the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart this past week. Taking into account all three versions of the sets, it outsold its closest competitor, HBO’s The Pacific, by a ratio of 10-to-1.
It is also interesting to note that 33% of Toy Story 3‘s sales were for the various Blu-ray sets. Seems like the new high-definition standard has got some serious momentum and continues to gain more traction across households. Another reason why the Blu-ray sets may have sold so well is that they came with many special features that were not available on the DVD release of the film.
Taking a look at the rental side of the market, Toy Story 3 easily took the number 1 spot on Home Media Magazine’s list. Differentiating itself from most other studios, Disney has been making its films available for rental the same day as the on-sale date for the Blu-ray and DVD sets. Disney’s belief is that the rental market does not adversely affect its home video sales because families and individuals prefer to purchase their films to add to their collections.
After passing $1 billion worldwide, Toy Story 3 is set to continue tearing up the retail charts for the foreseeable future. In general, Pixar films have had incredible staying power on retailer’s top-sellers lists. Toy Story 3 will likely prove to be no different.
UPDATE (11/11/10): Disney announced their quarterly results earlier today, and the company provided details about how Toy Story 3 has figured into their earnings. According to Home Media Magazine, on an analyst call that took place today, Disney CEO Bob Iger briefly spoke about Toy Story 3‘s success at retail.
The Four-Disc Combo Pack of the film has accounted for 80% of its high-definition sales. That means that only 20% of customers who are going hi-def are choosing to purchase the Two-Disc Blu-ray set. The huge percentage difference (80 vs. 20) is a bit eye-opening. However, considering how many retailers have priced the Four-Disc pack only a few dollars more than the Two-Disc set, the Four-Disc version’s dominance is not totally unexpected.
