Blu-Ray sales flourishing in Europe

Sales of Blu-ray Disc movies and players are surging all across Europe despite the gloomy economic conditions and forecast per a press release issued this weekend.British Blu-ray player owners bought approximately 462,500 titles in November, a 165% increase over the previous month. The Dark Knight is leading a December charge with 21% of all Dark Knight discs sold being Blu-ray.

Blu-ray hardware sales in Europe, which include Playstation 3 consoles, have outsold DVD hardware sales, including Playstation 2 consoles, by five times during a similar time span. Sales are forecast to triple by the end of 2009. Aggressive growth numbers are expected to be released for the United States as the year comes to a close. The real test for Blu-ray in 2009 is whether it can eat into DVDs dominant home video market share with blockbuster and catalog titles alike.
Source:HD Room Read more!

Dark Knight Flying Off Shelves

Three million copies of Warner Bros.' The Dark Knight were sold on Tuesday, the first day of its DVD and Blu-ray release, Warner Home Video announced Wednesday. Some 25-30 percent of them were in the Blu-ray format, a record. The previous record was set by Iron Man, which sold 260,000 Blu-ray discs on its first day in release last September. "The Blu-ray sales of Dark Knight were exceptionally strong and much higher than our projections," Warner Home Video President Ron Sanders told the Los Angeles Times. Some writers attributed the record sales of Knight to strong demand for Blu-ray players over the Thanksgiving holiday. (IMDB) Read more!

Blu-ray Sales Sail To All-Time Highs

Hollywood in high def:Further confirmation that Blu-ray sales continue to surge:
* Blu-ray had its best month of sales ever in October, with consumers buying 2.3 million discs, according to Home Media Research. That's the first time disc sales have surpassed the 2 million mark in a single month and it's nearly five times greater than the 470,000 discs purchased in October 2007.
* For the year so far, Blu-ray disc sales are running about four times higher than in 2007.
* Blu-ray disc sales have crossed the 20 million mark since the format was introduced, with 14 million of those (70%) sold this year.
* In October the 1,000 Blu-ray title was been announced for release.
And all of that is in the U.S. alone. Elsewhere the picture is even brighter in some countries such as Japan, where Blu-ray hardware sales already represent more than 50% of the total optical disc market and are expected to increase heading into the peak selling season. According to the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association, Blu-ray recorder and player shipments reached 138,000 units in the 12 months ending in September, or 107 times the previous year's tally. It also noted that Blu-ray hardware now accounts for 31% of all home entertainment recorder and player sales.
Meanwhile, back in the U.S., Wal-Mart recently announced a big expansion of its Blu-ray Disc inventories and reported a 2.4% gain in same-store sales during October. N4G.COM Read more!