AfterDawn: News

An HD DVD title tops HD sales for the week

Although Blu-ray officially won the HD format war last week, in a pretty funny ironic twist, "American Gangster",an HD DVD-only Title was the top selling HD disc for the week, beating out new Blu-ray releases.

American Gangster, a Universal release, was released on the same day that Toshiba announced it was canning HD DVD support but still topped Neilsen VideoScan's charts for the week, beating out Blu-ray's top release "Michael Clayton" by a 2:1 margin.



However, there were no other HD DVD titles in the top 10 and Blu-ray cruised to an easy overall victory for the week, with 77 percent of all HD disc sales.

The rest of the week's chart (thanks to HD Digest)

1. American Gangster (HD DVD); INDEX: 100
2. Michael Clayton (Blu-ray); INDEX: 62.24
3. The Rock (Blu-ray); INDEX: 27.26
4. Cars (Blu-ray); INDEX: 26.18
5. We Own the Night (Blu-ray); INDEX: 24.29
6. Planet Earth (Blu-ray); INDEX: 22.69
7. Con Air (Blu-ray); INDEX: 21.37
8. Gone Baby Gone (Blu-ray); INDEX: 19.89
9. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (Blu-ray); INDEX: 19.26
10. Crimson Tide (Blu-ray); INDEX: 18.28

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 2 Mar 2008 18:28

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• 16 comments

• iluvendo

  Who knew?, After the demise of HD-DVD, it beats out BD. I guess HD-DVD is like a famous artist, it can't make money until it's dead.LMAO!

  2.3.2008 19:05 #1

• domie

  I don't consider having only 1 title in the top 10 and 23% of the market in what was a two horse race as a victory - granted it was the top selling title but I don't see any big Blu Ray only releases for that day/week, Will it still be No.1 next week ?

  2.3.2008 20:06 #2

• Sophocles

  Quote:granted it was the top selling title but I don't see any big Blu Ray only releases for that day/week, Will it still be No.1 next week ?By chance probably not! But by choice? It depends on the content! A game or film is chosen more by personal preference than it is by release format. If both formats are as good as is required for quality then what's left is content? The game won placement based on its own merits, and not by its release format.
  
  Soon we will only have one format under the control of a small corporate interest built on greed over good ideas. Will we lose some music, movies, or games that might have found a home with the disappearing format?

  2.3.2008 20:49 #3

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by Sophocles: By chance probably not! But by choice? It depends on the content! A game or film is chosen more by personal preference than it is by release format. If both formats are as good as is required for quality then what's left is content? The game won placement based on its own merits, and not by its release format.Indeed, this is probably the biggest reason (in my opinion) why the two formats pushed hard to get movies exclusive to their format. People, for the most part, don't care which format "wins" or which format they own.
  
  They just want to see their movies in high definition this, as Sophocles pointed out, is the reason for this news coming about.
  
  Peace

  2.3.2008 21:06 #4

• jove

  considering the demographics, the hype and the amount of hd dvd's out there going for so cheap, this is no surprise at all.

  2.3.2008 22:10 #5

• cazer

  its not that its on hd dvd its what movie it is and its only on hd dvd and not on blu-ray

  2.3.2008 22:25 #6

• pomelo

  I got the HD-DVD version for $26.

  2.3.2008 22:26 #7

• sk8flawzz

  I got it for $10 =P

  2.3.2008 22:42 #8

• iluvendo

  I did'nt get it at all ;)

  2.3.2008 23:48 #9

• 21Q

  Why does a dead format continue to sell? Because it was good. I did prefer blu-ray but only because it was blue =P. But Hd-DVD was a better format in the features the box had, such as the ones blu-ray are now adapting.

  2.3.2008 23:54 #10

• ripxrush

  lol, kinda funny, but i did jsut spend $50 on an add on for my xbox cause i all ready have an hd-dvd player (friend got it for me)so i figured have a back up drive or additional driver for another room for my HD_DVD titles oh & the free % movies hopefully they will fulfill the 5 free!?!? it did not expire yet...

  3.3.2008 03:11 #11

• emugamer

  If American Gangster was released in both formats, could we really expect the HDDVD version to win? Just because a format won, doesn't mean that everyone who invested in the losing format threw out their players. So if the movie is good, and you have the player for it, and it's cheap, and it's only available in one format, then you'll probably buy it. This is comparing apples to oranges.

  3.3.2008 12:11 #12

• sgriesch

  This just goes to show that it's more about the movies themselves, than the stupid format war. Make a good movie, more people will like it, and then more people will buy it. Pretty simple concept.

  3.3.2008 13:17 #13

• domie

  Quote:
  Soon we will only have one format under the control of a small corporate interest built on greed over good ideas. Will we lose some music, movies, or games that might have found a home with the disappearing format?I doubt it - I can't imagine some company that wants to distribute its material refusing to do so only because there is only one release format available - didn't happen with cd audio and didn't happen with dvd.

  4.3.2008 06:01 #14

• hughjars

  The HD DVD exclusive titles are very obviously still well worth buying.
  
  They are a total bargain right now and most of all they are available right now.
  
  Even for those who want to make the switch to Blu-ray who knows if or when they will come out on BD?
  Sometime next year?
  
  I prefer now.

  5.3.2008 19:13 #15

• borhan9

  Just goes to whow you how quickly the tables turn in the market. American Gangster must be some movie for it to out do blu-ray i wonder how good it really is i must put it on my must see list.

  20.4.2008 21:24 #16