Today The Dark Knight on Blu-ray Disc enjoyed its first full week on the market to the tune of 1.7 million in global sales and over 1 million sales in the United States. But the celebration for the now best-selling Blu-ray of all time doesn’t end there.
Everyone knew The Dark Knight had the potential to be Blu-ray’s secret weapon, the title that would right the ship in these hard economic times. No one suspected how far it, and the Blu-ray format as well, would penetrate consumer’s holiday shopping lists.
Today further evidence of The Dark Knight’s power came in an completely unexpected form. The Dark Knight on Blu-ray is sold out at Amazon.com despite never going on sale. There is no note stating additional stock will be received before Christmas. No more for now. Bye bye.
I’ve read other reports of The Dark Knight on Blu-ray being difficult to find in brick-and-mortar stores. With supposedly well over 1 million copies shipped did we ever expect a shortage? Not at all.
All those “Blu-ray is dead” articles that flooded the Internet over the past 60 days are a distant memory now.
For the Blu-ray format, there’s still a long road ahead. The Dark Knight was destined to sell well, but how will the scores of new PS3 and Blu-ray adopters treat themselves to high-def media in 2009, especially catalog titles they may already own on DVD? And will they spend a few bucks more for a comedy on Blu-ray or go the cheaper DVD route?
I can’t wait to see how next year plays out.
