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DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon 2,” distributed by 20th Century Fox, debuted at No. 1 on both national sales charts its first week in stores, displacing Walt Disney Studios’ “Maleficent” as the top-selling disc in the week ending Nov. 16.
“Dragon 2” was a top summer draw at the box office, earning a domestic box office total of $176.9 million to become the top-grossing animated film of the year. During its first week in stores, according to 20th Century Fox, consumers snapped up more than 2 million copies of the film on Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Digital HD.
The film’s home entertainment release also was prefaced with a massive consumer and retail marketing campaign with a heavy emphasis on social media, including a #DragonsDay Twitter viewing party on the Friday night of the Digital HD release. According to 20th Century Fox, “Dragon 2” is the studio’s top Digital HD family title ever, although the studio would not cite numbers.
The film cruised to an easy victory on both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart, which tracks overall disc sales, and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart. Nielsen data shows that during its second week of availability, second-ranked “Maleficent” sold just 37% as many copies as “Dragon 2,” which generated 52% of its total unit sales from Blu-ray Disc.
Demand for “Dragon 2” was so great that the original “How to Train Your Dragon,” released on disc in October 2010, returned to the First Alert top 20, re-entering the chart at No. 15.
Aside from “Dragon 2,” three other new releases round out the First Alert top five. Warner’s “Tammy,” a comic road trip adventure pairing Melissa McCarthy with Susan Sarandon that earned $84.5 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 3.
Another 20th Century Fox film, the buddy comedy “Let’s Be Cops,” rode its $82.2 million summer box office haul to a No. 4 home video debut. And Warner’s “Jersey Boys,” a musical biopic about the celebrated 1960s rock band the Four Seasons, bowed at No. 5 after generating $47 million in movie ticket sales.
Also worth noting is the No. 20 debut of Warner’s “Batman: The Complete Television Series,” which marks the first time the iconic 1960s series has ever been available on disc.
On Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week, 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men: Days of Future Past” shot to the top of the charts now that its 28-day holdback from Netflix and Redbox is over. The prior week’s top rental, Warner’s “Edge of Tomorrow,” slipped to No. 2, followed at No. 3 by “Maleficent,” up from No. 5 the previous week.
Paramount’s “Hercules” slipped to No. 4 after debuting at No. 2 the week before, while “Mr. Peabody & Sherman,” also now available at all rental outlets a month after its initial release, debuted 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 11/16/2014:
1. How to Train Your Dragon 2 (new)
2. Maleficent (new)
3. Tammy (new)
4. Let’s Be Cops (new)
5. Jersey Boys (new)
6. Planes: Fire & Rescue
7. Hercules
8. Frozen
9. X-Men: Days of Future Past
10. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
11. Mr. Peabody & Sherman
12. True Blood: The Complete Seventh Season
13. Transformers: Age of Extinction
14. Despicable Me 2
15. How to Train Your Dragon
16. Elf
17. Polar Express
18. Sleeping Beauty
19. Step Up All In
20. Batman: The Complete Television Series (new)
Top 10 Home Media Magazine rental chart for the week of 11/16/2014:
1. X-Men: Days of Future Past
2. Edge of Tomorrow
3. Maleficent
4. Hercules
5. Mr. Peabody & Sherman
6. A Million Ways to Die In the West
7. Sex Tape
8. Neighbors
9. A Most Wanted Man
10. Deliver Us From Evil
