DVD Sales: Let's Get Caught "Up"

It's Tuesday, which means it's time for DVD Sales!  I know these posts have been a bit inconsistent for the past few weeks.  The-Numbers, which, in addition to being a great site, provides the most reliable DVD Sales figures on the web, has this message posted on their DVD Sales section:

DVD sales reports will be delayed over the Holidays. Our next weekly report, for the week ending December 6, will be published on Wednesday, December 31. The report for the week ending December 13 will be published on Friday, January 2. We will return to our usual schedule the week of January 5.

Thus, while things have been backed up this month, you can expect the regular DVD Sales posts next Tuesday, or perhaps the weekend after that, depending on when The-Numbers posts its figures.  But let's get to the actual chart.  The end of November began to reveal the Christmas-Effect on the home market.  Many movies popped back onto the chart after months away, no doubt fueled by special Black Friday deals.  Christmas themed movies also hopped back into the Top 30, as viewers bought, bought, bough to get into the Christmas spirit.  After all, consumption is what the holiday is about, right?  Keep reading for my DVD Sales Notes, along with the DVD Sales Chart.

DVD Sales Notes:

-Pixar's most recent masterpiece, Up, fell hard in its second week (as most every movie does), but it was up a big 34.8% in its third week, selling 1.2 million copies for $17.5 million in revenue.  That brings Up's totals to 6.1 million units sold, and a fantastic $101.4 million gross.  I'm excited to see how many copies it sold over the past four weeks.  Did it break 10 million?  Guess we'll find out soon enough!

-The Dark Knight, almost a full year after its release, is still flexing its box office muscle in a big, big way, selling 1.2 million copies for an extra $5.6 million.  You can tell that this must have been a major Black Friday deal, for The Dark Knight sold about the same amount of DVDs as Up, yet it earned less than a third of the revenue!  Still, with $230 million in DVD revenue, you know Warner Brothers isn't complaining.

-For a film that grossed $133 million in theaters, Angels And Demons had a fairly inauspicious debut, selling 826,649 copies for $12.3 million in sales.  Funny People was more unimpressive, though, moving just 195,893 units for a paltry $3.5 million in first week sales.  Both these films debuted on November 24th, giving them five days to register on the chart, but that's not a totally valid excuse for the poor performances.  Christmastime demand should have people buying, but I guess both films were simply undesirable for consumers, and if people don't like it, they won't buy it!

-Doing much better in its opening weekend was Disney's direct-to-DVD release, Santa Buddies.  Now, if you have heard of this puppy movie, you either watch Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel, or you have an awesome 7-year-old sister that keeps you up-to-date on what's hot amongst the elementary school crowd. Well advertised to it target demographic, Santa Buddies did very well in its first week, earning $14.2 million from a solid 970,796 copies sold.  Another point for the dogs!

-Santa Buddies was just one of the many Christmas-themed titles on the chart.  Another newcomer, Four Christmases, which was in theaters this time a year ago, started its DVD run with $10.2 million in first week sales.  Meanwhile, Elf, The Polar Express, The Holiday, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation all re-entered the Top 30.  Look for more Christmas titles in the weeks to come.  The full chart is below.

DVD Sales Chart for the Week Ending November 29, 2009

Rank	Title	Units this Week	% Chg	Total Units	Sales this Week	Total Sales	Wks
1	Up	1,222,384	34.8%	6,098,741	$17,504,539	$101,385,399	3
2	Dark Knight, The	1,210,786	-.-%	14,212,315	$5,581,723	$230,020,313	51
3	Santa Buddies	970,796	-.-%	970,796	$14,775,515	$14,775,515	1
4	Angels And Demons	826,649	-.-%	826,649	$12,383,202	$12,383,202	1
5	Four Christmases	714,237	-.-%	714,237	$10,199,304	$10,199,304	1
6	Star Trek	713,854	-80.1%	4,297,113	$7,559,714	$60,562,206	2
7	Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa	691,040	-.-%	7,739,907	$4,332,821	$106,999,427	43
8	Elf	501,903	-.-%	-	$4,271,195	-	263
9	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	499,226	-.-%	3,340,978	$3,309,868	$50,119,070	28
10	Sex and the City - The Movie	458,213	-.-%	4,427,183	$3,972,707	$84,038,667	62
11	Happy Feet	393,060	-.-%	12,766,094	$4,414,064	$203,169,841	140
12	Forgetting Sarah Marshall	370,883	-.-%	1,785,744	$2,451,537	$29,145,295	61
13	Transformers	351,510	-.-%	16,055,535	$3,427,223	$290,277,403	111
14	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	349,089	-.-%	-	$6,060,185	-	425
15	Monsters vs. Aliens	346,412	339.4%	4,431,584	$3,477,976	$73,790,110	9
16	Polar Express, The	316,971	276.4%	-	$3,074,619	-	205
17	Holiday, The	313,785	-.-%	4,998,760	$1,835,642	$71,017,758	142
18	Baby Mama	299,001	-.-%	1,513,330	$2,598,319	$23,848,720	64
19	Notebook, The	243,049	-.-%	-	$2,119,387	-	251
20	Kung Fu Panda	232,296	-.-%	8,888,931	$1,489,017	$131,290,009	55
21	Tale of Despereaux, The	218,324	-.-%	1,606,572	$1,633,064	$25,033,534	34
22	My Sister's Keeper	214,373	-57.8%	722,837	$2,645,363	$10,846,887	2
23	Funny People	195,893	-.-%	195,893	$3,498,649	$3,498,649	1
24	Made of Honor	191,304	-.-%	998,425	$2,184,692	$14,219,878	63
25	National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation	191,049	-.-%	-	$1,862,728	-	628
26	Hellboy 2: The Golden Army	190,540	-.-%	2,504,210	$805,984	$43,427,479	55
27	Goonies, The	186,971	-.-%	-	$1,306,927	-	432
28	P.S., I Love You	178,304	-.-%	1,859,448	$1,725,983	$28,606,755	82
29	Race to Witch Mountain	173,843	-.-%	1,785,489	$3,767,178	$33,017,984	17
30	The Proposal	172,059	40.4%	4,056,878	$2,013,090	$66,480,544	7