DVD Sales: Night At The Museum's Debut Won't Go Down In History

Every Tuesday, it's time for the DVD Sales Chart, and even though The-Numbers said they'd be all caught up by this week, it looks like the chart is still a few weeks behind.  No worries, though; I'm not complaining.  That site is amazing- I'm just letting you know why everything is still running behind schedule.  But onto the numbers!  This week, we're looking at the the first week of December, which exhibited than larger-than-normal drops, due to the hyper-inflated Black Friday sales from the week before.  The chart was just "meh"this week, as both of the big openers failed to really break out.  That's not a great sign for the rest of December, since holiday shopping should be fostering great sales.  Go ahead and read on for my thoughts on the DVD Sales Chart.

-The first underwhelming debut of the week comes from Night At The Museum: Battle Of The Smithsonian.  The sequel performed rather disappointingly in theaters, earning just $177 million after the original's $250 million gross, and its first week on the home market was even less impressive.  In 2007 Night At The Museum sold 4.9 million copies in its first week for $83.2 million in revenue.  Battle At The Smithsonian, meanwhile, could only muster sales of 1.6 million units for a paltry $16.9 million gross.  Ouch.

-The next disappointing sales week belongs to Terminator Salvation, another tentpole release film that disapointed at the box office in a big way.  The $200 million sequel, which took in only $125 million at the box office, wasn't much more successful on the home market, shifting 1 million units to earn $10.1 million in its first week.  Discounted prices clearly decreased the first week revenue for both Terminator Salvation and Battle Of The Smithsonian, but that's not an excuse for low numbers of units sold.  The harsh truth is that audiences just didn't really care.

-Christmas movies continued to show their endurance on the home market.  Newcomers Santa Buddies and Four Christmases aren't breaking any records, but they're seeing solid sales, and stalwarts like Elf, The Polar Express, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation added on to their massive, long-running cumes.

-The TV-on-DVD performer of the week goes to Planet Earth, which sold 79,530 copies two and half years after it's release.  This is key evidence on the chart that Cyber Monday is becoming quite a sales force in the U.S.. The remarkable series was discounted by about 65% on Amazon on November 30, and the effect of that deal explains its sudden reappearance on the chart.  I know I took advantage of that price- Planet Earth is incredible!  Keep on reading for the full DVD Sales Chart:

DVD Sales Chart for the Week Ending December 6, 2009

Rank	Title	Units this Week	% Chg	Total Units	Sales this Week	Total Sales	Wks
1	Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian	1,629,704	-.-%	1,629,704	$16,863,036	$16,863,036	1
2	Terminator Salvation	1,008,787	-.-%	1,008,787	$10,077,782	$10,077,782	1
3	Up	515,475	-57.8%	6,614,216	$9,982,225	$111,367,624	4
4	Star Trek	490,541	-31.3%	4,787,654	$8,193,114	$68,755,320	3
5	Santa Buddies	436,272	-55.1%	1,407,068	$9,132,351	$23,907,866	2
6	Angels And Demons	353,483	-57.2%	1,180,132	$5,874,110	$18,257,312	2
7	Four Christmases	271,183	-62.0%	985,420	$4,336,216	$14,535,521	2
8	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs	224,247	-35.8%	-	$3,756,989	-	426
9	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	189,861	-.-%	8,528,044	$3,985,182	$191,152,663	7
10	G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra	159,222	-.-%	3,729,614	$2,763,521	$60,066,243	5
11	The Proposal	156,940	-8.8%	4,213,818	$2,381,533	$68,862,077	8
12	Twilight	155,078	-.-%	9,836,341	$2,910,907	$178,166,045	37
13	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	146,184	-.-%	4,311,287	$2,820,196	$73,078,077	6
14	Original Television Christmas Classics, The	125,161	-.-%	-	$2,501,968	-	273
15	Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure	121,739	-.-%	2,848,552	$1,824,868	$45,001,989	6
16	Alvin and the Chipmunks	109,451	-.-%	7,686,315	$1,116,400	$129,024,999	88
17	Funny People	102,671	-47.6%	298,564	$2,061,480	$5,560,129	2
18	National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation	98,923	-48.2%	-	$1,146,923	-	629
19	Polar Express, The	95,664	-69.8%	-	$818,549	-	206
20	Christmas Story, A	95,501	-.-%	-	$1,009,235	-	480
21	The Ugly Truth	93,871	-.-%	1,250,280	$1,407,126	$20,223,548	4
22	Night at the Museum	85,276	-.-%	9,191,694	$1,091,814	$153,058,218	137
23	Monsters vs. Aliens	80,344	-76.8%	4,511,928	$1,143,552	$74,933,662	10
24	Planet Earth - The Complete BBC Series	79,530	-.-%	3,330,222	$2,322,276	$183,408,711	137
25	Elf	72,033	-85.6%	-	$637,492	-	264
26	Dark Knight, The	70,289	-94.2%	14,282,604	$787,089	$230,807,402	52
27	My Sister's Keeper	66,166	-69.1%	789,003	$1,322,658	$12,169,545	3
28	The Taking of Pelham 123	57,366	-.-%	1,314,284	$917,282	$20,322,858	5
29	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer	56,877	-.-%	-	$568,201	-	477
30	Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas (TV Special)	56,714	-.-%	1,896,729	$738,983	$30,386,862	159