As of Sunday afternoon, the film had sold 6.7 million copies in four days in North America alone, according to retailers and sources close to the studio. Of that, 2.7 million were on Blu-ray, shattering the record that previous best-seller "The Dark Knight" had reached. That pic took 18 months to sell 2.5 million Blu-rays.
First-day sales were especially significant because 1.5 million of the copies sold were for the Blu-ray disc, a major boost for the high-def format, considering "Dark Knight" had sold 600,000 units on Blu-ray in its launch.
Overseas, Blu-ray's numbers were equally impressive.
* "Avatar" became the biggest pic to launch on DVD and Blu-ray in France with 400,000 discs selling on its first day there. It moved 557,000 discs in two days, besting previous record-holders, "The Chorus" and "Welcome to the Sticks." Fox sold 136,000 Blu-ray discs for the movie in two days there, more than "Dark Knight" has sold in 15 months.
* In Germany, the film sold 450,000 discs on its first day, beating out the fifth "Harry Potter" pic, which had dominated the charts in the country.
* The pic became the biggest pre-order of all time for a studio overseas, with 136,000 copies ordered in Germany, 143,000 in Japan and 74,000 in France. Roughly 60% of those were for the Blu-ray.
* And in Mexico, the release was unfortunately hot on the black market, with 3,409 copies of the discs stolen at gunpoint from a delivery truck owned by Technicolor Home Entertainment Services of Mexico.
"Avatar" bowed on homevid in France, Spain and the Benelux on Wednesday, Brazil and Russia on Thursday and Germany, Japan and Mexico on Friday. It will be released today in the U.K. and Australia on April 29.
En resumen:
- Avatar en EEUU/Canadá vendió el primer día millón y medio de copias en BD, casi el 50% de las copias totales de la película vendidas.
- Hasta ayer domingo, más del 40% de las copias vendidas de Avatar en EEUU/Canadá son en BD.
- Avatar en una semana ha vendido más BD que The Dark Knight en año y medio.
- En Alemania, Japón y Francia las ventas en BD de Avatar suponen prácticamente el 60% de las ventas totales del título (BD, DVD-video) totales.