'Guardians' Tops 'Life of Pi' on Home Entertainment Charts

Two newly released theatrical features slugged it out for the top spot on the national home video sales charts the week ending March 17, with DreamWorks’ Rise of the Guardians – the studio’s last title to be distributed by Paramount Home Media Distribution – topping 20th Century Fox’s Life of Pi by a healthy margin, despite the latter’s higher box office earnings.

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Rise of the Guardians, which earned $103 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 1 on both Nielsen Video’s First Alert sales chart, which tracks overall disc sales, and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart. Life of Pi, with a $121.6 million theatrical pedigree, bowed at No. 2 on both charts.

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The two new releases pushed Walt Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, No. 1 the prior week, to the No. 3 spot.

Nielsen data shows that Pi sold 69.2 percent as many discs as Guardians, which also mustered a No. 2 debut on Home Media Magazine ‘s video rental chart for the week, just behind MGM’s Skyfall, the James Bond megahit that just came off the 28-day holdback distributor 20th Century Fox imposes on Netflix and Redbox.

Wreck-It Ralph finished at No. 3 for the second consecutive week.

The prior week’s top rental, Lionsgate’s The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2, finished the week at No. 4 on the rental chart.