'Harry Potter' Films Dominate Home Video Chart Thanks to 'Deathly Hallows Part 2' Release

Warner Home Video’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 easily took the top spot on the national sales charts the week ending Nov. 13, even though it was released on a Friday instead of the customary Tuesday and thus had only three full days of sales instead of six during the week’s sales tracking period.

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The final installment in the eight-film Harry Potter franchise proved so popular that it not only debuted at No. 1 on both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert and Blu-ray Disc sales charts, but it also sent six of the seven previous films back into the top 20 on First Alert -- and all seven on Blu-ray. Meanwhile, the newly issued Harry Potter: The Complete 8-Film Collection debuted at No. 8 on both charts, despite a steep list price of just under $100 for DVD and nearly $140 for Blu-ray Disc.

What’s more, after just three days in stores Deathly Hallows Part 2 accounted for more than half of total top 20 disc sales, according to Nielsen research. Nearly half of all copies of the film were sold on the Blu-ray Disc format.

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On both sales charts, the previous week’s top seller, Walt Disney Studios’ Cars 2, slipped to No. 2 its second week in stores, while the No. 3 sales spot went to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, the previous Potter film that was initially released to disc last April.

In rental stores, Harry was conspicuously absent, given Warner’s policy of not releasing new titles to rental outlets until a month or more after they go on sale. On Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week, Paramount’s Captain America: The First Avenger remained the top rental for the third consecutive week, while Sony Pictures’ Bad Teacher again held down the No. 2 spot.

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Two Warner titles that came off their rental holdback, Horrible Bosses and Green Lantern, took the No. 3 and No. 4 spots, respectively.