'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' Sweeps DVD, Blu-ray Charts After Three Days

Warner Home Video’s Harry Potter franchise worked its wizardry on the sales charts the week ended April 17. Not only did the newly released Harry Potter and the Deadly Hallows Part 1 top Nielsen Videoscan’s First Alert sales chart for the week, but the six previous films also re-emerged in the top 20, the result of an aggressive campaign to re-promote the titles.

The tally of Deathly Hallows, which had been released on a Friday and thus was on shelves only three days, is even more impressive considering the No. 2 title, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in its first full week in stores, managed to accumulate only 18.2 percent of the top title’s total. Warner had primetime television ads emphasizing the movie was unavailable at kiosks and Netflix. Also noteworthy is Deathly Hallows’ availability for digital sell-through April 11 and VOD on April 15.

Also impressive: thanks to Harry Potter re-promotions focusing on Blu-ray, about 70 percent of Potter catalog sales were of the Blu-ray format. About 46 percent of Deathly Hallows sales were on Blu-ray.

Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment’s Tangled dropped a spot to No. 3 for the week, while the previous week’s top title, Disney’s Tron: Legacy, slipped to No. 4. Sony Pictures’ Country Strong debuted at No. 5.

As a result of the HD interest for the week, Blu-ray accounted for about 44 percent of sales among all titles in the First Alert top 20.

Deathly Hallows and Dawn Treader finished in the top two spots on Nielsen’s Blu-ray Disc chart as well, with Tron: Legacy at No. 3 and Disney’s Blu-ray release of The Incredibles at No. 4. The previous Potter films took spots 8-12 on the Blu-ray chart.

Due to the 28-day embargo keeping Deathly Hallows and Dawn Treader away from kiosks and Netflix, Country Strong snuck into the top spot on Home Media Magazine’s rental chart.