'Iron Man 2' DVD breaks 1M sales on first day

There was never any question that "Iron Man 2" would be the biggest home video seller and renter in the week ending Oct. 3.
 
The only question was how big the blockbuster sequel would be, given the home entertainment business' lackluster performance these last three years.
 
But as it turned out, the Paramount Home Entertainment release, which many in the industry considered a harbinger of how the fourth quarter would fare, was a hands-down smash, selling an estimated 1.1 million discs its first day in stores and ending the week just past the 5 million-unit mark, according to Home Media Magazine's Market Research Department.
 
Accordingly, "Iron Man 2," which grossed $312 million in U.S. theaters, debuted at No. 1 on all three charts, by a wide margin.
 
On the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart, "Iron Man" outsold its nearest competitor, the Universal Studios comedy "Get Him to the Greek," by a margin of more than 8-1. On the Blu-ray Disc sales chart, the discrepancy was even greater: "Get Him to the Greek," with a $60.1 million box office pedigree, sold less than 7% as many Blu-ray Disc units as "Iron Man 2."
 
And on Home Media Magazine's rental chart for the week, "Iron Man 2" also was a resounding winner, although "Get Him to the Greek" managed to generate around 71% as many rental transactions as the fast-paced actioner.
 
"Iron Man 2" also was the first big fourth-quarter release ever to sell more copies on Blu-ray Disc than on DVD. According to Nielsen research, 52% of the title's first-week sales were on Blu-ray Disc, although it should be noted that Nielsen data does not include Walmart or Sam's Club, where the ratio of Blu-ray Disc sales is typically smaller than at most Nielsen-reporting retailers.