'War Horse' Rises to Top of DVD Sales Chart

Walt Disney Studios’ War Horse topped the national home video sales charts its second week in stores after debuting at No. 2 the previous week, while Summit Entertainment's sci-fi actioner The Darkest Hour, which earned a meager $21.4 million in theaters, debuted at No. 1 on both the Blu-ray Disc sales chart and Home Media Magazine’s weekly rental chart.

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On the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week ending April 15, War Horse, a Steven Spielberg-directed historical drama that earned nearly $80 million at the box office, held off two newcomers: Anchor Bay’s The Iron Lady, a $29.9 million-grossing biopic about former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (portrayed by Meryl Streep), which bowed at No. 2, and Darkest Hour, which debuted at No. 3.

The prior week’s top seller, Universal Studios’ Hop, plummeted down the rabbit hole to No. 7, a typical fate for holiday titles once the holiday -- in this case, Easter -- is over.

On Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart, War Horse slipped to No. 2 from No. 1 its debut week, and Iron Lady debuted at No. 3. 

Blu-ray Discs accounted for 54 percent of total unit sales for Darkest Hour, which explains the film’s No. 1 debut on the Blu-ray chart. Iron Lady generated just 29 percent of its first-week sales from Blu-ray, while War Horse generated 30 percent of its second-week sales from the high-def edition, down from 36 percent its first week in stores.

On Home Media Magazine’s rental chart, War Horse also finished the week at No. 2 after debuting at No. 1 the previous week, while the No. 3 spot went to 20th Century Fox’s The Descendants, fresh off its 28-day holdback from Netflix and Redbox. The film ranked No. 58 the previous week. Iron Lady debuted at No. 6.