Warner Home Video snagged the top four spots on the national home video sales charts for the week ending Jan. 8, with the newly released Contagion debuting at No. 1 on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart. Three previous releases followed: The Hangover Part 2 at No. 2, Dolphin Tale at No. 3 and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II at No. 4.
The prior week’s top seller, 20th Century Fox’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, slipped to No. 5 its fourth week in stores, selling about 31% as many copies as Contagion.
Contagion also topped Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart for the week, followed at No. 2 by Hangover and No. 3 by Harry Potter. Rise of the Planets of the Apes, the top-selling Blu-ray disc of the previous week, slipped to No. 6.
PHOTOS: A Guide to Fake Film Diseases
Contagion generated 40% of its first-week unit sales from Blu-ray Disc.
On Home Media Magazine’s video rental chart for the week, Hangover rose to No. 1 now that its holdback from rental outlets such as Netflix and Redbox is over. Universal Studios’ Cowboys & Aliens, also now available at those Netflix and Redbox, shot up to No. 2 from No. 56, while 20th Century Fox’s Mr. Popper’s Penguins, also off its holdback, soared to
No. 3 from No. 63.
Sony Pictures’ Columbiana, the previous week’s top rental, slipped to No. 4.
Another Sony release, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, was the week’s highest-charting new release, debuting on the rental chart at No. 6.
