Sales of the "Iron Man" Blu-ray DVD are simultaneously smashing, shattering, blasting and demolishing various records for titles sold in the next-gen DVD format, according to reports from, well... just about everywhere.
Last week, "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau announced that the Blu-ray release of the film broke the record for sales of any title in the format in just its first two days of release, inspiring news sites to break out their best comics-inspired verbs to describe the success of the release. This week, we have some actual numbers on Blu-ray sales of the film, courtesy of industry news site Video Business -- and those numbers are pretty impressive, to say the least.
Amazon.com reported that the "Iron Man" Blu-ray beat both the single- and two-disc standard editions of the title in their weekly charts, and is the top-selling Blu-ray title of 2008 thus far, while Best Buy representatives reported similar sales. Echoing Marvel Studios' own plans for the project, one Best Buy spokesperson called the film a "tentpole title for the format."
So why is the film selling so well on Blu-ray? Apparently, comic book fans are one of the key elements in the film's sales success.
"According to retailers, one key reason behind the movie’s success on Blu-ray is its appeal to comic book, special effects and videogame fans—the crowd most likely to be early adopters and own PlayStation 3 consoles, which playback Blu-ray discs," reported Video Business. "The title also is attractively priced at $39.99, the same price as the standard two-disc special edition. And with Blu-ray offering extensive format-exclusive Web interactivity, consumers seem happy to upgrade to the more advanced version, retailers said."
It probably didn't hurt any that the film's writers and director made themselves impressively accessible in support of the DVD's release, conducting interviews with just about every major and minor news outlet on the 'Net, on TV or even -- in the case of Favreau's original sales announcement via the Howard Stern Show -- on radio. Not only did this marketing campaign make it difficult to look anywhere without seeing or hearing about the film's DVD release, but it provided quite a bit of news about the future of the "Iron Man" franchise.
What remains to be seen, however, is if "Iron Man" can hold on to the top spot in Blu-ray sales when "The Dark Knight" DVD is released on December 9. It's certainly shaping up to be a tough match-up.
Did you buy a copy of "Iron Man" on DVD? Was it the Blu-ray version? Do you think "Iron Man" will sell better than "The Dark Knight" on DVD?
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