"The Dark Knight" was unquestionably the biggest hit in theaters of 2008, and initial sales reports suggest it's on track to become the best-selling DVD and Blu-ray film of the year, too.
Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the massive promotional push from Warner Bros. and the continued momentum of its phenomenal $530 million box office performance have translated to 3 million copies of "The Dark Knight" sold in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom on Tuesday, its first day of release. That tally includes Blu-ray, which accounts for approximately one quarter of the film's total sales to date. At its current sales rate, "The Dark Knight" appears certain to exceed the record-breaking 7.2 million DVD and Blu-ray debut week for "Iron Man."
The film's success at the retail level is likely to improve if it garners significant Academy Awards nominations. Though "The Dark Knight" is widely considered a frontrunner in the race for the Best Picture and Best Director awards, the picture only received one Golden Globe nomination -- a posthumous nod to Heath Ledger's supporting role as The Joker. This could only be a bump in the road to Oscar glory, though, as the tastes of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science have diverged significantly in the past. The Academy is more likely to reward The Dark Knight's enormous commercial success in a time of economic uncertainty.
Despite blockbuster success of "The Dark Knight" in theaters, industry analysts are closely monitoring the movie's sales in the home video market in order to take the temperature of the audience's willingness to spend in the midst of a recession. Though sales of DVDs and Blu-ray discs have dropped 5 percent in the past year, the market remains strong relative to other sectors of the retail economy.
Are you going to buy a copy of "The Dark Knight" on DVD or Blu-ray? Did you buy it on the first day of release? Let us know!
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