With the release of James Cameron’s Avatar this weekend, we have a must-see movie for the holiday, so a great last-minute gift to pick up for friends and family--especially teens and young adults--is a movie ticket gift card or gift certificate. And then there’s also the gift option of buying the hottest movies on DVD. 
Which DVDs are hot this season? For the last week of November 2009, the hottest selling DVD was Up with over 1.2 million sold. A close second was The Dark Knight. Not surprisingly, Christmas themes were hot: Santa Buddies (3), Four Christmases (5), and Elf (8). Another kid movie in the top 10 for Black Friday week was Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa at number 7.
For bigger ‘kids,’ Angels & Demons (4), Star Trek (6), Paul Blart Mall Cop (9), and Sex and the City: Movie (10) topped the list. But those were the top 10 selling DVDs for one week of holiday shopping.
For 2009, the top selling DVDs are Twilight at number 1 and Transformers at number 2. Both movies make great teen gifts. A majority of the top 10 for 2009 include kids’ movies. Number 3 is Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, 4 is Up, 5 is Bolt, 6 is Monsters vs. Aliens, and 8 is Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs. If we’re going to buy DVDs, we typically buy for kids who enjoy watching their favorite movies over and over again.
Still, adults can be impressed enough with a movie to invest in a DVD, and this year fans are buying up Star Trek, which came in at number 7 and X-men Origins: Wolverine at number 9. For the romance lover, The Proposal squeaked in at number 10 as top selling for 2009.
For all time top-grossing US movie favorite, Titanic wins with over $600 million in US sales (a pittance compared to Titanic’s worldwide number-one take of $1.8 billion). I wonder if James Cameron will beat his own bestselling 1997 creation with his new release Avatar. Avatar already has the dubious title of most expensive movie to make so far, with a budget of $237 million, and movie reviews don’t always match blockbuster sales. Star Wars deserves credit for having 3 top grossing movies in the US top 10: A New Hope (3), The Phantom Menace (6) and Revenge of the Sith (10).
JK Rowling’s Harry Potter isn’t on the US top grossing list, but 3 Harry Potter movies did make it onto the top 10 worldwide grossing movies: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (5), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (7), and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (8), sandwiching in Pirates of the Caribbean at World’s End which was number 6 worldwide.
The new hot technology this season for DVDs is the Blu-Ray experience. Although a Blu-Ray disc is a little more expensive at $15 to $30, it’s the new home movie-watching trend and sales of Blu-Ray DVD players are popular. Come to think of it, better pick up the Blu-Ray DVD player while shopping for the hot DVDs this season.
Sources
“Records” The Numbers: Box Office Data, Movie Stars, Idle Speculation
“Top Selling DVDs of 2009.” The Numbers: Box Office Data, Movie Stars, Idle Speculation
“US DVD Sales Chart for Week Ending Nov 29, 2009.” The Numbers: Box Office Data, Movie Stars, Idle Speculation
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