‘Catching Fire’: Hunger Games Sequel Burns Up DVD Sales Charts
Catching Fire, the second entry in the four-part Hunger Games motion picture series porduced by “mini-major” studio Lionsgate, was the top box office draw of all films released in 2013. And when Catching Fire hit the DVD and Video On Demand markets last week, the Hunger Games juggernaut just kept rolling.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire easily dominated DVD sales for the week ending March 9. According to data from the Nielsen company, the whopping total of 3.9 million DVDs sold in that week outpaced second-place finisher 12 Years A Slave by a margin of four to one.
The Nielsen count does not include a package sold only at Wal-Mart, which combined Catching Fire with the first Hunger Games movie in one box, making the Catching Fire sales performance even more impressive. The Wal-Mart twofer reportedly sold 9 percent of the Catching Fire-only package, or more than 350,000 additional copies.
The more expensive Blu-Ray edition of Catching Fire accounted for 51 percent of its total sales, again making the DVD release another financial bonanza for Lionsgate. Second-place 12 Years A Slave made just one-third of its sales from Blu-Ray discs.
Catching Fire also topped the week’s rental market, according to Home Media Magazine, making the Hunger Games sequel a triple champion, dominating the overall, Blu-ray and rental charts.
Needless to say, Lionsgate was pretty pleased with itself.
“This is a monster opening and a tremendous result for the second film in a franchise, underscoring the enormous momentum of The Hunger Games films,”Ron Schwartz, Lionsgate Home Entertainment Sales & Distribution President said. “Opening weekend packaged media sales of Catching Fire were comparable to the first Hunger Games title released nearly two years ago while digital sales grew by nearly 40 percent.”
Catching Fire already made $424 million from its theatrical run, against a budget if $130 million, making the Hunger Games sequel the 10th-highest-grossing film of all time, so the DVD bonanza is gravy for Lionsgate.
