The Dark Knight Sets Home Video Record for 2008

Add another record for The Dark Knight.

According to Variety and to little surprise, the film will be the top home video release of 2008. During the first week of release of The Dark Knight on DVD and Blu-ray, it sold over 13.5 million copies, worldwide.

Breaking the number down, the total sales include over 1.7 million Blu-ray discs, making it the top-selling Blu-ray disc; and 10 million copies going to consumers, with the remainder going to rental outlets. 3 million copies were sold on December 9th, the first day of release – 600,000 of those were Blu-ray.

Taking this data, Warner Bros. is projecting that The Dark Knight will be the best-selling 2008 home video title.

Despite the impressive number of copies sold on its first day of release, Batman ultimately loses out to a clownfish and his dad for the record – in 2003, Finding Nemo sold 8 million copies on its first day of release. Comparing to this year’s other big superhero movie, Iron Man sold 260,000 Blu-ray discs on its first day of release, and a total of 500,000 Blu-rays discs in its first week of release.

Despite the massive sales of both The Dark Knight, Iron Man and other summer blockbusters on Blu-ray and DVD, the home video market is down from 2007, with DVD sales being particularly soft, although Blu-ray is making inroads in total sales.

The Dark Knight will return to theaters and IMAX on January 23rd, a move which will bring its box office total to over $1 billion.