Warner Home Video is expected to ship more than one million The Dark Knight Blu-ray Discs to retailers on December 9. One million units would be record breaking since most initial first week shipments have been well below a million units. The expectations are high that The Dark Knight will sell more units then any other Blu-ray movie to date.

According to Video Business, Warner Home Video is expected to break the all time high set by Iron Man which sold over 500,000 copies during its first week. It is evident that there is a gradual increase in the overall Blu-ray shipments and sales over time.

Initially when Sony shipped 100,000 Blu-ray discs of Casino Royale, it created quite a stir in the media industry. However with Iron Man selling over 500,000 units and The Dark Knight expected to sell one million units during its first week, it is evident that Blu-ray adoption is growing at a rapid rate.

According to statistics, Blu-ray movies averaged 5 to 10 percent of the total sales of the title. However, recently many of the titles have surpassed the 10 percent mark, with  some reaching as much as 14 percent.

Iron Man is said to have accounted for approximately 30 pecent of its total sales at some retail locations. With many retailers pushing Blu-ray as the next must buy holiday gift, movie sales can only increase dramatically in the coming months.

Retailers such as Wal-Mart are currently holding a promotion where customers can receive a $100 gift card with the purchase of a Blu-ray player. Amazon is also holding a special promotion where customers can receive a $100 discount off a Blu-ray player purchase.

The question remains if Blu-ray can sustain its momentum all the way into next year. With sales of flat panel TVs on the rise and with the increase in hi-definition awareness, sales are expected to triple by the end of next year.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, November 8th, 2008 at 5:30 pm under High Definition Formats.

Read more entries by Mike Ferro.
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