Casino Royale DVD and Blu-Ray sales make Sony proud in USA and Europe

Casino Royale is making Sony proud, clocking up 3.6 million DVD sales in the first half of 2007 in the USA, and sales of Blu-Ray in Europe are "through the roof" with Daniel Craig's debut outing as James Bond topping the hi-def sales charts across Europe.

Warner Home Video's "Happy Feet" was the top-selling DVD released in the first six months of 2007 with sales of 8.6 million units. The No. 2 spot on the first-half 2007 top DVD sellers list went to Fox Home Entertainment's "Night at the Museum," which sold an estimated 6.6 million units. Warner's "The Departed," powered by its best picture Oscar win, was No. 3 with estimated sales of 5.1 million units, followed by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's "Open Season" with estimated sales of 4.2 million units. Paramount Pictures' 2006 remake of "Charlotte's Web" sold an estimated 3.8 million units to take the No. 5 spot, followed by two more Sony releases, "The Pursuit of Happyness" (3.7 million units) and "Casino Royale" (3.6 million).

According to Nielsen VideoScan data, which does not include Wal-Mart, "Happy Feet" also was No. 1, followed by "Departed," "Museum," "Casino Royale," "Happyness," "Peter Pan," Fox's "Borat," Sony's "Open Season," "Charlotte's Web" and Buena Vista's "Cinderella III."

Sony is flaunting its recent Blu-ray success in the US by claiming European Blu-ray sales have gone through the roof following the launch of the PS3 next generation games console. Sony announced earlier this month that total Blu-ray disc sales across Europe have topped 180,000. Matt Brown, Executive Vice President, International, said “Our European Blu-ray sales increased more than 1,000 percent since the launch of the PS3 in March 2007, due to strong sales in the UK, France, Germany and Spain. This is extremely positive news not only for Sony but for the European high-definition market as a whole, as it underscores the increasing consumer demand for high-definition content and the power of the PS3.”

Sony claims that the launch of the PS3 in March was the turning point for European Blu-ray sales - with weekly sales consistently averaging between two and five times more than HD-DVD. Blu-ray titles account for 67% of the European high-definition market while Sony's films can claim more than 50% of the market share in the UK, France and Spain.

In the UK, Sony carries a 53% share of the total Blu-ray market and holds six of the top ten best selling titles - including Casino Royale, the biggest selling Blu-ray film in the country - as well as in France, Germany, and Spain.

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