'Pirates' Outsells 'Matrix' in High-Def Showdown

An anonymous reader writes "As Slashdot recently reported, last week saw the latest showdown between HD DVD and Blu-ray, with both formats bringing out the big guns in terms of high profile format-exclusive disc releases. In one corner were the Blu-ray exclusive releases of the first two 'Pirates of the Caribbean' films on Blu-ray — in the other, the HD DVD exclusive releases of 'The Matrix' Trilogy. So who won the sales battle? According to preliminary estimates, this one goes to 'Pirates' in a big way. The two 'Pirates' flicks sold an estimated 47,000 units, while the 'Matrix' sets sold just about 13,900 units. Is this an indication of movie quality, or another notch in the belt for the Blu-ray format?"

Comments

uggghhh

[Anonymous Coward]

Please raise your hand if you give a shit about this.

Re:uggghhh

[Anonymous Coward]

_o/
shit! it's not http://www.piratesxxx.com/ ... never mind.

Wow....

[JargonScott]

In this hand, I hold an apple. In the other, an orange.

Re:Wow....

[Cerberus7]

No kidding. The Matrix set costs around $60-$70, while each Pirates movie is $20-$25. NO SHIT Pirates sold more units. Somebody needs to go back to economics class. The price difference alone, regardless of any other factor, is enough to make the Pirates releases more successful in terms of units sold.

Re:Wow....

[Ngarrang]

No kidding. The Matrix set costs around $60-$70, while each Pirates movie is $20-$25. NO SHIT Pirates sold more units. Somebody needs to go back to economics class. The price difference alone, regardless of any other factor, is enough to make the Pirates releases more successful in terms of units sold. With those estimated prices (going with the low estimate), Pirates made about to $958,000, the Matrix 834,000. Going with the high estimate, Pirates made $1,175,000 to the Matrix making $973,000. That isn't much of a difference. The Matrix probably made a higher margin, as well. As a disc seller, I think I would prefer a higher margin.

Or... neither

[mikej]

Perhaps it's because there's an episode of the Pirates franchise in theaters now and we're being bombarded with its associated marketing campaigns, while nobody's thought much about The Matrix in the past few years.

time is the decider

[SethJohnson]

It's been many years since Matrix was released. Hype has long since died over that franchise. Especially with the help of its weak sequels. Pirates has all kinds of current advertising and marketing hype surrounding it. No surprise people bought more of that hi-def title.

Seth

Or not.

[thesolo]

Is this an indication of movie quality, or another notch in the belt for the Blu-ray format

How about neither? If anything, it's an issue of price. Just look at the prices at Best Buy:
Matrix Trilogy HD-DVD: $79.99
Pirates of the Caribbean: $29.99

At those prices, even though Pirates of the Caribbean sold many more units, it only brought in a roughly $200K more than the Matrix Trilogy.
This is ridiculous comparison, the movies appeal to different fan bases, and are in completely different formats (trilogy box set versus individual movies sold separately). If this was a comparison of, say, the Matrix Trilogy released on both formats at the same price point, it would far more realistic.

Price?

[Spudtrooper]

Pirates movie on Blu-Ray = $24
Matrix set on HD-DVD = $75
Declaring victory based on fuzzy math = Priceless

The Age Old Battle

[Applekid]

So does this mean that Pirates > Ninjas after all?