Strong new releases had the Blu-ray market share up a little to 14% and revenue up 50% to $30.62M for the week ending March 7th, according to Home Media Magazine.

The top seller was easily the big budget disaster epic 2012 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

New releases took second and third places also, with Where the Wild Things Are from Warner Home Video and Ponyo from Disney and Studio Ghibli.

The top 5 was rounded out by Oscar winner The Hurt Locker from Summit and X-Men Origins: Wolverine from Fox Hone Entertainment.

Law Abiding Citizen from Anchor Bay is still doing well in 6th position.

On the per title market share side, 2012 did extremely well for Blu-ray with 41% market share on Blu-ray Disc in its first week.

Where the Wild Things Are also had strong sales with 28% market share while Ponyo did even better with 34% Blu-ray market share.

The Hurt Locker was also in the same range with 28% of its sales on Blu-ray Disc.

New DVD release Curious George 2: Follow that Monkey from Universal pushed things in the other direction with no Blu-ray Disc version available.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs from Fox was the big Blu-ray winner for the week though, with 60% market share on Blu-ray Disc, no doubt due to promotional pricing.

The Blu-ray Cover Art Gallery for the week of the 7th of March 2010 features the first Paramount title in a little while - Up in the Air is a great little film and well worth a look.

Other day and date titles for today from Sony and Disney both include DVD and Digital Copy, though neither Planet 51 nor Old Dogs were well received by the critics.

On the more dramatic side, Lionsgate has Precious and The Stoning of Soraya M., while Sony goes with a family movie Hachi: A Dog’s Tale and ultraviolence with The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day.

Click on any cover to see the details for the title.

An intriguing new release this month is the animated Blu-ray title Ponyo, released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on March 2nd, 2010.

While we have seen Japanese animation released through Bandai and Funimation, I think this is one of the few cases where we have a major studio behind the genre.

In fact it would not surprise me to see Disney hoping to add another ‘Pixar’ to their animation stable.

Ponyo was produced by by Studio Ghibli in Japan, though it has also had an English audio overhaul for the US release of the movie.

The movie is loosely based on the Hans Christian Anderson story The Little Mermaid, and features the story of a goldfish with a human face who escapes her father and befriends a young human boy Sozuke.

Sozuke names her Ponyo and the two become close friends.

While Ponyo’s father seeks to return her to the sea, Ponyo has other ideas and ultimately wants to become a human child.

Through Ponyo’s defiance and magic potions, huge storms envelop the region and disaster looms, with Ponyo and Sozuke holding the key to restoring balance to the oceans.

The film is a little ‘trippy’ and off the wall, though is great little story and is suitable for family members of all ages.

The animation style is colourful and bright, and overall I found it to be a fun film to watch.

Disney obviously put a lot of effort into the voice casting for the English soundtrack, with Noah Cyrus and Frankie Jonas voicing the main characters.

Adult voices were provided by Cate Blanchett, Liam Neeson, Matt Damon, Tina Fey, Cloris Leachman, Lily Tomlin and Betty White.

Ponyo was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, who won the 2002 Best Animated Film Oscar for his movie Spirited Away.

The movie was very well received by critics - it earned a Rotten Tomatoes score of 92% and IMDb score of 7.9/10.

Ponyo also had a small run in US cinema, reaching $15.1M at the domestic box office.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 22.5 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

The Blu-ray presentation of the animation looks both colourful and sharp.

Find full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc at the details page for Ponyo.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 16 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

You can also watch with the original Japanese soundtrack with subtitles in English.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 44.3 GB used and is coded for All Regions.

This title comes with a good selection of supplements, including Bonus View Picture in Picture video.

The World Of Ghibli is an extensive feature that has two main sections.

One is a collection of behind the scenes featurettes, interviews and trailers, while the other is a more interactive Java based program with sections for a number of the Ghibli movies.

One of the interactive sequences asks you a series of questions and identifies which Ponyo character you are most like and tells you why.

Apparently I am most like Ponyo - must be the round belly!

It is nice to see the BD Java being put to good use on this release.

The Meet Ponyo featurette presents an introduction by the US producers through interviews and segments from the film.

The original storyboard presentation of the movie can be seen in an optional picture in picture window as the movie runs.

The package also includes a DVD of the movie for legacy DVD players.

It is great to see Japanese animation getting a wider release and no doubt if it is successful in the US market, we will see more Studio Ghibli titles from Disney.

Ponyo is also is another strong Blu-ray release from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

The retail price is $39.99, and it is available at Amazon for $24.99, saving 38%!

While Ponyo was the only Blu-ray Disc released from Ghibli, new special edition DVDs for Castle in the Sky, Kiki’s Delivery Service and My Neighbor Totoro were released on the same day.

Extras:

• The World Of Ghibli: Visit Ponyo In This Extraordinary Interactive Experience!
• Meet Ponyo: Introduction By The Producers
• Storyboard Presentation Of The Movie

Synopsis:

Welcome to a world where anything is possible! Academy Award-winning director Hayao Miyazaki (2002, Best Animated Feature, Spirited Away) and legendary filmmaker John Lasseter together with Disney bring to life a heartwarming and imaginative telling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairy tale The Little Mermaid. A young boy named Sosuke rescues a goldfish named Ponyo, and they embark on a fantastic journey of friendship and discovery before Ponyo’s father, a powerful sorcerer, forces her to return to her home in the sea. In her quest to become human and reunite with Sosuke, Ponyo stumbles upon and releases her father’s magical Water of Life and triggers a gigantic storm. Now balance must be restored to the world they all cherish. Ponyo will delight your family with its magnificent animation and timeless story.

The Blu-ray market share was back up to 13% on a revenue of $20.96M for the week ending February 28th, according to Home Media Magazine.

While it was good to see double figure market share and revenue over $20M, it was a bit of a strange week, perhaps with significant sales promotions for certain titles.

Law Abiding Citizen from Anchor Bay was again in 1st place, ahead of Pixar’s Up in 2nd place - and hint that promotional pricing was in play.

The best selling new title was Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths from Warner in 3rd place, ahead of Star Trek from Paramount and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian from Fox in 4th and 5th.

Other new titles didn’t fare quite as well, with The Informant! from Warner in 10th place,  Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant from Universal in 12th place, and The Box from Warner down in 15th position.

Looking at per title market share, we see almost the exact opposite of last week.

Top selling Law Abiding Citizen had a strong 41% Blu-ray Disc market share while Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths also performed well with 29% share.

New Warner titles The Informant! and The Box sold19% and 18% on Blu-ray Disc respectively, while Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant had 21% share.

Strong signs of promotional pricing were evident with a number of titles outselling their DVD counterparts.

Up had 55% market share, Star Trek an amazing 77% market share, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian had 68% and Inglourious Basterds from Universal squeaked in with 52% Blu-ray share.

I was a little surprised that Everybody’s Fine from Disney/Miramax didn’t get a Blu-ray Disc release, so no market share for that title at all.

Amazon has recently reduced the pricing on a number of television season box sets.

Perhaps the best deal is a saving of 69% on the Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 3 box, now only $39.99.

Additionally you can save 64% on Fringe: The Complete First Season and Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete Second Season, both only $24.99.

Further savings on Warner titles include Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season for $26.49,  Nip/Tuck: The Complete Fourth Season for $26.99 and Smallville - The Complete Sixth Season, Smallville: The Complete Seventh Season or Supernatural - The Complete Third Season for $27.99.

A great chance to add some television titles to the collection!

The Blu-ray Cover Art Gallery for the week of the 28th of February 2010 reveals a few bigger releases this week.

Sony steps it up with no less than two versions of the Roland Emmerich distater movie 2012 and the 2012 2 Disc Edition that also includes a Digital Copy.

Warner has Spike Jonze’s much anticipated adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are, again with Digital Copy.

Warner is also releasing a Digibook version of the original Clash of the Titans while Fox has the latest Jared Hess film Gentlemen Broncos, that features Jermaine Clement from Flight of the Conchords.

Click on any cover to see the details for the title.

The Blu-ray market share was at a 2010 low of 8% and the for the week ending February 21st, according to Home Media Magazine.

On the other hand the weekly revenue was still a fairly healthy $18.58M - up from last year and not bad for a week with no big releases.

The top sellers for the week were new releases - Law Abiding Citizen from Anchor Bay, followed by Halo Legends from Warner in 2nd place.

Recent releases Couples Retreat from Universal, Zombieland from Sony Pictures and last year’s Up from Disney filled out the top 5 on the chart.

The market share by title list shows why the market share was so low.

While Law Abiding Citizen managed a healthy 28% market share on Blu-ray Disc, other typically strongBlu-ray titles did quite poorly, like Up with 4%, The Hangover with 3% and Star Trek from Paramount with only 9% market share on Blu-ray Disc.

It seems likely that promotional DVD pricing helped skew these titles strongly towards DVD for the week.

Halo Legends and The Hurt Locker from Summit market share were in the 30% to 31%, which is more in line with my expectations.

Zombieland also continues to have a solid 29% market share on Blu-ray Disc

The Blu-ray market share was only 9% for the week ending February 14th according to Home Media Magazine - the first time it has been single figures this year.

On the other hand, the revenue was a healthy $20.15M for the week.

Top seller for the week was Couples Retreat from Universal, ahead of Zombieland from Sony Pictures in 2nd place.

New release The Time Traveler’s Wife from Warner took 3rd place ahead of strong sellers Michael Jackson’s This Is It from Sony Pictures and Star Trek from Paramount.

New releases A Serious Man from Universal, The Stepfather from Sony and Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic from Anchor Bay placed 12th, 13th and 15th place respectively.

Looking at per title market share, the top sellers were a little lower this week, with Couples Retreat at 19% and The Time Traveler’s Wife at 10% Blu-ray Disc market share, while Zombieland had a healthier 27%.

The Hangover from Warner was also lower than previous weeks with ‘only’ 20% Blu-ray Disc market share.

Top performers were Inglourious Basterds from Universal with 45% market share, and Star Trek with an awesome 56%.

Looking at other new releases, The Stepfather took only 13%, while A Serious Man had 27%  and Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic 34% Blu-ray market share.

Two Top 20 DVD releases that had an adverse effect on the overall market share were The Penguins of Madagascar: Operation DVD Premiere and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Minnie’s Bow-tique, which had no Blu-ray release at all.

The Blu-ray market share dipped slightly to 11% while the revenue remained a solid $21.16M for the week ending January 31st, according to Home Media Magazine.

Michael Jackson’s This Is It from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment was easily the best selling title, taking the top position in the sales chart.

Disney’s Surrogates had to settle for 2nd place, ahead of the latest in the franchise Saw VI from Lionsgate 3rd position.

The top six was filled out by strong performers from 2009 - The Hangover from Warner, Star Trek from Paramount and Up from Disney respectively.

Summit’s The Hurt Locker took a bit of a tumble to end up in 7th place while Gamer from Lionsgate was in 8th position.

A surprise entry to the top 10 saw WWII in HD from A&E and the History channel take 9th place for the week, ahead of WWII movie Inglourious Basterds from Universal in 10th.

Drew Barrymore’s Whip It from Fox was the last new release to make the top 20 in 11th position on the chart.

It is easy to see why the market share was down for the week, with Michael Jackson’s This Is It taking ‘only’ 21% and Saw VI only 20% market share on Blu-ray Disc.

This in contrast to market shares of 28% for Surrogates and 27% for The Hangover.

The Hurt Locker and District 9 are also doing solid Blu-ray business with 33% Blu-ray Disc market share each.

Top prize though goes to Star Trek with 61% market share for the week, a little ahead of WWII in HD with 58%, not so surprising for a title with a leaning towards HiDef.

Other titles selling more than a third of their units on Blu-ray Disc include Up , Inglourious Basterds and Public Enemies.

I was expecting Whip It to have somewhat lower than its 13% market share, while I Can Do Bad All By Myself was again a poor performer in HiDef, and with 4% market share was the one of only two Top 20 DVD titles that took less than 10% market share for Blu-ray.

All said and done, with only a quarter of the top 20 DVD titles for the week having less than 20% market share on Blu-ray, I think the format is continuing to grow.

Surrogates is the latest big budget Sci-Fi movie to be unleashed by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Disc with a January 26th release.

On the surface, Surrogates has a lot to offer, with a story about robot people and Bruce Willis in the lead role.

While the plot carries the feel of a Philip K Dick novel, the filmed version of the graphic novel doesn’t at all live up to the dark and foreboding nature of  similarly themed movies like Blade Runner.

Rather the whole thing lacks energy and style, and I can’t help but feel that here was a great opportunity squandered by some bad choices.

In Surrogates everyone who is anyone now lives their lives through a robot version of themselves.

Of course the surrogates are stronger and more capable, as well as being way better looking than their human counterparts, who have turned into ‘couch potatoes’ that never see the true light of day.

As well as the aesthetically pleasing aspect of a world filled with beautiful (robot) people,  it is also a safer way to live, with the robot taking the brunt of any unfortunate physical accident.

That is until we discover that a weapon has been created to not only destroy the robot but to also kill the human operator, and that is the inciting incident for the movie.

The FBI battles to find the weapon and its source, as the stakes ratchet up and everyone who uses a surrogate becomes at risk.

We are also subjected to the ethics questions of whether living life through a robot interface is natural or ethical, a point argued by a group called the Dread, who oppose the use of surrogates and live in communities where no robots are allowed.

Along with Bruce Willis, the cast includes Ving Rhames, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Boris Kodjoe, James Cromwell and James Francis Ginty.

Surrogates was directed by Jonathan Mostow, the man behind U-571 and perhaps the weakest in the franchise - Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

The critical response to the movie was luke warm at best, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 39% - somewhat better at the IMDb with a score of 6.3/10.

Surrogates was probably a disappointment at the cinema considering the budget - it earned $38.6M at the US box office.

The video on the disc is an AVC 1080p encode at 25.5 Mbps, and is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.40:1.

Full resolution PNG screen captures taken directly from the disc can be seen at the details page for Surrogates.

The main audio is lossless DTS-HD Master Audio with 5.1 channels - 24 bits resolution at 48 kHz.

The disc is a dual layer BD50, with 29.4 GB used and is coded for Region A.

The supplements for the disc include the typical selection of deleted scenes and an audio commentary from director Jonathan Mostow.

The disc also includes the I Will Not Bow music video by Breaking Benjamin, along with a pair of featurettes.

The Breaking The Frame featurette presents interviews with the creators of the original graphic novel and offers comparisons between the original and the big screen adaptation.

The scientific basis of the movie concept is discussed in the A More Perfect You featurette, which contains interviews with robotics specialists, as well as cast and crew.

Surrogates as a movie is a bit of a mixed bag, though if you are familiar with Mostow’s previous films you probably have your expectations set about right.

The Blu-ray Disc is another competent release from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.

The retail price is $39.99, and it is available at Amazon for $23.49, saving 41%!

Extras:

• Deleted Scenes
• A More Perfect You: The Science Of Surrogates
• Breaking The Frame: A Graphic Novel Comes To Life
• ‘I Will Not Bow’ Music Video By Breaking Benjamin
• Feature Audio Commentary By Director Jonathan Mostow

Synopsis:

From the director of Terminator 3 comes a jaw-dropping psychological thriller starring the ultimate action hero, Bruce Willis. Experience every electrifying moment of this mind-blowing movie on Blu-ray Disc with its theater-quality picture and sound. In the not-so-distant future, where people experience life through perfect surrogates controlled from the safety of their own homes, murder is a thing of the past. But when a college student linked to the creator of these replicants is killed, one FBI agent must re-enter reality and risk his life to unravel the mystery. In the battle of technology versus humanity, who can you trust? Based on the acclaimed graphic novel and exploding with unforgettable action, Surrogates is nonstop entertainment - especially in Blu-ray High Definition.