‘Frozen’ Beats ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ to Remain at Top of Home Video Sales Charts

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Walt Disney Studios’ “Frozen” remained at No. 1 on both national home video sales charts for the second consecutive week, despite the release of three high-profile newcomers.

Paramount’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” the acclaimed Martin Scorsese drama about corruption and excess in the world of finance, fared best out of the three, debuting at No. 2 on both the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart, which tracks overall disc sales, DVD and Blu-ray Disc combined, and Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc sales chart.

But even then, “Frozen” in its second week of availability still outsold “Wolf” by a margin of more than 3 to 1 during the week ending March 30, Nielsen data shows.

The two other new releases that arrived in stores the same day as “Wolf” didn’t generate nearly the buzz, nor the box office, of Scorsese’s latest.

“Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie,” from 20th Century Fox, debuted at No. 3 on both sales charts, while “Delivery Man,” from Walt Disney Studios, bowed at No. 4 on First Alert and No. 5 on the Blu-ray Disc chart (behind Lionsgate’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” No. 5 on the overall sales chart).

“Walking with Dinosaurs” is an animated kidvid based on the 1999 BBC documentary of the same name. It got mostly negative reviews and earned a modest $36.1 million in U.S. theaters.

“Delivery Man,” the latest Vince Vaughn comedy, earned a domestic gross of $30.7 million. Vaughn plays a likeable slacker who’s fathered 533 children through anonymous donations to a fertility clinic 20 years ago, 142 of whom have now filed a lawsuit requesting he come forward.

Like “Walking with Dinosaurs,” “Delivery Man” is a remake, of a 2011 French-Canadian film, “Starbuck.” And, again like “Walking with Dinosaurs,” it didn’t exactly win the hearts of critics – or take the box office by storm.

“Frozen,” in its second week in stores, generated 45% of its sales from the Blu-ray Disc version, compared to 54% for “The Wolf of Wall Street,” 35% for “Walking with Dinosaurs” and just 30% for “Delivery Man.”

On Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week, “The Wolf of Wall Street” debuted at No. 2, followed at No. 2 by “Gravity,” from Warner, which came out on disc a month ago but wasn’t available at Netflix or Redbox for 28 days.

Sony Pictures’ “American Hustle,” which bowed as the No. 1 rental last week, slipped to No. 3. Rounding out the top five: “Frozen” at No. 4 (down from No. 3 the prior week) and “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire” at No. 5 (down from No. 2).

“Delivery Man” debuted at No.9.

Thomas K. Arnold is editorial director of Home Media Magazine, http://www.homemediamagazine.com.

Top 20 Nielsen VideoScan First Alert chart for week of 3/30/2014:

1. “Frozen”
2. “The Wolf of Wall Street” (new)
3. “Walking with Dinosaurs: The Movie” (new)
4. “Delivery Man” (new)
5. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
6. “Saving Mr. Banks”
7. “Scooby-Doo!: Wrestlemania Mystery” (new)
8. “American Hustle”
9. “Monster High: Frights, Camera, Action!” (new)
10. “Thor: The Dark World”
11. “Gravity”
12. “12 Years a Slave”
13. “Despicable Me 2″
14. “Odd Thomas” (new)
15. “Homefront”
16. “Barbie: The Pearl Princess”
17. “The Book Thief”
18. “Avengers Confidential: Black Widow and Punisher” (new)
19. “Game of Thrones: The Complete Third Season”
20. “Dallas Buyers Club”

Top 10 Home Media Magazine rental chart for week of 3/30/2014:

1. “The Wolf of Wall Street” (new)
2. “Gravity”
3. “American Hustle”
4. “Frozen”
5. “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire”
6. “Thor: The Dark World”
7. “Dallas Buyers Club”
8. “The Counselor”
9. “Delivery Man” (new)
10. “Captain Phillips”