Without completely knowing what to expect in this particular holiday sales season, some studios and retailers are already backing off previous forecasts when it comes to CE purchases—including Blu-ray Disc titles and players.

At a briefing Nov. 14 organized by the Digital Entertainment Group, a consortium of major Blu-ray studios and product makers, both Warner Home Video and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment lowered earlier general predictions that Blu-ray titles would reach about $1 billion in sale in 2008. The revisions now range from $650 billion to $850 million. (So far this calendar year Blu-ray sales already have reached about $500 million, according to DEG.)

The revised lower projections come in the midst of a $25 million Blu-ray multimedia awareness campaign being coordinated by DEG (HD Notebook, Nov. 12, 2008).

Although actual sales numbers are not available on a weekly basis, Blu-ray titles overall are widely reported to be perhaps 10 percent of all video disc sales, to date. The Top 10 Blu-ray sales for the week ending Nov. 8, according Rentrak:

1. "Get Smart" (Warner Bros.)
2. "Journey to the Center of the Earth" (Warner Bros.)
3. "Iron Man" (Paramount)
4. "The incredible Hulk" (Universal)
5. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (Paramount)
6. "Tinker Bell" (Disney)
7. "Casino Royale Collectors Edition" (Sony)
8. "The Polar Express Presented in 3D" (Warner Bros.)
9. "Futurama: Bender's Game" (Twentieth Century Fox)
10. "Transformers" (Paramount)

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