'Dark Knight' to Ship a Million Blu-ray Discs

While Blu-ray Disc players and the 1080p format's package content of movie titles have not exactly been sending armies of suddenly dissatisfied DVD users to their closest retailer for upgrades, Blu-ray is slowly edging its way up to the 10-percent share mark among all video discs sold. Thus, whatever latest blockbuster movie goes up on the Blu-ray list often becomes the "record breaker" until the next mega-hit from the theater circuit comes along.

But this time, Warner Home Video appears to be consciously trying to break the record by ordering more than one-million Blu-ray copies of "The Dark Knight" Batman sequel to ship to retailers on Tuesday, Dec. 9, according to several usually reliable DVD/Blu-ray Web sites. (Warner Bros., for its part, will neither confirm nor deny the reports, which often signals confirmation-by-default.)

The current Blu-ray record holder is likely "Iron Man," which was released only a few weeks ago and according to its studio, Paramount, sold about a half-million Blu-ray discs in its first week or so. Exactly how many it has sold by now (and more to the point, exactly how many discs Paramount shipped to retailers) are not yet known.

Only 18 months ago, Sony Pictures' James Bond sequel, "Casino Royale," broke the then-record with a "mere" 100,000 Blu-ray units sold. On the eve of the latest Bond sequel later this month, a new double-disc version of the same title was shipped to retailers this month (see next item).

Another highly possible interim Blu-ray record breaker (coming out on Nov. 18 prior to the Bond flick) is the animated blockbuster "Wall-E."