Loading ...
DVD/Blu-Ray sales
Multiple articles indicate that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader made nearly 1/4 of Prince Caspian‘s first week in the DVD/Blu-Ray market. The-Numbers.com reports that the film sold 477,528 units for a total of $8,465,951, landing in fourth place. (Note: the figures are estimated based on studio reports and other sources, and only include DVD numbers.)
Prince Caspian opened to $39.5 million in its first week, while The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe made a whopping $155.5 million. Both opened to first place.
However, in its second week Dawn Treader rose to second place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
The tally of Deathly Hallows, which had been released on a Friday and thus was on shelves only three days, is even more impressive considering the No. 2 title, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, in its first full week in stores, managed to accumulate only 18.2 percent of the top title’s total. Warner had primetime television ads emphasizing the movie was unavailable at kiosks and Netflix. Also noteworthy is Deathly Hallows’ availability for digital sell-through April 11 and VOD on April 15.
DVD rental numbers are not yet available for Dawn Treader, since like Harry Potter the film has a 28-day embargo at most kiosks and Netflix. However, according to UPI the film came in 6th the first week, and 4th the second week, for DVD rentals. Right now, pretty much the only place to rent the Dawn Treader DVD is at your local public library.
Harry Potter mentioned the rental embargo in its ads. It also re-released all seven titles in the fantasy series for DVD sales. Did Dawn Treader (Fox) do any of this? No. Of course, Disney – not Fox – has distribution rights for the first two titles. But Fox did release a Narnia DVD trilogy in a few select countries.
Box office
Dawn Treader bowed to a worldwide total of $415.6 million, still short of Prince Caspian’s total of $419 million, and way less than LWW’s $745 million. But considering the circumstances (low domestic opening), the latest Narnia film sailed relatively well. Walden Media and 20th Century Fox liked the worldwide total enough to celebrate with a 2-page ad in Variety. Click here to see it (thanks to NarniaFans).
Domestically, the film finished with $104.3 million, which gained the film a x4 multiplier on its $24 million opening. Compared with Prince Caspian‘s $55 million opening, it would seem like a small number, but Prince Caspian deflated quicker than Dawn Treader, ending with $141.6 million and a x3 multiplier.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader performed well overseas, ending with over $310 million. (According to Box Office Mojo, the Japan run has ended, thus completing the foreign run). Prince Caspian grossed $278 million throughout its foreign run. In this respect, Dawn Treader outperformed its predecessor in terms of numbers, but attendance could be shrunk in comparison. (3D ticket prices boosted numbers considerably, while Prince Caspian was shown in basic 2D format.)
On a brighter note, Dawn Treader did pass Prince Caspian‘s final run in Japan – $30 million as compared with $27 million. NarniaFans has a chart listing Dawn Treader‘s top 20 box office markets worldwide, including comparison percentages with Prince Caspian.
Image: Official Narnia (Facebook)
Way to go VDT!
Now onto MN!! 
I blame the U.S. numbers on a HUGE lack in merchandising the movie. There are still people who didn’t even know another Narnia movie came out! And I hardly saw any commercials for the dvd release on t.v. But I think the dvd/blu-ray sales will go up, especially with Easter really close by.
I saw the commercials when it was out like more than 200 times on Nickelodeon (Out of all the days)
Again, we’re probably going to have to rely on the overseas DVD sales for profit.*sigh* 20th Century Fox, if you are reading this, if you decide to do MN, I beg you, do some decent US marketing. No wonder it did poorly domestically. And that’s sad to me. The US honestly missed out on a film that brings new hope for family films, I believe. Nothing much we can do, I guess.
You said it ,Louloudi the Centaur!!!!
I agree – with you and Narnia Archer. Fox’s US marketing was pathetic. Other than a few nice DVD trailers, the Macy’s flower garden show, and the ship in local grocery stores – what has Fox done to promote this movie stateside?! UK marketing is much stronger and more impressive! So is Mexico’s, which I’ll report soon.
I’m wondering about the strength of the US dollar. Can Fox not spend as much here, or is our money worth less than most other places? I’m pretty sure the Euro is stronger so Fox can do more with it in Europe.
I think it’s more important how the total box office will be. People shouldn’t be too fixed on how the US is doing it compared to the “rest of the world”. The fact that it is an American movie, doesn’t mean box office in the US should be higher than the other countries.
Actually, VDT was more of an Australian or British based movie, even though it was helmed by American studios. If you get what I mean. But the main reason why the US is so important to sales is that it makes up the largest chunk of nearly every movie that goes into theaters. Studios get more from higher openings than from long-term money makers, because as a movie plays longer in a theater, it makes less and less of the share and the theater gets more and more. Since the US almost always guarantees higher openings than foreign films, the studio gets a larger share. Does that make sense?
That does makes sense
they have to do more marketing for MN
Hello I am 16 years old and I am Belgian. In France and in Belgium the DVD takes out next week and here all the world likes narnia! The movie in worked well:)
It goes out in a 1 week. Narnia 4 is going to be made;)
Awesome!
If by any chance you see the DVD sales numbers for your country, could you share them? 
Hey Minsart,
I’m Dutch. The DVD releases the 27th here, in Belgium too I think? Narnia is very popular here too.
@ Cyclops: VDT didn’t release in the US first. It released in some Europe countries like the Netherlands a day before. So the profit of the opening weekend doesn’t come from the US alone.
It realeased a week early in Australia and India
Right, they release earlier, but they still made less in their first weekend than the USA. Not to run down any foreign countries or anything.
but the USA is a vital part to the worldwide box office. 
Yes, it is indeed. And most of the time that is a very horrible fact. Nothing to brag about.
Narnia works quite well in Argentina as the Prince Caspian had been released in May. VDT was released on December 28, full vacation, and had 1 million more than the Prince Caspian. The DVD was released in April, and the promos that were made to promote it were expectaculares. For example, the face of Aslan.
yay VotDT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
further up and further in: SC or MN!
YES!