Home Entertainment Despite controversy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best-selling Blu-ray of 2018 thus far

Despite controversy, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the best-selling Blu-ray of 2018 thus far

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If you were to listen to the internet, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is the greatest Star Wars movie ever made. If you were to also listen to the internet though, the Star Wars: The Last Jedi is also the worst Star Wars movie ever made. The middle entry in the current new trilogy, writer/director Rian Johnson’s 2017 blockbuster was about as divisive as anything the world’s biggest sci-fi franchise has ever seen.

While many loved how Johnson took this saga into some extremely unexpected places, there was a contingent of the fanbase that didn’t approve of these divergent surprises at all. And they were very vocal about it, as all over the internet calls went up to boycott the film and controversies sprung up around some allegedly trying to artificially tank the film’s RottenTomatoes score through bots. However, at the end of the day, it barely made a difference as The Last Jedi went on to earn a whopping $1.3 billion worldwide.

However, a few months later, when Solo: A Star Wars Story released and proceeded to flop harder at the box office than anything else in Star Wars history, disgruntled fans pointed out that this was the result of their displeasure with the franchise. They were done with Star Wars, and by the sounds of it, this “they” made up a very big portion of the fandom. There’s just a slight problem with that narrative though.

While Solo was indeed an abject commercial failure, while that was happening The Last Jedi was busy selling a lot of Blu-rays on home release. Like, A LOT. According to stats from The-Numbers (via GeekTyrant), The Last Jedi is currently the top-selling Blu-ray release of 2018, and it’s done so in emphatic fashion having moved over 3 million copies to the tune of $69.5 million dollars. The closest rival is Marvel’s Black Panther but it’s trailing far behind at around 2.6 million copies. The Avengers: Infinity War recently hit Blu-ray, and it will probably overtake The Last Jedi’s numbers but only by 2019, which means the latter will more than likely retain its crown for the year.

And just in case you were thinking that maybe it was just a slow year for Blu-ray sales, The Last Jedi is only about 20 000 off the pace of 2017’s champion, which just so happens to be the very highly-regarded (by fans and critics alike) Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Both of these don’t come close to the 2016 total home release sales of Star Wars: The Force Awakens though, as that record-setting juggernaut moved over 5.5 million copies.

So what does it all mean? Yes, Solo had a dismal performance, but it was a production that very few had been keen on from the very first moment it was announced and it was marred by major behind-the-scenes troubles, so it’s not a good indicator. Instead, as we’ve seen with so many other big franchises where a portion of the fanbase is soured on certain dramatic changes, many of these same people will still hand over their money anyway. The internet – and specifically social media – also has a habit of making noise seem way louder than it actually is, so the narrative that some are sporting that fans have turned their backs on Star Wars en masse certainly does not appear to be true. The true test will probably be JJ Abrams’ upcoming Star Wars: Episode IX next year, but you probably don’t need The Force to predict that it will probably draw quite an audience.

Last Updated: September 12, 2018

34 Comments

  1. Just over 3 million? That is a lot, yes. But did The Force Awakens not sell MORE than that just in its first week alone (like 3.5 million)? Quite a drop-off there, isn’t it? Look, overall I did not love TLJ, but it was still OK with some excellent parts mixed in with the total BS. And I got the Blu-ray for my collection. Because the collection must be complete!

    Reply

    • Kervyn Cloete

      September 12, 2018 at 11:07

      3.4 million in the 1st week, yes. But everything about The Force Awakens was bigger thanks to its event status as the first Star Wars movie in ages. Looking at other years, The Last Jedi’s performance is pretty on par. The type of stuff that outsold it is the likes of Avengers and Avatar.

      And then there’s Frozen, which is completely in a league of its own, as it sold over 7 million in one year. That’s ridiculous.

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        September 12, 2018 at 11:28

        I gets chills just thinking of such numbers.

        Reply

        • Pariah

          September 12, 2018 at 11:35

          Are they multiplying?

          Reply

          • Original Heretic

            September 12, 2018 at 11:51

            Must be the power you’re supplying.

  2. Admiral Chief

    September 12, 2018 at 10:49

    I enjoyed it, minus the unneeded story arc and characters

    Reply

  3. RinceThis

    September 12, 2018 at 10:51

    It’s the bestest!

    Reply

    • Captain JJ

      September 12, 2018 at 14:29

      obvious troll is obvious

      Reply

      • Captain JJ

        September 12, 2018 at 14:30

        and I like it!

        Reply

      • RinceThis

        September 12, 2018 at 14:34

        it’s better than the last one.

        Reply

  4. Original Heretic

    September 12, 2018 at 10:58

    I should watch this again. To see if I’m less bored this time ’round.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief

      September 12, 2018 at 10:59

      The Snoke death scene was pretty darn good

      Reply

      • Original Heretic

        September 12, 2018 at 11:01

        It was. One of the very few highlights of the movie.
        But a great moment here or there does not a great movie make.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief

          September 12, 2018 at 13:02

          I laughed at the Luke scenes though. And naughty Yoda

          Reply

          • WickedMONK3Y

            September 12, 2018 at 13:04

            Yodas updated yet old school model looked like a sex doll for gremlins, but damn I loved the whole movie, it was darker and I kind of liked the sad/emo luke instead of the young everything-gonna-be-ok Luke. Solo was actually quite good too, but I have always loved Star Wars anyway, right down to my Vader Cookie Jar 😀

          • Admiral Chief

            September 12, 2018 at 13:06

            Me ‘two’

            I still think KotOR (1 and 2) and TOR is ripe for a movie

          • Kervyn Cloete

            September 12, 2018 at 13:14

            It won’t happen (at least not the way we know it) because the Expanded Universe was scrapped, but I would kill for an Old Republic movie. Even more than that though, I would sell of Nick’s organs if it means we could get a movie set in the Star Wars Legacy timeline with Cade Skywalker.

          • RinceThis

            September 12, 2018 at 13:22

            hey!

          • Original Heretic

            September 12, 2018 at 13:29

            Need help with the harvest?

          • Admiral Chief

            September 12, 2018 at 14:01

            I’ll do the cutting

          • Original Heretic

            September 12, 2018 at 14:02

            Going to need a very small cutter.

          • Admiral Chief

            September 12, 2018 at 14:13

            OR, use regular size instrument and make lots of ‘overcutting’ “mistakes”

          • Original Heretic

            September 12, 2018 at 15:15

            Suppose regular size will also make the job so much faster.

          • Admiral Chief

            September 12, 2018 at 14:02

            What intrigues me the most is that you have two eras (Legacy, TOR) that are untapped, and you have significant creative freedom (or just use the stories that are still canon in my heart)

          • Kervyn Cloete

            September 12, 2018 at 15:58

            Yeah, before The Force Awakens, I was convinced the new movies would have been set in the 60yrs running up to Legacy, as that section had intentionally been left vague in the comics.

  5. Captain JJ

    September 12, 2018 at 14:27

    Yea well most people still believe you’re going to get a cold because your hair is wet. So I wouldn’t take too much from this. Disney Star Wars is a terrible bunch of movies (Rogue One excluded).

    Reply

  6. Yetizod

    September 14, 2018 at 00:13

    Worst movie of the entire franchise. Nonsensical plot, pointless canto bite, canon destroying plot devices. One of the worst movies i’ve ever seen actually.

    Reply

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