Arrr! Sparrow's Pirates is 'œThe One'

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Sunday, 03 June 2007 09:44

Opinion and Analysis

Pirate antics on the high Blu-ray seas have bested the mind bending Matrix trilogy in HD DVD in unit sales, but big differences between the two prove there is no spoon.

The latest sales figures for the first two “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies exclusively on Blu-ray have clearly been sprinkled with a spoonful of magic sales dust as consumers snapped up just under 47,000 copies in the first week of availability, compared with only 13,900 units for the Matrix sets, exclusively on HD DVD, in the same time frame, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Still, a truly direct head-to-head comparison can’t be made beyond unit sales as there are so many differences between the two titles.

To start with, the third movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is in theatres now, and while reviews say it’s a bit too long and complex, it’s still raking in the cash, propelled by a massive publicity push that has surely rubbed off onto the new Blu-ray releases of the first two movies.

Then there’s the Matrix, which has been out of the spotlight for a few years now, though still loved by fans despite Matrix 2 and 3 not being as mind bending being as the original Matrix ‘One’. While each pirates movie sells for US $25, each Matrix movie is more than double the cost. The three disc ‘Complete Matrix Trilogy’ lowers the cost somewhat to US $99.99, while ‘The Ultimate Matrix Collection’ with two extra discs of Matrix related stuff (for a total of 5 discs) goes for US $119.99.

Given the higher prices for Matrix, fewer HD DVD owners than Blu-ray owners (thanks to the PS3), and the massive worldwide publicity going on for the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie, it’s as easy for us to see why Pirates is ‘The One’ as it was for Morpheus to see it with Neo.

The success of Pirates at the Blu-ray box office, as it were, is clearly important for the Blu-ray format, but it hardly signals the end of HD DVD. Players have rapidly fallen in price thanks to the format war, and are clearly set to fall further, with the upcoming Christmas/holiday season set to see a massive push by both sides to get consumer sales, complicated by the games console war that will see even more promotional activity.

Given that both sides in the format war believe they can and will win against the other side, it’s still too early to tell the ultimate winner, despite Blu-ray having the edge thanks to millions of PS3s in the marketplace able to play Blu-ray movies.

It’s abundantly clear that one side in the race clearly believes there is no spoon. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a bit longer before we find out which side that is, as the spoon they were trying to bend resolutely refuses to do so.