Movie Sequels Increase DVD & BluRay Prices of Original Movies

Sequels are big business in the movie industry. In 2011, 27 movies were sequels which equals nearly 20% of all movies released last year. When these sequels release in theaters they increase the prices of the original movies on DVD and BluRay. This can be very helpful for DVD collectors to know so you can save some money building your collection.

For this research we used ten movies with sequels released in the second half of 2011. We analyzed the used movie prices a month before the sequel released, the month of the release, and a month after release. The movies included are:

Title	Sequel Release Date
Paranormal Activity	October 21st 2011
Paranormal Activity 2	October 21st 2011
Happy Feet	November 18th 2011
Sherlock Holmes	December 16th 2011
Mission Impossible	December 21st 2011
Mission Impossible 2	December 21st 2011
Mission Impossible 3	December 21st 2011
Twilight	November 18th 2011
The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	November 18th 2011
The Twilight Saga: New Moon	November 18th 2011

Click for Larger Chart

The chart above shows the DVD prices for the original movies before, during, and after the sequel released. The average price increased 58% during the month of the sequel's release. Then the month after release prices decreased 16%.

Click for Larger Chart

This chart shows the prices for Blu-Ray movies before, during, and after the sequel released in theaters. Blu-Ray prices didn't increase as much as the DVD prices with an average increase of 22%. The subsequent decrease was smaller as well, only dropping 7% a month after the sequel.

How to Use This Price Data as a DVD Collector

Knowing that DVD and Blu-Ray prices increase when a sequel comes out can save you money as a collector. Be sure to buy the original movies before the sequel releases or you will end up paying a 50% premium.

Or if you are looking to sell some movies from your collection, think about selling movies the same time a sequel is released.

Unit Sales by Day of the Week: Video Games vs DVDs

During the holiday season video games and movies are popular gifts. During November and December almost 110,000 video games and 93,000 movies (DVD & BluRay only) sell per week on eBay.

Some days are bigger sales days than others and it is different for movies and games. Below are charts showing the average unit sales per day for video games and movies:

For both movies and video games Wednesday and Thursday have the fewest sales. Sunday is the biggest sales day by a large margin, with 40-45% more sales per day than the slowest day.

Besides Sunday, Tuesday is the biggest unit sales day for DVDs but Monday is the next biggest for video games.

The chart above compares the average unit sales by day of the week for movies and video games so you can better see the differences.

If your selling a game or movie on eBay with a fixed price, you are much more likely to sell it on a Sunday than any other day of the week. But the prices are usually higher on Wednesdays so if your choosing when to list an auction, ending it on a Wednesday might be a good idea. There will be less competition and usually a higher price.

Criterion is the Atlus of Movies

Most video game collectors and game enthusiasts know the video game publisher Atlus. They are well known for their Japanese RPG's, localizations of niche titles, and pre-order/collector's edition bonuses on most games.

Atlus has small print runs for their games, mostly sells via pre-order, and focuses on niche content exclusively. They don't try to make the next Call of Duty multi-million seller but they have a devoted following and games that collectors know will be worth something in the future.

Criterion is the Atlus of movies. They release niche foreign content like Au Revoir Le Enfants, horror films like Flesh for Frankenstein, and collector's editions for many of their most popular titles. Criterion also re-releases classic movies never before seen on DVD like Modern Times and Stagecoach.

And like Atlus, Criterion movies keep their value over the long run because they quickly drop them out-of-print after their initial release and their content has lasting value.