Blade Runner 2049 finds its legs on home video

Looks like Blade Runner 2049 may not be the bomb that some box office hawks believed it to be. It just took a little longer to find its audience.

Sure, Warner Bros. spent an estimated $300 million on making and marketing Denis Villeneuve’s much-anticipated follow-up to Ridley Scott’s cult classic, Blade Runner, but the studio fell short of making that up at the box office, with a disappointing $92 million in the U.S. and $259 million worldwide. But there’s more than one way to make money off a film.

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According to The Numbers, “where data and the movie business meet,” Blade Runner 2049 is third best-selling video title in the U.S. this year, with almost a million units moved, adding up to some $21.7 million in consumer spending. That includes $3.8 million in DVD sales (which went on sale at the end of 2017) and $17.9 million in Blu-ray sales (since being made available on Jan. 16.)

You might not expect such a long-tail sales trajectory from a movie that was released in early October, but the film’s positive reviews, word of mouth, and Oscar love could help explain that. As such, Blade Runner 2049 has found a new life at the top of the heap, trailing just Stephen King’s It (1,447,093 units sold, $30.9 consumer spending) and Wonder (1,043,232, $16.8) as far as units sold go, and just behind It for the biggest money maker.

Blade Runner 2049’s predecessor was by no means a box office smash back in 1982, with just over $32.8 million worldwide. Since then, though, Scott’s film has become a cult classic, and must-see sci-fi. So who knows, perhaps Villeneuve’s slow-burner can replicate its predecessor’s shelf life.

(via IndieWire)