If it wasn’t already expected, Nikki Finke is reporting that The Dark Knight has broken the record for the most Blu-rays sold in just one day of release.

The Dark Knight sold over 600,000 copies on Tuesday alone, while the previous record holder, Paramount’s Iron Man, sold 400,000 Blu-ray copies in one week.

And guess how many copies the film sold on old school DVD? Would you believe 3 million? 7 million copies are expect to be sold by weeks end, making it the best selling release of the year. If I were to guestimate, I would say that the release will have made over $175-$200 million by weeks end.

It took Shrek … READ MORE

I was at the downtown San Francisco Best Buy yesterday when I noticed this signage when I walked in the door. Apparently some of the Best Buy stores are doing Midnight launches on Monday night for The Dark Knight DVD/Blu-ray. Apparently some Circuit City, Blockbuster Videos and Virgin Megastores will also be open at midnight for the home video release launch. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a midnight launch for a movie before (I’m sure someone in the comments might prove me wrong), which is pretty incredible.

I’m considering making the trip to the San Francisco store to see how many people actually show up, but I already … READ MORE

Darren Aronofsky tells MTV that he would like to revisit The Fountain at some point.

“It wouldn’t be a ‘director’s cut,’” he said — more like an alternate story told with the addition of unused footage from the first go-round. This would be a complicated project on a couple of levels, though, and it’s at least a few years away.”

For those who don’t remember, Brad Pitt pulled out of Aronofsky’s first attempt at filming The Fountain weeks before filming was supposed to begin. The eventual 2006 film was created with a smaller budget and different stars. They way I’ve understood it, scenes were changed and dropped due to the … READ MORE

James Cameron gave a keynote presentation at the 3D Entertainment Summit today, and took aim at Tim Burton, who is filming Disney’s upcoming 3D adaptation of Alice in Wonderland using 2D cameras. Burton plans to convert the footage to 3D in post production, a decision that has angered and baffled the 3D community. “It doesn’t make any sense to shoot in 2D and convert to 3D,” Cameron said.

The Titanic filmmaker later attacked the industry’s decision to release 3D films on DVD/Blu-ray with the old red and blue anaglyphic glasses. According to FirstShowing, Cameron said that such releases are “stunting 3D growth,” and hurting the progression of the format. … READ MORE

The Criterion Collection is making a big push into digital distribution. Their new website — The Criterion Online Cinematheque, which launched this week, introduces $5 one-week movie rentals. If you decide to buy the movie on DVD or Blu-ray, Criterion.com will discount the rental price from your purchase.

The site also has a ton of new content, including some of the essays included with some of their DVD releases. For example, you can read Martin Scorsese’s thoughts on Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket or learn what Rian Johnson’s top 10 Criterion films are. Also, Each month they will be programing online film festivals, which will be advertising supported. Check out … READ MORE

Great Scott! Universal Home Entertainment has announced that they will be re-releasing the Back to the Future films on DVD in February. All three films have been digitally restored and mastered in High Definition, but that was expected. The big news is that the original film, Back to the Future, will be released as a two-disc special edition.

The new bonus disc will include all the footage from Back to the Future… The Ride, including the lobby que loop, the pre-show, and the entire ride itself. The new collectors edition will also feature the infamous Back to the Future Part II preview special … READ MORE

Netflix Watch Instantly is now available for Mac users like myself. Last night I watched the first 10 episodes of 30 Rock while I did some last minute web work before my trip to London. I know the service doesn’t have a lot of movies, or even a lot of good movies, but I definitely see the potential. About 50 of the films on my 360 film-filled queue are available instantly. You have to Opt-In to the Mac Beta program, download and install Microsoft Silverlight. So if you’re on a Mac and have a Netflix subscription, go check it out!

Disney is releasing WALL-E on Blu-ray and DVD on November 18th. There are options for both two and three disc editions. You can pre-order any of the releases on Amazon. Check out the official press release after the jump.

Netflix has begun testing its Watch Instantly movie streaming service for the Mac. Microsoft’s Silverlight will allow the rental company to safely DRM the 12,000+ movies and television shows now available on their instant streaming service. Netflix claims that Sliverlight provides “breakthrough navigation for fast-forward and rewind.” Wow. No details on when this service will be rolled out to all Mac customers. Obviously most of the Netflix library isn’t available for instant streaming (for instance, only 50 of the 374 movies in my queue), but it’s a nice extra service for regular Netflix customers. Full press release after the jump.

Samsung has announced that Netflix customers will now be able to instantly stream Watch Now movies on select Blu-ray disc players. The coolest thing about this announcement is that some customers can use their existing Samsung Blu-ray players. For no cost, both the BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 can be upgraded for the Netflix Watch Now functionality. The press release reads:

Instantly streaming movies and TV episodes from Netflix on the BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 is done through a wired broadband connection and a Netflix Queue-based user interface. Netflix members visit the Netflix Web site to add movies and TV episodes to their individual instant Queues. Those choices will automatically be displayed … READ MORE

For those of you buying Indiana Jones and The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull on October 14th, watch out for these five retail exclusives.

Circuit City will have 2 lithographs of concept art from the movie.

Best Buy’s Gift Set includes a replica crystal skull from Sideshow Collectibles and a $25 gift card to Sideshowcollectibles.com.

Target is exclusively packaged with a “beautiful hard cover book from Palace Press with 80 pages of behind the scenes photos, including many never-before-published images.”

Kmart & Sears will be giving away Four Exclusive LEGO mini-posters. Each poster is a LEGO replica of the original theatrical poster from all four Indy films.

And Trans World will have exclusive … READ MORE

Netflix has begun to alert subscribers that a price increase is required for those who wish to rent Blu-ray movies. The surcharge is a result of the additional cost of the next generation format, which sometimes is double that of DVD. The good news is that the surcharge is only $1, and allows you unlimited Blu-ray access under the same rules of your existing netflix account. I was expecting this to happen eventually, but I believed the cost would be a lot more. Bravo to Netflix for keeping it affordable. Thanks to /Film reader sean d for the tip.

—-

“Dear Sean,

As you may know, Blu-ray movies are more expensive than standard … READ MORE

Iron Man director Jon Favreau announced on Thursday’s Howard Stern Show that the Blu-ray edition of Iron Man has already outsold every other blu-ray disc release to date. That’s a pretty impressive accomplishment for only two days on store shelves. Of course, no official numbers have been released to back up Favreau’s claim, but we’ll trust his word for now… It’s believable, and besides, when has he let us down in the past? Favs a good guy. Which is why I’m sad to say that Iron Man’s new record will likely be short lived, as The Dark Knight hits store shelves on December 9th.

I’ve been complaining about Netflix’s Watch Instantly feature’s lack of Mac compatibility for a while now. Even earlier this week when the company announced they had signed a deal to stream thousands of Starz movies on-demand, I was left angry that I wouldn’t be able to use the service, even though I’m paying for a membership. Good news Apple users, the official netflix blog says:

“We’ve been busy working getting a solution that will allow you to watch instantly on your Mac. So hang in there - we’ll have something for you by the end of the year.”

So just hang in there a couple months longer…

Iron Man hit DVD store shelves this week, but Paramount is offering eight different exclusives depending on what retail store you make your purchase. I know that Adam Quigley kinda covered this in This Week in DVD, but I thought this might be big enough to deserve its own posting. Target’s Iron Man Mark III Mask giftset is clearly the coolest. Lets take a look.

Target - Target Deluxe Edition includes exclusive Mark III mask packaging. Available on both the Ultimate 2-Disc Edition and 2-Disc Blu-ray.

More After the jump.