Blu-ray 3D discs sales have topped 3.5 million in the U.S., but half of the discs were "given away" with hardware
A new IHS Screen Digest report shows that a whopping 3.5 million Blu-ray 3D disc have been "sold" already in the United States, despite the 3D-iest movie of all, Avatar, still not being available for general sale.
Of course, almost half of the 3.5 million discs were actually part of hardware bundles (including Avatar, for Panasonic 3D TV owners, and those crazy enough to pay hundreds of dollars for a copy on eBay), but this still means 1.75 million discs were actually purchased by 3D hungry consumers.
By the end of this year, it's expected that there will be more than 90 Blu-ray 3D titles available, although with Panasonic and 20th Fox's exclusivity deal on Avatar not expiring until next year, Avatar won't be onetron of the available titles for general sale.
Another possible reason for the growth in Blu-ray 3D is the increasing range of "combo" packages, which packages the 3D and 2D version of the same movie (along with the old, boring DVD version) together, usually at a discount compared to buying separately. Movies like Tron Legacy, Sanctum, and upcoming releases of repackaged older releases like Alice in Wonderland, The Lion King, are all offering Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray 2D + DVD + Digital Copy combos, for the same price as you would have paid for a single disc Blu-ray release just a year ago.
And studios are keen to exploit Blu-ray 3D, by converting and re-releasing classics such as Titanic and Star Wars on Blu-ray 3D.
But (almost) everyone is still just waiting for Avatar.
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