Even though George Lucas decided to controversially changes bits of Star Wars yet again for the new release of Star Wars: The Complete Saga, it seems that fans weren’t put off as the box-set becomes the highest selling pre-order catalogue title of all time shifting 1 million units! With it’s 9 discs and 40 hours of extras, this box set has smashed records bringing in $84m, $24 of which came from the US. I guess Lucas gets another big payday which frankly is no surprise as the Star Wars juggernaut continues to earn him mucho cash!

With publicity stunts like turning the BT Tower into a giant lightsaber, how could he fail to capture the attention of Star Wars fans everywhere!

We went nuts for the release and you can see all our posts from the launch here.

Here’s the full press release courtesy of Deadline:

The 13-month campaign to launch the SAGA Blu-ray and engage consumers around the globe began in August 2010. From Darth Vader at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), a first look at San Diego Comic Con, a first-of-its-kind partnership with eBay, to creating the world’s largest lightsaber in the UK, the power of the Force continued to resonate around the world as fans came out in droves to have fun with that galaxy far, far away.

“Once again our fan’s enthusiasm to celebrateStars Wars continues to amaze us,” said Kayleen Walters, Senior Director, Marketing, Lucasfilm. “Our goal was to deliver a premium product that they could enjoy with their family and friends and we are thrilled that they are enjoying it as much as we hoped they would.”

“Star Wars is a franchise with universal stories that resonates as much today as it did 30 years ago,” said Mary Daily, Executive Vice President of Marketing for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Vincent Marcais, Senior Vice President of International Marketing for Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment. “With the Blu-ray, audiences can go deeper into the mythology than ever before and reconnect with everything they love about the Saga in the best possible quality.”

The comprehensive collection includes the six movies with unparalleled high-definition picture and sound quality, and features numerous deleted, extended and alternate scenes, new documentaries and a cross-section of the countless Star Wars spoofs that have appeared in pop culture over the past three decades. Marking the first time ever that the full Saga is available in one complete collection,STAR WARS: THE COMPLETE SAGA on Blu-ray also features a coveted peek into the making of the Saga with vintage documentaries, audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes moments, interviews, prop and costume turnarounds, retrospectives and more.

Episodes I-III and IV-VI are also available as distinct Blu-ray Trilogy collections.

We may not be getting Lee Unkrich’s Toy Story 3 for another month (July 19th) but things are looking rosy for the new Disney Pixar movie as it’s broken the record for an animated movie on it’s opening day bringing in an estimated $41m on Friday in the US. The previous record was held by Shrek the Third which brought in $38.4m back in 2007.

With opening figures like that for one day, it’s now looking like Toy Story 3 will become the best opening weekend for Pixar so far with The Incredibles holding the record so far with $70.5m.

We’ll know for sure on Monday when the estimates come out and we’ll keep you up to date.

Head over to THR for the full figures.

Here’s a no brainier article but probably worth reporting on anyway! If I asked you what you thought the biggest selling blu ray of all time was, what would you say? You’d either guess Avatar or The Dark Knight wouldn’t you? Well, you’d be absolutely right!

Twentieth Century Fox have issued a press release letting us know that James Cameron’s epic movie has become the biggest selling UK Blu Ray of all time and it will probably remain so for many years to come. Until Avatar 2 comes along that is! Read on for the full details.

London, UK (Monday 10 May 2010) – AVATAR has once again shattered industry records to become the biggest selling Blu-ray title ever in the UK, announced today by Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (TCFHE).  In  2 weeks, TCFHE sold 505,057 units of AVATAR on the high-definition Blu-ray format  – beating the all-time Blu-ray record of 490,633 held by The Dark Knight and breaking the half a million milestone.

“Blu-ray is the ultimate way for fans to enjoy Avatar at home and experience Pandora in all its awe-inspiring clarity in high definition” commented Steven Leighton, SVP Northern Europe and Asia Pacific for TCFHE.  “It’s no surprise that viewers are choosing to own AVATAR on Blu-ray and with 22.2% of our overall sales to date this clearly demonstrates that UK consumers are embracing Blu-ray as the format of choice.”

Lavinia Carey, Director General, British Video Association said: “It’s fitting that AVATAR is the title that inspires consumers to buy into Blu-ray and lift it to the next level of household penetration as the best way to watch high definition content.”

Prior to the film’s release on Blu-ray Disc and DVD, AVATAR generated over £91million at the UK box-office and $2.7 billion worldwide — making it the highest grossing film of all time.  Written and directed by James Cameron and produced with his long-time collaborator Jon Landau, AVATAR stars Sam Worthington, Zoë Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Giovanni Ribisi, Joel David Moore, CCH Pounder, Wes Studi and Laz Alonso.  Director James Cameron takes audiences to a spectacular world beyond imagination, where a reluctant hero embarks on a journey of redemption and discovery as he leads a heroic battle to save a civilization.

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It was inevitable that this was going to happen but worth reporting on nonetheless. James Cameron’s smash hit epic movie, Avatar has broken all DVD and Blu Ray sales in it’s opening four days. The 3d sci-fi movie was released in the US on the 22nd April and has sold 4 million DVDs and 2.7 million Blu-rays bringing totals to $130m (£84.1m).

The money train for 20th Century Fox and James Cameron shows no sign of slowing down either as the DVD / Blu Ray goes on release in the UK today (you can buy it here) and the rest of the world in the coming weeks. The Dark Knight held the previous record for the highest selling DVD but that will now be eclipsed by Cameron’s epic.

Avatar is still on at many cinemas as people flock to see the best selling movie of all time now boasting to have brought in an estimated $2.7bn….

Crazy numbers which will only keep on going up.

Despite setting a new record for the highest US opening day gross in cinematic history with an impressive $72.7 million, The Twilight Saga: New Moon was only able to finish third in the rankings for biggest opening weekends. It managed to take a total of $140.7 million, which has only ever been bettered by Spider-Man 3 ($151.1 million) and The Dark Knight ($158.4 million).

In the USA New Moon is now expected to surpass Twilight’s entire domestic gross of $191.5 million by the end of the week, and with worldwide ticket sales totaling around $260 million it won’t be too long before New Moon overtakes it predecessor’s international gross of $351.5 million.

Top 10 at the US weekend box office:

• The Twilight Saga: New Moon ““ $140.7M
• The Blind Side ““ $34.5M
• 2012 ““ $26.5M
• Planet 51 ““ $12.6M
• A Christmas Carol ““ $12.2M
• Precious ““ $11M
• The Men Who Stare at Goats ““ $2.77M
• Couples Retreat ““ $1.95M
• The Fourth Kind ““ $1.73M
• Law Abiding Citizen ““ $1.61M

Although watching Twilight New Moon for some may be worse than pulling teeth, it appears to appeal to many as the second instalment of Stephenie Meyer’s ”˜Twilight’ series opened in the UK and Ireland at 12.01am Friday night and has broken the all-time midnight opening record for a film with a staggering £486,210 box office.

Tens of thousands of fans flocked to the cinema as it played at midnight in selected venues only. 134 screenings were sell outs and 88 of those were from the Vue circuit alone. The film which has also broken the record for advance sales in the UK and Ireland as reported by the three leading cinema chains ““ Vue, Odeon and Cineworld ““ was released on a massive 1100 screens.

Head of Film at E1 Entertainment Alex Hamilton commented, “˜We are very excited and encouraged by this fantastic result and can’t wait to see what the rest of the weekend brings.  We’d like to also take this opportunity to thank the fans for their incredible support in growing the franchise and their part in making the films a worldwide phenomenon.’

Tim Richards, CEO of Vue Entertainment adds, “˜These were the largest attended midnight shows we have ever done.  We were adding extra shows right up to the last moment to cope with the demand.  We are now looking forward to a busy weekend for the movie.’

So it seems that Twilight Will be around for a while and we might as well get used to it!