'Star Wars' Breaks Global Blu-Ray Sales Records Despite Fans' Outcry

The nine-disc set of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray has become the format's biggest seller ever in just its first week of release, breaking global sales records.

Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment announced Friday that Star Wars is the bestselling catalog Blu-ray disc of all time in just its first week of release. One million units of the Blu-ray set have been sold since its launch on Sept. 16 worldwide, including 515,000 units in North America.

The hefty series, which offers a comprehensive collection of the six movies with high-definition picture and sound quality, with an Amazon price tag of $80 was apparently too hard for Star Wars fans to resist. The Complete Saga also 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.

Before the Blu-ray set was launched, some purist Star Wars series fans had said that they would refrain from buying it to protest George Lucas' alterations to the films, including a host of modifications to Return of the Jedi.

Lucasfilm, in a press release about the set's reception, said nothing about the modifications or about the outcry.

Once again our fans' enthusiasm to celebrate Stars 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.