'Downton Abbey' trounces 'Joker' in the home entertainment charts

We live in a society. A society that would prefer to buy Downton Abbey on DVD than download Joker digitally.

Despite it being a global billion dollar hit and the most nominated film at this year’s Oscars, Joker has been beaten in the Official Film Chart in its first week of release by the cultural juggernaut that is Downton Abbey: The Movie.

The Julian Fellowes-scripted film, which began life as an ITV drama, enjoyed the biggest home entertainment sales of the year so far, comfortably keeping the DC film off the number one spot.

Outselling the rest of the Top 5 combined with over 240,000 sales – 96% of which are on physical formats, and the largest physical sales in one week since Avengers: Endgame in September 2019 – Downton Abbey denied Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker a number one debut.

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However, Joker’s download results are not to be sniffed at either. The film, which was available to purchase on digital from 27 January, racked up 140,500 downloads in seven days, the third-largest opening week on digital since records began in 2017.

A composite image showing stills from Downton Abbey: The Movie (L) and Joker (R). (Universal Pictures/Warner Bros.)
A composite image showing stills from Downton Abbey: The Movie (L) and Joker (R). (Universal Pictures/Warner Bros.)

Joker comfortably outsold Downton on downloads, whereas the tables were turned when it came to physical sales, which says everything you need to know about the target demographic for both titles.

Joker is in the running for eleven Oscars at the 92nd Academy Awards on Monday morning, competing in Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Original Score, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Sound Mixing, Costume Design, Makeup and Hairstyling, Editing, and Sound Editing.

Here’s the full Top 10 of The Official Film Chart 22 January, 2020.

  1. Downton Abbey: The Movie

  2. Joker

  3. Ad Astra

  4. Rambo: Last Blood

  5. Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood

  6. Rocketman

  7. It: Chapter Two

  8. Judy

  9. Hustlers

  10. Angel Has Fallen

This week’s Official Film Chart, above, features an exclusive clip of A Shaun The Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, available to Download & Keep from February 10.