‘Thor’ Storms to No. 1 on DVD, Blu-ray Charts

The floodgates have opened. Studios are pushing out new DVD and Blu-ray Disc releases as the fourth-quarter selling season nears, with one or two summer tentpoles, and a handful of other high-profile new releases, slated to arrive in stores each week from now through Christmas.

Not surprisingly, then, all but one of the 10 top-selling discs on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week ending Sept. 18 are new releases, topped by Paramount Home Entertainment’s Thor, the big-budget fantasy that grossed $181 million in U.S. theaters over the summer.

PHOTOS: Toy Wars: Battle of the Blockbuster Summer

Thor pushed the previous week’s best seller, fellow summer tentpole X-Men: First Class, from 20^th Century Fox, to No. 2. Fox also snagged the No. 3 spot on the chart with Star Wars: The Complete Saga, featuring all six films in their Blu-ray debut. The package lists for $139.99, which makes its No. 3 debut all the more spectacular.

Rounding out the top 10 on the First Alert chart are seven other new releases, including the latest season sets of popular TV shows The Big Bang Theory (No. 4), Glee (No. 6), Supernatural (No. 7), Spartacus: Gods of the Arena (No. 8), Grey’s Anatomy (No. 9) and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (No. 10). Joining them in the top 10 is Universal Studios’ Barbie: Princess Charm School (No. 5), the latest installment in the popular direct-to-video series about the iconic doll.

VIDEO: Watch Marvel’s Little ‘Thor’ Commercial

Thor also topped Nielsen’s dedicated Blu-ray Disc chart, with Star Wars coming in at No. 2 and X-Men: First Class slipping to No. 3. Blu-ray seems to be enjoying a bit of a surge, with Thor generating 61 percent of its sales from the format and X-Men: First Class, 54 percent.

Home Media Magazine’s rental chart for the week, Thor easily nailed the top spot as well, while the No. 2 position went to the Warner comedy Something Borrowed, which just came off its 28-day holdback from Netflix and Redbox. Universal’s Paul, the previous week’s top rental, slipped to No. 4, right behind Lionsgate’s Everything Must Go, which remained at No. 3 for the second consecutive week.