Outside of the candy and jack-o-lanterns, one of the best things about Halloween is cuddling up to a good scary movie on the home theater.
Although on-demand channels and subscription media providers are everywhere, America still buys DVDs and Blu-Rays of the latest or greatest movies at places such as Best Buy ($BBY). And around the Halloween season, consumers are flocking to get their fix of spooky and scary movies.
Out of all the Halloween movies that sold at Best Buy this past month, Hocus Pocus, originally released in 1993 by Disney, topped the sales-rank charts for its 25th Anniversary. Oddly enough, it even beat out The Nightmare Before Christmas, another classic that shared the same debut year. At the time, Disney decided to release Hocus Pocus in July (making for box office numbers for obvious reasons), as it wanted Nightmare Before Christmas to run unopposed in October.
On the silver anniversary for both these movies, Hocus Pocus has gotten its revenge, charting two versions of its 25th anniversary edition around the top-500 for every product sold at Best Buy through the month of October.
| Name | Category Rank (Average) | Category Rank (Count) |
|---|---|---|
| Solo: A Star Wars Story [Blu-ray] [2018] | 63.88888889 | 27 |
| Hocus Pocus [25th Anniversary Edition] [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [1993] | 464.037037 | 27 |
| Avengers: Infinity War [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [2018] | 467.8888889 | 27 |
| Hocus Pocus [25th Anniversary Edition] [DVD] [1993] | 501.962963 | 27 |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas [SteelBook] [Anniv. Edition] [Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [Only @ Best Buy] [1993] | 602.6296296 | 27 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp [DVD] [2018] | 733.7 | 10 |
| Deadpool 2 [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [2018] | 854 | 27 |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas [25th Anniversary Edition] [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [1993] | 1007.296296 | 27 |
| Ant-Man and the Wasp [Includes Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [2018] | 1141.521739 | 23 |
| Solo: A Star Wars Story [DVD] [2018] | 1218.333333 | 27 |
(Note: The "Count" for category rank marks the number of days the item appeared listed on Best Buy. Data was scraped from 27 days in October to compile this list)
Unfortunately for the Sanderson sisters, Solo: A Star Wars Story came out on Blu-Ray and DVD days before the month started. The new (now-yearly) installment of the Star Wars franchise might have been considered the first box office bust in the series' history, but at the very least, it can claim the title of top movie in October at Best Buy in terms of average sales rank.
Outside of the top-ten, a few other Halloween and horror classics crept in at relatively well placements, considering there are tens of thousands of items sold at Best Buy daily.
| Name | Category Rank (Average) | Category Rank (Count) |
|---|---|---|
| Hocus Pocus [25th Anniversary Edition] [SteelBook] [Digital Copy] [Blu-ray] [Only @ Best Buy] [1993] | 1266 | 19 |
| The Nightmare Before Christmas [25th Anniversary Edition] [DVD] [1993] | 1463.074074 | 27 |
| Stephen King's It [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1990] | 2136.592593 | 27 |
| The Shining: Special Edition [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1980] | 2329.888889 | 27 |
| Salem's Lot [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1979] | 2526 | 27 |
| Beetlejuice [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1988] | 2640.592593 | 27 |
| Poltergeist [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [2015] | 2838.928571 | 14 |
| An American Werewolf in London [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [Only @ Best Buy] [1981] | 2945.666667 | 27 |
| Child's Play [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1988] | 2970.142857 | 21 |
| Halloweentown Double Feature [DVD] | 2973.777778 | 27 |
| Fly [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1986] | 3055.047619 | 21 |
| Killer Klowns from Outer Space [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1988] | 3065.333333 | 21 |
| The Return of the Living Dead [SteelBook] [Blu-ray] [1985] | 3185.809524 | 21 |
| Halloween [35th Anniversary] [Blu-ray] [1978] | 3334.037037 | 27 |
In total, there are 14 different movies (15 if you count both Halloweentowns in the double feature) at Best Buy that had at least one product medium with an average sales rank below 3,500, which is roughly in the top 5% of all items at the store. Essentially, this list all but confirms the popularity of these movies around Halloween and makes for an absolutely packed spooky and scary movie marathon.
Should you decide to make that marathon a reality while welcoming trick-or-treaters this Halloween (or any night for that matter), just know that plenty of people who shop at Best Buy are watching the same things as you are.
