The only new release in the top five was Because of Winn-Dixie, which actually led the VHS rental charts with $640,000, however, its DVD rental numbers were significantly weaker, relatively speaking, at $3.02 million for a $3.65 million running tally. While Guess Who held up amazingly well, Alexander was no so lick with a 49% drop-off landing at just $3.59 million for the week and $10.73 million so far. On the other hand, Million Dollar Baby dropped just 18% to $3.37 million rising back into the top five in the process. Lastly we have Constatine with $3.34 million during the week and $25.59 during its run so far.

The only other new release in the top 30 was Kung Fu Hustle with $3.04 million in combined rentals, strong enough for seventh place.

There were a couple of films that managed to top their domestic totals on the rental market this past week. Man of the House took just four weeks to earn $19.19 million compared to its $19.12 million it earned domestically. While 19 weeks for Spanglish to do the same, granted, its domestic total was much higher at $42.04 million, but it has reached $42.45 million so far.

The overall market was another disaster this week bringing in just $117.9, down 14.0% from last week and a clinically depressing 23.2% from the same week last year. Year-to-date 2005 has now made $4.8 billion, off 4.1% from 2004.

The top five sales chart had a different look with Kung Fu Hustle leading the way. Second place went to Guess Who, which was just ahead of the other newcomer, Because of Winn-Dixie. Alexander then Constatine finished in fourth and fifth places respectively.

There were 6 other new releases in the top twenty, but they were all from the TV on DVD category, although The Muppets' Wizard of Oz is a TV Movie, so it doesn't really fit in either category really well.

The TV on DVD charts were dominated by newcomers with 4 of the top five spots going to new releases. Leading the way was The Muppet Show - Season One - Special Edition, proving once again that studios should stick with Full Season Sets and not Best Of releases. The final season of Roswell came in second ahead of Thundercats - Season One - Volume One and Columbo - Season 3. The only holdover in the top five was Laguna Beach - The Complete First Season, which finished in fifth place.

The only other new release in the top ten was Dallas - Season 3, which came in sixth place.

Submitted by: C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2005-08-20