Role Models led the massive collection of new releases on the rental chart with roughly 25% more rentals than Transporter 3. Australia slipped into third place, just ahead of Milk. Beverly Hills Chihuahua remained in the top five for one more week, just ahead Rachel Getting Married.

The next best new release, Cadillac Records, was way back in 14th place. The Nobel Son opened in 23rd place, which is impressive as I didn't even know it came out on DVD. (It's still not on Amazon.) Rounding out the top 30 was Happy-Go-Lucky, but a few other new releases did relatively well. This includes Let the Right One In at number 36 and Synecdoche, New York at number 38. Finally, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas opened in 42nd place.

The overall rental market climbed by nearly 11% to $161.2 million; however, that was still 7.2% lower than the same weekend last year. At this point, it's clear there's a serious decline in the overall rental market and even a 7.2% decline is better than average.

- C.S.Strowbridge

Date posted: 2009-03-24