VIDEO RENTAL CHARTS : Challengers Fail to Knock Out ‘Batman’

Even the strong competition from all those new holiday rentals wasn’t enough to unseat the Caped Crusader. “Batman” is still the rental champ of the Billboard magazine chart. But the hot new movies--like “Star Trek V: The Final Frontier” (No. 12)--are going to reshape the Top Five in the next few weeks. The list of new chart additions is impressive--”Great Balls of Fire” (No. 16), “Nightmare on Elm Street 5” (No. 22), the Kiefer Sutherland cop movie “Renegades” (No. 24) and the Sly Stallone prison drama “Lock Up” (No. 26). King-sized jumps: the Richard Pryor comedy “See No Evil, Hear No Evil” from No. 20 to No. 6 and, even more impressive, “Road House” barreling up to No. 7 from No. 37. “Road House,” an action-drama starring Patrick Swayze, took a critical beating but did respectably at the box office.

*”When Harry Met Sally . . .,” which grossed more than $92 million in theaters, is easily the most popular romantic comedy since “Moonstruck.” This Billy Crystal-Meg Ryan movie just might be the next rental-chart champion--the movie that finally knocks the Caped Crusader out of No. 1. “Harry-Sally” debuted at No. 9 and should at least crash the Top Five next week.

Ranking Weeks Top Rentals Last Week Ago Chart 1.”Batman”(Warner) 1 1 6 2.”Ghostbusters II”(RCA/Columbia) 2 3 5 3.”Scrooged”(Paramount) 3 2 7 4.”K-9”(MCA) 4 -4 6 5.”Three Fugitives”(Touchstone) 6 6 8 *”When Harry Met Sally ...”(Nelson) ... ... 1