‘Wanda’ Lures More Video Renters Than ‘Rain Man’

“Rain Man” may have captured the imagination of America’s moviegoers in 1989, but when it came to video rentals, “A Fish Called Wanda” was at the top of the heap.

Variety, the entertainment industry newspaper, will publish its 1989 top-10 list on Wednesday. And according to that list, there were several movies that were only modest box office successes but were genuine video blockbusters.

Nowhere is video consumers’ differing taste more evident than with “The Accused,” a 1988 picture that featured Jodie Foster’s Academy Award-winning performance as a raped woman who is seeking justice in the court system.

During its theatrical release, the movie met with critical acclaim but modest box-office response, placing 42nd in the year’s box-office charts.

But the picture found new life in video, placing seventh on the year-end list.

The rest of the list is filled with equally surprising turnarounds. “Tucker: The Man and his Dream,” Francis Ford Coppola’s cinematic biography of auto maker Preston Tucker, flopped miserably at the box office. Yet it ranked a highly respectable 14th in video rentals.

Likewise “Mystic Pizza,” a modest picture about three women in a Connecticut fishing town. It made just $12.4 million in theaters but was No. 31 in video rentals.

TOP 10 VIDEOS

Variety’s Top 10 video rentals for 1989.

1. A Fish Called Wanda (CBS/Fox)

2. Die Hard (CBS/Fox)

3. Rain Man (MGM/UA)

4. Coming to America (Paramount)

5. Big (CBS)

6. Twins (MCA)

7. The Accused (Paramount)

8. Beaches (Touchstone)

9. Tequila Sunrise (Warner)

10. Cocktail (Touchstone)