VIDEO RENTALS : ‘Ninja Turtles’ Barrels Up Rental Chart
Cowabunga! “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie”--a live-action comedy/adventure--is an instant rental chart smash. A new entry, it barreled up to No. 4 on the Billboard chart. This box-office blockbuster ($132.5 million) is priced low at $24.99 and geared to the sales market. But it’s still a hot item in the rental market, possibly strong enough to bump “Glory” out of the top spot. “The Guardian,” a fright flick that should be popular around Halloween, debuted at No. 29. “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” isn’t doing badly in the rental market, bounding up nine places to No. 21.
* Snidely dubbed “Top Gun Jr.,” “Fire Birds” did just OK at the box office: $14.7 million. Based on that figure, you’d think it would have a relatively short rental life, struggling up into the teens on the chart. But this military action drama is doing a surprisingly strong rental business, blasting up to No. 9 in just two weeks. Possibly star Nicolas Cage is a bigger draw in the rental market than anyone realizes.
Ranking Weeks Ranking 2 Weeks On Rental Top Rentals Last Week Ago Chart 1. “Glory” (RCA/Columbia) 1 6 3 2. “Driving Miss Daisy” 2 1 11 (Warner) 3. “Born on the Fourth 3 2 9 of July” (MCA/Universal) 4. “Teenage Mutant Ninja ... ... 1 Turtles” (FHE) 5. “Bad Influence” 4 3 6 (RCA/Columbia) * “Fire Birds” (Touchstone) 22 ... 2