Sunday is traditionally the biggest day of the rental week, but by a tradition of longer standing Super Bowl Sunday is the biggest event of the TV year. In other words, The Game -- Super Bowl XXXII -- lured viewers away from The Game, the Michael Douglas thriller that debuted in third place. Overall rental revenues fell about 14 percent from the previous week, down to $123 million, according to VidTrac. Meanwhile, Soul Food kept gobbling up the competition, missing a first-place rental finish by only a 10th of a copy.
TAPE RENTALS
LAST WEEK WEEKS ON CHART 1 1 CONSPIRACY THEORY Mel Gibson, Warner 4 2 2 SOUL FOOD Vanessa L. Williams, FoxVideo 2 3 -- THE GAME Michael Douglas, PolyGram 1 4 3 CON AIR Nicolas Cage, Touchstone 7 5 -- NOTHING TO LOSE Martin Lawrence, Touchstone 1 6 5 FIRE DOWN BELOW Steven Seagal, Warner 3 7 4 MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING Julia Roberts, Columbia TriStar 7 8 6 CONTACT Jodie Foster, Warner 6 9 9 MONEY TALKS Chris Tucker, New Line 2 10 7 FACE/OFF John Travolta, Paramount 11
TAPE SALES 1 1 SOUL FOOD Vanessa L. Williams 2 FoxVideo, $19.98 2 6 SLEEPING BEAUTY Animated 19 Walt Disney, $26.99 3 9 THE JUNGLE BOOK Animated 34 Walt Disney, $26.99 4 7 BELLE'S MAGICAL WORLD Animated 2 Walt Disney, $22.99 5 2 MEN IN BLACK Will Smith 9 Columbia TriStar, $24.99 6 -- LEAVE IT TO BEAVER Janine Turner 1 Universal, $19.98 7 3 MY BEST FRIEND'S WEDDING 7 Julia Roberts, Columbia TriStar, $22.99 8 5 SCREAM Neve Campbell, Dimension, $19.99 8 9 12 BUDDY Rene Russo, Columbia TriStar, $22.99 2 10 11 AIR BUD Michael Jeter, Walt Disney, $19.99 6
LIMITED-RELEASE RENTALS 1 1 TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES, N.M. 11 Kiefer Sutherland, Columbia TriStar 2 4 SWINGERS Jon Favreau, Miramax 35 3 2 EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU Woody Allen, Miramax 23 4 3 CRASH James Spader, New Line 23 5 -- THE LAST DAYS OF FRANKIE THE FLY 1 Dennis Hopper, Cabin Fever 6 5 PARADISE ROAD Glenn Close, FoxVideo 13 7 6 BLISS Craig Sheffer, Columbia TriStar 4 8 -- CAREER GIRLS Katrin Cartlidge, FoxVideo 1 9 -- GRIZZLY MOUNTAIN Dan Haggerty, LIVE 1 10 9 SHILOH Blake Heron, Warner 30
SOURCE: VIDEO BUSINESS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JAN. 25, 1998 LIMITED-RELEASE RENTALS HAD THEATRICAL RELEASES OF NO MORE THAN 475 SCREENS. SOURCES: VIDEO BUSINESS FOR THE WEEK ENDING JAN. 18, 1998; SOME DATA PROVIDED BY VIDTRAC; RELEASE DATA FROM EXHIBITOR RELATIONS
