SNAPPED-UP SNIPES

Maybe the prospect of President Clinton's first line-item veto just wasn't enough of a political thriller. Settling in close behind Absolute Power, its Oval Office twin, Wesley Snipes' Murder at 1600 pierced the rental top 10, the only new title to do so. Down the chart, the Madonna-blessed Evita debuted at No. 19, one step ahead of the sex-quest comedy Booty Call and six ahead of That Darn Cat. Disney might not cry over lackluster performances from Evita and Cat, though. The company has the rental chart's top four titles and, in Pooh's Grand Adventure: The Search for Christopher Robin, a premiere at the head of the sales chart.

TOP 10 TAPE RENTALS

LAST WEEK WEEKS ON CHART

1 1 JUNGLE2JUNGLE Tim Allen, Walt Disney 2 2 2 SCREAM Neve Campbell, Dimension 7 3 5 METRO Eddie Murphy, Touchstone 4 4 3 SLING BLADE Billy Bob Thornton, Miramax 3 5 4 ABSOLUTE POWER Clint Eastwood, Warner 5 6 -- MURDER AT 1600 Wesley Snipes, Warner 1 7 7 DONNIE BRASCO Johnny Depp, Columbia TriStar 3 8 6 MICHAEL John Travolta, Warner 9 9 10 PRIVATE PARTS Howard Stern, Paramount 3 10 8 THE RELIC Penelope Ann Miller, Paramount 4

TAPE SALES

1 -- POOH'S GRAND ADVENTURE: THE SEARCH FOR CHRISTOPHER ROBIN Animated, Walt Disney, $24.99 1 2 -- SPAWN Animated, HBO, $19.99 1 3 1 JUNGLE2JUNGLE Tim Allen, Walt Disney, $22.99 2 4 2 FUN AND FANCY FREE Animated, Walt Disney, $26.99 4 5 -- ESCAPE FROM L.A. Kurt Russell, Paramount, $14.95 1 6 -- SEVEN Brad Pitt, New Line, $14.95 12 7 4 THE ROCK Nicolas Cage, Hollywood, $19.99 11 8 6 JERRY MAGUIRE Tom Cruise, Columbia TriStar, $24.99 11 9 7 HAPPY GILMORE Adam Sandler, Universal, $14.98 11 10 5 GREASE John Travolta, Paramount, $14.95 48

FITNESS TAPE SALES

2 WEEKS AGO

1 4 THE FIRM: 5 DAY ABS BMG, $14.98 79 2 1 THE FIRM: FIRM CARDIO BMG, $19.98 15 3 2 THE FIRM: ABS, HIPS & THIGHS SCULPTING BMG, $19.98 41 4 3 THE FIRM: FIRM STRENGTH BMG, $19.98 15 5 8 THE GRIND WORKOUT: FITNESS WITH FLAVA Sony, $12.98 83 6 15 THE GRIND WORKOUT: HIP HOP AEROBICS Sony, $12.98 101 7 7 THE FIRM: AEROBIC INTERVAL TRAINING BMG, $19.98 41 8 14 CINDY CRAWFORD/THE NEXT CHALLENGE GoodTimes, $19.99 129 9 9 THE FIRM: COMPLETE AEROBIC WEIGHT TRAINING BMG, $19.98 41 10 5 THE FIRM: THE HARE WORKOUT BMG, $19.98 17

SOURCE: VIDEO BUSINESS FOR THE WEEK ENDING AUG. 10, 1997 FITNESS DATA: BILLBOARD FROM THE ISSUE DATED AUG. 16, 1997