Buena Vista Home Entertainment's "Chicken Little" easily crossed the road to the top spot on the national DVD sales chart for the week ended March 26, while New Line Home Entertainment's "A History of Violence" remained the nation's No. 1 rental for the second consecutive week.


According to Nielsen VideoScan data, "Chicken Little," the animated take on the classic sky-is-falling tale that grossed more than $135 million in theaters, outsold second-ranked "Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story," from Dreamworks Home Entertainment, by a nearly 4-to-1 margin.

Five other new releases bowed in the First Alert top 20: Genius Products' "Derailed" at No. 4, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's "Capote" at No. 5, Paramount Pictures Home Entertainment's complete seventh-season set of television's "South Park" at No. 9, Lionsgate's "In the Mix" at No. 10, and Paramount's "Mind of Mencia: Uncensored Season 1" at No. 19.

The previous week's top DVD seller, Warner Home Video's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," slipped to No. 3, while "A History of Violence" fell from No. 2 to No. 7.

Lionsgate's "Crash" slipped to No. 13 from No. 9 the previous week, but the acclaimed film about race relations, which won the Oscar for best picture, has been in the First Alert top 20 for 16 weeks.



In rental stores, "A History of Violence" took in an additional $7.7 million its second week out to bring its total take so far to $17 million, or more than half its total box office earnings.

"Derailed" made a surprisingly strong showing, bowing at No. 2 on Home Media Retailing's video rental chart for the week ended March 26 with estimated rental earnings of $6.6 million, 18% of its theatrical gross. The film, from The Weinstein Company, earned $36 million in theaters.



Despite its Oscar buzz, "Capote" could muster only a No. 3 debut on the rental chart, with earnings of $5.6 million, while "Chicken Little" clucked in at No. 7, with $3.9 million.

Author: THOMAS K. ARNOLD, Home Media Retailing