RENTAL ROUNDUP 1998-07-20

DVD Rentals Grow At Smith's Store

als of DVDs are "starting to pick up," according to store personnel at a Smith's Food & Drug Centers unit here.

The Salt Lake City-based chain had about 300 DVDs available for rental, including titles like "As Good As It Gets," "Flubber" and "Starship Troopers."

The DVD movies were displayed on a 4-foot island rack located in a central part of the long, narrow rental department. A sign hanging from the ceiling read, "DVD Video Center, Sales & Rentals." The Smith's store rented DVDs at its new-release rate of $2.97 for three days and two nights.

AP Story Features Marbles Executive

LAS VEGAS -- On the opening day of the Video Software Dealers Association show here, July 8 to 10, Matt Feinstein, vice president of Marbles Entertainment, Los Angeles, was featured in an Associated Press story that ran on the front page of the business section of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, as well as other papers nationally. Marbles operates video rental departments in 15 Vons and Lucky stores in southern California. The story reported the complaints of small video retailers that they are not being treated fairly by the studios as they make deals with big specialty chains like Blockbuster.

"What we want is the studios to offer the same types of deals and put everybody on the same playing field. Otherwise some of the independents are going to go out of business," Feinstein is quoted as saying.

Year's Top Videos Honored by VSDA

LAS VEGAS -- On the final night of the Video Software Dealers Association convention, July 8 to 11, here, the VSDA presented its 1998 Home Entertainment Awards to a variety of titles and celebrities.

Among the winners were Columbia TriStar's "Men In Black" for Video of the Year, Buena Vista's "Hercules" for Animated Family Video of the Year, Columbia TriStar's "Air Force One" for DVD Release of the Year, Twentieth Century Fox's "Casper: A Spirited Beginning" for Direct- to-Video Release From a Major Studio, and Nintendo's "Goldeneye 007" for Video Game of the Year.

Top 10 Supermarket Video Rental Titles

Title (Weeks Out) Studio Retail Last WEEk

1 As Good As It Gets (7) Columbia $23.96 1

2 Scream 2 (4) Buena Vista $107.37 2

3 Spice World (3) Columbia $22.95 3

4 Home Alone 3 (5) Fox $22.95 4

5 The Rainmaker (5) Paramount $105.77 6

6 Starship Troopers (7) Columbia $107.37 5

7 Wag the Dog (1) Warner $105.77 New

8 Amistad (1) Universal $105.37 New

9 The Replacement Killers (1)Columbia $105.77 New

10 The Postman (2) Universal $105.77 9

The chart on this page, tailored for the supermarket video market, is based on information taken from more than 1,000 supermarket rental locations serviced by Ingram Entertainment, La Vergne, Tenn.