Duplicitous Duplication
Article from:The Washington Post Article date:July 12, 1990 Author: Tom Spain
Tops in Tapes
Who’s the biggest star of the video rental business? Most video renters probably never thought about such an honor-let alone whether one was necessary-but the rental chart watchers at Disney subsidiary Touchstone Home Video have stitched together a sash for their Number One Rental Star. An even bigger surprise is the lucky lady who gets to wear it: Bette Midler, on the strength that her five Touchstone Home Video vehicles have displayed on the Billboard video rental charts.
According to Touchstone, which brought the renting world “Down and Out in Beverly Hills,” “Ruthless People,” “Outrageous Fortune,” “Big Business” and “Beaches,” Midler’s movies linger on the Billboard chart of top video rentals for an average of 27 weeks-longer even than those of Tom Cruise (20 weeks). Also-rans include Eddie Murphy, Tom Hanks and Sylvester Stallone (19 weeks each) and Arnold Schwarzenegger (17 weeks). The folks at Touchstone announced Midler’s ascent to rental royalty to promote her hoped-for next tape triumph, “Stella,” which arrives in video stores next month. Considering the movie’s lackluster performance at the box office-Midler’s worst since Touchstone resurrected her career five years ago-the tape will probably need all the help it can get.
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