‘Daisy’ Motoring Along in No. 1 Spot

“Driving Miss Daisy” continues to drive off all contenders, clinging to the top spot of the Billboard magazine rental chart. Its primary challenger is “Born on the Fourth of July,” which would clearly be No. 1 if “Miss Daisy” weren’t in the driver’s seat. The rental market performance of “Born” is impressive considering that such grim movies usually don’t make it to the Top 5. Those that do rarely last long in the exalted circle. “Born” is doing so well because of all those Tom Cruise fans who’ll rent his films regardless of what they’re about. “Miss Daisy” should be secure in the No. 1 position for a while. None of the Labor Day weekend releases really has No. 1 rental potential. “Revenge,” featuring Kevin Costner and Anthony Quinn, moved up two notches to No. 10. This movie, which most critics didn’t like, is apparently riding high on the strength of its appeal to Costner’s female fans.

* The only new movie that’s making a splash on the charts is “Joe Versus the Volcano,” which moved up three places to No. 8. Once again, star power (Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan) is attracting renters to a movie that, according to most critics, isn’t very good.

VIDEO RENTALS

Ranking Weeks Ranking 2 Weeks On Rental Top Rentals Last Week Ago Chart 1. “Driving Miss Daisy” (Warner) 1 1 5 2. “Born on the Fourth of July” 2 6 3 (MCA/Universal) 3. “Hard to Kill” (Warner) 3 5 5 4. “Internal Affairs” (Paramount) 4 3 7 5. “The War of the Roses” (CBS-Fox) 5 2 9 * “Joe Versus the Volcano” (Warner) 11 ... 2