Rental revenues from cassettes rose almost 13 per cent in the week to September 16, bucking a long-term trend that has seen receipts for the year so far fall almost 9 per cent to $5bn.

The figures, from the Video Software Dealers' Association, also showed a jump in rentals of DVDs to the 25 per cent of US homes equipped with players.

Growing at a rate of 184 per cent year-on-year, DVD rentals jumped almost 240 per cent in the week.

Two low-profile releases, Blow from New Line, and the much-panned Tailor of Panama from Columbia Tri-Star, may have contributed to the increased interest. However, the market boost was more than twice as powerful as that given by the last release of a major hit when Hannibal pumped up rental stores' revenues by 6 per cent in the week to August 6.

In the week before the attack, sales fell 0.2 per cent, and rose only 2 per cent in the prior week when Exit Wounds and Joe Dirt came out.

According to Videoscan, a monitoring service, more than half the top-selling tapes sold in the wake of the assault were children's films. Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory led the sales league, followed by See Spot Run and Pokemon 3.

While cable channels are back to normal programming, broadcaster networks continue with expanded news coverage. A Knight's Tale and the thriller Along Came a Spider may benefit on release this week.

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