The DVD release of David Cronenberg’s A History of Violence by Alliance Atlantis continues to perform well at the sales counter. Released on March 14, the film ranked seventh on Nielsen VideoScan’s weekly DVD chart for the week ending March 26, down from the list’s second spot the week before. Violence also placed third on Rogers Video’s top rental list for the week ending April 2.

Violence was the number two renter in the U.S. for the week of March 26. Its total home video revenue as of April 2 was US$20 million, according to industry monitor Rentrak.

Although Alliance Atlantis would not quantify the success of Violence with rental or sales numbers, a spokesperson did say the DVD has ‘performed above and beyond our expectations. We’re very pleased.’

AAC dominates CEN noms

Distributor Alliance Atlantis is cited three times for best English-Canadian DVD going into the third annual Canadian Entertainment Network awards, honoring the best in Canadian home video in Toronto on April 25. AA’s titles Trailer Park Boys: The Fourth Complete Season, Saint Ralph and It’s All Gone Pete Tong are up against The Corporation: Special Edition from Mongrel Media and Corner Gas: Season Two from Video Services Corp.

AA also has all but one title in the best French-Canadian DVD category, with Aurore, Horloge biologique, Ma vie en cinémascope and Camping Sauvage pitted against Idole Instantanée from Warner Home Entertainment.

A total of 32 awards will be given in various genre, retailer and technical categories.

AA’s Sin City: Recut Extended and The Wizard of Oz: Collector’s Edition from Warner Home Entertainment lead the pack with five nominations each, competing against each other in the best reissue category, as well as the CEN reader’s choice heat.

Also…

* The Lionsgate Films straight-to-DVD children’s release of Barbie Fairytopia: Mermaidia, produced by Mattel and Vancouver’s Mainframe Entertainment, ranked sixth on the Nielsen VideoScan for the week ending March 26.

* The Canadian Film Centre’s feature Show Me was released in Canada in late March by Brampton, ON’s Paradox Entertainment Group, featuring a commentary by director Cassandra Nicolaou.

* Mongrel Media has teamed up with Blockbuster Canada to release The Festival Collection, a series of international favorites from fests including Toronto, Cannes and Sundance. The eight films featured in the spring ’06 collection, released on April 11 in Blockbuster locations, include the Norwegian drama Hawaii, Oslo and the U.S. documentary Anytown, USA.

* Montreal’s Cirque du Soleil and the U.K.’s Richmond Studios won a DVD Excellence Award in the music category for their release Midnight Sun. Shot in HD, Midnight Sun is a live Cirque street performance from summer 2004 before 200,000 Montrealers. The DVD Excellence Awards took place in Santa Monica, CA in late March.