20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's "27 Dresses" must have been tailor-made for the home video market, as the romantic comedy topped both the national DVD sales and rental charts its first week in stores.

"27 Dresses," starring Katherine Heigl, resoundingly beat fellow new release "The Golden Compass," from New Line, which came to DVD with a similar boxoffice pedigree: The family fantasy earned $70.1 million theatrically, just slightly less than the $76.7 million for "27 Dresses."

According to Nielsen VideoScan First Alert data, "Compass," which bowed at No. 2, only sold 71% as many copies as "27 Dresses," even though it's a family film, which traditionally are strong sellers. "Compass," however, may have been hurt by a backlash from religious groups who boycotted the film because Philip Pullman, the author of the "His Dark Materials" books upon which the film is based, is an avowed atheist.

On Home Media Magazine's rental chart for the week ending May 4, "27 Dresses" nailed the top spot with estimated rental revenue of $7.4 million, while "Compass" bowed at No. 2 with rental earnings of $6.5 million.

The previous week's top seller and renter, Paramount's explosive "Cloverfield," slipped to No. 4 on the sales chart and No. 3 on the rental chart. Fox's "Juno," No. 2 on both charts the previous week, finished as the No. 3 seller and No. 4 renter.

On the Blu-ray Disc front, "Golden Compass" debuted at No. 1, while "27 Dresses" bowed at No. 2.

'27 Dresses' catches DVD bouquet

Romantic comedy edges  'Golden Compass'

By Thomas K. Arnold

May 7, 2008, 07:04 PM