According to the A.C. Nielsen VideoScan survey of DVD sales for the week ending February 26th, Hayao Miyazaki's masterpiece, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, reached #14 during its first week of release (it came out on February 22nd).  Nausicaa sales amounted to 20% of those garnered by Shark Tale during its third week in the stores. The Cat Returns finished in a tie for 47th place with sales totaling 6.58% of those of the chart-topping Shark Tale DVD, while Porco Rosso finished close behind in 49th place with sales amounting to 6.54% of Shark Tale.

The week ending March 5th was a much stronger week for DVD releases with the debuts of Bambi, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Flight of the Phoenix, and Exorcist: The Beginning, which finished #1 through #4 respectively.  In its second week of release the Nausicaa DVD fell to the 30th spot on the chart with sales that were less than 2% of those of the chart-topping Bambi, a statistic that provides a more realistic perspective on the position of anime vis-a-vis mainstream mass-market titles.  Neither The Cat Returns nor Porco Rosso made the Top Fifty chart for the week ending March 5th.  The three Studio Ghibli films were the only anime DVDs to make the list either week.