Flood of TV hits and summer blockbusters leaves little shelf space holiday fare

DSN Retailing Today, Sept 26, 2005 by Doug Desjardins

The DVD space crunch will be tighter than ever for retailers this year, with studios releasing a record number of TV box sets and the usual flood of summer hits, but they'll still need to make room for titles with a holiday theme. The list is shorter than usual this year yet includes several new titles along with some old standards.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment has a mixed bag of releases due out Nov. 1, with material from its vault of classic cartoons and current TV shows. The list includes "Walt Disney Classic Cartoon Favorites: Classic Holiday Stories," "A Disney Channel Holiday," "A Very Playhouse Disney Holiday" and "Disney Princess: A Christmas of Enchantment."

"This is the first time we're releasing a group of titles that appeal to kids of all age groups," said Lori MacPherson, senior vp of brand marketing for Buena Vista. The studio is also providing retailers with a display merchandiser to house its holiday titles.

And Buena Vista is teaming with Wal-Mart for an exclusive deal on "The 3 Wise Men," which will be released Nov. 1. The animated title that was released theatrically in Spain and France features the voices of Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez and will be sold exclusively at Wal Mart through the holidays.

A few studios are bringing 2004 theatrical releases with a holiday theme to DVD for the first time. Warner Home Video will debut the Tom Hanks holiday film "The Polar Express" Nov. 22. Warner will also release four Martha Stewart holiday specials Oct. 11, including "Martha's Classic Thanksgiving" and the three-disc set "Martha's Holiday 2005."

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will release the 2004 Tim Allen comedy "Christmas with the Kranks" for the first time Nov. 8. And Paramount Home Entertainment has a special 40th Anniversary Edition of "It's a Charlie Brown Christmas" due out Oct. 4.

The 2004 holiday-theme release "Noel" will arrive in stores Oct. 25 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The film stars Susan Sarandon and tracks the stories of five New Yorkers on Christmas Eve. Independent studio Lion's Gate Home Entertainment has the holiday classic "A Christmas Carol: The Musical" coming to DVD Oct. 18. The musical version of Charles Dickens' classic stars Kelsey Grammer as Scrooge.

Hit Entertainment has a full slate of Christmas releases for preschool kids due out Oct. 4. They include "The Wiggles: Yule be Wiggling," "Barney's Christmas Star," "Bob the Builder: A Christmas to Remember" and "Angelina Ballerina: The Show Must Go On." Also, BBC Home Entertainment has kids' titles "Robbie the Reindeer: Hooves of Fire" and "Robbie the Reindeer: The Legend of the Lost Tribe" due for early arrival Sept. 27.

DVD PROMO
THE 10 MOST HEAVILY PROMOTED (*)
SELL-THROUGH VIDEO TITLES AT MASS ([dagger])
FOR THE PERIOD OF 8/1 THROUGH
8/31/2005

TITLE/STUDIO            NO. OF ADS

SIN CITY                        23
Dimension Films
SAHARA                          17
Paramount
BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE           12
Fox
MONSTER-IN-LAW                  12
Warner Bros.
LILO & STITCH 2                 11
Disney
BEAUTY SHOP                     10
MGM
WEDDING DATE                    10
Universal
THE RING TWO                     9
Universal
DAVE CHAPPELLE:                  8
FOR WHAT IT'S WORTH
Columbia TriStar
KUNG FU HUSTLE                   7
Columbia TriStar
THE SIMPSONS-SEASON 6            7
Fox

* based on weekly circular advertising

([dagger]) includes Best Buy, Circuit City, Coconuts, CVS, Eckerd,
Family Dollar, Kmart, Longs, Meijer, Osco, Rite Aid, Sav-on, ShopKo,
Target, Tower Records, Toys "R" Us, Wal-Mart and Walgreens

Source: MarketADvantage Inc. (www.market-advantage.com)