Merchants wishing on video stars - video sell-through products in 1996

Discount Store News, Feb 5, 1996 by Dawn Wilensky

An Indian girl, a pig, an animal sleuth and a pair of hitmen are promising to make 1996 another banner year for video sell-through.

Word from the trade indicates that the first half of the year will be one of the most competitive, and the releases of "Pocahontas" (Feb. 28), "Pulp Fiction" (March 6), "Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" (March 12) and "Babe" (March 19) are likely to provide retailers with plenty of additional traffic.

The news isn't as clear-cut for the second half, however, and more importantly, many studios are keeping their release plans for the pivotal fourth quarter under wraps until at least mid-year.

Regardless, the fourth quarter is sure to include many blockbusters. The buzz around the industry remains mixed with regard to whether the wildly successful "Toy Story" movie will come through the chute as a pre-recorded video in time for Holiday '96 - or make another splash in theatrical distribution. One buyer at Blockbuster Video said that he wouldn't be surprised if Disney re-released the movie theatrically in the fourth quarter, as it did with "The Lion King".

Disney would neither deny nor confirm its plans. Either way, the megastudio will not leave retailers high and dry: an animated Toy Story CD-ROM storybook will be on shelves by April 24.

The company will also debut "The Aristocats" the same day, "to take advantage of the synergies that exist between our strong franchises in not only videos but video games and PC software," said Kelley Avery, senior vice president of retail marketing and merchandising at Disney.

Capitalizing on proven franchises is the impetus behind one of the most important new trends in the sell-through arena - direct-to-video releases. MCA/Universal tried its hand at it last year with great result when it released "The Land Before Time: III: The Time of Great Giving." This year the company an will build this part of the business with the "The Land Before IV: Journey Through The Mists."

"There is definitely a need for good family entertainment, and the direct-to-video sequels fill that need and have an established recognizability built-in," said Maria LaMagra, vp of publicity.

Disney has also made the direct-to-video business an integral part of its strategy going forward. In the third and fourth quarters it will release "Aladdin and the King of Thieves," the final chapter in the Aladdin trilogy, and "Honey We Shrunk Ourselves," the first live-action direct-to video-title. It wouldn't be surprising if Pocahontas' next appearance ends up on a direct-to-video release.

"Direct-to-video releases give retailers an opportunity to premiere first-run entertainment featuring very popular characters," said Avery. "Another benefit is that we will support the titles with the same marketing magnitude as a theatrical release."

Disney will also pour an ocean of support into the March 28 release of "The Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh," its 22nd full-length animated classic, which will be available for a limited time with a massive marketing effort.

While details aren't known about all of the releases set to ship to retailers this year, here is a sampling of what will be available for '96: * "The Babysitter," "Betty Boop: The Definitive Collection." and "Bulletproof Heart," from Republic Pictures Home Video: * "Clint Directs Clint" from Warner Home Video in the first quarter; * "Balto" (Apr. 5), "Earthworm Jim" (Apr. 9) and a special Rock Hudson/Doris Day collector's edition including "Pillow Talk," "Send Me No Flowers" and the never-before-on-video "Lover Come Back," from MCA/Universal; * "Peter and the Wolf," BMG Distribution's first clamshell introduction (Mar. 19), which includes 10 minutes of extra footage, and "Wind in the Willows" (June); * "Mask," released for $14.98 in March; plus:, "Mask Animated Series," "Dumb & Dumber Animated," "Mortal Kombat" and the animated "Mortal Kombat" in the second quarter from New Line Home Video; * "Goosebumps" (Mar. 12), "X-files" (Mar. 26), "Sound of Music" (Apr. 23), "Die Hard Trilogy" (tentative for May 14) and "Dunston Checks In" (tentative for June 18) from Twentieth Century Fox.