'Aladdin' keys fall video market - Aladdin motion picture video tape

Discount Store News, May 3, 1993

BURBANK, Calif. -- The video sell-through category, a real powerhouse for discount stores, has been on a rapid growth track with sales topping the $4 billion mark.

Picking up on this lucrative market, Walt Disney Pictures is readying the release of Aladdin," in late September or early October with a suggested list price of $24.99. The movie, the company's biggest hit to date with box office sales of over $200 billion, surpasses its former No. 1 hit, "Beauty and the Beast," which garnered box office sales of $145 million. Disney sold 18 billion units of the "Beauty" home video from its release date on Nov. 1 through Christmas. It sold over a million units a day at an average retail price of $16, according to Disney executives.

Total home video volume, both rental and sell-through, topped $12 billion in 1992, and will grow to about $21.5 billion by the year 2000, according to industry researchers Kagan & Associates. Sell-through currently represents one-third of the total video market, and is growing.

At a special press conference here at Walt Disney Studios, Ann Daly, president of Buena Vista home Video N.A., described 1992 as a "banner year" for the video entertainment company. "The home video business was nearly three times bigger than the theatrical business last year, and has become one of the top consumer sales categories, on par with toys," said Daly.

And, the business is still expanding, she said. Over one million purchasers of "Beauty and the Beast" were first-time Disney video purchasers, she noted. "Once they're in the category, our customers buy more," said Daly.

Daly said the company is very pleased with results of the Disney video walls that have been installed in over 5,000 retail locations. In 1993, the company will improve its seasonal promotions and increase the number of joint promotions it does with other major consumer goods companies.

As part of a number of Back-to-school releases, one of Disney's biggest theatrical releases in 1993, "Homeward Bound," will come to home video in August with a suggested list price of $22.99.

The release, which will be promoted with a rebate tie-in with a major pet food maker, will be part of a Studio Film Collection series, which will include some Disney favorites such as "Love Bug" and "The Parent Trap."

The Back-to-school promotion will also include a new video featuring Jim Henson's Fraggle characters from Fraggle Rock, which is due for release in August. Then in early September, Spot, a popular children's book character but a new one for the sell-through market, will hit the shelves for the toddler market, ages 3 and under.

Rounding out the year will be a Halloween promotion, in which Disney will support its new releases, $12.99 for cartoons and $14.99 for Family movies, with in-store displays at selected retailers. In addition, a big push for Christmas will be highlighted by the release of "The Muppet Christmas Carol," coming to shelves in November, with a suggested list price of $22.99. Other new titles for Christmas will carry the same cost structure as those for the Halloween releases.