CASPER, RICHIE RICH AIM FOR VIDEO HITS.Byline: Dave McNary Daily News Staff Writer Harvey Harvey, city (1990 pop. 29,771), Cook co., NE Ill., a suburb S of Chicago; inc. 1895. Its manufactures include steel castings, metal products, chemicals, machinery, and electronic equipment. Harvey has an oil research center. The city was founded by Turlington W. Entertainment Co., best known as home to Casper the Friendly Ghost Casper the Friendly Ghost is the protagonist of the Famous Studios theatrical animated cartoon series of the same name. As his name indicates, he is a ghost, but is quite personable. , announced Friday aggressive expansion plans into the direct-to-video market. Harvey unveiled plans to release a dozen live-action titles starting next year through 2001 based on its characters such as Casper, Richie Rich, Baby Huey
Baby Huey, a gigantic and naïve infant duckling cartoon character. He was created by Martin Taras for Paramount Pictures' Famous Studios, and became a Paramount cartoon star during the 1950s. , Wendy, Little Audrey and Hot Stuff. It also plans to develop one new television show per year. To finance the projects, it plans to seek funds through distribution deals, banks and other sources. The announcement underscores the growing appeal of producing direct-to-video versions of easy-to-recognize properties for families, a trend spurred by Burbank-based Walt Disney Noun 1. Walt Disney - United States film maker who pioneered animated cartoons and created such characters as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck; founded Disneyland (1901-1966) Disney, Walter Elias Disney Co.'s successful sequels to ``Aladdin'' and ``Beauty and the Beast Beauty and the Beast is a traditional fairy tale (type 425C -- search for a lost husband -- in the Aarne-Thompson classification). The first published version of the fairy tale was a meandering rendition by Madame Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, published in .'' Direct-to-video production and promotion costs usually don't top $15 million, while the average movie's tab went past $75 million last year. Harvey's first direct-to-video title, ``Casper, A Spirited Beginning,'' sold more than 5 million copies through 20th Century Fox. Two more Harvey titles will hit shelves this fall with Warner handling ``Richie Rich's Christmas Wish'' and Fox distributing ``Casper Meets Wendy.'' |
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