DISNEY'S PIGGYBACK RIDE ON 'BABE'.Byline: Hollywood Reporter After garnering a Best Picture nomination, it seemed only natural that anyone and everyone would try to cash in on the success of "Babe," the sweet story of a pig who dreams of being a champion sheepdog sheepdog: see working dog. sheepdog In general, any dog breed developed to herd sheep; specifically, the border collie. Most sheepdog breeds stand about 2 ft (60 cm) and weigh over 50 lbs (23 kg). . But Disney? Believe it. The entertainment giant wasn't about to let "Babe," released on video by MCA/Universal last week, hog the sales shelves and has launched a new promotion of its own talking-pig video movie, "Gordy," in order to siphon off some of the attention. But one can't blame Disney's reasoning. Industry sources expect "Babe" to sell at least 10 million units and as many as 13 million, which would move it ahead of MCA's second-best-selling video of all time, "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," and into the top 10 list. "Gordy" sold 1 million units in the first couple of weeks after its video release in November and has sold another 1 million units since. "Gordy," in case you missed it, was released theatrically by Miramax (a Disney company) three months before "Babe" last year, and bombed, grossing less than $4 million at the box office. Meanwhile, "Babe" has checked in with $62 million so far. The piggyback piggyback 1. A broker trading in his or her personal account after trading in the same security for a customer. The broker may believe the customer has access to privileged information that will cause the transaction to be profitable. 2. ride actually began a few month back when Disney capitalized on the popularity of the initial release of "Babe" by redesigning the artwork for the video to resemble the prized porker porker the class of pig judged to be most suitable for conversion to pork. The target age and weight vary too much between localities to make a general statement worthwhile. and adding "Disney Presents" to the videocassette A removable magnetic tape module for storing video data. The cassette contains supply and takeup reel (hubs) in the same housing. See VCR. cover of the movie. While some industry observers call Disney's coattails coat·tail n. 1. The loose back part of a coat that hangs below the waist. 2. coattails The skirts of a formal or dress coat. Idiom: on the coattails of 1. marketing clever and opportunistic, Disney has taken umbrage in the past with independent video distributors that have packaged old or original programs to look like Disney titles, going to the point of suing Goodtimes Home Video in 1992 for the supplier's misleading marketing of Goodtimes' "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 " title. That title not only used the same name but also used artwork that more closely resembled Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" than the actual content of the Goodtimes video. Although Disney spokeswoman Tania
CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo (1) Kristy Young and James Cromwell talked to the animals this year in "Gordy" and "Babe," respectively. |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion