‘Aladdin’ Won’t Conjure Up Instant Rental Profits
Retailers in the rental market aren’t too crazy about “Aladdin.”
Sure, the Disney animated feature (which carries a suggested retail price of $25) came out this week, and traffic may be up at some video stores. But retailers are quick to say that traffic is all that’s up--profits certainly won’t be.
Video retailers do most of their business in renting movies, and, Tower Video executive John Thrasher points out, Disney animated features are minor-league rentals in their first six months or so on the market.
Had it been a regular feature that grossed more than $200 million coming to video, Thrasher said the chain would have stocked 30 or 40 rental copies per store. But for “Aladdin”?
“Maybe eight-10 units per store,” he said.
Most of the business for “Aladdin”--just as for “Beauty and the Beast” and “Fantasia” and all the other Disney animated features--is in the sales market. Disney is expected to ship more than 20 million copies of “Aladdin,” topping the industry record set last year by “Beauty and the Beast.” But most consumers go to discount and other kinds of stores looking for the cheapest price--which for “Aladdin” is around $10 after rebate.
These assorted discount outlets are a boon to companies that have a hot video in the sales market. These days you can buy videos at places such as drug stores and newsstands. So, with a title like “Aladdin,” Disney can ship millions more copies than it could have had the movie come out in the late ‘80s.
In this scenario, though, the video retailers are left out in the cold. They lose out when forced to compete with stores that sell tapes the way they do shoes or breakfast cereal. Applying a little arithmetic, Thrasher explained why Tower will make little money selling “Aladdin”:
“We’re going to be selling it at $15.99,” he said. “The cost to us is $15.24, so profit starts out at about 70 cents per copy. But you add shipping and handling, and we make less than that. We’d like to sell it for $18 or $19, but how can we when some discount store is selling it for $14.88? We have to stay competitive.”
So why bother carrying it at all?
“Because we’d look silly if we didn’t,” Thrasher said. “How can you deal in videos and not carry the biggest video ever? It’s mainly a service to customers. Some people don’t mind paying an extra dollar or so in our stores instead of going out of their way to go to a discount store. Also, maybe the person who comes in to buy ‘Aladdin’ might rent some other movie.”
One reason people will buy rather than rent Disney animated features is that they’re fall releases geared to the holiday gift market. “People rent movies to watch them right away,” Thrasher said. “Many of these Disney features won’t be seen until Christmas Day.”
The other reason Disney titles make poor rentals is that children like to watch these movies over and over. “If you’re going to have to rent ‘Aladdin’ six or eight times to please the kids, it makes more sense to spend the extra money and buy it,” Thrasher said. “You save both time and money.”
Video retailers, though, will make money off “Aladdin” rentals--but not until some time next year. That prediction is based on Disney’s release pattern for its animated features: put it out in the fall, then withdraw it from the market the following winter. For the next few years after the discount outlets are sold out, then, the only place you can find one of these features is at your local rental store.
“People will go to video stores to rent these titles when it’s the only way they can get their hands on one,” Thrasher explained. “For instance, retailers would die to get their hands on a copy of ‘Little Mermaid.’ So in 1995, ‘Aladdin’ will be hot rental.”
Videobits
The latest celebrity to board the exercise-tape bandwagon is Mary Tyler Moore, who just signed a deal with GoodTimes Entertainment for a series of titles, the first of which will hit the market next year.
If any “Twin Peaks” fans are still out there, they might find this interesting: Worldvision just put out all 29 hours of the TV series in a six-tape set selling for $90, or $15 for an individual tape. The reason you can get so much for so little is that the cassettes are duplicated in the EP (slow speed) mode.
A new Cindy Crawford exercise video is due out in two weeks--”Cindy Crawford--The Next Challenge”--for $20 on GoodTimes Entertainment. It’s the follow-up to her “Shape Your Body Workout,” which was a huge seller even though exercise experts trashed it as potentially hazardous to your body. For the new one, though, Crawford has worked out the routines with doctors.
Upcoming on Video
Just announced: “Dave,” the comedy starring Kevin Kline, comes out Dec. 22; “Lost in Yonkers,” with Richard Dreyfuss, is due Nov. 17; in the classic department, “The Snake Pit,” a 1948 drama starring Olivia de Havilland, is scheduled for Dec. 1 release.
Also: “Jack the Bear” and “The Night We Never Met” (Wednesday); “Indecent Proposal” (Oct. 13); “Happily Ever After” (Oct. 19); “Three of Hearts,” “The Sandlot” and “Cop and a Half” (Oct. 20); “Dennis the Menace” and “Tom and Jerry: The Movie” (Oct. 26); “Posse,” “The Dark Half” and “Born Yesterday” (Oct. 27); “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (Nov. 5); “Sliver” (Nov. 10); “Free Willy” (Nov. 16); “American Heart” (Nov. 17); “Made in America” and “Cliffhanger” (Nov. 24).
