Countywide : Kids Roar Approval of ‘Lion King’ Video

As Disney’s “The Lion King” video roared in this week, the most common sounds in county stores were cash registers ringing up sales.

The Target outlet in Huntington Beach sold about 500 copies of the video to eager children and their parents Tuesday, and while sales tapered off Wednesday, the movie was still blowing everything else off the shelves, the store manager said.

“It’s Disney,” said the manager, who asked that his name not be used. “They go out of their way to satisfy the kids.”

Disney videos always outsell other movies, the manager said, and “even the re-release of ‘Snow White’ was big.”

“Snow White,” which debuted in theaters in 1937, was released on video last fall and has taken in about $25 million, said Steve Feldstein, a spokesman for Disney.

The manager of a Blockbuster Video store in Tustin, who also asked that his name not be used, said the store had sold about 70 copies of the video, and rentals were very brisk.

“One comes in and it’s gone instantly,” he said. “Most movies don’t do this big.”

He added that the movie’s popularity with children gave it a decided advantage over other movies.

“Every little kid that walks in here: ‘Lion King. Lion King,’ ” he said. “Their parents give in and buy it for them.”