In the Holiday Hopper

The home video industry is not one to put all its eggs in one holiday basket. Trying to duplicate the success of Christmas-themed videos, Easter has emerged as a prime selling time featuring children’s programs, family films and religious-themed titles.

From re-marketing biblical epics to a Rugrats Passover special, the video industry hopes to flower in the spring with seasonal offerings.

“Families spend a lot of time together during Easter and Passover,” said Jeff Fink, LIVE’s president of sales and marketing. “Besides the gift aspect, videos also provide a sense of orienting the family to the season and what the holiday represents.”

Here are some highlights from the video basket stuffer list:

* Several suppliers are hopping along with Easter collections of animated children’s fare. LIVE Entertainment’s “Easter Classics” collection includes “Show Me a Story,” two volumes of Beatrix Potter stories; “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” narrated and sung by Carol Burnett; “The Velveteen Rabbit” narrated by Christopher Plummer; and “Stanley the Ugly Duckling,” featuring the voices of Rick Dees and Wolfman Jack. Each retails for $12.98.

LIVE is also re-promoting three live-action epics. “The Scarlet and the Black” starring Gregory Peck and “Moses” starring Burt Lancaster retail for $12.98. The Franco Zeffirelli production of “Jesus of Nazareth,” starring Robert Powell, is a three-tape set that retails for $49.98.

* Golden Books Home Video greets the season with its Easter series, which includes the new-to-video “Happy Birthday Bunnykins,” which originally appeared on the Disney Channel. Golden Books also boasts the holiday perennial “Here Comes Peter Cottontail,” featuring the voices of Danny Kaye and Vincent Price, as well as “Madeline and the Easter Bonnet” and “Simon the Lamb: A Precious Moments Story” narrated by Pat Boone.

* Fox Home Entertainment just released “The Easter Storykeepers,” an animated adaptation of the best-selling Christian book series, with Robert Guillaume, Debby Boone and Tim Curry heading the voice cast.

* Paramount Home Video has two Easter evergreens in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments,” which retails for $29.95, and “It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown” for $12.95. “A Rugrats Passover” finds the toddlin’ toddlers Tommy, Chuckie and Angela locked in an attic on Seder night imagining themselves in the story of Passover as related by Grandpa Boris. It retails for $9.95.

* Walt Disney Home Video is also throwing a bone to parents of preschoolers with the video debut of “Spot and His Grandparents Go to the Carnival.” Disney is also re-promoting five titles in its best-selling “Winnie the Pooh” franchise: “Imagine That, Christopher Robin!,” “Three Cheers for Eeyore and Rabbit,” “Clever Little Piglet,” “Pooh Wishes” and “Tigger-ific Tales.” Each retails for $12.99.

* Another children’s franchise getting a lift this Easter is “Hello Kitty.” MGM/UA Home Video is launching this collection with “Kitty and the Beast” and “The Wizard of Paws.” Each 105-minute video contains four animated episodes and retails for $9.95.

MGM/UA is also re-promoting titles in its “Screen Epics” and “Family Treasures” collections. “We get a big lift in sales this time of year for ‘The Greatest Story Ever Told,’ ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Exodus,’ ” noted Alison Biggers, marketing manager for MGM/UA Home Video.

* Columbia TriStar Home Video is marking the holiday by re-pricing at $14.98 each the live-action family films “Fly Away Home” and “Matilda” and the animated futuristic adventure “Dragon Flyz.”

* Other Easter goodies include “The First Easter Egg Ever,” an episode from “The Busy World of Richard Scarry,” a Polygram Video release that retails for $9.95, and Universal Studio Home Video’s 25th anniversary edition of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” available in a full-frame version for $14.98 or in the wide-screen format for $19.98.

* From Republic Pictures Home Video comes “Greatest Heroes of the Bible,” an eight-volume collection available for $14.98 each. Titles include “The Ten Commandments,” “Abraham’s Sacrifice,” “The Story of Noah,” “David and Goliath” and “Joseph in Egypt.”

* Jewish traditions have not been passed over. Less animated than the Rugrats program is the stirring “A Passover Seder: A Video for the Family,” in which Elie Wiesel guides viewers through the highlights of the festive meal. This KidVision release retails for $14.95.