Disney Caught in Holiday Film Rush

In the mad holiday rush for prime family film release dates, Disney--the studio known for having a lock on Thanksgiving--is the one now juggling dates.

Disney’s computer-animated movie “A Bug’s Life” has been caught between a rock and a hard place, or in this case a pig and a Rugrat. The film was scheduled to open Nov. 20 against Paramount’s “Rugrats,” the film version of the hit Nickelodeon television children’s series. Late Wednesday, Disney bumped its debut to Nov. 25, opening directly against Universal’s highly anticipated “Babe: Pig in the City” (the sequel to the 1995 Australian sleeper hit “Babe.”)

Disney flipped release dates on some other films as well: It moved the Jonathan Taylor Thomas comedy “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” to Nov. 13 to compete with the highly anticipated Universal film “Meet Joe Black,” starring Brad Pitt. The Disney remake of “Mighty Joe Young” got bumped back to Dec. 25, when it will go head-on against Universal’s Robin Williams comedy “Patch Adams.”

But it’s the family movie rout that had studios buzzing over Disney’s move, in part because DreamWorks had already preempted Disney’s animated bug movie with one of its own, “Antz,” which opens Oct. 2.

Disney’s “A Bug’s Life” targets moviegoers primarily ages 3 to 7. Like the “Babe” sequel and “Rugrats,” “Bug’s Life” has a huge, multimillion-dollar merchandising campaign. Since the day after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, merchandising-wise it is a smart move for Disney, competitors say. But no one believes that is the studio’s primary reason.

“Disney has always had a lock on this season, and this year they got caught in a terrible position with no place to go,” said one rival studio’s marketing executive. “ ‘Rugrats’ appeared to be the stronger movie franchise. This is the biggest family time of the year, and it’s the most crowded ever in terms of huge properties. Somebody had to blink, and this time it was Disney.”

Disney spokeswoman Terry Curtin downplayed the holiday season changes--”The difference of five days is purely academic [Nov. 20 versus Nov. 25],” Curtin said.

“We believe that there is a potential for the marketplace to expand to accommodate all three. They are still in the same competitive arena they were in a month ago,” Curtin noted.

One Disney source conceded “Rugrats” was considered a bigger gamble than “Babe.” Yet, several Disney rivals believe the reverse to be true, saying “Bug’s Life” should have kept its Nov. 20 seat.

“Look, ‘Babe’ is a sure thing,” said one marketing source on the Warner Bros. lot. “Conversely, ‘Rugrats’ is much more of a risk, because you never know what will capture the fancy of the fickle family audience. It’s been proven again and again that there is no sure thing when translating TV properties into feature films.”