Good news for Disney, and Bambi II! From Video Business Online:
http://www1.videobusiness.com/article/CA6305881.html
Bambi II makes large leap
Heavy Buena Vista marketing pays off for DVD premiere
By Jennifer Netherby and Susanne Ault 2/8/2006
FEB. 8 | Buena Vista Home Entertainment’s Bambi II sold an estimated 800,000 units its first day in stores Tuesday, according to industry sources, making an impressive leap for the DVD premiere sequel to the six-decades-old cartoon classic.
Retail sources said that based on preliminary sales data, the DVD premiere looked on pace to sell 2 million units in its first week in stores, outpacing DreamWorks Home Entertainment’s Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, the only other major family feature released this week.
Based on its first-day sales, Wallace and Gromit, which raked in $56 million in theaters, is on pace to sell about 1 million units in its first week, retail sources estimated.
Neither DreamWorks nor Buena Vista executives were available for comment.
Although Disney DVD premiere releases tend to sell well among animated children’s releases, it’s unusual that they surpass sales on theatrical releases. Buena Vista has promoted the release heavily with billboards and TV commercials. The studio is only giving the film a short 70-day release window before it goes back into the Disney vault.
At Hastings Entertainment, Bambi II was doubling the sales of Wallace in its first two days out, said director of marketing Mason Goodfellow.