Can the apocalypse be far behind? In the same week that Vin Diesel established himself as a comedy star (The Pacifier) and Dan Rather told us, once again, to have "courage," a 63-year old 2D children’s cartoon that features the death of the hero’s mother rocketed to the top of the vid charts.
In what may be the ultimate example of raiding the library, Disney’s digitally re-mastered animated classic Bambi was the nation’s top-selling DVD and VHS last week. At the same time the remake of the Jimmy Stewart actioner The Flight of the Phoenix was the top-renting home video, according to Nielsen VideoScan and Home Media Retailing magazine.
Bambi sold an estimated 1 million combined DVD and VHS units during its first day in release March 2, according to the studio’s video distribution arm, Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Industry sources, cited in the Hollywood Reporter believe Disney sold more than 3 million combined DVD and VHS units.
Meanwhile the DVD of the film version of the adventures of an asexual sponge, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie did some towel-snapping business for Paramount Home Entertainment. The second-best-selling DVD during the past week it also came in at No. 10 on HMR’s weekly rental chart, generating an estimated $2.4 million in consumer rental spending.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment’s Phoenix was the nation’s best-renting home video, generating an estimated $8.1 million in consumer rental spending, according to HMR data. Phoenix sold an estimated 1.4 million combined DVD and VHS units, according to sources, making it the third-best-selling DVD for the week ending March 6.
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