Disney Pushing ‘Toy Story 3’ Discs

24 Aug, 2010 By: Erik Gruenwedel

---

The Walt Disney Co. is pulling out the stops early to create consumer buzz for the Nov. 2 DVD/Blu-ray Disc releases of theatrical champ Toy Story 3, which is still generating millions at the box office since its June 18 release.

With the addition of previous No. 1 box office hit Alice in Wonderland, Disney has the top two theatrical releases of the year, with the popular Pixar Animation sequel Toy Story 3 approaching $1 billion in global revenue and the only title to date to top $400 million at the domestic box office.

Disney will make available a four-disc DVD/Blu-ray Toy Story 3 combo pack for $45.99, which includes a Digital Copy, as well as release a standalone Blu-ray edition for $39.99 and standard DVD edition for $29.99. Walmart is selling an exclusive two-disc Toy Story 3 edition ($39.99) that includes the standard DVD, a Digital Copy and a separate DVD with seven Pixar short films.

Toy Story 3 currently is the top pre-ordered DVD, according to Walmart.com and Amazon.com — the latter also devoting an entire to the title.

“The most interesting data point from the early promotion so far is that the most expensive combo pack is the best seller on Amazon,” wrote Richard Greenfield, analyst with BTIG Research in New York, in a . “Bodes well for Disney’s fiscal [first quarter].”

The studio released Alice in Wonderland to kiosks on street date earlier this year while other studios, such as Warner, Fox and Universal, have given new releases a window before they can be rented at kiosks. Disney titles have historically performed better at sellthrough than rental, according to a distributor familiar with the studio. Indeed, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise and previous Disney/Pixar releases all proved sellthrough gems.

“Disney knows that most of its releases are family or kid titles that tend to be purchased rather than rented, so they don’t view a threat from Redbox or Netflix,” said Edward Woo, analyst with Wedbush Morgan Securities in Los Angeles. “People are going to buy the movie as a collectable, even if they rent.”

Greenfield said Disney appears to applying first-mover marketing on recession-conscious consumers in advance of the traditionally heavy fourth-quarter release slate.

“Disney is clearly looking to take advantage of how fresh the film is in consumers’ minds and the great word of mouth the film has had in the past couple of months,” Greenfield wrote. “While we believe DVD sales would be helped by delaying [release to] Redbox, Disney’s early marketing campaign should mitigate some of the pressure they experience from making their content available day-and-date at Redbox kiosks.”

Bookmark it: