Animation World Magazine, Issue 2.11, February 1998


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Home Video

Mickey Loves Minnie. © Disney.
Mickey Loves Minnie.Disney's February Flicks. Walt Disney Home Video will release several animated films on home video in February, 1998. Hercules will be available on February 3 for $26.99. On February 6, a collection of five Valentine's Day-themed titles will be released, comprised of re-packaged shorts and TV series episodes: Winnie the Pooh Un-Valentine's Day (30 minutes, $14.99), Mickey Loves Minnie (25 minutes, $9.99), Disney's Love Tales (25 minutes, $9.99), Aladdin & Jasmine's Moonlight Magic (45 minutes, $9.99) and Disney's Sweetheart Stories (23 minutes, $9.99).

 

David Hand's Animaland, a video collection of nine animated shorts produced in the 1940s, will be released in April 1998 in the U.S. by Just For Kids Home Video. The films, Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus, Ginger Nutt's Forest Dragon, Ginger Nutt's Bee Bother, It's A Lovely Day, The House Cat, The Australian Platypus, The Cuckoo and The Ostrich and the Lion were produced by David Hand, who became one of Walt Disney's first staff animators in 1930, working on films such as Snow White, Bambi and several Silly Symphonies shorts. In 1944, he left Disney and moved to England where he established GB Animation, where he produced the Animaland and Musical Paintbox series for J. Arthur Rank. The films were recently restored and released by an Italian company, Alfadedis in 1996. In 1992, Streamline Pictures released a video (now out of print) containing four of the shorts, but Just For Kids' forthcoming release will be the first complete set of Animaland titles to be released on home video in the U.S.

For more information, read Giannalberto Bendazzi's
review of the Animaland films, published in the January 1997 issue of Animation World Magazine.

David Hand's Animaland, coming to video
in 1998 from Just For Kids Home Video.
© Just For Kids Home Video.
David Hand's Animaland, coming to video in 1998 from Just For Kids Home Video.

Another Beauty From Disney. Walt Disney Home Video will release a second direct-to-video title based on the theatrical feature, Beauty and the Beast. Belle's Magical World, a 70-minute animated video comprised of three "storybook chapter" episodes, will be available for $22.99 in U.S. stores on January 13, 1998.

CPM Ships 3 Anime Titles. Central Park Media released three Japanese anime titles on home video on January 6, 1998. Legend of Lemnear (45 minutes) is an action-adventure film based on a popular manga comics series which CPM is releasing concurrently with the video. Peacock King-Spirit Warrior: Festival of the Ogres' Revival is a 55 minute title in the mystical/fantasy Peacock King series. Black Jack-Clinical Chart 5 is a 50 minute adventure title in Tezuka Productions' Black Jack series. All three titles are dubbed in English and available for $19.99 each.

Hallmark Joins The Family. Family Home Entertainment (FHE), a subsidiary of Live Entertainment, has signed a deal with Hallmark Home Entertainment to distribute Hallmark home video product in the U.S. The partnership will effectively merge part of Hallmark Home Entertainment into FHE. The animated product that this deal brings together includes HHE's new "Crayola Presents Animated Tales" line and FHE's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and other Rankin/Bass holiday specials. As part of the deal, Hallmark Home Entertainment (HHE) president Steve Beeks will become president of Live Home Entertainment and HHE senior vice president Glenn Ross will join Live as president of Family Home Entertainment and executive vice president of Home Entertainment. Hallmark Home Entertainment will remain a separate company handling its own marketing, merchandising, manufacturing, promotion and publicity.

Send your newsworthy items, press releases, and reels to:
Email:
wendyj@awn.com
Fax: (213) 464-5914
Mail: Animation World Magazine
6525 Sunset Blvd. Garden Suite 10, Hollywood, CA 90028 USA

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