Home Video

Babar Breaks Directly To Video. As of December 21, 1999, both young and old fans of the lovable elephant Babar can take home his new direct-to-video feature Babar: King Of The Elephants. The new film follows the adventures of Babar's life from birth to his kingship. The video was co-produced by Nelvana Limited and HBO Home Video and features computer replications of original Babar illustrations. Babar: King Of The Elephants bounced into stores at a suggested retail price of US$19.96.

Batman Beyond: Disappearing Inque. © Warner Bros. Home Video.

Batman Descends On DVD & Video. The Dark Knight descended into video stores December 21, 1999 with three new Batman Beyond videos and two new DVDs -- Batman Beyond: The Movie and Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm. Each of the three Batman Beyond VHS tapes (Disappearing Inque, School Dayz, Tech Wars) all feature three episodes of the Warner Bros. cartoon series. The Batman Beyond DVD features the movie and four bonus episodes of the series. Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm is the first feature animated movie and has sold millions of copies on VHS already. Packages of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese will offer $3.00 off coupons for any of the five new releases.

Phantom Menace's Worldwide Release. Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and Lucasfilm Ltd. announced the simultaneous worldwide VHS release of George Lucas' Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Young Jedi wanna-bes around the globe will snag their copy the week of April 3 - 8, 2000. The biggest box office hit of 1999 and second highest-grossing motion picture of all time worldwide, will official go on sale in North America on Tuesday, April 4, 2000. The US$922 million worldwide grossing flick will be digitally mastered by THX for superior sound and picture quality. The film is being released on VHS videocassette only and is not being released on the DVD format in 2000 or for the foreseeable future. The feature will be priced for sale direct to consumers worldwide. Episode 1's home video debut will be the largest scale release in history. However, fans of the Star Wars saga in France and Korea will have to wait until later in 2000 for they are the only two countries not included in this initial release.