Word: aladdin
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...surprisingly, as the floats rolled by, complete with Aladdin, the Little Mermaid and many waving, lip synching comrades, the Big Man himself went unmentioned. There were no carols with the word "Jesus" or "Christ," no talk of the "Lord" the "Almighty" or "G--d." And aside from the parade's title, Christmas itself went largely undiscussed during the procession. Making a rare reference to the holiday, Roger Rabbit confided in the crowd, "Let's face it, Christmas is about one thing: Toys!" So it is, Roger...
...what about musicals? That word is obsolete. And movie musicals? As if! A Chorus Line, the last film based on a Broadway tune show, came out (and flopped) more than a decade ago. As for original movie musicals, they exist almost exclusively in the cartoon form perfected by Disney. Aladdin and The Lion King did blockbuster biz and sold quillions of CDS. Still, Hollywood refused to sing along...
Last year some 300 of these low-rent films were released direct-to-video--more than the number made by the Hollywood majors--and they returned about $200 million to the producers. Those numbers wouldn't make a mogul drool; a single studio smash like Aladdin made more in video than all DTVs put together...
...franchise spin-offs, avoid $50 million marketing costs, make a bundle. Sequels to such mainstream fare as Land Before Time, Darkman, Children of the Corn and the Jim Varney Ernest series have been big DTV hits. In 1994, when Disney released The Return of Jafar, a DTV sequel to Aladdin, it expected to move about 2 million copies. Jafar sold close to 11 million, earning Disney around $100 million...
...last week's DTV release of Aladdin and the King of Thieves, in which Robin Williams reprises his role as the thousand-voiced Genie, was the event of a lackluster movie month. This time Aladdin searches for his missing father and discovers that Dad is a sort of Darth Vader, but nicer. The songs are wan, and the animation (done in Australia and Japan) isn't as spiffy as the studio's theatrical style. But Williams works harder than ever to create a bazaar of bizarre impressions: Woody and Sly, Hope and Crosby, Groucho and Chico and Brando, instantly repackaged...