Can't Wait for Disney's Version of 'Pocahontas'? : Video: Direct-to-video titles based on the same story are already out, with more on the horizon. Shadowing Disney isn't new.

Can’t Wait for Disney’s Version of ‘Pocahontas’? : Video: Direct-to-video titles based on the same story are already out, with more on the horizon. Shadowing Disney isn’t new.

By DONALD LIEBENSON

May 31, 1995 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

Whether or not Disney’s “Pocahontas” meets expectations when it opens in theaters June 23, its impact is already being felt in video stores.

Call it lucky coincidence. Call it good marketing. Call it riding on Disney’s coattails. Anticipating the excitement generated by the animated feature, video suppliers are releasing their own Pocahontas titles. There are no less than three direct-to-video animated Pocahontas productions in stores now, with several more just around the river bend.

Shadowing Disney is not new. Because these stories are in the public domain, the last few years have brought alternative versions of “Aladdin,” “Beauty and the Beast,” “Pinocchio” and others (in Sony Wonder’s “Snow White,” the dwarfs are named Joe). These tapes are most often found in non-traditional video outlets such as mass merchants, where they are aimed at family impulse buying.

What is unique is not only the number of companies releasing Pocahontas titles, but also the aggressive marketing support that includes TV advertising, toy licensing and in the case of UAV Entertainment’s “Young Pocahontas,” the development of a companion CD-ROM.

“Young Pocahontas,” co-produced with Fred Wolf Films, the producer of the animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” series, has been in stores since February. “We wanted to get our foot in the door early,” said marketing manager Riley Fields. “We knew Disney’s ‘Pocahontas’ would be hot, and we wanted to give consumers an alternative to waiting for the movie.”

Also in stores is Sony Wonder’s “Pocahontas,” an entry in its animated “Enchanted Tales” series that was launched last summer with “The Jungle King” (not to be confused with “The Lion King”). While Sony Wonder hopes that original productions of “Peter Rabbit” and “The Prince and the Pauper” will give the series its own consumer identity, Disney’s “Pocahontas” does offer an undeniable gimmick.

“If there is a hook with another title that has been released theatrically, we’ll get out there, market our product and maximize sales,” said Wendy Moss, Sony Wonder’s vice president of marketing. “There were not a lot of Pocahontas titles out there, so the Disney theatrical film presents a window of opportunity.”

GoodTimes Entertainment is also venturing through that window with two Pocahontas videos. One is animated and already in stores. The live-action “Pocahontas: The Legend” will be released for rental June 27. It stars Sandrine Holt, with Miles O’Keeffe, once Tarzan to Bo Derek’s Jane, as Capt. John Smith, and Tony Goldwyn as his nemesis Sir Edwin Wingfield.

To those intrigued by the Pocahontas story, A&E; Home Video will offer a nonfiction alternative, “Pocahontas: Her True Story.” This episode in the cable network’s award-winning “Biography” series, is being rushed to market June 27, one day after its scheduled television broadcast.

“This was not a reaction to the movie,” said Tom Heymann, vice president of new media. “We may have worked with the air date and video release date, but this project was planned some time ago. The movie tie-in can’t hurt. It will be very much to our advantage ratings-wise and video-sales wise. But ‘Pocahontas’ fits very naturally into our ‘Biography’ series.”

As for Disney’s “Pocahontas,” it is not expected to be released on videocassette in 1995. But the studio is jumping on its own bandwagon with the July release of a Pocahontas edition of “Sing-Along Songs.” Fourteenth in the series, this video collection of songs from Disney films will include “Colors of the Wind” and “Just Around the River Bend.”