'SNOW WHITE' SHIPMENTS, AT 27 MILLION, DWARF ALL

DAN ALAIMO

BURBANK, Calif. -- "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," which has shipped a record 27 million copies, is also being carried by an unprecedented number of supermarkets, said Dennis Maguire, vice president of sales and distribution for Buena Vista Home Video. "The magnitude of a title like 'Snow White' has brought video back into some supermarket chains for the first time in over five years," he said. Maguire estimated that more than 2,000 supermarkets that had not carried previous Disney titles are stocking "Snow White." Reports of street date violations were scarce as of Oct. 25, the "will-call date" when stores could put the title out for sale. Oct. 28 was the date when retailers could advertise its availability. These dates held "remarkably well," said Bob Finlayson, director of marketing and public relations for the Video Software Dealers Association, Los Angeles. VSDA had convened a street date summit on Oct. 14, following the widespread violations of the Oct. 5 release date for "Jurassic Park." The summit resulted in a "reinvigorated" interest in maintaining street dates, said Finlayson. In the end, "Snow White" may well top the 30 million unit threshold, noted Maguire. "We have enough product out there to meet demand for the first 30 days. Depending on the velocity of movement, there's a good chance that this could go as high as 30 million," said Maguire. The previous best-selling video title was Disney's "Aladdin," which sold 24 million units in a six-month period beginning Oct. 1, 1993. "Beauty and the Beast," released about a year earlier, sold 22 million units.