Pinocchio comes to home video
"When you wish upon a star..."
(Voiceover; spoken over footage of the film)
"Whoever dreamed when you were a child, that this enchanting fantasy about a puppet who wants to be a real boy, could be your very own?"
(Voiceover)
"Walt Disney's Pinocchio, now on home video!"
(Jiminy)
"Whew! What they can't do these days!"
(Voiceover)
"To keep, to share with your family, home at last!"
A star shines and an aura of white light fills the screen. We then zoom out to the big star in what is revealed to be the cover art, with the box on a workshop table with a hammer, wood blocks and shavings.
Next to the video box, in white text reads, "A Classic from Walt Disney Home Video."
(Voiceover)
Pinocchio, from Walt Disney Home Video.
"It took a lot of poking and prodding to convince my father to let Pinocchio be released on video. To him, it was one of his babies, but we knew fully well that the world was slowly changing. Home video was becoming more and more popular, and sooner or later, there was going to be a point where theatrical reissues were already becoming a thing of the past."(Voiceover; spoken over footage of the film)
"Whoever dreamed when you were a child, that this enchanting fantasy about a puppet who wants to be a real boy, could be your very own?"
(Voiceover)
"Walt Disney's Pinocchio, now on home video!"
(Jiminy)
"Whew! What they can't do these days!"
(Voiceover)
"To keep, to share with your family, home at last!"
A star shines and an aura of white light fills the screen. We then zoom out to the big star in what is revealed to be the cover art, with the box on a workshop table with a hammer, wood blocks and shavings.
Next to the video box, in white text reads, "A Classic from Walt Disney Home Video."
(Voiceover)
Pinocchio, from Walt Disney Home Video.
- Diane Disney Miller (1990 interview)
"With the numbers of copies we were selling of the more contemporary titles, whether it was The Empire Strikes Back, or The Secret of NIMH, we knew, sooner or later, people were going to clamor for the older titles to be made available. Snow White was one we talked about when we first launched the Classics line two years earlier, but Walt wasn't ready to bring that one out yet, else we would've spoiled the golden anniversary that was coming up in '87, which he proved to be right. It was Frank Wells who finally stood up and called Walt out on his reluctance to bring out the titles he claimed were 'untouchable.' Frank basically said to Walt that a lot of the classics, Pinocchio included, were not really making any money sitting idly in the vaults. While Frank acknowledged the theatrical reissue of Pinocchio the previous Christmas had done pretty well, he finally sold Walt on the idea that the returns would only diminish with changes in consumer habits, and that Walt could not hold out forever."
- Peter Schneider (1994 Rolling Stone interview)
"Jim Jimirro, who was then the head of Disney's video division, wanted to charge the same amount for Pinocchio as they had done earlier with the original Star Wars, which in those days was $79.95 each for videocassettes and $34.95 for videodiscs. So on that day, Roy fired Jimirro and brought me on board to replace him. At the time Disney put out Pinocchio for the first time on video, Roy and Michael Eisner, my old boss at Paramount, sat together on the CalArts board. When Michael and I worked together for Barry Diller, we pulled off a lot of video sales bonanzas by simply marking the prices way lower than what the other studios were charging. After Mike took the ABC job, we had parents buying Hanna Barbera tapes for their kids by the bucketload. Hence, Michael's recommendation to Roy that I take over home video operations at the Mouse Factory."
- Bill Mechanic; President of Walt Disney Home Video (1987 interview)
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