‘Wolves’ Deal Has Dealers Hopping

Despite threats from outraged video dealers, Orion Video has gone ahead with its deal with the McDonald’s fast-food chain to sell Orion’s “Dances With Wolves” for $8 with the purchase of a sandwich. The promotion begins next Friday.

What’s making video dealers so angry is that they never had a chance to sell low-priced copies of the Oscar-winning drama about American Indians, starring Kevin Costner. On video for a year, new copies are still officially priced at about $100.

The McDonald’s promotion essentially kills the market for the movie at the video retail level--which happened with the three “Indiana Jones” movies when Paramount sold them through McDonald’s at similar bargain prices.

“This sets a dangerous precedent for the video business,” said Frank Lucca, president of Flagship Entertainment, a chain with nearly 1,200 stores. “It does two bad things: It totally freezes video stores out of a chance to do more business with this title and it creates a preception in the public’s mind that a new copy of a major movie is only worth $8.”

The other bad news for video dealers is that the “Dances With Wolves” tapes will be duplicated at the normal standard-play format (SP). They were hoping Orion would duplicate the McDonald’s tapes at the slow EP speed, which often causes fuzzy pictures and garbled sound. That would have made those tapes less attractive and maintained a market for the SP copies that the dealers stock.

Though video retailers are fuming they can’t do much about it, the Video Software Dealers Assn. has threatened legal action against Orion, but, according to various industry sources, the group doesn’t have a strong case. The Blockbuster chain is planning to boycott a new Orion title, “Article 99,” starring Ray Liotta, but that was a box-office flop and wouldn’t be in great demand anyway.

Two other Orion movies are part of the McDonald’s promotion: “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” the 1988 comedy starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, and “Babes in Toyland,” the 1986 TV-movie featuring Keanu Reeves and Richard Mulligan. Both will be $6 to McDonald’s customers with a purchase.

Normally Orion wouldn’t bite the hand that feeds it--angering video retailers it must work with continuously. But the company, which emerged from an 11-month Chapter 11 bankruptcy process on Nov. 5, simply needs the money to help finance its reorganization plan. According to various sources, Orion’s take could be in the $15 million-$20 million range.

Cut-Rate ‘JFK’: Oliver’s Stone’s “JFK,” in the video rental market since mid-year, is liable to generate more controversy when it’s repriced on Jan. 20, from about $100 to $25. Warner is finally putting out Stone’s eagerly awaited director’s cut, with an additional 17 minutes, swelling the movie to 206 minutes.

Among the added sequences are a long book-depository interlude, implicating other city and federal officials in the assassination cover-up. And Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) battles charges that he was involved in a gay tryst.

A documentary, “Beyond JFK: The Question on Conspiracy,” is available at $20, featuring interviews with Stone and others related to the assassination.

The director’s cut will be on laser disc, too, but it won’t be cheap, selling only as part of a gift set priced at $150.

Mini Sinatra: Warner is releasing the miniseries “Sinatra” on video Dec. 10--just one month after its successful TV run--in a four-hour, double-cassette package selling for $30.

Releasing a prominent TV show to video so quickly after its broadcast date is very rare. Usually there’s a delay of several months. Obviously the point of this speedy release is to capitalize on all the media hype.

The biography of the Jacksons, the other hot miniseries this month, is reportedly due out in February.

What’s new on video: New releases include:

“Alien 3” (FoxVideo, $95). Following up on director James Cameron’s 1986 “Aliens,” one of the best action-adventure movies ever made, was impossible for director David Fincher, schooled on music videos. The second sequel, with Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) battling monsters in a space colony, is dark and moody and somewhat scary, but suffers badly in comparison to Cameron’s film.

“Encino Man” (Hollywood, $95). Two jerky teens (Pauly Shore, Sean Astin) thaw out a frozen young caveman (Brendan Fraser), teach him their ways and enroll him at their high school. Rich comic possibilities are bypassed in favor of lowest of low-brow male-teen humor.

Upcoming on Video: Columbia TriStar has just announced that “Single White Female,” a thriller starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Bridget Fonda, is due Jan. 27.

Also: “Patriot Games” (Tuesday); “Lethal Weapon 3” (Dec. 2); “Housesitter” and “Universal Soldier” (Dec. 9); “Poison Ivy,” “Prelude to Kiss” and “Class Act” (Dec. 16); “Boomerang” (Dec. 22), “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” (Dec. 23) and “Honey, I Blew Up the Kid” (Jan. 6).