Chapter 322: Home Media III

In any case, after Creed's enviable step into Hollywood, their push into home media was pretty apparent to many.

The "home media" technicalities of comic books and toys aside, Creed Games really went all in with their home video game console.

After the Los Angeles testing in February, the Creed Chaos System was slowly but surely making its way to comic book stores across the nation.

Mass production of these Chaos units was handsy and complex in many ways and Alexander didn't really have many options as of yet.

Unfortunately or rather fortunately, the rest of the North American market is still on the fence while Nintendo and the rest were still discombobulated with things, so the pressure on supply and nationwide availability were still not that big.

For now, slow and steady with the comic book store strategy was the way to go.

Creed Games was still learning the ropes and the pace that they were going about it was already good.

Also, the headstart and advantage they had over competitors were already the greatest that it could be.

On the other hand, Creed Home Video had its own nuances when it came to Creed Entertainment being able to encroach on home entertainment.

It totally diverged from the usual comic book store landscape, after all.

Starting in March and onward, Back to the Future was released on home video thru VHS and a couple of other formats that the previously shady Creed Home Video was quite adapted with.

Having dabbled with Betamax, CED, and LaserDisc clearly speaks of their experience.

In these pre-Blockbuster-dominated times, Creed Home Video was able to encroach and approach every video store and have its owners display Back to the Future on shelves.

It sure must be gratifyingly disconcerting for these former adult film distributors.

They usually handled the backend stuff that only a pervy few would bat an eye on. Now, they were actually supplying the hottest and premier choice that buyers go for in video stores.

Being a box office champion surely beats starring the hottest and premier porn stars.

What's even more disconcerting was how it's blatantly high price point and people are still eating it up.

Unit sales are racking up and if one considers rental practices, Back to the Future cassettes and its other formats were shaping up to probably become the most-rented in many video store's fiscal year.

From what Alexander knows, the original BttF VHS was priced at $79.95 and blew through 450,000 unit sales at such a price point.

His Creed Home Video may not have been bold enough to go with such a high ask... but it was only a matter of time before they match and even surpass those profits.

That was roughly 36 million dollars. When one factor in accrued sales over the passage of time, new home video formats, and rental dividends... it was no wonder Hollywood and film production became the ludicrous industry that it is.

It was also no wonder that Old Sullivan of old didn't move on too far to other ventures when his mainstream film production projects hadn't been something to write home about.

Direct-to-video and straight-to-video profitability of B-movies is nothing to brag about but it must be nothing to kid about as well.

If the home video business of Back to the Future was already as ridiculous as this, then it was probably going to be even more ridiculous from there.

This was still the first outing among many other films that Alexander had plundered, after all.

There are still sequels and much more to come.

It had to be noted that a sequel was not planned until after Back to the Future's theatrical release, so the "To Be Continued..." graphic was appended to the end of the home release to promote awareness of future films.

Now, "To Be Continued..." was already shown during the theatrical release and one can already expect the future profits in the home video that could accrue.

Without a doubt, sequels and the packaged bundlings of an entire trilogy are a home video moneymaking tradition that Alexander wouldn't want to miss out on.

Of course, sequels and bundlings are matters for later.

As of March, the push of Creed into home media had yet to end.

Game consoles and VCRs weren't the only entertainment medium at home. The television sets wherein they are mostly connected to... was not going to be spared as well.

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Television stations and broadcast networks are other off-theater ways that a film could extend its moneymaking endeavors.

Licensing, "re-run", and TV movie-esque broadcast. Creed Pictures had offers for these.

The offers were more than good but they had to be strategic about it.

Of course, given the track record of the Creed men in charge, they really went strategic about it.

Two certain made-for-TV projects of theirs had long been waiting for this opportunity, after all.

Granted, they long had the opportunity. It's just that Back to the Future's TV broadcast appeal opened better options for them.

Alexander had to admit that these projects had been brewing for a long time and had been stalled for many reasons.

Aside from the production length, producing two entire shows without sounding out the opinion of tv programming decision-makers was a shaky move.

TV syndication is a back-and-forth process with pilots and feedback loops before approval into coveted airing slots.

What's even shakier is the fact that the entire content of these Creed shows seems to just be an animated retelling of a comic book publication that had long been spoiled. Would there even be people watching that?

There are adaptation types before but what Creed has done seems a bit much.

Some parties were interested but the prospects of cooperating with such bold showmakers were really not great.

Hence, for these and other factors, Creed Animations were put in quite a limbo.

Alexander, who was quite confident with the 2010s manga-to-anime process, forgot that he was going with 1980s American broadcasting.

A rare blunder on his part but what can he do about it?

Well... he just bundled two complete shows to those that wanted Back to the Future and problem solved.

At the very least, things weren't in limbo anymore, as the Creed Animations' publicity spree finally started.

Mr. Advertiser had his work cut out for this one. Working with marketing companies and the sort... and going beyond the usual simplistic and laidback publicity stuff that Creed Entertainment goes with.

After all, they weren't depending on the comic book industry, partnering with Columbia, or piggybacking a certain Ruxpin with these.

This was their notable major push into their own major campaign and the effect was quite alright.

A monkey-tailed boy and the Rennaiscance-named teenage turtles were gaining momentum... and to top it off, a certain jet-piloting movie was tagging along with the publicity plan too.

Suffice to say, the established fandom had long been hyped of these happenings. With true almost-nationwide publicity plans, it even got unaware people's attention!

TMNT's Turtles in a Half-shell line was being hummed!

Dragonball's Mystical Adventure was already enticing people into the would-be adventure as well!

Even I'll Give You Romance became an earworm for some people!

Alexander didn't really think that it was possible but it seems that with MTV still being a music-focused channel... his animated theme songs actually got a spot.

Marshmello and Milla debuted internationally in a way and their voices played on radios

For a publicity plan, the sparing teaser trailer and use of theme songs were quite effective.

If things weren't clear to people yet, then they'd better get it straight that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Dragonball were coming their way!

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Of course, as a clincher, the go-to Calvin and Hobbes' strip became handy as well.

March 23, 1986. Sunday. Calvin and Hobbes' Day Nth.

"Hobbes, have you heard?!" Calvin talked as he locked his sight on the newspaper in his hand. He was really invested in the development. "My favorite comic books just got into the big leagues!"

"What?!" Hobbes absentmindedly answered while locked on a floating text. 'Calvin and Hobbes title. Has this always been there?'

"Yeah! TMNT and Dragonball are finally going to be popping up on the TV as an animation show!" Calvin was excited. "This Alexander Creed is really going places."

"Yeah-Yep! He really must be!" Hobbes "sweatingly" said whilst looking at the title again and the line of '...by Alexander Creed' right by it.

This man was already in the things that Calvin reads but he was also in their inexplicable title as well.

Hobbes was supposed to be having an existential crisis but this Alexander Creed fellow just scared him even more.

Of course, this was an obvious advertisement again but the 4th wall break and the meta-ness was refreshing fun.

As humorous as it was for Hobbes to sweat about his reality, it was also quite sweat-inducing for people to realize that Alexander Creed was really popping up everywhere!

Can't this creative god just take a break? Before they knew it, most of home media and the entertainment landscape has been taken over already!