VHS Opening: My Little Pony: The Movie (1987, Vestron Video, British) · 11:51pm Nov 29th, 2016
Song I bet you're all playing as a result of my putting this here.
This opens with an EXCRUCIATINGLY LONG copyright warning at the beginning, followed by the Vestron Video logo---not the semi-famous Christmas Lights one but their V-ball logo from the years leading to it being purchased by LIVE Entertainment (in the UK, they were said to have been purchased by a company called First Independent). This has just one trailer, for The Care Bears Movie, before cutting to the (Dino) De Laurentiis Entertainment Group logo.
Danny DeVito, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Rhea Perlman, and Tony Randall are all part of the all-star cast of My Little Pony: The Movie. I'm sure some you know what this is about (Ponyland comes under attack from a talking blob of purple gunk) so I've condensed this to a few words hidden under a spoiler tag. Opening in only 421 venues on June 6, 1986, My Little Pony: The Movie grossed just under US$6 million in ticket sales at the North American box office. With a US$674,724 gross on its wide debut, it remains one of the weakest on record among major features. Hasbro lost US$10 million on the combined poor performance of this, and their next collaboration with De Laurentiis Entertainment Group (DEG), The Transformers: The Movie. It also forced the producers of these films, Sunbow, to make G.I. Joe: The Movie a direct-to-video release instead of theatrical, as well as scrap a Jem movie then in development. However, The Transformers: The Movie was itself later reassessed on VHS, DVD, and Blu-ray by inquisitive and astute viewers, and has over the decades risen to become a popular cult classic. Despite the similarly large fanbase MLP has gained over this past decade (and which I am proud to be part of), My Little Pony: The Movie never quite achieved the same fate (although if you're a fan of that film, I'd like to hear from you).
As a side note, much has been abuzz about another My Little Pony: The Movie, one that's coming out in 2017 (and which I'm not going to discuss here). I doubt, however, that this is the official trailer for the film:
