Recommended music: James Horner – Death Dogs
From the archives today, we’re still celebrating the Magic of Willow with this Willow VHS!
Willow was released to home media when many different physical formats were on the market. On November 22, 1988, RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video made Willow available on Betamax, LaserDisc, VHS, and Video 8 (little 8mm tapes that topped out at 120 minutes). Columbia TriStar Home Video later put out a “deluxe widescreen presentation” of the film on LaserDisc in 1995, spanning three sides for the 126-minute film (Yay, flipping and replacing the disc to watch the full movie). 😄
This Columbia Tristar Family Collection Willow VHS was released simultaneously with the same cover art in a gold clamshell case. This new clamshell packaging was meant to compete with Disney and other studios releasing children’s videos in something more durable than the standard cardboard sleeve.
I always thought it was an odd choice to have Joanne Whalley’s Sorsha appear on the cover in her nightgown. It is an outfit that sees just a few minutes of screen time. It makes the unfamiliar consumer think twice about whether the film is more fantasy or romance.
The Willow film turns 37 years old next week. I figure there’ll be a new Willow item from my collection to share here for the rest of the month. Happy 37 years to the Magic of Willow!
Dale's Toys 