There was more than one big green monster in town this Christmas with the success of Abbey Home Media’s - Fungus the Bogeyman.
19/01/05
Released on December 6th 2004, Fungus the Bogeyman, the repulsive yet compulsive 120-minute movie length special, on VHS and DVD has sold over 60,000 units to date. It ranked in the top ten of the family charts for most of the major retailers, maintaining the Number 1 position in Morrisons for over two weeks
From the first week of sales, Fungus indicated it was going to be a strong performer, with over 17000 units sold, entering straight into Asda’s Kids charts at No 10 for the second week of release.
In a hectic Christmas period packed with big blockbuster releases from the major movie houses, backed by hugely expensive marketing campaigns, it was a refreshing change to see a smaller independent company do so well, with retailers supporting the initial success with additional orders. Fungus the Bogeyman bucked the trend for family products in specialist retailers, doing particularly well in both HMV and Virgin.
The first two episodes of the BBC mini TV series achieved the highest audience share across its early Sunday evening time slot of 5.55-6.45 pm. Episode one of the deliciously disgusting tale of Fungus and his family, broadcast on November 28th, attracted a peak audience of 5.3 million viewers or 23 % of audience share, beating both Channel 4’s The Simpson’s (1.8 million) and ITV1’s The Unforgettable Sid James (4 million). In the week ending 5th December, Fungus the Bogeyman was in the number one position of Top 10 Children’s programmes, beating My Parent’s are Aliens, Newsround and other children’s favourites.
An extended version of the original release, with lots more bogey extras including the song ’How’s it hangin’ Bogey Boy’, is planned for autumn 2005 and there is talk of a new television series as well as repeats of the original three episodes.
It looks like the future is bright and green for Fungus the Bogeyman as he continues to entertain all the family with his slime filled adventures.
ends
For further information, please contact:
Nardis Roscoe
Marketing Director
020 7563 3933 [email protected]
