Fawning over kidpix

O'seas auds queue up for 'Bambi II'

By DAVE MCNARY

Underlining the power of talking animals over small children, Disney's "Bambi II" is doing boffo biz abroad-- even though the toon went direct to DVD in the U.S.

BVI bet on an overseas release after seeing strong foreign results by recent kidpics "Piglet's Big Movie" ($37 million) "The Tigger Movie" ($50 million) "Pooh's Heffalump Movie" ($34 million), "Return to Never Land" ($59 million) and "The Jungle Book 2," ($87 million).

And with toons dubbed rather than subtitled, there was no danger of pirated U.S. copies flooding foreign markets.

"Bambi II" has already grossed more than $10 million in four markets, including France and Italy, and will move into the rest of Europe and Latin America by the end of April. It won't go into Asia at all.

BVI's not issuing estimates but a final gross of $50 million is foreseeable.

"Bambi II" also scored on the DVD front, selling 2.5 million units in its first week Stateside.