Boxoffice-January.1995

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1920-1995 

CELEBRATING 

75 

YEARS 

The business magazine of the motion picture industry 

JANUARY, 1995 VOL. 131 NO. 1 

Fve never been through psychoanalysis. I solve my problems unth the moines I make. 

—Steven Spielberg 

1920-1995 

CELEBRATING 

75 

YEARS 

ON THE COVER 

Writer/director John Singleton of "Boyz N the 

Hood" and "Poetic Justice" fame returns to the big 

screen with "Higher Learning," a new drama about 

the trials and tribulations of contemporary college 

life. Our cover interview with Singleton begins on 

page 20. 

DEPARTMENTS

OPENING CREDITS 

For 

obvious reasons, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof 

is not exactly one of history's household 

names. As a linguist and semanticist, he labored 

in an area of scientific study that is obscure 

even to those of us who earn our daily bread (like 

Zamenhof did) with words. But Zamenhof was a 

dreamer, who mused about many of the same 

things the rest of us think of particularly when we 

dream during the holiday season: peace on earth, 

goodwill to all women and men, and a world where 

the human race can focus not on the cultural and 

social peccadilloes which divide us, but on the 

commonality of our shared experience on a planet 

which, taking the long view, is the galactic equivalent 

of a small-town neighborhood. 

Quaffing eggnog and writing a yearly Christmas 

check to the charity of one's choice are perfectly 

reasonable and fine pursuits for people of goodwill. 

But Zamenhof did a lot more than most of us do to 

make the holiday dream into a reality. As a student 

of world languages, he was all too familiar with the 

ways in which external differences and communicative 

complications can create divisions between 

people of different ethnic or territorial backgrounds. 

So he gave the world a language, comprised 

of elements from a wide number of dialects, 

a vernacular designed to be easily learnable within 

the European and middle-eastern milieu which was 

the known cultural world to a man of his era and 

geographic locale. It was Zamenhof s hope that his 

new alphabet and vocabulary would take root and 

become a kind of international common ground, a 

linguistic meeting place for all peoples everywhere, 

so that a Spaniard, a Swede, and a little old lady from 

Mozambique could meet for the very first time and 

immediately begin explaining to each other their 

hopes, their fears, and the things that make them 

grateful for just being alive. 

He called his language "Esperanto," a kind of 

bowdlerized anagram for the dialects it was based 

on. Depending on the source of your information, 

15 million people speak it 

anywhere from one to 

today, some 83 years after Zamenhof s death. There 

is still war of course, and goodwill can sometimes 

seem to be in short supply. But I like to think Dr. 

Zamenhof made his contribution anyway, not only 

because an appreciable handful of human beings 

can talk to each other as a direct result of his efforts, 

but because of the example he set for the rest of us, 

in offering a creative answer to the question which 

seems to haunt so many of us these days: " "Can we 

all just get along?" 

entirely new kind of language: that of the moving 

image. At the height of its popularity in the 1920s, 

the silent film became a kind of pictorial Esperanto; 

unburdened with the demands of language (since 

intertitles were easily swapped out to suit any local 

jargon), the silent film was truly a citizen of the 

world, which accounted for Chaplin's still-unprecedented 

global popularity, and for the fact that, in 

the U.S. for example, the great German Expressionist 

classics of the 20s, and several of the earlj' Soviet 

masterpieces by Eisenstein and Pudovkin, were 

able to avoid today's "art-house" ghetto, andbecome 

breakaway mainstream hits. 

Then the movies learned to talk, and complications 

Ludwig Zamenhof could have appreciated 

began sprouting up all over again. The filmic dialogue 

between nations has never ceased entirely, 

but thanks to a variety of factors— barriers of language 

and custom, the vicissitudes of international 

trading regulations— the free exchange of cultural 

ideas enjoyed in the silent era has often seemed like 

a thing of the past. 

Which is 

exactly what makes an event like 

CineAsia so vitally important. Too often, 

business people from different nations tend 

to view each other's home turf as "markets" first and 

foremost, to be measured in the abstract terminology 

of dollars, marks, yens or pounds. What Cine- 

Asia can do, by providing a meeting place for people 

with common interests from both hemispheres and 

every longitude or latitude of the globe, is to give 

the healthy business concerns we all share a human 

face by celebrating what we share and providing an 

interpersonal conduit for educating each other 

about the things we do not. 

To the peoples of Asian countries who may be 

experiencing Boxoffice within these pages for the 

very first time, we offer a hand of friendship, welcome 

and thanks. To the organizers of the tu'st of 

what we hope will be many such annual CineAsia 

events, BRAVO! And, in honor of that little piece of 

Ludwig Zamenhof in all of us, here's to keeping the 

best of his dream— through the Esperanto of cinema— 

alive. 

Internationally Yours (and Happy Holidays!), 

One 

wonders what Zamenhof would have 

made of the movies. He lived to see their 

creation, and may even have attended some 

of their earliest manifestations, but as of his death 

in 1912, Chaplin had yet to appear before the cameras, 

and I). W. GrilFilh was three years away from 

popularizing what is still the basic grammar of an 

Ray Greene 

Editor-in-Chief 

BOXOI ilCE 

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HOLLYWOOD 

UPDATES 

In another indication of what could be 

called the "Disney-fication" of Hollywood, 

MCA, Inc., the parent company of Universal 

Pictures, signed an agreement with Harvey 

Entertainment Co. to create a new animation 

studio on the Universal backlot. Ironically, 

Harvey, a comic book and cartoon franchise 

whose characters include Richie Rich and 

Casper the Friendly Ghost, has a high-profile 

Warner feature in the holiday pipeline with 

the Macaulay Culkin-starring live action version 

of "Richie Rich." Another irony: Harvey 

is a distant spin-off of the Fleischer Studios— 

car- 

the 30s-era animation house behind Betty 

Boop and the "Popeye" theatrical cartoons 

which was once headquartered at Paramount. 

When Paramount disbanded the 

Fleischer Studios in the early 40s, their animators 

were hired ta make new theatrical 

toons, and the characters they invented 

included Casper (soon to be the subject of a 

live-action Universal feature from Steven 

Spielberg's Amblin) and Baby Huey, currently 

a Sunday cartoon fixture. MCA will reportedly 

finance the new animation venture, though it 

was unknown at press time if MCA is planning 

to increase its current 1 1 .5 percent stake in 

Harvey as part of the deal. 

And speaking of Paramount... Viacom Inc., 

the parent company of Paramount Communications, 

which is struggling to eradicate the 

enormous debt it assumed in its bruising takeover 

battle with Barry Diller for that studio, 

announced that it was seeking buyers for five 

network affiliated TV stations around the 

country. Since the Paramount deal was 

sealed, Viacom assets which have been put 

on the block include the New York Knicks 

basketball franchise, NYC's historic Madison 

Square Garden, a 33 percent stake in cable 

TV's Lifetime Channel, and the New York 

Rangers pro-hockey club. But don't worry 

about Sumner Redstone's far-flung multimedia 

empire; not only was his regime 

launched in high-style with the unexpected 

boxoffice bonanza of last summer's "Forrest 

Gump," but Viacom still owns and operates 

such high-profile ventures as MTV Music 

Television and Nickelodeon on TV, as well as 

National Amusements, the exhibition circuit 

that started it all. 

While not in the same league as the controversial 

firing of the NAACP's executive director 

a few months back, a skirmish was brewing 

at press time between the NAACP's Beverly 

Hills/Hollywood chapter and that 

organization's national leadership over the 

prestigious NAACP Image Awards. The 

Awards, which were founded by the NAACP's 

Hollywood branch three decades ago to 

honor achievements by black performers and 

artisans in the media arts, were operated by 

the local organization until 1990, when the 

national NAACP stefiped in and announced it 

would run the Image awards itself. The Hollywood 

branch alleges the national NAACP 

has lost $1.5 million on the NAACP Image 

Awards since that time, while at the same time 

depriving the Beverly Hills/Hollywood 

branch of its main fund-raising event. 

GATT, the Sequel: Rumors were rife at 

press time that a major accord was in the 

offing between the European Union and the 

U.S. film industry. The agreement, which was 

reportedly in negotiation between E.G. representatives 

and media figures from Europe and 

the U.S., would be designed to enhance European 

access to American distribution systems, 

and would make provisions for 

technical and professional assistance in the 

training of screenwriting and marketing, 

among other areas. Organizations represented 

in the talks include the MPAA (whose 

made a fence-mending tour of 

Jack Valenti 

Europe last November) and the American 

Film Marketing Association (AFMA). The 

talks were seen as a major step in the process 

of overcoming the negotiating deadlock that 

kept "intellectual property" (i.e., films, TV 

shows, pop music) from inclusion in the 

sweeping GATT free-trade treaty negotiated 

by theClinton administration in 1993. As if to 

emphasize its new commitment to internationalism, 

the MPAA also announced that it 

would eliminate the words "Export" and 

"America" from its international arm: the 

MPEAA will now be the nondescript "MPA," 

for "Motion Picture Association." 

Bummer, Man: Double-Oscar winning 

documentarian Barbara Kopple's $3 million 

feature film based on "Woodstock '94" was 

reportedly out of action at press time owing to 

adecision by Polygram towithhold$2 million 

in post-production funding until its other 

"Woodstock '94" related ventures had proven 

themselves in the marketplace. The film, 

which was to be released via Polygram's Propaganda 

Films, has a whopping 7000 minutes 

currently on ice in a New York film vault 

awaiting editing. In addition to the theatrical 

feature, PEE has a home video compilation of 

clips from the "Woodstock '94" pay-per-view 

broadcast and a two CD music compilation 

already in release. Kopple is the Academy 

Award winning director of "Harlan County 

U.S.A." and "American Dream." 

Bits and pieces: Oliver Stone's "Natural 

Born Killers" continues to generate controversy 

as it rolls out into international theatres. 

The ultra-violent satire was banned in both 

Ireland and the U.K. thanks to censorship 

troubles. ..The Screen Actors Guild won a 

startling arbitration victory against the Association 

of Talent Agents, exempting SAG members 

from payment of 1 percent commissions 

on moneys earned in "supplemental" foreign 

and domestic markets (broadcast and cable 

TV, home video). ..And finally:despiterestructuring, 

EuroDisney continues to be a losing 

venture, with park attendance and on-site 

purchases reaching an all-time low in the 

park's third fiscal year. With the scrubbing of 

Disney's planned historical theme park in 

Virginia and the continuing financial albatross 

of EuroDisney to worry about, plus the departure 

of production chief Jeffrey Kalzenberg 

and the announcement ol a kal/cnberg- 

Spielberg-Geffen producing allianie, llisney 

hardly seems like "the happiest [ilac e on 

earth" these days. Joe Roth and Michael Eisner, 

your work is cut out for you. 

EDITOR-IN-CHIEI 

Ray Greeni 

SENIOR EDITOF 

Kim Williamsoi 

EDITORIAL ASSISTAN" 

Linda Andradi 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Aiex Albanesi 

Jotin Allei 

Bruce Austii 

George T. Chronii 

Carole Giine; 

Wade Majo 

Rick Schult; 

Jetf Schwage 

Shiomo Sctiwartzbert 

Fern Siege 

Enc William! 

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COWPLETE concESSion

HOLLYWOOD 

REPORT 

ANDY GARCIA 

"Steal"-ing The Show 

MADONNA 

Four "Rooms," Not Letters 

KEANU REEVES 

Speeding to "Minnesota" 

"LAST DANCE" Sharon Stone's 

next turn for the cameras (after 

Martin Scorsese's "Casino") will 

be as a woman who committed 

a murder when she was a teenager 

on drugs. A sign that Disney 

in the new Joe Roth era 

might not be as tight-fisted as it 

was under Jeffrey "The Memo" 

Katzenberg's reign, the studio 

was willing to pay Stone's SBmillion 

asking price when 

Warner Bros, was unwilling for 

its "Diabolique" remake. (Disney 

through its Hollywood Pictures 

also paid $3 million for 

first-time novelist Nick Evans' 

half-finished love story, "The 

Horse Whisperer," with Robert 

Redford to produce and star.) 

Now set to direct "Last Dance," 

which begins shooting in 

March, is Bruce Beresford ("Silent 

Fall"); earlier. Creek director 

Constantin Costa-Cavras 

("Z") had been slated to helm 

the Touchstone Pictures production. 

Ron Koslow ("Into the 

Night") scripts. (Buena Vista) 

"STEAL BIG, STEAL LITTLE" 

After nearly a year spent assembling 

bank financing, hot director 

Andrew Davis ("The 

Fugitive") is making this actioncomedy 

about orphaned twin 

brothers who are battling over 

rights to their mother's California 

ranch. Savoy, which has a 

three-picture deal with Davis, 

will handle stateside distribution 

of the $30-million film, 

which stars "Hero's" Andy Garcia. 

Davis also produces and 

co-scripts. (Savoy) 

"GET SHORTY" Gene Hackman, 

John Travolta and Danny 

DeVito are aboard this Barry 

Sonnenfeld ("The Addams Family") 

adaptation of an Elmore 

Leonard novel. Scripted by Scott 

Frank ("Malice"), the comedy 

tells the tale of a two-bit hoodlum 

(Travolta) sent to Hollywood 

to collect a gambling debt 

from a B-movie maker (Hackman), 

who instead persuades 

the loan shark to partner with 

liim in the film business. (MGM) 

"AN AMERICAN PRESIDENT" 

Michael Douglas and Annette 

Bening will play a widowed 

LI.S. president and the woman 

who reawakens his idealism in 

this Castle Rock production, 

which at one time was to topi ine 

Robert Redford and Emma 

Thompson. Redford, whose 

Wildwood Productions had 

been developing the project for 

a decade, will take a producer 

credit, as will director Rob 

Reiner, who reportedly wanted 

a more political edge to the love 

story than did Redford. (For his 

part, Douglas is making "An 

American President" ratherthan 

Carolco's pirate epic, "Cutthroat 

Island," for which the 

actor would have received as 

muchas$15 million.) The script 

is by Aaron Sorkin, who wrote 

the Castle Rock hit "A Few 

Good Men." (Columbia) 

"FOUR ROOMS" Madonna 

and Bruce Willis are among the 

actors working for scale in this 

low-budget ensemble production 

for which four directors will 

create half-hour segments, each 

set in a different hotel room. For 

Allison Anders ("Mi Vida 

Loca"), Madonna will play a 

witch at a seance; Willis reunites 

with Quentin Tarantino 

("Pulp Fiction") as a man involved 

in a dangerous bet; and 

Robert Rodriguez ("El Mariachi") 

and Alexandre Rockwell 

("In the Soup") will helm the 

other two episodes. Tim Roth 

plays a bellboy who appears in 

all four segments; other actors 

include Seymour Cassel and 

lone Skye. Tarantino is executive 

producing. (Miramax) 

"SHOWGIRLS" MGM/UA has 

bought North American rights 

to this Joe Eszterhas-scripted 

movie about a Las Vegas dancer 

(Elizabeth Berkley) from the 

French media conglomerate 

Chargeurs, which earlier acquired 

the project from cashstrapped 

Carolco. (Caroico was 

then able to fund "Cutthroat Island.") 

Directed by Paul Verhoeven 

(who teamed with 

Eszterhas on "Basic Instinct"), 

the film reportedly could have 

enough nudity to bring an NC- 

1 7 rating. John Calley, president 

of distributor United Artists, said 

the studio would release the 

director's cut regardless of any 

MPAA decision; Calley cited 

UA's experience with "Midnight 

Cowboy" and "Last Tango 

in Paris," which were originally 

released rated X. (United Artists) 

"THE KITCHEN GOD'S WIFE" 

The trio behind Hollywood 

Pictures' "The |oy Luck Club" 

director Wayne Wang, novelist 

Amy Tan and screenwriter Ronald 

Bass—are rejoining to make 

this film version of Tan's 1991 

book. Like "The Joy Luck Club," 

"The Kitchen Cod's Wife" has 

mother-daughter and mainland-to-America 

elements: An 

elderly Chinese woman, whose 

middle-aged daughter is ailing, 

reveals her life's shocking se- 

( rets, dating from her days in 

pre-revolutionary China on 

through her immigration to the 

United States. Wang recently 

made two films for Miramax, 

"Smoke" and "Blue in the Face. 

Oscar winner Bass ("Rain Man' 

also scripted Hollywoo 

Pictures' upcoming "My Poss 

Don't Do Homework," starrin 

Michelle Pfeiffer. (Buena Vista 

"FEELING MINNESOTA" First 

time director/screenwriter Ste 

ven Begelman must be feelin 

fine at having landed Kean 

Reeves— in even higher de 

mand after the success c 

"Speed"—for this low-budge 

film about a drifter who desire 

the same woman his brothe 

does. Reeves, whose going sa 

ary for studio projects is $7 mi 

lion, is no stranger to indi 

productions that bring far les; 

having made both 1 994's "Evei 

Cowgirls Get the Blues" ani 

1 99 1 's "My Own Private Idaho 

for Fine Line. (New Line) 

"INFLAMMABLE" Jamie 

Le. 

Curtis, who garnered kudos to 

her macha turn in "True Lies, 

will star in another action 

thriller, "Inflammable." As 

Navy lieutenant, Curtis is sent t( 

investigate a rape case aboard 

vessel in the South Seas: ship 

board murders of suspects an< 

witnesses soon follow. Pr( 

duced by Andre Morgan an( 

Alberts. Ruddy (the duo behinc 

another Savoy action-thrillt 

the upcoming "Heaven's Pris 

oners"), "Inflammable" is di 

rected by Kevin Hook 

("Passenger 57") and is tenta 

1995 re 

tively slated for a fall 

lease. (Savoy) 

ET CETERA: Jhe busy lamie Lei 

Curtis is also slated for a sprini 

start on a yet-to-be-titled "equal 

not sequel" to "A Fish Callet 

Wanda" alongside her co-star 

from that 1988 film, Kevit 

Kline, John Cleese and Michae 

Palin; this time around, the di 

rector will be Robert Youn; 

("Splitting Heirs"), with Univer 

sal projecting a 199(3 releasi 

...Disney's $t>-million woman 

Sharon Stone, reportedly uil 

also receive the same fee fron 

New Line to star in and product 

(via her Chaos Productions) < 

medical comedy. "Doctor 

Lawyer, Indian, Chief," if sht 

appro\es a co-star and scrip 

...Model File Macpherson ("Si 

rens") joins Oscar winners Wil 

liam Hurt and Anna Paquii 

("The Piano") in Franco Zef 

firelli's "lane Eyre," the fourth 

big-screen adaptation of Char 

lotte Bronte's classic novel 

Miramax will distribute. ..Ir 

April, writer/director Mikt 

Binder ("Indian Summer") wil 

begin shooting the romantic 

comedy "Friend of the Family' 

for Island Pictures. 

8 BOXOFFICE

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TRAILERS: FEBRUARY 

prosecutor's wedding plans, but mobstei 

may beat him to the punch, lames OrrC'Fatht 

of the Bride") directs and co-scripts. (Buen 

Vista, 2/1 7) 

The Brady Bunch 

The movie version of the (in)famous 1 96S 

74 ABC series stars Gary Cole ("In the Line < 

Fire") as a man named Brady and "Hell 

Again's" Shelley Long as the lovely ladv. S( 

DON Juan DeMarco 

One of the 1 995 films tfiat attracted attention at ShowEast, this romantic 

drama centers on o clinical psychiatrist (Marlon Brando) who, on the eve of 

his retirement, treats a suicidal young man Johnny Depp) who believes he's 

the mythic lover Don Juan. Faye Dunoway co-stars; Jeremy Leven (who had 

less luck adapting "Creator" than writing the splendid novel on which the 

1985 film is based) directs. This American Zoetrope production is a reunion 

of sorts between "Apocalypse Now's." Brando and Francis Ford Coppola, 

who produces. (New Line, 2/10) 

To Die For 

Director Cus Van Sant (famous and infamous, 

respectively, for the art-house films 

"My Own Private Idaho" and "Even Cowgirls 

Get the Blues"), producer Laura Ziskin 

("Pretty Woman") and screenwriter Buck 

Henry ("The Graduate") are the trio of talents 

Man of the House 

A beleaguered federal prosecutor (Chevy 

Chase), ready to marry a single mother (Farrah 

Fawcett) but unprepared for stepfatherhood, 

triesto win over her 1 1 -year-old son (Jonathan 

Taylor Thomas of TV's "Home Improvement") 

in this Walt Disney Pictures release. 

The boy is determined to derail the 

ries creator Sherwood Schwartz produces an 

takes a co-story credit; "Wayne's World" wri 

ers Bonnie Turner and Terry Turner co-scrip 

and Betty Thomas ("Hill Street Blues" actre' 

turned TV and cable director) makes her fe< 

ture directing debut. (Paramount, 2/1 7) 

behind this (oniedy about a woman who has 

a warped view of reality and a naive ambition 

to become a TV personality. In her third consecutive 

appearance for Columbia (after 

1993's "My Life" and "Malice"), Nicole Kidman 

stars with Matt Dillon. (Columbia, 2/10) 

A Walk in the Clouds 

Director Alfonso Arau follows his art-bouse smash "Like Water for Chocolate") 

with this studio film about a World War II veteran ("Speed's" Keanu 

Reeves) who, returning to his unhappy marriage and job, falls in love with the 

randdaughter (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) of a vineyard owner (Anthony Quinn). 

flhe Zucker brothers produce; Robert Mark Kamen ("The Power of One 

) 

scripts. See our Sneak Preview in this issue. (Fox, 2/3) 

10 BOXOFFICE

HERE'S THE DIFFERENCE 

THEATERS 

J»

I 

Major Payne 

After a career of military assignments that 

have tal

Response No. 99

Billy Madison 

At age 27, rich-kid Billy Madison 

("Airheads'" Adam Sandler, who co-scripts) 

has spent his lite luxuriating on his father's 

huge estate. When his dad (Darren McCavin) 

retires from running the family's large hotel 

chain, however, Billy learns he might not 

inherit the corporate mantle. So he makes his 

father a winner-take-all bet: Billy gets the 

hotels if he can pass grades 1 through 12 in 

24 weeks. Bridgette Wilson ("Last Action 

Hero") co-stars. At the helm is Tamra Davis, 

who directed "CB4" but more memorably 

exited the Fox western "Bad Girls" over creative 

differences. (Universal, 2/1 

Call Me Victor 

This French-language film is the comingof-age 

story of an 1 1 -year-old boy who, infatuated 

with a 16-year-old girl, finds a 

confidante in his reclusive great-aunt, who 

hasn't left the family attic for 30 years. Jeanne 

Moreau stars for first-time director Guy 

lacques, who also co-scripts. (Sony Classics) 

Two Bits 

At-long-last Oscar winner Al Pacino 

("Scentof a Woman") opens 1995 by reteaming 

with his 1992 "Glengarry Glen Ross" 

director James Foley in this Capella International 

production. The Depression-era story 

co-stars "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves'" 

Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. (Miramax) 

Before Sunrise 

A chance encounter aboard a Eurail train leads to a romantic 14-hour 

walkabout in Vienna for an American youth ("Reality Bites'" Ethan Hawke) on 

his last day in Europe and a Parisienne ("white's" Julie Delpy) who, like her 

new acquaintance, is looking for more from life. Richard Linklater ("Dazed and 

Confused") directs and co-scripts this Castle Rock production. The film has been 

selected to open this month's Sundance festival. (Columbia, 2/3) 

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14 BOXOFTICE

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18 BOXOFFICE

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Response No. 30

• i young, 

' 

Singleton is a bit under 

John 

the weatlier, a fact which 

manifests itself in his occasional 

nose-blowing, his healtliconscious 

luncheon requests 

for fruit juice and whole milk, 

and his noticeably diminished 

energy level. It's understandable 

for Singleton to be a bit 

run down. He is in the final 

post-production phase of what 

he characterizes as his most ambitious 

feature film to date— an 

ensemble piece entitled 

"Higher Learning," set against 

the backdrop of contemporary 

campus life. His days 

are full, and every minute 

is precious. Not only did he 

request to be interviewed 

over lunch in order to kill 

the proverbial two birds 

with the proverbial one 

stone; he also changed the 

meal reservations from a 

studio-arranged eatery in 

L.A.'s Fairfax district to a 

restaurant in Hollywood 

about a minute-and-a-half s 

walking distance from his 

post-production suite. 

Even ifSingleton weren't 

nursing a cold, he would 

still come across as dififerent 

fi-om his reputation. It's 

a sad fact ofAmerican popular 

culture that socially 

engaged black artists are 

often saddled with a lot of 

ideological baggage by the 

media— they are 

called 

"controversial" not because 

their ideas are necessarily 

inflammatory, but because 

the resistance to even the 

sort of compassionate discourse 

Singleton has tried 

to engage in is so entrenched 

and vociferous. 

Spike Lee is often depicted 

as a monochromatic firebrand, 

even though most of his films 

(including "Do the Right Thing, 

his most "radical" work) are 

leavened by a deeply comedic 

sensibility. Singleton has an almost 

equally "controversial" 

reputation (like Lee, he comes 

across as an unabashed 

hardcore liberal, not a revolutionary), 

which he belies at once 

by being soft-spoken, thought- 

M, and open to virtually any 

train of thought. 

"I don't even think about [social] 

responsibility," Singleton 

says of his approach to 

moviemaking. "I don't do anything 

except try to make the best 

film possible. Most Hollywood 

movies, there's good and evil. 

HIGHER 

GROUND 

IN HIS NEW FILM 

ABOUT COLLEGE 

LIFE, DIRECTOR 

JOHN SINGLETON 

REACHES FOR 

THE TOP 

BY RAY GREENE 

One guy's dressed in black ai 

one guy's dressed in white. N 

main characters are not nm 

sarily good, they're not net i 

sarily bad. They're complex." 

Complexity seems called f 

in the complicated career pha 

Singleton is entering no^v th 

his "wunderkind" status h 

worn off. In the just-over thr. 

years since Singleton made 

i )i 

of the most critically and im 

mercially auspicious direct( t, 

debuts in movie histors'. hn 

he and the city he lives m 

works in have been throui 

a hell of a lot. 

It 

was in 1991 thatSinglf 

ton wTote and dirert( 

"Boyz N the Hood," tl 

first successfi.ll attempt h\ 

filmmaker to meld the i"i 

litical outrage and moidl l 

gency of West Coa 

"gangsta" rap music wi 

the cinematic form. Lil; 

many leading rap artisi 

(and virtually all of tl! 

major "gangsta" acts of ii\ 

80s and early 90s), Singl' 

ton grew up on the mer' 

streets of South Centr 

L.A. — a 

predominant 

black enclave where all til 

'3 social ills that plague d' 

modem American dr\' a- 

writ large. "Boyz N in 

Hood" was both Singletorj 

love letter to the comnn 

nity that fonned liim and £ 

anguished attack on th 

forces— povertj', escalatir. 

gang violence— that st 5 

threaten to tear it apart. " 

made 'Boj'z' specifically fil 

black audience' 

lie says. "As hardcore and 

treet as possible." 

As an alumnus of tl' 

prestigious U.S.C. School ofCi 

ema-Television, Singleto 

might have been expected 

follow a less risk-taking tiMJe 

ton' (wTiting and attempting 

srll an apolitical high-conrc 

screenplay is file standard, po^ 

film school path of least resi 

> 

tance). But Singleton li.ul 

ditferent sense of his protc 

sional mission. "1 basic. ill: 

wanted to make movies, not 

make millions of dollars," 1 

says, "but becxiuse I have a pa 

sion for it." 

His passion was sonuiliu 

Singleton managed to ttaiistc 

to viewers his fii^st time lu 

Both the cririciil and the ,hu 

ence reaction to "Boyz N tl 

Hood" was ecstatic, and tl 

'J 

20 BOXOFFICE

111 

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jiatiii 

iisti 

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lilvi 

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audi 

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yi 

film— shot on a shoestring—became a 

sleeper smash on every level. Some opening-weekend 

screenings were marred by 

incidents of violence, thereby establishing 

an aspect of Singleton's "controversial" reputation 

(rather unjustly, since "Boyz N the 

Hood" is as nakedly pacifistic as "The Grand 

Illusion" or "All Quiet on the Western 

Front.") But with breathtaking speed. 

Singleton's film raked in around $60 million 

at the domestic boxoffice against production 

costs of around $6 million, and he soon 

found himselfbesting a record set by Orson 

Welles to become, at age 23, the 

youngest filmmaker (and the only 

African-American) ever nominated 

for an Academy Award. 

Things were moving quickly— so 

quickly tliat Singleton says he had 

little time to reflect on what was 

happening to him. "When 'Boyz N 

the Hood' was making 8 million 

dollars every three days, I didn't put 

it in perspective. I was like, 'Oh 

wow, that's cool. I guess I'll get to 

make another one.'" 

Singleton's second effort was 

"Poetic Justice," and, when it 

was announced diat his film 

wouldbe pop superstar Janet Jackson's starring 

debut, it seemed like another potential 

coup. One of the California locations Singleton 

used was a town called Simi Valley —site 

of the Reagan presidential library, and 

home to more police officers per capita than 

anywhere else in tlie United States. As Singleton 

filmed, Simi Valley was playing host 

"This is about sexism, 

and race, and everything 

else that galvanizes the 

country. All the stuff that 

people are afraid of 

where the real nerves are, 

Frnjusttouchin' 

on all that. 

to anotlier kind of drama— one with a far 

more apocalyptic ending than anything Singleton 

was attempting. For it was in a Simi 

Valley courtroom toward the end of a bright 

April day that a jury rose to its feet and 

acquitted four white cops of the major 

charges stemming from their beating of a 

black L.A. motorist named Rodney King— 

beating that had been captured on videotape, 

and which had outraged television 

viewers all over the world. 

Singleton, like most L.A. natives, had followed 

the trial 

closely— so closely, in fact, 

that he was on the lawn outside the courthouse 

when the verdicts came dovwi. The 

Author 

ABOUT "FACE" 

"Blackface" Offers a Provocative New Look at Blacks in Cinema 

from Journalist and Sometime Movie Producer Nelson George 

of eight books on Afncan-Antaican topics, Nelson Geoige was already an 

established jownalist when a Httle-hioun fihmnaker named Spike Lee asked him to 

invest in a lou^budget film called "She's Gotta Have It." 

Best Imoicn m Hollywood as 

ivriter/co-produca- of the rap satire 'CB4," the Bmoklynite, who's just published "Blackface: 

Refkctioits on Afiican-Americans and the Movies" {Haipei-Collins}, sees the cultural separation 

remaining betiveen blacks and mainstream moviedom as being 

about as wide as the geographic gap betiveen Neiv York and LA. 

Boxoffice: How would you describe Hollywood? 

GEORGE: Basically, it's a place where there's never been a 

window of opportunity for African-Americans. Now diere's a 

small window of oppoituTiity for Afi'ican-Americans, but the 

window that was created in the last few years has tightened 

considerably. The excitement for black films tlwt existed is gone. 

Boxoffice: Why has the "black biieakthiougli" that 

began m 1991 faltered? 

GEORGE: Mainstream Hollywood lias been financing a 

naiTow range of films. Most made since 1991 have the same 

elements: rappers as actors, hip-hop scores and dnig/urban 

settings. The audience has gotten tired of these, as was demonstrated 

last year wth die poor grosses of "Above die Rim" 

and "Sugar Hill." Also, a lot of the studios see black film as this 

monolith and the black community as this [one] dung. The same marketing campaign 

that attiBCts the 17-year-old black male on a Saturday night does not necessarily attract 

a 30-year-old black male and ceitainly not a 30-year-old black woman. 

BoxomCE: Does Hollywood beUeve whites will go only to inolent black fUms? 

GEORGE: Disney made headway with the Tina Tlimer movie. It did about $30 million 

and spawned two Academy Award nominations. 'Tliat's what black America wants to see 

more of, and I think white America more of too—black people in complicated situations 

that have a racial element but not necessarily orily racial. Many white women saw that 

movie and connected vAxh Tina Turner's character as a woman in an abusive situation. 

BoxomcE: A studio executive once told you, "We have a machine to feed... 

We're in the pulp business." In other words, Hollywood would make more types 

of black films if they would make money. 

GEORGE: How do you know what's going to make money unless you make it? Who 

knew "The Joy Luck Club" would make money till it made money? Because tiiere's no 

track record for Asian women stories. 

BoxoFncE: Bill Duke's "The Cemetery Club" and Thomas Carter's "Swing Kids" 

were both boxoffice disappointments, yet white filmmakers seem to think they 

can "do black," as with "Fresh." Can blacks "do white"? 

GEORGE: Those who want to be part of the American filmmaking mainstream are 

going to have to deal with white subjects. Aside from Spike Lee, black filmmakers have 

not done a good job of making white characters drat are not flat and one-dimensional. 

BoxomcE: What does the future hold for blacks in Hollywood? 

GEORGE: The Hollywood system is not constructed in a way tiiat will satisfy 

Afiican-Americans wanting more diverse images. We're going to have to look at other 

ways of presenting and marketing visual media about ourselves— everything from 

direct-to-video to pay-per-view to CD-ROM. There will always be the big-event Hollywood 

mo-âes; I don't know that there'll always be a lot of black ones. —Kim Williatnson 

TV cameras swooped in on him immediately, 

hungry for a celebrity sound 

bite; within minutes of the verdicts, the 

airwaves were filled with close-ups of 

Singleton's anguished face shouting "It's a 

time bomb! You people don't understand! 

It's a time bomb!" 

IVuer words were never spoken. The 

most destructive episode of American social 

unrest since New York's Civil War-era 

Draft Riots had begim vvtithin the hour By 

nightfall, Los Angeles was in flames, with 

Singleton's home turf in Soudi Central (including 

the area immediately surrounding 

U.S.C.) particularly hard hit Singleton's 

tragic vision of an L.A. seething with social 

tension had been validated, though it's hard 

to imagine he took much satisfaction in the 

fact. 

As politicians and pundits began sifting 

dirough the still-smoldering debris of a city 

in pieces, it was apparent diat the socio-political 

landscape of L.A. (and ofthe U.S.J had 

shifted overnight. And John Singleton— 

ik 

January, 1995 21

declared enemy of the forces ofbigotry and 

oppression which the verdicts seemed to 

validate; an uncompromising chronicler of 

the very ftxistrations that exploded in L.A.'s 

days of rage— seemed uniquely positioned 

to give the new parameters a voice. 

Anyone who knows about the glacier-like 

pace at which studio films get made can 

understand why it didn't turn out that way. 

Despite Singleton's presence when the King 

verdicts were announced (and an advertising 

slogan— "Justice is coming!"— that 

seemed like a direct response to the thousands 

who had taken to the streets shouting 

"No Justice! No Peace!"), "Poetic Justice" 

was a done deal long before the L.A. riots. 

Singleton chose to stay true to the spirit that 

had inspired his work— a spirit infiised with 

an optimism drawn from his experience 

with "Boyz N the Hood." 

"After 'Boyz N the Hood' did so well," 

Singleton says, "I wanted to make more of a 

pacifying film, a healing film, and that was 

what 'Poetic Justice' was... Everybody wondered, 

when ['Poetic Justice'] came out, 'Is 

the movie about the riots?' No, stupid ass! 

The movie is not about fire riots. It's about 

a young girl who reads poetry!" 

Neither the public nor the press seemed 

ready for Singleton to shift gears so abruptly. 

Spike Lee had warned Singleton to expect 

the same critics who were hailing "Boyz N 

the Hood" as the work of the next Orson 

Welles to crticify his sophomore effort, a 

prophecy which came tixie when "Poetic 

Justice" was almost universally castigated 

(TIME critic JUchard Schickel's description 

was typical: "['Poetic Justice' is] simply 

awfirl: poorly structured, vulgarly written, 

insipidly directed, monotonously performed.") 

At the same time, "Justice" 

opened number one at the boxoffice with a 

"Boyz N the Hood"-topping S11.7 million 

weekend gross, only to fall oft'exponentially 

by more than 50 percent in each of the next 

two weeks. Despite Janet Jackson's enormous 

popularity on the pop charts (not 

necessarily a plus with moviegoers, as 

Madonna has shown us again and again). 

Singleton's white audience base seemed to 

have evaporated. At the time of its release, 

the audience for "Poetic Justice" was estimated 

as over two-thirds black. 

Singleton rightly points out that "Justice" 

(produced for $1 2 million) turned a modest 

profit on receipts of $27.5 million ("I'm two 

for two," he says accurately). He claims he 

"expected" his reversal of fortune in the 

media. He dismisses the notion that "Poetic 

Justice" had trouble living up to the commercial 

expectations raised by "Boyz N the 

Hood" because it tailed to "cross over" to 

white audiences: "Black culture doesn't 

need to cross over, because black culture in 

America is America's culture," he says. "Eric 

Clapton Inlays the blues, you know what I'm 

saying? It's not a matter ot crossing over It's 

a matter of staying bkick, and liaving a 

wider and wider inlluence." 

He does seem to feel, though, that

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SNEAK PREVIEW 

THE MIGHTY QUINN 

A Conversation By A Pool With 

"A Walk In The Clouds 

Bv Kim Williamson 

" 

Anthony Quinn 

Anthony Ouinn and Keanu Reeves in Fox's "A Walk in the Clouds." 

On 

a cool winter afternoon, 

Anthony Quinn is 

sitting near the pool at 

tlie IVIiramar Sheraton Hotel in 

Santa Monica, Calif., a country 

and a lifetime away irom liis 

1915 birthplace of Chihuahua, 

Mexico. Yet Quinn— the dirtpoor 

son of a lieutenant father 

who fought beside Pancho Villa 

in the Mexican Revolution and 

a soldadem mother who followed 

her husband from batde 

to battle until she was near 

term— is not surprised that he 

became a Hollywood legend. 

"I would think that I'd be 

more likely to end up like this," 

he says. "A hungry man climbs 

higher than the average man." 

Climb he has, since making his 

first significant film (Cecil B. 

DeMille's "The Plainsman," a 

1936 western with Quinn as a 

Cheyenne brave), to his back-toback 

1943 breakthroughs "The 

Ox-Bow Incident" and "Guadalcanal 

Diary," and on through an 

international career tliat has included 

Federico Fellini's "La 

Strada" in 1954, "Zorba the 

Greek" a decade later and contemporary 

turns in such varied 

fare as Spike Lee's "Jungle 

Fever" and John McTieman's 

"Last Action Hero." 

"There's a wonderfLil line that 

Pancho Villa said when he 

looked out at the ocean for the 

first time," says Quinn, who costars 

with Keanu Reeves in an 

upcoming Fox release, "A Walk 

in the Clouds." "He rode to the 

top of a hill and there in front of 

him was the Pacific, and he was 

dumbfounded. He stared at it. 

His lieutenant said, 'Wliat do 

you tliink of it?' And Villa said, 

'How small it is to quench my 

thirst.' I think fliat everybody 

who is an actor or an athlete 

knows that fhirst, and tliere 

is very little water to 

quench that thirst. So I 

think that with that thirst I 

had to become somebody." 

In 

"A Walk in the Clouds," 

directed by "Like Water 

for Chocolate's" Alfonso 

Aran and written by Robert 

Mark Kamen ("The Power 

of One"), Quinn plays the father 

of a Napa Valley vineyard 

owner ("Seven Beauties'" Giancarlo 

Giannini) in the 1940s. 

"This family is very isolated," 

Quinn says. "They are Spanish- 

Mexican, and they had been 

subjected to race prejudice by 

the community. Mexican labor 

has come and helped them, and 

they treat the labor very nicely, 

but they don't allow the locals to 

become part of tlieir lives." 

Change arrives with a j'oung 

soldier (Reeves) heading home 

fi-om World War II to resume 

what had been an unhappy life. 

He meets the 

owner's daughtci 

(Aitana Sanchc/- 

Gijon) and agrees 

to pose as her husband 

so that she 

can escape her 

father's domination; 

in their three 

days together, surrounded 

by the 

avitumnal magic of a Napa harvest, 

the couple falls in love for 

real. "Her father, my son, ttims 

the boy down—he doesn't want 

to have amthing to do with him. 

I, on the other hand, accept the 

boy, because I know you cannot 

live prejudiced yourself" 

Quinn, a 60-year veteran of 

moviemaking and winner of 

two supporting-actor Oscars (for 

1952's "Viva Zapata!" and 1956's 

"Lust for Life"), also had no trouble 

accepting the comparatively 

less experienced Reeves in real 

life. "He's a wonderflil young 

man to work with. I saw myself 

in him. I was amazed by what 

he knows about religion, he's a 

wonderful chess player, and 

he's a very eloquent boy when 

he wants to be— he can quote 

Shakespeare backwards and forwards. 

I tliink he is a very gifted 

young man." 

"Everybody who is an actor 

or an athlete knows that 

thirst Ifor success].... So I 

think that with that thirst I 

had to become somebody. 

Quinn bears Hollywood's 

new generation no jealousy. "All 

ot us who contribute to motion 

pictures live within a certain 

boundary. DeMille and the 

great directors— Fleming, 

Capra, Wyler, Wilder, all of 

them— had a tremendous ett'ect 

on their day. Fellini's contribution 

to the motion-picture world 

was enormous, like Bergman i j 

Sweden. But they were haJ 

there. The motion-picture worl 

will go on without us, and thi 

newcomers will develop tliej 

own [film world]. Andy Garcia 

one of the best young actoi s i| 

the world, and 

pray he \v\\\ 

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a 

I 

1 

ON LOCATION 

PAULY DUTY 

One Funny Man Pauly Shore Adds A '90s 

Touch To A Remake Of 'Twelve Angry Men " 

Ajoke on a recent "Saturday 

Night Live" involved 

Pauly Shore starring in 

"The John Bobbitt Stoiy"-as 

Bobbitt's male member How 

many comedians would revel in 

the distinction of being called a 

"penis" on national television? 

"It's great. I love that," says the 

26-year-old Shore on the set of 

his fourth feature, "Jury Duty." 

Tlie film, which TOStar is releasing 

in April, finds Shore in his 

first (relativelyj serious role. He 

plays a slacker— living with his 

adoring mother (Shelley Winters) 

in a trailer park—whose 

life changes when he is named 

a jury foreman and tries to save 

a man unjustly accused of murder 

It's a comic take on the 

Henry Fonda role in this off-kilter 

remake of the sober classic 

"Twelve Angry Men." Naturally, 

Shore & co.— Tia Carrere, 

Charles Napier, Stanley Thcci 

and Abe Vigoda— wreak havoc 

on American jurisprudence. 

Some attribute Shore's success 

to the loyal core audience 

he formed during his "Chillin' 

with the Weez" MTV years. Critics 

have called his earlier fUms, 

like "Encino Man" and "Son in 

Law," "obnoxious," "juvenile," 

By Rick Schultz 

"Jury Duty's" Pauly Shore. 

"infantile," "talentless" and "annoying," 

witli Shore "at best, an 

acquired taste." "Tliat's a compliment 

to me," Shore saj's. 

"They're so frustrated tliat 

I'm 

doingso well. Itinfiiriatesthem." 

Indeed, Shore has become 

one of diose mass-culture icons 

that "Jury Duty's" first-time feature 

director, John Fortenberry 

(whose HBO comedy special, 

"Medusa," skewered Madonna's 

"Tl'uth or Dare"), would ordinarily 

be parodying. "Because 

he grew up with his mother 

[Comedy Store owner Mitzi 

Shore], a lot of people in 

comedy feel Pauly got the 

easy road," says Fortenberry, 

on break fi-om directing 

a scene in which ESPN 

sportscaster Dick Vitale announces 

the film's imu'der 

trial 

in his pumped-up, hyperbolic 

style. ("That defense 

was ad hominem, baby!") 

"But Pauly's out there, and his 

films do well," Fortenberry continues. 

"He's a phinionienon. I 

can't explain it. If I could figure 

that one out, I'd be very rich." 

Fortenberry was adamant 

about one thing. "I didn't want 

to do a film with that Valley 

dude character that Pauly had 

done before," he says. "It had its 

place but, for my own taste, I 

didn't want to. Pauly was actually 

encouraged by that because 

he wanted to move on. This film 

has real scenes in it. There's a 

dramatic fhroughline. There are 

broad moments and silly moments 

but also it's a real film. I 

don't mean to suggest tliat his 

other films weren't real 

but tlris is a stretch for him." 

films, 

Perhaps Shore's willingness 

to grow comes out of his 

drive. "I always 

wanted to do 

standup and 

MTV," he says. 

"My first time on 

MTV's 'Spring 

Break,' I wasn't 

even allowed to 

hold the mike, 

but a few years 

later I had my own show with 

thousands of kids chanting my 

name." Shore tiirives on all the 

attention, but fame is trickier 

than he anticipated. "It's out of 

control, as far as people recognizing 

me," he says. "It's like my 

drug. It's what I need after I 

finish this movie. Where's the 

next thing? It's like, 'Wliat else 

am I gonna shoot in my ann?'" 

Still, he says his drive represents 

"how you gotta be if you 

want to be successftil — 24 hours, 

seven days a week, like a bulldog 

or like a soldier Just march." 

Shelley Winters, nabbed just 

before a scene rehearsal and not 

"[Critics] are so 

frustrated that I'm 

doing so well. It 

infuriates them. " 

"[Pauly] is a phenomenon 

I can V explain it. 

If I 

couldfigure that one 

out, rd be very rich. " 

— Director John Fortenberrx 

one to mince words, says that 

working VA'ith Shore is "a little 

incestuous. I've known him 

since he was a bump— since his 

mother was pregnant with 

him." Wintere seems to like the 

fact that Shore keeps Iter a bit 

off-balance, 

"His instincts are always contrary 

to what would be tlie normal 

reaction," she says. "I 

does the other thing. I play 1 

mother, so I imitate what I 

does; our beha\ior is similar 

reconceived [his role] so he's 

illegitimate chUd." 

Suddenly, Winters adopts t) 

confidential tone of her charj 

ter "I say, 'He's a love child 

had him rather late. That's tl 

reason he's so lethargic, but u 

demeatii die letliargs' is a bi 

liant mind.' We impro\ised!" 

If nothing else, Shore ai 

Winters share the quality' ofge 

uineness. Act 

Charles Napii 

who portra; 

Shore's wei 

stepfather (1 

collects styr 

foam) in "Ju 

Dut^^" 

concu; 

" 

Pauly's ver\' 

proachab 

Napier says. "He's what I call 

giver as an actor" 

But is Shore's partj'-heart 

dude persona really him? "Th 

was just a phase that I ^^'e 

through, and it's a phase thai 

touch on occasionally," Sho 

insists. "Who doesn't drink be 

and smoke pot once in a whil 

It's what you do as a human, b 

I like to do evervtliing in mo 

eration." 

Shore says that he is hopii 

to be able to play smaller rol 

in bigger movies. "Maj^je une 

pected roles— a villain," he ( 

fers. "I could do tiiat. ComedJ 

a lot harder than tliat." He b 

lieves that he miglit make 

great psychotic kil 

"That'dbefiin." 

Abotit to join Wintci>. " 

set, Shore adds, "This tii 

tiie 'ftinnest' time I've h,i' 

.my of my movaes. It n 

tii-st one not \\'itli Disncx 

not as corporate, less pi 

sured. It's more edgj'. 

"Dismay was ver\ 

—' edg\'," Shore says. "In 

you need a little edge." | 

']wi) Dutij." Siamnti /,. 

Shore, ShcHa/ Wiiiia's, Tin (,t.| 

rere and Chaihx NaiJia: L>mvti\ 

hij JoIv> Fom:)il>cny. Wniini 

Fa\ Balii; Aikiiii Small cnul Nil 

Wlkiu. Pivdiiccd by Yorniu Bi] 

Ami and Ritcr Lcnknv A 71rS7, 

release April 

26 BoxomcK

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Response No. 296

i 

SPECIAL REPORT: ASIA 

EASTWARD 

HO! 

T(be 

! 

/// the Wake of the Warner/China Deal 

Hollywood Takes a New Look at Asia 

By Wade Major 

Seven 

centuries after Marco Polo captivated the West with 

sttiTing accounts of the exotic East, a new kind of silk n 

' 

openingup, thistimebridgingtlie waters of the Pacific t)i 

ratlier tlian the plains and deserts of the Middle East and ^wst n 

Asia. HoIly\vood is coming to the Orient, and neitlier East nor 

may ever be the same. 

Witli a first-ever deal to distribute American films in the Peo; 

Republic of China (PRC) recently signed bet^veen Warner Broth 

and China Film Export & Import Corporation, it appears as thoi 

the world's most elusive and potentially lucrati\'e market 

finally begun to open its doors to ^^lerican film companies. 

Widely acknowledged as "the world's fastest growing econon 

China has long been a coveted but untouchable plum for states 3S 

film producers and distributors. Content to \vait out xhe sto" 

rather than accede to Chinese demands fliat films be purch, 

only for a flat fee, Holljfwood forces finally won out in Marcl 

1994 when the PRC agreed to begin negotiating revenue-shar V, 

[ 

deals. 

And yet, by even the most oprimistic projections, Asia— £ I 

China in particular— is stQl considered a long-term project, e\ I 

risky in the short-tenn. If the thought of accessing over one-th I 

of tire world's population in a single region whets Holl},^v( I 

appetites, those appetites are more than tempered by tliree ma 

; 

regional concerns: inadequate theatre development, restrict 

trade and censorship laws, and the ever-present and lingcie 

problem of piracy. 

"You don't do business overnight in China," says Morion I 'i. t ? 

Association of America (MPAA) president Jack Valenri, 

cr. 

wlv: 

years of combating trade barrier's and piracy have only rci ( i > 

begun to yield positive results in Asia. "Warners is plantini; ilr 

flag, learning flie people, getting to have relationships. And iii,i\? 

four, five, six or seven 3'ears down the road tliese things \A-ill ,si t 

to pay off. You're dealing with enormous countries, lai-ge popi 

F 

ASIAN RENAISSANCE: American moviegoers 

are becoming more and more familiar with the 

best of Asian cinema. From top: Leslie Cheung 

as a cross-dressing Peking Opera star in Chen 

Kaige's "Farewell My Concubine." 

Center: Acclaimed Chinese director Zhang 

Yimou on the set of his epic "To Live." 

Bottom: An appetizing moment from 

Ang Lee's "Eat Drink Man Woman." 

tions and very low income levels where there is no inffastru. ti 

tor cinema." 

While sources familiar with the Chinese gowmnu-ni s pt 

business patterns continue to question die PRC's intcgiiis l 

tr

ave to be content taking home a scant 40 

ercent of net revenues after the governlent 

deducts its 30 percent tax on grosses. 

Understandably, reaction from competi- 

)rs has largely been one ofindifference, not 

;alousy. "China Film has basically been 

liking to everybody," notes Mark Zoradi, 

resident of Buena Vista International. "We 

ill certainly release and announce a deal 

jmetime during 1 995 for China. I think the 

ey thing for China is that it vidll be a slow 

DUout and growth market for all the majors, 

don't think you'll talk to anybody that 

ould say 1995 is going to be a watershed 

jvenue year for China. It will open up 

owly for all of us." 

oradi's sentiments are echoedbylbm 

Gray, president/ceo of L.A.-based 

Rim Film Distributors, a company 

pecializing in distributing Hong Kong and 

ther Asian film product in the U.S. "The 

Earner deal in China is no big deal," he says 

oolly. "That's a deal on the table for everyody. 

What is remarkable is that Warners 

rent ahead and did it first, which is very 

With executive experience on both 

old." 

ides of the Pacific for such companies as 

Inited Artists and Hong Kong-based 

lolden Harvest, Gray cautions against 

ading too much into the agreement. "Anyne 

could get the same deal if they went to 

ihina. Most of the other companies are a 

tde guarded, a little cautious. For Warners 

simply means tliat they're going to go 

own the road and get some experience 

^hich I salute them for. But it's not the killer 

eal that they're making it out to be." 

For Buena Vista, 

oradi cites India as a 

nore immediate pririty. 

Noting that tlie 

ub-continent is not 

nly the world's secndmost 

populous naion, 

but it's most 

rodigious film indusy, 

Zoradi sees great 

otential in cracking a 

Im-sawy market hismcaiiy 

hindered by infrastructure far ciiiema 

anguage barriers, 

/ith a production output of rouglily 600 to 

00 feature-length films per year, serving as 

nany as a half-dozen distinct languages and 

ialects, India's unique brand of managed 

haos has, until recently, made it difficult 

Dr foreign companies to gain a foothold. In 

he aftermath of Universal's successful 

lindi-language release 

narket." 

r.a\ 

of "Jurassic Park," 

lowever, more companies are considering 

jcalized dubbing as a legitimate option. 

)oing Universal's strategy two better, 

luena Vista released the animated blockuster 

"Aladdin" this past December in offi.- 

ial Hindi, as well as two local languages 

amil and Tfelegu) and English. 

"I think everybody is kind ofhoning in on 

ndia now," concurs Gray. "If you do local 

lubbing you can get far more access to the 

Valenti, however, plays down Indian 

euphoria, citing piracy and profit remittance 

restrictions as persistent hindrances. 

"It is not the marketplace we hoped 

it would be ten years ago, " he says. 

"My own feeling is that we're 

doing better, we're able to remit 

more money. But there have 

been restrictions on us. It's something 

you constantly work at. 

There are no immediate wins or 

abrupt losses." 

Calling film piracy the MPAA's 

"You don 7 do business 

"single most high priority issue," 

Valenti stresses the need to not let 

Asian enthusiasm dampen efforts 

toward freer markets. Thanks in 

large part to the work of the Motion 

Picture Association or MPA 

(fonnerly tlie MPEAA or Motion 

Picture Export Association of 

America]— a subsidiary wing of 

the MPAA charged with managing 

worldwide anti-piracy efforts—five 

Asian nations (China, 

overnight in China, " says 

MPAA chiefJack Valenti. 

"You're dealing with 

enormous countries and 

very low income levels 

where there is no 

middle-class. They don't want to go to the 

dirty old Indian cinema. They want to go to 

bridit, n(n\'. shin\', well-equipped, digital 

Brilliant Chinese actress Gong Li. a frequent collaborater with 

Zhang Yimou, in Zhang's "To Live." 

India, 

Japan, Korea and Thailand) currendy rank 

among the United States Trade 

Representative's (USTR) top nine anti-piracy 

priorities. Korea, though still a piracy 

concern, is a noteworthy success story ffar 

the MPA, with piracy rates as high as 90 

percent (9 of any 10 videocassettes would 

iDe pirates) eight years ago brought down to 

below 20 percent today. Implementation of 

the Special 301 provision of the TVade Act of 

1974, which autliorizes die USTR to use 

has been the 

trade sanctions as leverage, 

primary and most effective tool, along with 

intense lobbying from the International Intellectual 

Property Alliance 

(IIPA), 

a coalition 

ofmore than 1500 

trade organizations including 

the MPAA and 

the American Film 

Marketing Association 

(AFMA). 

o: 

ne obstacle to 

successfial 

distribution 

that 

appears to be fading— 

albeit slowly— is the 

lack of quality theatres throughout the continent. 

"The Asian marketplace is inadequately 

screened," says Jimmy Sunshine, 

co-managing director of Cinema Expo International, 

whose inaugural CineAsia Convention 

will be held January 24-26. "The 

United States has a population of 250 million 

and we have approximately 23 to 24 

thousand screens. Japan has a population 

nearly half of the United States and they 

have just over 2000 screens." Noting that 

what pass for theatres in many areas of 

India are simply "rooms Viith a sheet on the 

wall," Sunshine points to the development 

of multiplexes throughout Asia as a major 

step toward helping foreign film companies 

set up shop. "Many of these burgeoning 

Asian-Pacific countries are coming into 

their owm as societies vîth a very large 

sound theatres." 

"TWo of the most challenging markets 

have been Korea and Japan, and that has 

mosfly to do with a shortage of first-run, 

high-quality cinemas," says Zoradi. As theatre 

development happens, those problems 

go away. There's simply too many good 

movies chasing too few screens." 

It's a point that has not been lost on the 

stiadios, almost all of whom are planning 

theatre development and distribution handin 

hand. Both Buena Vista and Warners are 

actively combining distribution plans with 

theatre development, as is the upstart 

Golden Village— a consortium of Hong 

Kong's Golden Harvest and Australian powerhouse 

Village Roadshow. Golden Village 

has taken an immediate lead in the region 

with a strategy of finding local partners and 

forming co-ventures to develop multiplexes. 

This strategy has panned out, with 

several 

multiplexes already completed in 

areas like Singapore and many more on the 

drawing board throughout Malaysia, Thailand 

and India. 

"In places like Singapore where we had 

40 theatres two years ago, you now have 140 

screens and up," notes Gray. "I 

think the 

re-screening of Asia is going to be the best 

thing to open up the market." Other companies 

looking to capitalize on Asian theatre 

expansion include the Paramount/Universal 

consortium United Cinemas International 

and United Artists Theatres, which 

currendy has two multiplexes under construction 

in Singapore. The one noteworthy 

holdout, ironically but not surprisingly, 

continues to be the PRC, which has yet to 

seriously address the issue of theatre development 

in tandem with studio self-distribution. 

Invariably, with China and other Asian 

nations expressing interest in joining the 

General Agreement on Tariffs and Tirade 

(GATT) and/ or the World lYade Organization 

(WTO), such rapid development has 

led some observers to question whether or 

not cultural protectionism may become a 

January, 1995 29

liindrance in Asia as it did recently in Europe. 

Surprisingly, the answer is a unani- 

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Response No. 267

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AMERICA GOtS 10 IfiEMOVIK of 539.95 

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CA residents add 53.30 sales tox. 

Name 

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Valid only with full signature of credit card holder

e limited to select markets, Gray still forecasts 

a more significant explosion ofproduction 

from Asia than others are v\Tlling to 

concede. "I tlnink Korean cinema is about 

ready to bust out," he says. "They are making 

some very good films. We're giving them 

a lot of advice on how to get into mainstream 

America, similar to vi'hat we did with 

the Chinese. In five years, I look to Vietnam 

to become a major supplier of films. Probably 

not so much to the general American 

public as to the Vietnamese markets in 

America, Australia and Europe." 

China, 

however, in spite of the critical 

acclaim heaped on Fifth Generation . 

directors like Zhang and Chen, does 

not rank highly on Gray's list of exportable 

industries. "The films by Zhang Yimou and 

Chen Kaige will continue to be released 

here, although they will be on more of an 

art circuit. I don't think we'll see tliat because 

the majors are working in China 

there's going to be an avalanche of Chinese 

films coming this way. The good stuff will 

definitely come over But the bad stuffs not 

going to get played, just like the bad American 

films aren't going to make it over 

there." 

The matter of co-productions is an even 

more unpredictable arena, and one in 

which the United States would appear to be 

way behind. One nation that has experienced 

notable success by nursing its colonial 

heritage in the region is France. Films 

successfully produced through French- 

Vietnamese cooperation include such acclaimed 

works as "The Lover," "Scent of the 

Green Papaya" and the Oscar-winning "Indochine." 

French-Cambodian co-production 

also yielded a well-received entry at 

last year's Cannes Film Festival in director 

Rithy Panh's "Rice People." 

But if the U.S. lags in approaching Asians 

for co-production, economic success in the 

region is almost certain to bring diem here. 

'"TVade bet^veen the U.S. and Asia is inevitable 

in the movie business," says Mun, 

whose company is among tlie first Korean 

entities to seek co-production ventures in 

the U.S. "It can't just be Asia buying from 

the U.S. all the time. The market will become 

more international with the flux of 

the independents and creative financing 

fi-om all over the world. Korea is one of the 

most competitive markets in the world, 

and that's why we're here in the U.S., to be 

involved with projects ft-om the gi'ound up. 

We want more financial involvement and 

more control. It's like any other international 

business. Everything is starting to 

merge." 

As the various Asian nations continue to 

develop at their respective paces, however, 

new challenges are sure to appear. The 

immediate consequences of the satellite 

and cable explosion are as yet unknown. 

Rosenfield notes that independents are 

having greater success with television than 

theatrical. Mun agrees, stating that the "direction 

in Korean and Japanese markets is 

with cable television, especially in Korea, 

'Tko of the most 

challenging markets have 

been Korea and Japan, and 

that has mostly to do with a 

shortage of high-quality 

cinemas," says Biiena 

Vista 's Mark Zoradi. 

where there were only three networks with 

limited air time. In January they'll have 20 

channels and the video market wiW drop. 

The market has already dropped 30 percent 

in Korea. In Japan, it decreased a long time 

ago. In the long run, hopefiilly, it will follow 

in the footsteps of the U.S., where the movies 

gradually came back. But it'll last awhile. 

It'll hurt." 

StUl, after all is said and done, is the Asian 

market really wortii the effort? "Grovrth is 

in the international marketplace, " says Sunshine, 

who points out that North America 

and Europe have all but reached capacity. 

"South Ainerica and Asia are where the 

giowth is. It's what's going to drive the 

industry in the fimire." 

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since 1908 

Distributed by Theatre Equipment Dealers everywhere 

Response No. 293 

_^,„ 

January, 1995 33

EXHIBITION PROFILE 

"Extending 

the 

PARADIGM:" 

Wood Dickinson on 

Living Up to a 75-Year 

Legacy of IVIidwestern 

Excellence at the 

Dickinson Theatres Circuit 

When 

Glen Dickinson Sr. 

sold the 

family tractor dealership in 1920 

and purchased his first theatre in 

Manhattan, Kansas, he had no way ofknowing 

that he had launched a family business 

tliat would span three generations and become 

one of tlie most successful family 

operated theatre circuits in the Midwest. 

At the time of his death in 1963— when 

company leadership was transferred to son 

Glen Jr— the elder Dickinson had witnessed 

and directed much ofhis company's 

expansion, including the construction of 

the company's flagship, the Glenwood Theatre. 

Tbday, with 149 screens in Kansas, 

Missouri and Oklahoma, the Dickinson 

name is a mainstay in the Midwestern exhibition 

industry. 

January 1995 marks the Dickinson Theatre 

chain's 75th anniversary, and, according 

to the founder's grandson and current 

Dickinson chairman and president, Wood 

Dickinson, the best is yet to come. In tact, 

1995 might go down in the family-owned 

chain's history as something of a benchmark 

year The chain will add another 25 

screens in 1995, including the much-anticipated 

WestGlen 1 2 Theatres in Shawnee, 

By Paula Hess 

Kansas. "It will be a really innovative theatre, 

even though it's a litde 12-plex," Dickinson 

says assuredly of the WestGlen 12. "We 

think what's inside the front doors is going 

to blow people away. It's going to be a new 

standard." 

Long before ground was broken for the 

WestGlen 12, Dickinson 

says, theatre layouts 

were scrutinized 

in search of major innovations 

that would 

push the arrangement 

of space, traffic control, 

mood design and 

auditorium design to 

tlie next level. 

"We've looked at everything 

from the 

front door to the back 

of the auditorium. We 

sent people across the 

country looking at theatres 

and brought all 

that infonnation back and didn't find iHiything 

diat totally blew us away. So I said, '1 

guess we'll just have to do it ourselves.'" 

DICKINSON THEATRES 

75th 

ANNIVERSARY 

Tliat independent 

philosophy 

is one the 

founding generations 

of Dickinsons would 

be proud to see thriv- 

ing in their 75-year old company-a company 

that, by exhibition's 100 year old standards, 

is something of a venerable elder 

statesman. Not only would they be dazzled 

by the SouthGlen 12 and the interiors of 

many of the other Dickinson theatres, but 

they would be impressed by a variety of 

other fonvard-looking 

projects die Dickinson 

circuit has in the 

works, including a 

joint venture widi die 

Kansas Cit^' 

Museum 

to build a special-designation 

Omni-max or 

a similar type dieatre. 

Wood Dickinson, 

42, who stepped in as 

c:ompany president in 

1992 after brother 

Kent resigned, attribut(\s 

the chain's tliree 

geiK'rations of success 

to the family's unswerving 

dedication to high-level entertainment 

facilities and customer satisfaction, 

and to the reputation lor honesty in business 

operations the Dickinson name has 

gathered to itself. "When my brother Kent 

was president, he focused on having firstclass, 

not second class, facilities. Yes it costs 

more, but it is appreciated. We've always 

been a coinpans thai bclicxcs in dc.din;.; 

34 BOXOFFICE

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CONGRATULATES 


in 

ON THEIR 

75 ANNIVERSARY

fairly with people, from vendors to patrons 

to financial partners. I think we have a good 

reputation as a company of integrity. When 

you have good solid principles, you survive, 

even through tough economic times, or 

changes of managerial style. I'm trying to 

advance things along that 

same line, but even deeper 

into the fabric of our company." 

Dickinson 

knew his 

grandfather, but says 

he wasn't old 

enough to leam about the 

exhibition business from 

tlie company's founder "I 

was just a little kid. Most of 

what I know about my 

grandfather comes from 

folks who knew him a lot 

better than me." Instead, 

Wood Dickinson says he 

learned by watching his father 

run the Dickinson Theatre 

chain. "He taught me 

that people are important and things aren't. 

We need to leam to lead people and manage 

things. We kind of got away from fliat for 

several years, where we were much more 

focused on efficiency without regard for the 

human element." 

In fact, Dickinson is aware enough of his 

father's management style to know he 

wants to emulate it as the Dickinson circuit 

closes in on the century mark. "I've kind of 

taken us back to the way my father used to 

think of things. I'm a big believer in people. 

That's probably the best thing my dad ever 

taught me, that and to be charitable." [Dickinson 

Theatres supports Kansas City's 

Ozanam Home for Boys, and established 

the Glen Dickinson Jr. Family Center, a 

homelike setting for family members visiting 

youngsters at the home.] 

As the child of a movie-loving household, 

Wood Dickinson says 

as a youth he saw "tons 

and tons" of films, in 

part because his father 

was the buyer for 

Dickinson Theatres. 

Initially, he thought 

his love of films would 

lead him along a different 

career path. "I always 

said that being 

president of this company 

was not one of 

my goals, " states Dickinson. 

"I wanted to get 

involved in die production 

side of movies, TV commercials or 

industrial videos. I did that for a while, but 

we decided it's a very volatile area. We 

[Dickinson Theatres] had a little company 

called Wood Dickinson Productions that 

produced TV commercials and industrial 

videos. It's a real tough business to be in, and 

after a couple ofyears, I decided to shut that 

down and focus on theatres. 

"I went through a little transition and 

worked with computers here in the office. 

At that time, a lot of us had no prior experience 

with desktop computers, so no one 

knew what they were doing. That was a real 

fascinating career move, because it kind of 

''We've always been a 

company that believes in 

dealing fairly with people. I 

think we have a good 

reputation as a company of 

integrity. When you have 

good solid principles, you 

survive, even through tough 

economic times, or changes 

of managerial style. " 

put you out in the frontier, 


75th 

ANNIVERSARY 

portant for us to focus on ever\' opportunir\' 

as a moment of truth. Something to make 

them think 'Wow! This place is a cut above.' 

"Hopefully moviegoers will experience a 

courteous attitude. A cashier, for instance. 

The second and third generation of this family-owned business are, 

left to right: Scott Dickinson. I'.p., Georgia Dickinson, chairman 

emeritus: and Wood Dickinson, president, chairman of the board. 

charting new 

territory." 

During that transition. Wood Dickinson 

uTote a Macintosh-based ticketing system. 

"We had that in several theatres for quite a 

few years, but it's since been replaced. I 

didn't have time to keep working on it and 

updating it," explains Dickinson. [T/ie Dickinson 

chain IS currently a beta test site for the 

B.E.A.T (Boxoffice Express Automated Ticketing) 

ticketing system, distiibuted by Schult Industries 

—Ed.] "I stuck with [computers] for 

about 10 years until Itent decided to resign. 

And then I got really involved with management. 

So when I tentatively stepped into the 

job, I said, 'Yeah, this could really be fian,' 

because basically being president of a company 

is learning to lead people and trying 

to bring out the best 

that people can be, and 

diat's sometliing I really 

enjoy." 

n trying to encourage 

people to become 

more 

I: 

self-managing and to 

supply quality management, 

continuous 

improvements and 

team concepts to his 

employees, Dickinson 

drafted a mission statement 

called Wow! Service. 

"We decided we would be dedicated to 

providing 'Wow!' service, die kind of service 

that would make patrons tinink, 'These people 

really do care about me, they are really 

trying to make a difference.' We know that 

in a lot of cases the patrons come in, they 

hit the boxoffice and then they are in die 

who maybe able to provide information on 

a show, what it is rated, why it is rated that 

way. It's hard to do that with evers' transaction, 

especially when there's a line, but 

that's what we aspire to." 

The theatre chain currently has approximately 

900 to 1,000 employees (increased 

to 2,000 during the summer months), and 

Dickinson's executive roster includes Wood 

Dickinson's mother, Georgia Dickinson as 

chairman emeritus; brotlier Scott Dickinson 

as \'ice president; and wife Patti Dickinson, 

vice president of communit\' relations. 

There could be other Dickinsons waiting in 

the wings— Patti and Wood Dickinson are 

the parents of seven children, all under the 

theatre sitting down. We don't have time to 

interact with them, so it becomes real im- 

age of 13. 

Dickinson admits thai he's uncertain 

las to whether patrons at the concession 

stand or lire ticket coimter can 

tell that the theatre is a famUy-nm business. 

But one of the reasons die chain recruited 

all-around cartoon good guy Popeye ("I am 

what I am") to be the company representative 

was to personalize \'isits to the theatre. 

"This isn't corporate America out here, running 

diis company," he says of his desire to 

keep expansion from eroding Dickinson's 

commitment to die personal touch. 

In laying the foundation for continued 

success, Dickinson believes his company's 

longevitj' continues to be linked to acting 

upon what patrons say tiiey like in a theatre. 

"Comfort is one of the top two or three 

things that patrons say is important to them, 

so we want to gi\-e tliem a comfortable seat. 

The\' come in and walk tlirough \-oin- million

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THiAfliS 

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Irwin 

Seating 

Company 

EO. Box 2429, Grand Rapids, MI 49501 

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^ScJ- DICKINSON 

^THEATRES 

On 75 YEARS Of 

Motion Picture Exhibition 

FILMACR STUDIOS 

Proudly Producing Quality 

Film Trailers Since 1919 For 

DICKINSON THEATRES, 

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And Independent Theatres 

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11-800-345-6225)

is that a major change is brewing. "It's a very 

mature business now. There's a major 

change out there that's getting ready to take 

place. No one has really seen it, but I tliink 

we are going to have to do more than just 

extend the current paradigm of adding 

more screens. We are looking into a lot of 

alternate uses for these theatres, and for 

what we are doing as a business." 

Extending the paradigm is what Dickinson 

Theatres did when it recently opened 

its first full-line gift shop at its SouthGlen 12 

location. "It's an expeilment to see what else 

theatres should be doing besides showing 

movies," states Dickinson. 

Moviegoers appear 

to like browsing 

before and after the 

movies, but Dickinson 

says he was surprised 

by sales. Expecting to 

sell nickel and dime 

items, Dickinson says 

larger, big-ticket items, 

like tlie store's supply of decorative stuffed 

Lion Kings, have been selling unexpectedly 

well. "A fellow walked in the first night and 

bought one— a $150 item— and he said 

'you're going to 

Glen Dickinson. Sr and Jr. would undoubtedly be pleased and proud to know 

their name appears over lush, state-ol-the-art facilities like the SouthGlen 12. 

''We are going to show people auditorium 

sound and sizes that are unlike anything 

they 've seen in Kansas City!, " exults 

sell tons of these.' 

We listen to our 

customers! " 

laughs Dickinson, 

"so he's telling us 

sometliing that is 

probably going to 

be true. We are on 

a learning curve 

native-son Wood Dickinson. 

they want: big auditoriums, big screens, 

spacious seating, good sound, clean and safe 

facilities. "When we designed 'ivhat's going 

to be our WestGlen 1 2, we could have made 

it 1 4 or 1 6 screens," Dickinson says, illustrating 

the types of choices the circuit currently 

makes. "The building size is approximately 

60,000 square feet—but we went with 12 

screens, which maybe limits our ability to 

show as manv titles as we might want." 


with tliis." 

As 

the chain 

places its 

energies on 

additional venues, 

Dickinson says 

the company is attentive 

to what the 

moviegoers say 

75. 

ANNIVERSARY 

I,n January of 1920, two exhibition 

pioneers from the great 

state of Kansas saw the future of 

a mighty industry and put down 

roots that are still flourishing to 

this day. One, named Ben 

Shlyen, was based in Kansas 

City, 

where in that month he 

pubhshed his first edition of The 

Reel Journal, a periodical which 

evolved into BOXOFFICE 

MAGAZINE. The other was 

Glen Dickinson, Sr., whose 

Dickinson Theatre Circuit continues 

to be a mighty, familyowned 

Midwestern institution, 

75 years after the fact. 

To Wood, Georgia, Scott, and 

Patti, and all the members of the 

extended Dickinson family, a 

heartfelt congratulations on the 

continuing success of a 75 year 

old dream. May we do as well 

with Ben Shlyen's legacy as you 

have with Glen Dickinson's. 

Sincerely, your friends at 

38 BOXOFFICE

! 

Congratulations 

From All Your Friends At 

Buena Vista Pictures 

Distribution 

Disney 

Best wishes to 

Dickinson Theatres 

on your 

75th Anniversary 

Thanks for the Privilege 

of Building these 

Beautiful Theatres: 

Leavenworth-Plaza Cinema 6 

Leavenworth, KS 

WestGlen-12 

Shawnee, KS 

FUnthills 8 

Emporia, KS 

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" 

But the upside of a lower screen count 

was iiTesistible to the man who runs the 

Kansas-based house tliat Glen Dickinson 

built: "We are going to show people auditorium 

sound and sizes that are unlike anything 

they've seen in Kansas City!" 

Dickinson exults. "As we go into the fiiture— 

as film product is distributed on a wider 

basis and everyone screens the same films 

on the same date, and there are no clearances 

anymore— I think people are going to 

be looking at the facility. They can see the 

film anywhere in town, it's the best movie 

out, but we are hoping they are going to 

want to come to our theatres because they 

are much nicer" 

While its hard for even the most seasoned 

exhibitor to predict where the current boom 

moviegoing market is headed, Dickinson 

seems extremely confident that, whatever 

changes are in store from such such futuristic 

trends as the rise of the megaplex and 

the convergence between interactive gaming 

technologies and theatrical exhibition, 

exhibitors can weather the storm. Dickinson 

remembers the slump the industry 

went through, when the quality of movies 

declined and people stopped going to theatres. 

Then the VCR came along, and instead 

ofbeing the death knell for the industry, like 

many had feared, Dickinson says, "The 

VCR made people movie aware. The fact is 


75th 

ANNIVERSARY 

"I've kind of taken us back 

to the way my father [Glen 

Dickinson, Jr.] used to 

think of things. Fm a big 

believer in people. That's 

probably the best thing 

my dad ever taught 

me, that and to be 

charitable. 

the quality of movies has improved and the 

market has expanded and people are demanding 

better fOms. That has certainly 

helped us: They don't want to wait tor it to 

come out on video, or even the dollar 

houses. They want to see it in first-run 

houses, in its pristine condition." 

WiflT the quality of films up, and other 

supply-side industry factors out of his control, 

Dickinson says it all comes back to 

customer service— the prioritj' his father 

and grandfather have handed dowTi to him 

across 75 years, and hundreds of thousands 

of darkened hours in Dickinson auditoriums, 

bringing movies to the American public. 

"We are working real hard on the people 

part of what we are doing, putting people 

first. We know the competition is coming, 

tlie big theatre chains are getting bigger, and 

foreign competition could easily come into 

the United States. So we are working real 

hard at making ourselves the best that we 

can be, and hopefully one of the best diat 

there is. We are taking a wider look at our 

options than we have in the past. It makes 

for more exciting—but also more nervoustimes. 

We are trying to make sound decisions, 

based on sound data, to strip the 

emotion out of it and work as a team...! 

think as long as we keep doing that, we'll 

stay in there and keep going." 

From the 

3:hu/P< family to the Dickinson family ... 

1* I . 

> 



on 75 years of longevity. 

Thank you for allowing

%PICTURES INC, 

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Best wishes 

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HAPPY 75 

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a 

DICKINSON 

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- We 

' 

SPEAK OU/T! 

Dear Exhibitor: 

With this issue, we introduce 

what we hope will be a regular feature 

in which average readers 

sound off about ideas tliat occur to 

them as they go about the business 

of doing business. Think of "From 

Wfiere I Sit" as an open forum for 

the free exchange of ideas, where 

people who aren't necessarily specialists 

get to speak their minds— 

people like our featured writer, 

Rusty Gordon, and people just like 

you. 

Some ground rules forprospective 

columnists: As with all our editorial 

content, we would discourage you 

from writing self-promotional material 

(i.e., an article touting your 

product or service) since we could 

not, in good conscience, publish 

such a piece. Instead, we want you 

to reach beyond your specialized 

interest, to the broader canvas of 

the large and small-scale issues exhibitors 

grapple with everyday. 

Think of this as a space where you 

can bounce a brilliant new idea off 

an audience ofyour peers, or gripe 

about something you've had on 

your mind for a long time. Ifwe can 

make "From Where I Sit" into the 

kind of creative forum we're aiming 

for, almost anyone among out* 

readership should be able to find it 

a suitable medium for creative expression. 

freely admit that, in the event 

ofan overabundance of responses, 

BOXOFFICE intends to be biased 

in awarding editorial space to people 

who are out in the trenches as 

independent exhibitors. The big 

guys and the companies who sell to 

them are already a continuing 

source of news in these pages. > 

"From Where I Sit" hopes to become 

a voice for the men and women in 

the small neighborhood circuits all 

over America who are still the backbone 

of this industry. 

Send your prospective column of 

1,000 words or less along with a 

reproduceable, passport-quality 

black-and-white photograph to 

"FROM WHERE I SIT," c/o 

BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE, 6640 

SUNSET BLVD., SUITE 100, HOL- 

LYWOOD, CA. 90028. Speak up! 

Tlie world is listening! 

—Ray Greene, Editor-in-Chief 

Introducing, 

"FROM WHERE I SIT..." 

This 

A Forum For Readers Just Like You 

SOUND 

FORMAT 

DEBATE? 

WHAT ABOUT 

THE PICTURE? 

By Rusty Gordon, 

Franklin Cinema, Franklin, Tennessee 

year's hottest debate among exhilîtors 

is which digital sound format 

will survive and who will be left 

holding all the S-li-acks and Betamax machines. 

Let's see, there's DTS, Dolby Stereo 

Digital and Sony Dynamic Digital 

Sound. Did I leave anybody out? Chances 

are there are more on the horizon. Luckily, 

some prints are ready for them, with 

digital data bits and timecodes stamped 

any place left unprinted 

on the 

film. Funny we 

could never get 

anyone to print 

ftame line marks 

all 

these years to 

simplify building 

up reels ending 

with the lens cap 

on. 

This whole digital 

debate is 

somewhat moot 

because, as you 

know, the picture 

is still analog. If 

the old adage "A 

I'icture Speaks a 

I' h o u s a n d 

The fact of the 

matter is that a 

great picture is 

rarely boasted 

about in a 

newspaper ad and 

digital sound 

always is. 

Words," W(î'c to apply to motion pictures, 

the averagi! Him— without sound mind 

you — would speak over \\)2 million 

words. This is far more dialogue than can 

be delivered by sound in six reels, 

whedier digital or analog, but few people 

are truly addressing the picture as an 

important part of the moviegoing experience. 

I recently visited some theatres boasting 

digital soimd and took some notes. 

While the sound \vas impressive in eveiy 

instance, veiy basic elements of the presentation 

were 

still less than adequate. 

I mean, 

•^vhat's the point 

of high-tech 

sound if die picture 

is too dim, 

the screen is 

dirt>', the picture 

isn't focused 

edge to edge, the 

shutter has a 

trailing ghost, the 

apertuiTe plate is 

full of crud, the 

picture bleeds 

too far off onto 

the masking or 

the picture is unsteady? 

The fact 

of the matter is that a great picture is 

rarely bo.isted about in a newspaper ad 

.md digii.il sound ahvmis is. 

44 BOXOFFICE

lb pick apart the picture problem and 

solve it you must examine some of the 

causes. The blame must rest on the standards 

or lack thereof we have set for film 

presentation. I mean, how can we even 

fathom deciding which digital audio format 

to embrace when we haven't been 

able to standardize the image? After all, 

our business is 

motion pictures. 

What does "Wide 

Screen" mean? 

Does it mean everything 

except 

1.33:1 format ratios? 

Does it mean 

1 .85? Does it mean 

2.35? Does it mean 

everything from 

1.66 to 2.35? Films 

coming out in the 

past year have been 

seen in all of these 

formats. Why can't 

we decide which 

film/screen ratio 

format to adopt, 

and stick to one and 

only one? If every 

film was in Cinemascope 

or every film was "flat," 

wouldn't we all do that one format better? 

Not to denigrate CinemaScope, but I 

believe in the wrong hands it can be the 

cruelest joke ever played on an exhibitor 

While it's a great idea in theory, let's look 

at its basic flaws. First, it requires special 

lenses to "decode" a compressed image. 

Few theatres actually show Cinemascope 

with perfect focus and "slant" 

because astigmatism adjustments are 

hard to make, not to mention subjective 

to the eyesight ofthe engineer, and lenses 

get "bumped" from alignment too easily. 

Second, theatres today are smaller and 

more compact. A good number of circuits 

have adopted flat as their flagship format 

and provide work-arounds for 'Scope. For 

instance, most new masking installations 

are of the uppie/downie design rather 

than the innie/outie variety. Third, mixing 

presentations with flat trailers and 

'Scope features is not only archaic, it's 

often a nightmare. If you've got one of 

those uppie/downies this means your 

trailers run on a bigger screen than your 

feature! Lenses must be matched precisely 

and timing must be perfect. 

Last but not the least of what 'Scope has 

to offer is the impossibility of duplicating 

the format nicely on the television screen. 

On the bright side, it's a perpetual reminder 

to video renters why they should be seeing 

movies in a theatre. Of course, many ofyou 

are using 'Scope lenses which "squeeze" the 

image a bit or "crop" the image too much to 

accomodate those "one screen fits all" auditoriums, 

yet I see no one advertising that the 

Many are using 

lenses which 

"squeeze" the 

feature is being presented in Super- 

Cramarama or Mini-ma-Scope. 

Flat isn't perfect. There are many reasons 

'Scope should be embraced and 

adopted instead. For one thing, the flat 

image is enlarged more, creating larger 

grain and a dimmer picture. If you don't 

believe me, check the difference with a 

light meter Ifyou 

don't have one, 

just check the 

image, yet I see 

no one 

advertising that 

the feature is 

presented in 

SuperCramarama 

or l\/lini-ma-Scope. 

focal length of 

your prime lens 

on the 'Scope lens 

vs. your flat lens. 

If they're the 

same, then you're 

compromising. If 

you are indeed 

blowing up the 

flat image more, 

you're also exaggerating 

your 

weave and jump. 

You'll also notice 

that your aperture 

plates bleed 

more onto your 

masking when 

cut enough to 

avoid shadow. Flat does have its benefits. 

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you 

get), the popular computer terminology, 

applies to the image on a flat print. They 

are easier to focus and easier to add trailers 

and snipes to. 

For all 

of their merits and tiieir down 

sides, flat vs. 'Scope seems now to be a 

non-issue. We rarely know in advance of 

opening the film cans which fomiat a film 

will be [Unless we subscnbe to Boxoffice 

and read the feature ehans-Ed.]. Theatres 

are equipped for both. Wliy does it matter? 

Would we be better off with one or 

the other? Should we start debating digital 

sound when we can't even choose a picture 

format? These are all questions we 

must ask today, before we spend a formne 

equipping for any eventtiality. Does 

the audience recognize the difference 

between flat and 'Scope? Do they recognize 

the difference between analog and 

digital stereo, for that matter? The sad 

fact is that most do not. 

Exhibitors must recognize these facts 

and choose. We must ask producers to 

give us the picture and sound formats we 

want for the next 100 years. By doing so, 

we can design better theatres in the fi;- 

ttire and have unifomily better picture 

quality tiiroughout the industiy. 

Rusty Cordon is owner and operator of 

the Franklin Cinema in Franklin, Tknn, 

arid the creator ofSensible Cirtema Point-of- 

Sale, a sharavare tieketirig sofhoare program. 

CHANGE 

THE WORLD 

ONE 

AT A TIME. 

Some four-year-olds have 

never eaten a salad. Or an 

apple. Or a fresh vegetable. 

That's one of the reasons 

there's Head Start. We give 

low-income preschool children 

what other children already 

have. The chance to grow up 

healthy. And happy. 

But we need 

volunteers. 

health care 

Especially nutritionists 

like you. Come show 

a child what strong bodies are 

made of. Because if you 

change the world of a 

you change the world. 

Call 

child, 

1-800-27-START for a 

brochure on volunteer opportunities 

with Head Start. 

m- HEAD START 

f»\i| Tfiii PuDiicaiiof 

Response No, 1 16 

January, 1995 45

A new series of full size cinema speakers 

are now available trom SMART Theatre Systems. 

The product line includes two models 

featuring twin 15" high power woofers and 

two models that include a single woofer when 

used in smaller auditoriums. Either model can 

be mated at 90 degree by 40 degree high

. 

NEW PRODUCTS 

Monaurally recorded film and tape tracks 

can now be converted into stereo with surround 

via the Chace Surround Stereo Processor 

by Chace. Unlil

Priority Communications is offering the 

Electro-VoiceFR10-2B, a compact, two-way 

high-efficiency speaker system primarily intended 

for surround sound applications in 

TL880D, a dual-radiating vented design subsub-woofer 

providing high efficiency, low 

distortion and low-frequency performance. It 

utilizes two long-throw EVX-180A loudspeakers 

and is specifically designed to meet 

the demands of digital cinema sound. 

Response Number 307 

The Frtizier Division of Sound-Craft Systems 

announces improved performance in 

their CAT 60 line of loudspeakers. Sensitivity 

has been increased to 98 dbAV/M, up 2 db 

from previous CAT 60s, and power handling 

has been uprated to 450 watts continuous 

premium cinemas. With its Super-Dome 

high-frequency driver and professional-grade 

woofer, it is designed to handle the rigors of 

digital sound. Also available from f^riority 

Communications is the Electro-Voice 

Sound Associates, a Broadway sound company 

and manufacturers of the Infrared Listening 

System 500, announce the addition of the 

new System 600— a two channel infrared 

listening system that will be available in the 

spring of 1995. This new product will give 

theatres and movie houses the ability to provide 

for the hearing impaired on one channel 

and for the sight impaired, using voice transcription 

on the other channel while maintaining 

the clarity that is crucial to those with 

hearing impairments. This two channel system 

can also be used for simultaneous interpretations 

which will benefit courtrooms and 

business conferences on all levels. For more 

information, contact Adrienne Davis or Mark 

Annunziato at Sound Associates, 424 W. 45th 

St., New York, N.Y. 10036, or call (212) 

757-5679 or fax (212) 265-1 250. 


pink noise from 250 watts. These upgraded 

features have been incorporated into both the 

CAT 69 (90 X 50 coverage) and the CAT 66 

(60 X 45 coverage). The improved loudspeakers 

are already in production; new data sheets 

detailing performance are available from 

Frazier. For more information, call (800) 643- 

8747 or (501) 727-5543. 


Affordable ADA* Compliance 

Tone Boost 

Volume and 

Balance Control 

One-Touch 

Screen Selection 

Recliargable 

Batteries 

Completely 

Kxpandable 

Transmits Up 

to 200 Feet 

FM Broadciust 

ADA compliant, the Chaparral TH50 

' 

Personal Stereo 

Listener System, gives your theater the competitive edge. 

Designed for single or multiplex movie theaters, tlie TliSO's 

EquaTone' ' 

technology allows yoiu- patrons to customize 

tone boost, volume and balance to their individual needs. 

• Americans wiih Disabilities Act 

OI994, Chaparral CommunicationN, Iik- 

TH50 and Rquuioni-- are iraclcmarks of Chaparral CoinmiinitaiionN, Irn 

The niSO is especially dv!>i}{nec1 for ihe hearlnji impaired. Paieni I'endinH 

Call 

1 800 435-7253 lor intormalion and 

CHAPARRAL 

COMMUNICATIONS 

brochure. FAX inquiries to (4()8) 43S-1420. 

2450 North First St., San Jose, CA 95131 


48 BOXOFFICE

. 

Cardinal Sound and Motion Picture Systems, 

Inc. is now offering the Model 506T 

upgrade board for the Dolby model CP-50 

cinema processor. This new product allows 

the Dolby CP-50 cinema processor to directly 

connect to both Dolby and DTS digital processors 

ineitherthe4.1 orS.l (6-track) digital 

formats without the need of calibration or 

additional adapters. The 506T also has a 

summed hearing assistive output. For more 

information, write to Cardinal Sound & Motion 

Picture Systems, Inc., 10219 Southard 

Dr., Beltsville,MD 20705. The phone number 

is (301) 595-8811; the fax number is (301) 

595-5985. 


LPB announces the Chatterbox, a new low 

power FM Stereo transmitter that will allow 

theatre owners to provide ADA audio to their 

patrons without the worry of high replacement 

costs for receivers. Unlike common 

ADA systems, which broadcast outside the 

FM band and cannot be heard with conventional 

receivers, the Chatterbox operates between 

88-108 MHz (the standard FM band). 

As a result any patron with a pocket radio can 

listen to the theatre sounds and the theatre has 

$20-$30 replacement costs rather than $1 50 

or more per receiver. The Chatterbox is only 

Rane Corporation introduces the MA 6S Multichannel Amplifier, an improved version 

of the Rane MA 6. The MA 6S supplies six independent amplifiers in one 3 space (5-l/2"H) 

rack mount unit. Each channel delivers 1 00 watts RMS into an 8 ohm load and adjacent 

pairs of channels can be bridged to provide 300 watts into an 8 ohm load. New features 

include individual jumper-selctable 80Hz high-pass filters on each channel, and an 

improved voltage-controlled circuit which increases transient recovery speed without 

clipping or distortion. Rane is also offering the new SSA 6 Surround Sound Amplifier, for 

the home theatre market, and the SSE 35 Home Theatre Equalizer/Crossover, a product 

to bridge the gap between systems optimized for movies and music. Info: Ellen Allhands 

at Rane Corp., (206) 355-6000; or J. Jorgenson, Smith )orgenson & Assoc, (714) 459-7141 


MOVE YOUR DIGITAL PLAYER THIS EASILY 

]UST ROLL THE PLAYER UP, AND PLUG IT IN 

WITH THE DIGITAL INTERFACE KIT 

%\' II 

"ff^rt _•*»*' 

ODYSSEY PRODUCTS 

5644 BALDWIN COURT NORCROSS, GEORGIA 30071 

PHONE (404) 448-4873 FAX (404) 449-1087 


January, 1995 49

a tew ounces in weight and 3x5x1 inches 

in dimensions. It can be velcroed to the rear 

wall of a theatre and fed audio from the 

projection room. Stereo and mono compatible 

with user selection frequency anywhere 

in the standard FM broadcast band. Each 

Chatterbox includes a rotate and telescope 

antenna, and an AC Power Adapter. The Chatterbox 

will also run on solar and battery 

power for outdoor use in parking areas. 


Brejtfus Theatre Environments introduces 

Acoustical Columns as a way to decorate 

theatre auditoriums while providing quality 

sound. The fiberglass half-rounds are available 

in 6" and 2" 1 widths, covered with a layer 

of polyfoam, and wrapped in a choice of over 

50 colors or variety of patterned fabrics. The 

columns absorb sound while creating a visual 

break on a wall covered in panels or curtains, 

and can hide speakers or support beams in the 

shell. Further information is available by writing 

Brejtfus Enterprises, Inc., 410 Madison 

Dr., Suite 1 , Tempe, AZ 85281 , or by calling 

Michael Regan at (800) 264-9190. The fax 

number is (602) 731-9469. 


Apogee Sound, Inc. introduces its new 

THX Motion Picture Theatre System, Model 

MPTS-1. Designed by the THX division of 

LucasArts, the MPTS-1 is the THX system 

specially intended for post production 

mixdown facilities, dubbing stages, professional 

screening rooms and small-to-medium-sized 

cinemas. Requires only 1 8 inches 

of depth to install, making it ideal for environments 

which require close-up listening, with 

enough power for dramatic impact in theatresize 

venues. For additional info, contact Bob 

Skye at Apogee Sound Inc., (707) 778-8887, 


^.

SOUND NEW PRODUCTS GUIDE 

native tongue. Info: Dave Millard at (205) 

733-0500 or Chip Stewart at (404) 81 6-2037. 


Total Audio has rolled out its Cinema Concept 

Series theatre speakers. Info: Total 

Audio at 3006 Strong, P.O. Box 6406, Kansas 

DO YOU HAVE A NEW PRODUCT 

OR SERVICE OF SPECIAL 

INTEREST TO EXHIBITORS? 

NEW PRODUCTS LISTINGS CAN 

BE A VALUABLE TOOL FOR 

GETTING THE WORD OUT. YOUR 

FREE LISTING IS TRACKED LIKE 

AN AD FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE. 

RUSH A DESCRIPTION OF YOUR 

PRODUCT OR SERVICE PLUS A 

BLACK-AND-WHITE PHOTO TO: 

Simiens introduces two medium area infrared 

assistive listening devices for ADA compliance. 

Small, cost-effective Sennheiser 

transmitters. Easy to install; little or no maintenance. 

Also the Audiolink Set 100, lightweight, 

self-contained Sennheiser headset. 


:-:^ 

City, KS. 66 1 06, or call (9 1 3) 362-3762. FAX: 

(913)287-0763. 


NEW PRODUCTS DESK 

c/o BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE 

6640 SUNSET BLVD. 

SUITE 100 

HOLLYWOOD, CA. 90028 

BY FAX: (213)465-5049. 

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? 

•/7l©^/f)©'^/dE>-/liE>>/lte^/li©*'Ê^/!j^/!fe^ 

onaxal 

Dunes Cinema § 

(Carmike) Myrtle Beach, S.C. 

Snellville€aks14 

(Storey Theatres)Snellville, CA 

:Lon±: f 

Virsinia Center Cinema 14 

(Regal Cinemas) Glen Allen, VA 

/Vicnmcuth Mali Theatre 

(SONY) Eatonton, N.J. 

ii 

enthe 

Cpenina 

€f ycur New 

Cinema 

Complex 

\xe\9 

Le^ u* 

Ue^'^' 

,A^N* 

oO

Special Report: 

SDDS: THE THIRD COMING 

OF DIGITAL SOUND 

Bv John F. Allen 

the three major digital sound systetiis now in use, Sony Dy- 

Digital Sound is the newest. Many— myself included— 

Ofnamic 

thought Sony's long delay in bringing its system to market would 

hurt its prospects, but this $40-billion company is off to an impressive 

start. Both in technology and marketing, SDDS has rapidly reached 

a prominent position; installation commitments luive swpassed2,500 

theatres and a givwing number offilms are available in thefoimat. 

From 

the beginning, 

SDDS was conceived 

by film mixers and post-production 

engineers at Sony Studios as 

the kind of premium sound recording format 

tiiat they would ideally like to use for 

motion pictures. Led by post-production executive 

vice president Michael J. Kohut, 

Sony's design team wanted to develop an 

eight-channel format that would revive tlie 

practice of using five full-range speakers 

behind the screen (left, leff-center, center, 

right-center and right). 

Since this app-oach was announced, 

there has been considerable controversy 

about the true benefits of five screen channels 

versus the more common three fleff, 

center and riglit). 

Tliroughout 

these discussions and in the face 

of much skepticism, Sony has 

never wavered in its desire to 

regain the qualities five screen 

channels brought to 70-mm presentations 

prior to 1977 

Since that era, subwoofer and 

stereo surround channels have 

been substituted for tire left-center 

and right-center channels, 

leaving only three ftill-range 

screen speakers. Sony's engineers, 

however, wanted to have 

it all. By adding the stereo surround 

and subwoofer channels 

to five ftill-range screen channels, 

a new eight-channel format 

was bom. 

Originally, five channels were 

used in large 70-mm theatres 

with screen widths that often exceeded 50 

feet. Because few contemporary screens are 

this wide, some in the industry have questioned 

the useflilness of five speakers behind 

these smaller screens. As it turns out, 

this concern has been prcmatun^ and misplaced. 

More on this later 

til addition to eiglit channels, otlier SDDS 

design goals were: placing all the digital 

information on the film, a high degree of 

data redundancy, ftiU on-board digital processing 

for the equalization and fader control 

stages, and a "minimum" of digital audio 

compression. After several years of work, a 

few false starts (digital sound on film isn't 

easy) and an investment of about S20 million, 

SDDS lis here and worth listening to. 

DIGITAL COMPRESSION 

Ever since Sony and Philips pioneered 

tire digital compact disc, virmally everyone 

has become spoiled by CD's qualities of low 

Thie SDDS DFP-2000 digital film piayback system. 

noise, low distortion and total absence of 

wow, flutter clicks and pops. 

Professional digital recording is always 

accomplished with a "linear" system, in 

which all digital data is recorded, stored and 

used for playback. Each second of sound is 

divided into a number of samples. Professional 

recorders use a sampling rate of 

48,000 per second, while CDs use a sampling 

rate of 44,100 per second. 

All of these samples are equal in time; 

each is measured and stored as a "word" of 

ones and zeros. The number of bits in this 

word determines the dynamic-range capacity 

of the recording. Compact discs use a 

16-bit system for a theoretical d\Tiamic 

range of 96 dB. Eighteen-bit systems have a 

theoretical dynamic range of 108 dB, and 

20-bit systems of 120 dB. 

Sony's SDDS system is an eiglit-channel, 

20-bit system with an initial sampling rate 

of 44,100 Hz. Each of flie eight channels is 

a fttU-frequency bandv\ndth channel. In 

oilier words, even the information 

for the subwoofer is recorded 

on a full-range channel, 

raflier than on one limited to 200 

Hz or so. 

Eight 20-bit, 44,100-Hz samples 

represents a staggering 

7, 056, 000 bits of information per 

second. Tliat figure divides into 

294,000 bits per each frame of a 

motion-pictiire film running at 

24 ft'ames per second. By wa>' of 

comparison, diis is five times 

tlie data stored on a CD and far 

too much information to be reliably 

printed and read ft-om a 

release print. 

In order to store digital 

soundtracks on motion-pictim" 

prints, therefore, one must carefully 

find a way to balance (1) 

the amount of data that can be reliably 

printed and retrieved from tlie film \s'ith (2) 

a compressed or reduced data recording 

that can be reconstructed upon playback to 

sound as much like the original as possible. 

Ideally, 

there should be no audible dity

ATRAC 

Sony's digital audio compression scheme 

is called Adaptive TVansform Acoustic Coding, 

or ATRAC. First introduced in Sony's 

mini-disc consumer products, ATRAC processing 

begins after the audio infonnation 

has been completely converted to digital in 

its linear form. ATRAC's task is 

mathematically represent the digital 

data in a form with 80 percent 

fewer bits. Employing non-uniform 

algorithms, the sound samples 

are first split into three bands 

and then analyzed for frequency 

content, amplitude and time. 

to 

If a 

quiet sound is close enough in frequency 

to a louder one, ATRAC 

calculates whether the quieter 

sound would be audible. If it would 

be masked, the ATRAC system will 

discard the inaudible sound, reducing 

the data required to store fliat 

moment of audio. Further data reduction 

is made possible by evaluating 

the amount of time various 

sounds persist. A background wind 

noise, for example, changes very 

little over time and so it can be 

allotted relatively fewer data bits. A 

short-duration event like a gunshot is allocated 

lots ofbits due to the rapidly changing 

nature of this kind of sound. 

These and other combined operations 

result in a five-to-one compression ratio. 

Where one second of digital audio once 

required 7,056,000 bits, it is now stored with 

about 1,411,200 bits. The SDDS soundtrack 

has a capacity of 2,460,000 bits per second, 

so there is plenty of capacity left to store 

redundant digital audio, synchronization 

and error-correction information. 

"Sony 's team wanted to 

develop an eight-channel 

format that revived the 

practice of using five 

full-range speakers 

behind the screen. 

The consumer version ofATRAC has not 

been entirely well received. Indeed, the 

mini-disc demonstrations I've witnessed 

have been disappointing; the compressed 

digital recordings displayed rather obvious 

sound colorations. (Sony acknowledges that 

this is the case.) In another test, a low-level 

signal was applied to only one channel. The 

mini-disc's 

very audible noise that alternated between 

channels, a most bizarre effect. Tliough 

" 

ATRAC processor generated a 

these effects maybe unimportant in the less 

critical consumer applications for which tire 

mini-discs are intended, such effects are 

hardly acceptable for a professional system. 

Sony has insisted all along that its SDDS 

ATRAC system is free of these artifacts, and 

it does seem to be superior in every way to 

the consumer version. None of the SDDS 

presentations I've heard has revealed any 

similar problems, so it's important to distinguish 

between the versions of ATRAC lest 

anyone be confused by consumer reviews. 

Warner Bros, benefited from the boxoffice success of "Interview witli 

the Vampire. " but It was Sony that profited on the digital-sound side: 

The film, which was played in the SDDS format on 80 screens for its 

November debut, was the first non-Sony movie to employ SDDS. 

SOUND ON FILM 

SDDS stores digital infonnation on both 

sides of the film, at the outer edges beyond 

the perforations. The size of each available 

bit is 24 by 24 microns; printing exclusively 

in the film's cyan layer provides the sharpest 

resolution. The fracks are designated "P" 

for the track on die picture side and "S" for 

the track on the soundti"ack side. (SDDS 

prints also carry the normal stereo analog 

optical soundfracks.) 

The "P" and "S" fracks are not synchronized 

with each other Although 

the "S" frack is synchronized with its 

associated picture frame, the audio on 

the 'T" track is placed 17.8 frames 

ahead of the pictiire. When data corniption 

occurs, recovery is greatiy facilitated 

by the fact that some 

redundant information is available 

from a location 1 7.8 frames away, well 

ahead of die problem area. This 

also means that, when major 

trouble witii the digital data occurs, 

ratlier tiian switching to the 

analog soundfrack the SDDS system 

first defaults to its own digital backup 

data. Most errors are handled with II 

stages of Reed-Solomon error correction, 

including the redundant data 

fliat was read and stored 17.8 frames 

earlier Under more severe conditions, 

all the channels designated for 

the left side of tlie theatre can be summed 

and played as a group through tlie left-side 

speakers; flie same is tinae of tlie right-side 

channels. Tliis level of digital error correction 

is called digital concealment. The analog 

track is used, then, only as a last resort 

after two digital backup modes. 

THE PROCESSOR PACKAGE 

The SDDS theatre package consists of the 

a dual-camera penthouse 

processor itself, 

reader and a finished multi-conductor control/video 

cable. The penthouse installation 

is sfraightforward, utilizing adapter plates 

for the various projectors. Tlie dual-camera 

reader is adaptive and self-calibrating. 

The light source is updated 

with an array of 12 red light-emitting 

diodes (LEDs) configured in an 

aiTay four diodes across and three 

high. Wlien the light is focused on 

he SDDS soundfracks, the cam- 

I as see only the cyan-colored digtal 

data. The LEDs are pulsed at a 

rate controlled by the speed of the 

film as it's pulled through the 

reader's sprocket. That speed is 

also used to set the clock rate of the 

anything. Plus, 

entire SDDS digital decoding chain. 

An added feature, the LEDs are 

off when there's no film movement, 

ensuring their already long 

life expectancy of 10,000 hours is 

used entirely for digital data recovery. 

Using such a large diode array 

provides more than enough light 

for the cameras without pushing 

the increased diffiision of 

this oversized light source has increased the 

reader's immunity to film scratches. All this 

greatly improves the accuracy ofdata acquisition, 

reducing errors where they're most 

difficult to overcome. 

The video cameras in the penthouse are 

charged-coupled devices (CCDs), similar to 

those in Sony's TV cameras. The data is 

"photographed" as it passes in front of the 

reader Once actually read from the film, the 

data is sent through a tracking and data-recovery 

stage. The video is enhanced and 

processed to frirther distinguish the actual 

digital data from any imperfections on the 

film. Once accepted as genuine digital information, 

tlie bits are sorted into the actual 

data blocks they represent. 

The recovered data is then sent to the 

error correction stages described earlier 

The corrected data (still a single stteam of 

bits containing all eight channels of digital 

"There has been 

considerable controversy 

about the true benefits of 

five screen channels versus 

the more common three. " 

audio ) is sent to a "first-in, first-out" memory 

buffer; at the buffer, the appropriate delay 

is added to synchronize the digital sound 

with the picture and further provide the 

additional delay required for the surround 

channels. The total delay available is five 

seconds. 

January, 1995 53

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING 

The next stage is a series of digital signal 

processor (DSP) blocks. These handy devices 

can be programmed for a variety of 

purposes, avoiding the expense ofdesigning 

and manufacturing a multitude of designated 

circuits. The SDDS processor uses 

DSPs to separate die error-corrected data 

stream into the eight individual channels of 

ATRAC-encoded digital audio. The ATRAC 

encoding is then deciphered and reconstructed 

into an eight-channel, 20-bit, 

44,100-Hz digital recording. 

A unique SDDS processor feature is the 

ability to mix down the eight-channel 

soundtrack to a six- or four-channel playback 

format for those theatres without eight 

channels of speakers and amplifiers, hi addition 

to these mixed-down formats, there 

is also a six-channel fonnat called "7.1," 

which substitutes the wide-band left-center 

and right-center signals with the subwoofer 

signal. (The subwoofer speakers still receive 

their nonnal information.) 

This idea is especially useful in reducing 

the load on the subwoofers if tiiey are inadequate, 

presuming the other speakers are 

capable of additional bass output. SDDS is 

thus compatible with viitually all current 

true-stereo playback fomiats. As with any 

digital fonnat, however, a theatre's amplifiers 

and speaker systems must possess 

the dynamic range required of 

digital sound, sometiiing virtually 

no theatre system can really claim. 

EQUALIZATION 

AND SETUP 

Sony's system is the first to use 

onboard 1/3-octave equalization in 

the digital domain. Digital equalization 

can be done well or poorly. 

Done well, as Sony has, digital equalization 

can improve the clarity ofthe 

sound by reducing the slight loss 

encountered when analog audio is 

passed through all the circuitry of a 

27- or 32-band analog equalizer 

Because digital equalization is accomplished 

mathematically instead 

of through such circuitry, the resulting 

sound can be noticeably cleaner The 

final SDDS DSP stage is used to set output 

levels. Here again, diis is done entirely in 

the digital domain. In the long run, this 

should provide a far more stable channel-tochannel 

balance than is typical of analog 

processors. Only after all processing is accomplished 

in the digital domain is the data 

actually converted into analog audio signals 

and sent to the power amplifiers. 

hi essence, then, the SDDS processor is a 

computer that must be programmed by a 

computer Although there are on-board adjustments, 

they are slow and difficult; 

the 

processor is best serviced with an external 

laptop. T'hi; requirement for an expensive 

computer, which (it must be understood) 

does nothing whatsoever by itself to improve 

the sound quality, 

has raised questions 

from field teclinicians, myself included. 

(My field luggage and tools already 

weigh 121 pounds.) 

Large service organizations will need to 

equip their technicians vdfh laptops. Ultimately, 

some multiplexes could be required 

to keep one on the premises if the processors 

must be frequently moved from house 

to house. Because all digital processors have 

sound-quality benefits, however, portable 

computers will be a fact of life in theatres 

just as they are in other professional audio 

applications. As the software improves, theafre 

technicians will quickly become familiar 

with computerized setup procedures. 

Unfortunately, the initial programming 

provided to set up the SDDS processor is, in 

my opinion, frustrating and time consuming. 

The actual on-screen display the SDDS 

setup program provides for perfonning adjustments 

is elegant and easy; it's getting to 

it that's unnecessarily complex. Because no 

audio adjustinents are possible when the 

film is nmning, some technicians may find 

the software difficult to use, particularly in 

the short period one often has to pertbrm 

installations prior to tiie day's first matinee. 

SDDS, agreeing that its early setup software 

is imperfect, is working to upgrade it. 

Tb its credit, SDDS has actively sought advice 

from field technicians on how the soft- 

A key feature of SDDS is tfie system's ability to reproduce a field 

of eigfit discrete channels, which includes five full-range speakers 

and a subwoofer behind the screen, plus a senes of right and left 

surround speakers to the sides and rear of the theatre auditorium. 

ware might be improved, and a simpler, 

more efficient version is promised for early 

1995. Until then, technicians using current 

time 

software to install SDDS for the first 

should allow plenty of extra time to learn 

how to deal with this cumbersome program. 

THE BOTTOM LINE: 

SOUND QUALITY 

As always, die final judgment of a sound 

format comes from listening. Any soundon-fUm 

frack faces the fact that release 

prints lack proper space to store the 

soundtrack in its original master form; composite 

sound-on-film prints have historicallj' 

compromised die sound record in 

order to fit it in the small space available. 

For example, we've long lived with the restricted 

djTiamic and frequency ranges nf 

analog optical soundtracks. 

Even the magnetic soundtracks used for 

70-mm prints are compromised by print-toprint—and 

sometimes reel-to-reel—variations. 

The requirement for individual 

picture magnetic preamplifier alignment, 

its often uneven results, cumulative print 

wear, magnetic head wear and the 

projector's inabUirsf to properly pass the film 

past the pickup heads wfhout constant azimuth 

deviations have all affected 70-mm 

presentations everywhere. Digital soundon-film 

also requires some compromise in 

the fomi of digital compression, such as that 

described above. 

Keeping all this in mind, and after several 

exposures to the SDDS system both in 

Sony's screening room and in public theattes, 

I can fairly state tiiat die SDDS sj'stem 

may be the best sound-on-fUm recording 

format I've encountered. When played over 

loudspeaker sj'stems capable of the fiiU dynamic 

range SDDS demands, the sound is 

at all times clear", dynamic and effortless. 

Unlike with the mini-disc demonstrations, 

there is never a sense that one is listening 

to a digitally compressed recording that employs 

masking techniques. 

One of the selections in the SDDS demonsti-ation 

reel is a music-only section from 

Steven Spielberg's "Hook." This is 

especially useful because anyone 

can and should listen to the same 

music and orchestra on the 

soundtrack CD (Epic #EK48888). 

As familiar as I am with this John 

Williams score, any degrading effects 

the ATRAC SDDS system 

might intioduce would have been 

easy to hear Remarkably, 1 detected 

none. This selection may 

be the most compelling demonstiation 

of tlie sonic success of die 

SDDS system even if it doesn't 

contain the most dynamic material 

or a single s\'ord of dialogue. 

FIVE SCREEN 

CHANNELS VS. THREE 

I've also had the opportunity to judge the 

benefits of five full-range screen speakers. 

Until recently, I've been solidly behind the 

use of five screen channels for screens more 

than 40 fiset wide, lb my surjjrise, die use 

of five speakers behind smaller screens is 

also eftective. This was evident in Sony's 

screening room, which has a 12-fboter 

Five speakers pro\ide a stâmless wall of 

sound (which stereo is supposed to be) and 

a greater sense of depth and listening satisfaction 

th.m is deH\'ered b\' three speakers. 

Exhibitoi-s instaUing SDDS sliouki stmngly 

consider impk^nenting the tiiU eigiit-channel 

system wherever possible. 

CopiiriÛ 199S lohn 1. 

Ri-si-riH-.d. 

Mini..Ml Rights 

54 UOXOFFICE

CINEMA SOUND 1995 

HEARING IN THREE DIMENSIONS 

With Its SRS 3-D Stereo Processor, Sound Retrieval System Labs 

Says It's Offering Acoustically-aware Moviegoers the Real Thing 

By Carolyn Magnuson 

Three-D 

has come to the 

movies again. Don't 

bother trying to remember 

where you stored those 

boxes ofblue and red cardboard 

glasses. You won't need them. 

The latest venture into cinema 

3-D is one of sound, not sight. 

And, its supportere claim, it also 

isn't destined to be the shortlived 

gimmick of the past. 

What 3-D sound attempts to 

do, by using sound cues, is to 

trick the ear into believing that 

sound is coming fi-om different 

locations throughout the theatre. 

While the actors are speaking 

in the front of the theatre, 

the bombs can be heard exploding 

in the back. It is intended to 

work much like systems which 

envelop the listener, but without 

the expense of extra equipment. 

Three-dimensional sound 

wasn't created for the cinema. It 

has been marketed in the home 

audio field since file early 90s. 

RCA currently uses SRS technology 

in its home theatre systems. 

Some supporters believe 3-D 

could be one of tiie greatest advances 

in sound since stereo. 

One of the major companies 

venturing into the third dimension 

of sound is SRS Labs, Inc., 

/ 

in Santa Ana, California. SRS stands for 

Sound Retrieval System, which explains the 

basis for flie technology— recapturing lost 

sound. SRS purchased its 3-D technology 

from Hughes Aircraft Corporation, which 

developed it to improve die quality of entertainment 

on airplane flights. SRS has since 

licensed the technology to several companies 

for use in video games, home tlieatre 

systems and home audio. The technology 

has gotten favorable reviews in the other 

venues. However, it is new to the cinema 

and has not had widespread use in commercial 

theatres. 

Smart Devices, Inc., the Georgia-based 

cinema sound company, has released two 

models of cinema stereo processors featuriâî

EXHIBITION PROFILE 

" 

The 

A MAJESTIC 

HOMETOWN THEATRE 

An independent finds success in a New England ski resort 

average person might think twice 

before buying a theatre that had gone 

out ofbusiness five times. But Joseph 

Quirk, operator of fire Majestic Home Tbwn 

Cinema in Conway, N.H., isn't your average 

theatre owner 

In fact, Qiiirk credits his success to knowing 

nothing about the movie business. 

When the Quirk FamUy 

Corp. bought the Majestic 

at a bankruptcy auction 

two years ago, Quirk 

had never nrn a theatre 

and had no contacts at 

Hollywood's distribution 

companies. He was just 

the guy who managed a 

restaurant down the 

street and who didn't 

want to see a great old 

theatre close. 

"Joe's big advantage 

was that he had no experience," 

says Jon Hively, 

a volunteer projectionist 

who had already seen 

the theatre change hands 

several times during the 

20 years he has spent at 

the facility. "Everyone 

else came in with preconceived 

notions about 

how the theatre should nm. Joe came injust 

trying to nm it like a business." 

The Majestic opened under its current 

management in October 1 992, with Quirk 

becoming an exhibitor at tlie same time flie 

Quirk Family Corp. became a landlord. 

The theatre was part of a complex 

bought for $138,500 (before the 

auction, the price had been 

$850,000.) Besides the bank, Quirk 

was the only bidder All staff began 

as vokmteers, but now there is a 

payroll. Gradually, Quirk has bought 

new equipment, including stereo 

sound and projection technology. 

The theatre is sited on Main Stieot 

in Conway, a ski town of 20,000 in 

the White Mountains. With the exception 

of the new equipment, the Majestic—with 

its old-fashioned black-and-white 

By Carolyn Magnuson 

marquee— seems as unchanged by the 

years since its 1931 opening as the mountains 

that loom behind it. Nearby, thougli, 

lies "Tlie Strip," a tourist mecca jam-packed 

with factory outlets, gift shops, fast-food restaurants 

and an L.L. Bean store. 

The Majestic was built during a time 

when movies came to town for only a few 

days. Thus, large tlieati'es were needed so 

everyone would have a chance to see them. 

Quirk wants to continue operating die tiieatre 

in that tradition. "We like to make going 

to the movies an event," he says. The Ma- 

''As beautiful an auditorium 

as we have, only one thing 

matters, and thaVs the 

picture on the screen/' 

—Majestic operator Joseph Quirk 

lowed Ixim— unlike many regional competitors—to 

attract some "big" films, such as the 

four-hour epic "Gettysburg." 

The huge screen is framed by goldtrimmed 

red velvet drapes. The auditorium 

holds 400 wooden-backed, red-cushioned 

seats; aisle seats bear ornate carvings on 

their sides. Tiny white lights illuminate the 

aisle. Lobby and auditorium 

walls are adorned 

with antique red 

wallcoverings and hurricane 

lamps. The concession 

area boasts an 

old-fashioned popcorn 

maker, a relic that had 

disappeared from the 

theatre when it closed 

but was recovered (in 

( ontemporary fashion) 

by lawsuit. A search is 

continuing for the original 

ticket booth. 

A' 

jestic has a 28-foot screen that has never 

been divided and, if Quirk has his way, 

never will be. The screen, he said, has al- 

Z1.Cdoesn't 

necessarily 

bring audience. "Asbeautiful 

an auditorium as ^ve 

lia\'e," Quirk sa\'s, "only 

one tiling matters, and 

The screen at the Majestic is a 28-footer. which has allowed the small-town 

one-plex to attract some big-event films, like New Line's "Gettysburg. 

tliat's die picture on the 

that othenvise might not have played so early in a town of 20.000. 

screen." A previous 

owner was a banker who selected tilms on 

the basis of price, according to Quirk; the 

new owner has concentrated on bringing 

first-run studio pictures and art-house fere. 

But he's not willing to pay exorbitant 

rates. "I'm particular, but if it's too 

much money I'll walk away," Quirk 

says. He also avoids contracts that 

call for long nms. For example, when 

he was offered "The Flintstones" for 

an eight-week nm he passed, having 

viewed the film himself at a trade 

screening and not convinced that it 

had enough sta\ing ix)wer to merit 

such a lengthy stay. In fact, many 

local residents seem to trust Quirk's 

judgment about films, and they will 

come to see something they'\'e ncwr 

heard of simply because he has decided to 

play it at tlie Majestic. 

56 BOXOFFICE

Quirk prefers to work witli a booking 

agent, Cinema LINKS, which he says understands 

the special problems of running an 

independent theatre. Quirk—who recently 

ran both "Only You" and "Frankenstein"— 

has also found success in focusing on a 

single distributor, THStar; that 75 percent of 

all Majestic films come from tliat studio has 

The Majestic has a rather plebian slorefroni exterior. 

but it's made a practice of bringing its faithful audiences 

only first-run studio films and top art-house fare. 

helped him establish a mutually beneficial 

relationship. 

For example, he was able to 

obtain one of only 20 copies in the region of 

the sneak preview for tlie TViStar late-summer 

release, "It Could Happen to You." 

As a newcomer to the theatre business. 

Quirk has had to adjust to the inconsistency 

of cash receipts. "How many 

businesses are there that go from 

$300 in one week to $7,000 the 

next?" he asks. That $7,000 figure 

was the record 

gross for the cinema 

in its two years 

of Quirk operation 

and came from the 

Sylvester Stallone 

film "Cliffhanger." 

That iTin provided 

Quirk the opportunity 

to test some 

promotional methods, 

which he believes 

were at least partly responsible 

for his success with 

the film. He began showing its 

trailer at Christmas and conliiiued 

it for the five months 

unril the film's Memorial Day 

opening. Quirk bought 60 

local cable TV ad spots over 

two weeks for about $100 per 

week. On the day of the opening, 

there was a live local radio 

remote from the cinema to help bring in 

moviegoers. A rock-climbing team fi"om a 

local sporting goods sales firm also showed 

up at the opening. The result; The line to 

the theatre stretched down the block. 

Other promotional efforts have scored. 

For the sneak of the lottery-themed "It 

^'^When people ask 

why we cost more 

[than other locals more 

established cinemas], 

I like to say that iVs 

because we^re better/' 

Could Happen to You," pati'ons received 

lotteiy tickets as well as theatre tickets; a 

live lottery drawing was held during the 

middle ofthe movie, with Quirk and his staff 

posting large numbers on a bulletin board 

at die side of the screen. "Wlien someone 

got tliree numbers," Quirk says, "you could 

feel the excitement starting to buUd." There 

were no new millionaires that night, but 

there were some free ticket winners. 

At 

the Majestic, moviegoing can still be 

an event. When "Frankenstein" opened 

in November, a local arts association staged 

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January, 1995 57

a benefit costume party after a showing. 

(The "champagne" was pretend, because 

obtaining a liquor license would have been 

burdensome.) The cinema also hosted a 

gala for the New Hampshire premiere of 

Jay Craven's "Where the Rivers Flow 

Nortli." The film, partly shot in the state, 

opened at the Majestic complete with limousines 

and tuxedos, and with the director 

sitting in the audience. 

Quirk, who likes to support local 

filmmakers and arts organizations, also 

opened his doors to the producers of the 

independent production "Ironman" to 

screen their weekly nishes. 

/// 

'One thing I can 

tell [resort cinema 

owners] is not to 

raise prices after the 

tourists leave. [Locals] 

don^t like it when 

you raise prices while 

they^re starving/' 

The Majestic, which seats 400. features such 1930s-era amenities as 

gold-trimmed velvet drapes, aisle seats with ornate carvings on their sides, 

and walls that are adorned with antique red wallcoverings and hurricane lamps. 

On a smaller scale, the cinema also sponsors 

routine promotions such as distributing 

Queue Cards, which award prizes from the 

concession stand if the letters on the 

moviegoer's card match the letters posted 

at the cinema. Quirk has also worked with 

local restaurants to sponsor dinner-and-amovie 

promotions. 

Operating a single-screen venue the size 

of the Majestic does not come ^vithout 

significant expense. The deep cold of New 

England winters means tliat heating the 

cavernous auditorium can bum as much as 

10 gallons of oil each hour; Quirk says he 

will do so even if there's only one person in 

the audience. 

The Technical Solution 

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" 

Admission is $6 .50 for adults and $3.50 for 

children— 50 cents higher than his competition. 

"Wlien people ask why we cost more, 

I 

like to say that it's because we're better," 

Qiiirk says. Originally, admission was $5 

and $3, but distributors wanted higher rates. 

Qiiirk then raised the adult admission to $6 

until tlie opening of "Clifflianger," when the 

The Majestic has had considerable success with benefit 

premieres and other special events. Above. Majestic operator 

Joseph Quirk (left) and director Jay Craven get ready 

to attend the debut of Craven's film. "Where the Rivers 

Run North, " which was followed by a Hollywood-like gala. 

adult tab was liiked again. He was uneasy 

about being an independent and raising his 

prices above that of tlie established major 

cinemas. "I wasbiting my nails for that one, 

Quirk remembers. 

Thougli he didn't lose his audience, 

he does have a bit of advice. "One 

thing I can tell [resort cinema owners] 

is not to raise 

prices after the 

tourists 

leave," 

lie says. "[Locals] 

don't like it 

when you raise 

prices while 

they're starving." 

The Majestic 

offers the 

townfolk a respite 

with $4 

Wednesday bargain 

nights. 

Concession prices 

are set at market rates, 

with the total on a medium 

soft drink and 

popcorn coming to 

$4.25. Tlie cinema has 

a no-outside-food policy, 

wliich Quirk explains 

to customers is 

necessary to generate 

revenue to keep the 

theatre in operation. 

In the two years he has been rumiing the 

Majestic, Quirk has learned about the ins 

and outs and the egos of die exhibition 

business. He believes independent fiieatre 

^^[Independents] 

might not have 

much power alone, 

but together we^re 

a big group. If we 

can unite, we^ll 

have more clout/' 

owners would be able to achieve more if 

they joined together to promote tlieir interests. 

Among the possibilities he envisions 

are circuit contracts in which a group of 

independents could sign a multi-week 

agreement for a film for more favorable 

temis and then pass it along the circuit, 

fi-om larger markets to small, which would 

have shorter runs. 

"We might not have much power alone, 

but together we're a big group," Quirk says. 

"Ifwe can unite, we'll have more clout." 

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January, 1995 59

Then 

H NATIONAL NEWS 

CAROLCO ROLLERCOASTER 

KEEPS ROLLING 

Carole o Pictures, the once high-flying production 

powerhouse behind the "Rambo" 

features, "Terminator 2" and "Basic Instinct," 

began selling off development assets in order 

to keep its Renny Harlin-directed pirate epic 

"Cutthroat Island" on track. 

On the block were a variety of properties 

and packages, including: the rights to a remake 

of Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita" (the 

original was directed by Stanley Kubrick in 

1962); the Joe Eszterhas-scripted musical 

"Showgirls;" and "Crusade," an on-again, offagain 

epic custom-designed for Arnold 

Schwarzenegger, which was once to have 

reunited the boxoffice muscleman with his 

"Total Recall" director, Paul Verhoeven. 

The crisis-management maneuver has an 

air of fiscally-troubled Caroico putting all its 

eggs in one cinematic basket. "Cutthroat," 

which stars Harlin's new bride Ceena Davis, 

has already had its share of problems, with 

original male lead Michael Douglas jumping 

ship reportedly over a rewrite which emphasized 

the Davis character and turned his into 

a second banana. Douglas has been replaced 

by Matthew Modine, a fine actor with virtually 

no boxoffice drawing power, while the 

budget continues to climb. But don't count 

Caroico out; the indie has been hanging by its 

thumbs for so long that its current high-drama 

fiscal balancing act almost smacks of business 

as usual . again, even a former fat-cat I ike 

Caroico topper Mario Kassar runs out of lives 

sooner or later... 

PACERCATS SUES MOVIEFONE 

INTERFILM INTERACTING 

WITH GOODRICH, UA 

The expanding advance-ticket market 

commenced its first high-profile legal mud 

fight as PacerCats filed suit in Los Angeles 

Superior Court accusing New York-based 

MovieFone (operators of the ubiquitous 717- 

Film telephone ticketing lines) of "fraudulent, 

deceptive and otherwise wrongful conduct" 

which closed market opportunities to 

PacerCats. 

The suit alleges that MovieFone utilizes 

innovations created by PacerCats parent company 

PCC Management, a joint venture between 

L. A. -based Ticketmaster and England's 

Wembley PLC. The suit, which also charges 

false advertising and unfair competition, 

names PromoFone and Teleticketing Company 

as parties to MovieFone's actions. The 

sweeping legal document seeks $200,000 in 

compensation, forfeiture oi MovieFone profits, 

and an injunction against any continued 

usage of PCC's technology or delivery systems 

derived from that technology. 

Readers seeking additional details can dial 

777-SUIT in most major-market area codes. 

Or not. 

In scp.ii.ilc jgrcciiicnis, Inlcrtilni, Inc ., 

producer 

of the first interactive films designed 

specifically for theatrical exhibition, struck 

deals with United Artists Theatre Circuit and 

Goodrich Quality Theatres to install the Interfilm 

Technology Exhibition System (or "IT" 

system, for short) at a variety of locations. 

The "IT" system will enable UA and Goodrich 

to screen interactive "interfilms" in a 

format which enables the audience to control 

such critical storytelling elements as which 

character the story will focus on or which 

choice a given character will make. UA'sdeal 

has that circuit installing 10 "IT" systems at 

fixed locations, whileCoodrichwill beexperimenting 

with a touring version of Interfilm's 

technology, to be rotated through nine different 

mid-western multiplexes. 

Interfilm's first 

offering, the comedy short 

subject "I'm Your Man," was released for a 

limited, experimental run in 1 993. Its newest 

production, entitled "Mr. Payback," was directed 

by "Back to the Future" co-scripter Bob 

Gale and stars Christopher Lloyd. "Mr. Payback" 

will begin appearing at Interfilmequipped 

venues in February of 1 995. 

CAA RINGS BABY BELLS 

The Creative Artists Agency seems firmly 

poised to become FHollywood's foremost talent 

broker to the interactive information superhighway 

thanks to a high-profile deal 

linking Nynex, Bell Atlantic and Pacific Telesis 

Group to two start-up companies which 

will create and distribute multimedia products. 

The deal, which calls for $100 million in 

funding from each of the regional phone powerhouses, 

is designed to combine "the technological 

skills of our telephone companies 

with the media skills of CAA.," according to 

Nynex c.o.o. Ivan Seidenberg. CAA chief Michael 

Ovitz was quick to point out that the 

combined connecting capacity of the three 

"baby bell" phone companies reaches an estimated 

30 million homes in six out of the top 

seven American media markets: New York, 

Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, 

Washington and Boston. 

The deal was seen as a big step in enlisting 

top Hollywood talents (such as major stars 

and directors) to participate in the new interactive 

possibilities the entertainment community 

is currently so enamored of. CAA is no 

stranger to brokering deals for major Hollywood 

players, although Ovitz emphasized 

that the agency's "consulting" services are 

kept separate from its agenting operations, to 

avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest 

that would place CAA in the awkward position 

of being in both the talent acquisition and 

the talent supplying lines. 

NEW LINE CUTS FILM PRINT 

SHIPPING TO THE CORE 

In a move to trim shipping costs tor film 

prints. New Line Cinema announced that it 

would begin transporting features on plastic 

cores in lightweight containers sometime next 

year. 

Traditionally, lilms are shipped on heavy 

metal reels and in metal ( ases. The New Line 

move would changeall that, with a possibility 

of a dramatic reduction in costs (which are 

directly related to shipping weight) over the 

long haul. 

The feisty mini-major also announced thai 

a "third delivery system" would be created tc 

suit the new shipping conditions, and thai 

New Line would not be using either National 

Film Service or Airborne, which handles 

Technicolor prints. 

NEA TO AFI: NO MORE 

SELF-PRESERVATION 

The \atiuiial Endoument for the Arts 

yanked $355,000 in funding away from the 

American Film Institute's Film Preservation 

Program because of a 2 percent reduction in 

available NEA funding. 

AFI brokered the funds to the UCLA Film 

Archives, the Museum of Modern Art, and 

George Eastman House among other preservationist 

organizations. Films shot before 

the introduction of "safety" film stock have a 

nitrate base which is highly unstable and 

deteriorates rapidly with age; the NEA monies 

had been used for the purpose of restoring and 

salvaging deteriorating prints of films deemed 

to be of historical value which might otherwise 

have been lost. AFI director Jean 

Firstenberg announced that she was "sad and 

distressed" by the NEA decision, which could 

put a number of projects at risk. 

In a related move, the NEA also cut funding 

for AFI's Independent Film and Videomakers 

Grant Program, which has awarded more 

than $6 million to struggling filmmakers since 

that program's inception. Among the notable 

directors whose careers were launched by 

Independent Film and Videomakers grants are 

Wayne Wang ("The Joy Luck Club"), Barbara 

Kopple ("Harlan County U.S.A."), David 

Lynch ("Blue Velvet") and Gus Van Sant 

("Drugstore Cowboy"). 

B.O. SLUMP GETS 

OVER THE HUMP 

The sluggish pace of fall boxoffice In the 

aftermath of 1994's record-setting summer 

picked up in mid-season when October 

posted the second best boxoffice numbers in 

that month's history. Close to $31 5 million in 

tickets were sold, with "The River Wild," 

"Pulp Fii tion" and "The Specialist" among the 

titles leading the pack. 

The year-to-date take continued at a record-setting 

tempo, with gross receipts hovering 

around $4.3 billion as November got 

underway. November boasted some impressive 

starts and carry-overs even before the big 

holiday releases hit the market, with MGM's 

"Stargate" triumphing over mostly negative 

reviews to pull in Sld.B million in the last 

October weekend and another $1 2.4 million 

over the weekend of November 5, becoming 

MGM's biggest opener ever and the big Sci-Fi 

sleeper success story of 1994. Kenneth 

Branagh's new take on "Mary Shelley's 

Frankenstein" also pulled off impressive 

debut numbers, posting $11.2 million over its 

first 

November weekend. 

60 BOXOFIICE

MATSUSHITA LOOKS UP 

Matsushita Electric Industrial Corp., parent 

company of MCA/Universal, announced second-quarter 

results indicating a pretax profit 

leap of 93 percent over the same period in 

1993. Entertainment revenues fell by 6 percent 

thanks to the yen's continuing higher 

valuation over the dollar, although the company 

insisted that when calculated in dollars, 

MCA/Universal had out-performed last year's 

second-quarter results. Matsushita pointed to 

the solid boxoffice performance of "The 

Flintstones" and continuing revenues from 

"Schindler's List" as strong contributors to the 

entertainment division's bottom line. 

In mid-fall, MCA/Universal was the subject 

of much speculation in the aftermath of the 

announced Spielberg-Geffen-Katzenbergal I i- 

ance. Spielberg (who co-produced and directed 

both "Jurassic Park" and "Schindler's" 

and whose company, Amblin Entertainment, 

produced "The Flintstones") has enjoyed a 

historically close relationship with MCA/Universal 

dating back to his breakthrough blockbuster, 

"Jaws." With Spielberg (who is viewed 

as a prime corporate asset) potentially ready 

to move on, and Universal Pictures honchos 

Lew R. Wasserman and Sidney |. Sheinberg 

rumored to be unhappy with their status as 

employees of the company they built and then 

sold to Matsushita, rumors were flying about 

a possible sell-off of Matsushita's entertainment 

holdings. Matsushita denied that any 

such sale was or would be considered. 

FILM REGISTRY ADDS TITLES 

Ironically, even as budget cuts were undermining 

the NEA's mandate to preserve rare 

and deserving films (see related story, above), 

the Library of Congress made its annual 

grandstanding announcement of 25 films to 

be added to the National Film Registry. The 

list (which is not affixed to any mechanism for 

the actual preservation of the titles it represents) 

was an eclectic one, including "E.T.," 

"Taxi Driver" and "The Manchurian Candidate." 

Many headlines were grabbed; still, if 

the U.S. government was serious about preserving 

our filmic heritage, wouldn't it be 

devoting more than press conferences and 

publicity releases to the problem of preserving 

our rapidly disappearing cinematic legacy? 

SDDS UPDATE 

In its first 1 2 weeks on the market, the Sony 

Dynamic Digital Sound (SDDS) system 

racked up an impressive record of approximately 

3,000 system orders worldwide. Exhibition 

circuits which have signed on for the 

SDDS technology include: Sony Theatres; 

AMC Entertainment, Inc.; United Artists Theatre 

Circuit; General Cinema Theatres; Act III; 

and Edwards Theatres Circuit. Installations 

are currently being carried out in 24 countries, 

including the U.S., Japan, Germany and 

the United Kingdom. 

One of the first new Sony Theatres complexes 

to be equipped with SDDS is the ambitious, 

state-ol^-the-art Sony Theatres Lincoln 

Square, a complex which includes a 900 seat 

auditorium and the first SONY IMAX Theatre. 

If all goes to plan, audiences should be enjoying 

SDDS at Lincoln Square by the time this 

issue of Boxoffice goes on the stands. 

CARMIKE/DTS UPDATE 

As announced last month, Carmike Cinemas, 

the nation's second largest theatre circuit, 

and Digital Theater Systems (DTS) have 

inked a far-ranging pact between the two 

companies which will establish DTS as 

Carmike's digital sound system of choice. 

New details emerged about the agreement, 

which calls for Carmike to purchase 300 DTS 

units for installation at various sites in the 

1906-screen circuit. Carmike has also committed 

to purchase DTS units for all new 

screens built over the next five years, including 

a minimum of 1 50 additional DTS installations 

in 1995. The two organizations are 

also currently developing a timetable for installation 

of DTS units in all screens on the 

Carmike circuit, according to reports. 

DTS currently has over 2800 systems in 

operation throughout the world, the largest 

number of any of the current digital sound 

delivery systems for feature films. 

INTERNATIONAL NEWS 

CATHAY/UA GO ALL THE WAY IN 

MALAYSIA 

Cathay Cinemas of Malaysia, a wholly 

owned subsidiary of Perils Plantations 

Berhad, in cooperation with United Artists 

Theatre Circuit (UATC), Inc. and Pacific 

Media P.L.C., London announced plans to 

build four new cinema complexes with 21 

screens in Malaysia. 

"We are very keen on the opportunities in 

the Malaysian cinema market," said Thomas 

C. Elliot, managing director of UA International, 

Ltd. "Our companies have done extensive 

market and demographic research on the 

key markets in Malaysia, and we believe these 

four sites are the most strategic locations for 

the Malaysian high-end cinema market." 

The proposed multiplex sites are: 

•The CHERAS LEISURE MALL in Kuala 

Lumpur, Malaysia, an integrated retail and 

leisure project featuring shops, a food court, 

bowling, cinemas, and leisure entertainment. 

The Cheras Leisure Mall will include a fourscreen 

cinema complex with 1,600 seats, 

scheduled to open in January of 1 995. 

•The PELANGI LEISURE MALL, a 

300,000-square-foot project located in Johor 

Bahru, Malaysia. A five-screen cinema with 

2,734 seats and a 36-seat Showscan motion 

simulation ride should be open by mid-1995. 

•The I.O.I. PUCHONG COMPLEX, a 

630,000 square foot shopping and entertainment 

complex, will support a seven screen 

build, slated to open in January of 1 996. 

•PLAZA RAKYAT is a mammoth, high-end, 

multi-use facility currently under development 

on 1 6.2 acres of land in the Jalan Pudu 

area of Kuala Lumpur. In addition to housing 

an 800,000-square-foot shopping mall and 

acting as the central terminal for new light rail 

transportation and the hub for interstate bus 

and taxi traffic. Plaza Rakyat will support a 

seven-screen multiplex and a 36-seat 

Showscan motion simulation ride. 

Each of the planned Cathay/UA cinemas 

will be state of the art, and will, in Cathay/UA's 

words, "set a new standard of luxurious 

cinemas in Malaysia." 

CINEMAVlCONSULTANTS 

& SERVICES^t-)INTERNAriONAL 

Consultants in 

• Management 

• Concessions 

• Construction 

• Multiplexing 

• Upgrading 

Services 

• Draperies 

• Decorative Sound Panels 

• Boxoffice - Concessions 

Counters 

• Houskeeping Supplies 

• Carpeting 

Used Equipment 

• Projection • Sound 

• Seating 

Installations 

• Projection • Sound 

• Draperies 

• Seating 

• Screens 

P.O. Box 9672 

Pittsburgh, PA 15226 

412-884-8781 

412-884-2345 FAX 


Cinema Service &, Supply 

Your One Stop 

Cinema Shop 

Cinema Service & Supply is one of 

North Americas most trusted service 

& supply companies specializing in; 

• Projector/Intermittant Rebuilding 

• New/Used Equipment 

• Booth Design, Specification 

and Installation 

• Replacement Parts 

• Consulting 

• 24 Hour Emergency Service 

Call Cinema Service &. Supply first 

for all of your theater needs. 

(800)231-8849 

(61 7)599-9353 

Fax: (61 7)599-9263 

Email: 6038900@mcimail.com 

271 Western Avenue 

Lynn, Massachusetts 01904 

ViSA. 

Visa/MasterC'ard/American bxpress Accepted 


January, 1995 61

EXHIBITION NEWS 

SPECIAL REPORT: SETTING RECORDS 

By 

the time you read this, the die will 

be cast as to whether 1 994 was the 

record-shattering year exhibitors 

hoped tor, and which prestigious prognosticators 

(including NATO president William 

Kartozian, who predicted a $5.3 billion '94 

gross) have been anticipating tor some time. 

But raw numlxrs, while in this case telling 

a heady tale, can never cover the lull story. A 

variety of fiscal factors shape individual cases, 

and that's where the real drama often lies. 

By way of demonstrating that fact, 

BoxoFFicE decided to take a late-in-the-year 

look at some of the circuits we call the "Giants 

of Exhibition " to see how they fared in the 

record-busting summer of 1 994. It should be 

stressed that, like all distinguished members 

of the exhibition industry who know their 

stuff these four "Giants" had a great year— 

one marked in most cases by the unveiling 

and implementation of ambitious development 

and acquisition strategies which are 

helping to set the pace of exhibition for the 

rest of the 1990s. In addition, these numbers 

are comparisons to the summer of '93, which 

was itself a record-breaker, so seeming declines 

are deceptive, and not indicative of a 

serious downturn. What follows is in no way 

intended to praise any of these fine circuits 

at the expense of the others The most dramatic 

gains were by-products of enormous 

screen-count growth, so direct circuit-to-circuit 

analogies are dicey propositions at best. 

REGAL REAPS KING-SIZE BOXOFFICE 

An 85 percenl |ump in 

the strong performance of summer hits 

screen count, plus 

like 

"ForrestCump," "Lion King" and "The Mask," 

combined to increase third C)uarter earnings 

at Regal Cinemas by a whopping 50 percent 

compared to 1993. Regal closed a deal to 

purchase the 1 72-screen Litchfield circuit just 

before the start of the sizzling summer season, 

which contributed mightily to the steep income 

climb. 

According to Boxoffice Magazine, Regal's 

1994 screen count increased to 718 from a 

1993 count of 359. In Boxoffice's annual top 

fifty ranking (see last month's special "Giants 

of Exhibition" coverage), Regal jumped from 

the 1 5th largest North American '93 circuit to 

1994's9th ranking. 

AMC: MAGIC AND LOSS 

With 1,623 screens, AMC Entertainment 

Inc. posted the second-best quarter in its history, 

but found operating income down 1 2.5 

percent from the "Jurassic" summer of 1 993. 

The fourth largest North American circuit's 

"operating cash flow"—which the company 

defines as gross earnings before expenses 

such as interest payments, depreciation, and 

taxes are factored in—dropped to $28.8 million 

from $32.9 million in 1993. Overall revenues 

fell to $165 million, down I'rom $175 

million a year ago. All in all, AMC's performance 

was extremely solid, but unlike most 

other exhibition giants, the circuit failed to 

increase revenues in 

the record setting summer 

of 1 994, a fact some observers attributed 

to a pre-summer booking disf)ute with Para- 

WIRE W O R L 

Your User-Friendly Roadmap for the Information Superhighivay 

CYBERIA 

REPORT FROM THE FIRST ANNUAL ACADEMY OF 

INTERACTIVE ARTS AND SCIENCES 

"CYBERMANIA" AWARDS 

should have seen this one 

Wecoming. The L.A.-based Academy 

of Interactive Arts and Sciences 

recently held its first annual 

Academy Awards at Universal Studios, in 

what used to be the Conan (as In "Conan 

the Barbarian") Theatre. It was a garishly 

appropriate setting for a celebration of 

the interactive gaming community, which 

is 

clearly in the ascendance at AIAS. Replete 

with 30-foot-long papier-mache serpents 

and flaming wrought-iron 

torcheres, the recycled set from 

Universal's Conan stageshow was like a 

"Dungeons and Dragons"-inspired 

videogame come to life. 

Where most Hollywood awards shows 

seek to dignify their commercial intentions 

with rhetoric about the "art of the 

moving image," the AIAS ceremony (subtitled 

"Cybermania" in a misdirected attempt 

at corporate "hip") positively 

revelled in the crass commerciality of a 

field still largely defined by violent arcade 

titles like "Double Dragon" and "Mortal 

Kombat." "Cybermania" (which was 

broadcast live on TBS) played like an intentional 

spoof of awards shows, particularly 

when co-host Leslie Nielsen did his 

patented unravelling dignity shtick, while 

balloon artists and midget wrestlers capered 

in the background. 

Perhaps to underscore the male-pubescent 

bent of many of the cash-cows of the 

interactive gaming biz, most of the presenters 

were buxom adolescent actresses 

from kiddie TV fare like "Saved by the 

Bell" and "My So-Called Life"—heartthrobs-in-waiting 

for the "Streetfighter" 

mount which may have deprived AMC of a 

representative portion of "Gump" and "Clear 

and Present Danger" grosses. 

CINEPLEX : MAGIC AND LOSS, PT. II 

It was the l.x'sl lit times, it was the worst ot 

times. Toronto-based Cineplex Ocleon ('orp. 

announced a whopping 1 15 percent leap in 

by Ray Greene 

Editor-in-Chief 

set. In the true spirit of freebooting interactive 

capitalism, the Prodigy online service 

and a 900-number phone survey allowed 

viewers to vote (for a fee) for the 

best game of the year ("Mortal Kombat" 

won, hands down). 

The evening's most cryptic moment 

came when one of the infomercial-like 

videos "Cybermania" used to educate 

viewers about the medium (and to propagandize 

for the interactive cause) turned 

out to be a glamorizing tribute to the 

"hacker"—that bane of intellectual property 

rights, who breaks into other people's 

private databases for fun. "Responsible" 

members of this copyright-oppressed minority 

encouraged those who would follow 

in their buccaneering footsteps not to 

do anything harmful (like aiming Pentagon 

missiles at Russia, which hacker interviewees 

assured a grateful nation is 

impossible to do from a PC anyway). 

All in all, "Cybermania" was a relatively 

rambunctious evening from a burgeoning 

creative community with a bit of 

an art/commerce identity crisis on its 

hands (and a need, specific to the AIAS, 

to broaden its membership, since many 

vanguard interactive companies—Time 

Warner, Sierra Online—were woefully 

under-represented among the nominees). 

But things could be worse. As "legit" TV 

and movie actor Robert Culp reminded 

the audience via a long-winaed, self-important 

"best actor" acceptance speech 

in which he informed the world—not 

once, but twice—that he appeared in "the 

first MOW" (that's "TV Movie of the 

Week" to us layfolks), the last thing the 

infobahn needs to do at this early juncture 

is to start taking itself too seriously. 

third-quarter profits compared to 1993, due 

in part to the absence of last year's $7 million 

write-off for a previously incurred debt. Thirdquarter 

income rose to $5. 9 million from $2.7 

million last year, a jump that wt)uld be cause 

for celebration in most cases; however, in the 

absence of last year's one-lime loss, it was 

actually an indication that operating income 

had fallen by more than 40 percent. 

62 Boxoffice

The company, which is half-owned by 

MCA/Universal, blamed last summer's popcorn 

controversy for lackluster concessions 

performance. Another factor was a si ide i n the 

value of Canadian currency against the U.S. 

dollar, which creates the illusion that admissions 

at Cineplex's Canadian screens diminished 

when revenues are converted into 

stateside bucks. 

CARMIKE: TAKING STOCK 

Carmike Cinemas Inc., the 1,906-screen 

behemoth that is the second largest North 

American circuit, saw third-quarter revenues 

spike upward by 40 percent compared to 

1993, in part thanks to the addition of some 

270 screens in 1994. 

Net income leapt to $10.3 million, or $1 .25 

a share, compared to $7.3 million (90 

cents/share) in third-quarter 1993. Carmike 

plans to continue increasing its market share; 

the circuit recently announced plans to raise 

financing for additional acquisitions in the 

new year via the selling of 2.5 million shares 

of Class A common stock. Carmike informed 

BoxoFFiCE last October of its intention to add 

394 screens in 1995. 

READY THEATRE SYSTEMS 

Complete ticketing and concession systems 

$2450 per terminal, hardware & software included 

800 676-9303 


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Direct from the Manufacturer 

for as low as $35"" per case! 

Less tfion 1 00 cases 

EXHIBITION BRIEFS 

METROLUX: A NEW ALLIANCE 

Most of the ink about the current multiplex 

building spree has gone to "megaplex" builds 

commissioned by the huge, continent-spanning 

circuits at the very top of our "fabulous 

screen-count ranking (see last month's 

fifty" 

annual "Giants of Exhibition" report). But 

smaller circuits are finding innovative solutions 

to getting in on the action. 

Place 38th-ranked Metropolitan Theatres 

in the first rank of creative expansion strategists. 

The L. A. -based circuit recently announced 

a joint venture with Trans-Lux 

Theatres to build a state-of-the-art 1 2-plex in 

Loveland, Colorado. As a percentage of corporate 

assets, Loveland is an aggressive move, 

adding more than 10 percent to 

Metropolitan's current 86 screens. The joint 

venture, dubbed MetroLux, is one to watch. 

IMAX TO LEARN ITS A-B-C'S 

IMAX Corp. will team with broadcast giant 

Capital Cities/ABC to produce large-format 

IMAX features for distribution i n the select-site 

IMAX circuit. The deal will enable IMAX to 

exploit the Cap/ABC division responsible for 

science and nature documentaries produced 

for ABC television. The films will be distributed 

in the IMAX format, primarily to IMAX's 

museum-based exhibition sites. 

In another IMAX development, the corporation 

announced a production and equipment-rental 

deal with the 1 996 Tokyo World 

City Expo with a gross value of $32 million. 

IMAX will produce four specially produced 

Expo films, and will lease and install projection 

systems for their screening over the 

course of the 204-day event, which is scheduled 

to kick off in March of 1 996.

PG. 

R. 

G. 

Dir 

SR 

. 

. 

Rat 

) 

: 

, 

BOXOFFICE 

October 

November 

December 

JANUARY 19 

(Current) 

Buena Vista 

(818)567-5030 

Quiz Show D 10/94, PG-1 3 Dir Robert 

Redford Ed Wood, C/D, 10/23, R, 1 27 mins 

Dolby A, Flat Johnny Depp Bill Murray Dir 

Tim Burton Squanto: A Warrior's Tale 

Ac/Adv. 10/28. PG, Dolby A, Flat 

Robert Heinlein's The Puppetmasters 

SF/Hor 10/94, R, 108 mins Anamor- 

, 

phic 

Donald Sutherland 

Low Down Dirty Shame. Adv/C. R. 102 

mins . 11/23. Keenan Ivory Wayans 

The Santa Clause. 1 1/1 1 PG. 95 mins Tim 

. 

Allen 

The Lion King (re-issue). 11/18. Anim,. 87 

mins,. G. SR-D, Flat 

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book 

(formerly Legends ol...) 

12/21 . Adu . PG. Jason Scott Lee. Dir Sieve 

Sommers 

Bad Company (airaTool Shed) 1/20. 

Ac./Thr . R. 95 mins Ellen Barkin 

House Guest. C . PG. 1/13. Sinbad 

Miami Rhapsody. 1.-27. PG-13. 95 mins 

Rat Sarah Jessica Partner. Antonio Bande 

Dif; David Frankel. 

?» 

Columbia 

(310)280-8000 

(212)751-4400 

I Like it Like That, C/D, 10/14,R. 94 min 

Dolby A, Rat Rita Moreno, Dir Darnell Martin 

TheRoadloWellwille,C, 10/28, 122 

mins R Anthony Hopkins, Bridget Fonda. 

, 

Dir: Alan Parker 

The Professional (Leon), Thr .11/18. 112 

mins. Dolby A. SR. Flat Gary Oldman 

Little Women. D. 

Gillian Armstrong 

12/25. Winona Ryder. Dir 

Immortal Beloved. 12/23 limited. Gary Oldman. 

Isabella Rossellini 

Higher Learning. D. 1/13. Ice Cube Oir 

Singleton 

IVIGIVI/UA 

SlargalB. 10/28. PG-1 3, DTS, Kurt Russel. 

James Spader, Dir Roland Emmerich 

Speechless, 12/16. DTS, IVIichael Keaton, 

Gina Davis Dir: Ron Undenwood 

Canadian Bacon. C. 1/95. John Candy Ale 

/\lda. Oir Michael Moore. 

i[r 

fl 

(310)449-3000 

New Line 

(212)239-8880 

(310)854-5811 

Was Craven's New Nightmare, Hor,, 10/14, 

112mins,R, Dolby A and DTS, Flat 

Swan Princess. Anim 

. 

G. 90 mins.. DTS. 

Dolby A. Flat 1 1/18. Voices John Cleese. Jack 

Palance 

Dumb and Dumber, C. PG-13. 12/16. Jim 

Carrey. Jefl Daniels. 

Sate Passage. D. 1/13 Limited (NY & LA) 

PG-13 Sam Sheperd. Susan Sarandon 

InlheMoutti of Madness. Hor.-Ttir 1/27 

. 

Dolby A and DTS Rat Dtr John Carpentt 

Icelandic Sagas. Adv 1/27. Ralph Moler. 

. 

Dir. Michael Chapman. 

Paramount 

(213)956-5000 

The Browning Version, D. 10/12. 97 mins 

SR. Scope Albert Einney. Greta Soacchi. 

Mathew Modine. Dir Mike Figgis 

Star Trek: Generations. Adv. November. DTS. 

William Shatner. Patrick Stevyart 

I.Q.. 12/25 Tim Robbins. Meg Ryan 

Drop Zone. 12/9. R. DTS Wesley Snipes Dir; 

John Badham 

Nobody's Fool. C. 12/25. 107 mins . PG-13. 

SR. Rat Paul Newman. Melanie Griltith, Dir- 

Robert Benton 

(212)333-4600 

Samuel 

Goldwyn 

The Sum of Us. 10/7 NY/LA. 2/95 Wide Jack 

Thompson. John Poison Dir Kevin Dowling 

Oleanna. D. 11/4 Unrated William H Macy. 

Dir David Mamet 

To Live. D. 113 mins Dolby 

. A. Super 35mm. 

11/18. NY/LA Limited Gong Li Dir Zhang 

Yimou- 

The Perez Family Marisa Tomei. Anjelica 

Huston. Dir Mira Nair 

The IVIadness of George III. 12/94 Nigel 

Hawthorne. Dir Nicholas Hytner 

Ladybird, Ladybird. D. Chrissy Rock, Oir 

Ken Loach 

(310)552-2255 

TriStar 

Only You 1 0/7. 1 1 1 mins Rat Marisa Tomei. 

Robert Downey. Jr . 

Norman Jewison 

IVfary Shelley's Frankenstein. D. 123 mins 

. 

11/4. Robert De Niro. Dir Kenneth Branagh 

IVIixed Nuts (ate The Night Before Christmas, 

a*aLilesavers) R C, , PG-13. 12/9. 

Steve Martin. Dir NoraEphron 

(310)280-8000 

20th Centuiy 

Fox 

(310)277-2211 

The Pagemaster. Anim.. 11/23. G. 82 mins . 

Dolby A. SR-D. DTS. Flat. Macaulay Culkin. 

Dirs 

Joe Johnston (live action). Maurice 

Hunt (anim 

Miracle on 34th Street. D. 114 mins 

11/18. limited. 12/16 wide PG. 107 mins 

Dolby A, SR-D. DTS. Flat Dir: Les Mayfield. 

Nell. D. 12/14 NY/LA; 12/23 limited. PG-13. 

110 mins . SR-D. Anamorphic Jodie Foster. 

IVIiracle on 34lh Streel. D. 1 14 mins,. 11/18. 

limited: 12/16 wide (see November) 

Trapped in Paradise. C. 12/2. 1 10 mins,. PG- 

13. Dolby A. Scope Nick Cage. Jon Lovitz 

Universal 

(818)777-1000 

Radioland Murders. Thr/C. 10/21. 108 

mins DTS. Dolby A. Brian Benben. Marv 

. 

Stuart Masterson, Dir: Mel Smith 

Junior. 11/23. 107 mins. PG-t3. DTS. Dolby 

A. Flat Arnold Schwarzenegger. Danny DeVito 

The War. D. 1 1/1 1 PG-13. 1 21 mins . . DTS 

Flat Kevin Costner. Elijah Wood. Dir: Jon 

Avnet 

Streetfighter. Ac. 120 mins DTS. Dolby A. 

. 

Super 35mm Jean Claude Van Damme. 

Demon Knight (aJira Tales From the 

Crypt). Hor. 1-13, 110 mins. R. DTS, 

Dolby A. Flat Billy Zane. Oii: Ernest Dicker 

son. 

(212)759-7500 

Warner Bros. 

(818)954-6000 

The Speclallsl. Ac./Thr., 10/7, 109 mins., R. 

SRD DTS. Rat Sly Stallone. Sharon Stone 

LoveAllair. 10/14. PG-13. 105 mins Rat. 

I 

Wairen Beally A Troll in Central Park. Anim 

. 

I 

1 10/7. 80 mins Dolby A Flat Oir Don 

. 

Bluth Imaginary Crimes. 10/14. 107 mins. 

PG. Dolby A. Flat Harvey Keitel Silent Fall. 

p. 107 mins . 

1 Bruce Beresloid 

Flat Richard Dreyfuss Dir: 

Interview With the Vampire. Thr . 1 1/94. 107 

mins R.SR SRD. DTS. Rat Tom Cruise. 

Brad Pitt. 

Cobb (Ty Cobb), D.R, 12/1 

Jones, Dir Ron Shetton 

Richie Rich, C, 

Tommy Lee 

12/21, Macaulay Culkin 

Disclosure. D. R. 12/9, Michael Douglas. 

Demi Moore 

The Northmen, Dir John Milius 

Murder In the Fltsl. 1/?0. Christian 

Siater. Kevin Bacon

Summer 

Dir 

February 

March 

FEATURE CHART— JANUARY 1995 

Forthcoming 

ky Boys, C.R. 2/10 

Posse Don'l Do Honiework, D, 2/3 Milie 

Pfeifter Die JohnSmltH 

n ol the House. Com., 2/17. Flat, Chevy 

ise, 

Farrah Fawcett. 

ilnjng Hero, 2/95, Andie MacDowell 

ne Keaton 

Dir: 

A Tall Tale, 3/95 Pat rick Swayze 

Pals Forever (formerfy The Goofy Movie), Anim Pocahontas. Anim, Voice: Mel Gibson. Dir 

Mike Gabriel Hoi '95 Heavyweights, PG, Dir Steven Bnll Miami, 1995, D, PG-13, Sarah Jessica I 

Parker Mr. Holland's Opus. '95, Richard Dreytuss, Dir Stephen Herek Jefferson in Paris. D. Nick | 

Nolle. Dir James Ivory Roommates. Spring 1995. C/D. PG Peter Falk. Dir Peter Yates A Pyromaniacs 

Love Story, William Baldwin Dead Presidents, Urban Drama. Dir Allen and Albert 

Hugties Judge Oredd, Ac . 95, Sylvester Stallone Titles to watch tor Funny Bones, 

While You Were Sleeping, Feast of July. The Tie That Binds, Stretch Armstrong, Crimson 

Tides, Operation Dumbo, Mad Love 

Buena Vista 

(818)567-5030 

'ilore Sunrise. 2/3 limited. Ethan Hawke Dir: 

;hard Linklaler 

Die For, 2/10. Nicole Kidman, Matt Dilloii 

: Gus Van Sant 

lores Claiborne, Th( . 2/24 

Stranger Things, C, 3/24.Lolita Davidovitch, 

Dir: Jason Alexander 

Beyond Rangoon. 7/95 Money Train, Wesley Snipes, An American President, Dir Rob Reiner 

Bad Boys, 4/12, Martin Lawrence, Will Smith Forget Paris, Billy Crystal, Debra Winger Dir: Billy 

Crystal First Knight, Richard Gere, Sean Connery The Net, Sandra Bullock, Dir: Irwin Winkler, 

Babysitters' Club, C, Dir Melanie IVIayron, City Hall, Al Pacmo, Bridget Fonda Dir Harold Becker, 

Desperado (El Mariachi II), Antonio Banderas, Dir: Robert Rodriguez, Bottle Rocket, Owen Wilson 

Dir Wes Anderson, Run ot die Country, Albert Finney. Dir Peter Yates. Multiplicity. C. Michael 

Keaton, Dir, Harold Ramis 

Columbia 

(310)280-8000 

(212)751-4400 

lire. 2/3. DTS. Matthew Modine, Nancy 

ivis, Dir: Carlo Carlei 

rd ol Illusions, Hor.. 2/1 7. Scott Baku la. Dir: 

^ Barker 

Tank Girl, 3/24. DTS Dir: Rachel Talalay 

The Pebble and the Penguin, Anim., 3/95, 

Dir Don Bluth 

It Huns in the Family, C. 85 mins . Dolby A. Rat Charles Grodin. Dir: Bob Clark. 

Hackers. Fall '95 Species. Summer '95. Dir Roger Donaldson 

Wild Bill. 5/95, Jeff Bridges, Ellen Barkin, Dir: Walter Hill 

Goldeneye (James Bond #17), Pierce Brosnan Forthcoming 

Rob Roy, "95, Liam Neeson, John Hurt, Dir Michael Caton-Jones 

Get Shorty, Fall '95, John Travolta, Gene Hackman Dir Barry Sonnenteld 

Showgirls, Mus /D , Fail '95, Writer Joe Ezsterhas 

All Dogs Go to Heaven II, 11/95, Anim., Dir: Don Bluth 

IVIGM/UA 

(310)449-3000 

n Juan De Marco. Com/Dram, D. 2/10. 

irlon Brando. Johnny Depp Prod: Francis 

ppola W/dir: Jeremy Leven 

\^ 

National Lampoon's Senior Trip. C. 3/14 

My Family (Mi Familia). D. 3/17. Edward 

James Olmos, Jimmy Smits Dir Gregory 

Nava 

The Mangier. Hor., 3/94. Robert Engiund. 

National Lampoon's F-Troop. C, 1995 

Mortal Kombat, Ac, 5/95, Christopher Lambert, 

Gas Light Edition. 0. Demi Moore. 

The Basketball Diaries, D. Leonardo DiCaprio 

Friday, 4/7, Ice Cube 

New Line 

(212)239-8880 

(310)854-5811 

mmy Boy. C, Chris Farley 

e Brady Bunch. C. 2/1 7. Shelly Long. Gary 

Dir Betty Thomas. 

Stuart Smalley. C. 3/95, Al Franken. Dir: Harold 

Ramis 

Losing Isaiah. 3/95. Dir: Stephen Gyllenhaal 

The Saint Coming Pancho's War, Coming Dir Ridley Scott Vampire in Brooklyn, C/Hor. Summer 

'95. Eddie Murphy Dir: Wes Craven Braveheart. AcJD 5/95. Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, 

Dir Mel Gibson Sabrina, C, Harrison Ford Congo, Thr . Frank Marshall Indian in the Cupboard, 

Fam Jade, Thr Scr Joe Eszterhas The Phantom, Dir Joe Dante Virhiousity, Dir Brett 

Leonard Pontlac Moon, C, Dolby A, Scope, Ted Danson, Mary Steenburgen Primal Fear, John 

Malkovich Dexterity, Bridget Fonda. Mission Impossible. Ac/D. Tom Cruise. Dir. Brian De Palma 

Paramount 

(213)956-5000 

(212)333-4600 

Pie Sum ol Us. C/D, 3/95. Dir: Kevin Dowling. 

Return to Mystic Pizza. Coming, Annabeth Gish 

Oh Mary This London, D, Early 1995 Jason Barry. Dylan Tighe. Dir: Suri Krishnama 

Angels and Insects. Spring '95. Patsy Kensit. Dir: Philip Haas 

Napoleon. Anim., Summer '95. Dir Mario Andreacchio. 

The Last Good Time. 4/95 Armin Mueller-Stahl. 

Nadja Suzy Amis 

Cause D'Elle 

Samuel 

Goldwyn 

(310)552-2255 

rgenbs ol the Fall. D. 2/1 7. R. 1 32 mins 

ad Pitt. Anthony Hopkins. Dir Edward Zwick 

ilinny Mnemonic. Ac. 2/3, Keanu Reeves 

r: Robert Longo. 

The Duick and the Dead. W. 3/95. Sharon 

Stone, Gene Hackman, Dir: Sam Raimi 

Hideaway. 4/7, Jeff Goldblum, Dir Brett Leonard 

Mary Reilly, 5/19. Julia Roberts. John Malkovich. Dir: Stephen Frears 

Devil in a Blue Dress. 5/95. Thr . 

Race For the Sun. 

Convenience. 

Denzel Washington. Dir: Carl Franklin 

TriStar 

(310)280-8000 

9r From Home: Tlie Adventures of Yellow 

og (formerly The Yellow Dog). 2/95. G. 

im/Adv . Dolby A, Flat Bruce Davison. Mimi 

ogers 

Walk in the Clouds. D. 2/3. Keanu Reeves 

ir: 

Altonso Arau 

Iss ol Death. D. 2/17. David Caruso. Nick 

age Dir: Barbel Schroeder 

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. R/D 

My Cousin Vinny II. C, Joe Pesci. Marisa Tomei 

Die Hard: With a Vengeance. Memorial Day. Bruce Willis, Jeremy Irons, Dir John McTiernan 

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie, Summer, Dir, Bryan Spicer 

Bye Bye Love, Dir Sam Weisman 

Tenderloots, C, Daniel Stern Dir Greg Beeman 

Nine Months, C, Dir Chris Columbus 

Strange Days, SF, Ralph Fiennes, Dir 

Paris Match, Meg Ryan Kevin Kline, Dir 

Kathryn Bigelow, 

Lawrence Kasdan 

20th Century 

Fox 

(310)277-2211 

lly Madison. 2/10, C. DTS. Adam Sandler. 

ir: Tamra Davis 

ajor Payne. 2/1 7. C. DTS. Daman Wayans 

The Hunted. Ac, 3/10, DTS. Christopher Lambert. 

Dir Jonathan Lawton 

Casper. 5/26. Fant,/C, DTS. Christina Ricci. Dir: Brad Silberling Water World. 7/95. Ac. DTS. Coming 

Kevin Costner Casino. Coming. Robert DeNlro. Joe Pesci. Dir Martin Scorsese 

Clockers. 9/95. D. John Tudurro. HaiMey Kietel. Dir Spike Lee Babe: The Gallant Pig. Fam . 4/95. 

Universal 

ir; 

Nick Castle. 

DTS To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar. 4/5. DTS. Wesley Snipes, Patrick 

Swayze, Beebon Kidron Mathilda, 7/95, DTS, Danny DeVito Dir DeVito The Nutty Professor, 

7/95, C, DTS, Eddie Murphy, Dir Tom Shadyac, Sgt. Bilko. Steve Martin. Dir Jonathan Lynn 

Sudden Death. Ac. Jean-Claude Van Damme. Dir: Peter Hyams Gold Diggers. Christina Ricci. 

Anna Chlumsky, Dir: Kevin Dobson, Apollo 13, D, Tom Hanks, Dir: Ron Howard 

(818)777-1000 

(212)759-7500 

jiys On the Side. 2/3, D. Hat. Fall. Whoopi 

Dldberg 

St Cause. 2/17, Sean Connery 

le Wild Bunch (re-issue). W. William 

]Iden Dir Sam Peckinpah 

Outbreak. D. Dustin Hoffman Dir Wolgang 

Petersen 

Little Princess 

Free Willy 2. Summer '95 Jason James Richter Bridges ol Madison County, Summer 95, Clint 

Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Dir: Clint Eastwood James Dean, Dir Michael Mann Stars Fell on Henrietta, 

4/95, C/D, Robert Duvall Batman Forever (Batman 3), Ac-Fant, Michael Keaton, Jim Carrey, 

Tommy Lee Jones War of the Buttons, D, PG, Flat Dir John Roberts, Little Panda, 4/95, Ryan 

Slater Dir Chris Cain, Under Siege II, Ac, Steven Seagal, Summer Dir Geoff Murphy Great Kate 

Escape. Summer, Helen Shaver, Dir John Gray, Ace Ventura II, C, Summer. Jim Carrey. Peanuts 

Warner Bras. 

(818)954-6000

France). 

BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart JANUARY 1995 

OCTOBER 

Fine Line 

212-649-4800 

Hoop Dreams, Doc. Arthur Agee, 

William Gates. Co-Dir: Steve ). 

Frederick. 

Gramercy 

310-777-1960 

DROP Squad, Dra, R. Eric Lasalle. 

Dir; David Johnson. 

I.R.S. 

818-505-0555 

The Beans of Egypt, Maine, Dra, 

R, 100 min. Martha Plimpton, 

Kelly Lynch, Rutger Hauer. Dir; 

Jennifer Warren. 

Kino 

212-629-6880 

DIabolique (France 1955), Dra, 

NR, 107 min. Simone Signoret. 

Dir: Henri G. Clouzot. 

Sony Classics 

212-833-8833 

De Eso No Se Habia (I Don't 

Want to Talk about It) (Argentina/Italy), 

Com, PG-1 3, 102 min. 

Marcello Mastroianni. Dir: Maria 

Luisa Bemberg. 

Vanya on 42nd Street, Dra. Julianne 

Moore, Wallace Shawn. 

Dir: Louis Malle. 

Trimark 

310-314-3024 

Curse of the Starving Class, Dra, 

PG. James Woods, Kathy Bates. 

Dir: J. 

Michael McClary. 

Troma 

212-757-4555 

The Nick of Time (Russia/U.S.), 

Fantasy, 88 minutes. Nikolai 

Karachentsov. Dir: Edward 

Staroselsky. 

Fine Line 

Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, 

Com/Dra, R, 125 min. Jennifer 

Jason Leigh. Dir: Alan 

Rudolph. 

Gramercy 

Double Dragon, Act, PG-1 3. 

Robert Patrick, Julia Nixon. Dir: 

Jim Yukich. 

Greycat 

702-737-0670 

Dingo, Dra, NR, 108 min. Miles 

Davis. Dir: Rolf De Heer. 

El Bulto (The Lump) (Mexico), 

Com, NR, 114 min. Gabriel 

Retes. 

My Fair 

Kit Parker 

800-538-5838 

Lady (30th anniversary 

Seventh Art 

The Last Lieutenant, Dra, NR, 

102 min. Espen Skojonberg. Dir: 

Hans Peter Moland. 

Trimark 

Love and a .45, Act, R. Gil Bellows. 

Dir: CM. Talkington. 

DECEMBER 

Cinema Parallel 

410-442-1752 

Helas Pour Moi (Oh, Woe Is Me) 

(Switzedand), Dra, NR, 84 min. 

Gerard Depardieu, Laurence 

Masliah. Dir: Jean-Luc Godard. 

NY. 

The Seventh Continent, Dra, NR, 

111 min. Brigit Doll, Dieter Berner. 

Dir: Michael Haneke. Chicago. 

Fine Line 

Death and the Maiden. Sigourney 

Weaver, Ben Kingsley. Dir: 

Roman Polanski. 

MK2 

212-265-0453 

L'Enfer (lealousy) (France), Dra, 

NR, 95 min. Emmanuelle Beart, 

Francois Cluzet. Dir: Claude 

Chabrol. 

Miramax 

213-969-2000 

Bullets over Broadway, Com, 98 

min. Dianne Wiest, Jonn Cusack. 

Dir: Woody Allen. 

Clerks, Com, R, 90 min. Brian 

O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson. Dir: 

Kevin Smith. 

Pulp Fiction, ActA'hr, R. John Travolta, 

Samuel L. Jackson, Uma 

Thurman. Dir: Quentin Tarantino. 

October 

212-332-2480 

The Last Seduction, Com, 110 

min. Linda Fiorentino, Bill Pullman. 

Dir: John Dahl. 

Savoy 

310-247-7930 

Exit to Eden, Rom/Com, R. Dan 

Aykroyd, Dana Delaney. Dir: 

Gary Marshall. 

Seventh Art 

213-845-1455 

The Coriolis Effect and Making 

Up (double feature). Com, 85 

min. Katja von tjarnier. 

Willem Dafoe (as poet T.S. Eliot) and Miranda Richardson begin an 

ill-fated relationship in Brian Gilbert's "Tom & Viv," a Miramax release. 

Zeitgeist 

212-274-1989 

Bosna!, Doc, NR, 117 min. Dir: 

Bernard-Henri Levi. 

Faust, Ani, NR, 97 min. Petr 

Cepek. Dir: Jan Szankmajer. 

NOVEMBER 

Arrow 

212-332-8140 

Me and the Mob, Com, NR, 86 

min. lames Lorinz. Dir: Frank 

Rainone. 

Capitol 

202-363-8800 

Lamb (Ireland), Com, NR, 1 10 

min. Liam Neeson, Ian Banncn. 

Dir: Colin Gregg. 

reissue, restored), Mus/Dra. Rex 

Harrison, Audrey Hepburn. 

Miramax 

Camilla, Com/Dra, PG-1 3, 91 

min. Bridget Fonda, Jessica 

Tandy. Dir: Deepa Mehta. 

MK2 

An Unforgettable Summer (Romania), 

Dra, 80 min. Krislen Scott 

Thomas, Claudiu Bloont. Dir: Lucian 

Tintilie. 

Northern Arts 

413-268-9301 

Dirty Money, Act/Dra, 121 min. 

EK'dciuk Deane. Dir: lames 

Biu( (', 

Minbo (The Gentle Art of |apanese 

Extortion) (/.ip.i/i), Nk, 12! 

min. Nobuku Miyamoto. Dir: 

Juzo Itami. 

Miramax 

The Crossing Guard, Dra. Jack 

Nicholson, David Morse, An- 

Jelica Huston, Robin Wright. Dir: 

Sean Penn. 

Heavenly Creatures, Dra. Melanie 

Lynskey, Kate Winslet. Dir: 

Peter Jackson. 

Highlander III: The Sorcerer, SF. 

Christopher Lambert, Dir: Andy 

Morahan. 

Pret A Porter, Com/Dra. Lauren 

Bacall, Marcello Mastroianni, 

Julia Roberts, Tim Robbins. Dir: 

Robert Altman. 

Queen Margot, Dra. Isabelle Adjani, 

Daniel Auteuil, Jean 

Hugues-Anglade, Vincent Perez. 

Dir: Patrice Chereau. 

Red, Dra. Irene Jacob, Jean-Louis 

Trintignant. Dir: Krzysztof 

Kieslouski. 

Restoration, Dra. Robert Downey 

Meg Ryan. Dir: Michael Hoff- 

Jr., 

man. 

Tom and Viv, Rom, 125 min. 

Willem Dafoe, Miranda Richardson. 

Dir: Brian Ciilbert. 

October 

Colonel Chabert Dra, 

i 

NK, 1 10 min. Gerard Depardieu. 

Dir; Yves Angelo. 12/23 NY. 

Roxie 

415-431-3611 

Gimme Shelter i25r/) anniversaryreissue). 

Doc, NR, 95 min. Rolling 

Stones, Jefferson Airplane. 

12/1. 

66 BOXOFFICE

BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart JANUARY 1995 

Seventh Art 

Son of the Shark, Dra, NR, 85 

min. Ludovic Vandendaele. Dir: 

Agnes Merlet. 

Sony Classics 

The Films of Satyajit Ray (reissue 

of eight films). Dir; Satyajit Ray. 

A Man of No Importance, Dra. 

Albert Finney. Dir: Suri 

Krishnamma. 12/21 NY. 

Strand 

212-247-4100 

Floundering, Com/Dra, NR, 97 

min. lames LeGros. Dir: Peter Mc- 

Carthy. 

Tara 

415-454-5838 

Royal Space Force: Wings of 

Honeamise, Ani, NR, 119 min. 

Dir: Yamaga Hiroyuki. 

The Secret Adventures of Tom 

Thumb, Ani, NR, 57 min. Dir: 

Dave Borthwick. 

Trimark 

Federal Hill, Dra. Nicholas 

Turturro. Dir: Michael Corrente. 

AN./CURRENi 

Savoy 

Walking Dead, Act/Dra. Allen 

Payne, Joe Morton. Dir: Preston 

A. Whitmore. 

Sony Classics 

Martha& Ethel, Doc, 80 min. Dir: 

lyll Johnstone. 

Trimark 

Frank & Jesse, Wes. Rob Lowe, 

Bill Paxton, Randy Travis. Dir: 

Robert Boris. 

FEBRUARY 

Fine Line 

An Awfully Big Adventure. Alan 

Rickman, Hugh Grant. Dir: Mike 

Newell. 

October 

Search and Destroy, Dra 

Dunne. Dir: David Salle. 

Griffin 

Savoy 

Heaven's Prisoners, Act/Thr. Alec 

Baldwin. Dir: Phil Joanou. 

Tales from the Hood, Act/Hor. 

Dir: Rusty Cundieff. 

Sony Classics 

A Pure Formality (France/Italy), 

Thr. Gerard Depardieu. Dir: 

Giuseppe Tornatore. 

APRI' 

Savoy 

Circle of Friends. Chris 

O'Donnell, Minnie Driver. 

Miramax 

The Glass Shield, Thr. Michael 

Boatman, Lori Petty. Dir: Charles 

Burnett. 

Great Moments in Aviation, 

Com/Dra, 96 min. Jonathan 

Pryce, Vanessa Redgrave. Dir: 

Beeban Kidron. 

The Innocent, Thr, 118 min. Anthony 

Hopkins, Isabella Rosselini. 

Dir: John Schlesinger. 

Picture Bride. Tamlyn Tomita. 

The Prince of Jutland, 103 min. 

Gabriel Byrne. 

Road Flower, R, 89 min. Christopher 

Lambert. Dir: Deran Serafian. 

Savoy 

Bad with Numbers, Com. Dir: 

Bruce Leddy. Summer. 

Faithful, Com/Fhr. Chazz Palminteri, 

Cher, Ryan O'Neal. Dir: 

Paul Mazursky. Summer. 

Getting away with Murder, Com. 

Dan Aykroyd, Jack Lemmon, Lily 

Tomlin, Bonnie Hunt. Dir: Harvey 

Miller. Summer. 

Private Parts, Bio. Howard Stern. 

Dir: John Avildsen. Summer. 

Around the Block. Fall. 

Goldbergs and Romanes. Fall. 

Let It Be Me. Fall 

Three Wishes. Fall. 

Steal Big, Steal Little, Act/Com. 

Dir: Andy Davis. Fall. 

Inflammable. Late fall. 

Foreplay. Christmas. 

A Simple Plan. Dir: Mike Nichols. 

Christmas. 

The Stupids. Christmas. 

The Honeymooners. Late 1995. 

Cinevista 

212-947-4373 

On My Own (Canada), Dra, NR, 

96 min. Judy Davis, Matthew Ferguson. 

Dir: Antonio Tibaldi. 

First Look 

310-855-1199 

The Secret of Roan Inish, Dra, 

103 min. Dir: John Sayles. 

Gramercy 

S.F.W., Dra/Com. Stephen Dorff, 

Reese Witherspoon. 

Miramax 

strawberry and Chocolate, 

Com/Dra. Vladimir Cruz, )orge 

Perugorria. Dirs:TomasGutierrez 

Alea, )uan Carlos Tabic. 1/1 3. 

October 

Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker, 

Rom/Dra, 11 6 min. Ning 

)ing, Wu Gang. Dir: He Ping. 1/20 

NY, 1/27 L.A. 

Smoking and No Smoking (double 

feature), Dra, NR, 285 min. 

total. Sabine Azema, Pierre Arditi. 

Dir: Alain Resnais. 

Matthew Ferguson (as a prep-school student) receives a visit from Judy 

Davis (as his unstable mother) in a Cinevista release, "On My Own." 

First Look 

Party Girl, Com. Parker Posey, 

Omar Townsend. Dir: Daisy Van 

Scherler Mayer. 

Miramax 

Les Visiteurs (France), Com, 106 

min. Jean Reno, Christian Clavier, 

Valerie Lamercier. Dir: Jean- 

Marie Poire. 

Savoy 

Last of the Dog Men, Adv. Tom 

Berenger, Barbara Hershey. Dir: 

Tab Murphy. 

MARCH 

Miramax 

Hellraiser 4, Hor. Doug Bradley, 

Bruce Ramsey. Dir: Kevin Yagher. 

Dr. lekyll and Ms. Hyde, Hor. 

Sean Young, Tim Daly. Dir: 

David Price. 

Rough Magic, Rom/Com. Bridget 

Fonda. Dir: Clare Peploe. 

IJil:h!Mili'ill)IH 

Fine Line 

Once Were Warriors (New Zealand), 

Dra. Dir: Lee Tamahoori. 

Six Days Six Nights. Anne 

Parillaud. Dir: Diane Kurys. 

Gramercy 

A Pig's Tale, Com, PG. Graham 

Slack. Dir: Paul Tassie. 

Greycat 

Johnny 100 Pesos (Chile), Dra, 

NR, 90 min. Armando Araiza. 

Sony Classics 

Amateur, Com, 105 min. Isabelle 

Huppert. Dir: Hal Hartley. 

Farinelli, Dra. Stetano Dionisi. 

Dir: Gerard Corbiau. 

Je M'Appelle Victor (Call Me Victor) 

(France), Com, PC, 100 min. 

Jeanne Moreau, Micheline Presle. 

Dir: Guy Jacques. 

Safe, SF. Julianne Moore. Dir: 

Todd Haynes. 

Shanghai Triad, Dra. Gong Li. 

Dir: Zhang Yimou. 

Window to Paris (Russia/France), 

Fan, PG-1 3, 87 min. Agnes Soral, 

Sergei Dontsov. Dir: Yuri Mamin. 

Tone 

603-356-4581 

Ironman, Act/Rom. Bernard Fox, 

Tim Rossovich. Dir: Douglas 

Kennett. 

Troma 

The Class of Nuke 'Em High, Part 

III, Fan. Tromie the Nuclear Rodent. 

Dir: Eric Louzil. 

Ghost Ship, Adv, PG-1 3. Ryan 

Cash. Dir: Jim Flocker. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young 

Goodman Brown, Dra. John P. 

Ryan, Tom Shell. Dir: Peter 

George. 

January, 1995 67

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" 

REVIEWS 

RED FIRECRACKER, 

GREEN FIRECRACKER -kir-k 

Starring Ning Jing, \Vu Gang and 

Zhao Xiaorui. 

Directed by He Ping. Screenplay by 

Da Ying. Produced by Chen Chunkeung 

and Yung Naming. 

An October FUms release. Drama. Not 

rated. Running time: 111 min. In Mandarin 

Chinese with English stdrtitles. 

Based on a story by Feng Jicai, "Red 

Firecracker, Green Firecracker" transports 

us to a remote northern province 

of China at the end of the last century. 

The Cai family are feudal lords, but have 

no male heir to take over their fireworks 

empire. In accordance with tradition, 

the family's only daughter, 

Chu Zhi (Ning Jing), is allowed to 

rule, but she is treated, addressed and 

clothed as a man, and in her position 

as Master is forbidden to marry. Niu 

Bao (Wu Gang), an itinerant artist, is 

hired to paint the traditional New 

Year's Gods in the great house, and 

Chu soon falls deeply in love— endangering 

the delicate balance of the 

world around her and raising the jealousies 

of factory foreman and family 

retainer Mr. Mann (Zhao Xiaorui). 

"Firecracker" is a lushly mounted, 

well-acted piece, presenting an exotic 

tale with both intellectual and emotional 

appeal. Although the film 

avoids most obvious pitfalls of the 

illicit-love-between-social-unequals 

genre, it has one fatal flaw: a storytelling 

murkiness caused more by sloppy 

direction than by cross-cultural 

viewer confusion. When apparently decisive 

confrontations occur, it seems reasonable 

to assume the narrative would 

proceed from this new dramatic plateau—yet 

it never does. The story simply 

ambles on as if what we were just shown 

had never happened. 

In the most annoying instance, a 

sword fight between the artist and Mr. 

Mann ends when one of them, it isn't at 

all clear who, is either killed or badly 

hurt, yet they both pop up in the next 

scene none the worse for wear. The 

havoc such moments wreak with audiences 

turns what could have been a truly 

great film into merely an oddly interesting 

one.— Alex Albanese 

THE PAGEMASTER iîr-kir 

Starring Macaulay Culkin and Christopher 

Lloyd; with the voices of Patrick 

Stewart, Wlioopi Goldberg and Frank 

Welker. 

Live action directed by Joe Johnston; 

animation directed by Maurice Hunt. 

Written by Daind Casci, Daind Kirschner 

and Ernie Contreras. 

A Fox release. Live action /animated. 

Rated G. Running time: 75 min. 

If there's a problem with "The 

Pagemaster"— and it's the only one— it's 

that it's too short. David Kirschner, who 

produces and co-scripts (and co-wrote 

the story on which the film is based), has 

a higher aim than to create a mindless 

mall-sitter for adults needing to stow 

their kids for a while. Yet the story, 

which takes fraidey-cat Richard Tyler 

(Macaulay Culkin) on brave literary adventures 

come alive in the realm of the 

Pagemaster, fairly bursts at the seams. 

Scenes rush by, leaving viewers pleading, 

"Wait, I want to see more of this." 

For all its fever, though, "The 

Pagemaster" has a fine emotional (even 

thoughtfiil) quality too often missing in 

children's fare, even from Disney's recent 

releases, which rely more on musical 

interludes and heartstring tugs to 

An animated Macaulay Culkui cavurts with the Books called 

Fantasy, Adventure and Horror m Fox's "The Pagemaster. 

carry us along. (There are only two 

songs in "The Pagemaster.") The animation 

is lively and colorful, and the voices 

of the three Books who accompany 

young Richard on his journey— Patrick 

Stewart as Adventure, Whoopi Goldberg 

as Fantasy and Frank Welker as Horror—are 

as superbly crafted as their 

characterizations, which will be interesting 

to all ages. This is that rare animated 

event: A non-Disney film that adults 

should put at the top of their must-see 

lists. — Ki»n Williamson 

FEDERAL HILL -k-k-k-k 

Stalling Nicholas Tui-turro, Anthony 

De Sando and Libby Langdon. 

Directed, written and produced by 

Michael Corrente. 

A Trimark release. Drama. Rated R 

for strong language, some sexuality and 

drug content. Running time: 100 min. 

Not as known as Qiientin Tarantino or 

Rob Weiss, Michael Corrente is a young 

auteur with a vision denoted by mean 

streets, grit and a curious sense of what 

constitutes personal honor. His impressive 

first feature, "Federal Hill," gains in 

momentum as it unfolds and boasts 

nicely detailed character sketches. This 

black-and-white film at first appears to 

be an unassuming slice of life, but it soon 

develops into a tension-filled drama. 

Ralph could have been a 

Set in current-day Providence, R.I., 

the story opens with its focus on five 

blue-collar friends who've grown up 

together in the tough Italian neighborhood 

known as Federal Hill. Although 

the young men's fraternal commitments 

are laudable, their activities are 

not. Ralph ("Mac's" Nicholas Turturro) 

is a cat burglar, Nicky (Anthony De 

Sando) is a two-bit drug dealer, Frank 

(Michael Raynor) is a Mob enforcer, 

Bobby (Jason Andrews) is a lousy 

gambler and Joey (Robert Turano) is 

a wife-harried ex-con. They hang out 

together on most nights, not having 

much of a life beyond their weekly 

card game — until Wendy (Libby 

Langdon) enters the picture. 

A rich co-ed at Brown University, 

Wendy meets Nicky during a 

cocaine buy, and the electricity between 

them is as palpable as it is 

mutual. When the two begin a furtive 

romance, the unstable Ralph 

rages with anger at Nicky for thinking 

he can exit his poor-man's 

place in the world. This odd triangle 

is certainly the central story, 

but there are a host of interconnected 

plots played out in the film: 

The lovers encounter the usual 

rich-girl/poor-boy problems, 

Ralph has a sick father, Bobby's 

tlebts make him a Mob target, and 

I'rank finds himself unable to live 

outside his don father's shadow. 

Holding these myriad elements 

together is a script that pays particular 

attention to depth of character. 

one-dimensional figure, but Corrente 

makes him a devoted son. Nicky also 

could have become a caricature, but 

he cooks, speaks beautiful Italian and 

is a master at fixing cars. Even the 

comparatively underwritten Joey is 

given a wife and a set of domestic 

problems. The black-and-white cinematography 

is a nice touch; a moody 

score by Bob Held adds an extra layer 

of atmosphere. —Dflwd Mermelstein 

REVIEWS 

Century R-7 

Dumb & Dumber R-2 

Federal Hill R-3 

Interview with the Vampire R-5 

Junior R-4 

A Low Down Dirty Shame R-2 

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein R-5 

Miracle on 34th Street R-4 

Oleanna R-5 

The Pagemaster R-3 

Pontiac Moon R-6 

Red Firecracker, Green Firecracker R-3 

The Santa Clause R-5 

The Secret of Roan Inish R-2 

Star Trek Generations R-4 

The Swan Princess R-7 

Vanya on 42nd Street R-6 

January, 1995 R-3

. 

REVIEWS 

JUNIOR -k-k-k-k-k 

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, 

Danny DeVito and Emma Tliompson. 

Directed and produced by Ivan Reitman. 

Written by Kevin Wade and 

Chris Coytrad. 

A Universal release. Comedy. Rated 

PG-13 for sex-related humor. Running 

time: 109 min. 

There were a number of things missing 

from Ivan Reitman's "Twins," but 

perhaps the most important thing missing 

has proved to be Emma Thompson. 

In this comedy about a male scientist, 

Dr. Alex Hesse (Arnold Schwarzenegger) 

is persuaded by his pal. Dr. Larry 

Arbogast (Danny DeVito), the head of a 

fertility clinic, to try their new pregnancy 

drug on himself. The consequences 

are unexpected; Not only does 

the Expectane work (even on an X-chromosomer), 

but it turns the former 1-percent-body-fat 

Dr. Hesse into an emotional 

creature whose hormones are raging. 

DeVito, often so good at sadness, here 

has litde to do; Schwarzenegger is 

( swellingly) onscreen much of the time. 

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a baby-on-boaril 

fertility scientist and Emma Thompson a cryogenics 

researcher who fall in love in Umversal's 'Junior' 

and his playing against type— sobbing at 

silly TV shows, eating gargantuan meals 

(pickles included, of course)— are surefire 

audience pealers. But it's Thompson's 

presence (as a cryogenics 

researcher, accident causer and, unbeknownst 

to her, egg donor) that grounds 

all this foofaraw in reality, making what 

could have been just an antic comedy 

something deeper and even more pleasing. 

As his "Dave" witnessed, Reitman 

in recent years has been getting better 

and better, and ".lunior" only continues 

his nm — Ki'jii Williamson 

STAR TREK GENERATIONS •• 

starring William Shatner, Patrick 

Stewart and Malcolm McDowell. 

Directed by David Carson. Screenplay 

by Ronald D. Moore and Brandon 

Braga, from a story by Rick Berman 

and Ronald D. Moore & Brandon 

Braga. Produced by Rick Bennan. 

A Paramount release. Sci-fi. Rated 

PC for sci-fi action and some mild language. 

Running time: 118 min. 

There's a weird sort of contempt for 

the audience at work in the way the "Star 

Trek" film franchise keeps destroying 

prominent elements in the "Trek" iconography 

for cheap dramatic effects designed 

to increase the "must-see" factor 

of each movie for devotees of the biggest 

"cult" in cinema history. In "Star Trek II: 

The Wrath of Klian," Spock was killed off, 

only to be revived in "Trek III." In "Trek 

III," the discovery was made that you can 

pull Trekkie heartstrings by killing off 

starship Enterprise, with the added 

bonus that afterward you get to rebuild 

the ship with more gizmos and a sleeker 

look more in keeping with effects budgets 

that are about a zillion 

times those of the 

original TV series. 

There's a lot more than 

usual riding on "Star 

Trek Generations," the 

first "Trek" feature to 

elevate the cast of TV's 

"Next Generation" to 

the big screen, so perhaps 

it was to be expected 

that the 

corporate suits at Paramount 

would come up 

with a scenario that ensures 

a Pavlovian 

"Trekkie" boxoffice response 

by both killing 

an important "Trek" 

principal and destroying 

the "Next Generation"-model 

Enterprise 

In narrative as well 

as commercial terms, it 

makes all kinds of 

sense, to knock off Captain 

Kirk anyway, since 

William Shatner— by 

now as effortless a leading 

man while in his 

character as John 

Wayne was by the end 

of his career— steals every scene he's in 

from "The Next Generation's" bloodless 

Captain Picard, despite the fact that Picard 

player Patrick Stewart is clearly the 

better actor. Science fiction isn't about 

acting chops, after all; it's about who's 

faster with a phaser ray gun and who 

looks better standing on the burning 

bridge of a spaceship in the heat of combat. 

On those terms, Kirk wins every 

round, hands down. 

It's a pity, though, that alter reaping 

billions on Kirk F< co. the "Star Trek" 

brain trust couldn't come up with a moriinteresting 

farewell to the old 

franchise's linchpin. Nothing much is 

ever at stake in "Generations," which 

puts a kind of pseudo-religious spin on 

the standard time-travel devices in 

order to get Kirk and Picard together, 

and then gives them next to nothing to 

do. Their "adventure" together lasts all 

of two scenes, and the final foe of Kirk's 

long career is a peculiarly enervated 

little twerp named Soren (Malcolm Mc- 

Dowell, looking like Sting and bringing 

next to none of the energy of "A Clockwork 

Orange" to bear) who seems unworthy 

of his attentions. 

The effects work is characteristically 

transplendent, but "Generations" is a 

strangely hollow exercise. Kirk deserved 

to die with his usual— if aging— 

comrades-at-arms, not stranded on 

some asteroid with a hairless refiigee 

from the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

If this limp, overproduced exercise is 

the best "The Next Generation" has to 

offer, don't be surprised if Kirk, like 

Spock, is resurrected just in time to give 

"Generations 11" a transfusion of good 

old-fashioned macho science-fiction 

blood.— i?fl|/ Greene 

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET ••• 

Starring Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan 

McDertnott, Richard Attenborough 

and Mara Wilson. 

Directed by Les Mayfield. Writtejt by 

George Seaton and John Hughes. Produced 

by John Hughes. 

A Fox release. Fantasy. Rated PGfor 

some mild language. Running time: 

110 min. 

John Hughes' scripts seem eternally 

trapped in that festive season between 

Thanksgiving ("Planes, Trains & Automobiles," 

"Dutch") and Christmas (the 

two yuletide-themed "Home Alone" 

films, "National Lampoon's Christmas 

Vacation"). So it's no real surprise that 

he would decide to re-roast that hardy 

holiday chestnut, "Miracle on 34th 

Street." What has emerged from 

Hughes's ever-busy word processor is a 

reasonably faithful adaptation of 

George Seaton's 1947 screenplay in 

which a bearded elderly gent (Richard 

Attenborough), enlisted as a department-store 

Santa, claims to be real 

thing. His assertion tests the will and 

faith of a jaded store employee (Elizabeth 

Perkins), who has raised her precocious 

daughter (Mara Wilson) not to 

believe in silly myths— e.g., St. Nick. 

Hughes has kept his penchant for headclonking 

slapstick largely in check, 

crafting a fairly somber tale that director 

Les^Mayfieid does little to energize. 

Despite its holiday-classic standing, 

"Miracle on 34th Street" is not, in either 

incarnation, a lightheartcd romp for the 

kiddies. Like "Tt's a Wonderfiil Life," 

"Miracle" is a Christmas movie best appreciated 

by adults, because what's really 

at stake is not whether the young 

girl can learn to believe in Santa but 

R-4 Boxoffice

a 

. 

REVIEWS 

whether adults can learn to recapture 

the wonder and innocence of childhood. 

That's a tricky theme to put across successfully, 

particularly in a time as cynical 

as ours (as Steven Spielberg learned 

with "Hook"). 

Attenborough brings the requisite 

twinkle to his Kris Kringle, but his simple 

charms must compete with a script 

that, in trying to be modern, includes 

references to such heartwarming topics 

as alcoholism and even pedophilia. Although 

"Miracle" has its enchanting moments, 

it remains too grounded in 

real-world concerns to work as the fantasy 

it intends to be. —Eric WilliMns 

THE SANTA CLAUSE i.-k-k-k 

Starring Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold 

and Wendy Crewson. 

Directed by John Pasquin. Written 

by Leo Benvenuti and Steve Riidnick. 

Produced by Brian Reilly, Jeffrey Silver 

and Robert Neiinnyer. 

A Biiena Vista release. Comedy. 

Rated PG for a few crude moments. 

Running time: 97 tnin. 

In his film debut, Tim Allen of TV's 

"Home Improvement" has some big 

boots to fill. Allen plays Scott Calvin, a 

divorced father whose son Charlie is 

visiting him for Christmas. When a midnight 

clatter awakens them, Scott investigates 

and discovers the one and only 

Santa Claus, who slips off Scott's icy roof 

and mysteriously dematerializes, leaving 

behind a red suit, a fully loaded 

sleigh and one big job left incomplete. 

Charlie persuades Scott to don the big 

man's apparel and finish delivering the 

world's presents, unaware that, in so 

doing, Scott will become bound by The 

Santa Clause and forevermore assume 

the identity and obligations of Saint 

Nick himself 

The primary drama focuses on a custody 

battle, as Scott's ex-wife (Wendy 

Crewson) and her psychiatrist husband 

(Judge Reinhold) question whether 

Scott is a fit parent, filling his son's head 

with absurd tales about Santa Claus and 

visits to the North Pole. This provides 

just enough plot to keep the film moving 

without offering much serious conflict. 

(How much stimn unci drang can there 

be when the bad guy is Judge Reinhold?) 

What truly drives the film are Scott's 

begrudging attempts to fill in for Santa 

Claus, as he is sucked down the narrow 

heating ducts that have replaced chimneys, 

and his gradual metamorphosis 

into the jolly fat man, accomplished 

through Rick Baker's amazing prosthetic 

makeup. The North Pole workshop 

sets have a cheesy, low-budget feel 

and the flying sleigh effects are merely 

serviceable, but the film creates a spirit 

of goodwill that compensates for these 

technical shortcomings. Allen capitalizes 

on his small-screen fame as 

America's favorite TV dad in a way Bill 

Cosby never managed, simply by playing 

essentially the same character; he 

even brings along his trademark barbaric 

"Oh-oh-oh!" grunt as an inverted "Ho-hoho!" 

Less ambitious and accomplished 

than "Miracle on 34th Street," "The Santa 

Clause" is victorious in the 1994 battle of 

the Kris Kringles by succeeding at its 

modest goal of creating a 

crowd-pleasing broad comedy 

with just a smidgen of sentiment.— 

Eric Williams 

OLEANNA -k 

Staning William H. Macy 

and Dcbra Eisenstadt. 

Directed and written by 

Daind Mamet. 

Produced by 

Patricia Wolff and Sarah 

Green. 

A Goldivyn release. Drama. 

Not rated. Running time: 93 

min. 

About as interesting as oleo, 

"Oleanna" in its big-screen adaptation 

by David Mamet of his 

play is about as stagy as they 

come. The two characters— 

college professor (William H. 

Macy) and an unstable co-ed 

(Debra Eisenstadt)— speak at 

the audience more than each other, with 

pregnant pauses and stammers religiously 

timed to the director's ordination 

What is supposed to be a compelling 

drama about sexual politics becomes 

more a look at two characters whose 

inner confusions prevent any real interaction 

between them, short-circuiting 

the film's gender-war intentions. 

Clearly meant to incite heated conversation 

about today's battle between the 

sexes, "Oleanna" only makes one wonder 

how a talent like 

Mamet— whose work 

has been the basis for the artistically successful 

"Glengarry Glen Ross" and 

"...About Last Night"— could have gone so 

far wrong. — Kim Williamson 

MARY SHELLEY'S 

FRANKENSTEIN •• 

Staning Kenneth Branagh, Robeii 

De Niro and Helena Bonham Carter. 

Directed by Kenneth Branagh. Written 

by Steph Lady and Frank Darabont. 

Produced by Francis Ford Coppola, 

James V. Hart and John Vcitch. 

A TriStar release. Horror. Rated R for 

horrific images. Running time: 123 ynin. 

Few movies about horror icons- 

Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman— 

are as resilient as the monsters 

themselves. Rather than creating new 

stories, filmmakers often just put a new 

spin on the old ones that have worn well. 

Francis Ford Coppola (who produces 

"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein") in his direction 

of "Dracula" added a personal 

palate of visual effects. Mike Nichols' 

"Wolf brought the werewolf concept into 

a current-day context with a hip story 

and an edgy sense of humor. 

The problem with Branagh's version of 

the Frankenstein tale is that it's not told 

in a new way. In fact, it mcludes aspects 

of the source material rightfully 

cut from previous film adaptations. 

Shelley's monster, far from the grunting 

behemoth who terrified audiences 

of Boris Karloff films, is intelligent and 

Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter in 

swoon m TnStar's 'Mary Shelley's Fiankenstein." 

talkative, engaging his maker in decidedly 

uncinematic discourse about the 

nature of his being. As the creators of 

previous Frankenstein films knew, a 

movie is not a proper venue for prosaic 

philosophizing; the time is too 

short and audience expectations— for 

a "boo!" monster— are too specific. 

And Branagh's monster has barely a 

boo in him — /o»i Silberg 

INTERVIEW WITH THE 

VAMPIRE •• 

Starting Tom Crttise, Brad Pitt and 

Christian Slater. 

Directed by Neil Jordan. Written 

by Anne Rice. Produced by Stephen 

Woolley and David Geffen. 

A Wartier Bios, release. Horror. 

Rated R for vampire violence and 

gore, and for sexuality. Running 


Neil Jordan, who gave us the emotionally 

affecting independent film 

"The Crying Game," here tries his 

hand again at a big studio project. 

Somewhere in the A-level casting and 

high-budget numbers, the emotional 

element— Jordan's strongest suit— has 

been lost. Maybe it's because, unlike 

"The Crying Game," here Jordan had 

no hand in the screenplay. That duty 

hasbeenleft to Anne Rjce, who adapts 

in none too compelling fashion from 

her novel. 

In the much debated casting of the 

Vampire Lestat, Tom Cruise seethes 

with blood lust; however, the film's 

heart is meant to belong to those he 

turns into vampires (Brad Pitt and, as 

an ageless little girl, Kirsten Dunst), 

but the relationships between themselves 

and to the audience are virtual 

January, 1995 R-5

' 

( ano" 

' 

REVIEWS 

blanks. In a crucial scene, when Pitt's 

Louis touches the sun-baked body of 

Dunst's Claudia only to see her 

remains dissolve into a storm 

of ash around him, we feel 

wonder at the image, but no 

devastation at his loss. 

The magnificent visuals are 

thanks to cinematographer 

Philippe Rousselot, Oscar winner 

for "A River Runs Through 

It."— Kim Williamson 

VANYA ON 42ND 

STREET ••••• 

Starring Wallace Shawn 

and Julianne Moore. 

Directed by Louis Malle. 

Written by Daind Ma>nct. Produced 

by Fred Bemer. 

A Sony Classics release. 

Drama. Rated PG for tlietnatic 

material. Running time: 119 min. 

Director Louis Malle's approach to 

this screen adaptation of Anton 

Chekhov's classic play "Uncle Vanya" 

successfully avoids feeling like a play 

more than a movie. By immediately 

establishing the location as an old Times 

Square theater and by showing us the 

actors as actors in contemporary dress, 

deli coffee cups used as vodka tumblers 

and a completely bare stage, the entire 

mise-en-scene of"Vanya on 42nd Street" 

reminds us that the play's the thing. 

And what a play. David Mamet's 

script helps create a dark, brooding 

drama of complex characters' desperate 

search for affection, respect and enlightenment. 

As the unappreciated, unloved 

Vanya, Wallace Shawn plays against his 

usual comic type. Other cast members, 

especially Julianne Moore ("Short 

Cuts"), shine. The stage direction of 

Director Louis Malle looks throui^h the shooting script 

on the set of Sony Classics' 'Vanya un 42nd Street 

Andre Gregory (Shawn's collaborator 

on Malle's "My Dinner with Andre") is 

assured; Malle's film direction helps 

provide that same sense of immediacy 

usually found only in live performance.— 

/on Silherg 

FLASHBACK: MARCH 28, 1942 

What BOXOFFICE said about... 

THE JUNGLE BOOK 

^ 

Spectacular, lavish and technically im- 

^ pressive is Alexander Korda's film version of 

Rudyard Kipling's highly imaginative fairy 

story of the Indian jungles. Children will, of 

course, consider it a masterpiece of entertainment, 

although the verj' young may be 

frightened by some of its more realistic sequences. 

Adults, too, can find in its footage 

much to divert if they will remember 

throughout that the picture is, after all, a 

fantasy, permitting of wide latitude in story, 

dialogue and productional treatment. That 

the producer was conscious of the necessity 

of creating such perspective among adult 

patrons is demonstrated by the opening and 

closing tongue-in-cheek scenes. 'The human 

part of the cast, with Sabu its most potent 

marquee name, performs admirablj' under 

the understanding direction of Zoltan Korda. 

EXPLOITIPS: 

SELLING ANGLES: Sabu, Technicolor and Rudyard Kipling all desert'e 

marquee credit. Imbue the lobby with a jungle atmosphere. Tieups on 

Kipling's stories with libraries are called for. Offer copies of the book as 

prizes for juvenile essays on "Why 'Jungle Book' is my favorite storv." 

CATCHLINES:The Story of Mowgli- Stolen by Wolves.. .Who Becaine the 

Brother of All the Jungle's Animals. 

Mowgli, the Jungle Boy. ..Friend of All the Animals. ..Who Saves the 

Village from Dire Disaster. 

PONTIACMOON ** 

Starring Ted Danson, Mary 

Steenburgen and Eric Schweig. 

Directed by Peter Medak. Written by 

Finn Taylor and Jeffrey Brown. Produced 

by Robert Schaffel and Youssef 

Vahabzadeh. 

A Paramount 

release. Drama. 

Rated PG-13 for 

language. Running 

time: 107 

min. 

Dramatic 

whimsy is tough 

to film, as the 

makers of "Joe 

Versus the Voldiscovered. 

However, 

they succeeded 

tar better than 

has Peter Medak 

in this story of a 

lather who longs 

lo be out in the 

world, a mother 

who's a recluse 

and their young 

son who doesn't know which of those two 

paths (if either) to follow. 

Set during the days of the first Apollo 

mission to the lunar surface, "Pontine 

Moon" creates a sort of terrestrial variant 

of that voyage through space for its three 

characters. Dad and son board a prized 

1949 Pontiac Chief and head for the 

Spires of the Moon National Park, timing 

their arrival to the Eagle's touch- 

Ted Danson and Maty Steenburgen 

star m Paramount's 'Pontiac Moon. 

down far above them; braving her worst 

fears, mother sets off in pursuit. By the 

end, however, they've become lawbreakers 

and cop taunters, which 

screenwriters Finn Taylor and Jeffrey 

Brown don't seem to realize undercuts 

audience desire for the threesome to 

unite as a happy nuclear family. Thi^ 

film boasts some heartfelt moments, but 

they would have been more resonant 

had they not beini worn on the 

ninunak

I Poliakoff 

REVIEWS 

THE SWAN 

PRINCESS ••• 

Featuring the voices of 

Sandy Duncan, Jack Palance, 

Steven Wright and 

John Cleese. 

Directed and produced 

by Richard Rich. Written 

by Brian Nissen. 

A New Line release. Animation. 

Rated G. Running 

time: 88 min. 

Although "The Swan Princess" 

probably won't have 

Disney animators quivering 

in their platinum-plated 

boots this year, the impressive 

debut effort from "The 

Fox and the Hound" director 

Richard Rich's upstart Nest 

Entertainment appears to 

signal the beginnings of a 

very competitive future. In 

fact, audiences could well 

find Rich's film closer in 

spirit to traditional Disney 

product than the Mouse 

House's re-released megahit, 

"The Lion King." 

Tapping the legend of 

"Swan Lake" for its storyone 

of the precious few fairy 

tales still untouched by the 

Disney leviathan — "The 

Swan Princess" features a 

number of classic sequences 

that rank among the very 

best in animated history. 

Elsewhere, however, the artwork 

and animation falter, 

with spotty moments of 

sloppiness marring an otherwise 

accomplished motion 

picture. Where "The Swan 

Princess" lacks in polish, 

however, it compensates 

with story, music and firstrate 

vocal talent— scoring 

points for its ambitious progenitors 

as both animators 

and independent filmmakers. 

— Wade Major 

CENTURY •• 

Starring Charles Dance, 

Miranda Richardson and 

dive Owen. 

Directed and written by 

Stephen Poliakoff. Produced 

by Tlierese Pickard. 

An I.R.S. release. 

Drama. Unrated. Running 


"Century" deals with the 

fascinating topic of early 

medical research, and 

writer/director Stephen 

sets his movie 

against the promising backdrop 

of the move from the 

Victorian era into the 20th 

century. But "Century" falls 

into the predictable pattern 

of many British exportsfirst-rate 

acting and dialogue 

are counteracted by hopelessly 

static directing. 

Poliakoff, a noted British 

playwright who previously 

directed "Close My Eyes" 

and "Hidden City," is the 

writer to the hilt— he focuses 

more on his literate screenplay 

than on camera movement. 

His uncinematic style 

becomes immediately obvious 

in "Century," and the 

plodding pace makes the 

filrn seem to take a century. 

Paul Reisner (Clive 

Owen), an ambitious young 

doctor with an eccentric 

Rumanian Jewish father 

(Robert Stephens), goes to 

work for a medical research 

institute in London in 1900. 

He becomes the protege of 

amoral Professor Mandry 

(Charles Dance) and ro- 

(^Miranda 

mances Clara 

Richardson), a lower-class 

lab assistant. After Dance 

drags his feet about supporting 

some innovative research 

by Owen's friend and 

fellow doctor Felix (Neil 

Stuke), Owen opposes his 

mentor. The vengeful professor 

bounces Owen from 

the insfitute, but the young 

doctor discovers his evil 

medical experimentation 

and vows to expose him. 

Poliakoff s story has much 

going for it, showing the 

primitive conditions the 

doctors endure and their 

eager-beaver banter in the 

face of the gloom. These 

men show the optimism and 

experimentation of the people 

of the era. Stuke in particular 

rings true as the 

perpetually smiling doctor, 

content just to be able to 

practice his craft. But it's the 

conflict between Owen and 

Dance that consumes most 

of the film; these actors put 

subtle psychological bite 

into their verbal jousting. 

Dance's professor is so complex 

a character that he 

wouldn't be allowed in most 

mainstream American 

films. He's dangerous but regally 

charismatic, a villain 

Hitchcock surely would 

have appreciated. 

The always excellent 

Richardson has a role that 

seems meant for an ingenue, 

but the force of her natural 

presence wipes out her 

miscasting.— Cflroie Glines 

Slory-t\'pe key: (Aci Action: (Ad) Adventure: (An) Animated; 

(C) Comedy: (CD) Comedy Drama: (D) Drama: 

(DM) Drama with Music: (Doc) Documentary: (F) Fantasy; 

(Hor) Horror: (M) Musical: (My) Mystery: < ,? S o »| Z 

Hen WUfc.a.> 3 

HQ \n -^ rr, n " OS 

Angels in the Outfield PG 

(BY) 

Baby's Day Out PG (Fox) 

(Sus) Suspense: (Th) Thriller; (W) Western. 

105 

td 

as 

z 

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Ed 

j 

FAX 

ClearingHouse 

RATES: $1.00 per word, minimum $25, $15 00 

extra for box number assignment. Send copy 

w/check to BOXOFFICE, P.O. Box 25485, Chicago, 

IL 60625, at least 60 days prior to publication 

BOX NO. ADS: Reply to ads with box numbers by 

wnting to BOXOFFICE, P.O. Box 25485, Chicago, 

IL. 60625; put ad box # on letter and in lower left 

corner of your envelope. Please use # 10 envelopes 

or smaller for your replies. 

NDKPE^VnKNT THK.\TRi: Sri'PLY. INC. 

Dedicated to Supplying Quality 

Motion Picture Equipment 

(21III 2:()-.i.s(is 

4II.1S No I'jii ,\m K.xprosway S:iii .\iil.)iiic.. TX 7N21') 

HELP WANTED 

NATIONAL CINEMA SERVICE is accepting resumes 

from experienced Field Service Technicians. Full benefit 

package offered. Mail to: National Cinema Service, 

1305 Distnbutors Row, Suite 1, Harahan, LA 70123 

JOIN A WINNING TEAM! Managers and Assistant 

Managers wanted for multiplex theatres. Experience 

is welcome, or will train. College is a plus, but looking 

for dedication and enthusiasm. We offer great grovrth 

potential, excellent salary and benefit package. Send 

resume to; CINEPLEX ODEON THEATRES, Dept. B, 

70 East Lake Street, Suite 1600. Chicago, II, 60601 

LET THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE your new or 

existing small business. Grants/loans to $500,000. 

Free recorded message; (707) 448-0201 . 

(RN7)] 

MANAGER TRAINEE wanted by rapidly growing 

chain/management group Rapid training and advancement 

potential for film oriented person with 

some entry level or college background. Wnte in confidence 

to County Amusement, 3200 Elton Road, 

Johnstown, PA 15904. 

SENIOR PROJECTOR TECHNICIAN: Superior 

knowledge of sound and all related projection booth 

equipment required for growing regional circuit. 

Please send resume to Ron Dunning, P.O. Box 27848, 

Concord, CA 94527. 

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE 

PACER Equipment: Used Pacer equipment for sale. 

PMOS units, MOS unit, ticket printers, concession 

terminals, nodes, office printers, monitors, data ticket 

keyboards, data ticket, utilize with power supply. Color 

drums torticket printers. CallJ.E Henry 61 5-922-1 123 

X,418. 

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE: Complete contents from 

twin theatre including; Simplex XL's, Christie platters, 

Dolby stereo, 600 seats, concession equipment. Call 

(301)388-8941 

Rebuilt Century SA & R3 projector/soundhead 

$4250. Simplex XL $4450. Xenon lamps, platters, 

many lenses, excellent line of other used projection 

and sound equipment. TANKERSLY ENTERPRISES, 

P.O. Box 36009. Denver. CO. 80236. Phone; (303) 

980-8265. FAX (303) 986-7704 

CUPHOLDER ARMREST "state of the art" Cy Young 

cupholder. Call 1 -800-729-261 for FREE SAMPLE. 

FOR SALE: XENON BULBS by Hanovia. ORC. 

Osram and TMI USA. Total theatre equipment dealer. 

Projection, booth supplies. Ultra Stereo, Eprad. Bose 

sales and service. Contact Smith Sound and Projection, 

3922 Nolan Ave. S.E., Huntsville, AL, 35801 . Or 

call (205) 534-2824.. 

PATRON TRAY. Fits into cupholder armrest. Cy 

Young, Inc. Phone 1-800-729-2610. Call for free sample. 

COMPLETETHEATRE EQUIPMENT: (New, Used or 

Rebuilt) Century SA, R#, RCA 9030, 1 040, 1050 Platters; 

2 and 5 Tier, Xenon Systems 1000-4000 Watt, 

Sound Systems mono and stereo, automations, ticket 

machines, curtain motors, electric rewinds, lenses, 

large screen video projectors. Plenty of used chairs. 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND INSTALLATION 

AVAILABLE DOLBY CERTIFIED. Call Bill Younger, 

Cinema Equipment, Inc., 1375 N.W. 97th Ave., Suite 

14, Miami, FL 33172, Phone (305) 594-0570. Fax 

(305)592-6970. 1-800-848-8886. 

BURLAP WALL COVERING DRAPES: $2 05 per 

yard, flame retardant. Quantity discounts. Nurse & 

Co., Millbury Rd,, Oxford, MA 01540 (508) 832-4295. 

TELEPHONE ANSWERING EQUIPMENT. All major 

brands of reliable, heavy-duty tape announcers and 

digital announcers are available at discounted prices. 

Please call Jim at Answering Machine Specialty, (800) 

222-7773. 

MICRO-FM STEREO RADIO Sound Systems for 

Dnve-ln Theatres. Meets FCC part 15. Static free. 

Available soon; low cost Micro-FM-jr. For the hearing 

impaired. Call or wnte; AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS & 

ENG., 320 St. Louis Ave., Woonsocket. Rl 02895. 

Phone (401) 767-2080; Fax (401) 767-2081 

USED PROJECTION EQUIPMENT: Replacement 

equipment, single or multi booths available. Please 

call if you are purchasing or selling CINEMA CON- 

SULTANTS & SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, INC, 

P.O. Box 9672, Pittsburgh, PA 15226. Phone (412) 

884-8781 , (412) 884-2345. 

Four 1600 W Strong Super highlight consoles, 

$2250. each. One 2000 W Strong super highlight 

console, 2500. All with working bulbs. Call (817) 939- 

1918. 

CRETORS TOPPING DISPENSER CTE-1, slightly 

used. Automatic, adjustable portions control pump. 

Backlit sign, positive-displacement, self pnmingpump- 

Minimal cleaning, bumper bar dispense button leaves 

hands free. Yellow to conceals intemal condensation. 

Stainless steel bowl increases capacity 50%. Built-in 

thermostats control constant 1 1 5 degrees, fast warmup, 

$325, Only 6 available, act now! Proctor Companies, 

10497 Centennial Road, Littleton, CO. 80127. 

Toll-free (800) 221 -3699. FAX (303) 973-8884. 

MOTIVATED: Two strong X-60C lamphouses and 

rectifiers. Must sell. Call (403) 281-0612 or FAX (403) 

238-0190. 

SAVE ON NEW PROJECTION EQUIPMENT AND 

PARTS: Quality line of projection and stereo sound 

systems, best prices and warranty on Xenon bulbs, 

900 watts to 7000 watts, all major brands. Please 

contact SMITH SOUND & PROJECTION, 3922 Nolen 

Avenue SE, Huntsville, Al., 35801 or call (205) 534- 

2824. 

FACTORY FRESH ULTRALIFE THEATRE BULBS 

by ORC. Pnced to sell, warranty by ORC matches any 

other manufacturer. In stock 1 000 through 7000 watts 

honzontal or vertical bulbs; price honzontal XM 1000 

$425, 1600 $490, 2000 $500. Call for low pnce on 

3000 to 7000 Xenon HA/ Your total theatre equipment 

dealer since 1 969. SMITH SOUND & PROJECTION, 

3922 Nolen Ave. SE. Huntsville, AL. 35801-1037. 

Phone (205) 533-7209. 

USED PROJECTION EQUIPMENT; Two Cinema/eccanica 

V-5 projection heads, one with new 

intermittent movement, $2500 each. One Ultra Stereo 

model C-S 10-100 stereo processor, $1650. Two 

Adcom series 555 pro power amplifiers, 200 watts per 

channel. $350 each. One advanced Texhnology 

model 141 booth monitor, $350. Two 85mm Isco 

lenses, $300 each. Two 70mm llsco lenses, $300 

each. One Chnstie FC-1 film cleaner, $300. Contact 

Loudonville Film Partners, Hollywood. CA at (818) 

816-4757. 

EQUIPMENT WANTED 

OLD TUBE-TYPE equipment such as amps, speakers, 

drivers, horns, etc. from Western Electric, 

Westrex, Langevin, Jensen, Altec, JBL, Tannoy. Mcintosh, 

Marantz, etc. Call Audio City at (818) 701- 

5633, or write to Audio City, P.O. Box 802, Northridge. 

CA 91328-0802. 

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: We will purchase Century 

projectors or soundheads, new or old, complete 

or incomplete, for cash Also interested in XL and 

SH-1000 Call (502) 499-0050. Fax (502) 499-0052, 

Hadden Theatre Supply Co.. attn. Louis. 

VERY OLD THEATRE SOUND EQUIPMENT by 

Western Electric, Langevin, Jensen, Westrex, JBL, 

Tannoy, Pultech. Alted, etc. Amps, pre-amps. speakers, 

drivers, stage horns, electron tubes, etc. Always 

need Cinemeccanica heads 8,8R. Contact Kurluff 

Sound, 4331 Maxson Rd,, El Monte, CA 91732. Or 

call 1-800-334-8223, (818) 444-7079. FAX (81 8) 444- 

6863 

THEATRES FOR SALE/LEASE 

76 BoXOFFIfK 

N.W. Tenn.: Profitable 3 screen mam street theatre. 

No competition. Pop. 13.000. Platters/Xenon. Furnished 

3 room apt. TV. A. utilities, (cheap) Retiring to 

Hawaii. (901)386-6515. 

FLORIDA GULF COAST THEATRE selected "best 

theatre" in Tampa Bay area—248 seat—only theatre 

in beach communities—sub run & art product—asking 

pnce $325,000. Contact Mclntoch. realtor, 361 Corey

Avenue, St. Petersburg Beach Fl. 33706. Or call (818) 

363-1617. 

MOVIE THEATRES FOR SALE: Well establistied in 

Southern California, two locations, one twin and one 

single screen. Owner retiring. Easy acquisition for 

qualified buyer. Proven track record of profitability. For 

more information contact Jill Thompson Business & 

Commercial at (619) 621 -9052. 

THEATRES WANTED 

DRIVE-IN THEATRES, anywhere in US Lease, purchase. 

Phone (603) 366-5528, or write Drive-ln, P.O. 

Box 5083, Weirs Beach, NH, 03247. 

EXPERIENCED MARKETING/SALES COUPLE: interested 

in buy/lease in western USA. Write KIVIA 

18645 Hatteras, #248, Tarzana, CA, 91356. Or call 

(818)343-2872. 

THEATRES BOUGHT AND SOLD. East, Iîdwest, 

and South by progressive circuit operators/consultants. 

All replies confidential. Reply Holiday Entertainment/Cinema 

Associates, 3200 Elton Road, 

Johnston, PA 15904. Phone (814) 266-4308. 

THEATRE SEATING 

ALLSTATE SEATING is a company that is specializing 

in refurbishing, complete painting, molded foam, 

tailor-made seat covers, installations, removals. 

Please call for pricing and spare parts for all types of 

theatre seating. Boston, MA. Phone (617) 268-2221, 

FAX (61 7) 268-7011. 

CHAIRS-CHAIRS-CHAIRS: New, used, rebuilt. Chair 

recovering and installations. Chair parts, seat covers, 

$4.50. Used chairs $7.50 and up. HAYES 1800-882- 

5155. 

800-IRWIN CITATIONS available in good condition. 

Please call (305) 449-7700. 

ON-SITE UPHOLSTERY REPLACEMENT COV- 

ERS— all fabrics available. Complete auditoriums upholstered 

with payments up to 60 months. Samples 

made up FREE, always. See what you're getting 

before you buy. No one beats our prices, quality or 

service ever, guaranteed. Our BAKERS DOZEN 

gives you 1 3 covers for the cost of 1 2. Call 1 -800-252- 

6837 for information anytime. We offer service nationwide. 

COItflPLETE INDUSTRIES, INC. 1395 Pebble 

Beach Ct., Hanover Park, IL 60103. 

SEAT BACK/COVERS: Most fabrics in stock. Cy 

Yo ung, Inc. Call 1-800-729-2610. 

"ALL AMERICAN SEATING" by the EXPERTS! 

Used seats of quality. Vanous makes, American Bodiform 

and Stellars from $12.50 to $32.50. Irwins from 

$12.50 to $30.00. Heywood & Massey rockers from 

$25.00. Full rebuilding available. New Hussey chairs 

from $70.00. All types theatre projection and sound 

equipment. New and used. We ship and install all 

makes. Try us! We sell no Junk! TANKERSLEY EN- 

TERPRISES BOX 36009 DENVER, CO 80236 

Phone: 303-980-8265. 

USED AUDITORIUM CHAIRS: Choose from a large 

selection of different makes and models and colors, 

American Stellars and InA/in Citations competitively 

priced, shipped and installed. ACOUSTIC SOUND 

PANELS AND CUSTOM WALL DRAPERIES available 

in flameproofed colors and fabrics, artistic or 

plain. CINEMA CONSULTANTS & SERVICES IN- 

TERNATIONAL, Inc. P.O. Box 9672, Pittsburgh, PA. 

15226. Phone (412)884-8781, FAX (412)884-2345. 

ACOUSTIC SOUND PANELS & CUSTOM WALL 

DRAPERIES available in flameproofed colors and 

fabrics, artistic or plain, CINEMA CONSULTANTS & 

SERVICES INTERNATIONAL, INC, P.O. Box 9672, 

Pittsburgh, PA 15226. Phone (412) 884-8781, FAX 

(412)884-2345. 

THEATRE REMODELING 

WE CAN MULTIPLEX your theatre, make it look fantastic, 

and your profits will soar. No one does it for less. 

Multiplex Constnjction Corp. Call (708) 293-1401 

FLMS WANTED 

WANTED: 35mm XXX titles. Wanted in good condition. 

Please send your titles to FAX # (416) 533-8939, 

attn Mr. Green 

SERVICES 

DULL FLAT PICTURE? RESTORE YOUR XENON 

REFLECTORS! Ultraflat restores Xenon reflectors - 

repolish and recoat. "Hopeless Cases" restored to 

brightness. Contact Ultraflat, 20306 Sherman Way, 

Canoga Park. CA, (818) 884-0184. 

ATTN: DRIVE-IN THEATRBSEASONAL THEATRE 

OWNERS: Use your down time! Send your reflections 

to Ultraflat for an Ultraflat shine. Dull flat mirrors restored 

to brightness. Now is the time! Contact Ultraflat, 

20306 Sherman Way, Winnetka, CA, 91306. Or call 

(818)884-0184. 

INTERNATIONAL RENOVATION SERVICES: Cupholder 

armrest installations, buy and sell new and used 

chairs on and off site refurbishing, screens, drapes and 

curtains. "NO DOWN TIME." Call 1-800-531-2767. 

NEW BUYER/BOOKER SERVICE in your area Best 

rates around! Let us book your theatre and watch your 

profits rise. Check us out! Call (303)838-6087. 

INTERMITTENT & PROJECTOR REBUILDING— all 

major projector makes and models. Wholesale and 

retail. Dealer inquires invited. New & used projection 

equipment. Stereo system design & installation. Complete 

booth service & installation. Cinema Service & 

Supply, (800)231-8849. 

FILMS FOR SALE 

XXX FILMS FOR SALE: Library of 35mm tnple X 

features for sale. All in good condition. 300 35mm 

pnnts available. Contact between 8:00 and 1 1 ;00 PM, 

7 days a week. Phone (717) 939-9407. If no answer, 

call again. 

MISCELLANEOUS 

WANT TO BUY MOVIE POSTERS, lobbies Bruce 

Webster, 426 N.W. 20th, Oklahoma City, OK 73103. 

Phone (405) 524-6251. 

WANTED: MOVIE POSTERS, lobbies, stills, etc. Will 

buy any sized collection. The Paper Chase, 4073 La 

Vista Road, Tucker, GA 30084. Phone 1 -800-433-0025. 

WANTED: 35mm XXX titles. Wanted in good condition. 

Please send your titles to FAX #(416) 533-8939. 

attn Mr. Green. 

Ad Index 

Ashly Audio, Inc 18 

Audio Rents, inc 57 

Automaticket 77 

Chaparral Communications 48 

Cinema Consultants & Services ... 61 

Cinema Film Systems 17 

Cinema Service & Supply Co 61 

Cinetech Inc 63 

Digital Theatre Systems 11 

Dolby Laboratories 9 

Gold Medal Products 14 

Hadden Theatre Supply 57 

High Performance Stereo 23 

Independent Theatre Supply 76 

International Cinema Equipment, Inc. 25 

JBL Professional C-2 

JK International, Inc 58 

LaVezzi Precision, Inc 33 

LucasArts Entertainment Co 50 

Marble Co., The 27 

National Ticket Co 63 

NATO 32 

Odyssey Products 49 

Optical Radiation Corp 13 

Phonic Ear, Inc 47 

Proctor Companies 16 

QSC Audio Products C-3 

Ready Theatre Systems 63 

Smart Theatre Systems 31 , C-4 

Sony Dynamic Digital Sound 5 

Soundfold International 59 

Stein Industries 7 

TWI International 43 

Tempo Industries 47 

Tlvoli Industries 19 

Ultra-Stereo Labs, Inc 15 

Worrell Sound & Projection 58 

Young, Cy 51 

^\;SSS!^SSSSMSM&SMS!3SS!SMSESSMSIS!&SSSMSISMSMS!SMSMSMSMS!3MS!SMSMSSS!SMS!SIS!SSSM 

SUPERGLO 

HURLEY SCREENS 

SILVERGLO 

A smooth, aluminized surface 

offering the highest 

NW-16 

A heavy guage matte 

white surface offering 

excellent light distribution, 

image clarity, and 

A durable pearlescent, 

smooth surface offers 

maximum reflectivity & reflectivity for special applications 

such as 3D. 

light distribution. 

color rendition. 

-^^ Screen Framing • All Types Available 

FAX # (410) 838-8079 

AUTOMATED HIGH SPEED U/L APPROVED TICKETING EQUIPMENT 

Factory Service, the only authorized manufacturer and repair center. 

AUTOMATICKET 

A DIvlslori of Cemcorp 

110 Industry Lane - P.O. Box 296 

Forest Hill. MD 21050 

HURLEY SCREEN CORP. 

A Subsidiary of Cemcorp 

410-838-0036 • 410-879-3022 • 410-879-6757 • 410-83eH9333 

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January, 1995 77

The lEia IPicture 

The 

lunatics have taken over tlie 

asylum," groused MGM's 

Richard Rovv'lands on that day in 1 91 9 when the biggest stars 

and director of the silent era announced the formation of 

their own studio under the moniker "United Artists." 

Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford were the first true film stars, 

and the first screen 

personalities to demand 

salaries commensurate 

to their 

drawing power. 

Chaplin became the 

highest-salaried employee 

in America 

(and was denounced 

as "avaricious" from 

American pulpits) 

when he signed a 

$670,000 production 

deal with the Mutual 

Film Corporation in 

1916; Mary Pickford 

eclipsed him soon 

thereafter, by negotiating 

a million-dollai 

contract with tightfisted 

Paramount 

founder Adolph 

Zukor ("It took longer 

to make one of 

Mary's contracts 

then it did to make 

one of Mary's pictures," 

Sam Goldwyn 

was to quip later on). 

Though not quite in 

Chaplin or Pickford's 

league, Doug Fairbanks 

was the 

screen's first action 

superstar, and it was 

his business acumen 

that was to become 

the backbone of UA's 

daily operations during 

its formative 

years. In 1915 D. W. 

Griffith had reinvented 

the production 

and distribution 

of American movies 

with "The Birth of a 

Nation" (1915), his 

epic reconstruction 

of the Civil War (he 

was also the man who discovered both Pickford and Fairbanks, and 

who set them on the path to becoming screen stars). Altogether, 

the original UA alliance was a (bmiidable roster, tired ofhaving its 

creative impulses tampered with by callous studio executives, and 

willing to stake its talent, 

ABOVE; "Dream Team." 1919. (t to r.) Fairbanks. Pickford. Chaplin and Griffith announce UA. 

BELOW: "Dream Team," 1994. Geffen. Katzenberg and Spielberg embark on their new enterpnse 

prestige and finances on the idea that 

there was a place for its collective energies in the front office as 

well as in front of the camera. 

Skepticism such as Rowlands was notably absent after the 

stunning announcement that a new, a.s-yet-unnamcd studio would 

be similarly created out of the personal assets, talents, contacts and 

fortunes of directing superstar Steven Spielberg, former Disney 

production chief Jeffrey Katzenberg, and record mogul David 

Geffen (although one wag at Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment 

who grew tired of "Dream Tfeam" euphemisms has reportedly 

taken to calling the alliance "The Three Egos"). In truth, the new 

Spielberg-Katzenberg- 

Geffen federation 

may make even 

more sense than UA 

did in its day, for at 

least three reasons: 

1 ) Unlike UA, which 

^\as dealing with an 

mfant industry in its 

pioneer days, all 

members of 

three 

the "Dream Tfeam" 

have had extensive 

experience (and a 

great deal ofsuccess) 

running entertainment 

empires — 

Spielberg and Geffen 

for themselves, 

Katzenberg for Michael 

Eisner and 

Disney's 

assets of these guTO 

runs into the M- 

Iwns; even allowing 

for the conversion 

of far more valuable 

1919 dollars into 

their modern-day 

dollar equivalent, 

stockholders. 

2) The personal 

monetarily speaking, 

the "Dream 

Team" is to the 

founders of UA 

what the Empire 

State Building is to 

your next-door 

neighbor's treehouse. 

3) With the 

three-way track record 

the "Dream 

Team" enjoys in 

nearly all facets of 

show business, it 

won't be using its 

own money anyway. 

If these particular 

inmates have 

taken over die asyknn, tliat's one loony bin evers' bank, stockbroker 

and pension-fund manager in America v\ill want to take 

up financial residence in. 

Widi die production market poised tor major expansion Uianks 

to the interactive possibilities of the "information superhighway," 

a new studio is both a smart move and a staggering roll of the dice. 

visionary days of the movie biz are supposed to be over, but 

I'hc^ 

nobody seems to have told Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Kiitzxîbeig 

and David Geffen. It sure will be interesting to see what comes 

next.— Rrtjy Greene 

78 BOXOFFICE

k 

Edwards Theatres 

Mann Theatres 

)i 

OSC Amplifiers are featured in Edwards Ttieatres, inciuding tiieir 

fiagstiip (Newport Cinema. Itie iargest screen on ttie West Coast. 

WannS Chinese, the most famous movie house in the world, 

is only one ol the Mann Theatres that relies on QSC ampliliers 

Pacific Theatres 

, 

United Artists Theatres

tn \yW 

crp n

Boxoffice-January.1995

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