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MCA Earnings for '75 2nd Quarter<br />
Are Highest Ever, Excluding Jaws<br />
UNIVERSAL CITY—Lew R. Wasserman,<br />
chairman of the board of MCA, Inc..<br />
announced July 28 that earnings for the<br />
first six months and the second quarter of<br />
1975 were the highest semi-annual and<br />
quarterly earnings ever achieved by the<br />
company.<br />
Net income for the first six months ended<br />
June 30, 1975, amounted to $34,660,000<br />
compared to $25,287,000 for the same<br />
period in 1974, an increase of 37 per cent.<br />
Earnings per share were $4.09 compared to<br />
$3.01 for the first half of 1974. Revenues<br />
increased 7 per cent to $328,431,000 from<br />
the revenues of $305,652,000 for the<br />
period a year earlier.<br />
For the three months ended June 30,<br />
1975, net income was $19,649,000, an increase<br />
of 32 per cent over net incomes of<br />
$14,926,000 for the second quarter last<br />
year. Earnings per share were $2.32 compared<br />
to $1.77 for the three months ended<br />
June 30, 1974. Revenues for the 1975<br />
second quarter were up 3 per cent to<br />
$158,609,000 from $154,150,000 for the<br />
same period of 1974.<br />
Wasserman said the motion picture<br />
"Jaws," which opened in the U.S. and<br />
Canada June 20, has met with the greatest<br />
audience response ever experienced and it<br />
appears to be on its way to becoming the<br />
all-time domestic boxoffice champion. Only<br />
one week's revenues from "Jaws" are included<br />
in the second quarter; the major<br />
its portion of domestic revenues will be<br />
recorded in the third quarter. Several other<br />
films in current release, principally "Earthquake,"<br />
contributed importantly to the<br />
record earnings.<br />
Other divisions of the company which<br />
had excellent second quarter results are<br />
records and music publishing, Spencer Gifts<br />
and recreation services, according to Wasserman.<br />
He also stated the company has now paid<br />
off the remaining balance of $10 million<br />
of loans under its principal bank loan<br />
agreement for a total reduction of $100<br />
million in bank debt since Jan. 1, 1974.<br />
Wasserman concluded by saying, "While<br />
the second quarter was the highest in the<br />
company's history, it will be exceeded by<br />
the upcoming third quarter. Revenues and<br />
net income for 1975 will be substantially<br />
higher than those for the year 1974 which<br />
will make it the fourth consecutive year<br />
of record earnings."<br />
'Dolemite' Gross Exceeds<br />
$6 Million in 14 Weeks<br />
HOI LYWOOO— in its lirst 14 weeks of<br />
'Jaws' Now Ranking<br />
In AU-Time Top Ten<br />
UNIVERSAL CITY—Universal's "Jaws,"<br />
after its first five weeks of theatrical exhibition,<br />
already ranks among the top ten<br />
most successful domestic films of all time.<br />
Additionally, the Zanuck/ Brown production<br />
directed by Steven Spielberg and starring<br />
Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard<br />
Dreyfuss, based on Peter Benchley's<br />
best-seller, already has had a greater impact<br />
on the public consciousness than any motion<br />
picture in history, according to Universal.<br />
"Jaws" fever is sweeping the national<br />
culture as these facts will attest:<br />
• Thirty-five cartoons, mostly political,<br />
have utilized the "Jaws" advertising logo to<br />
make potent and comic points.<br />
• Comedians across the country have<br />
used the film as a basis for new routines;<br />
e.g., Johnny Carson recently interviewed a<br />
"talking shark" on "The Tonight Show"<br />
on NBC-TV.<br />
• A Georgia shark fisherman switched<br />
from selling shark fins to Chinese restaurants<br />
at 15 cents a pound to selling shark<br />
jawbones to collectors at $50 a set.<br />
• A New Jersey ice cream stand renamed<br />
its flavors "sharklitt," "finilla" and<br />
"jawberry."<br />
• T-shirts, beach towels, cups, shark'stooth<br />
pendants, record albums, paperback<br />
books, posters and other items already have<br />
been licensed by the studio, with other merchandise<br />
set to follow (Universal says<br />
there's no license yet for "Jaws" toothpaste).<br />
• Several of the nation's leading psychologists<br />
have contributed to discussions<br />
on the reasons for such instant and widespread<br />
receptivity to the film. Some theories:<br />
"The killer shark substitutes for audience<br />
aggressions"; "The shark and the sea<br />
are primal fears of man"; "Getting engrossed<br />
in the film relieves the audience<br />
from its own problems"; "Lifts routine<br />
lives into those of intense feeling and living";<br />
"Gives moviegoers a feeling of conquering<br />
fear—good triumphs"; "The real<br />
terror is happening to someone else," and<br />
"You in the audience survive and you can<br />
face your real problems better."<br />
• Peter Benchley's novel, on which the<br />
film is based, enjoyed a rebirth of interest<br />
with the advent of the film. More than<br />
8,000,000 paperback editions already have<br />
rolled off the presses and the end is nowhere<br />
release, playing only 31 cities. Dimension<br />
in sight.<br />
Pictures' black feature "Dolemite" has<br />
•<br />
racked up a gross of more than $6,100,000, A "Jaws" discotheque has opened in<br />
according to Lawrence H. Woolner, president<br />
of Dimension. The feature stars Rudy • An oyster bar in Cape Cod has added<br />
the Hampton area of New York.<br />
Ray Moore and D'Urville Martin.<br />
broiled shark to its menu for $5.25, ehiiniing<br />
it "tastes like swordfish."<br />
Dimension has 135 prints of film working<br />
to date.<br />
• In all coastal areas, newspapers and<br />
other media have presented shark news<br />
about real and false sightings, history of<br />
attacks, habits and frequency in local waters<br />
—always asking "can it happen here?"<br />
• One month after the release of "Jaws,"<br />
a great white shark (12 feet, 8 inches long<br />
and weighing 1,400 pounds) was caught by<br />
Larry Mansur off Santa Catalina Island in<br />
Southern California. Two days earlier, a<br />
scuba diver was attacked in 20 feet of<br />
water by a white shark at nearby Santa<br />
Barbara. In July, "Jaws" author Peter<br />
Benchley narrowly missed an attack by a<br />
smaller but vicious white-tip shark off the<br />
Bahama Islands during the filming of a TV<br />
special.<br />
• A real estate developer in the Poconos<br />
is promoting a natural lake, stating: "No<br />
'Jaws' here." Another in Southern California<br />
shows the open-mouthed shark and adver-<br />
"Bite Now and Satisfy Your Appetite."<br />
tises<br />
• A Brooklyn college advertised diploma<br />
education by showing an open-mouthed<br />
shark and advising readers "Don't Get<br />
Swallowed Up."<br />
• Women's Wear Daily displayed<br />
sketches of new bathing suits near an openmouthed<br />
shark.<br />
• Carl Gottlieb, who co-authored the<br />
screenplay with novelist Benchley, has<br />
struck a new rich vein with the paperback<br />
"Jaws Log," detailing the making of the<br />
film. It's on its way to becoming another<br />
best-seller.<br />
'Devil's Rain' Grosses Up<br />
In SF and Detroit Areas<br />
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.—"The Devil's<br />
Rain," the Sandy Howard/ Bryanston<br />
production in its first 30 days of release<br />
continues to be the biggest grossing picture<br />
in the two-year history of Bryanston Distributors.<br />
The occult thriller starring Ernest Borgnine,<br />
Ida Lupino, Eddie Albert, Keenan<br />
Wynn and William Shatner, racked up an<br />
impressive $452,366 in a 68 theatre San<br />
Francisco area break for one week. A 96-<br />
theatre multiple in the Detroit area earned<br />
the company $464,822 for one week's time<br />
as well.<br />
"The Devil's Rain" was produced by<br />
James V. Cullen and Michael S. Glick with<br />
Robert Fuest directing the Gabe Essoe,<br />
James Ashton and Gerald Hopman screenplay<br />
for Sandy Howard Productions under<br />
the Bryanston release banner.<br />
UA Film Title Changed<br />
HOLLYWOOD — "Undercovers Hero"<br />
is the new title of Peter Sellers comedy in<br />
which he plays a half dozen different characters<br />
in the Boulting Bros, production.<br />
The film earlier had been titled "Soft Beds<br />
and Hard Battles." It co-stars Lila Kedrova,<br />
Curt Jurgens, and Beatrice Romand.<br />
Roy Boulting directed from a story and<br />
screenplay he wrote with Leo Marks. John<br />
Boulting was producer for the Lion International<br />
Film presentation for United Artists<br />
Love and Death" has gros,sed $741,128<br />
16 situations.<br />
August 11, 1975