Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

Emergency Meetings Set in Pay TV Fight Cinerama to Unveil Its Spacearium' At N.Y. World's Fair on April 22 NEW YORK — Cinerama will unveil its "Spacearium" project on April 22 when the New York World’s Fair will be opened officially to the public. The Cinerama exhibit will be seen in the Fair’s Transportation and Travel Pavilion and will involve what has been described as the world’s largest projection screen, the world’s largest and widest angle projection lens, an outstanding undertaking in animation and stop-motion photography and a realistic trip into space. Audiences entering the exhibit building will find themselves at the bottom of a huge dome; the entire inside of the hemisphere will serve as the “world’s largest screen.” There will be no seats, the audience standing behind rows of hand rails. The futuristic-looking projector will be on a raised platform in the center of the circular theatre, with the people surrounding the projector. They, in turn, will be enveloped completely by the domed screen on all sides and above. The film utilizes a newly-designed Cineerama lens to achieve its effect on the viewers. The lens projects the film 360 degrees horizontally and 180 degrees vertically. According to Cinerama executives, scientists who acted as advisors in the preparation of the system said the entire projection concept was a highly sophisticated step far beyond the planetarium. In operation, the domed screen will be tilted forward at a slight incline, in keeping with the pitch of the auditorium. Viewers will stand behind tiered rails which make up the theatre. The slight forward incline is for theatrical visibility and to help focus attention on the central point of the show, which will be approximately ten degrees above the horizon in the center of the screen. Although action will take place all over the domed screen, a central focal point is necessary for continuity, it was said. Because of the size of the screen, it was explained that Cinerama technicians felt they needed the greatest possible film area from which to project the show; therefore, full-width 70mm frames will be used. The actual prints will be loaded into continuous magazines for projection on the special equipment. It is expected that each show will run 18 minutes, allowing for two shows per hour. Cinerama, Inc., will assume full operation of the theatre. It was stressed that through every phase of production, the keynote of the Cinerama-Spacearium show will be realism. Accordingly, a panel of leading space authorities will be consulted throughout the filming. Carol Lynley on Tour HOLLYWOOD — Carol Lynley, costarred in Otto Preminger’s “The Cardinal” for Columbia release, left for a month-long personal appearance tour in behalf of the film. She will visit 20 cities and attend the world premiere in Boston, December 12; New York premiere, December 16; European premiere in London, December 18, and the Paris premiere, December 19. 20ih-F ox Erases '62 Losses; Profits High NEW YORK — Twentieth Century-Fox had net earnings of $2,081,000 for the third quarter of this year, compared to a loss of $4,360,000 for the third quarter of 1962. An even more spectacular recovery was made for the first nine months of 1963, a net of $6,841,000, or $2.69 per share, against a loss of $16,816,000 in the first three quarters of 1962. A special stock dividend of four per cent has been declared on the outstanding common stock, payable December 31 to stockholders of record on December 9. In announcing the earnings, the company said among the contributing factors in the improvement of the financial position were a five per cent increase in income and a 25 per cent reduction in expenses involving amortization and selling costs. “The Longest Day,” released in October 1962, was the largest single revenueproducing factor of the period and was the highest grossing film ever released by the company, it was said. “Cleopatra,” which opened in June, has, according to the company, grossed substantially higher than any picture in the history of the industry, foreign and domestic, in a comparable period. Rentals, however, were not reflected in the net earnings of the company. It was explained that 20th-Fox was waiting until an estimate was made of “Cleopatra’s” ultimate world grossing potential in order to determine the rate at which the picture’s cost was amortized. This determination will be made and the picture’s contribution to company’s earnings during 1963 will be reflected in the year-end financial results. The company previously announced that it would place six multi-million dollar roadshow attractions into production next year. The remainder of the 1964 production program now calls for 12 major pictures. Warner Bros. Purchases New Jean Kerr Play NEW YORK — Warner Bros., which filmed Jean Kerr’s Broadway stage hit, “Mary, Mary,” for release late in 1963, has acquired Miss Kerr’s latest play, “Poor Richard,” for filming in a preproduction agreement, according to Jack L. Warner, president. “Poor Richard” will go into rehearsal late in December for a Broadway opening in 1964 under the auspices of producer Roger L. Stevens. Warners has also bought the current stage hit, “Never Too Late,” for filming. NEW YORK — Theatre Owners of America has fired the first shots in the war against pay television. John H. Rowley, TOA president, has sent telegrams to all association leaders, asking them to mobilize their forces and call meetings to prepare the campaigns. Warnings of the danger also have been sent to exhibitors in all parts of the country by the California Crusade for Free TV. Meetings were held this past week in Dallas, New Orleans and Atlanta. Other exhibitor sessions have been set for Kansas City, December 10; New York, December 11; Boston, December 12, and Detroit, December 13. In his telegram to TOA leaders, Rowley asked for immediate emergency meetings, pointing out that powerful California pay TV interests were using this slogan: “Move the Movie Theatre to Your Living Room.” He said the California threat was not a test or an experiment; blockbuster programming, including first-run pictures, already were lined up by the proponents. The California Crusade group asserted, in its telegrams, that the state’s pay TV law ended the testing stage and made “this calamitous threat” a reality everywhere. It said overtures already had been made for first-run pictures to distributors “exceeding film rentals ever paid before.” Free television forced thousands of subsequent and neighborhood theatres out of business and “now the first runs face certain oblivion through loss of their product to TV.” Rowley said quotas to help finance the fight would be established for each exchange area and he urged all exhibitors to attend the scheduled meetings, contribute generously and to keep in mind that the goal was to save their businesses. Speakers will be key members of the California Crusade. Philip Harling, chairman of the Joint Committee Against Pay TV, is working closely with the Californians in the nationwide campaign. MPA Board Okays COMPO Aid; Gets Overseas Data NEW YORK — The board of directors of the Motion Picture Ass’n of America Wednesday (4) agreed again to match the funds contributed by exhibitors to the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. This has been the policy over the years. The dues campaign will start in January. Ralph Hetzel, acting head of the MPAA, reported on his findings on his recent European trip, citing many problems facing the industry in several of the important countries. These problems, he said, varied from the impact of television on theatre attendance to new taxes and quotas to help support struggling indigenous production. Hetzel reported that European producers were looking more and more to American film companies for leadership in maintaining the strength of motion picture exhibition worldwide. He said a healthy European industry was important to the continued success and growth of American film interests, because without adequate European production, the exhibition industry of Europe also was endangered. Darryl F. Zanuck 6 BOXOFFICE :: December 9, 1963