Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1963)

• ADLINES & EXPLOITIPS • ALPHABETICAL INDEX • EXHIBITOR HAS HIS SAY • FEATURE RELEASE CHART • FEATURE REVIEW DIGEST • SHORTS RELEASE CHART • SHORT SUBJECT REVIEWS • REVIEWS OF FEATURES • SHOWMANDISING IDEAS THE GUIDE TO § BETTER BOOKING AND BUSINESS-BUILDING Group Sales, a Reserved-Seat Standby, Could Work on Any Broad-Appeal Film Idea for Extra Revenue Group sales, which have been developed as a highly profitable arm of long-run roadshow engagements, could be adapted by any exhibitor to increase revenue on family-type or broad appeal pictures. This interesting suggestion comes from Frank Upton, Cinerama division manager at Detroit, who with coworkers M. A. Russo, William McLaughlin and Eugene Grew at the Detroit Cinerama Music Hall Theatre developed a group sales program which poured almost $150,000 into the theatre till in ten months. IN ALLIED CONTEST The Music Hall program was submitted in the recent Allied of Michigan Showman of the Year Competition. “While it is true that Cinerama is a long-run, reserved-seat attraction,” Upton contends, “we believe that our program can be adopted by any theatre under the right conditions. These conditions are: A clean, well-run theatre. An attraction suitable to a particular group. A booking three or four weeks in advance of playdate. The Music Hall’s sales program is divided into two categories, adult and youth. The youth program is sold through the local school systems. Special performances are scheduled for the schools both at midweek and on Saturdays — at 10 a.m. midweek and 9 on Saturdays. The midweek performances are usually held on Wednesday and/or Thursday as these are the days most desired by the schools. Scouting groups, 4-H clubs and schools from distant points prefer the Saturday morning shows. As these showings are special and are in addition to the regular performances, a special student price of 90 cents is charged for both students and teachers. TWO-PHASE CAMPAIGN The selling of the student shows is accomplished in two phases. At the opening of an attraction, all school systems — the superintendents and the principals — are notified of the opening dates and of the dates of the first student showings. (Shows are not held on a regular schedule. Rather a few are scheduled at first and these are allowed to snowball. As the demand increases, additional shows are BOXOFFICE Showmandiser : : Dec. 16, 1963 set. This insures the theatre that there will be a demand for tickets to all such shows and they will all be profitable). When the attraction opens, the superintendents and/or the principals are invited as guests of the theatre to a special preview showing in advance of the official opening. Once the picture is opened, the teaching sisters of the parochial school system are invited to a special “teaching sisters performance” on a Saturday morning as guests of the theatre. The invitation to the nuns is extended through the archdiocesan superintendent of schools. “The second phase of this program commences as soon as notification has been sent to the school systems. This phase is a “door-knocking” campaign by the group sales staff. Each and every school in Detroit’s tricounty area is visited personally. The group salesman talks to the principals, explaining the student program, furnishing him with data on the attraction, and with enough bulletins anouncing the youth show for every child in his school. This bulletin for every child approach takes a lot of work off the teachers as the child takes the bulletin home to the parents. This also gets advertising into the home. ALL SEATS UNRESERVED All seats for these performances are unreserved but only capacity is sold. When a group decides to come, they phone the theatre and “x” number of tickets are reserved for them. They must be paid before the date of performance. During the ten months, the Music Hall played two attractions, “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and “How the West Was Won.” During 31 weeks of “Wonderful World” 36 youth shows were held for 35,945 persons. The boxoffice net was $32,350. During the first 15 weeks of “How the West Was Won,” 36,078 people paid $32,110 for 32 performances. For the two pictures combined, the group sales department sold 72,023 tickets to 68 youth shows. This added up to an additional $64,460 at the boxoffice. Upton emphasizes a regular theatre can follow the same format by booking a suitable picture three or four weeks in advance “as we have found that the schools are interested in seeing that their students attend good entertainment events.” “Adult groups are sold in much the — 197 — Motion picture people hope for good reviews but they don't expect critics to agree with them on film evaluations all the time, by any means. So when a good review does come along, they are grateful, as was William Katzky, manager of the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills, Calif., when Philip K. Scheuer, motion picture editor of the Los Angeles Times, wrote a thought-provoking and analytical review on "Lord of Flies." Katzky used Scheuer's review as a major handle for his promotion, calling attention to it by a lobby display, by quotes in an ad and on the theatre marquee, as is seen above. Peter Latsis of National General Corp. reports "Lord of Flies" did smash business at the Fine Arts. same manner,” he relates. “The effort is just as intense because each group means additional revenue at the boxoffice. In the past ten months, 711 adult groups numbering 34,776 persons have added $83,012 to the gross of the theatre. “At the opening of an attraction, all organization heads of chairmen must talk to the membership before giving a definite answer. BE SURE TO CEMENT SALE “Types of organizations solicited include calls on all group contacts and potential groups. Sometimes it takes more than one call to ‘cement’ a sale. Many times, the known groups are contacted by mail. Heads of many of these organizations are invited to the special preview performances. The group sales staff takes to the field making industries, large and small (for employes shows, for the use of tickets as incentive prizes, or as Christmas presents), service clubs and religious groups (for benefit fund raising performances), women’s groups, social clubs, newspapers (for carrier excursions) , ethnic groups, labor unions, banks and insurance companies (Continued on next page) 1