20th Century-Fox Dynamo (February 11, 1956)

MR. LICHTMAN PIN-POINTS AND APPRAISES CHALLENGE OF 1956 Director of distribution A1 Lichtman, in his address at the division and branch managers’ convention in New York, while speaking in terms of optimism and confidence in the industry’s future, left no doubt in the minds of listeners that 1956 will demand "the very best in production, showman- ship, salesmanship and exhibition” for its success. With him at the speakers’ table are pictured President Spyros P. Skouras (second from right), 20th Century-Fox International’s President Murray Silverstone (extreme right) and Executive Assistant General Sales Manager W. C. Gehring. “THIS IS YEAR OF GREAT TEST, A YEAR IN WHICH EACH OF US MUST PROVE REAL ‘PRO’ IN EVERY DEPARTMENT”, HE SAYS (Continued from page 3, column 3) best film salesmen in this industry. In order to accomplish our goal we are instituting a tremendous bonus plan. Only yesterday I received approve from Mr. Skouras and the executive committee to put into effect the most generous bonus plan that has ever been initiated by any film company. Before I detail the bonus plan, I want to pay a sincere compliment to Murray Sil- verstone and his entire international organi- zation that never grossed more than $40,- 000,000 in any one year. Last year (1955) they set a goal of $50,000,000 and they not only reached the $50,000,000, but grossed in excess of $53,000,000. This is a most remarkable achievement and, perhaps, never before realized by any other international organization of a film company. They (the foreign organization), too, had a very generous bonus plan in 1955 and I am sure it played some part in enabl- ing them to increase their business $13,* 000,000 in one year. And, by God, if they can increase their business by $13,000,000 and do $53,000,- 000, then I think we will be able to reach our quota of $80,000,000 this year. That means a domestic average of $1,540,000 per week. The $80,000,000 expectancy for this year is based on these factors: We will release 24 of our own studio’s CinemaScope pictures during this calendar year. The schedule includes two gigantic pictures: (1) "Carousel” and (2) “The King And I.” These two pictures have a tremendous potential. Then, of course, there are some pic- tures in the lineup that may not come up to expectations. But, over all, based upon my best calculation, we should average $3,000,000 gross on each of these 24 pictures in the United States and Canada. That will add up to $72,000,000. In addition, we will have three 2-D pictures from outside sources on which I figure we should gross $2,000,000. Our Short Subjects Department should gross $70,000 per week, or more than $3,- 500,000 for the year. Then there are re-issues and the back- log of 2-D features on which we should gross an additional $2,000,000. So, in round figures, these calculations add up to about $80,000,000. True, all of the new CinemaScope pic- tures will not be in distribution a sufficient length of time to attain their full potential. However, the backlog of late CinemaScope releases, say of October, November and December 1955, should equalize that, so that we should be able to gross the $80,- 000,000. My over-all plan is to get the widest possible circulation for every picture by getting into every small town in the United States for the best terms obtainable under present conditions and to closely supervise at the Home Office the big situations where the real money can be secured, both as to terms and prompt dating. Incidentally, as of the beginning of this year, we had 16,428 theatres equipped to show CinemaScope pictures, of which 3,- 646 are stereophonic, 820 with mixers and 11,962 single optical. Of that number, according to the branch reports, 13,503 theatres are definite possi- bilities for us to sell CinemaScope pic- tures, and 1 expect every CinemaScope feature to be sold to every one of the In the case of the 2-D product, our possibilities, of course, are much greater. In fact, there are 23,430 theatres in the United States and Canada of which 15,558 are direct 2-D sales possibilities. With repeats, we used to sell more than that number on 2-D pictures in the past, and I expect you to sell 2-D pictures to the full number of possibilities. On an average, our records indicate (Continued on page 8, column 1) Q rage /