Boxoffice barometer (1954)

Record Details:

Title:
Boxoffice barometer
Date:
1954
Publisher:
Kansas City : Associated Publications
Volume:
Boxoffice barometer (1954-55)
Leaf #:
00034
Language:
English
Collection:
Year Book and Hollywood Studio System
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
Media History Digital Library
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
BOXOFFICE was the leading American exhibitor trade paper of the post-World War II era. But the publication had modest beginnings. In 1920, Ben Shlyen founded the paper, orginally titled THE REEL JOURNAL, in an office located in Kansas City's Film Row district. Like other regional exhibitor publications, THE REEL JOURNAL focused its attention on the local -- in this case, KC and the nearby territories that the city's distribution exchanges served. By the end of the 1920s, however, Shlyen had acquired or founded several more small exhibitor papers serving other US markets. In 1932, their titles all changed to BOXOFFICE, though they continued to be published in regional editions for decades to follow. -- Eric Hoyt, 2015
Date Added:
June 06, 2024
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Picture Records at the Nation’s Boxoffices CROSSES 79 Features in “Hit” Class Scoring 120% or More ACADEMY Awards and film festivals are valuable as prestige builders, but the boxoffice take still determines a picture's value to the exhibitor. Critics may rave and a minority of patrons agree that pictures are at last being made that appeal to the classes, but unless the public will buy the entertainment offered, no one in the industry prospers. This is why for a number of years BOXOFFICE has been compiling percentage figures, showing the first-run strength of current releases. Reporting on these for the 1952-53 season, it is noted that, including the series westerns which have given way to the so-called super type, the feature output totaled 397 as compared to 419 for the previous season. Moreover, 79 of the 397 were top hits (that's 20 per cent scoring 120 per cent or more), and the previous season, only 51 were top hits. Whether it was 3-D, interest in CinemaScope wide screen or a return to the fold of patrons who had tired of the "toy movies” on their TV sets — or whether the pictures themselves were so good they felt they had to see them, certainly the public supported key-run showings beyond anything in recent years. "Bwana Devil," scoring 282 per cent, had the highest boxoffice score for the season, but this was slightly under the highest-scoring for last season — "Quo Vadis" at 296. More significant is the fact that for 1951-52, only two pictures scored more than 200 per cent — this year there were 12. Of these 12, only two were in 3-D, "House of Wax" and "Bwana Devil." Also, there were nearly twice as many pictures for '52-'53 as for '51 -'52 that scored 150 per cent or more. Thus, while subsequent-run houses in neighborhoods and small towns have not been doing so well on many pictures, the first-run record on them compares more than favorably with other years. Eleven of the top hits this year were winners of the BOXOFFICE Blue Ribbon Award for excellence of family entertainment. Last year six were Blue Ribbon winners. Some of the 79 hits were imports, some were made abroad, but the majority came out of Hollywood and ranged from sophisticated comedy, fantasy, slapstick, superwestern, musical and religious documentary to space-travel and tragedy. Breaking the top hits down by companies, MetroGoldwyn-Mayer leads with 15, Universal and Paramount next with 11 each, and the others follow in this order: 20th-Fox (10), United Artists and Warner Bros. (7) each, RKO (6), Columbia (5), Republic (3) and Allied Artists and Lippert, one each. There were three in the miscellaneous distribution classification. * (These Grossed 150% or More) BWANA DEVIL (UA) Cl PETER PAN (RKO) HOUSE OF WAX (WB) MOON IS BLUE, THE (UA) ^GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH, THE (Para) '”"r IVANHOE (MGM) Cl HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN (RKO) GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES (20th-Fox) SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO, THE (20th-Fox) MOULIN ROUGE (UA) CISHANE (Para) MARTIN LUTHER (DeRochemont) CIMIRACLE OF FATIMA, THE (WB) PROMOTER, THE (U-I) SALOME (Col) IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (U-I) FORT TI (Col) QUEEN IS CROWNED, A (U-I) CHARGE AT FEATHER RIVER, THE (WB) COME BACK, LITTLE SHEBA (Para) FORBIDDEN GAMES (Times) ROAD TO BALI (Para) STOOGE. THE (Para) STALAG 17 (Para) AFFAIR IN TRINIDAD (Col) I, THE JURY (UA) MAN IN THE DARK (Col) (These Grossed 140% or More) BAND WAGON. THE (MGM) CALL ME MADAM (20th-Fox) IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. THE (U-I) BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, THE (MGM) APRIL IN PARIS (WB) CRUEL SEA. THE (U-I) MILLION DOLLAR MERMAID (MGM) BEAST FROM 20,000 FATHOMS, THE (WB) C! MERRY WIDOW, THE (MGM) SCARED STIFF (Para) ClWinners of Blue Ribbon Award 34 BAROMETER Section