Boxoffice (Jan-Mar 1962)

RELEASE LINEUP IS PROMISING , HYMAN FINDS AFTER SURVEY Exploitation of Films on Local Level Is Strongly Urged to Pull Grosses NEW YORK — The months of May and June this year will not be “orphan” periods insofar as quality product is concerned, according to Edward L. Hyman, vice-president of American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres, who recently completed a product survey at the studios. PUSH MASS AUDIENCE APPEAL At one of his periodic meetings with the tradepress on Thursday (15), Hyman said that an analysis of his release schedule revealed that the product listed for those two months showed great promise and potential. He said the most important factor which he observed was that every distributor was striving constantly to improve the quality of pictures and every effort was being made to diagnose properly, in this unpredictable market, what would be attractive to mass audiences. “For exhibitors,” Hyman said, “we have this message which can bear repetition. We have promised all distributors, on behalf of all exhibitors who have endorsed orderly distribution, that exhibitors everywhere would go all-out in advertising, exploiting and promoting the quality product being made available. We have said before and we repeat now that exhibitors, because of their close connections with newspapers, radio, television and merchandising, can do a better job of this at the grass-roots level than anyone directing a national campaign from New York or Hollywood. We urge very strongly that exhibitors demonstrate what they can do and flood the distributors with specimens of their accomplishments at the local level.” Hyman said he had visited with the top executives of every studio and had seen rough prints of pictures and even rushes. He said this was a departure from custom and that, unless the studios had every confidence in exhibition’s enthusiasm, they would not have made this exception. EMPHASIS IS ON QUALITY Hyman said he always had insisted that “numbers mean nothing — only quality counts.” He said the need for an adequate supply of pictures was obvious, but that the quality boxoffice picture today would provide greater grosses, more playing time and more attendance than any picture ever did in the heyday of the business. He said he believed production, distribution and exhibition had now closed ranks and that with continuing cooperation in the interest of the industry, “we feel that we will go on to new heights of prosperity.” One of the important aspects of his visits with the studio heads, Hyman said, was the fact that practically every studio was busily engaged in developing new faces. Because of this, he said, it was necessary that all exhibitors extend every March -August Product by Companies ALLIED ARTISTS, with eight pictures scheduled between March and July, leads off with “Hitler,'' starring Richard Basehart; "Hands of a Stronger," Paul Lukather; "Reprieve," Ben Gazzaira, Stewart Whitman; "The Big Wave," Sessue Hayakawa; "Confessions of an Opium Eater," Vincent Price; "The Bridge," Volker Bohnet; "Billy Budd," Robert Ryan, Peter Ustinov, and "The Day of the Triffids," Howard Keel, Nicole Maurey. AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL lists "Burn, Witch, Burn," Janet Blair, Peter Wyngarde; "The Brain That Wouldn't Die," Herb Evers, Virginia Leith; "Invasion of the Star Creatures," Bob Ball, Frankie Ray; "Warriors 5," Jack Palonce; "Survival," Ray Millaod, Jean Hagen, and "Tales of Terror," Vincent Price, Basil Raithbone, Peter Lorre. ASTOR wi M release three: "Most Wonted Man," FernandOl, Zsa Zsa Gabor; "Last Year at Marienbad," Delphine Seyrig, and "During One Night," Don Borisenko. BUENA VISTA has "Moon Pilot," starring Tom Tryon, Brian Keith and Edmond O'Brien scheduled for April; "Big Red," Walter Prdgean, in June, and "Bon Voyage, Fred MacMurray and Jane Wyman, in July. CONTINENTAL lists ten for the period, three of these available in both French and English: "Rififi for Girls," starring Nddja Tiller; "Une Vie" and "Gervaise," both starring Maria Schell. Others from Continental include: "A Taste of Honey," Rita Tusihingharn; "The Impersonator," John Crawford; "Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy"; "Operation Snatch," Terry-Thomas; "Man to Mon Talk," Yves Montand; "Hands of Orlac," Mel Ferrer, Dany Carrel, and "Waltz of the Toreadors," Peter Sellers, Margaret Leighton. COLUMBIA will have "Best of Enemies," with David Niven; "Experiment in Terror," Lee Remick, Glenn Ford; "Safe at Home," Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle; "The Hellions," Richard Todd, Anne Aubrey; "Belle Sommers," Polly Bergen; "Five Finger Exercise," Rosalind Russell, Jack Hawkins, Maximilian Schell; "13 West Street," Alan Ladd; "Mothra," Japanese oast; "Advise and Consent," Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Peter Lawford, Walter Pidgeon; "Fury of the Barbarians," Edmund Purdom; "The Notorious Landlady," Jack Lemmon, Kim Novak, Fred Astaire; "Zoitz," Tom Poston, and "H.M.S. Defiant," Alec Guinness, Dirk Bogarde. EMBASSY has six scheduled: "Bell' Antonio," Marcello Mostroianni, Claudia Cardinale; "Boccaccio '70," Sophia Loren, Anita Ekberg; "The Devil's Wanton," Birger Malmsten; "Night Is My Future," Ma>i Zetterling; "What a Carve Up," Sidney James, and "Strangers in the City," Robert Gentile. METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER has ten pictures: "All Fall Down," starring Eva Marie Saint and Warren Beatty; "Sweet Bird of Youth," Paul Newman, Geraldine Page; "Damon and Pythias," Guy Williams; "The Horizontal Lieutenont," Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss; "A Very Private Affair," Brigitte Bardot; "Ride the High Country," Rondolph Scott, Joel McCrea; "Swordsman of Siena," Stewart Granger; "Boys' Night Out," Kim Novak, James Gamer, Tony Randall and seven other top stars; "I Thank a Fool," Susan Hayward, Peter Findh, and "Two Weeks in Another Town," Kirk Douglas, Edward G. Robinson, Cyd Charisse. PARAMOUNT has eight releases: "Forever My Love," Romy Schneider; "Brushfire!" John Ireland, Jo Morrow; "The Counterfeit Traitor," William Holden, Lilli Palmer, in special selected engagements only in April, with general release in July; "The Man Who Shot Liberty Volance," James Stewart, John Wayne, Vera Miles; "Escape From Zohrain," Yul Brynner, Sal Mineo; "Hell Is for Heroes," Bobby Darin, Fess Parker; "Hatari!" John Wayne, Hardy Kruger, for special selected engagements only in June, with general release in August, and "My Geisha," Shirley MacLoine, Yves Montond. 20th CENTURY-FOX lists 14 pictures: "The Innocents," Deborah Kerr, Michael Redgrave; "Satan Never Sleeps," William Holden, Clifton Webb, France Nuyen; "State Fair," Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, Pamela Tiffin, Ann-Morgret; "The Broken Land," Kent Taylor; "The Inspector," Stephen Boyd, Dolores Hart; "Cabinet of Oaligari," Glynis Johns, Dan O'Herlihy; "The Hand of Death," John Agar, Poula Raymond; "Adventures of a Young Man," oil-star cast headed by Richard Beymer, Paul Newmon, Susan Strasberg; "It Happened in Athens," Jayne Mansfield; "Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation," James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara, Fabian; "The Longest Day," 22-star cast headed by William Holden, Henry Fonda, Robert Mitdhum, Robert Taylor; "Five Weeks in a Balloon," Fabian, Peter ‘Lorre; "Air Patrol"; "Lion of Sparfa," Richard Egan, Diane Baker. UNITED ARTISTS bos 16 pictures: "The Children's Hour," Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine, James Garner; "The Clown and the Kid," John Lupton; "Jessica," Maurice Chevalier, Angie Dickinson, Agnes Moorehead; "Magic Sword," Basil Rothbone; "Mighty Ursus," Ed Fury; "Birdman of Alcatraz," Burt Lancaster, Karl Malden; "Incident in an Alley," Chris Warfield; "Geronimo," Chuck Connors; "Follow That Dream," Elvis Presley; "War Hunt," John Saxon; "The Miracle Worker," Anne Bancroft, Patti Duke, Victor Jory; "Road to Hong Kong," Bob Hope, Bing Crosby; "Jock, the Giant Killer," Kerwin Mathews; the reissue of "Moby Dick," Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart; "Rosmunda," Jack Balance, Guy Madison, and "Hero's Island," James Mason, Rip Torn. UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL has 13 pictures scheduled: "Lover Gome Back," Rock Hudson, Doris Day, Tony Randall; "Desert Potrol," Richard Attenborough; "The Outsider," Tony Curtis; "Nearly a Nasty Accident," Jimmy Edwards; "Cope Fear," Gregory Peck, Robert Mitohum, Polly Bergen; "The Day the Earth Caught Fire," Janet Munro, Edward Judd; two reissues, "Saskatchewan," Alan Ladd and Shelley Winters, and "The Far Country," James Stewart, Ruth Roman; "Night Creatures," Peter Cushing; "Six Black Horses," Audie Murphy, Don Duryea; "Lonely Are the Brave," Kirk Douglas, Gena Rowlands; "That Touch of Mink," Cary Grant, Doris Day, Gig Young, and "Information Received," Sabina Sesselman. WARNER BROS, has 1 3 for release: "The Couch," Shirley Knight, Grant Williams; "Malaga," Trevor Howard, Dorothy Dandridge; two reissues, "Fanny" and "Splendor in the Gross"; "Rome Adventure," Troy Donahue, Susanne Pleshette, Angie Dickinson; "House of Women," Shirley Knight; "Samar," George Montgomery, Ziva Rodann; "Merrill's Marauders," Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin; "Lad: a Dog," Peter Breck, Peggy McCay; "The Chapman Report," Shelley Winters, Efrem Zimbalist jr.; "The Music Man," Robert Presfon, Shirley Jones; "Act of Mercy," Leslie Caron, David Niven, and "Term of Trial," Laurence Olivier, Simone Signoret, Sarah Miles. possible effort in promoting the young and new personalities as they came along. The development of new faces, he added, was practically the lifeblood of the industry and that “we, in exhibition, must do everything we can to foster and promote them.” Hyman said that the Academy Awards show on April 9 could be tied in with any April-May-June drive that might be going on at the time. “This extremely important event on television and radio always gives a big lift to motion pictures and, as such, deserves every possible support from every segment of our industry. Naturally, anything that exhibition can do to promote interest should be done and we urge exhibitors everywhere to go all out in their efforts this year.” Wometco Has 35% Rise In Earnings for 1961 MIAMI — Wometco Enterprises, Inc., in a preliminary report recently, said its profits rose 35 per cent in 1961 on a 26 per cent increase in revenues. The diversified Miami company said earnings were the highest since it was formed in 1925. Net income after taxes was $1,353,255 ($1.34 per share) compared with profits of $1,013,429 ($1.01 per share) in 1960. Gross income for 1961 was $15.9 million against $12.6 million the prior year. Total expenses for the two years were $13.5 million and $10.8 million respectively. The company’s annual meeting will be held April 9 at the Carib Theatre, Miami Beach. 8 BOXOFFICE :: March 19, 1962