Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1962)

TOA CONVENTION TOA SEES INDUSTRY ENTERING A NEW ERA IN DISTRIBUTION Skouras Proposes Plan for Exhibitors To 'Subsidize Production of Films Redstone Describes It As a "Revolution"; New Plans Hailed By AL STEEN MIAMI BEACH — Theatre Owners of America brought its 15th annual convention to a close here at the Americana Hotel Saturday (10) on the keynote that the motion picture industry — especially distribution— was on the threshold of a new era which would mark a complete change in traditional concepts of clearance and availability. Sumner Redstone described the change as a “revolution.” S. H. Fabian called it a “transition.” 1VL4Y FOLLOW EADY PLAN At the same time, conventioneers looked upon the possibility of an American adoption of a plan similar to the Eady Fund as another notch in the new era, but any changes in the present consent decrees in the near future were regarded as remote. United Artists’ Premiere Showcase Plan and Warner Bros.’ pushed-up release of “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” were hailed as steps in the “revolution” or “transition,” depending on the preference of the terms. And many exhibitors were heartened in their fight against pay television when informed by Stuart Aarons, counsel for Stanley Warner Corp., that they had a legal right to refuse to book any pictures from a distributor who licensed pictures to the pay TV medium. Redstone, assistant to the president of TOA and an executive of Northeast DriveIn Corp., tossed what might be termed a minor bombshell when he told the Thursday session of the convention that the revolution in distribution was here and that nothing could stop it. Redstone said that any attack on the film industry must be based upon the lack of flexibility — blind adherence to historical precedent. Pointing to the economic changes which had taken place in the nation’s economy generally in the last two decades, Redstone said the film business had perpetuated the most archaic and obviously uneconomical distribution practices. SUBURBAN MOVE IS FELT Only recently, Redstone said, did the motion picture business become aware of the economic impact of the tremendous move to suburbia. The public which formerly purchased almost every product and service in congested areas now prefers to transact this business in suburban areas, Redstone said. Just as political revolution is fostered by hungry people seeking change, the revolution in distribution is fostered by hungry producers and distributors seeking economic survival, he added. “The sanctity of the downtown theatre as the fountainhead of motion picture distribution and the inviolability of the clear MIAMI BEACH — Some kind of a plan whereby exhibition guaranteed the producers a return on their investments was proposed by Spyros P. Skouras, board chairman of 20th CenturyFox, at the closing session of the Theatre Owners of America convention here on November 10. Skouras was not specific as to a formula but he called upon the exhibitors to create a system which appeared to border on subsidy. At the conclusion of his talk, John Stembler, TOA president, said he would appoint a committee to study a plan which, at the same time, would overcome any legal complications. Skouras said that production could not take all of the risks, adding that many 20th-Fox pictures did not get back their negative costs. If exhibition would guar ance which it has enjoyed are, in many areas, being discarded for the distributor is going and will go where the money is,” Redstone said. “All the pressure that any exhibitor has conjured up under the antitrust laws or federal decrees was of minimal significance so far as the distributor was concerned when compared with the lure of the dollar.” Redstone said the most dramatic manifestation of the revolution in distribution was UA’s Premiere Showcase Plan which was launched in Metropolitan New York. Whether it was fair or unfair, economically sound or unsound, its implications were of vast significance to every exhibitor in the United States, he stated. The greatest significance, he said, was that it represented a monumental attempt by a major distributor, in one of the most complicated distribution areas in the country, to relate its distribution practices to the modem economic facts of life. And the company took the risk without the cooperation of the major circuits. After reviewing the progress of drive-ins in achieving first-run status, Redstone, in looking into the future, predicted that in city after city there would be a period of what might be called scrambling confusion, with the distributors experimenting with a variety of distribution plans. “Except in the case of a handful of major cities in which the first-run theatres will produce enormous grosses with extended antee a return on a certain number of pictures, apparently the smaller films, there would be ample funds to produce the blockbuster type. At least 350 Hollywood pictures per year are needed, Skouras said, of which 225 should be of the “A” caliber. He said he always had fought for the best interest of the theatre and warned that if pay television could not be stopped, it would develop to a point where the exhibitors’ investment would be gone. He also urged that all pictures be held back from television for from five to seven years. As for large-screen television, Skouras said that General Electric, in association with 20th-Fox’s Eidophor, would be ready for a demonstration of an improved medium in Jajiuary or February. Skouras reiterated his belief that “Cleopatra” would be the greatest money maker of all time. Robert Conn, head of domestic distribution for 20th-Fox, told the convention that despite setbacks, the company was moving in the right direction and that there was a new concept of sales on a global basis. runs,” Redstone said, “there is going to be an almost total disregard for the inviolability of the first-mn theatre and its prior clearance. We are going to see more and more motion pictures being exhibited firstrun in de luxe suburban theatres, often as part of a multiple first-run distribution plan. We are going to witness the exhibition of more and more pictures first-run in drive-in theatres, either on an exclusive first-run basis or on a day-and-date basis with one or more conventional theatres.” Redstone admitted that in the beginning there may be a severe economic loss and that circuits with big investments in downtown indoor theatres would suffer the greatest damage. But, he said, there were indications that they may expect a more liberal attitude from the judiciary and the Department of Justice in their attempts to reshape their own future in the business. The approval of a federal court of Stanley Warner’s acquisition of a drive-in circuit in Texas was regarded as of great significance, because it suggested a relaxation of restriction on future expansion via either acquisition or new construction by the judiciary. Redstone said there were some who might not be able to accommodate their theatres or their futm-e planning to the new world of distribution, but blinding oneself to the inevitable would make disaster even more inevitable. “We can, as businessmen, no more blind Spyros P. Skouras 4 BOXOrnCE :: November 19, 1962