Boxoffice (Oct-Dec 1962)

•By CHRIS DUTRA ^^ITH THE 1962 production year nearing conclusion, Holljn,vood features seem to be holding a steady pace. Showing a close comparison, the month of November saw nine features get under way with December showing a total of eight pictures in various stages of production, both in Hollywood and on location. Metro-GoldwynMayer leads the lineup with three properties blueprinted: United Artists, Universal, Warner Bros, and two independent companies have one screenplay each scheduled. In recapping the entire 12 months of 1962, the calendar shows a total of 138 features will have been put before the camersis by December 31. This figure represents a drop of 47 films from the 1961 total which saw 185 fOms start production. With all major studios and independent producers pledging to curb runaway production and put film making into high gear, 1963 could easily be the year to see Hollywood-made pictures hit a new all-time high. Listed by studios, films now in production are: METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER “Moon Walk” will be shot in color and Panavision and will be filmed in Hollywood for producer Joe Pasternak and under the direction of George Sidney. Shirley Jones, Gig Young, Red Buttons, Carolyn Jones and Brian Russell star. This rom.ance-comedy evolves around a young Navy widow with three children who is wooed by an aggressive admirer. “Flipper” is an Ivan Tors production under the direction of James B. Clark with TV’s Chuck Connors starring. Shooting is under way in the Bahamas. 'The story deals with a boy and his pet talking dolphin. “Cattle King” is a Missouri production in color and widescreen. Robert Taylor and Joan Caulfield star in this independent package for MGM release. Nat Holt is producing and Tay Garnett directs. UNITED ARTISTS “Ceremony” is the initial independent offering by Laurence Harvey’s newly formed film company. Harvey serves as producer-director and star. His cast includes Robert Walker and Sarah Miles. Shooting will be on location in Spain. Story takes in the last 80 minutes in the life of a bank robber condemned to death. UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL “Man’s Favorite Sport” will lens in color in Hollywood for producer-director Howard Hawks. Rock Hudson and Paula Prentiss star in this light comedy about a public relations female who becomes involved with a playboy sportsman. WARNER BROS. “Wall of Noise” will be shot in black and white for producer Joseph Landon. Richard Wilson directs. The story takes place at Hollywood Park Race Track with Ty Hardin, Suzanne Pleshette, Dorothy Provine and Ralph Meeker starring. FAMOUS PLAYERS “The Great Space Adventure” will shoot in Manila for coproducers Albert Zugsmith and Cliff Scherer; Zugsmith also directs. No cast has been set to date. PANDORA PICTURES INC. “Born Hunters” in Eastman Color will shoot in Texas for producer-director Robert Hinkle with Harv Butler starring. Actor-producer Dale Robertson’s Eagle Animation Corp. is in production with “The Man From Button Willow,” a featurelength animated cartoon western. Robertson created the original idea, wrote the theme song, and sings one of the six tunes in addition to the use of his voice for the main character. Running 80 minutes, the film is budgeted at around $780,000, and is personally financed by Robertson. ’The release is scheduled for next June with the actor going on an extensive personal appearance tour with his unique project . . . Joanne Woodward, who is currently before the cameras in Paramount’s “A New Kind of Love,” is also negotiating a three-picture deal with that studio. The first feature under the new deal will be “No Bail for the Judge” . . . Maurice Richlin and Pierre Cossette have formed an independent production company and have tagged “Kelly Green,” an original comedy by Richlin as the first property to go before the cameras. The story surrounds a drunken elf that upsets the Pentagon . . . Producer George Golitzin has signed Shimon Wincelberg to do the screen treatment on his upcoming Universal assignment “Street Corner.” Producer Hal Wallis has signed Ursula Andress for a costarring role in his next Elvis Presley starrer, “Fun in Acapulco,” which will go before the cameras in January on location in Acapulco . . . Columbia Pictures assigned David Swift to produce and direct “Good Neighbor Sam,” based on a new novel by Jack Finney. Described as a hilarious comedy of modern-day marriage “BLACK ZOO” BEFORE CAMERAS — Producer Herman Cohen, left, is pictured here with young star Rod Lauren (center) and director Robert Gordon, (right) during filming of a scene from “Black Zoo,” Cohen’s latest production for Allied Artists release. Michael Gough, Jeanne Cooper and Virginia Grey also star. and morals, the novel will be published soon by Simon and Schuster. Author Jack Finney will start work on the screenplay shortly after the first of the year ... In what is reported to be one of the highest pre-publication sales on record, “The Three Sirens,” a new novel by Irving Wallace, has been bought in manuscript form for $300,000 by producers Edward L. Alperson and Stanley Meyer. ’They plan to film the property as a top-budget roadshow attraction in 70mm and Technicolor for their own production company. The new novel deals with a varied group of Americans who are brought face to face with an unusual love and marriage system in Polynesia. Alperson and Meyer are forming a new production company with “The ’Three Sirens” as their first major venture together. “Inna La Douce,” originally purchased by Alperson and presently being produced in cooperation with the Mirisch Co. and Billy Wilder, also will be included as part of the new Alperson-Meyer production unit. In the deal made with Wallace, Alperson and Meyer offered the author a participation in the world gross of the film, which was higher than any of the previous sales of his works, plus a stock participation deal in their foreign import company, Brenco Pictures Corp. Jerry Lewis will supervise final editing of his film, “The Nutty Professor,” which he is directing and starring in, during his upcoming three-week engagement at Harrah’s Club on Lake Tahoe, commencing December 27. The picture is in its final week of filming here. To make possible the editing while at Lake Tahoe, arrangements have been completed for the installation of full cutting and projection room facilities at the resort. Key members of Lewis’ staff will accompany him there, including producer Ernie Glucksman, Artie Schmidt, William Davidson, John Woodcock and Rusty Wells . . . Paramount has unveiled its most lavish set of the year for producerdirector Melville Shavelson’s “A New Kind of Love,” featuring Edith Head’s Parisienne fashion show. Miss Head has assembled a collection of gowns, lingerie and the latest in wardrobes which will be displayed before cameras by a group of models considered “as beautiful as can be found anywhere in the world.” Samuel Bronston has signed Christopher Plummer to replace Richard Harris in his production of “The Fall of the Roman Empire,” which goes before the cameras on January 14 on location in Spain's Guadarrama Mountains . . . Composer Jerry Goldsmith has been set by producerdirector Ralph Nelson to score his independent production, “The Lilies of the Fie.d,” which is now shooting in Arizona, starring Sidney Poitier. ri^ Preparations have begun by Martin Ritt and Paul Newman to film “The Greatest Ride in Town,” comedy by Walter Bernstein under their Salem Productions banner. Ritt will produce and direct the picture, to be made on a $2,000,000 budget, with Newman partnered, but not to appear in the picture. Joanne Woodward, Newman’s wife, probably will be in the feature. With Salem under a three-picture pact with both Paramount and Columbia, no decision has been made for “Town’s” release. 18 BOXOFTICE :: December 17, 1962