Cinema Canada (Dec 1981)

Ce Line Mana lLCU™UC™C™CUCUUUUUUUCUS Strong Canadian content condition of deal to renovate, lease and program Winter Garden TORONTO —The Ontario Government and a_ consortium headed by Garth Drabinsky, Michael Cohl, and David Wolinsky have become partners in a multi-million dollar project to renovate Toronto's ElginWinter Garden theatres. The Ontario Cabinet has approved the purchase of the building by the Ontario Heritage Association, the government agency able to hold historical property, from Famous Players Ltd. for $4.5 million, using Lottario funds. The consortium, make up of Tiberius Productions Inc., the Cineplex Corp., and W.B.C. Productions (which owns both Concert Productions International and the BASS ticket agency), will spend $4 million on renovations, and in exchange will receive a 40year lease from the the OHA to rent the property each year for one dollar. In addition to the $4.5 million received for the property, Famous Players will also receive concessions from the City of Toronto for the construction of a multi-screen complex at the corner of Bloor and Hayden Streets, with an adjacent parking lot to be built by the Toronto Parking Authority. Along with the $4.5 million purchase price, the Heritage Association will spend another $4.5 million on renovations, bringing the combined expenditure for renovation to $8.5 million. But the OHA expects to recover all but $3 million of its investment through the sale of the Elgin-Winter Garden’s commercial and residential density rights to private developers. Also part of the agreement were assurances that the interiors of both theatres would be restored to their orignal 1913 condition by architect Mandel Sprachman. The two rooms have not been used as performance theatres since 1935 : the upper level Winter Garden has been closed since 1927, while the lower level had continued operating as the Elgin Cinema untilit was closed November 8, 1981. The deal contains strict Canadian content programming conditions which the operating consortium must meet, which will be enforced by a five-member board consisting of one member from the consortium, two from the ministry, and two from the Toronto The atre Alliance. The operators must stage three Canadian plays in the first year of operation, four in the second, and five in all subsequent years. They must provide 200,000 performance seats for Canadian production in the first year, 250,000 seats in the second, and 350,000 for all subsequent years. At least 75,000 seats must be given to transfers (from local or regional theatres) of productions written by Canadian playwrights. The theatres must be made available to the Toronto Festival of Festivals each year for 10-14 days, and can only screen films fora maximum of 90 days a year, excluding the Festival dates. In addition, two trusts will be established: one administered by the ministry to promote Canadian theatre, the other administered by the operating consortium to help defray the costs of transferring productions from smaller theatres to the Elgin-Winter Garden site. Fifty cents from each ticket will be contributed during the first year of operation, and 3% of the average ticket price during all subsequent years. Cineplex builds LA advisory board LOS ANGELES — Cineplex Corporation president Garth H. Drabinsky has announced the names of seven prominent entertainment industry figures who have agreed to serve on the Cineplex Advisory Board in Los Angeles, where the corporation is scheduled to open a 16-screen complex in the new Beverly Centre in March, 1982. Named were Joseph Barbera of Hanna-Barbera Productions, film critic Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times, Women In Film president Bonny Dore, Hollywood Reporter critic Arthur Knight, Barbara LaRue, director of the city of Los Angeles’s Motion Picture Co-ordination Section, Dr. Donald Reed, president of the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Films, and Phil Scheuer, ‘critic emeritus’ with the Los Angeles Times. The Board will meet on an informal basis to make recommendations and assist in the creative booking aspects of the theatre’s operation, said Cineplex spokesperson Lynda Friendly. Friendly also said that the Board members were enthusiastic about Cineplex’s multiple-screen concept, which will be the first such operation in the Los Angeles area. The Beverly Centre theatre will be Cineplex’s first location in the United States. Rogers buys control of UA-Columbia TORONTO — Rogers Cablesystems Inc. of Toronto has announced the purchase of 51% of UA-Columbia Cablevision Inc., a major U.S. cable television company. The final purchase was made by Rogers November 19 in New York at $90 a share, according to Rogers vice-president of investment planning, Graham Savage. The new company will be known as Rogers CURRENTLY IN RELEASE PRIVATE LESSONS CALI 5 U LA (Excluding Quebec) ENTER THE NINJA UA Cable, and the acquisition increases Rogers interest to 1.9 million cable subscribers in Canada, the United States, and Ireland, according to Savage. In order to raise money for the purchase, Rogers had earlier sold its interest in Williams Electronics, Inc., a U.S. based electronic game manufacturer, and realized $17,000,000 Canadian. MANIAC COMING SOON BOOGENS FINAL EXAM BODY & SOUL Roke Distributors Ltd. (in Western Canada) Brought to you by: Citadel (in Eastern Canada) (416) 492-9614 Contact: Ron Emilio 2175 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 203, Willowdale, Ontario, Canada, M2J 1W7 (403) 264-4660 Contact : Frank Kettner Roke Distributors Ltd., 522-11th Ave. S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2R 0C8 ‘‘Christmas Greetings to all the Exhibitors Across Canada”’ 10/Cinema Canada/December &1-January 62