20th Century-Fox Dynamo (April 18, 1953)

Good-But Not Safe Enough!! CinemaScope Makes Demand 36 Weeks’ Delivery in 23 Procedure Not As Usual!! ft 13 5% B Y the end of September this company will have made available standard 2-D feature releases whose Aiming cost alone represents an investment of more than $36,000,- 000. Add to that sun the cost of distribution and advertising and you will not be wrong if you come q> with a Ague some- thing like $50,000,000. And that represents the cost of do- mestic handling of the 1953 featwes only. Obviously, you must also add to that investment the cost of the featwe == backlog that also will be available before the end of Sep- tember. S O, the task we assume is of Herculean proportions! Mr, Skouras and other company officials are cognizant of and grateful for the fine selling and booking job that is being done, domestically. Features sales, as of last week, were 49.4% greater than for the same period of1952. Feature book- ings, departmentally are 7.35% ahettd of total feature playoff for the same period last year. That’s good. . . but, appar- ently, not good enough! Our accumulated 15 weeks' delivery this year is 23.57% higher than for the same period last year. But, the first four months’ delivery last year was nothing to brag about. The simple fact remains that our past 15 weeks’ delivery was 18.9% under quota for that period. So, while sales-wise and booking-wise, a good position departmentally prevails, revenue-w ise it is NOT A SAFE ONE! T HE task that confronts us is UNUSUAL. Past perform- ances can not be used as the measuring rod. The situa- tion is entirely different from what it has been in any period in any past year. Releases through next September must be launched as early as possible coincidental with avail- ability of advertising material. We must get this distribution job on the standard 2-D pictures done before we begin gen- erally releasing the CinemaScope pictures. . .and that task begins Oct. 1. C INEMASCOPE is relatively less than fou months old, yet its impact on the futwe of the industry is already barometrically tremendous! Thousands of motion picture theatre operators have Aooded the offices of Director of Distribution A1 Lichtman with applications for installation of CinemaScope equipment The Arst CinemaScope produc- tion (The Robe) has been almost completed, insofar as Aim- ing is concerned. The second, "HowTo Marry A Millionaire,” is in its second month of "shooting.” The third Cinema- scope special, "12-Mile Beef,” is being produced off the coast of Florida. And, the next 17 CinemaScope releases are being readied for Aiming. All our CinemaScope produc- tions will be in Technicolor. So, with this company, Cine- maScope is fact NOW! Our studio is working entirely on CinemaScope pictires. E XHIBITORS have seen CinemaScope at work. They know it is the most practical and most economical pro- cess on the market. That is why this company is staking its future on CinemaScope. The fact that thousands of theatres already h ave filed installation applications bespeaks the verdict of exhibition. What sound-on-film was and began doing for this industry back in the early 1930’s, Cinema- Scope will do for motion picture theatres, starting in Oct- ober. The public eagerly awaits CinemaScope productions. It awaits the first CinemaScope production with high ex- pectations and with the same impatience exhibitors look forward to it. B UT, in the meantime, what? October is 23 weeks dis- tant! What is going to happen in the meantime? You and your exhibitors have the answer to that question, for the pictures that will be released between now and the end of September have been completed by Darryl F. Zanuck and his associates. Yes, October looms a historic date in the annals of this company, it gives every promise of initiating for the industry a future that will dwarf the past insofar as public patronage is concerned. But, the period before the first showings of "The Robe” is vital. W E must get these availabilities set and played off in every first-run. . . and then followthrough methodically and swiftly down through oir pattern of liquidation. This responsibility calls for top level planning, thinking and follow-through. The simple fact is that in the next 23 weeks we must departmentally develop the equivalent of a 36 weeks’ revenue. In prior years we planned and estimated revenue for the period ended on the 52nd week. That’s out this year! We’ve got to get oir job on the standard 35MM re- leases behind us by October! B EAR that fact in mind in your planning and in every phase of your selling and booking. There is prophetic significance in the daily increasing number of applications for CinemaScope equipment being received at the Home Office. For one thing, it means after our first CinemaScope picture, “The Robe,” is pre-released, there will be a de- cided and continual decline of public interest in 35MM pic- tures. The market for 35MM will consistently and swiftly diminish, no matter how good the standard-sized pictures may be. That was the experience obtained at the beginning of sound pictures. Only the houses equipped to show sound pictures made money. Let’s profit by that experience. D YNAMO brings these facts and thoughts for your con- sideration NOW. . . when something can be done about coping with them. Remember, it’s 36 weeks’ business in 23 weeks on the 2-D 35MM releases through September! We know competition for playing time for that period will be in- creasingly keener as the public and exhibitors cope with other new processes. So, our job is to get out and SECURE that indispensible playing time. Get out and get it NOW! We CANNOT WAIT FOR ANYTHING! We cannot afford to miss or lose a single booking on 35MM availabilities, for a play- date missed between now and October 1 on 2-D features is a booking irrecoverable loss. We must clear the decks— NOW! CinemaScope will take care of itself, starting in October. Meantime, LET US TAKE GOOD CARE OF ME- THODICALLY LIQUIDATING OUR 35MM AVAILABILITIES. Only 23 Weeks To Go To Beginning Of CinemaScope Era! Page 3