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

YEAR’S PRODUCT CONTRACTS ASSUME GREATER IMPORTANCE IN PRE - CINEMASCOPE DRIVE! Because time is such a decisive factor in the pre-CinemaScope era and because wisdom dictates the field close as many situations as possible on 1953 feature pro- duct by the end of September, the part the year’s product contracts play in the 1953 status has assuned much greater importance. Business wisdom demands that salesmen sell at least 6,000 contracts for a year’s product to small-town and subsequent-run situations by Sept. 1. Negotiation of such a volume of con- tracts for a year’s service of feature releases will enable salesmen and bookers to apply more, much-needed time to negotiation of bookings. And it is imperative that a maxi- mum of bookings be secured to back up play- off in the key-runs. In fact, in light of devel- opments in the industry, the safest way to avoid a booking bottleneck all the way down the line is to zoom contracts for a year’s feature product. At the end of last week, 1443 contracts for a year’s feature output had been ne*- gotiated on 1953 releases compared with 815 in the same period in 1952. That shows a gain of 77.05% over last year. Tom McCleas- ter’s Centrals have divisionally sold the most such contracts (378,) with Bob McNabb’s Cincinnatians leading the branches with 119 and Bill Keith’s Indianapolis second with 115. Saul Malisow’sMinneapilis is third with 102 such deals. In fact, every branch is running ahead of last year on negotiation of such deals. Only New York is not represented in this brand of 1953 selling. Eastern offices, as a whole, are doing much better than last year. How- ever, it is the Western area’s affiliations that are outstanding, according to press-time tabulations of a full year’s contracts sold. West is credited with having closed 928 such deals and the East 515. Moe Levy’s Midwest had closed 373 full year’s product deals. Ballance’s South was credited with 223, Herman Wobber’s West 167, Glenn Norris’ Atlantic 81 and Martin Mos- kowitz’s Empire State 40. Branches that had sold more than 50 such contracts included Tom Gilliam’s Chicago, Schmertz’s Cleve- land, Lee’s Detroit, Neger’s Kansas City, Halloran’s St. Louis, Holston’s Charlotte, Yoimg’s Memphis and Lloyd’s Salt Lake City. WHAT’S YOUR DRIVE-IN STATUS? Get those (hive-ins rolling! Indications are that oir spring-summer objective will be attained, for at the end of the year’s first 14 weeks accumilated revenue from drive-ins ran 45.9% ahead of 1952. How drive-in rev- enue has been mounting is indicated by the fact that what this domestic department this year accomplished in 14 weeks required 33 weeks to effect in 1949! What with more drive-in possibilities and much more available product, this source of revenue should, if anything show a consis- tent increase as more situations weekly open up. Easter Week revenue developed on our product shown at drive-ins was more than it was in the same holiday stanza of 1952. However 37% more drive-ins were operating last week on the Eastern seaboard and Cen- tral areas of the country than were served in the comparable 1952 stanza. While the trend so far has departmentally been exceedingly encouraging, the sad fact remains that some offices show dangerously few drive-in sales. This has alarmed Home Office sales executives because instructions had been issued, through division managers, last winter that the field initiate an early campaign to bring drive-ins into the fold. Easter Week saw a playoff of 38.2% more features than the same seven days last year. Terrytoons particularly enjoyed a rich har- vest diring Easter Week. Drive-in bookings that week on Terrytoons were more than double the total absorbed in the comparable stanza last year. Above, Boris Vermont, producer of the Art Entertainments, smilingly appraises the “Oscar” presented to him for producing the “best short subject of 1952,” namely “Light In The Window.” The presentation of the Academy Award to Mr. Vermont was made in New York. Academy Award Zooms Art Series Bookings! The Academy Award presented to pro- ducer Boris Vermont (above, right) for the “best short subject of 1952” (“Light In The Window”) had the effect of immediately zooming the sale and booking of Art Enter- tainments, according to statistical reports from the field. Total contracts sold and bookings played off on the Art Entertainments for the two- week period immediately after the “Oscar” presentation jumped 114% and 123.2%, re- spectively, over the accumulative up to March 21, the Home Office records disclose. No short subject series has received the public attention Art Entertainments, and “Light In The Window” specifically attracted through the Coast-to-Coast telecasting over the NBC network of the Academy Awards ceremonies. It was estimated that in excess of 50,000,000 potential ticket-buyers viewed the telecast. This widespread publicity has had, ap- parently, a beneficial effect on the public, for many exhibitors report telephonic inquiries as to when the Oscar-winner would be shown locally. That the field is losing no time making capital of this interest is apparent from the mounting sales and bookings on the Art Entertainment. However, the totals recorded as of last week-end were still below expectations. The foreign offices are seemingly making a much better showing on the Art Entertainments than the domestics, notwithstanding the availability of a bonus to the latter.* Page 5