Harrison's Reports (1962)

Rntered as second-class matter January i, 1021. at the post office at New York, New York, under the act of March 3, 1879. Harrison's Reports Yearly Subscription Rates: United States $17.00 U. S. Insular Possessions... 19.00 Canada and Mexico 19.00 Other Countries 19.S0 45c a Copy A Motion Picture Reviewing Service Devoted Chiefly to the Interests of the Exhibitors Published Weekly by Harrison's Reports, Inc., 1600 Broadway New York 19, N. Y. COlumbus 5-4434 Established July 1, 1919 Martin Starr, Editor A REVIEWING SERVICE FREE FROM THE INFLUENCE OF FILM ADVERTISING Vol. XLIV SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 1962 No. 24 "Kings" Reverses Field By one of those strange quirks of timing, the man from Harrison's Reports found himself at the home office of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer digging into the re' versal pattern "King of Kings" had been weaving, on the very same day when the distributors were ready ing the announcement that another of their terribly costly blockbusters was reaching its port of comple' tion, "Mutiny on the Bounty." It's a long way off before the sea saga premieres, " sometime in November. For three years now the re' make has been plowing its way through some pretty rough seas of production. At the wheel of this box office leviathan has been Marlon Brando who is accused of steering the ship into some pretty stormy (delayed) waters. "Mutiny "" will have reached a production cost well beyond $18,000,000, " twice the millions they expected to pour into this one, say studio officials. But, we'll let the "" Bounty" get moored to her pre-release pier as she begins getting washed, scrubbed, scraped and otherwise prepared for her hard-ticket run. "King" Given New Release Throne Which brings us to M-G-M's other reserved seat entry, "King of Kings". That too came in at a stag' gering production cost. The great Biblical spectacle got lost soon after its get-away in 32 cities during their October-NovemberDecember runs. It failed to catch on and the distribution head of the company, Robert Mochrie, didn't mind admitting to us that they were plenty worried at the home office. The strict hard-ticket policy was abandoned after the first of the year and the spiritually inspiring Samuel Bronston production was given a new kind of treatment, new for this mammoth spectacle, that is. Special handling! It was so special that it took it out of the category known as "special engagement." Suddenly, the whole "King of Kings" picture changed. It began taking on powerful stature and the bookings began rolling in in big number. The great story telling of the greatest life ever lived, at this date, has rolled up 1150 engagements. That's many times more than M-G-M's recent blockbuster of them all, "Ben-Hur." That is, explained Mochrie, for the time (eight months) each film was in release. Of course, that high engagement percentage doesn't mean that the same ratio in grosses exist. "Ben-Hur" is well on its way to a $70,000,000 take. "It is yet too soon to reveal figures on 'King of Kings'," said Mochrie apologetically. The saving revenue grace of "Kings --" may well turn out to be the smaller towns of the nation, Mochrie explained. (Continued on Back. Page) Skouras, the Betroubled It is no secret that the lay-press, especially the syndicated columnists, has made capital out of the troubles that have befallen some of the segments of the motion picture industry. Maybe, it's because newspaper circulation feeds fat on this tragic-like nature of news in an industry that is so jam-packed with glamour, excitement, emotional impact and powerful drama. Also, newspaper editors know what to feed their readership. - and, this kind of reporting offsets the coldly frightening nature of news of this world we live in. The good that is being done in the industry is being relayed daily to the newspapers by the irrepressible, indispensable gentlemen of the press departments of the majors. Prophetically, very little of it ever sees the light of the printed page. It's the troublezones that make fodder for the fonts of the lay-press, especially the columnists. - and, that, as the almost daily running lineage is measured, totals up to what is considered an "unfavorable press." All of which (Continued on Back. Page) COMPO-Marcus Plan Makes Gains No matter what else may be happening all over the country, theatre-operation-wise, the COMPO-Marcus Plan has gained strength, solidity, faith, confidence since its launching. The doubting Thomases, which every new idea gives birth to, now admit that the Plan is not only here to stay, but it's here to do a lot of good for the exhibitors. Fortunately, the net results show up at the box office. And, in our business what better gauge of the success of a venture than the story it tells at the box office? . . . Here's a quick run-through of some of the results: In five New England states a record I 14 theatres got great returns. Everybody knows the astounding Cincinnati story, with Plan operations encompassing southern Ohio. Pittsburgh continues its successful operation. In Wisconsin, (Ben Marcus' territory) his COMPO Plan has become standard operating procedure. Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota (Allied territory) will be the next tri-state point of invasion of the business-getter, goodwill builder and result producer on films like, -"The Day the Earth Caught Fire," "The Horizontal Lieutenant" "Experiment in Terror," "Lad, A Dog," etc.