The Independent Film Journal (1954)

United Artists Releasing 96 Films In Two Years $25, 000, 000 Plan To Eliminate Frozen Film Funds Abroad United Artists plans to release 48 pictures a year for the next two years starting Sept. 1, which date marks a “major turning point in the development” of the company, stated Arthur B. Ivrim, company president, at a trade press conference in which he gave a progress report. For the next 12 months, Krim promised one “blockbuster” a. month, with hopes for two blockbusters a month for the following year. The executive defined a “blockbuster” as a picture with a minimum grossing potential of $2,000,000 in the U.S. and Canada and a sky-high maximum. The total cost of the 48-picture program was estimated to be at least $40,000,000, with most of the financing taken care of by United Artists. Krim and Robert Benjamin, board chair¬ man, estimated that about 90 percent of all UA releases are in whole or in part financed by the company. In line with these expendi¬ tures, Krim announced that the company’s grosses are constantly improving and should reach $40,000,000 this year. " Bullish " About Industry To dramatize the strides the company has made in the past three years, Krim contrasted this figure with the $18,000,000 that was grossed during the new management’s first year in control. He predicted that the gross would exceed $50,000,000 next year. The company president asserted the United Artists is “extremely bullish” about the mo¬ tion picture industry and is ready to back this judgment with costly pictures. He esti¬ mated that the next four pictures scheduled to go into production within the next eight weeks for UA release cost $8,000,000, with financing by the releasing company. To realize more fully the potential of these pictures, the company has inaugurated a new policy of intensified pre-planning and pre¬ selling in its exploitation and publicity de¬ partment. This phase of the operation was explained by Max Youngstein, vice-president in charge of advertising, publicity and ex¬ ploitation, who just returned from a 10-week tour of Europe. In Good Shape Youngstein claimed that the company is now “organizationally” in good shape so that it can go full speed ahead on its advertisingpublicity plans. The new routine is being broken in with three of the “blockbusters” : “Apache,” “Vera Cruz” and “The Barefoot Contessa.” The other nine “Blockbusters” that UA will release during the 12-month period in¬ clude “Purple Plain,” “Gentlemen Marry Brunettes” (CinemaScope), “Not As A Stranger,” “The Gabriel Horn” (CS), “The Night of the Hunter,” “Romeo and Juliette,” “Alexander the Great,” “Sitting Bull” (CS), “The Way West” and “Summertime.” In addition to these 12 productions, the company plans to release a minimum of 12 second-category features which are expected to gross a minimum of $1,000,000 each in the U.S. and Canada. Krim declared that any one of these features could conceivably wind up in the “blockbuster” class. Included in this list are “Suddenly,” “Kiss Mo Deadly,” “Stranger on Horseback,” “Black Tuesday,” “Star of India,” “Canyon Crossroads,” “Down Three Dark Streets,” “Shield for Murder,” “Lilacs in the Spring,” “Battle Taxi” and “Marty.” The company is already into its 1956 pro¬ gram for which time it has films lined up from Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Robert Rossen, Stanley Kramer, Anatole Litvak, the Jane Russell producing company and the HeehtLancaster organization, Krim revealed. In line with its new promotional policy, the company’s publicity department is being called in as soon as a film goes into produc¬ tion, Youngstein revealed. The ground break¬ ing is being done by Leon Roth on the coast and Richard Condon in Europe, he added. These men meet with the producers as soon as the company decides to take the film. Then scene stills are taken at the time that the scene is being shot. These stills are the opening phase of an all-out publicity campaign that will be accorded each film so that it may reach its grossing potential, the executive declared. He reported that “Romeo and Juliette,” which has been filmed on location in Verona with a cast comprised largely of London’s Old Vic company, will get “custom tailored” handling when it is released here. The com¬ pany has not decided yet whether to road¬ show the feature or not, but, in any case, it will get special treatment. Youngstein made the European trip to look at pictures being made and to meet their producers and directors as well as to investigate the new ad-pub-exploitation set¬ up, he disclosed. He declared that he was happy with what he saw in all departments, with plenty of good product available and the UA staff well manned in all of its Euro¬ pean offices. When queried as to the source of the money the company was using to finance its productions, Krim listed six financial com¬ panies that are supplying the money. These include the Bankers Trust, Chemical Bank, Walter Heller & Co. of Chicago, the Bank of America of Hollywood, the Bank of Amer¬ ica of London and Lloyds Bank Ltd., London. Hollywood.— A reciprocal plan designed to eliminate frozen funds of U.S. producers who distribute pictures abroad and allowing foreign producers to use their own currencies to produce films in this country has been pre¬ sented to the industry by S. R. Kunkis, N. Y. attorney, who developed the system. To be called the Kunkis Plan, the system would permit U.S. distributors and producers to be paid in dollars here immediately for their foreign sales, “thus eliminating delays and restrictions now in effect in practically every country in the world,” according to the attorney. A fund of $25,000,000 has been allocated in order to begin operation of the plan at once, he added. To accommodate producers who wish to make use of the system, Gerald Brotman & Co., foreign exchange bankers, has opened an office in Beverly Hills. The plan will be administered by Herman Yaras, former member of the Export Advisory Com¬ mittee of a Department of Commerce office. At present, the group does not plan to attempt to release funds currently frozen, but this might be considered at some later time. The group will not undertake either to finance productions outright, it was noted. Kunkis stated that the plan is especially useful to independent producers, but he added that the major companies could use it also. The lawyer declared that his system will facilitate wider utilization of foreign cur¬ rencies for Hollywood producers to use abroad. He stated also that it will provide “liquid¬ ity” for additional production in the U.S. and would therefore result in increased Hol¬ lywood production. This would be helped further because Hollywood producers would be able to use their foreign earnings for further production here, he added. Exchange-banking institutions in all of the principal countries of the world, with the exception of Iron Curtain countries, will par¬ ticipate in the handling of the currencies involved, Kunkis stated. He expects as a re¬ sult a financial freedom to be made available at a “reasonable charge, under flexible terms subject to amounts, conditions and circum¬ stances.” "One Blockbuster A Month from United Artists” Unveiling the new releasing schedule of United Artists in which the company promises 96 pictures for the next two year are (1. to r.): Robert S. Benjamin, board chairman; Arthur B. Krim, president, and Max E. Youngstein, vice-president. Krim promised that for the 12 months beginning September the company would release one "blockbuster" a month. A "blockbuster" would gross at least $2,000,000 in the U.S. and Canada, Krim explained. 4 THE INDEPENDENT FILM JOURNAL— August 7, 1954