The Exhibitor (1959)

July 8 , 1959 MOTION PICTURE EXHIBITOR 11 Fight Theatre Telecast Gross Hits Million NEW YORK — Irving B. Kahn, president, TelePrompter Corporation, revealed last fort¬ night that the closed circuit telecast of the Johansson-Patterson heavyweight title fight grossed an estimated $1,032,000 from an 1 audience of approximately 244,000 in the 170 participating theatres. Net receipts were placed at about $939,400, half of which will represent the theatres’ share of the “take.” Kahn said the figures were based on an average ticket price of $4.23, the highest in the history of theatre TV. Had the weather been favorable, the chances would have been good for breaking the all-time record for a theatre telecast of a fight, Kahn asserted. According to Kahn, the telecast was marked by not a single tech¬ nical failure in any theatre. The fight pictures, which United Artists is releasing, are expected to prove the biggest grossing ever. It was said that radio and “various foreign rights” will total about $150,000, which includes the $100,000 paid by UA for the radio rights in the U.S. Stockholder Sues WB WILMINGTON, DEL. — Stockholder William B. Weinberger has filed suit in the Court of Chancery against Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., and 14 individuals, all present or former directors or officers including Jack L. Warner, charging they entered into a scheme to enrich certain of the individual defendants at the expense of the corporation. The complaint charges defendants obtained unjustified advantages on stock options grant¬ ed in 1956 and changed at the 1959 annual meeting. The agreement to pay $1,000 a week until 1963 to Samuel Schneider, who resigned in 1956, is called “illegal, unwar¬ ranted and constitutes a waste of the assets” of the corporation. The complaint also at¬ tacks an agreement to pay $1,750 per week to Morton Blumenstock for 91 weeks from the date of his resignation and charges this was paid him in a lump sum. Stock sales and purchases in January, 1959, by Serge Semenenko are assailed as having enriched him at the corporation’s expense. Distribs Appeal Censor Fees HARRISBURG — Appeals have been filed in State Supreme Court here by two Phila¬ delphia motion picture firms from the ruling of Judge Homer L. Kreider in Commonwealth Court, in an effort to have the State Board of Finance repay them $11,506.25. The amount represents their proportionate share to maintain the former State Board of Motion Picture Censors which was operated at the expense of motion picture producers. The State Supreme Court in 1956 declared the act under which the board functioned unconstitutional. Screen Guild Productions of Philadelphia seeks to collect $2,942.25 for the period be¬ tween 1948 and 1951, while Box Office Pic¬ tures, Inc., wants $8,564 for the period be¬ tween 1947 and 1951. Col. Declares Dividend NEW YORK— Columbia announces that the board of directors at a meeting last week declared the regular quarterly dividend of $1.0614 on the $4.25 Cumulative Preferred stock, payable Aug. 17 to stockholders of rec¬ ord Aug. 3. Summer Attendance Surge Forecast With Weekly Peak Of 80,000,000 Huge Exhibitor Demand For UA Title Fight Film NEW YORK — Tremendous exhibitor de¬ mand for the Patterson-Johansson heavy¬ weight championship fight film points to a record booking of 8,000 playdates, ac¬ cording to William J. Heineman, United Artists vice-president in charge of dis¬ tribution. He reported that within the first 24 hours after the film was printed it was booked by 1,000 theatres. Laboratories worked overtime process¬ ing 800 prints which were immediately shipped and air expressed to UA’s 33 exchanges in the United States and Can¬ ada. Early boxoffice returns indicate that public interest in the film showing Johansson’s spectacular third-round, sev¬ en knockdown victory over Patterson is running well ahead of the boxoffice sup¬ port given all previous fight films handled by UA. Baraboo Welcomes "Circus" BARABOO, WIS. — The world premiere of Allied Artists’ “The Big Circus” was held last week at the A1 Ringling Theatre in this town where the Ringling Brothers Circus originated. A gala festival was held to celebrate the official opening of the Circus World Mu¬ seum, and the premiere of the film was the final event in the day’s celebration. All pro¬ ceeds went to the museum. Representing Allied Artists and “The Big Circus” at the premiere was star Rhonda Fleming, who was official hostess for the day’s events. These included a morning cir¬ cus parade, receptions, cocktail parties, and a luncheon, all attended by state officials and other dignitaries. Industry Dividend Total Up WASHINGTON — The Department of Com¬ merce announced recently that cash divi¬ dends paid by motion picture corporations issuing public reports amounted to $1,276,000 in May, compared with $1,432,000 in the same month last year. Publicly reported cash dividends paid in the first five months of this year totaled $9,028,009, compared with $7,870,090 in the corresponding period a year ago. Steve Broidy, Allied Artists president, right, with Rhonda Fleming, star, "The Big Circus," and producer Irwin Allen, are seen at the Hollywood press premiere of the film. NEW YORK — Weekly attendance at the country’s theatres is expected to hit a peak of 80,000,000 persons this summer, according to a statement issued by a committee of ex¬ hibitors. Based on a recent uptrend in theatre at¬ tendance and the scheduled release of a num¬ ber of top pictures during the next few months, the estimate foresees national movie attendance running well ahead of last year’s top figure of 75,000,000 registered in the week of Aug. 22, 1958. It was pointed out that this year’s attend¬ ance figure will far exceed the total patronage at any other form of paid recreation, includ¬ ing baseball, football, or horse racing. The estimate, it was declared, is based on the results of a survey made by the Council of Motion Picture Organizations. The upward trend in attendance started in the middle of May, when admissions were running nearly 20 percent above the corresponding levels last year. Breaking of theatre attendance records by the first-runs of some of the big pictures being released this spring leads industry sta¬ tisticians to believe that summer business in the nation’s movie houses this year will establish a peak for the past decade. There are several reasons to account for this upsurge, the committee says. One is the scheduled release of a series of top pictures by major distributors during the next few months. Another important factor is the fact that many of the current and forthcoming pictures contain a definite feminine appeal, which is reflected in the heavily increased at¬ tendance of women at both the matinee and evening performances. Still another important reason is that the playoff of pre-1948 films released by the industry for use on television is reaching a saturation point, with several of the popular films already having been shown several times on home TV, plus the fact that several of the top TV shows go off the air for the summer leaving their fans free to leave the house. Within the last decade, the committee’s statement continues, there has been a com¬ plete reversal in the pattern of movie at¬ tendance. Whereas years ago the biggest at¬ tendance and the best pictures were recorded during the winter months, the pendulum has now swung into the oposite direction with summer attendance setting the high marks of the year and many of the best pictures timed for release to take advantage of the peak crowds at this season of the year. Goldwyn Suit Near End SAN FRANCISCO — It was decided last fortnight that the court fight of Samuel Gold¬ wyn against National Theatres and other exhibitors which has been in Federal Court for over nine years will be determined on the record of the evidence heard last year by Judge Edward P. Murphy, who died before giving a decision. Counsel for both sides told Chief Federal Judge Louis Goodman they were in agree¬ ment and would not press for a retrial. Judge Goodman said he would appoint a judge to read the Murphy trial evidence, hear closing oral arguments of both sides, and hand down a decision. Goldwyn is seeking approximately $2,000,000 in triple damages granted in monopoly suits.