Boxoffice-June.1989

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Independents (amtmucdfmmp 18) pose doubling your investment would be considered a success. I'm talking about everv'thing, not just theatrical. It's pretty hard to double your investment in theatrical these days." Gordon has had it with formulas. "We foimd independent distribution because that's the only way we could get our pictures to the people. Now that seems like it's not valid anymore, so we have to find a new way to get our pictures to the people and identify them." For Gordon, that means phasing Alive out of the distribution business. For John Daly, getting Hemdale's pictures to the people means, amazingly, getting into independent distribution precisely when so many others appear to be bailing out of it, "Going into distribution is a ver\' important step for the company," Daly says, "and we've got to get it right. We'll see how we fare over the next two or three years. We seem to have a wonderful response from exhibitors. We'll have four offices operating: Los Angeles, New York, Dallas and Chicago. We've set up our overseas distribution in most foreign countries, so we truly can say we're operating as a worldwide distributor." Indeed, with trade barriers coming dovm and satellite delivery systems going up, many industry analysts think "Eurodollars" could take the place of junk bonds as the common coin of the next investment bonanza. Already, Steloff hazards, "I think 30 to 40 percent — and growing — of our cash flow comes from overseas. The public sources of money in America are drying up. The private investment's diying up. The cost of media's getting wildly out of sight. It's murdiferous. You've got to go back to the hard-ass work of finding new ways of pre-sell." Wherever the money comes from, Daly is convinced that a resurgent independent distribution market is where it will go. "There will be the film that has all the right elements, and the only thing missing will be distribution, and hopefully Hemdale will be an answer. We may not be the first answer they want. They may go to other studios first, but if they can't make the right arrangement that is required by whoever their financiers may be, Hemdale may be a little more flexible. "We seem to be getting offered more projects now that people are starting to realize we're in distribution. This business, as I've now been in it about 20-odd years, is a cyclical business that has its peaks and dips, and I think the majors are having their peak time. I think the independents had it two years ago, and I think it's going to take another couple of years to see a couple of the independents break through with terrific product. When you think of the Oscars in '86, something like 26 Oscars went to independent pictures. This year, maybe there was one or two." Daly's math's a little off, but his feel for how drastically things have changed in just two or three years is right on the money. Independents picked up six Oscars in 1986, a record. More significantly, the two they collected this March went to Miramax for "Pelle the Conqueror" and Goldwyn for "Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie" — examples of those two traditional staples of independent distribution, the foreign film and the documentary. Neither of them was a picnic to market, but both should do respectable if not bank-breaking business for their distributors. The lesson in all this for independents isn't all that mysterious. As The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, dean of American film critics, observed in an address delivered on the day of this year's Oscars, "If you always are tiying to second-guess the public and give them what you think they want, or what the marketing people say they can sell, you're going to produce mediocre work. No good business is run except in tenns of the real tastes, the secret tastes, of the person in charge. That's how you get a great magazine. That's how you get a great movie studio." ^ THE CLUB WITH A HEART Every day around the world the Variety Clubs perform hundreds of miracles. They may be as complex as flying a child around the world for a delicate heart operation. Or as simple as driving a handicapped child for a swim. You too can make miracles. Join the club with a heart... so the beat can go on. V^HIBTT eUJB^ll^R^TIOlN^^ The Heart of Show Husini'ss That Helps Need> ChildriT For ftirthiT information conUict our International Office at 'yX West '^ St.. New York. N.V. KHIH* or call 2\27'A-Ha){) 34 Boxoiiui
. FOR THE RECORD THE TV BROADCAST of the 6 1st Annual Academy Awards on March 28 finally brought the curtain down on all the "best-of ' picks and awards for 1988, and not a minute too soon. Every year there appears to be yet another "Top Ten" list or awards ceremony highlighting the best of the previous 12-month's theatrical output. Herewith, for your edification (and amusement), is a listing of all the important awards for the best (and worst) of 1988: The Best: Jodie Foster and Dustin Hoffman, Best Actress and Best Actor; Geena Davis, Best Supporting Actress: Kevin Kline, Best Supporting Actor (Photos courtesy AMPAS) 61ST ANNUAL ACADEMY AWARDS: Picture: Rain Man Actor: Dustin Hoffman ("Rain Man") Actress: Jodie Foster ("The Accused") Supporting Actor: Kevin Kline ("A Fish Called Wanda") Supporting Actress: Geena Davis ("The Accidental Tourist") Director: Barry Levinson ("Rain Man") Original Screenplay: Ronald Bass & Barry Morrow ("Rain Man") Adapted Screenplay: Christopher Hampton ("Dangerous Liaisons") Foreign Film: Pelle the Conqueror": Denmark Art Direction: Art Dir Stuart Craig & Set Dec. Gerard James ("Dangerous Liaisons") Cinematography: Peter Biziou ("Mississippi Burning") Film Editing: Arthur Schmidt ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit") Original Score: Dave Grusin ("The Milagro Beanfield War") Original Song: "Let the River Run," Carly Simon ("Working Girl") Sound: Les Fresholtz, Dick Alexander, Vem Poore, Wil- D. Burton ("Bird") lie Sound Effects Editing: Charles L. Campbell, Louis L. Edemann ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit") Makeup: Ve Neill, Steve La Porte, Robert Short ("Beetlejuice") Visual Effects: Ken Ralston, Richard Williams, Edward Jones, George Gibbs ("Who Framed Roger Rabbit") Costume Design: James Acheson ("Dangerous Liaisons") Documentary Feature: "Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie" Documentary Short Subject: "You Don't Have to Die" Short Films— Live Action: "The Appointments of Dennis Jennings" Short Films— Animated: "Tin Toy" THE GOLDEN RASPBERRY AWARD FOUNDATION NINTH ANNUAL RAZZIE AWARDS: Worst Picture: "Cocktail" Worst Actor: Sylvester Stallone ("Rambo III") Worst Actress: Liza Minnelli ("Arthur 2: On the Rocks" and "Rent-a-Cop") Worst Supporting Actress: Kristy McNichol ("Two Moon Junction") Worst Supporting Actor: Dan Aykroyd ("Caddyshack II") Worst Director (Tie): Blake Edwards ("Sunset"), Stewart Raffill ("Mac and Me") Worst Screenplay: "Cocktail," screenplay by Heywood Gould, based on his book Worst New Star: Ronald McDonald (as himself in "Mac and Me") Worst Song: "Jack Fresh" ("Caddyshack II") 4TH ANNUAL INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS/ INDEPENDENT FEATURE PROJECT —WEST Best Film: "Stand and Deliver" Best Actor: Edward James Olmos (Stand and Deliver) Best Actress: Jodie Foster ("Five Comers") Best Supporting Actor: Lou Diamond Philips ("Stand and Deliver") Best Supporting Actress: Rosanna De Soto ("Stand and Deliver") Best Director: Ramon Menendez ("Stand and Deliver") Best Screenplay: Ramon Menendez and Tony Musca ("Stand and Deliver") Best Cinematography: Sven Nykvist ("The Unbearable Lightness of Being") Best First Time Feature: "Mystic Pizza," Donald Petrie Best Foreign Film: "Wings of Desire" DIRECTORS GUILD OF AMERICA: Best Director: Barry Levinson ("Rain Man") AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CINEMATOGRAPHERS: Outstanding Achievement in Cinematography: Conrad Hall ("Tequilla Sunrise")
Page 1 and 2: :lte • on '^iZ*if
Page 3 and 4: 1 EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Ha
Page 5 and 6: THE MOTION PICTURE SEEN BY OVER 50
Page 7 and 8: Congratulations, Ray and loan From
Page 9 and 10: A NOTICE TO ALL INDEPENDENT FILMMAK
Page 11 and 12: his movie. Equipped with a 16mm cam
Page 13 and 14: I I NATO ShoWest Independent Distri
Page 15 and 16: ments from our readers, but there w
Page 17 and 18: tain date. Here's what I love the m
Page 19 and 20: Guide to Independent Distribution I
Page 21 and 22: 1 1 CONCORDE PICTURES t woo San Vic
Page 23 and 24: MIRAMAX FILMS 18 East 48lh Street.
Page 25 and 26: i : Suite REELTIME DISTRIBUTING COR
Page 27 and 28: Boxoffice P.O. Box 226 Hollywood CA
Page 29 and 30: ioK you go lo the box oilke, you mu
Page 31 and 32: . " tan and foreign independent pro
Page 33: ,isv 1 hanges ^ NEW PRODUCTS The Di
Page 37 and 38: " the ... lOCO 11 NATIONAL NEWS The
Page 39 and 40: " "Suspect," " such as the accessib
Page 41 and 42: Reviews days when baseball was the
Page 43 and 44: — — — "Say Anything" is feath
Page 45 and 46: — — resolution occurs in a movi
Page 47 and 48: — and their unique problems. Owen
Page 49 and 50: SNEAK PREVIEWS The following films
Page 52 and 53: E^' ^1 II 8 II •osl 3 = i ol 5o«
Page 54 and 55: QnanaConcepts - _ iatrc Service Com
Page 58: WOW M*«S.«^«*'' Movieslore Enter

Boxoffice-June.1989

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?