Boxoffice-October.1993

usiness magazine of the motion picture industry 

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SI993»A8ISC0flK)0S,ll

The business magazine of the motion picture industry 

OCTOBER, 1993 VOL.129 NO. 10 

The dissenU-r u i-vt-iy human bang al those mumt-nls oj liis lije whin he migns inuinenlanly 

from the herd and thinks for hiimelf. 

—Archibald MacLeish 

ON THE COVER 

A new wave of Hong Kong action films Is 

washing across U.S. shores. Exclusive coverage 

by the staff of Boxoffice brings this 

latest trend to the attention of exhibitors. 

(See cover story, page 12) 

FEATURES 

1 1 Giants of Exhibition Survey 

Make sure your theatres are listed in our 1 993 

exhibitiori guide. 

12 Cover Story: Asian Invasion 

Independent Rim Film Distributors offers something new 

under the sun. 

1 5 Marketing Concessions: Life in the AMC Fast Lane 

Self-service comes to one of America's largest circuits. 

16 IVIarketing: Aggressive Marketing Increases Business 

Don't think of your theatre as a single use facility. Expand 

your horizons to increase your customers' purchases. 

REVIEWS—Following page 23 

Betty

HOLLYWOOD REPORT. 

Tom Cruise In "Legend" 

"Interview With the Vampire" 

In his first foray Into filmic 

fantasy since the flop Ridley 

Scott production "Legend," 

Tom Cruise has joined the cast 

of "Crying Came" director Nell 

Jordan's "Interview With the 

Vampire," a David Ceffen production 

based on the bestselling 

cult novel by Anne Rice. A 

Gothic romantic thriller set In 

the 1800s, "Interview With the 

Vampire" Is the story of a vampire 

sub-culture Inhabited by 

decadent, highly cultivated 

vampires who Initiate new recruit 

Louis (Brad Pitt) Into their 

degenerate ways. Antonio 

Banderas and River Phoenix costar; 

Cruise will take on the 

much-sought after role of the 

vampire Lestat, Louis' mentor 

and a crucial secondary character 

in "Interview" who is also the 

main protagonist of two subsequent 

Rice vampire novels. The 

sequel possibilities are endless. 

Script by Rice and Jordan. 

(Warner) 

"Nobody's Fool" The great 

Paul Newman ("Cool Hand 

Luke") has been in something of 

a boxofflce slump since his 

Oscar win for 1986's "The 

Color of Money." With such 

duds as "Blaze," "Fatman and 

Little Boy" and "Mr. and Mrs. 

Bridge" in his recent past, Newman 

may be looking for another 

hit; If he doesn't find it In his 

upcoming Coen Brothers comedy 

"The Hudsucker Proxy," 

perhaps he'll find it with 

"Nobody's Fool," a "dramedy" 

from "Places in the Heart" director 

Robert Benton. Based on 

Richard Russo's novel, 

"Nobody's Fool" will feature 

Newman as a 60-year-oid bluecollar 

man who decides to 

mend fences within his many 

broken relationships over an especially 

eventful holiday season. 

Scripted by Benton. (Paramount) 

"Time Cop" Jean-Claude Van 

Damme ("Universal Soldier") Is 

possibly the hippest action star 

in Hollywood. First he scooped 

everybody in Filmtown by 

packaging himself with cult 

Hong Kong director John Woo 

("The Killer") for his recent action 

outing, "Hard Target." Now 

comes word that Van Damme's 

next project will be based on 

characters created by alternative 

comic book powerhouse 

Dark Horse Comics, the out-ofnowhere 

publishing phenomenon 

with a variety of projects in 

studio pipelines. In "TimeCop," 

Van Damme plays Max Walker, 

a cop who goes back In time In 

a desperate attempt to stop a 

corrupt politician from altering 

the past for his own evil purposes. 

As he was for "Hard Target," 

filmmaker Sam Raimi is 

listed among "Time Cop's" producers; 

Peter Hyams ("Outland") 

will direct from a script 

by Mark Verheiden. (Universal) 

"The Quick and the Dead" 

AndspeaklngofSamRaimi:The 

Western boom meets the Year 

of the Woman (which, come to 

think of it. Is now in it's 17th 

month or so) with this woman's 

Western in which Sharon Stone 

(soon to be seen in "Intersection") 

saddles up for director 

Raimi (the "Evil Dead" films and 

"Darkman"). Described as a 

"Sergio Leone-like" Western, 

"Quick" casts Stone as a Clint 

Eastwood-styled tough gal who 

sets out to avenge the murder of 

her father and winds up saving 

a whole frontier town. Gene 

Hackman plays arch-villain 

Herod, in yet another Western 

follow-up to his yet-to-be-released 

appearances in both 

Walter Hill's "Geronimo" and 

Lawrence Kasdan's horse opera 

"Wyatt Earp." "Quick" was 

written by Simon Moore, and, 

though not official ly a "go" project 

yet. Is tentatively slated to 

commence production this November 

In Mexico. (TrIStar) 

"Bad Girls" And just In case 

you thought the Idea of a 

woman's Western was an original 

one, 20th Century Fox Is 

already at work trying to revive 

this troubled production, which 

fired Its director (Tamra Davis of 

"CB4" fame) after three weeks 

of production. Fox hired 

"women's" director Jonathan 

Kaplan (he helped Jodie Foster 

grab an Oscar for "The Accused") 

in an effort to get back 

on track, and Kaplan promptly 

announced he would be junking 

all of Davis' footage and 

starting from scratch. "Bad 

Girls" is the story of a band of 

female desperadoes in the old 

west, and stars Andle MacDowell 

("Groundhog's Day"), Madeleine 

Stowe, Mary Stuart 

Masterson ("Fried Green Tomatoes") 

and Drew Barrymore 

(Davis' film "Gun Crazy") 

among others. Word Is that if 

this $16 million movie now 

costs Fox a penny less than $20 

million to produce, the studio 

will count itself lucky. (Fox) 

"The Paper" For 

authenticity's sake, screenwriter 

David Koepp ("Jurassic 

Park") teamed with his journalist 

brother Steven to write "The 

Paper," a saga about 24 hours in 

the life of a big city tabloid, 

currently filming In New York 

City. Even with that added insurance, 

it 

will be Interesting to 

see how accurate the film is, 

since Koepp's professional experiences 

as a staff writer for the 

prestigious Time Magazine are 

almost as far removed from the 

seamier world of the tabloids as 

a different profession would be. 

Michael Keaton ("Batman"), 

Glenn Close ("Reversal of Fortune"), 

Robert Duvall ("Geronimo") 

and Oscar-winner Marisa 

Tomei ("My Cousin VInny") costar, 

with Ron Howard (who discovered 

Keaton in 1982's 

"Night Shift") directing. (Universal) 

"The Client" With the success 

of the feature version of 

"The Firm," the currently lens- 

Ing, Julia Roberts-starring adaptation 

of his "The Pelican Brief" 

and the recent, near-record $3.5 

million sale of film rights to his 

work-in-progress, 

best-selling 

novelist John Grisham Is the 

hottest Hollywood writer this 

side of Michael Crichton. "The 

Client" IsthenextCrisham flick, 

and stars Susan Sarandon as an 

attorney hired by an 1 

1 -year-old 

boy (newcomer Brian Renfro) 

after the child witnesses the suicide 

of a Mafia attorney. 

Tommy Lee Jones ("The Fugitive") 

co-stars as the evil federal 

prosecutor willing to risk the 

boy's life to find out what he 

knows. Directed by Joel Schumacher 

(whoso next project will 

be "Batman .3," possibly starring 

v4^H 

Susan Sarandon 

Robin Williams as the Riddler) 

from a screenplay by Robert 

Cetchell and Akiva Goldsman. 

(Warner) 

"The War" Producer/director 

Jon Avnet ("Fried Green Tomatoes") 

directs hot adolescent star 

Elijah Wood ("The Good Son" 

in this drama about two groups 

of neighborhood kids who are 

constantly fighting against each 

other, but whose lives 

changed drastically when one 

of their fathers returns home 

from Vietnam. In a rare supporting 

turn, Kevin Costner ("The 

Bodyguard") stars as Wood': 

war-weary dad. Based on ar 

original screenplay by Kathy 

McWorter. (Universal) 

Etcetera: Prolific writer-pro 

ducer-director John Hughes 

currently at work on "The Bee," 

a Warner Bros, comedy about 

an architect's attempts to develop 

farmland. "The Bee" 

be Hughes' 23rd produced 

screenplay in just 1 1 years. ..Director 

Michael Apted is currently 

in post-production on his 

New Line thriller "Blink." Madeleine 

Stowe Is a blind musician 

who may have witnessed 

grisly murder after having her 

sight restored. ..Also in post-production: 

MGM's "Six Degree 

of Separation," a comedy 

drama directed by Fred Scheplsi 

starring Stockard Channing and 

Donald Sutherland as a couple 

who are taken In by Will Smith 

("Made In America") as a conartist 

who claims he is 

the reallife 

son of actor Sidney Poltier., 

And Mickey Rourke has set 

aside his quixotic quest to become 

a pro-boxer to appear 

the Nu Image production 

"F.T.W." as an ex-con rodec 

rider. Lori Singer co-stars for director 

Michael Karbelnikof 

("Mobsters"). 

4 BOXOFFICE

*7^ ^MtetHo^ St&teci' 

7(^

Cable magnate Ted Turner has a new line 

of business— literally and figuratively. After 

months of speculation about the television 

mogul's ambitions to become involved in 

Hollywood film production, the electronic 

impresario took the plunge in a characteristically 

big way, buying out not only Caslle Rock 

Entertainment (see Sept. Updates) but New 

Line Cinema—two of the most successful independent 

film companies in Hollywood. In 

a surprise move. Turner's board of directors 

quickly approved the deals, despite the fact 

that Time Warner (TW), which (as of this 

writing) owns 18.6 percent of TBS stock, had 

been expected to oppose the acquisitions, 

since they put Turner in an effective position 

to compete with TW's motion picture and 

video interests. TW is expected to sel I out their 

TBS stock, and was believed to have allowed 

the arrangement to go through quickly in 

order to avoid acrimony in subsequent negotiations. 

In the separate deals (which were 

announced jointly). Turner will acquire New 

Line for an estimated $530 million stock 

swap, while Castle Rock will be purchased 

outright for a cool $100 million, with that 

company's five founding partners retaining 

control over Castle Rock for the next seven 

years. Sony Pictures Entertainment (which 

owned a 44 percent stake in Castle Rock 

before the Turner buyout) will continue distributing 

Castle Rock output through 1 997. 

Alan Ladd Jr., the recently deposed chief of 

MCM, has landed on his feet for the umpteenth 

time in his studio career. In a deal 

reportedly put together in just 48 hours by 

Ladd's representatives and those of Paramount 

Pictures, Ladd has signed an exclusive 

three-year deal to develop and produce feature 

films at that studio. The move was frought 

with irony, since Ladd now finds himself in 

the former domain of ex-Paramount boss 

Frank Mancuso, who was fired to make way 

for Brandon Tartlkoff, the man fired to make 

way for Paramount's current Sherry Lansing 

regime, which Ladd will be working with. 

Frank Mancuso is of course the man who just 

replaced Ladd at MCM, which is the company 

that also fired Ladd once before—back in 

1 988, when Ladd was chairman of the board 

and CEO under former MCM owner Kirk 

Kerkorian. In the past, Ladd has also been 

owner and proprieter of his own indie, the 

Ladd Company (which was located at Warner 

Bros.) and was president of 20th Century Fox 

Pictures during the late 1970s. Paramount is 

also the same studio which made Ladd's father, 

hard-boiled 1940s he-man Alan Ladd 

Sr., a star; the senior Ladd was under contract 

to Paramount for 1 5 years, lust goes to show 

you, in Hollywood, you can't keep a good 

man down. 

George fackson and Doug McHenry, the 

African-American producing team behind 

"New lack City" and "House Party 2," signed 

a precedent-setting multi-picture deal with 

Savoy Pictures which will allow the duo to 

greenlight urban-contemporary, black-oriented 

pictures in the $6 to $1 2 million budget 

range as long as certain predetermined production 

prerequisites are met. Savoy has already 

acquired Preston Whitmore's script 

"The Walking Dead" for Jackson/McHenry, 

who are already producing a Whitmore 

screenplay entitled "#4" at TriStar. Jackson 

and McHenry had been based at Warner Bros, 

for the past several years, but had been known 

to be unhappy with the studio, which dragged 

its feet over their proposed sequel to "New 

Jack City" because of the rash of violent incidents 

that accompanied "New Jack's" original 

theatrical run when the film had the 

misfortune to open during a particularly tense 

period in the immediate aftermath of the Rodney 

King beating. Reports were circulating 

that Jackson and McHenry would receive a 

reported $900,000 a year as an advance 

against their producing fees for any films created 

for Savoy. 

Caravan Pictures, the independent production 

unit run by former Fox production chief 

Joe Roth at Disney, has entered into an agreement 

with filmmakers Alien and Albert 

Hughes which guarantees Caravan two 

Hughes pictures over the next three years. The 

deal was immediately challenged by New 

Line Cinema, which claims to have first rights 

to the Hughes' services thanks to the deal 

negotiated by New Line for the Hughes' film 

"Menace II Society," a gritty "gangsta" melodrama 

set in South-Central L.A. "Menace II 

Society" has become one of 1 993's most notable 

"sleeper" success stories, grossing over 

$26 million for New Line, on a reported $2 

million investment. If the Caravan deal goes 

through, the Hughes will be joined at Disney 

by their manager, Darryl Porter, who recently 

resigned from his post as vice president of 

Tribune Entertainment. Tribune Entertainment 

is (surprise!) owned and operated by 

none other than the Disney studios. 

Arrow Entertainment has entered into a 

three picture agreement with its former head 

of production Benjamin Gruberg. Arrow has 

agreed to advance Cruberg's recently formed 

company. The Genuine Film Fund, half of the 

total financing on each project in exchange 

for worldwide distribution rights. Arrow 

Entertainment's subsidiary Arrow Releasing 

will distribute domestically and the 

company's Arrow Films International will represent 

the three films overseas. 

And from the "Disorder In the Court" file: 

Jeffrey Scott, a grandson to the late comedy 

great Moe Howard and through him an heir 

to the Three Stooges merchandising empire, 

is suing the Stooges' old studio, Columbia 

Pictures, to end a contractual relationship 

dating from 1 988. Scott's attorney has alleged 

that Columbia Pictures over-billed development 

costs on a proposed contemporary 

"Stooges" feature by between $250,000 and 

$400,000, and published reports allege that 

only about $1 .1 million of Columbia's $1 .5 

million development costs have been accounted 

for. If S( oil l.ikrs the "Stooges" to 

another studio, ii w ill m.iik ilic definitive ending 

of a relalioii'^liip uiih C olumbia dating 

back close to six decades. Knyuk, knyuk! 

, 

EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER 

HarleyW. Lond 

SENIOR EDITOR 

Ray Greene 

ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

Marilyn Moss 

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR: VIDEO 

George T. Chronis 

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS 

Alex Albanese 

Jotin Allei' 

Bruce Austin 

Jem Axelrod 

Tracy Biga 

Mari Florence 

Shiomo Schwartzberg 

Fern Siegel 

Eric Williams 

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6 BOXOFFICE

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ENTERTAINMENT DATA, INC 

CONGRATULATES 

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FIRM 

$100,000,000 

FOR 

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AS OF 

21, 1993. 

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, 

TRAILERS: OCTOBER 

Cool Runnings 

The lamaican bobsled team—unlikely heroes 

ol the 1988 winter Olympiad simply for 

participating in a sport that was considered so 

Tim BURTON'S Nightmare 

Before Christmas 

When is a Christmas movie not 

a Christmas movie? When the studio 

releases it for Halloween, naturally. 

A pet project developed by 

director Tim Burton ("Batman") in 

the by-gone days when he was 

Disney animation's in-house renegade, 

"Tim Burton's Nightmare Be- 

Fore Christmas" tells of Jack 

Skellington, the "Pumpkin King" 

and overseer of Halloween. When 

Jack stumbles onto the mythical 

Christmastown, he is delighted by 

the peaceable trappings of a holiday 

so different from his own, and 

plots to bring Christmas under his 

dominion. Henry Selick directs from 

a screenplay by Michael McDowell 

and Caroline Thompson, with Burton 

OS producer. "Nightmare" is the 

first full-length, stop-motion animation 

feature ever by the Disney studios. 

(Bueno Vista. N.Y./L.A.: Oct. 

13; wide; Oct. 22) 

implausible tor athletes from the tropics 

makes the leap from beer commercial pitchcomedy 

"Life With Mikey" nose-dived at the 

boxoffice last )une, "For Love or Money" has 

been given a new advertising campaign anc 

a new release date in the hope of distancing. 

itself from Fox's first boxoffice debacle ii 

quite awhile. In "For Love or Money," Fox i- 

an ambitious New York concierge who gets 

shot at building his own hotel ifhecanbabx^ 

an investor's beautiful mistress ("Scent oi 

Woman's" Cabrielle Anwar). Cinematogi.i 

pher turned director Barry Sonnenfeld ("Tin 

Addams Family") directs a plot that sounii 

suspiciously like "Born Yesterday" withou 

the satiric edges; screenplay by Marl 

Rosenthal & Lawrence Konner. (Universal 

October 1 

men to big-screen heroes in this comedy 

based loosely on their athletic adventures. 

John Candy ("Delirious") is a down-and-out 

American slider named Irv who is enlisted as 

a coach by Jamaican athlete Derrice Bannock 

(played by single-named actor "Leon") after a 

track injury sidelines Bannock's hope of qualifying 

as a runner. John Turteltaub ("3 Ninjas") 

directs a film which, on paper at least, seems 

as much of a longshot commercially as the 

Jamaican bobsledders were athletically a halfdecade 

ago. (Buena Vista, Oct. 1 

For Love or Money 

ily res( heduled from a proposed sum 

mer sloi when the Michael J. Fox Disney 

Demolition Man 

The future ain't what it used to be in this dystopian science fiction epic, which 

pits Sylvester Stallone ("Cliffhanger") against Wesley Snipes ("Rising Sun") in 

the year 2032. Sly is John Spartan, an L.A.P.D. cop put into suspended 

animation after his destructive investigative methods lead to his own manslaughter 

conviction. Accompanying him in the big sleep is Simon Phoenix (Snipes), 

a homicidal maniac, and the last "collar" of Spartan's police career. Vvhen 

Phoenix escapes from the freezer in Cryo Prison, Spartan is defrosted into an 

unrecognizable futureworld called "San Angeles" for a last go at his arch-nemesis. 

Produced by Joel Silver ("Die Hard") and directed by first-timer Marco 

Brambilla, "Demolition Man" went way over-budget (almost a given for a Silver 

picture) but looks like a winner, especially since trie $80 million-plus boxoffice 

for "Cliffhanger" has rehabilitated Stallone as an action superstar. Putting 

Snipes into his first openly villainous role since his breakthrough as a black mob 

boss in "New Jack City" shouldn't hurt the bottom line either. (Warner, Oct. 8) 

8 BOXOFUCK

Mr. Wonderful 

Whiit "Sleepless in Seattle" was to the sum- 

Tier release schedule, "Mr. Wonderful" could 

je tor the tall— a "date movie" romantic 

;nough for teenagers but sophisticated 

>nout;h for the over-thirtv set Matt Dillon is 

i divorced man vtho attempts to pair e\-wite 

\nnabella Sciorra with the ideal mate. Marv 

-ouise 

Parker and William Hurt co-star for 

director Anthony Minghella in a script written 

Dy Amy Schor & Vicki Polon. This Samuel 

joldwyn production is being released 

hrough Warner Bros. (Warner) 

Gettysburg 

What seemed like just another flirtation 

A'ith feature production by Ted Turner is in 

•etrospect the first 

indication of his intention 

purchase New Line Cinema. Originally 

Droduced for television, this epic recreation 

ji the pivotal Civil War battle was shot on 

The Beverly HiLLBiLirES 

Aware that they have a potential feature 

comedy franchise on their hands 

with this one, Fox was carefully contemplating 

either a late September or early 

October release at presstime for this 

intriguingly cast bigscreen reworking of 

the vintage '60s sit-com. Jim Varney 

(Ernest oFthe Disney "Ernest" series) is 

Jed Clampett, backwoods millionaire, 

with curvaceous Erika Eleniak (the sexy 

former star of TV's "Baywatch" and of 

the Steven Seagal flick "Under Siege") 

as daughter Ellie May, Cloris Leachman 

("The Last Picture Show") as Granny, 

and Lilly Tomlin ("Nashville") and 

Dabney Coleman ("Nine-to-Five") as 

bankers Miss Jane Hathaway and 

Millburn Drysdale. The TV-to-film cycle 

is barely underway, but director Penelope 

Spheeris ("The Decline of Western 

Civilization II: The Metal Years") is already 

a veteran; her "Saturday Night 

Live" inspired "Wayne's World' feature 

was a sleeper smash in 1 992, although 

she reportedly passed up big^ bucks to 

steer clear of the upcoming 'Wayne's 

World 2". You all come back now, 

y'hear? (Fox, Sept./Oct.) 

location with the proverbial cast of thousands. 

The decision to go theatrical on "Gettysburg" 

makes this the test run for Turner as a movie 

mogul. Tom Berenger and Jeff Daniels co-star 

for writer/director Ronald Maxwell. (New 

Line, Oct. 8) 

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ulitness 

Judgment Night 

Another summer release re-slotted for fall, 

"Judgment Night" tracks four friends who take 

a wrong turn on the expressway and witness 

a mob-style killing, after which they become 

the quarry in a deadly game of hide and seek. 

Emilio Estevez ("The Mighty Ducks") and 

Cuba Gooding, Jr. ("Boyz N the Hood") are 

among the co-stars in this film directed by 

Stephen Hopkins ("Predator 2") and written 

by Lewis Colick. (Universal, Oct. 22) 

Malice 

Alec Baldwin ("Prelude to a Kiss") and 

Nicole (Mrs. Tom Cruise) Kidman team with 

Fearless 

Australian filmmaker Peter Weir ("Dead Poet's Society") directs a stellar 

ensemble in this spiritual drama of survival and redemption. A plane crash leaves 

different psychological scars on those who survive it; for Carlo (Rosie Perez), the 

death before her eyes of her young son leaves her in despair while Max Klein 

(Jeff Bridges), a successful architect who led a group of panicky possengers out 

of the flaming wreckage, feels almost pathologically invincible in 

the aftermotfi 

of his momentary heroism. Isabella Rossellini ("Death Becomes Her") plays 

Bridges' wife; John Turturro is the airline psychiatrist who helps Carlo and Max 

deafwith their differing kinds of grief. (Warner. Limited: Oct. 1 

5; National: Oct. 

29) 

"luck of the Irish" stuff. (TriStar. Limited: Oct. 

13; Wide: Oct. 22) 

Fatal Instinct 

Rob's father, comedic great Carl Reiner 

("Sibling Rivalry") makes a second attempt at 

skewering detective movies witli this film noir 

who meets his match when he baby-sits 

gaggle of precocious tots (a la "Kindergarder 

Cop.") Reportedly, "Mr. Nanny" has already 

posted respectable numbers in England 

where it was released before coming to Amer 

ica. The trailer was a big hit at ShoWest, bu 

then New Line bought the lunch. Resched 

uled from July 30. (New Line, Oct. 8) 

Mr. Jones 

In this romantic drama, Richard Gere 

("Pretty Woman") is a charismatic but psycho 

logically disturbed mental patient who be 

comes romantK.ilK iinoK...! with hr 

beautiful psychiatriM [iIi\mI Ii\ Lena Olir 

"Sea of Love" director Harold Becker for this 

suspense thriller set against the rustic backdrop 

of a New England college town Baldvvm 

is a brilliant surgeon, with Bill Pullman 

("Sleepless in Seattle") as a college dean and 

Kidman as his beautiful wife Intrigue and 

infidelity ensue. Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin 

(Columbia, Oct) 

Rudy 

"Encino Man" co-star Sean Astin stars as 

Rudy Ruettiger, a Notre Dame football hopeful 

who is committed to wearing the uniform 

of his favorite college football squad, N.D.'s 

"Fighting Irish"—even if it's only for one 

down. Ned Bearty ("Network") is Rudy's father; 

Charles Dutton is the university groundskeeper 

who befriends him in this feature film 

based on a true story. Directed by David 

Anspaugh from a script by Angelo Pizzo, 

"Rudy" is the first film since Ronald Reagan 

won one for the Cipper in 1940's "Knute 

Rockne; All American" to be filmed with the 

full cooperation of Notre Dame University. If 

young Astin goes on to become a U.S. president, 

it may be time to start believing in this 

farce (his first was the Steve Martin satire 

"Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid.") Armand Assante 

("The Mambo Kings") takes a rare comedic 

turn as a handsome but clueless 

detective, with Sean Young ("Blade Runner"), 

Kate Nelligan ("Without a Trace") and 

Sherilyn Fenn ("Boxing Helena") as the dangerous 

dames in his life. Originally scheduled 

for an August release. (MGM, Oct. 29) 

Mr. Nanny 

Q: Where does a 250-pound babysitter sit? 

A: Anywhere he wants to. Hulk Hogan stars 

in a comedy that sounds like it was scripted 

with Arnold Schwarzenegger in mind. "Mr. 

Nanny" is a tough, weight-lifting macho dude 

I nlu iril.U I 

of Being"), lli. 

plot sounds rLniinisLLiit ot Alfred Hitchcoc k ; 

"Spellbound, but it probably isn't; the "Mr. 

Jones" trailer featured in TriStar's ShoWesI 

reel gave the impression of a latter-day "Love 

Story" rather than a psychological thriller. 

Anne Bancroft ("Point of No Return") is aisc 

along for this ride. "Mr. Jones" was written by 

Eric Roth and Michael Cristofer, and was 

directed by Mike Figgis (who previously 

teamed with Cere on the hit thriller "Internal 

Affairs"). (TriStar, Oct. 8) 

10 BOXOFFICE

GIANTS OF EXHIBITION SURVEY 

BOXOFFICE IS now gathering data for its sixth annual Giants of Exhibition directory, which will appear 

in the December issue of the magazine. To help us update your circuit's listing, or to add 

you to this year's directory, please photocopy this questionnaire, fill it out and fax it or mail it to 

our Hollywood office. The 1992 Giants of Exhibition edition listed the top 65 North American circuits 

and profiled 1 1 circuits in that ranking. This year, depending on changes in the industry, 

we will list the top 75 circuits, and profile another 10. Remember, all theatres and theatre-owners 

are "Giants of Exhibition"; don't be modest because of your circuit's size. Make sure you 

are adequately represented in the pages of Boxoffice:, please return the following questionnaire 

to Boxoffice Giants, 6640 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100, Hollywood, CA 90028; FAX: 213- 

465-5049, before October 1. 

Circuit Name: 

Contact: 

Street Address/P.O. Box: 

City, State, Zip: 

Phones: 

Fax: 

Key Circuit Executives: 

Theatre Locations: 

Number of indoor sites: 

Number of drive-in sites: 

Number of indoor screens: 

Number of drive-in screens: 

Located in which states: 

Once we have received this completed questionnaire, one of our editors will contact you with 

follow-up questions. Remember, to be included in the 1993 Giants of Exhibition, please return 

this questionnaire NO LATER THAN OCTOBER 1, 1993. Thank you.

i 

I i\i' 

' 

I 

: 

n 

! 1 |i()ssibly 

COVER STORY 

ASIAN INVASION 

Rim Film Distributors Offers Something New Under the Sun 

By Ray Greene 

Senior Editor 

the pundits and 

analysts express their 

when 

opinions about the sophistication 

of various crosssections 

within the American 

moviegoing public, there are 

certain axioms that have the 

aura of received truth Among 

these are two particularly entrenched 

ideas about audience 

behavior: that the most eclectic 

section of the paying public 

the art-house crowd, whik ik 

haps the least sophisticated ii 

adventurous skew is that of tin 

predominantly male action 

fan— you know, the guys m the 

audience who like their heroes 

buff, their explosions loud their 

plots simple and their dialogtie 

kept to an absolute minimum 

Foreign-language films especially 

are still considered the 

domain of the art-house mo\ k 

goer (despite the fact that u ith 

rare exceptions such as C m 

ema Paradise," the great foreign" 

successes on the 

art-house circuit in recent times 

have been English-language 

productions with names like 

"The Crying Game," "Howards 

End," or "Much Ado About 

Nothing.") The action fan, so 

is 

wisdom to make an "it-can't-bedone" 

live-action comedy 

about giant samurai reptiles 

which went on to become the 

biggest hit in the history of indi-pendent 

moviemaking. 

'Teenage Mutant Ninja Tlirtles" 

was turned down by eveiy 

major studio in Holljrwood 

when Gray shopped it around, 

leaving New Line Cinema (and 

Golden Harvest) to reap that 

project's boxoffice gold mine, 

cind those of its two profitiible 

sequels. 

As a result, Gray pays little 

heed to Hollywood consensus 

these days, and his fledgling 

independent distribution company, 

which specializes ir 

bringing tlie cult action outpui 

of Hong Kong mega-stars like 

Jackie Chan before the American 

public, has attested to thai 

fact by posting respectable-tooutstanding 

grosses on a vari- 

I'U' of remarkable, energetic 

iiui 

mostly action-orientec 

iiims from Hong Kong, whicf 

been quietly succeeding 

hat were supposed to b( 

tough markets. 

Rim Films was a concep 

ili.it started about one yeai 

the standard argument runs, is 

too unworldly to accept subtitling 

alongside the requisite 

thrills and chills of the action 

genre. Even if that gap could be 

closed, foreign films are too 

technically inferior to satisfy 

the taste for technology of the 

American public in this era of 

industrial magic and light. 

In a nutshell, 

foreign action 

films can't compare to 

Hollywood's output— so goes 

the standard argument. Unfortunately 

for the pundits, that 

argument is in the process of 

being dismanded thanks to an 

amazing inventory of movies 

from Hong Kong. And if you 

believe pundits are infallible, 

then Ibm Gray of Rim Film 

Distributors has about a billion NinjalUrtles 

he wants to sell to you. 

From top: Chow Yun-Fat in John Woo's "Hard-Boiled." Center Jackie Chan in 

the "Raiders of the Lost Ark"-like "Armor of God." Bottom: Maggie Chung in 

"Supercop," Rim titles all. 

Gray is the Golden Harvest executive 

who once defied Hollywood conventional 

ago," Gray says as he lights uf 

a cigarette in a conference 

room at Golden Harvest's wes 

coast offices in 

Beverly Hills 

Calif "I noticed that Asiar 

films were coming into Amer 

ica, and they were playing onl} 

in Chinatown, and then thej 

wouldbe playing in some cam 

pus film festivals at UCLA oi 

use or NYU. And I sale 

'There's gotta be a market out 

side of these traditional outlets 

Why not form a compam 

that's dedicated to bringing the 

best of Asian films - not onh 

Chinese, but the rest of the re 

gion - into the Amerie:an main 

stream?' 

"How much research wa; '^ 

done?" Gray laughs. "It tool 

me five seconds to smell the concept. I hac 

sei-yed tor United Artists overseas for mam 

12 BOXOKUCK

Tom Gray of Rim Film Distributors 

thinks his company has the goods 

/ears as their Latin American/Far Eastern 

rep, and I had been watching Jackie Chan's 

Hms pertbrm all over the world. If I could 

make money in Latin America widi Chinese 

films, I could make it in the U.S." 

Subsequent events have helped to corroborate 

Gray's hunch. Aided by the sudden 

Ainerican success of Hong Kong director 

John Woo (whose superb, action-packed 

film noir "The Killer"— about a hit man trying 

to go straight—became a crossover hit 

after it was distributed domestically by Circle 

Films), Gray convinced Golden Harvest 

to let him try out other Hong Kong films in 

the U.S. on a test basis. As a close obsei-ver 

of Asian entertainment trends. Gray knew 

something that odier American executives 

didn't: that, as good as John Woo's breakthrough 

film was, "The Killer" was just the 

tip of Hong Kong's cinematic iceberg. 

"I had noticed on my many trips to Asia 

that the quality of the Hong Kong films was 

getting to be fantastic," Gray says, "and I was 

just amazed to see these films. I thought 

they were just so much more interesting 

than 'Lethal Weapon.'" 

As more Hong Kong filins became available 

in the U.S., American critics were 

among the first to agree with Gray's assessment. 

Though there are marked differences 

between tlie films of stars like Jackie Chan 

and Maggie Chung and those of star Hong 

Kong directors like 'ftui Hark and John Woo 

(who has since gone on to become the first 

Asian to direct a major Hollywood release— 

the Jean-Claude Van Damme hit "Hard Tirget"), 

the Hong Kong actioners are unified 

by the incredible vitality of the filmmaking. 

Those for whom Hong Kong movies are still 

synonymous with low-budget, chop-socky 

action of the "Fists of Fury" variety usually 

come away stunned by the new wave of 

Hong Kong films, the best ofwhich can hold 

their own in the most rarefied company. 

Woo (whose "Die Hard"-in-a-hospital hit 

"Hard-Boiled" has been one of Rim's most 

successflil tides) has often received favorable 

comparison to autews like Sam 

Peckinpah and Martin Scorsese, while TSui 

acrobatic ability has been likened to that of 

Chaplin and Keaton, but perhaps Douglas 

Fairbanks is 

the most apt analogy out of 

classical Hollywood; Chan shares with the 

senior Fairbanks a talent for making the 

improbable look easy, along with a physical 

panache that seems to leap off the screen. 

So good were the Hong Kong films becoming 

that, even before Rim Film got off 

the ground, Chan and Woo in particular 

were beginning to enjoy cult stattis among 

the supposedly unadventurous American 

Hark (whose brilliant period action-comedy 

"PekingOpera Blues" is a sort ofChinese 

"Children of lâradise") combines soapopera-ish 

emotionalism and political subtext 

in ways similar to the films of German right track when, in the wake of Rim's "Fes- 

action crowd. Gray knew Rim was on the 

New Wave director Rainer Wemer Fassbindcr 

Jackie Chan, on the other hand, is quite titles to packed houses in Los Angeles), 

tival Hong Kong" (which played a variety of 

sinipU one of the most physically gifted major Hollywood "players" began contacting 

Rim for subtitled prints of Hong Kong 

|iiil(imiris alive, pulling off a variety of 

d(Mili-tl(l\iiig (and at times seemingly grai^ releases. "Major directors are ordering up 

nil di;tying) stunts without the use of superimposition 

or stunt doubles. Chan's town are suddenly saying, 'Why is our 

these prints," Gray says. "The top guys in 

film 

Ki)n 

not working? We better take a look at this 

Hong Kong picture and see what tiiey did, 

and why this is so exciting.'" 

Getting the attention of the film business 

proved surprisingly easy. The next step was 

for Rim to come up with a marketing strategy, 

a process in which they were abetted 

by one of the largest circuits in America— 

AMC Inc., a company which, at press time, 

THE CHINA SYNDROME 

Hong Kong Film Executive Wellington Fong on 

the Past, Present and Future ofHong Kong Cinema 

Bieber, a correspondent for 

BoxoFFiCE, recently visited the Far 

East on assigrinient, during which 

time she spent an ajiemoon with Wellington 

sell to Korea, Taiwan, Indonesia, the Philippines, 

Malaysia, many other countries. 

BoxorncE: What about tire U.S.? 

Fong: It seems that diere is a growing 

market and a potential in the United 

States. I was involved last year with a film 

called "Full Contact," which was sold to a 

lot of European countries. 

Boxoffice: Is Hong Kong going to be 

known for more than its action films? 

Fong: There is a niche for non-action 

films. It is a veiy small niche at tiiis moment. 

Hong Kong is a place known for 

commerciality and doesn't represent a 

whole lot of Chinese culture in die eyes of 

the world. At the same time, there is 

market for action films, so [Hong Kong] 

producers will keep chuming out diese 

films as long as the demand persists. 

BoxornCE: Do you think you have a fair 

chance to compete with Holl^'wood? 

Fong: No chance. Hong Kong films are 

still foreign films to Americans. We will be 

seen in art theaters and perhaps cable but 

we will never be close to or in the mainstream 

in America. 

BoxopnCE: Wasn't John Woo's most recent 

film "Hard-Boiled" able to please 

mainstream American audiences? 

a 

Fong: "Hard-Boiled" was not made for 

the Western audience. It was made for 

here and somehow his style was accepted 

in North America. The action was good 

Fong, vice president of Media Assets, Ltd., a the story was fine, but it doesn't mean that 

Hong Kong acquisitions and distribution all Hong Kong films can be made that way. 

company. Excerpts from their conva-sation: Boxoffice: Do you think successes like 

Boxoffice: Do you expect we will see "Hard-Boiled" will inspire producers to 

more Hong Kong films? 

aim for a more sophisticated international 

Wellington Fong: Definitely. The market? 

Hong Kong film industiy has the major Fong: We have been trying to do that 

releases all over Asia. We sell to Japan. We for years. I [once] tried to push [a film 

called] 'A Chinese Ghost Storj'" in die 

American market. The amount diat we 

earned wasn't too substantial, but it really 

helped to encourage us that there exists for 

us a market in North America. 

BoxomcE: What about Cliina, and the 

possibilities of distributing tiiere? 

Fong: Everybody is looking at China 

like a piece ofgold except tiiey don't know 

how to mine it. I know of 24 films shooting 

in China that are financed by Hong Kong 

or Taiwan producers. 

Boxoffice: Are any of these producers 

seeking international acceptance? 

Fong: Some, yes. But most are commercial 

movies or B-movies. Action-oriented 

with an American-style stoiT,'-line...At this 

moment, before China is really open, I 

don't think any market other than the U.S. 

can support [a big-budget, HolMvood 

type| of production. 

Boxoffice: What about when China is 

open? 

Fong: In that case, you can basically sell 

for China only and recoup your investment. 

Then you can look at the rest of the 

world as an ancillary market. But until 

then, America is the major source of income.

was mulling the possibility of a more formalized 

booking strategy with flim, although 

Gray adds that, at Rim FUms, "we 

want to work with everybody." 

'|AMC chairman and CEO| Stan Durwood 

is in my opinion a guy who has a 

global view of films," Gray says, "and he 

passed that sentiment down to his people. 

Wlien we first started out, we conducted a 

survey with AMC, starting with the principle 

that, at the top 50 academic institurions 

in America, by and large, 30 percent of the 

student body is Asian-Americans or overseas 

Asians. We then took the list 

of AMC 

theatres that were near campuses and broke 

it dovm into campuses with a high percentage 

of Asian students, because we thought 

maybe we'd have a built in audience. 

"The irony is that the movies did very 

well, but we got 85 percent white audiences! 

We discovered that Asian-Americans who 

are from families that have been in the U.S. 

for generations have no interest in seeing 

stuff from the old country. The word of 

mouth is acaially working in reverse, the 

white students are going to the Asians and 

saNang 'hey, did you see the new Jackie 

Chan?' We thought we'd have to crossover, 

but the movies are actually crossing back." 

Not all Rim's tides are iVom Hong Kong; 

Gray points out that Rim's long-term mandate 

is to distribute the whole range ofAsian 

cinema in America. At the same time, many 

of Rim's Hong Kong rides are not acrion 

fUms per se, although even Rim's most lyrical 

and artistic Hong Kong tides tend to offer 

up stunning action setpieces. But Gray expects 

continued success because the bulk of 

his films are crowdpleasers, 

which in 

many ways out- 

Hollywood the Hollywood 

films on 

which they're modeled. 

"It's come full 

circle," he says. "A 

lot of the Hong 

Kong directors 

studied in America 

or Europe. Like 

Sergio Leone did 

with the Western, 

they've made the 

American action 

film into their ovm 

style. American 

movies may have 

started it, but Chinese 

filmmakers made it their own." 

As to the action fan's supposed aversion 

to foreign films and perfonners. Gray dismisses 

that argument out of hand. 

"That kind of thinking was right 10 years 

ago. It's out of date in America today. Subtides, 

art films, actors with foreign accents are 

playing everywhere. Who are the big action 

actors? Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jean- 

Claude Van Damme. 

"There is a certain novelty effect [wit 

Hong Kong films] of course," Gray admit 

"It's new, it's different, its wonderflil, we'pi 

getting new press, we're getting new fanfi 

With "Hard Target," "Hard-Boiled" director John Woo (above) became the 

first Hong Kong director to make a mainstream Hollywood movie. 

So the question is: can we sustain that mo 

mentum? We think we can, because there' 

a freshness to what we're doing. In thf 

mid-West, where everybody said 'you'n 

dead in the water;' we're booking Iowa, Ne 

braska, Kansas City, St. Louis. The timt 

when you might say these films will onl; 

perform on the coasts is passed. As far a 

_ 

we're concerned, there are no more coasts. 

Contaa Run FUms at (310)203-81 82. 

How Sweat it \e\ 

If you remember how full and pleasing vacuum tube 

amplifiers sound, you will appreciate the audio quality of the 

SMART TA242 MOSFET* amplifier. Unlike conventional 

transistor power amplifiers, the TA242 does not sound harsh 

and nasty during loud soundtrack passages. It may cost a little 

more, but the outstanding sound is definitely worth it! 

14 BOXOKKKE

MARKETING CONCESSIONS 

LIFE IN THE AMC FAST LANE 

Self-sen'ice Conies to One ofAmerica 's Largest Circuits 

How 

like 

many times has tliis \u\ipened 

to you: it's opening 

weekend for a blockbuster tllm 

"Jurassic Park." Just before show 

dme, your patrons spill into the lobby, 

jostling for position at the concession 

stand— a sight sure to quicken the 

pulses of theatre managers ever\- 

ivhere. But as the concessions linilengthens, 

the enthusiasm of the pcnple 

at the front of the line is countiibalanced 

by the dismay and hesitiim \ 

of the moviegoers far behind die m. As 

show time looms, some lose interest 

in the idea of buying a snack, leaving 

the line empty-handed. Those who 

tough it out may grumble about the 

quality of service in your dieatrc, 

while every single 

person who contemplates 

making a purchase but decides 

against it represents revenuc^s 

that are (but didn't have to be) irretrievably 

lost. 

Recognizing that problem and solving 

it in a cost effecdve manner are 

two different things. Borrowing an 

idea from other labor intensive food 

service industries, the AMC theatre 

circuit began introducing a self-service 

option at selected concession 

stands in order to increase the number 

of transactions possible during peak 

operatitig periods. Dubbed "the AMC 

Fast Lane," the pilot program was so 

successful it may soon begin to impact 

a whole range of new AMC theatre 

sites in AMC's Western Division, with developing 

potential for the entire AMC circuit. 

In 1991, when AMC was remodelling a 

high-volume multiplex in Burbank, California, 

a decision was made to offer a self-service 

option as part of the new design. 

According to Nora Dashwood, assistant division 

operations manager for AMC-West, 

self-service was an instant success story. "I 

stood in the lobby in Burbank the weekend 

we opened up our first |AMC Fast Lane]," 

says Dashwood. "I can't say this about too 

many things in this business, but I did not 

hear one negative word out of any patron 

—they all seemed to like it very much. And 

ithat's why I thought that although we might 

Want to tweak the concept one way or the 

By Ray Greene, 

Senior Editor 

The AMC Fast Lane at rest (top) and in operation (bottom). 

other, self-serve was definitely something 

we should explore in our other locations." 

f 

A^t 

MC discovered that self-service 

offers 

a host ofbenefits. Freed from the 

-time consuming process ofboth taking 

orders tor and then serving their customers, 

the concessions staff' was able to 

complete many more transactions in the 

same amount of time, increasing both 

worker efficiency and overall profitability 

in a single measure. In addition, AMC; discovered 

a surprising fact: the seH-sei-\'i(:

;|, 

MARKETING 

Rggressive Marketing Increases Business 

Don't think of your theatre as a single use facility. Expand 

your horizions to increase your customers' purchases. 

Over 

By John Kukavvinski 

the next year or so, there will be 

a familiar topic addressed by theatre 

operators in staff meetings and 

boardrooms throughout the country. Simply 

put, the theme will be— "Now What? 

What are we going to do now to keep our 

theatres profitable?!" The reason for this 

rather innocuous question is that the theatre 

industry has swiftly reached another 

plateau in its ongoing business cycle. 

Not too long ago when we were still embracing 

the "captive audience" philosophy 

of marketing, price increases at the 

boxoffice and concession stand were 

readily implemented with little or no customer 

backlash. After years of unopposed 

pricing, we reached a point of resistance 

where our customers came to resent even 

moderate price hikes. In one instance, a 

national ranking of the public's perception 

of the "value" of a number of items showed 

that the price of a movie ticket to be only a 

slightly better value than a night's stay in 

the hospital. It was obviously time for a 

change in operating philosophy. 

That new approach was simple: increase 

profits by decreasing costs. It was variously 

called "Downsizing" or "Rightsizing." (In 

one case I even heard it referred to as 

"Capsizing"!) Whatever the euphemism, the 

endresult was the same — reduce costs, conserve 

capital. After all, the two great ways 

to make more money are Earn More or 

Spend Less. 

Well, it doesn't take too long to cut payrolls 

and reduce waste in any operation and 

that quickly brings us to the current state 

of affairs and the initial question, repeated; 

"Now What? Our costs are down, our efficiency 

is up, our pricing is about as high as 

the public will tolerate yet we are still left 

with a limited market share of an audience 

which has shown virtually no growth over 

recent years." 

One answer to the question "Now What?" 

is certain to include capitalizing on existing 

assets and the establishment of a "competitive 

difference." If you can enhance those 

qualities which set your operation apart 

(and ahead) of your competition, potential 

customers will respond positively when 

there is a competitive decision to be made. 

These methods are certain to include advertising 

and promotion, not only of films but 

also concessions and the overall corporate 

image. In an effort to acquire a competitive 

edge, companies are most apt to abandon 

the no-risk, conservative approach which 

was adopted during the recent recessionary 

years. Maintaining the status quo makes 

sense in tough economic times but it has no 

long term appeal. Now is the time for an 

aggressive, strategic plan designed to create 

or renew the competitive edge. One only 

has to look at the recent TV campaigns for 

the major soft drink manufacturers to witness 

a perfect example of a bold, new approach 

towards increasing market share. 

Since you are limited in your ability to 

control the number one competitive influence, 

film product, you must concentrate 

on those instances where your customers 

can be influenced. So where can you capitalize 

on your existing assets? One obvious 

answer is at the concession stand. Aggressive 

promotion of your concession facilities 

will lead to increased sales and increased 

profits. Of course, shifting gears from a 

conservative, capital preservation posture 

to a more aggressive stance also entails a 

major shift in philosophy. Promotions require 

investments— in time, energy and 

money, and like any other investment, it 

must be wisely spent if it's going to generate 

an acceptable return. 

Your 

captive audience is gone. Today's 

consumers are better educated, generally 

wealthier and certainly more 

sophisticated in their purchasing decisions. 

Even in the micro-market of a theatre refreshment 

counter, consumers simply will 

not respond to poor merchandising, marginal 

discounts or inferior offers. Since your 

customers are used to a high quality of 

Hollywood-produced feature film materials 

hanging in your lobbies they will not respond 

to poorly produced or ineffective 

point of purchase materials for your internal 

programs. If you're going to influence 

your customers' purchasing decisions, you 

must first grab their attention and hold their 

interest while they consider your offer. 

Once you have their interest, you can increase 

their desire by offering a good solid 

value and turn that desire into an action— 

namely a new, profitable sale. 

Also, don't overlook the value of new, 

non-traditional type menu items and sales 

methods. It's not carved in stone that you 

are limited to popcorn, cold drinks and 

candy or that each purchase has to be made 

directly at the concession stand. Your customers 

expect diversification on your 

menu, more choices and increased ease of 

purchase. Just as moviegoers have come to 

expect each on-screen special effect to be 

bigger and better than the last, your customers 

now expect you to offer the increasing 

levels of marketing which they 

routinely experience in fast food restaurants, 

stadiums and other leisure 

foodservice outlets. When consumer expectations 

are raised to a new level, they are 

not likely to respond to programs and prod 

ucts which fall short— either on the screer 

or in the lobby. 

Concession promotions are just one way 

in which aggressive marketing can influence 

profits. Where else can you invest anc 

capitalize? How about those other ancillan 

income streams such as gift certificate programs, 

advance ticket and concession sales 

in-lobby advertising, direct mail programs 

community involvement, aggressive traffic 

builders, retail tie-ins, etc. ? A little imagina 

tion goes a long way. Forget that you're ir 

the "Movie Business". Why brand yoursel: 

as a single use facility only: i.e., your cus 

tomers are there to see a movie, maybe eat 

some popcorn, then leave. You are in the 

leisure time entertainment Indus 

You've gone to an awftil lot of trouble to gel 

customers into your theatre and to treal 

them well; why not expend a bit more effort 

towards increasing their purchases at you 

facility or in finding multiple uses for you 

facility to increase their length of stay and 

subsequentiy their on-premise spending? 

what? First, make a decision: De 

Nowcide to move forward. Decide tc 

move aggressively. Accept the faci 

that you are involved in a volatile busines; 

driven by an increasingly sophisticated 

public appetite and its perception of wha' 

constitutes real value. Whether it's estab 

lishing a new image for your company in 

order to increase your overall market share 

or simply promoting within the confines ol 

the four walls of your theatre, move forward. 

Take advantage of the resource: 

which abound in every operation. Look t( 

your suppliers, your employees and you 

customers and deal more effectively with 

the needs of each group. 

You know that your competition is get 

ting ready to make a significant impact ir 

the way in which they approach their business. 

So.. ..Now What? 

^H 

John Kukawinski is president of Amper 

sand Creative, a company which provides 

advertising, design and promotional consultation 

to the entertainment industry. 

16 Boxoffice

MERCHANDISING 

Vending Intelligence: 

n Neui UJoy to Increase nncillory Soles 

Theatres, believes the machines are partic- 

By Eric Williams 

ularly effective in capturing a valuable demographic 

when they are most primed to 

would have predicted that, this buy. According to Kardashian, "The 30-plus 

Whopast summer, milhons of moviegoers 

would be seized by the desper- 

does not go to a record store, and here they 

individual who may go to the movie theatre 

ate urge to own a copy of Jimmy Durante can purchase what they want"— right when 

singing "As Time Goes By"? Amazing but they want it most. 

true. Presumably, the desire to purchase an Each unit is approximately four-and-ahalf 

feet wide, two feet deep and over seven 

eclectic soundtrack, such as that to "Sleepless 

In Seattle," is never stronger than immediately 

upon leaving the theatre, when 27-inch color video monitor and stereo 

feet tall; an optional canopy containing a 

a moviegoer is still caught up in the film's speakers can bring the total height to nearly 

deliriously romantic mood. Yet, generally, nine feet. A monolith this large and this 

exhibitors have been unable to capitalize novel is bound to attract attention, although 

on— and profit from— public demand for a Folger indicates that many theatre patrons 

movie soundtrack, a demand which the are still not sure what to make of the machines. 

"It's a bit imposing to the first time 

exhibitor helped create by showing the film 

in the first place. 

visitor," says Folger. He makes a comparison 

to the introduction of automatic teller 

The Vending Intelligence Company, 

headquartered in Los Angeles, has developed 

what it believes is an effective and 

economical way for theatres to participate 

in the sale of soundtracks and other movierelated 

merchandise. Their high-tech, fully 

automated Brainivend 2000 vending machine 

is currently being test-marketed in 

seven multiplexes throughout Southern 

California since early summer. The stanidard 

CD-dispensing model stocks 48 compact 

disc titles, both soundtracks and 

,non-soundtracks. By pressing one of the 

large plexiglas buttons which display individual 

album covers, the customer can hear 

a 30 second sample of music from the 

'album while a small computer screen indiicates 

the disc's cost and supplies additional 

înformation guiding the patron through a 

[purchase. Consumers can pay in cash (al- 

[though the machine only accepts exact 

;change) or, for greater convenience, with 

jcredit cards or automatic teller (ATM) 

icards. The entire transaction takes less than 

one minute. 

Peter Folger, president of Vending Intelligence, 

says that each machine contains "a 

fairly sophisticated electronic system 

which actually secures bank authorization 

on a credit card or an ATM purchase." Folger 

believes the flexibility of accepting 

credit cards or ATM cards encourages purchases, 

as consumers can spend beyond the 

discretionary cash they brought to the theatre. 

"If you come to the theatre and you've 

bought your popcorn and you liked the 

film — and then you want to get the 

soundtrack... and you have no more cash, 

you're not closed out." 

Robert Kardashian, who has exclusive 

contracts to place Vending Intelligence 

units in such chains as Mann and AMC

— 

NATIONAL NEWS 

Cinepiex,AMC Back in Black 

It 

further proof was needed of the extraordinary 

profitability of the 1993 summer season, 

it came in the form of recent quarterly 

profit announcements from the 1 ,614 screen, 

Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon Corp. and 

from AMC Entertainment Inc., the 1,631 

screen, Kansas City-based circuit, both of 

which had their most profitable quarter in 

years thanks to such early-to-mid summer 

successes as "Jurassic Park," "Sleepless in 

Seattle" and "The Firm." 

AMC in fact posted it's best quarter since 

going public in 1983, with net income of$3.1 

million (or 19 cents a share) for the quarter 

which ended on July 1, 1993. Total revenue 

climbed tea heady $ 1 40.6 million from $99.9 

million a year earlier, with operating income 

up a whopping 106 percent. Vice chairman 

and AMC president Edward D. Durwood was 

cautiously optimistic that the second quarter's 

pert'ormance would mirror the first's: "The 

combination of our continued cost containment 

efforts," said Durwood, "and good film 

product so far, makes the second quarter this 

year look promising." 

At Cineplex Odeon (which is half-owned 

by MCA Inc./Universal Pictures), the impact 

of record summer boxoffice figures was, if 

anything, even more dramatic. Cineplex 

turned a profit for the first time in over four 

years thanks to the combination of hit summer 

titles and a 15 percent reduction in yearly 

overhead costs plus what Cineplex CEO Al len 

Karp called "new food-marketing initiatives." 

Though the Cineplex profit margin was a lot 

slimmer than AMC's (Cineplex earned just 

$678,000, or 1 cent a share, in the quarter just 

ended), that figure was a marked progression 

from the loss of $7.6 million (or 9 cents a 

share) over the same period in 1992. With 

overall Cineplex revenues up just $2. 3 million 

from 1992, the $8.2 million increase in profitability 

gave ample proof of the wisdom of 

Cineplex Odeon's current 

managerial costcutting 

strategies. 

Mancuso's Installation Is 

Paramount at MGM/UA 

Credit Lyonnais, the French banking company 

which has been reluctantly managing a 

variety of major (if somewhat anemic) Hollywood 

studio properties since it inherited them 

by default thanks to its free-spending, late- 

1980s entertainment loan policies, fired 

MGM studio chief Alan Ladd, Jr. and installed 

former Paramount Pictures chief Frank 

Mancuso as chairman and CEO of Metro- 

Coldwyn-Mayer, Inc. The French bank also 

announced plans to reactivate United Artists 

production entities, housed beneath a single 

corporate umbrella. 

In Flollywood, the Credit Lyonnais move 

was expected to have an immediate inflationary 

impact on such factors as star salaries and 

script prices, since the activation of two major 

film units (with a reported $400 million in 

available production credit) drastically alters 

the current studio development picture. 

Mancuso was expected to hire separate presidents 

to run both the MGM and UA production 

units, which will be separately managed, 

but will have their titles handled by the same 

distribution and marketing teams. 

One candidate who is pretty definitively 

out of the running for a senior post at either 

MGM or UA is 

outgoing MGM chief Ladd, 

who was caught totally off-guard by the Credit 

Lyonnais decision. Ladd—who had been 

granted sweeping authority over MGM executive 

hiring and firing policies when he took 

over the studio two and a half years ago 

began positioning himself for possible legal 

action against Credit Lyonnais from the moment 

the Mancuso appointment was announced. 

Ladd's legal council even suggested 

publicly that Ladd's unusually generous contract 

made it impossible for anyone other than 

Ladd himself to relieve him of his executive 

title and duties. Already burdened by a lawsuit 

with former MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian, 

Credit Lyonnais backed down after Ladd initially 

refused to vacate his offices on the MGM 

lot. The French bank reportedly bought out 

Ladd's contract for a figure observers believe 

to have been in the $5 million range. 

Vons Markets Box Office 

Pavilions, a popular southern California 

grocery chain which is a division of Vons Co. 

Inc., has become the first grocery store in the 

U.S.toofferan in-house, full-service ticketing 

option. Pavilions Box Office offers tickets to 

movies as well as Las Vegas shows, sporting 

events, and theatre performances, with completed 

transactions costing an average $3.50 

per completed ticket order, above and beyond 

a ticket's face value. 

The new service, which made it's debut 

August 30 in 32 Pavilions supermarkets 

throughout Southern California, allows purchasers 

to select their own seating using computer 

diagrams of auditoriums in which 

reserved seating is available. Half price dayof-performance 

tickets (for live shows) and 

preferred customer bonuses are also being 

offered. 

The Pavilions Box Office concept was developed 

by Pritchard Marketing, a Los Angeles-based 

firm currently seeking additional 

grocery outlets in which to place the service. 

Indie Producers See Red 

For the second year m a row, independent 

film production declined marginally lo 352 

as an "active motion picture production unit," titles from 378 titles in 1992, according to 

giving rise to speculation that Credit Lyonnais figures amassed by the Motion Picture Association 

of America's Classification and Rating 

is hoping to run a double-pronged operation 

along the lines of the Sony Pictures Entertainment 

model, which embraces both Columbia national release on a voluntary basis. The 

Administration, which rates feature films for 

Pictures and TriStar as separate but equal film downward trend was attributed to the major 

studios increasing attention to the home video 

market, which has been one of the arenas in 

which independent distributors have traditionally 

recouped their investments. 

Overall production also declined to 575 

titles from all production sources, down from 

1992's 590 films. 

Captions are Underwritten 

Tripod Captioned Films, an educationa 

organization fordeafchildren which operate: 

in tandem with the Burbank, Calif. Unified 

School District has a better idea for deaf 

hard-of-hearing movie patrons: captioning 

In a program that originally began as a 

fund-raising tool but which has become more 

and more popular for California audiences, 

Tripod has been presenting a variety of captioned 

titles to audiences of deaf children 

Tripod presentations ( which have been made 

in a Pacific Theatres auditorium provided to 

Tripod for that purpose) have included such 

crowd-pleasing items as "Aladdin," "Ground 

hog Day," and "The Bodyguard," plus olde 

titles such as the original "Ghostbusters." A 

mark of the Tripod's success is that Universa 

Studios and Amblin Entertainment recently 

provided a captioned print of "Jurassic Park 

for a series of Tripod screenings—the first time 

in Tripod's history that a captioned title has 

been made available during the national re 

lease of the film captioned. 

Though captioning is still a rarity. Tripod 

board member Barbra Montan believes there 

may be a future for captioning. "Once [the 

studios] realize there is an untapped market 

of 18 million deaf or hard-of-hearing people, 

there may come a day when they release fi Ims 

automatically with captions," Montan said. 

Goldwyn's Goes Gold 

The Samuel Goldwyn Co. announced operating 

results for the first quarter, demonstrating 

a strong upward trend for the indie. 

First quarter revenues were $30,267,000 

compared to $23,545,000 for the comparable 

quarter in 1992. Quarterly operating income 

was also up sharply to $4,340,000, as compared 

to $1,998,000 last year. Net income 

was $ 1 ,422,000 ($0.24 per share) compared 

to last year's $44,000, on which no dividends 

were paid. 

Goldwyn's bottom line has been fattened 

by the performance of "Much Ado About 

Nothing," Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare 

adaptation which should gross well over $20 

million domestic before the end of its national 

run. Released last May, Goldwyn expec 

"Ado" to perform through the Oscars, as diti 

last year's Sony Classics hit "Howard's End 

Fox Lets it Slide 

At press time 20th Century Fox was consid 

ering initiating a program of in-theatre slides, 

which would be offered to exhibitors at no 

cost. The new Fox program, which would be 

designed as a supplement to any existing j,' 

in-theatre slide programs, would include 

slides of coming attractions featuring onesheet 

style artwork of upcoming Fox films, as 

well as trivia questions laid out in a two-slide 

question-and answer format. Let Fox know if 

you're interested by contacting Mari Barnum 

or Branden Miller at Fox Exhibitor Relations. 

18 Boxoffice

INDUSTRY 

BRIEFINGS 

Theatre Service Network, Inc., a company 

servicing motion picture exhibitors, announced 

that it will represent Conley, Canitano 

& Associates, Inc. as its 

sales agent tor 

Cinemaster. Originally designed tor minimainframe 

systems, Cinemaster is a high-end 

film accounting software package. CCAI has 

been developing packaged software for more 

than 12 years. Said Kenneth L. Conley, executive 

vice president of CCAI, "Theatre Service 

Network's profile in the exhibition community 

will ensurethatour product will be easily 

accessible to theatre owners throughout the 

country." TSN is based in Yorkville, III.; CCAI 

is located in Beachwood, Ohio. 

Largely due to the development of a new IC 

for decoding Dolby Stereo Digital 

soundtracks, Dolby Laboratories recently announced 

a significant reduction in the cost to 

equip theatres for digital playback. Dolby's 

DA-10 digital processor and its digital 

soundtrack reader now have reduced prices, 

thereby lowering the cost of a Dolby Stereo 

Digital installation by about one-third. 

Much of this reduction is a result of the 

successful development by Zoran Corp. of ICs 

implementing the Dolby AC-3 digital audio 

coding process utilized on Dolby Stereo Digital 

soundtracks. These ICs, along with other 

design improvements, are being incorporated 

in Dolby's digital cinema processors. 

An additional cost-saving bonus for theatre 

owners is the development by projector manufacturers 

Christie, Strong, Cinemeccanica 

and Kinoton of integrated soundheads for 

35mm projectors that read both Dolby Stereo 

Digital and analogsoundtracks, thereby eliminating 

the need for outboard digital readers. 

To date, 30 features have utilized Dolby Stereo 

Digital; theatres in 18 countries have been 

equipped for digital playback. 

WESTERN NEWS 

SAN DIEGO, CA 

In July Pacific Theatres opened San Diego's 

largest theatre complex, Pacific's Carmel 

Mountain 12, located in Carmel Mountain 

Ranch, just east of 1-15 on Carmel Mountain 

Rd. The theatre's 12 screens will make it 

the 

largest complex in all of San Diego County, 

featuring 50,000 square feet, and will bring 

the total number of screens operated by Pa- 

;ific in San Diego County up to 44. The 

auditoriums feature Lucasfilm THX sound presentations, 

free enhanced hearing devices for 

>he hearing impaired, and cup holders at 

seats. The lobby spotlights a self-service concession 

counter and the fully automated 

all 

boxoffice is capable of offering 30-day advance 

ticket sales. 

GLENDALE, CA 

An agreement has been reached for Krikorian 

Premiere Theatres to establish a theatre 

complex in the revitalized Clendale Centrium. 

The theatres will be located on the third 

level of the former Robinson's store building, 

which anchors the 6.7-acre center at Clendale 

and California Streets. Current design 

plans call for an eight-screen complex with a 

total of 2,500 seats, with construction to be 

completed by the fall of 1994. 

LOS ANGELES, CA 

The Women's Image Network (WIN), a 

non-profit organization founded in 1987 that 

promotes positive and realistic portrayals of 

women in the entertainment media, recently 

raised more than $25,000 at its July 24th 

inaugural fundraiser, award ceremony and 

symposium. Money raised by WIN will be 

granted to support individuals who create 

projects for film and television which portray 

women in an uncompromising and honest 

manner. 

MIDWEST NEWS 

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL 

Loews Theatres has begun construction of 

a nine-screen, 46,000 square foot complex 

scheduled to open in November of 1993. The 

Rolling Meadows Theatre, to be located on 

Algonquin Road in this Chicago area city, will 

showcase the new Loews "Star" design, featuring 

a huge art deco styled lobby with a 

35-foot high glass atrium ceiling. It will be 

designed around the new Loews Theatres customer 

service program, with an open 

manager's kiosk in the lobby, five indoor computerized 

boxoffice stations and a huge concession 

stand equipped with six service 

stations. 

WEATHERFORD, OK 

Dickinson Theatres, out of Mission, Kansas, 

has announced the acquisition of the Showest 

Cinemas 3 and the Vesta Theatre in 

Weatherford. This is the second location in 

Oklahoma for Dickinson; they have been operating 

the Arrowhead 6 Theatres in Muskogee 

since 1989. The 73-year-old family 

owned company now has 1 36 theatres in 37 

locations in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and 

Oklahoma and has just opened its first 12- 

screen entertainment center in Overland Park, 

Kansas, which will increase the company's 

screen count to 148 and reflect a 1 2 percent 

increase in size in less than a month. 

(continued p. 22) 

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EASTERN NEWS 

STRIUDSBURG, PA 

The Sherman Theatre, originally opened in 

1929, is under extensive renovations by its 

new owner, Richard Buchalski, whoacquired 

the theatre in 1985. He recently featured the 

re-release of "Robin," an independent 35mm 

filmfeature originally released inMaryland in 

1979. The re-release is being handled by 

Pocono Films, Inc., a new firm established 

here by Buchalski for the production, promotion 

and presentation of independently produced 

films. 

BOSTON, MA 

A National Amusements Showcase Cinemas 

multiplex has been proposed as the key 

anchor in Ruggles Plaza, a projected $15 

million shopping mall in the city's southwest 

corner. 

HARTFORD, CT 

Hoyts' four-screen cinemas City plex was 

rated "Best Theatre" in a "Best and Worst" 

reader poll conducted by the Metro Hartford. 

While other categories included a reader-designated 

"Worst," the "Best Theatre" listing 

was not followed by a "Worst Theatre" selection. 

ipBMBJE 

NEW BRITAIN, CT 

A performing arts theatre, convention center 

and sports arena have been proposed for 

a tract of downtown land once occupied by 

the then-Warner Bros. Embassy Theatre, for 

years a first 

run outlet. 

SUPERGLO 

BANTAM, CT 

The Bantam Cinema is hosting a threemonth 

Film Perspective Series, a first of its 

kind for the single-screen theatre, with all 

proceeds benefitting the Northwestern Conn. 

AIDS Project. The series opened August 20 

with a showing of "Rich in Love," starring 

Albert Finney, with film critic Rex Reed discussing 

the film with screenwriter Alfred 

Uhry. The second film, "The Misfits," was 

scheduled for September 19, with Arthur 

Mil ler, who wrote the screenplay for the Clark 

Gable/Marilyn Monroe film, 

discussing the 

work. The third, "The Killing Fields," is scheduled 

for November 19, with star Sam 

Waterston to make a discussion appearance. 

The cost for each film is $1 7.50, with a subscription 

for all three selling for $45. 

MILLERTON, NY 

The Moviehouse Studio Gallery hosted an 

exhibition of paintings and prints by Ann 

Chernow called "Ladies by Choice," based on 

images from American films of the 1930s, 

'40s and early '50s. Chernow's work is said 

HURLEY SCREENS 

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adding contemporary faces but not altering 

the spirit of the cinematic moment. 

SOUTHERN 

NEWS 

MIAMI, FL 

The Fifth Annual South Florida Black Film 

Festival was held here recently with guest star 

actress Halle Berry. Although held in Miami, 

the festival featured events in Broward County 

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as well. The film "Posse" was the closing night 

offering. 

There was also a Jewish Film Fest here, the 

third annual such festival. The event unveiled 

a week of 16 international films and shorts, 

ranging from the somber to the sublime. 

INTERNATIONAL 

NEWS 

DUBLIN 

MCM has opened its new multiplex in the 

heart of Belfast. Previously a carpark, the 

1 0-screen complex seats 2,500 and includes 

a multistory car park. In a nice touch of irony, 

the new plex is just down the road from the 

site of the Ritz, which opened a half century 

ago and which contained a Compton Organ, 

a stage, a restaurant, chandeliers and a maple 

dance floor, and seats for more than 2,000 

people. Later renamed the ABC, the building 

was destroyed in a 1 977 fire and reopened as 

the four-screen Cannon cinema in 1' 

Taken over by MGM, it was closed down a 

month before the opening of the new com 

plex—and turned into a carpark. 

In the mid-1 950s there were 40 cinemas in 

Belfast. By the mid-1 980s there were three 

LONDON 

Cinesite Cineon—the digital process 

launched in Hollywood a year ago by Kodak 

to breathe new life into old films—will be on 

offer to the European film market this month 

when it opens its London office. Its main 

business will be not to enhance old films but 

to serve movies currently in production, espe 

cially in the field of special effects, and to 

work in the commercials market. Cinesite 

says it 

will bring ads to cinema screens up to 

the quality of the films themselves. Cinesite' 

European sales and business director is Brad 

Hunt. 

OBITUARIES 

Gertrude Quigley Cunningham, 90, whc 

played piano in Connecticut silent film thea 

tres, died in July at Glastonbury, Conn. 

C. Robert Manby, 73, former presi 

dent/chairman of RKO Pictures, died August 

6 in New York. A longtime Connecticut res 

dent, Manby was associated with Fred Schneier 

in formation of Show Corp. of America, 

distributing vintage RKO product both foi 

theatres and television abroad. 

22 BOXOFFICE

THE NUMBERS PAGE 

Top Twenty Boxoffice Performers 

Distributor l\/larket Share 

January 4 to August 15, 1993

DAZED AND CONFUSED 

SuiiTuit; Jusun Londun, Michelle Biukc, Shasha Janson and 

Wiley Wiggins- 

Wntten and directed by Richard Linklater. Pi'oduced by James 

Jacks and Sean Daniel 

A Gramercy Pictures release. Comedy,. ratedR. Runningtime: 

115 min. Screening date: 7/8/93. 

"Dazed and Confused" confirms the fact that a new generation 

of filmmakers— to whom Woodstock is first and foremost 

a cartoon bird— is emerging and beginning to mine its 

own collective past. Last year's "Spirit of 76" was less a movie 

than a collection of art department casting one-liners, but 

now the senior members of Generation X have their own 

"American Graffiti." Sort of 

i

Married 

, 

c 

soldiers who ran the Nazi death camps, for example, is that 

they were, by and large, extremely loving family men, and 

quite well-adjusted citizens outside of their horrific daily 

activities in the name of the Fatherland. In agit-propaganda 

(which is based, by and large, on the suspicion that audiences 

are too dull to comprehend anything other than an uncomplicated, 

partisan polemic) moral ambiguity is always subordinated 

to "the message"; as a result, a film like "Bopha!" 

stands or falls almost completely according to the standard 

of its own topicality— its ability to have an impact on the sort 

of political discourse which its narrative is constructed to 

endorse. 

In the case of "Bopha!," the result is a movie that is not so 

much uninvolving as it is trivial. It is not insignificant that, 

like virtually every other anti-apartheid feature, "Bopha!" is 

set in a less complicated and more oppressive apartheid past 

(in this instance, in 1 980, during the late stages of the martial 

law crackdown which followed the white minority 

government's infamous late VO's township massacres). Since 

"Bopha!" (which tells the story of Danny Glover as a black 

police sergeant whose job brings him into conflict with his 

radicalized son) presumes to draw much of its significance 

from its polemical attitude toward a political situation which 

nolongerexistsin the form depicted, the 13-year lagbetween 

then and now is a just about fatal flaw. Things may not have 

changed swiftly enough, but they have changed; what would 

have been a brave stance in 1981 comes off almost as a 

bizarre nostalgia for the clarity of the oppressive past, given 

the current, painfully transitional political context. 

When Hollywood gets around to telling the story of the 

1992 political referendum under which the white South 

African minority voted to continue reforms that will eventually 

eliminate white privilege, or when a director chronicles 

South African politics in the aftermath of Mandela's release 

from prison, we may yet see another anti-apartheid film that 

comes across as something other than self-congratulatory 

about its own correctness. When it comes to a topic which 

has already occupied a not insignificant amount of screen 

time, perhaps the time has come to stop being so accommodating 

to bad movies simply because they have been "ennobled" 

by the taking up of a good cause. 

Rated R for violence.— Ray Greene 

THAT NIGHT 

Stalling C. Thomas Howell, Juliette Lewis, Helen Shaver and 

Eliza Dushku. 

Written and directed by Craig Bolotin. Produced by Amon 

Milchan & Steven Reuther. 

A Warner Bros, release. Drama, rated PG-13. Running time: 

80mm. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 8/4/93. 

"That Night" is based on a refreshing premise— a younggi'W 

(rather than a young boy) growing up in the 1960s. Pre-pubescent 

Alice (Eliza Dushku) spends a long, hot summer of 

discovery when she becomes friends with her 17-year-old 

next-door neighbor Cheryl (Juliette Lewis). Yet in spite of a 

delightful performance by Lewis, the film manages few 

scenes of genuine friendship between the two girls. Instead, 

it is single-mindedly focused on the sexual relationship between 

Cheryl and her boyfriend. Rick. Alice becomes obsessed 

with this relationship to the exclusion of other 

interests, an obsession that seems unlikely for a girl of Alice's 

age (seemingly about 11 or 12) and which reduces her 

childhood experience to a condition bordering on voyeurism. 

To make Alice's interest in Cheiyl and Rick plausible, the 

film makes her other relationships extremely problematic. 

It's a cliche that children can be cruel, but Alice's playmates 

are little sadists. The two boys and two girls in her social 

circle seem inexplicably in league against her. Alice— like 

her mother— is also unhappy with the quality of the love she 

receives from her father, who is brusque and insensitive. He 

is also, like most of the other characters in the film, extremely 

interested in Cheryl and Rick. Their relationship 

functions as a litmus test for a character: disapproval signals 

sexual repression, insensitivity and family disharmony, 

while approval denotes goodness. 

The married life with Rick that Cheryl eventually chooses 

to run away to is actually skewered by the film itself, even 

while it is held up as a romantic ideal. In one scene, a group 

of housewives, including Alice's mother, plays cards and 

cattily observes Chrrvl making out with Rick across the 

street. Sweating lic.i\ il\ ,iiui \\i)rrying about their fertility, 

the women lament the l.u k ^1 physical excitement in their 

own lives. It is typu al 1 lollywood logic that women in their 

30s are well past sexual satistaction and that only a teen-age 

girl like Cheryl can have a good time with herboy friend. And 

serving Hollywood logic yet again, she will pay a heavy pri( 

for it. 

Despite the depressing outcome of her mother's married 

life and the bleak oudook for Cheryl, Alice takes tormented 

teen dating as a model and seems determined to head down 

the same path. In "That Night," coming of age for a girl 

excludes everything but perfume, songs of love, breast-enlargement 

creams and kissing. By film's end, Alice has taken 

her hair out of a ponytail and is attracting male attention. 

While romance is obviously an important part of maturation, 

"That Night" makes it the only focus of its little protagonist. 

This, more than not, roots the film in cliche, if not the 

improbable. 

Rated PG-13 for language. -Traci/ Biga 

BETTY 

Stalling Mane Tnntignant, Stephane Audran and latii 

Francois Garreau. 

Written and directed by Claude Chabrol, based on a novel hy 

Georges Simenon. Produced by Marin Karmitz. 

An MK2 Productions USA release. Drama, not rated. Runmng 

time: 103 min. Screening date: 8/16/93. 

Claude Chabrol first made his name in the late 1950s by 

suggesting, in collaboration with Eric Rohmer, that Alfred 

Hitchcock's films were marked by a "transference of guilt," 

where innocence and guilt tend to become confused and the 

line between curiosity and voyeurism frequently dissolves. 

Given this background, it would seem natural that after 4.5 

films of his own, ranging from Hitchcockian suspense thrillers 

to more sedentary character pieces, Chabrol should still 

be personally fascinated with the subjects of guilt and curiosity. 

In "Betty" this interest provides a rich undercurrent in 

an otherwise very un-Hitchcockian film. Nevertheless, 

"Betty" mobilizes this concern through a formidable combination 

of expertly drawn characters and skillful direction to 

produce a good deal of dramatic tension of its own. 

As the title implies, the film focuses on Betty (Mane 

Trintignant), who, at the beginning, is drunk and getting 

drunker. She is led by a very peculiar middle-aged man to an 

out-of-the-way bar called "Le Trou" (the hole), where she 

continues to get even less sober. Luckily, Betty is soon 

rescued from the hallucinatory high jinx of her stoned companion 

by Laure (Stephane Audran, Chabrol's off-screen 

wife), an older woman who takes her and gets a room at the 

Review Index 

Betty R-68 

Bopha! R-67 

Especially on Sunday R-69 

Fugitive, The R-69 

Dazed and Confused R-67 

Hard Target R-71 

Heart and Souls R-72 

Household Saints R-67 

Man Without a Face, The R-70 

Manhattan Murder Mystery R-71 

Robin Hood: Men In Tights R-72 

Searching for Bobby Fischer R-70 

So I an Axe Murderer R-72 

That Night R-68 

Wilder Napalm R-73 

October, 1993 R-68

hotel in which she, Laure, Uves. Here she proceeds to nurse 

her guest back to life. Thus Betty is introduced to us at the 

termination of her descent into misery and alcoholism. 

Much of the story ostensibly concentrates on revealing the 

chain of events that led Betty to this desperate situation. The 

film, though, turns out to be far less preoccupied with the 

past events in Betty's life than the viewer is, as it adopts its 

protagonist's attitude of detached, almost lyrical recollection. 

Increasingly, "Betty" focuses on Laure — in effect reversing 

the flow of the narrative, as Laure acts as a sort of stand-in 

for the audience, curious to know Betty's life story. 

Chabrol quiedy but grippingly reveals, through Betty's 

confessions to Laure, the details of her fall from comfortable 

Parisian bourgeois society, her alcoholism and her adultery. 

Chabrol slowly draws out the story, focusing increasingly 

more on the process of telling than on the content of the 

tale— subdy shifting attention to Laure's interest in how Betty 

can recourit her self-destructive past actions without a trace 

of guilt or even regret. "Betty" soon moves beyond its 

protagonist's past, playing on her efforts to reclaim her life 

and simultaneously concentrating on the relationship between 

the two women, and with Mario (Jean-Francois Garreau), 

Laure's boyfriend and the owner of Le Trou. 

"Betty" is a film about passion and guilt. It has few fireworks 

or critical points of high drama, but it consistendy 

draws the viewer more closely into its web of emotions, 

relationships and stories. Chabrol paints such a vibrant picture 

that the film remains riveting, thanks largely to the 

excellent performances of the three leads, especially of 

Trintignant. Although there are some weak elements, especially 

the fairly simple pop-psychoanalytical flashback "explanation" 

of Betty's behavior (her character is much more 

developed than to require such a blunt and clumsy history), 

overall "Betty" is another success for the veteran filmmaker. 

Not rated; adults situations.— /bw Axelrod 

ESPECIALLY ON SUNDAY 

Starmig Bnmo Ganz, Omdla Muti, Mana Maddalena Fellini 

and Philippe Noiret. 

Directed by Giuseppe Tomatore, Giuseppe Bertolucci and 

Marco Tullio Giordana. Screenplay by Tonino Guerra. Produced 

by Amedeo Pagani, Giovanna Romagnoli and Mario Orfini. 

A Miramax Films release. Drama, not yet rated. Running 

time: 86 min. Screening date. 7/30/93. 

"Especially on Sunday" brings together some familiar 

names in contemporary Italian cinema in the unfamiliar 

format of an anthology film. Three stories, all written by 

Tonino Guerra ("Blow-up," "Amarcord," "Night of the Shooting 

Stars") and set in Italy's Marecchia valley, are realized by 

three directors. Where "New York Stories," designed in a 

similar format, was uneven and disconnected, "Especially on 

Sunday" overcomes the difficulties of its form with fine acting 

and a strong sense of place and thematic development. Like 

good short stories, the film's three parts are complex, evocative 

and moving: "Especially on Sunday" comes together to 

equal more than the sum of its parts. 

The filmmakers have, wisely, put the weakest segment 

first— "The Blue Dog" directed by Giuseppe Tornatore ("Cinema 

Paradiso"). It tells the story of a shoemaker/barber 

(Philippe Noiret) hounded, so to speak, by a stray dog with a 

blue mark on his face. Depending more on atmosphere than 

sense, the segment never suggests why the dog follows the 

barber so persistently or why the barber is so hostile to it. 

While occasionally charming, this story depends too heavily 

on the viewer's tolerance for canine reaction shots. And 

while it is not remarkable on its own, "The Blue Dog" does 

establish the relationship of action to setting and the theme 

of conflicted desire that will be developed more interestingly 

in the other stories. 

The middle segment, "Especially on Sunday," directed by 

Giuseppe Bertolucci (he scripted "Luna" and "Novocento" for 

brother Bertolucci), stars Ganz as Vittorio, a rich, middleaged 

motorist intrigued by a chance encounter with beautiful 

young woman named Anna (Orneha Muti). During a hot, 

lazy Sunday, Vittorio's plans for Anna's seduction are continually 

foiled by Marco, a disturbed young man being cared for 

by Anna either as a client or as a boyfriend. The story consists 

ofVittorio'squirkygambits— a watermelon snack, optometry 

equipment, a slide show ofwomen in bathrooms— along with 

Anna's ambiguous flirtations and Marco's interruptions. 

While the story doesn't explain everything about the charac - 

ters— why is the woman at the phone booth crying?— it 

clearly depicts the relationships between them and the intense 

pleasure they take in their own dissatisfactions. 

The conflicted attractions and rejectionsbetween the characters 

in "Especially on Sunday" are echoed between the very 

different people in the final story, "Snow on Fire," directed 

by Marco Tullio Giordana ("To Love the Damned," "Appointment 

at Liverpool"). This segment derives much of its 

strength from a great performance by Maddalena Fellini— 

Federico's sister, making her film delDUt. Her brief appearance 

here makes one wish she had been acting for years. 

Fellini plays Caterina, an old widow reminded of her youth 

by the marriage of her son; he and his bride (Chiara Caselli) 

spend their honeymoon during one snow-bound winter in 

the same house and within earshot of Caterina. Eventually, 

Caterina begins to spy on the couple with the daughter-inlaw's 

knowledge and complicity. The relationship between 

the two becomes more intense until the old woinan's death. 

Yet, despite the connection between them, the two women 

are never shown speaking directly to each other in this 

delicate and sensitive segment. 

"Especially on Sunday" also includes some brief scenes 

with a motorcyclist and a young boy that seem intended to 

provide continuity between the three larger segments. These 

characters aren't developed enough to be really interesting, 

however, and the connections between the stories seem 

more than adequate without them. 

Not yet rated. — Trnci^ Biga 

THE FUGITIVE 

Starring Hamsun Ford, Tommy Lee Jones and Sela Ward 

Directed by Andrew Davis. Screenplay by Jebb Stuart and 

David Tu>ohy, from a story by David Tivohy. Based on characters 

created for television by Roy Muggins. Produced by Arnold 

Kopelson. 

A Warner Bros, release. Action, rated R. Running time: 133 

mm. Sound: Dolby SR, Dolby SR»D. Projection: Flat. Screening 

date: 7/28/93. 

If current boxoffice trends continue, director Andrew- 

Davis' "The Fugitive" may go down in history as the film that 

sealed the deal on 1993 as the most lucrative summer in the 

history of films, and, while it's no "Jurassic Park" in terms ot 

sheer thrills per minute, "The Fugitive" is a worthy companion 

to the summer's bumper crop of $100 million-plus 

boxoffice winners. 

After years of working his way up from B and A- action 

pictures, director Davis ("Under Siege") gets his first opportunity 

with "The Fugitive" to strut his stuff on a full tilt 

Hollywood action extravaganza, and his exuberance is downright 

contagious. The plotting is perhaps a bit thin compared 

to the TV show, which should come as a surprise only to the 

sheltered few who still think there's a qualitative difference 

between mainstream American movies and mainstream 

American TV. (The correct response to those who hold such 

opinions, by the way, is, "you really should get out more.") 

If TV's "The Fugitive" was easily one of the best dramas 

ever created for television, it was also one of the rare extended 

examples of bleak, existential pessimism to blunder 

R-fi'J 

BOXOKUCE

across the artificially sun-swept landscape of American popular 

culture; by definition, David Jansen's television fugitive 

had to suffer injustice for years, to be paradoxically released 

from torment only after a sufficient number of Nielsen 

families stopped caring about whether he lived or died. All 

the familiar TV components are present in the feature version, 

though played for epic action rather than interpersonal 

drama: Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford, exhibiting his 

usual solid professionalism) is unjustly convicted of murdering 

his wife (Sela Ward) but escapes from the death house en 

route thanks (in this case) to a spectacular train derailment, 

only to be pursued by the dogged Inspector Gerard (Tommy 

Lee Jones in a pithy, delightful character turn that contrasts 

markedly with the series' grey rendering of this character). 

Davis is great with action, but he also gets solid performances 

out of everyone who comes within camera range. 

The script (credited to Jeb Stuart and David Twohy) is 

serviceable, though it does suffer from that overworked 

quality which tends to cling to films that linger too long in 

studio "development hell," with each action setpiece foreshadowing 

itself every time Ford comes across a locale with 

interesting staging possibilities. But, thanks to Ford and 

Davis, there's more meat to "The Fugitive" than to nine 

tenths of the mass entertainment crowd-pleasers turned out 

by Hollywood these days. 

If there's anything truly to regret about this film, it's that 

it works as well as it does, since the end result will likely be 

a rush to TV cop shows for feature film material, and 

"Barnaby Jones: the Movie" is the last thing anybody really 

needs right now. 

Rated R for violence.— Rcu; Greene 

SEARCHING FOR BOBBY FISCHER 

Stamng Joe Mantegna, Laurence Fishburne, Joan Allen, Max 

Pomeranc and Ben Kingsley. 

Written and directed by Steve Zaillian, based upon the book 

by Fred Waitzkin. Produced by Scott Rudin and William Horberg. 

A Paramount Pictures release. Drama, rated PG. Running 

time: 110 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

8/3/93. 

Bobby Fischer was a world champion chess player in the 

early 1970s who to this day continues to disappear and 

reappear in public: he last surfaced in 1992, after which he 

again went underground, thereby inventing himself as an 

ibsciii ( to be pondered. Ponder Bobbv Fis( her this film does. 

ind m 111, iiiin tul u i\s his tigun looms ib()\< th( diama 

if the stoiN IS I iiK tapho! and as a signal ot the dilemma of 

Deing a child piodig\ He is embiaced bv the film as an 

nspiration and a menace. In this way "Searching for Bobby 

Fischer" is much more than a film about the game of chess; 

t is about the larger moves to be made when anyone is lucky 

'.nough to be gifted, artful and therefore in danger of losing 

lis or her ordinary place in the world. 

Seven-year-old Josh Waitzkin (Max Pomeranc, off-screen 

i highly ranked young chess player) loves to watch the chess 

jlayers who congregate in a corner of New York's Washing- 

:on Square Park. More than this, as his parents find out, he 

las a natural talent for the game— a talent that soon displays 

itself as being a rare gift. This creates a dilemma for his 

parents that forms the dramatic structure of the film: should 

they encourage Josh's talent? And if so, how much of thr 

child in him will be forfeited? 

There are dangers inherent in Josh's gift for playing chess 

As the teacher hired to mold his talent into championship 

form, Bruce Pandolfini (Ben Kingsley) attempts to teach him 

to think more like a cold-hearted playing machine than .i 

seven-year-old. When the film focuses on Bruce's sessions 

with Josh, there is the narrative of Bobby Fischer hanging m 

mid-air like some kind of cautionary tale: after all, it is 

implied, Bobby Fischer may have lost his mind; at the v(;r\- 

least he may have lost his soul. 

There are many teachers in this film: Bruce of the straight 

and narrow, Washington Park "speed-chess" player Vinnic 

(Laurence Fishburnel, to whom Josh turns for encouragement, 

and most of all Josh's parents, who bear the heaw 

burden of making crucial decisions for their son. Yet "Sean h- 

ing for Bobby Fischer" is not a film simply about playiny 

chess or playing parent and teacher. It's a larger meditation 

on the values we choose or choose not to live by. If we arc 

gifted, as Josh is, what do we do with that gift? Do we pursue 

it, and perhaps in the doing lose our basic sense of decency 

so as to win a game? Zaillian's exploration of these issues is 

lyrical and profound. Bobby Fischer is as haunting as the film 

that searches out the meaning of his name. 

Rated PG for the family.— Mfl?7?i/n Moss 

THE MAN WITHOUT A FACE 

Stamng Mel Gibson, Nick Stahl and Margaret Whitton 

Directed by Mel Gibson. Screenplay by Malcolm MacRunj, 

based on the novel by Isabelle Holland Produced by Bruce 

Davey. 

A Warner Bros Pictures release Drama, rated PG-13 Run 

ningtime: 114 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projectioyx: Flat. Screennv^ 

date: 8/18/93. 

Mel Gibson makes an assured directorial debut with "The 

Man Without A Face," an endearing late '60s coming-of-age 

film centering on the friendship between a troubled 13-yearold 

boy and a disfigured recluse. 

Nick Stahl plays Chuck, whose father's mysterious death 

has left him the sole male in a rancorous family that was 

dysfunctional before being dysfunctional was cool. His vivacious 

mother is a free-spirited sexpot searching for husbaiiti 

number five, his older half-sister is a hot-tempered redheatl 

who constantly feuds with him, and his younger half-sistei 

is developing into a pint-sized Gloria Steinem. (As is often 

the case with films adapted from novels, we sense that there's 

much more dimension to these supporting characters than 

we ever have time to see on-screen.) Feeling like a misfit 

among these strong, intelligent women, Chuck seeks to 

escape to a boarding school. While he's already failed one 

entrance exam, he is determined to take the test again aiul 

willingly sacrifices his summer fun at the family cottage in 

Maine to devote time to studying. 

A chance encounter leads Chuck to the hideously scarr, d 

Justin McLeod (Mel Gibson). The local townsfolk know little 

about McLeod, who lives in seclusion in a magnificent okl 

home by the water's edge, but that doesn't stop them from 

incessant speculation and rumor-mongering about secrets in 

his past. However, as Chuck becomes acquainted with the 

initially aloof stranger, he finds McLeod to be intelligent aiul 

grossly misunderstood, firmly in the sensitive outcast tiach 

tion of "Beauty and The Beast/"'The Phantom OfThe (ipi-ra 

and "The Elephant Man." A former teacher (con\ ennntU 

having taught the very subjects Chuck needs to stiuK loi Ins 

examination), McLeod tutors Chuck in the joys ot .sli.ikespeare, 

poetry and Latin, much as Robin Williams inspired his 

pupils in "Dead Poets Society." Their growing friendship 

becomes an oasis of sanity for Chuck, but suspicious villagers 

ascribe darker motives to McLeod's interest in the boy. 

For most of its running time, the film plays as a light 

hearted reminiscence and the early scenes are packed \miIi 

well-observed and painfully accurate depictions of life in the 

1960s. (Will audiences ever be able to hear a character say 

"groovy" without gagging in collective embarrassment?) 

Only in the last half hour does the film turn particularly 

poignant, but these latter scenes are so serious that it's 

Oclober, 1993 

R-7(l

possible to forget how funny the fihn was in the beginning. 

Stahl makes an impressive first screen appearance as 

Chuck and is surely one of the best actors in this summer's 

seemingly endless succession of unknown young boys in 

major roles. We sure haven't seen many giWs this summerbut 

keep an eye out in the future for Gaby Hoffman. Here, 

as Chuck's feminist younger sister, Hoffman makes as memorable 

an impression as she did as Jonah's acronym-spouting 

girlfriend in "Sleepless In Seattle." 

Although Gibson reportedly wanted only to direct and not 

to act in the film, he is an excellent choice for McLeod. His 

standard affable good humor immediately allows us to see 

beyond the burns that ravage his face (thanks to Greg 

Cannom's fascinating makeup job) to the warm-hearted soul 

inside. And, by limiting the scars to one side of actor Gibson's 

face, director Gibson can sledgehammer home the film's 

message about judging people not by their appearance but 

by the content of their character. For, when viewed from the 

left side, this "monster" has the depressingly flawless profile 

of ..Mel Gibson! 

Rated PG-13 for language and sexual situations.— £nc Wil- 

MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY 

Stamng Alan Alda, Woody Allen, Anjelica Huston and Diane 

Keaton. 

Directed hy Woody Allen. Written by Marshall Brickman and 

Woody Allen. Produced hy Robert Greenhut. 

A TnStar Pictures release. Comedy, rated PG Rwiyiing time: 

108 min. Sound: Dolby SR. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

8/10/93. 

While it will hardly save him from the scandal sheet 

whirlpool which has been trying to smother him for the past 

1 months, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" is a more entertaining 

film than we've had from Woody Allen in some time and 

an intriguing companion piece to the richer but less accessible 

"Crimes and Misdemeanors," which used the same 

themes (and many of the same actors) to create an almost 

opposite dramatic effect. "Crimes and Misdemeanors" was 

despairing food for reflection, a film in which Allen the artist 

was willing to contemplate the inadequacy of virtually every 

definition of wrong and right his previous films had ever 

advanced. By contrast, "Manhattan Murder Mystery" is a 

lightly nourishing meal of mirth, served up with an uncharacteristic 

desire to entertain which, more than anything 

in what is an otherwise assured exercise, demonstrates the 

toll the last year has taken on Woody Allen's self esteem. 

The fact is, had Mia Farrow played "Manhattan Murder 

Mystery's" Diane Keaton role (as Allen originally intended 

she should), the film would (excluding Martin Landau) have 

reassembled four out of five of the principle "Crimes and 

Misdemeanors" leads (Allen, Farrow, Alan Alda and Anjelica 

Huston)— and not by coincidence. Like that earlier work, 

"Manhattan Murder Mystery" is an interconnected study of 

romantic transgressions, in which a pitch black, classically 

film noir act of murderous infidelity (perpetrated by Jerry 

Adler against Lynn Cohen) offsets smaller, pettier acts of 

near-betrayal (by everyone else, against everyone else), with 

the linkages between the two used as a sympathetic but 

harrowing examination of the wayward impulses of the 

human heart. 

Allen has long been our foremost chronicler of such impulses; 

that he has fallen victim to them in his own life should 

neither come as a surprise or invalidate a career second in 

importance to no contemporary American filmmaker. The 

creepy, hand-held quality of Carlo DiPalma's camerawork 

suggests there is more at work here than just the simple 

summer comedy some people have found "Manhattan Murder 

Mystery" to be and that, like "Crimes and Misdemeanors," 

this is a film that may grow in significance as time (and 

multiple viewings) goes by. While not a major movie in the 

"Manhattan" or "Hannah and Her Sisters" mode, "Manhattan 

Murder Mysteiy" is touching for the way Allen, in his hour 

of pain, has tried to balance his own artistic inclinations 

against his desire to please us; the fabulous artificer who has 

spent close to two decades following his own muse seems to 

have needed us, after all. 

Rated PG for suggestions of violence and sexual situations.— 

Rfljy Greene 

HARD TARGET 

Staning Jean-Claude Van Damme, Yancy Butler and Wilford 

Bnmley. 

Directed byJohn Woo. Screenplay by Chuck Pfarrer. Produced 

by Sean Daniels and Jim Jacks. 

A Universal Pictures release. Action, rated R. Running time: 

97 min. Sound: Dolby A, Digital Theatre Sound. Projection: Flat. 

Screening date: 8/1 1 /93. 

With "Hard Target," ace Hong Kong action director John 

Woo makes an almost seamless transition to Hollywood 

filmmaker par excellence, fully justifying the faith such renowned 

filmmakers as Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino 

have publicly expressed in his abilities. A modern 

update of "The Most Dangerous Game," "Hard Target" concerns 

a group of affluent, amoral hunters (led by "Aliens" 

cyborg Lance Henriksen, as yet another of the summer's 

scene stealing, bravura bad guys) who has found the most 

interesting prey of all: hunting homeless humans. 

To say that "Hard Target" is the best Jean-Claude Van 

Damme action picture yet may not seem like much of a 

compliment to anyone who saw runners-up "Double Impact" 

and "Universal Soldier," but Van Damme stands to benefit 

almost as much as Woo from the talent and attention Woo 

has lavished on what is, script-wise, essentially a standard 

Van Damme vehicle. Thanks to Woo, "Hard Target" is at least 

as good as almost any high-profile studio action hit of the 

summer, with the sole possible exception being Andrew 

Davis' "The Fugitive," a film which benefits immeasurably 

from a more intricate screenplay, richer characters and the 

veneer of class Harrison Ford never fails to bring to such 

popcorn proceedings. 

In fact, the one major disappointment in "Hard Target" is 

Van Damme himself, who proves unequivocally here that, 

as an actor, he's mostly a pretty good kickboxer. Woo has 

stated publicly that his hope with "Hard Target" was to 

elevate the action genre, the way his best Hong Kong features 

(especially "The Killer," "Hard-Boiled" and "Bullet in the 

Head") manage to do, and he tries hard, but Van Damme's 

blank stare and mannequin-like good looks defeat him at 

every turn. In Hard Target, Woo uses many of the visual 

tactics that helped him mythologize his friend and collaborator 

Chow Yun-Fat into one of the most popular actors in Hong 

Kong movie history. But Chow is not only an ideal action 

hero (Chow holds a gun the way Fred Astaire held Ginger 

Rogers), he is also, like Robert De Niro, a terrific actor, as he's 

proved for other directors as well as Woo (most notably in 

"The God of Gamblers," a Hong Kong variation on "Rain 

Man," in which Chow triumphed in a role that called upon 

him to move back and forth between what was essentially 

both the Tom Cruise and the Dustin Hoffman roles). By 

contrast, the spirit of Thespis isn't about to hover over Van 

Damme for more than a fleeting moment or two, and all the 

slow-motion stylization slathered onto his performance by 

Woo, while entertaining as filmmaking, only ends up giving 

us that much more time to notice how empty Van Damme's 

acting is. 

Commercial imperatives being what they are in Hollywood, 

"Hard Target" is probably the least sub-textually interesting 

film Woo has made since his Hong Kong breakthrough |* 

"A Better Tomorrow" in 1986, and perhaps only an Asian 

director could have found Wilford Brimley's amateurish 

French accent an acceptable variation of Creole Louisianaspeak. 

But Woo more than earned his paycheck, and he did 

so without selling out: "Hard Target" offers up at least three 

terrific action setpieces, one of which takes on a surprising 

moral resonance when a hunted man makes it to a crowded 

street and then begs for assistance only to be shot down in 

cold blood because no one will help him. This is crass If 

commercial directing, but of a very high order, and should ^ 

make Woo bankable enough to warrant the kind of control 

over his own creative destiny in Hollywood he so richly 

deserves. 

Rated R for violence.— Kai/ Greene 

{-71 BOXOFFICE

HEART AND SOULS 

starring Robert Downey Jr., Charles Grodin, Kijra Scdgivick, 

Elisabeth Shue and Alfre Woodard. 

Directed by Ron Undein'ood. Screenplay by Brent Maddock & 

S.S. Wilson and Gregory Hansen & Erik Hansen. Produced by 

Nancy Roberts and Sean Daniel. 

A Universal Pictures release. Romantic comedy, rated PG-13. 

Rimning time: 104 min. Sound: Dolby A, Digital Theatre Sound. 

Projection: Anamorphic. Screening date: 8/13/93. 

Perhaps no film genre is as fi-aught with potential pitfalls 

IS the supernatural romantic comedy. Filmmakers venturng 

into this tricky territory must carefully navigate the 

narrow line separating fantasy from absurdity, wit from 

silliness and genuine emotion from mawkish heart-tugging. 

Heart And Souls" is a pleasant and well-meaning attempt 

Dut falls short of the magical balance struck by its more 

memorable predecessors ("Heaven Can Wait," "Ghost" and, 

Df course, "It's A Wonderful Life" come immediately to 

mind). 

A very lengthy first act establishes the film's premise. In 

959, a bus crash takes the lives of four diverse San Francis- 

:ans: operatic wannabe Charles Grodin, bohemian waitress 

Kyra Sedgwick, struggling mother Alfre Woodard and rebrming 

burglar Tom Sizemore. Rather than ascend to a 

ligher plane, the souls of the four victims attach themselves 

o newborn baby Thomas Reilly and become his inseparable 

Tiends, seen only by him. But when Thomas' interactions 

Afith the spirits are taken by others as a sign of his mental 

nstability, the ghosts decide to leave him alone, becoming 

nvisible to him as they follow him through life. 

When next we meet Thomas at thirtysomething (in the 

person of Robert Downey Jr.), we discover that, without the 

pirits guiding him, he has become a heartless and unemotiolal 

banker. (Which makes us wonder: couldn't the souls have 

tepped in sooner to prevent his soullessness? Guess that's 

mother movie.) The bus driver who caused the fatal accident 

irrives from the Great Beyond, bus and all, belatedly intructing 

the ghostly foursome that they must tie up the loose 

nds of their earthly lives so he can hustle them on to the big 

)us stop in the sky. To fulfill their mission, the spirits 

eappear to a startled Thomas and convince him that they 

leed his help— and his body. 

A series of diverting episodes follows as the souls one by 

)ne inhabit Thomas's body, and Downey rises well to the 

hallenge of mimicking each of the ghosts as they take him 

)ver. The physical acting skills Downey displayed in "Chapin" 

are given ample expression here, especially as he flings 

md flops himself around a conference room battling the 

pirits for possession of his body. Of the ghosts, Woodard and 

Sedgwick are called upon chiefly to be earnest (although they 

lo it well), while Sizemore does little to expand his stock thug 

haracter beyond caricature. Grodin has his usual wry monents, 

although his trademark persona of the pained cynic 

)etter suited the scheming villain in "Heaven Can Wait" than 

he more sympathetic character he's given here. 

Entertaining as the various set pieces are, however, they 

end to settle matters too simply, too quickly, too neatly. 

Heart And Souls" might have been more satisfying had it 

)een simply "Heart And SoiJ"— if only one spirit had haunted 

Thomas with a single, more complex mission to carry out. 

The sheer number of stories to be resolved (one for each 

;host, plus Thomas' rocky relationship with girlfriend Elisa- 

)eth Shue) necessarily limits the amount of screen time 

ievoted to each and, as a result, our depth of involvement in 

;ach. "Heart And Souls" has its heart in the right place but is 

iltimately too scattered and unfocused truly to touch our 

iouls. 

Rated PG-l,"? for language and a brief sexual situation. — Enc 

Villiams 

30 I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER 

Sfnmii.t,' .\Ukr Ali/ris, Nitiuii 7Vi.s, .Aulhom/ l.aPagUa, 

irenda Fncko . Mtm .^rhn mid Amitnda Plummcr 

Directed by Thomas Schlammc. Screenplay by Robbie Fox. 

ôdiiced by Robert N. Fried and Gary Woods. 

A TriStar Pictures release. Comedy, rated PG-13 Running 

ime: 110 min Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

'/3/93. 

In what was conceived of as a romantic comedy, Mike 

Myers stars as Charlie Mackenzie, a San Francisco yuppie 

who is fixated on the idea that his fiancee is a serial a\c 

murderer. The story, which shifts between quirky, almo.si 

smart humor and in-your-face mugging, is at times reminiscent 

of Bob Balaban's "Parents," a bright, surrealistic honoi 

tale told in a clever childlike manner. Unfortunately, tincombination 

of minimal mirth in "Axe Murderer" with iis 

heavy dose of mire in a plodding, nonsequential fashion, 

bogs it down into a sump of untapped ideas. 

The story confusion extends to the characters and pulls 

each one in, rendering them lifeless. For example, Mike 

Myers, who has made a grand career of mugging for tincamera, 

gets to play two characters here: Charlie, and 

Charlie's dad, a Scottish-accented Stuart Mackenzie. Myers' 

portrayal of Stuart takes a direct path back to the "Saturtlax 

Night Live" stage, where any amount of makeup can mask 

reality. Prime time, however, lasts about 90 minutes more, 

and Stuart's makeup and accent wear thin, leaving you 

grateful that he is only a minor character. 

The movie truly centers around Charlie's angst about 

commitment, taking on the very delicate material of 

male/female relationships. By handing over such a multilayered 

character to Myers (at best, a broad actor), director 

Thomas Schlamme seems to be mocking the idea of urban 

angst by trivializing it. The object of Charlie's alleged angst 

is a butcher named Harriet (Nancy Travis), a glowing beauty 

who may be a serial murderer. Travis attempts to be true to 

her character and gives a genuine multifaceted performance, 

but she is overshadowed by Myers' mocking grin and glaringly 

obvious acting limitations. 

There is something cold and predictable about Myers' 

performance. Stomping throughout the movie as though it 

were his only career vehicle, he lends "Axe Murderer" a 

selfish, myopic feel. His talents seem to be limited to skits: 

bits tied together by a one-joke line. When forced to earn- a 

character (much less two) throughout the subdeties ot a 

wacky romantic comedy, the wacky takes over, tearing; 

through the fragile mesh of this weak storyline. 

When they are not overshadowed by Myers, the other 

actors shine. Schlamme gets some nice moments from cast 

members Brenda Fricker, Alan Arkin (an introspective police 

captain), Amanda Plummer as Travis' sister and Charles 

Grodin, Michael Richards and Steven Wright in cameos. 

Unfortunately, they are not on-screen long enough to carry 

the film for Myers. 

Rated PG-13 for nudity and adult language.— A-Inn Florence 

ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS 

Stalling Gary Elwes. Richard Lewis, Roger Rces, Traccy 

Ullman, Dom DeLuise, Mark Blankfield and Mel Brooks 

Directed by Mel Brooks. Screenplay by Mel Brooks, Evan 

Chandler and J. 

David Shapiro Produced by Mel Brooks 

A Twentieth Century Fox release. Comedy, rated PG-13. Running 

time: 113 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screcniivj. 

date: 7/28/93. 

Mel Brooks' new movie takes the audience on a rollercoaster 

ride of shtick with Brooks' trademark: inspired genius 

of lunacy tempered with what often is merely cornball 

comedy. Most of Brooks' hits, including the almost perfec t 

"Blazing Saddles" and "Young Frankenstein," have been 

genre spoofs. In order to mock something effectively, however, 

as Brooks did in "Young Frankenstein," the filmmaker 

should understand the genre as well as love it. This is where 

Brooks failed so miserably with "Spaceballs." Rather than 

doing what he knew best," he turned toward being a filnm 

version of Weird Al Yankovic— doing a parody of the "Stai 

Wars" trilogy— and had neither heart nor punch. 

Which brings us to the flavor of the moment, the tell-all, 

tall tale of the antics in Sherwood Forest. Sadly, when choosing 

elements of this genre to parody, Brooks settled primari I \ 

on the recent "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves," therein 

forfeiting substance in favor of the superficial. Because the 

Kevin Costner vehicle didn't reinvent the legacy of Robin 

Hood and was more or less a story of a pretty boy in the forest 

the earlier Robin Hoods are more worthy of mention. Thes( 

movies from the Errol Flynn and Douglas Fairbanks eia 

seem to be where Brooks is heading here, but the film ends 

October. 1993 

R-7:

up with mostly contemporary material in an effort to chase 

the bigbucks of a younger generation of moviegoers. There's 

something a bit" misguided and frenetic about "Men in 

Tights," as though Brooks were trying to tap into a recent 

commercialism, thereby shooting with the capricious accuracy 

of a child's squirt gun. 

As the central characters Robin Hood and Maid Marian, 

Gary Elwes and Amy Yasbeck are a physically appealing but 

otherwise ordinary duo. As often occurs in Brooks' films, the 

marginal characters are the most compelling, particularly 

Richard Lewis as Prince John. Bring his trademark neuroses 

to this context seems almost funnier than anything he's done. 

Tracey Ullman plays the witch. Latrine, with her customars' 

wit and enough prosthetics to re-fit The Bionic Woman. 

Almost unmendonable is Dom DeLuise, whose brand of 

humor-as he does a takeoff on Brando's Don Corleone-escapes 

this writer. 

It is Brooks himself the audience is waiting for. The quintessential 

performer, he turns up in a too-short segment as a 

rabbi who performs discount circumcisions, and he easily 

delivers. He's so funny in this bit that the film could easily 

have been built around him; when Brooks is on the entire 

story comes together— all the missteps, all the plot holes are 

erased. 

With all its flaws— many of the jokes obtusely spelled out 

and the laughs intermittent— Brooks' brand of hilarity is rare 

and true. "Men in Tights," however imperfect, delivers a 

haphazard type of mirth that is certainly worthwhile. 

Rated PG-13 for adult humor. -Man Florence 

WILDER NAPALM 

Stalling Debra Winger, Dennis Quaid and ArUss Howard. 

Directed by Glenn Gordon Caron Screenplay by Vince 

Gilligan. Produced by Mark Johnson and Stuart Cornfield. 

A Tri Star Pictures release. Drama, ratedPG-13. Runningtime: 

110 min. Sound: Dolby A. Projection: Flat. Screening date: 

8/1 7/93. 

If major studios are hesitant to release quirky, eccentric 

little films, "Wilder Napalm" should cast that hesitancy in 

stone. Although touched here and there by moments of 

inspiration, this misfit of a story is plagued "by episodes of 

incoherence that render it more meaningless than it ought 

to be. Inspiration hits when the script ventures into blissful 

moments of Bunuelian surrealism; yet the motivation ofboth 

character and story is so wobbly that those moments seem 

little other than freak accidents. 

Wilder (Arliss Howard) and Wallace (Dennis Quaid) are 

the brothers Napalm, blessed or— depending on how you 

look at it— cursed by their mental ability to set fires with the 

mere flick of their minds. One brother, Wilder, has devoted 

his life to repressing this mental aberrance of his (we are told, 

in flashback, that long ago it caused the death of a neighbor 

when Wilder and his sibling were still children). The other 

brother, Wallace, after working as a freak in a circus, has 

decided it's time to cash in on his incendiary talents and to 

go public on "The David Letterman Show" so as to demonstrate 

his penchant for fireworks. This decision causes a great 

rift between the two, but not nearly as explosive a division 

as does their Cain and Abel predicament— they are both in 

love with the same woman, Vida (Debra Winger), who happens 

to be married to Wilder but is happy to oblige Wallace 

when he comes calling. 

A tale of telekinetics on one hand, a simple love story on 

the other, "Wilder Napalm," manages only to ignite itself into 

oblivion. With so many cross-currents of intention, none of 

them truly gets lit. There are times when we suspect that all 

the to-do about fire-mongering (and, in turn, its repression) 

is some kind of metaphor for the sexuality that lurks in the 

characters' lives. But this kind of thought can only be shortlived. 

To hold intact such an idea seems too much a burden 

for the film. If there were, in fact, some large metaphor, some 

overriding sense of purpose to the story, it might have taken 

off Unfortunately, "Wilder Napalm" is too much an earthly 

creature to rest comfortably with the elements of quirkiness 

that now and again pop through the surface. What results is 

a puzzle whose pieces look to be supremely uncomfortable 

with one another. 

Rated PG-13 for suggested sexuality.—Manî/n Moss 

R-73 BOXOKKICE

_ 

5 

5 

€NT€RTniNM€NT DRTn, INC.'S 

COnST TO COnST BOXOFFICC SUMA/inRV 

The Fugitive $22,438,277 $9,492 $60,056,238 

_ Jason Goes to Hell-Final Chap. $7.352.190 $5.574 $7,552,190 New Line 

^Rising Sun $41,007,105 Fox 

C .The Secret Garden $4.625.583 $3,507 

"Ô Qn the Line of Fire 

^) C Heart and Souls 

$4,322,250 

^) C Jurassic Park 

$4,300.805 $299,567,960 

C Free Willy 

$4,008,006 

_9_^ 

C The Firm 

$2.146 

C Robin Hood: Men in Tights $2,352 $24,343,798 

OP 1 LIMIT€D R€L€nScS (UJiclest pomt of releose opproximotely 400 simultoneous runs or less) 

UJeekend % Ciig. 

Total UUknd. 

Screen % Chg. Totol Boxoffice 

8/3 •8/1 Totol 

Rveroge Rveroge Through •8/1 

CSearching for Bobby Fischer 

IS/^

mcClONRL RRNnlNGS (Top meeksncl grossers ranked by screen overage) 

Dallas exchange 

UUeekend 

Totol % Chg Totol Boxoffice 

8/1 5 •8/1 5 Totol Through* 8/1 5 

C 

The Fugitive

7 

5 

October, 1993 33 

BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart OCTOBER 1993 

^sMsm 

Arrow Releasing 

212-974-2000 

The Last Butterfly, D, NR, 1 1 3 Min. 

Tom Courtenay. 8/20 

Me and Veronica, D, R, 90 Min. 

Elizabeth McCovern. Dir: Don 

Scardino. 9/24 

Cannon 

213-966-5640 

American Ninja V: Young Ninja 

Warrior, Ac, PC-13, 98 min. Ernie 

Reyes, |r., Pat Morita. Dir: Bobby 

Gene Leonard. 9/24 

Hellhound, Ac, R. Chuck Norris. 

Dir: Aaron Norris. 9/17 

Cinevista 

212-947-4373 

Fine Line 

310-659-4141 

Amongst Friends, D, R, 88 min. 

Steve Parlavecchio. 8/1 3 

Household Saints, D, R, 124 min. 

Tracy Ullman, Vincent D'(3nofrio. 

Gramercy Pictures 

310-777-1960 

Dazed and Confused, C, R. Jason 

London, Anthony Rapp. Dir: Richard 

Linklater. 9/24 

Kalifornia, Thr, R, 117 min. Brad 

Pitt, luliette Lewis. Dir: Dominic 

Sena. 9/3 

King of the Hill, Adv, PC-13, 104 

min. leroen Krabbe, EMzabeth Mc- 

Covern. Dir: Steven Soderbereh. 

9/10 (Wide) 

Hemdale 

213-966-3768 

The Seventh Coin, Ad. Peter 

O'Toole. Dir: DrorSoref. 9/3 

Kino 

212-629-6880 

Tito and Me, ISerho-Croation), D, 

NR, 1 05 min. Dir: Goran Markovic. 

8/18 (NY) 

Kit Parl

I 

Sony 

I 

. Dolby 

BOXOFFICE 

AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER fN 

Buena Vista 

(818)567-5030 

s Pocus CD. PG. 95 mm, SR-D, Hat Bette 

r Sara Jessica Parkei 7/16 

Snow Mirle and the Seven Dwarts, Aram. 

1937. G. 83 mm 7/2 

Anoltier Stakeout, CD, PG-13, 109 mm, SR'D, 

Rat Richard Dreytuss, Emilio Eslevez. Dit: 

Badham 7.'30 

My Boyfriends Back C PG-1 3. 80 mm. Dolby 

A. Flat Edviard Herrmann, Mary Beth Hurt Dir 

BobBalaban 8/6 

Father Hood. D. PG-13. 95 mm, Dolby A, Flat 

Patrick Swayze 8/27 

Columbia 

(310)280-8000 

(212)751-4400 

! Line ol Fire. Thr. R. 123 min, Dolby SR, 

Digital Stereo. 70mm. Clint Eastwood 7/9 

Poetic Justice. D. R. 108 mm. Dolby A, Flat 

Janet Jackson Dir Jotin Singleton 7/23 

Needful Things. Nor. R. 1 20 mm. Dolby SR. 

Flat Ed Harris. Bonnie Bedelia 8/27 

Josh and S.A.I«.. Fan. PG-13. 97 mm. Dolby 

SR. Flat Noah Fleiss. Jacob Tierney 8/20 

Son of the Pink Panther. CPG. 92 n- 

MGIVI 

(310)449-3000 

New Line 

(212)239-8880 

(310)854-5811 

Paramount 

(213)956-5000 

(212)333-4600 

Samuel 

Goldwyn 

(310)552-2255 

TriStar 

(310)280-8000 

A Flat Mike Myers 7/30 

20th Century 

Fox 

(310)277-2211 

Rookie olltie Year, C. 

PG. 103 mm. Dolby SR. 

Rat Gary Busey Dir Darnel Stern 7/7 

Robin Hood: Men In Tights, C, PG-13. 95 min, 

Dolby A, Rat. Dir: Mel Brooks. 7/28 

Universal 

(818)777-1000 

(212)759-7500 

WamerBros. 

(818)954-6000

I'll 

, RomC. 

FEATURE CHART—OCTOBER 1993 

gOVEMBER 

DECEMBER 

FORTHCOMING 

Sister Act 2 Whoopi Goldberg 12/10 

Buena Vista 

(818)567-5030 

nains ol the Day. D. Anthony Hopkjns. 

tiompson. Dir: James Ivory 11/5 

D. Michael Keaton, Nicole Kidman 

Do Anything, MusC, Sony Digital Stereo. 

Nick Nolle Dir James L Brooks 

Untitled Geronimo W Jason Patric, Robert 

My Girl 2. Anna Chlumsky, Dan Aykroyd, January 

Won, C Jack Nicholson Dir Mike Nichols, Easter 

Blankman, C Damon Wayans Spring 

Columbia 

Duvall, Gene Hackman. Dir: Walter Hill 

Leon, Thr Gary Oldman, Dir: Luc Besson Spring/Sum 

The Next Karate Kid. D. Noriyuki -Paf Morita. Hilaiv S 

(310)280-8000 

(212)751-4400 

Clean Slate. Dana Carvey. Feb 

Blown Away, Ac March 

Snake Eyes Madonna, Harvey K 

That's Entertainment III. May 

MGM 

(310)449-3000 

t Friend. The, Rat. Ally Sheedy. 11/5 

New Line 

(212)239-8880 

(310)854-5811 

Family Values, C Anielica Huston, 

ta Dir Barn/ Sonnenleld 11/19 

Bone, CD, R, Digital Theatre Sound 

luaid, Meg Ryan.11/5 

What's Eating Gilbert Grape?, CD, PG13 

Johhny Depp, Juliette Lewis Dir Lasse 

Hallstrom 12/24 

Wayne's World II, C. Mike Myers, Dana Carvey 

12/10 

Intersection, D. Richard Gere, Sharon Stone. 

Blue Chips, D Nick Nolle, Shaqville O'Neal Dir: William Friedkin February 

Naked Gun 3: The Final Result, C Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley March. 

The Browning Version, D Albert Finney. Greta Scacchi, Matthew Modine. Di 

Paramount 

(213)956-5000 

Lolita Davidovich. Dir: Mark Rydell 12/17 

(212) 333-4600 

St, CNR, 85 min. Dolby A. Flat. 

Dir: 

Joan Plowright. 

Golden Gate. D, Matt Dillon, Joan Chen. 1994 

Samuel 

Goldwyn 

(310)552-2255 

lo's Talking 3 

John Travolta, 

(310)280-8000 

Untitled Wesley Snipes (tormerly "Skeezer"). Ac. 

20th Century 

Fox 

(310)277-2211 

ir's List, D Liam Neeson, Ben Kings- 

Steven Spielberg. 12/15 

2nd,C Charles Grodin 12/17 

Universal 

(818)777-1000 

(212)759-7500 

cracker, Fam Macaulay Culkin, 11/24 

The Saint ol Fort Washington, D, R. Dolby A. 

Proxy. C Tim Robbii i. Paul ^ Dir Joel C 

I World, D Kevin Costner, Clint Eastil/24 

Flat Danny Glover, Malt Dillon 12/17 

Ttie Pelican Oriel Julia Roberts, Denzel Washington 

Redtless Kelly Yahoo Serious 

Money Men Wesley Snipes. Lolita D 

Grumpy Old Men. C Jack Lemmon. Walter Matthau. February 

Warner Bros. 

Heaven and Earth, Tommy Lee Jones Dir: 

Oliver Stone 

Just Cause, Sus Sean Connery. 

Wrestling Ernest Hemingway, C. Robert Duvall, Shirley MacLaine. 

(818)954-6000 

Batman: Mask ol the Phantasm. Anim 12/25

. 

Miami, 

320 

100 

. 

. 

. 

, 

j^ 

''' 

ClearingHouse 

RATES: $1.00 per word, minimum $25, $15,00 

extra (or box number assignment. Send copy 

w/check to BOXOFFICE, P.O. Box 25485, Chicago, 

IL 60625, at least 60 days prior to publication, 

BOX NO. ADS: Reply to ads with box numbers by 

writing to BOXOFFICE, P O. Box 25485, Chicago, 

IL, 60625: put ad box # on letter and in lower left 

corner of your envelope. Please use # 10 envelopes 

or smaller for your replies 

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES 

INVESTORS, PARTNERS, THEATRE BUFFS: Help 

save and re-open Dnve-ln theatre. Fantastic location, 

near Nora/ich, CT. Excellent concession building, 21 

years old. Call Tom at (203) 859-2722. 

HELP WANTED 

LET THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE your new or 

existing small business Grants/loans to $500,000. 

Free recorded message: (707) 448-0201. (RN7) 

NEED: Expenenced assistant manager with projectionist 

experience. And full time projectionist with technicians 

experience. Send resume, salary history and 

references to Nick Paluzzi, 20721 14 PI., W Lynnwood, 

WA 98036. 

EQUIPMENT FOR SALE 

ROSSTEMP FLAKE ice maker $880, Sharp cash 

register $300, Cretors D1 32FP popcorn maker $2800, 

butter server $50, popcorn warmer $195. (505) 479- 

2001 New Mexico. 

MISCELLANEOUS GOODIES: WESTAR BRAND - 

35mm tape splicers S325, surround speaker brackets 

$47.50, six channel monitors $350, dual regulated 

exciter supplies $450. Kodak carousel slide projectors 

$200, Strong Trouper xenon spotlights $3500, carbon 

$1 200, ISCO scope lens $675, portable 35mm projector 

with xenon $3500. 16mm Eiki 6000 professional 

B-6000 $4000, B-4000P $3750, EX-2000A $1500. 

Elmo, Bauer, Hortson, Kinoton, Eastman, more - 

free 

lists. International Cinema Equip., 100 NE 39th St., 

Miami, FL 33137. Phone (305) 573-7339, FAX (305) 

573-8101 

CUPHOLDER ARMREST "state of the art" Cy Young 

cupholder. Call 1 -800-729-261 for FREE SAMPLE. 

PROJECTORS REBUILT - XL's $3250, w/new auto 

turret $5300, Century SA, H, & C $2500 3500, w/new 

- 

auto turrets $4950. Convert your Century, Simplex XL, 

or Pro-35 to aulo turret Soundheads, consoles, 

lamphouses, rectifiers, automation, lenses, platters & 

more. New four channel stereo processor w/subwoofer 

& SR $2650, Eprad Star Power-4 amp $450, 

Dolby CP- 55 $4195, CP-50 $2500, CP-100 $3000, 

CP-200$9250 Speakers, regulated exciter supplies, 

SIX channel biamped monitors, surround speaker 

brackets. Catalog, trades welcomed. International 

Cinema Equipment, 100 NE 39th St., Miami, FL 

331 37 Phone (305-573-7339, FAX (305) 573-81 01 

PATRON TRAY. Fits into cupholder armrest. Cy 

Young, Inc Phone 1 -800-729-261 0. Call for free sample. 

COMPLETE THEATREEQUIPMENT: (New, Used or 

Rebuilt) Century SA, R#, RCA9030, 1040, 1050 Platters: 

2 and 5 Tier, Xenon Systems 1000-4000 Watt, 

Sound Systems mono and stereo, automations, ticket 

machines, curtain motors, electric rewinds, lenses, 

large screen video projectors. Plenty of used chairs. 

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND INSTALLATION 

AVAILABLE DOLBY CERTIFIED. Call Bill Younger, 

Cinema Equipment, Inc., 1375 N.W. 97th Ave., Suite 

14, Miami, FL 33172. Phone (305) 594-0570. Fax 

(305)592-6970. 1-800-848-8886. 

.^6 BOXOFFICK 

individual items or complete theatres. Call for quick 

BURLAP WALL COVERING DRAPES: $2 05 per 

yard, flame retardant. Quantity discounts. Nurse & 

phone offer. Will pickup anywhere. International Cin- 

Co., Millbury Rd,, Oxford, MA 01540 (508) 832-4295, 

TELEPHONE ANSWERING EQUIPMENT. All major 

brands of reliable, heavy-duty tape announcers and 

Would like to buy some used Koropp drive-in speak-' 

ers. Also, some old cartoons in fairly 

digital announcers are available at discounted pnces. 

good shape for| 

use in a dnve-in theatre. 

Please calljim at Answenng Machine 

Phone 

Specialty, 

(615) 263-9661. 

(800) 

222-7773. 

WANTED: Three Deck platters with makeup tables. 

Call Paul at (301) 588-1667, or 

EXPORT SPECIALTIES: Kinoton FP20s, DP75s, 

FAX (301) 588-1667, "„ 

AA 11 (DP-70), Cinemeccanica V4s, V5s, V8's, WANTED: 1000 watt integrated ORC lamphouse, 

VIO's, V12's, Bauer U4's. Delivenes & installations model X1000. Call (604) 682-1848. 

worldwide. Pleased to quote. Catalog. International 

Cinema Equip , NE 39th St. Miami, FL 33137. 

Phone (305) 573-7339, FAX (305) 573-8101 

THEATRES FOR SALE 

NEW 5000 HOUR 1 30V 1 1 S 1 4 bulbs with industrial 

seven support filament. Clear and standard colors, NORTHERN CALIFORNIA—600 seat single screen 

plus pink, purple, fuschia. Ouantity OEM. and distributor 

price levels. 40 AMP chase controllers, 2x2 chase -twocarners. 1 -800-382-0021 Terms available, make 

- retirement forces sale - balcony-includes real estate 

channel cans, sockets, belt lighting, neo-neon, dimmers, 

chase lighting relays. Catalog 800-248-0076, 

offer - Bill Parker, agent. 

LOUISIANA CAJUN COUNTRY. Four-screen cinema 

with 196 seats each. Fully equipped and opera- 

WESTAR XENON BULBS. Full warranty 1000W 

$362, 1600W $375, 2000W $450, 2500W $475, tional. Built 1982. Recently appraised @ $700,000 

3000W $547, 4000W/ $985. Volume discounts. Exports 

welcome. International Cinema Equip., 100 NE mero, Realtors. (318) 267-4105. FAX (318) 267-4075 

Asking $675,000. Dewitt David @ Van Eaton & Ro- 

39th St., Miami, FL 33137. Phone (305) 573-7339, New York resort area. 4 plex, 850 seats 

FAX - well maintained 

modernized - 

booth. P.O. Box 855, Ft. Lee, NJ 

(305) 573-8101. 

MICRO-FM STEREO RADIO Sound Systems for 07024. 

Dnve-ln Theatres Meets FCC part 15 Static free. 

400 SEAT THEATRE FOR SALE or lease Sept. 1 

Available soon: low cost Micro-FM-|r. For the heanng 

1993. The only theatre in Mandan, ND 

impaired Call or write: AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS & 

- population 

1 5,000. Across the nver from Bismarck, ND 

ENG - , St. Louis Ave., Woonsocket, Rl 02895. 

population 

50,000. Wnte to Theatre Associates, 1 027 Airporif 

Phone (401 ) 767-2080: Fax (401 ) 767-2081 

Road, Bismarck, ND, 58504. 

QUALITY REPLACEMENT PARTS, affordable 

Beautiful Downtown Pagosa Springs, Colorado, 

pnces for Century, Westar, Westrex, Catalog. \Ne still 

180 seat single screen with video store in lobby, •,: 

stock factory onginal spares for Kalee, Prevost, Veronese, 

Cinemeccanica, Kinoton, Bauer, Hortson, Eiki, 

includes real estate. $250,000 and approximatelyji; 

$75,000 assumable. Call Danny at (303) 264-4578. 

B&H. Many hard to find items. Sync motor kits 1 or 3 

phase, slow start kits, 50/60 cycle for all US & UK Twin Theatre: Family owned and operated in West j. 

soundheads, intermittent repairs & exchanges (new 

Texas. 400 seats, only theatre in 1 50 mile radius. State 

or rebuilt). International Cinema Equip., 100 NE 39th 

University town. Call (91 5) 837-51 1 1 

St , FL 33137. Phone (309) 573-7339, FAX 

(305)573-8101 

USED PROJECTION EQUIPMENT: Replacement THEATRES FOR LEASE 

equipment, single or multi booths available. Please 

FOR LEASE— Chatsworth Cinema in large Ralphs 

call if you are purchasing or selling, financing available. 

CINEMA CONSULTANTS & SERVICES IN- 

Shopping Center in upper middle class area in Southern 

California's 

TERNATIONAL, 5800 Forward Avenue, 

San Fernando Valley. New 50 tc 

Pittsburgh, 

conditioners, 

PA 15217. Phone (412) 422-7551, FAX (412) 422- 

huge marquee signs, ternfic exposure at 

Devonshire and Mason Avenues, Chatsworth, Calif. 

7001. 

Now single 820 seats, ideal for conversion to triple ^ 

THREE COMPLETE THEATRE BOOTHS: 1,000 screen. Call 310-275-5939 

American Seating chairs, good condition. Simplex XL 

projectors, Kelmar sound NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS - Single screen - 65C 

platters, automation, lamphouse, 

lenses, ticket machines and more. Phone (31 3) 

seats, 9,365 sq. ft. ground floor Built in 1950. Fully 

885-4700. 

equipped and operational. Write to: P.O. Box 

5301078, Grand Praine, Texas, 75050. 

FOR SALE: Two Super-Simplex projector heads, 

$500 each. Two RCA photophone soundheads, $500 

each. Four H.D. bases, $100 each. Two Ultra-Hi performance 

Orcon 3000 W, Xenon lamps & rectifiers, THEATRES WANTED 

$500 each. Two PEERLESS carbon lamps and rectifiers, 

$500 each. Two ORC 

THEATRES BOUGHT AND SOLD. East, Midwest 

projectors with changeovers 

& soundheads $1,000 each. Also various 

and South by progressive circuit operators/consultants. 

All replies confidential. Reply Holiday Entertainment/Cinema 

Associates, 3200 Elton Road 

speakers & amps, Aulomaticket (4) machine, ice machine, 

etc. Prices negotiable. Call (818) 362-1777. 

Johnston, PA 15904. Phone (814) 266-4308. 

Entire contents cinema pub, complete projection 

Southern and Northern California theatres wantec 

booth, lounge chairs and tables, projection TV, stage, 

for long term lease. Aggressive 

kitchen equipment and much 

new entertainment 

more. Asking $26,000. 

concept needs 1 0,000 

Call (407) 677-8212, leave message. 

- 1 5,000 sq. ft. Call The Origina 

Movie Pub at (818) 865-1718. 

We are an independent company looking for firstrun 

and sub-run theatres in small and large towns ir 

the East that are available to be leased or bought 

EQUIPMENT WANTED 

Send all available information to Hamilton Cinems 

OLD TUBE-TYPE equipment 

Corp, P.O. 

such as amps, 

Box 475, Hamilton, NY 1 3346. Or call (31 

speakers, 

drivers, horns, etc. from Western Electric, 

5) 

824-2352, All conversations and correspondence wil 

be considered confidential. 

Westrex, Langevin, Jensen, Altec, JBL, Tannoy, Mcintosh, 

Marantz, etc Call Audio City at (818) 701- 

5633, or wnte to Audio City, P.O. Box 802, Northridge, 

CA 91328-0802. 

THEATRE SEATING 

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE: We will purchase Century 

projectors or soundheads, new or old, complete 

ALLSTATE SEATING is a company that is specializing 

in refurbishing, complete painting, molded foam 

or incomplete, for cash. Also interested in XL and 

tailor-made seat covers, installations, removals 

SH-1000. Call (502) 499-0050. Fax (502) 499-0052, 

Please call for pricing and spare parts for all types 

Hadden Theatre Supply 0' 

Co., attn. Louis. 

theatre seating. Boston, MA. Phone (617) 268-2221 

TURN UNWANTED, SURPLUS, salvage equipment FAX (61 7) 268-7011. 

into CASH. Buying all kinds of theatre equipment -

. 

. 

) 

, 

EAT BACK/COVERS: Most fabrics in stock, Cy 

3ung, Inc. Call 1-800-729-2610. 

N-SITE RE-UPHOLSTERY, "While Ttieatre 

eeps." Top fabncs. molded cushions and "State of 

1 Cy Young Cup Holder Armrest." Call Cy Young 

dustnes. Inc 1-800-729-2610, 

\LL AMERICAN SEATING" by the EXPERTS! 

sed seats of quality. Various makes, American Bodirm 

and Stellars from $12.50 to S32.50 Irwins from 

12.50 to $30.00 Heywood & Massey rockers from 

?5.00. Full rebuilding available. New Hussey chairs 

3m $70 00. All 

types theatre projection and sound 

(uipment. New and used. We ship and install all 

akes. Try us! We sell no Junk! TANKERSLEY EN- 

ERPRISES BOX 36009 DENVER. CO 80236 

lone: 303-980-8265 

of different makes, models and colors including 

SED AUDITORIUM CHAIRS: Choose from a selecin 

Tiencan Stellars and Irwin Citations competitively 

iced, shipped and installed, ACOUSTIC SOUND 

\NELS& CUSTOM WALL DRAPERIES available in 

ime-proofed colors and fabncs, artistic or plain CIN- 

Â CONSULTANTS & SERVICES INTERNA- 

ONAL, 5800 Forward Avenue. Pittsburgh, PA 

i217. Phone (412) 422-7551. FAX (412) 422-7001 

N-SITE UPHOLSTERY NATIONWIDE REPLACE- 

ENT COVERS. ALL FABRICS. Lease complete there 

covers, up to five years to pay. Quotes, samples, 

brochure, call 1 800-252-6837 anytime, COM- 

.ETE INDUSTRIES, INC. 

UALITY USED SEATING: Irwin Citations from $30. 

nencan Stellars M35 $30, Gnggs Pushbacks $12. 

ore. We buy, sell & export International Cinema 

luip,, 100 NE 39th St.. Miami. FL 33137. Phone 

05) 573-7339, FAX (305) 573-81 01 

'00 used theatre seats for sale. Several types to 

loose from. Located in Maryland. Call Paul at (301 

18-1667. or FAX (301) 588-1667. 

HEATRE REMODELING 

3R TWINNING THEATRES call or write Friddel 

instruction. Inc., 402 Green River Drive, Montgomy. 

TX 77358, (409) 588-2667 

E CAN MULTIPLEX your theatre, make it look 

ntastic, and your profits will soar. No one does it tor 

3S. Multiplex Construction Corp. Call (708) 293- 

RIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION 

:REEN TOWERS INTERNATIONAL New, Used, 

ansplanted. Complete Tower Service. Box 399— 

5gers. TX 76569, 1 -800-642-3591 

qiVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS Since 1945 Selby 

oducts. Inc., P.O. Box 267, Richfield, Ohio 44286 

16) 659-6631 , 

800-647-6224. 

MARQUEES, SIGNS 

MARQUEE: Repossessed eight by twenty feet. 

Will 

insert customized theatre over marquee frames. Intenor 

high output lighting. Sale or lease, very reasonable. 

Also. 5' x 33'6" extruded bronze aluminum 

intenor lighted sign for theatre name. Bux-Mont Electrical 

Advertising Leasing. Phone (21 5) 675-1 040. Fax 

(215)675-4443. 

LEASE OR PURCHASE PLANS: Replacement Marquee 

letters shipped immediately. BUX-MONT Electrical 

Advertising Systems. Horsham. PA 19044. Call 

(215)675-1040. 

FILMS WANTED 

WANTED: 35mm XXX titles. Wanted in good condition. 

Please send your titles to FAX # (416) 533-8939. 

attn Mr. Green. Mr. E Smith from area code (717), 

please FAX again, transmission not clear. 

COMPUTERS AND SOFTWARE 

EXHIBITOR TOOLBOX: Personal computer software 

for easy film payment calculation and reporting. Build 

your own base of valuable information to improve 

performance and profits. Wnte WinterTek. Inc., 5915 

Landerbrook Dr.. Suite 200. Cleveland, Ohio 44124- 

4034 or call (21 6) 461 -9403, 

SERVICES 

THEATRE BACKGROUND MUSIC. Vanous artists 

on high quality cassette tapes. Contemporary, Oldies 

and Easy Listening formats available with quarterly 

updates. Call PROFESSIONAL AUDIO SERVICES, 

(912)233-1402. 

installation to operation. Anywhere in the USA or 

overseas, LUNAMAR THEATRE MANAGEMENT. 

INC., P.O Box 1344, Winter Park, FL 32790, Phone 

(407) 678-6049, FAX (407) 678-8621 

MOTION PICTURE THEATRE CONSULTANT SER- 

VICES. All aspects from construction to equipment 

PREVIOUSLY OWNED equipment available; National 

Cinema Supply can provide your equipment 

needs. We will also liquidate your surplus theatre and 

concession equipment. We have clean Automaticket 

model MGEM-3 in stock! Contact Gene Krull, (913) 

492-0966, National Cinema Supply, 8229 Nieman 

Road. Lenexa,KS 66214, 

BACKGROUND MUSIC: WHY PAY MULTIPLE Ll- 

CENSING FEES? Theatre background music from 

PROFESSIONAL AUDIO SERVICES requires only 

one fee. High quality tapes, various artists. Contemporary 

and Easy listening formats. Call (912) 233- 

1402. 

CINEMA CONSULTANTS & SERVICES INTERNA- 

TIONAL can design, build and equip your theatre and 

provide TURNKEY operation if desired or provide 

dynamic ideas to improve cost efficiency, increase 

ticket or concession sales. Lease financing for equip- 

Pacer Ticket stock 

Direct from the Manufacturer 

for as low as $35"" per case! 

Ad Index 

Automaticket 22 

Entertainment Data, Inc 7 

. . 37 

Gold Medal Products 9 

Hadden Theatre Supply 23 

Hurley Screen 22 

International Cinema Equipment 

Just Born, Inc 04 

Nabisco Brands, Inc 02 

National Ticket Oo 37 

Odell's 19 

SMPTE 03 

Smart Theatre Systems 5, 14 

Soundfold International 23 

ment purchases nationally, 5800 Fon«ard Avenue, 

Pittsburgh, PA 15215. Phone (412) 422-7551, FAX 

(412)422-7001, 

MISCELLANEOUS 

WANT TO BUY MOVIE POSTERS, lobbies Bruce 

Webster, 426 N,W. 20th. Oklahoma City, OK 73103. 

Phone (405) 524-6251. 

WANTED: MOVIE POSTERS, lobbies, stills, etc Will 

buy any sized collection. The Paper Chase, 4073 La 

Vista Road, Tucker, GA 30084. Phone 1-800-433- 

0025. 

WANTED: 35mm XXX titles. Wanted in good condition. 

Please send your titles to FAX #(416) 533-8939, 

attn Mr. Green. Mr. E Smith from area code (717), 

please FAX again, transmission not clear. 

STEREO 

PROCESSOR 

Select a stereo processor of proven 

design at an affordable price. 

Features Include 

• Left, Center, Risht, Surround and 

Bass Extension 

• Full Equalization 

• Time Delay 

• Slide Out Cards for Easy Service 

Options Include 

• Front Surround Model 

• Stereo Synthesizer 

• Slit Lens Correction 

Call or wnte us for technical 

SDPCifications and a brochure, 

Prices based on 1 size & color, subject to your individual needs 

PO Box 547 

Shorrxjkm, PA 17872 

^. incernacionai cinema 

(ml equipmenc company mc 

Response No 4 

October, 1993 37

The lOia IPicture 

By contemporary standards, Bruce Lee's martial arts films 

weren't exactly state-of-the-art moviemaking— the sophistication 

of current Hong Kong action craftsmen like John Woo, TSui Hark 

and Jackie Chan was unavailable within the low budgets of the 

films Lee made for Golden Harvest in the 1970s, which substituted 

elaborate hand-to-hand combat for the pyrotechnics and 

breathless stunt work of today's Hong Kong features. But Bruce 

Ia'.c. brought something to tlie screen that can't be created simply 

by increasing production budgets and hiring stimt teams— true 

.star quality, accompanied by the charisma of a bom action hero. 

In the hi.story of Hong Kong cinema, Lee is also something of 

a founding pioneer, a figure comparable to Valentino or Douglas 

Fairbanks in tenns of his commercial significance to the medium. 

Golden Harvest is one of Hong Kong's biggest film producers, 

but it might not exist without the international success of Lee 

titles like "The Big Boss," "Fist of Fury" and "The Return of the 

Dragon" during that company's fledgling days. 

Appropriately enough, the increasing attention being paid in 

the U.S. to Hong Kong cinema has been accompanied by a 

separate but as impressive revival of interest in the star who put 

Hong Kong-made action films on the American moviegoing 

map. As the success of Universal's recent Bruce Lee bio-pic 

proved, more than 20 years after the fact, the phenomenon that 

was Bruce Lee is still alive and kicking.— Kfl^ Greene 

38 BOXOFFICE

October 1993 

Void after December 1993 

Reader Service 

or more information, 

rite ady«rtl»«m»nl and product nawa Reaponaa Numbara In 

thaaa boiaa.

Flavors that go together 

grow together 

Introducing Strawbana^" 

and Lem and Mel! 

Each has two favorite flavors 

kids can eat together or munch 

separately. Tangy lemon and 

refreshing watermelon team up in 

Lem and Mel. The fruity tastes of 

strawberries and bananas make new 

Strawbana twice as delicious. 

*«*«^ 

Their catchy names make flavor identi 

fication fast and easy What's more, the 

bright new packages fit right in with our 

other distinctive characters. 

^^^^ Strawbana and Lem and Mel 

^^Hp " H 

sold equally well in test markets. 

^tr 

The yearlong test also showed that 

adding these two new brands to the 

existing product line increased Just Borr 

sales by 23%. 

Stock up on two new flavor combinations 

kids will love! 

JUSTyPpRN 

,-Tr— 

Bethlehem, PA 18017 

Building on our tradition of quality

Boxoffice-October.1993

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