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Ted Mann, the founder of the Mann Theatres
circuit (which he sold to Paramount parent
company Gulf -h Western for a whopping
$220 million back in 1986) has a history of
thinking big when it comes to motion picture
exhibition. So it should come as no surprise
that Mann has announced plans to purchase
the Toronto-based IMAX Corp. IMAX is the
creator and operator of the technologies used
in its chain of specialty theatres located in the
U.S and Canada, which utilize a proprietary,
large format projection system to project high
quality images on enormous IMAX screens.
Known mostly for a series of educational and
scientific films, IMAX has produced one feature-length
work, a )ulien Temple-directed
rock-and-roll concert film entitled "Rolling
Stones at the MAX." In addition to its IMAX
imaging process, the company is developing
two new 3-D formats, including one called
"Solido" which will project giant three-dimensional
images on a dome, so that a viewer
will be completely surrounded by the projected
landscape. Financial details of the
Mann purchase (which is subject to approval
by the Canadian government) were not made
public, but if the deal goes through, Ted Mann
is expected to undertake a sizeable expansion
program.
Like the undead rock star Brandon Lee
played in his troubled final film "The Crow,"
the controversy surrounding the 28-year-old
actor's fatal shooting as cameras churned on
the North Carolina set last March has assumed
a life of its own. In separate legal decisions,
the district attorney's office in Wilmington,
N.C.said it would not file criminal negligence
charges against "The Crow's" production
company, while Lee's mother, Linda Lee
Cadwell, filed a civil suit charging negligence
against producer Edward R. Pressman and 1 3
others affiliated with the production. Wilmington
D. A. Jerry Spivey said the investigation
by his office yielded no evidence of
Safety and Health Administration as to
whether Crowvision violated North Carolina
workplace safety standards is still pending, as
is
the civil suit.
The "Demolition Man" interactive home
game (which includes special footage of Sly
Stallone and Wesley Snipes) will have competition
on the home entertainment front from
a man who has become a primary challenger
for the action hero title which "Demo" star Sly
Stallone once indisputably held. "Under
Siege" star Steven Seagal has become the first
Hollywood luminary to spawn his own home
video game. Titled "Steven Seagal; The Final
Option" the TekMagik product features a
Seagal character and a female lead in a desperate
attempt to rescue her son from a variety
of villains. The game, which was created
using real actors in digitized form, utilized a
look-a-like for the Seagal role, since the 1
6-bit
digital imaging used in home video cartridges
has a low resolution quality which makes it
hard to tell the difference. In future (and subject
to the star's approval), TekMagic hopes to
use Seagal himself for CD-ROM versions of its
games.
Robert and Jimmy Sunshine, the peripatetic
organizers of ShowEast and of the Belgianbased
Cinema Expo, are planning to extend
their increasingly global interests with the
launch of an Asian exhibition convention
under the moniker of Cine-Asia. The Sunshine
brothers expect to launch the Cine-Asia expo
in either Singapore or Hong Kong some time
in early 1994, and are currently looking toward
possible sponsors for the event. With the
Asian film market becoming increasingly important
to theatrical exhibition, the Sunshines
seem, once again, to be getting the jump on a
developing area of exhibitor interest.
Director John Badham has signed a new
two-picture deal with Paramount, and the
studio (which, in the Sherry Lansing era, has
been at pains to give the impression of renewed
vitality) has taken the unusual step of
naming the two features which Badham will
make. First up for Badham is "Drop Zone," an
action spectacular about parachuting criminals
who break into a federal computer system
in an attempt to get confidential information
on undercover DEA agents. Badham will follow
that one up with "Nick of Time," about a
man abducted and forced to commit a crime,
with his family's life hanging in the balance.
Badham, whose latest feature was the lackluster
sequel "Another Stakeout," will also serve
as an executive producer on both films. With
the studio's future currently in flux (see National
News), it will be interesting to see
whether Badham's films are made under yet
another new Paramount production regime.
willful or wanton negligence by Crowvision,
the production company. According to the And finally: The Samuel Coldwyn Co. gets
strict investigative guidelines necessary for a our nod as indie of the month for its clever and
criminal charge, Spivey would have had to very showman-like fall promotional idea for
prove not only that negligence existed on "The Kenneth Branagh's lusty movie adaptation of
Crow" set, but that these conditions had been the William Shakespeare comedy "Much Ado
knowingly created by the film's producers. A About Nothing." Goldwyn's star-studded
report from the North Carolina Occupational film, which passed the $20 million mark at the
U.S. boxoffice in early September, was the
thinking man's (and woman's) date movie for
the summer of '93, and benefitted from arthouse
audience patronage all summer long.
With school back in session, Coldwyn is now
targeting the classroom constituency, offering
students and educators a substantially discounted
admission price as well as free study
guides and posters. W. W. Norton, the publishers
of Branagh's book about the adaptation,
also offered a limited time tie-in discount
to educators on the tome throughout the
month of October, but the discount program
(which is being pushed by such organizations
as the National Endowment for the Arts)
open-ended. A "Much Ado" hotline for interested
educators has been created; for
is
additional
promo information, dial
1-800-6-GOLDWYN.
;
EDITOR AND ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
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