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1920-1995<br />
CELEBRATING<br />
In<br />
75<br />
YEARS<br />
JUNE, 1995 VOL. 131 NO. 6<br />
UNQUOTE: Once in awhiU-wu feel like Charles Barkley. You want to say, 'I don't want to<br />
he II gmldanui role model. ' I think what we want to do first is tell good stories.— Roy Disney<br />
this issue, BOXOFFICE salutes two of<br />
the most illustrious names in film: Disney,<br />
i)i our conversation with Walt<br />
Disney's nephew (and the vice chairman of the<br />
Disney board) Roy E. Disney, and Dolby, embodied<br />
by that company's founder, Ray Dolby.<br />
On the surface, Disney and Dolby could almost<br />
be called opposites. Ray Dolby is an engineering<br />
whiz— a hands-on technical man as apt<br />
to make a point by grabbing a pen and sketching<br />
a quick mechanical diagram as he is by<br />
putting it into words. Roy Disney, on the other<br />
hand, freely admits that while he plays a vital<br />
role at Disney animation, he has never been an<br />
animator himself and he says a certain<br />
amount of distance from the nuts-and-bolts of<br />
Disney operations is an important aspect of his<br />
managerial style.<br />
But at a deeper level, what both Disney and<br />
Dolby share is that they are builders— visionary<br />
businessmen who have been willing, when necessary,<br />
dated corporate traditions in order to keep their<br />
to buck conventional wisdom and out-<br />
enterprises healthy and alive. Readers unfamiliar<br />
ivith the pivotal role Roy Disney played in<br />
assembling the management team responsible<br />
for the "miracle" which transformed The Walt<br />
Disney Co. from an anemic, underperforming<br />
dinosaur in the mid-1980s irito the first film<br />
company to notch a billion dollars in annual<br />
domestic gi-osses by 1994. Ray Dolby is among<br />
the handful of individuals directly responsible<br />
for the current audiophile standards of cinema<br />
sound, the 30-year history ofhis company reads<br />
like a Horatio Alger novel that could be called<br />
"Triumph Over Adversity," in which naysayers<br />
and apathetic film folks at first fail to see the<br />
importance of improving movie sourid, and<br />
wind up clamoring for a range of digital delivery<br />
systems, including Dolby's own.<br />
Most of you reading this are business people—entrepreneurial<br />
women and men who understand<br />
the importance of creative<br />
management. It's our pleasure to bring you<br />
intimate porir'aits of two ofyour own.<br />
Until riext time.<br />
FEATURES<br />
1920-1995<br />
CELEBRATING<br />
75<br />
YEARS<br />
8 COVER STORY: THE RE-ANIMATOR<br />
Roy Disney talks about the past, the future, and Disney's<br />
33rci animated feature "Pocahontas." By Ray Greene<br />
PLUS: Making music with Alan Menken. By Kim Williamson<br />
12 SNEAK PREVIEW: A WHALE OF A TALE<br />
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner sets sail on Warner's "Free<br />
"<br />
Willy 2 By Wade Major<br />
14 SNEAK PREVIEW: A FAMILY "TIE"<br />
Gorgeous, glamorous Moira Kelly on Buena Vista's upcoming<br />
"The Tie That Binds. " By Kim Williamson<br />
20 DOLBY 30th ANNIVERSARY SALUTE: NOISES OFF<br />
It's been 30 years since the formation of Dolby Laboratories<br />
forever changed the soundscape of American moviegoing.<br />
Ray Dolby talks to <strong>Boxoffice</strong> about his incredible journey.<br />
By Ray Greene PLUS: John F. Allen looks at 30 years of<br />
acoustic accomplishments.<br />
24 FROM WHERE I SIT: LOOKING BACK<br />
In a tie-in to our ongoing 75th anniversary celebration, our<br />
reader's forum is turned over to a former employee whose<br />
expehences at <strong>Boxoffice</strong> helped launch a successful career<br />
as a publicist. By Dale C. Olson<br />
"<br />
28 MARKETING: "POCAHONTAS ON TOUR<br />
Disney puts the showmanship back into promotions with a<br />
tour of American malls designed to drum up interest in<br />
"<br />
"Pocahontas By Michael Halle<br />
30 SUMMER PROMO GUIDE<br />
A studio-by-studio listing of promotional tie-ins to the biggest<br />
summer releases.<br />
REVIEWS<br />
(following pg. 39)<br />
Roommates<br />
Ray Greene<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
BOXOFFICE
Suite<br />
HOLLYWOOD<br />
UPDATES<br />
Lucasfilm Ltd. and Twentieth Century Fox<br />
announced plans to distribute a special edition<br />
of the original "Star Wars" motion picture<br />
for worldwide theatrical release in 1 997,<br />
20 years after the film's first release in 1977.<br />
The special edition will feature previously<br />
unreleased footage, new digital special effects,<br />
and a digitally remastered soundtrack.<br />
New breakthroughs in computer graphics developed<br />
by Industrial Light & Magic will be<br />
used to add new creatures, vehicles and androids<br />
into the film. The technology will also<br />
allow George Lucas to complete the scene in<br />
which Han Solo confronts Jabba the Hutt,<br />
which was never shown in the original release.<br />
Lucas is also anxious to have audiences<br />
experience the film with the THX Sound System,<br />
whose introduction came after the premiere<br />
of the film.<br />
|oe Roth, chairman of the Walt Disney<br />
Motion Picture Croup, has optioned the remake<br />
rights from RKO Pictures chairman Ted<br />
Hartley for the 1949 classic monster movie<br />
"Mighty )oe Young." Holly Coldberg Sloan<br />
("Made in America," "Angels in the Outfield")<br />
will script the King Kong-esque story, this<br />
version telling the tale of a woman lured from<br />
her home in Africa to perform with her sizable<br />
simian in Las Vegas. The original was directed<br />
by Ernest B. Schoedsack, starred Terry Moore,<br />
Ben lohnson and Robert Armstrong, and featured<br />
Oscar-winning special effects by Willis<br />
O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen. Special effects<br />
creator Rick Baker ("An American Werewolf<br />
in London") is in talks to design the ape— his<br />
experience on "Corillas in the Mist" makes<br />
him an ideal candidate for this monkey business.<br />
"The Pocahontas Summer Spectacular at<br />
The El Capitan Theatre" is well on its way to<br />
breaking the sales record set by last year's<br />
"Lion King Spectacular at the El Capitan Theatre,"<br />
which sold a total of 30,200 tickets.<br />
Moviegoers snapped up 16,549 advance<br />
"Pocahontas" tickets on the first day the<br />
[)hone lines opened. The combination screening/live<br />
stage show opens June 16 in Hollywood<br />
and runs through August 20. Tickets can<br />
be purchased by calling 1-800-95 POCAH<br />
(1-800-957-6224).<br />
Director John Singleton and producer Edward<br />
R. Pressman will bring the black lomic<br />
Ixjok superhero, Luke Cage, to the silver<br />
screen. Joe Doughrity will script the project<br />
about a prisoner who is endowed with superhuman<br />
powers after submitting to imperiling<br />
experiments in exchange for his freedom. The<br />
character was created by Stan Lee of "Spider-<br />
Man" fame.<br />
I<br />
ilmmaker Martin Scorsese ("Casino") ,m)(\<br />
"Forrest Gump" cD-produt er Steve Tisch arc<br />
the newest members of New York University's<br />
Tisch School of the Arts Dean's C'ouncil. They<br />
join actors Alec Baldwin, Bill ( osby and Sidney<br />
Poitier in advising Mary Schmidt Campbell,<br />
dean of the film, television and drama<br />
school. The Council meets periodically<br />
throughout the year to promote better communication<br />
between the school and the academic,<br />
business, philanthropic and public<br />
communities. Tisch school alumni include<br />
Spike Lee, Billy Crystal and Oliver Stone.<br />
Savoy Pictures has signed filmmakers Steve<br />
James and Peter Gilbert, the duo behind the<br />
acclaimed documentary "Hoop Dreams," for<br />
a two-picture deal. The first project will be a<br />
film version of "Foul! The Connie Hawkins<br />
Story," a novel by David Wolf about the life<br />
of the NBA star. The second film will be an<br />
adaptation of W. Colin McKay's play, "Nagasaki<br />
Dust," set just before the attack on Pearl<br />
Harbor, about a Japanese-American who is set<br />
to be tried as a traitor, and the American sent<br />
to represent him.<br />
"The Industry News and Marketplace," a<br />
live, half-hour, nightly television news program<br />
devoted exclusively to the entertainment<br />
industry, premiered April 24 in Southern<br />
California markets. The show features two<br />
distinct segments. The first half, "The Industry<br />
News," is devoted to hard entertainment industry<br />
news. The second segment, "The Industry<br />
Marketplace," gives viewers a first look<br />
at electronic press kits, sales reels, promotional<br />
and industrial videos and clips of films<br />
seeking distribution. The program airs weeknights<br />
at 1 1 p.m. on KDOC-TV.<br />
BITS AND PIECES: Rick Berman will produce<br />
and co-write the next "Star Trek" movie<br />
for Paramount. This film will feature the cast<br />
of TV's "Star Trek: The Next Generation."<br />
Berman produced and co-wrote "Star Trek<br />
Generations," which has earned over $75<br />
million to date. ..Filmmaker Norman Jewison<br />
("Moonstruck," "Only You") has signed a<br />
three-picture deal with New Regency Productions.<br />
This move comes after his deal with<br />
Warner Bros, expired in December. ..New<br />
Line Cinema's bid of $1 million against $1 .5<br />
million won the studio Billy Ray's "Legalese,"<br />
a courtroom satire examining the current controversy<br />
of the media's influence on courtroom<br />
proceedings, and the court's<br />
manipulation of the media. Warner Bros, and<br />
Stiefel-Phillips Entertainment bought the<br />
screen rights to "Nathan!" for $250,000<br />
against $525,000. The novel, by John<br />
Gilstrap, is about a 1 2-year-old murderer on<br />
the run. .. Director Miios Forman ("Amadeus,"<br />
"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest") is in<br />
talks to helm Columbia's "Larry Flynt," a<br />
biographical film about the publisher of Hustler<br />
magazine who was shot and paralyzed<br />
during an assassination attempt. Bill Murray<br />
has been discussed for the lead role. ..Universal<br />
paid $500,000 against $750,000 for Joseph<br />
Brutsman and Tony Peck's spec sc ri[)t<br />
"Paul Bunyan: The True Story of a KtO-Foot-<br />
Tall Lumberjack and His 9,0()()-Pound Blue<br />
Ox Babe," in which a scientist linds ihc lolklore<br />
hero and his bovine Iriend picscMAcd<br />
under ice at the North Pole.<br />
CORRECTION: In the April issue of<br />
Bo\onK[, Christie Inc. should hnve heen<br />
credited with supplying platters and consoles<br />
to SoCal Cinemas anil Sony Theatres. Additionally,<br />
AB International supplied SoCal's<br />
amplifiers.— Ed.<br />
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF<br />
Ray Greene<br />
SENIOR EDITOR<br />
Kim Williamson<br />
ASSOCIATE EDITOR<br />
Christine James<br />
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT<br />
Linda Andrade<br />
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS<br />
Alex Albanese<br />
Jotin Allen<br />
Bruce Austin<br />
George T. Ctironis<br />
Carole Glines<br />
Wade Major<br />
Jeff Sctiwager<br />
Shiomo Sctiwartzberg<br />
Fern Siege!<br />
Eric Williams<br />
CORRESPONDENTS<br />
BALTIMORE Kale Savage, 301-367-4964, BOSTON Guy Livingston,<br />
617-782-3266, CHARLOHE Charles Leonard, 704-333-<br />
0444: CINCINNATI Tony Rulhertord, 304-525-3837, CLEVEUND<br />
Elaine Fried, 216-991-3797, DALUS Mary Crump, 21 4-821 -981 1<br />
OULUTH/TWIN CITIES Roy Wirtzteld, 218-722-7503: FLORIDA:<br />
Lois Baumoel, 407-588-6786. Rhonda P Hunsingec, 407-898-<br />
5525: HOUSTON Ted Roggen, 71 3-789-621 6, MILWAUKEE: Waller<br />
L Meyer, 414-692-2753, NEW ENGLAND Allen M Widem,<br />
203-232-3101, NEW ORLEANS Wendeslaus Schuiz, 504-282-<br />
0127, NEW YORK Fern Siegel, 212-647-9166: NORTH DAKOTA:<br />
David Forth, 701-943-2476, OREGON Bob Rusk, 503-861-3185:<br />
PHILADELPHIA Maune Orodenker, 215-567-4748: RALEIGH<br />
Raymond Lowery, 919-787-0928, SAN ANTONIO William R<br />
Burns, 210-736-2323, TOLEDO Anna Kline, 419-531-7702: CAN-<br />
ADA Maxine McBean, 463-249-6039 Inleraalional News: NEW<br />
YORK Mort Wax, 212-3a2-5360, DUBLIN, IRELAND Doug Payne,<br />
353-402-35543, AUSTRALIA Mark A Bacbeliuk, 61-2-588-6189.<br />
FOUNDER<br />
Ben Stilyen<br />
PUBLISHER<br />
Bob Dietmeier (312) 338-7007<br />
NATIONAL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR<br />
Robert M, Vale (213)465-1186<br />
ADVERTISING CONSULTANT<br />
Morris Sctilozman (816)942-5877<br />
EAST COAST ADVERTISING REP.<br />
Mitchell J HaW 1212)877-6667<br />
BUSINESS MANAGER<br />
Dan Johnson (312)338-7007<br />
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR<br />
Chuck Taylor {312)922-9326<br />
OFFICES<br />
Editorial and Publishing Headquarters:<br />
6640 Sunset Blvd<br />
. 100, Hollywood, CA<br />
90028-71 59 (213)465-1 186, FAX: (213)465-5049<br />
Corporate: Mailing Address: P.O. Box 25485.<br />
Chicago, IL 60625 (312) 338-7007<br />
ift The<br />
Audit<br />
Buieaii<br />
Circulation Inquiries:<br />
BOXOFFICE Data Center<br />
819S, Wabash Ave.,<br />
Chicago, IL 60605<br />
(312)922-9326<br />
FAX: (312) 922-7209<br />
4 Boxonitic
Introducing—<br />
Chocolate Covered<br />
Peanuts And Raisins<br />
Witli Character!<br />
For Free Samples and Complete Details Just Call Our "Box" Office!<br />
1 itvLfmyfi iijpi<br />
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Tel: 201-261-0034 Fax: 201-261-5630<br />
amehicas FAvonm CANoier<br />
Response No, 56<br />
©The Promotion In Motion Companies, Inc., Emerson, NJ 07630 All Rights Reserved.
HOLLYWOOD<br />
REPORT<br />
JULIA ROBERTS<br />
Up for "Days"<br />
STEVE MARTIN<br />
Enlists in "Sgt. Bllko"<br />
ANTHONY HOPKINS<br />
Fixin' to play "Nixon"<br />
)ulia Roberts is more than making<br />
up for her frequent absences<br />
from the movie industry. She'll<br />
be seen in the upcoming TriStar<br />
release "Mary ReiHy" and<br />
Warner Bros.' "The Came of<br />
Love," and has signed to star in<br />
Buena Vista's "6 DAYS, 7<br />
NIGHTS" and Warner Bros.'<br />
"MICHAEL COLLINS." "6<br />
Days" is a romantic adventurecomedy<br />
about a woman who<br />
ditches her boyfriend during<br />
their tropical island vacation<br />
after he refuses to marry her. In<br />
her attempts to return home, she<br />
convinces a pilot to fly her to<br />
Tahiti's airport. But his rickety<br />
aircraft crash-lands on a small,<br />
isolated island, and the two<br />
must endure each other. In "Michael<br />
Collins," a drama about<br />
the Irish revolutionary leader<br />
who fought the Black & Tans to<br />
free Ireland from British rule in<br />
the early 1900s, Roberts will<br />
star with Liam Neeson ("Rob<br />
Roy") and Stephen Rea ("The<br />
Crying Came"). Neeson takes<br />
the title role; Roberts will plays<br />
his lover, Kitty. Lensing begins<br />
in June. Director Neil Jordan<br />
("Interview With the Vampire")<br />
also wrote the screenplay.<br />
"SGT. BILKO" This Steve Martin<br />
starrer, directed by Jonathan<br />
Lynn ("My Cousin Vinny"), is<br />
about a wheeler-dealer master<br />
sergeant who supposedly runs<br />
Fort Baxter's motor pool, but<br />
spends most of his time trying to<br />
rook his fellow soldiers. When<br />
Army officials from Washington<br />
threaten to shut down the base,<br />
Bil ko must come to the rescue<br />
or risk losing his profitable operation.<br />
Andy Breckman wrote<br />
the screenplay based on the<br />
classic television series. "Saturday<br />
Night Live" fellow alumni<br />
Dan Aykroyd, Phil Hartmanand<br />
Chris Rock co-star. (Universal)<br />
"THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD"<br />
Vincent D'Onofrio ("Stuart<br />
Saves His Family") and Olivia<br />
D'Abo ("Greedy") have been<br />
cast in this Depression-era story<br />
about a young teacher's relationship<br />
with a fantasy fiction<br />
writer. The film is based on a<br />
memoir by Novalyne Price Ellis<br />
about her encounters with<br />
"Conan the Barbarian" author<br />
Robert E. Howard. Newcomer<br />
Dan Ireland directs. Shooting is<br />
scheduled to begin in July. r3istribution<br />
is to be set.<br />
"I SHOT ANDY WARHOL" Lili<br />
Taylor ("Short Cuts"), Jared Harris<br />
("Tall Tale"), Stephen Dorff<br />
("S.F.W.") and Martha Plimpton<br />
("Mrs. Parker and the Vicious<br />
Circle") will star in this comedy<br />
written and directed by Mary<br />
Harron. Taylor plays Valerie<br />
Solanas, who won her 1 5 minutes<br />
of fame by shooting and<br />
wounding Andy Warhol in the<br />
1960s. Harris will portray the<br />
popart icon himself. Dorff takes<br />
what promises to be a scenestealing<br />
role as famed Warhol<br />
groupie and transvestite Candy<br />
Darling. (Coldwyn)<br />
"FARGO" Coen Bros, veterans<br />
Frances McDormand ("Blood<br />
Simple," "Miller's Crossing"<br />
and "Raising Arizona") and<br />
Steve Buscemi ("Miller's Crossing,"<br />
"Barton Fink" and "The<br />
Hudsucker Proxy") will star in<br />
Joel and Ethan's latest effort, a<br />
tale of greed, deceit and multiple<br />
murder in a small town.<br />
W.H. Macy ("Homicide") will<br />
also star. (Cramercy)<br />
"PINOCCHIO" Oscar winner<br />
Martin Landau ("Ed Wood") and<br />
Jonathan Taylor Thomas ("Man<br />
of the House") have been cast in<br />
starts shooting in early July.<br />
Steve Barron ("Teenage Mutant<br />
Ninja Turtles") directs. (Savoy)<br />
a live-action version of the classic<br />
Carlo Collodi story about a<br />
woodcutter, Cepetto (Landau),<br />
and his marionette, Pinocchio<br />
(Thomas), who is brought to life<br />
by the magic of the Blue Fairy.<br />
Taylor will wrap "Tom Sawyer"<br />
a few weeks before "Pinnochio"<br />
"ERASER" Arnold Schwarzenneger<br />
("True Lies") has agreed to<br />
star in this action thriller as a<br />
cynical U.S. marshal working in<br />
the Witness Protection Program<br />
who locks horns with a duplicitous<br />
fellow agent perpetrating a<br />
government cover-up. Chuck<br />
Russell ("The Mask") directs.<br />
(Warner Bros.)<br />
"FLIPPER" Another television<br />
show is reinterpreted for the silver<br />
screen, this one featuring the<br />
friendly and intelligent dolphin<br />
of NBC's 1964-68 series. Paul<br />
Hogan ("Lightning Jack") has<br />
signed to star as Uncle Porter,<br />
an eccentric ex-hippie fisherman<br />
who must tame his rebellious<br />
nephew and battle evil<br />
industry moguls who are dumping<br />
toxic waste into the ocean.<br />
Talk about an environmental<br />
film—even the idea's recycled!<br />
The movie is slated for a summer<br />
1996 release. (Universal)<br />
"NIXON" An a ll-star cast is<br />
being assemble d for Oliver<br />
Stone's ("JFK") I atesi political<br />
drama. Anthony Hopkins will<br />
star as Richard Ni xon in this film<br />
which will cxami ne the late torcareer.<br />
Also<br />
mer president's<br />
starring will be Paul Sorvino<br />
("The Rocketec r") as Henry<br />
Kissinger; Joan Allen ("Searching<br />
for Bobby Fischer") as Pat<br />
Nixon; James Woods ("The Specialist")<br />
as H.R. Haldeman; Bob<br />
Hoskins ("Super Mario Bros.")<br />
as J. Edgar Hoover; J.T. Walsh<br />
("A Few Good Men") as John<br />
Ehrlichman; John Diehl (TV's<br />
"Miami Vice") as C. Cordon<br />
Liddy; David Hyde Pierce (TV's<br />
"Frasier") as John Dean; Peter<br />
O'Toole ("My Favorite Year") as<br />
Richard Helms; Mary Steenburgen<br />
("Pontiac Moon") as<br />
Nixon's mother; and Annabeth<br />
Cish ("Mystic Pizza") as Julie<br />
Nixon Eisenhower. Stone is cowriting<br />
the script with Stephen<br />
J. Rivele and Christopher Wilkinson.<br />
(Buena Vista)<br />
"MY BLOCKBUSTER" Michael<br />
Richards, who plays the eccentric<br />
Cosmo Kramer on television's<br />
"Seinfeld," will star in<br />
this comedy as a quirky tollbooth<br />
attendant who is also an<br />
aspiring filmmaker. Sometimes<br />
truth is stranger than fiction;<br />
could this be based on the true<br />
story of "Pulp Fiction's" Quentin<br />
Tarantino, who just a few<br />
years ago was a quirky video<br />
store attendant and aspiring<br />
filmmaker? Richards co-wrote<br />
the script with Steve Adams.<br />
(Columbia)<br />
ET CETERA: Mar\on Brando and<br />
Debra Winger will star in "Divine<br />
Rapture," a dark romantic<br />
comedy about an Irish priest<br />
who tries to mold an introverted<br />
woman into a saint. ..British<br />
actor Ben Chaplin ("Feast of<br />
July") will play Janeane<br />
Garofalo's ("Reality Bites") love<br />
interest in 20th Century Fox's<br />
"The Truth About Cats and<br />
Dogs," a Cyrano-esque romantic<br />
comedy which also stars<br />
Uma Thurman ("Pulp Fiction").<br />
..lason Scott Lee ("The<br />
jungle Book") takes the title role<br />
in "Buddha," a story which follows<br />
the spiritual leader's path<br />
to enlightenment in India. Ron<br />
Fricke ("Baraka") will direct.<br />
..Oscar winners Gene<br />
Hackman and Dianne Wiest<br />
have joined the cast of the Robin<br />
Williams starrer "Birds of a<br />
Feather," a United Artists remake<br />
of "La Cage Aux Folles"...<br />
Linda Fiorentino ("The Last Seduction")<br />
will star opposite Ray<br />
Liotta in MGM's "Unforgettable,"<br />
a murder mystery with a<br />
sci-fi twist. ..Daniel Day-Lewis<br />
("In the Name of the Father") has<br />
signed to star in Fox's "The Crucible,"<br />
based on the Arthur<br />
Miller play about the 1 7lh century<br />
Salem witch trials. Filming<br />
will begin in September. The<br />
film is scheduled lor rele.ise in<br />
1996.<br />
6 BOXOFFICK
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COVER STORY<br />
The RE-<br />
ANIMATOR<br />
In Conversation With<br />
Walt Disney's Nephew,<br />
Roy E., The Walt Disney<br />
Co.'s Self-styled<br />
"Owl in the Tree"<br />
By Ray Greene<br />
It<br />
was, to coin a phrase, a moment of<br />
truth. The Walt Disney Company —abastion<br />
of corporate stability in an industry<br />
where senior executives often measure<br />
tlieir careers in months ratlier than decades—found<br />
itself suddenly at a critical<br />
and destabilizing turning point. A major<br />
management shake-up, with historical implications<br />
for a studio that had come to<br />
symbolize the benefits ofexecutive continuity,<br />
seemed unavoidable. And since that<br />
process was, to an almost unprecedented<br />
degree, playing itself out in public, tliere<br />
were times when it seemed like all hell was<br />
on the verge of breaking loose.<br />
Stock fluctuations had major corporate<br />
shareholders up in arms. The press was<br />
filled to overflowing with speculation about<br />
what might come next. "Nobody paid attention<br />
to anything for eight months because<br />
of all the stufl^that was going on," says Roy<br />
E. Disney, vice chairman of the Disney<br />
board and the sole member of the Disney<br />
Co.'s upper echelon who bears the surname<br />
of its illustrious founders.<br />
Yes, to put it mildly, 1984 was a tumultuous<br />
time.<br />
That wasn't a typo. We said '84, not '94.<br />
For that was the year during which Disney<br />
Co.<br />
passed througli a period of corporate<br />
uncertainty that makes a more recent,<br />
much-publicized (and some would say ongoing)<br />
contretemps which ftoy Disney calls<br />
"the whole overly public thing with Jeffrey<br />
Katzenberg" Accm like a schoolyard snowball<br />
fight. You think the unfimely deatli of<br />
Disney Co.'s mountaineering president and<br />
COO Frank Wells and the departure of studio<br />
produt;fion chief Kiitzcnbcrg wasdisruptive?<br />
Well, 1 years ago, tliere was a very real<br />
possibility that one of that era's companyravaging<br />
corporate raiders— one Saul<br />
Steinberg— might seize control of the Disney<br />
empire in a hostile takeover, and then<br />
spin off and strip-mine its assets, leaving<br />
fiduciary rubble m his wake.<br />
T) get an idea of what "spin off and stripmine"<br />
means, the current state of once<br />
mighty MGM is an interesting case in point.<br />
Tfed Tlimer owns its library of movie titles<br />
("The Wizard of Oz," "Singin' in the Rain,"<br />
etc.). Sony Pictures Entertainment and its<br />
subsidiaries, Columbia and TriStar, are now<br />
ensconced on what was MGM's backlot.<br />
Former owner Kirk Kerkorian retains tlie<br />
right to use the studio's name and logo in<br />
connection with casinos like his moviethemed<br />
MGM Grand in Las Vegas. And<br />
Disney Co. itself has the right to use MGM's<br />
logo and likenesses of its characters to entertain<br />
vacationers at<br />
its theme park operations<br />
all over the<br />
world. If MGM's Leo<br />
the<br />
Lion could burst<br />
into song like one of<br />
the musical characters<br />
that made MGM<br />
famous, he'd probably<br />
croon a plaintive<br />
version of "I've Got<br />
Plenty of Nothin'"<br />
that wouldn't leave a<br />
dry eye in the house.<br />
In 1984, such a fate<br />
might have awaited<br />
Disney Co., which had belatedly ti"i
Roy Disney's high opinion ofhim by recommending<br />
another key member of what became<br />
Disney's dream team: Michael Eisner,<br />
whose successful tenure as head of Paramoimt<br />
was in the process of<br />
unravelling thanks to the imminent<br />
departure of his thenboss,<br />
Barry Diller, for greener<br />
pastures at Fox. "When Michael<br />
came along and got into<br />
the picture, my conception<br />
was that it was a kind of kinship<br />
similar to the one between<br />
Walt and my dad," says<br />
Disney, citing the interpersonal<br />
arithmetic from the<br />
studio's early days, when Walt<br />
Disney functioned as the Disney<br />
Studios' creative genius,<br />
while Roy's father, Roy Oliver<br />
Disney, was tlie company's<br />
financial whiz. "Michael<br />
seemed to me the more creatively<br />
oriented guy, and<br />
Frank was a little more business oriented.<br />
Both Wells and Eisner were already in<br />
discussion with Roy Disney when Saul<br />
Steinberg's takeoverbid threw the company<br />
into turmoil. Wells arranged for Michael<br />
Milken, a not-yet-infamous, high-rolling<br />
'80s financier in his own right, to pledge to<br />
Disney whatever resources it needed to<br />
fight Steinberg off, and eventually the Roy<br />
Disney team put the Disney Co. back under<br />
the board's firm control.<br />
In gratitude, the Disney board named<br />
Frank Wells the company's COO, at Roy<br />
Disney's behest. When the board offered<br />
Eisner the chairmanship of the entire Walt<br />
Disney Co., and Eisner accepted, The Walt<br />
Disney Co.— which had never before hired<br />
top management executives from outside<br />
the homegrown corporate fold—had set the<br />
stage for a modernization program which<br />
of a major motion picture studio to<br />
occur in modem times.<br />
That<br />
long and perhaps slightly overelaborate<br />
resulted in die most spectacular revitalization<br />
case history has been included<br />
here to do a couple of things.<br />
The first is to demonstrate that— far from<br />
being the "shadowy outsider" decried by<br />
certain elements within flie Hollywood and<br />
business press afler Jeffrey Katzenberg departed<br />
Disney for the waiting arms of Steven<br />
Spielberg, David Geffen, and<br />
DreamWorks SKG— Roy Disney was an intimate<br />
(perhaps the pivotal) player in the<br />
decisions that facilitated the corporate "miracle"<br />
begun when Wells and Eisner moved<br />
onto the lot in September of 1984. The<br />
second is to point out that The Walt Disney<br />
Co. has weathered difficult transition periods<br />
in the past— transitions which Roy Disney<br />
not only lived through, but which he<br />
helped to resolve successfully.<br />
The shock waves which rocked Disney's<br />
executive suites last year after Frank Wells'<br />
tragic death in a helicopter crash were real<br />
MUSIC MAN<br />
Composer Alan Menken On Hitting the Right Notes<br />
Ashman (I.) with lyncist Stephen Schwartz<br />
Akin<br />
Menka^ still lives in the<br />
county of his birth, Wcstchestei-<br />
in New York, but the compose)'<br />
lias traveled far iyi career tenns-<br />
Best known for his Oscar-winning<br />
scores for the contemporary Disney<br />
classics The Little Mermaid, " "Beauty<br />
and the Beast' and "A kukUn, " Menken<br />
was 29 when he ami long-time lyiidst<br />
partner Howard Ashman made their<br />
off-Broadway debut with 197Q's "God<br />
Bless You Mr Rosewater,' followed<br />
three years later by "Little Shop of<br />
Honors" (which became the 1986<br />
film)- Other Menken credits include<br />
"Rocky V." "Newsies," "Home Alone 2:<br />
Lost in New York" and "Life ivith<br />
Mikey"—a)id he's about to extend his<br />
resume, as he's "juggling 10 projects<br />
)ight }iow." Among them are enrlij ivork on a couple of future Disney animated releases, "The<br />
Hwichback ofNotre Dame" and 'Hercules'— and, much nearer, the score for 'Pocahontas.<br />
BOXOFFICE: What drew you to music?<br />
MENKEN: As far back as I can remember, music— no pun intended— sttuck a chord in<br />
me. I played instmments from a very early age and was deeply affected and still am deeply<br />
affected by music. It's an innate thing. I'm drawn to it, I love music. Deeply.<br />
BOXOFFICE: Some observers belie\'e that, for musicals, what the Broadway stage<br />
was 50 years ago the Hollywood animated movie has become.<br />
MENKEN: Howard Ashman said, "Animation is tire last great home for the American<br />
musical." And it's absolutely tine. When a Disney animated film is released, it's released<br />
simultaneously everywhere, with the huge amount of support that once upon a time a<br />
Rodgers & Hammerstein musical would have had. An animated musical is a format that<br />
like no other allows you to look at and rewrite your work— in a sense, workshop it.<br />
BOXOFFICE: AVhy has Disney been more successful than other distributors, like<br />
Warner Bros, and Fox, in releasing animated musicals?<br />
MENKEN: The Disney legacy is veiy musical. Tliere's a history of projects drawing on<br />
scores that are highly influencedby musical thetitre. So there's something unique at Disney<br />
that is very attractive to and supportive of people who work in the theatre, especially<br />
musical theati'e.<br />
BOXOFFICE: What approach has your score to "Pocahontas" taken?<br />
MENKEN: "Pocahontas" is the most literal of all my projects, in tliat it's a factual story of<br />
a factual time and a tactual place. I've drawn on Baroque influences for the English settlers<br />
and tried to be as authentic as possible with the Native American music. Specifir^ly, I've<br />
listened to the music of the Eastern Indian tribes and the Algonquians— as opposed, say, to<br />
that oftlie Plains Indians— and tried to wed that into a score which clearly is musical theatre.<br />
BOXOFFICE: Someone once said that every musical ever written has a moment<br />
when the leading lady sits down on something and sings about her dreams in Ufe.<br />
Does "Pt>cahontas" use any of those Broadway conventions?<br />
MENKEN: Thafs a Howard Ashman quote— that's the way Howard would put things: "a<br />
moment where your leading lady sits down on something." Audrey sat down on a garbage<br />
ran. Belle sat down on the fountain and, yes, Pocahontas sits down on a canoe. But, yes,<br />
"Pocahontas" is a very classic musical. It has tlie "I want" moment, it has the big production<br />
number— "Mine Mine Mine," which is about the settlers' lust for gold— and of course the<br />
love song, the main song ofthe picture, "Colors ofthe Wind." It's a traditional arc ofa musical.<br />
BOXOFFICE: Mr. Ashman, of course, was one of the industry's many AIDS<br />
casualties. How has his death changed your life and work?<br />
MENKEN: The main impact has been emotional, in that I lost die person who was<br />
probably the most talented person I've ever known. Howard Ashman already had [a cultural<br />
impact] but he would have liad an impact on our culture tliat would have lasted for all time.<br />
And I lost a friend... Tlie AIDS crisis has had a terrible toll on everybody's lives and certainly<br />
on my career as well. The three people who were my main collaborators 10 years ago are<br />
gone. I can't him to people and say, "Remember this?"—Kim Williamson<br />
enough. But to hear Roy Disney tell it.<br />
June, 1995 9
change within The Walt Disney Co. was<br />
inevitable, and could have been said to be<br />
in the works at the time of Wells' death.<br />
"TWo or three years ago, Michael and<br />
Frank began talking about reinventing the<br />
company," says Disney, "about the seven<br />
year itch, the fact that you're sort ofdoomed<br />
to reinvent things in cycles that way. And<br />
so what happened in this last year, which of<br />
course not only included Frank's deadi, but<br />
to do — the responsibilities he wanted<br />
weren't there for him. They weren't available."<br />
Disney scofife at speculation that Disney<br />
Co.'s 1994 management shake-up resulted<br />
in part from his ovm desire to claim a more<br />
active role in the filmmaking division. "My<br />
role in the company is what it has been for<br />
almost the last 10 years," he says. "It's a little<br />
bit the owl in the tree, a litde bit the philosber<br />
24, 1984, a bunch of us went over to<br />
Lakeside Golf Club and had lunch after the<br />
board meeting. We were aU sitting there<br />
saying, 'Wow, we did it! Finally it's ovef— it<br />
had been a long year Michael looked at me<br />
and he said, 'Now that this is all over with,<br />
what do you want to do?' And absolutely out<br />
of instinct, I said, 'Wliy don't j-ou give me<br />
the animation department? Because although<br />
I never was an animator, I know<br />
them all, I grew up around them.<br />
Disney promises<br />
some new creative<br />
plateaus in<br />
"Pocahontas:^'<br />
"I think you'll<br />
probably see<br />
better 'acting'<br />
of human figures<br />
than you 've ever<br />
seen before.<br />
also eartiiquakes and Hres (in Southern California],<br />
plus the whole overly public thing<br />
with Jeffrey Katzenberg, was that we wound<br />
up reinventing the company. Not because<br />
we just did it of our own volition, but because<br />
it kind of happened to us."<br />
Disney is seated in a sort of living symbol<br />
of that reinvention: the giant, "Sorcerer's<br />
Apprentice"-derived "magic hat" that is the<br />
architectural centerpiece of Disney's gargantuan<br />
new Animation Building. In a<br />
move fraught with all kinds of symbolism,<br />
Roy Disney (who has made the long-rtimored<br />
"Fantasia" redux "Fantasia Continued"<br />
what he calls his "pet project") is<br />
making his corporate home in the still-unfinished<br />
and highly reverberant cement interior<br />
of the pointed, star-emblazoned,<br />
three-story hat itself— so much so that tlie<br />
early portions of this conversation are given<br />
over to such problems as the hat's unique<br />
ventilation and lighting challenges.<br />
Ostensibly, we're here to discuss<br />
"Pocahontas," Disney's 33rd animated feature.<br />
But if Roy Disney doesn't quite seem<br />
to relish them, he doesn't shy away from the<br />
inevitable questions about his (rumored to<br />
be critical) role in Kiitzenberg's departure.<br />
"I think the jierson that had the most to<br />
do with it was Jeffrey," Disney says diplomatically.<br />
"1 think in a psychological sense<br />
it was time for him to move on. The things<br />
he wanted— and this was said over and over<br />
again in the meetings about what he wanted<br />
opher Not too much hands on, and veiy<br />
much deliberately so on my part, because<br />
I've always thought I worked better at a littie<br />
bit of a distance. You keep things in perspective."<br />
Tlie exception to Roy Disney's "hands off"<br />
rule would appear to be Disney animation,<br />
where he is highly visible these days. As<br />
mentioned, his office is now located in the<br />
hub of a building where Disney hopes to<br />
manufacttire tlie next generation of animated<br />
hits, films to stand beside not only<br />
formative classics like "Snow White,"<br />
"Pinocchio" and "Dumbo," but also the films<br />
of what could be called the Eisner era's<br />
"second renaissance": "The Little Mermaid,<br />
"Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "The Lion<br />
King" and (hopefully) "Pocahontas." And<br />
when the studio finally got around to releasing<br />
"Snow White" to home video this year, it<br />
was Roy Disney who taped a special introduction<br />
to the work that transformed his<br />
uncle into an industry visionary: producer<br />
of the first fully animated theatrical feature.<br />
Circumstantially, it could therefore be<br />
argued that Roy Disney is indeed pursuing<br />
a higher profile since Katzenberg's exit. But<br />
according to Disney, the reality of tiic situation<br />
is somewhat different.<br />
"I've certainly been more involved with<br />
animation than with any other aspect of tlie<br />
company for these past 10 years," Disney<br />
says. "On the day ofthe election to the board<br />
of Michael and Frank, which was Septemand<br />
I know that there's more to<br />
drat department then presentiy is e\'ident<br />
on the surface.'"<br />
The very first thing Roy Disney did in his<br />
new executive capacity was to take a look at<br />
the expensive animated feature the new<br />
regime had just inherited from the old<br />
one—a 70mm boondoggle called "The Black<br />
Cauldron" wliich had consumed a then-startling<br />
$35 million (or roughly the same<br />
amount it cost to make Michael Cimino's<br />
studio-busting "Heaven's Gate" during tlie<br />
same era). His reaction was prescient; "Oh<br />
God," he thought of the film that would<br />
become Disney animation's all-time money<br />
loser, "This is a big bad problem. So I said,<br />
'What else is going on?' And they said, 'Well,<br />
John Musker and Roger Clemens are working<br />
on a little thing called 'Basil of Baker<br />
Street...' And I diought, 'Well this is more like<br />
it.'"<br />
After dragging Wells and Eisner dirough<br />
offices, corridors and accessways dirougliout<br />
the old Animation Department while<br />
Musker and Clemens (who would later codirect<br />
"The Little Mermaid" and "Aladdin")<br />
acted out the story of "Basil of Biiker Street"<br />
before some 45 floor-to-ceiling stoiyboaixis,<br />
the new Disney regime "greonlightcd" its<br />
first animated feature, "Tlu^ Great Mouse<br />
Detective," an inexpensive Sherlock<br />
Holmes piirody tliat pioneered much of<br />
what would come to fmition in Disney's<br />
later animated efforts— including Disney's<br />
first<br />
use of computer animation, a process<br />
1 B()XO|-KI('K
which has transformed the animation department<br />
in the years since. "This was before<br />
Jeffrey Katzenberg even got here,"<br />
Disney points out. "This was literally in<br />
about the first 10 days."<br />
ofwhich illustrates the fact that Roy<br />
AllDisney is entitled to a measurable<br />
portion of the credit for the "miracle"<br />
which— in the 10 and a half years since the<br />
Wells-Eisner regime took the corporate<br />
reigns— has transmuted tlie Disney Co.<br />
from an anemic Hollywood also-ran into<br />
the most profitable theatrical distributor in<br />
motion picture history— a process which<br />
climaxed in 1994, when, despite managerial<br />
turbulence, Disney became the first studio<br />
to generate more than $1 billion in ticket<br />
sales in a single calendar year<br />
Last year's stunning fiscal achievements<br />
were paced by animation, thanks to "The<br />
Lion King's" well over $300 million gross. So<br />
there's a lot riding on "Pocahontas," Disney's<br />
animated retelling of the memoirs of Captain<br />
John Smith, who might have met his<br />
end on a Native American chopping block<br />
if not for the intervention of the maiden<br />
Pocahontas.<br />
Disney animated films are often lightning<br />
rods for controversy from the PC<br />
thought police, so an animated feature<br />
about early encounters between English<br />
settlers and the original inhabitants ofNorth<br />
America might seem like a gutsy move. But<br />
despite remaining sensitive to ethnic issues,<br />
Disney says the primary concerns of the<br />
people who made "Pocahontas" were artistic<br />
ones— the presentation ofbe'<br />
true that the English came over here in a<br />
pretty greedy mode, represented by Radcliffe.<br />
All he did was want to get rich and go<br />
home to get knighted, and he made a mess<br />
out ofthe countryside trying to do that... But<br />
on the other hand, John Smith gets out there<br />
[among the Native Americans] and finds out<br />
that they're folks too.<br />
"['Pocahontas'] is a story about how people<br />
have to live together People have to<br />
learn to make peace with each other. Even<br />
though they're very, very different, they<br />
have to live on the same land. And God<br />
knows, it's a story that's applicable in a hell<br />
of a lot of places in the world today."<br />
As to the critical tradition ofbashing Disney<br />
features for failing to pass political litmus<br />
tests, Disney credits the phenomenon<br />
to the fable-like quality animation possesses.<br />
"It has a tendency to be bigger than<br />
life," he says. "You can find anything if you<br />
look hard enough, even if it isn't really<br />
there." He laughs when asked if he feels<br />
Disney films have an obligation to present<br />
positive role models. "Once in awhile you<br />
feel like Charles Barkley. You want to say, 'I<br />
don't want to be a goddamn role model.' I<br />
think what we want to do first is tell good<br />
stories. And what comes out of tlie stories is<br />
hopefully nice little lessons about life."<br />
He promises some new creative plateaus<br />
in "Pocahontas"— "I think you'll probably<br />
see better 'acting' of human figures than<br />
you've ever seen before" is the way he puts<br />
it, using the characteristic Disney Co. euphemism<br />
for bringing animated figures to<br />
life. The decision to go with pictorial "realfeature:<br />
Mel Gibson, voicing Captain John<br />
Smith.<br />
All in all, "Pocahontas" would seem to<br />
have a fair shot at continuing the unprecedented<br />
succession of hits Disney Co. entered<br />
into beginning with "Little<br />
Mermaid"— a string of films ("Mennaid,"<br />
"Beauty and the Beast," "Aladdin," "Lion<br />
King") in which each film has outdone the<br />
one before it to become the all-time animated<br />
boxoffice champ. Roy Disney clearly<br />
wouldn't be averse to the idea of<br />
"Pocahontas" matching or surpassing "Lion<br />
King's" $31 4 million gross, but he sees such<br />
comparisons as fruitless speculation, and<br />
ultimately counterproductive. "It's been<br />
this wild ride," he says, "which has to end<br />
somewhere, really."<br />
Whatever the commercial outcome of<br />
"Pocahontas," Roy Disney is clearly proud<br />
of what the company that bears his uncle's<br />
and father's name has achieved in tlie decade<br />
since he took up his current stams as<br />
Disney's "owl in the tree." The future looks<br />
good to him, and he seems to know in his<br />
heart that, whatever the speculation maybe<br />
during the ups and downs that afflict any<br />
business from time to time, what he has<br />
helped to build will stand.<br />
"Look at the size of this building," he says,<br />
his gesture taking in all of Disney Animation<br />
and beyond. "And look at the bright<br />
people that are here. At this point, there's a<br />
juggernaut going here. And Michael [Eisnerj's<br />
still here, you know, and Michael<br />
loves movies more than anything. He's<br />
down here a lot now. He had been kind of<br />
"My role in the<br />
company is what<br />
it has been for the<br />
last 10 years. It's<br />
a little bit the owl<br />
in the tree, a little<br />
bit the philosopher.<br />
I've always<br />
thought I worked<br />
better at a little<br />
bitofadistance.'^<br />
lievable, fiilly rounded characters<br />
in a well-told tale.<br />
"Because this awfiil term political correctness<br />
keeps coming up, I think we've tried<br />
very hard to be even-handed on both sides<br />
of the issue," he says. "Every Indian isn't a<br />
noble savage. They're people, too... The<br />
same is true of the English. It's absolutely<br />
ism" reflects the basis of the story in "fact"—<br />
or what Disney wisely refers to as its being<br />
"based on a true legend," given the novelistic<br />
exaggerations in John Smith's original<br />
"memoirs." And "Pocahontas" boasts the<br />
vocal talents ofa man who maybe the single<br />
biggest star ever to grace a Disney animated<br />
kept at arm's length in this department for<br />
a long time, so now he's getting to know a<br />
lot of people. He comes to me like once a<br />
week, and says, 'This guy that we're working<br />
with on so and so, what a bright guy.'<br />
And I say, 'Yeah, I told you. There's an awful<br />
lot of flowers blooming in this place.'"<br />
June, 1995 11
SNEAK PREVIEW<br />
A WHALE OF A TALE<br />
With<br />
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner<br />
Discusses Making "Free Willy 2"<br />
By Wade Major<br />
Producer Lauren Shuler Donner and director Dwight Little<br />
on the set of "Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home.<br />
the success of<br />
1993's "Free Willy,"<br />
producers Lauren Shuler<br />
Donner and Jennie Lew<br />
Tligend proved that tlie elusive<br />
of conscience and com-<br />
flision<br />
merce needn't be so elusive after<br />
all. The simple honesty of a 12-<br />
year-old boy's relationship witli a<br />
captive killer whale touched theatregoers<br />
worldwide, validating<br />
the filmmakers' belief tliat environmentally<br />
themed movies<br />
could find a receptive audience.<br />
Since thattime, the "Free WiUy"<br />
francliise has grown to include a<br />
hit animated TV series, a merchandising<br />
mini-empire and the<br />
cx)ming sequel, "Free Willy 2: Tlie<br />
Adventure Home." For a liandson<br />
producer like Shuler Donner,<br />
however, the franchise momentum<br />
alone didn't provide sufficient<br />
guarantee ofa second film's<br />
success. "A sequel was a challenge,<br />
because so many sequels<br />
are made tliat aren't good and<br />
you will inevitably be compared<br />
to the first one," says Shuler<br />
Donner, sitting in her Domier/<br />
Lauren^Shuler Donner Productions<br />
ofiice on the Warner Bros,<br />
lot. "Our attitude was that we had<br />
U > mak(' it betterthiin the lirsl one.<br />
And 1 Uimk we did that. Anotlu'r<br />
challenge was tliat we made it so<br />
much bigger There are four<br />
whales instead of one, and tliere<br />
are diree kids instead of one."<br />
The story of "Free Willy 2"<br />
picks up two years later and<br />
finds Willy and young Jesse<br />
(Jason James Richter, reprising<br />
his role ) botli dealing wifli family<br />
ti"oubles. While Willy contends<br />
with an unruly brother<br />
and sister in his orca pod,<br />
Jesse experiences friction<br />
with a half-brother named<br />
Elvis (Francis Capra). An<br />
unexpected but welcome<br />
reunion of the two friends<br />
occurs in the waters of the<br />
Pacific Northwest, but tlieir<br />
happiness is cut short by an<br />
offshore oil spill tliat threatens<br />
to doom Willy's family<br />
if Jesse and his friends<br />
can't mobilize help in time.<br />
Filmed on and around<br />
Washington State's San<br />
Juan Islands, where Shuler<br />
Donner and her husband, director<br />
Richard Donner, have a<br />
home;, "Free Willy 2" strikes a<br />
personal chord for her From<br />
their island home, says Shuler<br />
Donner, "my husband and I<br />
often see oil tankers coming by.<br />
Because we have so much marines<br />
life by our house— whales<br />
and diilphiiis and se.ils and otters—it's<br />
frightening to think<br />
there could be a spill right there.<br />
It could wipe them all out."<br />
Despite the seriousness ofthe<br />
film's subject matter, Shuler<br />
Donner— whose earlier credits<br />
include "Dave," "St. Elmo's Fire"<br />
and "Mr Mom"—knew they had<br />
to meet audience expectations if<br />
the sequel were to match its<br />
predecessor's<br />
fine success with<br />
families. After<br />
clearing the initial<br />
hurdle of reuniting<br />
tiie<br />
cast<br />
(including Keiko<br />
the whale, plus<br />
Richter, Michael<br />
Madsen, Jayne<br />
Atkinson, August<br />
Schellenberg<br />
and Mykelti<br />
Williamson), the producers<br />
worked closely with director<br />
Dwight Littie ("Rapid Fire" and<br />
"Marked for Death") and writers<br />
J^ren Janszen, Corey Blechman<br />
and John Mattson to expand<br />
on the original's sense of<br />
friendship and humanity while<br />
striking a balance with the<br />
sequel's action sequences.<br />
"We were very conscious to<br />
make sure tiiat we were going to<br />
be honest in tenns ofemotions,<br />
Shuler Donner says. "I was actually<br />
afraid that fliere was too<br />
much action, too much danger<br />
There's a lot at the end. My fear<br />
at that point was, 'Are we going<br />
too far?' Because when some-<br />
"Passion takes you a<br />
long way. Ifyou love<br />
what you 're doing,<br />
ifyou believe in<br />
yourself, that's<br />
your barometer.<br />
thing gets scan',<br />
when there's<br />
too much jeopardy, children<br />
don't like it. So I was the voice<br />
of restraint. Counterbalancing<br />
that was Dwight, who said,<br />
'Let's do it.' And what came out<br />
of that was perfect."<br />
Stoic believers in practicing<br />
what they preach, the production<br />
team also matic certain that<br />
the film's shoot was as environmentally<br />
responsible as the<br />
film's underljdng message. One<br />
of the stickier challenges, notes<br />
the Cleveland-bom producer,<br />
was simulating a real-life oil spill<br />
without suffering the real-life<br />
consequences. "We couldn't put<br />
any substance in the water,"<br />
Shuler Donner says. "We tried<br />
making oil out of molasses or<br />
oatmeal and<br />
other friendly<br />
substances, but it<br />
was still gook on<br />
the water that<br />
would obstruct<br />
the photosyntliesis<br />
of eel grass."<br />
But the film's<br />
key environmental<br />
concern remained<br />
the wellbeing<br />
of Keiko,<br />
the now-famous orca. "We're<br />
sending him up to an Oregon<br />
coastal aquarium that takes in<br />
wounded mammals and heals<br />
them," explains Shuler Donner<br />
of her Willy star, which lias long<br />
been battling a skin virus. "We're<br />
building a bigger tank and hopefiilly<br />
we'll have a four-year rehabilitation<br />
program, after which<br />
the scientists and doctors will<br />
say we can reintroduce him to<br />
the waters where he was captured."<br />
(For fllmgoers wishing to<br />
contribute to a fund for Keiko's<br />
care, an 800 ninnber will iim on<br />
all prints of "Free Willy 2.")<br />
Even as audiences ready for<br />
the sequel's release, Shuler<br />
Donner is hard at work on<br />
do it.<br />
ftmire productions, including<br />
big-screen adaptations<br />
of "Jonny Quest" and<br />
"Speed Racer" "I learned<br />
that passion takes you a<br />
long way," she says of the<br />
drive that has carried her<br />
into the ranks of Hollywood's<br />
most respected producers.<br />
"If you love what<br />
you're doing, ifyoubeliovr<br />
in yourself, tliat's your<br />
barometer Don't do it because<br />
somebody told you to<br />
TYust your, instincts and<br />
follow your passions."<br />
F)n: Willij 2: The Advcntwv<br />
Home" Starring Jason James<br />
Richter Directed by Dwight Little<br />
Written by Karen Jaitszcn, Co)vy<br />
Blechman and John Mattson. Pivduced<br />
by Lawr.n Shuler Donner<br />
and Jennie Lew Tiigend. A<br />
Wtinicr Bros releasf July 2L<br />
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B0695
SNEAK PREVIEW<br />
A FAMILY "TIE"<br />
Actress Moira Kelly Reveals Her<br />
Maternal Side In ''The Tie That Binds "<br />
By Kim Williamson<br />
Moira Kelly with director Wesiey Stricif and co-star Julia Devin<br />
on the set of Buena Vista 's "The Tie That Binds. "<br />
Kelly believes that,<br />
Moira<br />
in real life, being a<br />
mother is the "role of a<br />
lifetime." At this point in her<br />
career, the 26-year-old remains<br />
single and childless but, with<br />
her new role in "The Tie That<br />
Binds" Kelly can live her dream<br />
at least on the big screen.<br />
In the thriller, which marks<br />
the directorial debut of screenwriter<br />
Wesley Strick ("Cape<br />
Fear"), Kelly plays an adoptive<br />
mother of a six-year-old girl<br />
whose biological parents (Keith<br />
Carradine and Daryl Hannah)<br />
come calling for their progenywhile<br />
they're on the run for<br />
murder "It is my job to protect<br />
this child," explains Kelly, sitting<br />
in her trailer while taking a<br />
noon break from a fall day's<br />
shoot in Pasadena, Calif "And I<br />
never thought that I would be<br />
called upon so early in the relationship<br />
with the child to protect<br />
her this way. lb be tested."<br />
Well known for her turns as<br />
coming-of-age women in the<br />
likes of "The Cutting Edge" and<br />
"With Honors," Kelly sees her<br />
role in this Interscope production<br />
as a test of another sort— at<br />
least in producers' eyes, who<br />
might be unaccustomed to "th(!<br />
idea of me playing a<br />
motlier"<br />
When Disney's Hollywood Pictures<br />
releases "The Tie That<br />
Binds" this August, Kelly hopes<br />
that "Hollywood will look at me<br />
and say, 'Okay, I can see it:<br />
Moira Kelly can play a mom.' It's<br />
been hard for me to prove to<br />
them that I can play a 20-yearold<br />
sometimes," she says,<br />
chuckling. "They see me as the<br />
young college girl, or even<br />
back in high school."<br />
For those that know<br />
Kelly well, though, her<br />
playing a mother must<br />
seem like typecasting.<br />
Growing up in a small Long<br />
Island town, "I just wanted<br />
to be married and to be<br />
happy ever after," she recalls.<br />
"I used to babysit a lot,<br />
and I used to be a nanny.<br />
So all those old tricks and<br />
instinctual things that I had<br />
when I was taking care of<br />
kids back tlien are coming back<br />
to me [on the set] and reminding<br />
me of times I had working with<br />
kids. Really .good, fun times.<br />
Julia [Dcvin, who plays tlie little<br />
girl] is amazing and so much<br />
fun. Children are so creative<br />
and imaginative that they just<br />
bring you to life all over again. I<br />
feel warming, maternal emotions<br />
on this film."<br />
Outside movie sets,<br />
though,<br />
her life is a different story. "Why<br />
am I not a mom yet?" she asks<br />
rhetorically, laughing. "It takes<br />
another partner, actually, for<br />
that to happen. This is something<br />
I like a lot of people who<br />
are looking to get into this business<br />
to realize: It's not as easy a<br />
life as you think. It means sacrificing<br />
a lot of<br />
things like timi<br />
,<br />
and a settled<br />
place— especially<br />
being in my position<br />
and at my<br />
age. Still kind of<br />
starting,<br />
getting<br />
in fliere, proviny<br />
myself. You're<br />
always moving<br />
here for three<br />
months, then<br />
here for three months. Tiying to<br />
get someone to accept tliat—<br />
that you're going to be away for<br />
that amount of time— is hard. I<br />
don't like being away from my<br />
family and friends all the time.<br />
I don't like not being able to plan<br />
things months in advance because<br />
you don't know where<br />
you'll be. It takes a lot out ofyou<br />
to be in this business."<br />
When she's not at work, Kelly<br />
is more than likely to be back<br />
home with her parents. "Family<br />
is everything," Kelly says.<br />
"Tliey'll accept you for anything<br />
you do. They'll love you through<br />
everything, they'll support you<br />
through everything. They'll al-<br />
"Family is everything.<br />
They 11 accept you for<br />
anything you do. They'll<br />
love you through everything<br />
[and] they 7/ always<br />
be there if you need them. "<br />
ways be there if you need them.<br />
And th(!y're the most honest<br />
people that you'll ever come<br />
across. They'll tell you exactly<br />
what you need to know."<br />
Those etlnics, of course, aren't<br />
commonly regarded as tliose of<br />
Hollywood, and Kelly's involvement<br />
with the entertainment<br />
industry strikes some as surprising<br />
because she is a di'vout<br />
Catholic— as if Holh^wood and<br />
Catholicism were entirely<br />
different<br />
creeds. "Well, Hollj'wood<br />
and anything are entirely different<br />
creeds," she says, laughing.<br />
"HoUy^vood is a world all its own."<br />
Another frequent point of interest<br />
in Kelly is how she balances<br />
her religious beliefs ^sath<br />
the nude scenes she's done—<br />
and has since rethought<br />
her position<br />
on. "I find<br />
nothing wrong<br />
with the naked<br />
body," Kelly says.<br />
"I'm capable of<br />
going to museums<br />
and looking<br />
at sculptures and<br />
paintings and<br />
being 'responsible'<br />
for the beauty<br />
of the piece, rather than<br />
some perversion of the piece.<br />
But in movies it's too easy for too<br />
many people oftoo many different<br />
backgrounds, too many beliefs,<br />
to go and see what it is that<br />
you are doing. I don't think a<br />
majority of audience members<br />
are 'responsible' to the actual<br />
piece they're watching. Thej'<br />
should say, 'I'm not here to get<br />
my kicks from looking at a<br />
naked body.' But all a lot of people<br />
see is the naked body and<br />
they go 'off So I look at it now<br />
as mv responsibility not to give<br />
them something to go 'off on."<br />
(As fate would have it, Kelly's<br />
next project is "Dorothy Day," a<br />
tjiopic about a 1920s Catholic<br />
relief worker/activist.<br />
The film is being made by<br />
Paulist Productions.)<br />
As for what her own fixture<br />
holds, Kelly says tlie<br />
day may come when Hollywood<br />
no longer entices<br />
her "Everyone says, 'Don't<br />
say that! Don't let anyone<br />
know that!' But it's true. I'm<br />
happy to be here, but tliis is<br />
not If for me. Maybe one<br />
day I w\\ be mairied \\'ith<br />
kids, and I'd like that."<br />
Which is no surprise. As Krll\-<br />
says, "Family. That's it."<br />
TIjc Tic Tliat Biiuis Stamng<br />
'<br />
Moira Kettij, Da>yl Hannah, Vincent<br />
Spano and Keith Canadinc<br />
Directed by Wesley Strick. Wntten<br />
by Michael Anerbach An Interscope<br />
pwditction A Buena Vista<br />
release. August.<br />
14 BOXOFFICE
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SYU/AIMIA<br />
Response No 29
TRAILERS: JULY<br />
Under Siege II: Dark Territory<br />
In this action/thriller sec|uel to the New<br />
Regency success, an ex-Navy SEAL (Steven<br />
Seagal) tries to prevent a renegade technoexpert<br />
("Talk Radio's" Eric Bogosian) from<br />
destroying the Pentagon and Washington.<br />
Katherine Heigl ("My Father, the Hero") and<br />
Morris Chestnut ("Boyz N the Hood") co-star.<br />
Geoff Murphy ("Freejack") directs; original<br />
writer J. F. Lawtonand Donjakoby ("Arachnophobia")<br />
script; Regency head Arnon Milchan<br />
produces with Seagal and with Steve Perry<br />
("True Romance"). (Warner, 7/14)<br />
First Knight<br />
This romantic adventure puts a spin on the classic Arthurian tale by being<br />
told from the point of view of the rogue kniqht, Lancelot (Richard Gere),<br />
who falls in love with Lady Guinevere ("Legends of the Fall's" Julia<br />
Ormond), wife of the beloved King Arthur (Sean Connery). Jerry Zucker<br />
("Ghost") directs and produces; Wifliam Nicholson ("Nell"' scripts. The film<br />
follows UA's "Rob Roy" and Paromount's "Braveheart" in the studios'<br />
Middle Ages movie competition. (Columbia, 7/7]<br />
Waterworld<br />
In a future when the continents have been<br />
covered by ocean, a sohtary gilled-andwebbed<br />
hero (Kevin Costner) takes a woman<br />
(leanne Tripplehorn) and an orphan (Tina<br />
Majorino) to find a safe haven. Dennis Hopper<br />
is the leader of marauding pirates. Kevin<br />
Reynolds (who teamed with pal Costner for<br />
"Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" and helmed<br />
the Costner-produced South Seas saga "Rapa<br />
Nui") directs; David Twohy ("Terminal Velocity")<br />
co-scripts; Costner, Chuck Gordon ("Die<br />
Hard") and John Davis ("The Firm") produce<br />
this epic, whose record budget, once estimated<br />
at $130 million, could have docked<br />
seaward of $ 1 75 million. ((Jniversal, 7/28)<br />
Cutthroat Island<br />
Another big budgeteer, this high-seas adventure<br />
stars Ceena Davis and Matthew Modine<br />
("Wind") in a 1 7th-century tale of a feisty<br />
maiden, a dashing gambler, black-hearted<br />
pirates, duels, death, bleached bones and<br />
glidinggalleons. "Cliffhanger's" Renny Harlin<br />
(Davis' spouse and production partner) directs<br />
and produces; executive producing is Mario<br />
Kassar, head of the often-epic-delivering<br />
but as-often-financially-teetering Caroico<br />
{"12," "Stargate"), which sold other development<br />
assets to fund production. (MGM/UA)<br />
Operation Dumbo Drop<br />
Danny (,l(jvi'r ("liopha!"), Kay Liotta ("No<br />
Escape") ,v^d Denis Leary ("The Ret") team in<br />
this Vietnam-era story about Green Berets<br />
who are assigned especially ha^^ardous duty:<br />
transporting an elephant. Simon Wincer<br />
("Lightning lack") directs this Inters; ope production.<br />
(Buena Vista, 7/14)<br />
The Indian in the Cupboard<br />
A boy ("Searching for Bobby Fischer's" Hal<br />
Scardino) discovers that a toy Indian can<br />
transport him to a world of adventure. Lindsay<br />
Crouse ("Bye Bye, Love") and Richard Jenkins<br />
("It Could Happen to You") co-star for director<br />
Frank Oz ("Housesitter"). Melissa Mathison<br />
Kathleen Kennedy ,\nd frank<br />
("E.T.") scripls;<br />
Marshall (the "Congo" team) produce with<br />
Scholastic Prods.' Jane Startz ("The Babysitters<br />
Club"). The $45 million film is a coproduction<br />
with Columbia, which handles<br />
overseas theatrical. (Paramount, 7/1 4)<br />
The Tenderfoot<br />
Contentious cub scouts on a tamping trip<br />
mistake an escaped (but innocent) convii t for<br />
an experienced guide. Daniel Stern ("City<br />
slickers") stars and executive produces; Greg<br />
Beeman ("Mom and Dad Save the World")<br />
directs; scripting is a lag-team trio— I'eter &<br />
Bobby Farrclly ("Dumb & Dumber"), Thomas<br />
Russell Swerdlow (S< Mi( hael Scott Cioldberg<br />
("Cool Runnings") and letfrcy Price & Peter<br />
Seaman ("Doc Hollywood"). (Fox, 7/28)<br />
An Awfully Big Adventure<br />
Two key talents from "Four Weddings and<br />
a Funeral"—star Hugh Grant and director<br />
Mike Newell— rejoin for this '50s-era Liverpool<br />
tale about a rebellious 1 6-year-old (newcomer<br />
Georgina Gates) who takes a job with<br />
a local theatre company, forms a crush on its<br />
heartless director (Grant) yet charms his cast<br />
with her naive yet ingenuous beliefs. The<br />
arrival of a local theatre star (Alan Rickman<br />
from "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves") called<br />
in to save a production of "Peter Pan" makes<br />
the mix only more combustible. Peter Firth<br />
("Shadowlands") co-stars. Charles Wood<br />
adapts the Beryl Bainbridge novel. (Fine Line)<br />
The Innocent<br />
In post-World War II Europe, a naive but<br />
highly skilled technician (Campbell Scott)<br />
sent to assist a joint U.S./British intelligence<br />
team on a secret operation. Against the advice<br />
of an older colleague (Anthony Hopkins), he<br />
has a dangerous love affair with a mysterious<br />
Berlinerdsabella RossellinD.JohnSchlesinger<br />
("Yanks") directs; Ian McEwan ("The Good<br />
Son") adapts his best seller. (Miramax)<br />
Smoking and No Smoking<br />
Companion tilnis In I leruh director Alain<br />
Resnais follow seven characters through variations<br />
of experiences that occur after a<br />
schoolmaster's wife decides whether to<br />
smoke a cigarette. Sabine Azema and Pierre<br />
Arditi (Resnais' "Mon Oncle D'Amerique")<br />
star in this adaptation (by lean-Pierre Bacri<br />
and Agnes laoui) of playwright Alan<br />
Ayckbourn's "Intimate Exchanges." (October)<br />
A NOTE TO OUR READERS:<br />
Our Trailers section is<br />
designed to provide<br />
long-lead information on<br />
films slated to premiere in<br />
the month after our cover<br />
date. For current titles<br />
and release dates, please<br />
consult the Studio and<br />
Independent Feature<br />
Charts in each issue.<br />
is<br />
16 UOXOII'ICK
Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home<br />
Actors Jason James Richter, Jayne Atkinson,<br />
Michael Madsen and August Schellenberg,<br />
co-scripter Cory Blechman and producers<br />
Lauren Shuler Donner and Jennie Lew Tugend<br />
all return for this sequel (to the summer 1 993<br />
hit), which finds the boy Jesse and his nowfreed<br />
orca Willy once again joining forces to<br />
overcome troubles. Dwight Little ("Rapid<br />
Fire") directs. 5ee our Sneak Preview on page<br />
/2. (Warner, 7/21)<br />
Living in Oblivion<br />
Steve Buscemi ("Airheads") stars as a firsttime<br />
filmmaker fighting to complete a lowbudget<br />
production despite two explosions,<br />
two nervous breakdowns and a melee of fisticuffs.<br />
Dermot Mulroney and James Le Cros<br />
(both from "Bad Girls") and Danielle von<br />
Zerneck ("La Bamba") co-star for writer/director<br />
Tom DiCillo, who won Sundance's screenplay<br />
award with this film. (Sony Classics)<br />
Plein Soleil<br />
This re-release of Rene Clement's 1959<br />
French classic (originally called "Purple Noon"<br />
stateside) is based on the Patricia Highsmith<br />
novel "The Incredible Mr. Ripley" and stars<br />
Alain Delon as an angelic-looking young man<br />
who can't hold a job but is the darling of the<br />
social set. When his father offers to pay him to<br />
bring back an errant son, he travels to Italy and<br />
lives the good life with his brother until the<br />
money dries up—and then discovers a more<br />
sinister way to maintain his lifestyle. Clement<br />
also co-adapts with Paul Gegauff. (Miramax)<br />
Roosters<br />
A story of a Latino family struggling to succeed<br />
in the Southwest, "Roosters" stars Edward<br />
James Olmos, Sonia Braga ("Moon Over Parador")<br />
and Maria Conchita Alonso ("The House<br />
of the Spirits"). Robert M. Young ("American<br />
Me") directs and Milcha Sanchez-Scott scripts<br />
this KCET Theatrical production. (I.R.S.)<br />
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 18)<br />
New In June...<br />
"Bandit Queen," directed by Shekhar<br />
Kapur ("Masoom"). is based on the reallife<br />
prison diaries or the recently released<br />
Phoolan Devi, who's accused of massacring<br />
upper-caste men, yet who's worshipped<br />
as the Goddess of Flowers.<br />
(Arrow)... "Mod F— Explosion," directed<br />
by Jon Moritsugu, tells of dysfunctional<br />
teenagers trying to find love in a chaotic<br />
world, and 'Liaoilify Crisis," directed by<br />
Richard Brody, relates a young Jewish<br />
man's sexual hangups and his obsession<br />
with the Holocaust. (Filmhaus)...From<br />
Senegal comes "Hyenas," a drama directed<br />
by Djibril Diop Mambety (Kino).<br />
Held Over...<br />
Nicole Kidman and Matt Dillon star in<br />
Columbia's TV-age satire "To Die For"<br />
(see January issue), now 7/21. Buck<br />
Henry ("The Graduate") scripts; Laura<br />
Ziskin f'Pretty Woman") produces. Director<br />
Gus Van Sant is famous and infamous<br />
for the art-house hims "My Own<br />
Private Idado" and "Even Cowgirls Get<br />
the Blues"... Alicia Silverstone remakes<br />
Beverly Hills teens in Poromount's "Clueless,"<br />
now 7/28 (see May issue). ..Ben<br />
Kingsley and Forest Whitaker fight a<br />
dangerous mutant in MGM's "Species,"<br />
now 7/7 (see May issue).<br />
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ANNIVERSARY<br />
D DOLBY<br />
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DOLBY<br />
DIGITAL<br />
^n*. an-"""<br />
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THEATRES<br />
THE WORLD LEADER IN DOLBY DIGITAL INSTALLATIONS
Friends<br />
This story of three South African women<br />
stars "Shallow Grave's" Kerry Fox as a white<br />
political activist, Michele Burgers as an<br />
Afrikaner archaeologist and Dambisa Kente<br />
as a black teacher, all ofwhom are roommates<br />
in Johannesburg. When the activist plants a<br />
bomb that kills two innocent people, the<br />
women's friendships are tested. South African<br />
Elaine Proctor makes her directing/writing<br />
debut; Judith Hunt produces for England's<br />
Film Four. (First Run)<br />
Kids<br />
A day in the lives of three teenagers in New<br />
York s Washington Square Park is chronicled<br />
in this directing debut of lensman Larry Clark.<br />
The script is by Harmony Korine, a 19-yearold<br />
the director met while photographing<br />
young people in the square. Cary Woods<br />
Nine IVIonths<br />
From director/writer/producer Chris Columbus ("Mrs. Doubtfire") comes this<br />
sfory about the ups and downs of pregnancy, told from the perspective of two<br />
expectant husbands. One, who has three daughters, dreams of having a son;<br />
the other, who's childless, lives in fear of life with a baby. Hugh Grant stars<br />
withTom Arnold, Julianne Moore, Jeff Goldblum and Joan CusacK. (Fox, 7/1 4)<br />
("Threesome") produces; Cus Van Sant executive<br />
produces; Christine Vachon and Lauren<br />
Zaiaznick (the "Swoon" duo) co-produce.<br />
The film was expected to be rated NC-17,<br />
causing Miramax and parent Disney—which<br />
had the same problem last spring with "You<br />
So Crazy"—more controversy. (Miramax)<br />
Roy Cohn/Jack Smitli<br />
Two gays— a homophobic right-wing lawyer<br />
and an underground artist, who both died<br />
of AIDS in the 1980s—are the subjects of this<br />
one-man performance by Ron Vawter. jil<br />
Godmilow ("Waiting for the Moon") directs the<br />
Jonathan Demme presentation. (Strand, 7/14)<br />
Two Plus One<br />
Eugene Martin's romantic comedy about<br />
relationships among Philadelphia yuppies<br />
stars Hal Hartley constant William Sage<br />
("Simple Men," "Trust") and Deirdre Lewis<br />
(sister of Juliette). (Filmhaus)<br />
Tlie Plutonium Circus<br />
This whimsical look at what happens at the<br />
final assembly point for American nuclear<br />
weapons now that the Cold War is over won<br />
the best documentary nod at Austin's South<br />
by Southwest film test in March. Director/producer<br />
George Ratliff takes his cameras to<br />
Amarillo's Pantex Nuclear Facility, which<br />
now handles the dismantling of the MIRVs<br />
and ICBMs it once put together. (Greycat)<br />
Blaxploitation Festival<br />
The likes ot "Superfly," "Uptown Saturday<br />
Night," "Cleopatra Jones" and "Coffy" return<br />
to the big screen via this fest of blaxploitation<br />
efforts. (Kit Parker, 7/20 NY & San Francisco)<br />
Dangerous IVIinds<br />
Michelle Pfeiffer stars as a compassionate woman who exits the Marines to<br />
be an inner-city schoolteacher and fights to change a complacent educational<br />
system that no longer educates in this film that earlier bore the title "My Posse<br />
Don't Do Homework." George Dzundza ("Crimson Tide") co-stars for director<br />
John N. Smith; the dynamic duo of Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer ("Bad<br />
Boys") produce for FHollywood Pictures; Oscar winner Ron Bass ("Rain Man")<br />
adapts the nonfiction book by Louanne Johnson. (Buena Vista, 7/28)<br />
Country Life<br />
A turn-of-the-century Australian sheep<br />
farm is thrown into chaos with the arrival of<br />
a long-lost son-in-law, whose sophisticated<br />
manners and new English wife threaten to<br />
unbalance the farmers' earthy existence. Yet<br />
another film based on Chekhov's "LJncle<br />
Vayna" (Sony Classics recently had "Vayna<br />
on 42nd Street"), "Country Life" stars Sam<br />
Neill, Greta Scacchi and Kerry Fox (also in<br />
"Friends"). Michael Blakemore ("Privates on<br />
Parade") directs and scripts; Robin Dalton<br />
("Madame Sousatzka") produces. (Miramax)<br />
Johnny 100 Pesos<br />
A Spanish-language film from Chile,<br />
"Johnny 100 Pesos" tells the true story of a<br />
bungled burglary, political malfeasance and<br />
media overkill. (I.R.S.)<br />
June, 1995 19
ANNIVERSARY SALUTE<br />
NOISES OFF<br />
CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF<br />
SOUND IDEAS WITH RAY DOLBY<br />
OF DOLBY LABORATORIES<br />
By Ray Greene<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
Dolby. Wliett it comes to audio applications<br />
tubbing<br />
for theatrical etivironments, it's one of those<br />
equipment At that<br />
. ,<br />
time, it ^^•as the practice to<br />
names to conjure with.<br />
re-record the whole reel<br />
_<br />
Tbckqj, it seems like everyone is in the process of upgrading to one or the oilwrofthe "state every time tliere was a misoftlte<br />
art" audio systetiis available to exhibitors. But it wasn't alivays tliat ivay. Regai'dless take so that you ended up<br />
of individual sound system preferences, modem exhibition is more than a bit obliged to Ray ^""'^^<br />
several generations or<br />
Dolby , whose pioneering role in the popidaiization of higlier moine sound standards could ,.1 c i<br />
^^ i, , c<br />
almost be likeiwd to tliat of Hcniy Ford and the popularization oftlie automobile. course these film dubbin^<br />
Tlie fact that Dolby us cunvntly celebrating its 30th annivei'sanj says something about the units were verj' poor in<br />
tenacity of Dolby's early sti7igglcs to coninnce the world that bcttei- acoustic quality was not terms of tlneir frequency rejust<br />
possible but desirable for theatrical exhibition. Tlie pitched battle that cwrentlij rages ®P°"^^ ^"f distortion, they<br />
ygg^J ygjy [g^, Jjjgg trCqUeilaround<br />
tlie<br />
'^ ^ -a<br />
.<br />
three competing (and acoustically supei'b) digital delivciij fonnats should not cies and equalization characobsciirc<br />
the debt that anyone who seeks to create an audiophilc quality listening environment teristics that resulted in a lot<br />
in movichouscs owes to Ray Dolby. He iias among the fiist to push for a better wcqj, and tlie<br />
battles lie fought and eventually won made tlie path of those whofolloiivd tliat much easier<br />
to travel.<br />
'^ ' '<br />
of distoition. I realized tliat a<br />
big clean-up operation had to<br />
^e done before I could apply<br />
my noise reduction unit in<br />
Bo.xoFFiCE: ^Vhat is tlic Ijcginning of<br />
the story of Dolby Laboratories':'<br />
DOLBY; The beginning was my identification<br />
of die fact that film sound was really<br />
in very, very bad shape back in the mid-60s,<br />
and so I wanted to devise a noise reduction<br />
system that would improve film sound. 1<br />
had previously been at Cambridge University<br />
where I did a lot of tape recording just<br />
for fun, and I was very aware of the problem<br />
of hiss and noise in tape recording. But it<br />
was really the state of film sound that made<br />
me realize there was a great opportunity to<br />
make some significant improvements. So 1<br />
went back to England, and set up my company<br />
on May 17th of 196.5.<br />
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Response No. 1 10
qiialiU' of the sound.'<br />
BoxomcE: Describe the ciieation of<br />
your first noise reduction system.<br />
DOLBY: People had been designing<br />
noise reduction systems for 30 years when<br />
I<br />
started to work on this project. From the<br />
mid-1 930s, people had been trying to crack<br />
this problem, but they overlooked one crucial<br />
fact, and that is that the noise that you<br />
want to reduce is really very, very tiny in<br />
comparison to the loudest signals that you<br />
are dealing with. Typically, noise is only one<br />
percent or less of flie amplitude of the loudest<br />
sounds. The mistake that was consistently<br />
made was that [other engineers had]<br />
sent the whole signal through a compression<br />
process [to get at fliis one percent], and<br />
that distorted and damaged the entire signal,<br />
and gave noise reduction systems a bad<br />
name. The studios had tried dozens ofthem,<br />
and none of them worked to their satisfaction,<br />
so it began to be felt that no one would<br />
ever solve this problem.<br />
I<br />
hit on the idea of sending the high-level<br />
signals straight through, of not doing any-<br />
"In so many ways, we take<br />
low grade performance as<br />
normal because we 're so<br />
used to it.<br />
For example, the<br />
telephone gives us a tinny<br />
sound that 's distorted and<br />
filled with noise. Yet we<br />
accept the telephone, and<br />
there is no great urge or<br />
Founded<br />
Dolby: 30 Years of Sound Ideas<br />
in London in<br />
by John F. Allen<br />
Special to <strong>Boxoffice</strong><br />
1 965 with only four assistants, Ray Dolby's Dolby Laboratories<br />
has grown into an international manufacturing and licensing business with offices in<br />
England, the United States as well as Japan. Annual revenues now exceed $40 million.<br />
Dolby's core business has been the development and marketing of products which reduce<br />
or eliminate the audibility of noise associated with recording and transmission systems. In<br />
addition to a record of elegant engineering, the company's success is equally owed to a small<br />
dedicated staff of application specialists who provide (often in person) technicians around<br />
the world with help in using what has become a wide range of Dolby products.<br />
The first noise reduction system was completed in the summer of 1965. Called "A type",<br />
this development became the foundation upon which Dolby built its products for the<br />
recording, television and motion picture industries. The type "A" system was first used with<br />
a commercial recording in 1 966. The first long playing record mastered with Dolby "A" was<br />
released in November, 1 966. Today, over 1 70,000 channels of "A" type have been sold.<br />
1967 saw the first development of a more economical consumer noise reduction system<br />
known as "B" type and subsequent licensing activities. The "B" type system revolutionized<br />
the use of the audio cassette and changed the way we bought prerecorded music. Today,<br />
over 500 million products utilizing a Dolby circuit have been produced worldwide.<br />
By 1970, Dolby had begun to make small inroads into the motion picture industry. In<br />
December of that year, "A Clockwork Orange" became the first conventional optical<br />
soundtrack release mastered with Dolby noise reduction. By 1 976, Dolby's stereo optical<br />
soundtrack including a surround channel had been developed and was in use in theatres.<br />
This soundtrack made it practical to exhibit motion pictures in stereo without the cost and<br />
reliability problems associated with older magnetic striping techniques.<br />
Six years in development, Dolby Spectral Recording (SR) was introduced In 1986. The SR<br />
system took analog recordings and optical motion picture soundtracks to the practical limit<br />
of their performance capabilities, giving a new lease on life for analog studio facilities facing<br />
competition from digital recorders and other devices. Since its introduction, SR has been<br />
installed in over 7,000 theatres, over 90,000 audio channels and used with over 500 releases.<br />
Beginning in 1 985, Dolby Laboratories embarked on research exploring ways to reduce<br />
the number of bits required to store or transmit digital audio. Seven years later, this work<br />
had advanced to such an extent that a six channel, reduced bit rate digital motion picture<br />
optical digital soundtrack, Dolby Digital, was introduced in ten theatres with "Batman<br />
Returns." Today, some 1,700 theatres are equipped with the Dolby Digital process.<br />
Ray Dolby's legendary "little" sound company has earned its success, one could say, the<br />
old fashioned way: one well-conceived product and one satisfied customer at a time.<br />
Copyright 1995, John F. Allett. All RigJits Reserved.<br />
push to improve that.<br />
That's the way movie sound<br />
was back in the 1960s.<br />
thing to diese signals. I devised a side chain<br />
tliat could identify the existence ofvery low<br />
level signals [containing audible noise], and<br />
which allowed low-level signals to pass<br />
through to be processed. If a high level<br />
signal came along, this side chain would<br />
block the high level signals fi'om getting<br />
through. And then I added a 'subtractor,' so<br />
that the high level signals gomg to the main<br />
signal path and the low level signals going<br />
to the side chain. ..these two signals with<br />
noise join up in the subtractor and cancel<br />
each other out. Its the cancellation process<br />
that reduces the noise, and whenever the<br />
signal is loud, the cancellation effect di,sai><br />
pears, because the signal is prevented from<br />
getting through the side chain. One thing<br />
that's oflen misunderstood about this process<br />
is that its perfectly complementary, in<br />
other words, the plaj'back half exacdy undoes<br />
what the recording half did.<br />
<strong>Boxoffice</strong>: Where fUni use of Dolby<br />
processing is concerned die ixn'olutionary<br />
moment is 'Star Wars,' isn't it?<br />
boLBY: Well, I don't know. That was our<br />
tenth or twelfth film. But that's the one that<br />
popularized our process.<br />
BoxoFHCE: I'd always been under die<br />
impression that was your first film<br />
project, as a matter of fact.<br />
DOLBY: No, no. We were pretty far down<br />
the line when that took place. That was in<br />
1977. We had made mono films for several<br />
years, then we started the stereo process in<br />
about 1973-1974, and then we added surround<br />
in about '75, '76. The Barbra Streisand<br />
film 'A St;ir is Bom,' that was the first one<br />
that used our sunoimd.<br />
<strong>Boxoffice</strong>: Which mak(\s p(;rfect<br />
senst; beciiuse that was a nuisit;-basc(l<br />
film and as a n^cordin}; artist she would<br />
hav(; b(;en lamiliar t\'i(h \()iir ((^chiiologj'.<br />
I<br />
do want to talk about 'Star Wat's,'<br />
b(;c
ecause we're so used to it. For example, the<br />
telephone gives us a tinny sound tliat's distorted<br />
and filled with noise. Yet we accept<br />
the sound of the telephone, and there is no<br />
great urge or push by anybody to improve<br />
that. I think that's the way movie sound<br />
was back in the 1960's.<br />
BoxoFFiCE: When you look back over<br />
the thirty year cycle of your company,<br />
are you shocked by the journey?<br />
DOLBY: Actually, I'm sui-prised that it<br />
took as long as it did. I thought things<br />
would happen faster When I visualized<br />
starting my company back in 1964 I<br />
thought, 'Well, after I open my doors and<br />
introduce this unit, I'll be welcomed w\\h<br />
open anns, people w\\\ be so glad I solved<br />
this problem.' It was really an eye-opener<br />
to walk into recording studios and be told<br />
by chief engineers that tliey don't have a<br />
noise problem— tliey align their tape machines<br />
every morning and they're quite<br />
happy, thank you. I realized that if someone<br />
doesn't think he has a noise or quality<br />
problem, he doesn't. Everything is within<br />
one's own mind. But there were a few engineers<br />
who were really bugged p^y the standards<br />
of the day]— they weren't in the<br />
majority—but for those few engineers, my<br />
equipment could do something. And gradually,<br />
even the other engineers got used to<br />
low noise, so they're shocked and disappointed<br />
if they go into a recording studio<br />
and are presented widi the bad old days<br />
again.<br />
BoxoFFiCE: Are there any more problems<br />
left to solve?<br />
DOLBY: Well, I think in the last several<br />
decades, recorded sound quality has risen<br />
"People had been designing<br />
noise reduction systems for<br />
30 years when I started to<br />
work on this project. From<br />
the mid- 1 930' s, people had<br />
been trying to crack this<br />
problem. But they overlooked<br />
one crucialfact..."<br />
methodically to something that's pretty<br />
close to perfection now.<br />
BOXOFFICE: Would you say that digital<br />
technologies perhaps make it easier for<br />
the average theatre operator to exploit<br />
that level of perfection?<br />
DOLBY: That's probably true. But I<br />
would say that the main advantage we bring<br />
with our digital system is discreet 6 track<br />
sound. The post-production industry has<br />
had plenty of experience with six track<br />
discreet sound; all we've done is to make it<br />
possible to have tliose effects and that level<br />
of quality on a 35mm print, which of course<br />
is veiy cheap in comparison with a 70mm<br />
magnetically striped print. It's about onetenth<br />
the price.<br />
BOXOFFICE: Is that discreet 6 track capability<br />
unique to Dolby digital?<br />
DOLBY: No. All tliree systems give you<br />
70mm sound quality using 35mm prints.<br />
BOXOFFICE: You're an institution, you<br />
run a major corporation —<br />
DOLBY: It's not a major corporation. But<br />
we have 300 employees.<br />
BOXOFFICE: Let's say a major force in<br />
the Industry. Where are you putting<br />
your personal creativity these days?<br />
DOLBY: The last major project I personally<br />
designed was the SR system— Spectral<br />
Recording process. That took me about<br />
seven years. It's a very complicated circuit.<br />
Since tlien, I've been advising and guiding<br />
my engineers, and working with them to<br />
develop our digital sound system for films,<br />
and also working witli them in utilizing the<br />
same process in other environments.<br />
BOXOFFICE: With the rise of this information<br />
superhighway we keep hearing<br />
so much about, are there going to<br />
be new worlds to conquer there?<br />
DOLBY: Yes. Our AC3 system is already<br />
being used to deliver music on cable. So it's<br />
still a matter of developing the technology<br />
and then finding the right applications for<br />
the thing you've created.<br />
^m<br />
June, 1995 23
"FROM WHERE I SIT... 99<br />
Our Forum For Readers Just Like You<br />
A LOOK<br />
BACK AT<br />
BOXOFFICE<br />
This month's column, a sample ofthe warm response<br />
we received to our 75th anniversary issue (which<br />
prompted many readers to write oftheir fond memories<br />
from BoxOFFiCE's long history), comes from a long-ago<br />
employee of the magazine, who recalls his days as West<br />
Coast editor and where he's gone from there.<br />
By Dale C. Olson<br />
nation's theatre owmers, who needed to<br />
know all about the pictures they were going<br />
to book and also how to sell them. As pan<br />
of our reviews, we had to tell them if a<br />
picture looked as if it would attract an audience,<br />
and we also had to give them general<br />
ideas— what we called Exploitips— ofhow to<br />
promote a picture.<br />
So I spent my first weekend before starting<br />
work poring over years of earlier<br />
BOXOFFICE issues. It was like cramming for<br />
a test, but it was a test I passed—and it was<br />
die real basis for everything I've done in this<br />
business. TVvo years of Boxofhce, in the<br />
shadow of Ivan Spear and his famous<br />
"SpearHeads" column (in wliich he told it<br />
like it was and never let anyone get a^vay<br />
widi an\tliing), was like going to mo\ie<br />
college. It got me noticed by everj' studio<br />
and every distributor and exhibitor<br />
Later, it got me another job as a reporter<br />
and reviewer on Daily Variety for six years<br />
and then a spot as publicity director for<br />
Mirisch Corp., which had become tlie top<br />
independent production company of its day<br />
and was owned by former exhibitors who<br />
liked my knowledge of tiiat area of the<br />
business. My first assignment— the public-<br />
75<br />
YEARS OF<br />
I :!•>.(•] L^'<br />
BOXOFFICE Magazine may have<br />
marked the most important step in<br />
my lifelong career in the entertainment<br />
business. As a youngster, fresh<br />
fi'om pemiing a teenage column for The<br />
Oregonian, Portland's daily paper, I answered<br />
an advertisement in The Hollywood<br />
Reporter calling for a new West<br />
Coast editor of BoxorncE— a magazine<br />
that, until then, I'd never even heard of<br />
Ben Slilyen, founder and publisher ofthe<br />
magazine, liked my writing samples suf-<br />
Hciently to hire me on first meeting. I<br />
was to fill the shoes of Ivan Spear, one of<br />
the fabled trade journalists of that or any<br />
era. Ivan— tough, crusty, cynical and diabolically<br />
clever where the movie business<br />
was concerned—had unfortunati-l\<br />
become incapacitated. Boy, was I to find<br />
out the kind of shoes I was to fill.<br />
In those days, the position involvc:d<br />
writing all the. West Coast news of the<br />
tihn business, as well as selling ads,<br />
which I had never done before. Wasn't<br />
surprised, then, to find that the first ad I<br />
solicited<br />
for the annual edition was from<br />
Fred Astaire— and he immediately came in<br />
for a page. But working for <strong>Boxoffice</strong> meant<br />
mark(;ting. So tliank you, Ben Shiyen.<br />
A 20-year-old Dale Olson (right) gives producer Irwin Allen<br />
„ and diank you, <strong>Boxoffice</strong>. Without \'ou.<br />
a Blue Riblxn Award lor "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.<br />
I<br />
1 also had to leam production, distribution,<br />
exhibition and marketing, and I had to learn<br />
them right away. We were serving the<br />
ity and advertising responsibilits' (in association<br />
with our distiibutor. United Artists)—<br />
was for "In tire Heat of the Night," which<br />
received seven Oscar nominations and<br />
five awards, including best picture and<br />
best actor (for Rod Steiger, who today is<br />
one ofmy clients). I could only go down!<br />
When Harold Mirisch passed awa\', it<br />
came time for me to move on. Witii all<br />
that experience, I became president ot<br />
the motion picture dixasion at tlie public<br />
relations company Rogere & Cowan and<br />
developed t:ampaigns tor more than 1 50<br />
major films, including launching the<br />
"Rocky" and "Supc:rman" series.<br />
Ten years ago, I moved on again, tbmiing<br />
my own public relations firm, Dale<br />
C. Olson & Associates. The company<br />
does business in all areas of entertainment-oriented<br />
publicity, promotion and<br />
I wouldn't be here— and I reall\' liki- it<br />
here. 1 still r(;ad I^ixomci: caretiilh- cx'ciy<br />
month—and I still like it, too. .Ami will lot<br />
die )i(j.Y( 75 years.<br />
24 <strong>Boxoffice</strong>
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I<br />
PG.<br />
Summer,<br />
Anamorptiic,<br />
3/95,<br />
R.<br />
4/7,<br />
G,<br />
BOXOFFICE<br />
March<br />
(Current)<br />
Buena Vista<br />
(818)567-5030<br />
A Tall Tale. Fant , 96mins SRD, Anamorphic<br />
Pat nek Sv/ayze Man of the House,<br />
,<br />
3/3, 96 mins Dolby<br />
, A, Flat, Cheuy<br />
C ,<br />
Ctiase Jeflereon in Paris, D, PG-13, 3/31<br />
NY/LA: 4/7 Limited, 147 mins<br />
,<br />
SRD, Hal<br />
Nick Nolle, Dir James Ivory Roommales,<br />
C/D, PG, 3/10 limited<br />
109 mins,, SRD, Rat,<br />
Dir Peter Yates Funny Bones C, R, 3/31 Ltd,<br />
127 m, SRD, Flat J Lewis<br />
A Goofy Movie (formerly Pals Forever ),<br />
Anim, G, 4/7, 76 mins , Dolby A, Flat Dir<br />
Kevin Lima<br />
Jefferson in Paris, D, PG-13, 3/31 NY/LA:<br />
4/7 Limited Nick Nolle, Dir James Ivory<br />
A Pyromaniacs Love Story, R/C, PG, 4/28<br />
ltd<br />
, 96 mins , Dolby A, Flat William Baldwin<br />
While You Were Sleeping, R/C, PG, 4/21<br />
100 mms, Dolby A Flat, Sandra Bullock.<br />
Crimson Tide. 5/1 2. 1 2 mms .<br />
SRD. Flal<br />
Denzel Washington. Gene Hackman Dir:<br />
Tony Scott<br />
Mad Love, D, 5/26, 101 mms., SR, Flat<br />
Drev/ Barrymore.<br />
Pocahontas Anim, 6.23 Flal Voice: Ma Gibson<br />
Dir, Mike Gabriel<br />
Judge Dredd, Ac , 6/30 Anamorphic. Sylvester<br />
StaOone Diane Lane,<br />
Dead Presidents. 6/95, Urban Drama, Super<br />
35mm, Dir: Alien and Albert Hughes<br />
Columbia<br />
(310)280-8000<br />
Dolores Claiborne, Ttir , R, 3/24 limited.<br />
131 mins<br />
, Dolby A, SR,<br />
SDDS<br />
For Better or Worse, C, PG-t3. 3/1 7 limited.<br />
90 mins . James Woods. Lolita<br />
Davidovitcti, Dir: Jason Alexander<br />
Bad Boys, Ac, R, 4/7, 117 mins,, Dolby A,<br />
SR, SDDS, Flat fWarlin Lawrence, Will Smith<br />
Forget Paris, R/C, PG-13, 5/19, SDDS. Dolby<br />
A & SR. Flat, Billy Ciyslal, Debra Winger, Dir:<br />
Billy Crystal<br />
WH'i<br />
(212)751-4400<br />
MGM/UA<br />
Tank Girl, SF/Adv ,<br />
Dir RachelTalalay.<br />
3/31. 103 mm . DTS<br />
The Pebble and the Penguin, Amm<br />
, 79<br />
DTS, Dolby A, Flat, 4/12, Voice: fi/lartin<br />
mm<br />
,<br />
Short<br />
Dir Don Bluth<br />
Rob Roy. Adv<br />
,<br />
139 min.. DTS, Dolby A,<br />
Fluke. Adv.. 6/2. DTS li/latthew Modine.<br />
Nancy Travis. Dir<br />
Carlo Cartel<br />
*03<br />
(310)449-3000<br />
Anamorphic Liam Neeson, John Hurl, Dir<br />
Michael Caton-Jones<br />
Tbe Mangier, Hor ,<br />
3/3. 106 min., SR, Rat,<br />
New Line<br />
(212)239-8880<br />
Robert Englund<br />
Don Juan De Marco, Com/Dram, D, PG-13.<br />
4/7, 97 mm , DTS, Dolby A, Flat Marlon<br />
Brando, Johnny Depp W/dir Jeremy Leven<br />
Friday, C,R, 4/28 Ice Cube<br />
The Basketball Diaries, D, R. 4/21, 102 mm<br />
My Family (Mi Familia), D, R, 5/3, 126 min<br />
,<br />
DTS, Dolby A, Flat Edward James Olmos,<br />
Jimmy Smits Dii Gregory Nav a<br />
(310)854-5811<br />
DTS. SRD. Flat. Leonardo DiCaprio Dir<br />
Kalvert.<br />
Scott<br />
Paramount<br />
Losing Isaiah. R. 3/17. 108 min., Dolby A,<br />
Fi.ii Dir Stephen GyllenhaaL<br />
Tommy Boy, C. PG-13, 3/31, Chris Farley,<br />
Stuart Saves His Family. C. PG-1 3. 4/1 2. Al<br />
Franken. Dir: Harold Ramis<br />
Bravehearl. Ac/D, R. 5/24. Mel Gibson. Sophie<br />
Marceau. Dir: Mel Gibson,<br />
Congo, 6/9. Thr . Summer 95. Dir Frank<br />
IVIarshall<br />
(213)956-5000<br />
(212)333-4600<br />
Samuel<br />
Goldwyn<br />
The Sum ol Us, C/D, 3/1 NY, LA, 100 mm<br />
.<br />
Fl.ii Dir Kevin Dowlmg<br />
The Last Good Time. 4/7 Armin Mueller-<br />
Stahl Dir Klaus Volkenbom<br />
Rampo, D, 5/19, Dir Kazuyoshi Okuyama<br />
The Perez Family, 5/12, Marisa Tomei, Anlelica<br />
Huston, Dir<br />
Mira Nair<br />
Wigstock: The Movie. Doc. 6/95, RuPaul<br />
Dir. Barry Shils, 6/95<br />
(310)552-2255<br />
TriStar<br />
Hideaway, Thr ,<br />
3/3, 112 mins., Anamorphic,<br />
Dolby A, Sr, SDDS, Jeff Goldblum, Dir: Brett<br />
Leonard<br />
3 NInjas Knuckle Up. Ac/Fam<br />
. PG-13<br />
Jury Duty, C, PG-1 3, 4/1 2, Dolby A SR,<br />
SDDS, Flat Pauly Shore. Tia Carrere<br />
Magic in the Water, Fam , 5/5, Mark Harmon.<br />
Johnny Mnemonic, Sci-Fi, R, 5/26, Keanu<br />
Reeves Dir Robert Longo.<br />
(310)280-8000<br />
20th Centuiy<br />
Fox<br />
(310)277-2211<br />
Bye Bye Love, C. PG-13. 3/17, 105 mins,.<br />
Dolby A Paul Reiser, Randy Quaid, Flat Dir'<br />
Sam Weisman<br />
Kiss of Death, D, R, 4/21 ,<br />
100 mins,, SR,<br />
SRD. Flat David Caruso, Nick Cage Dir Barbet<br />
Schroeder<br />
French Kiss (formerly Paris Match), Rom,<br />
PG-13, 5/5, /Vnamorphic, Meg Ryan, Kevin<br />
Kline, Dir Lav/rence Kjsdan<br />
Die Hard With a Vengeance, Ac, 5/19 (Memorial<br />
Day), SDDS, SRD, Anamoiphic, Bruce<br />
Willis, Jeremy irons, Dir John McTiernan<br />
Mighty Morphln Power Rangers. The<br />
Movie, 6/30, Flat, Dir Bryan Spicer<br />
Universal<br />
(818)777-1000<br />
IVlajor Payne, C, 3/24, 95 mins ,<br />
U,niian Wayans Dir<br />
Nick Castle<br />
DTS,<br />
The Cure, D, 4/21 ,<br />
Petei Horlon<br />
Annabella Sciorra. Dir:<br />
Village ol the Damned, Hor ,<br />
Summer, DTS,<br />
SR, Flat Chfislopher Reeve, Kirstie Alley Dir:<br />
Jolm Carpenter<br />
Casper, Fant /C, 5/26. 96 mms .<br />
DTS. SR.<br />
Flat Cliristma Ricci. Dir: Brad Silberlmg<br />
Apollo 13, D, 6/30 , DTS, SR, Super<br />
35mm, Tom Hanks, Dii: Ron Howartt.<br />
(212)759-7500<br />
Warner Bros.<br />
(818)954-6000<br />
I The Willi Bunch (re-issue), W, 3/3. 143 mins<br />
I William Holden Dir Sam Peckinpah<br />
Oiilbreak, SF, R, 3/10, Flat<br />
(Jii<br />
Wfilqinf) Petersen<br />
Dustin Hottman<br />
Born to Be Wild (Great Kale Escape) PG<br />
:i/3i<br />
, Helen Shaver, Dir Jolin Gray<br />
A Little Princess, Fam./C. G. 5/19 (Easter).<br />
Dir Alfonso Cuaron<br />
The Bridges ol Madison County 0. 6/2.<br />
Clint Eastwood. Meryl Streep. Dii. Clint Eastwood<br />
Bahnan Forever (Batman 3) Ac-Fant<br />
6/16, Val Kilmei, Jim Carrey, Tommy Lee<br />
Jones
MARKETING<br />
"POCAHONTAS" ON TOUR<br />
To drum up word on its big summer title,<br />
Disney took a show on the road<br />
To<br />
accompany the release of<br />
"Pocahontas," Walt Disney Imagineering<br />
and Buena Vista Pictures created<br />
an interactive experience designed to give<br />
tire public an exclusive preview of the film<br />
and provide a behind-the-scenes look at<br />
animation. The Pocahontas Animation Discovery<br />
Adventure, a free exhibit on a nationwide<br />
tour of shopping malls since winter,<br />
represents a new approach by tlie studio to<br />
create advance excitement for a film.<br />
"There are a lot of major films coming out<br />
fiiis summer, so we want to get our name<br />
out there and give people an idea about how<br />
this feature will look," says Walt<br />
Disney Imagineering's Michael<br />
McGiveney, the Pocahontas<br />
Adventure's concept designer anti<br />
show producer "At the same time,<br />
we're also offering a unique educational<br />
and entertainment experience.<br />
There is so much interest in<br />
the art of animation. We thought it<br />
would be a wonderfiil idea to develop<br />
a hands-on experience not<br />
only to explain the process of making<br />
a Disney animated feature but<br />
also to provide a lesson in early<br />
American history."<br />
Last June, Disney began developing<br />
the exliibit, which took three<br />
months to construct and is tlie first<br />
such project coordinated with a feature<br />
film release. The biggest<br />
challenge to designers was to create<br />
-<br />
a movable, scenic-intensive exhibit that<br />
would live up to Disney's high standards.<br />
They created a number of theme environments,<br />
including tliree-dimensional pieces<br />
that replicate locales in the film and give<br />
infonnation about the storyline. There's a<br />
26-foot replica of Captain John Smith's ship<br />
and an enchanted forest maze to explore,<br />
hiside a re-creation of the Powhatan Lodge,<br />
a Disney artist demonstrates animation<br />
techniques and explains the process by<br />
which hundreds of craftspeople work together<br />
to create the magic and UK^norable<br />
characters of a Disney feature.<br />
Also included is an animation kiosk,<br />
where the public learns firsthand about the<br />
creative process. Visitors can dub their own<br />
voices into a scene from "Pocahontas," elec-<br />
By Michael Haile<br />
tronically paint a eel using a touch-screen<br />
computer or experience an area called file<br />
Electronic Flip Book, where they can observe<br />
an animation sequence through stop<br />
action to get a feel for the great number of<br />
individual drawings it takes to make a character<br />
come to life.<br />
The kiosk's final attraction allows the<br />
public to create their own "Pocahontas"<br />
scenes by choosing different characters and<br />
backgrounds. Wlien the elements are put<br />
together correctly, a short (seven- to 10-<br />
minute) sequence from the film plays.<br />
Nearby, t^vo major video walls show clips<br />
More than 100,000 people per weekend<br />
have visited the "Pocahontas" exhibit.<br />
from the film, including a scene spotlighting<br />
"Colors of the Wind," die Alan Menkenpenned<br />
love theme from "Pocahontas."<br />
"We purposely decided not to do anytiiing<br />
with walk-around characters, because this<br />
is about animation," McGiveney says.<br />
"We're giving you a look at the film and<br />
we're explaining the animation process.<br />
The experience has to be interactive— it<br />
must be something you can do or you can<br />
be in, as opposed to just a passive experience<br />
of standing by and ^vatching something.<br />
For smaller children, walking<br />
through the Enchanted Cilade gi\'c,s th('m a<br />
sense of really being in the animation. They<br />
get a sense of what tliat forest really looks<br />
like and who the characters are. They an;<br />
put into the environment ofthe animation.<br />
The<br />
Pocahontas Animation Discovery<br />
Adventure, manned by a touring crew<br />
of nearly 20 (including a tour manager,<br />
technical director, technicians, feature<br />
animation artists and production assistants),<br />
wOl have stopped in 24 cities by June 8. The<br />
elaborate exhibit represents an expensive<br />
undertaking, but Disney is confident the<br />
extra interest it generates will lead to a quick<br />
boxoffice payback after "Pocahontas" opens<br />
nationally June 23. Judging by attendance<br />
figures (more than 100,000 people have \'isited<br />
each weekend), the exliibit is creating<br />
great grassroots anticipation.<br />
"What's fim is tliat die public is<br />
responding so positiveh'," McGiveney<br />
says. "I hear many say, 'What<br />
a neat idea.' The shopping mall environment<br />
provides a wonderful<br />
opporttmity to get a message out<br />
there to the people direcdy. It just<br />
^^3^ seemed to be an opportiinitv' that<br />
was waiting for tlie right situation.<br />
"When you come into tlie mall,<br />
you have the sense of an audientic<br />
Disney experience. We transform it<br />
into a mini-tlieme park. My biggest<br />
reward is to watch the kids' feces.<br />
They really enjoy it and love learning<br />
about tlie art of animation. Many<br />
have even asked about how to go<br />
about becoming an animation artist."<br />
The exhibit could d^avel to Walt<br />
Disney World in Orlando, Fla., before<br />
heading to Europe in August to<br />
promote die opening of "Pocahontas" tliere<br />
later this year Witii the success of the<br />
Pocahontas Animation Discovery Adventure,<br />
Disney is planning odier luiique experiences<br />
to help market and promote fiituiv<br />
films. Says McGiveney, "We're looking into<br />
ways to do this for other films, perhaps in<br />
other venues. It's important to consid(;r<br />
what tj'pes of experiences we can ofter.<br />
"Marketing and promotion are \'en' important,<br />
but diey are no substitute tor a good<br />
story, whic.h should always he the goal.<br />
'Pocahontas' is definitely an ex((;llt;nt stoiA'<br />
and the characters are woll-detined. That's<br />
really die key to die success. As to die futiux;<br />
options on how you promote that, tln^rc are<br />
many interesting possibilities. But wc'W<br />
have to wait and see."<br />
MM<br />
28 <strong>Boxoffice</strong>
w< ere<br />
f<br />
keeping the<br />
Theatre<br />
t-lv.iAlj'f'Xiii<br />
'Industry<br />
Around the<br />
World<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
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1 800 424.1215<br />
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1995 STRONG INTERNATIONA<br />
Response No. 23
PROMO GUIDE<br />
COLUMBIA<br />
Sony Imagesott and multimedia developer<br />
Xiphias have joined to create a multimedia<br />
game based on "First Knight," a new take on<br />
the tale of King Arthur, Sir Lancelot and Lady<br />
Guinevere. The CD-ROM title will utilize<br />
Apple Computer's QuickTime VR technology.<br />
The interactive adventure game will parallel<br />
the feature film by using some of the<br />
footage from the original production sets. The<br />
developers of the game will manipulate the<br />
footage to create a 360 degree environment<br />
which the player can explore.<br />
GRAMERCY<br />
"Panther," Melvin and Mario Van Peebles'<br />
film based on the Black Panther Party which<br />
formed in 1 966, will have an instant win 800<br />
number sweepstakes. Callers will learn about<br />
the film and will be eligible to win cash prizes<br />
or a CD single.<br />
The clothing company Ripe is partnering<br />
with the urban-themed film "New Jersey<br />
Drive" in a sweepstakes promotion in which<br />
entrants have the opportunity to win a trip for<br />
two 1(1 the I 996 NCAA Final Four Playotts and<br />
a $200 Ripe wardrobe. Counter cards with<br />
entry forms will be displayed in 2,800 retail<br />
locations.<br />
Targeting the sophisticated art film audience,<br />
"The Underneath" offers the opportunity<br />
for attentlees to submit a critique of the<br />
film along with their ticket stub for a chance<br />
to win a free movie pass for one year to a local<br />
theatre, or a $ 50 Waldenbooks gift certificate.<br />
Over 1,100 Waldenbooks and Brentano's<br />
bookstores are also distributing promotional<br />
bookmarks as bagstuffers to customers. The<br />
Bravo cable network will air a 60 second<br />
promotional spot giving entry details.<br />
MCA/UNIVERSAL<br />
Despite tile lilm's nolorioLisly bloated budget,<br />
Kenner doesn't think "Walerworld" is all<br />
wet. The toy manufacturer will market a( lion<br />
figures based on the futuristic Kevin Costner<br />
mcjvie in which the earth is covered in wat(>r,<br />
lis inhabitants clinging to floating cities. Interplay<br />
productions will produce and develop<br />
video games and CD software based on the<br />
movie, as they will for "Casper," the feature<br />
film adaptation of the Friendly Ghost character<br />
originated in FHarvey Comics. "Casper" has<br />
an extensive list of licensees who will produce<br />
everything from T-shirts to tote bags to<br />
watches to undergarments. Pizza Hut will<br />
launch a multi-million dollartelevision crosspromotion<br />
campaign, and will offer both kids<br />
meal and all-ages meal deals in conjunction<br />
with the film. Choice FHotels will offer guests<br />
a chance to win a cash prize as well as trips<br />
to Universal Studios in California and Florida.<br />
Tyco Toys Inc. is the master toy licensee. One<br />
series of toys is called "Casper Mischief Makers."<br />
"Squeeze Casper and watch his eyes bug<br />
out," reads a press release. "Pull Stretch's<br />
head up, hear it creak into place and watch it<br />
spin back down. Squeeze Stinkie to hear him<br />
belch and smell his lunch of pepperoni pizza.<br />
And watch as Fatso burps out a tomato when<br />
you squeeze his giant belly." For those who<br />
feel that plastic vomit and fake dog excrement<br />
have lost their panache.<br />
MGM/UA<br />
BMW and "Goldeneye," the new James<br />
Hond film, have joined up for a cross-promolion—or<br />
should that be an autocross-promo-<br />
I ion? BMW designed the two-seat open sports<br />
car which will be Bond's new "company" car,<br />
and will use the release of "Goldeneye" as a<br />
tie-in to introduce their new roadster to the<br />
world.<br />
NEW LINE<br />
"Mortal Kombat," a martial arts action film<br />
based
ing cards featuring movie scenes and characters.<br />
Collectible stickers are being made by<br />
Merlin Editions Inc.<br />
TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX<br />
Expect a new explosion of Power Ranger<br />
merchandise everywhere in conjunction with<br />
the feature film version of the kids' show<br />
"Mighty IVIorphin Power Rangers"—though<br />
at press time Fox did not have any details.<br />
McDonald's is reported to be a cross-promotion<br />
partner.<br />
WALT DISNEY<br />
"Pocahontas" will be omnipresent this<br />
summer as Disney teams up with six companies<br />
to promote their 33rd full-length animated<br />
film. Burger King will give away 50<br />
million "Pocahontas" toys over an eight-week<br />
period; Nestle will use the Indian maiden's<br />
image on candy, Coffee-Mate, Friskies pet<br />
food, Carnation Instant Breakfast and<br />
Stouffer's frozen entrees; General Mills will<br />
offer giveaways in boxes of Cheerios; Pay less<br />
will offer a lineof "Pocahontas"-themed footwear,<br />
including sandals, sneakers and moccasins;<br />
Chrysler will give away six Plymouth<br />
Voyagers in a related sweepstakes contest,<br />
and will provide Chrysler buyers with free<br />
PROMO GUIDE<br />
tickets to the movie; and Mattel cinched the<br />
deal for toy manufacturing.<br />
"Judge Dredd," the futuristic Sylvester Stallone<br />
starrer, partners with lack-in-the-Box to<br />
offer a free trip to England for a lucky sweepstakes<br />
winner to visit the judge Dredd set at<br />
Shepperton Studios near London. Mattel and<br />
Acclaim will also help promote the film.<br />
WARNER BROS.<br />
McDonald's is infested with rodents! Flying<br />
rodents. Well, "Batman Forever" paraphernalia,<br />
actually, if you want to get technical.<br />
The fast food chain will cross-promote the<br />
much-anticipated summer blockbuster starring<br />
Val Kilmer, )im Carrey, Tommy Lee<br />
Jones, Nicole Kidman and Chris O'Donnell.<br />
Kellogg's will feature a promo on boxes of<br />
Corn Pops. The licensee list longer than Bruce<br />
Wayne's bank statement, and with good reason;<br />
you'd have to be "batty" not to want a<br />
piece of this movie. And with all the gadgetry<br />
featured in the film, merchandising opportunities<br />
abound. Kenner products is the master<br />
toy licensee, mining the infatiguable riches of<br />
the action figure market. Micro Games of<br />
America is manufacturing Bruce Wayne electronic<br />
diaries. Bat alarm clocks with radios,<br />
real videophone telephones with LCD animation,<br />
and a talking Riddler head that repeats<br />
^what you say. Revell-Monogram Inc. will sell<br />
model kits of vehicles, environments and figures.<br />
Acclaim Entertainment and Atari Corp.<br />
are making "Batman Forever" video games,<br />
and Tiger Electronics will provide hand-held
'<br />
iaies<br />
BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart JUNE 1995<br />
MAY<br />
Arrow<br />
212-332-8140<br />
Gumby: The Movie, Ani, NR, 89<br />
min.Gumby, Pokey. Dir:ArtClokey.<br />
Filmhaus<br />
310-320-8383<br />
The Bed You Sleep In, Dra, NR,<br />
1 1 7 mm. Tom Blair. Dir: Ion |ost.<br />
The Broken Journey, Dra, NR, 82<br />
min. Soumitra Cnatterji. Dir:<br />
Satyajit Ray.<br />
The Legend of Zipang (Japan),<br />
Act/Fant, NR, 94 min. Masahiro<br />
Takashima. Dir; Kaisho Hayashi.<br />
The Stranger (/nd/Vj, Dra, NR, 1 16<br />
min. Utpai Dutt. Dir: Satyajit Ray.<br />
First Run<br />
212-243-0600<br />
Forever My Love (U.K.), Com, 96<br />
min. Thomab Arklie, Ian Williams.<br />
Dir: Peter Litten.<br />
Gramercy<br />
310-777-1960<br />
Panther, Dra. Kadeem Hardison.<br />
Dir: Mario Van Peebles. 5/3<br />
Kino<br />
212-629-6880<br />
...And the Earth Did Not Swallow<br />
Him, Dra, NR, 99 mm. Dir:<br />
Severe Perez. 5/95<br />
Kit Parlter<br />
800-538-5838<br />
Betty Boop Confidential, Ani,<br />
NR, 80 min. Dir: Max Fleischer.<br />
5/13 NY<br />
Miramax<br />
213-969-2000<br />
Crosse Fatigue, Com Carole<br />
Bouquet. Dir: Michel Blanc.<br />
The Glass Shield, Thr. Michael<br />
Boatman, Lori Petty. Dir: Charles<br />
Burnett.<br />
The Postman (II Postino) (Italy),<br />
Dra. Massimo Troisi. Dir: Michael<br />
Radford.<br />
Savoy<br />
310-247-7930<br />
Tales From the Hood, Act/FHor.<br />
Corbin Bernsen. Dir: Rusty<br />
Cundieff. 5/5<br />
Sony Classics<br />
212-833-8833<br />
A Pure Formality (France/llaly),<br />
Thr. Gerard Depardieu, Roman<br />
Polanski. Dir: Ciiuseppe Tornatore.<br />
5/29<br />
Strand<br />
212-247-4100<br />
Postcards From America, Doc.<br />
David Wo|iiarowK /. Dir:. 5/26<br />
Wild Reeds (France), Dra, NR,<br />
110 mm, Frederic Corny. Dir:<br />
Andre Techine. 5/1 5 wide<br />
Tara<br />
415-454-5838<br />
Black ls...Black Ain't, Doc, NR,<br />
87 min. Dir: Marlon Riggs. 5/5<br />
Triumph<br />
310-280-8059<br />
The Magic in the Water (formerly<br />
litled "Clenorky"), ConVAdv. Mark<br />
FHarmon, Dir: Rick Stevenson. 5/5<br />
IIIIJI^iHHMMJJil<br />
Arrow<br />
Bandit Queen (India), Dra/Adv,<br />
NR, 1 1 9 min. Seema Biswas. Dir:<br />
Shekar Kapur. 6/23<br />
Ermo (China), Dra, NR, 93 min.<br />
Dir: Zhou Xiaowen.<br />
Capitol<br />
202-363-8800<br />
The Silences of the Palace<br />
(France/Tunisia), Com/Dra, NR,<br />
127 min. Amel FHedhilis, Hend<br />
Sabri. Dir: Moufida TIatli.<br />
The Incredibly True Adventure of<br />
Two Girls in Love, Com/Dra. Laurel<br />
FHolloman. Dir: Maria Maggenti.<br />
Clarence Williams III stars js ,i mortu lan in Sa\uy s<br />
Filmhaus<br />
Black Bomber, Dra, NR, 116 min.<br />
Dra^an Bielogrlic. Dir: Darko Bajic.<br />
Liability Crisis, Dra, NR, 80 min.<br />
Mirjana lokovic. Dir: Richard<br />
Brody. 6/2<br />
Mod F Explosion, Act, NR, 75<br />
min. Amy Davis. Dir: )on<br />
Moritsusgu.<br />
Fine Line<br />
212-649-4800<br />
An Awfully Big Adventure,<br />
Com/Dr.i. Alan Rukman, Hugh<br />
dranl- Dir: Mike Newell.<br />
Six Days, Six Nights (France),<br />
Dra, R. Anne ParilTaud, Beatrice<br />
Dalle. Dir: Diane Kurys.<br />
First Look<br />
310-855-1199<br />
Party Girl, Com, 98 min. Parker<br />
Posey, Omar Townsend. Dir:<br />
Daisy von Scherler Mayer. 6/9<br />
First Run<br />
I, the Worst of All lArgenlina),<br />
Dra, 100 min. Assumpta Serna,<br />
Dominique Sanda. Dir: Maria<br />
Luisa Bemberg.<br />
Midnight Dancers (Philippines),<br />
Dra, 1 1 5 min. Dir: Mel Chionglo.<br />
Kino<br />
Hyenas (Senegal), Dra, NR, 113<br />
min. Dir: Djibril Diop Mambety.<br />
Kit Parker<br />
Arizona Dream (Director's Cut)<br />
(reissue). Com, NR, 142 min.<br />
Johnny Depp, Faye Dunaway.<br />
Dir: Emir Kusturich.<br />
Blaxploitation Film Festival (reissues<br />
ot'Supertly," etc.). b/28N\,<br />
San Francisco<br />
Imm the I IomI.<br />
Miramax<br />
Belle de Jour (n/ssi/e of. 1967<br />
French classic), Dra. Catherine<br />
Deneuve. Dir: Luis Biinuel.<br />
LesVisiteurs, Com, 1 06 min. lean<br />
Reno, (Christian C lavier. Dir: lean-<br />
Marie Poire.<br />
Smoke, Dra. hiarvey Keitel, William<br />
I lurl Dir: Wayne Wang.<br />
New Yorker<br />
272-647-/850<br />
I Can't Sleep (France), Dra.<br />
Kalenna Colubeva. Dir: Claire<br />
Denis.<br />
Northern Arts<br />
413-268-9301<br />
Devotion, Dra, NR. Jan<br />
Derbyshire. Dir: Mindy Kaplan.<br />
Seventh Art<br />
213-845-1455<br />
Sister My Sister, Dra, 92 min. Julie<br />
Walters. Dir: Nancy Meckler.<br />
Sony Classics<br />
Love and Human Remains, Dra.<br />
Thomas Gibson, Ruth Marshall.<br />
Dir: Denys Arcand.<br />
Safe, SF. Julianne Moore. Dir:<br />
Todd Haynes.<br />
Strand<br />
River of Grass, Com/Dra. Dir:<br />
Kelly Reichardt. 6/9<br />
World and Time Enough, Dra.<br />
Dir: Eric Muller, 6/23<br />
Zeitgeist<br />
212-274-1989<br />
Ballot Measure 9, Doc. Dir:<br />
FHeather MacDonald.<br />
TITITi<br />
First Run<br />
Friends (S. Africa), Dra, 109 min.<br />
Kerry Fox. Dir: Elaine Proctor.<br />
Greycat<br />
702-737-0670<br />
The Plutonium Circus fVlev/co).<br />
Doc, NR. Dir: George Ratlitf.<br />
I.R.S.<br />
310-838-7800<br />
Johnny 100 Pesos, Dra, NR, 90<br />
mm. Armando Araiza. Dir: Gustavo<br />
Graes Marino.<br />
Roosters, Dra. Edward lames<br />
Olmos, Sonia Braga. Dir: Robert<br />
M. Young.<br />
Miramax<br />
Country Life, Com/Dra. Sam<br />
Neill, Greta Scacchi. Dir: Michael<br />
Blakemore.<br />
The Innocent, Thr, 1 18 min. Anthonv<br />
Hopkins, Isabella Rossellini.<br />
Dir: lohn Schlesinger.<br />
Kids, Dra. Dir: I any Clark.<br />
October<br />
212-332-2480<br />
Smoking and No Smoking<br />
(French (hiuhli'tratumi Dra, NR,<br />
285 min. Sabme A/ema, Pierre<br />
Arditi. Dir: Alain Resnais.<br />
Sony Classics<br />
Living in Onlixion, i uni ')! mm<br />
Steve Busi hemi, Dii: loniDiCillo.<br />
Strand<br />
Roy Cohn/I.uk Smith, Dia Ron<br />
Vawter. Dir: |il l.odmillnw. " 14<br />
32 BoxoFUCi':
BOXOFFICE Independent Feature Chart JUNE 1995<br />
AUGUST<br />
Fine Line<br />
Double Happiness, Com/Dra.<br />
Sandra Oh. Dir: Mina Shum.<br />
Gramercy<br />
Jack and Sarah, Rum. Richard E.<br />
Grant. Dir: Tim Sullivan. 8/1<br />
Mallrats, Com/Adv. Shannen<br />
Doherty. Dir: Kevin Smith. 8/4<br />
The Usual Suspects, Sus. Gabriel<br />
Byrne, Kevin Spacey. Dir: Brian<br />
Singer. 8/18<br />
Kit Parker<br />
Broken Harvest (Irel.vid), Dra, 98<br />
min. Colin Lane, Niall O'Brien.<br />
Dir: Maurice O'Callaghan. Boston<br />
Miramax<br />
A Month by the Lake, Com.<br />
Vanessa Redgrave. Dir: lohn Irvin.<br />
Hellraiser 4: Bloodline, Hor.<br />
Doug Bradley, Bruce Ramsey.<br />
Dir: Kevin Yagher.<br />
Jane Eyre, Dra. William Hurt,<br />
Anna Paquin. Dir:FrancoZeffirelli.<br />
Plein Soleil (reissue of 1959<br />
French classic), Dra. Alain Delon.<br />
Dir: Rene Clement.<br />
Orion<br />
310-282-0550<br />
Jeffrey, Rom/Com. Steven<br />
Weber. Dir: Christopher Ashley.<br />
Savoy<br />
Faithful, Com/Thr. Chazz Palminteri,<br />
Cher. Dir: Paul<br />
Mazursky. 8/18<br />
Scenes tor the Soul, Dra. Dir:<br />
George Tillman |r. 8/25<br />
Steal Big, Steal Little, Act/Com.<br />
Andy Garcia. Dir: Andy Davis. 8/25<br />
Seventli Art<br />
Pigalle (France), Dra. Dir: Karim<br />
Dridi.<br />
Wall of Silence (Totschweigen),<br />
Doc. Dirs: Margareta Heinrich<br />
and Eduard Erne.<br />
Sony Classics<br />
Je iM'Appelle Victor (Call Me Victor)<br />
(France), Com, PG, 100 min.<br />
Jeanne Moreau, Micheline Presle.<br />
Dir: Guy lacques.<br />
Mute Witness, Thr. Marina<br />
Sudina. Dir: Anthony Waller.<br />
EPTEMBE.<br />
Fine Line<br />
The Promise, RonVDra. Corinna<br />
Harlouch. Dir: Margarethe von Trotta.<br />
Gramercy<br />
Canadian Bacon, Com. John<br />
Candy. Dir: Michael Moore. 9/1 5<br />
Moonlight and Valentino,<br />
Com/Dra. Kathleen Turner,<br />
Whoopi Goldberg. 9/9<br />
Kit Patket<br />
Queen of Outer Space, SF, NR,<br />
79 min. ZsaZsaGabor, [:ric Fleming.<br />
Dir: Edward Bernds. NY<br />
October<br />
The Cemetery Man (France),<br />
FHor/Com. Rupert Everett. Dir: Michele<br />
Soavi.<br />
OCTOBER<br />
IVIiramax<br />
Halloween 6, Hor. Donald Pleas<br />
ance. Dir: joe Chappelle.<br />
FORTHCOMING<br />
Cinevista<br />
212-947-4373<br />
Sicario (Venezuela). Laureano<br />
Olivarez. Dir: Jose Novoa.<br />
Filmliaus<br />
Two Plus One, Rom/Com. William<br />
Sage. Dir: Eugene Martin. Summer<br />
Fine Line<br />
Frankie Starlight, Dra. Matt Dillon,<br />
Gabriel Byrne. Dir: Michael<br />
Lindsay-Hogg. Fall<br />
Vanessa Redgrave and Ednard Fo\ In Miramax's "A Month by the Lake.<br />
mmm<br />
Gramercy<br />
Loch Ness, Com. Ted Danson,<br />
loely Richardson.<br />
DECEMBE<br />
Savoy<br />
Foreplay, Thr<br />
Sony Classics<br />
City of Lost Children, Com. Ron<br />
Perlman.<br />
Shanghai Triad, Dra. Gong Li.<br />
Dir: Zhang Yimou.<br />
ANUARY<br />
Fine Line<br />
The Grass Harp, Com. Walter<br />
Matthau Sissy Spacek. Dir:<br />
Charles Matthau. 1/3<br />
Total Eclipse, Dra. David Thewlis,<br />
Leonardo DiCaprio. Dir:<br />
Agnieszka Holland. Fall<br />
Gramercy<br />
Carrington, Dra. Emma Thompson.<br />
Dir: Christopher Hampton.<br />
A Pig's Tale, Com, PG. Graham<br />
Slack. Dir: Paul Tassie. Summer<br />
Portrait of a Lady. Nicole Kidman.<br />
Dir: Jane Campion.<br />
Kit Parker<br />
A Clockwork Orange, (reissue of<br />
U. K. original). Dra, X, 1 37 min. Malcolm<br />
McDowell. Dir: Stanley Kubrick.<br />
In Glorious Black and White Ire-<br />
Issue of s/\ restored '40s & '50s<br />
films), NR. Fall<br />
Miramax<br />
Blue in the Face, Dra. Harvey<br />
Keitel, Roseanne. Dirs: Wayne<br />
Wang and Paul Auster. Fall<br />
The Crossing Guard, Dra. Jack<br />
Nicholson. Dir: Sean Penn. Fall<br />
A Day to Remember, Dra. Al<br />
Pacino. Dir: James Foley. Fall<br />
Four Rooms (vignettes), Dra. Tim<br />
Roth. Dirs: Quentin Tarantino,<br />
Allison Anders, Alex-andre Rockwell<br />
and Robert Rodriguez. Fall<br />
Great Moments in Aviation,<br />
Com/Dra, R, 96 min. Jonathan<br />
Pryce, Vanessa Redgrave. Dir:<br />
Beeban Kidron.<br />
The Horseman on the Roof,<br />
Adv/Rom. Juliette Binoche. Dir:<br />
Jean-Paul Rappeneau. Fall<br />
The Journey of August King, Dra.<br />
Jason Patric, Thandie Newton.<br />
Dir: lohn Duigan. Fall<br />
The Prince of Jutland, 103 min.<br />
Gabriel Byrne.<br />
Restoration, Dra. Robert Downey<br />
|r., Meg Ryan. Dir: Michael<br />
Hotlman. Fall<br />
Road Flower, Rom, 89 min. Christopher<br />
Lamliert. Dir:DeranSeratian.<br />
Talk of Angels, Dra, Polly Walker.<br />
Dir: Nick Hamm. Fall<br />
Things to Do in Denver When<br />
You're Dead, Act/Com. Andy<br />
Garcia, Cabrielle Anwar. Dir:<br />
Gary Fleder. Fall<br />
Victory, Sus. Willem Dafoe. Dir:<br />
Mark Peploe. Fall<br />
New Yorker<br />
Lamerica (Italy). Enrico Lo Verso,<br />
Michele Placido. Dir: Gianni<br />
Amelio. Fall NY<br />
Savoy<br />
Around the Block. Fall<br />
Blue Light, Com/Dra.<br />
Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, Hor.<br />
Sean Young, TiriT Daly. Dir:<br />
David Price.<br />
Getting Away With Murder,<br />
Com. Dan Aykroyd, lack Lemmon.<br />
Goldbergs and Romanos. Fall<br />
Gomer Pyle, Com<br />
Heaven's Prisoners, Act/Thr. Alec<br />
Baldwin. Dir: Phil Joanou.<br />
The Honeymooners, Com.<br />
Inflammable. Fall<br />
Last of the Dog Men, Adv. Tom<br />
Berenger, Barbara Hershey. Dir:<br />
Tab Murphy.<br />
Let It Be Me, Dra. Campbell<br />
Scott, Jennifer [jeals. Dir: Eleanor<br />
Bergstein. Fall<br />
Mariette in Ecstasy, Dra.<br />
Mr. Murder, Thr.<br />
My Generation. Jason London,<br />
Tia Carrere. Dir: Bruce Leddy.<br />
Pinocchio, Act.<br />
Private Parts, Bio. Howard Stern.<br />
Rough Magic, Rom/Com. Bridget<br />
Foncla. Dir: Clare Peploe.<br />
A Simple Plan.<br />
The Stupids, Com. Dir: John Landis.<br />
Three Wishes, Dra. Patrick<br />
Swayze. Dir: Martha Coolidge.<br />
Without Remorse, Thr.<br />
Skouras<br />
310-285-5455<br />
ABoyCalledHate, Dra, 105 min.<br />
Scott Caan, James Caan.<br />
A Business Affair, Com, R. Christopher<br />
Walken, Carole Bouquet.<br />
Dir: Charlotte Brandstrom.<br />
Sony Classics<br />
The Films of^Satyajit Ray (reissues<br />
of eight films). L)ir: Satyajit Ray.<br />
Triumph<br />
Screamers. Winter<br />
June, 1995 33
in<br />
O)
EXHIBITION BRIEFINGS<br />
REGAL, NEI MERGE<br />
Michael L. Campbell, president and chief<br />
executive officer of Regal Cinemas Inc., announced<br />
the completion of the acquisition of<br />
Neighborhood Entertainment Inc. for<br />
362,1 13 shares of Regal common stock. Regal<br />
will also recognize certain one-time charges<br />
totaling $1 .5 million after tax for its second<br />
quarter ending |une 29, 1995, related to the<br />
refinancing of NEI's debt, acquisition expenses<br />
and severance payments. Regal will<br />
account for this transaction as a pooling of<br />
interests. NEI currently operates 25 theatres<br />
with 99 screens, primarily in the Tidewater<br />
and Richmond areas of Virginia. This acquisition<br />
brings Regal's screen count to 832,<br />
making Regal the ninth-largest theatre circuit<br />
in North America.<br />
Prior to the finalization of the merger, NEI<br />
and Charlottesville 2000 announced the signing<br />
of a lease agreement to build a new sixplexon<br />
the downtown mall of Charlottesville,<br />
Va. The 18,730-square-foot facility will be<br />
located near a new ice skating rink and food<br />
court being developed by the Charlottesville<br />
2000 group. "The Charlottesville complex is<br />
one that we look forward to as a showcase<br />
project, which will blend well with our commitment<br />
to quality entertainment," said<br />
Campbell. Completion is slated for late November.<br />
Additionally, Regal plans to add 210 new<br />
screens across the United States within the<br />
next 18 months. One hundred and seventytwo<br />
screens will be operated at 1 4 new locations,<br />
and 38 screens will be added at existing<br />
locations. The first of the new theatres, the<br />
40,000 square foot Bellvue Cinema 12 in<br />
Nashville, Tenn., opened March 31. The<br />
Bellvue features tiered stadium-style auditoriums<br />
in two theatres—a first for the chain.<br />
Reflecting this flurry of activity was Regal's<br />
recent announcement that it has been included<br />
in Fortune magazine's annual listing<br />
of the 100 fastest growing companies in<br />
America for the second consecutive year.<br />
MOVING UP WITH MUVICO<br />
has named |on Wray as the vice presi-<br />
1 lamitl Hashemi, president ol Muvico Theatres,<br />
dent of operations. Wray will oversee all<br />
operations and concessions. Wray has over<br />
30 years of experience in theatre exhibition.<br />
He is the president of the Florida chapter of<br />
the National Association of Theatre Owners<br />
(NATO), and is a member of the ShowEast<br />
executive committee. He was previously vice<br />
president of operations at Wometco Theatres.<br />
Muvico Theatres currently operates 30<br />
screens in Florida, and plans the opening of<br />
102 new screens in six Florida locations<br />
within the next 14 months.<br />
BERTOLINO TO NEW HEIGHTS<br />
AT HOYTS<br />
Carl Bertolino has been appointed ,is the<br />
new senior vice president of film and marketing<br />
of Hoyts Cinemas Corp., announced President<br />
Morris K. Englander. Bertolino, a<br />
21 -year film industry veteran, joined Hoyts in<br />
October of 1994 as vice president of film<br />
following a five-year tenure with National<br />
Amusements as a film booker.<br />
AMC HAS GRAND NEWS<br />
FOR JOHANNES<br />
AMC Theatres, a subsidiary of AMC Entertainment<br />
Inc., announced that it has named<br />
Michael Johannes as general manager of its<br />
newest and largest theatre complex. The<br />
Michael Johannes<br />
Grand 24, located in Dallas. Johannes, who<br />
previously served as general manager or<br />
AMC's Fashion Island 16 Theatres in Miami,<br />
will supervise The Grand 24's staff of 200<br />
when the theatre opens in May. The 85,000-<br />
square-foot Grand 24 will feature computerized<br />
ticketing and concessions, stadium-style<br />
seating with 46-inch row spacing and highback<br />
seats with cupholder armrests. All auditoriums<br />
will feature Sony Dynamic Digital<br />
Sound and AMC's High Impact Theatre System<br />
that includes Torus compound curved<br />
screens which enhance picture clarity.<br />
AMC has also announced that plans have<br />
been finalized for the construction of an entertainment<br />
mall anchored by another 24-<br />
screen AMC Theatre in Dallas. This megaplex<br />
will be situated next to the Galleria Mall, and<br />
is scheduled to open in late 1996 or early<br />
1 997 The theatre will occupy the third floor<br />
of a three-level mall being develofied by<br />
EDG/Entertainment Development Group Inc.<br />
The first two floors will contain entertainment-related<br />
retail shops and restaurants.<br />
AMC Entertainment Inc. is headquartered<br />
in Kansas City, Mo., and operates 1.624<br />
screens in 231 theatres in 22 states.<br />
UA BOW IN DENTON, TEXAS<br />
Man h I 7 marked the gr.md opening ol lh
EXHIBITION BRIEFINGS<br />
HURLEY<br />
popped in canola oil because it<br />
"tastes better" and has a "more<br />
buttery flavor." Sixty-one percent<br />
of respondents said they are concerned<br />
about eating healthy popcorn<br />
at the movies, and 90<br />
percent said popcorn is "very important"<br />
to the overall moviegoing<br />
experience. Sunflower oil<br />
contains less cholesterol-raising<br />
fatty acids than its alternatives,<br />
coconut and partially hydrogenated<br />
canola oils, though canola<br />
oil contains slightly less saturated<br />
fat (nine percent as compared<br />
with sunflower oil's 10 percent).<br />
Coconut oil is by far the worst,<br />
with 92 percent saturated fat and<br />
92 percent fatty acids.<br />
COLUMBIA, MOVIEFONE<br />
TEAM IN PROMOTION<br />
Columbia Pictures and Columbia<br />
Records Group have joined<br />
with MovieFone to promote the<br />
movie "Bad Boys" and its<br />
soundtrack. Moviefone is the<br />
nation's largest interactive telephone<br />
movie guide. It provides<br />
more than a million moviegoers<br />
each week in 23<br />
major cities with a<br />
free directory of<br />
movie showtimes<br />
and theatre locations;<br />
explanations<br />
of movie ratings; and<br />
the ability to purchase<br />
movie tickets<br />
in advance. In this<br />
cross-promotion,<br />
MovieFone callers<br />
will hear a 20 second<br />
advertising spot for<br />
the movie "Bad<br />
Boys," followed by a<br />
prompt encouraging<br />
them to "press nine"<br />
to listen to selected<br />
cuts from the<br />
movie's soundtrack.<br />
Callers who purchase<br />
tickets for the<br />
movie or enter their<br />
telephone number into the interactive<br />
system are automatically<br />
entered into a sweepstakes for<br />
free Sony CDs. The collaboration<br />
marks a first for MovieFone.<br />
"We're pleased that our studio<br />
partners are realizing the wide<br />
variety of marketing opportunities<br />
that MovieFone provides<br />
through its advanced technology<br />
and targeted audience of avid<br />
moviegoers," said Russ Leatherman,<br />
president of MovieFone.<br />
I.e., look for similar promotions<br />
in the future.<br />
ON A "WING"<br />
AND A PRAYER<br />
Thomas Church, star of<br />
television's "Wings," emceed a<br />
celebrity auction in Fillmore,<br />
Calif., to raise money to restore<br />
the city's historic Towne Theatre,<br />
built in 1916. The theatre was<br />
badly damaged during last year's<br />
Northridge earthquake. Movie<br />
props, artwork, autographed<br />
scripts and clothing worn by film<br />
cast members were auctioned.<br />
OBITUARY<br />
Raymond Syufy, owner of the<br />
Century Theatre chain, died at<br />
age 76 on Friday, March 31 of<br />
complications from lymphoma.<br />
Syufy, who grew up in<br />
Berkeley,<br />
Calif, opened his first theatre at<br />
the age of 23 in Vallejo, Calif.<br />
Century, which is still familyowned,<br />
is among the 20 largest<br />
chains in the United States, operating<br />
425 screens. Syufy, who<br />
lived in Sausalito, Calif., is survived<br />
by his wife, Marcia, seven<br />
children and seven grandchildren.<br />
Raymond Syufy<br />
Do you have exhibitor-related<br />
news you'd lil
NATIONAL NEWS<br />
SEAGRAM DRINKS DOWN MCA,<br />
EYES NETWORK CHASER<br />
Halfway<br />
through the decade<br />
that was to mark the metamorphosis<br />
of Hollywood's<br />
production centers into integrated<br />
components of the Japanese consumer<br />
electronics business, a<br />
major Japanese corporate player<br />
sold out most of its stake in one of<br />
the world's biggest entertainment<br />
companies to a Canadian beverage<br />
marketer.<br />
In a move that had been speculated<br />
about for weeks, Matsushita<br />
agreed to sell an 80 percent stake<br />
in MCA Inc., the parent company<br />
of Universal Studios, to Montrealbased<br />
Seagram Co. for a reported<br />
$5.7 bill ion—roughly equivalent to<br />
the dollar amount of Matsushita's<br />
original investment in MCA, which<br />
it purchased in 1990, but actually<br />
several billion dollars less than<br />
Matsushita paid in real terms owing<br />
to the deep decline of the U.S. dollar<br />
against the Japanese yen during<br />
that time. Seagram is operated by<br />
Canada's Bronfman family, which<br />
owns 36 percent of Seagram's<br />
stock, among many other holdings.<br />
The Bronfmans also own 1 4.9 percent<br />
of Warner Bros, parent company<br />
Time Warner, an investment<br />
that is worth about $2 billion and<br />
makes them the largest stockholders<br />
of the world's largest media<br />
conglomerate. At press time, it was<br />
believed the Bronfmans would<br />
likely seek to divest themselves of<br />
their Time Warner stock, though no<br />
timetable for divestiture had been<br />
established.<br />
Seagram CEO Edgar Bronfman )r.<br />
indicated that he hoped MCA chair<br />
FILM CREDIT FIGHT<br />
the Wiiters (juild
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SKG'S INTERACTIVE "DREAMS"<br />
In a move that upped the ante yet again in<br />
the ongoing courtship between Hollywood<br />
talent and the flourishing interactive technologies<br />
field, DreamWorks SKC, the start-up<br />
studio created by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey<br />
Katzenberg and David Ceffen, signed a jointventure<br />
agreement with Microsoft Corp.'s<br />
chairman and CEO Bill Gates to form a new<br />
software company designed to produce interactive<br />
and multimedia entertainment properties.<br />
Under the working title of DreamWorks<br />
Interactive, the new company will be funded<br />
by equal, 50 percent contributions from<br />
DreamWorks and Microsoft totalling a reported<br />
$30 million. The company is being<br />
designed to attract a variety of talent from the<br />
software and entertainment fields, with the<br />
ambition of developing a broad product line.<br />
The DreamWorks Interactive venture will<br />
focus initially on adventure games, interactive<br />
stories, and other forms of multimedia software<br />
designed to appeal to the family market.<br />
Many of these titles will be based on original<br />
ideas and licensed consumer properties as<br />
well as feature films and television concepts<br />
developed under the DreamWorks SKC banner.<br />
In a prepared statement, Steven Spielberg<br />
said of the alliance with Cates, "For me, the<br />
merging of storytelling and technology offers<br />
an incredible opportunity to reach new generations<br />
in ways that could not have been<br />
imagined a mere decade ago. I'm very enthusiastic<br />
about working with Bill Cates and his<br />
creative team to dream up new forms of entertainment."<br />
The announcement of the Microsoft/<br />
DreamWorks alliance came just days after it<br />
was announced that Microsoft co-founder<br />
Paul Allen had invested $500 million in<br />
DreamWorks. Though Allen still has a 13.5<br />
percent interest in Microsoft and holds a seat<br />
on Microsoft's board, Allen's main professional<br />
preoccupations are independent entrepreneurial<br />
ventures such as Starwave, a<br />
company which develops entertainment-themed<br />
interactive titles such as the upcoming<br />
CD-ROM on the life and career of Clint Eastwood.<br />
Allen's $500 million investment—reportedly<br />
negotiated independently of the<br />
Microsoft move — gives him a seat on the<br />
DreamWorks board of directors also.<br />
Microsoft will distribute DreamWorks Interactive<br />
product through its Microsoft Home<br />
division, a leader in interactive CD-ROM titles.<br />
The formation of DreamWorks Interactive<br />
terminates Spielberg's relationship with<br />
Knowledge Adventures, an interactive company<br />
in which he was a minority stockholder.<br />
It is expected that the DreamWorks alliance<br />
may at last achieve for software giant<br />
Microsoft the elusive goal of attracting top<br />
flight movie talent into the lucrative but lessthan-prestigious<br />
world of CD-ROM.<br />
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REVIEWS
I<br />
REVIEWS<br />
Kazuyoshi Okuyama centers on a far<br />
more cryptic literary figure, making its<br />
fact-to-fiction transitions seamlessly and<br />
thus challenging and ultimately blurring<br />
the line between reality and Rampo's<br />
own furtive psychology.<br />
Naota Takenaka turns in a subdued<br />
and textured performance as the angstridden<br />
author. Wounded by the official<br />
censure of his latest novel (about a murderous<br />
wife) as an "endangerment to<br />
public morality," which means none can<br />
read it, Rampo retreats into the recesses<br />
of imagination, willfully drawing himself<br />
into a torrent of conflicting emotions<br />
and uncontrollable fantasies. The peculiar<br />
discovery of a real-life drama that<br />
perfectly mirrors the plot of his novel<br />
adds fissures to an already tenuous psychological<br />
state, leading him to seek out<br />
the accused woman (the staggeringly<br />
beautiful Michiko Hadaj — for whom he<br />
develops an almost otherworldly obsession.<br />
As Rampo insinuates himself into<br />
the woman's life, seeking a cure for his<br />
inner demons, his perceptions of reality<br />
and fantasy become twin threads in one<br />
narrative tapestry, leading him toward<br />
the brink of madness.<br />
Rarely has a film so convincingly allowed<br />
audiences entry into the workings<br />
of a human mind, laying naked one<br />
man's obsessions and repressions. Hypnotic<br />
and dreamlike, "Rampo" is a sumptuous<br />
visceral experience entirely unlike<br />
any else on this year's film slate. That<br />
"Rampo" is an easier film to comprehend<br />
than explain attests to its effectiveness on<br />
the purely personal level — no small<br />
achievement for any filmmaker. It's a<br />
testament to the narrative strength of the<br />
material and to the allegorical power of<br />
its imagery that Okuyama can flirt so<br />
closely with selfindulgence without being<br />
consumed by it. An astonishing, first-rate<br />
achievement on all fronts, "Rampo" is not<br />
to be missed. — Wade Major<br />
THE CURE *••*<br />
Starring Brad Rcttfro, Joseph<br />
Mazzello and AnuabeUa Sciona.<br />
Directed by Peter Hoi-ton. Writteti by<br />
Robert Kidm. Produced by Mark Burg<br />
and Eric Eisner.<br />
A Universal release. Etrania. Rated PG-<br />
13 for eniotionai thmnatic clmneitts and<br />
for langiu^e. Rioining time: 98 uti)i.<br />
"You'd be crazy to stab me," a pintsized<br />
11 -year-old. Dexter ("Shadowlands'"<br />
Joseph Mazzello), tells a<br />
knife-wielding adult. "One drop would<br />
kill you. My blood is like poison." And it<br />
is; Dexter is slowly dying from AIDS.<br />
Aside from this one scene of peril,<br />
which itself is more horrific in emotional<br />
than physical terms, this film is fashioned<br />
of sinall, intense moments, where<br />
an even greater menace hovers just offscreen.<br />
The story of one summer in the<br />
life of one boy —Erik ("The Client's" Brad<br />
Renfro), who's grown antisocial due to<br />
his divorced mother's alcoholism— and<br />
the final summer in the life of another.<br />
"The Cure" is a moving look less at<br />
society's AIDS crisis than its consequences<br />
in purely human terms. Because<br />
the sick person is a young boy who<br />
caught the virus via a blood transfusion,<br />
the baggage that often accompanies the<br />
AIDS debate is left behind. Which leaves<br />
room for a number of marvelous sequences,<br />
like the movie's strongest,<br />
which finds the two boys Huck Finn-ing<br />
down the Mississippi in search of<br />
Dexter's cure. Awaking on a riverbank<br />
one night, Dexter tells Erik he's often<br />
scared when he opens his eyes in the<br />
dark, because it's "like I'm not there. And<br />
I'm never coming back. " To calm his only<br />
friend's fears, Erik gives him his tennis<br />
shoe to hold, so that Dexter knows he's<br />
nearby— an act that later becomes the<br />
film's moving coda.<br />
As Dexter's single mom, Annabella<br />
Sciorra ("Mr. Wonderful") gives the film<br />
a warm and compassionate center.<br />
"The Cure" is less successful with the<br />
supporting cast, especially Erik's harsh<br />
mother (Diana Scarwid), who symbolically<br />
stands in for those among us who<br />
would wish AIDS victims to suffer in<br />
silence; as a single mother abandoned<br />
by her husband for a younger model,<br />
working two jobs to support herself and<br />
her son, she's unfairly called on to bear<br />
that extra burden on her fragile shoulders.<br />
However, the intelligence of Robert<br />
Kuhn's quiet script and the intimate<br />
work of debut director Peter Horton<br />
("thirtysomething") with his three<br />
main players make "The Cure" a powerful<br />
experience.— KiiH Williamson<br />
REVIEWS<br />
Amateur R-49<br />
Bad Boys R-50<br />
Billy Madison R-52<br />
The Cure R-47<br />
The Englishman Who Went Up a<br />
Hill But Came Down a Mountain R-48<br />
Farinelli R-49<br />
A Goofy Movie R-50<br />
The Hunted R-52<br />
Jury Duty R-50<br />
Kiss of Death R-46<br />
A Little Princess R-46<br />
Major Fayne R-51<br />
Man of the House R-52<br />
The Mystery of Rampo R-46<br />
Panther R-48<br />
The Pebble and tlie Penguin R-50<br />
The Postman R-48<br />
Rob Roy R-50<br />
Roommates R-52<br />
Stuart Saves His Family R-49<br />
Tank Girl R-51<br />
While You Were Sleeping R-46<br />
Wigstock: The Movie R-48<br />
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June, 1995 R-47
REVIEWS<br />
WIGSTOCK: THE MOVIE<br />
•••<br />
Stfiniiig RiiPfiiil, Ilic Ladij Biiiiiiij,<br />
Lijpsiiika and Dccc.-Litc.<br />
Directed by Bmiy Shils. Produced by<br />
Dean Sih'ers and lilarlin Hecht.<br />
A Goldwyn release. Vnrated. Documentary.<br />
Running time: 92 min.<br />
This campy, entertaining film features<br />
selected performances from the 10th annual<br />
iteration of New York City's (in)famous<br />
Wigstock festival, touted as "the<br />
Super Bowl of Drag." A transvestite takeoff<br />
on Woodstock— but "without all the<br />
bad hair"— Wigstock has (along with wigs<br />
of every hue and style) enough sequins,<br />
rhinestones, feathers, eyelashes and high<br />
heels to accouter all of Las Vegas. Piecing<br />
together interviews of the colorful participants<br />
with footage of them rehearsing<br />
and performing, documentarian Barry<br />
Shils provides a voyeur's paradise of<br />
cross-dressers decked out to the nines.<br />
Besides the visual excitement provided<br />
by the costumes of some of the country's<br />
top female/male impersonators, there's<br />
an abundance oftalent being showcased.<br />
RuPaul, self-proclaimed "Supermodel<br />
of the World," and the dance group Deeelite<br />
are among the top acts. Additional<br />
performances come from the<br />
event's<br />
emcee. The Lady Bunny, and from the<br />
likes of Mistress Formika, Lypsinka,<br />
Alexis Arquette, Jackie Beat and Crystal<br />
Waters. Joey Arias is particularly compelling<br />
as Billie Holliday, belting out vocals<br />
that bring to life that soulful jazz<br />
singer. Other highpoints: Mistress<br />
Formika's bawdy rap number, "You've<br />
Got to Fight forVour Right to Be Gay,"<br />
spinning off the Beastie Boys hit; and the<br />
hilarious Dueling Bankheads singing<br />
"Born to the Wild." A few of the acts,<br />
however, are comparatively unsuccessful,<br />
and the film's production values are<br />
a little rough in places.<br />
Filmed at two Manhattan locations<br />
(Thompson Square Park and the Christopher<br />
Street piersj, "Wigstock: The Movie"<br />
isn't for all audiences. But for many viewers<br />
this musical celebration of "life, love<br />
and lipstick" will prove to be an eyeopening<br />
experience. —Pflf Kramer<br />
THE POSTMAN ic-k-k-k<br />
Starring Massimo Troisi, I'hilippc<br />
Noiret and Maria Graza Cucinotta.<br />
Directed by Micliacl Radford. Written<br />
by An}ia Pavigfiano, Micliael Radford,<br />
Furio Scarpelli, Giacomo ScarpcUi and<br />
Massimo Troisi. Produced by Mario &<br />
Vittorio Gecchi Gori and Gactano Dauiele.<br />
A Miramax release. Drama. In Italian<br />
with subtitles. Not yet rated. Running<br />
time: 115 min.<br />
A charmingly Iragranl houiiuet that<br />
slowly warms you like a Hask of fine<br />
wine, "II Postino" marks the final performance<br />
of Massimo Troisi. The Italian<br />
star literally gave his life to get this adaptation<br />
of Antonio Skarmcta's novel<br />
"Burning Patienc:e" onscreen; Troisi died<br />
the morning after filming ended.<br />
The story follows exiled Chilean<br />
poet/diplomat Pablo Neruda (Philippe<br />
Noiret), who in 1952 takes refuge in an<br />
Italian village with wife Matilde (Anna<br />
Bonaiuto). A layabout named Mario<br />
(Massimo Troisi) who doesn't want to<br />
follow in his family's fisherman tradition<br />
becomes Neruda's personal mailman. A<br />
friendship grows between the two as<br />
Mario becomes interested in the complexities<br />
of poetry, particularly as a<br />
means to wooing the village's prettiest<br />
young woman, Beatrice (Linda Moretti).<br />
In Cyrano-like fashion, Mario uses<br />
Neruda's verses and then the man himself<br />
to capture the woman of his dreams.<br />
A British director making an Italian<br />
film seems oxymoronic, but the instinctive<br />
rapport of Michael Radford ("White<br />
Mischief) with his material and actors<br />
transcends country and culture to create<br />
a winning romance of opposites attracting:<br />
the poet and the postman, the postman<br />
and the beauty. Using generous<br />
spoken stretches of Neruda's more sensual<br />
works, the actors and montage imagery<br />
show how metaphoric language<br />
can transform the lives of even the least<br />
educated. Not only the directing and acting,<br />
but also the gently witty dialogue and<br />
snatches of a lilting harmonica score by<br />
Luis Enrique Bacalov create an involving<br />
rhythm to match the human poetry.<br />
Though trimming of the last half-hour<br />
would lend the climax an even greater<br />
emotional punch, the shock of the tragic<br />
finale still gives the movie as a whole a<br />
bittersweet overlay. — Michael Lightcap<br />
PANTHER ••1/2<br />
Staning Kadccm Hanison, Courtney<br />
Vance and Marcus Chong.<br />
Directed by Mario Van Peebles. Written<br />
by Melvin Van Peebles. Produced<br />
by Melvin & Mario Van Peebles.<br />
A Gramcrcy release. Drama. Rated R<br />
for stjong violence and language. Running<br />
time: 124 min.<br />
For those viewers who know the history<br />
of the Black Panther Movement—<br />
which began in Oakland, Calif in 1966 in<br />
response to the harassment and violence<br />
suffered by the black community at the<br />
hands of local police— and its leaders,<br />
"Panther" will undoubtedly strike a deep<br />
chord. For those with scant knowledge<br />
who want to learn about that period, the<br />
film will prove disappointing,<br />
A (fictional) rank-and-file member of<br />
the organization, Judge (well played by<br />
Kadeem Harrison) is a college-educated<br />
Vietnam veteran whose initial skepticism<br />
about joining is overcome by Panther<br />
founders Huey Newton (Marcus<br />
Chong) and Bobby Scale (Courtney<br />
Vance). At Newton's request, Judge becomes<br />
an informant for the police. (FBI<br />
head J. Edgar Hoover lab('ts the group<br />
Public Enemy #1.) As a double; agent,<br />
.ludge's life is endangered not only by the<br />
police but by Panth(;r members who suspect<br />
he's in league with the autlioritics.<br />
The film hits highlights of Panther<br />
chronology but doesn't offer sufficient exposition<br />
for the uninitiated. The introduction<br />
of school-lunch programs and<br />
sickle-cell anemia testing, the rift wth<br />
Eldridge Cleaver, Newton's arrest and<br />
Hoover's obsession with neutralizing the<br />
group all pass by with giddying speed.<br />
Though the film appropriately emphasizes<br />
the movement as a whole, it fails to<br />
fully develop its characters. To succeed<br />
on its terms, a film like "Panther" should<br />
not preach to the converted; it should<br />
show the uninformed a different world<br />
and sensibility.— /e«M Oppenheimei-<br />
THE ENGLISHMAN WHO<br />
WENT UP A HILL BUT CAME<br />
DOWN A MOUNTAIN ki^icir<br />
Staning Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald<br />
and Colm Meancy.<br />
Directed and written by Christopher<br />
Monger. Produced by Sarah C'lutjs.<br />
A Miramax release. Comedy. Not yet<br />
rated. Running time: 98 min.<br />
Bearing all the marks of a fairy tale—<br />
though presented as (embellished) fact—<br />
this film strikes a mannered pose while<br />
acting blase about serious, even dire, elements<br />
just beneath the surface, in the<br />
same way that Hansel and Gretel matterof-factly<br />
wedge the witch into the oven<br />
without further comment. Based on a<br />
story told to writer/director Christopher<br />
Monger by his grandfather, the movie<br />
opens in war-weary 1917 with the arrival<br />
of two Englishmen (Hugh Grant and Ian<br />
McNeice) in a quiet Welsh village. It's<br />
immediately apparent that there are cultural<br />
differences afoot, leaving the villagers<br />
free throughout to make entertaining<br />
jokes at the expense of the newcomers.<br />
The purpose of the interlopers is to measure<br />
the (for them) unpronounceable elevation<br />
hard by the village: If it's taller<br />
than 1,000 feet, it will win official designation<br />
as a mountain, but if it's under it<br />
will be unceremoniously downgraded to<br />
a hill. The ever-precise English find it 16<br />
feet short of 1,000, prompting the outraged<br />
but wily villagers to hatch a<br />
scheme to keep the limeys in town long<br />
enough for the height to be raised and<br />
remeasured. The title says the rest.<br />
It's a nice twist on a proven formula,<br />
and all the reliable stock characters are<br />
represented: the lascivious but wellmeaning<br />
innkeeper (Colm Meaney), the<br />
irascible elderly minister (the outstanding<br />
Kenneth Griffith, last seen harassing<br />
Hugh Grant in "Four W(!ddings and a<br />
Funeral"), the good-hearted local tart<br />
(Tara Fitzgerald), along with assorted eccentrics.<br />
If the film belongs to anyone,<br />
though, it's Grant (who's always a pleasure<br />
to watch) and c:inematographer Vernon<br />
Layton, whose top-shelf work<br />
manages to hint at the surnnniding darkness<br />
of wartime with compositions that<br />
deftly combine the comic and the ominous<br />
elements of Mong(M''s well-layered<br />
screenplay. — Esfc/; \'agy<br />
R-48 BOXOFFLCK
REVIEWS<br />
AMATEUR •<br />
starring Isabelle Huppert, Martin<br />
Donovan and Elina Lowensohn.<br />
Directed and ivritten by Hal Hmiley.<br />
Produced by Ted Hope attd Hal Hartley.<br />
A Sony Classics release. Action/thriller.<br />
Rated R for violence and<br />
language. Running time: 105 niin.<br />
Hal Hartley's latest moves at such a<br />
lethargic pace one is tempted to retitle it<br />
"Amateurish." Although Hartley's previous<br />
independent work, like 1992's "Simple<br />
Men," has earned him considerable<br />
acclaim, this film's deadpan style stirs<br />
one key emotion: boredom.<br />
Isabelle Huppert stars as Isabelle, a<br />
former nun who writes short stories for<br />
a pornographic magazine. She meets<br />
Thomas (Martin Donovan), who's suffering<br />
from amnesia and so doesn't remember<br />
he was once a brutal criminal.<br />
Meanwhile, as the two attempt to rediscover<br />
his past, a porn actress named Sofia<br />
"Amateur" wouldn't have looked like a ing (actually a blend of two vocalists)<br />
professional job. — C«rofe Glines seems recorded: Dionisi's lip movements<br />
FARINELLI ^^1/2<br />
Starring Stefano Dionisi, Enrico ho<br />
Verso and Elsa Zylberstein.<br />
Directed by Gerard Corbiau. Written<br />
by Andree Corbiau and Gerard<br />
Corbiau. Produced by Vera Belmont,<br />
Linda Gutenberg, Aldo Lado, Dominique<br />
Janne and Stephane Thenoz.<br />
A Sony Classics release. Drama.<br />
Rated R for depiction of adult themes<br />
and sexuality. Running time: 110 min.<br />
A sort of castrato and sibling-rivalr\f<br />
variant on "Amadeus," this 18th-centur\'<br />
true story follows the lives of two brothers:<br />
the composer Riccardo Broschi (Enrico<br />
Lo Verso) and his younger brother<br />
Carlo (Stefano Dionisi), who was castrated<br />
without his consent before puberty<br />
to maintain his heavenly voice. As<br />
grown men, the two share everything,<br />
including their music— Carlo sings what<br />
Riccardo writes— and their women-<br />
Carlo stimulates them and Riccardo<br />
(Elina Lowensohn)— Thomas' former<br />
girlfriend, who believes he is<br />
dead— tries to blackmail his ex-boss<br />
and thus endangers all their lives.<br />
The movie comes off as a parody<br />
of the action genre, with characters<br />
digressing into bizarrely funny conversations<br />
as they run through conventional<br />
chase scenes. But Quentin<br />
Tarantino has upped the ante for hip<br />
dialogue with "Reservoir Dogs" and<br />
"Pulp Fiction," and Hartley's screenplay<br />
seems embarrassingly flat by<br />
comparison. When a friend shows<br />
Sofia what a floppy disk is, she objects,<br />
"It's not floppy. It's stiff" The<br />
joke misfires, but Hartley thinks it<br />
good enough to repeat later. The<br />
banter of the hitmen here (one of<br />
whom claims to have studied economics)<br />
doesn't have the amusing<br />
zest that marked the interplay between<br />
John Travolta and Samuel L.<br />
Jackson in "Pulp Fiction." Hartley's<br />
Stefano Dionisi m 'Fannelli.<br />
story simply seems weird instead of<br />
humorous. The writer/director also "plants the seed." Taking the stage name<br />
keeps his biggest asset — Isabelle Farinelli, Carlo gains great acclaim, his<br />
Huppert— offscreen for long stretchesby sublime voice carrying his royal and<br />
splitting "Amateur" into two parts, one noble listeners into rapture. A rift eventually<br />
tracking Isabelle and Thomas, the other<br />
the tale of Sofia and a hapless accountant<br />
(Damian Young). You long to see more<br />
grows between the two siblings,<br />
less due to the efforts by the composer<br />
Handel (Jeroen Kxabbe) to have Farinelli<br />
of the French dramatic actress in this sing his music than to Carlo's unslakable<br />
unusual American comedic role; Huppert's<br />
anguish over his castration— and his<br />
work recalls Garbo's in "Ninotch-<br />
anger at his older brother for allowing it.<br />
ka." Huppert handles the comedy deftly This separation is nicely symbolized<br />
as Isabelle tries to lose her virginity by by their rivalry over the one woman (an<br />
seducing Thomas; her attempts are so evocative Elsa Zylberstein) who Carlo<br />
halfhearted you can't help but laugh. But doesn't want to share but for whom he<br />
the other actors seem immobilized by the can'tbe a complete man (i.e., impregnate<br />
writer/director's stylized manner.<br />
her). But the narrative as a whole stuttersteps<br />
Hartley tries in vain to make his script<br />
through its quarter-century span,<br />
sing, and he also fails to develop a strong which might be due in part to four different<br />
visual look to back up the lines. Although<br />
types of story credit being shared<br />
it has action and violence, the film among five writers. Other symbolism,<br />
drones along, as stately as a PBS drama; especially that of Carlo's nightmare<br />
it could have easily been edited to 90 about a white horse, seems forced. A<br />
minutes. But even a tighter version of crucial difficulty is that Farinelli's sing-<br />
aren't always in sync, and that singing's<br />
aural qualities (save for one scene) are<br />
oddly the same whether he's performing<br />
inside or outside.<br />
Along with Zylberstein, Dionisi and Lo<br />
Verso redeem "Farinelli" with fine performances.<br />
As the fragile and suffering<br />
Carlo, Dionisi is suitably overheated, and<br />
Lo Verso makes for a fiercely affectionate<br />
brother— Kiw Williamson<br />
STUART SAVES HIS FAMILY irir<br />
Starring Al Franken, Laura San<br />
Giacomo and Vincent D'Onofrio.<br />
Directed by Harold Ramis. Written by<br />
Al Frankot. Produced by Lome Miclmels.<br />
A Paramount release. Comedy /drama.<br />
Rated PG-13 for language and substance<br />
abuse. Running time: 98 min.<br />
Based on the "Daily Affirmation with<br />
Stuart Smalley" sketches on "Saturday<br />
Night Live," this big-screen variant has<br />
fill' same problem as most of its parent<br />
show's skits: It revolves around one<br />
joke milked too long— a weakness<br />
compounded at feature length. The<br />
movie also doesn't know whether to<br />
try to flesh out the character of Stuart<br />
and make him somebody we care<br />
about, or keep him a parody.<br />
Al Franken, an "SNL" writer and<br />
performer for 15 years, plays Stuart,<br />
a "caring nurturer" who hosts a selfhelp<br />
cable access show and has as his<br />
mantra "I'm good enough, I'm smart<br />
enough and, doggone it, people like<br />
me." Stuart isn't a licensed therapist,<br />
but his membership in multitudinous<br />
I2-step programs gives him a<br />
special insight into emotional dysfunction.<br />
When the evil program director<br />
cancels Stuart's show, though,<br />
he sinks again into depression,<br />
marked by a Fig Newton binge.<br />
Before progress can be made toward<br />
recovering his career, a<br />
relative's funeral forces Stuart to return<br />
home to the family that made<br />
him so dysfunctional in the first place.<br />
Stuart's father (Harris Yulin) and older<br />
brother (Vincent D'Onofrio) are alcoholics.<br />
("You'd drink too, ifyou had Liberace<br />
for a son," asserts Dad.) His sister is a<br />
compulsive eater, and his mother constantly<br />
cooks and bakes to suppress dissatisfaction<br />
with her miserable life.<br />
Stuart decides to take it upon himself to<br />
rescue each family member from his or<br />
her respective failings— a task made<br />
more difficult by the fact that Stuart is<br />
barely able to cope with his own.<br />
In contrast to the lighthearted treatment<br />
of the Smalley family's disorders is<br />
a somber conversation between Stuart<br />
and Julia (Laura San Giacomo), a fellow<br />
1 2-stepper and best friend, during which<br />
she details a deeply personal trauma. Her<br />
monologue is the film's only seriously<br />
conveyed note, and it seems inappropriate<br />
for someone to be making such revelations<br />
to the caricature that is Stuart.<br />
The film has fun moments, especially<br />
for fans of Stuart's hallmark catch-<br />
June, 1995 R-49
REVIEWS<br />
phrases, vvliich are the crux ot the Stuart<br />
gag. (Among the more memorable here<br />
are "trace it, face it and erase it" and "it's<br />
easier to put on slippers than to carpet<br />
the world," though those are hardly destined<br />
to come on par with Gumpisms.)<br />
Overall, though, "Stuart Saves His Family"<br />
is a disappointment from director<br />
Harold Ramis of "Stripes, " "Ghostbusters"<br />
and "Groundhog Day" fame. As for<br />
Franken's performance, one would feel<br />
guilty picking on the hapless Stuart— and<br />
if Franken can evoke pathos for a silly<br />
spoof of a character he must be doing<br />
something riglit. — C/insri»c James<br />
JURY DUTY •1/2<br />
Stoning Pnitlij Shore, Tici Carrerc<br />
and Shelley Winters.<br />
Directed hi) John Fortenherty. Written<br />
by Neil Tolkin, Barbara Williams<br />
and Samantha Adams. P)odiiccd by<br />
Yoram Ben-Ami and Peter Lenkov.<br />
A T}iStar release. Comedy. Rated PG-<br />
13 for crude sex-related humor. Running<br />
time: 86 min.<br />
Tommy Collins (Pauly Shore) has been<br />
summoned to serve "Jury Duty." He's<br />
unemployed and on the lookout for the<br />
longest trial he can land— all the better to<br />
have his needs cared for during sequestration.<br />
When he falls for fellow juror<br />
Monica (Tia Carrere), he aims to draw<br />
out deliberations even longer to give him<br />
more time to win Monica's affection. For<br />
everyone else involved in the case,<br />
Tommy becomes Public Enemy #1<br />
Once a big-screen staple (e.g., "Twelve<br />
Angry Men," the Henry Fonda film from<br />
which this off-kilter variant borrows, in<br />
one scene literally), courtroom drama is<br />
now available any hour of the day. It's not<br />
first-time director John Fortenberry's<br />
fault that "Jury Duty" arrives when audiences<br />
are watching for free pretty much<br />
what this film asks them to pay for. At<br />
least it asks them to laugh, not weep.<br />
And there the movie is only marginally<br />
successful. Its uncourtly antics are<br />
clearly inadmissible, and Shore's odd and<br />
improvised humor is but fitfully entertaining.<br />
The former MTV star is even<br />
overshadowed by his canine companion<br />
(played by Gizmo from "True Lies"), a<br />
chihuahua obsesssed with the game<br />
show ".leopardv." — Dn'niyjie E. Leslie<br />
THE PEBBLE AND<br />
THE PENGUIN ••1/2<br />
featuring the voices of Martin Short<br />
and James Belushi.<br />
Written by Rachel Korelsky and Sieve<br />
Whitestone. Produced by Russell Boland.<br />
An MCi\t/UA release. Animation.<br />
Rated G. Running lime: 74 min.<br />
Better than ime would expect of an<br />
animated movie for which no one claims<br />
a directing credit, this birds-ol-no-feathers<br />
tale oig Martin Lawrence, Will Smith<br />
and Tea Lconi.<br />
Directed by Mieahcl Bay. Written by<br />
Michael Banic, Jim Mulholland and<br />
Doug Ricliardson. Produced by Don<br />
Simpson and Jeny Bruckheimer.<br />
A Columbia release. Action /comedy<br />
Rated R for intense violent action and<br />
pervasive strong la)iguagc. Running<br />
time: 117 min.<br />
Comedic actors Martin Lawrence<br />
(TV's "Martin") and Will Smith (TV's<br />
"Fresh Prince of Beverly Hills") make for<br />
an explosively funny combination as<br />
Miami police detectives bungling their<br />
way through life-and-death dilemmas.<br />
Backed by blockbuster producers Don<br />
Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer (the<br />
duo behind "Beverly Hills Cop" and "Top<br />
Gim"), "Bad Boys" also dishes a generous<br />
dose of high-octane action.<br />
Lawrence plays Det. Marcus Burnett,<br />
a neurotic married cop; Smith is his antithesis,<br />
Det. Mike Lowrey, who's rich,<br />
sinooth and all ego. The duo is constantly<br />
engaged in a battle of wills as they try to<br />
solve a high-profile drug heist from police<br />
headquarters and find themselves in<br />
over their heads. Like "Beverly Hills<br />
Cop," "Bad Boys'" humor is often selfdirected,<br />
spoofing other police shows<br />
with cliche lines and stealing an opening<br />
shot from "Miami Vice." In proving<br />
they're "tough enough" by taking swipes<br />
at each other's manhood, Lawrence and<br />
Smith provide well-placed laughs to relieve<br />
the tension built during action sequences—some<br />
of whose drama comes<br />
credit of Oscar-winning stunt coordinator<br />
Ken Bates {"Dk: Hard," "Dcmiolition<br />
Man"). Even when excessive, the action<br />
keeps the plot moving, giving the characters<br />
const.uU challenges. As Julie, a sexy<br />
witness to ,i crime, Tea Leoni adds extra<br />
chemistry to the mix— especially because<br />
Julie's arrival in the plot necessitates<br />
a role reversal by the detectives that<br />
is the movie's strongest element.<br />
With the talents of Lawrence and<br />
Smith, the film hardly needs quite its<br />
number of overblown explosive scenes,<br />
which compromise the film's believability.<br />
Nonetheless, "Bad Boys" is extraordinarily<br />
entertaining. —Pflf Kramer<br />
A GOOFY MOVIE •••<br />
\'oiees by Bill Fanner and Jason<br />
Marsdeii.<br />
Directed by Kevin Lima. Written by<br />
Jymn Magon, Chris Matheson and Brian<br />
Pimental. Produced by Daji Rounds.<br />
A Biiena Vista release. Animation.<br />
Rated G. Running time: 76 min.<br />
Perhaps ultimately better suited to<br />
home video's small screen, this toon for<br />
tots is kinetic enough for kids yet comical<br />
enough for parents. Here, Goofy— who<br />
first appeared as Dippy Dawg in a 1932<br />
short, "Mickey's Revue"— makes his bigscreen<br />
starring debut as a single dad to<br />
son Max, who believes that his pater's<br />
goofiness is making it all the harder for<br />
him to fit in with the cool crowd at school.<br />
Just as Max makes a social breakthrough<br />
by landing a date with the lovely Roxanne.<br />
Goofy decides to establish a bond<br />
with his distant-seeming teenager by taking<br />
him on a cross-country fishing trip—<br />
trip that takes the duo to unexpected<br />
geographies and emotions.<br />
Debut director Kevin Lima keeps the<br />
onscreen commotions inventive with<br />
wry angles and lots of action. The script's<br />
three writers are surer with wit (which<br />
rarely flags for long) than with depth,<br />
settling for homily andbromide. Both the<br />
story and potential audience could have<br />
been broadened by adding a Mrs. Goofy<br />
(whose absence is unexplained) and a<br />
daughter. Six songs, including ditties<br />
from Tom Snow ("Footloose"), have an<br />
agreeable zest —Kiiii Williamson<br />
ROB ROY •••••<br />
starring Liam \ces()}i, Jessica Ijingc<br />
and Tim Roth.<br />
Directed by Michael Caton-Jones.<br />
Written by Alan Sharp. Produced hy<br />
Peter Broughan and Richtird Jackson.<br />
A VA release. Romance advcniurc.<br />
Rated R for violence aiul se,\uality.<br />
Running lime: /.W min.<br />
This epic transports audiences to the<br />
beautiful Scottish highlands in the early<br />
17()0s, the era of the legendary Robert<br />
Roy MacGregor, A cattle drover for the<br />
Marqius of Montrose (John Hurt), Rob<br />
Roy (Liam Neeson) borrows 1,000<br />
pounds from his employer to buy a herd<br />
of cattl(^ which he will tr.msport anti sell<br />
to iK^lp stipport his fannly ,md his village.<br />
Fouling his plan is Archibald C'lumingharn<br />
("Pulp Fiction's" Tim Roth), tmderneath<br />
whose dry wit and penchant for fey<br />
fashion is a letlial socio|ialh. To iielp pay<br />
his tailoi hills. Ciumingh.un conspires to<br />
R-50 Boxonicic
REVIEWS<br />
the loan money, leaving Rob Roy<br />
steal<br />
faced with repaying the Marquis, who<br />
instead of coin wants the influential<br />
MacGregor to slander a political rival.<br />
Placing honor above all, he refuses and<br />
escapes; a manhunt is led by<br />
the amoral Archibald, who<br />
burns Rob Roy's village, kills<br />
his livestock and rapes his wife<br />
(Jessica Lange)— which pits the<br />
two men against each other for<br />
an eventual showdown.<br />
Performances all around are<br />
strong and genuine. Neeson's<br />
striking portrayal of Rob Roy<br />
exudes the character's honor<br />
and nobility from the onset.<br />
Lange, hot off her Oscar win for<br />
"Blue Skies," is riveting as his<br />
strong-spirited wife Mary. Together,<br />
they create a couple<br />
whose love is deep and passionate.<br />
The cinematography and<br />
Celtic score compound the epic<br />
feeling of the tllm. Historical<br />
authenticity is sought not only<br />
in the beautiful costuming but also in the<br />
meticulous degree to which practically<br />
every character, good or evil, has the<br />
snaggled teeth of those times.<br />
"Rob Roy," though formulaic in terms<br />
of story arc and protagonist/antagonist<br />
tensions, masterfully combines elements<br />
of the action, tragedy, romance<br />
and period genres to create this deeply<br />
moving story about the heroism of standing<br />
up for what one believes in, no matter<br />
what the odds or cost. — Christine James<br />
TANK GIRL irir<br />
starring Lori Petty, Malcolm McDowell,<br />
Naomi Watts and Ice-T.<br />
Directed bij Rachel Talalaij. Written by<br />
Tedi Sarafian. Produced by Ricliard B.<br />
Leiins, Pen Densham and John Watson.<br />
A UA release. Action /comedy. Rated<br />
R for violence, language and sexuality.<br />
Running time: 104 min.<br />
Tank Girl (Lori Petty) is a heliumvoiced,<br />
tough-talking, beer-swilling,<br />
oddly garbed, flirtatious, fearless, chainsmoking,<br />
determinedly individualistic<br />
19-year-old kewpie-doll punker living in<br />
the year 2033. The earth, now a desert, is<br />
overlorded by the Department of Water<br />
and Power, but Tank Girl and her outlaw<br />
fi-iends manage to steal enough water<br />
(and beer and smokes) to live a party<br />
life— until an attack by evil DWP head<br />
Kesslee (Malcolm McDowell, whose talent<br />
for subtle yet terrifying malevolence<br />
are wasted in a cliche role). Escaping a<br />
DWP labor camp. Tank Girl hijacks a<br />
tank and— with fellow inmate Jet Girl<br />
(Naomi Watts) and human/kangaroo hybrids<br />
called Rippers (whose supposed<br />
deadliness is hardly believable)— embarks<br />
on improbable adventures to<br />
thwart Kesslee and his minions.<br />
In depicting this future world, the<br />
filmmakers have included animation sequences<br />
that render Tank Girl as she's<br />
seen in the popular underground British<br />
FLASHBACK: DECEMBER 1, 1969<br />
What BOXOFEICE said about...<br />
MAROONED<br />
[On June 30, Universal releases "Apollo 13," the true story of tlie 1970<br />
moon mission that almost didn't make it back. Just one year earlier,<br />
Hollywood had offered a similar cinematic scenario in "Marooned."]<br />
With a maximum of authenticity and suspense,<br />
producer M.J. Frankovich and director<br />
John Sturges have created a timely space<br />
adventure that should appeal to the millions<br />
of people throughout the world who watch<br />
U.S. astronauts live on television and wonder<br />
what fate would await them should something<br />
go disastrously wrong. "Marooned" gives the<br />
specifics of such a situation in the kind of<br />
standard adventure-melodrama framework<br />
so pleasantly familiar to general audiences.<br />
With a full quota of spectacular special effects<br />
and stunning Panavision-Technicolor footage<br />
of actual missile launches, the Columbia roadshow<br />
release boasts a strong cast, wth Gregory<br />
Peck, David Janssen and Gene Hackman outstanding<br />
as parties caught up in the life-ordeath<br />
struggle to save three astronauts<br />
apparentiy doomed to orbit the Earth through<br />
eternity. Much of the dialogue is so scientifically<br />
exact as to numb the average mind, but the suspense overcomes the<br />
grounded doubletalk and too-predicatble antics of the worried wives. The<br />
conclusion is especially upbeat, showing one aspect of American-Russian<br />
cooperation that could result from an impending tragedy in the void.<br />
EXPLOITIPS:<br />
SELLING ANGLES: The subject matter, of much concern to Americans,<br />
is a natural for exploitation. This is not the cerebral fare of "2001" and<br />
should be sold as a space adventure to general audiences. Displays of<br />
space equipment and clothing; tic-ins with local science clubs and schools.<br />
CATCHUNES: The Suspense Adventure of the Space Age!. ..The Saga of<br />
Ironman One!<br />
comicby Alan Martin and Jamie Hewlett<br />
on which the film is based— saving a fortune<br />
on sets by merely drawing them. As<br />
with most futuristic prognostications,<br />
bleakness and oppression prevail; in the<br />
end, what doesn't prevail is "Tank Girl"<br />
itself. Though striving to stay true to the<br />
Tank Girl persona, the movie concocts a<br />
character more two-dimensional than<br />
the paper the comic is printed on: Petty<br />
has her enthusiasm but not the edge.<br />
Petty's performance has fun moments,<br />
and both her energy and that of a grungerock<br />
soundtrack almost prod audiences<br />
into getting caught up in it— but not<br />
quite. Director Rachel Talalay, whose resume<br />
includes "Freddy's Dead: The Final<br />
Nightmare" and producing credits on<br />
John Waters' "Hairspray" and "Cry-<br />
Baby," here is unable to transcend camp.<br />
(For example, a protracted renditioncomplete<br />
with can-can line— of the Cole<br />
Porter song "Let's Do It" when Tank Girl<br />
and crew should have been making their<br />
escape goes far out of its way to be weird<br />
and wacky.) The film's humor is often<br />
juvenile or contrivedly off-kilter. Worst,<br />
its attempts to win a Gen-X audience with<br />
its spit-at-authority spokesperson are<br />
eye-roUingly overt. "Tank Girl" is all style<br />
over substance, and even the style isn't<br />
all that mind-blowing.— Christine /«mes<br />
MAJOR PAYNE •^<br />
Starring Damon Wayans, Karyn Parsons<br />
and Michael Ironside.<br />
Directed by Nick Castle. Written by<br />
Dean Lorey, Damon Wayans and Gary<br />
Rosen. Produced by Eric L. Gold and<br />
Michael Rachmil.<br />
A Universal release. Comedy. Rated<br />
PG-13 for some crude humor and behavior.<br />
Running time: 97 min.<br />
From Groucho Marx on, broad comic<br />
performers have always worked best when<br />
placed in exaggerated situations that allow<br />
them to collide with similarly broad and<br />
(preferably) pompous targets. In this<br />
comic variation on "The Private War of<br />
Major Benson" (the 1955 Charlton Heston<br />
vehicle), star and co-scripter Damon<br />
Wayans creates a classic comic caricature:<br />
Major Benson Payne, a career soldier who's<br />
run out ofwars to fight and now commands<br />
a misfit teenage ROTC unit.<br />
If Wayans and his co-writers had concocted<br />
a better backdrop for Payne's silliness<br />
and more deserving targets for his<br />
sarcasm, this film might have worked.<br />
But Payne's teenage charges are such a<br />
harmless and characterless bunch that<br />
they pose no challenge to the bellicose<br />
major. Where's Margaret Dumont when<br />
we need her?— Eric Williams<br />
June, 1995 R-51
REVIEWS<br />
ROOMMATES ^1/2<br />
Stani)ig PctcT Folk, D.B.<br />
Swecjicy and /idimnte Moore.<br />
Directed by Peter Yates.<br />
Written by Max Apple and<br />
Stephen Metealfe. Produced<br />
by Ted Field, Scott Kroopli<br />
and Robert W. Cort.<br />
A Biicim Vista release. Comedy/drama.<br />
Rated PG for tlicnmtic<br />
clctntnits, and for some<br />
scnsiwdity atid language. Run-<br />
MiHg time: 109 min.<br />
Manipulative from start to<br />
finish, this Interscope production<br />
aims for a "Terms of<br />
Endearment" mix of soap and<br />
spice, but comes off closer to<br />
the unrestrained mawkishness<br />
of "Beaches." Despite a<br />
typically winning performance<br />
from Peter Falk,<br />
"Roommates" quickly crosses<br />
over from cute to cloying.<br />
With its<br />
paint-by-numbers<br />
plot (based on a story by coscripter<br />
Max Apple) about a<br />
grandfather who raises his<br />
grandchild, it relies perhaps<br />
unfairly on the performances<br />
of its leads. Falk is charming,<br />
but his character has no arc;<br />
as his grown charge, D.B.<br />
Sweeney shows little depth;<br />
and Julianne Moore as the<br />
love interest is hopelessly<br />
mannered.— Sean O'Neill<br />
THE HUNTED ^1/2<br />
Starri}ig Christopher<br />
Lambert and John Lone.<br />
Directed arid iinittcn by J.F.<br />
Laiiton. Produced by John<br />
Dains and Gary \V. Goldstein.<br />
A Universal release. Action.<br />
Rated R for strong<br />
bloody ninja violence and<br />
some sexuality. Running<br />
time: 110 min.<br />
For a ninja action movie,<br />
"The Hunted" suffers from an<br />
acute identity crisis. On the<br />
one hand, writer-turned-director<br />
J.F. Lawton ("Under<br />
Siege") wants to deliver a<br />
movie of texture; on the<br />
other, he wants to thrill audiences.<br />
He fails in both.<br />
As a New York businessman<br />
who becomes the target<br />
of a ninja assassin (John<br />
Lone), Christopher Lambert's<br />
character fades into the<br />
background as the action<br />
switches to an internecine<br />
war between two ninja clans.<br />
Straitjacketed by Lawton's<br />
one-note conception, Lone's<br />
bad guy seems a parody —but<br />
not camp enough to be memorable.—<br />
R/cfc Schultz<br />
MAN OF THE HOUSE •<br />
Starring Chevy C'/irtse,<br />
Fanah Fawcctt and Jonathan<br />
Taylor Thomas.<br />
Directed by James Oit.<br />
Written by James Oit and<br />
Jim Cndckshank. Produced<br />
by Bonnie Bruckheimer and<br />
Martij Katz.<br />
A Bucna Vista release.<br />
Comedy. Rated PG for mild<br />
thematic elements. Running<br />
time: 96 min.<br />
hi the old days, Disney's<br />
live-action movies rarely<br />
dealt with any subject stickier<br />
than flubber. With "Man of<br />
the House," Walt's successors<br />
have attempted to construct<br />
a lighthearted romp around<br />
the sticky modern topic of<br />
how children cope with divorce<br />
and remarriage. But<br />
the results remain lighter<br />
than air. Director James Orr<br />
and his co-writer Jim<br />
Cruickshank, best known for<br />
"Three Men and a Baby,"<br />
quickly back away from anything<br />
hard-edged, instead devoting<br />
most of the film to soft,<br />
"Afterschool Special" sentiments.—<br />
Eric Williams<br />
BILLY MADISON 1/2<br />
Staning Adam Sandler,<br />
Bridgette Wilso}i and<br />
Darren McGavin.<br />
Directed by Tamra Davis.<br />
Written by Tim Herlihy and<br />
Adam Sandler. Produced by<br />
Robert Simonds.<br />
A Universal release. Comedy.<br />
Rated PG-13 for language<br />
and crude humor.<br />
Running time: 88 min.<br />
A comedy about adult education<br />
that fails on all counts,<br />
"Billy Madison" lacks the<br />
traits that make "Tommy<br />
Boy" a modest winner:<br />
laughs, plausibility and<br />
screen presence. As a lazy<br />
young man on the mend,<br />
Adam Sandler (who cowrites,<br />
badly) exhibits none<br />
of the magnetism and attention<br />
to character that made<br />
his supporting performance<br />
in "Shakes the Clown" memorable.<br />
The film's romanceeven<br />
judged by the easy<br />
standards of this genre — is<br />
bungled, with an acceptable<br />
turn by Bridg(;tte Wilson as<br />
the title character's favorite<br />
teacher made ludicrous by<br />
how her heart is won. But the<br />
central prohU'm remains the<br />
humor: There isn'l anv— at<br />
all.— KiKi Williamson<br />
^<br />
Stcry-type key: (Ac) Action: lAtl) Adveniure: lAn) Animaled:<br />
fO Comedy: iD) Drama: iDoc) Documentary: (F) Fantasy:<br />
iHor) Honor: (M) Musical: {My) Mystery: (R) Romance:<br />
(SF) Science Fiction: iSus) Suspense: (Th) Thriller: IW) Western.
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resume to: CINEPLEX ODEON THEATRES, Dept. B,<br />
70 East Lake Street, Suite 1600, Chicago, IL, 60601.<br />
PLITT AMUSEMENT CO. of Washington is in need of<br />
a few good multiplex managers who are well-accomplete<br />
line of . . .<br />
Response No 130<br />
LET THE GOVERNMENT FINANCE your new or<br />
existing small business. Grants/loans to $500,000.<br />
Free recorded message: (707) 448-0201<br />
.<br />
(RN7)<br />
MANAGER TRAINEE wanted by rapidly growing<br />
chain/management group. Rapid training and advancement<br />
potential for film oriented person with<br />
some entry level or college background. Wnte in confidence<br />
to County Amusement, 3200 Elton Road,<br />
Johnstown. PA 15904.<br />
MANAGER NEEDED FOR FAST GROWING RE-<br />
GIONAL THEATRE CIRCUIT. Great locations! Malibu.<br />
Hawaii. Lake Tahoe etc. Advancement potential<br />
and benefits. Send resume to <strong>Boxoffice</strong> Response<br />
Number 4719.<br />
MULTIPLEX MANAGER for theatre(s) in Idaho: 3<br />
years experience required. Please send resume, salary<br />
requirements and references to: Personnel Dept.,<br />
P O Box T. Twin Falls. ID 83301<br />
NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS INC. is looking for expenenced<br />
managers for positilions in the New York/New<br />
Jersey metropolitan area Multiplex experience a<br />
must. Solid growth potential. Good benefits and salary<br />
package. Please mail resume to: Regional Manager,<br />
National Amusements Inc. , 2821 Route 35, Hazlet, NJ<br />
07730,<br />
Concession, Snack Bar and Janitorial Supplies<br />
_^^^^_i^ plus Projection and theatre equipment also parts<br />
For The Best In Service. . .Give Us a Call<br />
CINF^MA SUPPIA' (<br />
OMPANV<br />
P.O. BOX 148, MILLERSBURG, PA. 17061<br />
TELEPHONE: (717) 692-4744 1-800-437-5505<br />
Response No. 96<br />
INC.<br />
quainted with projection and concession merchandising.<br />
If you would like to live and work in the beautiful<br />
Northwest, send your resume and salary history to:<br />
Sam Plitt. c/o Plitt Amusement Co.. P.O. Box 2339.<br />
Oak Harbor. WA 98277,<br />
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE<br />
AMSEC DEPOSITORY SAFE, DSF-2714K.<br />
14'x14"x27 1/4H. Provides immediate deposits, secure<br />
storage. Can make deposits via top loading rotary<br />
hopper or front loading deposit door. Instant protection<br />
from burglary. $425. Contact Customer Service Department.<br />
Proctor Companies, 10497 Centennial<br />
Road, Litlleton. CO 801 27. Or phone toll-free 800-221 -<br />
3699<br />
BURLAP WALL COVERING DRAPES: $2.05 per<br />
yard, flame retardant. Quantity discounts. Nurse &<br />
Co., Millbury Rd.. Oxford, MA 01540 (508) 832-4295.<br />
COMPLETETHEATREEOUIPMENT:(New.Usedor<br />
Rebuilt) Century SA, R#, RCA 9030, 1 040, 1 050 Platters:<br />
2 and 5 Tier, Xenon Systems 1000-4000 Watt,<br />
Sound Systems mono and stereo, automations, ticket<br />
machines, curiam motors, electnc rewinds, lenses,<br />
large screen video projectors. Plenty of used chairs.<br />
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE AND INSTALLATION<br />
AVAILjABLE DOLBY CERTIFIED Call Bill Younger.<br />
Cinema Equipment, Inc.. 1375 N.W. 97th Ave., Suite<br />
14. Miami. FL 33172. Phone (305) 594-0570. Fax<br />
(305)592-6970 1-800-848-8886.<br />
CUPHOLDER ARMREST "State of the art" Cy Young<br />
cupholder Call 1 -800-729-261 for FREE SAMPLE.<br />
FACTORY FRESH ULTRALIFE THEATRE BULBS<br />
by ORG. Pnced to sell, warranty by ORG matches any<br />
other manufacturer. In stock 1 000 through 7000 watts<br />
hohzontal or vertical bulbs: price honzontal XM 1000<br />
$354, 1600 $390, 2000 $450. Call for low pnce on<br />
3000 to 7000 Xenon HA/. Your total theatre equipment<br />
dealer since 1 969. SMITH SOUND & PROJECTION,<br />
3922 Nolen Ave. SE. Huntsville. AL 35801-1037.<br />
Phone (205) 533-7209<br />
MICRO-FM^" STEREO RADIO Sound Systems for<br />
Dnve-ln Theatres. Meets FCC part 15. Static free.<br />
Available soon: low cost Micro-FM-jr. For the heanng<br />
impaired. Call or wnte: AUDIO VISUAL SYSTEMS &<br />
ENG<br />
,<br />
St. Louis Ave., Woonsocket. Rl 02895.<br />
Phone (401 ) 767-2080; Fax (401 ) 767-2081<br />
PATRON TRAY. Fits into cupholder armrest. Cy<br />
Young Inc. Phone 1-800-729-2610. Call for free sample.<br />
PROCTOR POPCORN BAG RACKS, efficient, organizes<br />
all sizes of popcorn bags for easy accessibility.<br />
Chrome-plated steel construction Hooks on cabinet<br />
door and popcorn warmer or stands on back bar<br />
counter. Holds bags from 24 oz. to 170 oz. Special<br />
discount pnce. $31 .28. Contact Customer Service<br />
Department, Proctor Companies. 10497 Centennial<br />
Road. Littleton. CO 80127 Or call toll-tree 800-221-<br />
3699.<br />
PURCHASE AMANO CINCINNATI'S PIX-10 electronic<br />
time recorder, lime card rack and 1 .000 time<br />
cards lor $506i Big savings! Flexible, reliable PIX's<br />
built-in lithium battery protects data dunng power failures.<br />
Adjusts for daylight savings, short months and<br />
leap years. Contact Customer Service Department.<br />
ProctorCompanies. 10497Centennial Road. Littleton,<br />
CO 80127 Or call toll-free 800-221-3699.<br />
RADIO SOUND SYSTEM Cine-fi am dual transmitter.<br />
For use with existing cables and ramps. $1500<br />
(U.S.). Also 1 50 Eprad speakers in V.G. condition and<br />
100 lunction boxes, $2 each (U.S.). Phone Dave at<br />
306-743-5264. Fax 306-743-2651 Canada.<br />
,<br />
RIDE FILM PROJECTIONS LENS-isco-optic 1 60 degrees<br />
new $14,000. used $6,500 Twin Todd A-0<br />
Noreico 35/70mm Projectors-'classic beauties"<br />
$7500/pr. Century JJ3 35/70mm projector, 4500w<br />
lamphouse $35,000. Misc 35/70mm editing equipment,<br />
etc. Call 407-287-2728, fax 407-287-4144,<br />
STAGE SPEAKERS - quality products offered at very<br />
reasonable prices New stage speakers from $499.95<br />
to $1 499.95 and we accept trades on your old product.<br />
How about used stage speakers completely reconditioned<br />
with warranty from $399.95. DTS upgrades<br />
available tor all older speakers (saves you money),<br />
Altec, RCA, etc. Speaker reconing and repair for all<br />
makes Subwoofers $299.95 to $699.95. Don't buy<br />
48 <strong>Boxoffice</strong>
This Year;<br />
Listened To DT3f<br />
:<br />
DTS IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCjuj<br />
THE FOLLOWING 1995 RELEASES AVAL<br />
kill<br />
ABLE IN THE DTS DIGITAL SOUND FORMA<br />
International*<br />
(Universal)*<br />
CURRENTLY IN RELEAS<br />
Demon Knight (Universal )* Billy Madis«<br />
In The Mouth of Madness (New Line Cinemj<br />
The Hunted (Universal)* Le Nouveau Monde (BAG Films<br />
Rob Roy (MGM)* Tank Girl (MGM)* Forrest Gun<br />
(Paramount) Re- Release Major Payne (Universal)* Don Juan de Mar<br />
(New Line Cinema)* The Pebble and The Penguin (MGV<br />
APR]<br />
The Cure (Universal)* Village of The Damned (Universal)* Doctor Zhiva;<br />
(Turner)* New Jersey Drive (Universal) * The Basketball Diaries (New Line Cinerr<br />
ipei<br />
Lni<br />
ill<br />
"im<br />
lie<br />
iudi<br />
ilor<br />
00<br />
k'<br />
as]<br />
Braveheart (Paramount) Casper (Amblin)* My Family (New Line Cinema)* Ni<br />
(Canal Plus) - International La Cite Des Enfants Perdus (UGC) -Intcrnatioi<br />
[j.<br />
f* tL<br />
* DTS exclusive digital format.<br />
(Check your local listings for a theater near you).
$2 Filmmakers<br />
!Nfow It s Your<br />
^B£Amazed.<br />
^''<br />
UNE<br />
i'y >ongo (Paramount) Fluke (MGM)*<br />
Mil<br />
iold Diggers (MGM)* Apollo 13 (Universal)*<br />
ULY<br />
pedes (MGM)* Cutthroat Island (MGM) Waterw<br />
tAi Universal)*<br />
iJis<br />
PR:<br />
]iva<br />
lUGUST<br />
Irtuosity (Paramount)<br />
Angus (New Line Cinema)* Wild Bill<br />
VIGM)* Hackers (MGM)* Babe, The Gallant Pig (Universal)*<br />
udden Death (Universal)* The Show (Savoy) Lord of Illusions (MGM)*<br />
lortal Kombat (New Line Cinema)*<br />
DOMING SOON<br />
bo Wong Foo: Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (Universal)* Clockers<br />
Universal)* Seven (New Line Cinema)* Casino (Universal)* Showgirls (MGM)*<br />
las Light Edition (New Line Cinema)*<br />
Get Shorty (MGM)* Lawnmower Man II<br />
Mi "^ew Line Cinema)* Goldeneye (MGM)* T-Rex (New Line Cinema)* Balto (Universal)*<br />
Nil, ow To Make An American Quilt (Universal)* Sgt. Bilko (Universal)* The Nutty Professor<br />
Universal)* Dragon Heart (Universal)*<br />
DIGITAL<br />
SOUND<br />
i<br />
And Be Amazed.<br />
Listen.<br />
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CALL 1-800-959-4109
Edwards Theatres<br />
Mann Theatres<br />
QSC Amplifiers are tealured in Edwards Theatres, including their<br />
flagship Newport Cinema, the largest screen on the West Coast<br />
tVlann's Chinese, the most famous movie house in the world,<br />
is only one of the Mann Theatres that relies on QSC amplifiers.<br />
Pacific Theatres<br />
United Artists Theatres