Boxoffice-October.2000

* • • •
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\HE BUSINESS MAGAZINE OF THE GLOBAL MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY OCTOBER 2000, $3.95
A.S.; THE WORLD TURNS
53, Uber-Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger Enters a New Era With Columbia's Less-Violence,
e-Substance SF Thriller "6th Day" as a Family Man Caught in the Dark Shadows of Science
Z
PLUS:
'LINE TICKETING • DIGITAL CINEMA, INTERNET DELIVERY • G2: SECOND GENEVA • REPORT: AUSTRALIA 2000
BOXOFFICE ONLINE'S E

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4 BOXOFFICE
FADE IN...
Even as industrial giants like GM investigate
online opportunities of working together
with competitors to do business better, the
famously fractional exhibition industry has
found another way not to get along. Once
the sole domain of Movietone, the subject of
online theatre ticketing has risen to prominence
since the announcements earlier this
year of movietickets.com (backed by hollywood.com
plus key circuits like AMC and
National Amusements along with smaller
entities) and of fandango.com (Cinemark,
Carmike plus five other exhibition giants).
In this, our annual "Wired World" issue,
film and technology editor Annlee Ellingson
interviews the online ticketing leaders (story,
p. 54). We also provide a
"9 on the Net" tour
of the current site landscape, which has the
two theatre-backed operations selling tickets
to partner circuits' plexes exclusively and
moviefone.com looking to maintain current
outlets (among them is United Artists) and to
keep expanding into new markets.
All the players face a problem that would
have been apparent going in to more seasoned
internet veterans: On the Net, everything
costs less. In the no-competition era,
Movietone had been able to charge a fee,
and (after a temporary free period after
launch) the two new operations expected to
be fee-based— providing exhibitors with a
much-needed new ancillary revenue stream.
Now, one having gone free-based, all have
had to revamp overnight into no-fee operations,
at least for the near-term future.
What this means to profit plans, though,
might be less important in the long run than
something new louring on the horizon
regardless of who it is that might grab this
unique first-mover advantage. Go to top
search engine google.com and enter the
term "movie tickets"; though the results are a
bit surprising (moviefone.com does not rank
until the seventh slot, movietickets.com not
till eighth), what shouldn't be a surprise in this
era is who bought the "tickets" sponsoredlinks
placement: priceline.com. Can you hear
William Shatner saying, "Name your own
movie ticket price"? Kim Williamson
BOXOFFICE ONLINE
WEBSITE ADDRESS: www.boxoffice.com
EMAIL ADDRESS: boxoffice@earthlink.net
BOXOFFICE
OCTOBER, 2000 VOL. 136, NO. 10 GENEVA 2000/ WIRED WORLD
Cover Quote: / like the idea of someone that puts his mind to something
and then overcomes the obstacles—Arnold Schwarzenegger
DEPARTMENTS
6 MAILROOM
Digital delete; multiplex, miniselect. Compiled by Christine James
8 REEL DEALS
Maxi Miramax moves; Canton runs for Senator. By Annlee Ellingson
10 HOT SET
New Anakin, Spider-Man, Harry Potter named. By Christine James
12 RELEASE CHARTS: Studio Films
Major releases slated through Jan. 2001 .
Compiled by Wade Major
14 RELEASE CHARTS: Independent Films
Specialized fare month by month into 2001 . Compiled by Wade Major
16 TRAILERS: November Movies
"Charlie's Angels," "Bagger Vance," "Red Planet" open the month of
"Grinch" and "Nicky." PLUS: l-views with a Seuss-ish Jeffrey Tambor;
"What's Cooking?" a hot bite from Sundance. By Annlee Ellingson
60 TECH TALK
Supply Side: Maroevich merger. Digital Cinema: TI@1M. Large
Format: Imax's strong second. Wired World: AOL Palms seven new
circuits;
Euro pactees; Icon makes "its" deal. By Annlee Ellingson
62 EXHIBITION BRIEFINGS
Carmike, Edwards seek Ch. 11; Mann deal off; Ozoner card opens up
open-airs. PLUS: NATO Regional News; Showmandiser; Ticker Time;
Showminder Calendar; movieboss.com tip. By Francesca Dinglasan
64 HILL NEWS
Oslo cinema director sued for "Faithless"ness. By Francesca Dinglasan
65 STUDIO NEWS
Midsummer sizzle; VSA's seven percent solution. By Annlee Ellingson
66 NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Famous sells online in Sept.; AMC update. By Shlomo Schwartzberg
67 EUROVIEWS
Pathe pass; German, Danish, U.K. takes up. By Francesca Dinglasan
68 PACIFIC OVERTURES
Roadshow exits H.K.; Harvest-China pact. By Francesca Dinglasan
70 FILM REVIEWS
October's 3 1/2-star "Billy Elliot" from new Universal Focus leads our
analyses of 20 films (see list, p. 70). Compiled by Christine James
77 MOVIEGOER ACTIVITY REPORT
Top 10 circuits and sites for July. Compiled by AOL MovieFone
78 HOME RELEASE CHART: October 2000
'The Patriot," "U-571" on missions for 24th. Compiled by Wade Major
79 AD INDEX AND CLASSIFIEDS
With our Ad Info Faxback Form (see p. 81), you can quickly request
product information from multiple advertisers in
this issue.
CIRCULATION INQUIRIES
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AND ADVERT
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OFFICES
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Mailing address: 725 S. Wells St., Fourth Floor
P. O, Box 25485 Chicago. IL 60607
Chicago, IL 60625 (312) 922-9326
(773) 338-7007 Fax: (312) 922-7209

SPECIAL SECTION: NATO MIDWEST GENEVA CONVENTION 2000
The Industry Standard: In this issue, we take what has newly become our annual look at this fast-growing Midwestern
convention for exhibition, this year being held Sept. 26-28 at the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
32 WELCOMING ADDRESS
The likely hits and highlights of the Geneva Convention, the ShoWest of the Midwest. By Larry Hanson and Bruce Olson
32 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
What, where, when: The grand events get ready to roll at the Grand Geneva. Compiled by Kim Williamson
33 THEAWARDEES
NATO's Barrie Lawson Loeks, MPAA's Jack Valenti, Columbia's Jeff Blake and Fond du Lac Theatres' Nick Frank find
themselves the focus of congratulatory attention at the Geneva. Compiled by Kim Williamson
36 TRADE SHOW DIRECTORY
From Adesy through Vogel, more than fifty firms will be showing their wares at the trade fair. Compiled by Kim Williamson
45 GENEVA EXTRA: The Hall of Fame
The Famous Fourteen: The 2000 inductees to the new Midwest NATO Exhibition Hall of Fame. Compiled by Kim Williamson
46 GENEVA CIRCUIT PROFILE: Midwestern Exhibition
Heads of two circuits celebrating special anniversaries, Goodrich Theatres president Robert Goodrich and Marcus Theatres
president Bruce Olson discuss the good, great and gonna of the Midwestern way of movieshowing. By Christine James
AS
GENEVA INDEPENDENT SHOWCASE: Decatur, lll.'s Avon Theatre
Boo! Just in time for the month of ghosts and goblins, we take a tour of a different kind of haunted house: a haunted
'. '.
moiriehouse. Cinema operator Skip Huston imparts to you , brave reader, his + o ( c s of + e r r o r '. By Christine James
JULY FEATURES
26 COVER STORY: "The 6th Day"
Arnold Schwarzenegger discusses his
next film, in which he plays a family
man whose life becomes a 21st-century
nightmare when a clone assumes his
place at home and assassins force
him on the run. By Annlee Ellingson
50 SPECIAL REPORT: From the Australian
International Movie Convention 2000
Our exhibition and international editor reports on the key
topics at Down Under's Gold Coast meet: admits, digital,
ratings and parallel imports. By Francesca Dinglasan
82 CLOSE FOCUS: Shari Redstone
We get in
and self-admitted fan of N Sync. By Kim Williamson
tune with the National Amusements president
SPECIAL REPORT: Wired World / New Technologies
Our film and technology editor provides our sixth annual examination of new technologies' effects on exhibition.
54 ONLINE MOVIE TICKETING
Inside the dotcoms movietone, movietickets and fandango. By Annlee Ellingson
58 DIGITAL CINEMA: Online Delivery
PLUS: 9 on the Net. By Kim Williamson
Cisco, Qwest, Sigma and Barco join with Fox to transmit a feature film online to a theatre, an internet first. By Annlee Ellingson
61 EXHIBITION ON THE WEB
What's Next: Q&As with the chief executive officers of theatricaldistribution.com and cineblts.com. By Annlee Ellingson
EDITORIAL STAFF
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Kim Williamson kimw@boxoffice.com
MANAGING EDITOR
Christine James christinej@boxoffice.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Francesca Dinglasan francescad@boxoffice.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Annlee Ellingson annleee@boxoffice.com
SR. EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING ASST.
Linda Andrade lindaa@boxoffice.com
EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING ASST.
Sandra Koscho sandrak@boxoffice.com
CONTRIBUTORS
FEATURE CHARTS EDITOR
Wade Major (310) 456-2767; fax (310) 456-9750
CANADIAN CORRESPONDENT
Shlomo Schwartzberg (476) 928-2179
ARTICLE/REVIEW WRITERS
John F.
Allen, Tim Cogshell,
Mike Kerrigan, Dwayne E.
Wade Major, Jim Moore,
Luisa F.
Michael Tunison
Ribeiro, Ed Scheid,
Leslie,
INDUSTRY CONTRIBUTORS
Richard Gregory. Larry Hanson. Bruce Olson
BUSINESS STAFF
PUBLISHER
Robert L. Dietmeier (773) 338-7007
NATIONAL ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
Robert M. Vale (626) 396-0250; bobv@boxoffice.com
ADVERTISING CONSULTANT
Morris Schlozman (816) 942-5877
BUSINESS MANAGER
Dan Johnson (773) 338-7007
CIRCULATION DIRECTOR
Chuck Taylor (312) 922-9326
WEBMASTER
Ken Partridge marlinco@flash.net
BOXOFFICE (ISSN 0006-8527). Published monthly by RLD Communications. Inc.. 203 N. Wabash Ave.. Suite 800. Chicago. IL 60601.
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© 2000 RLD Communications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
October, 2000 5

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TAKING OUT THE GARBAGE
Dear BOXOFFICE readers:
Is your digital sound system switching
back after the last cue goes through, and
picking up that cluster of "soundgarbage"
on the tail of the print? I am
told that Dolby. DTS and Sony are working
on the problem; however, I have a
quick and simple solution. What causes it
to switch back is the digital tracks of
sound that are on the tail of most features.
Just try this two-step procedure
and it should eliminate the problem.
First, you must get rid of the digital
tracks on the tail of the movie. Either cut
the tail off and replace it with solid black
film, or simply cut the tail at the end of
the blue rating logo and put the digital
tracks on the other side (digital can only
be read on the soundtrack side).
Second, position your cue tape so that
it cuts off as close to the last frame of the
blue rating logo as possible. This will
ensure that there are no digital tracks to
read. I have used this procedure and it
does work.
Richard Gregory, Projection Manager
Consolidated Theatres
Columbiana Grande 14
Columbia, S. C.
MINI-SELECTION AT MULTIPLEXES
Dear BOXOFFICE:
I
am a 44-year-old avid movie fan. Or,
I should say, I used to be. Within a 10-
mile radius of my home are 68 movie
screens. At the moment, those screens are
showing 13 movies, which break down as
follows: Four child or teen movies, five
action-adventure flicks, two generalinterest
comedies, one "sensitive man"
movie ("Frequency") and one chick flick
("Where The Heart Is").
When multiplexes arrived, I thought
having more screens would bring more
variety. But every time I
see the boxoffice
tallies of the "hit" movies, I think, oh, big
woo. Those also happen to be the only
movies playing.
I'm not familiar with your publication,
but I know it circulates within the
film industry. Is this a concern at all to
movie producers and theatre owners? 1
dying to go to a movie. But I'm too old
for teen flicks and picky about
action/adventure. I read reviews of
movies I'd like to see, but they aren't playing
anywhere nearby. I live in Oceanside,
Calif, 40 miles north of San Diego and
90 miles south of L.A.
Thanks for listening.
Diane Scholfield, via e-mail
*CI^
System Operating Solutions
www.sosticketing.com
Send letters to: BOXOFFICE, I
155 S. El Molina Ave., Suite 100
Pasadena, CA 91101
Fax: 626-396-0248
E-mail: editorial@boxoffice. com
Response No. 480
6 BOXOFFICE

INSIDE .NEW

REEL
DEALS
MJEEEBEBEBM
Moves Into the Mouse House
l!M«l!HHJI
Sings in German
3MJSMBSB]
Hires an Intermedia-ry
Renewing its first-look deal
with Warner Bros, for another
five years, producer Mark
Canton's Canton Co. has pacted
with German entertainment and
exhibition company Senator to
form a production and financing
co-venture that will produce four
to six films annually, with
Warners having first dibs on cofinancing
and distribution rights.
Senator holds a 51
percent stake
in the company and will distribute
in Germany, China, Eastern
Europe and other overseas territories,
but Canton retains gross
participation. The three companies
share greenlight authority.
"We're very excited about this
new arrangement," says Warners
president and COO Alan Horn.
"This is one of those unique winwin
situations— it expands our
relationship with Mark, giving him
more creative autonomy than in a
traditional production deal, while
enhancing our relationship with
an important European partner."
"This allows me to play to my
capacity," Canton says. "We're a
fully funded company with a
great deal of independence."
Canton Co. co-produced the
upcoming "Red Planet" with
Village Roadshow and "Get Carter"
with Franchise Pictures. Senator
has recently financed "Marlene,"
"Comedian Harmonists" and
"Aimee & Jaguar."
MGM's newly appointed specialty
division United Artists has
inked a two-year, first-look deal
with Revolution Films, the Londonbased
outfit headed by director
Michael Winterbottom and his producer
Andrew Eaton. UA is distributing
Winterbottom "The
's
Claim"—which had a working title
of "Kingdom Come"— in the fall.
Actor-writer Rob Schneider,
whose $18 million "Deuce
Bigalow: Male Gigolo" was a
$65 million hit for Disney, has
signed a first-look deal with the
studio. His first project in development
is "Family Disorder,"
which he co-wrote with Clark
Taylor and Martin Olson.
"Rob is a tremendous talent,"
Disney chairman Peter Schneider
says,
"and we've had such great
success with him. We're thrilled
to continue our relationship."
Ironically, Schneider's "Animal,"
which he originally set up
at Disney while Joe Roth was
chairman, was picked up in turnaround
by Roth's Revolution
Studios the same day Schneider's
deal with Disney was announced.
Miramax continues to forge close
working relationships with filmmakers,
recently announcing several
production and scripting deals.
Jason Blum and Amy Israel,
who stepped down from their
posts as senior VPs acquisitions
and co-productions in January,
have formed Blum Israel Prods.
and inked a nonexclusive twoyear,
first-look film and TV production
deal with the minimajor
that includes an option for a third
year. The pair, which has secured
financing for development costs,
will be able to pay for projects
themselves or seek full
or partial
financing from Miramax, who is Harlem. The company has also
expected to cover their overhead. commissioned him to adapt "Hot
"Amy and Jason have been Springs," Stephen Hunter's World
great contributors to the Miramax War II novel about the Arkansas
family," says Miramax co-topper community's hostile reaction to
Harvey Weinstein. "We look forward
to continuing our strong
and successful relationship with
them as they launch their own
independent company."
"At Miramax we developed
strong relationships with groundbreaking
filmmakers," Israel says.
"Our new company will continue
our commitment to bringing the
innovative visions of writers and
directors to the screen."
No projects have been
announced yet, but Blum Israel
reportedly has two TV shows and
five films in development. While at
Miramax, the duo was responsible
for acquiring "II Postino," "Life Is
Beautiful" and "Shall We Dance?"
The first project under the deal
will be "Pedigree Chums" by
playwright Charlotte Jones.
"We're delighted to be in the
business with two of the most talented
and active producers in the
U.K. today," says Miramax's production
co-president Meryl Poster.
Producer Richard Gladstein,
who was nominated for an Oscar
for "The Cider House Rules," has
reupped his first-look deal with
Miramax for another two years.
Upcoming projects in development
for his company, called
FilmColony, include "The Fig
Eater," based on the novel by Jody
Shields; "Never Land," based on
Allan Knee's play "The Man Who
Was Peter Pan"; and "Solomon
Grundy," based on Dan Gooch's
book. Gladstein is
also collaborating
with "Cider House" scribe John
Irving and Quentin Tarantino.
Weinstein says that the indie distributor's
relationship with Gladstein
"culimated with the Oscar-
deal. The minimajor purchased
rights to the novel, which "The
Godfather" trilogy's Puzo completed
just before he died a year ago,
for an estimated $2 million to $3
million. The company is also considering
developing a TV series
based on the book's characters.
Finally, "Navy Diver" screenwriter
Scott Marshall has inked
with Miramax to write three scripts,
the first of which will be his pitch
"Black and Blue," about racism
and police corruption in 1960s
gambling. Marshall's third project
has yet to be determined.
Dana Reid has ankled his position
as VP of production at
Artisan and segued into a firstlook
production deal with the
indie distributor. His Flash
Entertainment has sequels to
"Stir of Echoes" and "Belly" in
development as well as Dark
Horse Comics' "Omniscience"
"Wu Tang vs. Shaolin," starring
rapper RZA; and "Manifestant,'
fantasy set on multiple planes.
German indie Kinowelt has
pacted with Harvey Keitel's
Goatsingers shingle in a first-look,
two-year development, production
Miramax has also pacted with
and distribution deal.
Ruby Films, the U.K.-based production
outfit founded last year by
Kinowelt will finance and handle
worldwide distribution for the arthouse
"Elizabeth's" Allison Owen and
films, which will star Keitel.
The two companies became
"Cousin Bette's" Neris Thomas.
acquainted when Kinowelt picked
up German rights to Goatsingers'
"Three Seasons," which also
starred Keitel, and Kinowelt has
indicated that it hope the deal produces
more like it.
Resigning as topper of Julia
Roberts' Shoelace Prods., the
actress' producing partner Pliny
Porter has followed in her footsteps
(see Reel Deals, May 2000)
and struck his own independent
producing deal with Joe Roth's
Revolution Studios. Under the
terms of the first-look pact, Porter
will develop projects that may or
may not star Roberts, including
five already in
the pipeline.
Capitalizing on the attention
shown her after her Golden
Globe-nominated performance in
"Election," Reese Witherspoon
has inked a non-exclusive, multiyear
producing deal with
Intermedia, where her husband,
actor Ryan Phillippe, has also
I
nominated 'Cider House.' couldn't
unfurled his Lucid Film banner.
be more proud of Richard." The as-yet unnamed company,
operated by Witherspoon and her
Miramax has tapped screenwriter
producing partner Deborah
Alan Sereboff to adapt Schlesinger-Siegel, will focus on
Mario Puzo's "Omerta" and possibly
sequel in a three-picture
themes about modern women.
Currently attached to produce
its
Fox's "Slow Motion," based on
Dani Shapiro's best-selling novel,
Witherspoon is also expected to
produce and star in projects with
Phillippe at Intermedia.
8 BOXOFFICE

Are today's combination Digital/Analog cinema
processors better than they were five years ago?
No, definitely not! They are cheaper however, than using a top notch analog processor
with a digital player. The new "Combo" processors are built for price, not performance.
The analog part of the processor is just for backup, Right?
That's what the makers of the combo units want you to believe. They assume you will run
every movie in their format, in that auditorium and the digital neverfails.
What happens if I
have to run the film in analog sound?
You will hear a markedly degraded sound presentation. Everybody knows the SR soundtrack
is not as good as digital, right? Did your patron pay 6 bucks (or more) for a second
rate presentation? This does not have to be!
How can I
have "Studio Quality" sound for every show?
The SR soundtrack is really quite superb. You just haven't heard these tracks played back
on the highest quality equipment, lately. In some cases the SR track sounds better than
some digital tracks because nothing is "thrown away" in the digitizing process. It is fuller,
smoother, and less offensive during loud passages.
How can I
buy a First-Class Digital and Analog sound system?
First you have to "dump" the analog portion of the Combo processor. None of the current
products are as accurate in decoding the SR tracks, or in the matrix section as a top grade
analog processor. This is one reason your digital sounds much better than the analog
tracks. It's because the analog portion of the processor is so poor.
Your ONLY way to improve the sound quality of any film soundtrack is to buy a
PANASTEREO cinema processor and your favorite stand alone digital player.
Yes, it will cost a little more that a combination
product, but the quality of the analog and the
digital sound will be better because of the
extremely low distortion, high dynamic headroom,
and low noise of the CSP1200 processor.
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Response No. 35

HOLLYWOOD
HOT SET
liW' H miii ih Himi
A "Star" is Born
Along Came a "Spider"
"Queen" for a Day
"STAR WARS: EPISODE II" The
tentatively-subtitled "Clone Wars"
hadn't even begun shooting
before making 19-year-old
Hayden Christensen ("The Virgin
Suicides") a star with the
announcement that he will be
playing Anakin Skywalker in the
second installment of
helmer/writer George Lucas' "Star
Wars" prequel trilogy. Returning
from "Episode I—The Phantom
Menace" are Ewan McGregor as
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Natalie
Portman as Queen Amidala,
Samuel L Jackson as Jedi master
Mace Windu, Ian McDiarmid as
Senator Palpatine; C-3PO and R2-
D2 as themselves; and, like it or
not, Ahmed Best as the voice of
Jar Jar Binks. New additions to the
cast include Christopher Lee
("Sleepy Hollow") as a charismatic
separatist, Leanna Walsman as
a bounty hunter, Jay Laga'aia
(TV's "Xena") as a loyal security
officer, Jimmy Smits ("Bless the
Child") as Princess Leia's foster
father, Joel Edgerton ("Race the
Sun") as Luke Skywalker's Uncle
Owen and Bonnie Piesse as the
future Jedi Knight's Aunt Beru.
"Episode II" is slated for a summer
2002 release. (Fox)
"RAT RACE" Thematically similar
to TV's voyeuristic hits
"Survivor" and "Big Brother," in
which people are pitted against
each other under extreme circumstances
for cash prizes, this
comedy about contestants in a
race for money orchestrated by a
casino tycoon will star "Road
Trip's" Breckin Meyer and Amy
Smart, Seth Green ("Austin genre with which he's had so
Powers"), Jason Alexander ("The much success (as helmer of the
Adventures of Rocky and "Evil Dead" trilogy and creator of
Bullwinkle"), John Cleese ("The TV's "Hercules" and "Xena")
World is Not Enough"), Cuba with this live-action adaptation
Gooding Jr. ("Men of Honor"), of the "Spider-Man" comic book
Rowan Atkinson ("Bean"), Kathy series. Tobey Maguire ("The
Cider House Rules") will play
Bates ("Titanic"), Whoopi
Goldberg ("Monkeybone") and Peter Parker, a teenager who is
bitten by a radioactive spider and
Kathy Najimy ("Hope Floats").
("First Jerry Zucker Knight") subsequently develops amazing
helms. (Paramount)
powers, which he uses to fight
crime. William H. Macy is
"WAKING LIFE" Director reportedly being courted to play
Jonah Jameson, Peter's explosive
J. Richard Linklater ("The Newton
boss at the newspaper where
Boys") helms this experimental
film in which a cast of live actors he works. (Columbia)
(including "Before Sunrise's"
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy
and "Dazed and Confused's"
Wiley Wiggins) are transformed
into animated characters, each
rendered by a different artist. The
plot will follow a character's random
encounters. (Distribution is
to be set)
"HEARTS IN ATLANTIS" The life
of an 11 -year-old boy is changed
when his widowed mother
("Mumford's" Hope Davis) takes
on an eccentric boarder ("Titus'"
Anthony Hopkins). Scott Hicks
("Snow Falling on Cedars")
helms. (Distribution is to be set)
"HARRY POTTER
AND THE SOR-
CERER'S STONE"
CASTING NEWS:
A mini-Muggle is
$ ^
about to become a
mega-mogul:
Eleven-year-old
Daniel Radcliffe
(who starred in last
year's BBC production
of "David
Copperfield") has
won the fervidly
Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Gnr
coveted role of
Harry Potter in Chris Columbus' adaptation of the children's book
about a boy who discovers he's really a wizard. Rupert Grint will
play Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley, and Emma Watson portrays
their brainy pal Hermione Granger. Alan Rickman may
replace Tim Roth (who's now monkeying around in "Planet of the
Apes") as Professor Snape, and Richard Harris is in talks to play
Hogwarts headmaster Dumbledore. Other castings include
Maggie Smith as Professor McGonagall and Robbie Coltrane i
groundskeeper Hagrid. (Warner Bros.)
"K-PAX" A mental institution
inmate ("Pay It Forward's" Kevin
Spacey) who claims to be from
the planet K-Pax has a remarkable
positive effect on his fellow
patients. His psychiatrist is determined
to prove the self-proclaimed
alien is really the victim
of multiple personality disorder
but is given reason to doubt his
own diagnosis, lain Softley ("The
Wings of the Dove") helms this
drama. (Universal)
"SPIDER-MAN" Sam Raimi, who
most recently helmed the romantic
drama "For Love of the
Game," will return to the fantasy/action/adventure/superhero
"POOTIE TANG" The titular heroic
crime fighter and rock star
(Lance Crouther, a writer for TV's
"The Chris Rock Show"), whose
eccentricities include speaking an
inscrutable language, battles a
greedy CEO bent on getting kids
hooked on his company's products,
which include cigarettes,
booze and fast food, in this comedy.
David Cross ("Small Soldiers")
plays a corporate lackey hired to
pose as Pootie, despite the fact
that he looks and acts nothing like
him. Chris Rock ("Nurse Betty")
and Andy Richter ("Dr. T and the
Women") co-star. (Paramount)
"ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN" In M
World War ll-set comedy, a British
Special Forces team led by ar
American ("Lost in Space's'" Mat
LeBlanc) must obtain a decoding
device by infiltrating a female-rur
factory—requiring them to disguise
themselves as women
Notorious "total clothing rights'
proponent Eddie Izzard ("Shadow
of the Vampire") co-stars as
transvestite lounge singer whc
teaches the soldiers the nuance:
of cross-dressing.
to be set)
(Distribution
"WISHCRAFT" A high schoo
student receives a talisman tha
grants him three wishes, bu
while he's fulfilling his fanta
his fellow students are being bru
tally murdered. Richard Wenl
("Just the Ticket") directs a cas
that includes Michael Westor
("Numbers"), Austin Pendletc
("Fast Food, Fast Women"
Alexandra Holden ("Sugar an
Spice") and Meat Loaf ("Figh
Club"). (Distribution is
to be set)
ET CETERA: Up-and-come
Stuart Townsend ("All Abou
Adam") may star as the vampire
Lestat in Warner Bros.' adapta
tion of Anne Rice's book "Quee«
of the Damned". ..Edward Furlong
will reprise his role as savii
the future John Conner in th(
Arnold Schwarzenegger starre
"Terminator 3"...."X-Men'i
Hugh Jackman will star oppositi
John Travolta in the Warne
Bros, spy thriller "Swordfish".
Angelina Jolie may take th'
leading role as an internationa
relief worker opposite Kevii
Costner in the Oliver Stone
helmed romatic drama "Beyoni
Borders". ..Martin Lawrence ha
been dubbed the "Black Knight'
in Fox's comedy about
medieval theme restauran
employee who's transportet
back in time.
10 BOXOFFICF.

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CD-ROM
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,
Com,
it,
: illion
. Donnie
BOXOFFICE Studio Charts
Works SKG
310-449-3000
212-941-3800
212-593-8900 212-833-8500
212-588-6000
212-708-0300
323-951-4200
lyote Ugly, 8/4, Com, PG-13, 98 mir
"S, SDDS, SRD, Scope, Piper
rabo, Adam Garcia, Maria Bello,
ilanie Lynskey. Dir: David McNally.
,e Crew, 8/25, Com, PG-13, 88 min.
"S, SDDS. SRD. Flat. Richard
eyfuss, Burt Reynolds, Dan Hedaya.
ymour Cassel, Dir: Michael Dinner.
Hollow Man. 8/4, Sus/Thr, R. 113 min. NO RELEASES SCHEDULED Autumn in New York, 8/1 1 , Dra'Rom,
DTS. SDDS. SDDS 8, SRD. Flat. Kevir
PG-13, 104 min. DTS, SDDS. Flat.
Bacon. Elisabeth Shue, Josh Brolin.
Richard Gere, Winona Ryder. Anthony
Kim Dickens, Joey Slotnick. Dir: Paul
LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Sherry
Verhoeven.
Stringfield. Jill Hennessy. Dir: Joan
Godzilla 2000, 8/18, Act, -97 min,
Chen.
SDDS, SRD. Scope. Takehiro Murata,
Hiroshi Abe, Naomi Nishida, Shiro
Sano, Dir: Takao Okwara,
NO RELEASES SCHEDULED
September 2000:
lets. 9/15. Dra. R, DTS, SDDS, SRD. Urban Legends: Final Cut. 9/22. Thr.
iria Bello, Gwyneth Paltrow, Andre R, -95 mm, SDDS. SR. Scope, Jennife
augher, Huey Lewis Dir: Bruce
Morrison, Joseph Lawrence, Anson
Mount. Eve Mendez, Jessica Cauffiel,
member the Titans, 9/29. Dra. PG. Marco Hofschneider, Matthew Davis.
4 mm. DTS, SDDS, SRD. Denzel Loretta Devine. Had Bochner, Michael
ishington, Will Patton Dir: Boaz Bacall, Anthony Anderson. Dir: John
Ottman.
e Nightmare Before Christmas NO RELEASES SCHEDULED
issue), 10/27, Ani, PG Voices: Danny
man, Chris Sarandon, Catherine
Hara. Dir: Henry Selick.
September 2000:
Almost Famous (formerly Untitled This is Spinal Tap (reissue), 9/8 ltd.
Cameron Crowe project), 9/15 ltd. 9/22 Com. DTS. SDDS Christopher Guest.
exp. 9/29 wide. Dra/Com. R, DTS, Michael McKean. Harry Shearer. Dir:
SDDS, SRD Billy Crudup, Frances Rob Reiner
McDormand. Kate Hudson, Jason Lee,
Fairuza Balk, Noah Taylor, Patrick Fugit 9/15 ltd. Dra, R. 98 min. SDDS, SRD.
Dir. Cameron Crowe.
Flat. Ellen Barkm. Monica Keena,
Vincent Kartheiser, James De Bello,
Jeffrey Wright, Michael Ironside. Dir:
Rob Schmidt
The Fantasticks, 9 22 NY/LA. Mus.
PG, 87 min, DTS, SDDS, Scope Joe
The Contender, 10/13, DTS, SDDS.
Mclntyre, Jean Louisa Kelly, Joel Grey
Gary Oldman, Joan Allen, Jeff Bridge
Dir: Michael Ritchie
Christian Slater. Dir: Rod Lurie.
September 2000:
Christopher Laml
Backstage, 9/6,
Yen.
Untitled Hip Hop, 9/8
The Yards, 9/8 NY/LA. Dra, SRD,
Scope. Mark Wahlberg, James Caar
Joaquin Phoenix. Faye Dunaway,
Charlize Theron. Dir: James Gray.
Birthday Girl. 9/15. Ben Chaplin.
Nicole Kidman
Blow Dry, 9/22 NY/LA. Com. Alan
2 Dalmatians. 11/22. Fam/Com,
S, SDDS. SRD. Flat, Glenn Close,
irard Depardieu, loan Gruffudd, Alice
ans. Dir: Kevin Lima.
ibreakable. 11/22, Sus/Thr. DTS,
IDS, SRD Bruce Willis, Samuel L
ckson, Robin Wright-Penn, Spencer
sat-Clark Dir: M. Night Shyamalan.
Charlie's Angels, 11/3, Act'Adv/Com,
SDDS. SDDS-8, Scope, Drew
Barrymore. Cameron Diaz. Lucy Liu. Bi
Murray. Sam Rockwell Dir: McG.
The 6th Day, 11/17, SF/Act, DTS,
SDDS, SDDS-8, Scope. Arnold
Schwarzenegger, Michael Rapaport,
Tony Goldwyn. Robert Duvall, Michael
Rooker. Dir: Roger Spottiswoode.
Damon, Charlize Theron, L. Michael
Moncrief. Joel Gretsch. Bruce McGill.
Dir: Robert Redford.
NO RELEASES SCHEDULED
November 2000:
Original Sin (formerly Dancing in the
Dark), Thr. DTS, SDDS. Angelina Jolie
Antonio Banderas, Thomas Jane. Jack
Thompson. Dir: Michael Cristofer.
The Golden Bowl. 11/3 NY/LA. Dra.
Nolle. Uma Thurman. Dir: James Ivor
Malena. 11/10 NY/LA.
December 2000:
icember 2000:
nperor's New Groove (formerly
tgdom in the Sun). 12/15. Ani, DTS,
IDS. SRD, Flat Voices: David Spade
hn Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick
irburton. Dir: Mark Dindal.
Brother, Where Art Thou?. 12/22
PG-13, DTS, SDDS, SRD,
John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson
iorge Clooney, Charles Durning Dir
el Coen.
iwport South. TBD. PG-13, DTS,
JDS, SRD, Dir: Kyle Cooper,
icess. 292001, Ani/Com. DTS,
JDS, SRD, Flat Dir: Chuck Sheetz.
:arl Harbor, May 2001. Dra. DTS,
)DS. Cuba Gooding Jr.. Ben Affleck,
sh Hartnett, James King, Ewan
emner, Kate Beckinsale, Guy Torry,
m Sizemore. Dir: Michael Bay.
lantis, 2001 , Ani, DTS, SDDS. Voice
Michael J. Fox, James Garner,
2000:
Vertical Limit, 12/8, Act/Adv. -122 min,
DTS. SDDS, SDDS-8. Flat. Chris
O'Donnell, Scott Glenn, Robin Tunney.
Bill Paxton, Izabella Scorupco, Temuera
Morrison Dir: Martin Campbell
Finding Forrester. Dra. SDDS Sean
Connery. F Murray Abraham, Anna
Paqum. Rob Brown, Busta Rhymes, Dir:
Gus Van Sant,
The Tailor of Panama, Sus/Thr. SDDS.
Pierce Brosnan, Geoffrey Rush. Dir:
John Boorman
January 2001:
Brothers. SDDS.
Joe Dirt, Com. SDDS, David Spade,
Kid Rock, Roseanne.
COMING:
All the Pretty Horses, 4th Qtr,
Dra/Western, DTS, SDDS, SDDS-8,
SR Matt Damon. Henry Thomas, Luca:
Black. Penelope Cruz. Ruben Blades,
Bruce Dern, Robert Patrick. Dir: Billy
Bob Thornton.
Saving Silverman, February 2001,
SDDS.
Wedding Planner, February 2001,
SDDS
Glass House, March 2001, SDDS.
All That Glitters. April 2001. SDDS.
Tom Cats. 5/4/2001.
Riding in Cars With Boys. May 2001
SDDS.
A Knight's Tale. June 2001 . SDDS.
Panic Room. June 2001, SDDS.
The New Guy. 2nd Qtr 2001. SDDS.
Final Fantasy, 7/20/2001. Am. SDDS.
Voices of Alec Baldwin, Ving Rhames.
Ali, July 2001, SDDS. Will Smith. Dir:
Michael Mann.
John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars,
August 2001, SDDS. Ice Cube,
Courtney Love. Dir: John Carpenter.
Pimental Script, August 2001. SDDS.
Enough, September 2001, SDDS,
The Three Stooges. October 2001
1/2/2001, SDDS
SDDS-8.
Whitey and Davey, December 2001
SDDS.
An Everlasting Piece, 12 25 ltd. Com,
DTS, SDDS. Barry McEvoy Brian F
O'Byrne. Anna Friel, Billy Connolly. Dir:
January 2001 :
NO RELEASES SCHEDULED
After Man, DTS, SDDS, SRD.
Arkansas. DTS, SDDS. SRD.
Keeper. DTS, SDDS. SRD,
The Man Who Came to Dinner, DTS.
SDDS. SRD Dir: Danny De Vito.
Mozart and the Whale, DTS. SDDS,
SRD.
Neanderthal. DTS, SDDS. SRD,
The Newports, DTS, SDDS, SRD. Dir:
Steven Spielberg.
Untitled Charles Lindbergh Project.
DTS, SDDS, SRD. Dir: Steven
Spielberg.
Shrek, 5/18/2001, Ani, DTS. SDDS.
SRD. Voices: Mike Myers. Cameron
Diaz, Eddie Murphy, John Lithgow,
Linda Hunt. Dir: Kelly Asbury, Andrew
of the Cimaron.
Thanksgiving 2001, DTS. SDDS Dir
Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook.
December 2000:
NO RELEASES SCHEDULED
Cook. Claire Forlani. Dir:
COMING:
Peter Howitt
Untitle Michael Winterbottom Project
(formerly Kingdom Come), 4th Qtr, Dra,
DTS, SDDS. Wes Bentley. Sarah Polley,
Milla Jovavich. Peter Mullan. Nastassja
Kinski. Dir: Michael Winterbottom.
Hannibal, February 2001. Thr. SDDS.
Anthony Hopkins, Juhanne Moore, Ray
Liotta, Giancarlo Giannini. Dir: Ridley
Scott.
Deuces Wild. March 2001, Dra, SDDS.
Stephen Dorff. Fairuza Balk, Frankie
Muniz, James Franco. Brad Renfro,
Matt Dillon. Dir: Scott Kalvert.
What's the Worst That Could
Happen?. April 2001 , Com, SDDS.
Martin Lawrence, Danny DeVito. Dir:
Sam Weisman.
Rollerball. May 2001, Act/Thr, SDDS.
Chris Klein, LL Cool J, Jean Reno.
Rebecca Romijn-Stamos. Dir: John
McTiernan.
Ghost World, Spring 2001, Com, DTS.
SDDS Thora Birch. Brad Renfro.
Scarlett Johansson. Dir: Terry Zwigoff.
Heartbreakers (working title, formerly
Breakers), Spring 2001. Com, SDDS.
Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love
Hewitt, Gene Hackman. Ray Liotta,
Jason Lee. Dir: David Mirkin.
Windtalkers. July 2001. Act, SDDS.
Nicolas Cage, Adam Beach. Dir: John
Bandits (formerly Outlaws). August
2001. Rom/Com. SDDS. Bruce Willis,
Billy Bob Thornton. Cate Blanchett. Dir:
Barry Levmson.
Basic Instinct 2. 2001. SDDS. Sharon
Stone.
A Hard Day's Night (restored reissi
12/1 NY/LA. 91 min. SR. SRD ~
Beatles. Dir: Richard Lester.
Chocolat. 12/15 NY/LA, 12/22 exp,
exp Johnny Depp. Dir: Lasse Hallstr
Wes Craven's Dracula 2000. 12/22
Dir: Patrick Ussier.
Vatel, 12/25 NY/LA. Gerard Depardi
Dir: Roland Joffe.
COMING:
/2001:
Daddy and Them. 3rd Qtr. Com. R,
SRD. Laura Dern, Billy Bob Thornto
Kelly Preston, Ben Affleck, Diane La
Dir: Billy Bob Thornton.
Bridget Jones' Diary. 2/2/2001. Re
Zellweger. Hugh Grant. Colin Firth. [
Sharon Maguire.
About Adam. 3/2/2001 NY/LA,
Dra/Rom, Kate Hudson, Stuart
Townsend. Dir: Gerard Stembridge.
Spy Kids. 3/30/2001 . Alan Cu
Dir: Robert Rodriguez.
Imposter. 1st Qtr 2001, DTS. Mekh
Phifer, Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stow
Tony Shalhoub, Vincent D'Onofrio. I
Gary Fleder.
O (Othello). 1st Qtr 2001, 91 mir
SRD, Flat, Mekhi Phifer. Elden H
Josh Hartnett, Julia Stiles, Rain
Phoenix. Dir: Tim Blake Nelson.
Texas Rangers. 1st Qtr 2001. Wesl —-
<
PG-13. SRD. Scope. Ashton K
Usher Raymond. James Van Der Bi
Dylan McDermott. Dir: Steve Miner.
The Third Wheel. 1 st Qtr 2001

l
,
Rupert
: Chan,
i
,
Vin
i
i Days.
. SRD.
SR.
1
i Black.
DTS,
October, 2000
ntury Fox
-854-5811
323-956-5008
318-369-1666
818-777-18
212-649-4980
212-373-7688
212-556-2468
212-445-3866 212-484-8686
18, SF

BOXOFFICE Independent Charts
SEPTEMBI
Archival
414-271-4383
osferatu (1922 Reissue). Max
Dhreck. Dir: F.W. Murnau. 9/1 Det
Arrow
212-398-9511
jtumn Heart, Dra, 110 min. Tyne
aly. Ally Sheedy. Dlr: Steven Maler. 9/8
) Days, Rom/Com, 87 min. Ben
nenkman, Arija Bareikis. Dir: Aaron
arnick. 9/15
Artisan
310-255-3716
ay of the Gun, Dra, R, 119 min.
/an Phillippe. Benicio Del Toro. Dir:
-iristopher McQuarrie. 9/15 wide
Artistic License
212-265-91 19
range County (formerly The Price of Air),
a, 95 min. Dir: Josh Evans. 9/15 LA/NY
212-888-0080
ouble Parked. Callie Thorne, William
age. Dir: Stephen Kinsella. 9/22 NY,
1/1 2 LA
sft Luggage, Dra, 96 min. Jeroen
abbe, Isabella Rossellini, Maximilian
;hell. 9/22 ltd
Destination
310-434-2700
hipped, Com, R, 82 min. Amanda
set. Dir: Peter M. Cohen. 9/1
sautiful, PG-13, 112 min. Minnie
'iver. Dir: Sally Field. 9/22
Empire
212-431-5119
ace Vendome, Thr, 105 min.
atherine Deneuve. Dir: Nicole Garcia.
FilmAcres
219 326-9331
Piece of Eden. Dir: John Hancock.
1 Grand Rapids, 9/15 Indianapolis/
ixington/Columbia/Des Moines
Fine Line
212-649-4800
ancer in the Dark, Dra, 139 min.
ork, Catherine Deneuve. Dir: Lars
in Trier. 9/29 NY, 10/6 LA, 10/20 exp
Fox Searchlight
310-369-4402
oman on Top, Rom/Com, R, 93 min.
jnelope Cruz. Dir: Fina Torres. 9/22 NY/LA
IDP/Goldwyn/Fireworks
212-367-9435
Jlas (Spain), Dra, 98 min. Maria
aliana, Ana Fernandez. Dir: Benito
ambrano. 9/8 NY
Indican
323-650-0832
leopatra's 2nd Husband, Dra, R, 91
in. Radha Mitchell. Paul Hipp. Dir: Jon
3iss. 9/29 NY/LA/Phoenix, 10/13 wide
Keystone
310-317-4883
VP: Most Valuable Primate, Com 9/29
New Yorker
212-247-6110
Paragraph 175, Doc. Dir: Rob Epstein
and Jeffrey Friedman. 9/13 NY
Panorama
914-937-1603
Origin of the Species, 95 min.
Amanda Peet. Dir: Andres Heinz.
Phaedra
213-380-9323
Went to Coney Island on a Mission
From God...Be Back by Five, Mys/Com,
94 min. John Cryer, Rick Stear, Rafael
Baez. Dir: Richard Schenkman. 9/8 LA/NY
On the Run, Dra, 90 min. Michael
Imperioli, John Ventimiglia. Dir: Bruno
de Almeida. 9/15
Deep In the Woods (France), Thr, 90
min. Alexia Stresi, Maud Buquet. Dir:
Lionel Deplanque.
Too Tired To Die, Dra, 101 min.
Takeshi Kaneshiro, Mira Sorvino. Dir:
Wong Suk Chin.
White Badge (Korea), Hist/Dra, 125
min. Ahn Sung-Gi. Dir: Chung Ji-Young.
Regent
310-260-3333
The Specials. Comedy, 82 min. Rob
Lowe, Jamie Kennedy. Dir: Craig
Mazin. NY/LA
Screen Gems
310-244-4000
Girlfight, Act/Dra, R, -111 min.
Michelle Rodriguez, Santiago Douglas.
Dir: Karyn Kusama. 9/29 ltd
Shooting Gallery
212-905-2000
Titanic Town. Dir: Roger Mitchell. 9/1
Human Resources. Dir: Laurent
Cantet. 9/1
Barenaked in America. Dir: Jason
Priestley. 9/29
Sony Classics
212-833-8851
Goya in Bordeaux, Dra, R, 1 03 min. Paco
Raba. Dir: Carlos Saura. 9/15 NY/LA
The Broken Hearts Club -- A
Romantic Comedy, Dra, R Dean
Cain, John Mahoney, Timothy Olyphant.
Dir: Greg Berlanti. 9/29 NY/LA
Trimark
310-314-3040
The St. Francisville Experiment.
Supernatural Thr, 77 min. Tim Baldini,
Madison Charap, Ryan Larson, Paul
Palmer, Troy Taylor. 9/1
USA
310-385-4400
Cherry Falls, Dra, R. Brittany Murphy,
Jay Mohr. Dir: Geoffrey Wright. 9/1
Nurse Betty, Dra, R. Renee Zellweger,
Greg Kinnear. Dir: Neil LaBute. 9/8
The Idiots, 1 1 7 min. Dir: Lars von Trier.
Viz/Tidepoint
415-512-1924
Tokyo Eyes, Dra, NR, 90 min. Shinji
Takeda. Dir: Jean P. Limosin.
Winstar
212-686-6777
Madadayo. Dra, 134 min. Tatsuo
Matsumura. Dir: Akira Kurosawa. 9/1 ltd
Pola X (France), Dra, 134 min. Guillaume
Depardieu. Dir: Leos Carax. 9/8 ltd
Boy Meets Girl, Dra/Rom, 100 min.
Denis Lavant. Dir: Leos Carax. 9/12 ltd
Mauvais Sang (Bad Blood), Neo-noir,
116 min. Juliette Binoche. Michel
Piccoli. Dir: Leos Carax. 9/12 ltd
Hnisan
Requiem for a Dream, Dra, 102 min.
Jared Leto, Ellen Burstyn. Dir: Darren
Aronofsky. 10/6 ltd, 10/20 exp
Dr. T and the Women, Dra, 122 min.
Richard Gere. Dir: Robert Altman. 10/13
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2,
Thr/Hor. Dir: Joe Berlinger. 10/27 wide
Capitol
301-564-9700
Enlightenment Guaranteed, Com,
108 min. Uwe Ochsenknecht, Gustav
Peter Wohler. Dir:
Doris Ddrrie.
Castle Hill
Followers, Dra, 89 min. Sam
Trammell. Dir: Jonathan M. Flicker.
10/13 NY, 10/27 LA
The Tavern, Dra, 100 min. Cameron
Dye. Dir: Walter Foote. Oct/Nov
Cowboy
212-929-4200
Just One Time. Com. Joelle Carter,
Jennifer Esposito, David Lee Russek.
Dir: Lane Janger. 10/20 NY/LA
George Washington. 10/27 NY/LA
Destination
Ring of Fire, Dra/Western, 105 min.
Kiefer Sutherland. Dir: Xavier Koller.
First Look
310-855-1199
Me & Isaac Newton, Doc, 107 min.
Dir: Michael Apted.
First Run
212-243-0600
Live Nude Girls Unite!, Doc, 70 min. Dir:
Julia Query, Vicky Funari. 10/6 SF, 10/20 NY
The Wolves of Kromer, Dra, 82 min.
Lee Williams, James Layton. Dir: Will
Gould. 10/20 SF, 11/17 NY
Fox Searchlight
Bootmen, Mus/Dra, R, 96 min. Adam
Garcia, Sam Worthington, Sophie Lee.
Dir: Dein Perry. 10/6 NY/LA
IMAX
905-403-6500
Cyberworld, IMAX Ani. Voices: Jenna
Lions Gate
212-966-4670
Two Family House, R, 104 min.
Dir: Michael Rispoli. Raymond
DeFelitta. 10/6 NY. 10/13 LA, 10/20 exp
Stardom, Dra/Com. Jessica Pare. Dir:
Denys Arcand. 10/27
Lot 47
212-367-9435
Venus Beauty Institute (France), 105
min. Natalie Baye, Bulle Ogier, Audrey
Tautou. Dir: Tonie Marshall. 10/27
Panorama
Black Eyed Dog, 89 min. Clive
Worsley. Dir: Richard O'Connell.
Phaedra
The Bridge (France), Dra/Rom,
min. Gerard Depardieu. Dir: Gere
Depardieu & Fred Auburtin. 10/27 N
The Sculptress, Thr, 92 min. J
Fahey. Dir: Ian Merrick.
The Story of O (remake), Erotic, N
Danielle Ciardi. Dir: Phil Leirness.
Providence
818-728-9700
Mercy Streets. Eric Roberts, Da
White. Dir: Joe Gunn. 10/6 ltd
Regent
Speedway Junky, Dra, 106 m
Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jes
Bradford. Dir:
Nickolas Perry. LA/N>
Seventh Art
323-845-1455
Always a Bridesmaid, 90 min.
Nina Davenport.
Shooting Gallery
One. Dir: Tony BarBieri. 10/13
Loving Jezebel, Rom/Com.
Harper. Dir: Kwyn Bader. 1 0/27
A Time for Drunken Horses.
Bahman Ghobad. 10/27
Sony Classics
Just Looking. 10/13 NY/LA
Strand
310-395-5002
The Weekend, Dra. Gena Rowlar
Brooke Shields. Dir: Brian Skeet. 1 0/2
Boys Life 3.10/6 NY, 1 0/20 LA
Trimark
Skipped Parts, Com, R. Je;
Jason Leigh, Bug Hall. Dir: Tai
Davis. 10/20 NY/LA
What's Cooking?, Com.
Woodard. Mercedes Ruehl, Kit
Sedgwick, Julianna Margulies, J
Dir: 1C
Chen. Gurinder Chadha.
NY/LA, 11/17 exp
Viz/Tidepoint
Sasayaki (aka Moonlight Whispe
Dra, 100 min. Kenji Mizuhashi.
Akihiko Shiota. 10/27 SF, 11/17 NY
Winstar
Yi Yi (A One And A Two; Taiwan),
NR, 173 min. Wu Nienjen, IsseyOg
Elaine Jin, Kelly Lee. Jonathan Chi
Dir: Edward Yang. 10/6 ltd
NOVEMBER
First Run
The Personals, Dra/Com. 104 I
Rene Liu. Dir: Chen Kuo-fu. 11/3 fj|
Fox Searchlight
Quills, Dra. R, 120 min. Geo'
Rush. Kate Winslet, Joaquin Phoi P.
Dir: Philip Kaufman. 11/10
IDP/Fireworks
Simon Magus. 11/14

,
Cruz.
I
;
Doc.
j
Milestone
201-767-3117
e Mystery of Picasso, Doc, 72 min.
Henri-Georges Clouzot.
i
Paramount Classics
123-956-5000 212-373-7000
u Can Count on Me, Dra, 109 rnin.
itthew Broderick, Laura Linney, Mark
ffalo. Dir: Kenneth Lonergan. 11/17
Providence
lati Girls, Mercedes Ruehl, Paul Soro,
Cloris Leachman, Sean Young. 11/3
Shooting Gallery
n-Stop. Dir:Sabu. 11/10
Strand
Zhou River, Dra, 83 mm. Zhou Xun,
Hongsheng. Dir: Lou Ye. 11/8 NY
ins & Wonders, Dra. Stellan
jrsgard. Dir: Jonathan Nossiter.
USA
the Mood for Love, Dra. Tony
jng Chiu-wai, Maggie Cheung Manir:
Wong Kar Wai.
Destination
'ing the Cow, Rom/Com. Jerry
onnell. Dir: Walt Becker.
t
Fine Line
Ite and Main, Com, R. Alec Baldwin,
lip Seymour Hoffman. Dir: David
net. 12/22 NY/LA, 1/12/01 wide
Indican
Fan/Dra, R. alu, EJ Callahan,
lipe Clay. Dir: Veit Helmer. 12/29
Lions Gate
idow of the Vampire. Dra/Thr, R,
Tin. John Malkovich, Willem Dafoe
Elias Merhige. 12/29 NY/LA
Milestone
Wide Blue Road, Dra, 98 min.
5 Montand. Dir: Gillo Pontecorvo.
Sony Classics
uching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Dra. Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun Fat
Ang Lee. 12/8 NY, 12/15 LA
Trimark
Dra. Janet McTeer. Dir
Greenwald. 12/1 NY/LA, 12/22exp
USA
fie. Michael Douglas, Catherine
-Jones. Dir: Steven Soderberqh
2 NY/LA. Jan 2001 wide
Man Who Cried Christina Ricci
my Depp. Dir: Sally Potter.
IBOMINGflj
Arrow
1 Run, Dra. Brian Marc, Craig
i'essis. Dir: D. Ze'ev Gilad.
lip, Dra. Amanda Peet, lone Skye I
ii Justin McCarthy.
d:less. Rom/Dra. 100 min
ferine Kellner. Dir: Jule Gilfillan.
Artisan
Soul Survivors, Thr. Casey Affleck
Wes Bentley. Dir: Steve Carpenter.
January 2001
El Norte (reissue). Dra, R, 139 min.
Zaide Silvia Gutierrez, Ernesto Gomez
Dir: Gregory Nava. 2001
Castle Hill
Blue Moon. Fall
Two Ninjas. Fall
Cinema Village
212-431-5119
Journey to the Sun (Turkey), Dra, 111
min. Newroz Baz, Nazmi Oivix Dir-
Yesim Ustaoglu. Fall
So Close to Paradise (China), Dra, 95
mm. Wang Tong, Shi Yu. Dir: Wanq
Xiaoshuai. Fall
Cowboy
In the Winter Dark. January 2001
Destination
Slackers. Devon Sawa. Dir: Dewey
Nicks. 1st Qtr 2001
Empire
Understanding Jane, Rom/Com, 99
min. Kevin McKidd. John Simm, Amelia
Curtis. Dir: Caleb Lindsay. Fall
Fine Line
The Invisible Circus, Dra, R, 98 min.
Blythe Danner, Jordana Brewster. Dir:
Adam Brooks. 1/26/2001
Prime Gig, 95 min. Vince Vaughn, Ed
Harris. Dir: Gregory Mosher. Jan 2001
Anniversary Party. Jennifer Jason
Leigh, Alan Cumming. Dir: Jennifer
Jason Leigh & Alan Cumming. June
Sleeping Dictionary Hugh Dancy.
Dir: Guy Jenkin. August
Invincible. Dir: Werner Herzog. Summer
Human Nature. Patricia Arquette. Dir
Michel Gondry. Fall
Dolmani. NY/LA
Female Trouble (reissue). Divine. Dir:
John Waters.
Was Amelia Earhart Dir: Fred Schepisi
Pimp. Ice Cube. Dir: Bill Duke
The Ring.
Ripley's Game
First Run
The Day Silence Died, Dra, 108 min
Dario Grandinetti. Paolo Agazzi.
Dir:
Dita and the Family Business Doc
58 min. Dir: Josh Taylor.
Les Petits Freres, Dra, 92 min.
Stephanie Touly, Hies Sefraoui. Dir:
Jacques Doillon.
Light Keeps Me Company, Doc, 76 min.
Sven Nykvist. Dir: Carl-Gustav Nykvist.
Fox Searchlight
Sexy Beast, Dra. Ray Winstone, Ben
Kingsley. Dir: Jonathan Glazer.
January 2001
Kingdom Come. Whoopi Goldberg
Jada Pinkett Smith, LL Cool J, Vivica A.
Fox, Cedric "The Entertainer." Dir:
Doug McHenry. April 2001
Hard Men (U.K.), Dra, R. Vincent Regan
Ross Boatman, Lee Ross. Dir: J.K. Amalou.
IDP/Fireworks
Better than Sex. Com. David
Wenham. Susie Porter. Dir: Jonathan
Teplitzsky. April 2001
IDP/Goldwyn/Fireworks
Faithless (Sweden), Dra. Krister
Henriksson, Thomas Hanzon, Erland
Dir: Liv Ullmann. 1/26/2001
IDP/Stratosphere
Beautiful Joe. Sharon Stone, Billy
Connolly. Dir: Stephen Metcalfe.
Jails Hospitals and Hip-Hop, Dra, 90
mm. Danny Hoch. Dir: Danny Hoch.
IMAX
American Road, Doc.
Mission to Mir, Doc.
Indican
Shay & Kiki, Experimental. Shay
Laroux, Kiki Doll. Dir: Eric Fournier
1/27/2001, February wide
Wetonkawa Flash. Com. Kevin Tighe,
Mark Boone Jr. Dir: Boyd Hale and
Wendy Hopkins. Spring 2001
Kit Parker
800-538-5838
The River (1951, Reissue), Dra, 99
min. Patricia Walters, Nora Swinburne
Dir: Jean Renoir. 2001
|
Lions Gate
The Widow of St. Pierre, Dra. Emir
Kusturica. Dir: Patrice Leconte
February 2001
Bread and Roses. March 2001
Once In The Life. Laurence
Fishburne. Dir: Laurence Fishburne.
Lot 47
Chunhyang (Korea), 120 min. Dir: Im
Kwon Taek. 1/1/01
The Price of Milk, 87 min. Danielle
Cormack. Dir: Harry Sinclair. 2/14/01
|
Hit & Runway, 105 min. Michael
Parducci, Peter Jacobson. Dir:
Christopher Livingston. 4/6/01
Russian Doll. Natalia Novikova. Hugo
Weaving. Dir: Stavros Kazantzidis. 4/27/01
Fast Food, Fast Women, 95 min. Anna
Thompson. Dir: Arnos Kollek. 5/11/01
Palm
312-751-0020
The Criminal, Dra/Thr, 98 min. Steven
Mackintosh. Dir: Julian Simpson. Fall
Lock Down, Dra. R, 105 min. Master
P. Dir: John Luessenhop. Fall
The Last Minute. Stephen Norrington.
Panorama
Redboy 13, 88 min. Robert Logan, Devon
Roy-Brown. Dir: Marcus van Bavel
To Hell With Love, 98 min. David
Coburn. Dir: Karl Kozak.
What's Your Sign, 90 min. Judy Kuhn
Jack Gindi. Dir. Jack Gindi.
You Are Here, 81 mm. Robert Knepper,
Jenny Robertson. Dir: Tom Rooney.
Paramount Classics
Company Man, Com, 86 min. Ryan
Phillippe, Sigourney Weave. Dir:
Douglas McGrath, Peter Askin. 3rd Qtr
The Gift, Thr. Cate Blanchett, Hilary
Swank. Dir: Sam Raimi. Fall
My First Mister, Dra. Albert Brooks
Leelee Sobieski. Dir: Christine Lahti. Fall
Phaedra
Beneath the Surface (Sweden), Dra,
99 mm. Johanna Sallstrom, Mikael
Persbrandt. Dir: Daniel Fridell. 4th Qtr
Downward Angel, Noir Matt Schulze
Dir: Kevin Lewis. 4th Qtr
Welcome to Hollywood.
Mockumentary, 82 mm. Tony Markes,
Adam Rifkin, Angie Everhart, Sandra
Bullock, Matthew Mcconaughey. Dir
Tony Markes & Adam Rifkin. 4th Qtr
On Guard! (France: aka Le Bossu),
Period Adventure, 124 min. Daniel
Auteuil. Dir: Philippe de Broca.
October, 2001
Monkey's Tale. Ani. 1/26/2001
Extreme Days. Dante Basco, R
Browning, A.J. Buckley, Der
Hamilton. Dir:
Eric Hannah. 2/16/2C
Screen Gems
The Brothers. Bill Bellamy, Mc
Chestnut, Shemar Moore, D.L. Hugh
Dir: Gary Hardwick. January 2001
Seventh Art
The Legends of Rita, Dra, NR.
min. Bibiana Beglau, Martin Wul
Dir: Volker Schlondorff. 1/24/2001
Come and See (reissue), Dra, f
142 min. Alexei Krauehenko, O
Mironova. Dir: Elem Klimov. Febru
2001
Rage: 20 Years of West Coast Pu
Fall
Songs for Cassavetes. Doc. I
Justin Mitchell. Fall
Sugiharo - Conspiracy of Kindne
Doc, 99 min. Dir: Robert Kirk. Fall
Coming to Light, Doc, 80 min. [
Ann Makepeace. TBA
Long Night's Journey Into Day. D
Dir: Frances Reid and Debor
Hoffman.
Shadow
207-872-5111
Souvenir. Dra, 78 min. Kristin Sc
Thomas. Dir: Michael Shamberg. Fa
Shooting Gallery
Good Housekeeping, 90 min. C
Frank Novack. Fall
Sony Classics
Shadow Magic, Dra. Jared Harris, >
Yu, Liu Peiqi, Lu Liping. Xing Yuf
Wang Jingming, Li Yusher
ZhangYukui. Dir: Ann Hu. 1/26/2001
The Road Home, Dra Zhang Ziyi Si
Honglei, Zheng Hao, Zhao Yuelin,
Bin. Dir: Zhang Yimou. 2/16/2001
Trimark
Dra. Matthew Attraction, Settl
Gretchen Mol. Dir: Russell DeGrazi*
Feb 2001
One Night at McCool's, Dra. Liv Tylc
Matt Dillon. Dir: Harald Zwart. Februa
2001
Dancer. JulieWalters, Jamie Fa
Bell.
Bloody Angels. Reidar Sorensen. D
Karin Julsrud.
The Naked Man, Com. Micha
Rapaport. Dir: J. Todd Anderson.
Resurrection Man. Stuart Townseni
James Nesbitt. Dir: Marc Evans
Snarl Up. Dir: Michael Winterbottom.
Thursday. Thomas Jane, Aaro
Eckhart. Dir: Skip Woods.
What Rats Won't Do (UK.
Rom/Com. Natascha McElhons
James Frain. Dir: Alastair Reid.
Maybe Baby. Hugh Laurie, Joel
Richardson. Dir: Ben Elton. 2001
Whatever Happened to Harol
Smith?, R. Tom Courtenay. Dir: Pete
Hewitt. 2001
Viz/Tidepoint
Untitled (a.k.a. We Are N( Not Alone]
Dra, NR. 115 mm. Tsutomu Yamazak
Dir: Yojiro Takita.
WGBH
312-255-1370
Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure
Doc. Spring 2001
October. 2000 \i

|
NOVEMBER
TRAILERS
Christmas comes early this year.
Like every year, the lucrative holiday season shifted into
high gear last November, with three $100 million-plus
grossers, one of which earned well over twice that:
Paramount's "Sleepy Hollow" ($101.1 million), MCM's "The
World Is Not Enough" ($126.9 million) and Disney's "Toy
Story 2" ($245.8 million). Warner Bros.' first "Pokemon"
movie, "Mewtwo Strikes Back," was also a surprise hit, grossing
$85.7 million domestically.
There were some high-profile stinkers, too. Buena Vista's
"The Insider" was lauded by critics but failed to connect with
audiences, earning just $29 million. Columbia's "The
Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc," directed by Luc Besson
and starring his then-wife Milla Jovovich, flickered out at a
paltry $14.1 million. And although many deemed Arnold
Schwarzenegger's "End of Days" a boxoffice failure at $66.9
million, it grossed nearly $200 million worldwide.
The studios are again optimistic this Thanksgiving season,
kicking off with Columbia's much-talked-about "Charlie's
Angels," starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy
Liu. Also on November 3, Warner Bros.' Mars movie "Red
Planet" bows, while DreamWorks' period drama "The
Legend of Bagger Vance" provides counter-programming. A
week later, Fox's "Men of Honor," another historical actionem
and New Line's Adam Sandler comedy "Little Nicky" premiere.
Schwarzenegger makes his presence known again this
November in Columbia's "The Sixth Day," due out
November 17, but will find himself up against even greater
challenges than ho-hum forces of evil: the sequel to
Parmount's $100 million-plus grossing "Rugrats" movie and
|im Carrey as the Grinch. Then on Thanksgiving weekend,
Buena Vista finally throws its proverbial hat in the ring, bowing
"102 Dalmatians" for the kids and the reunion of "The
Sixth Sense's" M. Night Shyamalan and Bruce Willis in
"Unbreakable." Also look for MCM's historical thriller
"Original Sin," starring Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie,
sometime this month.
Finally, BOXOFFICE talks to Jeffrey Tambor, who plays the
mayor of Whosville in "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole
Christmas" on page 20 and continues the Sundance Series
with "What's Cooking?" on page 24.—Annlee Ellingson
NOVEMBER 3
Charlie's Angels
Drew Barrymore ("Never
Been Kissed"), Cameron Diaz
("Any Given Sunday") and
Lucy Liu ("Shanghai Noon")
star in this remake of the '70s
action series about three
female private investigators.
Here the women are sent by
their enigmatic boss Charlie to
rescue the young, eligible
owner of a high-tech firm, who
has been kidnapped from his
office and is about to lose a billion
dollars. Bill Murray
("Hamlet") co-stars as Bosley.
Music video helmer McG
makes his feature film directorial
debut; John August ("Titan
A.E.," "Go") and Ryan Rowe
script; Barrymore, her partner
Nancy Juvonen and Leonard
Goldberg ("Double Jeopardy"),
who produced the series with
Aaron Spelling, produce.
(Columbia, 11/3)
Exploitips: This is one of
those movies where the
behind-the-scenes gossip
could overshadow the actual
picture upon its release. First,
the filmmakers had difficulty
nailing down a third angel
after Barrymore and Diaz were
attached, initially offering the
role to Thandie Newton, who
had to drop out due to
"Mission: Impossible 2's"
unexpectedly long shoot.
Murray seemed hesitant to sign
on, disappearing when his
deal needed to be hammered
out, but perhaps his first
instinct was right: He and Liu
reportedly had a strained relationship
on the set. Still, that
didn't prevent Murray from
complimenting his co-stars
profusely at Sony's star-studded
ShoWest luncheon that
culminated with a pyrotechnic
introduction of the "Charlie's
Angels" cast. He called them
"the most exciting, adequately
compensated group of actresses"
he's ever worked with.
While the filmmakers have
emphasized that this update is
set in 2000 and doesn't necessarily
hearken back to its predecessor,
encourage fans of
the TV show to dress up as
their favorite characters sans
firearms— Barrymore insisted
on replacing guns with kung fu
moves.
The Legend of
Bagger Vance
Matt Damon ("The Talented
Mr. Ripley") and Will Smith
("Wild Wild West") form an
unusual friendship in this
drama set on the green about a
World War I vet who agrees to
help publicize the opening of
a Savannah golf course in
1931 by competing with links
legends with the aid of a mysterious
caddy. Charlize
Theron ("Reindeer Games")
i
and Jack Lemmon ("Grumpy
I
i
|
Old Men") co-star. Robert
Redford ("The Horse
Whisperer") directs; Jeremy
Leven ("Don Juan DeMarco")
and Richard LaGravenese
("The Horse Whisperer")
script based on the novel by
Steven Pressfield; Redford,
Michael Nozik (Redford's
"Quiz Show") and Jake Eberts
(DreamWorks, 11/3)
("Grey Owl") produce.
Exploitips: Redford originally
intended to fill the lead
rule himself, considering
Morgan Freeman for the role
of Bagger Vance, but the
director ultimately decided to
focus his attention on helming
the $70 million film.
Collaborate with a local country
club to raffle or auction off
golf lessons on a nearby
course and arrange with a
neighborhood bookstore to
sell copies of the
Held from August.
1995 novel.
The Golden Bowl
Nick Nolte ("Trixie") stars
in this drama about marital
turmoil, based on the Henry
James novel, as a wealthy
American expatriate widower
who marries a much younger
woman, who in turn has an
affair with the man married to
his daughter. Uma Thurman
("The Avengers"), Anjelica
Huston ("Agnes Browne"),
Kate Beckinsale ("Brokedown
Palace") and Jeremy Northam
("An Ideal Husband") co-star.
James Ivory ("A Soldier's
Daughter Never Cries")
directs a script adapted by
frequent collaborator Ruth
Prawer Jhabvala; Ivory's partner
Ismail Merchant produces.
(Miramax, 11/3
NY/LA)
Exploitips: "The Golden
Bowl," nominated for a Palme
d'Or at Cannes this year, completes
a trilogy of films based
on Henry lames novels by
Merchant, Ivory and lhabvala.
Refresh fans' memories by
double- or triple-billing it with
"The Europeans" and "The
Bostonians." In a two-star
review from Cannes in last
month's issue, BOXOFFICE
compared "The Golden Bowl"
to its predecessors, saying,
"[The filmmakers] have a
harder time with this sprawling,
heavy drama that nevertheless
pleases the eye even as
it tries the patience." Held
from lune.

miey")
I
aureni
il
Red Planet
In this sci-fi dr. mi. i, \.il Kilmei ("At First
Sight"), Carrie-Anne Moss ("The Matrix")
and Tom Sizemore ("Play It to the Bone")
p n ,i team of American astronauts on
the first manned mission to Mars. When
theii equipment is damaged, they must put
their differences aside to survive. Simon
Baker ("Ride With the Devil"), Benjamin
Brart ("The Next Best Thing") and Terence
Stamp ("The I co-star. Commercial
helmer Antony Hoffman (the football-playing
Budweiser Clydesdales Super Bowl
spots) direi ts his feature film debut; Chuck
Pfarrer ("Virus") and lonathan Lemkin ("The
Devil's Advocate") script; Mark Canton
("Get Carter"), Bruce Berman (who executive
produced "The Matrix") and Jorge
Saralegui produce. (Warner Bros., 11/31
Once in the Life
e Fishbume (" I lie Matrix") writes,
produi es and stars in this urban
drama ba ed on his si ige pla^ "Riff Raff"
[ranged brothers who reunite after a
heist goes terribly wrong. Titus Welliver (TV's
"I ali one"), Eamonn Wall* n
Gregory Hines ("The Preacher's Wife' I co
ry's David Bushell
,iml Fishburne's manager Helen Sugland
produce. (Lions Gate, 11/3 NY/LA/Chi)
Exploitips: A theatre veteran Fishbume
bases "Once in the Life" on his play "Riff
Raff," whii both Los \ngeles
an, I New York stages in 1 995, but the thespi
an alwa) s knew he wanted to make it into a
film. The Shooting Gallery quh kl\ signt dhim
in 1998, waiting until he wrapped filming on
open
atrix" for a window of opportunity to
Welliver also starred in the legit
in actress
Monica Bi li stars; Miramax co-topper
Harvey Weinstein ("Shakespeare in Love")
and Mario Cotone (who line produced "Life
itiful") produce. "Mi', max, 11/10
NY 'I A
Exploitips: Miramax hen- reunite-, with
whose 1988
put the minimajOl on the map and won an
h twotitles in a double bill.
Little Nicky
Adam Sandler ("Big Daddy") writes,
e produces and stars in thi
dy as the timid son of Satan who musl leave
his sheltered life in
Hell to retrieve Ins trouble-making
older brothers from i!
streets of New York. Patricia Arquette
("Stigmata"), Harvey Keitel ("U-571"),
completelv ready. Obviously this isn't the
first time that similarly themed films have
hit theatres within a few months of each
other: Consider "Dante's Peak" and
"Volcano"; "Anlz" and "A Bug's Life";
"Deep Impact" and "Armageddon"; and
"The Truman Show" and "EDtv." There's
no reliable formula as to whether the earlier
or later release makes more money,
but the $90 million "Mission" earned
back ;i;s( two-thirds of its budget domestically,
which could bode well for the
reportedlv lower-priced "Red Planet."
The Personals
In this Mandarin-language drama from
Taiwan, a sue i
csstul young woman places a
personal ad to meet eligible men but instead
encounters a string of losers, including a
shoe fetishist and a pimp looking for a new
call girl. Rene Liu stars. Chen Kuo-lu writes
and directs; Chen Shih-chieh scripts; Hsu Li-
Kong produces. (All were involved in then
respective roles in Chen Kuo-fu's "The
Peony Pavilion.") (First Run, 11/3 NY)
Exploitips: Liu has received a number ot
awards for this role at the Asia-Pat ifit film
Festival and at the Cold Horse and Taipei
Film Festivals, both held in Taiwan.
The Amati Girls
In this ensemble drama, Cloris
Leachman ("Hanging Up"), Mercedes
Ruehl ("What's Cooking?"), Dinah Manoff,
Sean Viung ("Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde")
and I ily Knight are four grown sisters and
their recently widowed mother. Paul
Sorvino ("Prince of Central Park") and
Kathleen Turner ("Beautiful") co-star. Anne
De Savo writes and directs; James Alex,
Melanie Backer, Steven Johnson and Henry
M. Shea |r. produce. (Providence, 11/3)
Exploitips: Obviously targeted for a
distaft demo, promote— or, better yet,
screen— "The Amati Girls" at a local
women's group mother-daughter banquet.
Exploitips: Warner Bros, was for awhile
in a space race with Disney, it ho went so
far as to ask its rival to halt development
on "Red Planet" and invest in "Mission NOVEMBER
to
10
Mars" instead. Warners refused, designating
March 31 as its target release date,
which Disney ultimately preempted with Men of Honor
Cuba Gooding Jr. ("Instinct") and Robert
a March 10 how for "Mission." "Red
Planet" was then bumped to a summer De Niro ("Meet the Parents") star in this
date—lune 16—to distance itself and historical drama as Carl Brashear, the
eventually moved to November to ensure Navy's
diver who
first African-American
continued to serve after
deep-sea
losing
that the special effects-laden film was
his leg in a salvage mission, and Billy
Sunday, the rebellious master diver who
was demoted for graduating
Brashear. Charlize Theron
("The Yards") co-stars. Greg
Tillman Jr. ("Soul Food")
directs; Scott Marshall Smith
scripts; Robert Teitel ("Soul
Food") and Bill Badalato
("Alien: Resurrection") produce.
(Fox, 11/10)
Exploitips: To work on
this $30 million film,
previousl)
i ailed "Navy Diver,"
both Gooding and De Niro
agreed to cut their usual
fees. Given "U-571's"
ic> ent mm t ess ,jf the l>t>\aifice
(nearly $80 million at
/nrss timci llic\ should
make up for it in backend participation and
I
Malena
he Legend of
1900," "Cinema Paradiso") writes and
direi t! this Italian-lang
drama set in World War II Italy about the
iiiul woman awakens in a
Rodney Dangerfield ("Meet Wally Sparks")
and Rhys Ifans ("The Replacements") costar.
Steve Brill ("Heavyweights") directs as
well as scripts with Sandler's writing partner
Tim Herlihy; frequent Sandler < ollaborators
Jack Giarraputo and Robert Simonds
produce. (New Line, 11/10)
Exploitips: Sandler is understandably
very popular among exhibitors, eliciting the
mo^t enthusiastic response at New Line's
ShoWest luncheon. He has a history of
making movies (or dirt cheap—despite his
$20 million salary— and his latest. "Big
Daddy," earned upwards of $150 million.
Non-Stop
In this comedy from lapan, a would-be
bank robber forgets his mask on his first
les shoplifting one from a
nearby convenience store. The clerk chases
whom
he
uid runs into tin
ii tinues all night and into the next
Shinichi Tsutsumi
October. 2000 17

i Kaufman
.
and Diamond Yukai star. Sabu writes and
directs his debut; Moto Seta produi es
(Shooting Gallery, 11/10 ltd)
Exploitips: Since "Non-Stop/
directed "Monday," which took home three
awards from this year's Berlin International
Film Festiv.ii
Quills
Geoffrey Rush ("House on Haunted I lill
Kate Winslet ("Holy Smoke") and Joaquin
Phoenix ("Gladiator") form a complex love
triangle as the Marquis de Sade, the infamous
pornographic writer here
in confined an asylum; his
maid, who continues to
deliver his popular manuscripts
to the outside world;
and a priest intent on saving
the controversial scribe's
soul. Michael Caine ("Get
Carter") co-stars. Philip
("Henry & June,"
"The Right Stuff") directs;
Doug Wright scripts based on
Ins stage play; Juiia Chasman
("Polish Wedding"), Nick
Wechsler ("The Yards") and
the director's son Peter
("Henry & June") produce.
(Fox Searchlight, 11/10)
Exploitips: Collaborate with a local
bookstore to promote or sell de Sade's
works during the run of this film. This opening
may also be an opportunity to assemble
a discussion panel on sexually charged
material and censorship.
Suzhou River
In this Mandarin-language romance, a
motorcycle courier falls in love with the
beautiful daughter of one of his wealth)
clients. In a botched kidnapping attempt,
she jumps into the Suzhou River. The courier
is sentenced to three years in prison.
When he gets out, he encounters a dancer
who uncannily resembles his lost love. Jia
Hongshen and Zhou Xun ("The Emperor
and the Assassin") star. Lou Ye writes and
directs; Philippe Bober and Nai An produce.
iStrand, 11/8 NY)
Exploitips: "Suzhou River" won the best
and Grand Prix awards at this year's
Paris Film Festival and sparked a fierce bidding
war, which Strand won over other bidders
including Sony and Paramount.
NOVEMBER 1
The Sixth Day
Arnold Schwarzenegger ("End of Days")
produces and stars in this sci-fi thriller
about a helicopter pilot who returns home
to find that he has been replaced by a
clone. An everyman thrown into remarkable
circumstances, he becomes a hunted
man, on the run from assassins who have
orders to kill him before he exposi
conspiracy centered on illegal human
( Inning. Tony Goldwyn ("Bouni e"), Robert
Duvall ("Gone in 60 Seconds"), Michael
Rapaport ("Men of Honor"), Michael
Rooker ("The Bone Collector"), Sarah
Lost Souls") and Wendy Crewson
Force One"! co-star. Roger
Spottiswoode ("Tomorrow Never Dies")
by Cormac and Marianne
script
Wibberley; Ion Davison ("Starship
Troopers") and Mike Medavoy produce.
(Columbia, 11/17)
Exploitips: As Schwarzenegger acknowledges
in his interview with BOXOFFICE on
page 2b, cloning is a hot topic rigl
and one can choose from a variet)
keting directions based on this theme. The
scholarly approach would be to assemble a
panel of science and government professors
from a local university to discuss the
moral, ethical and legislative dilemmas
associated with the technology. On a
lighter note, one could collaborate with a
local radio station to give away opening
weekend tickets to callers with the most
creative answers to the question, "What
n null / you do if you had a clone?" Another
timely topic is
movies and violent
Schwarzenegger opted not to po
guns for the marketing campaign for "The
Sixth Day. " Read his reasoning— and more
about the film— in this month's cover story.
Rugrats in Paris
Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, Lil,
Phil and
Baby Dil return to the big screen in this
family adventure based on Nickelodeon's
popular children's cartoon. Here, Tommy's
dad Stu is invited to Reptarland, a new
amusement park in Paris, to work on his
Reptar invention, and the whole gang is
invited along. Meanwhile, Chuckii
Chas is starting to date again, and Chuckie
looks forward to finding a new mom.
"Rugrats" regulars Christine Cavanaugh,
Cheryl Chase and E.G. Daily are joined by
celebrity guest voices |ohn Lithgow,
Debbie Reynolds and
Susan Sarandon. TV's
"Duckman" helmers
Stig Bergqvist and
Demeyer direct
Paul
their feature film
debut; "The Rugrats I
Movie's" ). David L, .
Stem and David N. m dUir jfl
Weiss script with lill
fcjf*T r
Gorey, Barbara IHAfll
Herndon and Kate fe&»-b-
Boutilier; "Rugrai
l|-~it
creators Arlene
Klasky and Gabor
Csupo produce.
(Paramount, 11/17)
Exploitips: The first
"Rugrats Movie" was
a surprise hit in 1 998.
becoming the first
non-Disney animated movie to gross more
than $100 million. Invite fans ol thi
to enter a "Rugrats" lookalike contest on
opening weekend, giving away coni
coupons, "Rugrats" videos or, in a
wide contest, a trip for four to Paris to the
winners.
Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch
Stole Christmas
Jim Carrey ("Me, Myself & Irene") stars in
this cartoonish comedy as Dr. Seuss' archetypal
Grinch, a creature with a heart two
sizes too small who, annoyed by the boisterous
celebrations going on below his
mountain retreat in Whoville, conspires to
rid the Whos of their favorite holiday once
and for all. Molly Shannon ("Superstar"),
Christine Baranski ("Bowfinger"), Taylor
Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor ("Girl,
Bill Interrupted"), Irwin ("A Midsummer
Night's Dream") and Clint Howard co-star.
Ron Howard ("EDtv") directs a script by
"Wild Wild West's" Peter Seaman and
Jeffrey Price based on the Dr. Seuss story;
Brian Grazer ("Nutty Professor II: The
Klumps") produces. (Universal, 11/17)
Exploitips: Universal will be doing a lot
of the marketing on this
holiday tentpoler
for you, having struck merchandising deals
with Wendy's, Visa, Kellogg's, Hershey,
Nabisco and Sprite. Carrey will lend his
voice to interactive toys designed after the
surreal costumes and sets in the movie, and
Random House is publishing 12 new books
tied in to the release, possibly im luding a
making-of and a novelization of the film.
Ambitious theatres could construct a mini
Whoville in their lobbies, with help from a
local high school shop class, and dub
employees with Who names like Betty Lou,
Cindy Lou or Lou Lou. Also, invite parents
and children to a storybook reading of the
classic tale prior to the show. See Actor's
Studio, page 20.
Simon Magus
In this fantasy, a 19th-century European
Jewish village is on the verge of extinction.
A train station could modernize the community,
but greed and skepticism threaten
the innovation, and a disheveled, perhaps
mad outcast becomes the key to dismantling
the idea. Noah Taylor ("Almost
Famous"), Stuart Townsend ("Wonderland"),
Sean McGinley ("The General"),
Embeth Davidtz
("Bicentennial Man"),
Rutger Hauer and Ian
Holm ("Joe Gould's
star. Ben
Hopkins writes and
directs his feature
film debut; Robert
Jones (who executive
produced "The Usual
produces.
(IDP/Fireworks,
11/14)
Exploitips: "Simon
Magus' played both
at Sundani
and at the Berlin Film
Festival last year,
where it was nominated
for the Golden
Bear award.
18 BOXOI-TICE

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i
ina
1
y's"
i ("Fools
l aura
20 BO
ponsible
("Inspei
inney
lurrii
any
Rory
Ian
and
'
>ead")
d
o
You Can Count on Me
("The Iruman how' ind
I
Marl Ruff, V'i "The B< i
family drama as estranged
reunite in theii small upstate New York
<
Shi is i divon moth
eight yeai old boy, struggling to bal
hei il> .ii the bank with single parenthood
He'i i
driftei whose disre
gard for hei rules creates an almost insui
mountable conflii < ulkin, Matthew
I
Broderii
I
toi Gadget ') and Ion
Rush In")
i
stai
Si nwritei Kenneth Lonergan ("The
Adventures ol Roi
si ripts his directorial debut; Shi ng
Meistrii h Bat
( lallery toppei
("Bringing »ul the an
|ohn and lefl Sharp pro
duce. (Paramounl ( lassies, 1 1/1 7)
Exploitips: "You C an Count on Me" won
the Grand iury Prize and Waldo Salt
Screenwriting \ward at Sundam e
Boxoffice gave it three stars in the \pril
2000 issue, saying "An ensemble character
piece, 'You Can Count on Me' counts on
nr.ii performam es, and I inne) Ruffalo
Culkin and Broderick deliver."
The Weekend
This ensemble drama stars Gena
Rowland
1
PI
D.B°Sweeney ("Dinosaur"), Brooki
("Hl.uk and While 'i and Deborah Kara
i
Ungei ("The i as mends who
gathei 'in the one-yeai anniversary of the
death ol a man who's related to each of
them either by love or by blood. "The
Misadventures of Margaret's" Brian Skeet
and Ian Benson direi
i produce, respectively;
Skeel also scripts based on Peter
Cameron's novel. (Strand, 11/17 NY)
Exploitips: "The Weekend" won the New
American Cinema \ward for ensemble cast
Seattle
,1 Held
NOVEMBER 24
102 Dalmatians
Glenn Close reprises her role as Cruella
De Vil in this sequel to the live-action family
comedy about a cliva-esque villainess
who will stop at nothing to make her dream
Dalmatian fur coat, loan Gruffudd
("Solomon and Gaenor"), Alice Evans, Tim
Mclnnerny ("10 1 Dalmatians") and Gerard
Depardieu ("The Man in the Iron Mask")
co-star. Kevin Lima ("Tarzan") directs;
Kristen Buckley and Brian Regan script;
|ohn Hughes, who wrote and produced the
original, and Ed Feldman ("The Truman
Show") produce. (Buena Vista, 11/22)
Exploitips: The original "101
Dalmatians" was a bona fide boxoffice
blockbuster earning $1 16 million domestical!)
»n/ ovet $300 milium worldwide.
Invite the local Humane Soi iet) to set up
an adoption area in your parking lot.
\num^ters will be entertained as the) wait
for the film to stari. and perhaps some of the
pooi hes Him necessaril) Dalmatians—they
don't make ureal pets for kids) will have
new homes at the end of the day.

: !
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Regional Seminar Series
10 Locations across North America!
TOBER 18
The Road to Successful
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A one-day seminar with tipsfor improvingyourfoodservice operatior
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executive, managerial and consulting experience
in the concessions industry and is
considered one of the foremost authorities in
the industry on training, staffing and operations
issues. Currently, Feldman serves as NAC's
Director of Education, and teaches the association's Concession
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the two courses. Feldman has taught over 600 certified concession
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gister online at www.NAConline.org!
eform per registrant; thisform may be photocopiedfor multiple registrations
# of NAC members ai f 15 per person for -t or more registrants from the same company;
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Call (312) 236-3858 Fax (312) 236-7809 E-mail: info@NAConline.org

1 962
Unbreakable
Bruce Willis reunites with his "Sixth
Sense" writer-director M. Night Shyamalan
to star in this supernatural thriller as a blue
collar Philadelphian who is not only the
sole survivor of a tragic train crash, but
emerges without a scratch on him. Samuel
L. Jackson ("Shaft") co-stars as a mysterious
stranger who offers a bizarre explanation,
and Robin Wright Penn ("Message in a
Bottle") co-stars as Willis' character's wife.
Shyamalan and "The Sixth Sense's" Barry
Mendel produce. (Buena Vista, 11/22)
Exploitips: /After the unexpected success
of his sleeper hit "The Sixth Sense, " which
has grossed nearly $300 million domestically
and well over 5650 million worldwide,
Disney was quick to snap up
Shyamalan's follow-up under the studio's
first-look deal with the writer-director, paying
him an unprecedented $5 million for
the script. Shyamalan reportedly got $10
million in total when directing and producing
fees were added in, plus backend participation.
The film has a fun website at
www.arevouunbreakable.com
that
includes stories about "unbreakable" people,
a test to see if you are unbreakable and
a forum to share close calls and unbreakable
experiences. Collaborate with a local
radio station to give away opening weekend
tickets to callers with the most remarkable
unbreakable stories of their own.
NOVEMBER UNDATED
Original Sin
Antonio Banderas ("Play It to the
Bone") and Angelina Jolie ("Gone in 60
Seconds") star in this late-1800s-set
thriller about a wealthy Cuban coffee
merchant who decides to marry an
American woman. He soon realizes, however,
that his bride is a deceptive seductress.
Thomas Jane ("Deep Blue Sea") costars.
Michael Cristofer (TV's "Gia,"
which also starred Jolie) writes and
directs; Kate Guinzburg ("A Thousand
Acres"), Denise Di Novi ("Message in a
Bottle") and Carol Lees produce. (MGM,
November undated)
Exploitips: Have fun with Banderas'
character's occupation, promoting your
coffee selection if you have one and adding
Cuban blends to the menu.
S 4 is the ideal answer to sound in stadium
seating theatres. You ask why? Look at our
experience.
As the sole sound system
provider for IMAX® Theatres for the past 20
years we have seen some of the most
challenging stadium seating environments in
the world. S 4 is an adaptation of this
technology specifically tailored to the
mainstream stadium-seating cinema. S 4
speaker systems come in packages designed
Allowing stadium seating
to sound as good as it
looks.
for theatres ranging from 50 to 500 seats; all at surprisingly economical
prices. With our newly introduced THX® approved components in the
line,
THX® is
S 4 offers a solution for every venue and every market
£ sonics
a registered trademark of Lucasfilms, LTD
The Mystery of Picasso
In this documentary, filmed in the mid-
'50s, Pablo Picasso paints for the camera,
illustrating his creative process at work.
Henri-Georges Clouzot directs; he and
Picasso script. (Milestone, November
undated)
Exploitips: Cooperate with a local museum
or art gallery to coordinate this release
with an exhibition of the artist's work.
Make prints of his paintings available to
patrons at the theatre; unfortunately, the
pieces painted for this film were immedistroyed
and thus are only viewable
on celluloid.
Signs & Wonders
Stellan Skarsgard ("Deep Blue Sea")
stars in this drama as an American living
in Greece who, influenced by signs and
premonitions, falls deeply back in love
with his wife after having an affair.
Charlotte Rampling ("The Wings of the
Dove"! and Deborah Kara Linger ("The
Hurricane") co-star. Jonathan Nossiter
writes and directs; James Lasdun
("Besieged") scripts; Marin Karmitz
(Krzysztof Kieslowski's "Blue, White, Red"
trilogy) produces. (Strand, November
undated)
Exploitips:
'Signs & Wonders" plaved at
this year's Berlin International Film Festival,
where it was nominated for the Golden
Bear.
In the Mood for Love
Tony Leung Chiu-wai ("Happy
Together") and Maggie Cheung Man-yuk
("Chinese Box") star in this romance set in
Hong Kong as two cordial neighbors
whose respective spouses, they discover,
are having an affair. Wong Kar-wai
("Happy Together") writes and directs; Karwai's
frequent collaborator William Chang
Suk-ping produces. (USA, November
undated)
Exploitips: Nominated for the Palme
d'Or at Cannes this year, "In the Mood for
Love" took home the maximum two
awards: Best Actor for Leung and the
Technical Grand Prize for Chang, who also
edited and did production design, and cinematographers
Christopher Doyle and
Mark Li Ping-bing.

. ("X-Men")
One
Summi
LATE MOVIE MOVES
Anatomy
Set on a college campus in Heidelberg, this
German horror film stars "Run Lola Run's"
Franka Potente. Stefan Ruzowitzky writes and
directs; Jakob Claussen, Andrea Willson and
Thomas Wobke produce. (Columbia, 9/8 ltd)
Exploitips: Having won the Audience
-\\\.ird .1/ the German Film Awards, "Anatomy"
should attract the same audience as
the "Scream" franchise.
Circus
)ohn Hannah ("The Mummy") stars in this
crime thriller as a con man caught up in a web
of double- and triple-crosses. Famke Janssen
co-stars. Rob Walker directs in mi a
"Bamboozled" with digital cameras, which
will inestimably emulate the TV world ...
which it's set.
Cyberworld
This 3-D IMAX movie takes view
tour of a futuristic museum of animation thai
includes Hips from "Antz," "The Simpsons"
and ,i Pel Shop Boys video, lenna Elfman
and Elaine Despins direct: Steven Hob. in
and Hugh Murray produce. (IMAX, 10/6)
Exploitips: Like "Encounter in the 3rd
Dimension, " this should be a fun opportune
format's 3-D capabiltl
venues
where educational mandates won't get in
world" is also IM
foray frit
medium in whit h the < on
to produce and rele. isc a feature-length film.
Two Family House
In this '50s-set drama, a would-be croonhases
a two-family house, planning
in i
onverl the ground floor into a n
hood bar where he can
|
Unfortunately, he also inhi
tenants: a pregnant Irish immigranl just off
the boat and her abusive, alcoholic huspoli
I
'
Kelly Macdonald ("The Loss of Sexual
script by David Logan. (Columbia, 9/1 S ltd)
Exploitips: With a tagline like "Don't trust
any of these clowns," "Circus" invites just
such an atmosphere, with tumblers, firebreathers
and, well, clowns, despif
that the movie isn't really about a circus at all.
The Dancer
Franco Luc Besson ("The Messenger: The
Story of Joan of Arc") produces this drama
about a dancer who's the darling of the
Manhattan club scene but can't break into
Broadway because she is mute— until an
adoring scientist invents a way for her to
speak through her movements. Mia Frye
and Rodney Eastman star. Besson's protege
Frederic Garson makes his directorial debut
from a script by Jessica Kaplan. (Fox, 9/22)
Exploitips: "The Dancer" should not be
confused with Universale "Hilly Elliot," which
was known as "Dancer" when it was
at Cannes but changed its name for domestic
release through Universal in October.
Tigerland
Joel Schumacher ("8mm," "Flawless")
directs this war-time drama about a group of
young recruits whose last stop is Tigerland,
the Advanced Infantry Training facility in
Fort Polk, La., in 1971 . of the rebellious
draftees wants to be discharged, but his
superiors refuse, so he sets out to trick the
military into ejecting them all. Colin Farrell
("The War Zone") and Matthew Davis
("Urban Legends: Final Cut") star. Michael
McGruther and Ross Klavan script; Arnon
Milchan (who executive produced "Fight
Club"), Beau Flynn ("The House
"Johns") and Steven Haft ("Jakob the Liar")
produce. (Fox, 9/22 NY/LA/TOR, 10/6 exp)
Exploitips: Schumacher eschewed studio
excesses—a big budget, marquee stars, bail
dressers, makeup artists, production designers—
for this $10 million film, indicating that
it gives him the freedom to take bigger risks.
Bamboozled
Spike Lee ("The Original Kings of
Comedy") writes, directs and produces tins
laffer about a TV sketch comedy show that
has an all-black cast but an all-whin
staff. Damon Wayans ("Bulletproof"), Savion
Glover, Tommy Davidson, Jada Pinkett Smith
("Scream 2") and Michael Rapaport
("Numbers") star. Frequent Lee coll
Jon Kilik produces. (New Line, 10/6)
Exploitips: Like tee's most recent film,
"The Original Kings of Comedy," he shot
Response No. 525
October. 2000 23

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Response No. 520

VV.
: i
her
i
killed
himp
star. Raymond DeFelitti
JY, 10/1 t LA,
I
md Kevin
Exploitips: Boxoffice gives "Two Famil)
House"
•'
frame, it
is no
stars in this is>.
Animal Factory
Willem Dafoe ("Amerk an
!
bright future dark
on a drug
ed and proi
directs; formei
/i predictable from the first
orttrue."
San Quentin inmate Edward
Elie Samaha and Andrew Stevens produce
with Julie Yorn, who executive
"Trees Lounge." (Silver Nitrati
Exploitips: "Animal Factory" was a lastminute
surj
BOXOFFICE gave it three stars in the April
2000issue: "Accompanied by a funl
teals
with race relations
'Animal
harmless middle-class kid ( an transform into
an animal while in prison (thus the lille). But
between men who are suspicious of each
other's int nited in the ways
they can show affection."
What's Cooking?
film.
This
:.
10/27 NY/LA, II
'.!
lii s (TV's
Chadha
huslayloi
Exploitips: BOXOFficf gave "What's
The
hit redundant alter awhili
tively from one setting to the nt
ill) that one's lau :
Sundance Series, p
MORE MOVIE MOVES
this year,
from
one
iusly." See
i
Archh Murnau's
"Nosferatu" on September 9 in
"Place Vendome," starring
le Deneuve, comes out in
September via Empire. ..Director |ohn
the Drum Slouk
distributes Ins "A Piece of Eden" through
Film Acres in Grand Rapids on September 1
and in 1
and Des Moines two weeks later.. .Keystone,
iwn for its "Air Bud" Ii.uk hise,
tribution arm ti
"MVP: Most Valuable Primate," al
ilaying i
on
29. ..Lions Gate premieres "Under
Suspicion," a crime movie starring Morgan
Freeman and ( lene
I la< kman, on Si
22 in New York and Los Angeles and
"Stardom," a darl i elebrity,
ber 27. ..Miramax bows "Backstage"
mbei 6 and an untitled |ai kii i
nan
6. ..New Yorker premieres
"Paragraph 175," by the directors of "The
Celluloid Closet," on September 13 in New
York. ..Phaedra releases "Deep in the
Woods," a French horror film about
who perform a private show at a
one by one, in
September; "The Bridge," a romanc e direi I
rdieu, on
October 27 in New York; and "The
Sculptress," a thriller about a young artist
who studies at one of the finest art institutes
in San Francisco, in October.. .The Shooting
iiows "Titanic Town," about a
Belfast housewife who stands up to the IRA,
on Septembei I; "Human Resources," a
French-language drama about a business
school graduate who takes a job in the factory
where his father has worked for 30
lortnight later; "Barenaked in
America," a documentary about the
Barenaked Ladies, on the 29th; "One" on
October I I; and "A Time for Drunken
Horses" on October 27. ..Winstar puts "Yi
Yi," which won Best Director and was nominated
for the Palme d'Or at Cannes this
year, into limited release on October 6. HI
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Your logo on a 3 cirnensionai steel plate
Choice of quick-change item/price
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Response No 71
October, 2000 25

Cover
"DAY" FOR
NIGHT
A Family Man Becomes Caught in
Nighttime Intrigue and the Dark
Shadows of Science in "6th Day"
y . ..
*>
'l
ABOVE: With
Wendy Crewson;
Taylor Anne-Reid;
Tony Goldwyn;
Michael Rapaport;
Robert Duvall;
Terry Crews;
Sarah Wynter.
Philanthropist, political advocate,
businessman—not the
first words that come to
mind when one hears the name
Arnold Schwarzenegger. But in his
off-screen activities and in his
recent conversation with BOXOF-
FICE, the international star
demonstrates a generous heart,
resolute beliefs and a keen understanding
of his role in the filmmaking
process that belie the guntoting,
world-saving, action-hero
image for which he's best known.
Schwarzenegger calls BOXOF-
FICE from Philadelphia during the
Republican National Convention,
but bis presence in the City of
Brotherly Love is more complicated
than a simple celebrity appearance
from the famously staunch
supporter of the GOP. He's in
town to attend an Inner City
Games graduation, having
promised the kids that if they
stuck with the program for an
entire year, "I'll be back."
"The timing, of course, couldn't
have been more perfect," the
altruist admits. "We invited all
the media there [as] a way of saying,
'Okay, all of you who are here
at the convention, this is a side of
America that you should also pay
attention [to],' especially now in
this environment of inclusion that
the Republicans are trying to sell,
I think that it was good to...put a
light on the problem of inner cities
[and] inner city kids."
Shortly after the event, though,
Schwarzenegger returns his focus
to his day job— promoting
Columbia's sci-fi thriller "The
Sixth Day." In it he plays Adam
Gibson, a helicopter pilot who
comes home from work one day
to find that his wife and daughter
are already celebrating his birthday—with
his clone. Immediately
he is kidnapped and almost killed,
and while on die run from unidentified
assassins, he uncovers a
vast corporate conspiracy at
RePet, a company that promises
to preserve your beloved pets but
has expanded its activities into
illicit human cloning. Thus the
title, per Genesis 1:31: "On the
sixth day, God created man."
It was Adam's Everyman qualities
that first attracted
Schwarzenegger to "The Sixth
Day." "It was about a family man
that was a very ordinary guy that
has been forced into extraordinary
situations and to do extraordinary
things in order to survive,"
he says. "I like the idea of someone
that puts his mind to something
and then overcomes the
obstacles in front of him—doesn't
give up. It's someone that is in
love with his family so much that
he would do anything in order not
to have something happen to bis
family."
The studio got its money's
worth from the $20 million-plus
thespian, who plays both Adam
26 BOXOFFICE

mMm?f

do the whole dialogue to nobody,
and then you set basically the base
for the other character. So now you
have to stay within those lines, liow
them. It's very, very, very complicated
because as soon as you set the
base, then you realize "
to stay within thos
can't act out and wonder what one
just said and think about it. You
have to respond because otherwise
"e other dialogue is
"j have to be very quick."
"- :
-)t's subtle futuristic
1 as autopiloted cars
also appealed to the actor. "For
instance, 1 get up, and I go to brush
my teeth and shave," he describes
excitedly. "The water (isj running,
the mirror steams up, and then I
press a button, and it goes,
'Whooh!'" One can almost bear him
gesturing to his own sound effects.
"All the steam from the mirror is
tie, and underneath all the sudden
see this and that. Then I pres>
another button, and my appointments
are coming up, my schedule
for the day. And then I pi
cheek stab at the
nation's perceived antiloking
trend. "There's
a scene where my wife
gives me a birthday
gift," he laughs. '
pulls out a little box, and
I open it up, and ther
a little roach in there,
just like this little tw»-
inch leftover of a cig
And I'm going, 'Oh
God! Where did you }
this?' And she says,
cleaned up the attic, and
I found it in one of the
drawers.' And I
my goodness. You know,
we could be arrested for
this.' And she says, i
say, 'Ob
know, I know. So let's
put it away and smoke it
tonight when our daughter's
asleep.' It's this
whole hush-hush thing."
And although
Schwarzenegger still
he says. "Those days
are over. In the '80s
you could do thai,
today you can't."
The 53-vear-oId's
it button, and all the s

!
,'..
if 1 borrow $100 i
• :/j:,,
,
destruction.
Another hot topic
peripherailv related
to "The Sixth Day"
is the relationship
between violence in
movies and violence
in our culture.
Though he emphaticall)
denies that
there is a correlation
between the two—
-
i
instead saving, "The I
bottom line is (hat
we have a societal
breakdown |and|
that parenting docs
not exist anymore in
a lot of families"—
Schwarzenegger did =
consider the contra- -
versy when he made
decisions about the
film's marketing —
campaign. "|Thc
^
stud id |
tested six
posters, and two of
them came out with ...
the highest score,"
he explains. "One of
them was with a gun
in the hand, and the
other one was without
a gun. So it
t
-
became very clear
that it was not at all
important to the
121
bank, I have the responsibility to do
d say, "I want this and everything possible to pay it back.
that changed,' and they This is my way.
say, i hate when actors
come and tell us what to
do.' So for that it's a big
"So I go out there to ShoWest,
and I talk about the movie and tell
them that I like it and I'm cut
advantage, that you can tic about it and challenge them to
make sure that they do a great job
say, 'Okay, let me take
my hat off as an actor.
I'm now wearing the hat
and entertain them with some jokes,
those kinds of things, do anything to
as the producer. You're make them like me and the movie
spending too much f and the studio, so they give it a good
ing money!' Then they display and give it the best shot. So
it's all like a stroking job that I do
say, 'Okay, okay. What
do you want me to do?' out there. They're all out there to b
It's a different ballgame entertained, and then the movie that
then.'"
In addition to being
integrally involved in the
making of his films,
Schwarzenegger
is
famous for aggressively
promoting his films, as
was evidenced by his gracious
remarks at
ShoWest this year. He
describes, quite bluntly,
that this kind of gladlanding
is just part of
~ job. "if someone
nds, let's say, $100
ovie, I've
to, as the star of the
ie, feel responsible to
make sure that this
money comes back to
these people. No matter
what business it is, I
always feel that that's
the least that I ow
these people. As muc
is the most memorable and the stars
that are the most memorable they
pay the most attention to.. ..It's ail
based on that I want to do everything
I can to make the film
It's
this kind of coi
his charities, to his c
his career—that s endeared
Schwarzenegger to movie f
over the world and made hi
the biggest boxoffice draws of
"The Sixth Day." Starring
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ton
GoUwyn, Robert Duvall, Micbai
Rapaport, Michael Hooker, San
Wynter and Wendy Crewso
Directed by Roger Spottiswoo
Written by Cormac and Murium..
Wihherley. Produced by Mike
h'davoy, Arnold Schwarzenegger
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0NLYAFEWMORE WEEKS UNTIL THE 2ND ANNUA
NATO Midwest Geneva Convention
THERE'S NOTHING ELSE LIKE IT!
Join Us to Honor Our Special Guests
At the beautiful Grand Geneva Resort & Spa in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin
Scheduled events include:
Variety Club Golf Tournament, 2 Day Trade Show,
The BOXOFFICE Conference, Digital Cinema Demonstration,
Major Studio Film Screenings, Internet Ticketing,
Promotions and Marketing Workshops, Exhibitor Relations
Presentations and... A Gala Awards Banquet
Register and be Eligible to Win a Motorcycle or $10,000
ENEVA
Invention
MIDWEST
Mark Your Calendar to Attend
September 26.27.28.2000
Lake Geneva. Wisconsin
For information and registration call
9fi9.532.0017phone
532.0021 tax
TO REGISTER TODAY!

THE GENEVA CONVENTION
Don't miss it. The second annual NATO Geneva Convention convenes September 26,
27, and 28, 2000 at the luxurious Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake Geneva,
Wisconsin. For three exciting, enjoyable and informative days the glamour of
Hollywood comes to the Midwest.
Grand Geneva Resort and Spa is a world class resort with first class service and amenities.
There's so much to discover at the Grand Geneva. Enjoy a round of golf on one of the
resort's famous and challenging, championship courses. Relax and be pampered in the
sumptuous Spa featuring therapeutic massage, aromatherapy and much more. Swim,
play tennis, go for a horseback ride, take a relaxing walk, work out, or just enjoy the
tranquil setting of the Grand Geneva.
The Grand Geneva Resort and Spa is nestled in the beautiful rolling hills of Southeastern
Wisconsin about 45 minutes south of Milwaukee or an hour north of Chicago.
HOTEL REGISTRATION FORM
Please complete this form and mail back to Grand Geneva Resort and Spa prior to
9/1 1/00. Make sure to include appropriate deposit.
Or you may call our reservations department at 800.558.3417
Resort & Spa
To confirm your reservation, a deposit of one night's lodging plus tax is
(American Express/Visa/Mastercard/Diner's Club/Discover accepted
— Expiration date is required, or check or money order)
required.
Check-in time is after 4:00 pm and check-out time is before noon.
Cancellations must be received 72 hours prior to arrival date or deposit will
be forfeited.
7036 Grand Geneva Way at Highways 50 East and 12
Lake Geneva, Wisconsin 53147
262.248.8811 • 800.558.3417 • Fax 262.248.3192
Visit our website at www.grandgeneva.com
PLEASE COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION " DETACH** AND RETURN TO GRAND GENEVA WITH DEPOSIT
Please print
Arrival Date
Single $178 Double $178
Rate Information
Departure Date
Newport Parlor $346 Newport Parlor, Jr. $346
Type of Credit Card
,se circle one
Am EX Visa DC Disc
Credit Card Number
Expiration Date and Signature
Name

GENEVA 2000
G2 SUMMIT:
THE NATO MIDWEST GENEVA
CONVENTION TURNS TWO
WELCOMING
.-7 p.m. Main Lobby
4VENTION REGISTRATION
by Larry Hanson
10:30-12 noon Golf Pavilion
TOURNEY OUTDOOR BUFFE1
VARIETY CLUB GOLF TOURNEY
5:30-6 p.m. Golf Pavilion
AWARDS PRESENTATION
6-8 p.m. Grand Ballroom
COCKTAIL/BUFFET RECEPTION
0-10:30 p.m. Geneva Theati
MOVIE SCREENING
CONVENTION REGISTRATION
8-9:30 a.m. Newport Grill
CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
DIGITAL CINEMA SEMINAR
=*.m.-ll:30 a.r...
SPA OPEN HOUSE
INTERNET TICKETING SEMINAR
12-1:30 P-m. Grand Ballro<
LUNCH: VARIETY CLUB &
BEN D. MARCUS AWARDS
ake Geneva is a beautiful place
anytime of the year, but early
JLyfall in the southern Wisconsin
lakes region is something very special!
What a great location for friends and
acquaintances from all segments of
our industry to get together for the
second annual NATO Midwest
Geneva Convention. The Grand
Geneva Resort and Spa is once again
our headquarters, and we have an
excellent time planned for all our
Geneva Convention guests.
DAY
It all begins on Tuesday morning
with the Variety Club Charity Golf
Tournament on Grand Geneva's
renowned course, "The Brute." Last
year, our Tournament golfers raised
$5,000 for Variety Children's Charities,
in spite of rainy weather. This
year we are forecasting better weather
and a bigger check for the kids, so
grab your clubs and join us!
Convention registration will continue
throughout the day while nongolfers
enjoy themselves horseback
riding, shopping, sightseeing or pampering
themselves at the Grand
Geneva Spa. One of the most enjoyable
pastimes is a cruise around scenic
Lake Geneva on the "Belle of the
Lake." Then, it's time to cut loose at
our opening "Born To Be Wild" cocktail
reception and buffet. Talk to old
friends, make new friends, enjoy a
spectacular laser show [see sidebar,
p. 35] and then travel to picturesque
downtown Lake Geneva for a major
studio screening at the historic
Geneva Theatre. What a day! What a
night! And we're just gettin' warmed
up! (Apologies to Al Pacino.)
WEDNESDAY
Wednesday opens with a great
breakfast, followed by a terrific lineup
of seminars. Get updated in a
"Digital Cinema" discussion and then
explore the many possibilities of
"Internet Ticketing." Our Wednesday
Luncheon will feature a Variety Club
presentation and the Ben D. Marcus
Award. This year's recipient of the
Ben D. Marcus Award is venerable
exhibitor and showman Nick Frank
(p. 35) of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
After lunch, the seminar lineup
continues with "Power Hiring" and a
"Promotion and Marketing" segment
featuring representatives from our
friends in distribution. Our second
annual Trade Show is bigger and better
than ever, and it kicks off at 1 :45
p.m. The Trade Show will continue
32 BOXOFFICE

GENEVA 2000
THE GENEVA HONOREES:
LOEKS, VALENTI, BLAKE
AND FRANK TAKE BOWS
ADDRESS 2000
and Bruce Olson
right up and through our cocktail
reception. That's right—you don't
have to hurry though the show and
then walk to another area of the
resort to get to the cocktail party.
This year, we are having cocktails
among the Geneva vendors.
If all these events still leave you
hungering for more, then don't forget
to visit the continuous "Digital
Cinema Demonstration" at the Geneva
Theatre on Wednesday from 1 :()()
to 5:00 p.m. Shuttle transportation
will be running regularly to downtown
Lake Geneva.
Still hungry for more? We hope so!
The Pepsi "Hollywood Extravaganza"
begins at 7 p.m. where we honor
our guests: Jack Valenti, President of
rHLRSDAV
After a quick bagel, Thursday
brings more great events as our Trade
Show continues and our friends at
BOXOFFICE offer convention registrants
a unique perspective on our
industry. The BOXOFFICE Conference
w ill be a timely discussion on the
industry by exhibition leaders. Daniel
O'Neill, industry analyst at Credit
Suisse First Boston, will be the moderator
for a panel of exhibition executives.
You won't want to miss this!
Our Thursday closing luncheon will
feature our NATO Midwest Hall of
Fame Induction Ceremony and will
feature, as the event's guest speaker.
John Fithian. President of National
NATO. That's about it—except for a
few other surprises! Three great days
filled with great events: What more
the Motion Picture Association, will
receive the Lifetime Achievement
Award for his 34 years of service to
could we possibly do to put the final
the industry. Jell" Blake, President of
Worldwide Distribution for Columbia touches on our second annual conven-
Pictures, will receive the Distributor
of the Year Award. Barrie Lawson
Loeks will receive the Excellence of $10,000 cash! What would you do:
Service Award for her tenure as Ride away on a Harley or take the
Chairman of National NATO. money? One lucky convention registrant
And now for dessert. We finish the
make that decision!
will
evening off with another major
screening at the Showboat Entertainment
ood luck to all our registrants
Complex, just a few minutes
and thanks for your support.
away from the Grand Geneva Resort.
Have a great time! m|
tion? How about giving away a new
Hnrlev Davidson motorcycle or
G
President,
Loeks-Star Theatres;
Chair, National NATO
DISTRIBUTOR
OF THE YEAR
JEFF BLAKE
President, Worldwide
Distribution,
Columbia Pictures
LIFETIME
ACHIEVEMENT
JACK VALENTI
Chairman and
CEO, MPAA
to be awarded at
the Wed. luncheon
(see page 35)...
THE BEN D.
MARCUS AWARD
October. 2000 33

FILM.
TECHNOLOGY. CONVERGENCE!
secure T u^|;
OCTOBER 26 & 27, 2000
PREMIE pASS LOS ANGELES, CA
REGISTER SHERATON UNIVERSAL HOTEL
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GENEVA 2000
THE BEN D. MARCUS AWARD
Sr /
This year's recipient of the convention's Ben D. Marcus Award is
Fond du Lac Theatres' NICK P. FRANK, who has worked in
the exhibition business since the 1930s (as indicated by the first
photo above, inscribed "Nick Frank, Retlaw Theatre, 1936").
Frank will accept his honor at the Geneva's Wednesday luncheon.
Sept. 26-28, 2000
Grand Geneva Resort
(WED., SEPT. 27-
cont. front p. 32)
DIGITAL CINEMA
DEMONSTRATION
1:30-3 p.i
POWER HIRING SEMINAR
—i.
The Foi
TRADE SHOW
PROMOTION AND
MARKETING SEMINAR
6 p.m.-7 p.m. The Forum
COCKTAILS WITH GENEVA
TRADE-SHOW VENDORS
7-9 p.m. Grand Ballroom
HOLLYWOOD EXTRAVAGANZA
GALA DINNER
9-11 p.i
MOVI1
THURSDAY, SEPT. 28
8-9:30 a.i
CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST
BOXOFFICE CONFERENCE
ON EXHIBITION
12-1:30 p.m. Grand Ballroot
CLOSING LUNCHEON
Guest Speaker: John Fithian,
President, National NATO.
Also: Hall of Fame Ind
Harley Winner Selection
".olf Coursi
!N GOLF
October, 2000 35

2000 NATO MIDWEST GENEVA

I
2000 GENEVA:

UNIVERSAL PICTURES
CONGRATULATES
NATO Geneva Convention 2000 Award Winners
BARRIE LAWSON LOEKS
EXCELLENCE OF SERVICE TO NATO AWARD
NICK FRANK
BEN D. MARCUS AWARD
JACK VALENTI
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
JEFF BLAKE
DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR AWARD
UNIWERSAL
www.universalstudios.

SONY PICTURES RELEASING
CONGRATULATES
THE NATO MIDWEST GENEVA CONVENT!
2000 AWARD WINNERS
M
JEFF BLAKE
DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR
BARRIE LAWSON LOEKS
EXCELLENCE OF SERVICE TO NATO AWARD
JACKVALENTI
LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
NICK FRANK
BEN D. MARCUS AWARD

I
2000 GENEVA:
BOOTH LIST
PEPSI-COLA
GENERAL BOTTLERS
5500 N. Lovers Lane Rd.
Milwaukee, Wl 53225
Phone:414-438-6437
Fax:414-438-2337
Tim Michels
Concessions products: beverages
PHONIC EAR
3880 Cypress Dr.
Petaluma, CA 94954
Phone:707-769-1110
Fax: 707-769-9624
Mari Niewald, Lisa DeLeuil
Assistive listening devices
PROCTOR COMPANIES
10497 Centennial Rd.
Littleton, CO 80127
Phone: 303-973-8989
Fax: 303-973-8884
Mark Hanne
Make, design and install concessions
stands, lobbies and box-offices
PROMOTION IN MOTION
P.O. Box 558
Closter, NJ 07624
Phone:201-784-5800
Fax:201-784-1010
Jeff Scudillo
Candy
QSC AUDIO PRODUCTS
1675 MacArthur Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Phone: 714-754-6175
Fax:714-754-6174
Cindy Cao
Power amplifiers
RADIANT SYSTEMS
3925 Brookside Parkway
Alphretta, GA 30022
Phone: 770-576-6000
Fax: 770-754-7790
Enterprise management solutions
READY THEATRE SYSTEMS
8189 Verlynda Dr.
Watervliet, Ml 49098
Phone:616-463-5096
Fax: 707-276-7222
Greg Borr
Computer systems/software/
ticketing and concessions
ROYAL PAPER
8940 Sorensen Ave.,
Sante Fe Springs, CA 90670
Phone: 562-903-9030
Fax: 562-903-9229
Marianne Abi-aad
Concessions products: containers
RTAS
9730 South 700 East
Sandy, UT 84070
Phone:801-523-2480
Fax:801-816-9645
Mike Schwab
Theatre design and construction
SCHROEDER & HOLT ARCHITECTS
244 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, Wl 53202
Phone: 414-276-1760; Fax: 414-276-1764
Jeff Stowe
Architectural firm
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40 BOXOFFICE

2000 GENEVA.
BOOTH LIST

*-*
^ENEVA^ "
t L
jji Convention
NATO ^^" MIDWEST
Welcome to the
Geneva Convention
NATO Congratulates the following:
Jeff Blake
Distributor of the Year
Barrie Lawson Loeks
Excellence of Service Award
Jack Valenti
Lifetime Achievement Award
Nick Frank
Ben D. Marcus Award
Midwest Exhibition Hall of Fame Inductees:
Myron Blank
Jack Loeks
Russell Brehm
Ben Marcus
Glen Dickinson F.J. McWilliams
Stan Durwood
Henry Plitt
Harold J. Fitzgerald Trueman Rembusch
George Kerasotes Arthur G. Spirou
Louis Kerasotes Fred Wehrenberg
NATO of Wisconsin & Upper Michigan

(MUTILATIONS
From Your Friends
STEVE MARCUS BRUCE OLSON MIKE KOMINSKY

BUSINESS
IS MOTION.
RMMBMPBPi
HOW TO
STAY IN
FOCUS.
FOR ADVERTISING INFORMATION,
CALL BOB VALE AT 626-396-0250
SUBSCRIBE TODAY AT
www.boxoffice.com

GENEVA EXTRA
The
Geneva Convention
has named the
following venerable
exhibitors to the inaugural
Midwest NATO
Exhibition Hall of Fame:
• Myron (Mike) Blank
• Russell Brehm
• Glen Dickinson
• Stan Durwood
• Harold J. Fitzgerald
• George Kerasotes
• Louis Kerasotes
• Jack Loeks
• FJ. MacWilliams
• Ben D. Marcus
• Henry Plitt
• Truman Rembusch
• Arthur G. Spirou
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Also available: BOXOFFICE 's weekly online top 10.
Plus: You can use MovieCub to search six years'
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Visit us at the NATO Geneva
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The induction ceremony
will be a highlight of the
Geneva Convention's
closing luncheon event on
Thursday, September 28.
October. 2000 45

GENEVA EXTRA: Midwestern Exhibition
HOW WE MIDWEST WAS WON
Bruce Olson, President of Wisconsin's Marcus Theatres, and
Robert Goodrich, President of Michigan-based Goodrich Theatres,
Discuss Heartland Exhibition Strategies
BOXOFFICE: What is unique about the
Midwestern exhibition market?
BRUCE OLSON: Sometimes it can be
far different than what will play in New
York or L.A. There are some very sophisticated
markets in the Midwest, where art
films and specialty product will perform
very well. But the stereotypical view of
rural America is probably correct, that it
doesn't play everywhere across the
Midwest. So that's the primary
difference. It's about
what product will play.
Conversely, there are some
movies that play better here
in the Midwest than they do
on either coast.
ROBERT GOODRICH: 1
don't see that [the Midwestern
market] is [unique]. Chicago,
is it really a lesser town than
Boston or San Francisco?
doubt it. Is Detroit less cosmopolitan
than Houston or
Atlanta or San Diego? Isn't it
really kind of homogeneous?
We're all watching the same
television programs, reading
the same national magazines.
I really question, if you look at it in the
context of the major cities, is there really a
difference between the East Coast, West
Coast and the center?
The same pictures play everywhere, and
when we compare our composite grosses
each week with the EDI figures, we hit
about the same percentage week after week
after week. Our performance with "Hollow
Man," our performance with "Gladiator."
our performance with "Dinosaur." was very
predictable on the national basis. So I don't
think that you can today differentiate the
theatres. In fact, I have the quintessential
Midwestern theatre. I have a 14-plex in
Peoria.
[To answer the question "Does it
play in Peoria?",] we get a proportional
response out of Peoria that is very reflective
of what Philadelphia and Denver are
doing. So the Peoria differentiation has
really kind of disappeared. And I think
that's because Peoria now has a 14-plex, not
what years ago was a single or twin theatre.
BOXOFFICE: Is there a key opportunity
that Midwestern exhibition has, for
example, expansion or upgrade possibilities
or opportunities based on demographics?
OLSON: I think Midwestern exhibitors
have always been at the forefront of technology
in our industry. And when you
think about it. AMC was the first one to
by Christine James
have a twin theatre. Marcus and AMC
were the two circuits that developed the
early cupholders. AMC developed stadium
seating. A lot of the internet ticketing
started with circuits in the Midwest. So
many of the state-of-the-art theatrical
trends started with Midwestern circuits.
GOODRICH: We have more opportunities
in the Midwest than they have on
the East Coast because of the availability
of land. You get into
Massachusetts, greater
Washington D.C., along
the coastal line of Virginia
or the Carolinas where
most of the population is,
you just physically don't
have the space that we do
in Illinois. Indiana,
Michigan, Wisconsin,
Missouri, Kansas. [But]
when you think of the
Midwest, is your first
mindset of Bloomington,
111., or is it Cleveland? Or
is it Chicago or Detroit?
When you realize the
Marcus president Bruce Olson Midwest has an equal
number of major cities as
the West Coast and the East Coast, it kind
of changes your feel of what the Midwest
is. I'm thinking, Detroit, Chicago,
Indianapolis. Milwaukee. I wonder if a lot
of people who think "Midwest" think of
those towns. So the availability
of land in Indianapolis
is not that much more
than it is, say, in Atlanta.
But the availability of land
in Peoria is certainly much
more significant than in,
say, Philadelphia.
BOXOFFICE: Is there a
key crisis facing Midwestern
exhibition specifically?
OLSON: No. 'i think
Midwestern exhibitors face
the same problems that
exhibitors across America
do. However, as a whole, I
u°°°" c
don't think there was as
Roben
much overbuilding in the
Midwest as there was in the balance of the
countrv.
GOODRICH: Again, it's one composite
industry, and there's a fascinating article
in U.S. News and World Report [in
which] a very clever writer said, "Exhibitors
are trying to spend their way out of their
problem. And that's probably not an effective
way to proceed. ...Just as in the film
industry cost-cutting has delivered the
most expensive movies ever made, so too is
the theatre industry trying to spend its way
out of trouble." And in Variety. I thought
this was phenomenally clever: "Runaway
construction is an example of how"— I like
this quote — "individual rash decisions
have led to collective irrational behavior."
And I think that even though each and
every individual exhibitor, myself included,
think what we're doing decision by decision
makes sense, there's no doubt as a group
we have to stand back and say, "What
we've done collectively is irrational."
BOXOFFICE: Are there issues that
need to be dealt with to ensure the success
of the exhibition industry as a whole?
OLSON: Marcus Theatres happens to
be fortunate that we're still very profitable.
But all of exhibition is very financially ill
right now. And film costs have got to
come down a bit; there's no ifs, ands or
buts about it. The old cliche that exhibition
is the engine that drives the train is
truer than ever before, and I
think the film
distributors have to recognize that exhibition
[sets] the price and demand worldwide
and for ancillary markets, which
have now become four times larger than
the exhibition gross, if not more. I think
they need to reward their front-end partners
a little bit more than they have.
GOODRICH: I look at
some of my fellow exhibitors
and I think about the fellow
in Las Vegas who just lost
$100,000 but is saying to his
friends and his wife, "If you
give me another $15,000, I
can get it back." And just as
the fellow who thinks that
with another $15,000—that
his system of betting, his
knowledge of the cards, or
the game, is going to allow
him to win—this [is the
same] mindset, this almost
religious fervor that a lot of
theatre owners have. [They
believe] they've got the
magic elixir, that if you put
digital sound in and stadium seating and
you make the building big enough, [it will
pay off]—even though they've built five,
or maybe they've built 30 if it's a big circuit,
and none of these newer theatres are
really clicking. But they're so passionate
that they know what they're doing, they
want to keep doing it!
4 BOXOFFICE

I've had fellows tell me. "Bob, if you've
got theatres in a town, say two eight-plexes,
they may be all-digital, they may all be
newly carpeted, they all may be fine theatres,
say they're less than six years old, but
if they're not stadium seating, another circuit
is probably going to build in the
town." That's just irrational. My judgment
is, the moviegoers number one look at the
convenience of the location; number two,
look at the graciousness and the efficiency
of your service staff; and I think the third
factor that drives attendance is the comfort
of the seat people sit in. The number four
thing that brings audiences in is digital
sound, which really embellishes a movie.
And I think a distant fifth is stadium seating.
I've talked to scores of people, they've
never had a problem seeing the screen. They
say. "It's a nice benefit." but it's not decisive.
The thinking that people are going to drive
by sloped-floor theatres and go to the new
stadium-seated theatre has resulted in bil-
there are a lot of things
that have to occur, worldwide
standardization being
number one. But more
important is how it's going
to be paid for, because
exhibition cannot afford it.
And exhibition will not
necessarily save anything
using digital.
In fact, digital
projectors and the associated
hardware and software
could wind up costing
exhibition more money
in
labor and software fees
that what the simple labor
is now. So the real beneficiary of digital cinema
is obviously going to be the distributors,
and their payback is estimated to be
five years or less if distribution was to pay
the entire package.
GOODRICH: I think it's still five years
away. It was five years away three years
ago. And I think a combination of things
have occurred. I think that the efforts of
Kodak to improve their film quality has
happened. I think the resolution, the brilliance
of the picture is really superb. And
digital film is not. In the some 13 or 15 theatres
in the United States, particularly
Edwards Theatres and a couple of others
that have aggressively advertised that
"Tarzan" and other movies are available in
digital,
the boxoffice was not significantly
better. There's been really no perceived
enthusiasm by the public to see something
in digital. So without the public clamoring
for it, there's minimized enthusiasm to do
it. We are generally responding to what the
public wants. And the public has told us
vigorously they want digital sound, and we
are aggressively putting it in. They've told
us they wanted wider auditoriums, they
wanted newer buildings, so over the last 10
years we've done it. Until the public really
starts clamoring for digital presentation,
it's not going to immediately happen.
Digital has got to improve its tones of
color. The images in digital still don't have
quite the lifelike quality that film has. The
"When you realize
the Midwest has an
equal number of
major cities as the
West Coast and the
East Coast, it
changes your feel of
what the Midwest is."
— Robert Goodrich
technical developments are going to
occur—and I'm convinced there's some
filmmaker who's going to have the imagination
to come up with something [using
the digital medium] that's going to be
beyond what we ever thought about. And I
think when that happens, when this filmmaker
comes up with this product and the
public says, "We want to see it and we'll
come by the millions." then the theatre
owners are going to say. "All right, now it's
time to put the digital in."
BOXOFFICE: What about today's topic
number two, online ticketing?
OLSON: Online ticketing is certainly
going to be a great customer convenience
and amenity. When you think about the
Internet age. and it's really only six or seven
years old. look how fast it's grown. The primary
users of the Internet are younger people
who are our best customers. They're the
ones who are going to like the convenience,
lions of dollars being spent in construction but very frankly, no one is going to buy
that I think has been in error.
advance tickets by telephone or the Internet
unless we have movies in demand.
BOXOFFICE: What is your position on Unfortunately, this summer has not been a
today's number one topic, digital cinema? very good year, and there haven't been too
OLSON: I think it's too early to formulate
a position. But suffice it to say, I think demand for advance Internet tickets. But
many movies that would necessitate the
in
the future, particularly
when we're going to be
able to print tickets at
home, I think that's
going to be a great convenience.
GOODRICH: I
think
it's going to happen. We
have to make sure the bar
codes can't be copied,
that when you sell a ticket
to Mary Smith, Mary
Smith can't make 200
copies of it and become
her own mini-boxoffice
for the people in her
office. But assuming the security is all right,
it should provide a significant benefit to the
public—that they can be assured that when
they go, they're going to get in. But the one
thing that people haven't talked about [is
that] in the last 10 years, [the problem of
getting in on the first weekend has disappeared].
When "Chariots of Fire" came
out, when "Jaws" came out, people
thought. "Well. I'll wait a few weeks." Now
if you ask somebody. "When "Hollow Man'
came out. or 'Patriot' or 'Perfect Storm'"
I've asked many people this question
"Did you think about not going because
you [might not be able to] get in?" They
said. "No!" I say, "Do you ever think now
that you can't get into the movie you want
to see?" And they say, "Now that you mention
it. Bob. I haven't for years. 1 now realize,
when I go to a theatre, I can see the
movie I want, because there's multiple
[prints]." We've changed people's consciousness
about attendance. They're coming the
first week. Nobody's waiting anymore.
[But] online ticketing will be useful
because even though people aren't worried
about getting in, which was the main motivation
of getting reserved ticketing before.
it's still convenient. And it's wonderful for
the theatre operator, because we've made
the sale. If Mary Smith at the last minute
can't talk
her husband into going- "Bill.
I've already paid for it!" "Oh. all right. I'll
go!" And that's pretty important!
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INDEPENDENT EXHIBITION SHOWCASE
AI/CW CALLING
What Possessed Skip Huston to Reopen the Avon Theatreand
Why Decatur, 111., Moviegoers Thank Heaven He Did
Think
double features are a thing
of the past? There's still at least
one theatre you can attend where
the price of admission just might let you
see more than one show.
But don't go unless you have an affinity
for ghosts because—regardless of what the
marquee is advertising— if there is a second
show, it will be put on by the spirits
inhabiting the building.
The cinema is The Avon Theatre in
Decatur, Illinois, and it's the site of scads of
ghost sightings and documented paranormal
activity. Avon operator Skip Huston
theorizes that some of the occurrences may
be due to emotional imprints or, as termed
by parapsychologists. residual hauntings.
"We hear sounds of audiences- laughter
and sometimes applause—in the theatre
when we're out in the lobby and we know
there's no one in there. I think there's something
that happens in theatres— you have a
space where so many people have a common
experience. They've had joy and they've felt
sorrow and adventure and exhilaration and
laughter. And [people] give off vibrations
by Jim Moore
Theatre is thought to be haunted by exhibitors and cinema lovers
during those emotions. And when you have
a common space where all these people have
given off these vibrations for so many
years—there's something to this. Our environment
is porous. It absorbs these things.
That's why you hear about a lot of haunted
theatres, I think. Because it's where all of
these intense emotions have been felt by so
many people."
But Huston, who also hosts Haunted
Decatur tours every
October, definitely believes
the theatre does has its fair
share of ghosts, some of
whom may have been the
ing that had been empty for four or five
years. It had been a discount theatre for a
few years, but had been closed for many
years before that." He says he had been
drawn to the Avon for years: "I drove back
and forth in front of it for those four or
five years and kept telling myself that I
should do something with it."
Thoughts of restoring the building and
turning it
into a night club or perhaps a dinner
theatre kept bouncing through his head.
"It never occurred to me that it needed to be
what it always had been—a movie theatre."
Even without a definite idea of his direction.
Huston—a 20-year-plus veteran of the
video business, with most of that time in
mid-management for the largest video
wholesaler in the country—would call the
owner every few weeks and ask about the
Avon's availability. The owner at the time
was reluctant to part with the building
because he also owns other properties on the
same block, and was wary of how the building
might be used. Finally, with the possibility
of showing a rock concert looming,
Huston was able to obtain the Avon. He put
together a team of talented volunteers and
they set about sprucing up the old building,
which still contained two projectors in the
booth: an old Simplex and an even older
Motiagraph. Neither had operated in
many years. They sat. covered with cobwebs
and dust, dead to the world. Near the
end of the clean-up, one of the crew fired
up the Simplex and they all stood amazed
as they watched the old screen come to life.
"It was like an epiphany," Huston says.
"We all looked at each other and said, 'We
have a movie theatre.' I think
most definitely we were affected
by the spirits."
They followed through with
the concert, then immediately
turned the Avon into an
art/alternative theatre that now
theatre's original owners.
Not to worry, though:
Huston insists the other-
thrives in the town of 80,000
worldly residents are the
despite the presence of two
benevolent sort. "We know
multiplexes with an aggregate
that the spirits of the Avon
of 22 screens.
are very friendly," Huston
says. "They have helped us
ome of the Avon's success
is attributable to
SOI
a lot."
Spirits may even be the
ft he fact that it offers
Avon operator Skip Huston
reason the Avon, a landmark
in Decatur that was built in 1916, is ing first-run movies that lean toward the
alternative fare, including screen-
once again showing movies. Huston art-house side more than the mainstream
describes the Avon as "a fine, historic build-
and that are not shown in Decatur's multiplexes,
both of which are owned by GKC.
Huston cites "The Red Violin" as having
been a major hit at The Avon, even though
it didn't do much business nationwide. That
could be due to the fact that he and the staff
4S
BOXOFFICE

was
had
go out of their way to make people feel at
home. "I sell tickets, greet customers, tell
them about the movie and am there afterward
if they want to talk about it."
In addition. The Avon provides a glimpse
of the way it used to be at the movies: a curtain
opening, real butter on the popcorn and
a pre-feature cartoon or film short.
The combination of unique screenings
and service has created a loyal following
and appears to be bringing some people
back to the cinema. "We're getting people
at the Avon who quit going to the movies,"
Huston says.
The Avon opens its doors for one show
Friday, two on Saturday and Sunday, and
one on Monday, and changes its programming
every week. This, says Huston, creates
an urgency; if his patrons want to see a film,
they only have one chance. This compresses
his business instead of spreading it
out over
a several-week run.
Another popular innovation is the
Avon's Kids Club, held two Saturdays a
month. "We feel there is not enough innocent
children's programming today," says
Huston. "Young children are just barraged
by mean-spirited things—all the video
games and everything just seem to point
toward making children grow up too fast.
And we wanted to have something that
was a throwback to the innocent days that
we remember in the 1950s, when children
were allowed to be children. And we found
out by doing this Kids Club that they just
love it. One of the people on our management
team has been a marionettist for 30
years, and he [performs] a full marionette
show every time we do the Kids Club. And
we have games and prizes and contests on
the stage. And some of the stuff is just
hilarious to watch. [In one contest,] kids
have to bounce around sitting on balloons
until they break one of them. These are little
kids, too. and they just love being up on
that stage and playing games. Our concession
girl. Kim, who is only 24 years old,
doubles as Granny Giggles, and she puts
THE AVON THEATRE
A tourist snapped this shot of the Avon's staircase.
"Maybe it's a reflection—or maybe it's not,"
Skip Huston muses about the wisp on the landing.
'The camera sees things that we don't."
on this gray wig and a housedress, and the
kids just love her. and they don't even recognize
that she's the same young blonde
girl who's behind the concession stand.
"Then we show shorts of "Little
Rascals' and 'Laurel and Hardy' and old
cartoons, and the kids just love it. It is
frankly amazing. These kids just go insane
with laughter! And I'm thinking, 'Who
would've thunk it?'
"[GKC president] Beth Kerasotes and I
were talking about the Kids Club. She
said, 'We pay all this money to bring these
kids movies [into our theatres] when all
they really want is marionettes!'"
426 N. Water St., Decatur, IL 62523; (217) 422-8151
MOST USEFUL BOXOFFICE FEATURE: The Studio and Independent
release charts. I use them like a shopping list for perfect Avon Theatretype
films!
FAVORITE BOXOFFICE FEATURE: The Trailers and their marvelous
Exploitips—some of those tips are just outrageous enough to be real
winners!
EARLIEST MOVIE MEMORY: Boris Karloff in the original
"Frankenstein" and Bela Lugosi in the original "Dracula" in a doublefeature
revival at The Avon in the 1950s. My parents didn't know I was
there! I so scared, I to sleep in my sister's room for a year!
FAVORITE CONCESSION ITEM: The Avon Theatre's freshly-made
Sour Cream & Chives popcorn, served warm, and topped with REAL
butter.. .AMBROSIA!
ADVICE TO OTHER EXHIBITORS: Treat your customers like absolute
treasures. Always make your patrons feel appreciated, welcome and
safe! Train your employees to know this is show business, and every
facet of your operation needs to reflect exactly that!
Because the Avon and GKC offer noncompeting
films, the two have been able to
form a mutually beneficial alliance. "One
of the best aids we could have hoped for
was the help and guidance from VP Bryan
Jeffries of GKC," Huston says. "As of
January 2000. they now officially handle
our bookings, but Bryan was very much in
evidence in the months prior, always there
to give advice and encouragement."
Jeffries says he resisted the arrangement
at first because he didn't want to find himself
in a conflict over not being able to
book movies Huston wanted because
Jeffries might be planning to book them at
his theatres. "However, after seeing what
he was playing and after noting his success
and our lack of success with the art films,
we decided that the Avon had carved out
an audience that wasn't going to be going
to the GKC theaters in town anyway."
Jeffries tells BOXOFFICE.
Avon's volunteer staff may be
Thethe most important element of
the theatre's success. Huston says
the staff features some of the top electrical
and mechanical minds in the area. "I'm so
blessed to have this kind of crew." he says.
"They can fix virtually anything."
That applies to the Avon's non-corporeal
volunteers as well, who may have saved
the day at the theatre's grand reopening.
Huston had to deal with all the usual snafus
associated with such occasions, but a
broken projector threatened to grind the
evening to a halt. One of the volunteers
took a break to use a lavatory that's
believed to have been part of the original
projection booth. "All of a sudden, he got
the strangest feeling that he wasn't alone in
the room." Huston recounts. "He'd heard
all the stories— I'm getting chills remembering
this story!—and he stood there, and
he said out loud, i know you're there. But
right now, we've got a lot of problems, and
we need help up in that projection booth."
And he said that it felt like the presence
wasn't there anymore. It turned out that at
that very moment, [several people] were
working frantically [to fix the projector];
we were two minutes away from showtime.
and it was not happening. And [one of the
volunteers] said, 'Let's try moving those
two wires,' because he'd heard a voice in
his head that said to move those two wires!
And the guy who was up there with him
said. "We just tried that.' But he said, 'Let's
try it again." They moved the two wires and
the projector worked.
"And my attorney's wife, who is very
sensitive to spirits, told me—and she didn't
know this story until after she told me [her
own experience]—that during the film
[that night], she saw an apparition by the
side of the screen, just looking at the
screen, then looking at the audience and
looking back at the screen.
"These [ghosts] are old theatre people.
These are people who loved that theatre.
This was their entire life. In fact, I'm convinced
when I die. I'm gonna move in!"
Most of the history of this classic
theatre, including documented ghost sightings
and tales of haunting, can be seen on
its website at www.TheAvon.com. Hi
October, 2000 49

SPECIAL REPORT: Australia 2000
by Francesca Dinglas
nternational" was the key word in the
Land D^wrf* Under this past August. In
Australia in eager anticipation of the mil
lennium's first Olympic Games, global
moviegoers, encouraged by the recent opening
of Fox Studios in the heart of Sydney,
have also been looking to Oz with hopes of
finding exciting new entertainment.
With all this attention focused south of
the equator, it seems only fitting that the
country's largest gathering of film exhibitors
and distributors add "International"
to its title. Indeed, 2000's Australian International
Movie Convention was one of the
most memorable in the annual event's
more than 50-year history. Delegates from
New Zealand, America, numerous Asian
countries and every corner of Australia
converged on the Gold Coast for four successful
days of business and pleasure
not necessarily in that order, of course.
DISNEY DOWN UNDER
Dog Day Afternoon at the AIMC
"I thought the convention was going to
be serious," Buena Vista Intl.'s Alan
Finney told delegates at the opening event
of tliis year's Australian International
Movie Convention. "But it's not today."
Highlights of the Buena Vista afternoon
included an expression of mock
sympathy for New Zealanders "in
mourning" over a recent rugby match
loss against longtime rival Australia:
several big-eyed, black-spotted Dalmatians
ambling into the movie auditorium
where the event was taking place
to promote the upcoming "102
Dalmatians"; and a grand prize drawing
that awarded one lucky winner with
round-trip tickets to Hollywood.
View from AIMC host venue
the Royal Pines Resort (above);
Disney Dalmatians—less 100 (beloi
THE STAR LEDGER
Heath Ledger Named Aussie Star of
the Year at AIMC's
"Australia On Show"
"Australia On Show's" traditional
highlight has been its presentation of the
Australian Star of the Year Award. But.
because of the recent explosion of Down
Under talent in Hollywood, the night's
ceremonies included a screening of film
highlights chronicling the careers of past
avvardees, which includes the likes of
Russell Crowe, Hugo Weaving. Geoffrey
Rush and last year's winner, Hugh
Jackman, known Stateside as Wolverine
in Fox's "X-Men."
This year's winner is no exception to
the rule, having burst onto the
Tinseltown scene in Shakespeare
update "10 Things I Hate About You"
as well as with his role in "The Patriot"
as fellow Australian Mel Gibson's son.
To the disappointment of event attendees—most
notably those of the female
persuasion—comely Perth-native and
Australian Star of the Year Heath
Ledger was unable to attend the event
because of work obligations in Prague
on Columbia's upcoming "A Knight's
Tale." Ledger was able to send a videotaped
"thank you" message to the
AIMC. However, by all appearances, he
seemed a bit unsure as to exactly what
the honor was for or who was bestowing
it—although he did admit that the
award was probably his first.
The next award of the evening was
presented to the event emcee and star of
local big screen hit "The Wog Boy,"
Nick Giannopoulos. Named Comedy
Star of the Year by the AIMC,
Giannopoulos remarked that his film,
which made close to AUSS12 million at
the local boxoffice, was proof that
Down Under product could find success
among native audiences.
Giannopoulos had earlier expressed his
devotion to the Australian market by
telling BOXOFFICE that he had no
plans to participate in the recent trend
of Oz actors heading straight to
Hollywood. Giannopoulos, who is of
Greek descent, commented, "I call
myself an Australian and I want to
write [screenplays] about our unique
culture.
Australia has embraced multiculturalism
and it has enriched this
country in more ways than one. Even
surfers [seen in nearby beach town
Surfers' Paradise drinking caffe lattes]
have succumbed to multiculturalism!"
Straight From Oz's Gold Coast, Highlights Frori
the Australian International Movie Convention

THE FUTURE OF OZ EXHIBITION
Kodak and GUET Give Their Take on
the "'Future of Cinema" Down Under
"We are at the early stage of a digital
evolution, not revolution," Kodak
Entertainment general manager
Michael Morelli informed the group of
AIMC attendees gathered at the
"Future of Cinema" seminar held on
the third day of the convention. Setting
the tone for his informative speech on
the realities of bringing E-Cinema to
Australian and New Zealand theatres,
Morelli's afternoon presentation was. as
he put it. intended to "open a dialogue"
about exhibition's anticipated conversion
to digital technology, rather than
provide definitive answers as to how the
changeover will take place—a question
on the minds of movie theatre owners
and operators worldwide.
Reminding the mostly exhibitionbased
audience that "digital cinema is a
process, not just a projector." Morelli
Kodak's Karen Eastmure and Michael Morelli.
insisted that it was mandatory that the
industry establish a number of dictums
to ensure consistent practices throughout
the world. Among the factors he
named were widespread distribution
standards as to how and which format
(i.e.,
via satellite, DVD, etc.) studios will
use to roll out their product; extendible
technology to avoid obsolescence in a
matter of years; and an open software
market to prevent any one manufacturer
from monopolizing sales of the product.
Also of utmost importance and not
far from anyone's mind is the extreme
cost of digital conversion, to which
Morelli noted, "As an industry, we must
work out who will pay." He believes that
justification for paying a high price could
be made as long as "any new system [is]
better than anything [currently] available."
and both of these issues—^ost and
quality—are
reasons why "cinema will
not go digital overnight.
Australia-based Greater Union
Entertainment Technology's Russell
Scott, the second speaker of the event,
took the discussion in another direction
by analyzing various statistics for the
Australian and New Zealand markets
and offering some predictions on the
future of movie theatres Down Under.
According to Scott, the average number
of times per year Australians go to
the movies has boomed from 2.5 in 1990
to nearly five annual visits in 2000.
However, growth of overall admissions
in the country is tapering off, falling
from 63 percent in
1990-95 to 29 percent
in 1995-00 to an estimated 1 1 percent in
2000-05. New Zealand, on the other
hand, has seen average cinema attendance
per patron plateau at 4.3 visits per
year since 1 990. and the trend is expected
to continue over the next four years.
Additionally, the Kiwi market will see
heavy downturn in overall admissions
growth, falling from 1 30 percent in 1990-
95 to 21 percent in 1995-00 to a bleak
zero percent in 2000-05.
With these past indicators in mind,
along with an intensified competition for
the entertainment dollar—expected to
come from sources such as HDTV, pay
television and the Internet—Scott sees
several changes taking place throughout
Australasian exhibition. The most
notable is already in motion, with several
of Australia's largest movie theatre
chains committed to slowing down the
construction of new venues and expansion
into new markets. Scott said that
instead of new sites, exhibitors will participate
in selective upgrading, especially
in terms of technology and seating.
Scott also feels that circuits will do
their best to differentiate themselves
from all types of competition, looking
to such possibilities as programming for
niche markets as well as utilizing decorated,
themed foyers to attract patrons
to cinemas.
BOXOFFICE EXCELLENCE
AIMC Honors Oz's
Highest Grossing Films of the Year
"This is the twelfth year in a row that
another boxoffice record has been set in
Australia," Paul Johnson, topper of
Down Under circuit Hoyts Cinemas
told the room full of Aussie and Kiwi
exhibitors and distributors attending
the Australian International Movie
Convention's Thursday evening event.
And. in recognition of the many films
that helped boost ticket sales over the
past 12 month, Hoyts paid tribute to
regional distributors at the Boxoffice
Achievement Award ceremony, a perennial
favorite among conventioneers.
Receiving the special distinction were
distributors whose products grossed
more than AUSS10 million (US$6 million)
at the boxoffice last year. Among
the awardees were United International
Pictures, with "American Beauty,"
"Mission Impossible 2," "The Green
Mile," "The World is Not Enough."
"American Pie" and "Double Jeopardy"
earning a combined total of more than
AUSS100 million (US$60 million) at Oz
cinemas; Columbia TriStar Intl., which
counted "Erin Brockovich," "Stuart
Little," "Bicentennial Man" and "Big
Daddy" as its highest earners in the territory;
Buena Vista Intl., with its
AUS$10 million-plus club including
"Runaway Bride." "Tarzan," "Toy Story
2," "Gone in Sixty Seconds,"
"Dinosaur" and "Deuce Bigalow";
Roadshow, which earned AUS$10. 1 million
with "End of Days" and AUS$10.5
million with "The Perfect Storm"; and
local distributor REP, whose "Blair
Witch Project" was the only pic rolled
out by an indie to receive the Boxoffice
Achievement Award.
The final honor of the evening—the
coveted Gold Award—went to the highest
grossing film of the year.
"Gladiator." starring New Zealandborn.
Aussie actor Russell Crowe has
earned AUS$30 million at the local boxoffice.
Crowe, who seems to be something
akin to a deity among these parts,
sent a videotaped "thank you" message
to his fellow Australasians. Familiar
with the rather jovial mood of the
Australian Intl. Movie Convention, he
winked while telling his audience he
knew how "serious" business is at the
event and said to have "four or five for
me," which BOXOFFICE presumes is in
addition to the four or five beers
already consumed by the conventioneers
for themselves.
LIMIT-LESS FUN AT THE AIMC
Day Two Reaches a Peak with
Columbia TriStar's Upcoming
"Vertical Limit"
Attendees at this year's AIMC were
treated to a bit more onscreen teasing
than usual when Columbia TriStar
played 30 minutes of previously unseen
footage from its upcoming actioneer
"Vertical Limit." Conventioneers were
audibly excited by the highlights of the
pic, which included heart stopping
sequences featuring the film's stars hanging
off cliffs and outrunning avalanches
in their attempt to conquer the heights of
endlessly high mountains.
The "Vertical Limit" promotion also
included a contest in which delegates
were dared to "accept the challenge to
reach the top." The first team to complete
an obstacle course, including an
indoor rock climbing wall, was awarded
AUS$4.000 for their efforts.
IMPORT-ANT ISSUES
Parallel Importing and Film Rating
System Key Topics at AIMC Seminar
Speaking on parallel importing
(copyright issues as they pertain to fair
competitive practices) was Gary
Hardgrave, a member of the House of
Representatives from the Australian
state of Queensland. Noting his audience's
concerns about the widespread
availability of a film on DVD before its
day-and-date release in Australian
movie theatres, Hardgrave stated that
the government's position "increasingly
October, 2000 51

A New Home for the New Millennium
OCTOBER 11-14,2000
ORLANDO WORLD CENTER MARRIOTT
ORLANDO, FLORIDA
Change is good and The New Millennium brings significant change to ShowEast. After 15
years in Atlantic City, ShowEast moves to its new home in Orlando, Florida at the Orlando
World Center Marriott Resort and Convention Center.
All seminars, food functions and trade exhibits will be at the Orlando Marriott with screenings
at the plush AMC Pleasure Island 24 Theatres.
Additionally, ShowEast will incorporate a special International Program into its schedule - a
day and a half of programming specifically geared to the Latin American and Caribbean film
communities. Beginning on Tuesday, October I
Oth and concluding on Wednesday, October
I lth,the schedule will include a number of seminars covering a range of topics from technical
issues to marketing strategies.
ShowEast 2000 is bound to be the biggest and best yet. We look forward to welcoming you
to Orlando this October.
For additional information and registration material contact:
showeast 2000
244 west 49th street suite 200 new york, new york 1 00 1
tel: 212.246.6460 fax: 212.265.6428
email: sunshine@sunshineworldwide.com website: www.showeast.com

[had] to consider legislation necessary
as a result of globalization and technological
change." What this has meant in
the past is an allowance of parallel
importing of products such as "legitimately-produced
books, periodicals,
printed music and software products
including computer-based games."
However, Hardgrave stresses that
"the government has made no commitment
regarding the removal of current
restriction on the parallel importation
of film products"—a welcome, but
momentary, relief for Oz exhibitors.
Hardgrave stated that the government's
present decision to keep its
restriction on film importation in place
is based on the fact that "no compelling
change regarding this specific industry
has been demonstrated or even advocated."
He also assured event attendees
Eliminate BRAINWRAP at the Source
Response No 238
that should a lift on the ban be further
considered, the government would
examine all possible effects the act
would have, "especially in rural and
regional Australia, [where] cinemas
form an important part of the social
fabric."
Des Clarke, director of Australia's
Office of Film and Literature
Classification, was the guest speaker to
address the second part of the seminar,
dubbed "Censorship Update."
In Australia, film ratings carry more
consequences for exhibitors than in the
United States. Oz movie theatre operators
are mandated by law to enforce the
age limits of the classification guidelines,
whereas Stateside, ratings function
merely as a way to help parents
make decisions regarding which films
they allow their children to watch.
According to Clarke, the state-run
Classification Office is hoping to secure
"greater community support" in its
efforts to give each big-screen film a rating
acceptable to the majority of the
population. Currently, the Office is
holding test screenings in various areas
throughout the country, where the
panel of viewers provides the agency
with feedback regarding the product as
well as their own choices as to how a
particular film should be classified.
Clarke reports that panelists place
less importance on language when
determining whether a film should be
rated for more mature audiences. Aussie
ears, it seems, are less sensitive than
their American counterparts. WM
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Response No. 130
October, 2000 53

WIRED WORLD: Online Ticketing—
HELLO,
AND WELCOME TO...
AOL Moviefone, Fandango or MovieTickets.com—
Take Your Pick
forces to form what would become fandango.com,
a website on which moviegoers
would be able not only to find
showtimes and scroll through information
on the movies they want to see
such as news, reviews and trailers—but
buy their tickets right online, instead of
in line at the boxoffice. The announcement
came within days of CBS' five
percent investment in movietickets.com.
a similar endeavor co-owned by AMC,
National Amusements and hollywood.com.
Previously, AOL Moviefone,
which continues to have an exclusive
arrangement with United Artists, was
the only major online provider of exhibition
ticketing services.
The emergence of these three comparable
sites has stimulated a lot of activity
in the industry, as exhibitors race to
secure their piece of the dot-com pie.
Since ShoWest, Carmike has been welcomed
into the Fandango fold, bringing
the consortium's screen count to 15,000,
although the site probably won't be fully
operational until the end of the year;
Canada-based Famous Players, Marcus
Theatres and 15 other circuits have
joined movietickets.com, which now
covers 5,500 screens; and AOL
Moviefone, which serves 300 million
moviegoers each year and reaches 80
percent of the Internet community, continues
to form strategic partnerships
with regional theatre chains. The companies
anticipate even further exciting
innovations in their online applications—such
as print-at-home ticketing
and wireless applications—but face controversy
over service charges and their
divergence into separate camps.
by Annlee Ellingson
Having
since the launch of print-at-home ticket-
the midst of ShoWest this year,
established a significant ing. Twenty-five percent of the theatre's
Inmembers of the press were invited to web presence that includes tickets are sold online, almost all of
an early morning press conference
online ticketing capabilities, the which are printed at home, she says.
hosted by the top executives at Regal, consensus within the industry is that the Cinemark Theatres, which had
Loews Cineplex, Cinemark, General next logical step for exhibitors is to offer announced its own online ticketing
Cinema, Edwards and Century Theatres. print-at-home ticketing to consumers, a venture before joining Fandango, has
The topic was not revealed on the enigmatic
hotel voicemail message, but, in
home technology in two of its theatres
also already implemented print-at-
an industry in which competition often
in Piano, Texas. The circuit noticed
bests cooperation, any joint announcement
had to be worth getting up for.
immediately. According to informa-
consumers' affection for the capability
It was: These six circuits had joined
tion systems VP Philip Wood, close to
four percent of tickets sales at the
Tinseltown Theatre in Piano are sold
online. That figure nearly doubled on
54 BOXOFFICE
mowefcine.com
service that bypasses the boxoffice and
even remote ticketing centers completely.
Moviegoers can not only purchase
their tickets online, but at the end of the
transaction print out a ticket that
includes a barcode. At the theatre, they
present the stub to an usher, who scans it
in, and they are on their way to their
seats (hopefully via the concession
stand) hassle-free.
The Disney-owned El Capitan
Theatre (at disney.go.com/DisneyPictures/el_capitan)
in Hollywood was
among the first venues to implement this
technology. "At the El Capitan, we try to
be on the cutting edge of everything we
do," says Buena Vista special events
senior VP Lylle Breier. "We also always
want to make it as simple and convenient
as possible for our guests to purchase
tickets to the theatre, so e-ticketing
was really the natural step, and being
able to print at home was the next step
from there to make it more convenient."
Consumer response to the technology
has been overwhelmingly positive,
according to Breier, who says online
ticket sales have risen at least 1 5 percent
the weekend that print-at-home ticketing
premiered there, although he
admits that it had a lot to do with
local media coverage—a key to the
service's future success. Still, he says.
"print-at-home ticketing, we feel, is
going to be the way that people definitely
go to the movies."
AOL Moviefone has likewise teamed
with ally United Artists to roll out the
technology starting in New York. "It's
sort of a no-brainer," AOL Moviefone
CEO Andrew Jarecki says. "If you have
a printer at home and you have moviefone.com,
and you can just click-print,
why wouldn't people do that?"
The security risks, these pioneers
agree, are minimal. "Our system is rea
simple in that you can use the barcode
once," Buena Vista's Breier says. "Once
the barcode is used, you can't use il
again. So far it's worked out great. We've
been doing it all summer, and we haven'l
had a single problem."
Jarecki agrees. "Think about it like
this: The U.S. Mint doesn't care about
people counterfeiting pennies because it's
more work than is worthwhile," he says
"The government can manufacture pennies
cheaper than the counterfeiters.
It's
sort of a similar thing. When you have £
$7 item, and they're only 300 of thenavailable
for that showtime, going to the
trouble of really falsifying that ticket is
almost more trouble than it's worth. We
use a barcode for security, but, at the
same time, it's overkill to do too mucl
security on something like that."

Wired World" 9 ON THE 'NET: A Tour of Movie Ticketing Sites by Kim wnnamson
This month, we look at newcomers
movietickets.com and fandango.com
and at the ticketeer of longest duration.
Moviefone no longer maintains a separate
movielink.com site—which had
been the service's online home—but
thus loses a platform to solve a problem
that, depending on what fandango.com
decides to do when it's further rolled
out (currently, it sells tickets only in two
markets), looks to be strangely endemic
to movie ticket sites: Unlike the visitor
experience accorded by any other type
of e-commerce site, a user must be many
clicks deep before learning whether he
can actually spend money there.
Currently, only fandango.com spells
out right on its homepage where a user
can buy movie tickets. Moviefone via
movielink.com could provide exactly
that functionality—or it could accomplish
the same goal by expanding its
very fine "Search Options" page (see
first screenshot, above) with an engine
that would list only the locales for
which tickets can be bought on the site.
Its "Select a Neighborhood" page
(above) is focused and airy, yet again
the site over-promises with a global
"For showtimes AND tickets near you..."

Another extension of online ticketing
in the works is wireless access. AOL
Moviefone, for example, recently pacted
with handheld device leader Palm to
provide movie information and ticketing
capabilities to consumers on their Palm
Pilots. According to Jarecki, the website
has also reached agreements with 10 or
15 other wireless service providers,
including AT&T.
Cinemark's Wood acknowledges that
this is
the next step in remote ticketing.
"You'll probably see the ability to use
some wireless devices to buy your tickets
[in the future], like a web-enabled cell
phone," he says. "It would just be an
extension of the print-at-home stuff:
You would go to the theatre and show
your confirmation number to the usher,
and they'll let you in—kind of an e-ticket,
you might think of it."
Wood also predicts that online ticketing
might expand into other areas of the
theatre business. "[It] is definitely a plan
for Fandango to be able to sell concessions
online," he says. "They have that in
some of their development efforts. To be
honest with you, I think that's going to
be on a theatre-by-theatre basis as to
whether or not operationally they want
to deliver that to their customers."
The El Capitan already sells VIP tickets,
which include a free popcorn and
soda, a "best seat in the house" and early
admission to the theatre without having
to wait in line. "You can actually see
where your seats are right on the web,"
Breier says.
The
El Capitan's services come at a
price, however: a one-dollar service
charge that other online ticketing
companies recently have opted to
drop. "A dollar fee is pretty simple."
Breier explains. "It's for the software
licenses, the technology
and the
maintenance. It's
literally just a cost
fandango,
of AOL Moviefone's
that we have....
And by the way,
move.
we haven't had a
Not everyone
single complaint
in the industry
about the service
agrees, however,
that eliminating
fee, either. People
understand it."
the service charge
AOL Moviefone,
is a good idea,
which had
citing that the
previously charged SsSSigg
about the same as
revenue will have
to be made up in
the El Capitan,
other ways.
was the first ticketing
"AOL [Movie-
HHH!
site to adopt a
fone] can drop it
because they
free-free policy, although
the company
advertise, and we
still charges fanda ncom refuse to
do
for tickets purchased
through its phone service.
Coincidentally, the announcement came
just before movietickets.com launched on
Memorial Day weekend, also without a
service charge, at least temporarily.
Jarecki denies that the two events are
related. "We announced the no-fee elimination
of the service charge prior to
them launching their service, and obviously
it was in the planning stage for us
to be able to do that for many months,
so it was definitely not a reaction to anything
that they did," he says. "It took us
six months to get it perfect. The reason
that we did it is simply because we had
spent years building the infrastructure to
be able to sell tickets online. It is for us,
because we have the AOL infrastructure,
cheaper than doing it over the phone,
from an expense standpoint. And we
had never made money from the ticketing
business. We had never seen that as a
profit center for us.
"The ticketing service charge to begin
with was a convenience for consumers
that we felt was useful to add, but the
service charge was always very low. It
was always a buck or a buck and a quarter,"
he continues. "And the idea was to
keep it low and just sort of let it cover
the costs. After doing that for a number
of years, we were finally in a position
where we said, The incremental revenues
that we're going to get from this is
not really significant. We'd rather be
able to promote widely a service that
consumers could use to make moviegoing
easier.' We just thought we'd get a lot
of goodwill from consumers and get
more usage."
Movietickets.com's fee-free launch had
a similar goal.
"We launched without a
service fee to get people used to using the
site and so on," says AMC strategic
development and marketing VP Frank
Rash. "We're exploring right now
whether we continue to go with no service
fee or not. In any event, if we have one, it
will be nominal." Rash says that movietickets.com
will make its decision of
whether to implement
a service
charge down the
road independent
that," says Breier.
Fandango, Wood says, will launch
with a service charge that will be a pertransaction,
not per-ticket, fee. "It was,
in our opinion, very short-sighted of our
theatre industry to come out of the box
charging no tees tor what we believe is a
value-added service—being able to skip
the boxoffice lines and get straight into
the theatre," he says. "They're going to
have to rely on advertising. That's the
only business model left, really, [and]
everybody knows how companies do
with that. It's tough to make it unless
you're Yahoo or Amazon or whatever
with just advertising fees."
However,
as exhibited in a letter
addressed to theatre chains from
20th Century Fox, distributors
may not be willing to let even nominal
service-charge fees slide without trying
to claim their share. "Regardless of any
past practices," the letter said, "as of
July 14, 2000, you are required to report
as boxoffice revenue... all money paid by
patrons for admission tickets to Fox
films, including all advance ticket and
credit card sale charges and fees."
Fox distribution topper Tom Sherak
is reluctant to discuss the matter, saying
he had intended the letter to remain private.
He does emphasize, however, that
distribution and exhibition consistently
have to compromise. They are "two separate
businesses that share the celluloid
that runs through the projector," he says.
"They don't take a bite out of our video,
we don't take a bite out of their concessions..
.[but] this is something that affects
our business."
Daniel O'Neill, an industry analyst at
Credit Suisse First Boston, disagrees. "It
seemed like a ridiculous demand on
Fox's part," he says. "From what I
understand, [exhibitors] just barely
cover their [online] costs."
Of course, the point is moot if online
ticketing sites continue the fee-free
trend, especially if the landscape continues
to evolve. Websites like priceline.com
already offer airfare, hotel rooms, car
rentals, groceries and gas at discounted
rates. Could movie tickets, too, follow
this model?
"The reason [this would be] a challenge
is because of the complicated history of
how movie tickets are priced," AOL
Movietone's Jarecki says. "Studios and
exhibitors have had many years of thinking
and hassles about setting of prices,
and they are partners in the ticket, but the
exhibitor sets the price. However, we
know that the exhibitor won't set a price
for the ticket that upsets the studios so
much that they stop sending them the
movies. So ultimately there's this delicate
balance where both of them would have
to be willing to experiment with a lower
ticket price, and I don't see where the
motivation would come.
"It's only [in] the last three or four
years that you've even been able to use a
credit card at the boxoffice. The reason
for that is because the studio and the
exhibitor never really wanted to give
back the 30 cents that would go to the
credit company because they've got to
56 BOXOFFICE

I think
split it, and that's 15 cents less for each
of them, or the exhibitor would pay it.
or who was going to pay it, and they
would argue about who was going to
pay it. Ultimately, when you have two
partners sharing in a revenue stream
from a business, it's difficult to get them
to agree to discount."
O'Neill agrees. "That would be interesting
if they would move more toward the
airline model, where the tickets are actually
priced to reflect demand," he says, "but
three years we did take a look at that
market, as well as many others. Since
we've announced no plans for that market,
we really can't go further in our
response."
Another finance-related argument to
consider is that as more moviegoers buy
and print their tickets online, exhibitors'
overhead will decrease due to fewer staffing
needs, but that's still a long way off.
"I think it's going to be similar to
ATM use," Cinemark's Wood says.
"Originally when ATMs came out they
were really expensive.. .[but] eventually
over time you saw the banks actually
able to staff down because there [were]
so many ATMs out there to provide
those services. It's going to be a while
probably a year, two years—before you
can start doing that because you have to
get more people to use the print-at-home
stuff and skip the boxoffice lines. It's not
going to be anytime soon."
"Some time down the road, online
ticketing will yield some savings for
exhibitors." Jarecki agrees, "but I don't
that the exhibitors will agree that
that's going to happen tomorrow. It
needs to gets to a point where they can
actually shave a body out of their headcount
at the theatre." In other words,
when online ticket purchases reach 10
percent of all sales, a theatre could theoretically
take one boxoffice attendant off
of the schedule, but only if there are typically
10 people in that position at a time.
Ironically, the one thing that everyone
does agree on is that moviegoers
would be best served by being able to
[purchase tickets for all circuits on one
Isite, or by being able to purchase tickets
Ifor all circuits on any site, whichever
^model eventually emerges. "I think it's in
the best interest for the consumer that
ticketing inventory be made available on
whatever site they choose to use," says
AMC's Rash. "Whether or not the sites
converge, we'll see— I think different
business theories will dictate that— but I
do think that the
marketplace will
encourage the different
groups to
work more closely
and make tickets
available at
the outlets.
all
In the
end, the ultimate
objective is to
make it convenient
for all patrons
to go to a
movie."
"We really
that's a bold innovation for an industry
which isn't known for innovation."
Contacted by BOXOFF1CE about this
very possibility, a priceline.com representative
issued the following: "The
priceline.com model is transportable
across multiple industries. That's
because it only requires two trends to be
present in a given industry. One is a collection
of businesses with perishable or would have loved
excess inventory, and two is a customer to have AMC
base that has some degree of brand,
product or feature flexibility.
Theatres
group,
in
and
our
we
"A case could be made that the entertainment
would have loved
ticketing industry fits those to have National
criteria, and at some point in the past Amusements in
our group." acknowledges Wood, speaking
for Fandango. "Discussions had
been ongoing with them when they
decided to go with movietickets.com,
[but] I think everybody benefits from
having it all in one place. Consumers
would benefit also. But I don't see that
happening in the short term, so each
company can either prove their business
model or not."
"Literally, in the next three months,
everything will change again," AOL
Movietone's Jarecki predicts. "The
exhibitors ultimately have to sell seats,
more important than anything. ...That's
why I think that, when all is said and
done, they may want to have their own
Internet application, or they may want
to try this or try that, but in the end they
will not want to do without any significant
stream of traffic. What you'll see is
a moving away from the idea that there's
an AMC site, and Regal site, and a 'this'
site and a 'that' site, and a moving
toward simply having the best traffic
flow have access to the tickets."
One of the reasons circuits have failed
to converge on this matter is that they
are, well, competitors. "Historically
there's very little unity between chains as
far as working together." Wood admits.
"It's strange that you could get two
exhibitors to agree that today is
Monday... It is definitely a first that you
would be able to get seven major
exhibitors together to form Fandango."
Rash says that AMC opted not to
partner with Fandango because the two
groups' driving interests diverged. "We
felt
that [movietickets.com] was the best
route to go to accomplish [our] objectives."
he says. "[Fandango] had a different
set of objectives, not that they were
right or wrong. They were just different
from ours, and we went our separate
ways and headed down this path."
Interestingly, several circuits that have
joined either Fandango or movietickels.com
including Loews Cineplex,
General Cinema. Regal, Famous
_ Players, Cinemark
and Edwards—have
had
or do have a relationship
with
AOL Moviefone
of one kind or
another. Wood
downplays Cinemark's
relationship
with the
competing company,
saying that,
if the site does list
the circuit's showtimes,
"we don't
specifically
provide
them to
Moviefone."
Likewise,
movietickets.com Jarecki denies
that there have
been any strained relationships between
AOL Moviefone and exhibitors, and any
moves to form independent online ticketing
sites came as no surprise to him.
"We anticipated it," he says, "because
obviously we knew that some of them
have the flexibility to do that in their
relationships with us. I don't think that
we felt that being exclusive to them was
the be-all and end-all. We want to make
sure that we can sell tickets and provide
information for all the theatres in the
country that are relevant. I think we
anticipated they would all want to do
something on their own, would want to
roll the dice on a dot-com opportunity.
but, at the same time, I don't think we
ever thought, and I don't think we do
think, that that will impact our ability to
continue to serve those theatre chains
and those customers."
O'Neill, however, has discussed the
matter with a leading circuit's key executive,
whom he wishes to keep anonymous.
"He said that they're really not
their favorite people and didn't elaborate
beyond that." O'Neill relates. "But, yeah.
I would say [there] was unhappiness."
Still, failing to pool their resources
was a mistake on the circuits' part.
O'Neill believes. "1 was disappointed by
the fact that we got two new entrants
into the space instead of one," he says.
"We really need only one online ticketing
site.... But it's fairly typical of this
industry, where these guys just don't get
along and everyone thinks that they've
got the best solution and everyone else
is out of their mind, and we saw that
once again. There was a real opportunity
for these guys who are definitely
struggling to try to capture some additional
revenue, but in my opinion they
blew it."
H
October, 2000 57

NEW TECHNOLOGIES: Digital Cinema
TITAN D.C.
On
SuperComm 2000 Hosts
the First-Ever
Internet-Transported
Digital Screening
by Annlee Ellingson
June 6, 2000, digital cinema
history was made. For the first
time ever, a feature length film
was transmitted via the Internet crosscountry
from a studio lot in Hollywood
to a telecommunications trade show in
Atlanta. Put together by Cisco Systems,
Qwest Communications, 20th Century
Fox, Sigma Design Group and Barco
Digital Cinema Projection Systems,
among others, the SuperComm 2000
event was a resounding technical and
public relations success and demonstrated
that the future of digital cinema is
now.
Cisco first initiated this concept when
its special events division was trying to
come up with a way to differentiate the
company at SuperComm. "Cisco is the
number one producer of the equipment
that makes up the infrastructure of the
Internet, so one of the things that we
want to do is encourage people to use
that," says Larry Lang, VP of service
provider marketing for Cisco. "And one
of the ways we like to do that is to try to
think of ways to illustrate it that are
more interesting and more manageable
and more concrete to grasp. In other
words, it's one thing to lecture people
that the Internet is going to change the
film industry and another thing entirely
to say, "Well, let's just show one thing
that you can do.'
"We get a lot of questions from the
people who are building out these large
optical Internet networks, [such as]
Qwest. Level 3, WorldCom and AT&T.
They ask, 'Well, when we do this, what
sort of things will people actually do
with it?' And this was a way of demonstrating
to that audience one example of
the things people will do with this technology
once it's put in place."
As a strategic partner of Cisco,
Qwest, which operates the broadband
Internet network and CyberCenters
through which the film was transmitted,
was naturally fundamentally involved.
"We have a history and people within
Qwest have a history from other lifetimes
of being involved in digital cinema,"
says Linda Carpenter, VP of business
development, entertainment and
media for Qwest. "At the end of the day.
[Cisco] thought digital cinema would be
a great one-time event. Now, this is not a
product or a service that Qwest offers.
But what Qwest did was look around
and say, 'Gee, if we take these products
and these services off of our shelf, we
can build the system, no problem.' This
is what we do all day every day. It just
doesn't usually go to a cinema."
The next step was to invite a
Hollywood distributor to participate.
"What I did was talk to many of the studios
to see a) their level of interest, and
b) what films they had coming out that
might be suitable," Carpenter says. "We
found that the best marriage and level of
enthusiasm was at Fox. Not only did
they embrace the idea, they came to the
table with a lot of new ideas."
Auspiciously, Fox's "Titan A.E." was
set to bow just 10 days after the
SuperComm event. "How it came about
was that [Titan A.E.'] was a science fiction
movie, and it was produced all digitally,
so there was a feeling that this was
sort of a good publicity thing for the
movie," says Andrew Setos, executive VP
of the news technology group at Fox.
"Of course, it ended up not helping, so
in retrospect we would take a different
perspective, [but] we were reasonably
excited that it was the right thing to do
for this motion picture. Qwest, who we
know very well, called us up and said,
"What do you think about trying something
like this,' and it sort of struck our
fancy, so we decided to do it."
Once these three companies agreed to
collaborate—and QuVIS provided its
QuBit recorder/server/player, which
stored the 80-minute film in Atlanta
the challenge became transforming the
Woodruff Arts Center symphony hall
into a movie theatre. "[Once] the [digital]
material got to the symphony
hall. ..Sigma Design Group and Eastern
Acoustics transformed it to a motion
picture venue," Carpenter says. "[Sigma]
built a 50-foot Torus Compound Curve
screen, and [we] installed an Eastern
Acoustics Works sound system and
draped the entire auditorium to manage
the sound."
Sigma Design partner Glenn Berggren,
who designed the 50-foot screen, says that
the venue was part of the challenge. "The
auditorium size and shape is the problem,"
he says. "The Atlanta symphony
hall is entirely a live-performance place. I
don't think they even have a projection
booth. If they do, I didn't see it. They
actually built a booth on the main floor
under the balcony... They built it in the
back, [and] took out a couple [or] three
rows of seats in that middle section only.
Of course, they [also] had to doctor up the
stage and put in the screen and so on."
Barco was brought on board to provide
the projection system, but Texas
Instruments actually provided the DLP
projector. "Barco was invited in because
we are one of the three TI partners, were
available locally for projector support
and are one the industry's specialists in
the digital cinema market for projection
applications," says Wendy Bosley, digital
cinema market manager for Barco.
"Because June had over 20 digital system
presentations across the United States
for different venues, everyone was short of
projectors and manpower," Carpenter
says. "So what we wound up with was a
Texas Instruments prototype projector,
but a team from Barco to support it.
Barco has this product, as does Digital
Projection, as does Christie, but nobody
had any loose projectors because they
were tied up at all these other venues."
Ultimately, all of these companies'
hard work paid off. "The audience
loved it," Bosley says. "The
picture was stunning [on] the 50-foot
screen. It was a completely packed house,
so there was incredible atmosphere in the
theatre. If you can imagine a theatre that
large, and it's a symphony hall, so it's
almost like going back to the old days
where you sit in a very large theatre. It's a
great atmosphere, and people were just
stunned by the image, [and] the quality
that the TI projector was able to screen."
Fox enhanced the screening by first
showing some vintage news footage
from the '50s to demonstrate how far
cinema has progressed in the past 50
58 BOXOFFICF.

years. "We started the showing with a
surprise from Fox Movietone News,"
Setos says. "Now, you may not know
this, but Fox Movietone newsreels were
a humongous operation back in the '30,
'40s and '50s. At the peak, there were
10,000 news crews that were gathering
footage for Fox Movietone News, all in
35mm, black-and-white sound film, and
we had a lot of footage from the early
'50s on rocket experiments in the United
States that was on film.
"Back about eight years ago we decided
to preserve them digitally, so we created
digital files out of the 10.000 hours
of material—it was like five or six heptabtyes,
which is 5,000 terrabytes of stuff.
We searched in our database and found
some stuff on early rocket launches....
We transferred the material and appended
it to the movie. So what people saw
on this beautiful screen was this threeby-four
aspect ratio, black-and-white
newsreel that was running in tinny
sound about rocket launches. It sort of
got them looking, and a few minutes
in—bang!—up comes the Cinemascope,
full-color 20th Century Fox logo in digital
grandeur, and then the movie
starts."
"There was a standing ovation,"
Qwest's Carpenter remembers. "People
absolutely gasped after looking at the
1950s footage. As it led with the 1950s
vintage footage, it cut to the scope color
footage that was widescreen and covered
the 50-foot screen, and there were gasps
in the audience. It was absolutely phenomenal.
People were clapping.
"The image was absolutely flawless,"
she continues. "We had no problems
anywhere in the system. Everything
went perfectly. I'm terrified to do it the
second time [for fear] that it won't happen
again."
Part of Berggren's role at the screening
was to measure the image and determine
scientifically its performance. "I
have never seen anything as big as that
that still had any light in it." he says.
"I've seen demos where the picture was
dark, and we can go to the movies and
see that. This one was not only crisp and
clear, but it was actually about five or
ten percent brighter than you would
expect from the industry standard."
If there were any flaws in the image,
they were virtually imperceptible. "You
ever sit in the front row of a movie theatre?
What's the picture look like when
you're in the front row? Sometimes it's a
little fuzzy as compared to being in the
back row. Well, you had the same effect
here," Berggren says. "In the middle it
looked very good. You could not tell
what you were looking at as far as the
medium was concerned. It could have
been average 70mm. It could have been
good Cinemascope. [But] in the front
row, I could look at the screen and say,
'This is electronic projection, and this is
the kind of pixel count they've got.'
[Only here,]
the fuzziness were squared
off because the pixels are square.
"The light uniformity made the color
saturation very good," Berggren continues.
"This picture was just a shade on
the dark [side] in my opinion, [but] the
dark scenes came through crystal clear.
You could see everything that was going
on, which is not always true."
Berggren personally tested the screen
light, reporting 15 foot-lamberts in the
center and 12 in the corners. "[At] most
of the demos that I have ever seen," he
says, "they were looking at 12 [foot-lamberts]
in the middle, if not ten or 1 1, and
the sides were at like eight or nine. So [in
comparison] this really had a lot of
light."
Neither did Berggren observe any
glitches in the presentation. "Have you
ever sat and watched a television program,
and you get some snow once in a
while or some lines and blips that go
through? Well, that didn't happen that
night," he says.
"There wasn't so much
as a single line or a single square that
was missed, [and] I was watching the
thing all the way through. I've seen [digital
screenings] before where you'd miss
something or in a dark scene, something
would go white for a second and then go
back to the picture.... But that didn't
happen here. There were no flaws."
In addition. Fox was completely confident
in the security of its content as it
traversed the United States. "There is a
misconception we were using the
Internet," Setos says. "We did not use the
Internet. The Internet is a specific application
of all these fibers that are crisscrossing
the country... Qwest opened a
private pipe from Burbank to Atlanta for
digital cinema, showing "with great
authority," Qwest's Carpenter says,
that
transmitting a digital film over the
Internet is possible. "What will it mean
to digital cinema? That will depend on
the studios and the exhibitors, and we
will certainly be here building our network
and look forward to sending bits,"
she says.
"There are business issues that are
going to have to be worked out between
the theatre owners and the filmmakers
and the studios, and there's a whole
bunch of negotiation that will no doubt
have to take place to determine who's
responsible for what in this new way of
doing things," Cisco's Lang says. "We're
not commenting on that. That's not
appropriate. We don't know enough to
have any kind of meaningful comments.
"But what we do know a lot about is
the technology. What we're able to say is,
as you have those conversations, you can
now know that using technology that's
readily available—not some science fiction
out-of-the-lab technology, but technology
you can purchase—this kind of
distribution of film is now possible, and
that, I think, will help bring a new sense
of reality as business people in the
industry have those conversations.
"Digital cinema will happen. We don't
know just how quickly, and that's related to
we don't know quite what the business
arrangements will be, but it is compelling."
"Today digital cinema is not operational,"
Fox's Setos says. "When you
book a plane from New York to L.A.,
that's operational. Most of the time, you
have no concern for your safety, you'll get
there more or less on time—no big deal.
"Space is not operational. If you get on
the space shuttle, that's a big risk. There
are lots of things that can go wrong and
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION, INC.
Serving the theater industry with
Design - Build Construction for over
25 years.
us on the same facility as the Internet huge numbers of people that have to
uses, but not the Internet. So it was a private
data call.... [We were] no more [con-
"E-cinema is like that. It's not yet oper-
attend to it. It's very, very complex.
cerned] than we're now concerned with ational. Can it be made to work? Sure. It
people tapping into phone calls."
works today, but it's still not operational,
and we're in a transitional phase going
than just a one-time event, from idea to prototype, which we are in
More
the Internet-enabled screening now, moving toward an operational center
that's in a number of years that I'm
of "Titan A.E." at SuperComm
represents an important development in not going to predict. We're in the business,
so we would be foolish to ignore the
onslaught of technology." mm
Troy D. Mehlhofl - President
8505 University Green
RO. Box 6201 57
Middleton, Wl 53562-0157
Phone:(608)831-0011
Fax:(608)836-6817
E Mail: Troy@bci-builds.com
October, 2000 59

TECH
TALK
SUPPLY SIDE
by Annlee Ellingson
CINEMA EQUIPMENT
TRAINS THEATRE TECHNICIANS
IN CENTRAL AMERICA
Miami-based Cinema Equipment hosted the
first-ever Central American International
Theater Maintenance Seminar in San Salvador,
El Salvador, this June. The seminar's intent was
to establish an international standard of quality
in the cinema industry and included discussions
on light adjustment, throw distance measurement,
lens- and screen-size calculation,
RP40 reading interpretation, speaker placement,
phase checking, surround speaker
impedance calculations, A & B chain standards
and digital sound. Cinema Equipment engineer
Raul Calindo and Cuillermo Younger,
president and owner of the company, were the
main presenters during the event with additional
participation from Dolby, Schneider,
Osram Sylvania and Christie.
INDUSTRY INSURANCE
BROKERAGES MERGE
Insurance brokerages Maroevich, O'Shea
& Coghlan and lohnson & Anton have
merged. The San Francisco-based companies
provide risk-management and employeebenefit
consulting services. Van Maroevich,
president of Maroevich, O'Shea & Coghlan,
says, "Our merger is designed to increase
client services and maintain focus in specific
industries," which include real
estate, entertainment,
aviation and professional services.
ON THE MOVE
Hauppage, N.Y.
based Schneider I
Optics has appointed
Fred Morris to the
newly created position
of director of
cinema technical services.
Morris, who
for the past 1 years
|
has been the manager
of domestic technical
services at
General Cinema, will H
be responsible for the
marketing and sales of Schneider lenses.
Steve Lyle has been hired by Hawthorne,
Calif. -based BGW as chief engineer. Lyle
will design analog and digital products,
manage BCW's engineers and work with
management to launch new products.
DIGITAL CINEMA
HIGH RES FILM FEST
RESFEST 2000, which in its fourth year is
the longest running digital film festival, has
announced its final tour dates and opening
night films. Kicking off September 7 in San
Francisco and subsequently touring
Seattle, Chicago, New York and Los
Angeles as well as London, Montreal,
Seoul, Tokyo and Osaka, the festival will
feature films, shorts, music videos, panel
discussions and hands-on demos of digital
filmmaking tools.
Gary Winick's "Sam the Man," starring
Maria Bello, Luis Guzman, Rob Morrow,
Annabella Sciorra and Fisher Stevens, will
bow opening night in conjunction with the
animated "Wave Twisters" by Eric Henry
and Syd Garon, who met at RESFEST a few
years ago. Log on to www.resfest.com for
more information.
DC REACHES THE MASSES
Digital cinema has reached a milestone.
Texas Instruments (Tl) has announced that
over 1,000,000 moviegoers in 10 countries
have seen a film projected digitally by a Tl
DLP projector. "Only a year or so ago, no
one outside the movie industry had seen an
all-digital presentation," says Doug Darrow,
DLP Cinema business manager at Tl. "Now,
more than a million people have had the
opportunity to see what we believe is the
future of cinema."
LARGE FORMAT
CORPORATE REPORT CARD
Imax Corp., which recently began
actively seeking a buyer (see Tech Talk
September 2000), revealed strong second
quarter results for the period ending ir
lune. Net earnings reached $2.98 million
or 10 cents a share, up 43 percent from
$2.2 million, or seven cents a share, las
year. Revenue also rose 63 percent to $57.5
million, compared with $34.3 million a
year ago. The positive financials are attributed
to the company's systems division revenue
66 percent increase to $31.3 million
from $18.9 million in 1999. Digita'
Projection, which Imax acquired about a
year ago, also contributed $11 .3
revenue.
WIRED WORLD
million in
SEVEN CIRCUITS DIAL 777-FILM
Seven more theatre chains have pacted
with AOL Moviefone to provide showtime
information and tickets online. Crown
Theatres, Classic Cinemas, certain IMAX theatres,
KLM Theatre Partners Elttaes Theatres,
Colorado Cinema Holdings and Cinema
Four will now have access to 80 percent of
the online community and one in five moviegoers
every week through AOL Moviefone.
The deal includes advance ticket sales,
showtimes and information, AOL keywords,
individual websites, Moviefone theatre
express codes and promotional advertising
for each theatre chain, who will in turn promote
AOL Moviefone in their theatres.
"We make new
agreements with
all exhibitors the
time as we continue
to expand and add
new cities," AOL
Moviefone CEO
Andrew larecki tells
BOXOFFICE. "These
are particularly inter-
esting ones just
because they're
some key regional
exhibitors."
One of the technologies these circuits \
have access to as part of their relationship
with AOL Moviefone is wireless ticketing.
The movie listing guide and ticketing service
has expanded its agreement with Palm to
include advance ticketing, enhanced searching
capabilities, movie synopses and directions
on future Palm handheld devices using
the Palm. Net Wireless Communication
Service.
"MovieFone itself was the first e-commerce
application on the Palm Pilot,
[which] lets you buy tickets on your Palm
Pilot in seconds," Jarecki says. "That's not an
application that an exhibitor's going to want
to buy on his [or her] o,vn because it
requires a lot of resources, [but] it's the kind
of thing that we specialize at."
DREI'S COMPANY
IN ONLINE TICKETING VENTURE
Like many domestic circuits (see
BOXOFFICE's online ticketing story, page 54),
German exhibitors CinemaxX, UFA Theater
and Kieft & Kieft Filmtheater have jointly
launched a nationwide online ticketing service
that will allow moviegoers to make
reservations and purchase their movie tickets
online for the companies' combined
1 ,000 theatres.
MOVIE TICKETING ON THE MOVE
IN EUROPE
Also in across the pond, ICON Software
and itsmobile have embarked on a partnership
to provide mobile phone ticketing in
Europe and beyond.
"Diversifying distribution channels and
open architecture systems is now what
ticketing is all about," says Costa Mesa,
Calif.-based ICON president Tom Bell.
"By developing this partnership with
itsmobile we have increased the means by
which cinemagoers can gain access to
tickets, scheduling information and even
concession items at the candy counter
with the same ease as making a phone
call."
ICON can also provide IVR, kiosk, phone
room, ticketless and Internet ticketing.
BOXOFFICE ONLINE
IN THE PALM OF YOUR HAND
Did you know that you can have BOXOF-
FICE Online reviews delivered right to your
Pocket PC? The site's weekly top 10 list and
review archives are also searchable with
MovieCub, now out in version 2.0.2. See
www.moviecub.com.
GO
BOXOIIKK

would
EXHIBITION ON THE WEB: TheatricalDistribution.comandCinebits.com
Offer Exhibitors Internet Opportunities Beyond Online Ticketing
BOXOFFICE: Your company, Hollywood Software, has developed
TDS2000, a theatrical distribution system that manages booking,
prints, shipping, billing, settlements, cash receipts, boxoffice performance
data, customer statements and financial reporting for
many major studios. An ASP (Application Service Provider) version
of the software is now accessible online at www.theatricaldistribution.com
to independent distributors. What prompted you
to develop this software?
Dave Gajda, CEO, Hollywood Software: I've been doing strategic
consulting and planning for the major entertainment companies
for about 15 years, and what would happen
is usually the CFO or CEO hired me.
[For example,] Sony Pictures' CEO hired
me and he said, "Dave, come in, help us
come up with a strategic systems plan that
will last three to five years." And I would
come up with, "You need to replace your
theatrical system. You need to replace
your rights management system." And
they would say, "Okay, well, great Dave.
What do we put in?" And the problem in
the entertainment industry is there's
not a real good vendor of application
systems out there.... So I actually have to tell them,
"Okay, you have to replace these systems. The bad news is
there's nothing good out there."... After awhile it got tiring. We
also saw an opportunity that maybe we should got into business
and actually start providing systems for the entertainment
industry.
BOXOFFICE: Why is the site important to BOXOFFICE readers?
Gajda: When we were at ShoWest, we had dozens of exhibitors
coming up to us, saying, "This is great. You've really developed an
incredible piece of software for a distributor, but we don't have
anything for our side to do our planning. We might have 100 different
theatre complexes, and we've got anywhere from one to 25
screens per. We're doing all of our planning on spreadsheets." So
we're now building this out from the planning side for the exhibitor.
BOXOFFICE: What future plans do you have for
the exhibition side of the site?
Gajda: We're going to be having Ian] Exhibitor
Products (section]—basically all the things that
people normally go to ShoWest for. We're going to
have the concessionaires listed [and] all the different
ticket booking software so the exhibitors will
be able to go to one site—this site, theatricaldistribution.com—and
get all of that information. [Alsoi
there are roughly 17,000 theatres [in the United States]. All that
information regarding the ad revs, the theatres that are opened or
closed, new theatres that are actually opening— all that information
has to be disseminated from the exhibitor to all
the distributors,
all the ticketing agents, [etc. J We've got a theatre master that
has every single theatre in the United States and Canada. We
want to hook up [exhibitors] so they can update their information
online, and when they update it, we'll disseminate it to everybody
electronically, so they don't have to worry about [it]....
There's a lot of stuff happening |in] digital cinema right now....
We want to build a piece of that that sits at the theatre. We don't
care how it gets from the distributor to the theatre— satellite or
whatever—but we want to have a piece of software at the theatre
that says, "Can it be shown to the digital projector? Has it been
held over, and can it be shown [again]? And if it's been shown,
what is the boxoffice information that we can shoot back to the
distributor?"
BOXOFFICE: What are the site's advantages for exhibitors?
Gajda: Now that we're building out this kind of centralized site,
there's huge amounts of opportunity to streamline the business and
improve the business and also offer additional services to the
exhibitor that weren't there before. If they're going to be able to go
into this, get a scheduling software online where they can do their
own scheduling, see products that are available and actually do
their own tentative booking, and then eventually control their own
digital distribution to their screens, that's definitely putting the
power in their hands.... We want to become like the online
ShoWest, so that kind of commerce and activity can happen 365
days a year.
BOXOFFICE: What is Cinebits.com all about?
Satinder Raina, CEO, Cinebits.com: Cinebits is an Internet-based
online service, which is targeted to major trading partners in the
motion picture industry. We have a set of
services for distributors of motion picture
studios and exhibitors of motion picture
theatrical chains. The ultimate idea is to
connect these to trading partners and offer
them a platform for efficient and automated
information exchange. That's in a nutshell
what Cinebits is all about. KL. Z23S
BOXOFFICE: What system is in place now that Cinebits would
replace?
Raina: As I said, Cinebits is targeted to major trading partners
from the motion picture industry. This service aims to automate
the information exchange between exhibitors and distributors by
leveraging the power and simplicity of the Internet. To better
understand the Cinebits value proposition— if you examine the
motion picture industry—there is a total segmentation in the flow
of information between these entities. There are a handful of
independent services on the market that allow non-automated,
non-standardized techniques for transporting critical
information back and forth between these
trading partners. From my understanding, this segmentation
causes huge delays in the arrival of critical
data for both exhibitors and distributors to
complete business transactions in a timely and
accurate manner. Subsequently, they cannot make
informed decisions on marketing and product
placement. So what we've done with Cinebits is
we've adopted a very unique approach to solve this problem. We
offer exhibitors a secure Internet-based platform to support their
daily business operations. Our online exhibition system allows
exhibitors to schedule movie showtimes, maintain booking and
boxoffice grosses, transmit booking confirmations back to distributors,
etc. Distributors, on the other hand, are offered a platform
where they can supply exhibitors with promotional information
material like one sheets and trailers, etc., online.
"" They are also offered timely access to critical data such as
boxoffice grosses, revenues and other key performance
Idata] on the movie, which the studio execs are very interested
in. At the end of the day, we offer a one-stop consolidated
platform for interaction between these two trading
partners. By doing so, we are promoting and establishing a
standard for information exchange between the trading
partners. That's what Cinebits is all about.
BOXOFFICE: Has Cinebits been implemented in any studios or
circuits yet?
Raina: This is an independent, third-party service. Since the
idea is to establish an independent standard for the information
exchange, it can not be endorsed by a particular studio.
We have spoken to a couple of studios like Warner Bros, and
New Line. They're looking [at] the service. We have their
input, but this is a third-party independent service which is
neutral and not biased to any particular studio's needs. Only
then would you be able to establish a
standard for the industry.
The reason why we feel confident about this service is
because the parent company of Cinebits, ManagelT, has in the
past collaborated with major motion picture studios like
Warner Bros., New Line and Universal, building very complex,
multimillion dollar television and theatrical distribution systems,
so we understand the market, the business model, very
well for us to be able to realize the gaps of information flow
and come up with such a service.
BOXOFFICE: What is Cinebits' business model?
Raina: For the first year or so, the service is absolutely free to
the exhibitors. Our approach is to build a brand awareness
within the industry, and in order to be able do that, we need a
complete buy-in from the exhibitors. We want to offer this service
free-of-charge to the exhibitors so that they realize the
value. On the other hand, we will be charging distributors on a
subscription-based model depending on the amount of data
they receive. Again, there are tiered levels of services that the
distributors can subscribe to, but for the exhibitors it's free of
charge.
October, 2000 61

EXHIBITION
BRIEFINGS
LEAD STORY: CARMIKE,
EDWARDS FILE FOR
BANKRUPTCY; REGAL NEXT?
Following in the footsteps of art-house circuit
Silver Cinemas, which filed for Chapter
11 protection last May, is Carmike Cinemas,
the country's third largest exhibitor. The
Columbus, Ca. -based chain was forced to
declare bankruptcy last August, just a few
days after the company was unable to make
a $9 million interest payment to creditors.
According to the Chapter 1 1 petition filed by
Carmike at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
Wilmington, Del., the company faces $653
million in debt against its $841 million in
assets. In a prepared statement, circuit topper
Michael Patrick explained that the voluntary
decision to file for bankruptcy was
taken "after careful consideration and analysis
of [Carmike's] current circumstances and
the state of our industry." Patrick says he
believes the move will help the chain to
become "a stronger and healthier company."
Also having to seek Chapter 11 protection
is Newport Beach, Calif.-based Edwards
Theatres, whose bankruptcy announcement
came days after Carmike's revelation. The
70-theatre circuit, which operates plexes in
California, Idaho and Texas, filed its voluntary
petition in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in
nearby Santa Ana, Calif. According to company
CEO W. James Edwards III, the company
will continue to operate as usual during
this period of restructuring. Like Patrick,
Edwards is optimistic that "with the support
of our suppliers and customers, and the hard
work of our employees, Edwards Theatres
will emerge from the restructuring process a
stronger, more competitive business."
The Carmike and Edwards filings have
lead many industry analysts and fearful exhibition
creditors to scrutinize the financial
stability of other major cinema chains, with
particular concern falling on Knoxville,
Tenn. -based Regal Cinemas. Regal, which
ranks as the world's largest exhibitor with
nearly 4,400 screens, has confirmed that it is
SHOWMANDISER PROMOTION OF THE MONTH
|inema
C
circuit National
Amusements engaged in a
'different type of "booking"
practice at several of its theatres
nationwide. To encourage
elementary-school aged kids to
read during their summer vacation,
the Dedham, Mass.-based
exhibitor held its second annual
"Bookworm Wednesdays" promotion.
In exchange for a completed
book report, which could
be "turned in" at select National
Amusements locations, kids were
rewarded with a free movie pass to
a special Wednesday afternoon screening. The promotion, which each year lasts
for a six-week period in summer, featured recent big-screen children favorites
including "The Road to El Dorado," "Pokemon: The First Movie," "The Iron
Giant," "Elmo in Grouchland." "Muppets From Space" and "Stuart Little." In
addition to the complementary movie, National Amusements' young literate
patrons were provided with such goodies as children's books from Simon &
Schuster, Van Melle's Airheads candy and copies of Nickelodeon Magazine. BOX-
OFFICE gives National Amusements an A for effort for helping to bring the magic
of both movies and books to local kids.
Send photos and descriptions of your promotion to:
BOXOFFICE, 155 S. El Molino Ave., Suite 100
Pasadena, CA 91101
Attn:
negotiating with its bankers regarding debt
restructuring to avoid defaulting on loan
payments. The revelation comes shortly after
the circuit reported a significant widened
second-quarter loss to red ink $29.4 million,
compared with $7.4 million a year ago.
MANN DEAL ABANDONED
A deal that would have involved the sale
of several of Mann Theatres' Los Angelesarea
venues has failed to come to fruition.
The Encino, Calif.-based chain has steadily
been selling off its properties since it filed for
bankruptcy early this year, and among the
parties interested in purchasing seven sites
were partners Jim Naify, an executive at
Century Theatres, and Gary Barber and
Roger Birnbaum, both of Spyglass
Entertainment (see Exhibition Briefings,
August 2000). Naify, Barber and Birnbaum
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making $30 million on 3,000 screens is only going to generate $ 10,000MB petscreen
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were originally expected to pay as much as
$15 million for the 59 Mann screens, but
industry insiders report that disagreements
over the final price tag have caused a breakoff
in negotiations. Studios Warner Bros, and
Paramount, which purchased Mann from
former parent WestStar Cinemas after its
Chapter 11 filing, is hoping to recoup the
$90 million it paid for the chain. While
many competing circuits insist that the
Mann venues are outdated and unprofitable,
the studios are optimistic that they will find
other interested buyers.
EXHIBITOR REPORT CARD
Released just as BOXOFFICE goes to
press are the latest financials for exhibition
circuits CinemaStar Luxury Theaters,
General Cinema and Marcus Theatres.
Fiscal-first at CinemaStar saw revenue
tumble from $7.3 million a year ago to
$7.1 million, while losses widened from
$429,000, or 11 cents per share, to
$848,000, or 13 cents per share. The San
Diego, Calif.-based chain also saw theatre
cash flow fall from $981,000 in 1999 to
this year's $673,000.
General Cinema unveiled an operating
loss of $900,000 for the third
quarter, significantly
declining from the $1.9 million
profit earned in the previous year. Revenue
for the Chestnut Hill, Mass.-based circuit
also took a dive, decreasing by six percent
to just over $108 million.
Over at Milwaukee-based Marcus
Theatres, results for fiscal 2000 included a
slight revenue jump from $111.2 million a
year ago to the current $122.3 million and
nearly static operating costs of $22 million,
compared with last year's $20.4 million.
62 BOXOFFICE

TICKER TIME
50%
25%
0%
-25%
-50%
-75%

LOEWS SHOOTS OFF SECOND
ROUND OF INDIE FILMS
The Shooting Gallery has revealed its
selection of independent films to run in the
second installment of its immensely popular
series. Held in conjunction with New York
City-based Loews Cineplex, the biannual
festival features advanced screenings of specially
chosen art-house pics that play on a
reserved Loews screen in
16 major markets,
including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles,
New York and Seattle. Among the movies
scheduled for play are Roger Michell's
"Titanic Town," Laurent Cantnet's "Human
Ressources," jason Priestley's documentary,
"Barenaked in America," Toni Barbieri's
debut effort "One," Bahman Ghobadi's "A
Time for Drunken Horses" and Japanese
director Sabu's "Non-Stop." The Shooting
Gallery debuted last fall and helped introduced
"The Croupier," which went on to
become an indie hit.
OZONER CARD ENCOURAGES
OUTDOOR VIEWING
Brisbane, Calif. -based organization
Drive-On-ln Inc. is sponsoring a promotion
to encourage moviegoers to attend
outdoor theatres throughout the world.
Carriers of the special free and personalized
Ozoner Card are entitled to discounts
and special offers at participating drive-ins.
The card also allows its holders to access
personalized web pages on www.driveins.com
that provide individual card activity,
the location and screening schedules of
nearby drive-ins and the times and dates of
upcoming events. Members can also gain
points, redeemable for drive-in merchandise,
by participating in online trivia contests
or referring new Ozoner-related businesses
to the site. Drive-On-ln CEO
Jennifer Sherer says that she hopes the
CALENDAR
Remember to save these dates:
—G 'ant Screen Theater Association Annual Conference, Sept. 14
r\*un.Jk\
19, intercontinental and Forum Hotel, Frankfurt, Germany. Call (651)
Wr*Ur<
!s£^Sj 292-9884 ...Geneva Convention, Sept. 26—28, Grand
Geneva Resort and Spa, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. Call
(262) 532-0017 ...ShowEast, Oct. 11—14, Mariott Worldwide, Orlando,
Fla. Call (212) 246-6460 ...CineAsia, November 14—16, Hong
Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, Hong Kong
...ShoWest, March 5—8, 2001, Bally's Hotel/Paris,
Las Vegas. Call (212) 264-6460. Call (212) 246-6460
...ShowCanada, April 28—May 2, 2001, Quebec
City, Quebec, Canada. Call Adina Lebo at (41 6) 969-7057 i
...NAC Convention, May 8— 11, 2001, Ramada International Plaza, San
Francisco, Calif. Call Meredith Ely at (312) 236-3858 ...CinemaExpo, June
25—28, 2001, RAI, Amsterdam. Call (212) 246-6460.
Ozoner Card, which is held by outdoor
theatre lovers in 30 states and three countries,
"encourages people to get out and
experience the drive-in more often."
VAL MORGAN HITS
THE CINEMARK
New York City-based cinema advertising
agency Val Morgan has reached a four-year
agreement with Cinemark USA to be the
provider of onscreen slide advertisements
for the Piano, Tex. -based exhibitor.
In addition
to Cinemark, Val Morgan also holds
advertising rights on the screens of Bostonbased
Hoyts Cinemas as well as several
hundred operated by indie theatre owners.
The deal will bring the number of screens
represented by Val Morgan to nearly 4,000
in 40 different states.
ON THE MOVE
Sunshine Group Worldwide, which
recently acquired exhibition industry convention
ShoWest from NATO of
California/Nevada (see Exhibition
Briefings, September 2000), has appointed
Bill Zalokar as its new executive director,
West Coast. Zalokar, who most
recently served as director of exhibitor
relations for movie entertainment web site
Hollywood.com, will oversee development
and execution of the annual Las
Vegas show, which takes place every
March. Other exhibition-related posts
held by Zalokar include manager of exhibition
services/promotions for Paramount
Pictures and Midwest director of publicity
and promotion for Cineplex Odeon
Theatres. "This new position utilizes my
background in exhibition, studio relations
and the Internet, allowing me to bring a
fresh new perspective to ShoWest with a
continued emphasis on growth and evolving
new technologies," says Zalokar of his
new responsibilities. "I look forward to
the challenge that lays ahead and the
prospect of working with the Sunshines
and their team."
HILL
NEWS
LEAD STORY: HOLLYWOOD
CRITIC TO BE PART OF
DEMOCRATIC TICKET
by Francesca
Dinglasan
^-^. Democratic vice presidential
JjIlL nominee Joseph Lieberman, a long-
ESaifltime and vociferous critic of the
entertainment industry, has vowed
to continue his fight against what he perceives
as a lack of morality in Hollywood
product. The Connecticut senator and running
mate to current U.S. vice president Al
Gore has declared, as a representative of
his political party, "We're going to stand
with parents across the country who are
working so hard to raise PG kids in an X-
rated world." In his crusade to change big
and small screen products to reflect what
he calls "the moral center of the nation,"
some of Lieberman's many activities during
his years in office include the creation of
the "Silver Sewer Award," which he
bestows on films and programs deemed
sexually explicit or gratuitously violent; testimonies
in front of a Senate panel, calling
for investigation into industry marketing
practices; and the co-authoring of an
"Appeal to Hollywood," in which he, along
with Republican senator Sam Brownback,
ask Tinseltown execs to voluntarily "establish
certain minimum standards for violent,
sexual and degrading material for each
medium" (see Hill News, February 2000).
Although many notable and high profile
members of the entertainment establishment
are weary of Lieberman's agenda and
the negative attention he brings to the
media, Tinseltown's leanings toward the
Democratic Party have resulted in little
complaint against the ticket's vice presidential
candidate.
POLANSKI ACCUSED OF
STEALING FRENCH REFUNDS
Studio Artisan Entertainment is taking
helmer Roman Polanski to court over purported
misuse of funds on the production of
"The Ninth Gate." According to a lawsuit
filed in a Los Angeles District Court,
Polanski and his company R.P. Productions
redirected tax refunds issued by the government
in France, where the Johnny Depp
starrer was shot, into a private account,
rather than in
production accounts, for the
movie. Artisan is seeking nearly $1.2 million
in what the company claims was
refunded to Polanski.
NORWEGIAN DISTRIB
TAKES EXHIB TO COURT
FOR CRITICIZING FILM
Also facing a showdown in the courtroom
is Oslo Municipal Cinemas managing
director Ingeborg Moraeus Hanssen, who is
being sued by Norwegian distributor SF
Norge, the local arm of Sweden-based
Svensk Filmindustri. The exhibitor is being
accused of slander against the film
"Faithless," which she has publicly
described as "embarrassing" for its sexual
content. SF Norge managing director and
former programming director of Oslo
Municipal Cinemas Guttorm Petterson says
that the distrib brought the lawsuit against
Hanssen because "as an exhibitor, [she]
should be working to secure the best possible
boxoffice performance of her releases
instead of defaming them." Petterson insists
that "with her influence, her remarks will
definitely reduce our ticket receipts."
Hanssen has also publicly criticized another
Scandinavian product, claiming that Lars
von Trier's "Dancer in the Dark," which
was shot with a handheld camera, made
her "seasick" and that she would need to
distribute sickness bags to theatre patrons.
64 BOXOIMCK

-
Annlee Ellings
ENTERTAINMENT
EXPENDITURES EQUAL
$60.6 BILLION IN 1999
According to a report released by financial
consultants Veronis Suhler & Associates,
consumers and advertisers spent $60.6 billion
on entertainment—which includes film,
music and interactive entertainment— in
1999, up seven percent from the year
before. The figure is expected to continue
growing at nearly the same rate over the next
few years, reaching $84 billion in 2004.
Boxoffice receipts were particularly lucrative,
up 7.2 percent to $7.4 billion. A record
17 films topped $100 million, but the figure
also was helped by several healthy moderately
performing films aimed at mature audiences.
The sector is expected to continue to
increase 6.8 percent annually for the next
five years.
LION ON THE CHASE
Lions Gate has secured a $200 million
revolving credit facility through Chase
Securities and investment bank Dresdner
Kleinwort Benson that will help finance the
company's $50 million acquisition of
Trimark (see Studio News, August 2000) and
enable it to comfortably pursue other acquisitions
as well as fund its growing film and
television slate.
CEO Jon Feltheimer, who landed an addional
$33 million in equity financing last
December, indicates that the financial packis
"an important component of our strategy
to grow the company."
HARVEY MULLS
INVESTMENT
OPTIONS
Harvey
insiders speculate that
LEAD STORY: JULY BOXOFFICE SIZZLES
Fueled by "The Perfect Storm,"
July's boxoffice reached record levels
for the second year in a row.
Entertainment,
According to data gathered by the
which owns the
rights to cartoon characters
Hollywood
reached $1.1
Reporter,
billion,
ticket
nearly
sales
five
a
from
Casper the percent increase last year's
Friendly Ghost and $1 ,05 billion. Admissions, likewise,
Richie Rich, has hired were up, though just one percent to
strategic consultant 204.6 million from 202.6 million
Houlihan Valuation last year. The month also saw a
Advisors. According record four consecutive $200 million-plus
to the company, the
weeks and three films that
deal will help Harvey topped $100 million in the timeframe:
consider a number of
Warner Bros.' "The Perfect
investment opportunities
Storm" ($150.5 million), Miramax's
that have been "Scary Movie" ($1 23.8 million) and
proposed, including a
Fox's "X-Men" ($110.3 million).
buy-out by Lions It's this latter film that powered
Fox $201.2 and Gate, the apparent to million a 19.6
frontrunner of the percent market share in July, according
companies interested
to statistics accumulated by
purhcasing the animation
in
Daily Variety. Warner Bros, was
outfit.
Industry
close behind with $196 million and
a 19.1 market share. DreamWorks,
the move is an effort which released "What Lies Beneath"
to raise Harvey's market
share value while million and 1 4.7 percent of the mar-
in July, came in third with $150.4
the film and merchandise
company continket.
By the end of the month, the
national boxoffice was about four
ues to negotiate with
percent ahead of last year's recordbreaking
pace. Three months Lions Gate.
earlier,
however, it led 1 999 by 1 percent.
ON THE MOVE
Buena Vista Motion Picture Group has
upped Mark Vahradian to executive VP production
less than a year after promoting him
to senior VP. He will now work directly
under president Nina Jacobson, who recently
assumed sole command of the division
(see Studio News, July 2000). Vahradian will
likely assume some of Jacobson's responsibilities
when she takes a three-month maternity
leave at the end of the year.
Departing Disney, where he worked for
over 1 2 years, most recently as executive VP
acquisitions and business affairs for Buena
Vista Film Sales and Acquisitions and Buena
Vista International, Jere Hausfater has exited
the studio, accepting the newly created position
of president, motion picture group,
worldwide distribution and acquisitions at
Intermedia. The move indicates that the
U.S.- and U.K. -based independent production,
distribution and financing company
will continue to aggressively assert its presence
in the worldwide market after its May
IPO on the Frankfurt Neuer Markt stock
exchange.
CORPORATE REPORT CARD
Revealing its third-quarter financials for the three-month period
ending in June, The Walt Disney Co. reports that its net
income rose to $440 million, or 21 cents a share, including the
company's interest in the Walt Disney Internet Group, formerly
Go.com. Excluding its online operations, profits rose 48 percent
to $633 million, or 30 cents a share, from $427 million, or 27
cents a share, during the same timeframe in 1999. Revenues
rose nine percent to $5.96 billion from $5.49 billion. Disney's
film division saw revenues fall two percent to $1 .24 billion, and
operating losses increased to $3 million from $1 million.
Industry analysts have attributed these losses to the lackluster
performances of "Keeping the Faith" and "Fantasia 2000,"
which revitalized the large-format industry at the beginning of
the year, and the reportedly $200 million in production costs for
"Dinosaur."
Citing the dismal performance of the $80 million-plus "Titan
A.E.," News Corp. reports post-tax profits of $184 million, or 18
cents a share, down 14 percent from $214 million, or 21
cents a
share, for the quarter ending in June 1999. Revenue rose 19 percent
to $3.9 billion from $3.27 billion last year. The conglomerate's
Fox film division bore the brunt of the companies losses, losing
$53 million during the quarter, compared with earning $22
million during the same timeframe a year ago. In a conference call
with reporters, News Corp. chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch
admitted, "We're coming off a—there's no point in hiding it
pretty horrible year.. .We need better films, more films and more
profitable films."
Considerable pre-tax charges related to Viacom's recent
merger with CBS contributed to the company's net loss of $496
million, compared with a profit of $59.3 million during the second
quarter in 1999. Revenues were $4.9 billion, contrasted
with $3 billion a year ago. Excluding the $700 million mergerrelated
charge, net earnings were $9 million, or one cent a
share, and revenue rose 13 percent to $5.8 billion from $5.1
billion last year. Entertainment, which includes Paramount,
Famous Players and the conglomerate's music publishing and
parks divisions, reports operating earnings of $114 million, up
16 percent from $99 million in the same timeframe in 1999,
and revenue of $758 million, 15 percent higher than 1999's
$658 million figure.
Seagram Co., awaiting completion of its merger with Parisbased
Vivendi and Canal Plus, revealed a net loss of $128 million,
or 29 cents a share, compared with $129 million, or 32
cents a share, in the red a year ago. The figure includes interest
payments and other acquisition-related costs that totaled $174
million. Revenue for the quarter rose five percent to $3.7 billion
from $3.5 billion in the same timeframe in 1999. Universal
Studios' operating earnings equaled $5 million, up from a loss of
$69 million in the fourth quarter last year, and revenue was $827
million, compared with $790 million a year ago. Solid performances
by "Erin Brockovich," half-owned by Columbia,
"Gladiator," a co-production with DreamWorks, and "U-571"
offset disappointing returns from "The Adventures of Rocky and
Bullwinkle."
Computer animation company Pixar posted a second-quarter net
income of $8 million, up from $6.4 million in 1999, and revenue
of $18.3 million, up 36 percent from $1 3.5 million.
October, 2000 65

INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Canadian News Notes by Shlomo Schwartzberg
LEAD STORY:
ONLINE TICKETING'S NEWEST PLAYERS
Famous Players is selling tickets online through
MovieTickets.com, which has been up and running in the
U.S. since May 25. As of September 1, as part of a relaunch
of its website, Famous Players has been selling
tickets to Canadians initially at the same prices as at the
boxoffice, though service charges may be added later.
MovieTickets.com also offers information on current and
upcoming movies, as well as trailers, news and coverage
of movie premieres. Famous Players is the first chain in
Canada to venture into online ticketing.
AMC'S OPEN FORUM
It's been laying low for the last year, but AMC Theatres of
Canada—which currently has five Canadian plexes, all in
Ontario—is not out of the picture. The end of the year will see
the chain's first multiplex in Quebec (which is also the company's
first build since September 1999). The 22-screen house will
be located in the old Montreal Forum, which for 60-plus years
was the home of the highly esteemed Montreal Canadiens
hockey team.
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ROCK SOLID SINCE 1990
The facade of the Forum has been maintained but the inside will
be ultra-modern. "The Montreal complex is a vertical entertainment
complex. We're on four floors," said Jack Gardner, head of
marketing for AMC in Canada, in an interview with BOXOFFICE.
Unlike AMC's mostly stand-alone multiplexes in Canada, the
Montreal plex will share space with other tenants, including
CineGrand, a Newport Beach, Calif-based company which builds
and develops large-format movie theatres. The new CineGrand theatre—the
first in Canada—will have a 60-foot by 80-foot screen.
"It's one of the largest complexes in North America being built,"
Michael Brong, one of CineGrand's principals, told BOXOFFICE.
"We believe that the synergy is going to be amazing, and it will be
part of the re-structuring of downtown Montreal."
The Forum complex will also encompass Jillian's, a combined
restaurant/cafe/dance bar. which will take up 70,000 feet.
AMC's Gardner expects the connection with the revered
Forum to help generate interest in the new multiplex, which contains
a total of 4,200 seats.
"There's an incredible 'want-see' factor
[of] the building, [incited by what it] represents in terms of history,
as a focal point of Montreal."
Despite some news reports, Gardner denies that AMC is doing
badly in Canada or that it is considering pulling out of a
Canadian market that supposedly doesn't want such large-screen
multiplexes. "We're actually quite successful in Ontario; our market
share has grown considerably," Gardner said, though he
declined to give specific numbers.
Future plans for AMC Canada include a 16-screen theatre in
Brampton. Ontario, west of Toronto, in the first quarter of 2001
CINEPLEX IN ALBERTA: FORTIS ET LIBER
Cineplex Odeon's presence in Alberta lives up to at least half
of the province's motto: It's strong, though with the circuit's
recent admission hike to CS11 (following Famous Players' lead)
it's certainly not free. Cineplex continues its expansion in Western
Canada, most notably in Alberta's two largest cities. The end of
July saw the opening of Calgary's Cineplex Odeon Sunridge
Spectrum Cinemas, a 14-screen. 65.000-square-foot multiplex.
Stadium seating, wall-to-wall curved screens, plush high-back
seats with cupholders and all the major digital sound formats are
featured in all the cinemas. Also online: a Cinescape digital entertainment
center, special party rooms for kids and premium
refreshments from Alan Smithee's, Outtakes and Numbskulls
food outlets. All this adds up to what Allen Karp, chairman and
CEO of Cineplex Odeon, promises will "rapidly become an entertainment
destination for the city's movie lovers."
Meanwhile, Edmonton, Alberta, became home to two
Cineplex Odeon multiplexes in August. The South Edmonton
Common Cinemas, a 16-screen, 75,000-square-foot complex, contains
state-of-the-art equipment and specialty food outlets. And
the eight-screen Whitemud Crossing Cinemas was converted by
Cineplex Odeon to an art-house theatre, recently showing such
independent fare as "East-West," "Cotton Mary," "Wonderland"
and the Canadian hit "New Waterford Girl," among others.
Cineplex is answering the needs of what Tony Cianciotta, senior
vice president of film for Cineplex. calls "the growing following of
enthusiastic moviegoers in Edmonton who have a strong appetite
for thought-provoking art-house genre films. By presenting
steady offering of acclaimed, independent film at the Whitemud
Crossing Cinemas, we hope to become the headquarters for
Edmonton's sophisticated moviegoers."
66 BOXOFFK'K
Response No. 240

id]
INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
EUROVIEWS
European News Notes by Francesca Dinglasan
LEAD STORY: TAKING THE SAME PATHE
PARIS—Unable to beat competitor UGC's plan to offer an unlimited
monthly pass to movies playing in any of its theatres. France-based Pathe
has decided to instead join 'em by selling its own version of the all-access
ticket. Pathe, like the majority of film exhibitors and distributors in the
country, has vehemently protested the sale of UGC's promotional pass ever
since its introduction into the market last March (see EUROVIEWS, July
2000). However. France's Competition Council's recent ruling, which gave
UGC permission to sell the controversial pass (pending the outcome of further
investigation by the state-run organization regarding possible anticompetitive
aspects of the promotion), has apparently caused some chains
to change their tactical course. Pathe has responded in the form of its Cine
a Volonte pass, which, for 98 francs (US$14)—the same price as UGC's
Carre Ulimite, gives moviegoers the privilege of viewing as many films as
they wish at the Pathe Atlantis multiplex in the city of Nantes. Although
the pass is currently being honored only at that specific venue, Pathe marketing
director Xavier Oursel says that the company "reserve[s] the right to
extend the scheme to other cities and to the whole of the country." French
art-house chain Action has also answered UGC's pass through its
ITALAction GitanesITAL card. The promotional offer, which is valid for
a 12-month period, allows patrons to see 10 films for the discounted rate of
250 francs (US$41).
GERMANY'S B.0. GROWS
BERLIN—According to figures released by the German
Federal Film Board. Teutonic cinemas saw its boxoffice rise by 13
HEALTHY ADMISSIONS COUNT IN DENMARK
COPENHAGEN—Also showing healthy boxoffice take is
d Scandinavian territory of Denmark, which, according to the
And Danish Film Institute, recorded ticket sales growth to 5.6 million
tj n the first half of this year, compared with 5.2 million for the
ame six-month period in 1999. However, the increase in admision
doesn't reflect a growing interest in local product, which only
ccounted for a mere 300,000 of the total tickets sold— less than
ix percent of the country's gross domestic boxoffice, dropping
ignificantly from the 27 percent share it held in 1999. The top
lomestic performer in the country was Hans Kristensen's
Juliane." which sold 60,000 tickets during the period. Danish
r
ilm Institute marketing head Jimmy Bredow Pedersen is optimistic
that second-half 2000 will show better results with Lars von
the
Trier's critically-acclaimed "Dancer in the Dark"
expected to help raise the year's overall admission average
for domestic pics.
P0STIVE RESULTS FOR U.K. EXHIBITORS
LONDON—The first six months of 2000 also looked
rosy for U.K. exhibitors, who saw admissions in their
venues rise from nearly 66 million a year ago to 71 million
this year. According to the country's Cinema
Advertising Association, the 13 percent cinema attendance
jump in Jan. -June 2000 is the highest admissions
level recorded for the six-month period since 1974.
Buoyed by the success of the products in release during
the timeframe, including top performers "Gladiator,"
"Pokemon the First Movie" and "Erin Brockovich,"
U.K. theatres averaged close to three million admissions
per week during the first quarter. The CAA expects the
country to do well in the latter half of the year, as well,
with upcoming blockbusters "X-Men" and "Dinosaur"
scheduled for release in the territory's cinemas.
'VATEL" WEIGHS HEAVILY ON GAUM0NT
PARIS—One European film company that hasn't benefited
from the continent's prosperous moviegoing period is Francebased
Gaumont. The studio reports a loss of 106 million francs
(US$17 million) for the first six months of this year, significantly
tumbling from the positive 24 million francs (US$3.9 million)
earned for the same period in 1999. Gaumont attributes the sig-
I percent to DM 799 million (US$384 million) in first-half 2000,
compared with the previous year. Hollywood fare produced the
most ticket sales in the territory, with "American Pie." "The World nificant downturn to its boxoffice bomb "Vatel." which failed to
is Not Enough" and "The Sixth Sense" coming in as the top three
attract moviegoers in its native territory after its poor reception at
performers, combining to earn a total of DM 176 million (US$78 the Cannes Film Festival. Gaumont is taking a loss of 1 1 5 million
«£ million) during the six-month period. Local product also earned
francs (US$18.5 million) on the $36 million Gerard Depardieu
i fair share of the boxoffice pie, with German films accounting for and Uma Thurman starrer, which only sold 500,000 tickets in
i more than 15 percent of the record 75 million tickets sold during
France. Other figures reported by the company for the six-month
he timeframe. Industry analysts expect the positive results to coninue
for the second-half of the year, spurred by such factors as (US$122.4 million), an increase of 12 percent over the previous
period include overall revenue earnings of 765 million francs
he country's unusually cold weather and the release of highlytntieipated
blockbusters, including "Gladiator," "Mission
year, and a 17 percent revenue jump in its exhibition sector to
Impossible 2" approximately 450 million francs (US$72 million).
and "The Perfect Storm."
EUR0N0TES
The second annual Alsimo-Expo, a convention for the Russian
exhibition industry, took place on September 12-16 in St.
Petersburg's Leningrad Cinema Center. The annual gathering,
which features a trade show and business seminars pertinent to
movie theatre operations, was attended by such notable companies
as Kodak Entertainment Imaging. Coca-Cola and Germanbased
Kinoton ...According to Italian organization SIAE. while
overall public spending on entertainment in the Boot grew to $2.7
billion in
1999 in comparison to the previous year, money going
to moviegoing activities decreased by 9.6 percent during the period
...Latvia's first ever film to be produced through private funding
has scored well at the territory's boxoffice. Aigars Grauba's
drama "Summer of Terror" has sold 75.000 tickets and earned
80.000 kits (US$131,000) since its opening last February.
October, 2000 67

INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
PACIFIC OVERTURES
Notes From the Pacific Rim by Francesca Dinglasan
LEAD STORY: ROADSHOW BIDS
FAREWELL TO HONG KONG
HONG KONG—Australian film major Village Roadshow has exited
the Hong Kong market by selling all of its exhibition holdings to its
partner in the territory, cinema circuit Golden Harvest Entertainment.
The deal involves Village Roadshow's 50 percent share of the six-site. 26-
screen chain, which the Down Under company sold for a purported
AUSS13 million (US$7.8 million). Village Roadshow has steadily been
unraveling its longstanding ties with Golden Harvest, having sold its 35
percent share in the Hong Kong-based conglomerate last April and June
(see Pacific Overtures. June 2000). According to Village Roadshow managing
director Graham Burke, "Our focus in exhibition has shifted from
aggressively growing the business to enhancing the return on funds
employed. The sale of our Hong Kong circuit is a further step along this
path, allowing the group to concentrate on a smaller number of territories."
The company has made no comment regarding future plans for its
exhibition joint ventures with Golden Harvest in Malaysia and
Singapore.
VILLAGE HARVESTS A NEW PARTNERSHIP
HONG KONG—Golden Harvest, meanwhile, has established
a new joint venture of its own. The film conglomerate recently
announced that it has entered into a partnership with government-owned
China Film to both distribute and exhibit products
throughout the country. Dubbed China Golden Harvest
Dongfeng Film Company, the new outfit is said to have been
formed as a response to China's expected acceptance into the
World Trade Organization, which requires the country to loosen
its strict standards regarding film exhibition and distribution.
Golden Harvest and China Film will each maintain a 35 percent
share in the new company, while local theatre circuit Dongfeng
Cinema will hold the remaining stocks.
UPHOLDING VICTORIAN STANDARDS
MELBOURNE—Industry insiders report that the government
of the Australian state of Victoria are investigating two of the
country's largest cinema circuits for possible anti-competitive
practices. Oz exhibition giants Hoyts Cinemas and Village are
believed to have been named in the state's report as having
attempted to stop Reading Entertainment, which entered the
Australian market in 1995, from constructing and operating new
theatres within the country. The Victorian government is presently
reviewing building planning laws in the state, prompted by evidence
of businesses paying residential groups to protest against
certain site developments.
McCarthy and Tubbenhauer, who left Dendy after it was
acquired by Becker Entertainement, were temporarily
forced to stay out of the distribution business because of
non-competitive statutes that were in place as part of their
departure agreement.
OLYMPIC GAMES EXPECTED
TO AFFECT B0X0FFICE RETURNS
SYDNEY—Although overall revenue at Australian cinemas
grew by 12 percent to AUSS704 million (US$417
million) in 1999 compared with the previous year, the
country's MPDAA expects that the figure will only
increase by three to five percent for 2000. Factors contributing
to the modest growth will be the Sydney-held
Olympic Games, which is sure to dominate the country's
attention all of September, as well as a goods and service
tax. which will have theatres raising ticket prices by an
average of nine percent.
RELIANCE OPENS INDIAN CINEMA
NEW DEHLI—Entering India's exhibition fray is local corporation
Reliance Industries, whose plans include penetrating
domestic film, television and Internet industries in addition to
theatrical operations. The site currently being developed by
Reliance is a modern multiplex in the city of Mumbai.
ON THE MOVE
Australian Film Institute chief executive Ruth Jones is exiting
her post after five years with the organization. Jones is leaving for
a position outside of the industry and board member Deb
Verhoeven has been appointed as the AFI's acting CEO
...Australia-based Village Cinemas head of international film buying
Ross Entwistle is departing the circuit as a result of the company's
plans to downsize in Europe. The eight-year veteran, who
was responsible for buying films in 16 different territories for the
chain, has not announced his future plans. Managers for the different
territories will assume film buying activities for Village
Cinemas ...Also leaving as a result of internal consolidation are
United International Pictures' Sydney-based director of marketing
for Southeast Asia and Australasia Douglas Lee and Singaporebased
regional promotions and publicity manager Soon-en Wong.
UIP says that it will make an announcement regarding its marketing
department restructuring in the region sometime in the
near future.
NEW LEADERSHIP AT NICHE
SYDNEY—Former Dendy Group execs Lyn McCarthy and
Graeme Tubbenhauer are returning to Australia's film distribution
sector after a two-year absence to run Niche Pictures. The
partners, which recently acquired the indie distributor, plan to roll
out three to four films annually, with Lions Gate's "Shadow of the
Vampire," Japanese product "Monday" and Canadian documentary
"Grass" included in the company's initial roll out slate.
DO YOU HAVE EXHIBITION-RELATED NEWS
ABOUT THE PACIFIC RIM?
CONTACT FRANCESCA DINGLASAN AT
(626) 396-0250, OR FAX (626) 396-0248,
OR E-MAIL: francescad@boxoffice. com
68 BOXOFFICK

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MAR

••••• OUTSTANDING
•••• VERY GOOD
••• GOOD
•• FAIR
• POOR
(no stars) BOMB
REVIEWS
REVIEWS
Autumn in New York
Benjamin Smoke R-
Better Living
Bless the Child
The Cell
Coyote Ugly R-
Dr. T and the Women
R
R
R
Godzilla 2000 R-
October 2000
DAY AND DATE: OCTOBER 13
BILLY ELLIOT
•••1/2
Starring Jamie Bell, Julie Walters,
Gary Lewis and Jamie Draven. Directed
by Stephen Daldry. Written by Lee Hall.
Produced by Greg Brenman and Jon
Finn. A Universal Focus release. Drama.
almost identical story in an Appalachian
coal town, with the hero developing an
rocketry instead of dance.
interest in
"Billy Elliot" is just as effective, aided
immeasurably by Bell's sympathetic
Rated R for language. Running time: screen debut as a defiant youngster
108 min.
As underdog dramas go, the workingclass
dancing tale "Billy Elliot" rarely
formula—
whose choice of extracurricular activity
ends up requiring more courage than
the tough-guy sports his dad expects
him to pursue. He's particularly impressive
departs from it's "Rocky" in
ballet slippers,
in the
pure and simple.
dance numbers
Daldry manages
But that
shouldn't stop
to sneak
moviegoers' toes
into key emotional
from tapping to
moments
the beat of
without sacrificing
director Stephen
the realism
Daldry's gracefully
of the piece.
executed
Refreshingly,
debut feature.
Lee Hall's screenplay
The
includes
titular
hero is a precocious
moments of moral
11 -year-
weakness for the
old (Jamie Bell)
hero, especially
whose talent for
expressive hoofing
clashes with
regarding his fear
of being branded
a homosexual
Billy Elliot (Jamie Bell) defies convention by taking
just because he's
the macho culture
dance lessons in Universal Focus' "Billy Elliot."
of his
into dance. Simi-
Northern England mining town The
Walters' delightfully bitchy, chainsmoking
larly,
instructor is more compelling
familiar elements of the coming-of-age
genre are all in place—circumstances for being less than an angel.
that conspire to prevent the protagonist
from realizing his dream, the unorthodox
teacher who recognizes his ability
The film has the occasional problem
with pacing, such as when it devotes
more time than necessary to sequences
("Educating Rita's" Julie Walters), the involving striking miners battling with
harsh father trying to force him onto a police. For the most part, however, the
more conventional path ("My Name Is fleet-footed "Billy Elliot" illustrates how
Joe's" Gary Lewis). As an example of just classic storylines, in the right hands, can
how common this theme is, only last work over and over again. Michael
year the excellent "October Sky" set an Tunison
Hollow Man R-
The Original Kings of Comedy
R
The Replacements
R
Restless
R
Space Cowboys R-
30 Days
Thomas and the Magic Railroad ....
The Tic Code R-
Two Family House
R
Urbania
R
Venus Beauty Institute
R
DAY AND DATE: 10/13
Billy Elliot R-108
FLASHBACK: 1971
Get Carter R-113
PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED
Coming films already reviewed
REVIEW DIGEST
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www.boxoffice.com
every Tuesday for
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reviews!
70 (R-108) BOXOFFICE

VENUS BEAUTY INSTITUTE • • •
Starring Nathalie Baye, Bulle Ogier and
Samuel Le Bihan. Directed and written by
Tonie Marshall. Produced by Gilles Sandoz.
A Lot 47 release. ComedylDrama. Frenchlanguage;
subtitled. Not yet rated. Running
time: 105 min.
In the soothing atmosphere of the
Venus Beauty Institute, customers are
given treatments and cosmetics to enhance
their appearances—but the personal lives
of the three beauticians are a mess. The
film focuses on Angele (Nathalie Baye),
who is fortysomething and has been at the
salon longer than her younger co-workers.
Angele's private life has been a series of
:asual sexual encounters. Antoine (Samuel
Le Bihan) watches Angele's latest breakup
with fascination and then ardently pursues
her, even though he has a 20-year-old
fiancee he is supposed to marry in a
month. Angele is alternately attracted and
frightened by Antoine's attentions.
The best parts of the film—which
recently received four Cesars (the French
Oscars), for Best Picture, Best Director,
Best Screenplay and Best Young Actress
are the entertaining scenes of the beauticians'
interactions with their boss (Bulle
Ogier) and their customers. But while
director/writer Tonie Marshall has collaborated
with a talented cast, the central
romance seems forced and eventually
strains credibility. Ed Scheid
TWO FAMILY HOUSE
•••1/2
Starring Michael Rispoli, Kelly
Macdonald, Katherine Narducci and Kevin
Conway. Directed and written by Raymond
De Felitta. Produced by Anne Harrison and
Alan Klingenstein. A Lions Gate release.
Drama. Rated Rfor language and brief sexuality.
Running time: 104 min.
Two Family House," a pithy little film
by writer/director Raymond De Felitta
"Cafe Society"), has a wonderful story to
tell. Though it is simple and fairly predictable
from the first frame, it is nonetheess
engaging, all the more so because it is
or the most part true.
1956, Staten Island: Buddy Visalo
("Summer of Sam's" Michael Rispoli ) is
n everyday Joe whose dreams of a larger
fe have been crushed more than once.
Though he is a wonderful singer, his family,
including his wife Estelle (Katherine
Marducci of TV's "The Sopranos"), dis-
:ouraged his one chance at stardom. Over
years, all of his schemes to be his own
Phe
joss and shed the dreary life of a factory
—vorker have failed. His latest idea is to buy
i two-family flat, live in the upstairs apartnent
and turn the downstairs into a bar
vhere he can fulfill his dream to entertain
ind finally be his own man. As usual,
jelieving that he is neither smart enough
tor talented enough, his family is against
he idea. He does it anyway, and true to
brm runs into problems right off the bat.
t seems that the upstairs apartment is
REVIEWS
occupied by a mean drunk — played
wickedly by noted character actor Kevin
Conway—and his very pregnant wife,
Mary (Kelly Macdonald of "Trainspotting"),
and they have no intention of moving.
When Buddy and his friends attempt to
force the issue, Mary goes into labor. The
baby boy born that day—who tells this
story in hindsight and voiceover—changes
everything. Over the next few months.
Buddy's beliefs about his friends, his family,
his dreams and the nature of love are tested.
As the bond between him, Mary and the
baby boy deepens, their story becomes
something truly extraordinary.
"Two Family House" is sincere without
pandering, and its impact is heightened by
the way De Felitta allows his actors to tell
the story. He trusts them to communicate
it directly to audience with little directorial
interference, though he maintains a solid
visual context and emotional tone. It's outstanding
work all around. Tim Cogshell
DR. T AND THE WOMEN •••
Starring Richard Gere, Helen Hunt,
Farrah Fawcett, Laura Dem, Shelley Long,
Tara Reid, Kate Hudson and Liv Tyler.
Directed by Robert Altman. Written by
Anne Rapp. Produced by Robert Altman
and James McLindon. An Artisan release.
Comedy. Rated R for graphic nudity and
some sexuality. Running time: 122 min.
In "Dr. T and the Women," Richard
Gere plays the titular character, a gynecologist
who, in director Robert Altman's
own words, is "pussy-whipped": His wife
(Farrah Fawcett) has retreated into a childlike
state; his head nurse (Shelley Long)
sees this as an opportunity to seduce him;
his sister-in-law (Laura Dern) has moved
in with her three young girls; his older
daughter (Kate Hudson) is getting married;
and his younger daughter (Tara Reid)
disapproves.
After awhile, one begins to wonder if
any of these women, while all whimsically
amusing, is actually likable. Whiny. selfish
and demanding, they fall over each other
in Altman's trademark energetic long
takes, vying for Dr. T's attention and, it
seems, the meandering camera's.
Then it becomes clear that these women
act this way because Dr. T reveres them
"By nature, they are saints," he says
agreeing to do whatever they want, handling
them with kid gloves and just generally
enabling their despicable behavior.
There is respite, however, in Bree
(Helen Hunt), the new resident golf pro at
Dr. T's country club who becomes his links
partner and his mistress. Confident, independent
and empathetic, she proves to be
just what the doctor ordered. That is.
until
she fails to fall into the role that he's
assigned all his other women, telling him
that she doesn't need or want him to take
care of her.
This revelation proves to push Dr. T
over the edge after his daughter's aforementioned
farcical wedding crumbles into
chaos, but he is redeemed in a coda that,
while refreshingly meaningful and symbolic,
clashes with the capricious tone of the
rest of the Ci\m.—Annlee Ellingson
•••1/2
URBANIA
Starring Dan Futterman, Alan
dimming. Matt Keeslar and Josh
Hamilton. Directed by Jon Shear. Written
by Jon Shear and Daniel Reitz. Produced by
Stephanie Golden, Jon Shear and J. Todd
Harris. A Unapix release. Drama. Rated R
for strong violent and sexual content,
including related dialogue, andfor language
and some drug use. Running time: 105 min.
A stunning, haunting tale that peers
inside the everyday lunacy surrounding a
young New Yorker, "Urbania" is a powerful
exploration of desire, love, memory,
hate, and survival. An exceptional first feature
by director/co-scripter Jon Shear.
"Urbania's" images and dangerous, unexpected
and heartbreaking revelations
linger long after the final fadeout.
Told in an electric, fragmented fashion
(originally shot on 16mm film and digitally
blown-up) "Urbania" draws viewers
into the fascinating but edgy world of
Charlie (Dan Futterman), who wanders
the grim city streets visiting old friends
(including Alan Cumming and Matt
Keeslar) and making dubious new ones,
including a lucky bartender and a daytime
soap opera star. A lingering eerieness follows
Charlie on his journey and gradually
he becomes aware of an increasing weirdness
that colors the events he experiences,
so that he—and we— aren't sure exactly
what is real or what isn't. Sharing Charlie's
private twilight zone are a cocky and blithe
kidney thief, an unfortunate French poodle
and a familiar tattooed stranger.
Charlie's growing obsession with the
stranger leads to a startling and shattering
confrontation and strangely optimistic
conclusion that force an entire re-evaluation
of what had come before.
Shear, who co-wrote the screenplay
with Daniel Reitz from his play "Urban
Folk Tales," succeeds in making
"Urbania" fresh and alive by keeping the
skewed action primarily from Charlie's
point of view, coyly adding an element of
mystery. The "is-it-real-or-isn't-it?"
dynamic never overwhelms the story, but
rather serves as a heightened reflection of
Charlie's bewildered state of mind. The
gritty harshness of urban life likewise
intensifies Charlie's confusion and sense of
alienation, yet in reality the action could
take place in any city.
A nominee for the Grand Jury Prize at
this year's Sundance festival and winner
of Best First Feature at the San
Francisco Lesbian & Gay Film Festival.
"Urbania" proves that there are still new
and exciting ways to tell old tales and
that daring filmmakers are still out
there. Luisa F. Ribeiro
October, 2000 (R-109) 71

30 DAYS **1/2
Starring Ben Shcnkman and Arija Bareikis.
Directed and written by Aaron Harnick.
Produced by Matthew Rego and Michael
Rego. An Arrow release. Romantic comedy.
Not yet rated. Running time: 87 min.
Our first introduction to single, thirtysomething
Jordan Trainer (Ben
Shenkman) finds him charming his way into
one meaningless conquest's bed, then forgetting
the name of another one-night stand
who approaches him while he's on a blind
date. Thus "30 Days," about an average Joe's
plight to find romance—and himself—in an
emotionally complex world, begins with the
malodorous whiff of an Eric Schaeffer or
Ed Burns-caliber ego-fest by depicting its
underwhelming protagonist as a reluctant
heartbreaker. It is a relief, then, that writerhelmer
Aaron Harnick avoids the pitfalls of
smug self-indulgence by a) not casting himself
as the lead and b) eventually demonstrating
that Jordan is a genuinely nice guy.
It's not clear, however, why he hangs out
with slacker friends who undermine each
other while struggling to make their uninspired
Seinfeldian banter sound natural, nor
why he would fall for a neurotic mess (Arija
Bareikis) who's saddled with male-scripted
exaggerations of cliche female peccadilloes.
Christine James
THE CELL **1/2
Starring Jennifer Lopez, Vince Vaughn
and Vincent D'Onofrio. Directed by Tarsem
Singh. Written by Mark Protosevich.
Produced by Julio Caro and Eric McLeod.
A New Line release. Horror. Rated R for
bizarre violence and sexual images, nudity
and language. Running time: 107 min.
The marketing campaign for "The
Cell"—the debut of award-winning commercial
and music video director Tarsem
Singh, who's known for his "stunning art
direction" (as touted by the press notes)
relies heavily on these talents, showing stars
Jennifer Lopez and Vincent D'Onofrio in
elaborate costumes and on surreal sets.
While these elements are indeed stunning in
the characters' coma-induced dream
sequences, the plot points that get them
there leave something to be desired.
they have to wear skin-tight rubber suits
and be suspended in mid-air is anyone's
guess—Catherine can slip into her
patient's mind, not only to analyze what
might be wrong but to make contact and
try to help. Lopez is distracting in the
role—either because she's not good or
because she's, well, Jennifer Lopez, but
more likely because of the way the part is
written. Most of what we find out about
her is through other characters' dialogue.
Meanwhile. FBI Agent Peter Novak
REVIEWS
(Vince Vaughn) catches serial killer Carl
Stargher (D'Onofrio) just a little too late
the creep has slipped into a schizophreniainduced
coma, leaving one victim behind
to die in an unknown location. The only
way to find out where she is, of course, is
to get inside his head. Soon Peter is knocking
on Catherine's door.
It's a full 35 minutes before these two
storylines even collide, and up until this
point, the art direction—aside from
Catherine's fleeting forays into her
patient's desert landscapes— is pretty
bland. Juxtaposition seems to be the goal
here, but does the institute where
Catherine works have to be that architecturally
uninteresting?
Likewise, the tone of "The Cell" is
uneven. Visually arresting, the dream
sequences are also a complicated psychological
look at what makes us who we are
how our life experiences affect who we
become and how we see ourselves in our
own inner worlds. But outside, Vaughn is
playing a pseudo action hero, overseeing a
manhunt complete with SWAT teams, helicopters
and lame dialogue like, "If we can't
stop him, he ain't gonna stop himself" and
"You're a bad man, aren't you Carl?,"
directed at the suspect's file mug shot.
Still,
in addition to its provocative production
design, "The Cell" does include a
remarkable performance by D'Onofrio,
who continues to impress in difficult roles,
here as Carl—an awkward, almost shy
recluse—and as his beastly alter ego. That
he pulls off both with authority proves his
immense talent. Annlee Ellingson
••
GODZILLA 2000
Starring Takehiro Murata and Naomi
Nishida. Directed by Takao Okawara.
Written by Hiroshi Kashiwahara and Wataru
Mimura. Produced by Shogo Tomiyama. A
Columbia release. Sci-fi. Rated PG for monster
violence and mild language.
Once again. Japan brings audiences face
to face with Godzilla (Tsutomu Kitagawa is
the guy in the rubber suit) for an all-new
battle adventure against both the military
and a space alien called Orga. As with the
majority of the previous films featuring
Godzilla, the military treat him as public
In her first major role since the critically
acclaimed "Out of Sight," Lopez plays enemy number one and try to exterminate
Catherine Deane, a child psychologist the mutated reptile. With lizard skin flying
who's been recruited to counsel a little boy about in an all-out barrage, the attack is
who's slipped into a coma. Through an suddenly halted as the soldiers realize they
unnecessarily extrinsic mechanism—why need Godzilla to defeat a new monster that
has awakened from hibernation after six
millennia. The malignant creature surfaces
from his underwater haven in search of a
host to house its deteriorating form, and
Godzilla's rapid regenerative capabilities
make him the ideal candidate.
The star of this film is actually Godzilla
Jr.
In Japan, there has been a resurgence of
interest in the King of Monsters; a halfdozen
new films in the franchise have been
made since 1984. Then, to the surprise of
loyal fans in
1995, after Godzilla defeated
The Destroyah, his body temperature
reached 1 ,200 degrees Celsius, causing him
to have a total meltdown and die. The high
levels of radiation that emitted from his
body posed another threat to mankind, but
they were quickly absorbed by Godzilla Jr.,
causing him to evolve.
This explains why the current Godzilla is
smaller and not as skilled in fighting. His
lack of skill is most apparent when he starts
biting Orga during the climatic battle. The
original Godzilla knew he was a badass and
liked to show off; he took pleasure in making
a mockery of his opponent. The usual
taunting was disappointingly missing from
this fight. True fans will also notice that
there are a considerable number of people
in the city. When Godzilla arrived in the
past,
people scattered and by the end the
film, there was nobody around except the
main stars. This time, there are crowds of
people gathered as though they're watching
gladiators joust, thus undermining the perceived
threat.
Like Godzilla Jr., "Godzilla 2000" has
a long way to go before it lives up to its
legacy. Dwayne E. Leslie
THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY
***
Starring and written by Steve Harvey,
Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and
Bernie Mac. Directed by Spike Lee. Produced
by David Gale and Walter Latham. A
Paramount release. Comedy. Rated R for
strong language. Running time 117 min.
There are several measures of a comedy
concert film. For instance, there are the predecessor
films, like those of the brilliant
Richard Pryor. the talented Eddie Murphy
and the ebullient Martin Lawrence. By that
measure, "The Original Kings of Comedy,"
featuring actor/comics Steve Harvey,
Cedric the Entertainer, D.L. Hughley and
Bernie Mac, is a pretty good movie.
Another yardstick is the pervasive comedy
klatches that populate late night television,
including re-runs of The Caroline Comedy
Hour, Def Jam and their ilk. By comparison,
"The Original Kings of Comedy" is a
very good movie. And then there are the
seemingly endless HBO comedy specials,
including those of Jerry Seinfeld. Ellen
DeGeneres, Chris Rock and Dave
Chappelle. just to name a few. They have
the attitude of a theatrical comedy-concert
film, but without the big audience and 20-
foot-high screen, it's not quite the same,
thus making "The Original Kings of
Comedy" that much better by contrast.
Of course, the best gauge of a comedyconcert
film is how hard the audience
laughs. If you are in an audience that
finds four comics doing fairly similar
jokes about race relations, growing up
poor, sexuality and bathroom activities
funny, then "The Original Kings of
Comedy" will measure up as a very good
movie indeed. Suffice it to say. what's
"funny" is subjective.— Tim Cogshell
11 (R-110) BOXOFFICE

\ Anthony
1
Produced
attracting much of a following in either the
U.S. or China.
The film tells the story of two friends
Leah Quinn (Catherine Kellner), a romantically
frustrated young American woman
working at an English-language Beijing
newspaper, and Richard Kao (David Wuf,
REVIEWS
RESTLESS **i/2
Keane (Gere). At first she is merely another
Starring Catherine Kellner and David lovely conquest (he was even involved
Wu. Directed and written by Jule Gilfillan.
Produced by Peter Shiao. An Arrow release.
Romantic drama. English and Mandarinlanguage;
with her mother once), but her innocence
and delight in the simplest joys of life
spark in him a desire for something more.
subtitled. Unrated. Running time: Of course, what is behind her fascination
99 min.
with life's trivial bits—conveyed by her
Touting itself as the first ever Englishlanguage
overuse of the exclamation "wow!"—is the
film shot in contemporary fact that she has the dreaded "terminal ill-
ness."
Beijing, the U.S./Chinese co-production
"Restless," a well-meant but too obvious Clearly the intent of the filmmakers
attempt to depict the Chinese capital as a here is to reach back to an era of classic
filmmaking and develop the complicated
hip, swingin' mecca for cosmopolitan
twentysomethings in search of love and emotional dynamics and satisfaction of
fulfillment, looks to have an uphill battle
films like "An Affair to Remember" or
even last year's "End of the Affair." Here,
actress-turned-director Joan Chen, who
last year received good notices for her
helming debut on the Chinese-laneuage
film "Xiu Xiu: The Sent Down Girl," is
struggling with inferior material here.
(Rufus Sewell. looking as if he wished he
was anywhere but there), and Cody's
abrupt if unsurprising disappearance.
Nightmarish visions, death threats and
advice from an occult expert (Ian Holm,
the saddest waste of talent here) all lead
to a few mildly engaging chase scenes, but
too many shots of hovering gargoyles and
teeming rats provide laughable effects and
little suspense. A better script or stronger
direction might have helped, but without
either, this one goes to the Devil. Luisa
F. Ribeiro
THE REPLACEMENTS **i/2
Starring Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman,
Brooke Langton, Jack Warden and Jon
Favreau. Directed by Howard Deutch.
Written by Unce McKewin. Produced by
Dylan Sellers. A Warner Bros, release.
Comedy. Rated PG-13 for some crude sexual
humor and language. Running time: 117 min.
As underdog sports movies go, the
Screenwriter Allison Burnetts script is
a Chinese-American beach bum with little generally depthless and always trite. Chen
appreciation for his Chinese heritage. and cinematographer Ghangwei Gu have football comedy "The Replacements" is a
When Richard arrives in Beijing to fulfill crafted a film that is lovely to look at, capturing
lot like its misfit heroes—it's not exactly
his grandfathers dying wish that his ashes
be returned to his home village, the visit
sets in motion events through which both
the New York cityscape with a tone
and beauty last seen in director Woody
Allen's "Manhattan." But pretty pictures
poetry in motion, but it does manage to
put some points on the board in its clumsy,
well-meaning way. And speaking of
do not a good film make. Tim Cogshell underdogs, it's hard not to cheer for a film
will ultimately experience the bliss of
whirlwind romance in exotic surroundings.
so confident it can win the day with a
Unlike Mark Salzman's autobiographical
BLESS THE CHILD ••
third-rate script and "The Matrix's" fasci-
1990 film. "Iron & Silk," which Starring Kim Basinger, Rufus Sewell, natingly untalented Keanu Reeves leading
sought very seriously to understand Jimmy Smits, Ian Holm and Christina the team.
Eastern ways through Western eyes, Ricci. Directed by Chuck Russell. Written The "Rocky"-in-cleats storyline is set
"Restless" seems more interested in China by Tom Rickman, Clifford Green and Ellen during a pro football strike much like the
as an unconventional backdrop for a conventional
youth romance. Closer in story Paramount release. Thriller. Rated R for The fictional Washington Sentinels'
Green. Produced by Mace Neufeld. A one that cut the 1987 NFL season short.
and spirit to Hollywood fluff than anything
drug content and brief language. spoiled regular players are holding out for
violence,
resembling a Chinese art film, Running time: 108 min.
more millions, so it's up to a former coach
"Restless" joins a long line of well-made
(Gene Hackman) to put together a
It isn't that "Bless the Child," an oldfashioned
but hopelessly mediocre tales of
cult story of the Devil versus the replacement squad for the last four games
Westernized youths "searching for them- Angels, is so bad; rather, in throwing away before the playoffs. Naturally, he looks to
I selves" in faraway lands.— Wade Major
such unlikely characters as assorted
its impressive cast in an over-simplified
story propped up by hollow thrills and crooks, an unhinged police commando, a
AUTUMN IN NEW YORK ••
cheesy special effects, it's strictly cable or sumo wrestler, a deaf man and a Welsh
Starring Richard Gere, Winona Ryder, direct-to-video fare and has no business soccer bum to fill up the roster. For his
LaPaglia, Elaine Stritch, Vera cluttering up theatres, even on the downside
quarterback, he turns to a onetime college
[Farmiga and Sherry Stringfield. Directed
of summer.
star (Reeves) who lost his confidence after
by Joan Chen. Written by Allison Burnett. Kim Basinger appears ill at ease playing an infamously disastrous bowl game.
by Gary Lucchesi, Amy Robinson stoic single nurse Maggie O'Connor, Much of what follows plays like it was
'and Tom Rosenberg. An MGM release. whose strung-out sister Jenna (Angela put together by replacement filmmakers.
Wramal Romance. Rated PG-13 for language
Bettis) presents her with a week-old baby Director Howard Deutch ("Grumpier Old
and some sensuality. Running time: before disappearing one Christmas Eve. Men") and screenwriter Vince McKewin
1105 min.
Maggie rises to the responsibility of motherhood
stumble through every cliche in the book
Melodrama is bad enough, contrived
admirably, even when baby Cody is as the Sentinels make their predictable arc
(melodrama is worse, and badly written diagnosed as possibly autistic. Six years from laughingstocks to hometown heroes.
[contrived melodrama is "Autumn in New pass with Cody, under the tutelage of nuns Fortunately, there's room in the film's
[York." A mish-mash of well-worn themes at a special school, developing into a gentle
pearly two-hour running time for some
soul with surprising gifts.
inspired physical comedy on the gridiron,
land genres, the saccharine storyline in this
JRichard Gere/Winona Ryder vehicle combines
A series of brutal child murders alarm including a memorable bit about a receiver
elements of "Pretty Woman," "Love
("Magnolia's" Orlando Jones) unable to
the community, and Maggie receives a
Etory" and your average daytime soap strange warning from a young addict pry various objects out of his Stick-Umcovered
bpera. Though it finds the occasional sincere
hands. Veteran bad-movie sur-
(Christina Ricci) connecting the murders
moment of romance or humor, it is to Cody. Enter FBI investigator John vivor Hackman even manages to wring
Irife with one cliche after another, including Travis (Jimmy Smits. sleepwalking in some emotion out of the coach's comball
lines of dialogue you can finish without "NYPD Blue" mode), a seminary school speeches. Alas, no amount of coaching can
j:ven seeing the movie.
drop-out who is the Bureau's cult and ritual
save the moments riding on Reeves'
monotone dramatic delivery. It's a good
I Charlotte (Ryder) is a dazzling young
murder expert. Added to the mix is
lat designer who becomes involved with
)m aging playboy restaurateur named Will
Jenna's return as the wife of a suspicious thing football movies are a team sport.
self-help organization's leader. Erie Stark — Michael Tunison
October. 2000 (R-lll) 73

COYOTE UGLY **1/2
Starring Piper Peraho, Adam Garcia,
Maria Bello and Melanie Lynskey. Directed
by David McNally. Written by Gina Wenkos
and Jeff Nathanson. Produced by Jerry
Bruckheimer and Chad Oman. A Buena
Vista release. DramalRomance. Rated PG-
13 for sensuality. Running time: 103 min.
Call it "Flashdance" meets "Cocktail."
A kid with ambition to be a songwriter
comes to the big city in search of fame and
fortune. But instead of dancing on the
stage at a bar. she lands a job where the
stunningly attractive hired help actually
dance on the bar itself. That's when they're
not pouring drinks for wildly enthusiastic
customers, that is. In both cases, however,
they get regularly drenched in water.
Welcome, folks, to the soaking wet
dreams of Jerry Bruckheimer. "Coyote
Ugly" is everything you would expect from
the man with the loudest, flashiest company
logo in the film business. It's noisy and
showy with a driving music track like most
of his other movies—ear candy and eye
candy in equal measure. The fact that the
story has some gaping holes in it is not a
big drawback as most moviegoers will have
forgotten most of the film by the time they
get to their car. That bar, for example,
would have been shut down by the cops in
a New York minute. Even in the Big Apple
you cannot start a fire on the counter just
so it makes the dancing more interesting.
But none of it really matters. Piper
Perabo, in the updated Jennifer Beals role,
is sweet and charming. She has the winsome
appeal of a young Julia Roberts and
carries her first starring role with grace.
— Mike Kerrigan
HOLLOW MAN ••
Starring Kevin Bacon, Elisabeth Shue
and Josh Brolin. Directed by Paul Verhoeven.
Written by Andrew W. Marlowe. Produced
by Douglas Wick and Alan Marshall. A
Columbia release. Sci-fi thriller. Rfor strong
violence, language and some sexualityInudity.
Running time: 114 min.
While — Paul Verhoeven's last couple of
films "Starship Troopers" and
"Showgirls"—may have survived bad
reviews by marketing themselves to a certain
extent as camp, especially in ancillary
markets such as home video, "Hollow
Man" will have a harder time pulling that
off. Ludicrous dialogue becomes even sillier
when uttered by semi-marquee names,
and in a plot that could/should have been
a psychological thriller, gore, more often
than not. is substituted for drama.
Scientist Sebastian Cane (Kevin Bacon)
and his colleagues, Linda Foster (Elisabeth
Shue) and Matt Kensington (Josh Brolin),
have not only discovered the formula for
invisibility, they have finally figured out
how to reverse the process. But when the
three of them appear before the Pentagon,
which is funding their research, Sebastian
REVIEWS
lies, claiming that while there is no antidote,
they are very, very close to uncovering
it. His reasoning is that he wants to
take the experiment to the next level by
testing it on himself, which he knows the
military financiers will never approve.
Three days after disappearing into thin
air, Sebastian is horrified to find that his
reversal serum doesn't work on him, and
he's forced to continue to haunt the underground
lab while his colleagues work day
and night researching the problem.
Meanwhile, Sebastian, who already had
something of a God complex, is feeling the
effects of his condition, which has been
known to cause increasingly aggressive
behavior in test animals. He begins to wander
out into the world occasionally, against
his
colleagues' wishes, and discovers that
his ex Linda and Matt are having a secret
affair, further fueling his aggression.
Eventually, the couple decides to turn him
in to the Pentagon, a move that would
threaten all their careers, and Sebastian
stops at nothing to prevent that from happening.
First of all, it must be noted that the
special effects here are awesome. During
Sebastian's conversion, he disappears from
the outside in, at one point revealing his
beating heart. The reversion process is
even more thrilling, as the serum spreads
through an invisible circulatory system
before the organs, then bones, then muscles,
then skin reappear. Likewise, it's clear
that Bacon is present even in the scenes in
which he's invisible. His form becomes
clear when he's doused with water, fire
extinguisher powder or even blood.
However, special effects are supposed
to enhance a good story and good performances,
both of which "Hollow Man"
lacks. But more than that, the approach is
all wrong. The best part of the movie is
when Sebastian first emerges from the lab
and drives his fancy sports car home in a
latex mask and gloves. (Sunglasses hide his
empty eye sockets, and he tries to keep his
mouth closed.) While at a stoplight, the
kids in the next car begin to make fun of
him, pointing at him and jeering that he
looks funny. Sebastian whips off his
shades and opens his mouth wide, scaring
the bejeezus out of them, naturally, before
flooring it and pulling yet another disappearing
act.
The point of being invisible is being out
in the real world—spying on your friends
and neighbors, throwing stuff around, scaring
little kids—just generally causing chaos
and confusion. Sebastian does this, but only
minimally. The majority of the action takes
place in the lab, where everybody knows he's
there and what he's capable of, so instead of
edge-of-your-seat suspense, the action
becomes a who's-going-to-get-sliced-anddiced-next
gore fest. Annlee Ellingson
PREVIOUSLY REVIEWED: FALL/HOLIDAY FILMS
The alphabetical list below notes the issue of BOXOFFICE in which our review of an
upcoming film appeared, the star rating and the distributor/release date information.
"Animal Factory" •••: Silver Nitrate, 10113; see April 2000.
"Autumn Heart" ***l/2: Arrow, 918; see April 1999.
"Barenaked in America" ***: Shooting Gallery, 9129; see November 1999.
"Broken Hearts Club" •••: SPC, 9129; see July 2000.
"Crime + Punishment in Suburbia" ••: MGM, 9115; see April 2000.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" ••••: SPC, 1218; see July 2000.
"Dancer in the Dark" ***: Fine Line, 9123; see August 2000.
"Double Parked" ••1/2: Castle Hill, 9122; see April 2000.
"Girlfight" **l/2: Columbia, 9129; see April 2000.
"The Golden Bowl" *•: Miramax, 1113; see August 2000.
"Gova in Bordeaux" ••: SPC, 9115; see November 1999.
"Left Luggage" ••••: Castle Hill, 9122; see June 1999.
"Me & Isaac Newton" **: First Look, October undated; see December 1999.
"Nurse Betty" • ••: USA, 918; see July 2000.
"O Brother, Where Art Thou?" •••: Buena Vista, 12122; see August 2000.
"Pola X" ••: Winstar, 918; see July 1999.
"Requiem for a Dream" ***l/2: Artisan, 1016; see August 2000.
"A Room for Romeo Brass" ••: USA, 10127; see November 1999.
"Shadow of the Vampire" ***l/2: Lions Gate, 12129; see July 2000.
"Songcatcher" ***l/2: Trimark, 1211; see April 2000.
"Titanic Town" ••1/2: Shooting Gallery, 911; see November 1998.
"Under Suspicion" **: Lions Gate, 9122; see September 2000.
"Vatel" •*: Miramax, 12125; see July 2000.
"The Way of the Gun" •••: Artisan, 918; see September 2000.
"Went to Coney Island..." •••: Phaedra, 918; see June 2000.
"What's Cooking?" ••••: Trimark, 10127; see April 2000.
"Whipped" **: Destination, 911; see March 2000.
"Woman on Top" •••1/2: Fox Searchlight, 9122; see June 2000.
"Wonder Boys" (re-release) •***: Paramount, 10120; see April 2000.
"The Yards" ••••: Miramax, 10120; see August 2000.
74 (R-112) BOXOFFICE

i
Kastner
•
release.
'
i household
SPACE COWBOYS •••
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee
Jones, Donald Sutherland and James
Garner. Directed and produced by Clint
Eastwood. Written by Ken Kaufman &
Howard Klausner. A Warner Bros, release.
Drama. Rated PG-li for some language.
Running time: 130 min.
Four senior citizen fly boys come out of
retirement and go into space to fix a vintage
Russian spacecraft that's heading our
way. As preposterous as the premise seems.
Clint Eastwood and his own personal
over-the-hill-gang make it work. It may be
painted in broad strokes—at times to the
point of caricature—but it's entertaining
and once the geezers actually
get off the ground the visuals
more than make up for the
shortcomings.
One thing that helps is that
the writers actually make the
mission believable. The quartet,
who had been selected as
the first astronauts 40 years
earlier until they were
replaced by a monkey, has
been told by NASA that they
are finally going into space.
However, the secret plan is to
leave them on the ground
after they share their knowhow
with much younger men.
But the press gets wind of the mission (one
"The Ripe Stuff") and NASA
headline is
has no choice but to launch them.
The movie telegraphs early on that
there's more to the dead Russian space
junk than meets the eye. And, of course,
our guys have to save the world before they
can get back to Earth for a cold one.
But no matter—they do it with great
style and Eastwood, as always, is in total
command of situation, both on the screen
and behind the camera.
It is actually a great diversion seeing the
four actors doing a version of "Apollo 13"
REVIEWS
FLASHBACK: February 8, 1971
What BOXOFFICE Said About...
GET CARTER
[Sylvester Stallone takes the title role in Warner Bros. ' remake of this edgy thriller,
which opens October 6; Michael Caine, who played Carter in the original, co-stars.]
Michael Caine, a London strongarm man, returns to his hometown of Newcastle to
attend brother Frank's funeral. Officially, Frank drowned when he drunkenly drove his
car into a river, but Caine thinks otherwise.
As tough and unsympathetic a character as he's ever played is Michael Caine's
role as London gangster lack Carter. Based on Ted Lewis' novel "Jack's Return
Home," the MGM British production is nasty,
violent and sexy all at once. It should please in
the action market, but won't win any laurels for
Caine, although his portrayal of the vicious
anti-hero impresses. Producer Michael Klinger
made "Repulsion" and "The Penthouse," in
similar veins. Debuting as a film director, Mike
Hodges from British TV relies on symbolism too
heavily but makes excellent use of locations in
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, with the new clashing
with the traditional. Hodges also did the screenplay,
lingering over the plot lines for more than
half of the film before bursting into an orgy of
violence. Playwright John Osborne follows up
his fine celluloid acting debut in "First Love"
with a good job here. Rosemarie Dunham handles
her landlady role well, overshadowing nominal co-star Britt Ekland. Despite
major billing, Ekland merely has a cameo part, but makes her phone conversation
with Caine a highly erotic interlude.
EXPLOITIPS:
Arrange tie-ins with Ted Lewis' novel, "lack's Return Home." Play up the backgrounds.
CATCHLINES:
Michael Caine is Carter, a Very Tough Character.. .He's a Private Eye,
an Underworld Gangster and a Notorious Ladies' Man in Newcastle, England.
for the AARP set and proving teens don't own. Things get more intense when his trated or simply unable to concentrate, he
have all the fun. Whether the golden oldies three daughters, one of whom he has never twitches, grunts, acts out obsessively,
will turn out in large numbers to share the
experiences morbid thoughts and says
met, confront him about both facts and
experience is the big question. Mike
Kerrigan
rumors
Eventually,
concerning
everyone
his
learns
past
to
actions.
cope with
inappropriate. sometimes hurtful
things—all completely outside of his control.
He's teased by his schoolmates, and
hatred, love and forgiveness. Having
BETTER LIVING •*
endured a bombardment of confusion with his absentee father mostly ignores him.
Starring Olympia Dukakis, Roy
His single mother (Polly Draper) is his
little payoff, the audience may not be as
Scheider, Deborah Hedwall, Catherine quick to forgive. Dwayne E. Leslie
rock, but her own life suffers in the
Corpeny and Wendy Hoopes. Directed and
process.
written by Max Mayer. Produced by Ron THE TIC CODE ***
"The Tic Code's" extremely limited
and Lemore Syvan. A Cowboy Starring Chris Marquette, Polly Draper, distribution is not the measure of the
Comedy. Unrated. Running time: Gregory Hines, Desmond Robertson, Carol film. It is a solid effort buoyed by
95 min.
Kane, Tony Shalhouh, Camryn Manheim writer/co-star Polly Draper's bright and
This dark comedy that's long on dark and David Johansen. Directed by Gary pithy first feature script, as well as several
and short on comedy finds a dysfunctional Winick. Written by Polly Draper. Produced exceptional performances, particularly
in which sex is openly encouraged,
by Polly Draper, Sara Pillshury and Karen those of young Chris Marquette as the
the mother (Olympia Dukakis) is on a Tangora. A Lions Gate release. Drama. afflicted but brilliant Miles, and Gregory
personal mission to jackhammer her way Rated R for language and intense sequences. Hines as a talented saxophonist who also
through the basement wall to create a room Running time: 89 min.
has the disease. Though the movie is a bit
I for an unknown purpose and her estranged Miles (Chris Marquette) is a 12-yearold
unfocused, it is sincere, emotionally
piano prodigy with Tourette's syn-
strong, well-executed and worth looking
husband (Roy Scheider) returns after a 15-
iyear absence with a hidden agenda of his drome. When he is nervous, angry, frus-
for.— Tim CogsheII
October, 2000 (R-113) 75

REVIEWS
THOMAS AND THE
MAGIC RAILROAD •*
Starring Alec Baldwin,
Mara Wilson, Peter Fonda and
Michael E. Rodgers. Directed
and written by Britt Alkroft.
Produced by Britt Alkroft and
Phil Fehrle. A Destination
release. Family. Rated G.
Running time: 86 min.
Thomas the Tank Engine
has been taking families on
journeys of the imagination
for many years. Originally
spawned in the 1940s by
Reverend Wilber Awdry,
Thomas the Tank Engine was
given new life in 1983 when
Britt Allcroft created the TV
series "Thomas the Tank
Engine and Friends," with
Ringo Starr doing the narration.
In this all-new adventure.
Thomas (voiced by Edward
Glen) proves that even little
steam engines can do big
things. When a renegade
diesel engine threatens to
wreck the harmony of the
magical Island of Sodor.
Thomas and his steam engine
friends must band together to
help Mr. Conductor (Alec
Baldwin) find a magical lost
steam engine before the
diesels do, because if the magical
engine is destroyed, the
steam engines will cease to
exist and the diesel engines
can take charge.
Unfortunately for the steam
engines, Mr. Conductor loses
his magic powder. Now,
Sodor's only hope lies with
Thomas and a 12-year old girl
named Lilly (Mara Wilson),
who embark on a quest to find
the lost engine and a new
source of gold dust for Mr.
Conductor.
The story is light-hearted
and very tame. Its primary
audience is patrons whose
ages are in the very low single
digits and are easily amused
by simplistic comedy, weak
special effects and songs that
are only catchy while watching
the film.
The main problem with this
film is that it is too complicated
for its toddler viewers,
whereas the storybooks are
appropriately simplistic. Kids
who are old enough to understand
the multi-tiered storyline
are too old to believe in the
magic. Dwayne E. Leslie
BENJAMIN SMOKE
***1/2
Starring Robert "Benjamin"
Dickerson, Tim Campion, Brian
Halloran, Coleman Lewis and
Bill Taft. Directed by Jem
Cohen and Peter Sillen.
Produced by Jo Jamison and
Neil Fried. A Cowboy release.
Documentary. Unrated.
Running time: 80 min.
"Benjamin Smoke" is ostensibly
a documentary, but in
reality it is a portrait of a transitory
being—a unique person
whose peculiar life was captured
almost by happenstance.
The film was shot on shortends
of Super 8 and 16mm film
by co-directors Jem Cohen and
Peter Sillen (both New Yorkbased
experimental and documentary
filmmakers) after they
were introduced by singer
Michael Stipe of R.E.M. to the
music of Robert Dickerson,
aka Benjamin, an enigmatic
speed freak, drag queen and
lead singer of several underground
poetic punk/jazz/quartet
bands. Benjamin, as he
prefers to be known, is a reflection
of an era. the Zeitgeist
born of the punk movement of
the late '70s in dingy dives likes
CBGB's. where Benjamin
worked as a sweeper during its
heyday. A dirt-poor, deep-
South Oscar Wilde who lived in
a squalid area called
Cabbagetown, Benjamin wrote
songs and told stories about all
he'd seen and done in his fringe
existence. He is part poet, part
performer, part philosopher and
one hundred percent original.
His story is tragic in some ways,
punctuated by illness, abuse and
drug use, but the filmmakers,
using bits and pieces of footage
captured during interviews and
performances over several
encounters with Benjamin and
his associates, find something
undeniably magnificent about
this scrawny little chain-smoking
eccentric, whose life and
music influenced the likes of
Michael Stipe, Patti Smith
(who appears in the film) and
countless others who grew out
of the underground movement
where he once reigned.
Benjamin died in 1999 of
complications from AIDS,
leaving a legacy of music and
ideas fortunately captured in
this unusual, captivating little
film.— Tim CogsheII
Review Digest
Genre key: (Ac) Action; (Ad) Adventure; (Ani) Animated;
(C) Comedy: (D) Drama; (Doc) Documentary; (F) Fantasy; (Hor)
Honor; ( M) Musical; (My) Mystery; (R) Romance; (Sat) Satire;
(SF) Science Fiction; (Sus) Suspense; (Th) Thriller; (W) Western.
St o
a r> O £ S.
The Adventures of Rockv
andBullwinklePG(Uni)
§ a 5 3 £ 3 w
*S i S £ 1 1 § 1
ss q a Si h p h

moviefone>
A Service of America Online
Moviegoer Poll and Activity Report for July 2000
Top 10 Exhibitors & Theatres
Most Requested Exhibitors
Exhibitor
Total
LCE
1,521,824
UNITED ARTISTS
1,198,537
AMC THEATRES
1,028.232
REGAL/ACT III
792,574
GENERAL CINEMA
571,081
HARKINS
366,793
CINEMARK
319,619
CENTURY
309,042
CLEARVIEW
304,584
NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS 248,691
Most Requested Theatres
Rank Market Theatre
Last Month's
Total Requests Rank
Hark Metro
56,510 9
LCE Theatres Metreon 48.987
UA Riverview Plaza
48,588
Hark Arizona Mills 24
46.746
UA Cheltenham
40,965
Reg Palace 18 Cinemas 39,536
UA Union Square 14 Theatre 39 395
:
Hark Superstition Springs 25 39 276
AMC 1000 Van Ness 37
LCE Lincoln Square 37,
Most Requested Theatres Per Screen
Total
Requests
Rank
Theatre
Total
Last Month's
Rank
Total
Requests
Rank
Total Last Month's
Requests Rank
Ziegfeld Theatre
Point Nasa Cinema 6
8,564
Astor Plaza
West Oaks 7
7,313
Chelsea West Cinemas
Bay Area Sixplex
National
Har-Mar 1-3
Vista Theatre, The
Highland Theatre
Beverly Connection
Centennial Lakes 8
Festival Mall Cinemas
Cinema 10 Town Center
Northstar 8
Hazard Center 7
12.501
Galaxy 9
21,324
Rancho 16
27.056
Phoenix
Metro
56,510
Delk 10 Theatre
550,993
Three Fountains 4
Southwest 8 Luxury Cinemas
12.161
23,083
Parkway Pointe 15
Merchants Walk Cinema
11.357
5.914
Miami
Kendall 9
36,108
Colorado Center
15,922
523,485
Blockbuster Imax Theatre
3,007
Cinderella Twin Drive-In
2,811
Movies At The Falls
35.114
Continental
7.745
Philadelphia
Cinemagic 3 At Penn
25.253
Boulevard Drive In Theater
,843
502,398
Sameric
I-70 4 Screen Drive In
Chicago
492,928
Cheltenham
Lincoln Village 7-9
Webster Place
7,950
20,035
Washington DC
134,231
Red Bridge 4
Uptown
Wisconsin Avenue
6.854
7,434
Biograph
7,256
Cinema 1
San Francisco
Metro Theatre
San Antonic
Cielo Vista 1
24,815
455,694
Cinema 21
133.219
Century Plaza
9.094
Metro Center
Rivercenter 9
9.525
Toronto
York
Las Vegas
Luxor Imax Theatre
2.132
328,942
Promenade Theatres
Eglinton Theatre
3,005
129.911
Showcase Cinemas
The Rainbow Promenade
11.199
11,126
Cheri
13.169
Seattle
2.594
Fenway 13
32.779
116,696
Northgate
2.383
Chestnut Hill Cinema
10.563
Neptune Theatre
=
Boston Museum ot Science Cnmk Cmematk TneatresCmStat
Genet ji
Thelites
Landmatk Theatte Cotp
Leiont Tneattes

mTmSSTSSA
HUWIb KtLtASE UHAHT
October 2000
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troy@bci-builds.com
CINEMA SUPPLY 502 South Market Street, P.O.Box 146
Millersburg, PA 17061
admin@cinemasupply.com
DOLBY LABORATORIES
DTS (DIGITAL TH!
SYSTEMS INC.)
5171 Clareton Drive
Agoura Hills, CA 91301
www.filmitcon.i
GLOBALMIC INC.
info@globalmic.com
Louis Bornwasser
10 Harkness Blvd.
Fredericksburg, VA 22401
Joe Ward, Frank Fisher
salesinfo@displayinc.com
wvwi.tlieatre-displays.com
JMC (JOHN MEYER CONSULTING)
mail@johnmeyerconsulting.(
www.johnmeyerconsulting.c
info@kinetronics.com
O'SHEA 8 COGHLAN
selkins@maroevich.com
sales@martek-us.com
www.naconline.org
NATIONAL CINEMA SERVICE
ncs@ncservice.com
3701 Wilshire Blvd., 10th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90010
Loren.Pryor@ticketmaster.com
info@panastereo.com
Danette Wisdom
PELICAN PRODUCTIONS
QSC AUDIO PRODUCTS INC.
f THEATRE SYSTEMS L.L.C. 81 89 Veriynda Drive Greg Borr
SENSIBLE CINEMA SOFTWARE
2111 Parkway Office Circle
Birmingham, AL 35244
Jennifer Alexander
SOS (SYSTEM OPERATING
SOLUTIONS)
solutions@sosticketing.i
www.sosticketing.com
www.technikote.com
Mitchell M. Schwam
ticketproobellsouth.net
UNIVERSAL CINEMA SERVICES INC. 1205 Corporate Drive East
Arlington, TX 76006
WALLACE THEATER CORP.
CustomerService@goUCS.i
www.goUCS.com
October, 2000 79

RATES: $
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING

;
*
Seating Concepts mauve and black $40. Like
new!! All with cupholders—some rockers, new
Seating Concepts chairs from $97. Also gravity lift
seat bottoms! We ship and install all makes and
models. Try us—we sell no junk! TANKERSLEY
ENTERPRISES, 4877 National Western Drive
#149, Denver, CO 80216. Phone (303) 675-0800;
fax (303) 675-0808.
ALLSTATE SEATING is a company that is specializing
in refurbishing, complete painting, molded
foam, tailor-made seat covers, installations,
removals. Please call for pricing and spare parts
for all types of theatre seating. Boston, MA. Phone
(617) 268-2221, FAX (617) 268-7011.
A-PLUS SEAT COVERS. Used chairs from $7.50 to
$18. Irwin, American Massey. Covers $3.50, most
colors available, recove ring and installation. Call
1 Hayes: (800)882-5155.
AUDITORIUM SEATING SPECIALIST. New
installations, rebuilds, repairs and reasonable
rates. Bob, (970) 224-1147. Perfection Seating
Inc., 295 Lone Pine Creek Drive, Red Feather
Lakes, CO 80545.
"BOOSTER B. SAURUS" Child booster seats. Call
Cy Young Industries Inc. at 800-729-2610.
CUSHION AND BACK COVERS; c ut and sewn to
size. $3 each from stock fabrics. Save money; call
toll free 1 (877) 401-7328, Theatre Seating
Services.
complete line of . . .
m
Concession, Snack Bar and Janitorial Supplies
plus Projection and theatre equipment also parts
For The Best In Service. . .Give Us a Call
NEMA
SUPPLY COMPANY. INC
i. BOX 148,1 4ILLERSBURG, I
-EPHONE: '17)692-4744 1
(
AD INFO FAXBACK FORM
OCTOBER 2000
To receive more information on any of the products
advertised in BOXOFFICE, check the
appropriate box(es), fill out the requested information
and fax the form to (626) 396-0248.
ON-SITE UPHOLSTERY, $18.50 per chair, anywhere.
400 minimum at this price. Foam included.
Offer good October only. Call Theatre Seating
Services toll free 1 (877) 401-7328 anytime.
REDUCED 1150 SEATING CONCEPTS SEATS:
BW-220 Contours with cupholders. 3 years old,
great condition. 21" & 22". $24 each. Call (517)
725-5410 anytime; ask for Gary.
REDUCED 2300 AMERICAN STELLER SEATS:
Style 38-220 with cupholders. All new in 1992,
ready-to-use condition. $14 each. Call (517) 725-
5410 anytine; ask for Gary.
SEAT AND BACK COVERS: Most fabrics in stock.
Molded cushions. Cy Young Industries Inc., 800-729-
2610.
"WHILE THE THEATRE SLEEPS zzzzz" On-site
reupholstery, 20 years' experience in the field. Top
fabrics, molded seat cushions and .State of the Art.
Cy Young cupholders. Call Cy Young Industries
Inc., (800) 729-2610.
MARQUEES
CUSTOM MARQUEES and Electric Signs. Total
care leasing. Bux-Mont, phone (215) 675-1040,
fax (215)675-4443.
FLAGS/FLAG POLES
SERVICES
ALTEC, |BL, E.V. SPEAKER RECONING: Factory
authorized service, fast turnaround. We stock
diaphragms for popular theatre drivers. Cardinal
Sound & Motion Picture Systems Inc. Dealer
jnquirieswejcome, (301) 595-8811.
ASC COMPANIES CINEMA SYSTEMS GROUP. A
family of technology providers since 1937.
Equipment sales—booth design—installation/preventive
maintenance and emergency service.
7027 Twin Hills Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75231 or
(800) 424-0701; fax (214) 691-8949; email:
Brm fv" ,im oni|i,mirv[ i i
mi
CALL ME about rebuilding your intermittents,
projectors and sound heads, Century or Simplex.
.Pinky Pinkston at (903) 523-4912. Pinkston
Sales and Service, Rt. 1, Box 72-H, Sadler, TX
76264.
INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES for sale, get them
before they are gone too! BEAUTIFUL-
MOVIES.COM, SMARTBUYER.COM, THATS-
ASTEAL.COM. $25,000 or best offer. (203) 846-
4062. To see more domain names for sale, visit
wwu.huu akhuionviinn.iiiK'vi oni
Title
City.
AUTOMATICKET/HURLEY
SCREEN CORP.
BUILDING CONSTRUCTION INC.
CHRISTIE INC.
D CINEMA PRODUCTS
INTERNATIONAL (CPI)
CINEMA SUPPLY COMPANY INC.
DOLBY LABORATORIES
DTS (DIGITAL THEATER
SYSTEMS INC.)
FILM IT/ISG INC.
GLOBALMIC INC.
HADDEN THEATRE
SUPPLY COMPANY
HARKNESS HALL
INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
EQUIPMENT CO. INC.
INTERNATIONAL DISPLAY
SYSTEMS INC.
JMC (JOHN MEYER CONSULTING)
KINETRONICS CORPORATION
LASERTAINMENT PRODUCTIONS
INTERNATIONAL
"WHILE THE THEATRE SLEEPS zzzzz" On-site
reupholstery, 20 years' experience in the field.
Top fabrics, molded seat cushions and .State of
the Art Cy Young cupholders. Call Cy Young
Industries Inc., (800) 729-2610.
WWW.BIGSCREENBIZ.COM A business to business
site. Theatre owners, distributors, bookers,
manufacturers, projectionists, employees, and
anyone in the movie business. Auctions, discussion
forums, services, www.bigscreenbiz.com .
MISCELLANEOUS
FIVE FEATURE LENGTH, XXX-RATED, iSn
films for sale. Good condition. Buy one or
Titles on request. Call (5401 364-1114.
.Company,
MAROEVICH, O'SHEA & COGHLAN
MARS THEATER MANAGEMENT
SYSTEMS
MARTEK CRS INC.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF CONCESSIONAIRES (NAC)
NATIONAL CINEMA SERVICE
PACER/CATS
PANASTEREO INC.
PELICAN PRODUCTIONS
QSC AUDIO PRODUCTS INC.
RDS DATA GROUP INC.
READY THEATRE SYSTEMS L.L.C.
SCHNEIDER OPTICS INC.
SENSIBLE CINEMA SOFTWARE
SONICS ASSOCIATES
SOS (SYSTEM OPERATING
SOLUTIONS)
TECHNIKOTE CORP.
TICKETPRO SYSTEMS
UNIVERSAL CINEMA SERVICES INC.
WALLACE THEATER CORP.
WAUSAU TILE INC.
Are You Hostage
f8§J s $\\ to an Expensive
Ticketing System?
Own Ours!
\ -No Ongoing Fees.
'y^Z^"— -No Proprietary Hardware.
Box Office Pro2K
1- User $599 2- User $699 I j\\ Jl'l KiWl
Sensible Cinema Software
sensiblecinema.com
• (615) 799-6366
Response No 135
October, 2000 81

Close Focus
SUBJECT: SHARI REDSTONE
TITLE:
President
COMPANY: National Amusements
Which do you most frequently use: PC, pen, pencil, email, or phone?
Email.
What is your favorite concession when you're at a movie?
Mozzarelia sticks and onion rings.
Do you believe online ticketing will be a boon, a bust, or a
breakeven proposition for exhibitors? Why?
Breakeven, with some potential upside. People will be drawn
even more to the Internet over time, but the upside to our
business will be through increasing the frequency of moviegoing
and better communication with our patrons. It will be as a result
of service charges and advertising revenue.
// industry elves were at work in the industry, what might their
best bit of midnight magic be?
The instant elimination of thousands of screens (not ours) and a better economic
for our
When you visit a National Amusements theatre, what's the first thing you check? What's the last?
How the lines are moving, and whether our employees are responsive and friendly.
What was the most important thing you learned when you were a criminal defense attorney?
Believe in what you do.
Dad calls you "relentless. " What adjective would you use to describe yourself?
Energized and passionate.
How are things different as president (named 12/99) than as executive vice president?
More responsibility and less sleep.
Regarding your musical tastes: Why 'N Sync?
They're cute and I like their music—great for the treadmill.
In describing the "Ontarioing" of each other that the industry has seen in the past few years despite the
former NATO head's famous 11th commandment, you once said that, "instead of everybody going after
an opportunity and then walking away when someone else got it, everybody kept building. I'm kind of
disgusted. " But, given the natural competition within the industry, what kind of equipoise is possible
between a circuit actually saying "we're out" and thus losing a given market and that circuit saying
"we're doing it anyway" and not losing the market but losing money in the market? Is it a Catch-22?
It is not a matter of Catch-22. It is about being smart, having priorities and wanting to be a long-term player.
The next big exhibition convention coming after the Geneva, detailed in this issue, is ShowEast, being held Oct. 11-
14 in its new locale of Orlando, Fla., at the Marriott Orlando World Center. Our November issue, per tradition, will
include a pre-show special report on the ShowEast convention, including an events schedule, booth list and honorees
essays. ShowEast, which began 16 years ago as a regional event for exhibitors like National Amusements, in the
past decade gained national scope and for its 2000 edition adds Latin America and the Caribbean to its coverage.
82 BOXOFFICE

Cinema Audio Toolkit
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KREUZNACH
Schneider Optics, Inc.
285 Oser Avenue, Hauppauge, NY I USA
TEL: + 1 631 761-5000* FAX:+I 631 761-5090
info@schneideroptics.com
www.schneideroptics.com
Jos. Schneider Optische Werke
Kreuznach GmbH
P.O. Box 2463
D-555 1 3 Bad Kreuznach Germany
TEL: ++49-67 1/60 -280 • FAX: ++49-67 1/60
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