MW

—
FADEIH...
This year, we've devoted the special contents of
our February issue to cinema sound. In these
pages, you'll find both basic reference information
and updates on new developments in the field.
You might say that here we're sounding off about
sound, but we should mention that BOXOFFICE
will be bringing you sound come ShoWest.
As we did at the 1996 and 1997 conventions,
BOXOFFICE will be giving away sound equipment
prizes at the 1998 ShoWest. Last year,
Magda Moore, manager of the M-89 Cinema in
Otsego. Mich., operated by Watervliet. Mich.-
based C.A. Moore Theaters, stopped by our booth
and put her corporate business card in our exhibitors-only
prize bowl. Her reward for that simple
act came on the show's Thursday close, when our
drawing revealed that she was the winner of a
complete DTS digital sound system.
"We had needed another DTS system," Moore
says, "and then I won it at the show." Moore,
whose circuit put the unit in its Ready Theatre in
Niles, Mich., reports that audiences really respond
to digital sound. "You can hear a pin drop,"
she says of the technology's reproduction capabilities.
"Customers always ask us whether a
movie is playing in one of our digital houses.
They know it^they want it."
Also in 1997, Georgia Theatre president William
J.
Stembler took home a QSC MX 1500a
amplifier, and Edwards Theatres district supervisor
James Woodin won a Smart Citi-Tell digital
message server. Those two executives joined the
ranks of our previous BOXOFFICE ShoWest winners,
which have also included SoCal Cinemas'
Sean Warner (a QSC amp) and Landmark's Kevin
O'Neill (a Smart Afterburner).
We'll have more information about this year's
prizes in our April edition, which is the issue
you'll find awaiting you on day 1 of ShoWest,
being held March 9-12 in Las Vegas. And exhibitors
will find that getting in on our awards action
will be just as easy in 1 998 as in prior years; simply
stop by our ShoWest booth (again #406) and drop
off your corporate business card. Please remember
to write the name of the hotel at which you're
staying on your card: as happened for Magda
Moore and the other theatre folks mentioned
above, you just migiit be receiving a call from us
while you're in Vegas, saying there's a little more
luggage to take home with you. Kim Williamson
BOXOFFICE ONLINE
WEBSITE ADDRESS: http://www.boxoffice.com
E-MAIL ADDRESS: boxoffice@earthlink.net
FEBRUARY, 1998 VOL. 134, NO. 2 CINEMA SOUND
COVER QUOTE:
DEPARTMENTS
I'm very analytical in a very wet way....
I'm very analytically moist—OUSJm HOFFMAN
6 HOLLYWOOD REPORT
Good golly, Shue's "Molly"— plus early word on 18 other productions
8 MARCH TRAILERS
Blowing in from Hollywood: films of the windy month
44 EXHIBITION BRIEFINGS
Silver's Landmark decision; Mr. Buyout Mann
46 NATIONAL NEWS/HOLLYWOOD UPDATES
API's centennial celebration; Universal's foolish "Kissing"
47 NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Red Sky at morning; Silver(City) screens; Cineplexing
48 EUROVIEWS
Brussels sprouts mega-merger; Italy booted, fine Finnish
49 PACIFIC OVERTURES
Roadshow travels with Warner; Hoyts' double vision
50 FILM REVIEWS
Critical analyses of 35 current and coming releases:
"Affliction" 51
"Afterglow" 53
"Alien Resurrection" 56
"Amistad" 56
"The Apostle" 55
"As Good As It Gets" 54
'The Boxer" 52
"Chinese Box" 52
"Dangerous Beauty" 52
"The Education of Little Tree" 53
"Flubber" 57
"For Richer or Poorer" 56
"The Gingerbread Man" 52
"Home Alone 3" 56
"Jackie Brown" 53
"John Grisham's The Rainmaker" 57
"Kundun" 54
"Lea" 51
"Les Miserables" (1935)
"Love and Death on Long Island"
"Men With Guns"
"Midnight in the Garden
of Good and Evil"
"Mortal Kombat Annihilation"
"MouseHunt"
"Mrs. Dalloway"
'The Nutcracker"
"Oscar and Lucinda"
"Perfect Circle"
"Scream 2"
'Simoom: A Passion in the Desert"
'Tomorrow Never Dies"
"Unmade Beds"
"Wag the Dog"
"Will It Snow for Christmas?"
"Zero Effect"
58 STUDIO FILM RELEASE CHART
Major releases through April and beyond
60 INDEPENDENT FILM RELEASE CHART
Specialized fare into September and beyond
62 MOVIEGOER ACTIVITY CHART
Ranking leaps by City Cinemas, Cineplex's Hyland
63 HOME RELEASE CHART
"L.A. Confidential," "The Peacemaker" get shelved in March
64 CLASSIFIEDS
Including our index to advertisers in this issue
64 "REVERSE ANGLE"
Stars in stripes
53
51
51
57
57
54
52
56
53
51
56
51
55
51
52
55
50
CIRCULATION INQUIRIES
BOXOFFICE DATA CENTER
725 S. Wells St., Fourth Floor
Chicago. IL 60607
(312) 922-9326; fax: (312) 922-7209
i&
Audit
Bureau
EDITORIAL AND ADVEmiSING
6640 Sunset Blvd., Suite 100
Hollywood, CA 90028-7159
(213)465-1186
Fax:(213)465-5049
OFFICES
CORPORATE HEADQUAm-ERS SUBSCRIPTION/CIRCULATIQN
Mailing address: 725 8. Wells St., Fourth Floor
P.O. Box 25485 Chicago, IL 60607
Chicago, IL 60625 (312) 922-9326
(773)338-7007 Fax:(312)922-7209
4 BoxomcE