Boxoffice-July.1997

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
PACIFIC OVERTURES
NOTES FROM THE PACIFIC RIM by Susan Lambert
LEAD STORY:
FUNDING AND OTHER (NARROWLY AVOIDED) CATASTROPHES
SYDNEY—^The Australian film industr)' breathed a collective sigh of relief when the new
federal budget was unveiled in May and. despite rumors of impending cuts, the funding for film
held strong. The budget for the 1997-1998 fiscal year allocates AU$1 15 million (S89.7 million)
for the film and television production industry which is under current subsidy levels of AUS 1 40
million (US$109 million), but the majority of the cuts affect television and not film subsidies.
Concern over potential budget cuts was so high that the Australian film industry was fighting
back well before the budget was due. A group of Australia's key industry leaders and top talent
wrote a letter to Prime Mmister John Howard in April to lobby in support of funding for the film
industry. Signatories to the letter included notable actors, actresses, producers and directors as
well as representatives from the directors, writers, editors, composers and cinematography guilds.
Then a delegation, which included director Gillian Armstrong, actress Judy Davis and producer
Jan Chapman, among others, met with Sen. Richard Alston, federal arts minister, to lobby for
support of the industry.
The lobbying seemed to do its job. Australia's main funding agency. Film Finance Corp., will
maintain a budget of AU$48 million (US$37.4 million) until 2001 . Outgoing FFC chief executive
John Morris was pleased with the stability four years of committed funding would bring. The
Australian Film Commission will receive AU$1 1.5 million and Film Australia, a documentary
producer, will receive a guaranteed AU$5 million per year until 1999. when the government hopes
to privatize the organization.
Meanwhile, exhibition in the land down under is also holding strong. Village Roadshow
upgraded its popular Frankston, Victoria fourplex to an eight-screen theatre for a cost of AU$6
million (US$4.7 million). Competitor Hoyts Cinemas opened an eight-screen complex in
Booragoon, near Perth, on June 17. and announced a 12-screen (to be expanded to 16 screens) build
in Wettierill Park (the western district of Sydney), which Hoyts expects to open in July of 1998.
Boxoffice revenues seem to be
on the rise, at least in China's two
largest markets: Shanghai reported
$31 million in boxoffice revenues
last year, and Beijing reported receipts
totalling $14 million. And
the domestic film industry has received
a great shot in the arm with
the success of "Days Without the
Hero," a drama about a martyred
soldier, which earned record
boxoffice (4.4 million yuan/
US$530,000) for a domestic fihn.
Meanwhile, Shanghai-based
consortium Smile—a partnership
with local Chinese investors, Kuala
Lumpur-based South Malaysian
Industries and UCI—opened its
first mulitplex in Chuongquing.
The five-screen, 1,218-seat, stateof-the-art
complex premiered with
"Dante's Peak" and features a
Showscan Dynamic Motion Simulator.
And this month, the venture
expects to open a six-screen, 1,500
seat cinema in Wuhan. Next up will
be the refurbishing of a Huxi entertainment
center in Shanghai.
MOVIES R US
TOKYO—Businessman Den Fujita (chairman of toy retailer
Toys R Us Japan) has teamed up with United Cinemas International
(UCI—the Paramount/Universal international joint venture) in a
partnership to develop and operate multiplex theatres in Japan. The
first project is scheduled to open next February in Sapporo, Japan'
northernmost major city. The 12-screen, 2,987-seat Sapporo Factory
Cinema will be built around an existing screen that was part of
an IMAX theatre. UCI and Fujita (who also holds a 50 percent stake
in Blockbuster Japan's video store chain and 2,()00 Japanese
McDonald's franchises) are reportedly each investing $2 billion
yen ($16.7 million). The Fujita/UCI venture hopes to develop 20
multiplexes with 200 screens in Japan over the next five years.
Separate from the Fujita deal, UCI (one of four foreign multiplex
companies operating in Japan) has plans to open a 2,456-seat
nine-plex in Kanazawa in September. They have had record attendance
at Otsu in western Japan where they opened a multiplex last
November. The boom of multiplex building in Japan is expected to
boost the number of screens from approximately 1 ,800 to well over
2,000 by the year 2000.
CHINA MOVING INTO MODERN AGE
SHANGHAI—Jiangsu-based Yangtze Film Co. recently acquired
rights for computer ticketing software from film importer
China Film for 300,000 yuan (US$37,500). The move ushers
theatres in China's Jiangsu province into the modem-day. The
system will be installed in 50 theatres by the end of this month, with
plans for 100 theatres to be outfitted by the end of 1997. The
ticketing software will enable moviegoers to purchase tickets for
shows at any of the networked theatres and allow accurate and
timely boxoffice revenue figures—which is often difficult to come
by in China where underreporting to avoid taxation is rampant.
HARLEY'S HIGH HOPES FOR NEW ZEALAND FILM
WELLINGTON—Ruth Hariey, the new CEO of the New Zealand
Film Commission, says New Zealand, which produced such
filmmakers as Jane Campion ("The Piano"), Peter Jackson ("Heavenly
Creatures") and Lee Tamahori ("Once Were Warriors"),
should try to increase its film output to six titles per year with help
from foreign investments of both money and market endorsements.
The local film industry currently gets about US$6 million annually
in public funding, which is divided up between usually three to four
features. Since the breakaway successes of the early '90s, few New
Zealand films have followed the critical and commercial results of
"The Piano," Heavenly Creatures" and "Once Were Warriors."
Hariey, who was appointed to head New Zealand's chief funding
agency in April, hopes that their two new films at Cannes can help
turn that around: "The Ugly," a thriller about a serial killer by Scott
Reynolds who just completed a second New Zealand feature,
"Heaven" (Miramax is distributing in the United States), and a
twisted twentysomthing comedy, "Topless Women Talk About
Their Lives," by Harry Sinclair. What can also help the local
filmmakers is the good news that New Zealand boxoffice is on the
rise. For the first quarter of '97 (ending April 30), boxoffice results
are reported at NZ$38.7 million (US$26.7 million) which is a 31
percent increase over the same period from last year. 1996 first
quarter results were NZ$29.5 million (US$20 million).
DO YOU HAVE AN EXHIBITION-RELATED NEWS
ITEM ABOUT THE ASIA-PACIFIC MARKET?
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boxoffice@earthlink.net
July, 1997 111