Boxoffice-September.1997

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS BRIEFS
EUROVIEWS
European News Notes by Melissa Morrison
LEAD STORY: CINEMA EXPO '97 WRAP-UP
AMSTERDAM—The sixth edition of the exhibition trade fair Cinema Expo International
ran June 29 - July 2 at Amsterdam's RAI convention center. Titles
screened for exhibitors included Buena Vista International's "Face/Off," Warner
Bros.' "Batman & Robin," Fox's "Volcano" and "Speed 2: Cruise Control" as well
as dip's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park." MGM was also on hand to assure
exhibitors that "Tomorrow Never Dies" will be delivered on time. Polygram
pushed to prove they are a major player with a screening of "Bean" and an
appearance by "Bean" star Rowan Atkinson, who was presented with the Cinema
Expo award for excellence in comedy.
Other awardees included Luc Besson ("The Fifth Element"), who received the
excellence in filmmaking award; 20th Century Fox International's Jim
Cianopulos, honored as distributor of the year; and Decatron's Albert Bert, who
won the exhibitor of the year award. Disney's Peter Schneider accepted the
creative achievement award for himself and Roy E. Disney (who was absent due
to a leg fracture from a car accident). Producer Saul Zaentz ("The English Patient"),
who received the first Albert R. Broccoli Award for excellence as a
producer, praised the award's namesake, the producer of the James Bond movies,
for creating a series of films with artistic merit that has also enjoyed worldwide
commercial success for over 35 years.
Talk at this year's Cinema Expo was over expansion into underdeveloped Italy
and the fact that few French exhibitors attended due to this year's Cinema Expo
event clashing with France's three day "Fete Du Cinema," a popular sales-boosting
campaign that offers moviegoers substantially reduced ticket prices (see
"Summer Selling Successes," next page). Next year's Cinema Expo hopes to avoid
such a conflict and is scheduled to run June 1 5-1 9, 1 998.
PATHE, CANAL PLUS UNITE EUROPEAN DISTRIBUTORS
PARIS—Two major French players have spearheaded the formation
of a theatrical network that will effectively control Europewide
rights to U.S. independent films and give American producers
a new, powerful source of funding. The Canal Plus television giant
and Pathe theatrical distributor and exhibitor announced in May at
Cannes that the new venture would involve the cooperation of
partners in the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy—in
other words, about 85 percent of Western Europe. The new group
would acquire films for these countries in one fell swoop, rather
than the usual method of licensing films region-by-region. The
other participating distributors afe the UK's Guild Pathe,
Germany's Tobis Filmkunst, Spain's Sogejpaq, as well as France's
AMLF. Either Italy's Medusa or Cecchi Gon is also expected to
participate. In return for getting rights to American independent
films, the group will invest up to $30 million in making them,
allowing IXS. producers to acquire financing with the promise of
direct sales in most of Europe. A Canal Plus spokesman said the
group would target middle-budget films and currently had $10
million to $30 million to invest. That amounts to about one to three
films annually. The rights agreement will also cover video and
pay-TV. The new project is not the first one Pathe and Canal Plus
have collaborated on in the name of European domination: The two
also joined forces earlier this year to compete for—and win—
coveted UK Lottery franchise, a sort of mini-studio meant to
strengthen the British film industry (see "Clearing A Pathe for
British Filmmakers, " this page}.
CLEARING A PATHE FOR
BRITISH FILMMAKERS
LONDON—Pathe Pictures, a
winner of one of the revolutionary
British film franchises, is
making good on its pledge to fund
first-time filmmakers. The consortium,
headed by the French
distribution and exhibition behemoth,
received $53.4 million, the
largest segment of the $149 million
awarded to three groups by
the Arts Council of England in
May. As part of its bid for the
franchise, Pathe Pictures promised
to create a fund dedicated to
producing one movie annually by
a new director for the six years of
the franchise's life span. The effort
is seen as part of Pathe' s expansion
into pan-European
ventures, and British film's recent
renaissance makes it prime
hunting ground. Other members
of Patne Pictures' consortium,
which is supposed to act as a
mini-studio, mclude Canal Plus,
Thin Man Films, Allied Films,
Pandora Productions, Fragile
Films, and Imagine Films (which
includes the output of director Mike Leigh, whose Oscar- and
Cannes-lauded "Secrets and Lies" is partially responsible for British
film's boom). The other two consortiums are the Film Consortium
and DNA Films. Pathe Pictures' films will be distributed in
the United Kingdom by Pathe Distribution, formerly Guild Pathe
Cinema.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE
LONDON—Warner Village Cinemas is planning to build
London's first megaplex, a 32-screen, 200,000-square-foot,
8,200 seat theatre that will be the largest cinema complex in
Europe. The exhibitor is also discussing the possibility of eventually
using the $56 million megaplex, converted from the
Battersea Power Station and scheduled for completion in the
year 2000, for the newly reconfigured London Film Festival
(which hopes to become Cannes' rival in size and importance)
planned for launch in fall 1 998. The compound will also contain
production and post-production space, a hotel, restaurants and
apartments.
Also in the worics for Warner Village Cinemas is a megaplex in
the city of Birmingham that would have 30 screens and 6,(K)0 seats.
Warner Village Cinemas, a joint venture between Warner Bros.
International Theatres and Australia's Village Roadshow International,
announced in April its intention to mvest a total of $163
million into British cinemas. If realized, its expansion plans would
make it the largest exhibitor in the United Kingdom. Currently, it
is number four.