Boxoffice-September.23.1950

:
14 SUMMER FEATURES REACH
HIT CLASS. 120% OR BETTER
'Father of the Bride' Tops
73 Picture Releases in
June-August Quarter
Fourteen summer releases reached the
hit class, with "Father of the Bride"
iMGMi, "Sunset Boulevard" (Paramount)
and "Destination Moon" (Eagle Lion> topping
the parade of hits. According to first
run reports received from 21 key cities for
the BOXOFPICE BAROMETER of business,
top features of the 1950 summer
quarter were better draws than the hit
pictures of the June-July-August segment
of the 1948-49 season.
VARIETY OF PRODUCT
The variety of product on the summer
release chart also proved the point once
more, that patrons will put their cash on
the boxoffice line no matter what the type
of picture, just so it is good entertainment.
In this quarter, patrons considered good
entertainment to be a family comedy ("Father
of the Bride"), a pseudoscientific exploitation
picture ("Destination Moon"), a
drama of Hollywood ("Sunset Boulevard"),
an Indian adventure story ("Broken Arrow"),
a story of paraplegics ("The Men"), a children's
story ("Treasure Island"), a musical
("Duchess of Idaho"), a romance ("Our Very
Own"), a gangster story ("711 Ocean Drive"),
a cloak and dagger adventure costume picture
("The Flame and the Arrow") and a
western ("Winchester '73") among others.
"Father of the Bride" scored 151 per cent,
with substantial bu.siness in every playdate,
but it was followed closely by "Sunset Boulevard"
at 150 per cent and "Destination Moon"
at 149 per cent. The latter was one of the
summer surprises, doing unexpectedly strong
business almost everywhere. In its Philadelphia
engagement it struck a phenomenal 300
per cent.
TOP 1949
FIGURES
The business which the hit pictures was
able to pull to the boxoffice exceeded that
of the top films of the same quarter in the
1949 summer .season, when the three leaders
were "Lost Boundaries." "Sorrowful Jones"
and "The Stratton Story." Of the 73 features
released during the summer on which there
have been sufficient key run playdates to
indicate boxoffice .strength, 38 did average
business or better for the reporting exhibitors.
This is about the same percentage of
average or better features for the 1950 .summer
period.
A report on these 73 features and their
percentages follows
(100 Is Average)
COLUMBIA:
Beware ol Blondie._ 97
Capiive Girl 97
David Harding, Counterspy - 99
Fortunes of Captain Blood i 91
Good Humor Man, The..
96
In a Lonely Place..
102
Rogues of Sherwood Foresl 98
711 Ocean Drive .„ 130
Stale Penitentiary 98
EAGLE UON CLASSICS:
Congolaise
90
Broken Arrow (20th-Fox)
Destination Moon (ELC)
Duchess of Idaho (MGM)
UFather of the Bride (MGM)
Flame and the
Louisa
(U-I)
Top Hifs of the Summer
(June 1950 through August)
Arrow, The (WB)
Men. The (UA)
My Friend Irma Goes West (Para)
Our Very Own (RKO)
711 Ocean Drive (Col)
Sunset Boulevard (Para)
Three Little Words (MGM)
^Treasure Island (RKO)
Winchester '73
(U-I)
viBlue Hibbon Award winner.
PERCENTAGES
Destination Moon 149
Federal Mem 91
Glass Mountain, The 101
Torch, The 95
Winslow Boy, The 106
LIPPERT PRODUCTIONS:
Hi-Jacked
Motor Patrol
Rocketship
96
95
108
XM
METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER:
Asphalt Jungle, The 107
Duchess oi Idaho 132
Father of the Bride 151
Happy Years, The 67
Mystery Street 96
Skipper Surprised His Wife, The 89
Three Little Words 141
MONOGRAM:
Fa;her Makes Good
Lucky Losers .:
Sideshow .-
Snow Dog
Triple Trouble
_ 94
....: 96
90
!02
103
'.
150
PARAMOUNT:
Eagle and the Hawk, The 97
Furies, The 107
Lawless, The - — 85
My Friend Irma Goes West - - 120
Sunset Boulevard
RKO RADIO:
Armored Car Robbery - 96
Born to Be Bad 104
Destination Murder 87
Our Very Own - 141
Treasure Island 123
White Tower, The
,-, 102
Woman on Pier 13, The - 97
REPUBLIC:
Avengers, The
Savage Horde. The
98
90
20th CENTURY-FOX:
Broken Arrow i 147
Cariboo Trail, The 106
Gunfighter, The ,, 1 !3
Love That Brute ,1. 89
.-.
Night ond the City 101
Panic in the Streets - - 112
Stella -..105
Where the Sidewalk Ends 106
UNITED ARTISTS:
Iroquois Trail, The 103
johnny One-Eye - 91
Men, The - - 128
So Young, So Bod 95
Underworld Story, The 104
UNIVERSAL-INTERNATIONAL:
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion 105
Adam and Evalyn _ 99
Curtain Call at Cactus Creek 89
Louisa 124
Peggy - - 95
Sierrcf _ ». - oo
Spy Hunt 102
Winchester '73 ;. 126
WARNER BROS.:
Bright Leaf 99
Caged 114
50 Years Before Your Eyes 104
FIcfme and the Arrow, The _...130
Great Jewel Robber. The 95
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye _ _ 112
Return of the Frontiersman 94
This Side of the Law
'.... 94
Harmon Urges Bookings
Of 'Wrong Way Butch'
NEW YORK—Francis S. Harmon, vicepresident
in charge of exhibitor-community
relations of the Motion Picture Ass'n of
America, has written a thousand key exhibitors
urging that they book "Wrong Way
Butch," MGM-Pete Smith ten-minute short
on industrial safety. He said MGM is increasing
its print allotment.
The film recently won a special award
from the U.S. Department of Labor and was
selected by Eric Johnston. MPAA president,
as seventh in the public affairs series which
he and MPAA are sponsoring.
Resume Decree Talks
WASHINGTON—With National Theatre
Head Charles P. Skouras leading the 20th-
Fox delegation, talks were resumed here this
week with Philip Marcus of the Justice department
looking toward a possible consent
settlement of the problem of divorcement
and divestiture of the Fox Theatres and
distribution interests. Neither side would
reveal any details of the di-scussions.
14
BOXOFFICE
:: September 23, 1950