Boxoffice-September.04.1978

VANCOUVER
^V'itli Ihc projfclioiiists" Ninkc ncIiIlJ .iik!
everything in high gear again, theatres
.ind distributors united in mammoth newsp.iper
ads as well as wall-to-wall TV radio
vpots covering the lower mainland and Vancouver
Island. The increased promotion wa-s
intended lo nia.\imize the impact of the
many new pictures which were due to break
August IS and to give an added push to the
long-run blockbusters.
The plans of men. however, often go
astray, as someone once pointed out. First,
the bus drivers in this city called a "quickie
strike" just when the rain began to fall in
earnest. Then, the Pacific National Exhibition
parade, which it was anticipated would
attract many thousands to the downtown
area, literally was rained out. As a result,
the PNE's opening day was off 30 f)er cent
from last year, making the attendance lower
than almost anyone could remember. The
mainstem theatre grosses, while excellent in
view of the strike, were still a liiilc below
expectations.
Canadian Odeon secretary Mary Wood
imparted to Margaret Davie the news that
she had discovered the finest place to spend
her holidays this year— at home sunning
herself on the balcony, with no plane or
buses to calch. no lineups for hotels and
close to 1.000 first-class restaurants lo
choose from, to say nothing of nonstop
entertainment of all types.
This also is the view held by over 1.^0.-
000 Japanese tourists who. among others,
have been filling our tour buses and forming
endless lines for photos at Ihj .Stanley
Park totem poles. This could be tough for
the Coronet's Larry Oya. however. We understand
his Japanese is not always too fluent
when dealing wilh the Tokyo types but
adequate wilh his Nishei friends locally.
Robert Altnian has begun filming "A
Komancc." with Paul Dociley and Marti
lleflin starring.
4'L\EKAMA IS I!V SHOW
nvsiyvss l\ iL\Wi\ii t(n>,
f
Willi! you come to Wulklkl,
• lon'l miss iJic I'uiiiinis I )oii II
SIkw . . . ut ( 'Incruiiiu's
Keef 'lowers Hotel.
Film Distribution Report
Is Completed by CMPDA
lORCJMO— Ih.- Canadian .Motion Picture
Distributors .-Xss'n has completed a detailed
paper titled "Report on the Motion
in Picture Distribution Industry Canada."
The report is an update and expansion
of the 1976 "Position Paper Concerning the
Motion Picture Distribution Industry in
Canada." The CMPDA said. "In our view,
the report represents the most complete
documentation of feature film distribution
that has been done to date."
Copies of "Report on the Motion Picture
Distribution Industry in Canada" are available
from the association, which is headquartered
at 1 Yonge St.. Suite 2207. Toronto
M5E 1E5.
TORONTO
^clor Tony Randall, in this city for a stage
engagement, made a strong pilch for
the motion picture industry. "Right now."
he told the local press, "we're seeing the
biggest years the movies ever have had and
the decline of TV's audience. People are
turning away. The public will do to TV exactly
what it did to the movies. It will stop
watching. The bottom fell out of the movie
business years ago when the public realized
that it could watch Sid Caesar, a good
comic, on TV. instead of having to watch
Bob Taylor, a bad actor, in the movies."
I'he city council has turned down an application
to erect 12 mini-cinemas on the
site of the former Odeon Carlton. The minicinemas
would have had a total \ealiiig cap.icity
less than the Carlton.
Canadian cultural groups are certain to
suffer because of severe economic cuts recently
announced by the federal government.
Among these groups, the Canada Council,
the National Film Board and the Canadian
Film Development Corp, will be hard hit.
The Council of Canadian Filmmakers was
quick in sending a stern telegram to Prime
Minister Pierre Trudeau protesting the size
of the cuts on the CBC and the secretary of
slate's budgets. Signed by chairman Kirwin
Cox. the telegram stated: "While ihe UH.il
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per cent of federal
expenditures, we are shocked to see the
the backbone of Canada's communications
system—the CBC—sliced by over 12 per
cent. We are extremely concerned ihat the
Canada Council, the National Film Board
. . . and other cultural agencies also will
bear an unfair burden, despite the highly
skilled and labor-intensive employment they
generate."
One bright spot in this situation was seen
in the fact that Secretary of State John Roberts
promised, through his assistant Geoff
O'Brian, that "he ho[>es to be able to absorb
the lion's share of the cuts with the department."
referring to the S65.000.000 chopped
from the secretary of state's budget. "He
hopes to be able to leave the cultural
agencies as unscathed as possible" but some
cuts are inevitable. O'Brian indicated.
An unusual combination of talents will be
producing an all-Canadian feature film. Involved
will be Michael Douglas of TV's
defunct "The Streets of San Francisco" and
CBC-TV ombudsman Robert Cooper.
Cooper will co-star with actress Susan .^nspach
(seen in "Blume in Love" and "Five
Easy Pieces") in this multimillion-dollar
film titled "Running." Canadians in the
cast will include Larry Dane. Chuck Shamata
and Eugene Levy.
Filming started August 28 in New York
and moved to this city for the entire month
of September, before going on to Montreal's
Olympic Stadium for another two weeks.
Douglas plays a one-time Pan-.Am Games
marathon runner who. at the age of 34 and
having lost his wife (Anspach) and his job.
makes ihe U.S. Olympics longdistance running
team.
•| d'dn't select the script because running
is so popular now." co-producer
Cooper told the press here. "I wanted this
movie because it's a love story, not because
it's a craze wilh .^0.000,000 people in North
.America running as a hobby. It's one of the
few scripts that 1 read that was so simple,
so uplifting and so basic and that has a message
of hope in the same way that 'Rocky'
did." The script was written by fomicr
CBC-TV variety wriier Steven Stern, who
also is
directing.
Cooper refused to state what Ihe film's
budget is. except to say that it's in the
"multimillion-dollar range. The film
already
has built-in profit dividends, much to the
satisfaction of its investors, the Canadi.in
Film Development Corp. The film has an
offer from ABC-TV for North .\merican
rV rights two years after il reaches theatre
screens. Ibis offer, said Cooper, "is for
more than a couple of million dollars and is
a first for a Canadian film from a major
U.S. network." Likewise, a deal is in ihe
works for .American cable and syndication
rights,
Douglas is executive producer and Cooper
.ind Ronald Cohen are the producers. Cooper
and Cohen produced "Power Play," the
feature film shoi in this city last year which
headlined Peter O' loole, "Power Play" was
Cooper's first leap into films and was an
official entry in the World Film Fesin.il ai
Monla-al
BOXOmCn Vpu-mlvi ')78