Boxoffice-May.21.1979

VANCOUVER Members of 'Slithis Fan Club Await
pollowing the announcement of the completion
of "Klondike Fever," the office of
Justin Green, executive director of the Fihn
Dcvision of the B.C. Department of Tourism,
issued a new list of pictures that were
due to be started shortly. Most of these
were firm dates but the exact starting date.
cast and technical staff for some was still
not definite. The list is as follows:
"The Love Boat"—shooting in May-June.
Locations in Victoria, Vancouver and Prince
Rupert. Starring Rich Little, Donny Osmond,
Barbara Rush and Jane Wyman.
"Huckleberry Finn & His Friends"
shooting May-August. Locations in the Fraser
Valley area and the Panorama studios.
Starring Ian Tracey as Huck Finn. Budget is
$3 million.
"Up River"—shooting June-July at Bella
Coola and Lonesome Lake. Budget is $1.2
million.
"Flowers from Felix"—shooting June-
July in the Victoria area.
"Terror Train"—shooting August-October,
using the Royal Hudson train and
locations in Fort St. John area. Budget is
$5 million.
"Bethune"—shooting
September-October
im Northern B.C. Budget is $10 million.
"Never Cry Wolf"—shooting August-
September in Atlin, Dawson City and the
Yukon. Budget is $2 million.
"The Grey Fox"—shooting October-November.
Budget is $1.5 million.
Jack Tomik, who is in charge of publicity
for Famous Players in this territory,
overcame the continued lack of major newspaper
coverage by holding preview screenings
for "A Little Romance" at the Capitol
on May 4-5 in advance of the opening. A
very heavy radio campaign featuring pass
prizes was also carried out.
NITE/TOFCO Will Reduce
Film Rentcds, Scott Says
By ALLEN M. WIDEM
Regional Correspondent
From East Edition
WORCESTER, Mass.— Independent New
England exhibitor Phillip J. .Scott believes
that the recently announced pact by the National
Independent Theatre Exhibitors
Assn. with a group of Canadian film investors
may well spark film rental reduction
for exhibition.
Scott, current board chairman of NITE of
New England, told the media that the promise
of the Canadian-based Theatre Owners
The Return of the Nuclear Monster
From Midwest Edition
DES MOINES—"Slithis" returns!
The slimy movie monster Slithis did not
rise from nuclear pollution so much as from
the deep pockets of Des Moines film entrepreneur
Richard L. Davis.
It was a low-budget monster flick, which
made the rounds once last year and soon
will be coming back to the theatres. Davis
bankrolled the lion's share of the production
but Stephen Traxler of California was the
brainchild of it.
Davis is distributing and promoting the
film, which has grossed about $1.8 million
from 1,500 dates at drive-ins and indoor
theatres across the country.
Davis undertook lengthy court actions for
the
right to operate adult or "triple X" theatres
in the state of Iowa that were eventually
decided in his favor. He then turned
over the operation of the adult houses to
his three sons and has pursued other ventures.
"Slithis" is one of them.
He says he has spent lots of money keeping
the slimy monster from going belly up
and is not worried about his investment,
that most of his outlay has been returned.
He is sole distributor of the movie and owns
all 1 89 prints of it, doling them out to movie
houses through a network of 22 sub-distributors
nationwide.
No one has claimed "Slithis" is art, especially
Davis, but he is convinced there is
always a place for a horror or monster picture,
and they always do a little business.
Milking the Movie
He is planning on milking the movie dry
and says after the second go-around this
season he will edit the film to change its
rating from PG to G in order to hit the
kiddie matinee and saturation markets. Remaining
to be exploited are foreign rights
as well as sales to local television stations.
Those negotiations are currently underway.
First-time-around rental fees ranged from
25 percent to 40 percent of each theatre's
gross. Now on the second time around
"Slithis" rents for far less, from $50 to $150
a week. Davis says that is not a lot of
money but an average of $75 for each of
1,000 dates isn't bad considering he doesn't
do any advertising for the subruns.
"This film is a gimmick film, and they
needed a gimmick to sell it," Davis says.
He decided to turn the monster into a hero
and didn't portray him as an eat-'em-up bad
guy, but as a product of our society. That
opened the door for T-shirts, fan clubs,
In addition audiences arc being advised
join the monster's fan club. Member-
to
ship is free if you sign up at a theatre or
it costs 25 cents by mail. So far over 22,000
people have sent in a quarter. In return
members get a photo of the slimy being
consorting with humanoids, a letter from
Slithis telling youngsters to mind Mom and
Dad, advising teens to stay off cigs, booze
and dope and admonishing adults to lead a
good life and make this a better world for
everyone.
Members can also purchase Slithis posters,
T-shirts and bumper stickers. Davis
also sends around the costume used in the
movie so a local six-footer can stomp
around and drum up business.
Bookers Luncheon Is Scene
Of Awards. Speeches, Plugs
By JOHN COCCHI
Eastern Editor
NEW YORK—The 13th annual Academy
Award Sweepstakes Luncheon of the
Motion Picture Bookers Club was held April
24 at Rosoff's here, with veteran New York
Post film reviewer Archer Winsten as guest
speaker and surprise appearances by Peter
Bogdanovich and Ben Gazzara. Master of
ceremonies Ralph Donnelly, who heads
Cinema 5, announced that the Sweepstakes
winners were Denise Dorsey of Gulf +
Western, first prize; Becky Schoenfeld, second
prize, and Walter Powell of Georgia,
third prize.
Donnelly introduced Bogdanovich and
Gazzara, director and star respectively of
the New World Pictures release "Saint
Jack." Gazzara thanked Donnelly for arranging
the booking at Cinema I and for
the sendoff he expected that the film would
have. After saying that there had been a
few problems with the film but that everything
had "turned out okay," Bogdanovich
emphasized that Donnelly's belief in the film
meant a great deal to him. He thanked Donnelly
for his "intelligent courage" in putting
the film into Cinema I and then stated
that he would keep a close relationship with
exhibitors as a result of his experiences with
the film.
Still plugging the film, Bogdanovich mentioned
that advance word on it was good
(later reviews included some very favorable
quotes). In parting, he quoted Howard
Hawks' advice to him. "Just make pictures
that make money and you'll never be unhappy."
Film Cooperative to provide at least 75
Both Bogdanovich and Gazzara had
personal appearances and the "Slithis" Sur-
"top-quality, first-run features" during the
been attending all screenings of the film and
vival Kit.
Sunival Kit
were making numerous appearances in connection
next decade, serves to avoid many trade
practices that gall NITE membership, including
The kit is a small pamphlet distributed to
with it, Donnelly pointed out. Then
blind bidding.
moviegoers and says that the creature was Mancuso was given a special "Oscar" for
Scott also told the media: "Canada is "spawned from the waste of a nuclear his Sweepstakes efforts and said he had
really
grow. energy plant and wants you to survive." postponed a trip to Kansas City for Show-A-
trying to get film production to And right now the biggest advantage to producing
Patrons are advised to "Follow these in-
Rama to be there. Martin Newman, who
a film in Canada are tax breaks. structions!" which include detaching the was to have been presented a check from
While the United States has done away with
the club for the benefit of Will Rogers Hospital,
picture of the monster and keeping it on
a lot of its tax credits for filmmaking, Canada
your person at all times except when sleeping.
was in Kansas City and would receive
is still allowing big write-offs."
the check on May 22.
BOXOFFICE :: May 28, 1979
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