Boxoffice-August.27.1979

Sharon
Maggie
Vaders
OXOFFICE/AUGUST27, 1979» nmui
13
EW YORK
In an unprecedented situation ai the
Jbdium here, "Rum Nevei Sleeps" ended up
Five-da) run with a lake of $65,710 rhal's
r 1 3 screenings of the film documenting rock
ign Neil Young's I978 concerl toui
I he
illadium. on E. I4ih Street, previously the
I heatre in Philadelphia, rarel) a
cademy of Music, primarily books popular
UK acts
rhe rowei
c for movies as well, recently premiered
lust Never Sleeps" and grossed SI 9,835 in
i first three da\s According to distributor
lernalional Harmony, "Rust" surpassed
I he Kid Are Alright" in a comparable run at
le
lower.
B) September, Young's concert film will he
rawn in 15 houses in the New York
letropolilan area, including the Sth Street
lay house and the 86th Street East in
Manhattan.
Franklin Media Corp., which brought
I'aura Antonelli's "Till Marriage Do Us Part"
I'D U.S. screens, will open "Moments'" at the
/lanhattan I in mid October, as soon as the
enovalions to the old RKO Eastworld and
tKO 59th Street theatres are completed,
inenia 5 is undertaking the project in con
unction with a community organization in
he immediate area on 59th Street between Se
ond and Third avenues.
"Boardwalk" is slated to premiere at
Manhattan 2. the other theatre to arise out of
he refurbishing, now at the end of the design
tages, according to Joseph Ross at Cinema 5.
"Moments" is French Israeli picture written
ind directed by Michal Bat Adam, starring
^dam and Brigitte Catillon. It will open in the
all in Tel Aviv and Paris as well as in New
York.
"Moments" will be featured in film festivals
it Edinburgh. Thesaloniki. Montreal and at
the Mifed festival.
"Alien" recently began a limited showcase
run at area theatres, while continuing at the
Criterion where it opened 13 weeks ago. The
science fiction chiller will be featured in
houses in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, Nassau
and Suffolk counties. Westchester, Rockland,
upstate New York and throughout New
Jersey.
A two-minute teaser heralding "The Empire
Strikes Back" is attached to the end of its
parent feature,"Star Wars," which recently
began a limited engagement across the coun
try. The 20th Century Fox followup to the
1977 blockbuster is being readied for a sum
mer 1 980 release.
Wall Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" is being
promoted with a one minute. I 3 second teaser
at the beginning of "Unidentified Flying Odd
ball." and a three minute teaser for "A Very
Big Withdrawal" is attached to Avco Em
bassy's "Goldengirl."
Singer/songwriter musician Paul Simon,
who composed the music for "The Graduate"
and had a bit part in Woody Allen's "Annie
Hall." will upgrade his contribution considerably
for his next film. He will star in an
as-yet-untitled Warner Bros, film for which he
is
writing the screenplay and the soundtrack.
The plot concerns a singer who started out
in the 1960s and lately has been laced with
shrinking audiences and a record company
who's pressuring him to go commercial.
Simon started out in the '60s with Simon
and Garfunkel. but that's where the similarity
between his life and the movie ends. The reci
";^nt of scores of gold albums, he recently
signed a contract with Warner Bros. Records
for millions of dollars and for the freedom to
expand his film work.
As the American International Pictures
retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art
winds down, a similar bulk screening of AI
classics is reportedl) making a hit in
Washington ai the American I ilm Institute,
stationed at the John I
Kenned) I enter for
the Performing Arts
On Saturday, \ug II, a record number oi
patrons filed into the midnight 10 4 a ill slum
mg ol Al's I dgat \ lien Poe adaptations, " the
Pit and the Pendulum'' and " I he I all ol the
House ol I shet
In addition, u was reported that the au
diencc response to ( buck Braverman s three
minute, rapid lire trailei depicting Al's 25 year
career was quite favorable lit was the same
segment shown at MDMA screenings.
Rose Shurpin, 42. mother of Sol Shurpin,
president of Technikole Corp., died Aug. 19.
She leaves four sons, lour brothers, eight
grandchildren and 1 1 great grandchildren.
PHILADELPHIA
Joe Baltake, Philadelphia Daily News, says
of "The Muppet Movie": "I don't think there's
been a film of such a wide range of appeal or
one which succeeds on just about every possi
ble level." . . . Dick Pothier, Philadelphia
Inquirer, calls it "a fast, clever, funny and
frolicsome movie." .
Philadelphia Bulletin, says it's one of those
"loveable pictures that you'll never regret pay
ing hard^arned money to see." . . . Bill Wine,
Courier Post, Camden, N.J., calls it a "funfilled,
upbeat, impressively mounted summer
movie." .
Johnson, The Patriot,
Harrisburg, Pa., calls it "simply the most satis
fying movie for children and adults to arrive
this summer."
Philadelphia Daily News, in a promotional
tie-up with Universal Pictures' Fredell
Pogodin, promotion chief, is giving away 25
"Airport '79" T shirts in a random drawing as
part of the campaign to promote "The Con
dorde— Airport "79," which opened at Budco's
Goldman Theatre.
Joe Adcock, Philadelphia Bulletin, says
"More American Graffiti" is "full of comical
collisions and explosions, funny betrayals and
broken hearts." Jack Lloyd, Philadelphia
Inquirer, finds it "basically a charming
lightweight movie played for laughs and
presented with a great deal of technical style."
But Bill Wine, Courier Post, Camden, N.J.,
thought it was only "moderately
entertaining."
Princeton (N.J.) Cablevision, which has
New Jersey franchises in Monroe and
Plainsboro, picked up three new franchises in
the state from Helmetta, Spotswood and
Jamesburg. The company has an as yet unop
posed application for cable service in Cranbury
and is competing with another company
for South Brunwick's franchise.
Desmond Ryan, Philadelphia Inquirer,
turns thumbs down on "The Concorde—Airport
"79." seeing it as "a gross and absurd
waste of money, paced at the speed of a leaky
tramp steamer."
General Cinema's Seaview Square Cinema
in the Seaview Square shopping mall just outside
of Asbury Park, N.J., has added Friday
and Saturday midnight shows until the end of
the summer resort season. The Bonanza
Jones, Leader Tribune. Wildwood, N.J.,
recommends moviegoers "stay away— unless
you like the idea of witnessing the haunting of
a young family by a gruesome pig and noisy
furniture ."
I it Starkev, account executive at Flkman
Advertising handling the publicity, proi
and advertising for Buena Vista in this area,
was host for a special preview afl
screening .it "I nidcntil'icd I- King Oddball" at
General Cinema's Walnut Mall Cinema near
the I Diversity of Pennsylvania campus.
Fredell Pogodin, who has been regional
publicity and promotion director for Universal
Pictures, working out of the suburban offices
at Cherry Hill, N.J., leaves to join Universal
io "ii tin.- West Coast. She will assume a
newly created post as a marketing coordinator
Christine l.aMonte, who was director
of publicity and promotion for Sack Theatres
in Boston, will handle her territory, working
out of Universal's New York office.
CLEVELAND
Meredith MacRae, currently performing
here at the Carousel Dinner Theatre, is now
looking forward to a career as a film producer.
She just signed as a producer for ICM and has
formed her own Mac Bet Productions, which
has several projects underway already. She
said that Mac Bet Productions has signed Art
Carney, who will star in their film "The Pig
Men," which will begin production in
February or March Leon Tokatyan is the
screenwriter and the locale will probably he
Staten Island, as it was in the book
The Chagrin Falls Theatre has been torn
down to make way for a new office building in
Chagrin Falls and the same fate is rumored for
the Hippodrome Theatre in downtown
Cleveland. However, the "Hipp" is alive and
fairly well, according to Vincent Sanguedolce.
the Hippodrome's manager for the past 10
years.
The Hippodrome, the last movie house in
downtown Cleveland, opened its doors in
1907 as a stage showplace. It had a treadmill
for horses, a pool into which divers could
plunge and Anthony Carouso performed there
as did The Metropolitan Opera.
It costs about $5,000 a week to keep it in
operation. The concession stand is leased out
so it is not included in the theatre's figures.
The Hippodrome operates noon to midnight
seven days a week.
Sanguedolce said that in four days they took
in $ 1 1 .000 on "The Amity ville Horror." "Prophecy"
opened several weeks after it had been
playing suburban theatres, grossed $12,000 in
the first week and "Richard Pryor— Live in
Concert" came to the Hippodrome 12 weeks
after it had been playing at the Vogue Theatre
in Shaker Heights, and took in $15,400 the
first week and $8,000 the second. For years
the theatre specialized in karate movies and
action pictures and did very well with them,
but now "The Amityville Horror" does better
than "Seven Brothers Meet Dracula ."
The Plain Dealer reported that the Hip
podrome is to be replaced by an office building
and a parking garage, but the company that
owns the building told Sanguedolce not to
worry. Sanguedolce is going ahead with pain
ting and repairing of seats.
Greenwood Cine I & 2, Toledo, Ohio, has
engaged Clark Theatre Service of Oak Park.
Mich., to represent them in the licensing and
hooking of films.
Excerpts from The Chronicle-Telegram,
Elyria. Ohio, review: ""The Muppet Movie'
could have done with some intelligent
editing: the movie is just too long and
episodic foi kids But in the end the faults
don't mallet The Muppel Movie' is blessed
with a witt) script b) icrry Juhl and lack
Burns that provides a laugh a minute, at
least."
t >i "Sunburn," Bets) Maupin writes "There
is little nunc to 'Sunburn othei than one ol
ing car chases in movie history
and a strange scene in which an insurance
compan) m New York mis around
discussing business in Ins bedroom. Maybe
that's how the) do things in Acapulco. But
that would be another movie
interesting than this one
Donna ( . hernin writes of "The Con
corde— Airport 79": -
| here is a lol of silly action
. (Susan Blakelyland the rest ol
the passengers would be lar belter oil it she
were to go back where she started, predicting
the weather in Madison, Wis So would the
audience."
DETROIT
After four years of push and shove by con
cerned people. Michigan has finally come up
with a film commission, operating funds and
all. The new agency, called Michigan Films
and Television Advisory Council, was signed
into law by Gov William Millikin Aug. 17.
Rod Burton. Jane Ford, Jerry Sindt, Sue
McGill, Wilmer Rabe v John Hardy. Robert
Fenton, James Barr and Buzzy Lutrell arc
commissioners along with a representative of
the Michigan Council for the Arts and the
Michigan Tourist Bureau. The first meeting
will probably be used to select an executive
secretary and permanent home for the com
mission, which currently works out of the
Michigan Department of Commerce in Lans
ing.
"Star Wars" is making a phenomenal se
cond run at the American, where it plays in
Dolby sound The line of people for the first
show at the 1.743 seat theatre couldn't make it
all the way in and there was a smattering of
Lukes, Leilas and Darth . in full
costume among the leftovers waning for the
second show. The line for the 1:30 p.m. show
started forming at noon and it was obvious
that gadget sales were brisk among the young.
The Detroit Film Society starts its
fall-winter series with a personal appearance
of Sylvia Sidney to introduce her film, "You
Only Live Once," on Sept. 8.
Sam Oshry, AI Detroit manager, says the
company is going for a higher image with big
budget pictures. Payoff. Oshrey says, shows in
"The Amityville Horror's" opening weeks's
performance that outgrossed any other picture
in an unusually hot Detorit area market. Even
"The Muppet Movie" at $500,000 fell behind
"Amity ville's" blockbusting $588,000 in 14
houses. That beat the record of "Star Wars,"
$357,000; "Superman," $507,000; and
"Alien." $253,000.
t
F
®See Bud Orton or Joe Testa at
restaurant in the area is also sponsoring free
Sunday noon children's shows and free tickets
are distributed by the restaurant.
Sharon Johnson, The Patriot. Harrisburg.
Pa., found "The Amiiyville Horror" to be "an
almost perfect movie — perfectly bad. Only
Lalo Schifrin's reasonably atmospheric score
saves it from unrelieved mediocrity." Lee
179 Portland St.
Boston. MA 02114
(617) 367-0500
Cinema Service
& Supply, Inc.
(continued on page 22)
ROJfllE R
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