Any fans of this magazine dedicated to the movie theater business? I recently got close to 50 issues from the late 70s on eBay and I love it. Not only are there great ads and info about box office returns (duh!) but they have a great section announcing new film projects, some that got made and some that didn't. As I mentioned in the Variety thread, I love hearing about projects that got announced but never got made.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be posting little interesting tidbits from the issues I grab at random to read. Here is the first go round. I should also have a scanner soon so I can put up some of the artwork. Here are some scans Marty put up on his blog:

http://craneshot.blogspot.com/2009/09/boxoffice-1976.html

BOXOFFICE
Issue date: October 25, 1976
Cover film: THE PASSOVER PLOT ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075043/ )

From the producer of LUNCHWAGON (1981) and HOLLYWOOD HOT TUBS (1984):

Hollywood Report:

This one is interesting in that it references Cirio Santiago adapting a book H.G. Wells never wrote:

And perhaps the most interesting blurb that never happened:

By far my favorite story in this issue was this one:

Great stuff, William. Looking forward to the scans. There are some great ones on Marty's site. I love the tagline from the ad for NO WAY BACK. "Never trust a woman with her clothes off!"

Glad you like the stuff, Ian.

BOXOFFICE
Issue date: March 29, 1976
Cover film: REVENGE OF THE CHEERLEADERS ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075137/ )

Hollywood Report:

Yesterday we had an unmade Robert Redford project:

This appeared to want to be a spin off of the 1975 TV series THE INVISIBLE MAN, which Stevens and Levi worked on:

Just a cool little casting blurb:

A rather big sounding project that never got off the ground:

In the back review section, they offer the following tip to sell BOBBIE JO AND THE OUTLAW:

Here are some other Boxoffice posts I've done at Johnny LaRue's Crane Shot:

http://craneshot.blogspot.com/2009/08/boxo...ruary-1975.html
http://craneshot.blogspot.com/2009/07/boxo...uly-5-1976.html
http://craneshot.blogspot.com/2009/07/boxo...ne-21-1976.html

It's hard to scan these, because the pages are just slightly larger than my scanner, leading to some focus and cropping issues, dang it.

This was never a real project, just Larry Woolner lobbing cheap shots at Samuel Z. Arkoff.

Now that's funny.

BOXOFFICE
Issue date: May 17, 1976
Cover film: Fred Williamson is Jesse Crowder in DEATH JOURNEY
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137458/

Hollywood Report:

Scorsese ended up doing NEW YORK, NEW YORK instead of this:

This was clearly going to be amazing and you can guess how it got pitched:

And my favorite story in this issue by far:

Francesco Rosi ended up making this in 1990 with James Belushi, Noiret, and Gassman as THE PALERMO CONNECTION.

Is this the genesis of what being Quintet, the Altman directed post apocalptic movie with Newman?

I don't think so. Here is the Amazon.com description of THE R DOCUMENT's plot:

Could still make a pretty good movie, but I don't think Newman will be up for it (too soon?).

Nah, not too soon. Just get George Romero to direct it.

Ouch! Too soon (for Romero's dead career). :)

Okay, finally got a scanner and hooked the thing up. I'll keep adding some text about unknown/never made flicks and offering up scans of the cooler posters.

Exhibit #1:

THE ASTROLOGER (aka SUICIDE CULT)
Directed by James Glickenhaus
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0187530/

BOXOFFICE
Issue date: January 1, 1979
Cover film: SUMMER CAMP
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079965/

Hollywood Report:

What a doozy this would have been:

Interesting switch of directors (this was eventually made by George Roy Hill):

Another interesting director switch (Buzz Kulik made the film):

Is this another joke? Can't find reference to these titles anywhere:

SUMMER CAMP cover:



Great little SUPERMAN blurb:



For Marty McKee!

I posted a few more Boxoffice ads here.

THE GREATEST BATTLE was released in 1979, and then re-released by 21st Century Dist. after they bought the Dimension library, according to this. The others never saw the light of day under those titles, if they existed at all.

Peter Hyams has a screenplay credit on THE HUNTER. Since Buzz Kulik wasn't a guy one would call in to direct a Steve McQueen action movie unless you were in a real jam, I wonder how late in the ballgame Hyams left the project. Maybe he even shot some of it?

There's also an almost complete run of Boxoffice available on Issuu, and it's searchable using Google.

Heh. Just found an ad for Owensby's ROTTWEILER that claims it's the first U.S. 3D production since 1953. Hucksterism at its best.

Ah, sorry, I just meant those three odd titles they acquired.

I remember reading that a Robin Hood movie was to made with Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, and Christopher Lee in the suppoting cast. It was titled OUTLAWS. 1 year later we got the Kevin Costner crap.

BOXOFFICE
Issue date: March 22, 1976
Cover film: DEATH MACHINES
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074383/

Hollywood Report:

This one will fill your mind with "whatcouldabeen" (it eventually got made twice as GOTHIC and HAUNTED SUMMER):

Another "whatcouldabeen":

Wow:

Dammit, this would have ruled!

Cover scan:



Back cover scan:



Incredibly, a lot of this issue is spent talking about Tom Laughlin (BILLY JACK) and his new rental plan he describes as "the most radical change in decades in the distribution of motion pictures." He says, "Our approach is going to be simply that the guarantee we're going to ask for on each picture will result in giving the cream to the exhibitor for taking the risk. For instance, we will ask for a guarantee on a picture and the dollar amount of the guarantee will vary from theater to theater, depending on the grossing power of that house, and houses will be rated from A through E on the basis of their weekly grossing average."

To complement all of this, there is a gorgeous centerfold ad for BILLY JACK GOES TO WASHINGTON. I wish my scanner could have gotten the whole thing, but this is a pretty good representation.

This was made as THE GREAT BANK HOAX.

Dammit, that movie sucked! :)

"Forever" was the favorite book of the infamous Virginia Hill, Bugsy Siegel's mistress. This was reported in the book, "We Only Kill Each Other: The Life and Bad Times of Bugsy Siegel," by Dean Jennings, which Warren Beatty used as the basis for his film, BUGSY, in which Annette Bening played Miss Hill. No mention of Mildred Cram or "Forever" in the film, however.

Cram co-wrote the original story for BEYOND TOMORROW (1940), in which three old guys who died in a plane crash use their celestial powers to help a young couple, whom they'd brought together before they'd died, through their romantic turmoil. It's quite touching. It stars Richard Carlson, Jean Parker, Harry Carey, C. Aubrey Smith and Charles Winninger.

Has anybody ever seen this film, DEATH MACHINES? I remember seeing this ad back then and reading a plot synopsis of it, and I've always been intrigued by it. But everybody connected with it was a complete unknown back then and they remain so today. I don't think I've ever read a review or critical comment about it. And I'm not sure it ever played New York theaters back then. So I have no idea exactly what kind of film it is. Or if it's even worth tracking down.

(Wow, this was my 3000th post! B) )

I saw DEATH MACHINES on DVD and was highly disappointed. Though I also have zero memory of it, so maybe I should give it another shot. I do remember that it in no way stacked up to its incredible poster.

I'm a fan of DEATH MACHINES. It is one of those low budget US martial arts flicks that could only be made in the 70s with a plot predating UNIVERSAL SOLDIER. I've seen quite a few Ron Marchini flicks after this and he certainly is an unusual leading man. Just make sure when you watch it that you know full well you will never see anything as cool as that poster in the final film.

BOXOFFICE
Issue date: October 2, 1978
Cover film: ONE MAN JURY
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078032/

Interesting little story about CARNIVAL OF BLOOD helmer & XXX director Leonard Kirtman trying to make a stab at mainstream movie making again. It didn't happen:

Hollywood Report:

I wonder if this morphed into HERO AT LARGE, also written by Carothers and starring Ritter.

Edwards made 10 instead of this; it was made as a TV movie in 1985:

Could this have been the infamous ISLAND OF THE FISHMEN? I wonder if they sprung the fishmen on Cotton after he signed.

In the section on local area film news, this was mentioned about what was showing in Pittsburgh:

Quite an amazing mish-mash of titles there. Just for kicks, here is this issues Box Office barometer. The wide assortment of flicks playing at the time is pretty amazing. Surprisingly, Kansas City looked like the place to be as they showed everything.



Cover scan:

More on this one here. Chris Poggiali works around the corner from Kirtman's old office and a couple blocks from where this was filmed. That "New England college" is really a Catholic high school in New Rochelle, N.Y. Chris pointed it out to me once during an impromptu movie tour of the city, along with locations used in DON'T GO IN THE HOUSE, SCREAM FOR HELP, GOODFELLAS, THE DELI, RAGTIME, a couple of Samuel Sherman productions, even the old Terrytoons studio.

Ads from July 9, 1973