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Topic: First Film Released In 1,000 Theatres

Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-16-2003 12:52 AM

quote:
my figure for The Sound Of Music (and The Godfather and The Exorcist) came from The Hollywood Reporter Book Of Box Office Hits, which I identified in a previous post in the thread.

Let us agree, then, that in this case, the figure IMDB gave is probably accurate.

quote:
The Sound Of Music also had a summer 1978 re-release, and although that was after the release of Jaws, I suspect that release's boxoffice tally is included in the figures we've been throwing around.

Very probably true, although I strongly suspect the 1978 re-release didn't contribute much revenue to the total (this release was nowhere near the scale of the 1973 re-issue).

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 08-24-2003 06:09 PM

Re the first film released in 1,000 theatres all at once....

Tim Reed wrote:

quote:
"The Trial of Billy Jack", I would wager.

Paul Linfesty wrote:

quote:
The Trial of Billy Jack opened November 13, 1974, in what Variety claimed "may be the largest national saturation launch of any pic in memory." It opened on 1300 screens...

OK, I referenced a few items. Unfortunately, there is no consistency between them.

The Hollywood Reporter (October 10, 1974):
Taylor-Laughlin Distribution Co., which harvested a $75 million gross for "Billy Jack" through its four-walling strategy, has a new game plan readied for the Nov. 13 opening of "The Trial Of Billy Jack" sequel. On that day, Taylor-Laughlin plans to make "this entire nation Billy Jack country" by simultaneously releasing the film in 1,300 theatres.

Variety (October 17, 1974):
When "The Trial Of Billy Jack" bows in about 175 situations in 50 TV markets across the country, a portion of the dates will be four-wall engagements.

Variety (November 20, 1974):
Though "record breaking" is a term most showbiz personalities learn shortly after "dada," the 1000 plus dates for "The Trial Of Billy Jack," Laughlin's message-laden addendum to "Billy Jack" seems to qualify as a latter-day first week record.

Boxoffice (November 25, 1974):
Billy Jack is now big business, if not an institution, as evidenced by this film's opening in 800 theatres across the country November 13.

Undated Warner Bros. press release:
Distribution of "The Trial Of Billy Jack," the enormously successful Taylor-Laughlin sequel to "Billy Jack," will be assumed by Warner Bros. on Christmas day with openings in 1000 coast-to-coast theatres.
.

Re first film to gross $100 million....

Darryl Spicer wrote:

quote:
[For Jaws,] did they use the theater rental numbers or did they use the full total gross?

They used the full gross. Variety reported that Jaws topped $100 million in domestic boxoffice gross on August 17, 1975, its 59th day of release, by which time the number of engagements had increased to 900+ from an initial launch of 400+. In fact, Universal Pictures initially reported only gross figures, withholding rental figures and, as a result, made it difficult for the industry to determine when the movie would become the top-rental film of all-time, which is how the industry ranked such revenue figures at the time ("Sockeroo Jaws Gross; What About Rentals?," Variety, August 27, 1975).

More research is required regarding the grosses of the other films in question (The Sound Of Music, The Godfather, The Exorcist). Stay tuned.

[ 08-24-2003, 09:46 PM: Message edited by: Michael Coate ]

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 08-24-2003 07:52 PM

...and are they expressed in "today's dollars?"

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Paul Linfesty
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1383
From: Bakersfield, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 1999

posted 08-24-2003 09:16 PM

No, Manny. Inflation was not facored in.

quote:
Unfortunately, there is no consistency between them.

One major problem is that number of theatres and grosses weren't completely available, even to the trades back in (and up to) the seventies. For example, the weekly box office chart in Variety was only a sample of 22-24 or so key markets. As Michael Coate stated, the usual comprehensive numbers were found in the yearly rental charts.

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 02-24-2004 01:13 AM

Revisiting an old thread....

quote:
Jaws was the first film to top the $100,000,000 mark thus becoming the first summer blockbuster.

quote:
Jaws quickly became the first film in history to hit the $100 million mark at the box office, a much more difficult feat in the era of $3 tickets than today's $11 ducats.

quote:
While it is true that Jaws is generally regarded as the first "blockbuster," it was not the first film to break $100 million. I believe The Sound Of Music, The Godfather, and The Exorcist all grossed over $100 million in their original runs, all prior to the release of Jaws.

quote:
I recall something being mentioned on the documentary on the Jaws DVD stating it was the first to the $100 million mark.

I believe the $100 million mystery is solved. The confusion stems from the difference between grosses (the total amount of ticket sales) and rentals (the portion of the gross returned to the distributor based on the booking terms). Jaws was the first movie to top $100 million in rentals. It appears that none of the articles or references mentioned earlier made the distinction between gross and rental.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 02-24-2004 02:18 PM

I, for one, never doubted the claim that "Jaws" was first to reach $100M since no other producer/distributor contested it. One would imagine if there was actually another film to reach such a milestone that the makers of that film would be anxious to receive recognition.

It is good to have an answer to the "rentals versus grosses" question but I would like to see a citation of a source to back up the declaration that "the mystery has been solved."

Mike: Are you researching this information for an article, or are you just satisfying your personal interest?

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 02-24-2004 07:14 PM

quote:
I, for one, never doubted the claim that "Jaws" was first to reach $100M since no other producer/distributor contested it. One would imagine if there was actually another film to reach such a milestone that the makers of that film would be anxious to receive recognition.

Yeah, but I contested the claim earlier in the thread. Why didn't you speak up?? And I believe the claims are still wrong because without a specific mention of rental most people will assume a gross is what is being cited, particularly today since we are inundated with news coverage of boxoffice performance and whose figures are always referred to as gross ticket sales. "Jaws," most definitely was not the first film to gross $100 million, which is why I spent much of the earlier part of this thread focusing on looking for references to the grosses of earlier films such as "The Sound Of Music" and "The Godfather" to support my claim.

quote:
It is good to have an answer to the "rentals versus grosses" question but I would like to see a citation of a source to back up the declaration that "the mystery has been solved."

"The Hollywood Reporter Book Of Box Office Hits" by Susan Sackett, 1996 Revised Edition, page 240: "The picture had the honor of being the first film to break the $100,000,000 mark in rentals...."

The book's data was principally sourced from the trades, and all figures included are rentals rather than grosses.

quote:
Mike: Are you researching this information for an article, or are you just satisfying your personal interest?

No, this information is not for an article. The article research had been for the subject of the first film to get distributed with over 1,000 prints (more on that in a bit), exclusives and platforms and the transition to saturation releases, etc. and, during the course of the thread, the topic drifted to boxoffice figures. While researching boxoffice figures for a different movie and different project I decided to look into the "Jaws" situation again so that part of this thread could achieve some closure...which I hope it has, at least for those interested in the subject.

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Manny Knowles
"What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???"

Posts: 4247
From: Bloomington, IN, USA
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 02-24-2004 07:59 PM

quote:
Why didn't you speak up??

Coz I couldn't prove it. [Smile]

I figured the last thing you needed was somebody else injecting an opinion when you were clearly searching for the truth. Good work. [thumbsup]

Now...

...Let's get back to settling that 1,000 print business, shall we?

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Michael Coate
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1904
From: Los Angeles, California
Registered: Feb 2001

posted 02-26-2004 01:44 AM

quote:
Now...
...Let's get back to settling that 1,000 print business, shall we?

Well...the consensus appears to be that The Trial Of Billy Jack took the prize. But, there was a lot of conflicting information contained in the many trade references mentioned earlier. So...assuming (for the sake of continuing the thread) that The Trial Of Bily Jack had fewer than 1,000 initial engagements, I'll throw out the following possible "firsts with 1,000 prints" and related bits of data I've managed to compile since the thread began. (Note the conflicts and hype-ish nature of much of the information.)

King Kong (1976)
Pic is scheduled to open at upwards of 2,600 houses in the U.S., with the De Laurentiis office reporting "a huge advance". (Variety, "Says Dino: Count On A Kong X-Mas," May 19, 1976)

Paramount Pictures is planning a monster saturation preem for the Dino De Laurentiis remake of "King Kong," now scheduled as the company's big 1976 Christmas release. Par's senior veepee in charge of domestic distribution, Norman Weitman, told Daily Variety the company will be booking the largest number of prints in its history for the bow, something in the neighborhood of 1000. (Daily Variety, "Par Plans Monster 1000-Print Saturation For 'Kong' Remake," February 19, 1976)

The Dino De Laurentiis production of "King Kong" began its world premiere engagements December 17 in New York and Los Angeles. "King Kong" also opened at 1,000 theatres across the U.S. and Canada the same day. (Boxoffice, "King Kong Is Launched In Over 1,000 Locations, undated article)

At 961 theatres across the U.S., "Kong" grossed $6,967,164 in the first three days of release. (Variety, "Kong Wants Jaws Boxoffice Crown," December 22, 1976)

Flanked by a large bottle of aspirin and a stack of telegrams from around the world, Dino De Laurentiis sits in his office in the Gulf & Western building in New York contemplating a world in which 2,200 theatres have been playing his "King Kong" remake since Friday (17). The question is unavoidable. Can "Kong" best the Great White Shark of "Jaws" and become the biggest and fastest grossing film in the history of the biz? (Variety, "Kong Wants Jaws Boxoffice Crown," December 22, 1976)

While "Kong" is a major grosser, the widely publicized desire to beat Universal's "Jaws" is becoming less realizable. Specifically, the 12-day domestic b.o. of "Kong" ($19,800,000) is significantly less than the opening 10-day domestic b.o. of "Jaws" ($21,115,354) in 409 houses vs. 964 for "Kong." (Daily Variety, "$31.8 Mil 12-Day World B.O. For Kong," December 30, 1976)

Star Wars
Fox reopened Star Wars for a seven-week release to 1,756 theatres during the summer of 1978, resulting in the greatest number of prints ever bought for any picture. (The Movie Business Book, edited by Jason E. Squire, 1983, Fireside, chapter: "The Studio As Distributor," Peter S. Myers)

Grease
1,580 engagements during 1979 re-issue (undated, incomplete notes)

Friday The 13th
1,100 theatres. (Incomplete notes, The Hollywood Reporter, May 13, 1980)

Bronco Billy
1,316 engagements..."The Largest Single Break In The History Of Motion Pictures" (Warner Bros. trade ad, The Hollywood Reporter, May 30, 1980)

Any Which Way You Can
Any Which Way You Can, one of Warner Bros.' three Christmas offerings, wound up the boxoffice champ for the holiday weekend racking up $10,091,105 playing in 1,572 engagements. (The Hollywood Reporter, "Warners' 'Any,' Col's 'Crazy' Leading Pack In Christmas B.O.," December 30, 1980)

Others
Raiders Of The Lost Ark, Superman II and The Cannonball Run were booked into a record 1,078, 1,395 and 1,673 theaters, respectively. (The San Diego Union, "How Moviegoers Are Screened Out By Hype," July 15, 1981)

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