The Reel Blog

Disney announced yesterday it's banning smoking in Disney-branded films. According to the Hollywood Reporter:

"The Walt Disney Co. shares your concern regarding deaths due to cigarette smoking," Iger wrote to (Congressman Ed) Markey. "We discourage depictions of cigarette smoking in Disney, Touchstone and Miramax films. In particular, we expect that depictions of cigarette smoking in future Disney-branded films will be nonexistent."

Disney films are aimed at the family audience. Miramax and Touchstone tend to make more adult-oriented fare.

The move was welcomed by Markey, who has been a leading anti-smoking force in Congress.

"Disney's decision to take a stand against smoking is groundbreaking, and I commend CEO Bob Iger for this important commitment," Markey said. "Now it's time for other media companies to similarly kick the habit and follow Disney's lead."

Smoking in the movies is one of several areas in which the entertainment industry has been under pressure from Washington. Lawmakers and regulators are also pressing for them to promote healthier foods and cut down on violence and foul language.

According to the American Lung Assn., cigarette smoking has been identified as the most important source of preventable morbidity and premature mortality worldwide. Smoking-related diseases claim an estimated 438,000 American lives each year, and about 90% of smokers begin smoking before age 21.

Universal adopted a policy in April that drops smoking from "youth-rated" films and will add health warnings to films that do include smoking.

Universal president and CEO Ron Meyer said the studio is committed to reducing the health risk connected with smoking.

"We hope that our decreased portrayals of smoking and smoking paraphernalia in youth-oriented movies will help reduce the incidence of smoking among young people," he said. "If smoking is included in a youth-rated film released by Universal, we will include a health warning in our distribution channels. We feel it is important to use our influence to help stem a serious health problem in the U.S. and around the world. We believe it's possible to do that while respecting filmmakers' creative choices, and we are committed to partnering with them in this effort."

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Two stories in the news focusing on the continued strength of the more than 400 independent theater owners as a force in the industry.

Friday, the Springdale Morning News in Arkansas profiled the new Blackhawk Theatre in Pea Ridge, a small but burgeoning town in the extreme northwest corner of the state.

Pea Ridge Mayor Jackie Crabtree thinks that's a wonderful idea.

"I think it is a great opportunity he is taking. He has done a lot of work on that building," Crabtree said.

Crabtree said Pea Ridge is a bedroom community that is growing like others in Benton County. Numerous businesses are opening up there, including several banks and fast-food outlets.

"We're about to hit the big time. We're about to get a McDonald's," Crabtree said with a laugh.

Today, the Knoxville News Sentinel takes a look at the growing number of independent theaters in East Tennessee. In addition to profiling five area independents, the story also checks in with a former independent theater owner who made it big. Really big. Mike Campbell.

Campbell started Regal Cinemas with a 50-year-old theater in Claiborne County in 1982.

“There still is a niche for independents,” Campbell said.

Regal does not have to compete with independents in too many markets, but when they do, independents can prove to be “significant competition,” Campbell said.

Movies on the Parkways' Todd Holt believes it's the independent owners' connection to the local community that is their greatest strength.

Movies on the Parkway, like the rest of East Tennessee’s independent theaters, all work to create a family-friendly atmosphere. Part of that means dealing with what Holt and his staff refer to as the “Middle School Mafia,” groups of unruly patrons who often send text messages to each other during the movies or create other distractions.

Holt believes the independent theater is more capable of catering to the local crowds than the large theater chains. Instead of someone sitting in a corporate office far away, he and his staff make the decisions and rules based on community personality.

“The staff is what makes me. Without them, I would be nothing.” Holt said.

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KCRW's The Business, hosted by Claude Brodesser-Akner, takes an in-depth look at the ways and means of movie theft on its July 16 broadcast.  The show goes out on the streets of downtown L.A. to purchase illegally camcorded DVDs of Spider-man 3, Knocked Up (it turns out to be Charlotte's Web) and Ratatouille while they were still in movie theatres, and talks with a pirate DVD seller and finds out she takes in approximately $700 a day in illicit sales.

Guests:

Pierce O'Donnell: Founder of O'Donnell & Associates

Henry Cline: Veteran camera operator

Mike Robinson: Director of Anti-Piracy Operations for the MPAA

Patrick Corcoran: Director of Media and Research for the National Association of Theatre Owners

Rick Ishitani: Detective with the LAPD's Anti-Piracy Unit

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Super-wide releases have made it easier than ever for audiences to get in to see the latest blockbuster without having to wait because of sell-outs. If the showtime you want is full, wait 45 minutes and another screen will be available. This is a good thing for audiences, but it has had the less-than-desirable effect of staggering second week drops in box office - more than 60% in the cases of Spider-man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

The rapid drop-offs might once have led exhibitors to panic, as contracts with distributors paid them a greater percentage of box office the longer the film stayed in theaters. But not anymore, according to an article in today's New York Times:

The blockbuster onslaught has been driven partly by a shift in the way studios and theater chains divide up box office receipts. Until several years ago, most of the grosses went to the studios initially, but theaters benefited more the longer a film played. As a result, megaplex owners had a financial disincentive to play a new movie on too many screens.

Now studios and theater chains typically agree on a flat percentage split, no matter how long a movie plays. So “Pirates,” “Spider-Man 3” and “Shrek the Third,” for example, each opened on more than 10,000 screens in May.

“We don’t care anymore whether we generate revenue in the first week, the third or the fifth,” said Mike Campbell, chief executive of Regal Cinemas, the nation’s biggest theater chain.

It's not all sunshine and roses, though. The quick drop-offs mean there's less repeat business - perhaps an unintended consequence of shrinking release windows - and the enormous amount of screen real estate given over to blockbusters means there's less room for independent films. As a consequence, the giddy expectations of a record-breaking summer at the box offcie has been somewhat tempered.

But not entirely. Harry Potter is going strong in its second week and Hairspray and The Simpsons have enormous potential. And August, traditionally a bit of a dumping ground for films with lesser box office potential, has The Bourne Ultimatum, Rush Hour 3 and Superbad all looking strong. What other films are on your radar? The Invasion? Halloween? Any votes for Bratz or The Nanny Diaries?

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You might expect the director of media for the National Association of Theatre Owners to believe that, but so does Jonathan Sehring, president of IFC Films, which releases a small number of films in theaters and on pay-per-view simultaneously. According to the article in Weekly Variety:

Sehring makes it clear that First Take is an outlet only for movies that figure to have a hard time drawing people into the theaters. For example, "You Kill Me," the IFC-distributed movie starring Ben Kingsley, Tea Leoni and Luke Wilson, which opened in theaters last month, will not go to First Take because it’s projected to pull seven figures at the multiplexes. (The movie has grossed $829,000 so far in limited release.)

PPV and direct-to-video releases are honorable and profitable ways to distribute movies. Why drag movie theaters into it?

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