Holiday Winners and Losers

A time for fun, diversion and a few tears

Escapist entertainment is what's doing the business--whatever gets your mind off the Ayatullah." In that brief capsule, Marvin Goldman, chairman of the National Association of Theater Owners, has summed up the mood of the country. During the Christmas and New Year's holidays, always the movies' biggest weeks, Americans went to the flicks primarily for one purpose: fun and diversion. Those films that offered some of both either did well, or even better. Those that did not quickly became the ghosts of Christmas present.

The biggest bomb was Steven Spielberg's World War II farce, 1941, which cost Universal Pictures nearly $40 million, including promotional costs. "It was overdone, overproduced, overeverything," says Goldman. "It was like building a $1 million mousetrap to catch one mouse in the kitchen." Universal's president, Sidney Scheinberg, argues that "it's too early to say" how the picture will do and suggests that neither Universal nor Columbia, who co-financed the film, will lose any money. Yet movie analysts reckon that the film may have to gross as much as $100 million before the studios can recoup their investment. So far, 1941 has done only $15 million and is fading fast.

The season's two science-fiction pictures, Star Trek and The Black Hole, have been disappointments, but only by comparison with the inflated expectations of their backers. Star Trek opened first, 2% weeks before Christmas, when there were no other films being launched. "The first week it was outlandish," says Don Baker, vice president of advertising and promotion for Loews Theaters in New York. "It seemed as though almost all of the millions of U.S. trekkies were trying to get in at once. The problem was that this made the second week look bad."

In fact, the second week witnessed a 38% drop in receipts, but miraculously, the third week saw a 30% gain over the sagging second and the fourth a 26% jump above that. In its first 26 days, Star Trek brought in a total of $53 million. By ordinary standards, it is a blockbuster. But it went far over budget, finally costing Paramount Pictures more than $50 million to produce and promote; thus the film will have to gross between $75 million and $100 million before the studio makes its money back.

The Black Hole's budget was a comparatively modest $19 million, but it is still the most expensive film that the Walt Disney studios has made. So far, after ten days, the movie has made a promising but by no means spectacular $16.5 million. Disney is disappointed that the film is not doing more matinee business; grownups, who tend to go to evening shows, outnumber kids at the box office 7 to l.

If Spielberg's 1941 is the surprise flop, Carl Reiner's The Jerk, starring Comedian Steve Martin, is the unexpected hit of the season. It cost approximately $10 million, including promotion, and so far has grossed $32 million, with as much success in small towns as in big cities. "People like Steve Martin, and it is a funny film," says Ron Goldman, a co-owner of the Washington, D.C.-based K.B. theater chain, expressing an opinion not shared by most of the critics. He adds: "Thank God the critics aren't quite as important as they used to be." Another surprise is the booming box office for the comedy "10,"which has made $51 million since it was released in October, largely because of the multiple attractions of Bo Derek.

More predictable was the success of Columbia's Kramer vs. Kramer (TIME, Dec. 3). It is a smash despite the fact that unlike the other holiday hits, it deals with serious problems: divorce and a bitter custody fight. But the film also has compelling acting by Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep and young Justin Henry. "It is popular because the story line, the performances and the direction are so good," says Alan Friedberg, president of the National Association of Theater Owners. "It is a film people can relate to." Comparatively inexpensive (cost: $13 million, including promotion), Kramer made $16.5 million in its first two weeks. At Manhattan theaters lines stretched around the block, and one house scheduled a 1 a.m. showing to meet heavy holiday demand. Notwithstanding the movie's Big Apple setting, business also doubled the second week in Midwest theaters.

Another Columbia movie that has done fairly well is The Electric Horseman, a kind of rope opera about an ex-rodeo star's rebellion against commercial exploitation of him and a nag. Though the picture, which cost $18 million including publicity, grossed $14.25 million in its first twelve days, it has not had nearly the drawing power the studio hoped it would, given the luster of its two stars, Robert Redford and Jane Fonda. United Artists' Being There, which stars Peter Sellers as a gardener who may become President, has opened well in Manhattan and Los Angeles theaters. When it goes into general release in February, it may join the list of hits.

As they counted up their season's grosses, moviemen, like retailers everywhere, delivered their verdict: it was a good season, but not the best. Audiences were as fickle as ever, and with ticket costs approaching and sometimes surpassing $5, they were not about to stand in line for anything less than guaranteed entertainment.

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