Date: 25th August 2000

Kings Producer Angered Over Size Of Realm


Producer Walter Latham is angry over Paramount's decision to place his The Original Kings of Comedy in only 847 theaters, most of them in ghetto areas, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Friday).

Pointing out that the film took in $11.1 million and had the highest per-theater gross of any movie released last weekend, Latham told the WSJ: "Had we been in 2,411 theaters like The Cell was, we would have easily have been No. 1 last weekend."

But studio vice chairman Rob Friedman told the newspaper that experience has shown that black-oriented films don't even cover the cost of the prints in theaters outside the core market.

While conceding that last weekend's results surprised studio researchers, Friedman said that the studio plans "to feed the movie, nurse it along as it goes, but not shortchange it."

Source: Studio Briefing


 

 

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