‘Titanic’s’ Endless Summer

Last year’s delayed opening of “Titanic” may have caused it to miss the boat as a summer ’97 release, but moviegoers can watch it glide through summer ’98 in plenty of theaters as the historic movie phenomenon sails on and on and on. . . .

Exhibitors say it’s tough to drop a 5-month-old movie from screens that’s grossed more than $1.5 billion worldwide and continues to play as one of the top 10 films nationwide, moving up to No. 5 over the weekend.

“Titanic’s” ticket sales will probably be clipped by some of the likely summer blockbusters such as “Godzilla” (May 20) and “Armageddon” (July 1). But if audiences rebuff what Hollywood calls “tent pole” pictures--those big, loud, action, sci-fi films that cost $100 million-plus to make--don’t be surprised to see exhibitors test the waters by tacking up prints of Jim Cameron’s Oscar-winning love epic on more screens.

“ ‘Titanic’ will never sink,” says Robert L. Friedman, president of AMC (Theaters) Entertainment Motion Picture Group. “In addition to its all-time record-breaking box office, it has become a cult film during its original run. Films don’t become cult until a couple of years after their release, like a ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show.’ I know of no other film that can make this claim in motion-picture history.”

Continues Friedman: “The repeat business has a very healthy box-office gross all its own, with people going back to see this film four and five times . . . a blockbuster within a blockbuster. So unless some unforeseen iceberg comes along to detour it, I believe ‘Titanic’ will cruise clear through the summer with very respectable numbers.”

And it should continue to play strongly outside North America, notes a spokeswoman for 20th Century Fox, which partnered with Paramount Pictures on the film. Fox is peddling the film overseas; Paramount in North America. In four countries alone--Japan, France, Germany and England--box office has surpassed $500 million.

That’s why exhibitors polled nearly reflected Friedman’s anticipation for the film’s near future.

“Let me put it this way, in its 18th week we were still showing this movie in 85 of our 175 theaters in 24 states,” says Brian Callaghan, spokesperson for General Cinema. “If it keeps going like this, I wouldn’t be surprised if it winds up a Christmas movie as well.”

Wayne Lewellen, Paramount’s head of domestic distribution, calls that optimistic. “I certainly hope they’re right. But I anticipate a drop-off by mid-June.”

Since the film opened on Dec. 19 in 2,674 theaters, Paramount continued to add about 40 theaters or more each week until it reached a capacity of 3,265 theaters at its peak April 15. In late April it dropped the number of locations to 2,912. Locations or theaters, however, do not equate to the number of actual screens the film is playing on, since that number can fluctuate daily at mega-plexes around the country, notes Lewellen.

“We do plan to have a strong Memorial Day holiday weekend push,” he says. Depending on the results, “we will start cutting back unless it comes back strong. Then it will play through all of June certainly. After that, who’s to say?”

John Krier, head of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, is as cautious about the rosy predictions as Lewellen.

“I think you will see a change in a couple of weeks,” he says. “You’ve got some very big films opening and the attention will turn to them. There are a lot of office pools that have ‘Armageddon’ right up there with ‘Godzilla’ in terms of wanna-see. You’ve got ‘X-Files’ [June 19] and ‘Saving Private Ryan’ [July 24] that have a lot of interest. That’s tough competition for any older picture. Then again, the market always tells the story.”

That market still exists for “Titanic,” insists Howard Lichtman, spokesman for Toronto-based Cineplex Odeon Theaters. “Believe it or not there are still a couple of people on Earth who haven’t seen it yet. And, you’ve got the rest, mostly young girls, who just can’t get enough. They will continue to go back and see it again and again.

But will it be a dominant force that other films must fear in summer? “No,” he says. “Will it still be playing by the end of summer? Yes.”