Reardon touts '92 numbers in Vegas
Using Warner's annual lunch at NATO/ShoWest '93 as an opportunity to flaunt impressive statistics (and stars), Reardon told some 3,500 exhibitors and movie exex that the studio's films occupied "228,000 play weeks or 18% of all play weeks in a year."
"And we don't plan to sit on our laurels: We're going for No. 1 again this year," he said.
Table set with stars
WB also provided visual proof of its prosperity with a superstar-studded head table of talent such as Mel Gibson, Julia Roberts, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Whoopi Goldberg, Wesley Snipes, Clint Eastwood (who received a standing ovation) and Walter Matthau (who received a NATO/ShoWest lifetime achievement award).
WB president Terry Semel joked, "Without the talent we have in-house, we could have done those movies for a lot less money."
On a more serious note, Semel said ShoWest is not the place to "teach, lecture or scold," but is a time to "embrace the best theater owners from 29 or 30 countries." His ultimate message: "To ask for more theaters next year."
Vegas analogy
Semel's industry pitch was an analogy with gambling in Las Vegas. "Our business reminds me of this town and Warner Bros. is the closest thing in the motion picture business to a sure bet."
Semel never mentioned WB parent Time Warner or its chairman, Gerald Levin.
A Ross redux
But he did note that Warner Bros. will be run the same as it was under the late Steve Ross. "Warner Bros. was run by two families: the Warner family and the Steve Ross family. We will carry on and do what we've done and hopefully even do it a little better," Semel said, before introducing chairman Bob Daly. After most of the stars, top producers and directors (including Oliver Stone) gave colorful speeches and dutifully praised the studio, all eyes turned to the slightly out-of-synch product reel that left exhibs beaming.
'Quality and quantity'
"That's both quality and quantity," Metropolitan Theatres Corp.'s Bruce Corwin said after the unspooling. For the Julia Roberts/Denzel Washington suspense thriller "The Pelican Brief," he said, "You can start counting the money now."
'Fugitive' warmly received
Of the 15 trailers, the most enthusiastically received were the Harrison Ford starrer "The Fugitive"; Oliver Stone's latest take on Vietnam, "Heaven and Earth"; Whoopi Goldberg and Ted Danson's sperm-bank spoof, "Made in America"; John Hughes' "Dennis the Menace"; and "Free Willy," a family drama about a kid who rescues a killer whale.
Some trailers had little or no actual footage because they are in the early phases of shooting.
Producer Joel Silver's "Demolition Man"-- starring Stallone and Snipes -- was one such example, even though the monstrous building explosion (shot several weeks ago) made the futuristic tale look like a very "big" picture.
