Show 10D Standard-Examin- Frida er August 20 1982 J 'Officer' succeeded despifle industry prevailing wisdom By AUEAN HARMETZ NY Times News Service HOLLYWOOD — Against all conventional wisdom Paramount Pictures has taken the risk of sending “An Officer and a Gentleman” to duel with the broad comedies movie-industr- y blockbusters that dominate and special-effect- s movie theaters during the summer And the gamble has apparently paid off “An Officer and a Gentleman” is what the industry calls a “soft” movie It is a love story with a military theme about a naval cadet who is neither an officer nor a gentleman at the beginning of the movie but both at the end The movie would seem perfect for October when moviegoers are scarcer but more “serious” Yet “An Officer and a Gentleman” directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger earned $3329896 in 346 theaters the weekend before last its second weekend with an excellent average of more than $9000 More important instead of showing a drop in ticket sales as is usual for a movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” actually earned $25000 more than it did on its first weekend an indication that audiences liked the movie and were telling their friends to go see it “Of course we originally had the movie scheduled for October” said Frank Mancuso president of distribution and advertising for Paramount “That’s what history tells us to do The process of changing our mind began last January when we sneaked the movie into New Orleans and picked up the response of the audience New Orleans is a per-theat- er mid-Americ- blue-coll- an market ar “A month later the same response was duplicated in Toronto an upscale market of movie buffs So in March we decided to take a shot at the summer We were sure that people who went to see ‘An Officer and a Gentleman’ would like the film “The challenge was to get people in to see it in the first place If we could get a satisfactory level of attendance the first week the film would carry on” The advantages of opening a film during the summer lie in the larger pool of moviegoers and the more weeks a successful movie can play Whether it opens in July or October a movie eventually bumps up against early December and the new films for Christmas Paramount decided to open the movie in 346 theaters — a large enough number to hit every hWRRYENDSWDAY Without advertising a terrible thing Ace Hunter is the Ultimate Super Hero! IWrrfl m EtotMinig - Mwhappens- ALL SEATS flftDGflTS STVIRfHIPf maa9u m 20th l l RIVE H0ALE NTUHI FILMS 4 Tues 115 315 515 Sot 4 Sun $200 Till MALI NEWGATE 7 15 49 6:00 Mon - Fri HOLIDAYS EXCEPT 15 Closed Sunday Kovsville CpUNTRYCLUB I 393IT WnttmttM) THEATRE 1(393-516- 4 major metropolitan area but still small enough to give the movie room to build By comparison “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” opened in 1400 theaters and “Rocky III” in nearly 1000 Late July was chosen as a time when most of the early summer movies would be played out If “An Officer and a Gentleman” could earn $2 million its opening weekend Mancuso said Paramount would be “just fine” That the picture did more than $3 million wTas partly owing to hard work and canny decisions by Paramount partly a response to the movie and partly luck Paramount was lucky that its film was one of only two movies opening in the last week of July And the studio could not have planned on the uniformly good reviews that “An Officer and a Gentleman” received A few weeks earlier 20th Century-Fo- x had tried the same trick of opening a soft and heartwarming movie in midsummer But critics had disliked Fox’s “Author Author!” For a movie without easily exploitable elements to be sampled it needs the cachet of good reviews and “Author Author!” sank quickly The two most unusual things Paramount did with “An Officer and a Gentleman” were to disregard its own research about how to advertise the film and to open the movie on a Wednesday It worked But Mancuso does not bask in the current success for more than a moment “If word of mouth hadn’t been terrific” he said “everything we did made up a very bad plan” 1:00 3:00 5:00 7:00 9:00 S200 ALL SEATS Till 6 00 Mon - Fri EXCEPT HKTHd iiium IElSl HE IN' ESTMENT fOMI’AM PROW CTI0N A DON C0SCARELLI HAKISIViEK TANIA ROBERTS RIP TORN JOHN AMOS atassi John Airorr at’ "K DON 'g (OSCAKHII PA (TIM AHKIII "“ PKPPKRMAN DON ' IV PG MCM 'UA TIIE BEASTMASTEK "‘in 1KE HOIDKIDOK svl'io tarpt ttwru donald SOM — i" The & I PAl'L PKPPKRXAS sSYLYI0 TABU PARENTAL WATTftUM MAV GUIOANCE NOT SUGGESTED 8 SttfTAAlf GB Co-H- it OF THE FOA OOLDACM Clash Of 5368 South 1050 West RIVERDALE 627-- 1 061 Return of the Great z borchers p LOST ARK I 4113 SO Show HOLIDAYS mh:k presents MANN FOURPLEX -394- A V me most devastating killing machine ever built CLINT EASTWOOD paramount PlCTUHC 2:45 7:30 tweTitans? 12:15 5:00 9:45 gJ beyond your wildest dreams 4 -1768— Swap-Mo- ot 1 Show Dusk A Car Tues Only 3:30 2: IS SECRET yfSTMH 8:00 $300 WU iHd 7:15 4 915 FOX MANNTHEATRES Box 4 4:00 S:4S 7:30 9:13 iW t rv 12:15 PG 7:00 9:15 ? Clash tF CO-H- lt PG SHARKYS MACHINE United Artists VTCVVUA fFTfri (Hfiiffiiiraini — Co-H- it Co-H- 2:30 4:45 MATINEES DAILY ALL ADULT SEATS 50 FROM OPENING HOUR it CLASH OF THE TITANS Daily Matinee at 1:00 Residents! know you ran cal! the toll Ogdon Stondard-Exominfree with this number? Did you Eves 7 19 Sat-Su- Mat n TILL °h ALBERT FINNEY CAROL BURNETT 135 OVER 723-536- 1 -- V i UMhi on Washington Dlvd by the Ogden Bridge POPCORN THEATRES Box Office 8:15 First Show Dusk Drive-I- n SCOTT BAIO WILLIE A AMES Juvoriiwniriiii It's one summer A you'll never forget i i A k'ATiDAL KLEISER Production SUMMER LOVERS Starring PETER CALLAGHE R DARYL HANNAH V AL L RIE QULNNESSEN Co Starring BARBARA RUSH CAROLE COOK Musk St ore by BASIL POLEDOURIS Filin Editor ROBERT GORDON xm utive Producer JOEL DEAN Produr ed by MIKE MODLR Written dnd Directed by RANDAL KLEISER Color by Technicolor V HW SfujndtMt h f Rf 01 s 1A! ' ' An l Dirty' Wfc RmiTmcrtD lr Summer (c) at Lom Associates All COLUMBIA PICTURE 11:30 2:00 4:30 7:00 9:30 THE E ORlOlY PICTURES Riqhts Reserved Starring MEL GIBSON 9 mraE 3:00 7:00 tlOita MANN THEATRES Imann AVCO EMBASSY crry plaza 23RD at GRANT PICTURES RELEASE 1:00 7:00 3:00 9:00 5:00 4 -- 392-1122 Co-H- £ it (R) John Travolta in Box 8:15 Show Dusk ’"BLOWOUT” 394-469- 1 rThe Greatest Challenge Box 8:00 Show Dusk 3£MJ $300 a car Tuesday Only Nvr Misses! —— — A Wmlkkty Weapon That y SET SAIL FOR THE MUSICAL COMEDY ADVENTURE OF THE SUMMER! n 4 £ ——4— rnmam NOW PLAYING! St 12:30 2:45 5:00 7:15 9:30 KEKE£S)1!4r Call 392 1122 23rd at Grant MATINEES DAILY ALL ADULT SEATS $250 PG Tstlmq Co-h- it J 3:00 PM The Movie o5 ‘Tomorrow’ pm Savannan Smiles PG Brigham Area Call 627 1061 13 So River date MANNIfourplex theTitAKis g THEATRES OGDEN AREA r FROM OPENING HOUR TILL IT KNOWS WHAT SCARES YOU t’ W TwtNTlfcTH C£NTUPYF0)C TAPS A PM 3 :00 J MGMUA POLTERGEIST m 12:30 3:45 5:00 7:15 9:30 Gms — MGM'ua multi -lj i 1:00 3:00 5:00 7:15 9:30 one summer you'll never forget It’s M3BUD MnsOOOLOWVN a i®i Box 8:00 Show Dusl r poJOHN U MCMb jv’A lOVERS m 1:00 3:00 5:00 7:00 9:00 MANNTHEATRES Imann ?3RD errv plaza MANN THEATRES amBuCE MANN FOURPLEX 3 SO 62 Tonight 1 RIVERDALE ROAD 7-- 1 06 1 00 5 00 Snok 9 00 Co-H- it Road Warriors Sox 1:00 Show Ouk A New Dimension in 7:15 3:00 9:30 5:00 1:00 i at GRANT 392-112- 2 a SUMMER MAvfO PRESENTS JOHN B BENNETT JAMES FARGO CHUCK NORRIS "FORCED VENGEANCE" MARY LOUISE WELLER WILLIAM GOLDSTEIN d FRANKLIN THOMPSON B BENNETT JAMES FARGO -' 01 19' Ml U t letdnmp lu pictuucs Tiwmi miw Rjo t THOCIXO EMtAMv Co-H- Terror' it Motor-V- u Only BURT REYNOLDS MACHINE H 12:30 2:30 4:45 7:00 9:15 N |