Are We Just April Fools? |
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Can Match-Flickers reasonably expect every new year to break the previous one's Box Office record, or are we just indulging in April Foolery and egocentricity when we anticipate the Box Office gross to improve every year?
Earlier this month, I attended the 24th Annual Southland Theatre Artists Goodwill Event (S.T,A.G.E.) at the historic Wilshire Theatre in Beverly Hills ("swimming pools, movie stars"). This annual musical spectacular, directed and staged by the extraordinary David Galligan, benefits AIDS Project Los Angeles. This time around, the show, BLAME IT ON BACHARACH, honored the pop music composer Burt Bacharach. The live performance featured the likes of Melissa Manchester, Stephanie Powers, Donna McKechnie, and Dave Koz, belting and playing the unforgettable pop classics of the honoree composer, who sat quietly in an orchestra seat, presumably enjoying the well-deserved tribute as much as everybody else.
The First Act was an abridged, feisty version of Bacharach's 1970s' Broadway hit PROMISES, PROMISES, a musical adaptation of the 1960's 
Bear Stearns' James Cayne Sees the Danger Around Him |
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Oscar-winning Best Picture THE APARTMENT. The Second Act was filled with Burt's pop hits, including a haunting rendition of THE APRIL FOOLS by GOOD MORNING, AMERICA'S first hostess, Nancy Dussault.
THE APRIL FOOLS was written by Bacharach with Hal David for the 1969 romantic comedy of the same name. The flick starred Jack Lemmon and Catherine Deneuve, and the song was sung in the movie by Bacharach muse Dionne Warwick. The lyric poses the musical query, "Are we just April Fools who can't see all the danger around us?"
In the song, the question is thus answered, "If we're just April Fools, I don't care; true love has found us now." In real life, not reel life, the answer may, or may not, be different.
Last week, while vacationing in Central Texas, I learned that Bear Stearns had been purchased for $2.00 per share by JP Morgan Chase. Buy out, or bail out, this was shocking news. Bear, Stearns & Co., Inc., has been, for many decades, a major global investment banking, securities trading and brokerage firm. Since 1923, the company has consistently 
Will Match-Flickers Flock to INDI JONES? |
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assisted governments, corporations, institutions, and individuals in attaining their financial goals. When the stock market closed on Friday, March 14, Bear Stearns was valued at $30.00 per share. Yet, over the weekend, its investors, many of whom are employees, saw their careers and financial futures evaporate with JP Morgan Chase's fire-sale purchase.
Right now, JP Morgan Chase is proposing to up the ante on Bear Stearns to $10.00 per share, in order to salve BS stockholders, somewhat. To put this in perspective: three weeks ago, Bear Stearns stock was valued at $67.00 per share. One year ago, the BS price was $170.00 per share.
This week, home in Los Angeles, and reading the entertainment trade papers, studios' spokesmen were predicting that a strongish winter and spring, coupled with anticipated summer blockbusters, among them, IRONMAN, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, SEX AND THE CITY, MAMA MIA, and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, should make for a record-breaking Box Office Year.
I'm a lifelong advocate of positive thinking and a proponent 
Or Will They Stay Home With UGLY and Free BETTY? |
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of maintaining a healthy and successful attitude. Having said that, I wonder if it goes way beyond positive thinking and the right attitude to anticipate or expect the motion picture box office to set new records in this year of a slumping economy? Five states, California among them, are officially in recession. Is it reasonable to think Americans will splurge at the multiplex when thousands of home mortgages are being foreclosed this spring, and gas prices are on the brink of $4.00 per gallon, or are we indulging in April Foolery to think that this year's movie receipts can equal, or top, last year's grosses?
Will we opt for flicks and fun in record numbers when we can't pay the mortgage or afford to fill the gas tank? History says that we may.
Americans need look no further than their own Great Depression of the 1930s to learn that we supported flicks and circuses when we couldn't pay the rent or put food on the table. Will we do something similar during this current economic slump, or will we stay home and watch free broadcast television? What do you say, Match-Flickers?
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| The Business of Show |
Every other Friday
Does advertising, public taste, or overindulged stars determine a movie's box office fate? Christoper Stone explores what's going on behind the box office.
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| Christopher Stone |
Christopher Stone is the author of the international best seller Re-Creating Your Self. With Mary Sheldon, he co-authored three highly successful hardcover books of guided meditations.
He is a member of the Writers Guild of America, West.
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| Contact |
If you have a comment, question, or suggestion, you can send a message to Christopher Stone by clicking here.
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