The US' second largest cinema chain is trying to boost lackluster ticket sales for Russell Crowe's new film Cinderella Man by offering moviegoers their money back if they don't like the picture.
The rare promotion by AMC Theaters comes amid disappoin-ting ticket receipts for the big-budget depression-era boxing film, directed by Ron Howard and co-starring Renee Zellweger.
Since its June 3 opening amid a massive marketing campaign, the Universal Pictures epic has struggled to reach the US$50 million mark at the North American box office.
PHOTO: EPA
As the film battled to cover its costs, AMC decided to give it a leg up by encouraging cinema-goers to take a second look by offering to refund the ticket price to dissatisfied viewers.
"We felt it was getting lost and we needed to bring more attention to it," AMC spokeswoman Pam Blase told Daily Variety in its Wednesday edition of the extremely rare promotional
technique.
PHOTO: AP
The chain made the offer of free tickets to disappointed viewers in a string of newspaper ads across the US, including the New York Times and Washington Post, and on its online ticketing site, Movietickets.com.
Former action star and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday came out swinging on behalf of Hollywood stuntmen, slamming a decision by Oscar organizers not to recognize the unsung heroes of cinema.
The surprisingly direct attack came a week after the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences rejected a fresh proposal to create a new Oscar statuette to honor the achievements of the world's stunt coordinators.
PHOTO: AP
"I was deeply disappointed by the failure of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences once again to recognize stuntmen and women and their great contribution to the film industry," said Schwarzenegger.
"I know firsthand the value of these dedicated professionals, and without them there would be no action heroes. In fact, there would be no movies," the star of such stunt-heavy flicks as Terminator and True Lies said.
"Stunt coordinators are responsible for every piece of action in a film, making films more exciting and drawing the audience in," he said, calling for the Academy to create a new category to recognize stunt coordinators.
The Academy's board of governors on June 20 denied the stuntmen's request for coordinators of the eye-catching feats to be made eligible for a golden statuette.
"The Board is simply not prepared to institute any new annual awards categories," said Academy President Frank Pierson, explaining that the Academy was instead trying to cut down on the number of awards.
The 78-year-old Academy has introduced only two new awards in the past 25 years.
But Schwarzenegger noted that the top awards body had created a new category for technical achievements, which are not presented on Oscars night but rather at a special ceremony beforehand, and suggested that the governors make a similar gesture to stuntmen.
"It is my hope they will reconsider their decision and honor stunt coordinators in the same way," the 57-year-old governor said.
Hollywood's Universal Studios is preparing to make The Bourne Ultimatum, the third in the hit series of movies based on Robert Ludlum's gripping spy thrillers, the industry press said.
The studio has sealed a deal believed to be worth more than two million dollars with screenwriter Tony Gilroy to script the film, Daily Variety said.
Star Matt Damon, who portrayed the embattled CIA spy Jason Bourne in the first two movies in the money-spinning series, has expressed interest in reprising his role as the amnesic assassin, Variety said, adding however that no decision will be made until Gilroy's script is complete.
The previous films in the series that tells the story of the CIA spy and trained killer Jason Bourne -- 2000's The Bourne Identity and last year's The Bourne Supremacy -- have grossed more than US$500 million in cinemas worldwide.
The studio has not yet made a decision on who will direct Ultimatum, which is due for release in 2007 and will be produced by Frank Marshall, Pat Crowley and Ludlum Entertainment's Paul Sandberg.
Marlon Brando's personal effects, including a pair of bongo drums and an annotated script of The Godfather will be auctioned this week, offering a rare glimpse into the life of the late Hollywood icon.
The property that was expected to go under the hammer at Christie's in New York yesterday comprises nearly 330 lots, most of them from the Los Angeles home where the increasingly reclusive actor lived from 1960 until his death in July 2004.
Christie's officials say the sale is expected to bring in more than US$1 million.
"Marlon Brando was an extremely private and elusive individual and the sale offers a rare privilege -- an intimate insight into the lifestyle and career of a famed screen colossus," Christie's said.
The runup to the auction has not been a smooth one with Brando's son Christian, 47, reportedly furious at the way Brando's estate has handled the sale.
"There are many things I don't think his father wanted sold," Christian's lawyer, Theresa Bingham, told the New York Daily News.
"Christie's got first pick of the art and memorabilia while his children were still grieving."
Bingham specifically demanded that Christie's pull lot 150 -- a 14-carat gold Saint Christopher's medallion that Christian's mother, Anna Kashfi, had given her son.
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