I have similar ring binder books for Willow and for Chariots of Fire.
I may even have more than one each and I may even have others
it's obvious that some are just photographic prints, while others
look like they were printed editions
At 10:59 AM 6/21/2012, Freeman Fisher wrote:
Geraldine,
Your description of this ALIEN booklet is not accurate. These
booklets were sent out to exhibitor owners and execs. Back in the
1970's there still existed numerous blind bid states. I worked in Texas
and it was the most extreme example given the sizes of Houston,
Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio and Austin and the money those
markets represented
Blind bidding was when a theatre chain had to commit to a film,
sometimes a year in advance, with terms outlined (1st two weeks at
70% 2nd two weeks at 60% etc.) and frequently putting up at times
tens of thousands
if not all together 100's of thousands of dollars on the
blockbusters WITHOUT EVER SEEING A SCRAP OF FILM. So these
booklets were sent out prior to bidding and came in all kinds of
formats.....some just a couple of fold out pages to nice booklets
with on set photography. If my memory isn't completely failing, I
recall booklets on STAR WARS, ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER, APOCALYPSE NOW,
WILLOW, OUTLAND, EXCALIBUR and a few others that
were really impressive. Others like ET (at the time called A BOY'S
LIFE) were just gate folded brochures (no picture of ET for sure
that was such a huge secret). Same with RAIDERS OF THE LOST
ARK, CLASH OF THE TITANS, etc. etc.
And then some were just a single printed sheet saying who starred,
produced and directed. (Can you imagine buying a car with a tarp
over it and being given just a description and some art, commit to
it, and not expect delivery
for 9 to 12 months.......that was blind bidding!)
Anyway to say only 30 were made is preposterous. Just in Texas
alone there had to be at least 25 to 35 theatre chains, each film
buyer and marketing guy receiving a copy. In the theatre chain I
worked at, we usually would receive four to five and we were only in
San Antonio. Now multiply those number by triple (or more) to
accommodate the personnel at circuits like Plitt, AMC, General
Cinema, United Artists, Mann, and you can see the numbers required
approach a 1000 in no time. Plus certain critics at the major
National News agencies received copies on occasion.
Also a little common sense is in order. Once a brochure is on the
printing press, or photos being printed and spiral bound, do you
honestly think under 30 would be printed? Because once on the
presses it almost as cheap to print several thousand as it is 20.
The $$ are in the set-up.
These pieces were not dissimilar to the Studio Release books from
the 1930's that pop up frequently.
So while it makes for great Ebay copy to limit their numbers to
generate a false sense of scarcity. This is not the case with these
marketing tools. Whether they have ever been in an auction or not is
irrelevant.
While you can ask whatever price you like, ($5000) as a MOPO buddy
I just hate to see someone look so foolish..
freeman fisher
On Jun 21, 2012, at 7:33 AM, Geraldine Kudaka wrote:
> We've decided to put up our own auctions. Will be announcing
posters later, but thought the avid Alien collector might be
interested in this ebay item.
>
> Based on the successful marketing of Star Wars, Charley
Lippincott was hired by Johnny Friedkin / Fox to market Alien.
>
> This ebay auction is for a rare photo booklet made for Fox's studio heads.
>
> ebay listing 290731119615
> Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
> ___________________________________________________________________
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
> Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
> In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
> The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
>
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com
___________________________________________________________________
How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List
Send a message addressed to: [email protected]
In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L
The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
