28 PICTURES VARIETY Wednesday, November 2 3 , 1 9 6 6

Leon Uris Forces Publishing Yield Better Terms to a Successful Writer

Hollywood, Nov. 22. Leon Uris has broken literary

custom which gives a hardcover publisher up to 50% of paperback sale coin, in his direct, two-ply deal with Bantam Books on "Topaz," upcoming international diplomacy yarn due out Feb. 15 In hardcover via Harper & Row. (Not to be confused with the much-produced "Topaze.")

While Uris would not disclose the amount he got for softcover rights to "Topaz" mot yet offered for pix sale), or the amount of his guarantee, he did reveal that his foreign royalties (about half his world tally) are pledged against Bantam recouping its guarantee payment. Bantam and Uris chose the hardcover publisher. Softcover edition will be out about a year after first publication.

Charging that novelists work in a "vicious system," whereby an established author, on his 10th book, say, is starting out with only minor modifications to the first book pact he ever had, Uris set out to make a very restrictive deal on "Topaz," one which would reserve all non-publishing rights to himself. There is no play in "Topaz," according to the author, but there is a pic, and no pub­lisher is getting any part of that coin.

Also, the 50% publisher's cut of softcover coin has been eliminated. The only clue Uris would give as to Bantam's price for paperback rights to "Topaz" was that "it 's $5,000 more than Irving Wallace got on his last deal ."

"Hillbillys In a Haunted House" cast: Basil Rathbone, Lon Ohaney, John Carradine.

UA Stocko'ders •i" i«n ~ Continued from page 3 m^^mm

ings capability plus higher multi­ple accrued through the link. Cur­rently UA's multiple is seven to nine tfmes earnings while Trans-america's multiple is c'o.se to 14 times earnings. Though some ana­lysts speculate that the combined multiple wi.l arithmetically level at 11 times earnings in a merger, sources close to UA feel that the higher Transam multiple will pre­vail, and point to the enhanced growth potential of both com­panies as evidence that it will eventually increase.

If the stockholders accept the second stock exchange proposal, which stipulates one-half Transam share plus one-eighth $4.80 cumu­lative preferred to each UA share, the estimated earnings contribu­tion will be split approximately 75%-25%, with United Artists con­tributing the latter. Within such guidelines, earnings estimates put the merger shares at close to $3 per share yield for 1966, with UA earnings contributing approximate­ly 35c to 40c of that figure.

"Figure is arrived at thusly: (UA's earnings, at $3.05 per share last year, are expected to increase in '66; Transam's earnings, at $2.16 per share last year, are also being outpaced by this year 's perform­ance. Under the second option in the swap plan, United Artists will contribute an estimated 35-40c to the latter boosted figure.)

If Transam's multiple is main­tained, the overage to UA stock­holders would amount to what one

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informant termed a "healthy" pre­mium. If the stockholders should accept the one for one swap, the UA contribution to earnings would be somewhat less since there would be more shares issued, thereby in­creasing the earnings spread.

Another factor which it is under­stood will be viewed favorably by UA stockholders is that due to sev­eral factors in the insurance busi­ness, their stocks are now some­what downbeat, indicating that Transam's current quotation has "all the water out of it," as one analyst stated. Sources close to UA, and even t o p U A execs, following the original disclosure of the talks last September, noted that. Trans­am stock had been priced as high as $53 per share during the past nine months. Its current slump, say these sources, is due to the general state of the economy and and several factors currently af­fecting the insurance industry.

Probably UA's main pitch to its stockholders will be to dissociate the Transam merger from the Con Foods tie. The former, they are ex­pected to say, was simply to pro­cure a higher multiple, while the main objective of this swap is the inherent growth potential in the combined companies. Some of the stockholders are expected, though, to object to an exchange formula which is tied to the current market price of both stocks, but UA's re­joinder is believed to be that they are in fact merely exchanging shares in two companies with boom times ahead.

Fur ther point noted by several observers of the contemplated merger Is that Transam has long had a yen for expansion and diver­sification into leisure-time activities area, and intends to acquire a con­glomeration of related industries. Whether or not these acquisitions will be made through UA, or ac­quired as sister subsidiaries to UA is still speculative, but could be an Important factor In the future leverage the company wields in the industry.

20fh-Fox Net • • Continued from page S SSSS (total, including vidpix) had reached an all-titae company mark of $51,967,000. The new quarterly record—a third quarter film rental take of $56,690,000.

"Sound of Money" As expected, 20th-Fox's world­

wide bonanza, "The Sound of Mu­sic," continued t o contribute the major share of the rosy earnings picture. World rentals are now re­ported as being "in excess of $68,-000,000." Since $30,000,000 of this came last year, the other $38,-000,000 earned as of today is near­ly one-quarter of the total film-video-film income.

In releasing the report, Zanuck stated that "third quarter opera­tions sustained the very satisfac­tory ra te of total Income and net earnings repor ted- the first half of this year, and we anticipate a con­tinuation of this trend in the final quarter of 1966." All major re­leases this year were said to have contributed to the renta l take with "Sound" against listed first.

Zanuck's report does not break down the film rental category, al­though the six-month report to stockholders Indicated an approxi­mate ratiio of 68% for theatrical re turns , 22% from vidfilms and 10% from features-ito-tv.

It was noted that due to Its late September opening, "The Bible" was not a factor In the third quarter financial results, "but will contribute significantly to income in the current period and 1» 1967," said Zanuck.

International Soundtrack Continued from page 14 ;

"Arabesque" reportedly was most screened pic in this country's key cities last month . . . Willy Bogner, former German ski champ, has In his colored pic, "Ski-Fascination," a top-flight personal prestige i tem. Pic garners excellent reviews where it is shown. It has already several international trophies to its credit . . . Around 150 million D-Marks (about $38,000,000) were invested in German short pix (industrial, busi­ness pix, etc. included) in 1965 . . . There is no feature film in the making here at present. However, there is location shooting in Yugoslavia, Spain, Italy and even such distant places as Hong Kong . . . Alfred Bauer, head of Berlin Film Fest, observed his 55th birthday.

Buenos Aires Andre DuRona came from N.Y. to explore local conditions for film

production, which he reportedly found excellent; besides he saw Eng­lish-version's first print of his production "Monday's Child," lensed by Leopoldo Torre Nilsson in Puerto Rico with Geraldine Page. Ar thur Kennedy and Graciela Borges. In a few days DuRona and Nilsson will meet again in Gotham to discuss final arrangements for their th i rd venture, reportedly a pic starring Anthony Perkins and Julie Harris, to be lensed in Punta del Este . . . Columbia's Bert Obrentz visited B.A. to inspect the company's Argentine operations.

Under a 2,200-seat'tent, the American Theatre Co. attained tremend­ous success with three performances of "Carousel" and three of "Show Boat." It worked always at capacity and then moved on to Cordoba . . . Orestes Trucco claimed here that his sex-terror pic "Placer sangriento" (Bloody Pleasure) grossed $64,000 in its first week at five Spanish thea­tres in N.Y. Trucco is now shooting another low-budgeted pic, "La venganza del sexo" (Sex's Revenge), again directed by Emilio Vieyra with local stripteaser Gloria Pra t starring. He also said that next Argentine sex offering to be released in N.Y. dubbed into English is "Violated Love," starring Libertad Leblanc, which will be followed by "Female," starring Isabel Sarli.

Argentine exhibitor and painter Clemente Lococo J r . planed from Tahiti to New York; his brother Jose Lococo recently re turned from Hollywood, where he bought new equipment for theatres Ideal and Roca, soon to be converted to Cinerama. Ideal's first offering will be "Grand Prix."

MCM's Year S S S S Continued from page 5 SS5fi

showing overseas. Gross from tv programs and commercials reached $22,827,000, for a more than $3,-500,000 gain.

As it did last year, the record and music division showed the most impressive percentage rise, jumping by 50% in both gross and net. Profits of $3,607,000 were at­tributed to continuing success of Herman's Hermits, as well as to Lou Christie, the Animals, Sam the Sham and "Zhivago" sound­track. Also, it was reported that Robbins, Feist & Miller, music publishing firm of which Metro owns 62%, received performance fees payments that were the high­est in its history.

On the somewhat less positive side, the annual report shows that MGM has bank loans outstanding of $59,500,000, or all but $500,000 of the total debt limit O'Brien has suggested will be necessary in the foreseeable future. In this connec­tion, it is also noted that interest expenses for the fiscal year were $2,176,000, compared to $1,265,000 a year earlier. Working capital, to­tal inventories, earned surplus and stockholders' equity all showed substantial Increases, however.

Gross revenues from all oper­ations were $184,918,000, an in­crease of $22,884,000 from the pre­vious year. (Total gross last year had shown a $9,000,000 drop from a year earlier.) Net income for fiscal 1965 had been $7,809,000, or $1.56 a share, adjusted for two-for-one split which went into ef­fect June 24.

Once again stressing O'Brien's policy of "building our inventory," the report called attention to the fact that of 23 features scheduled for theatrical release in 1966-67, 17 are completed, five are editing and one is still shooting. Also, there are three editing and two shooting for 1967-68.

In his let ter to stockholders, O'Brien countered potential objec­tions from dissident stockholder Philip J. Levin by explaining the advantages of the CBS deal, which includes network reruns "at prices higher than the same pictures r e ­ceived in their original run"; and

by tying in the increased dividend (82 3/4c a share compared to 75c last year) to a steady growth of profits. "This is the third succes­sive year of increased profits," h e said, "and reflects the growing success of the programs which have been initiated and carried on since the board of directors elected me chief executive officer in 1963."

No 'Stiletto' Continued from page 3

budget, since Kurosawa had pub­licly declared that he was mak­ing a 70m, $6,000,000 roadshow, and Embassy topper Joseph E. Levine had declared he was mak­ing a $1,000,000 pic for ordinary release, and that 70m was only a "possibility." A compromise is now understood to have been reached: a $3,000,000 budget, in 70m but no roadshow. (Kurosawa's agent in New York would say only that "the picture is very much alive, but the starting date is indefinite.")

Of the other films disclosed by Embassy for future production a couple of months ago, it would ap­pear that there are no problem* about "The Graduate" and "The Ski Bum," and that "Promise At Dawn" may be going sooner than expected. As for "Litt le Me" and "The Diamond Spy," these seem to be still in the planning stages.

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