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In my area of Central Pennsylvania the minimum deal for Harry Potter to open on the 11/16 is 6 weeks 70/70/60/60/50/40 with any weeks after the 6th week at 35%. Of course these percentages are the minimum vs. 90%over house expense for any of these weeks & the two 70's are on the two highest weeks (not necessarily the first two weeks of the engagment). Payment on each week within 14 days.

Last year we started to see the introduction of what is called 'aggregate billing' which will be applied to Harry Potter at 60%. Say you end up running HP for 10 weeks (with the last 4 at 35%). At the end of the engagement you total up your 10 weeks worth of gross and multiply by 60%. If the total film rental that you have paid (or still owe) does not equal 60%, then you still owe an additioanl differnce between the 60% aggregate and what you have paid. In other words it is in reality a 60% minimum below which the film rental never drops. OUCH!

[This message has been edited by muviebuf (edited November 05, 2001).]

Let me think about this. First thoughts are that Harry will be a phenom unlike anything seen at least since Titanic.

That said: I'd rather have 40 % of a phenom that 65 % of a piece of crud.

Warner Bros knows that they have something like never before.

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Mike Hurley
www.bigscreenbiz.com

Mike,
I agree with you that I would rather have the better performer, but now there is no benefit to keeping something longer. I would calculate that my film rental is at 60%. The film is gone when 1) my contract is over and 2)I can find something else to fill my screen which I expect to gross more than Harry on that particular week.

BTW, I chose Monsters, Inc knowing that I will either skip Harry Potter or bring it in as filler later. I will pick the G rated Disney product every time because I know that it has longer life - everyone in the family can go on the holidays - 10 tickets, please - yum!!!!
Of course, if I had more than 1 screen I would bring it Harry, but dump it at contract end.

One small correction on that post about the aggregate terms for Harry Potter. The 60% aggregate only applies to the first six weeks. After that it is straight 35%.

To paraphrase a quote from General William Westmorland back during the Vietnam war:

"When you got 'em by the balls, their hearts and minds (and pocketbooks) will follow"

They are doing this @ 59.5% with me this year. At first I thought it was steep, but I just calculated what I paid on the previous three HP's at 67, 65.5, and 64% for their three and a half week runs. I guess this is a better deal.

We are doing boffo box office with harry and we were givena choice of 70-70-60-50 or 59.5 minimum for 4 weeks. We picked the 59.5.

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Michael Hurley
Impresario

My experience with Warner Bros. aggregates is that it has always been the better deal, however, I seldom play anything longer than three weeks. The longer you play a film the worse the aggregate deal becomes. With the business Potter is doing now and will continue to do through the holiday weekend the aggregate deal is the way to go. Just hope your house expense is high enough.

That aggregate is in effect in more and more movies. How long do I have to wait for Superman to drop? I passed on it again today.

[This message has been edited by BurneyFalls (edited July 11, 2006).]