47 - Sunday. December £7, 1989 - North Shore News

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PAGE 59

FOREIGN, HOME VIDEO MARKET PROVES LUCRATIVE

Duo carve a niche i

WHILE MOST movie lovers see the motion picture industry

through star-studded glasses,

John Curiis believes the

business of selling movies is no different from that of floge-

ing cars.

“It’s just a different product,’’
says Curtis, president of the Van-
couver-based film distribution
company, North American Releas-
ing.

Curtis, 30, and partner Lloyd
Simand], 42, are a rare breed of
Canadian enirepreneurs making
healthy profits in the traditionally
expensive and financially risky
world of film.

And while they haven't turned
out any Rolls Royces, they haven't
made any Ladas either.

What they have made are finan-
cially lucrative commercial films
targeted for middle American au-
diences.

“We appreciate the creative
angle of fiims, but we try to make
all our movies mainstream Ameri-
can,’ says Curtis, who holds a
B.A. in commerce.

Their productions are names
inost wouldn't recognize, but Cur-
tis says distributing films to the
foreign and Pay T.V./ home video
market has been the key to their
success.

In i983, North American
Releasing trought the successful
sci-fi horror movie XTRO to
North America. It climbed to the
number three position on Variety's
Top 50 chart behind Tootsie and
48 Hours, and has grossed over
$30 million since then.

By EVELYN JACOB

Reporter

|

Two years ago, investors put up
$400,000 for the adventure Nick
Empire of Ash Part Two, a film
unknown to the North American
movie-going public. The duo more
than doubled their investment ard
rolled ii over into the  post-
apocalyptic-thrilier, Empire of
Ash Part Three.

“Mest of our budgets are small
— between $500,000 and $2 mil-
Hion,”’ says Curtis. *‘But it’s a lot
of money no matter how you look
at it."

Unlike most serious filmmakers,
the two haven't depended on
American theatre-going audiences
for their revenues.

“We have clients in Germany,
Spain, Greece and Japan,’” says
Curtis. One of their cliente is Ga-
ga Communications, Japan's se-
cond largest entertainment con-
gloinerate.

Curtis and Siimand] have delib-
erately shied away from big North
American theatre chains like
Cineplex Odeon and Famous
Players because of the enormous
costs involved.

“Very few American produc-

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NEWS photo Clady Goodman

SOHN CURTIS, president of the Vancouver-based film distrioution company, North American Releasing,
poses in front of the poster of a movie that his firm is currently distributing.

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