13 STUDIOS TO HIGHLIGHT TOP 100 MOVIES

DAN ALAIMO

LOS ANGELES -- A marketing event featuring the top 100 movies of all time will be arriving in stores this summer.

The American Film Institute here, with the unprecedented cooperation of 13 film studios, including all the majors, is now polling a 1,500-member panel from the film community and will announce the top 100 in a CBS television special June 16. The ensuing marketing campaign will feature more than $30 million in spending to support video sales efforts, said Lee Tomlinson, the AFI's director of marketing.

"This is an industrywide initiative from both the retailer side and the studio side to bring attention to the glory of classic catalog product," said Tomlinson. "Significant dollars are being spent to drive that program by the studios, corporate sponsors, AFI and the national retail industry. This has never happened before."

Each studio will market its own titles, while Simon Marketing, Los Angeles, is creating umbrella promotional plans and point-of-purchase materials. Retailers and distributors will have the option of combining the various products, said Tomlinson. The program ties in with the AFI's "100 Years 100 Movies" celebration of the 100th anniversary of American movie-making.

The promotion "will help retailers sell and hopefully rent significant numbers of these classic catalog titles," he said. Costs will be determined by the individual studios, but most products are expected to fall in the suggested retail price range of $9.95 to $19.95.

Tomlinson noted that the "100 Years 100 Movies" promotion will drive sales of all catalog product, thereby lifting sell-through margins. "The most profitable segment of the business is the classic, evergreen titles," he said.

"By focusing on film-making over the last hundred years, supermarkets have a real opportunity to sell more product," said Alan Perper, executive vice president of Simon Marketing here. Some studios will use the program as an opportunity to increase catalog merchandising efforts in supermarkets, he said.

"When you put something in that is attractively priced and positioned around a theme that is going to be supported in a huge way -- a $30 million marketing campaign is not inconsequential -- supermarkets can take tremendous advantage of that," said Perper.