Fox Filmed Sees Blockbuster Run

News Corp Ltds Fox Filmed Entertainment was expected to have a good year in 1997-98 with much of its efforts riding on two forthcoming releases, president Peter Chernin said.

I think we are confident we are looking at a good year, Chernin, chairman and chief executive officer of the Fox Group, told a news conference.

Chernin added the vicissitudes affecting the film industry made realistic predictions difficult.

He said the disaster epic Titanic had had significant overruns from the already expensive starting budget but he rejected speculation Fox had put $75 million ceiling on future production.

We have attempted to bring greater controls into the production process but there are not any iron-fast rules, Chernin said.

He said the United States release in November of Fox Animation Studios full-length feature Anastasia was an important launch into a market which promised great and steady profit.

This genre of films offered extreme profit potential in sales of videos and other associated licensed merchandise, he said.

If you can get one of these movies to work the upside is much greater (and) the downside is also probably a bit less, he said, adding animated films were reasonably economic by Hollywood standards. If we can establish a good presence in the animated business it should be a source of not only great profits for the company as a whole but also a steady source, Chernin said.

However, he said Walt Disney Cos film units had dominated the genre until now, earning 75 to 80 per cent of their profits from the genre and were timing old and new releases to edge out Anastasia.

They are determined to do anything they can to stop the success of this movie, he said.

Producers said in May the release date for Titanic had been put back to December.

The film, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Kathy Bates, David Warner and Bill Paxton, had been rumoured for some time to be in trouble and some reports said the movies budget had ballooned to around $200 million.

The action movie set against the backdrop of the Titanics ill-fated maiden voyage in 1912 is being distributed in the United States and Canada by Paramount which is owned by Viacom and internationally by Fox, which is owned by News Corp.