MONSTER MOGULS
,
page
26
Off the set, Larry Magid thumbs through the screenplay for Blood Fever.
cial effects for Mr. Raimi's
Army of Darkness and an
upcoming Jean-Claude Van
Damme action thriller,
Hard Target.
At home in Detroit, Dr.
Magid, Mr. Kaplan and Mr.
Schulman are promoting
Acme Films Ltd. as a com-
pany that can stretch its
investors' dollars to produce
quality feature films for a
pittance, compared to price
tags in L.A.
Blood Fever is operating
on a shoestring budget of
slightly more than
$200,000. Nearly half of its
29 investor slots have been
filled. Eventually, the
founders hope to create a
pool of 30 regular investors.
Their goal is to release a
full-length (90 minutes) fea-
ture film every six months.
Dr. Magid is optimistic
that Blood Fever and
upcoming sci-fi projects will
recoup expenditures. The
success of Star Trek movies
and the recently released
Jurassic Park prove that
the market for science fic-
tion movies is rich, he said.
Filming of Blood Fever
will wrap up in November;
and if all goes as planned,
the partners will pitch the
film around Hollywood, at
the Cannes Film Festival in
France and to distribution
companies in New York.
They also hope the cable
science fiction channel will
air their movies.
Founders say they cannot
estimate profits from Blood
Fever, but they expect the
movie will gross a couple
million dollars if it goes
straight to video — and
much more if it hits the box
office.
"Partners know there's no
guarantee. With such a low
budget, however, the
chances of making a profit
are far greater than other
productions of similar cal-
iber, but coming in at a
higher cost," Mr. Kaplan
said.
Dr. Magid stressed that
founders purposefully made
Acme Films a limited part-
nership to lessen the risk
for investors. Partners put
down a flat dollar amount
per film.
"If a film is successful,
the investors get their
investments back first, then
they get (an additional) 10
percent of their invest-
ment," Dr. Magid said.
"Then, they get 50 percent
of the profits from whatever
the movie makes off video
and cable — the whole
schmeer.
"The general (founding)
partners get the other 50
percent," he said.
PROLOGUE: The final
chapter.
So what happens to the
monster mosquitoes?
In Blood Fever, two col:-
lege grads, Megan and Ray,
head up north to a
Michigan campground
where Megan plans to
embark on her first job
after school. They are sur-
prised to learn that a UFO
has landed in the area,
mutating mosquitoes in its
wake.
On the route to the camp-
ground, the two run over a
giant skeeter that has died
in the middle of the road.
When they arrive at their
destination, Megan and Ray
are horrified to find that the
campgrounds have been
ransacked by a horde of the
king-sized insects. No one
has been left alive.
Through tumultuous plot
twists, Blood Fever tells the
story of how Megan and
Ray try to survive.
Will they?
Acme Film founders are
keeping the ending a secret. CI
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