Dennis McAlpine Quotations

The price tag is a little more than people were expecting.

One of the things that helped on the numbers was the fewer number of shares. The bottom line operating numbers were not much different than expected.

Given the new threat of terrorism, there has be some concern that new bookings are not holding up.

Hollywood has never been bashful about its own competence. If studios see somebody else do something, they think they can do it better. But it's not as simple as it looks -- the story has to attract people.

I wouldn't be at all surprised to see radio and outdoor come up for sale, and Mel using some of his money to buy them again, if for no other reason than to show he can make it work.

It costs more now to go skiing than to go to Disney World. That's going to drive skier-days down.

Overall I think it was a very good year. It points out how strong 2002 was. I think last year was a B-plus. This year going in looks like it is a B to B-plus, but typically I'm surprised by something coming out and it ends up as an A to an A-minus.

Spielberg will be a magnet for Paramount to attract interesting and creative projects.

Some of these movies could be in trouble. I suspect that a bunch will fall by the wayside. There is not enough demand.

I wish I knew the answer, whether fans got tired of 'Matrix,' or whether the second one turned them off. But something didn't work.

The $8 billion (rental) business isn't going to disappear. This isn't buggy whip time. Everybody's got a DVD player.

Time Warner has to show they still have their expertise.

You had an awful lot of snow out there. You had it early and you had it long. It's probably going to be difficult (to match) next year.

Even Rachel Ray is planning to come out with her own magazine.

At some point, she's going to have to focus on one thing rather than spreading herself out all over the place. Let's face it: she's no Oprah Winfrey or Dr. Phil.

It would not surprise me if there were a deal, either way.

The temptation is too great for Hollywood to resist.

The technology for creating animated films has come down to fairly simplistic levels, so a lot of people can make animated films. The trick is to make animated films people want to see. Disney has shown you can make animated films that nobody wants.

Tell me where the good news was. I haven't seen anything that's good except video game sales.

You're looking at an industry that's still not growing substantially, particularly if snowboarding doesn't continue to grow.

They've cut back their risk profile significantly -- they're making movies not to lose money, rather than to make money. They got a little carried away and they have no upside either.

There is still that onus hanging over the teams as to what happens if there is another strike, and that is preventing some long-term commitments, particularly in some of the ancillary markets.

It means we're going to be off to a pretty slow start compared with last year.

It means one of them at least is going to be happy because he's going to get some carriage on something approaching 11 million consumers.

The thing is that Cineplex has lost its market dominance. Distributors are able to raise the price on them. Now, they should be able to force film costs down as a percentage of revenue.

The negative impact on cable networks will be more than on broadcast networks.

I don't know how they get an attraction out of this. Look at the top films and tell me who's starring in them. If I were an advertiser on the Oscars, I'd look for something else. This is not going to give Hollywood a chance to promote the idea of going to the movies for entertainment.