Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above， no part of thi，，<br >publication may be reproduced， stored in or introduced into a retrieval sys，<br >tern， or transmitted， in any form， or by any means (electronic， mechanical，<br >photocopying， recording， or otherwise)， without the prior written permissiov<br >of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.<br >BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE AT QUANTITY DISCOUNTS WHEN USED TO PROMOTE<br >PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. FOR INFORMATION PLEASE WRITE TO PREMIUM MAR-<br >KET1NG DIVISION， PENGUIN BOOKS USA INC.， 375 HUDSON STREET， NEW YORK，<br >NEW YORK 10014.<br >out a cover you should be aware that tl， v<br >reported as "unsold and destroyed" to th<br >nor the publisher has received any t~avrnev<br >The Sting had been nominated， two months before， m<br >ten categories， including Cinematography， Editing， Actor，<br >Screenplay， Director， and Best Picture. The Exorcist，<br >which had garnered an equal number of nominations， had<br >been released the same day， two days before Christmas.<br >It had received an enormous amount of initial publicity;<br >even The New York Times carried pictures of people lined<br >up in Ine corgi toy ~et trt.<br > Warners had been far too cautious in its release of The<br >Exorcist. It had opened in only twenty-four theaters. At<br >90/10 deals， Leo Greenfield kept reminding us. But then，<br >he was the guy who tom us， based on the first week s<br >figures， that our picture would gross maybe fifteen mil.<br >We had opened in 220 theaters， with 70/30 deals， and kept<br >widening the release. Warners waited a good six weeks<br >until they went wide. But The Exorcist was only a three-<br >week picture; the audience lost interest before it was<br >available.<br > The Sting， on the other hand， had staying power. It<br >had hung in， week after week， and it had opened in ten<br >times the number of theaters. Not only was The Sting<br >racking up some very impressive figures， but people had<br >started to notice that it was an excellent movie. It certainly<br >didn t send you out in the street unsure whether to hit a<br >church or a bar， as The Exorcist did. And Warners had<br >a crack at The Sting and turned us down.<br ><br ><br >