Business: Bed Sheets Bonanza

Few capitalistic ventures can rival the return on invest ment of a movie megabit, and National Lampoon's Animal House is, in more ways than one, a gross example. Produced for a meager $2.7 million and promoted with a fur ther $4.5 million, the film so far has taken in more than $50 million. Producer Matty Simmons, chairman of the company that publishes the raucous monthly National Lam poon, expects revenues to top $80 million by year's end, not counting foreign distribution. That would place the film-among the top 15 movie earners of all time.

Simmons, who co-founded Diners' Club and published Weight...

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