Stanley Kubrick devised a method of tracking the box-office revenue of his films which many people believed was based on the technology of the HAL 9000 computer, which featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Word quickly spread that Stanley had a computerized system to track theaters and grosses based on technical information he had acquired while developing HAL 9000, the all-knowing computer in 2001. For months these stories persisted in the trades as the roster of Clockwork cinemas was refined. They were neither confirmed nor denied.