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We talk to director
DARREN ARONOFSKY
on turning the fine art of ballet into
the ferocious psychological drama
that is …
INSIDE WE CELEBRATE MARCUS THEATRES’ 75TH ANNIVERSARY
THE MODERN THEATER: LA.’S ARCLIGHT UNDERGOES A MAKEOVER
EXCITING TIMES AND REEL CHALLENGES FOR NATO MEMBERS IN 2011
The Official Magazine of NATO

S O L A R I A
IT’S BIG. IT’S BRILLIANT. IT CHANGES THE LANDSCAPE.
© 2010 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. All rights reserved.

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DEC 2010 VOL. 146 NO. 12
17 The NEW BOXOFFICE Magazine
1,000,000 copies of new in-cinema fan magazine bows to kudos across the USA
24 Geneva Report > Wisconsin Wonderland
The best moments from this year’s Geneva Convention
DEPARTMENTS
4 Peanut Gallery
Question: What television show
would you like to see get the big-screen
treatment?
6 Industry Briefs
The new and notable in the exhibition
industry
10 Executive Suite
Exciting times and reel challenges:
Highlights from recent movie theater
industry gatherings / Gary’s Musings
By John Fithian and Gary Klein
18 Timecode
Are you having fun yet? When Peter
Cane calls me, I think carefully before
answering
By Kenneth James Bacon
20 New Products
The latest products and services
28 Show Business
Last Play at Shea rocks the house
By Phil Contrino
76 Classifieds
AWARDS
30 Front Line
Alicia Yerves / Red Bank, NJ
32 Front Office
Dylan Skolnick / Huntington, NY
34 Marquee Award
Fountain Theatre / Mesilla, NM
THE SLATE
62 On the Horizon
Sanctum / Gnomeo and Juliet / Drive
Angry / The Roommate
54
BIG PICTURE
BLACK SWAN
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
Director Darren Aronofsky
by Amy Nicholson
UP CLOSE
Corps de Hollywood
It takes a village—and some bruises—
to make a memorable ballet movie
by Todd Gilchrist
BY GEORGE ROUMAN AND JOHN SCALETTA, CO-CHAIRS
40 BOXOFFICE Tribute > Midwest Might BY COLE HORNADAY
Marcus Theatres celebrates 75 years
50 The Modern Theater BY AMY NICHOLSON
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT: With the opening of their ArcLight Cinema,
Pacific Theatres shares their secrets for designing the ultimate upscale theater
64 Coming Soon
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of
the Dawn Treader / Night Catches Us /
The Warrior’s Way / The Tourist / How
Do You Know / Country Strong / Gulliver’s
Travels / True Grit
66 Book It!
Flash reviews and recommendations of
films that should be on your radar
72 Booking Guide
Nearly 150 films that you can book
right now, complete with contact info,
film formats, audio formats and more
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BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
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STOPPRESS
Here at Boxoffice we decided to make some news in 2010. After all, it was our 90th Anniversary
year, so we had to rise to the occasion. I think we did.
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DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 3

PEANUT GALLERY
WHAT TELEVISION SHOW WOULD YOU LIKE
TO SEE GET THE BIG-SCREEN TREATMENT?
“Me and Evan [Goldberg, longtime writing partner] have brilliant
idea for an R-rated Carebears movie that no one will let us
make. A really violent Carebears movie.”
SETH ROGEN, ACTOR, THE GREEN HORNET
“I remember when my son was watching this half-shark, halfhuman—I
think they called him Street Shark. I always wanted
to make that into a film. They were swimming into the concrete
and eating concrete. Very surreal. I would like to work on a
more personal story on my next project just to alternate, but
why not in the future?”
MICHEL GONDRY, DIRECTOR, THE GREEN HORNET
4 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

When it comes to 4K, all eyes are on Sony.
While others are just realizing the benefi ts of 4K, Sony has become the undisputed leader
in 4K technology. We’ve installed thousands of projection systems worldwide, delivering
stunning Sony 4K. And lifelike 3D. But we’re not stopping there. We also provide digital
signage for concessions, box offi ce and lobbies, plus exciting alternative content, digital
surveillance, a network operations center, nationwide support, and fl exible fi nancing.
The advantages of Sony 4K are clear. Now let’s talk about the bigger picture.
Visit sony.com/4K to set up a meeting.
© 2010 Sony Electronics Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Features and specifi cations are subject to
change without notice. Sony, make.believe and their respective logos are trademarks of Sony.

INDUSTRY BRIEFS
Screenvision and National Amusements,
Inc. announced a long-term expansion of
their in-theater advertising relationship. The
new partnership strengthens Screenvision’s
nationwide digital network in top DMAs
such as New York and Boston. Through the
agreement, Screenvision retains exclusive
selling rights to the onscreen preshow across
National Amusements’ 34 movie theater locations
representing 455 screens in the U.S.
operating under the Showcase, Multiplex
and Cinema de Lux brands in New York,
Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Hartford/
New Haven and Providence. Screenvision
will have non-exclusive in-lobby promotions
selling rights across the National Amusements’
US theaters. In addition, Screenvision
will integrate their pre-show content to the
digital 4K cinema projection equipment
being rolled out at National Amusements
over the next several months. “Expanding
our relationship with National Amusements
was a top priority for Screenvision. National
Amusements’ footprint is of great value to
Screenvision and ensures we will continue
to reach a vast audience with our first-rate
preshow,” said Darryl Schaffer, executive
vice president, exhibitor relations, Screenvision.
“This deal, along with our recently
signed long-term exhibitor agreements with
Carmike Cinemas, Marcus Theatres, Rave
Motion Pictures, Harkins Theatres and Malco
Theatres, further solidifies Screenvision’s
strong exhibitor network.”
After several years of co-productions and
joint investment, the two most prominent
global film industries met at Paramount
Pictures Studios in Hollywood for the signing
of an historic declaration between the city of
Los Angeles and the Indian film industry. As
part of the declaration, the City of Los Angeles
and the Indian film industry, represented
by the Film and Television Producers Guild
of India and the Film Federation of India,
agrees to develop and strengthen motion
picture production, distribution, technology,
content protection and commercial
cooperation between the two filmmaking
communities. The two parties also support
the creation of the Los Angeles-India Film
Council to increase Indian film production
in Los Angeles. Representing the Indian
delegation, Producer Bobby Bedi said, “Hollywood
and Bollywood are two industries
that are economically robust and represent
significant economic and cultural interests of
their respective countries. India has always
held a fascination for Hollywood, and this
agreement pulls us closer together with the
aim of sharing ideas and best practices in domestic
and international film production. We
look forward to working with the City of Los
Angeles to increase Indian production here.”
The Producers Guild of America (PGA) has
announced that producer Scott Rudin will
receive the 2011 David O. Selznick Achievement
Award in Motion Pictures. The award
will be presented to Rudin at the 22nd Annual
Producers Guild Awards ceremony on
Saturday, January 22nd at the Hyatt Regency
Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The honor has
a rich and distinguished history—past recipients
include such legendary producers as
Stanley Kramer, Saul Zaentz, Clint Eastwood,
Billy Wilder, Robert Evans, Brian Grazer, Jerry
Bruckheimer, Roger Corman, Laura Ziskin,
Kathleen Kennedy & Frank Marshall, and last
year’s 2010 recipient was Pixar’s John Lasseter.
“Scott Rudin’s body of work speaks for
itself. He has impressively set a high bar for
filmmaking and the Guild is proud to honor
him with the Selznick Award this year,” said
PGA Co-Presidents Hawk Koch and Mark
Gordon.
D-BOX Technologies Inc. announced its
first agreement with Premiere Cinemas to
equip its Aggieland Premiere Cinema 16
in the Bryan-College Station area with 26
D-BOX MFX Seats. These will be installed
in time for opening of Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows: Part 1. “We are very happy
to extend our footprint in Texas with a visionary
company such as Premiere Cinemas,”
said President and Chief Executive Officer
of D-BOX Technologies, Claude McMaster.
“We’re looking forward to introducing
D-BOX’s technology to them and building a
long-standing relationship.”
North of the border, Cineplex Entertainment
announced an agreement to add
approximately 250 D-BOX MFX Seats to be
installed in 10 theaters across Canada over
the next 12 months, with an option for 10
additional locations on the same terms.”
We are very proud of this agreement with
Canada’s leading theater circuit, which will
provide moviegoers across the country with
the opportunity to experience our unique
technology,” said McMaster. “This Canadian
expansion will complement D-BOX’s foray
into foreign markets while increasing visibility
at home. More so, this significant milestone
clearly demonstrates the attractiveness of our
business model driven by the growing worldwide
acceptance of our technology.”
David F. England has been named Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
of the MPAA. England will assume his
duties in December when current Executive
Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
Lisa Pierozzi leaves to pursue other opportunities.
England will be responsible for the
day-to-day management of all aspects of
MPAA’s finances. In addition, he will oversee
Facilities and Information Services. England
comes to the MPAA from Simon and
Schuster, where he spent six years as Senior
Vice President, Chief Financial Officer. Prior
to that, he was Executive Vice President,
Chief Financial Officer at United Paramount
Network (UPN) and Chief Financial Officer at
Western International Media Corp. He began
his entertainment career as Assistant Controller
at Hanna-Barbera Productions. He will be
based in Los Angeles and report to former
interim president Bob Pisano. “We are
pleased to welcome David to the MPAA,”
said Pisano. “He brings a wealth of experience
and expertise in the entertainment
industry which will be an invaluable asset to
our organization. I also want to thank Lisa for
the substantial contribution she made to our
organization and wish her well in her future
endeavors.”
Ballantyne Strong, Inc. has announced the
appointment of Gary L. Cavey as its President
and CEO. Mr. Cavey has also joined the Ballantyne
Board of Directors concurrent with his
appointment, the culmination of an extensive,
yearlong search to find a successor to John
Wilmers, who will retire as President, CEO
and member of the Board of Directors. In
September 2009 Ballantyne and Mr. Wilmers
initiated a CEO transition process, providing
approximately two years to identify and confirm
a new CEO prior to Mr. Wilmers’ planned
retirement by year-end 2011. Mr. Wilmers
will remain with Ballantyne over the next 14
months to work through the CEO transition
and will be primarily involved in expanding
Ballantyne’s growing Asian business efforts.
Mr. Cavey brings 31 years of management
experience and substantial accomplishments
to Ballantyne. Since 2009, he has served
as COO of Midland Radio Corporation, an
international industry leader in the manufacture
and sale of two-way wireless communications
systems for consumer and industrial
6 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

INDUSTRY BRIEFS (continued from page 6)
applications, where he has led a successful
turnaround. Said John Wilmers, “My 29 year
tenure at Ballantyne has been an enormously
rewarding personal and professional experience
for which I am very thankful. It would not
have been possible without the dedication and
hard work of the amazing team at Ballantyne,
as well as the ongoing confidence, trust and
support of our customers and partners. I look
forward to assisting Gary in the transition and
introducing him to customers, partners and
the investment community over the coming
months as well as focusing on the significant
opportunities we see in Asia.”
MGM announced that it and approximately
160 of its affiliates have filed Chapter 11 cases
in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern
District of New York to seek confirmation
of their plan for reorganization. MGM has
sufficient cash on hand, and the consent of
its lenders to use this cash, to fund normal
business operations throughout the Chapter
11 process. MGM has filed first-day motions
seeking immediate Court approval to continue
paying its employees, vendors, participants,
guilds and licensors in the ordinary course of
business during the entire Chapter 11 process,
for both pre-petition and post-petition
obligations. MGM anticipates that the Plan
will be confirmed by the Court in approximately
30 days. After considering a range of
strategic alternatives over the course of the
last 15 months, MGM and its secured lenders
determined this plan will allow the Company
to emerge as a stable enterprise with new
leadership at the helm to move MGM forward.
The plan provides for the Company’s secured
lenders to exchange more than $4 billion in
outstanding debt for most of the equity in
MGM upon its emergence from Chapter 11.
Upon its exit from bankruptcy, MGM expects
to raise approximately $500 million in financing
to fund operations, including production
of a new slate of films and television series.
MGM will retain ownership of all of its assets.
The International 3D Society announced
that Panasonic Corporation will assume the
co-chairmanship of its Worldwide Education
committee and become its official technology
partner. In this capacity, Panasonic will provide
3D technology at instructional events produced
by the International 3D Society in the USA,
Europe and Asia. The purpose of the program
is to establish a curriculum of technical and
creative coursework for video industry professionals
in key production markets around the
globe, as 3D technology is rapidly advancing.
The International 3D Society’s 3D University
series has attracted over 700 professional participants
in Los Angeles in its first nine weeks
of the program. “As an innovator and leader in
bringing 3D TV technologies to consumers and
to the video production industry, Panasonic understands
the value of education in cultivating
a new generation of 3D professionals around
the world,” said Yoshiyuki Miyabe, Executive
Officer of Panasonic Corporation.
Christie has presented the world’s first
full feature screening in 4K resolution DLP
Cinema before members of the Hollywood
community. Held at the Mann Chinese theater
complex in Hollywood, California, the screening
was presented for the annual Society
of Motion Picture and Television Engineers
technical conference. The 4K presentation on
a Christie Solaria CP4230 projector, featured
Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, North by Northwest,
meticulously restored by Warner Bros.
Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) with a process
that included the highest available scanning
resolution and played back using an Integrated
Media Block from Doremi Cinema. “The
audience saw details in the 4K restoration
that were unlike anything ever seen before,”
said Brian Claypool, senior product manager,
entertainment solutions for Christie. “It’s not
an easy thing to showcase new technology to
an audience of engineers and technicians who
belong to every discipline of the film industry.
To get such a positive reaction from them is
proof that superior 4K has arrived.”
Across the globe, Christie also celebrated the
official opening of its new China manufacturing
facility in Shenzhen on November 3rd,
with key customers, suppliers and officials
in attendance. The facility has been operational
since late spring of 2010, assembling
and shipping Christie CP2220 DLP Cinema
projectors. Shenzhen is one of the country’s
top industrial centers and a technology hub.
The Christie Shenzhen facility is strategically
located to benefit from its proximity to Hong
Kong, whose ports are among the largest in
the world. “We are very proud to be celebrating
our official opening. With over 85,000
sq. ft. of space, the Shenzhen facility is more
than three times larger than we had originally
planned for. It represents a dramatic and
successful increase in our production goals
to address accelerating demands for Christie
projectors,” says Ihor Stech, Christie’s vice
president of operations. Stech cites the important
role played by the facility’s new General
Manager, Ms. Kening Zhang, who draws upon
more than 10 years experience at Christie
both in North America and Asia. “Ms. Zhang’s
strong negotiating, sourcing, manufacturing
and engineering expertise are important
factors in the facility’s continued success. As
well, she is able to inspire innovation, continuity
and a commitment to quality in this new
vibrant team,” Stech says.
Harkins Theatres has promoted Barry Bruno
to head film buyer. Bruno will oversee the
negotiation and procurement of all films
presented on all of Harkins Theatres’ screens
throughout five states, including art and independent
films. Bruno has nearly 30 years in
the film and exhibition industry, beginning in
Chicago in the early ‘80s at 20th Century Fox,
before moving over to Paramount Pictures.
Bruno spent 12 years at Walt Disney Company
as director of sales before moving to Phoenix
and joining Harkins Theatres nearly six years
ago. “Barry knows the ins and outs of film
buying and has the experience to back it up.
But more importantly, he’s one of the biggest
movie fans I know,” says Dan Harkins, Owner
and CEO of Harkins Theatres. “His love and
knowledge of the entertainment industry gives
Harkins the exceptional expertise to evaluate
a film’s marketability and maximize our future
success.”
Dolby Laboratories, MikroM, USL and XDC
announced an alliance to promote greater
interoperability within the digital cinema
market. The companies joining in this collaborative
effort, referred to as the Digital
Cinema Open System Alliance, are working
to establish open interface standards for core
system components. The initial goals of the
DCOSA are to develop common interface
specifications between digital cinema servers
and integrated media block products and to
promote these specifications for use across
the cinema market. By introducing these open
standards, the DCOSA hopes to drive down
the cost of development, to increase flexibility
and to provide a platform for innovation. “The
cinema industry is interested in moving away
from having a tightly coupled server and media
block available only from a single vendor
and moving toward an IMB built using open
interface specifications,” said Robin Selden,
senior vice president of marketing for Dolby
Laboratories. “An open platform will increase
competition within the industry and encourage
cutting-edge development.”
8 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

EXECUTIVE SUITE
JOHN
FITHIAN
NATO
President
and Chief
Executive
EXCITING TIMES AND REEL CHALLENGES
Highlights from recent movie theater industry gatherings
by John Fithian and Gary Klein
Over the past two months, we have had a busy schedule of industry gatherings: the annual
meetings of NATO in Washington, D.C., the ShowEast convention in Orlando and five
different regional NATO events across the country. During the various meetings, NATO
members discussed a host of important issues. Though any one of the individual topics
might warrant its own magazine column, we think it more important to provide a summary of
the key issues, so as to be as timely as possible in bringing BOXOFFICE readers up to speed.
Officer
PREMIUM VOD WINDOWS CAUSE EXHIBITOR
CONCERN
The suggestion that studios might release movies in a
very early premium VOD window was the most discussed
issue at all of the gatherings and the most significant
threat to exhibitors. Without any concrete evidence of an
actual business plan, several national newspaper reporters
have suggested that some major studios intend to release
VOD movies 30 to 60 days after opening in theaters.
Many exhibition companies have established strong individual
policies regarding such windows, and have communicated
their position to the major studios. NATO will
also be taking appropriate trade association action and
those steps will be reported privately to NATO members.
In the meantime, Boxoffice readers should keep in mind
several fundamental points. Domestic and international
theatrical revenues continue to grow and expand through
increases in both demand and pricing. Our studio partners,
however, are facing the opposite reality in the in-home market.
It is in the best interest of the studios that they address
their current revenue challenges in the home market without
importing those problems into the theatrical market. As
NATO stated in a published resolution this past summer, any
experimentation with premium video on demand should
occur within the existing home movie window.
DIGITAL CINEMA AND 3D ROLL-OUT
ACCELERATES
Movie exhibition in 3D has provided the most important
positive change in the economic models of the business
in years. Frankly speaking: without 3D, the business
model for digital cinema provided few significant quantifiable
benefits for cinema operators. With the success of
3D, exhibitors are now installing digital cinema systems
as fast as the manufacturers can produce the equipment.
Today’s data on installs reflects substantial growth. In
the US, as of October 25, 2010, exhibitors operated 12,966
digital screens, with 6,843 equipped for 3D, out of a total
national screen count of 39,284.
Given the pace of the transition, it came as no surprise
that digital cinema was the second most discussed issue
in our recent travels. The conversations have become very
sophisticated and focus on topics such as integration and
virtual print fee deals, financing arrangements, equipment
upgrades and servicing, competing 3D technology
options, desired resolution levels and the availability of
digital “prints.” (NATO members will hear more about
these topics in member reports.)
NATO’s Cinema Buying Group, in partnership with
chosen integrator Cinedigm, has also made great strides.
(continued on page 12)
10 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

cinema experience

EXECUTIVE SUITE > EXCITING TIMES AND REEL CHALLENGES (continued from page 10)
GARY
KLEIN
NATO
Vice President
and General
Counsel
GARY’S MUSINGS
Having now been through several firsts since joining NATO (and that
only happens once after you start a new job), including a ShoWest, an
annual meeting of the membership and a ShowEast, I thought I’d write
about some of the things that made an impression on a first-timer. And
this perspective comes from a background of having worked in a senior
position at two other trade associations, both with large memberships
and well-known trade shows. What’s impressed me most this year has
been the passion exhibited by theater owners in discussing their industry.
This came through once again recently during the NATO annual
meeting in September, where members discussed and debated the
issues affecting their business, described the challenges of incorporating
the new technology required to meet the demand of their patrons,
and subsequently offered insights to their compatriots (and ostensible
competitors) on what has worked and what hasn’t. It was this spirit of
cooperation and commitment to the industry—from the small independents
to the larger companies—that struck me as something different
from the other associations of my association.
And I think I’ve hit upon the reason for this difference: Once you
start in the business, it gets in your blood. In many conversations, I
learned that some theaters are being managed by the third or fourth
generation of a family, or that the current president of a major chain
once managed a small neighborhood theater for the grandfather of the
current owner. There is a sense of “community” among NATO members.
And you lifers in the business, know that the community you’ve
helped forge isn’t found in most other associations whose members are
the exhibitors at their respective trade shows and who compete fiercely
for shelf space in some big box retailer that should have its own zip
code, who then determines the price at which to sell the product. Conversely,
NATO members—all of whom rely on a small number of suppliers
for content—have a commonality of interests and the flexibility to
do what’s necessary to fill seats. And at NATO’s new show, CinemaCon,
debuting next March, the exhibitors are the companies trying to attract
NATO members to their booths to sell theater owners the merchandise
that will enhance the movie-going experience—again, a community of
interests.
One final revelation has been the variety of issues affecting the
industry. I certainly expected movie theft and ratings to be among
our top priorities, I’ve enjoyed tackling the industry’s issues with the
FDA over menu labeling and the future use of lasers, just two of many
examples. But the industry, through the actions of its association as
described more fully in the adjoining column from my colleague John
Fithian and myself, has responded and will continue to respond to such
matters to protect and promote the industry and preserve the “community”
experience. And this time next year, I’ll still be impressed by that.
Twenty-six CBG member companies representing
800 screens have completed deals
and an additional 90 companies representing
1,431 screens have begun the negotiation
process to transition their sites to
digital. Various financing options including
exhibitor-financed and integrator-financed
offerings have become available.
FEDS PROPOSE REQUIREMENTS
ON CAPTIONING AND AUDIO
DESCRIPTION
As exhibitors tackle their transition to
digital cinema, we the authors strongly encourage
you to also incorporate plans for captioning
for deaf patrons and audio description
for the blind. The Department of Justice has
proposed rules that, if finalized, would require
half of all auditoriums in the country to be
equipped with captioning and audio description
technologies in five years (with ten percent
equipped in each of those five years). The
current proposal could apply to both film and
digital systems, though NATO will argue that
common sense suggests applying the rule
only to digital. NATO will testify at DOJ hearings
and submit formal written comments,
and will coordinate our approach with the
Motion Picture Association of America and
its studio members. Considerable member
input has come from our annual meetings,
a volunteer task force and particularly from
Regal. NATO and our members are also working
closely with equipment manufacturers to
develop and market the most useful display
devices at the best price point.
(continued on page 14)
12 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

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experience with Dolby ® Surround 7.1. The latest
innovation from a pioneer in cinema sound,
Dolby Surround 7.1 improves the spatial
dimension of soundtracks and enhances audio
definition. The result: full-featured audio that
better matches the visual impact of film.
· Establishes four
distinct surround zones
within the theatER
· Easy to implement with
standard Dolby equipment
dolby.com/cinema
Dolby and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. © 2010 Dolby Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. S10/23384/23611

EXECUTIVE SUITE > EXCITING TIMES AND REEL CHALLENGES (continued from page 12)
A recent report from the New York City Bed Bug Advisory Board
found that, unlike other pests, there is no simple, straightforward or
typical treatment to exterminate bed bugs. The mission of the Bed
Bug Task Force is to develop resources and best practices for movie
theaters to prevent and remove bed bug infestations, and develop
messaging in response to media stories targeting bed bug infestations
at movie theaters.
LASER PROJECTION TASK FORCE CREATED
During the NATO Advisory Board meeting, there was broad support
for the creation of a NATO Laser Projection Task Force to address
the many technical and business-related questions surrounding
laser technologies for digital cinema projection. Representatives
from the following companies have volunteered for this effort: Carmike
Cinemas, Inc.; Cineplex Entertainment LP; Circle Drive-In Theatre;
Classic Cinemas; Goodrich Quality Theatres; National Amusements,
Inc.; Pacific Theatres/ArcLight Cinemas; Premiere Theatres,
LLC; Regal Entertainment Group; and Transit Drive-in Theatre 4.
At ShowEast and in other locations, the task force has already begun
to meet with technology providers and study the issues in order
to best inform the membership at large. NATO has also been asked
to lend its lobbying expertise to work with the federal government
to change existing legal prohibitions on the use of laser projection in
theaters. Information from the task force will be available to NATO
members in subsequent reports. For the purposes of this column, however,
the authors caution exhibitors not to forego the current digital
cinema transition in favor of waiting for laser projection. The virtual
print fee models currently on offer have deadlines for installation. It is
highly likely that laser projection technologies will not be available as
a practical or legal proposition in time to meet the VPF deadlines.
UPCOMING MYSTERY SHOPPER SURVEY
As reported during the 2010 annual meetings, NATO has learned
that the Federal Trade Commission intends to undertake another
“mystery shopper survey” in the very near future. As you may remember
from past surveys, the FTC will employ hundreds of teens
aged 13-16 who will attempt to buy tickets to “R” rated movies and
similarly restricted DVDs, video games and music.
Movie theater operators need to (1) encourage vigilant enforcement
of age restrictions, (2) ensure prominent display of rating
information at your locations, and (3) provide rating system information
and links to ratings sites on your websites. With a landmark
First Amendment case pending before the Supreme Court [see the
July 2010 edition of Boxoffice], it is particularly important that exhibition
perform at a very high level on this survey.
BED BUGS GET THEIR OWN TASK FORCE
In response to the growing number of bed bug infestations in
commercial sectors throughout the country, the NATO Bed Bug
Task Force was formed during the Advisory Board meeting. The task
force is a collaborative endeavor that includes representatives from
the following NATO member companies: AMC Entertainment Inc.;
Cineplex Entertainment LP; Clearview Cinemas; Harkins Theatres;
Regal Entertainment Group; and University Mall Theatres.
THE FIGHT AGAINST MOVIE THEFT EXPANDS
NATO members domestically and around the globe continue to
improve their fight against the illegal recording of movies in cinemas.
In the United States and Canada, apprehensions of thieves have increased
while the total rate of illegal recordings has decreased. As we
travel to the regional events across the country, we have noticed growing
awareness of the issue of movie theft, greater familiarity with the
(continued on page 16)
14 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

EXECUTIVE SUITE > EXCITING TIMES AND REEL CHALLENGES (continued from page 14)
recommended practices for theater employees to follow, and broad
knowledge of the awards program offered by NATO and the MPAA.
Speaking of the awards, since the inception of the program in 2004,
we have given $111,000 to approximately 300 theater employees.
With a challenge as severe as movie theft, however, the problem
never goes away—it just moves. Now movie theft is a significant
problem in territories like Mexico and Europe, among other places.
During ShowEast, we met with our members from Mexico who are
lobbying the federal government for a strong anti-camcording law.
And conversations with our colleagues in Europe will continue in
December, when John travels to the continent for cinema leadership
meetings.
NATO was planning to hold its 2011 Annual Meeting in Los
Angeles, as NATO’s Executive Board previously decided to hold
the Board Meeting alternately between Washington, DC and Los
Angeles (two key business centers for our members). At its September
meeting, the Board decided to move our LA meetings to evennumbered
years in order to properly align our lobbying efforts with
the federal election cycle. Now, we can hold the DC meetings in oddnumbered
years when Congress is in session and not out campaigning.
Thus, NATO’s annual meetings in the fall of 2011 will be held in
Washington, DC, and the 2012 meetings in Los Angeles.
CINEMACON WILL BE AMAZING
IMPROVING THE ACCURACY OF INTERNET SHOWTIME
INFORMATION
The Executive Board adopted a recommendation of the Codes
Committee and the Advisory Board that NATO reach out to the
purveyors of movie show times to encourage more regular inclusion
of captioning and descriptive narrative information in their
listings, and to ensure that show times and pricing information
are accurate. At ShowEast, NATO staff met with representatives of
West World Media, the operator of CinemaSource, a leading company
in movie show times listings. They agreed to work with their
clients. We will also contact Tribune Media Services, the other
leading provider.
Preparations continue for NATO’s new national convention to
be held March 28–21, 2011 at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Exhibitors,
vendors and studio partners have all provided their suggestions
and enthusiastic support as we have traveled the country. The new
CinemaCon website is up and running at www.cinemacon.com.
The trade floor is nearly sold out and registrations have been strong
since the opening in September. Please mark your calendars, book
your hotel rooms and register now for an exciting and productive
week next spring.
POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE FORMED
CHANGE IN ANNUAL MEETING LOCATION SCHEDULE
The NATO Executive Board of Directors approved the creation
of NATOPAC, the association’s new political action committee. NA-
TOPAC will enhance the presence of NATO on Capitol Hill and give
our organization an additional tool to continue the success it has
achieved in its lobbying efforts. The paperwork has been filed with
the Federal Election Commission and the members of the PAC board
have been approved. We will be seeking member contributions in
the near future and hope that all will participate so we can have a
say on those issues that affect our industry.
Finally, we are delighted to report that during ShowEast, NATO
and Boxoffice representatives met and decided to extend our sponsorship
agreement. We appreciate the service Peter and his team
provide to the industry, and continue to value the strong relationship
between our two organizations.
16 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

BEING OPENED TODAY AT A THEATER NEAR YOU:
THE NEW BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE!
1,000,000 COPIES OF NEW IN-CINEMA
FAN MAGAZINE BOWS TO KUDOS
ACROSS THE U.S.A.
Our 90-year-old friend gave birth this month. There were no fertility
drugs involved, though. Just a lot of strong coffee. Also a lot of hard
work by some amazingly talented people.
As we went to press with this magazine, we officially released
1,000,000 copies of our new fan magazine in theaters across 12 different
circuits. We published our “Special Sneak Peek Edition” in
12 different editions—a custom version for each of the circuits
in our network with their own unique content, plus one
National Edition.
Our partners in exhibition have been just that—partners
in every sense of the word, and I want to take
this opportunity to once again thank each of
them personally for their help and cooperation
in seeing this launch through.
It was worth the wait for all parties
involved, especially the patrons.
I stayed up past my bedtime to
watch the Midnight Show crowds for
Harry Potter at one of our participating
theaters, and I witnessed a group of
teenagers in the lobby actually stop texting
and put away their phones so they could read
the magazine. One of the young ladies even
tore out a page from the magazine and put it in her
back pocket. (It was a schedule of upcoming films
and theater locations that the participating circuit had
placed in its special section of the magazine.) Theater
managers have reported patrons who had left the
building coming back in to retrieve the copies of
BOXOFFICE they had left behind. And it’s not
only the patrons. Circuit marketing executives
have been calling to tell me how much
they like their customized versions. All in
all, a great launch that totally validates the
idea we first came up with more than two
years ago.
And how did we make this dream a reality?
That’s an easy one—Ken Bacon. Our Creative Director’s
vision, talent and tireless effort are reflected in
every one of the more than 50,000,000 pages we
printed this month. Editor-in-Chief Amy Nicholson
crafted every word on every one of those
pages. The magazine speaks with Amy’s
voice and I couldn’t be happier about it.
If you’re distributing The New BOXOFFICE
Magazine, thanks for joining us. If you’re not,
let’s talk.
peter@boxoffice.com
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 17

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?
When Peter Cane calls me, I think carefully before answering
TIMECODE
KENNETH
JAMES
BACON
Creative
Director,
BOXOFFICE
Media
Over two years ago, our fearless leader, Peter Cane—
though he became more fearful over time—threw
out this idea: “Let’s put on a show!” No—that was Mickey
Rooney in Babes in Arms. What Peter actually said, sorta,
was, “Let’s publish a national magazine for millions of
movie fans and give it away for free!” He even said it like
Mickey Rooney. I responded as I always do when Peter
suggests to me something that will be difficult and challenging:
I laughed, thought about it for a bit and drank a
bottle of wine. I’m sure crying was in there somewhere.
AND NOW A WORD FROM OUR SPONSORS
Amy Nicholson introduces the new BOXOFFICE magazine and offers a few valuable prizes
THEY’RE JUST WILD ABOUT HARRY
In Fantastic, rabid muggles and wizards show off their magical collections
THE BIG PICTURE
The new BOXOFFICE is bold and brassy: big pictures, big stories and big ideas
Over the next few months we started to puzzle out
the whats, hows and whys with the whys being much
easier to identify. For the what, I recruited Boxoffice
contributor Cole Hornaday to bat editorial ideas around
while Peter wrestled with figuring out how to produce
and distribute a magazine in a manner no one had yet
successfully achieved—distribution through hundreds
of theaters across the country, all arriving on the same
day, with major, national advertisers and at no cost to
readers. Brave man.
The smartest thing we did was merely our good fortune:
Amy Nicholson happened. Amy became the editor
of the magazine you’re holding in January 2009 and,
once Peter and I unfurled our grand plan to her, took the
lead in developing the tone, style and personality of the
new Boxoffice magazine. She may have cried, too. Then
we slowly and steadily set to work and, as Aesop said,
“slow and steady wins the race.” Good advice, unless
you’re Usain Bolt.
Many of the ideas Cole and I cooked up made it all
the way to press; others were deemed too stupid to live
(a publishing term of my own, recent invention). Amy
had a terrific idea for our coverage of Disney’s Tangled. To
celebrate the Mouse House’s 50th animated feature, why
not design a 2-page spread featuring characters from all
50 films along with a timeline. We’d apply little numbers
to each image and challenge readers to identify each of
the films. Disney loved the idea and provided us with 50
high-resolution stills. Figuring out how to present them
proved to be quite the technical challenge—assembling
the elements so that each character was recognizable and
didn’t overlap or occlude other characters took well over
a 18 ken-hours, a unit of measure used by some to indicate
precisely why the hell things take so long.
Months ago, we decided that the publication date of
our sneak peek edition would coincide with the release
of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 to give the
new venture solid exposure. One of our earliest ideas for
a continuing feature was dubbed Fantastic—a multipage
spread dedicated to movie fans, in particular, memorabilia
collectors. The call went out to Harry Potter fans
around the world via the popular Potter fan site MuggleNet.com.
Over 400 wizards and half-blood princes
responded imploring us to include themselves or their
friends in the inaugural edition of Fantastic. In addition
to selecting 20 of the most zealous and crazed, one entry
so impressed us that we anointed her the Greatest Harry
Potter Fan in the World. Today, over a million people
know her name: Katie Aiani.
We decided to customize the magazine for each of our
circuit distribution partners with each verison having a
unique theater-branded cover and 8-page center spread.
When we began the project, we were concerned greatly
18 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

that this would be our most difficult task—writing,
editing and designing material for so many exhibitors
and getting it all approved by multiple stakeholders
within our very narrow production window. To our great
surprise (and relief), every exhibitor showed not only
great enthusiasm but proved to be valuable and creative
collaborators. We could not have do it without their support.
Putting ink on paper is costly, difficult and forever. If
you’re me, that last one is the scariest of all. The Internet
is very forgiving. If you publish “no one will lose” to your
blog like this—”noone will loose”—well, in addition
to demonstrating that you share this trait with about a
billi0n other people, you can (after I’ve left a snarky comment)
fix it in a jif. I can think of but a few professions
where errors like that will take years off your life: makers
of tombstones, tattoo artists and publishers. And this
is why the issue of the new Boxoffice Magazine that may
be in your lobby is labeled Sneak Peek Edition. It’s our
toe in the water, a preview of the big things to come in
CUSTOM-MADE
Our circuit distribution partners can talk directly to their patrons through our pages
2011. We invite you to join us between now and then, if
you haven’t already. You’ll want this in your lobby.
Often, during all this dedicated effort by many talented
people, Peter would call me at odd hours—we live
on different coasts—and ask, “Are you having fun yet?”
The work was difficult, frustrating and occasionally
hair-raising and I don’t think I ever gave him a straight
answer. I’ll do that now:
Yes.
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 19

CHRISTIE DIGITAL SYSTEMS USA, INC.
DOLPHIN SEATING
NEW PRODUCTS
The first 4K-upgradeable DLP Cinema® projectors to be installed
worldwide, the Christie Solaria Series is based on Texas Instruments’
proven next-generation Series 2 DLP Cinema technology. The
projectors feature a new modular architecture for improved serviceability
and ease of maintenance, along with the choice of external
or integrated media blocks. Delivering higher brightness with lowerpower
lamps, the Solaria Series offers up to 25 percent lower cost
of operation than competing technologies. Offering a wide range of
resolution and brightness levels to best meet the size of your screen
and the requirements of your theater, the Series includes the Christie
CP2210, the Christie CP2220 and the Christie CP2230.
Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc.
10550 Camden Drive
Cypress, CA 90630
P: (714) 236-8610
F: (714) 503-3385
dorina.belu@christiedigital.com
www.christiedigital.com
C. CRETORS AND COMPANY
Dolphin Seating’s new VIP
pedestal rocker seat with deluxe
moving love seat cup
holder arms. A
comfortable upscale
seat priced at
$200.
www.dolphinseating.com
Office 313 Remuda St.
Clovis, NM 88101
P: (575) 762-6468
HARKNESS SCREENS
Harkness Screens debuts its Digital Screen Selector. The Digital
Screen Selector can help reduce operating costs for 2D and optimize
light levels for both 2D and 3D, and it uses industry-accepted
standards and vendor data to compare different operating scenarios.
Harkness is also showcasing its 3D screen offerings. Harkness’ Spectral
240 is used for RealD 3D and Master Image 3D projection while
the Perlux® line of screens are used for Dolby 3D projection and
digital 2D projection. All Harkness 3D screen surfaces are formulated
to provide high-performance stereoscopic 3D images.
Scott Eisenstein
Account Executive
D. Pagan Communications
175 Pinelawn Road, Suite 215
Melville, NY 11747
P: (631) 659-2309 ext. 26
scotte@dpagan.com
D. Pagan Twitter: dpagancomm
C. Cretors and Company introduces
the Cretors Anniversary
Machine, a limited edition recreation
of an antique popcorn
popper that celebrates the
company’s recent 125 th anniversary.
Only 125 of the units will
be produced, each one signed
and numbered. The machines
are handcrafted in the United
States at the Cretors facility in
Chicago, Illinois. Number nine
was sent to the White House for
the First Family’s White House
Theater.
Contact: Kristin Nugent
McNeil, Gray & Rice, Inc.
P: (617) 367-0100 ext. 148
kristin.nugent@mgr1.com
sales@omniterm.com.
www.cretors.com
MEYER SOUND
Meyer Sound’s new Cinema Experience,
an integrated sound system of screen
channel loudspeakers, surrounds, subwoofers
and electronics, works together
to deliver clarity, power and transparency.
The heart of the system is the Acheron
high-performance screen channel loudspeaker.
The two-way loudspeaker combines
the advantages of self-powered
technology and innovative horn design to deliver exceptional, precise
coverage and plenty of headroom. Available in two models: Acheron
100 (100º x 50º horn) and Acheron 80 (80º x 50º horn).
Meyer Sound Laboratories, Inc.
2832 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA 94702
P: (510) 486-1166
F: (510) 486-8356
pr@meyersound.com
www.meyersound.com (continued on page 22)
20 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

NEW PRODUCTS (continued from page 20)
NATIONAL TICKET COMPANY
SCHULT
National Ticket Company offers Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-
certified products. The 100 percent Recycled Thermal Ticket Stock
comes from well-managed forests certified by the FSC. The FSC is an
international organization that promotes environmentally appropriate,
socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s
forests. Several security features are available on Recycled Thermal
Ticket Stock.
National Ticket Company
P.O. Box 547
Shamokin, PA 17872
P: (800) 829-0829
F: (800) 829-0888
ticket@nationalticket.com
www.nationalticket.com
OMNITERM
Omniterm’s latest release of its
Integra Theatre Management
Software (TMS) solution adds
additional powerful features for
theater circuits. Revenue Centre
Control provides theaters with the
ability to report and manage restaurant activity within their complex as
a separately defined profit center, complimenting the Cine-Dine POS
software application. The Integra Gift Card platform enables theaters
the ability to offer gift cards to their customers and reduce the cost
of additional processing fees. Integra provides secure encrypted data
storage with various aspects of redundancy to ensure the gift card
process is protected and constantly in operation, and includes an automated
interface with Cinedigm. Integra provides a regular data feed to
ensure settlement figures are current and automatically updated.
Schult has introduced an extensive line of energy-saving poster
cases, signs and menu systems under the smartbrite brand. Schult
smartbrite products provide up to 90 percent in energy savings over
traditional fluorescent cases and signs, netting theaters an immediate
return on their display investments. The new line of poster cases are
available in a wide selection of borders and frames to suit any décor.
Easy-to-install retrofit kits and installation programs are also available
for theater customers interested in updating their existing cases with
new, energy-saving, low maintenance LED technology.
P: (800) 783-8998
energyinfo@schult.com
TASTE OF NATURE, INC
Cinnamon Bun Bites are a new spin
on Taste of Nature’s Cookie Dough
Bites, which have been a popular
movie theater candy since 1997.
While Cookie Dough Bites consist of
egg-free raw chocolate-chip cookie
dough covered in chocolate. Cinnamon Bun Bites feature a cinnamon
bun center covered in a white candy coating.
Taste of Nature, Inc
2828 Donald Douglas Loop N, Suite A
Santa Monica, CA 90405
P: (310) 396-4433
F: (310) 396-4432
s.samet@candyasap.com
www.candyasap.com
TEXAS DIGITAL SYSTEMS, INC.
sales@omniterm.com.
www.omniterm.com
RETRIEVER SOFTWARE
Using Retriever Software’s Point of Sale system and Retriever Web
Tools, a manager can update the film schedule on the Point-of-Sale
computer, and Retriever synchronizes the rest with the up-to-date information:
box office selling stations, theater signage, theater websites,
internet ticketing pages, movie schedules for newspapers, onscreen
advertising partners and even newsletters. By freeing up that time,
managers can focus on profits and customer service.
Phil Norrish
Vice President-Sales
Retriever Software, Inc.
2525 South Broadway
Denver, CO 80210
P: (888) 988-4470 ext. 308
F: (866) 571-4522
phil@RetrieverSoftwareInc.com
www.RetrieverSoftwareInc.com
Texas Digital’s VitalCAST
is a state of the art indoor/
outdoor digital signage
solution that provides an
innovative and effective
way to deliver messages
while exciting, informing
and motivating customers.
Attention-grabbing, professional content can be created, changed as
needed, and deployed to any number of displays with just a click of
the mouse. Enhance customers’ experience, provide information where
guests want it and reduce perceived wait time by entertaining patrons.
With more than 22,000 installations worldwide, Texas Digital is proud
to be a leading provider of integrated communication solutions.
Texas Digital Systems Inc.
400 Technology Pkwy.
College Station, TX 77845
P: (800) 693-2628
F: (979) 764-8650
cinemasales@txdigital.com
www.txdigital.com
22 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

Value
Delivered
Introducing the new DCP 100
The DCP 100 is part of a new generation of QSC products designed expressly for the needs
of D-Cinema sound systems. Delivering the same key features as the DCP 300,
the new DCP 100 has been optimized and is perfect for smaller rooms requiring
an integrated package of processing, monitoring, and digital crossovers at an
affordable price.
Come learn how the DCP 100 will bring value to your D-Cinema needs.
©2010 QSC Audio Products, LLC. All rights reserved. QSC and the QSC logo are registered trademarks of QSC Audio Products, LLC in the U.S.
Patent and Trademark office and other countries.

GENEVA REPORT
DON’T STOP BELIEVING
The fierce competition for the crown of Geneva Idol
WISCONSIN WONDERLAND
The best moments of this year’s Geneva Convention
by George Rouman and John Scaletta
Geneva Convention co-chairs
The 2010 Geneva Convention confab
once again provided the ideal atmosphere
for exhibitors to intermingle, get
educated on the latest industry trends and
catch previews of the latest upcoming films.
The trade show floor was filled with vendors
advertising the newest products and innovations—some
hoping their invention might
be the next to revolutionize the theatergoing
experience, some just hoping their
cool gadget will find its niche in theater
lobbies and concession stands. For those of
you who were there, we thank you and hope
you got the most out of your experience.
For those of you unable to attend, we hope
you find this recap useful. For everyone who
attended: We hope to see you next year!
As always, the confab kicked off with the
Variety Charity Golf Outing on the Grand
Geneva Resort & Spa’s world-renowned
“Brute” course. Playing in sunny mid-60
degree temperatures, the “shotgun” format
was ideal for every level of golfer and a good
time was had by all. Unfortunately, nobody
won the free car by hitting a hole-in-one, but
a couple close calls wowed the spectators.
Variety—The Children’s Charity of Wisconsin—was
the bigger winner with the fundraiser
raking in $7,500.
The Grand Ballroom was adorned in
tasteful décor for the Opening Night Reception
as partygoers enjoyed complimentary
beverages and unwound with fellow
convention-goers. Following the check presentation
to Variety of Wisconsin, attendees
could participate in the “Geneva Idol Karaoke
Contest” judged by our good friends
in exhibitor relations—fair and balanced
judges all. At dinner’s end, participants
were treated to a dual screening of Life as We
Know It and Feed the Fish to close opening
night.
Wednesday has traditionally been the
nuts and bolts day of the convention—
24 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

GENEVA REPORT > WISCONSIN WONDERLAND (continued from page 24)
MIDWEST
HALL OF FAME
INDUCTEES
Edsell Byrd
Corydon Cinemas
Mort Fink
F & F Management
Stanley McCullough
Falls Theatre
Don Perkins
Marcus Theatres
2010 GENEVA
CONVENTION
AWARD
WINNERS
BEN MARCUS AWARD
Paul J. Rogers
LARRY D. HANSON
AWARD
Tim Warner
STUDIO OF THE YEAR
Lionsgate
VENDOR OF THE YEAR
C. Cretors & Company
BOXOFFICE
BLUE RIBBON AWARD
Paramount
Transformers:
Revenge of the Fallen
BOXOFFICE
GAME CHANGER AWARD
20th Century Fox
Avatar
CHEERS!
Co-Chairman John Scaletta with Paramount’s Monique Flores and BOXOFFICE Publisher Peter Cane
people roll up their sleeves and get to work.
This year was no different, as Wednesday
was bursting at the seams with content. For
the second year in a row, the Geneva Convention
was proud to offer two of the wildly
popular Disney Institute Seminars: Approach
to Inspiring Creativity and Approach to People
Management. After the first, Inspiring Creativity,
attendees left feeling optimistic that they
had learned a thing or two about promoting
divergent thinking among their employees.
Next, two Exhibitor Relations seminars
showcased upcoming releases and Tony
Shalhoub—Wisconsin native and star of
underground hit Feed the Fish (also made in
Wisconsin)—accepted the “Spirit of Wisconsin
Award.” Best known for his portrayal
of a quirky police detective on TV’s Monk,
Shalhoub gave a gracious and charming acceptance
speech.
The afternoon sessions began with the
Boxoffice Conference, a provocative panel
discussion on the topic, “Digital Cinema for
Any Size Market.” Leading installers and
independent owners alike hashed out installation,
upkeep and operations. Following
the panel, most attendees found their way to
the trade show floor where approximately
85 vendors showed off their latest products.
An open bar contributed a special kind of
charm to the floor.
The Wednesday night Gala Awards Dinner
was kicked off with NATO President
John Fithian’s encouraging words about the
staying power of exhibition. Little did we
know that this dinner would become one of
the more memorable of the year as Marcus
President Bruce Olson presented charitable
donations totaling $275,443 to six statewide
hospitals for assistance in setting up neonatal
intensive care divisions. It was truly
a magical moment in the ballroom to see a
gift that would save a baby’s life.
After that moving donation came a
moving tribute as a speechless Paul Rogers
received the Ben Marcus Award for his decades
of outstanding service to exhibition.
Everyone who has met Paul agrees that no
finer choice could have been made, and
he accepted our applause with his usual
equanimity and selflessness. For a full list of
award winners and Hall of Fame recipients,
please see the sidebar.
After a Wednesday evening screening
of RED, attendees slept well and started the
final day with a warm breakfast on the trade
show floor and the second Disney Institute
Seminar, People Management. Following the
Midwest Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
at lunch, the convention took a final bow
and the curtain closed.
We’re proud that we can describe the
2010 Geneva Convention as informative,
entertaining and intimate. To all our wonderful
sponsors and vendors, we could
not give our fellow exhibitors this level of
experience without you, and so we thank
you. Don’t forget to mark your calendars!
Tuesday, September 20 to Thursday, September
23, 2011. Where Hollywood meets
the Heartland, we will always do our best to
make you feel welcomed!
26 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

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DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 27

LAST PLAY AT SHEA ROCKS THE HOUSE
Billy Joel doc captures the story behind the show
SHOW BUSINESS
PHIL
CONTRINO
Editor
BoxOffice.com
I
’ve seen Billy Joel live only
once. It was at Hershey Park—
yes, the aroma of chocolate is
strong in the stadium—in the
summer of 2008. Even though
Joel hasn’t released an album of
new songs since 1993, he still
puts on a killer show. I’ll always
remember slipping out of my
assigned seat to join a gang of
strangers who were singing
along with his set list of greatest
hits.
I’m lucky to have seen a living
legend in concert. But I’m
still jealous of the fans who
rocked out as Joel had the honor
of playing the last concert ever
at New York’s Shea Stadium—a
show that inspired an excellent
film titled Last Play at Shea.
Before I start unabashedly
raving about the film, I must
confess that I was just slapped
with the news that I could
have been at the concert. At
a Halloween party I was telling
a friend how much I loved
Last Play at Shea. “I was there!”
he blurted out, before adding
salt to the wound. “My cousin
bought like 15 tickets and sold
them—he made a lot of money.”
I tried to remain cool. One
phone call from a person who
knew that I was a Joel fanatic
and I could have been part of
history.
But the truth: we’ve all
missed that one great concert.
That’s why I’m glad to see that
concert films—a permanent,
up-close memory of a stellar
show—are having a renaissance
with everyone from the Rolling
Stones to Miley Cyrus to the
28 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

Black Eyed Peas cranking the multiplex’s
speakers up to 11.
Last Play at Shea is one of the best, though
I’d actually call it more of a documentary
than a concert film. Joel’s performance and
his life story are intercut with the
history of Shea Stadium—which,
despite being a Yankees fan since
birth, is where I saw my first baseball
game. It’s clear that the Piano Man is
still pinching himself that his childhood
dreams became a reality. Joel
came from humble beginnings in
Long Island, and became one of the
world’s biggest rock stars, selling millions
of records and even marrying a
supermodel.
Joining Joel in his toast to Shea
Stadium are Tony Bennett with a
stirring rendition of New York State
of Mind, and John Mayer, who adds
some improvised guitar licks to These
Are The Times to Remember. But it’s
Paul McCartney, taking the stage for
I Saw Her Standing There and Let It Be,
that steals the show. It’s fitting Mc-
Cartney helps close out Shea—The
Beatles delivered a legendary concert
there over four decades ago. McCartney’s
miraculous appearance adss to
the drama of The Last Play at Shea. It
looks as though the legendary rocker’s
tight schedule won’t allow him to
play with Joel. But thanks to the help
of a fast flight and a police escort, Mc-
Cartney made it to Shea on time for a
triumphant standing ovation.
Last Play at Shea was given a
one-night-only engagement at 120
theaters across New York, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Miami, Chicago,
Boston, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Dallas
and Washington, DC. Sure, it’s
tailor-made for New Yorkers, but its
emotional punch goes beyond the
Big Apple.
“You don’t have to be a Mets fan—
or even have ever attended a ballgame
or concert at Shea—to appreciate
its story,” says producer Steve
Cohen, complimenting his directors.
“Paul Crowder and Mark Monroe
have done an incredible job of crafting
a story that makes Shea feel like a living,
breathing character. They invest you in its
origins, its growing pains, its life and its history.
By the end of the film, you understand
what the stadium meant to a city and its
people—and it’s this human connection that
speaks to audiences no matter where they’re
from or where their sports allegiances may
lie. This is not just a New York tale—it’s a
uniquely American tale.”
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 29

FRONT LINE AWARD
NETWORK
AFFILIATE
Spinning social networking
into box office gold
by Cole Hornaday
It’s a common complaint: these kids today
are too dialed in to their iPhones and video
game apps. And those social networking
sites like Facebook and Twitter? They’re
great to track what the neighbor boy had for
breakfast, but do little to improve our lives.
Complainants, meet Alycia Yerves.
In 2005, Yerves was a part-time box office
representative at Red Bank, New Jersey’s
Count Basie Theatre. She loved the 1,200-seat
performance space and, though occasionally
distracted by her coworkers chattering about
their obsession with some website called
MySpace, she focused on how to increase traffic
through the Count Basie auditorium.
“Apparently, I was the last person to
know about this MySpace thing,” recalls
Alycia Yerves Multimedia Manager
Count Basie Theatre / Red Bank, NJ
Nominated By Diana St. John, Marketing Director
Yerves. “I signed up,
and in a week I was
addicted.” Before long,
Yerves noticed that
many local businesses
with websites were
reaping the benefits of
a second digital presence
on MySpace. “I
thought it would create
a cool factor for us to
have a MySpace page,
so I just made one and
started updating the
calendar. We started
getting lots of fans
from the area and I immediately
learned the
customer experience
had become more interactive
in terms of them
preferring to contact us
through a site, rather
than calling us.”
“The MySpace page was something
Alycia took upon herself to do in order to
educate people that this isn’t something to
replace our original website—this is a way
to enhance it,” says Count Basie Marketing
Director Diana St. John. “This was the very
beginning when people were just getting accustomed
to what social network sites were
all about, and it just evolved from there.”
It wasn’t long before the people upstairs
from the Count Basie box office took notice.
Says Yerves, “Diana called me one day and
said, ‘I think it’s really cool you took the
initiative to do this and I wanted to let you
know that we’re going to start having a
marketing assistant on staff to do this.” And
naturally, that job was offered to her.
“Alycia’s job basically was to do everything
that I couldn’t finish—or to read my
mind,” laughs St. John, “mainly to be support
for me with the advertising. But things
really shifted after she built our Facebook
profile.” On Facebook, Count Basie fans
sprang from the woodwork and multiplied
exponentially.
“I remember us looking at each other
one day and saying, ‘You know it would be
really super-cool if we had a Multimedia
Department,’” recalls Yerves. St. John ran the
idea past Count Basie Theatre CEO Numa
Saisselin, and a year later the Basie had
launched its own Multimedia Department
with Yerves at the helm.
“With technology changing and people
focusing less on going to our website and
more on the social media sites, we needed to
change with it,” says St. John. “Every theater
will experience an audience that ages out
of its system, but how do you then service
people who are younger and younger? You
can do it through your programming, but if
you’re not reaching them to let them know
what’s happening in your theater, then they
won’t come.”
Yerves’ approach to marketing is
brilliantly outside the box—like the day
she turned a pile of ‘40s era candy boxes
and Coke bottles unearthed during a
renovation into an online archeological
exhibit.
“I uploaded them to Facebook and called
it something like ‘Basie Artifacts,’ and
people could not get enough,” says Yerves.
“They got a kick out of the old, disgusting
candy flavors from back in the day. I’m
constantly searching for worthy tidbits
to share—people really love the idea that
they’re seeing something exclusive from
behind the scenes.”
Initially a self-taught media mogul,
Yerves has been given the Basie’s support
to expand her toolbox. They’ve covered the
costs of making her a one-woman production
company, whether she’s designing web
graphics or shooting video. Yerves admits
her job seldom stops at the end of the day—
she’s constantly brainstorming methods to
keep the buzz going. “On the weekends, I
still check into our Facebook page and update
it, or I’m using my BlackBerry to send
a reminder to myself of something I need
to do on Monday. Even when I’m out and
about with friends, I’m still marketing for
the theater.”
BOXOFFICE is looking for winners—theater employees you consider to be genuine role models making a significant, positive impact on your theater operations. Monthly winners of the
BOXOFFICE Front Line Award receive a $50 Gap Gift Card! To nominate a theater employee send a brief 100- to 200-word nominating essay to cole@boxoffice.com. Be sure to put ‘Front
Line Nomination’ in the subject line.
30 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

NATIONAL
WEST
CENTRAL/SOUTH
EAST
JOHN C. HALL
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
(818) 777-3860
Fax (818) 866-3308
Email:
johnc.hall@nbcuni.com
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MANAGER
(818) 777-0096
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LISA HOLLAND
DIRECTOR
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COORDINATOR
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Fax (818) 866-3477
Email:
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(214) 360-0022 x649
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New York, NY 10019
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MANAGER
(416) 495-3628
Fax (416) 502-0323
Email:
sharon.irwin@nbcuni.com
2450 Victoria Park Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M2J 4A2
www.exhibitorrelations.com

FRONT OFFICE AWARD
RISING SON
His brother, the movie theater
by Cole Hornaday
In 1973, Vic Skolnick and Charlotte Skye
moved their little family from the city to
the wilds of Long Island. They anticipated
a readjustment. They didn’t foresee the
whole family becoming the community’s
spearhead for arthouse and independent
film.
“My parents were accustomed to having
a wide range of movies to see,” says Dylan
Skolnick, Vic and Charlotte’s son. “All you
could see out on Long Island was the latest
Hollywood movies—there really wasn’t
much else.”
In the days predating VHS and cable
television, a true film connoisseur was hard
pressed to whet their appetite. The Skolnicks
were not only driven, they were resourceful.
“They decided to do something,”
says Dylan. “They borrowed a projector and
film from the Huntington Library, hung up
a bed-sheet on the wall, made up some fliers
and advertised the movies.”
And audiences came. The Skolnicks
rented a dance studio and threw their energy
into the makeshift theater. “They started
showing more and more films and adding
more days,” says Dylan. “First it was just
once a week. Then it became two days, then
four days—eventually it was seven days
a week, and it kept growing.” The theater
was a hit in part of Long Island’s layout.
Explains Dylan, “Everyone has to travel by
car and there’s not much life on the streets.
Therefore, what we’re doing is even more
important because it creates a place to
bring people out of their houses.”
Decades, later, the town offered the
Skolnicks’ film society a permanent space
at a disused elementary school.
“At this point we were known as the
New Community Cinema,” says Dylan.
“The elementary school was in pretty bad
shape, but we moved in. It was a big auditorium.
We fixed it up and built a projection
room and started showing films. From
there it really started growing and getting
much more professional.”
The New Community Cinema became
the Cinema Arts Center, a 501(c)(3) not-forprofit
facility sporting three theaters, 35mm
Dylan Skolnick Co-Director
Cinema Arts Center / Huntington, NY
Nominated By Paul Kazee
House Manager/Programmer
Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY
projectors, digital sound and comfy chairs.
Partially supported by a body of 8,000 annual
contributors, the Cinema Arts Center
has hosted guest filmmakers and speakers
from David Lynch and George A. Romero to
Kenneth Anger and Wim Wenders.
In many ways, the Cinema Arts Center
is Dylan’s younger sibling.
“I’m older than the cinema, so I was here
when it started and I’ve just continued,” he
says. Dylan made the natural move to study
film at the School of Visual Arts in New
York, completing his degree in 1987. “I focused
on filmmaking for a while, but kept
getting pulled back here,” says Dylan. “Now
I’m here full-time and this is what I do.”
As his industry peers will testify, Dylan
does that job very well. “Dylan is the go-to
guy for proper procedures on everything
exhibition,” says Proctors Theatre House
Manager and Programmer Paul Kazee. “If
you have a question or concern about the
availability of a title or where to locate it,
Dylan is the man to ask. If he doesn’t know
how to deal with a situation, nobody does.”
“Dylan works hard to bring interesting
cult celebs to Long Island and throw exciting
events,” says colleague Clinton Mc-
Clung, the programmer of Seattle’s Central
Cinema. “In lots of small towns, the art theater
is just doing standard current films, but
Dylan works to stretch the programming
with midnight movies, fun events and even
some cool prestige screenings.”
Sadly, though Dylan and his mother
Charlotte continue to act as co-directors of
the thriving movie house, Cinema Arts Co-
Founder and Director Vic Skolnick passed
away suddenly on June 10, 2010. Dylan says
Vic was working up until the last moments
of his life. Though a tremendous void was
left in their lives, now more than ever
Dylan is convinced that his choice to pursue
a path in exhibition was the right one.
“We do feel we serve an important role
in the community,” says Dylan. “A big part
of our mission is to get people out of the
house and down here doing something
communally—doing something together.”
32 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

2010
11.24.10 Disney Tangled
11.24.10 Freestyle The Nutcracker in 3D
12.10.10 20th Century Fox
The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Voyage of the Dawn Treader
12.17.10 Disney TRON Legacy
12.17.10 Warner Bros. Yogi Bear
2011
01.14.11 Sony The Green Hornet
02.04.11 Universal Sanctum
02.11.11 Summit Drive Angry
02.11.11 Miramax Gnomeo and Juliet
02.11.11 Paramount
Justin Bieber:
Never Say Never
03.11.11 Disney Mars Needs Moms!
03.25.11 Warnr Bros. Sucker Punch
04.08.11 20th Century Fox Rio
05.06.11 Paramount Thor
05.13.11 Screen Gems Priest
05.20.11 Disney
05.26.11
Paramount
(DreamWorks)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On
Stranger Tides
Kung Fu Panda:
The Kaboom of Doom
06.17.11 Warner Bros. Green Lantern
06.24.11 Disney Cars 2
07.01.11
Paramount
(DreamWorks)
Transformers 3
TBA Lionsgate Norm of the North
07.15.11 Warner Bros.
07.22.11 Paramount
Harry Potter and the Deathly
Hallows (Part II)
Captain America:
The First Avenger
08.03.11 Sony The Smurfs
08.19.11 The Weinstein Company
Spy Kids 4:
All the Time in the World
08.19.11 DreamWorks Fright Night
08.19.11 Lionsgate Conan 3D
08.26.11 New Line Final Destination 5
09.16.11 Warner Bros. Dolphin Tale
10.14.11 Summit The Three Musketeers
10.21.11 Warner Bros. Contagion
11.04.11 DreamWorks Puss in Boots
11.11.11 Universal Immortals
11.18.11 Warner Bros. Happy Feet 2
11.23.11 Sony Arthur Christmas
12.09.11 Sony Hugo Cabret
12.16.11 20th Century Fox
12.23.11 Paramount
Alvin and the Chipmunks:
Chip-Wrecked
The Adventures of Tintin:
The Secret of the Unicorn
RELEASE CALENDAR
AR
2012
01.20.12 Screen Gems Underworld 4
02.17.12 Sony Ghost Rider 2
03.02.12 Universal Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax
03.09.12 Disney Frankenweenie
03.30.12 DreamWorks The Croods
04.06.12 Sony/Columbia Pirates!
05.18.12 DreamWorks Madagascar 3
05.25.12 Sony Men in Black 3
06.08.12 Disney John Carter of Mars
06.15.12 Disney Brave
06.22.12 20th Century Fox
Abraham Lincoln:
Vampire Hunter
07.13.12 20th Century Fox Ice Age: Continental Drift
09.21.12 Sony Hotel Transylvania
11.02.12 Disney Monsters Inc. 2
11.21.12
Sony’s
The Green
Hornet
opens
Jan. 14, 2011
Paramount
(DreamWorks)
The Guardians
(working title)
12.12.12 20th Century Fox Life of Pi
2013
03.22.12 Disney Reboot Ralph

MARQUEE AWARD
A
FOUNTAIN
IN THE
DESERT
Century-old theater
is cultural oasis
by Cole Hornaday
Carved by the heavy spring flooding of the Rio Grande, the Mesilla
Valley stretches from the northwestern edge of New Mexico
to the horn of Texas. The swath of terrain is best known for its rich
agricultural resources, and locals admit that art is at a premium.
Luckily for them, the Fountain Theatre has quenched the community’s
thirst for culture and entertainment for over 100 years.
Built in 1905, the old adobe structure was initially erected as
a playhouse for live theater. Founder Albert Fountain, Jr. grew up
with a hunger for a good tale. His father was the famous Col. Albert
Jennings Fountain, an historical figure who fought in the Civil War
and later served as legal counsel for Billy the Kid—his life rivals the
plotline of an HBO mini-series.
In his day, Colonel Fountain’s brother Edward was a Shakespearean
actor on par with Edwin Thomas Booth (not to mention his
infamous younger brother, John Wilkes). The Colonel hoped his
son would establish a permanent playhouse for his gifted sibling
and bring culture to the dry valley. Then known as the Mesilla Valley
Opera House, audiences regularly attended performances by the
Fountain family and other local artists with scenic designs painted
by Albert Jr. himself. On the auditorium walls, you can still see
murals traced by Albert Jr. that told the story of his father’s journey
through the Southwest by pack mule and covered wagon.
There is a tragic sidebar to the early history of the Fountain
Theatre, as Colonel Albert J. Fountain met a mysterious end around
February 1, 1886 near White Sands, NM. The rough and ready frontiersman
and politician was with traveling his 8 year old son Henry
when both disappeared. Folks worried that the Fountains ran afoul
of outlaw “Black Jack” Ketchum, but though a suspect was appre-
34 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

140 180 220
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Patrons line up for a special screening of
Fahrenheit 451
hended, he was ultimately released due to lack of evidence. Still, the
Fountain Theatre stayed in the family.
“The theater has always been used for entertainment,” says
Fountain Theatre Board Member Jeff Berg. “For a time it was called
‘The Fountain of Pleasure.’” It became home to vaudeville acts and
silent films with Albert, Jr. acting as scenarist and emcee. “And he
would also run English films and translate them for the Spanish
speaking patrons,” adds Berg. A big personality like his father, Albert
Jr. seldom missed the opportunity to spice up the interstitial
translations with his unique brand of humor.
Local entrepreneur Vicente Guerra bought the theater and upgraded
to it talkies in 1929. Upgrading the solid adobe theater must
have been a time-consuming and messy ambition.
“Adobe is basically mud and straw pressed into forms and dried
Consistency. Quality. Performance.
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DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 35

MARQUEE AWARD > THE FOUNTAIN THEATRE
DEVOTED PATRONAGE
The Fountain Theatre survives primarily on the regular membership dues of
the Mesilla Valley Film Society comprised of a working board of directors
and volunteer staff.
into bricks,” explains 20-year Fountain
projectionist, Bob Peitcolas. “It makes the
walls 12-18 inches thick. The walls absorb
the heat in the summer and the cold in
the winter time, and that keeps the inside
temperature pretty constant.” To retrofit
the old adobe structure for electricity and
plumbing, craftsmen chiseled out sections
of the mud walls, and then ran more wiring
up and over the wooden beam roof and
through the building’s attic.
Guerra’s ownership of the Fountain was
relatively short-lived for the historic town.
In 1938, the bank foreclosed on the theater
and sold it to the highest bidder: Edward
Fountain III. From that day forward, the
Fountain Theatre has remained in the family,
though declining conditions made it
unsafe as a public venue.
In the mid-1960s under the ownership of
Arthur Fountain, the theater was renovated
and became home to the Las Cruces Community
Theatre, a live theater venue until
1977, when the troupe pulled up stakes and
relocated to a new space downtown.
Arthur’s son Artie Fountain once more
began to screen movies at the Fountain, and
in 1989 accepted a bid from a new group
of film aficionados, the Mesilla Valley Film
Society (MVFS), to lease the space. They
continue to do so today.
“We just changed our programming
to nothing but current films,” says Berg.
“For many years the policy was to do a
week-long run of a classic film. Now we do
mostly mainstream indies on a two-month
calendar. We do a lot of work with Sony
Pictures Classics—they’ve been really nice
to us.”
The Fountain Theatre is the only independent
arthouse theater within 225 square
miles. Berg says this is precisely why the
MVFS board took the chance on filing for
501(c)(3) status. The little 30 x 60 foot box
theater may only seat around 122 people, but
the audiences are devoted and constant, “It’s
very social here,” says Berg, “We have a really
good support base here in the community
and it really comes out and supports us.”
How could they not when the Fountain has
supported them for 105 years?
PORTRAITS PAST
One of two murals painted by Col. Fountain’s son and former theater
owner, Albert Fountain, Jr.
36 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

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DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 37

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BOXOFFICE TRIBUTE
MIDWEST HIGH
Marcus Theatres celebrates 75 years
by Cole Hornaday
Acompany can accomplish many things
in 75 years. It can acquire and expand,
it can become an icon to commerce and industry
and entrench itself in the culture.
In 1925, Ben Marcus came to this country
to escape the poverty and oppression of
Eastern Europe, sailing to the new world
with little more in his pocket than dreams.
“He said he would never forget that sight
from the ship the morning he saw the Statue
of Liberty,” recalls Marcus Corporation
Senior VP and Marcus Theatres President
Bruce Olson. “People were crying and hugging
each other—he said, ‘I will never forget
that. And that’s why today I feel so fortunate
to be a citizen and to pay my taxes.’ He was
proud to pay taxes!”
“My father came to this country from Poland
when he was 14 years old,” recalls Ben’s
son and Marcus Corporation Chairman
Steve Marcus. “He spoke no English. But by
the time he was 24, he’d started this little
business that today has grown into something
with enormous value. I think that’s a
real testament to what a great businessman
he was—and to his great foresight.”
Ten years after he landed in America,
Ben Marcus opened the Campus Theatre in
Ripon, Wisconsin. That first theater was a
hallmark both of his tenacity and business
acumen, and also his tenacity and faith in
his community.
Ben started small, kept things frugal
40 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

Congratulates
MARCUS THEATRES
On its 75th Anniversary

BOXOFFICE TRIBUTE > MARCUS THEATRES CELEBRATES 75 YEARS (continued from page 40)
RIPON NIGHT LIFE
The Campus Theatre, 1940s. Ben Marcus not only ran the Campus Theatre himself, he had a hand in much of the refurbishing. (Image courtesy of Ripon Historical
Society)
and the Campus Theatre thrived. In 1940,
Ben moved into the big city market when
he bought the Tosa Theatre, in suburban
Milwaukee, setting the groundwork for a
circuit, and later, an empire.
By the close of World War II, the movie
business was booming. But the next decade,
television cast its cathode ray glow over the
industry and cinema audiences shriveled.
Just as television wounded the “Hard Top”
Theatres, the drive-in arrived to give the
baby boom a new option for entertainment
outside the home.
The Marcus Company heeded the call
to invest in drive-ins, erecting their first in
1949. At the peak of the trend, the company
had 14 of them. Ben Marcus began to buy
up choice theater sites from his struggling
competition, adding former Fox and Warner
screens to the company fold. By 1956, the
Marcus Company comprised 36 cinemas
and more than 900 employees.
“Every house has a kitchen,” Ben Marcus
was often quoted as saying, “but there are
still restaurants.” People needed to be out,
they needed to mix with their community.
When other industry investors were feeling
the post-boom bust, the Marcus Company
managed to stay buoyant.
“You never know who’s going to show up
on any given day,” says Ben’s grandson, President,
CEO and Director Greg Marcus. “So it
never made sense to us to put yourself in a
position where you have to have everybody
show up on any given day.” This ingrained
sense of practicality gave Ben Marcus the
capitol and motivation to expand the company
interests beyond film and into the next
big trend: family dining.
In 1958, the Marcus Company opened
its first Marc’s Big Boy family restaurant in
Milwaukee. In 1967, there was a Kentucky
Fried Chicken; in 1969, a Captain’s Steak
Joynt. And in between, Ben Marcus built the
company’s first motel, the Guest House Inn
in Appleton, Wis.
After that and the Marcus’ 1962 purchase
of downtown Milwaukee’s venerable Pfister
Hotel, the company’s interests were now
three-fold. Ben put his son, Steve, in charge
of managing and renovating the Pfister
Hotel.
By 1972, Marcus had gone public and
launched itself as the Marcus Corporation—
just as exhibition underwent another transition
as the rapid growth of suburban communities
led to the rise of the multiplex.
“The advent of the multiplex came at
that time when the industry was really
struggling,” says Steve Marcus. “It had an
overhead structure which just wouldn’t support
a single movie theater, especially given
that movies tend to have some big hits, big
blockbusters and others that don’t do very
well. You had a boom and bust scenario going,
but when you put them altogether into
a multiplex, it meant you always had one or
two very compelling pictures drawing big
crowds to your complex.”
42 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

BOXOFFICE TRIBUTE > MARCUS THEATRES CELEBRATES 75 YEARS (continued from page 42)
THE RIVOLI THEATRE, 1953
Lines in La Crosse, WI
Multiplexes drastically changed the
mode of movie going and the philosophy of
film production and distribution.
In 1983, Bruce Olson became head of
the Marcus Cinema division. “I spent more
time with Ben in my early years with the
company,” recalls Olson. “He was more involved
with the theaters and Steve was more
involved with building and growing the
hotels. I always said, if you spent 15 minutes
with Ben Marcus and you didn’t learn anything,
you weren’t listening.”
According to Olson, Ben Marcus’ personal
integrity was infectious. “I learned corporate
ethics and how to give back to your
community,” says Olson, “and, obviously,
improving the bottom line and finding a
good piece of real estate. But he instilled in
all of us so many outstanding characteristics
that are so rare today, I think.” Case in point:
his vow as a young man to be fair, even kind,
to his competitors.
“I recall we had a competing theater
owned as small family business near one
of our locations,” says Olson. “We had done
pretty well for ourselves and we were looking
at booking the second Star Wars picture.
Ben knew this other theater could use a
little business and told our film buyer to
give the film to them. That’s a pretty nice
competitor to have.”
In 1985, Ben Marcus celebrated his company’s
50 th anniversary. He was 76 years old.
A poor immigrant who came to this country
and built an empire—but he was proud to
boast that he didn’t do it alone.
“The one thing about this business, you
have lots of people serving lots of people,”
says Steve Marcus. “Lots of employees, lots
of associates, who serve lots of customers.
So we have this constant interaction going
on. We have to be about ‘pleasing people.’
The idea has always been, ‘Take care of
your customers, but also take care of your
co-workers. You don’t say, ‘Oh, that’s not my
job.’ If something needs to get done, you
jump in and do it.”
Ben Marcus trained his people well. In
building a successful family business, he
built a family of worthy successors. In 1988,
Ben Marcus retired as CEO and later relinquished
his duties as company chairman in
1991.
Ben’s grandson, Greg, joined the company
in 1992. After much debate, Marcus sold
off its remaining Marc’s Big Boy leases in
1995 and its KFC properties six years later.
Under Olson’s helm, Marcus opened its
first cinema beyond Wisconsin’s border in
Gurnee, Illinois in 1993. With their new
influx of cash after the restaurant sales, the
Marcus Corporation looked to reinvest in
its cinema holdings. Marcus Theatres would
spread like wildfire throughout the Midwest,
opening new facilities in Minnesota
and Ohio, including two newly designed
“ultraplexes” that, combined, sported over
30 screens.
Ben Marcus passed away in 2000 at the
age of 89. “He was not just my boss, he was
almost my grandfather and I truly loved
him,” says Olson. “I would have cut off my
left arm for him, and he would do the same
for many of his key executives and employees.
If he heard about any employee—be it
the janitor or an executive—having health
issues or family problems, he would reach
out to help them.” As a final honor, Olson
was the only non-family member to bear
Ben to his final resting place.
In 2007, Marcus acquired an additional
11 facilities from Cinema Entertainment
Corporation to spread the company’s umbrella
into Iowa and North Dakota. Greg
Marcus became company president in 2008,
and by the dawn of 2010, Marcus Theatres
44 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

BOXOFFICE TRIBUTE > MARCUS THEATRES CELEBRATES 75 YEARS (continued from page 44)
INDUSTRY GIANTS
Ben Marcus and Walt Disney. In less than three decades, Ben Marcus used his talents to expand his company
into a full-fledged cinema circuit.
had spread to encompass more than 660
screens in seven states.
“The most important part of having a
long-term view is making sure you’re in
business over time,” says Greg Marcus. “We
recognized that there are many potential
pitfalls in the movie theater business…our
acquisition process was always with an eye
toward navigating through those slow periods,
yet continuing to grow and continuing
to give our employees opportunities. It’s one
thing for the industry to have a downturn—
it’s another for a company to over-invest
and therefore put your people in a bad position.”
Despite the great reach of their umbrella,
the company has always stayed focused on
the simple things. “When we talk about
the Marcus Corporation, the first word that
comes to mind is ‘Family,’” says Will Rogers
Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation Executive
Director, Todd Vradenburg.
“I remember the first time I went to
their Milwaukee offices,” says Vradenburg.
“I instantly got a sense that everyone there
not only works together with a very professional
decorum, but that they all look out
for each other.”
This loyalty within the Marcus culture
spreads to its customers, be it customer service
or community service. “It’s important
that we communicate to our people that
what is our ordinary day is probably somebody’s
most important day,” says Greg Marcus.
“You need to keep sight of that. When
you’re at the concession stand, you could
PASSING THE TORCH
Chairman Steve Marcus and Greg Marcus (left). Having joined the firm in 1992, Greg Marcus now acts as
company president, CEO and director.
be serving popcorn to a couple who might
be on their first date, who might ultimately
get married—that might be their most important
day and if you give them a bad experience,
you might be blowing something
special.”
The Marcus 75th Anniversary Celebration
includes a ceremony rededicating the
original Campus Cinema in Ripon, Wisconsin
and ringing the closing bell at the New
York Stock Exchange. But most significant
is Marcus’ company-wide charitable outpouring
called “Moving Forward, Giving
Back.”
“We encourage our associates to get
involved in our communities in civic and
charitable roles,” says Olson. “We’ve asked
them to contribute at least 75,000 hours of
volunteerism. It isn’t just the managers and
the executives putting in those hours, it’s
our housekeepers at the hotels and janitors
in our theaters—they’ve all helped in building
a house for Habitat for Humanity or dispensing
food in a soup kitchen or running
races for charity. It’s part of our culture and
it’s who we are—it’s in our DNA.”
Vradenburg says Marcus doesn’t know
how to not give back. “Recently, the Will
Rogers Institute started a program to fund
neo-natal hospital units,” says Vradenburg.
“We went to Bruce Olson and said, ‘How
about partnering with us? There are two
hospitals in the state of Wisconsin that
we’re looking at…’ He interrupted me and
said, ‘Why stop at two?’” According to
Vradenburg, thanks to their charity partnership
with Marcus, other partners became involved
in fund-raising, including Variety the
Children’s Charity and NATO of Wisconsin.
“We now have this grand partnership—and
where we were going to fund two neo-natal
units in two hospitals, now it’ll be six units
in six hospitals.”
For three-quarters of a century, the
Marcus Corporation has been a pillar of corporate
stamina and integrity. They’ve leveraged
their balance sheets against the stability
of their employees and come out in the
black time and again. The next 75 years will
undoubtedly bring vast changes in technology
and culture, but whatever evolutionary
turn the entertainment world takes, Marcus
will always be about its family of employees.
As Greg Marcus says, “You need to build
a beautiful structure, but at the end of the
day it’s just carpeting and bricks and mortar.
What gives it a heart and soul are the people
inside of it.”
46 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

ROCK AROUND
THE CLOCK
Marcus employees give
85,000 free hours to their
neighborhoods
by Carlo Petrick
The Marcus Corporation celebrated its
75th anniversary by doing something it
always does: giving back to the communities
in which it does business. To mark seven
and a half decades of service, the company
challenged its more than 6,300 associates to
volunteer 75,000 hours of community service
between the beginning of 2010 and the
company’s 75th birthday on November 1.
Enthusiasm swept through the company.
In mid-October, Marcus shattered its goal of
75,000 hours and charged on to total over
85,000 by its anniversary—that’s nearly ten
years of volunteering.
“We always thought we would hit our
goal, but to exceed it by so many hours is
a tribute to our associates at all levels of
“IT WAS A VERY HUMBLING EXPERIENCE”
Adam Cheek (back right, blue shirt), an assistant manager at Majestic Cinema in Brookfield, WI, spent 12 days
in Haiti rebuilding churches with shovels and bare hands, as there was little heavy equipment to help
the company,” says President Greg Marcus.
“My grandfather Ben, the founder of the
company, always said our people are our
most valuable resource. He couldn’t have
been more right. Congratulations to all of
the men and women of our company who
shared our anniversary by giving back to
their communities.”
To break through that goal took sweat
and individual effort. Meet some of those
special individuals.
In Columbus, OH, Crosswoods Cinema
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 47

BOXOFFICE TRIBUTE > MARCUS THEATRES CELEBRATES 75 YEARS (continued from page 47)
Associates from Menomonee Falls Cinema, pictured here with Marcus mascot “Stubby,” participated in Relay for Life
General Manager Drew Houlles worked
with Habitat for Humanity to prep a home
for an older couple and their granddaughter,
while Alexa Irwin taught ESL at the
Columbus Literacy Council. Nearby in Pickerington,
Carolyn Cutri and Ashley Luzader
donated time and hair to “Locks for Love,”
for kids suffering from long-term medical
hair loss. And their coworker Chord Rockhold
gave over 200 hours to the Boy Scouts
of America—including a week in the Canadian
wilderness teaching survival skills.
In Omaha, NE, 20 Grand Cinema’s Morgan
Lofgren volunteered at the Lakeside
Hospital Teen Volunteer Center, Chris King
helped out at a daycare center every Saturday
and Sunday and Kayleigh Lewandowski
split her time between the Children’s
Respite Care Center, judging speech tournaments
and assisting Shakespeare on the
Green.
An hour south at Lincoln’s South Pointe
Cinema, General Manager Jessi Sumner
organized a team to distribute food and t-
shirts at the People’s City Mission’s Run for
the Homeless.
In Coralville, IA, Jessica Brown of the
Coral Ridge Cinema gave time to Iowa City’s
Ronald McDonald house.
In Gurnee, IL, Jesus Rodriguez, David Baeza,
Amber Farias, Eric Smith and Manager
Estella Valdez boxed and packaged food for
the Northern Illinois Food Bank. Just south
in Orland Park, Fiona Lane knit blankets for
struggling single mothers for the Courage
Foundation.
MARCUS
THEATRES ®
In Fargo, ND, Leland Whitehurst left
the West Acres for a mission trip to the Life
Center Church on Chicago’s south side to
landscape, clean and tear down a ministry
building.
In Oakdale, MN, Brittany Meck volunteered
for the National Honor Society
sweetheart dance, planted trees for the
nature center, took Explorers to the Minnesota
State Patrol and pitched in for Feed My
Starving Children.
And in Wisconsin, Marcus Corporation
headquarters, Menomonee Falls’ Ben Bartos
advocated for first-time juvenile offenders
with small offenses like curfew violations
and vandalism that they could perform
community service work instead of getting
a permanent mark on their record. In Madison,
Eastgate Cinema’s Pilline Lee gave 250
hours to a kids community center, mentoring
international students at UW-Madison
in English-speaking skills and volunteering
at St. Mary’s Pediatrics. In Sheboygan,
Jane Eisenschink connected Americans to
deployed soldiers for Adopt a Soldier. In La
Crosse, Alex Lenser, Zach Eklov, Kevin Moyle
and GM Jennifer Cram held a Red Cross
blood drive right at their theater.
From Milwaukee’s Northtown Cinema,
Timothy Pittman was a volunteer football
coach, Shakela Wilson gave 252 hours to a
day camp and General Manager Danny Oesterreich
fixed up a new group home. Across
town, Ridge Cinema’s Ron Richter—himself
a Vietnam veteran—helped the Ride for
Paralyzed Veterans and the Veterans Annual
Wheelchair Games. And at Milwaukee’s
South Shore, Sarah Sternaman organized a
soccer camp, taught pre-school for her church,
worked at a dance camp, packed meals for a
food program and judged a spelling bee!
Thanks to our employees for giving their
time to our communities—and thanks to
our communities for choosing to spend
their time at Marcus Theatres.
48 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

High Quality, Affordable 3D for 35mm Projectors.
© 2010 Technicolor
www.technicolor3D.com

MODERN THEATER
THE TRIP STARTS HERE
Buy tickets under the ArcLight’s trademark Departure Board
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
With the opening of their fourth ArcLight Cinema, Pacific Theatres shares their secrets for
designing the ultimate upscale theater
by Amy Nicholson / photos by Mike Fischer
What is the role of the theater when
movies can be streamed on cellphones?
Fending off the flank assaults from
home and in-pocket entertainment has
made the industry look inward to find and
celebrate what makes the big screen experience
worth the audience’s energy to drive,
park and pay.
Pacific Theatres, a 170-screen chain in
California, has found an answer with their
three successful Los Angeles-area ArcLight
Cinemas, boutique offshoots of their main
brand. And with the November 5 th opening
of their fourth multiplex, ArcLight Beach
Cities in El Segundo, CA, an astounding
three-month complete renovation of their
Pacific 16-screener, the detail-oriented company
shares their secrets for transforming a
theater into an upscale destination in a tour
that covers doublewide armrests to digital
cinema and the anthropological reason
their cafe serves popcorn chicken instead of
cheeseburgers.
“If I had to put what ArcLight is in one
phrase, ArcLight came to be because we
have a passion about the transformational
power of going to the movies,” says Nora
Dashwood, COO of Pacific Theatres and
Chief Brand Officer for ArcLight Cinemas.
“Whether it’s a blockbuster fantasy, a laugh
riot comedy or a documentary, we feel very
strongly—and our experience in the business
confirms it—that movies allow people
to step outside of their experience and to
connect with other people, both through
the film and also through the social experience
of movie-going.”
The key word is “connection.” The company’s
mantra pinpoints four connections
they want to make for their guests so that, in
return, their guests make the ArcLight their
theater of choice: a connection to the place,
the staff, the film and each other.
“You’ll see a lot of things in this building
that you won’t see in normal theaters,” says
Dashwood, gesturing around Beach Cities’
calm blue-gray, rust and white interior, “and
each one was designed to really allow guests
before, after and during their journey of going
to the movies to feel a connection and a
discovery and an interest in what’s going on
around them.”
The first big changes the team made
were moving the box office indoors to the
center of the lobby and dividing the unused
interior space into a cafe and gift shop.
(“There was a very large lobby, but it was
basically dead space,” says General Manager
Michael Blazer.) When guests enter, they’re
welcomed by the Departure Board, a huge,
minimalist electric sign that hangs over
the box office and clearly lists the movies,
show times, ratings, auditorium numbers
and countdown warnings like, “Starts in 10
minutes.”
“It’s information that allows people to
relax and know when they need to be in the
auditorium—it serves as our central point,”
says Dashwood. “It was designed to herald
back to the old days of train stations where
people could be together in one community
and look up to explore, to discover, to antici-
50 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

pate the journey that was going to happen
beyond this area—it’s really become an icon
for ArcLight.”
The simple black, yellow and green
Departure Board is the flashiest focal point
when guests enter the lobby. Instead of
decorating the space with bright signs and
ads, Beach Cities pared down to the basics.
The effect is more like entering a museum
than a mall—the ArcLight psychology is
that the building should serve as a mellow
waystation between the outside world and
the guest’s movie of choice.
“We’ve eliminated a lot of the neon and
brightness to help our guests relax,” says Director
of Facilities and Design Joe Miraglia,
who oversaw the remodeling of the theater.
Besides the Departure Board, the one dramatic
flourish is sheets of white cloth that
cascade down from the ceiling in the lobby
and along the auditorium hallway. “The
white fabric really subdues the space and
breaks it up a little bit,” explains Miraglia.
Past the box office, one full two-story
wall of the theater is papered with 63 poster
cases hung together frame-to-frame in a
looming 9 x 7 grid. For the opening, each
box holds a glossy photo of a grinning
ArcLight guest, the name of their favorite
movie and a quote about why they choose
the ArcLight as their theater of choice. (Says
one, “You had me at caramel corn.”)
“We reached out to our ArcLight members
and got over 400 responses,” exclaims
Gretchen McCourt, Executive Vice President
of Programming and Communications. The
poster wall is a smart flourish; it’s both decoration
and a way to say ‘thank you’ for patron
loyalty. “The storyboard will rotate all
the time. We’re filling it with classic movie
posters, we’re filling it with one single film
in a mosaic, we have great, great examples
of guests taking pictures with it. We had a
classic one-sheet wall of Disney films once
and people were talking pictures of themselves
with their favorite posters and with
their children.”
A few steps away is an exhibit case that
hosts costumes from movies playing right
down the hallway. Their other theaters are
touring the rococo costumes from Tim Burton’s
Alice in Wonderland, but the first guests
into the theater in November will see outfits
from Morning Glory. Explains McCourt, “It
just gives our guests a further chance to
connect to the film. They’ve seen the movie,
they love it, they can come and read about it,
they can see the dress that she’s wearing at
HEY, GOOD-LOOKING
Official Morning Glory costumes on display brings Hollywood to this beachside theater
the end of the movie.”
This grand decision hinges on one convenient
design: ArcLight’s reserved seating
policy, which asks every guest to choose
their seats when they buy their tickets,
whether online or at the box office. Reserved
seats are crucial to the ArcLight’s philosophy—and
not just because they allow
cineastes the chance to pin down the perfect
center seat. With their ticket purchase,
every guest is assured that they know they
and their party have a spot waiting for them
in the auditorium. And with that certainty,
guests are free to keep an eye on the Departure
Board as they wander around the lobby,
get a drink at the cafe, wait in line for concessions,
check out the displays and even
visit the gift shop stocked with ArcLight
swag, art books and clever tchotchokes—a
perfect spot to snag a last second present.
“Most of our guests take advantage of
having that time back to immerse themselves
in other areas of the theater,” says GM
Michael Blazer. “All 16 theaters are reserved
seating—it really eliminates the rush of, ‘I
need to go and grab my seat before someone
else does.’”
“Guests aren’t in the auditoriums for a
long time because of the reserved seats,”
adds Dashwood. “It’s a weird feeling, if
you’ve never done it before, to have a glass
of wine and know that you can come in literally
two minutes before the movie starts.”
And with guests in the lobby, that eliminates
the need to jazz up the restless theater
with quizzes and ads and pop music. “The
sound that you hear isn’t radio hits—it’s the
soundtrack of the movie that you’re about
to see, another way to pull guests into that,”
describes Dashwood, “and on the screen,
there aren’t slides about the local auto dealership
down the road—audiences can have
that time to themselves.”
These are bold choices when both theaters
and their guests are accustomed to
commercials as a way to help cover the costs
of movie-going. Instead, ArcLight has some
of the highest ticket prices in the region. At
their most-expensive location in Hollywood,
a Sunday afternoon admission costs $16. (At
Beach Cities, the cost has been shaved down
a few dollars.) The test for the chain was:
will audiences who gripe about ads put their
money where their mouth is?
The heartening answer is yes. “We find
that for most people, when they come and
get the full experience, the price makes
sense to them,” says Blazer. “Price-conscious
people still find value in coming here.”
Similarly, upgrading the Pacific theater
to the standards of an ArcLight brand meant
investing money in hiring more employees
to make sure that patrons never have to
search for someone to give them a hand.
“With the more features and attributes we
have, they require more staffing,” notes
Blazer. “We’ve created 45 new jobs, almost
doubling the staffing we had before. We
try to create opportunities to position our
crew members around the building so when
people come in, they have that chance to
engage.”
Blazer, a six-year ArcLight veteran, enjoys
whipping his staff into shape. “The connection
to the crew is where the most value
comes from—smiling and authenticity are
things we’re focusing on, really creating
an opportunity for our crew to connect to
a person not just as a means to an end. As
an organization, we try to do that for our
crew to create that feeling that their work
is meaningful. When they come here, they
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 51

THE GREAT WALL OF FANDOM
Happy guests make good art and advertisements
have a sense of pride. It’s not just just a job—they’re treated the same way
we treat our guests, and they in turn do that for our guests.”
And ArcLight keeps their ushers busy. They guide people to their assigned
seats, welcome the room at the start of the movie, wait through
the first reel to make sure the sound and image quality are perfect, and
pop in periodically to make sure both the picture and the people watching
it are tip-top—this is one theater where a texter will be tarred and
feathered, especially by the movie-lovers surrounding them.
But one thing ushers won’t do is escort late-comers to their movie.
“One of the things that we’ve learned over eight years with our ArcLight
theaters is taken from live theater: once the movie starts, we don’t
let people buy tickets and enter the theater. Theaters that let people
come in 15 minutes after the movie starts make people spend the first
part of the movie distracted by other people trying to find their seats in
the dark,” explains Dashwood. “When we first opened in Hollywood,
people really struggled with that because they were used to showing up
late to avoid the commercials. We knew we had something when after a
couple times, people came out and said they really appreciated knowing
that when the movie started, they weren’t going to have any distractions.”
A strict reputation is a good reputation. “On those rare occasions
when we’d make an exception because of rain, we’d start hearing our
guests say, “Why did you let that one person in!?” because they were so
used to not having that kind of distraction,” says Dashwood. “The good
news is, clearly our guests understand and it’s something that the community
seems to embrace by showing up a couple minutes ahead of
time.”
Inside the Beach Cities black box auditoriums, the ArcLight team
replaced the slope seating with 18-inch rise stadium seating, installed
chairs with wide armrests (“You’re not going to have to fight somebody,”
jokes Facilities Director Miraglia), and increased the size of the screens
by 50 percent. All 16 projectors have been converted from film to digital
and each room from the largest 300-seaters to the theaters a third their
size are 3D-capable.
“We designed the auditoriums to optimize the viewing experience
for the guests,” says Miraglia. “We want to reproduce the film just as the
filmmaker had intended it to be played back.”
The company chose XpanD after running some trials on the Cinerama
Dome that anchors their Hollywood location. “That’s such a
large, curved screen—we couldn’t use a silver screen because it was so
deep that it reflected against itself,” says Miraglia. He knows that both
the company and its guests are cineastes and perfectionists. “People will
notice and that’s been a motivating factor for us. We have a sophisticated
crowd who notices those choices.”
After all, this is a theater so devoted to detail that it decided not to
sell nachos at the snack bar. “That crunching could distract our guests
during the movie,” explains Steven Ramskill, senior manager of food and
beverage. Guests can request real butter on their popcorn, though many
opt for the tubs of caramel corn that have become a signature snack.
Even the cafe menu shows care. “Movies are a social experience —
people come here with friends and family and like to talk about movies
before and after, to hear about what’s going on,” says Dashwood.
Ramskill was entrusted to configure a menu that made guests choose the
ArcLight for their night out.
“The cafe is a place to meet with a friend before the movie, enjoy a
cocktail or a light appetizer, and just spend some time,” notes Ramskill.
A normal restaurant menu won’t do when you’re trying to foster conversation
and connection. “We want a menu that services the environ-
52 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

ment we’re trying to create,” says Ramskill.
Besides two sandwiches and a bowl of chili,
everything else the cafe serves is meant to
split between mates: hummus, red pepper
dips, popcorn chicken, cheese plates. “We
offer bar snacks, appetizers and several
shared plates like a charcuterie plate and a
fruit plate. It’s designed to share and engage
with friends and moviegoers.”
Construction started in August, ramped
up in early September and was completed
just before Halloween—an incredibly fast
turnaround. “We had people working literally
24 hours a day,” says Miraglia. The company
knew the best time for the upgrade
was the small window in early fall when the
industry takes a relaxing pause before the
holiday deluge. “Typically, we like to open
theaters in preparation for the summer period
or the Christmas period,” adds Miraglia.
“When films aren’t grossing as much, we’re
losing less.”
To drum up anticipation, nearly every
night of the week leading up to the theater’s
grand debut, Beach Cities hosted special soft
opening events for difference niches of the
community to help spread the word. Saturday
was a friends and family day so their
new crew could get practice their skills.
Monday was a fundraiser called Surf Night
where they screened surfing films for a
crowd happily aware that the theater is just
2.5 miles from the Pacific Ocean. Wednesday,
all El Segundo city employees were
given two pairs of free tickets—a thoughtful
gift for a cash-strapped state. Thursday,
the theater welcomed their vendors, then
followed up by hosting the police and fire
departments. Finally, on opening weekend,
the 5,000 eager fans who had already signed
up for Beach Cities memberships (a free
benefit card that comes with a newsletter,
redeemable points and a dollar off online
ticket orders), were invited to check out the
new theater and feast on free concessions.
The ArcLight team is clearly aware that
to win the battle against home entertainment,
it pays to think of everything. Their
campaign comprises psychology, technology
and sociology—and the challenge has
paid off at their three previous theaters and
is poised to do so again.
“As an organization, we’ve been on the
brink of the change in theaters to a more
upscale destination—we feel like this is the
next evolution,” says Blazer. “Rather than
just a place to see a movie, we want to linger
with them for days and days.”
NEW BUILDS
ON THE BLOCK
Four other cool upgrades
On November 18th, Carmike Cinemas
unveiled “The Big D” theater at its
Franklin’s Thoroughbred 20 location near
Nashville, TN with a red carpet opening and
midnight screening of Harry Potter and the
Deathly Hallows Part I. The new auditorium
was redesigned for a huge wall-to-wall
screen that stretches nearly 80 feet wide and
over three stories tall, and is also equipped
with 7.1 surround sound and digital 2D and
3D. Soft leather stadium seats complete the
luxury experience. “The success over the
past year of 3D releases for features like Avatar
and Alice In Wonderland proves that audiences
are not only willing to pay a premium
for the new digital experience, but they are
demanding it,” says President and CEO David
Passman. “We’re providing the ultimate
entertainment experience that centerpieces
large format digital with bigger screens, bigger
sound, and luxurious in-theater seating
for cutting edge presentation and the definitive
enjoyment of our audiences.” Adds
Director of Marketing Dale Hurst, “Whether
it be a movie, concert, sporting event, motivational
speaker or church service, patrons
will find Big D placing them at the heart of
the event.”
AMC Theatres launched its Dine-In experience
at its Essex Green 9 in West Orange,
N.J. on November 17. Four theaters in the
multiplex will offer the upscale Cinema
Suites dinner and a movie with luxury reserved
seating, seat-side service and a full
bar for guests 21 and up. On the menu are
bleu cheese chips, blackened salmon and
lobster ravioli. The Essex Green’s other five
auditoriums welcome guests 18 and up (or
younger with a guardian) and serves more
casual fare including crab Rangoon dip and
Thai coconut chicken tenders. AMC opened
another Dine-In Theatre at the Bridgewater
Commons 7 on Nov. 22, and will open two
more in December at the Grapevine Mills 30
in Grapevine, Texas and the Menlo Park 12
in Edison, N.J.
Regal Entertainment Group celebrated
the grand opening of its new Edwards Theatres
in Nampa, Idaho on November 12. The
Nampa Gateway Stadium 12 debuted with
a “soft opening” benefit for local charities
by screening $2 movies with $2 popcorn
and $2 soda for three full days. Throughout
its official opening weekend, guests
were welcomed with free popcorn and free
soft drinks with each paid admission. The
12-screen theater is fully equipped with
digital projection, stadium seating and
2,200 high-back rocking chairs with moveable
armrests. “Edwards Nampa Gateway
Stadium 12 is a state-of-the-art facility, with
the latest theater amenities,” says SVP of
Marketing and Advertising Dick Westerling.
“We are excited to be part of the new retail
hub for the community at Nampa Gateway
Center.”
Elsewhere, Regal made another big announcement:
six new locations for its giant
screen, all-digital Regal Premium Experience
format, with the first two opening in
November at Seattle’s Regal Alderwood
Stadium 7 and Anchorage’s Regal Tikahtnu
Stadium 16. The other four new RPX locations—Houston’s
Edwards Greenway Grand
Palace Stadium 24, Los Angeles’ Edwards
West Covina Stadium 18, Chicago’s Regal
City North Stadium 14 and Philadelphia’s
Regal Warrington Crossing Stadium 22—
will open in early 2011. “RPX provides Regal
the ability to respond to customer demands,
programming the most popular films each
week in a premium environment,” says
President and COO Greg Dunn. “Regal is
committed to continuing the rollout of RPX
amenities to additional markets across the
country.”
Rave Motion Pictures is taking over the
Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza, formerly
known as the Magic Johnson Theatres,
from AMC and is investing in a $10 million
renovation, scheduled for completion by
May 2011. The theater will be transformed
into a state-of-the-art, 15-screen multiplex
with stadium seating, digital projection and
sound, 3D screens and new amenities and
décor. “Rave Motion Pictures will make a
fantastic addition to Baldwin Hills Crenshaw
Plaza,” said Capri Urban Investors
President and Partner Ken Lombard, whose
company purchased the Baldwin Hills mall
in 2006 for $136 million. “They understand
Los Angeles, the urban marketplace, and
have an absolute commitment to delivering
the best movie experience you’ll find
anywhere.” Adds Rave President and CEO
Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., “We look forward
to being part of the new plans at Baldwin
Hills Crenshaw Plaza, and are proud to
be the first major upgrade of many more to
come for the center.”
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 53

FEATHERED FURY
The bloody ballet of
PLACES, PLEASE
DARREN ARONOFSKY TAKES THE STAGE
by Amy Nicholson
Darren Aronofsky’s new drama
asks audiences take a seat
for a wild, weird ballet about
two dancers, Natalie Portman
and Mila Kunis, fighting
for dominance in a company
where director Vincent Cassel
uses sex and power to control
his flock. Black Swan made a
splash at the opening night of
the Venice Film Festival with a
standing ovation longer than
any in recent memory. Can
Aronofsky—the bold, edgy director
of Pi, The Fountain and
The Wrestler—do for the plié
what he did for the piledriver?
BOXOFFICE asks him what
it takes to turn a fine art into
a ferocious psychological drama,
and hears from stars Portman
and Kunis about how he
whipped them into shape to
play these demanding divas.
You had to learn how to direct on two
different levels: acting plus the language
of ballet.
I always knew I wanted to get the camera
out of the back of the theater and the wings
and put it on the stage. I did that a little
bit in The Wrestler, moving along with the
wrestling, and I just got excited by being
up-close. I thought it would make Natalie
Portman’s performance easier to read and
also give the kind of energy of movement
that ballet deserves.
How did you figure out how to tell the
cast the way to move?
It was really interesting. Normally, when I
talk to an actor, I’ll tell them what the story’s
about and they’ll turn it into a motion.
When I worked with our choreographer,
Benjamin Millepied [who also plays Natalie
Portman’s dance partner], he’d turn it into
movement. It was a very, very fun collaboration
watching him create these numbers. I
would bring in a camera and start to move
with his dancers. We’d adjust the dance for
how we needed it for the camera, and then
slowly but surely, it would come alive.
It almost seems like directing dance literally
taps into a different part of the brain.
A performance like Mickey Rourke’s in
The Wrestler, it seems to come from the
inside and then build out. Here, you’re
taking the outside gestures and then filling
in what’s happening inside the character.
Yeah, I think there’s a truth to that. You just
try to figure out what’s the story you’re telling
and how these movements will tell the
story. You just figure out the best way to
capture it.
Will this movie help men decide to go to
the ballet willingly, not grudgingly?
Hopefully! It’s pretty sexy, that ballet stuff.
Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis are pretty
beautiful, so hopefully that will pull them in.
Do you have a favorite ballet?
Swan Lake. I’ve seen a lot of ballet, but not
that much. But I’ve seen many, many productions
of Swan Lake, so now, because of
the making of this film, if I had a choice, I’d
still go and see Swan Lake again because I
really know it and I understand it and that’s
helpful.
What drew you to make the film—was it
respect for the punishing athleticism?
It’s interesting, because when you see a bal-
54 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

R E A D P E T E H A M M O N D ’ S 4 - S T A R R E V I E W O N P A G E 6 8
let, you don’t really see the effort. It looks
amazing and beautiful, but then when you
get up close, you see the muscles, the tendons,
the breath, the sweat, the blood. As
a director, that was the big challenge: how
to show the effort behind something that
looks effortless on stage. That became—it
nurtured—all of this body horror that shows
up in the film.
That’s really true. In fact, in both this and
The Wrestler, you’re confronting the audience’s
respect for the athlete. People
don’t respect wrestling because it’s ‘fake,’
and for ballet, like you’re saying, if it’s
done right, it looks easy.
Right. For both, it’s my job to show the effort.
At the same time, your directorial style
here is so different from the naturalism
of The Wrestler. The theatricality allows
you to be free to add all these extra layers—it’s
almost old-fashioned in its heavy
use of symbols. Watching it, I kept thinking
that my film studies professors would
love to teach it: you’re saying so much
about gender and the power of the female
body.
We were trying to make a live action version
of a ballet. And so we kind of took the style
of the ballet—it’s Gothic, a little bit melodramatic,
even campy—and we didn’t run
away from it. We brought it out and had fun
with it. And we tried to create a look and a
style that matched that tonality. MORE >
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 55

BIG PICTURE > BLACK SWAN (continued from page 55)
MASTER CLASS
Aronofsky gives notes to Vincent Cassel, who plays the ballet company’s manipulative director
And you’ve created two memorable
roles for women who
aren’t just “The Girlfriend.”
Definitely in the ballet world,
I was more focused on the
female dancers than the male
dancers. The story I wanted to
tell, the story of Swan Lake, is
about two roles: the Black Swan
and the White Swan. That was
a great starting point because
the characters were so distinct.
The White Swan is very pure
and innocent and virginal, and
the Black Swan is a seductress
and very in-control. We certainly
had a really incredible split
that Natalie could pursue. And
then we started to explore all
of the grays between the white
and black.
Talk to me about casting Mila
Kunis—you really threw your
weight behind helping her get
taken seriously as she makes
that transition from TV to film.
I didn’t really know her TV work
because I never saw That ‘70s
Show, but I saw her in Forgetting
Sarah Marshall and she was
just smoldering: sexy, natural
and very cool. I just liked her
vibe. So she was in my head
and Natalie called me and said,
“What about my friend Mila
Kunis to play Lily?” and I said,
“That’s funny—I was just thinking
about her.” We met over
iChat, actually, because I was
in London and she was in LA.
We talked and she was just very
cool, very relaxed, very centered.
I thought that this might
work very well, so I cast her off
of iChat. Never even read her—
totally took a gamble.
You cast a ballet dancer off of
iChat? Did you make her wave
her arms around to see if she
could move?!
Her manager might have lied
to us a little bit and said that
she had some training. It turned
out that she had no training.
[Laughs]
That’s impressive to go from
zero to prima ballerina in
months.
She did very well. She worked
for five months and did a great
job.
If you could learn a ballet
move, what do you wish you
could do?
Wow. One of those leaping
jumps that Baryshnikov used to
do—those were impressive!
The ones where you threw
your foot back and nearly
touch the back of your head?
Oh, I can do that, actually.
These past two years since
The Wrestler came out, Mickey
Rourke’s career has taken
off. You must feel proud to
have a part in that.
It’s been a great thrill. One of
the moments that pissed me off
the most was we were in Miami
before the movie came out and
people came up and started
making fun of him to his face. I
was like, “You’re making fun of
a guy who’s one of the best actors
of the 20th century—what
the hell is going on?!” I’m very
happy that he’s in great shape,
that people are respecting him
again and that he’s making
movies. I’m thrilled for him. I
just saw him a couple weeks
ago and he’s in great shape—
looks amazing.
You appear to be a director
who’s been embraced by the
industry. From your first film,
56 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

BIG PICTURE > BLACK SWAN (continued from page 56)
GIVE ME THE SKINNY
Kunis and Portman share an awkward dinner that goes terribly wrong
Pi, you’ve been given acclaim
and the freedom to do practically
any project you want. But
in your films, especially the last
two, you’re drawn to characters
who are dismissed and on
the verge of collapse—it’s so
different than what I’d expect
of you.
That’s a very good point. I
don’t know. They’re not autobiographical;
they’re just more
themselves and characters that
I’m interested in. I think they’re
characters who are on the edge
and pushing themselves to express
themselves. It’s all about
the challenges of life versus
your art.
Is there a genre you’d like to
try that you haven’t yet? A
Western?
I’d like to do a comedy. It’s
gotta be fun to watch a movie
you made with an audience and
they’re all laughing.
What comedy do you wish
you’d directed?
I don’t know—I try not to get
jealous of other people’s films.
When they’re well done, I’m
just excited and appreciative
that the film is out there.
You were an anthropologist.
It’s the most underrated social
science.
I liked it. But while I was in
school, I discovered filmmaking
and I just sort of checked out.
But it was a great way to get
to know a lot about the world.
Different cultures have an interesting
way of perceiving the
world, which I enjoyed.
Film and anthropology are so
intertwined.
Yeah, and now there’s all these
majors about documentary and
anthropology. A lot of people
are doing that work. There’s
that connection made, but a
little after my time. Now, a lot
of anthro majors get into making
documentaries.
Both are just people with an
intense interest in culture.
Exactly. And in people’s stories.
It’s the same thing.
You make films that are about
the American culture, which
anthropologists don’t study
enough.
The Wrestler was an anthropology
study!
And here, Natalie Portman is
the type of young American
girl people are worried about:
so driven to perfection, so
insulated, with a definitive
helicopter mom. I identified
with her because I’ve known
people who were raised with
that pressure to be perfect.
In ballet, there is this concept
of perfect. They describe the
line of the body and there’s all
these women really, really striving
to do that. So there’s that
concept of perfection in ballet
that is really, really tough for
people.
You directed Hugh Jackman
in The Fountain, his most challenging
role. What did you
see in him then that you can
bring out in The Wolverine,
the latest X-Men movie that
you’re directing?
We’ll see what happens. I just
love Hugh Jackman and it’s a
pleasure to be collaborating
with him again.
58 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

BIG PICTURE > BLACK SWAN
CORPS DE HOLLYWOOD
It takes a village—and some bruises—to make a memorable ballet movie
by Todd Gilchrist
Making a film
about the artistic
process—and
the cost of its success—is
especially
trying for an actor.
When the onscreen
challenges closely
mirror the real-life
behind the scenes,
the pressures are
doubled and it’s
hard to shut off the
character when you
leave the set.
“As soon as I finish
shooting I want
to be myself again,”
says Natalie Portman.
Her role as
Nina, a perfectionist
ballerina, demanded
that she live in the
gym five hours a
day for six months before cameras rolled.
But harder was capturing Nina’s panic
BEND AND BREAK
Cassel shapes Portman to his will
that she’s not good enough to play the two
leads of Swan Lake, the naïve White Swan
and the hot-blooded Black Swan. Nina’s so
high-strung and uncomfortable in her skin
that she literally scratches herself while she
sleeps as though she’s trying to erode away
to nothing.
As Natalie Portman admits, the physical
challenge of playing a ballerina made her
connect to Nina’s own struggles more immediately
than she has with her other characters.
But at the end of each day, she was
happy to slip out of Nina’s leotard.
“I’m not someone who likes to stay in
character,” says Portman. “This clearly had a
kind of discipline that lent itself to me being
probably more like my character while we
were shooting than past experiences, but I
just go back to my regular life afterward.”
And as Portman explains, Aronofsky’s
own commitment to the material helped
her tap into the tough role.
“One of the reasons that I think Darren
and I had such sort of telepathy during this
is that I feel that he’s as disciplined and
focused and alert as could possibly be,” says
Portman. “That’s what I try to be. I’m not
a perfectionist, but I definitely like discipline—I’m
obedient.”
By contrast, Mila Kunis, playing earthy
rival ballerina Lily, had to both maintain
those same rigid physical standards and
dance with the natural, spontaneous joy
that Nina lacks.
“It was far from effortless and sensual,”
admits Kunis of the work it took to appear
effortless. “You can only fake so much, so
you have to kind of immerse yourself in
this world, in the way that somebody walks
and talks and handles themselves. So it was
three months of training, seven days a week,
for four or five hours a day before production
started—and then during production it
was pretty much exactly the same.”
“The physicality of it was probably the
hardest of anything that I’ve ever done,” says
Kunis. “But whether it’s a comedy or drama
or horror or romance, it’s all the same. You
want to be honest with the character. You
want to play truthfully and you want to be
genuine with your character.”
It’s precisely this search for truth that
unifies director Darren Aronofsky’s eclectic
filmography. Consider Black Swan and The
Wrestler as companion
pieces: two portraits
of artists sacrificing
their bodies and their
lives for their art. Says
Aronofsky, “It doesn’t
matter if they’re an
aging fiftysomething
wrestler at the end
of his career or an
ambitious twentysomething
ballet
dancer, if they’re truthful
to who they are
and they’re expressing
something real then
audiences will connect.”
“That’s always been
the promise of cinema
and that’s why we can
see a film about a 7
year old girl in Iran or
an immortal superhero
in America. It doesn’t matter—as long
as they’re truthful.”
With Black Swan being equal parts
backstage drama, sports film, coming of age
story, character study, psychological thriller
and even full-fledged horror flick; even
Aronofsky hasn’t wholly dissected its mashup
of influences and inspirations—he’s only
now starting to figure it out himself.
“A lot of times you figure it out when
you’re doing the press tour because you start
talking about it and becoming aware of it,”
says Aronofsky. “This was my best attempt
at a genre film, and I think that audiences
don’t need that anymore, a very specific
genre. Audiences are very sophisticated, and
as long as it’s fun, it’s okay and entertaining.”
If anything, he thinks modern movie
fans are so over-familiar with genre tropes
that they welcome a movie that shakes
them up. And if Black Swan takes flight,
directors, studios and audiences can be emboldened
by the flick’s unusual dramatic
choices. Says Aronofsky, “People are bombarded
by so much different types of media
that they’re hungry for just a very, very different
experience.”
60 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

ON THE HORIZON
DEEP TROUBLE
Trapped in the Earth—in 3D
SANCTUM
TUNNEL OF FEAR
DISTRIBUTOR Universal/Rogue Pictures CAST Richard Roxburgh,
Rhys Wakefi eld, Ioan Gruffudd, Alice Parkinson,
Dan Wyllie DIRECTOR Alister Grierson SCREENWRITERS Andrew
Wight, John Garvin PRODUCERS Ben Browning, James
Cameron, Ryan Kavanaugh, Michael Maher, Peter Rawlinson,
Andrew Wight GENRE Drama RATING TBD RUNNING
TIME TBD RELEASE DATE February 4, 2011
> Underwater explorer and documentary
filmmaker Andrew Wight has explored
the world’s oddest—and more perilous—deep
sea fissures and caves. He even
produced James Cameron’s 3D Titanic
documentary Ghosts of the Abyss in 2003.
But on one of his treks, disaster (and inspiration)
struck when he barely escaped
from a flooding cave with his life.
Wight turned his near-death experience
into this feature drama about a pack
of spelunkers and divers who parachute
into one of the largest caves in the world
(a familiar site to anyone who’s watched
Planet Earth) only to get trapped inside
after a heavy rainstorm. And with James
Cameron happy to produce, the bowels
of the earth will be brought to audiences
in 3D.
Director Alister Grierson and his Aussie
cast are largely unknown to American
audiences, but no matter: the star here is
the stunning 3D geology, not the people
desperate to escape it.
GNOMEO AND JULIET
TWO HOUSEHOLDS, BOTH ALIKE IN STATUARY
DISTRIBUTOR Disney CAST James McAvoy, Emily Blunt, Michael Caine, Maggie Smith, Stephen Merchant, Ozzy Osbourne,
Jason Statham, Matt Lucas DIRECTOR Kelly Asbury SCREENWRITERS John R. Smith, Rob Sprackling PRODUC-
ERS Baker Bloodworth, David Furnish, Elton John, Steve Hamilton Shaw GENRE Comedy/Romance/Animation/
Family RATING G RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE February 11, 2011
UNBREAKABLE LOVE
These two yard gnomes are more than a garden-variety
Romeo and Juliet
> Over the last 400 years, Romeo and Juliet have been re-imagined as punks,
ninjas, New York street kids, nouveau riche Italian immigrants, seals, robots and
lions. And now they’re garden gnomes—yes, those chubby-cheeked, rouged,
dunce hat-wearing darlings of lawns across the Midwest.
Separated by a fence, red-hatted Gnomeo (James MacAvoy) and blue-hatted
Juliet (Emily Blunt) meet cute after years of rivalry between their clans. Their
duel of choice: yard flamingo racing. But though this twee comedy is Touchstone
Pictures’s first animated film since 1993’s The Nightmare Before Christmas—and its
first G-rating ever—the credits list is packed with a surprising list of A-list adult
talents including Michael Caine, Jason Statham, Maggie Smith, Patrick Stewart
and Ozzy Osbourne. Even Lady Gaga and Elton John swung through the neighbor-
62 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

THE ROOMMATE
HOMIES IN HEAVEN
DISTRIBUTOR Screen Gems CAST Cam Gigandet, Leighton Meester, Minka Kelly, Aly Michalka, Danneel Harris,
Matt Lanter, Frances Fisher DIRECTOR Christian E. Christiansen SCREENWRITER Sonny Mallhi PRODUCERS Doug
Davison, Roy Lee, Irene Yeung GENRE Thriller RATING R for drug use, violence, language and some sexuality
RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE February 4, 2011
MY BEST FIEND
Somebody’s not getting a seat saved for them in the
cafeteria …
> This thriller about a pair of college roommates whose insta-BFF infatuation
turns deadly was meant to hit theaters in October—perfect timing for fall freshman
looking for a tension-breaking night out with their new dorm buddy. February
is odd timing for the scholastic release, but hey—maybe one semester deep
into the school year kids can really identify with the two gals as they bludgeon
each other in the shower.
Minka Kelly and Gossip Girl’s Leighton Meester star as Sara and Rebecca, incoming
freshman on this sunny, red brick campus. (Filming took place at Los Angeles’
Loyola Marymount.) The two pretty, big-cheekboned starlets could pass for sisters
and immediately, they form a two-girl clique—what’s scarier than facing a big new
school alone? But when Sara finds a boyfriend, Rebecca takes the news hard. And
her depression starts to make more sense when Rebecca’s mom asks Sara those
dreaded words: “Is she taking her medication?”
Screen Gems is hoping for campy fun with some genuine chills, and they’ve got
good reason to think The Roommate is worth its $8 million investment—the last
time they pitted two hot women against each other with 2009’s Obsessed, starring
Ali Larter as Beyonce’s deadly stalker, they scared up $68.2 million from fans of
giddy schlock melodramas.
DRIVE ANGRY
SPEED DEMON
DISTRIBUTOR Summit Entertainment CAST Nicolas Cage,
Amber Heard, Billy Burke, William Fichtner, Katy Mixon
DIRECTOR Patrick Lussier SCREENWRITERS Patrick Lussier,
Todd Farmer PRODUCERS René Besson, Michael De Luca
GENRE Action/Thriller RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD
RELEASE DATE February 25, 2011
> How hardcore is Nicolas Cage? When his
daughter is murdered by a cult, he’s so bent
on vengeance that he literally breaks out
hood to record a song for the soundtrack.
(Sir Elton believes so strongly in the
cartoon charmer, he’s a producer and
happily traveled with it to Cannes.)
Don’t underestimate screenwriters
Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley. Though
the comedic pair have cut their teeth
in straight-to-DVD films, Riley gained
underground fame as the author of a
series of books about rabbits who have
lost their will to live: The Book of Bunny
Suicides, Return of the Bunny Suicides, The
Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides and Dawn
of the Bunny Suicides, not to mention his
more recent book, Great Lies To Tell Small
Kids. If Gnomeo can straddle smart and
sweet, he’ll have charmed parents into
being repeat customers.
of hell. But his quest to track and kill the
killers who’ve kidnapped his baby granddaughter,
Cage is pursued by two other
supernatural forces: a hot-blooded blonde
(Amber Heard) and the Devil’s accountant
(William Fichtner), an undead, all-powerful
bounty hunter entrusted to bring him back
to the great beyond.
Director Patrick Lussier climbed the
ranks in Hollywood as Wes
Craven’s go-to editor
for thrillers like
New Nightmare,
Scream and Red
Eye. But he made
a real splash two
springs ago with My
Bloody Valentine 3D,
the $15 million
killer miner
remake that
made over
$100 million
at the
worldwide
box
office—
and that
was before
the
major 3D
roll out.
What made Hollywood take notice
of Lussier’s underground slasher was his
skillful use of 3D. He knew how to wield it
for shock and for ghastly tension. The most
memborable shot in Valentine wasn’t the
eyeball popping off the screen on a pick ax; it
was the deep unease of watching a flashlight
cast a long beam down a dark shaft. Naturally,
Drive Angry was also
shot for 3D, and if
the flick makes good
on its $75 million
investment, Lussier
will be the biggest
name in 3D terror.
BIKER OUT OF HELL
David Morse sizes up Nicolas Cage’s menace
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 63

COMING SOON
I’M THE QUEEN OF THE WORLD!
Lucy sets sail on the Dawn Treader
THE
CHRONICLES
OF NARNIA:
THE VOYAGE
OF THE DAWN
TREADER
SAIL AWAY, SAIL AWAY,
SAIL AWAY
DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox CAST Ben
Barnes, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes,
Peter Dinklage, Eddie Izzard, Will Poulter
DIRECTOR Michael Apted SCREENWRIT-
ER Michael Petroni, Richard LaGravanese
PRODUCERS Andrew Adamson, Mark Johnson, Philip
Steuer GENRE Fantasy RATING PG for some frightening
images and sequences of fantasy action RUN-
NING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE December 10, 2010
Disney walked away from
the Narnia franchise after the
lukewarm reception to 2008’s
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince
Caspian, which made $141.6
million domestically, but cost $225
million. (Luckily foreign audiences
were twice as enthusiastic and
spent $278 million in ticket sales.)
This follow-up about the Pevensie
family’s adventures on a giant ship
cost a fraction of its predecessor,
but it’s based on a more popular
installment of the franchise, and
Fox scooped up the flick with full
faith in the power of Aslan’s roar.
ALL GOOD
THINGS
MURDER MOST FOUL?
DISTRIBUTOR Magnolia Pictures CAST Ryan Gosling,
Kirsten Dunst, Frank Langella, Jeffrey Dean
Morgan DIRECTOR Andrew Jarecki SCREENWRITER
Andrew Jarecki, Marcus Hinchey, Marc Smerling
PRODUCERS Andrew Jarecki, Michael London, Bruna
Papandrea, Marc Smerling GENRE Romance/Drama RATING
R for drug use, violence, language and some sexuality
RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE December 3, 2010 ltd.
> Andrew Jarecki’s drama doesn’t exactly
accuse real-life real estate scion Robert Durst
of murdering his wife in 1982—it’s cautious
enough that it at least changes his name to
David. But otherwise, this pedigreed drama
starring Ryan Gosling and Kirsten Dunst as
the ill-fated couple is the indie film equivalent
of O.J. Simpson’s If I Did It.
NIGHT CATCHES
US
HERE COMES THE PRODIGAL SON
DISTRIBUTOR Magnolia Pictures CAST Anthony Mackie, Kerry
Washington, Wendell Pierce, Jamie Hector, Novella Nelson
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER Tanya Hamilton PRODUCERS Sean
Costello, Jason Orans, Ron Simons GENRE Drama RATING
R for language, some sexuality and violence RUNNING TIME
TBD RELEASE DATE December 3, 2010 ltd.
> This explosive drama stars Anthony
Mackie (The Hurt Locker) as an exiled Black
Panther returning to the hood to deal with
old wounds, an old love and the tattered
legacy of his gang. Between the cops still
watching him and the boys on the block
spray painting “snitch” on his Cadillac,
homecoming ain’t easy. A popular film on
the festival circuit, director Tanya Hamilton’s
debut flick co-stars Kerry Washington
as an idealistic lawyer who holds the neighborhood
together.
THE WARRIOR’S
WAY
EAST MEETS WILD WEST
DISTRIBUTOR Universal/Rogue Pictures CAST Dong-gun Jang,
Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush, Danny Houston, Tony Cox
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER Sngmoo Lee PRODUCERS Lee Joo-
Ick, Barrie M. Osboure, Michael Peyser GENRE Action/
Fantasy/Western RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 100 min.
RELEASE DATE December 3, 2010
> One year and one week after the opening
of Ninja Assassin, Warner Bros.’ $40 million
gamble that fans of Korean heartthrob Rain
would flood the global box office (and they
did, at least well enough) comes this surrealist
and theatrical samurai western starring
Korean heartthrob Dong-gun Jang in a story
about an exiled fighter who hides out in an
American circus. With Kate Bosworth and
Geoffrey Rush.
64 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

COUNTRY
STRONG
SING IT, SISTER
DISTRIBUTOR Screen Gems CAST Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim
McGraw, Garrett Hedlund, Leighton Meester DIRECTOR/
SCREENWRITER Shana Feste PRODUCERS Tobey Maguire,
Jenno Topping GENRE Drama RATING PG-13 for thematic
elements involving alcohol abuse and some sexual content
RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE December 22, 2010 ltd.
> Macrobiotic Manhattanite teetotaller
Gwyneth Paltrow takes on a huge departure
as an alcoholic country singer pulled in all
directions by the bottle, her fans, her young
rival (Leighton Meester), her husband (real
life country singer Tim McGraw) and her
crush (Garrett Hedlund of Tron: Legacy).
With luck, Paltrow will have her own Crazy
Heart moment, last year’s drama about a
boozing country star that won Jeff Bridges
an Oscar.
THE TOURIST
HOP ABOARD
PARLEZ-VOUS PIGEON?
Johnny Depp makes an ultra-glam Tourist
DISTRIBUTOR Sony Pictures CAST Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany, Rufus Sewell, Timothy Dalton, Steven Berkoff
DIRECTOR Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck SCREENWRITER Julian Fellowes, Christopher McQuarrie, Jeffrey Nachmanoff
PRODUCERS Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum, Jonathan Glickman, Tim Headington, Graham King GENRE Thriller/Romance RATING
PG-13 for violence and brief strong language RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE December 10, 2010
> When tourist Johnny Depp meets glamorous Brit Angelina Jolie, he can’t believe his good
luck. Except Jolie’s being tailed by several crooks who mistake Depp for their target, her
ex, in this tricky mistaken identity thriller. Tabloids have been drumming this flick up for
months with on-set paparazzi shots, so Brangelina addicts are well-aware it exists—now
they just have to buy tickets.
HOW DO YOU
KNOW
THE BIG, BIG QUESTION
DISTRIBUTOR Columbia CAST Reese Witherspoon, Jack
Nicholson, Paul Rudd, Owen Wilson, Kathryn Hahn, Yuki
Matsuzaki, Molly Price DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER James L.
Brooks PRODUCERS Julie Ansell, James L. Brooks, Laurence
Mark, Paula Weinstein GENRE Romance/Comedy
RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE December
17, 2010
GULLIVER’S
TRAVELS
I SEE LITTLE PEOPLE
DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox CAST Jack Black, Emily Blunt,
Jason Segel, Amanda Peet, Chris O’Dowd DIRECTOR Rob
Letterman SCREENWRITERS Nicholas Stoller, Joe Stillman
PRODUCERS Jack Black, Ben Cooley, John Davis, Gregory
Goodman GENRE Comedy RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD
RELEASE DATE December 22, 2010
> In Jack Black’s hands, Jonathan Swift’s
adventure satire becomes a comedy about
believing in your own strength. Black plays
a travel-writer who stumbles upon an island
of wee souls, but after heralding himself
as their leader and using his power to give
patronizing advice to a tiny Jason Segal, he
discovers the biggest thing about him is his
insecurity.
TRUE
GRIT
MOUNT UP
DISTRIBUTOR Paramount CAST Jeff Bridges, Matt
Damon, Josh Brolin, Barry Pepper, Paul Rae DI-
RECTORS/SCREENWRITERS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
PRODUCERS Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, Scott Rudin, Steven
Spielberg GENRE Western RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD
RELEASE DATE December 22, 2010
OKAY, EXPLAIN IT AGAIN
Can Reese Witherspoon fall for Paul Rudd’s
potential felon?
> Reese Witherspoon is torn between two
beaux in this James L. Brooks comedy about
knowing—and trusting—your heart. Owen
Wilson plays the bumbling baseball player
we’re meant to root against in favor of Paul
Rudd, an awkward charmer facing a federal
indictment. Why are all the good ones taken?
> John Wayne won an Oscar for his turn
as Rooster Cogburn, a U.S. Marshal hired
to help an orphaned girl track down her
daddy’s killers. In the Coen brothers’
hands, this re-imagining, which draws
from Charles Portis’ dark original novel, is
poised to be one of the major films of the
awards season.
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 65

SMALL FILMS, BIG POTENTIAL
BOOK IT!
I’LL LEARN YOU A LESSON
Jason Statham as the tutoring hitman
The King’s Speech
Royal Charmer
DISTRIBUTOR The Weinstein Company CAST Colin Firth, Geoffrey
Rush, Helena Bonham Carter, Michael Gambon, Jennifer Ehle, Derek
Jacobi, Timothy Spall DIRECTOR Tom Hooper SCREENWRITER David
Seidler PRODUCER Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, Gareth Unwin GENRE
Drama RATING R for some language RUNNING TIME 118 min. RELEASE
DATE November 24 ltd.
Pete Hammond says … With first rate performances
from an A-list cast, this handsome period
piece is one of the most accessibly entertaining
films of its kind in years. Colin Firth plays England’s
King George VI (father of the current Queen
Elizabeth) who must overcome an embarrassing
stutter in order to lead his country through the trying
times of World War II. Helena Bonham Carter is
his prim and proper wife, the Queen Mother when
she had pluck, and Geoffrey Rush is the Australian
speech therapist who gives George strength and
training and his first true friendship. This inspiring
and beautifully told tale should have upscale
fans of fine drama lining up for its release and
wider commercial crossover prospects once award
nominations start rolling in—an inevitability with
Oscar-hungry Harvey Weinstein backing this flick.
Flooding with Love for the Kid
Rambo vs. Rambo
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER/PRODUCER Zachary Oberzan GENRE Drama/Experimental RATING
Unrated RUNNING TIME 107 min. RELEASE DATE January 8 NY
Sara Maria Vizcarrondo says … Budgeted at a reported $95.51 and
produced completely by writer/director/cinematographer/editor
and sole star Zachary Oberzan, this flick does with one camera, a
computer, a 220-foot Manhattan apartment and the war novel First
Blood what most 10 year olds with a camcorder and action figures
dream about. Less indebted to the explosions and gunfights that
made Sylvester Stallone’s crack at the story so popular, Flooding
with Love also takes on the first appearance of John Rambo, the
highly trained Green Beret operative who went postal in the woods
of Kentucky after surviving a Vietnamese POW camp. Unless the
film hits Rocky Horror status (which isn’t impossible) numbers will
be modest. (Of course, since the film cost the maker so little, to him
any numbers are profit.)
CONTACT
Zachary Oberzan / onlylivingboy@zacharyoberzan / 646-318-9633
Anton Chekhov’s The Duel
School, sans tests
CAST Andrew Scott, Tobias Menzies, Fiona Glascott, Niall Buggy, Jeremy Swift, Nicholas
Rowe, Debbie Chazen, Rik Makarem DIRECTOR Dover Koshashvili SCREENWRITER Mary Bing
PRODUCERS Donald Rosenfeld, Mary Bing GENRE Drama/Comedy RATING Unrated RUNNING
TIME 95 min. RELEASE DATE April 28 NY
John P. McCarthy says … Anton Chekhov’s The Duel took me back
to my undergraduate days (nearly three decades ago), a number of
which were spent in an A/V carrel in the college library watching
videotaped productions of canonical stage plays. Dover Koshashvili’s
ambling, eminently accessible film captures the spirit of
Chekhov’s novella without being overly taxing. In a provincial
town far from the capitol and any intrigue of consequence, dissolute
nobleman Laevsky (Andrew Scott) has grown tired of his married
mistress Nadya (Fiona Glascott). One summer’s day, he learns via
letter that her husband has died. Fearing she’ll insist on getting married,
he doesn’t share the news with Nadya; instead he tries to figure
out how he might be free of her. Interpreting the story through
historical or allegorical prisms would spoil the experience and sour
Koshashvili’s breezy charm. The last thing he and Chekhov would
want is for the viewer/reader to worry about sitting for an exam.
CONTACT
High Line Pictures / Donald Rosenfeld
donfilm@aol.com / 917 523 0446
Stages
A divorce worth the commitment
CAST Elsie de Brauw, Marcel Musters, Stijn Koomen, Jennifer Jago, Joan Nederlof, Shireen
Strooker, Jeroen Willems DIRECTOR Mijke de Jong SCREENWRITERS Mijke de Jong, Jolein
Laarman PRODUCERS Joos de Vries, Leontine Petit GENRE Drama; Dutch-language, subtitled
RATING Unrated RUNNING TIME 80 min. RELEASE DATE November 5 ltd.
John P. McCarthy says … Dutch director Mijke de Jong presents
snapshots of a long-since-broken marriage, alternating intimate
scenes between two forty-ish exes with brief segments featuring
their reclusive 17-year-old son. Stages is an admirably spare and
forthright chamber piece about divorce, its painful central theme
receiving mysterious, beautiful and, eventually, hopeful counterpoint.
Although a drama about a divorced couple sounds like a real
downer, one of de Jong’s primary achievements is highlighting the
positive in this bleak scenario. Stars Elsie De Brauw and Musters are
66 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

fantastic in their roles and Director of Photography
Ton Peters uses light and shadow
in luxurious and telling ways.
CONTACT
Lemming Film / Esther Schmidt Tolstraat
esther@lemmingfilm.com
011 31 20 661 0424
Con Artist
War of the junk
DIRECTOR/PRODUCER Michael Sládek GENRE Documentary
RATING Unrated RUNNING TIME 87 min. RELEASE DATE
November 12 NY
John P. McCarthy says … A composite
of Andy Warhol, Chuck Barris and James
Spader, painter Mark Kostabi made his
mark on the art world in the late ’80s by
mass-producing works that studio lackeys
executed and which he signed and promoted.
Oftentimes, he didn’t even come up
with the ideas. Michael Sládek’s entertaining
profile is light fare; his inability to get
behind Kostabi’s façade suggests the artist’s
false front is in fact real—not that that lets
the filmmaker off the hook. Enjoyable, if
not especially satiating, the movie uses
its eclectic soundtrack to do the heavy
thematic lifting. Cue “The Money Song”
from Cabaret.
FAMILY FEUD
Isabelle Huppert stars in White Material
CONTACT
Plug Ugly Films / michael@pluguglyfilms.com
917 202 6068
White Material
Politics and family: two ugly coups
DISTRIBUTOR IFC Films CAST Isabelle Huppert, Christopher
Lambert, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Isaach de Bankolé,
Michel Subor, William Nadylam DIRECTOR Claire Denis
SCREENWRITERS Claire Denis, Marie N’Diaye PRODUCER
Pascal Caucheteux GENRE Drama RATING Unrated RUNNING
TIME 102 min. RELEASE DATE November 19 NY
Richard Mowe says … Isabelle Huppert
gives a superb lead performance as a
Frenchwoman clinging to her plantation
in Africa in the midst of a chaotic regime
change. On her family coffee farm, Huppert
has five days to finish her harvest—only all
of her workers have fled after rumors of a
rebel army’s advance. White Material takes
director Claire Denis back to her childhood
land of Africa. A strong New York Film
Festival bow, the combination of Huppert
and Denis, plus the added bonus of Christopher
Lambert returning to dramatic acting,
should be enough to give White Material
arthouse legs.
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DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 67

BOOK IT! (continued from page 69)
Black Swan
Classic ballet, new moves
DISTRIBUTOR Fox Searchlight Pictures CAST Natalie Portman,
Mila Kunis, Barbara Hershey, Vincent Cassel, Winona
Ryder DIRECTOR Darren Aronofsky SCREENWRITERS Mark
Heyman, Andrew Heinz, John McLaughlin PRODUCERS
Mike Medavoy, Arnold W. Messer, Brian Oliver, Scott
Franklin GENRE Drama RATING R for strong sexual content,
disturbing violent images, language and some drug use
RUNNING TIME 106 min. RELEASE DATE December 1, 2010
ALL ABOUT NATALIE
Backstage bitchiness in Black Swan
Pete Hammond says … Bringing psychological
horror to the twisted world of an
obsessive prima ballerina, director Darren
Aronofsky follows The Wrestler with another
bruising study of physical pain and endurance
in the pursuit of a dream. With Natalie
Portman dominating the action and exhibiting
a newfound screen maturity, this Grand
Guignol melodrama exhibits more than
enough blood, sweat and tears (emphasis on
the blood) to score nicely beyond the ballet
crowd. With its bold sexual undercurrents
and lesbian love scene between Portman and
co-star Mila Kunis, this could attract curiosity
seekers to bone up on their fouetté jetés.
Black Swan is a handsome and frightening
bravura piece of filmmaking and should do
some nice business—with any luck, it’ll see
a bump come awards time where Portman is
sure to be a strong contender.
SMALL TOWN THEATER,
BIG CITY CULTURE
The Philadelphia Orchestra comes to Oberlin, Kansas
I’LL LEARN YOU A LESSON
Jason Statham as the tutoring hitman
by Juliet J. Goodfriend
Duane Dorshorst surveys the scene
around him with satisfaction. Fifty of
his fellow West Kansans and Sunflower Cinema
patrons are soaking in a performance
by the Philadelphia Orchestra—a big number
for Oberlin, a small town of 1,600. “This
is a huge success for us!” Dorshorst smiles.
The community-owned Sunflower
Cinema was the second movie theater to
simulcast concerts from the Philadelphia
Orchestra in HD, thanks to a new initiative
by digital distributor SpectiCast and Bryn
Mawr Film Institute, and 30 more theaters
have followed suit. Smartly, the Sunflower
used the first of their simulcasts, The Starry
Night of Romeo and Juliet, as a fundraiser for
the theater—with tickets priced at $50,
they raised money towards the theater’s
next phase of development. And the special
event atmosphere encouraged the guests
to linger in the lobby to discuss how much
they enjoyed the performance. “Everyone
in attendance agreed that it was something
our community has needed, and how much
they are looking forward to the next event,”
says Dorshorst.
68 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

ALL TIED UP
This Rapunzel uses her hair as a weapon
Tangled
A pretty awesome princess
DISTRIBUTOR Walt Disney Pictures CAST Mandy Moore,
Zachary Levi, Donna Murphy, M.C. Gainey, Brad Garrett,
Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor DIRECTORS Nathan Greno,
Byron Howard SCREENWRITER Dan Fogelman PRODUCER Roy
Conli GENRE Family/Animation RATING PG for brief mild
violence RUNNING TIME 90 min. RELEASE DATE November
24, 2010
Sara Maria Vizcarrondo says … An instant
classic, Disney’s animated revamp of the
Brothers Grimm fairy tale of Rapunzel has
spawned a spunky heroine who could infiltrate
the heavily guarded princess canon.
Delightful, funny, sometimes innocuous
Built on the site of the former Oberlin
Opera House, the venue has been the
headquarters for local culture for over a
century. The Opera House opened in 1906,
but in 1936 it became a cinema named
The Chief Theater. The Chief stayed open
until the building collapsed in 1978. The
neighboring Pepsi Bottling Company had
also recently closed, so the original Sunflower
Cinema was built on the adjoining
sites. The Sunflower survived through the
1990s, but then the volunteer committee
responsible for its maintenance could no
longer keep the theater going and shuttered
it until 2004. Then Dorshorst got
involved.
Dorshorst, a superintendent and principal
in the local school district, was inspired
by the parents of one of his students
to restore the Sunflower. Despite facing
limited funding within a county already
strapped with money problems, Dorshorst
and the Sunflower team prevailed and
opened the theater in November 2009.
Following the success of the Sunflower’s
reopening, Dorshorst set his sights on
making the Sunflower a truly inclusive
and cross-disciplinary center for culture
in Oberlin. These Philadelphia Orchestra
simulcasts reflect Dorshorst’s and the Sunflower’s
determination to promote and support
the town’s thirst for art and culture.
Says Dorshorst, “We wanted to use the
theater to bring cultural events to town
either by Internet or satellite. Working
with SpectiCast is our first venture into this
realm and we are extremely excited about
the possibility of using this format to bring
the world into rural western Kansas.” With
the Philadelphia Orchestra concert series,
the Sunflower is once again becoming the
town’s center for musical culture, as in the
days of the Oberlin Opera House.
As the citizens of Oberlin and the
members of the Sunflower prove, there is
a demand for big city culture even in the
smallest hamlets. And for the Sunflower,
it’s especially fitting that it’s the Philadelphia
Orchestra stirring up their screen—
one of the first films it played at its 1978
opening was Rocky. That’s some sweet
harmony.
and more often thrilling, Tangled transforms
the old, tower-cloistered damsel story into a
morality play that pits openness and sincerity
against selfishness and insincerity. (The
greatest virtue here is sharing.) Peril is on
the menu and the comedy is occasionally
rough and often veers into Monty-Pythonslapstick,
but it’s never offensively violent
and the characters, including the brilliant
sidekicks Maximus the superhorse and Pascal
the mutely philosophical chameleon are
littered with nuance and charm. Box office
numbers could be astronomical, reviving
brand trust after recent, lackluster ventures
distributed under the Disney banner; ancillaries
will be huge. I’m throwing down for
my Pascal action figure and Rapunzel bust
with plastic hairbrush for Christmas!
Love and Other Drugs
Romantic dramedy about a Viagra
salesman has quick rise, slow fall
DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox CAST Jake Gyllenhaal,
Anne Hathaway, Olive Platt, Hank Azaria, Gabriel
Macht DIRECTOR Edward Zwick SCREENWRITERS Charles
Randolph, Edward Zwick, Marshall Herskovitz PRODUCERS
Pieter Jan Brugge, Charles Randolph, Marshall Herskovitz,
Edward Zwick, Scott Stuber GENRE Romantic Dramedy
RATING R for strong sexual content, nudity, pervasive
language, and some drug material RUNNING TIME 90 min.
RELEASE DATE November 24, 2010
Pam Grady says … Love and Other Drugs
could have been a brilliant satire in the
manner of Thank You for Smoking if only
director Edward Zwick and his co-writers
had concentrated more on the drugs and
less on the “love.” Set during the sexual
revolution unleashed by that little blue
pill and very loosely inspired by Jamie
Reidy’s memoir Hard Sell: The Evolution of
a Viagra Salesman, the movie’s exuberant
comedy is eventually sunk by the soppy
romance. Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway,
reunited for the first time since
Brokeback Mountain, show a lot of skin
for an indifferent audience. Expect solid
opening weekend numbers from Rom-
Com junkies.
Bhutto
Pakistan’s answer to Eva Peron
DISTRIBUTOR Film Movement DIRECTORS Jessica A.
Hernandez, Johnny O’Hara SCREENWRITERS Johnny O’Hara
PRODUCERS Duane Baughman, Arleen Sorkin, Mark Siegel
GENRE Documentary RATING Unrated RUNNING TIME 115
min. RELEASE DATE December 3 NY/LA
Ray Greene says … Intelligent, determined,
articulate, beautiful and heir to post-WWII
Pakistan’s greatest political dynasty, Benazir
Bhutto—like Evita—moved the masses
in a male-dominated political culture, not
only because of her fierce patriotism and
the force of her ideas but also because her
life played out as a blend of grand opera
and soap opera. Also like Evita, she now
has a dramatic and romanticized testament
worthy of both her own charisma and her
compromised legacy, thanks to this new
documentary by Jessica Hernandez and
Johnny O’Hara. This is a strong effort with
a riveting protagonist. A small, selective
release pattern could find success with
documentary enthusiasts and the Pakistani
immigrant diaspora.
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 69

BOOK IT! (continued from page 69)
The Fighter
Rope a dope
DISTRIBUTOR Paramount Pictures CAST Mark Wahlberg,
Christian Bale, Melissa Leo, Amy Adams, Jack McGee
DIRECTOR David O. Russell SCREENWRITER Scott Silver, Lewis
Colick PRODUCERS Dorothy Aufiero, David Hoberman, Ryan
Kavanaugh, Todd Lieberman, Paul Tamasy, Mark Wahlberg
GENRE Drama/Sports RATING R for language throughout,
drug content, some violence and sexuality RUNNING TIME
115 min. RELEASE DATE December 10 ltd., December 17,
2010
YOU COULD BE A CONTENDER
Christian Bale schools Mark Wahlberg in The Fighter
Amy Nicholson says … As bantamweight
boxer ‘Irish’ Micky Ward, Mark Walhberg
enters the ring to the Whitesnake power
ballad “Here I Go Again on My Own,” the
least apt anthem for a bruiser weighed down
by an entourage that includes his manager,
trainer, girlfriend, mother, father, brother
and seven sisters. His problem is that he
can’t go anywhere on his own—certainly
not across the country from Lowell, MA to
Las Vegas for paid training. David O. Russell’s
family-first dramedy is powered by
knockout performances, but doesn’t have
much message or thrust. A slim film that
carries itself like a champion, The Fighter
will win praise and dollars that it doesn’t
quite deserve; in this Oscar season, it’s a
boxer elevating his stats by taking down
weaker competition like The Town.
Casino Jack
Washington slush
DISTRIBUTOR IDP/Samuel Goldwyn CAST Kevin Spacey,
Kelly Preston, Jon Lovitz, Barry Pepper DIRECTOR George
Hickenlooper SCREENWRITER Norman Snider PRODUCERS
Gary Howsam, Bill Marks, George Zakk GENRE R for
pervasive language, some violence and brief nudity
RUNNING TIME 108 min. RELEASE DATE December 17 ltd.
Barbara Goslawski says … Casino
Jack is a refreshing take on the political
crime drama. Part thriller, part comedy
and very much a biopic, this complex
film chronicles the rise and fall of Jack
Abramoff, the most powerful lobbyist in
Washington, during the latter part of the
previous century. Director George Hickenlooper,
who passed away suddenly last
month, displays a level of flamboyance
second only to Abramoff’s, as the director
reveals the lobbyist’s delusions and manipulations
to provide insight into how
this seasoned artisan (or charlatan?) spun
his aspirations past some of the most
powerful figures in recent history. Kevin
Spacey’s virtuoso performance is pitch
perfect in this elaborate rondo—with him
at the center of this tour de force, the film
will draw a healthy and diverse crowd.
70 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

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Nicole Kidman needs help in Rabbit Hole
PALMYRA, IN
Rabbit Hole
Always darkest before its light
DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Nicole Kidman, Aaron Eckhart, Dianne Wiest, Tammy Blanchard,
Miles Teller, Sandra Oh DIRECTOR John Cameron Mitchell SCREENWRITER David Lindsay-
Abaire PRODUCERS Nicole Kidman, Gigi Pritzker, Per Saari, Leslie Urdang, Dean Vanech
GENRE Drama RATING PG-13 for mature thematic material, some drug use and language
RUNNING TIME 92 min. RELEASE DATE December 17 ltd.
Pete Hammond says … A superlative adaptation of David
Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer and Tony-winning play, Rabbit Hole takes
a grim subject—the sudden death of a young married couple’s
4-year-old son—and gives it depth, emotion and surprising layers
of humor. With Oscar-worthy performances from Nicole Kidman,
Aaron Eckhart and Dianne Wiest, this is tough and demanding,
but ultimately hopeful. This small gem of a film premiered in Toronto
and was immediately picked up by Lionsgate and given a December
release to qualify for Oscars. Should it get deserved awards
attention, the distributor could well see it develop into a specialty
hit. At any rate, it’s an unforgettable, moving and brilliantly acted
drama that deserves to be seen by anyone who cherishes great
filmmaking.
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DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 71

BOOKING GUIDE
Action = Act Arthouse = Art Documentary = Doc Family = Fam Horror = Hor
Adventure = Adv Biography = Bio Drama = Dra Fantasy = Fan Kids = Kids
Animated = Ani Comedy = Com Epic = Epic Foreign Language = FL Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgend. = LGBT
FILM RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE RT FORMAT
CBS FILMS Lauren Douglas / 310 575 7052 / lauren.douglas@cbs.com
FASTER Wed, 11/24/10 Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thorton George Tillman Jr. R Act/Dra
THE MECHANIC Fri, 1/28/11 Jason Statham, Ben Foster Simon West R Act/Cri/Dra 100 Scope
BEASTLY Fri, 3/18/11 Neil Patrick Harris, Vanessa Hudgens Daniel Barnz PG-13 Fan/Hor/Rom
DISNEY 818 560 1000 / ask for Distribution / 212 536 6400
TANGLED Wed, 11/24/10 Mandy Moore, Zachary Levy
Nathan Greno/Byron
Howard
PG Ani/Com/Fam/Mus 90
Digital 3D/Dolby Dig/DTS/
SDDS
THE TEMPEST
Fri, 12/10/10 EXCL.
12/17/10 LTD.
Alfred Molina, Russell Brand Julie Taymor PG-13 Dra/Rom 110 Quad/Scope
TRON: LEGACY Fri, 12/17/10 Michael Sheen, Jeff Bridges Joseph Kosinski NR 3D/Act/SF
Digital 3D/IMAX/Quad/Dolby
Dig/DTS/SDDS
GNOMEO AND JULIET Fri, 2/11/11 Emily Blunt, James McAvoy Kelly Asbury NR Ani/Fam/Com Digital 3D/Quad
I AM NUMBER FOUR Fri, 2/18/11 Alex Pettyfer, Timothy Olyphant D.J Caruso G Act/SF Quad
MARS NEEDS MOMS! Fri, 3/11/11 Seth Green, Joan Cusack Simon Wells NR
Com/SF/Fam/
Ani/CGI
Digital 3D/IMAX/Quad
AFRICAN CATS Fri, 4/22/11
Alastair Fothergill/Keith
Scholey
NR Doc Quad
PROM Fri, 4/29/11 Danielle Campbell, Kylie Bunbury Joe Nussbaum NR Com Quad
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES Fri, 5/20/11 Johnny Depp, Astrid Bergès-Frisbe Rob Marshall NR Act/Adv Digital 3D/IMAX/Quad
CARS 2 Fri, 6/24/11 Owen Wilson, Bonnie Hunt Brad Lewis/John Lasseter NR Com/Fam Digital 3D/IMAX
WINNIE THE POOH Fri, 7/15/11 Craig Ferguson, Jim Cummings
Stephen J. Anderson/
Don Hall
NR Ani/Fam Quad
THE HELP Fri, 8/12/11 Bryce Dallas Howard, Emma Stone Tate Taylor NR Dra
FRIGHT NIGHT Fri, 8/19/11 Colin Farrell, Anton Yelchin Craig Gillespie NR Com/Hor Digital 3D
REAL STEEL Fri, 10/7/11 Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly Shawn Levy NR Act/Dra
FOCUS Christopher Ustaszewski / 818 777 3071
SOMEWHERE
Wed, 12/22/10
EXCL. NY/LA
Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning Sofi a Coppola R Com/Dra 98 DTS/Dolby SRD/Flat
THE EAGLE Fri, 2/25/11 Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell Kevin Macdonald PG-13 Dra 114 DTS/Dolby SRD/Scope
JANE EYRE
Fri, 3/11/11 LTD.
Mia Wasikowska, Michael Fassbender
Cary Fukunaga PG-13 Rom/Dra DTS/Dolby SRD/Flat
HANNA Fri, 4/8/11 Cate Blanchett, Saoirse Ronan Joe Wright NR Adv/Thr DTS/Dolby SRD/Scope
BEGINNERS
Fri, 6/3/11 LTD.
Ewan McGregor, Christopher
Plummer
Mike Mills NR Dra
FOX 310 369 1000 / 212 556 2400
LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS Wed, 11/24/10 Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway Edward Zwick R Dra 113 Flat
THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA:
THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER
Fri, 12/10/10 Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes Michael Apted PG Adv/Fam/Fan 115 3D/Scope/Quad
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS Wed, 12/22/10 Emily Blunt, Jason Segel Rob Letterman NR Com 3D/Scope
MONTE CARLO Fri, 2/11/11 Selena Gomez, Leighton Meester Tom Bezucha PG Rom/Com
BIG MOMMAS: LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON Fri, 2/18/11 Martin Lawrence, Brandon T. Jackson John Whitesell PG-13 Com
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID 2: RODRICK RULES Fri, 3/25/11 Rachael Harris, Steve Zahn David Bowers NR Com/Fam
RIO Fri, 4/8/11 Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris Carlos Saldanha NR Ani/CGI 3D
WATER FOR ELEPHANTS Fri, 4/15/11 Reese Witherspoon, Robert Pattinson Francis Lawrence NR Dra
WHAT’S YOUR NUMBER? Fri, 4/29/11 Anna Faris, Chris Evans Mark Mylod R Com
X-MEN: FIRST CLASS Fri, 6/3/11 James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender Matthew Vaughn NR Act/SF/Thr
RISE OF THE APES Fri, 6/24/11 James Franco, Freida Pinto Rupert Wyatt NR Adv/Act/SF
THE SITTER Fri, 7/15/11 Jonah Hill, Ari Graynor David Gordon Green NR Com
MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS Fri, 8/12/11 Jim Carrey, Carla Gugino Mark Waters NR Com
FOX SEARCHLIGHT 310 369 1000
BLACK SWAN Fri, 12/3/10 LTD. Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis Darren Aronofsky R Dra/Thr 106 Flat
THE TREE OF LIFE Fri, 5/27/11 LTD. Sean Penn, Brad Pitt Terrence Malick PG-13 Dra/Fan
FREESTYLE RELEASING 310 456 2332
THE NUTCRACKER
Wed, 11/24/10 LTD.
12/3 WIDE
Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane Andrey Konchalovskiy PG Adv/Fan 108 3D/Dolby SRD/Scope
FRANKIE & ALICE Fri, 2/4/11 Halle Berry, Stellan Skarsgard Geoffrey Sax NR Dra 102
LIONSGATE 310 449 9200
THE NEXT THREE DAYS Fri, 11/19/10 Russell Crowe, Elizabeth Banks Paul Haggis PG-13 Cri/Rom/Dra 122 Scope
RABBIT HOLE
Fri, 12/17/10 LTD.
12/25/10 EXPANDS Aaron Eckhart, Nicole Kidman John Cameron Mitchell PG-13 Dra 92 Flat
1/14/11 EXPANDS
FROM PRADA TO NADA Fri, 1/28/11 LTD. Camilla Belle, Alexa Vega Angel Garcia PG-13 Rom/Com 107 DTS/Dolby SRD/Flat
THE LINCOLN LAWYER Fri, 3/18/11
Matthew McConaughey, Marisa
Tomei
Brad Furman NR Cri/Dra
TYLER PERRY’S MADEA’S BIG HAPPY FAMILY Fri, 4/22/11 Tyler Perry, Loretta Devine Tyler Perry NR Com
ONE FOR THE MONEY Fri, 7/8/11 Katherine Heigl, John Leguizamo Julie Ann Robinson NR Act/Rom/Com
CONAN 3D Fri, 8/19/11 Jason Momoa, Stephen Lang Marcus Nispel NR Act/Adv/Fan 3D
ABDUCTION Fri, 9/23/11 Taylor Lautner, Lily Collins John Singleton NR Act/Sus
PARAMOUNT 323 956 5575
THE FIGHTER
Fri, 12/10/10 LTD.
12/17 WIDE
Christian Bale, Amy Adams David O. Russell R Dra 116 Scope/Quad
TRUE GRIT Wed, 12/22/10 Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges Ethan & Joel Coen NR Dra/West
NO STRINGS ATTACHED Fri, 1/21/11 Ashton Kutcher, Natalie Portman Ivan Reitman NR Rom/Com
JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER Fri, 2/11/11 Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus Jon Chu NR Mus 3D
RANGO Fri, 3/4/11 Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher Gore Verbinski NR Ani/Act/Adv
FOOTLOOSE Fri, 4/1/11 Julianne Hough, Chace Crawford Craig Brewer PG-13 Com/Dra/Mus
THOR Fri, 5/6/11 Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman Kenneth Branagh NR Act/Adv
KUNG FU PANDA: THE KABOOM OF DOOM Thu, 5/26/11 Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman Jennifer Yuh Helson NR Ani/Com/Fam/Act Digital 3D
SUPER 8 Fri, 6/10/11 Elle Fanning, Amanda Michalka J.J. Abrams NR SF
TRANSFORMERS 3 Fri, 7/1/11 Shia LaBeouf, Hugo Weaving Michael Bay NR Act
THE FIRST AVENGER: CAPTAIN AMERICA Fri, 7/22/11 Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell Joe Johnston NR Act/Adv/Fant
RELATIVITY MEDIA Adam Keen 424 204 4144
THE WARRIOR’S WAY Fri, 12/3/10 Kate Bosworth, Geoffrey Rush Sngmoo Lee NR Act/Fan/West
SEASON OF THE WITCH Fri, 1/7/11 Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman Dominic Sena PG-13 Act/Dra/Hor 98 DTS/Dolby SRD/FLAT
KIDS IN AMERICA Fri, 3/4/11 Topher Grace, Anna Faris, Michael Dowse NR Com/Dra Quad
THE DARK FIELDS Fri, 3/18/11 Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro Neil Burger NR Dra/Thr Quad
SONY 310 280 8000 / 212833 8500
BURLESQUE Wed, 11/24/10 Cher, Christina Aguilera Steve Antin PG-13 Dra 119
Dolby Dig/DTS/SDDS/Scope/
Quad
72 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

Live Action = LA Performance = Per Science Fiction = SF Suspense = Sus Urban = Urban
Martial Arts = MA Political = Poli Stop-Motion Animation = SMAni 3D = 3D War = War
Mystery = Mys Romance = Rom Sports = Spr Thriller = Thr Western = Wes
FILM RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE RT FORMAT
THE TOURIST Fri, 12/10/10 Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp
Florian Henckel
von Donnersmarck
PG-13 Sus/Dra
HOW DO YOU KNOW Fri, 12/17/10 Jack Nicholson, Paul Rudd James L. Brooks R Dra/Com Dolby Dig
COUNTRY STRONG
Wed, 12/22/10 LTD.
1/7/11 EXPANDS
Gwyneth Paltrow, Tim McGraw Shana Deste PG-13 Dra
THE GREEN HORNET Fri, 1/14/11 Seth Rogen, Christoph Waltz Michel Gondry NR Act/Adv 3D/Dolby Dig
RESTLESS Fri, 1/28/11 Mia Wasikowska, Schuyler Fisk Gus Van Sant PG-13 Dra
THE ROOMMATE Fri, 2/4/11 Cam Gigandet, Leighton Meester Christian E. Christiansen NR Cri/Mys Scope
JUST GO WITH IT Fri, 2/11/11 Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston Dennis Dugan NR Rom/Com
BATTLE: LOS ANGELES Fri, 3/11/11 Michelle Rodriguez, Aaron Eckhart Jonathan Liebesman NR Act/SF Dolby Dig/DTS/SDDS
BAD TEACHER Fri, 4/1/11 Cameron Diaz, Jason Segel Jake Kasdan NR Com Dolby Dig/DTS/SDDS
SOUL SURFER Fri, 4/15/11 AnnaSophia Robb, Dennis Quaid Sean McNamara PG Act/Dra
BORN TO BE A STAR Fri, 4/22/11 Christina Ricci, Stephen Dorff Tom Brady NR Com
JUMPING THE BROOM Fri, 5/6/11 Paula Patton, Tasha Smith Salim Akil NR Rom
PRIEST Fri, 5/13/11 Paul Bettany, Maggie Q Scott Charles Stewart NR Adv/Hor 3D
THE ZOOKEEPER Fri, 7/8/11 Kevin James, Rosario Dawson Frank Coraci NR Com
FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS Fri, 7/22/11 Mila Kunis, Emma Stone Will Gluck NR Com
SMURFS Wed, 8/3/11 John Lithgow, Julia Sweeney Colin Brady NR Ani/Fam 3D
30 MINUTES OR LESS Fri, 8/12/11 Danny McBride, Aziz Ansari Ruben Fleischer NR Adv/Com
COLOMBIANA Fri, 9/2/11 Zoe Saldana, Michae Vartan Olivier Megaton NR Act/Adv/Dra/Thr
STRAW DOGS Fri, 9/16/11 Alexander Skarsgard, James Marsden Rod Lurie NR Dra
ANONYMOUS Fri, 9/23/11 David Thewlis, Derek Jacobi Roland Emmerich NR Hist/Dra
COURAGEOUS Fri, 9/30/11 Alex Kendrick, Kevin Downes Alex Kendrick NR Dra
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 212 833 8851
MADE IN DAGENHAM
Fri, 11/19/10
EXCL. NY/LA
Rosamund Pike, Miranda Richardson Nigel Cole R Dra 113 Dolby SRD/Scope
THE ILLUSIONIST
Sat, 12/25/10
EXCL. NY/LA
Jean-Claude Donda, Edith Rankin Sylvain Chomet PG Dra/Ani 80 Dolby SRD/Flat
ANOTHER YEAR
Wed, 12/29/10
EXCL. NY/LA
Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville Mike Leigh PG-13 Com/Dra 129 Dolby SRD/Scope
BARNEY’S VERSION Fri, 1/14/11 EXCL. NY/LA Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman Richard J Lewis R Dra 132
OF GODS AND MEN Fri, 2/25/11 EXCL. NY/LA Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale Xavier Beauvois R Dra/FL 122 Dolby SRD/Scope
WINTER IN WARTIME
Fri, 3/18/11 EXCL. NY/LA
Martin Lakemeirer, Yorick Van
Wageningen
Martin Koolhoven R Dra/Hist/War 103 Dolby SRD/Scope
INCENDIES
Fri, 4/1/11 EXCL. NY/LA
Lubna Azabal, Melissa Desormeaux-
Poulin
Denis Villeneuve NR Dra 130 Dolby SRD/Flat
SUMMIT 310 309 8400
DRIVE ANGRY 3D Fri, 2/25/11 Nicolas Cage, Amber Heard Patrick Lussier NR Thr 3D
SOURCE CODE Fri, 4/15/11 Jake Gyllenhaal, Vera Farmiga Duncan Jones NR Dra/SF
THE DARKEST HOUR Fri, 8/5/11 Emile Hirsch, Olivia Thirlby Chris Gorak NR SF/Thr 3D
UNIVERSAL 818 777 1000 / 212 445 3800
LITTLE FOCKERS Wed, 12/22/10 Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller Paul Weitz NR Com 95 Dolby Dig/Flat/Quad
THE DILEMMA Fri, 1/14/11 Vince Vaughn, Kevin James Ron Howard NR Com Quad
THE DARK FIELDS Fri, 1/21/11 Bradley Cooper, Robert DeNiro Neil Burger NR Thr Quad
SANCTUM Fri, 2/4/11 Richard Roxburgh, Alice Parkinson Alister Grierson NR Adv/Dra/Thr 3D
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU Fri, 3/4/11 Matt Damon, Emily Blunt Geogre Nolfi PG-13 Rom/SF 99 Quad/Flat
PAUL Fri, 3/18/11 Seth Rogen, Jane Lynch Greg Mottola R Com/SF 116 Flat/Quad
HOP Fri, 4/1/11 Russell Brand, James Marsden Tim Hill NR CGI/Act/Rom/Com
YOUR HIGHNESS Fri, 4/8/11 James Franco, Natalie Portman David Gordon Green NR Com/Fan/Adv 102 Scope/Quad
FAST FIVE Fri, 4/29/11 Vin Diesel, Paul Walker Justin Lin NR Act/Cri/Dra Quad
BRIDESMAID Fri, 5/13/11 Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne Paul Feig NR Com Quad
LARRY CROWNE Fri, 7/1/11 Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts Tom Hanks NR Rom/Com Quad
COWBOYS & ALIENS Fri, 7/29/11 Oliva Wilde, Daniel Craig Jon Favreau NR Ani/Act/Fan Quad/Dolby Dig/DTS/SDDS
THE CHANGE-UP Fri, 8/5/11 Jason Bateman, Ryan Reynolds David Dobkin NR Com Quad
DREAM HOUSE Fri, 9/30/11 Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz Jim Sheridan NR Thr 110 Quad
WARNER BROS. 818 954 6000 / 212 484 8000
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS:
PART 1
Fri, 11/19/10 Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson David Yates PG-13 Adv/Dra/Fan 146 3D/IMAX/Scope
YOGI BEAR Fri, 12/17/10 Dan Aykroyd, Justin Timberlake Eric Brevig PG Ani/Adv 3D/Quad
THE RITE Fri, 1/28/11 Anthony Hopkins, Colin O’Donoghue Mikael Håfström NR Dra Quad
UNKNOWN Fri, 2/18/11 Liam Neeson, January Jones Jaume Collet-Serra NR Dra/Thr Quad
HALL PASS Fri, 2/25/11 Owen Wilson, Jason Sudeikis Peter & Bobby Farrelly NR Com Quad
RED RIDING HOOD Fri, 3/11/11 Amanda Seyfried, Max Irons Catherine Hardwicke NR Dra/Sus/Thr Quad
SUCKER PUNCH Fri, 3/25/11 Vanessa Hudgens, Emily Browning Zack Snyder NR Act/Fan/Thr 3D/IMAX
BORN TO BE WILD Fri, 4/8/11 TBD NR IMAX/Quad
CRAZY, STUPID, LOVE. Fri, 4/22/11 Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling Glenn Ficarra/John Requa NR Com
THE HANGOVER 2 Thu, 5/26/11 Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms Todd Phillips NR Com Quad
SOMETHING BORROWED Fri, 6/10/11 Kate Hudson, Ginnifer Goodwin Luke Greenfi eld NR Com/Dra Quad
GREEN LANTERN Fri, 6/17/11 Ryan Reynolds, Mark Strong Martin Campbel NR Act 3D
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS:
PART 2
Fri, 7/15/11 Alan Rickman, Daniel Radcliffe David Yates NR Adv/Fan/Dra 3D/IMAX
HORRIBLE BOSSES Fri, 7/29/11 Jason Bateman, Jennifer Aniston Seth Gordon NR Com Quad
FINAL DESTINATION 5 Fri, 8/26/11 Emma Bell, David Koechner Steven Quale NR Hor/Sus 3D/Quad
THE APPARITION Fri, 9/9/11 Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan Todd Lincoln NR Hor Quad
DOLPHIN’S TALE Fri, 9/16/11 Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd Charles Martin Smith NR Dra 3D/Quad
CONTAGION Fri, 10/21/11 Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow Steven Soderbergh NR Act/Thr 3D/IMAX/Quad
WEINSTEIN CO. / DIMENSION 646 862 3400
THE KING’S SPEECH Fri, 11/26/10 LTD. Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush Tom Hooper R His/Dra 119 Flat
THE COMPANY MEN
Fri, 12/3/10 EXCL. NY/LA
10/29/10, 11/5/10 EXP.
Ben Affl eck, Tommy Lee Jones John Wells R Dra 109
Dolby Dig/Dolby SRD/DTS/
SDDS
BLUE VALENTINE Fri, 12/31/10 LTD. Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams Derek Cianfrance NR Rom/Dra Dolby SRD/Flat
SHELTER Fri, 2/25/11
Julianne Moore, Jonathan Rhys
Meyers
Mans Marlind/Bjorn Stein R Hor/Mys/Thr 112
APOLLO 18 Fri, 3/4/11 Trevor Cawood NR
MIRAL Fri, 3/25/11 LTD. Hiam Abbass, Freida Pinto Julian Schnabel NR Dra
SCREAM 4 Fri, 4/15/11 Neve Campbell, David Arquette Wes Craven NR Hor/Sus Dolby Dig/DTS/SDDS
SPY KIDS 4: ALL THE TIME IN THE WORLD Fri, 8/19/11 Daryl Sabara Robert Rodriguez NR Act/Adv 3D
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 73

AD INDEX
MARKETPLACE
CHRISTIE DIGITAL
SYSTEMS
10550 Camden Dr.
Cypress, CA 90630
Craig Sholder
714-236-8610
craig.sholder@christiedigital.com
www.christiedigital.com
INSIDE FRONT COVER, PG 38-39
CINEDIGM
55 Madison Ave., Ste. 300
Morristown, NJ 07960
Suzanne Tregenza Moore
973-290-0080
info@accessitx.com
www.cinedigm.com
PG 45
CINEPLEX ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATE
SALES
D1303 Yonge Street
Toronto, ON, M4T 2Y9
Phone: 1-800-313-4461
Fax: 416-323-7228
corporatesales@cineplex.com
PG 47
CROSSPOINT FABRICS
P.O. Box 2128
Mail Drop DY-02
Dalton, GA
Steve Magel
706-879-4055
steve.magel@shawinc.com
www.crosspointfabrics.com
PG 74
LEADING MANUFACTURER
of acoustical wallcarpet
42 stock colors available
DATASAT DIGITAL
9631 Topanga Canyon Place
Chatsworth, CA 91311
818-531-0003
www.datasatdigital.com
INSIDE BACK COVER
DOLBY LABORATORIES
100 Potrero Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94103
Christie Ventura / 415-558-2200
cah@dolby.com
www.dolby.com
PG 13, 33
DOLPHIN SEATING
313 Remuda St.
Clovis, NM 88101
575-762-6468
www.dolphinseating.com
PG 29
EFA PARTNERS
260 Madison Ave., 8th Fl.
New York, NY 10016
www.EFApartners.com
PG 59
FRANKLIN DESIGNS
208 Industrial Dr.
Ridgeland, MS 39157
601-853-9005
franklindesigns@aol.com
www.franklindesigns.com
PG 9
Custom colors for any environment
888.396.6750
www.crosspointfabrics.com
GDC TECHNOLOGY LLC
3500 W Olive Ave. Suite 940
Burbank, CA 91505
818-972-4370
www.gdc-tech.com
PG 15
HARKNESS SCREENS
Unit A, Norton Road
Stevenage, Herts
SG1 2BB
United Kingdom
+44 1438 725200
sales@harkness-screens.com
www.harkness-screens.com
PG 35, 37
HURLEY SCREEN
110 Industry Ln.
P.O. Box 296
Forest Hill, MD 21050
Gorman W. White
410-879-3022
info@hurleyscreen.com
www.hurleyscreen.com
PG 70
MASTERIMAGE 3D
4111 W. Alameda Ave., Ste. 312
Burbank, CA 91505, USA
818-558-7900
www. masterimage3d.com
PG 57
MEYER SOUND
2832 San Pablo Ave.
Berkeley, CA 94702
510-486-1166
sales@meyersound.com
www.meyersound.com
PG 11
MAROEVICH, O’SHEA & COUGHLAN
44 Montgomery St., 17th Fl.
San Francisco, CA 94104
Steve Elkins
800-951-0600
selkins@maroevich.com
www.mocins.com
PG 3
NATIONAL TICKET COMPANY
P.O. Box 547
Shamokin, PA 17872
Ginger Seidel
ticket@nationalticket.com
www.nationalticket.com
PG 78
NEC CORPORATION OF AMERICA
6535 North State Highway 161
Irving, Texas 75039
www.necam.com
PG 21
PACKAGING CONCEPTS, INC.
9832 Evergreen Industrial Dr.
St. Louis, MO 63123
John Irace / 314-329-9700
jji@packagingconceptsinc.com
www.packagingconceptsinc.com
PG 67
PREFERRED POPCORN
1132 9th Road
Chapman, NE 68827
308-986-2526
www.preferredpopcorn.com
PG 71
PROCTOR COMPANIES
10497 Centennial Rd.
Littleton, CO 80127-4218
Bruce Proctor
303-973-8989
sales@proctorco.com
www.proctorco.com
PG 75
QUBE DIGITAL CINEMA
4640 Lankershim Blvd., Ste. 601
North Hollywood, CA 91602
818-392-8155
info@qubecinema.com
www.qubecinema.com
PG 4
QSC
1665 MacArthur Blvd.
Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Francois Godfrey
714-754-6175
francois_godfrey@qscaudio.com
www.qscaudio.com
PG 23
READY THEATRE SYSTEMS
4 Hartford Blvd.
Hartford, MI 49057
Mary Snyder / 865-212-9703x114
sales@rts-solutions.com
www.rts-solutions.com.com
PG 75
RETRIEVER SOFTWARE
7040 Avenida Encinas
Ste. 104-363
Carlsbad, CA 92011
760-929-2101
www.retrieversoftware.com
PG 27
SCREENVISION
1411 Broadway 33rd Fl.
New York, NY 10018
Darryl Schaffer
212-497-0480
www.screenvision.com
BACK COVER, PG 41
SENSIBLE CINEMA SOFTWARE
7216 Sutton Pl.
Fairview, TN 37062
Rusty Gordon / 615-799-6366
rusty@sensiblecinema.com
www.sensiblecinema.com
PG 80
SONY ELECTRONICS
One Sony Dr.
Park Ridge, NJ 07656
201-476-8603
www.sony.com/professional
PG 5
STERIFAB
NOBLE PINE PRODUCTS COMPANY
PO Box 41
Yonkers, NY 10710-0041
800-359-4913
www.sterifab.com
PG 56
STRONG CINEMA PRODUCTS
(Division of Ballantyne Inc.)
4350 McKinley St.
Omaha, NE 68112
Ray Boegner
402-453-4444
ray.boegner@btn-inc.com
www.ballantyne-omaha.com
PG 25
74 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

TRI-STATE THEATRE SUPPLY CO.
3157 Norbrook Drive
Memphis, Tennessee 38116
800-733-8249
www.tristatetheatre.com
PG 80
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1. Publication Title 2. Publication Number 3. Filing Date
Boxoffice 0 0 0 6 _ 8 5 2 7 October 2010
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7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication (Not printer) (Street, city, county, state, and ZIP+4®) Contact Person
Peter Cane
9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Telephone (Include area code)
310-876-9090
8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher (Not printer)
230 Park Ave., Suite 1000, New York, NY 10169
9. Full Names and Complete Mailing Addresses of Publisher, Editor, and Managing Editor (Do not leave blank)
Publisher (Name and complete mailing address)
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Editor (Name and complete mailing address)
Amy Nicholson, 9107 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 450, Beverly Hills, CA 90210
Managing Editor (Name and complete mailing address)
TECHNICOLOR DIGITAL
Brett Fellman
(818) 260-4907
Brett.Fellman@technicolor.com
www.technicolordigitalcinema.com
PG 1, 49
10. Owner (Do not leave blank. If the publication is owned by a corporation, give the name and address of the corporation immediately followed by the
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TEXAS INSTRUMENTS
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PG 7
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P.O. Box 8279
Symonds Street
Auckland, New Zealand
Meika Kikkert
011-649-357-3600
info@vista.co.nz
www.vista.co.nz
PG 28
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PG 19
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13. Publication Title
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15.
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PS Form 3526, September 2007 (Page 2 of 3)
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3551 3667
3557 3667
620 1120
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in the ________________________ issue of this publication.
17. Signature and Title of Editor, Publisher, Business Manager, or Owner
Date
I certify that all information furnished on this form is true and complete. I understand that anyone who furnishes false or misleading information on this
form or who omits material or information requested on the form may be subject to criminal sanctions (including fines and imprisonment) and/or civil
sanctions (including civil penalties).
DECEMBER 2010 BOXOFFICE 75

THEATRE AUCTION!!!
CLASSIFIED ADS
MT. VERNON MULTIPLEX CINEMAS
7940 Richmond Hwy. (Rt. 1)
Alexandria, VA 22306
Saturday Dec 11, 2010
10 am
All Furnishings & Fixtures incl. 3100+
Seats, 4 Box Offices, 3 Concession
Stands, Crowd Control Ropes and
Poles, Screen Frames and much more!!
For further details, contact:
theatreauction@yahoo.com
DRIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION
DRIVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS since 1945. Selby Products
Inc., P.O. Box 267, Richfield, OH 44286. Phone:
330-659-6631.
EQUIPMENT FOR SALE
ASTER AUDITORIUM SEATING & AUDIO. We offer
the best pricing on good used projection and sound
equipment. Large quantities available. Please visit our
website, www.asterseating.com, or call 1-888-409-1414.
BOX OFFICE TICKETING AND CONCESSIONS
EQUIPMENT. Stand-alone ticketing or fully integrated
theater ticketing and/or concessions systems are available.
These fully tested, remanufactured Pacer Theatre
Systems have extended full-service contracts available.
Complete ticketing and concessions systems starting at
$2,975. Call Jason: 800-434-3098; www.sosticketing.
com.
WWW.CINEMACONSULTANTSINTERNATIONAL.
COM. New and used projection and sound equipment,
theater seating, drapes, wall panels, FM transmitters,
popcorn poppers, concessions counters, xenon lamps,
booth supplies, cleaning supplies, more. Call Cinema
Consultants and Services International. Phone: 412-343-
3900; fax: 412-343-2992; sales@cinemaconsultantsinternational.com.
CY YOUNG IND. INC. still has the best prices for replacement
seat covers, out-of-order chair covers, cupholder
armrests, patron trays and on-site chair renovations!
Please call for prices and more information. 800-
729-2610. cyyounginc@aol.com.
DOLPHIN SEATING At www.dolphinseating.com Find
today’s best available new seating deals 575-762-6468
Sales Office.
TWO CENTURY PROJECTORS, complete with base,
soundheads, lenses. Pott’s 3-deck platter,like new. Rebuilt
Christie lamp,goes to 150 amps. Model H-30. 603-
747-2608.
EQUIPMENT WANTED
OLD MARQUEE LETTERS WANTED Do you have the
old style slotted letters? We buy the whole pile. Any
condition. Plastic, metal, large, small, dirty, cracked,
painted, good or bad. Please call 800-545-8956 or write
mike@pilut.com.
MOVIE POSTERS WANTED: Collector paying TOP $$$
for movie posters, lobby cards, film stills, press books and
memorabilia. All sizes, any condition. Free appraisals!
CASH paid immediately! Ralph DeLuca, 157 Park Ave.,
Madison, NJ 07940; phone: 800-392-4050; email: ralph@
ralphdeluca.com; www.ralphdeluca.com.
POSTERS & FILMS WANTED: Cash available for movie
posters and films (trailers, features, cartoons, etc.). Call
Tony 903-790-1930 or email postersandfilms@aol.com.
OLDER STEREO EQUIPMENT AND SPEAKERS, old
microphones, old theater sound systems and old vacuum
tubes. Phone Tim: 616-791-0867.
COLLECTOR WANTS TO BUY: We pay top money for
any 1920-1980 theater equipment. We’ll buy all theaterrelated
equipment, working or dead. We remove and
pick up anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. Amplifiers, speakers,
horns, drivers, woofers, tubes, transformers; Western
Electric, RCA, Altec, JBL, Jensen, Simplex & more. We’ll remove
installed equipment if it’s in a closing location. We buy
projection and equipment, too. Call today: 773-339-9035.
cinema-tech.com email ILG821@aol.com.
AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS LLC is buying
projectors, processors, amplifiers, speakers, seating, platters.
If you are closing, remodeling or have excess equipment
in your warehouse and want to turn equipment into
cash, please call 866-653-2834 or email aep30@comcast.
net. Need to move quickly to close a location and dismantle
equipment? We come to you with trucks, crew and equipment,
no job too small or too large. Call today for a quotation:
866-653-2834. Vintage equipment wanted also! Old
speakers like Western Electric and Altec, horns, cabinets,
woofers, etc. and any tube audio equipment, call or email:
aep30@comcast.net.
AASA IS ASTER AUDITORIUM SEATING & AUDIO. We
buy and sell good used theater equipment. We provide
dismantling services using our trucks and well-equipped,
professional crew anywhere in the United States. Please visit
our website, www.asterseating.com, or call 1-888-409-1414.
FOR SALE
First run movie theater. Vibrant Vermont college town.
Vaudeville stage, 3 screens, 298 seats, renovated. $850,000.
802-999-9077.
FOR SALE Independent owned & operated, eight-screen,
all stadium-seating theater complex located in suburban
Chicago. Completely renovated in 2004. Seating capacity
for 1,774 people within a 48,000-square-foot sqft building
on 5.32 acres. Preliminary site plan approval for expansion
of additional screens. Proximate to national/regional retail
and dining. Strong ticket and concession revenues. Excellent
business or investment opportunity. Contact Kevin Jonas at
305-631-6303 for details.
FIVE-PLEX, FULLY EQUIPPED AND OPERATIONAL:
$735,000, land, bldg., equip., NW Wisconsin. Priced
$50,000 below appraised value. 715-550-9601.
THEATER FOR RENT 1,500 seating capacity. No hanging
balconies. Largest single screen in Chicagoland. Over
500,000 potential patrons, serving NW side of Chicago and
suburbs. Contact dkms72@hotmail.com.
THEATERS FOR SALE Three screens (370 seats), North
Florida. First-run, no competition 60 miles. Additional large
multipurpose room (75 seats), with HD projector on 13.5-by-
7-foot screen for birthday parties, conferences, receptions
and café. Contact 850-371-0028.
HELP WANTED
GENERAL MANAGER IN TRAINING AT CARMIKE CIN-
EMAS All applicants must have prior managerial experience
in restaurant or theater, must be available to relocate, no
FOR SALE
3-screen theatre in Marshall,
MO. Owner will carry back
some financing. Contact
Dennis 816-407-7469
bankruptcy in past 7 years, pass a criminal/credit check. This
position requires working all holidays and weekends. Salary
position ($24K/yr start) with benefits. Email resumes to
tbauer@carmike.com, no phone calls or faxes. EOE.
PARTNER AND/OR EXPERIENCED GM NEEDED for
ground floor opportunity in Arizona. New and popular
“Brew and View” concept in outstanding area. Contact Stadiumtheatres@aol.com
GREAT ESCAPE THEATRES is a regional motion picture
exhibition company with 24 individual locations that
include 275 screens throughout the Midwestern United
States. Founded in 1997, Great Escape is one of the fastestgrowing
movie theater operators in the country. We are currently
seeking a motivated individual to fill our position as
the chief financial officer or vice president of finance and accounting.
Please send resumes to amccart@alianceent.com.
HELP improve movie-goer experiences and the industry, go
to movie-goer-rights.org or youtube.com/user/moviegoerrights
SERVICES
DULL FLAT PICTURE? RESTORE YOUR XENON REFLEC-
TORS! Ultraflat repolishes and recoats xenon reflectors.
Many reflectors available for immediate exchange. (ORC,
Strong, Christie, Xetron, others!) Ultraflat, 20306 Sherman
Way, Winnetka, CA 91306; 818-884-0184.
FROM DIRT TO OPENING DAY. 20-plus years of theater experience
with the know-how to get you going. 630-417-9792.
SEATING
AGGRANDIZE YOUR THEATER, auditorium, church or
school with quality used seating. We carry all makes of used
seats as well as some new seats. Seat parts are also available.
Please visit our website, www.asterseating.com, or call
888-409-1414.
ALLSTATE SEATING specializes in refurbishing, complete
painting, molded foam, tailor-made seat covers, installations
and removals. Please call for pricing and spare parts for all
types of theater seating. Boston, Mass.; 617-770-1112; fax:
617-770-1140.
DOLPHIN SEATING At www.dolphinseating.com, find today’s
best available new seating deals: 575-762-6468 Sales
Office.
THEATERS WANTED
WE’LL MANAGE YOUR THEATER OR SMALL CHAIN
FOR YOU. Industry veterans and current exhibitors with 40-
plus years’ experience. Will manage every aspect of operations
and maximize all profits for you. Call John LaCaze at
801-532-3300.
WELL-CAPITALIZED, PRIVATELY HELD, TOP 50 THE-
ATER CHAIN is looking to expand via theater acquisitions.
We seek profitable, first-run theater complexes with 6 to 14
screens located anywhere in the USA. Please call Mike at 320-
203-1003 ext.105 or email: acquisitions@uecmovies.com
76 BOXOFFICE DECEMBER 2010

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DATASAT DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT | 818.531.0003 | WWW.DATASATDIGITAL.COM
9631 TOPANGA CANYON PLACE | CHATSWORTH, CA 91311