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AUGUST <strong>2013</strong><br />
Harry Styles performs<br />
in the <strong>August</strong> concert film<br />
One Direction: This Is Us<br />
THE BEST<br />
IN CONCESSIONS<br />
40 UNDER 40<br />
PART II<br />
TOASTING<br />
CHAMPAIGN’S<br />
ART THEATER<br />
ROCK<br />
& REEL<br />
what the new crop of<br />
concert films tells us about<br />
the business of movies and music<br />
EXHIBITORS<br />
WORKING<br />
THROUGH<br />
NATO<br />
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AUG<br />
<strong>2013</strong><br />
VOL. 149 NO. 8<br />
Liam Paynew in the<br />
concert film<br />
one direction:<br />
this is us<br />
opening<br />
aug. 29, <strong>2013</strong><br />
26 SNACK TIME<br />
CONCESSIONS TAKE A HEALTHY STAND Exhibitors<br />
offer moviegoers low-cal alternatives to popcorn, soda,<br />
and candy PLUS THE GLOBAL CONCESSION STAND<br />
30 40 UNDER 40<br />
YOUNG GUNS In this second installment in a five-part<br />
series, BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> highlights eight executives under<br />
40 shaping the future of exhibition<br />
36 POWER 5<br />
CONCESSION Hungry? Thirsty? These five companies<br />
have got you covered<br />
42 THE BIG PICTURE<br />
ROCK & REEL What does the new crop of concert<br />
movies tell us about the music and movie industries<br />
today? PLUS THE INVASION OF THE TEEN IDOLS<br />
6 EXHIBITION BRIEFS<br />
The latest news from the exhibition industry<br />
12 EXECUTIVE SUITE<br />
Cinema strong: Exhibitors advance their businesses by working<br />
together through NATO<br />
14 NATO NEWS<br />
The power of unified grassroots efforts: Exhibitors work together<br />
to tackle legislative concerns<br />
18 TIMECODE<br />
The exhibitor has his say: A visit to the BoxOffice Vault where<br />
exhibitors from the heartland tell it like it was<br />
20 MARQUEE AWARD<br />
It takes a village: Champaign’s Art Theater pioneers the movie<br />
theater co-op<br />
24 SECRET WEAPON<br />
The urban revitalizer: Brenden Theatres’ Saul Trujillo cleans up theaters—<br />
and the streets<br />
48 COMING SOON<br />
2 Guns / Drift / Europa Report / The Spectacular Now / Percy Jackson: Sea<br />
of Monsters / Planes / Elysium / We’re the Millers / In a World … / Prince<br />
Avalanche / Kick-Ass 2 / Paranoia / Ain’t Them Bodies Saints / The Butler<br />
/ Jobs / The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones / The Grandmaster / The<br />
World’s End / You’re Next / Short Term 12 / Closed Circuit / Getaway<br />
November: Thor: The Dark World / The Wolf of Wall Street / The Hunger<br />
Games: Catching Fire<br />
Sneak Peeks: 12 Years a Slave / Divergent / Muppets Most Wanted<br />
56 BOOKING GUIDE<br />
64 CLASSIFIEDS<br />
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2 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
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AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 3
UPCOMING 3D MOVIES<br />
<strong>2013</strong><br />
AUG 7 FOX PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS<br />
AUG 9 DISNEY PLANES<br />
AUG 30 SONY / TRISTAR ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US<br />
SEP 20 SONY / SCREEN GEMS BATTLE OF THE YEAR<br />
SEP 20 WARNER BROS. THE WIZARD OF OZ 3D<br />
SEP 27 SONY / COLUMBIA CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2<br />
SEP 27 PICTUREHOUSE METALLICA THROUGH THE NEVER<br />
OCT 4 WARNER BROS. GRAVITY<br />
NOV 1 RELATIVITY MEDIA FREE BIRDS<br />
NOV 8 DISNEY THOR: THE DARK WORLD<br />
NOV 27 DISNEY FROZEN<br />
NOV 27 TBD POSTMAN PAT: THE MOVIE—YOU KNOW YOU’RE THE ONE<br />
DEC 13 WARNER BROS. THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG<br />
DEC 20 FOX WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: THE MOVIE 3D<br />
DEC 25 UNIVERSAL 47 RONIN<br />
2014<br />
JAN 17 OPEN ROAD THE NUT JOB<br />
JAN 17 WARNER BROS. SEVENTH SON<br />
JAN 24 LIONSGATE I, FRANKENSTEIN<br />
FEB 7 WARNER BROS. THE LEGO MOVIE<br />
FEB 21 SONY / TRISTAR POMPEII<br />
MAR 7 WARNER BROS. 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE<br />
MAR 7 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN<br />
APR 4 DISNEY CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER<br />
APR 11 FOX RIO 2<br />
APR 11 RELATIVITY STRETCH ARMSTRONG<br />
MAY 2 SONY/COLUMBIA THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2<br />
MAY 16 WARNER BROS. GODZILLA<br />
MAY 23 FOX X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST<br />
MAY 30 DISNEY THE GOOD DINOSAUR<br />
JUN 6 WARNER BROS. EDGE OF TOMORROW<br />
JUN 20 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2<br />
JUN 27 PARAMOUNT TRANSFORMERS 4<br />
JUL 2 DISNEY MALEFICENT<br />
JUL 18 FOX DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES<br />
4 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
JUL 18 DISNEY PLANES: FIRE AND RESCUE<br />
AUG 1 DISNEY GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY<br />
AUG 22 WEINSTEIN/DIMENSION SIN CITY: A DAME TO KILL FOR<br />
SEP 26 FOCUS THE BOXTROLLS<br />
NOV 7 DISNEY BIG HERO 6<br />
NOV 26 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION HOME<br />
DEC 12 DISNEY TOMORROWLAND<br />
DEC 17 WARNER BROS. THE HOBBIT: THERE AND BACK AGAIN<br />
DEC 19 UNIVERSAL UNTITLED MINIONS PROJECT IN 3D<br />
2015<br />
JAN 16 LIONSGATE NORM OF THE NORTH<br />
MAR 27 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION THE PENGUINS OF MADAGASCAR<br />
JUN 5 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION B.O.O.: BUREAU OF OTHERWORLDLY OPERATIONS<br />
JUN 19 DISNEY INSIDE OUT<br />
JUL 3 UNIVERSAL UNTITLED ILLUMINATION ANIMATED 3D PROJECT<br />
JUL 24 SONY / COLUMBIA THE SMURFS 3<br />
NOV 6 FOX UNTITLED PEANUTS FILM<br />
NOV 25 DISNEY FINDING DORY<br />
DEC 23 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION KUNG FU PANDA 3<br />
2016<br />
MAR 4 DISNEY UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 1<br />
MAR 18 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION MUMBAI MUSICAL<br />
JUN 17 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3<br />
JUN 17 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 1<br />
JUL 1 SONY / COLUMBIA ANGRY BIRDS<br />
JUL 15 FOX ANUBIS<br />
NOV 4 FOX / DREAMWORKS ANIMATION TROLLS<br />
NOV 23 DISNEY UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 2<br />
2017<br />
APR 7 FOX FERDINAND<br />
JUN 16 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 2<br />
NOV 22 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 3<br />
2018<br />
MAR 9 DISNEY NTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 3<br />
JUN 15 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 4<br />
NOV 21 DISNEY UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 4<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 5
edited by Annlee Ellingson<br />
MOVERS AND SHAKERS<br />
Greg Foster has been named CEO and senior executive vice president of Imax Entertainment.<br />
Before his promotion, he served as chairman and president. Foster will continue to report to<br />
Imax CEO Richard L. Gelfond.<br />
“For more than 12 years, Greg has played a crucial and strategic role at Imax Corp.,<br />
including increasing our access to top-level movies being produced in North America as well<br />
as around the globe,” says Gelfond. “As we look to expand both our global footprint and film<br />
slate, Greg’s relationships with filmmakers, studios, and exhibitors, as well as his understanding<br />
of quality, have been and will continue to be invaluable to Imax.”<br />
National Amusements has promoted Tad Jankowski (left)<br />
to executive vice president and Joe Mollo (below) to senior<br />
vice president of information technologies and chief information<br />
officer. Jankowski joined the circuit’s legal department<br />
in 1982. In his new role,<br />
in addition to continuing his<br />
duties as general counsel, he’ll<br />
be responsible for assisting in<br />
long-term strategic planning<br />
and overseeing the day-to-day<br />
affairs of the company. Mollo<br />
joined in 1990 as a manager<br />
of systems development. In his<br />
new position, he’ll continue to<br />
supervise datacenter operations<br />
worldwide, enterprise software development, information<br />
security and compliance, as well as lead the company’s agenda in<br />
integrating innovation and technology into all aspects of National<br />
Amusements’ operations.<br />
“Tad and Joe continue to rise among our executive team due<br />
to their contributions in helping the company expand its global<br />
reach,” says National Amusements president Shari Redstone. “Their<br />
insight and knowledge have helped us expand our footprint in the movie industry. We trust both<br />
of them to continue helping the company navigate challenges and achieve new milestones.”<br />
Carmike president and CEO David Passman (left) has<br />
received the <strong>2013</strong> Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the<br />
Year Award for the Southeast U.S. Region. The award in<br />
the Leadership category was presented at a black-tie gala<br />
awards banquet in June. Passman is now eligible for the<br />
National Entrepreneur of the Year Award, which will be<br />
presented later this year.<br />
“Carmike has been on a journey in recent years that has<br />
seen our organization make tremendous strides both financially<br />
and operationally,” Passman says. “The Ernst & Young<br />
Award is an acknowledgment of the tremendous team effort<br />
at Carmike as we have successfully transitioned to a growth<br />
mode focused on further expanding our theatrical circuit to<br />
300 locations and 3,000 screens. Prior to embarking on this<br />
expansion, we successfully completed our previous corporate<br />
goals of strengthening the company’s balance sheet and<br />
significantly improving theater-level operations, positioning<br />
us for future growth.”<br />
THE FALL OF EMPIRE<br />
n The Empire Company has sold off its Empire<br />
Theatres to rival exhibitors in Canada. The<br />
company has sold 26 cinemas to Toronto-based<br />
Cineplex and 20 more to Calgary, Alberta-based<br />
Landmark Cinemas. The deals will<br />
allow Empire to focus on its food retail business<br />
and related real-estate investments.<br />
“The decision to sell the business of Empire<br />
Theatres was a very difficult one as it has a long<br />
history with our company and is a great business<br />
with excellent employees who have worked<br />
hard over many years to build an attractive<br />
entertainment destination,” says Paul D. Sobey,<br />
president and CEO of Empire Company.<br />
Cineplex is buying 24 Empire theaters in<br />
Atlantic Canada, including 13 in Nova Scotia,<br />
six in New Brunswick, three in Newfoundland,<br />
and two on Prince Edward Island. In addition,<br />
the deal includes two Ontario locations in<br />
Whitby and Kanata. Cineplex will add 218<br />
screens to its chain for a cash purchase price of<br />
$200 million, subject to certain adjustments to<br />
be made at closing, and plans to invest in the<br />
acquired theaters, including possibly adding UltraAVX<br />
auditoriums, VIP cinemas, and Xscape<br />
Entertainment Centres to some locations.<br />
“This is a significant event for Cineplex, as<br />
the acquisition will provide our company with<br />
a truly national, coast-to-coast presence,” says<br />
Ellis Jacob, Cineplex president and CEO. “This<br />
acquisition is an excellent strategic fit for Cineplex.<br />
It provides us with a presence in Atlantic<br />
Canada, and it will enable us to leverage our<br />
existing businesses to maximize shareholder<br />
value.”<br />
Meanwhile, Landmark is buying 179<br />
screens in Ontario and Western Canada for $55<br />
million in cash and equity.<br />
DIGITAL NEARS ‘END GAME’<br />
n Some 90 percent of screens worldwide will<br />
be digitized by the end of the year, according<br />
to a Screen Digest report that says the global<br />
conversion to digital cinema is “approaching<br />
the end game.” At the end of last year, 69 percent<br />
of screens had been converted worldwide.<br />
North America led digitization with 84 percent<br />
of its screens converted, while Europe had 70<br />
percent, Asia Pacific 59 percent, the Middle<br />
East/Africa 41 percent, and Central/South<br />
America 41 percent. By the end of the first<br />
quarter this year, 94,638 screens were equipped<br />
with d-cinema, with another 5,500 outfitted<br />
with e-cinema in India. Some 20,000 are likely<br />
6 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
EXHIBITION BRIEFS<br />
POPCORN AND VINO<br />
n Alamo Drafthouse has beer on tap and now new<br />
signature wine by the glass and by the bottle inspired<br />
by Jonathan Demme’s 1991 Oscar-winning The Silence<br />
of the Lambs. The Cannibal Chianti is a DOCG wine from<br />
a vineyard between Florence and Sienna, and the Suit<br />
Yourself Pinot Grigio is a 2012 vintage with a mixture of<br />
fruit from California’s Central Cost and inland vineyards.<br />
The new vinos follow the Princess Bride-inspired wines<br />
that Alamo sold last year.<br />
“Even before we launched the Bottle of Wits series<br />
last year, we knew we had to reference what is in my<br />
opinion the most iconic wine moment in movie history,<br />
Hannibal Lecter’s now famous food-pairing advice,”<br />
says Alamo CEO and founder Tim League.<br />
The Silence of the Lambs wines are available at www.<br />
silenceofthelambswines.com and at Alamo Drafthouse<br />
locations. In addition, Cannibal Chianti and Suit Yourself<br />
Pinot Grigio have been featured at Silence of the Lambs<br />
feasts at select Alamo locations nationwide created by<br />
the Austin location’s chef Trish Eichelberger.<br />
to go digital by the end of the year, leaving fewer than 30,000 screens of<br />
the world’s 130,000 total to convert.<br />
ROOM WITH A VUE<br />
n European exhibitor Vue Entertainment has been sold to a couple of<br />
investors from a British commonwealth. Canadian investment groups<br />
OMERS Private Equity and Alberta Investment Management Corporation<br />
will buy the multiplex operator for $1.45 billion from private equity<br />
firm Doughty Hanson, which purchased Vue in 2010 for $700 million.<br />
Since then, Doughty Hanson also acquired Britain’s Apollo Cinemas,<br />
Germany’s second-largest exhibitor CinemaxX, and Poland’s second-largest<br />
circuit Multikino. The exhibitor also built new cinemas, including<br />
two of the United Kingdom’s highest-grossing cinemas: Vue Westfields<br />
in London and Stratford City. The expansions doubled the number of<br />
Vue theaters from 70 to 146 and nearly doubled its screens from 678 to<br />
1,321.<br />
“We are delighted to be embarking on the next phase of our journey<br />
with OPE and AIMCo, who share our vision of driving attractive growth<br />
and investment returns by consistently delivering excellent entertainment<br />
experience for our customers,” says Vue founder and CEO Tim Richards,<br />
who will retain equity in the company and continue to manage the<br />
chain. “As the company moves forward, I am confident that we will do so<br />
from a position of real strength. We will continue to build on this success<br />
by innovating, enhancing and growing the business through our continuing<br />
plan for organic growth supplemented by strategic acquisitions.”<br />
IMAX EXPANDS<br />
n Imax continues to expand across the globe with new theater deals in<br />
the United Kingdom, Berlin, Russia and India.<br />
The large-format firm has inked with Cineworld, the United Kingdom’s<br />
top chain, to add three Imax theater systems in new construction<br />
projects including Telford and Broughton. The deal will bring the<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 7
EXHIBITION BRIEFS<br />
PELICULAS POR<br />
SATELLITE<br />
Despicable Me 2 made<br />
history this summer, as<br />
Universal’s family flick<br />
was the first film to get<br />
wide distribution via<br />
satellite. Contenido Alternativo,<br />
which distributes<br />
alternative content to<br />
Latin American theaters,<br />
delivered the animated<br />
movie to 281 Cinepolis<br />
locations by satellite for<br />
the movie’s July 5 release.<br />
circuit’s total Imax footprint to 11 theaters.<br />
In addition, a giant screen will be installed in<br />
the iconic CineStar Sony Centre multiplex at<br />
Potsdamer Platz in the heart of Berlin.<br />
Moreover, Imax has pacted with Formula<br />
Kino for an Imax theater in its upcoming<br />
multiplex in St. Petersburg, bringing the<br />
Russian exhibitor’s total Imax commitment to<br />
five theaters. New Imax partner Kinomir will<br />
add a giant screen to its new complex in the<br />
city of Barnaul. And India’s largest chain, PVR,<br />
has co-launched a new cinema in Mumbai with<br />
Imax—the companies’ second such collaboration<br />
after last year’s bow of an Imax theater in<br />
Bangalore.<br />
IT’S A BIRD! IT’S A PLANE! IT’S A<br />
SUPERTICKET!<br />
n In a first-of-its-kind deal, Cineplex Entertainment<br />
has pacted with four Hollywood<br />
studios to offer bundled SuperTickets that<br />
allow moviegoers to buy a home-video version<br />
of a film at the same time they purchase a ticket<br />
to see it in a theater. Under the program, customers<br />
who opt for the souped-up ducat get a<br />
voucher that they can redeem for an UltraViolet<br />
digital download when the movie is released<br />
for home viewing, which is often before the<br />
DVD and Blu-ray release date. The preorders<br />
also may come with added-value offerings<br />
such as bonus SCENE points, exclusive extras,<br />
additional footage, cast interviews, and special<br />
offers on related titles.<br />
“This is the most convenient and innovative<br />
way to purchase a movie in Canada,” says Pat<br />
Marshall, vice president of communications<br />
and investor relations at Cineplex. “Buy it<br />
once, watch it endlessly, on a number of devices.<br />
SuperTicket makes the process of buying<br />
and enjoying a movie in-theater, at-home or<br />
on-the-go even easier. “<br />
The first four studios to participate in the<br />
initiative are Warner Bros., Sony, Paramount,<br />
and Universal. The first SuperTickets were sold<br />
for Pacific Rim for $19.99 for standard-definition<br />
digital download and $24.99 for high-definition.<br />
The move follows a similar experiment in<br />
the United States for World War Z. Paramount<br />
and Regal teamed on a $50 Mega Ticket that<br />
included an advance screening, an HD digital<br />
copy of the movie, custom RealD 3D glasses,<br />
a limited-edition full-size poster, and a small<br />
popcorn. The Mega Ticket was offered in five<br />
theaters in Los Angeles, San Diego, Houston,<br />
Philadelphia, and Atlanta.<br />
SINO-AMERICAN ADVERTISING<br />
n American advertisers can now reach Chinese<br />
audiences and vice versa through a new advertising<br />
cooperation and fee agreement between<br />
NCM Media Networks and Beijing China<br />
Times Media Advertising Co. Under the deal,<br />
the two cinema advertising companies will<br />
work together to offer international brands in<br />
their respective countries access to movie audiences<br />
in the United States and China.<br />
For American advertisers looking to target<br />
consumers in the second-largest movie market<br />
in the world, NCM now offers cinema-advertising<br />
inventory through China Times’ theater<br />
network, including more than 200 Wanda<br />
Cinemas and other leading circuit affiliates<br />
across China. For Chinese advertisers interested<br />
in reaching U.S. audiences, China Times can<br />
now help bring their brands to the big screen in<br />
America across NCM’s Media Networks.<br />
“Many of our national advertising clients<br />
are international brands, so this is a unique opportunity<br />
for us to be able to help them or their<br />
media agency reach the same highly engaged,<br />
enthusiastic movie audiences in China that they<br />
8 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
EXHIBITION BRIEFS<br />
do here in the U.S.,” says Cliff Marks, president<br />
of sales and marketing at NCM Media<br />
Networks. “This new arrangement also creates<br />
a conduit for Chinese companies that would<br />
like to reach American moviegoers through our<br />
NCM network.”<br />
Atmos films to more than 50. More audiences<br />
in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa will be<br />
able to enjoy an engaging and lifelike cinema<br />
audio experience with Dolby Atmos, beyond<br />
pure channel-based formats like 5.1, 7.1, or<br />
even 11.1, that places them right in the center<br />
of the action.”<br />
More than 45 titles have been announced or<br />
released in Dolby Atmos since the format’s debut<br />
with Brave last year. Upcoming movies that<br />
will be available in Atmos include Percy Jackson:<br />
Sea of Monsters, Elysium, and Gravity.<br />
ATMOS-PHERIC PRESSURE<br />
n Dolby Atmos has reached more than 200<br />
screens worldwide. The audio company has<br />
inked a 20-screen deal with Regal to put the<br />
3D sound system in its RPX: Regal Premium<br />
Experience theaters. In addition, Dolby has<br />
pacted with Odeon and UCI Cinemas Group LUXE IS THE REALD DEAL<br />
to equip 27 of its flagship iSense screens with n Regal RPX. AMC ETX. Cinemark XD.<br />
the immersive technology in Austria, Germany, Exhibitors offer moviegoers a cornucopia of<br />
Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. premium theater experiences.<br />
And the San Francisco firm has signed up two<br />
But RealD<br />
of the world’s largest exhibitors, securing 37 wants to cut through<br />
screens from SPI Cinemas in India and establishing<br />
the confusion with<br />
Atmos as the standard audio system for a single premium<br />
Cinemaline’s X-Land-brand giant screens in large-format brand<br />
China.<br />
dubbed “LUXE: A<br />
“In just six months, we’ve seen the number<br />
RealD Experience.”<br />
of Dolby Atmos screens worldwide grow The initiative will<br />
fivefold, from 40 to more than 200,” says ensure minimum<br />
Andreas Spechtler, regional vice president, standards including<br />
EMEA for Dolby. “And in <strong>2013</strong> alone, we’ve<br />
massive screens, ultra-bright 2D and 3D,<br />
announced 27 new titles, including films enveloping audio, and luxury seating. The<br />
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Spain, bringing the total number of Dolby premium screens as well as new auditoriums<br />
upgraded to meet technology specifications.<br />
The LUXE label will be available exclusively to<br />
RealD licensees, but there will be no limit on<br />
the content that exhibitors can screen.<br />
“Disparate premium large-format brands<br />
have limited the potential of today’s high-end<br />
cinema offerings,” says Joseph Peixoto, president<br />
of worldwide cinema at RealD. “With an<br />
alphabet-soup of brands and differing amenities<br />
in each auditorium, moviegoers have been left<br />
unable to truly equate their PLF experience<br />
with a single offering. LUXE: A RealD Experience<br />
intends to solve this puzzle by unifying<br />
the exhibition community under one brand<br />
with one set of industry-leading technology<br />
standards for an exceptional entertainment<br />
experience moviegoers<br />
will seek out for<br />
years to come.”<br />
LUXE auditoriums<br />
are expected to<br />
launch this winter<br />
in Europe at Karo<br />
Film in Russia and<br />
Arena Cinemas in<br />
Bulgaria, which<br />
plans to use the<br />
brand in seven of its largest auditoriums, with<br />
six new screens to follow. RealD then projects<br />
expansion of the concept into other territories<br />
around the world.<br />
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TM<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 9
EXHIBITION BRIEFS<br />
CINÉPOLIS GETS REALD<br />
n RealD has expanded its deal with Latin<br />
America’s biggest exhibitor by 50 percent.<br />
Cinépolis has extended its July 2008 agreement<br />
with the 3D technology provider to<br />
equip 400 more auditoriums across Latin<br />
America, the United States, and India in the<br />
next 12 months. The newly signed exclusive<br />
multiyear agreement brings Cinépolis’ RealD<br />
screens to 1,200.<br />
“Through this exclusive global relationship,<br />
we expect to equip at least 40 percent of our<br />
auditoriums with RealD 3D so we can better<br />
accommodate the many 3D titles being released<br />
during the summer and holiday seasons<br />
while assuring the best available 3D experience<br />
for our customers,” says Cinépolis COO<br />
Miguel Mier Esparza.<br />
MOVIE HOUSE NEWS<br />
n Regal has opened the doors to the Issaquah Highlands Stadium 12 Imax & RPX<br />
theater (above) in Washington with the Sony Entertainment Access System for deaf,<br />
hard-of-hearing, blind, or low-vision moviegoers; a premium RPX screen; large-format<br />
Imax auditorium; digital projection; stadium seating; and high-back rocking<br />
chairs. n Carmike has unveiled a new entertainment complex in the Apple Blossom<br />
Mall in Winchester, Va., with 12 screens including a BigD auditorium; high-back luxury<br />
chairs; wall-to-wall screens with digital cinema and sound; an upscale lobby and<br />
multiple concession areas featuring Coca-Cola Freestyle; and one-stop ticketing and<br />
concession stations. n Cinemark will build a new 10-screen, all-digital movie theater<br />
at the River Valley Mall in Lancaster, Ohio, featuring the company’s Cinemark Next-<br />
Gen design concept with wall-to-wall, ceiling-to-floor screens; 4K digital projection<br />
and RealD 3D capability; enhanced sound systems; and a Cinemark XD: Extreme<br />
Digital Cinema premier auditorium. The circuit has also purchased 10 acres of land<br />
for a new 14-screen NextGen theater in Roanoke, Texas. n The newly renovated Cineplex<br />
Cinemas Empress Walk in Toronto has reopened with 10 screens, including a<br />
digital Imax auditorium; a new box office, two party rooms, and a Cinescape gaming<br />
area; and the addition of a new concession area. n National Amusements has opened<br />
the Showcase SuperLux at The Street in Chestnut Hill, Mass., with six intimate theaters<br />
with luxury seating; seat-side dining; a restaurant-quality menu; full wine, beer,<br />
and cocktail service; an on-site cocktail lounge; and Davio’s Cucina restaurant. n<br />
Mexican exhibitor Cinépolis is further expanding into the U.S. market with a luxury<br />
complex in San Francisco that will open in 2014. n The TCL Chinese 6 in Hollywood<br />
has added a part-time comedy club called Inside Jokes in one of its auditoriums<br />
that has been remodeled to include sofas and tables; patrons will be able to order food<br />
and drinks from Solo Tapa, a Spanish restaurant in the lobby of the theater, and hang<br />
out in a lounge on the second floor.<br />
AMC CARES<br />
n AMC has launched the first AMC Cares<br />
Charitable Fund Annual Grant process.<br />
Through July 31, nonprofit organizations with<br />
a focus on enhancing the lives of children can<br />
apply for grants that may include cash awards,<br />
national onscreen advertising, annual passes,<br />
theater screenings, or individual movie passes.<br />
Recipients will be selected by a committee of<br />
AMC associates with the help and support of<br />
the Tulsa Community Foundation.<br />
“We developed this annual grant process to<br />
help address the many requests for monetary<br />
support and other in-kind donations we<br />
receive on a daily basis,” says Carla Sanders,<br />
vice president of benefits. “We are specifically<br />
aiming to strengthen AMC communities<br />
throughout the country with investments in<br />
programs that positively impact the areas of<br />
arts and culture, health and human services,<br />
education and employment.”<br />
In the meantime, the exhibitor has announced<br />
its AMC Summer Nights program,<br />
which will screen some of the past year’s<br />
biggest movies for just $3. A portion of<br />
the proceeds will benefit the Will Rogers<br />
Institute, the Autism Society of America, and<br />
Autism Speaks. Starting June 24 for eight<br />
weeks, AMC moviegoers can see blockbusters<br />
on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday<br />
nights at 10 at more than 200 AMC locations<br />
nationwide. Titles include The Dark Knight<br />
Rises, The Hunger Games and Oz: The Great<br />
and Powerful.<br />
“AMC Summer Nights combines three<br />
things moviegoers love: big movies on the big<br />
screen, community support, and exceptional<br />
value,” says Elizabeth Frank, executive vice<br />
president and chief content and programming<br />
officer. “We have eight weeks of blockbusters<br />
lined up for our guests, so they can afford and<br />
enjoy extra moviegoing with their friends.<br />
Together, we anticipate raising significant<br />
funds for the Will Rogers Institute and<br />
our autism organization partners.”<br />
10 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
EXHIBITION BRIEFS<br />
n More than a million users have downloaded the Regal<br />
App since its launch last year, and the circuit is marking<br />
the occasion by introducing new features to the mobile<br />
software. The Regal App now partners with NCM Media<br />
Networks to integrate FirstLook Sync during Regal’s<br />
preshow presentation. Users can enjoy enhanced content,<br />
special offers, games, and more right on their phones.<br />
Regal FirstLook Sync also helpfully reminds guests to turn<br />
off their mobile devices when the movie trailers start.<br />
REGAL APP-TITUDE<br />
milestone,” says Misty Cunningham, Regal’s vice president<br />
of digital, loyalty, and promotions. “Our audiences<br />
are among the most loyal moviegoers in the industry,<br />
and this enhanced app offers added benefits every time<br />
they go to a movie.”<br />
The upgraded app also allows Regal Crown Club<br />
members to create, manage, and check their membership<br />
accounts, and a QR mobile code enables Regal box<br />
office and concession stands to scan the loyalty cards<br />
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AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 11
EXECUTIVE<br />
SUITE<br />
CINEMA STRONG<br />
Exhibitors advance their businesses by working<br />
together through NATO<br />
by John Fithian,<br />
NATO President<br />
n I sat down for a chat recently with a newcomer<br />
to our wonderful business of motion<br />
picture theatrical exhibition. I wanted to learn<br />
about his business goals and to encourage him<br />
to join our association. He wanted to know<br />
why he should join. Specifically, he asked me<br />
to describe the five most significant and recent<br />
accomplishments of NATO and its members.<br />
It was a really good question. My first<br />
instinct was to tell him there are dozens of<br />
things our association has accomplished. But of<br />
course, he anticipated that instinct by limiting<br />
his question to five responses. These are the five<br />
topics I selected.<br />
NATO HAS HELPED<br />
TO PRESERVE THE<br />
THEATRICAL RELEASE<br />
WINDOW<br />
Preservation of the<br />
theatrical release window<br />
has long constituted a<br />
priority for NATO. The<br />
association tracks the time<br />
between theatrical release<br />
and home-video release<br />
for all studio films and<br />
computes averages and<br />
trends based on the data.<br />
NATO discusses our data<br />
with distributors. NATO<br />
also notifies members of<br />
any film with a theatrical<br />
release window of less<br />
than 90 days. NATO<br />
members use our valuable<br />
information in their private negotiations with<br />
distributors.<br />
Very short release windows are synonymous<br />
in the public’s mind with lower-quality films<br />
that underperformed in theaters. If windows<br />
collapse below an acceptable time frame, then<br />
Hollywood squanders the very quality that<br />
makes movies such a successful out-of-home<br />
entertainment experience: their panache, glamour,<br />
and uniqueness.<br />
In March 2011, the media reported that<br />
four major studios planned to release certain<br />
films to the home 60 days after their theatrical<br />
release in “premium” video on demand (VOD).<br />
NATO’s members believed that this endeavor<br />
constituted a substantial threat to the viability<br />
of exhibition. NATO raised concerns, both<br />
publicly and privately, about the wisdom of<br />
shortening the theatrical release window to<br />
address the studios’ difficulties in the home<br />
Instead of fighting<br />
over release<br />
dates, distributors<br />
and exhibitors in<br />
North America are<br />
developing ways<br />
to jointly market<br />
both theatrical<br />
and home movie<br />
sales without<br />
cannibalizing the<br />
theatrical window.<br />
market. NATO pointed out the strength of<br />
theatrical exhibition—revenues had grown in<br />
four of the last six years—and that early-to-thehome<br />
VOD and day-and-date releases would<br />
import the problems of the home-entertainment<br />
market into the theatrical market without<br />
fixing those problems.<br />
In the end, the premium VOD experiment<br />
was considered a failure, and the endeavor was<br />
abandoned by the four major studios involved.<br />
Today, instead of fighting over release dates,<br />
distributors and exhibitors in North America are<br />
developing ways to jointly market both theatrical<br />
and home movie sales without cannibalizing the<br />
theatrical window.<br />
NATO HAS<br />
SUBSTANTIALLY<br />
STRENGTHENED<br />
EXHIBITORS’<br />
RELATIONSHIP<br />
WITH THE CREATIVE<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
One critically important<br />
component of NATO’s response<br />
to the PVOD threat<br />
involved outreach to the<br />
creative community. NATO<br />
and our members have long<br />
maintained relationships<br />
with distributors and vendors,<br />
but the connection<br />
between exhibition and the<br />
creative community had<br />
been somewhat tenuous.<br />
Given our shared interest<br />
in the theatrical experience, NATO’s board<br />
determined that the creative community should<br />
be encouraged to speak out.<br />
After an involved campaign of public statements<br />
and dozens of private meetings, many<br />
leading directors and producers responded to<br />
NATO’s call and questioned the PVOD plans<br />
in an open letter with NATO. The letter was<br />
the first public step in an ongoing joint effort<br />
by theater owners and the creative community<br />
to air the concerns of all movie-industry stakeholders<br />
in the release window issue. NATO’s<br />
goal is to work with Hollywood to develop<br />
the best method for the home-entertainment<br />
market without damaging the already profitable<br />
moviegoing experience.<br />
NATO’s work with the creative community<br />
continues today and has expanded beyond<br />
the issue of theatrical windows. For example,<br />
NATO is working with leading talent agents<br />
and their clients to develop mechanisms to<br />
expand theatrical release to a wider range of<br />
movies in new “direct distribution” models.<br />
NATO HAS GUIDED THE INDUSTRY TO<br />
A SUCCESSFUL CONCLUSION OF THE<br />
TRANSITION TO DIGITAL CINEMA<br />
NATO has played an active role in educating<br />
cinema owners and participating in the<br />
development of worldwide standards for digital<br />
cinema. NATO has worked with system<br />
providers, system developers, exhibitors, and<br />
studio personnel to create standardized and<br />
certified system requirements. These standards<br />
help to advance the quality levels of our<br />
members’ shows and to drive costs down by<br />
promoting interoperability and compatibility.<br />
In addition to technical standards, NATO<br />
also helped develop the business model that<br />
enabled the transition with a fairer sharing<br />
of costs—the virtual print fee (VPF) model.<br />
NATO and our members knew that studios<br />
stood to save billions in print costs alone. No<br />
such easily quantified benefit would come to<br />
exhibition. Granted, digital cinema brings<br />
consistent quality to the moviegoing experience<br />
and opens up multiple avenues for alternative<br />
content and 3D. Nonetheless, the studios’<br />
immediate business benefit was clearer at the<br />
outset. That is why NATO and our members<br />
did not rush into the digital conversion but<br />
insisted that a fair model be developed. Under<br />
the VPF model, studios are paying the majority<br />
of the costs of the transition—saving exhibitors<br />
more than $1 billion domestically and much<br />
more around the globe.<br />
NATO also worked to ensure that our<br />
members of all sizes effectively navigated the<br />
digital transition. Critical to the mission of<br />
ensuring a smooth and fair digital transition is<br />
NATO’s administration of the Cinema Buying<br />
Group (CBG), an organization of hundreds<br />
of independent exhibitors in the United States<br />
and Canada that negotiated an affordable<br />
digital deal for CBG members. The last piece<br />
of the VPF puzzle came to fruition in early<br />
<strong>2013</strong>, when NATO and our CBG successfully<br />
completed the negotiation of a VPF model for<br />
our drive-in members.<br />
Today, approximately 90 percent of the<br />
screens in the United States and Canada have<br />
been converted to digital projection. The movies<br />
and the alternative product look great, and<br />
the VPF fees are rolling in. We’re still working<br />
on the few thousand screens that are left to be<br />
converted.<br />
12 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
WORKING CLOSELY WITH THE MPAA, NATO HAS<br />
PRESERVED A VOLUNTARY RATING SYSTEM AND AVOIDED<br />
GOVERNMENT CENSORSHIP<br />
The voluntary movie rating system is sponsored by the Motion<br />
Picture Association of America (MPAA) and NATO to provide parents<br />
with advance information on films, enabling them to make their own<br />
judgments about which movies their children should see. NATO provides<br />
members with brochures, five different styles of posters, placards,<br />
“We ID” stickers, and an instructional DVD to educate employees on<br />
the rating system in the United States. June is Ratings Awareness Month,<br />
and NATO notifies its members to restock materials and train their<br />
staff. NATO also asks that each member company designate a Ratings<br />
Compliance Officer to serve as the point person for all rating system<br />
issues. NATO also participates in the appeals process when movie studios<br />
are dissatisfied with the rating assigned by the ratings board, and we were<br />
very active in the recent overhaul of rules governing the rating system.<br />
NATO and our members make these efforts because it is the right<br />
thing to do for America’s parents. Equally important, the voluntary<br />
system serves to prevent the government from censoring our content and<br />
regulating our business activities.<br />
The industry’s support of the rating system is more important than<br />
ever now as the conversation of violence in the movies has arisen following<br />
the recent tragic events in Newtown, Conn. NATO has worked directly<br />
with Vice President Biden and members of Congress to ensure that<br />
the voluntary movie rating system would not fall prey to any misguided<br />
legislative considerations of violence in the country. NATO’s members<br />
agreed to play new PSAs regarding the rating system to draw the attention<br />
of parents to the reasons each rating is given. NATO also benefitted<br />
from the release of the most recent mystery shopper survey, conducted by<br />
the Federal Trade Commission prior to the tragedy at Newtown but released<br />
thereafter. The report showed even stronger ratings enforcement by<br />
America’s theater owners than had been the case in earlier years. Though<br />
the legislative debate is not yet complete, the odds are that the voluntary<br />
rating system will be preserved.<br />
ALSO IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE MPAA, NATO HAS<br />
EFFECTIVELY REDUCED THE INCIDENCE OF MOVIE THEFT<br />
One of NATO’s top priorities is fighting movie theft (piracy). According<br />
to a study commissioned by the MPAA, movie theft takes hundreds of<br />
millions of dollars a year from U.S. cinema ticket sales and costs the film<br />
industry billions worldwide. NATO’s Movie Theft Task Force, comprised<br />
of security experts from exhibition and distribution companies, meets biannually<br />
to discuss best practices and innovations to improve our collective<br />
fight against movie theft. Increased coordination among theaters, studios,<br />
film labs, and law enforcement is one of our highest priorities. As acts of<br />
movie theft migrate into international territories, working with our Latin<br />
American, European, and Asian counterparts has become crucial.<br />
All domestic NATO exhibitor companies receive a weekly “North<br />
American Camcord Source Report” alerting them to domestic hotspots<br />
and a quarterly report on movie theft trends and data. And NATO works<br />
with the MPAA to offer the Take Action! program that rewards theater<br />
employees for stopping movie theft. Since 2004, the program has awarded<br />
more than $238,000 to more than 550 eligible employees.<br />
Our efforts to combat movie theft are working, as the incidence of<br />
camcorder theft in the United States had been cut by half. Every day that<br />
a good-quality, stolen movie doesn’t make it to the Internet is a day of<br />
preserved sales for cinema operators.<br />
Though there are many, many other NATO initiatives that advance<br />
the cause of the NATO members who operate in all 50 states and in 65<br />
countries around the world, these five initiatives have been crucial.<br />
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT NATO, PLEASE<br />
CONTACT OUR DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP, DAVID BINET,<br />
AT DB@NATODC.COM.<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 13
NATO<br />
NEWS<br />
Exhibitors work together to tackle legislative concerns<br />
THE POWER OF<br />
UNIFIED GRASSROOTS<br />
EFFORTS<br />
by Belinda Judson,<br />
Executive Director, Mid-States NATO<br />
n One of the most important functions of the NATO-affiliated<br />
regional units is advocacy on the state and local levels. Legislative<br />
activity at state capitols and city halls throughout the<br />
country has increased dramatically over the last several years.<br />
That means it is more crucial than ever to have the active<br />
regional units in place to address legislation at the state and<br />
local levels of government.<br />
But NATO’s regional associations cannot be successful in<br />
addressing legislative matters without the unified grassroots<br />
efforts of exhibitors both large and small. Each has an important<br />
contribution to make in the process. While the large<br />
circuits representing multiple locations touch lawmakers in<br />
many districts, the independents often have personal relationships<br />
with their representatives. Both influences are needed<br />
when trying to protect the best interests of exhibitors.<br />
And while the majority of the outreach is to fight onerous<br />
legislation, there are times when we advocate for something<br />
that will actually benefit the industry. Two recent victories<br />
are great examples of how teamwork between exhibitors and<br />
regional leadership (and industry partners in one case) can<br />
result in positive legislation that will help exhibitors doing<br />
business in Texas and Tennessee.<br />
TEXAS EXHIBITORS SAVE<br />
MILLIONS IN TAXES<br />
n Major Texas circuits AMC Theatres,<br />
Cinemark, and Regal joined<br />
together with independent exhibitor<br />
members of NATO of Texas in a<br />
lobbying effort that has resulted in<br />
an important change to the state’s franchise tax rules. Working closely<br />
with Ryan LLC, an Austin-based tax consulting firm, the newly formed<br />
coalition of exhibitors was successful in helping to secure passage of<br />
House Bill 500, which will save Texas theater operators approximately $3<br />
million a year in franchise taxes.<br />
Sponsored by Harvey Hilderbran, chairman of the House Ways &<br />
Means Committee, HB 500 amends the franchise tax law to erase any<br />
doubt that theaters may treat film rental paid to studios and distributors<br />
as a cost of goods sold before computing their Texas franchise tax. The<br />
state’s franchise tax is based on a business’ margin, with certain businesses<br />
being allowed to subtract the cost of goods sold from total revenue to<br />
reach their taxable margin. As a general rule, costs associated with sales<br />
of personal property are part of the cost of goods sold calculation. Although<br />
the original law clearly allowed theaters to reduce their margin by<br />
amounts paid for the right to exhibit movies, the Texas comptroller did<br />
not agree. Instead, the comptroller limited the right of theater operators<br />
to use these expenses as cost of goods sold, thus significantly increasing<br />
their tax liability.<br />
When the comptroller began assessing tax on ticket receipts without<br />
an offset for film rental costs, Brooks Rainer, vice president of tax for<br />
AMC, called together representatives from Cinemark, Regal, and NATO<br />
of Texas to discuss ways in which a coalition of theater owners could<br />
be organized to address the issue. Because of the comptroller’s strong<br />
position on the matter, it was determined by the coalition members that<br />
it would have to be taken to the Texas Legislature if any relief was to be<br />
realized. A lobbying cost budget was established, and Ryan LLC, was<br />
retained to bring the matter before the House and begin the legislative<br />
effort.<br />
To educate the members of the House Ways & Means and Senate<br />
Finance Committees, Syd Hall and Byron Berkley with NATO of Texas,<br />
Vatoni Ragsdale with Cinemark, Martin Hornsby from Alamo Drafthouse,<br />
and Rainer and Chris Cox with AMC joined in meetings with<br />
committee members and their staffs over a two-week period. During the<br />
two weeks of marathon meetings, Hall, owner of Rio Entertainment,<br />
also appeared before the House Ways & Means Committee to testify<br />
on behalf of exhibitors, emphasizing the importance of tax relief to the<br />
survival of small-town theaters in the state. A follow-up communication<br />
effort was initiated after the committee meetings, and hundreds of emails<br />
and letters were sent to senators and representatives by coalition members<br />
stressing the need to clarify the law for theaters and urging their support.<br />
Thanks to the commitment and efforts of the coalition and its members,<br />
House Bill 500 cleared both the House and the Senate and was signed<br />
into law by the governor on June 15. Passage of the bill now allows movie<br />
theaters to reduce their taxable margin by subtracting film rental paid for<br />
the rights to show movies as well as any expenses related to exhibition, including<br />
projection equipment. Its passage is an example of how all levels of<br />
the exhibition community can work together to overcome unfair legislation<br />
and initiate beneficial changes through new legislation. As many have said<br />
before, “no one of us is as strong as all of us.”<br />
RATING SYSTEM IN TENNES-<br />
SEE NOW COMPATIBLE WITH<br />
THE REST OF THE COUNTRY<br />
n At times when addressing state<br />
legislation, it not only takes the joint<br />
efforts of the regional association<br />
and exhibitors but also requires<br />
help from some industry partners. Often, as was the case this time, that<br />
partner is the MPAA. (continued on page 16)<br />
14 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
NATO NEWS<br />
For more than 25 years, there was a statute<br />
in Tennessee that prohibited a minor 17 years<br />
of age and under to access an R-rated motion<br />
picture in a theater without parental accompaniment.<br />
This statute was problematic for both<br />
exhibitors and patrons. Exhibitors enforced<br />
the Tennessee statute in order to comply with<br />
state law. But patrons were confused by the age<br />
difference between the Tennessee law and the<br />
educational ratings materials that conformed<br />
to the ratings language for every other state.<br />
Often that led to irate parents of 17-year-olds<br />
who thought that they should be able to see<br />
an R-rated film. And it certainly impacted the<br />
grosses for R-rated films in Tennessee.<br />
While it was unconstitutional to codify<br />
a voluntary ratings system, the Tennessee<br />
statute was not challenged in court as it had<br />
never been enforced by officials in Tennessee.<br />
However, in recent years, local law officials in<br />
several counties started aggressively addressing<br />
enforcement of the statute. The MPAA and<br />
exhibitors felt it was time to seek legislative<br />
relief and get the statute changed to conform to<br />
the rating system.<br />
MPAA’s Tennessee advocate, Tony Thompson,<br />
led the way on the ground and worked<br />
very hard to line up support from state legislators.<br />
Vans Stevenson and Brian Cohen from<br />
the MPAA provided support and coordinated<br />
the efforts with Thompson and NATO of Tennessee.<br />
And leadership from Malco, Regal, and<br />
Carmike reached out to lawmakers to educate<br />
them on why the change was necessary for their<br />
businesses. Although Thompson definitely did<br />
the heavy lifting, it took all working together to<br />
ensure a successful outcome.<br />
While the project took three years, it is very<br />
pleasing to report that this May, Governor Bill<br />
Haslam signed legislation into law that brings<br />
the rating system in Tennessee in sync with the<br />
rest of the country.<br />
As you can see, the coming together of<br />
NATO regional affiliates, exhibitors, and<br />
industry partners has proven to be an effective<br />
way to handle legislative concerns. However,<br />
we cannot be effective unless we are aware of<br />
the issues that need to be addressed. As you<br />
can imagine, it is difficult to keep up-to-date<br />
on proposed legislation in all 50 states. An<br />
even greater, if not impossible, challenge is<br />
to identify local initiatives that may be of<br />
concern to exhibitors. Please help your regional<br />
associations by being their eyes and ears in your<br />
states and communities so we can all assist one<br />
another in protecting and promoting the best<br />
interests of exhibition.<br />
NOW YOU CIMA<br />
Custom sign work from the marquee<br />
to the restroom by Annlee Ellingson<br />
The restroom sign is perhaps the most utilitarian element<br />
of theater design, but Cima Network kind of specializes<br />
in those modest boy and girl silhouettes.<br />
“They really are a good opportunity to be somewhat playful<br />
and out of the ordinary,” says Ken Olschewske, director of<br />
environmental branding for the firm.<br />
Restrooms are just one of the 25 sign locations Cima considers<br />
when it’s designing signage for movie theaters.<br />
“We’re designing signs from the macro to the micro,”<br />
Olschewske says. “We’re paying attention to the main entrance<br />
sign as someone’s walking into the theater, how they’re<br />
navigating, how that experiential flow happens, and how to<br />
direct them to the key revenue areas”—that is, concessions.<br />
The goal is to make the theater environment comfortable,<br />
enjoyable, and devoid of confusion, so moviegoers are “not<br />
even thinking about it from the time they walk in the door.”<br />
That goes for getting audiences out of the theater too, as<br />
they emerge from darkened auditoriums, slightly disoriented<br />
as their eyes adjust to the light.<br />
Cima was formed in 2008, but the company’s principals have<br />
been working with Regal for a decade and counts the Shaq<br />
CityPlex 12 in Newark, N.J., and the Pearl Theatre 8 in Frackville,<br />
Pa., among its custom projects. The firm works hand-inhand<br />
with exhibitors, developers, and architects “to realize<br />
their vision,” Olschewske says.<br />
Starting with the marquee and working in, Cima makes sure<br />
its signage works with the architectural environment. “We<br />
play it all the way down to the restroom sign.”<br />
www.cimanetwork.com<br />
16 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
TIME<br />
CODE<br />
THE EXHIBITOR<br />
HAS HIS SAY<br />
A visit to the BoxOffice Vault where exhibitors<br />
from the heartland tell it like it was<br />
compiled by Ally Bacon<br />
FRANCIS GOES TO THE RACES<br />
Donald O’Connor, Francis the Talking Mule n I don’t know why<br />
Hollywood is so obsessed with liquor drinking that they even have to<br />
get the mules drunk in a picture now. In a small town, the almost ever-present<br />
drinking in pictures is a thorn in the exhibitor’s side, in my<br />
opinion. –Walt Rasmussen, Star Theatre, Parkersburg, Iowa, small-town/<br />
rural patronage (Jan. 12, 1952)<br />
THE CRIMSON PIRATE<br />
Burt Lancaster, Nick Cravat n Haven’t written in some time as I<br />
haven’t had anything of particular value to say to my fellow theater<br />
managers. However, we have just finished running a picture that showmen<br />
should see before selling or at least should be tipped off about.<br />
The Crimson Pirate is a picture that is different and much better than<br />
it looks. The trailer, ads, and posters make it seem just another pirate<br />
picture. Travesty, satire, burlesque—call it what you may, it’s rich with<br />
humor. My best friends, the customers, ate it up like popcorn. If more<br />
of them had known what it was, more would have been here. Word-ofmouth<br />
did pretty well, but I found what I had too late to change the<br />
angle on the advertising. The producers were right, of course, but the<br />
ad boys sure missed the boat. Tops for a sneak preview. –Ed Schoenthal,<br />
World Theatre, Kearney, Neb.—1,733 miles to Boston, 1,733 miles to San<br />
Francisco (about as far away from TV as you can get!)—small town/rural<br />
patronage (Feb. 14, 1953)<br />
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA<br />
Stewart Granger, James Mason n Doubled this with One Night in the<br />
Tropics. Good weather, calendar program mailing by the thousands,<br />
payday weekend and the fact that folks have paid up their Christmas<br />
debts plus a good program, helped to make this one of the best Sundays<br />
since Christmas. –Arden A. Richards, Craigsville Indoor-Outdoor<br />
Year-Round Drive-In Theatre, Craigsville, W.Va., coal-mining/farming<br />
patronage (Apr. 24, 1954)<br />
GENTLEMAN PREFER BLONDES<br />
Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe n Average for preferred playing time,<br />
above average for a musical. Marilyn Monroe has box office appeal.<br />
This was proved to us by a telephone call from a woman early Sunday<br />
morning asking if the show was to run three days. She said if this were<br />
not the case, her husband would have to take sick leave on Monday as<br />
he wanted to be sure and see Marilyn Monroe! –Ken Christianson, Roxy<br />
Theatre, Washburn, N.D. (May 8, 1954)<br />
NIAGARA<br />
Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotton n Played this late, which<br />
was, perhaps, best as Monroe is more popular now than when<br />
the film was made. Even with continuous rain one night and a<br />
junior high school play another, it hit 133 percent. Good film.<br />
(I’ll be able to see that red skirt the rest of my life—wow!) Oh,<br />
yes, I almost forgot, there are some terrific shots of Maril—that<br />
is, I mean of Niagara Falls. –James H. Hamilton, Pine Hill Drive-<br />
In Theatre, Picayune, Miss., small-town/rural patronage (May 1,<br />
1954)<br />
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON<br />
Richard Carlson, Julie Adams n Better-than-average shocker with<br />
some very interesting underwater photography. The usage of black<br />
and white was effective, and the story wasn’t too far-fetched. Enough<br />
gruesome details and situations to satisfy anyone—and plenty exposure<br />
of Julie Adams—wow! This vehicle should do business anywhere. Doubled<br />
with Cease Fire. –Nate Oglesbee, Ramona Theatre, Romona, Calif.,<br />
small-town/rural patronage (May 8, 1954)<br />
TRAPEZE<br />
Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis n Three days in advance of Trapeze, we<br />
started our radio advertising. Two days in advance, our sound truck,<br />
18 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
mounted with 24-sheets and playing circus<br />
music, began touring locally and neighboring<br />
communities, continuing this for four days.<br />
The radio station played circus music and received<br />
24 free spots from disk jockey Sam Depine.<br />
Disk jockey made personal appearance<br />
on the third night’s showing at our concession<br />
stand, which helped increase concession sales.<br />
The result was the most colossal business on<br />
any picture for the entire season. Please give<br />
us more like this one, Mr. <strong>Pro</strong>ducer. –Donald<br />
Morton, Joy Drive-In, Plaquemine, La. (Sept.<br />
22, 1956)<br />
BABY DOLL<br />
Karl Malden, Carroll Baker n This picture I<br />
will never forget. The acting of Carroll Baker<br />
was excellent. This show is a moneymaker<br />
even though the minister did go against us on<br />
this picture. Oh, well, that’s what we need—a<br />
little publicity. –L.J. Bennett, Princess Theatre,<br />
Farmington, Ill., pop. 2,651 (Apr. 19, 1957)<br />
THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT<br />
Tom Ewell, Jayne Mansfield n For the rockand-roll<br />
fans. Very funny sequence where the<br />
star walks down the street. This brought down<br />
the house. Some women walked out. (They<br />
can’t all be Mansfield, eh!) –Michael Chiaventone,<br />
Valley Theatre, Spring Valley, Ill., pop.<br />
5,000 (May 18, 1957)<br />
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE<br />
James Dean, Natalie Wood n Played with<br />
East of Eden. Both of these James Dean movies<br />
still are good box office. Most people don’t<br />
seem to realize that he’s dead. –James C. Balkcom,<br />
Gray Theatre, Gray, Ga., pop. 866 (May<br />
18, 1957)<br />
PARDNERS<br />
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis n As we played<br />
this after the stars parted company, the ending<br />
brought more chuckles than any part of the<br />
picture. For the benefit of those who didn’t<br />
play it, they sing “We’ll Always Be Pardners.”<br />
–Michael Chiaventone, Valley Theatre, Spring<br />
Valley, Ill., pop. 5,000 (May 25, 1957)<br />
THE RAINMAKER<br />
Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn n The<br />
people of my town showed their good judgment<br />
by staying away from this chunk of ham.<br />
Those who came walked out on the second<br />
show, so I saved on the light bill. Is this one of<br />
the good pictures Barney Balaban was spouting<br />
about a few weeks ago? Hepburn has all<br />
the charm of an emaciated steer, with acting<br />
talent to match. Lancaster turns in one of his<br />
worst performances, which is too bad since<br />
the guy actually has considerable talent. He<br />
just needs someone to keep him from going<br />
off on these wild flights of overdone histrionics.<br />
Put this on television, Paramount, and<br />
drive the lost audience back to the theaters.<br />
–Frank. R. McLean, Roxy Theatre, Coulterville,<br />
Ill., pop. 1,160 (Aug. 17, 1957)<br />
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS<br />
Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner n With<br />
Technicolor, VistaVision, and everything<br />
else, Cecil B. and his The Ten Commandments<br />
brought people back in this house that haven’t<br />
been to a movie in 10 years. This one set all<br />
new records in cold, unpleasant weather. After<br />
two weeks, I hated to see it go. Buy it with<br />
holdover privileges and run it day and night.<br />
No walkouts or unfavorable comments. Better<br />
get hold of this one, and the sooner the better,<br />
sir. –Carlton Weaver, Carlton Theatre, Sulpher,<br />
Okla. (Feb. 24, 1958)<br />
THE PRINCE AND THE SHOWGIRL<br />
Marilyn Monroe, Laurence Olivier n<br />
This picture isn’t really longer than The Ten<br />
Commandments. It just seems longer. Lots<br />
of walkouts, a large percentage, that is. We<br />
seriously considered just locking up the third<br />
night rather than bore the few trusting souls<br />
who would lay their money on the line to get<br />
in. –Paul Ricketts, Ness Theatre, Ness City, Kas.,<br />
pop. 1,612 (Feb. 24, 1958)<br />
THE ROAD TO HONG KONG<br />
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Joan Collins n<br />
This one is a real turkey. Never had such poor<br />
business. It’s really fantastic how poorly this<br />
one did. It is a really fine picture, too. I’ll bet<br />
you already know why it failed, too. Naturally!<br />
All the other Road shows have been on TV, so<br />
everyone thought this one had been on, too.<br />
Had dozens of calls asking whether this had<br />
been on TV (which for me stands for “theater<br />
vulture”). I guess we exhibitors have our doom<br />
sealed by short-sighted executives who sell out<br />
to the Living Room “God.” –Don Stott, 301<br />
Drive-In, Waldorf, Md., pop. 1,100 (Sept. 17,<br />
1962)<br />
THE CABINET OF CALIGARI<br />
Glynis Johns, Dan O’Herlihy n Now everything<br />
has happened: have never canceled an<br />
advertised picture before, but had to do it in<br />
the case of The Cabinet of Caligari, 20th Fox<br />
release, a morbid and objectionable excuse<br />
for motion-picture entertainment. Booked<br />
this on the strength of a recommendation by<br />
the Fox salesman (who’s a helluva nice guy)<br />
and the review in one of the trade magazines,<br />
which listed it as “excellent.” Dated this as<br />
the top half of a double on the action change<br />
but pulled it, as mentioned above. It depresses<br />
and confuses throughout, with an explanation<br />
coming at a time when the impression formed<br />
previously is so strong that it falls on deaf<br />
ears. The mentally ill patient disrobing does<br />
not help the picture. –Otto Settele, Seemore<br />
Theatre, Seymour, Wis. (Sept. 24, 1962)<br />
NEW<br />
BUILD<br />
n B&B THEATRES is pleased to announce<br />
a new state-of-the-art all-digital<br />
projection 12-screener to serve the<br />
greater Waynesville, St. Robert, and<br />
Fort Leonard Wood, M0., area. This<br />
12-screen theater will be situated on<br />
Highway I-44 at North Patriot Landing<br />
near the Waynesville high school<br />
on GW lane. All 12 auditoriums will<br />
have stadium seating, with high- back<br />
rocker-style seats, and Christie digital<br />
projection, and in select auditoriums<br />
3D RealD technology. All auditoriums<br />
will feature B&B’s latest design, with<br />
Dolby 7.1 digital surround sound as<br />
well as wall-to-wall curved screens,<br />
giving the customer a completely<br />
immersive moviegoing experience.<br />
The largest auditorium will feature<br />
the B&B Grand Screen, and will boast<br />
one of the largest screens in all of<br />
Missouri, six stories wide and three<br />
stories tall. The auditorium will feature<br />
an awe-inspiring sound system<br />
with more than 8,000 watts of sound,<br />
a massive floor-to-ceiling wall-to-wall<br />
curved screen, XL stadium seating<br />
for unobstructed viewing, and leather<br />
high-back rocker-style seats, making<br />
it one of the nicest and largest auditoriums<br />
in the area. Two auditoriums<br />
dubbed the Marquee Bar and Grill will<br />
feature plush VIP leather-style rocker<br />
chairs, extended menu options and<br />
a full bar and grill. These two auditoriums<br />
are for our guests 21 years of<br />
age and older. The Marquee Bar and<br />
Grill will be open daily and guests<br />
do not have to buy a movie ticket to<br />
enjoy the bar and grill. B&B expects a<br />
winter <strong>2013</strong> opening date.<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 19
MARQUEE<br />
AWARD<br />
THE ART THEATER IN CHAMPAIGN,<br />
ILL., AS IT LOOKED NEARLY A<br />
CENTURY AGO WHEN IT WAS<br />
KNOWN AS THE PARK THEATRE<br />
20 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
Champaign’s Art Theater<br />
pioneers the movie theater co-op<br />
IT TAKES A VILLAGE<br />
by Inkoo Kang<br />
n Two summers ago, Sanford Hess faced a dilemma familiar to many<br />
small-theater operators. The 42-year-old owner of the Art Theater in<br />
Champaign, Ill.—a 98-year-old single-screener that had hosted Gene<br />
Autry, sparked a marriage proposal, and inspired a young Roger Ebert<br />
to fall in love with the movies—was confronted by the seemingly<br />
insurmountable challenge of digital conversion. He would have to take<br />
on tens of thousands of dollars in debt or pull the plug on the city’s<br />
longest-running theater on the eve of its centennial. Then he came up<br />
with a radical plan that would avoid either fate—and it came from his<br />
grocery store.<br />
Originally constructed as the Park Theatre in 1913, the Art Theater<br />
is the first purpose-built venue in the college town of Champaign. It<br />
was soon shamed as the “poor cousin” of larger and fancier theaters<br />
like the 1,500-seat Virginia—now the site of Ebertfest, the film festival<br />
founded by the late critic in his hometown—but today it is a survivor,<br />
having continually operated as a movie theater while nearly a dozen of<br />
its contemporaries have folded. By the time Hess, an entrepreneurial<br />
refugee from the corporate world with a serious case of cinephilia,<br />
took it over in January 2010, the Art Theater had gone through several<br />
renovations and changed hands seven times over.<br />
It’s since gone through countless more hands—1,360 pairs of hands,<br />
in fact. When the task of running the Art Theater no longer seemed viable,<br />
Hess and Ben Galewsky, the board chair of the Common Ground<br />
Food Co-op in Champaign, decided to offer up ownership of the<br />
theater as a cooperative, or a company that is owned by its customers.<br />
(Non-owners of the Art are also welcome as patrons.) Thus, Hess left<br />
his weighty dilemma to the residents of Champaign. If they wanted an<br />
art-house theater in their city, they would need<br />
to take ownership of it—literally.<br />
Hess and Galewsky soon<br />
found themselves to be<br />
accidental pioneers in the<br />
exhibition industry. “We<br />
did some research, thinking<br />
other theaters have to be doing<br />
this. We were able to find<br />
three or four theaters that are<br />
co-ops, but all of the ones we<br />
found were in incredibly small<br />
towns and showing first-run<br />
films,” Hess recalls. When the<br />
two went to Art House Convergence<br />
in January 2012, they were<br />
ART THEATER OWNER<br />
SANFORD<br />
HESS<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 21
MARQUEE AWARD<br />
ART THEATER<br />
GENERAL MANAGER<br />
AUSTIN MCCANN<br />
shocked that no one they met had even heard of an art-house co-op.<br />
“Eighty percent of art-house theaters are [conventional] nonprofits,”<br />
Hess explains. “So the co-op idea was not as relevant.”<br />
With no existing models to learn from, Hess and Galewsky took<br />
their cues from the latter’s food co-op. The members of Common<br />
Ground were excited to have another cooperative in the neighborhood.<br />
They shared with Hess the food co-op’s bylaws and messaging and<br />
helped price the shares, landing at $65, with a limit of nine shares per<br />
individual to ensure a communal distribution. “The majority of our<br />
owners own one share,” Hess explains. “We don’t want a small number<br />
of people committed to a lot of numbers each. We’re thrilled just to<br />
have more owners. The owners become ambassadors for the theater. It<br />
just keeps the theater in the front of people’s minds.” The initial fundraising<br />
target of $100,000 was met in just eight months with membership<br />
swelling to the 1,200s, enough to purchase a digital projector and<br />
cover the costs of business transition. Hess himself bought three shares.<br />
With a board of directors in place, the Art Theater began the search<br />
for a general manager. Twenty-six-year-old Austin McCann found out<br />
about the position while seeing Moonrise Kingdom for the second time<br />
at the Art, one of his favorite venues. Though he considered himself<br />
a long-shot candidate, McCann was eventually chosen to take over<br />
day-to-day operations of the theater despite his lack of exhibition experience.<br />
He brought with him not just a background in arts administration<br />
but an idealistic belief in the importance of the arts in fostering<br />
a sense of community. His faith in the co-op model was immovable.<br />
“Co-ops are a way of showing your support by continuing to support<br />
a local business. It’s that increased level of investment that makes<br />
you committed to the success of these projects and build community<br />
wealth,” he says.<br />
Despite the change in ownership, management, and business model,<br />
casual customers would be hard-pressed to identify any major shifts in<br />
operations. The Art Theater still shows first-run independent films and<br />
late-night cult classics, and showmanship remains a high priority. Hess<br />
is no longer there to provide an in-person introduction to each film,<br />
but the crowds still come for late-night shows, which are frequently<br />
emceed by a volunteer named Quizmaster Chris and accompanied by<br />
special events, like a bowling competition before The Big Lebowski or an<br />
election for <strong>Pro</strong>m King and Queen before Back to the Future.<br />
But McCann is slowly asserting his priorities, fostering local artists<br />
and creating dialogue among patrons. To that end, he inserts shorts by<br />
homegrown filmmakers before features and schedules Q&A segments<br />
after certain films. Following a screening of the Chilean political drama<br />
No, for example, a University of Illinois doctoral student who had<br />
grown up in Chile during the transition from dictatorship to democracy<br />
fielded questions from the audience.<br />
The Art Theater’s own transition to democratic rule buoys Hess.<br />
“The co-op model takes the pressure off,” he says. “The people who are<br />
buying shares are doing so not expecting any profit return. I’m just one<br />
of the other owners now. It’s a really good environment to go there and<br />
talk to other owners, people who are interested in the business.” He<br />
admits he’s also gratified that more people can appreciate all the work<br />
he put in the theater before. McCann, on the other hand, is perhaps<br />
slightly less elated. He deals with a lot of investors still puzzled by the<br />
brave new world of cooperatives. “Some folks still are trying to figure<br />
out what it means. They want to pick the film [for the week].”<br />
But both men are pleased by the sense of “ownership, not membership”<br />
that the co-op arouses. The Art Theater’s new owners have<br />
displayed pride in their new business by working concessions (usually<br />
for free admission), cleaning the auditorium before or after screenings,<br />
painting the outside of the theater, and donating graphic work. Shares<br />
don’t come with free or even discounted tickets, but they do offer concession-package<br />
discounts, seats at special screenings, and, most importantly,<br />
the right to vote and run for the theater’s board of directors.<br />
Perhaps best of all, owners are likely to be VIPs at the Art Theater’s<br />
100th birthday bash in November. It’ll be an occasion for a further<br />
outpouring from the community. Local movie-theater historian Perry<br />
Morris will publish a coffee-table book detailing the Art’s history, while<br />
McCann is planning on having a group of musicians and composers<br />
write and perform a new score to accompany the screening of one of<br />
the first films shown at the theater, The Last Days of Pompeii.<br />
Luckily for the Art (if not for Pompeii), disaster has been averted,<br />
thanks to Hess’ revolutionary idea. “Having come through the process<br />
on the other side, I feel strongly that if there are towns out there with<br />
medium-size populations [and movie theaters in trouble], the co-op<br />
model is something they can look to. Those communities might step<br />
in. We like having a theater here.”<br />
22 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
The co-op model takes the<br />
pressure off. The people who<br />
are buying shares are doing so<br />
not expecting any profit return.<br />
I’m just one of the other owners<br />
now. It’s a really good environment<br />
to go there and talk to<br />
other owners, people who are<br />
interested in the business.<br />
—Sanford Hess, Art Theater<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 23
SECRET<br />
WEAPON<br />
Brenden Theatres’ Saul Trujillo cleans up theaters—and the streets<br />
THE URBAN REVITALIZER<br />
WHAT GOT YOU INTO THE THEATER<br />
INDUSTRY?<br />
I started out as floor staff, and it was just an “I’m<br />
17 years old and I need to buy a car” kind of<br />
job at first. As soon as I got into the industry,<br />
though, I discovered it was something I really<br />
enjoyed doing. It’s an industry that’s gotten into<br />
my blood.<br />
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL<br />
MOMENT OF THE PAST YEAR?<br />
I put together a huge Dark Knight promotion<br />
that took months of planning. We got two fullscale<br />
Batmobiles parked in front of the building<br />
for opening night. One was the Tumbler [the<br />
current Batmobile in the Dark Knight trilogy],<br />
and the other was a replica of the 1989<br />
Batmobile. People in this<br />
town love cars. We were<br />
one of the top theaters<br />
in the Sacramento/<br />
Stockton market<br />
because of it. That<br />
year, the industry<br />
was down,<br />
but we were up<br />
double digits in<br />
attendance. I put<br />
together car shows<br />
for The Fast and the<br />
Furious 5 and 6 too.<br />
HOW DID YOU GET THE BATMOBILES?<br />
I found a local guy who builds them as a hobby.<br />
I approached him and I said, “I’d really like to<br />
show off your cars. This [event] would bring a<br />
lot of people to see them.” He was very excited.<br />
WHAT’S AN UNEXPECTED<br />
EXPERIENCE THAT HAS PROVED<br />
USEFUL AT YOUR JOB?<br />
Joining committees in city government. With<br />
any downtown movie theater, there gets to be a<br />
point when it becomes challenging to get people<br />
to come to the area. I joined a city committee<br />
called the Downtown Hospitality Group and<br />
one of its duties was to beautify the downtown<br />
area and make it more walkable. The city of<br />
Modesto repaved one of the blocks down here,<br />
and there are plans to continue repaving the<br />
streets, extend sidewalks, plant more trees,<br />
power-wash regularly, and make sure the<br />
sidewalks stay clean. I also work with<br />
local businesses and local volunteer<br />
groups, like I Love Modesto.<br />
Thousands of people show up for<br />
I Love Modesto, working all day<br />
long to clean up a specific area of<br />
the city at least twice a year. It’s a<br />
movement that’s been expanding to<br />
the surrounding cities. They do an<br />
amazing job.<br />
WHO WAS A KEY MENTOR FOR YOU<br />
AND WHY?<br />
Brenden Theatres’ vice president Walter<br />
Eichinger has been a great mentor. Even though<br />
he is an executive and works in the corporate<br />
office, he would come in and clean the auditoriums<br />
and get behind the concession stands to<br />
make popcorn with us. That’s the kind of boss I<br />
always wanted to have and have always wanted<br />
to be—someone who’s not afraid to get their<br />
hands dirty.<br />
WHAT IS YOUR APPROACH TO<br />
LEADERSHIP/MANAGEMENT?<br />
Leading by example and making sure my staff<br />
sees me on the floor cleaning alongside them.<br />
Also, asking them if they have any problems<br />
or issues and then addressing them right away.<br />
They respect you more that way. I give my staff a<br />
whole lot of credit for running this theater well.<br />
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE AN<br />
EMPLOYEE AT BRENDEN WHO HAS<br />
JUST BEEN HIRED AT YOUR THEATER?<br />
One of the things my father taught me is, try to<br />
be the hardest worker in the room and you will<br />
succeed in any job. I remember when I was floor<br />
staff, I took a lot of pride in my garbage room. I<br />
would clean that room, which normally reeked,<br />
so well it smelled good in there. I didn’t expect<br />
praise; I didn’t expect anything. I just took a lot<br />
of pride in that room.<br />
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE<br />
CONCESSION-STAND SNACK?<br />
Our nachos. We are known for the best nachos<br />
in town. They’re not the prepackaged chips and<br />
the tiny cup of cheese. They are Ricos chips<br />
drenched in Ricos cheese, with jalapenos if<br />
customers ask for them.<br />
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF BEING<br />
NAMED BRENDEN THEATRES’<br />
SECRET WEAPON?<br />
I was quite shocked when I heard the news<br />
from my VP. I’m very appreciative that my<br />
work is being recognized. I’ve always felt<br />
appreciated by my company, so this is<br />
just icing on the cake.<br />
SAUL TRUJILLO POSITION General<br />
Manager of Brenden 18 Theatres LOCA-<br />
TION Modesto, Calif. ROLES AND RE-<br />
SPONSIBILITIES Overseeing operations,<br />
staffing, and promotions<br />
24 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
SNACK<br />
TIME<br />
Exhibitors offer moviegoers low-cal alternatives to<br />
popcorn, soda, and candy<br />
CONCESSIONS TAKE A<br />
HEALTHY STAND<br />
by Annlee Ellingson<br />
n Exhibitors are an independent<br />
lot. They’ve made it clear they don’t<br />
like to be told what to do, heading<br />
off government interference<br />
with preemptive programs like the<br />
MPAA’s voluntary rating system<br />
to obviate the need for legislative<br />
regulation. The industry scored<br />
another victory earlier this year<br />
when a New York Supreme Court<br />
judge enjoined Mayor Michael<br />
Bloomberg’s large-soda ban, which<br />
would limit sugar beverages sold in<br />
movie theaters to 16 ounces.<br />
The decision was a win for<br />
NATO’s New York branch, which<br />
argued that “concession revenues<br />
represent a significant portion of<br />
theater profits and help stabilize<br />
ticket prices,” and without large-soda<br />
sales, ticket prices, staff levels,<br />
and wages would all suffer.<br />
The regulation was introduced<br />
to combat obesity, but Judge Milton<br />
Tingling ruled that the health<br />
department was acting outside its<br />
jurisdiction.<br />
“We are elated with [the] decision,”<br />
the organization said. “This<br />
issue was never about obesity, nor<br />
about soda. This was all about power.<br />
The court rejected the mayor’s<br />
attempt to unilaterally tell New<br />
Yorkers what to drink and where to<br />
drink it.”<br />
The Big Apple is appealing the<br />
ruling, but in the meantime, movie<br />
theaters are wasting no time modifying<br />
their concession menus to address<br />
the health concerns reiterated<br />
by the proposed soda ban.<br />
For example, around the same<br />
time Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal<br />
was struck down, Regal introduced<br />
a new line of healthy ready-to-eat<br />
meals from GoPicnic to its patrons.<br />
“Regal constantly tests new<br />
menu items and listens to our<br />
guests,” Rob Del Moro, Regal’s chief<br />
purchasing officer, said in making<br />
the announcement. “We found a<br />
significant number of moviegoers<br />
who sampled the gluten-free,<br />
lower-calorie GoPicnic meals were<br />
pleased to see this option available<br />
and would be interested in purchasing<br />
it again on their next visit.”<br />
The GoPicnic meals consist of five<br />
individually wrapped food items that<br />
are gluten-free with 400 calories or<br />
less and no artificial colors or flavors,<br />
trans fats, high-fructose corn syrup, or<br />
added MSG. Options include Turkey<br />
Stick & Crunch, Hummus & Crackers,<br />
Turkey Pepperoni & Cheese, and<br />
Black Bean Dip & Plantain Chips.<br />
Meanwhile, AMC has added circuit-branded<br />
Smart Movie Snacks to<br />
its concessions offerings. The brown<br />
paper bag includes Chiquita Fruit<br />
Chips, POPCorners Popped Corn<br />
Chips, Odwallsa Trail Mix Bar, and a<br />
20-ounce Dasani water, all for just $7.<br />
“As we continue to upgrade<br />
locations throughout our circuit,<br />
we’re also adding items like hummus<br />
and chips; apple chips; meat, cheese,<br />
and cracker trays; almonds; and dried<br />
fruit,” adds Ryan Noonan, director<br />
of public relations for AMC. “On<br />
the drink side, we have options like<br />
bottled water and juice, and in some<br />
locations we’ve installed Coca-Cola<br />
Freestyle machines, which offer more<br />
than 120 different drink options,<br />
including a wonderful array of diet<br />
sodas, energy drinks, lemonade, and<br />
flavored water.”<br />
Coca-Cola may be as ubiquitous<br />
to the moviegoing experience as<br />
popcorn, but Noonan says, “Among<br />
all of our options, Dasani bottled<br />
water continues to be one of our more<br />
popular drink options, with millions<br />
of gallons of water served every year.”<br />
In addition to diet sodas and water,<br />
Coke’s portfolio includes Minute<br />
Maid juices, Powerade sports drinks,<br />
Vitaminwater, and more.<br />
“While movies remain as relevant<br />
as ever, many people have other<br />
priorities, including a growing focus<br />
on their well-being,” says Stefanie<br />
Miller, group vice president of<br />
strategic partnership marketing for<br />
Coca-Cola North America Group,<br />
one of BoxOffice’s Power 5 concession<br />
brands this month. “The Coca-Cola<br />
Company encourages active, healthy<br />
lifestyles through education, innova-<br />
26 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
If you don’t offer<br />
tive programs, and meaningful partnerships. This is brought to life<br />
through the variety of beverages we offer in all theaters, including<br />
no- and low-calorie options.”<br />
Other vendors have taken up the cause as well, with the<br />
Pepsi booth at CinemaCon showcasing Sabra products including<br />
Hummus with Pretzels alongside its diet sodas, Tropicana juices,<br />
Aquafina water, Lipton iced tea, and Gatorade sports drinks.<br />
you don’t have<br />
the tastiest popcorn<br />
in town – period.<br />
Meanwhile, the Walt Disney Company has voluntarily limited the<br />
use of its licenses in marketing concessions to children. You won’t<br />
find Disney’s kid-centric brands on any concessions items larger<br />
than a kids’ size.<br />
“The best way we can serve moviegoers is by offering as many<br />
choices as possible,” AMC’s Noonan says. “Whether that’s through<br />
an expanding drink selection that includes bottled juice, smoothies,<br />
and bottled water, or through our vast array of concession<br />
offerings, when our guests want something to snack on, we want to<br />
be ready with something that peaks their interest.”<br />
Movie theaters are listening and responding to health-conscious<br />
consumers who want more than popcorn, soda, and candy at the<br />
concession stand with healthy options, but as in all business, cold,<br />
hard cash speaks loudest.<br />
“We want to provide as many options as possible for our<br />
moviegoers, and we are always open to feedback from our guests,”<br />
Noonan says. “While verbal and written feedback is something<br />
we take seriously, the most important feedback we receive is what<br />
people are actually purchasing at the theater.”<br />
13 delicious flavors including:<br />
• White Cheddar<br />
• Ranch<br />
• Parmesan Garlic • Nacho Cheddar<br />
• Kettle Corn<br />
…and more!<br />
Call Megan at<br />
866.328.7672 x440<br />
mthunder@kernelseasons.com<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 27
SNACK TIME<br />
At movie theaters around the world, popcorn and soda<br />
take a backseat to local fare<br />
THE GLOBAL<br />
CONCESSION STAND<br />
by Annlee Ellingson<br />
UNITED KINGDOM<br />
SUGARED POPCORN<br />
THE NETHERLANDS<br />
DROP<br />
NORWAY<br />
DRIED REINDEER MEAT<br />
In the United States we like our<br />
popcorn with salt and butter,<br />
but in the United Kingdom and<br />
parts of Asia, you can get it<br />
sugared too.<br />
The Dutch eat more than four<br />
pounds of licorice per person<br />
per year, including a salty variety<br />
dubbed “drop” that’s made<br />
with ammonium chloride for a<br />
particularly astringent flavor.<br />
The drive-in in Kautokeino,<br />
Norway, is made entirely of<br />
snow, including the screen,<br />
and serves jerky made of reindeer<br />
meat.<br />
MEXICO<br />
CANASTA<br />
GREECE<br />
SOUVLAKI<br />
BRAZIL<br />
BOLINHA DE QUEIJO<br />
Who doesn’t love chocolate?<br />
Now imagine a chocolate morsel<br />
encapsulating not caramel<br />
or nougat or peanut butter but<br />
egg nog!<br />
Meat, especially pork, and<br />
sometimes veggies skewered<br />
and grilled make for a convenient<br />
way to get your Greek on<br />
at the movies.<br />
In addition to popcorn with<br />
bits of cheddar and bacon<br />
sprinkled on top, Brazilian<br />
moviegoers can snack on this<br />
popular delight—fried cheese<br />
balls.<br />
RUSSIA<br />
BELUGA CAVIAR<br />
ISRAEL<br />
FALAFEL-FLAVORED BISSLI<br />
INDIA<br />
SAMOSAS, CHAAT & VADA<br />
In Moscow, moviegoers who<br />
pay extra for a VIP cinema<br />
experience are treated to this<br />
expensive black roe served<br />
seat-side by waitstaff.<br />
Israeli movieogers’ snack food<br />
of choice is a wheat-based<br />
munchable that tastes like<br />
crunchy fried pasta and comes<br />
in chickpea flavor.<br />
Bollywood moviegoers prefer<br />
samosas (fried pastry stuffed<br />
with savory filling), chaat (fried<br />
dough served with a mixture of<br />
potato, chickpeas, yogurt, and<br />
spices), and vada (a deep-fried<br />
savory fritter).<br />
28 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
THAILAND<br />
TOM YUM SEASONING<br />
The hot and sour<br />
flavors of tom<br />
yum soup—lemongrass,<br />
kaffir<br />
lime, galangal, fish<br />
sauce, and chili<br />
peppers—have<br />
been transformed<br />
into a popcorn<br />
topping for Thai<br />
moviegoers.<br />
JAPAN<br />
IWASHI SENBEI<br />
Literally “sardine<br />
rice crackers,”<br />
these tiny whole<br />
fish (including<br />
skeletons) are<br />
baked in sugar<br />
and soy sauce,<br />
resulting in a<br />
crunchy concession<br />
with Japan’s<br />
sweet-savory<br />
umami flavor.<br />
KOREA<br />
DRIED CUTTLEFISH<br />
This prepackaged<br />
shredded snack<br />
has a brinysweet<br />
flavor and<br />
jerky-esque texture<br />
that Korean<br />
moviegoers like to<br />
pair with crunchy<br />
popcorn.<br />
BARBADOS<br />
FISH BALLS<br />
Fresh-caught fish<br />
is salted, skewered,<br />
and deepfried<br />
for this popular<br />
cinema snack<br />
served with hot<br />
sauce and washed<br />
down with a Banks<br />
beer.<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 29
In the second<br />
installment in a<br />
five-part series,<br />
BoxOffice<br />
highlights eight<br />
more young<br />
executives shaping<br />
the future of<br />
exhibition<br />
by Annlee Ellingson<br />
Laurent Ouaknine<br />
EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT & GENERAL SALES MANAGER<br />
THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY<br />
n Laurent Ouaknine has shepherded the releases of<br />
critically acclaimed blockbusters generating more than<br />
$1.5 billion in domestic box office and garnering 68<br />
Oscar nominations and 18 Academy Awards,<br />
including Django Unchained, The King’s<br />
Speech, Silver Linings Playbook, Inglourious<br />
Basterds, Scary Movie 4, Escape from<br />
Planet Earth, Hoodwinked and The<br />
Artist. Prior to joining Weinstein<br />
in 2006, he was a film buyer for<br />
Loews Cineplex Entertainment.<br />
Rebecca Stein<br />
SENIOR DIRECTOR OF MARKETING<br />
NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS<br />
n Since joining National Amusements in 1998 as a<br />
publicist, Rebecca Stein served as publicity manager<br />
and director of children’s marketing before moving<br />
into her current position. She developed and<br />
launched the Popcorn Club, Bookworm Wednesdays,<br />
and Moms’ Movie Night Out, as well as large-scale<br />
experiential events. Recently, she managed the<br />
company’s Thank You First Responders event after<br />
the Boston Marathon bombings.<br />
30 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
40 UNDER 40<br />
Kristin Wilson<br />
SENIOR NATIONAL SALES<br />
EXECUTIVE, STRATEGIC<br />
PARTNERSHIP MARKETING<br />
THE COCA-COLA<br />
COMPANY<br />
n A 14-year veteran at Coca-<br />
Cola, Kristin Wilson has led<br />
the Global Cinema Channel<br />
and Coca-Cola’s relationship<br />
with Carmike Cinemas. She is<br />
responsible for managing Coca-<br />
Cola’s partnerships with NATO,<br />
International Variety, Variety of<br />
Georgia, CinemaCon, ShowEast,<br />
Will Rogers Motion Picture<br />
Pioneers and all the major studios.<br />
She also serves on the board for<br />
Variety Children’s Charity of Georgia<br />
and is a member of the Coca-Cola Women’s<br />
Forum.<br />
32 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
40 UNDER 40<br />
Todd Halstead<br />
DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS<br />
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION<br />
OF THEATRE OWNERS<br />
n Todd Halstead oversees NATO’s government affairs<br />
activities in Washington, D.C., developing advocacy and<br />
grassroots strategies that advance federal legislative and<br />
regulatory objectives that benefit the cinema industry.<br />
He worked with NATO members to develop a partnership<br />
with Vantiv to offer a program that substantially<br />
reduces processing fees for cinemas. Prior<br />
to joining NATO in 2007, he served as a<br />
legislative aide in the U.S. Senate.<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 33
40 UNDER 40<br />
Orit Michiel<br />
VICE PRESIDENT OF LEGAL AFFAIRS<br />
MPAA<br />
n Orit Michiel’s role includes serving as head counsel to the<br />
Classification and Rating Administration and the Advertising<br />
Administration and chairperson of the Classification and Rating<br />
Appeals Board. She was a key member of the team that<br />
launched the “Check the Box” rating awareness campaign.<br />
She’s also head of the Title Registration Bureau and coordinates<br />
response by the MPAA and its member companies on<br />
significant policy.<br />
Melissa Ginn<br />
DIRECTOR OF MARKETING<br />
D&E ENTERTAINMENT<br />
n Melissa Ginn started her career<br />
at age 16 in editorial and nonprofit<br />
public relations, later discovering<br />
an interest in digital marketing.<br />
Her professional ambitions and<br />
passion for travel led to positions<br />
in New York, Honolulu,<br />
and San Francisco before she<br />
settled in Los Angeles at D&E,<br />
where she’s worked on campaigns<br />
for Cheech & Chong’s<br />
Animated Movie, Tattoo Nation,<br />
and RUSH: Beyond the<br />
Lighted Stage.<br />
34<br />
BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies JULY <strong>2013</strong>
Hank Green<br />
VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDIO<br />
PARTNERSHIPS<br />
AMC<br />
n In his current role at AMC,<br />
Hank Green works with the<br />
company’s distributor partners<br />
to develop and execute<br />
strategies to maximize box<br />
office grosses. Based in<br />
Los Angeles, Green is also<br />
the film buyer for the Los<br />
Angeles and San Francisco<br />
markets. His previous roles<br />
include VP of film programming<br />
and strategic initiatives<br />
and director of programming<br />
operations. He’s<br />
worked at AMC since 1996.<br />
Neil Pearlmutter<br />
VICE PRESIDENT OF OPERATIONS<br />
AND NEW DEVELOPMENT<br />
SANTA ROSA<br />
ENTERTAINMENT GROUP<br />
n Neil Pearlmutter joined Dan<br />
and Amy Tocchini’s family-run<br />
company as an usher in 1990.<br />
After managing several different<br />
cinemas for them, he traveled<br />
to Moscow in 1999 to consult on<br />
the construction and operation<br />
of an American-style multiplex.<br />
Since then, he’s worked as a<br />
district manager and remodeled<br />
nonstadium complexes as well<br />
as building new sites, including<br />
retrofitting an old Mervyn’s to a<br />
boothless 16-screener.<br />
JULY <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 35
Hungry? Thirsty? These five companies<br />
have got you covered<br />
Popcorn may be movie theaters’ signature snack, but concession stands<br />
these days offer a lot more than the freshly popped grain. Hot dogs,<br />
nachos, and the like have become staples at the cinema right<br />
alongside soda and candy, but that doesn’t mean<br />
the decades-old companies that make them haven’t<br />
continued to innovate for their customers in exhibition, offering moviegoers more options<br />
and theater operators more efficiency, customization, and best of all, profits. BoxOffice<br />
already profiled the Power 5 in popcorn back in our April issue. Here are the top five<br />
brands in everything else: soda, candy, food, equipment, and signage.<br />
SOFT DRINKS<br />
COCA-COLA<br />
Munching on popcorn at the movies is a nobrainer,<br />
but you inevitably need something<br />
to wash down those salty, buttery kernels—<br />
no wonder soda is second only to popcorn<br />
in concession-stand sales. And as the<br />
Official Presenting Sponsor of CinemaCon,<br />
the 127-year-old Coca-Cola brand has long<br />
been a friend to not only exhibition but the<br />
movies themselves through its Sprite Films<br />
student filmmaking competition. Coke,<br />
Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite, Mello Yello<br />
(if you’re lucky enough to live where it’s<br />
available), Fanta, Minute Maid, and Dasani<br />
are all Coca-Cola brands.<br />
WHAT IS COCA-COLA’S NEWEST OR<br />
SIGNATURE PRODUCT, AND WHAT’S<br />
SPECIAL ABOUT IT?<br />
STEFANIE MILLER, GROUP VICE<br />
PRESIDENT, STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP<br />
MARKETING, NORTH AMERICA GROUP:<br />
Coca-Cola Freestyle is an innovative<br />
fountain dispenser that offers more<br />
than 100 drink choices at the push of a<br />
button. Patented technology helps deliver<br />
a fresh and consistently high-quality<br />
beverage, made on demand. The touchscreen<br />
interface allows for an engaging<br />
experience, as people make their beverage<br />
choice. They can select from 70-plus<br />
low/no-calorie and 90-plus caffeine-free<br />
options—choice never before seen on a<br />
fountain dispenser.<br />
WHAT DOES IT CONTRIBUTE TO THE<br />
MOVIEGOING EXPERIENCE?<br />
Miller: Coca-Cola Freestyle is designed to<br />
meet peoples’ beverage needs and match<br />
their desire for variety—offering an even<br />
greater selection than typically available<br />
in a convenience or grocery store. Plus,<br />
movies are all about the experience, and<br />
Coca-Cola Freestyle provides moviegoers<br />
an opportunity to interact with our<br />
brands—delivering the ultimate cinema<br />
experience.<br />
36 BOXOFFICE PRO AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
The National Association of Theatre<br />
Owners (NATO) is the largest exhibition<br />
trade organization in the world, representing<br />
over 50,000 movie screens in all<br />
50 states and in 68 countries worldwide.<br />
Our membership includes the largest<br />
cinema chains in the world and hundreds<br />
of independently owned theaters.<br />
Headquartered in Washington, D.C.,<br />
with a second office in North Hollywood,<br />
California, NATO represents its members<br />
in the heart of the nation’s capital as<br />
well as the center of the entertainment<br />
industry.<br />
INDUSTRY ISSUES<br />
NATO interacts with motion picture distributors, the creative<br />
community, the media, federal policymakers, and the courts<br />
on many matters of interest to exhibition. Some topics recently<br />
addressed by NATO include:<br />
• The state of the exhibition business and growth of admissions<br />
• Digital cinema specifications and other digital technology<br />
developments<br />
• Building codes<br />
• The window between theatrical release and ancillary market<br />
release<br />
• Camcorder theft of movies in theatres<br />
• Trailers and In-Theatre Marketing<br />
• Americans with Disabilities Act<br />
• Legislative landmines (minimum wage, admissions taxes, beverage<br />
taxes, etc.)<br />
• Administration and enhancement of the ratings system<br />
MEMBERSHIP BENEFITS<br />
• Additional benefits that flow from membership in NATO<br />
include:<br />
• A free subscription to NATO’s official publication, BoxOffice®<br />
<strong>Pro</strong> magazine;<br />
• Periodic issues of The President’s Report, a confidential<br />
members-only analysis by NATO’s President of current issues<br />
confronting the industry and NATO’s efforts on behalf of its<br />
members;<br />
• Eligibility for a card processing program through Vantiv;<br />
• Periodic confidential members-only Government Affairs<br />
Alerts;<br />
• Daily electronic distributions of articles related to the industry,<br />
segregated by topical areas of interest;<br />
• Access to the members-only section of NATO’s web site,<br />
www.natoonline.org;<br />
• Free copies of movie ratings posters and other ratings publications;<br />
• Access to a sponsored program from Reynolds & Reynolds<br />
that offers savings on casualty and liability insurance;<br />
• Discounts on annual dues to participate in NATO’s Cinema<br />
Buying Group, a group buying program for independent operators;<br />
and<br />
• Discounts on CinemaCon registration fees.<br />
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT<br />
DAVID E. BINET, DIRECTOR OF MEMBERSHIP / DB@NATODC.COM<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 37
POWER 5 > CONCESSION<br />
CANDY<br />
MARS<br />
FOOD<br />
RICOS<br />
Frank C. Mars started making butter-cream confections in his<br />
kitchen in 1911. Today the conglomerate has net sales of more<br />
than $33 billion in a half-dozen business segments, but the<br />
company name is still synonymous with chocolate, including<br />
five billion-dollar brands: M&M’s, Snickers, Dove/Galaxy, Mars/<br />
Milky Way, and Twix. If you’ve got a chocolate craving, chances<br />
are you’ll satisfy it with a Mars candy bar at the concession<br />
stand.<br />
WHAT IS MARS’ NEWEST OR SIGNATURE PRODUCT, AND<br />
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT IT?<br />
TIM QUINN, VICE PRESIDENT OF TRADE DEVELOPMENT,<br />
NORTH AMERICA: Movie buffs looking for a sweet treat in theaters<br />
know that Mars Chocolate North America offers colorful<br />
M&M’S-brand candies in their favorite flavors: milk chocolate,<br />
peanut milk chocolate, pretzel, and peanut butter. Now theatergoers<br />
also can enjoy their favorite candy bar brands—Snickers<br />
and Milky Way brands—in a theater-friendly format at the<br />
concession stand.<br />
Mars introduces Snickers Bites and Milky Way Bites. These unwrapped,<br />
bite-sized cubes are a miniature version of the iconic<br />
bar brands. They’re ideal for movie fans looking for the full taste<br />
experience of a Snickers bar or Milky Way bar in a smaller portion.<br />
The 2.8-ounce bag holds two servings, perfect for sharing<br />
or saving some for later.<br />
An extensive marketing campaign will create awareness, excitement,<br />
and demand at the concession stand. With the power of<br />
these popular candy brands, Snickers Bites and Milky Way Bites<br />
are sure to be a blockbuster hit!<br />
Popcorn, soda, candy—those are the staples of the movie-theater<br />
concession stand. But moviegoers are increasingly<br />
seeking more options for snacks, and for more than a hundred<br />
years, four generations of the Liberto family have met those<br />
desires, starting with roasted coffee and roasted peanuts<br />
in 1909. Today Ricos is best known for its Nacho Chips and<br />
Cheese Sauce in convenient bulk or single-serve sizes, as well<br />
as accompaniments like salsa and jalapeños. The San Antonio,<br />
Texas-based company also offers dispensing and warming<br />
equipment for its signature products as well as related marketing<br />
materials. But the brand also sells popcorn, oils, and<br />
toppings; roasted peanuts; and sno-ball syrups.<br />
38 BOXOFFICE PRO AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
From Theme Parks to Cinemas to Drive-In Theatres...<br />
Enjoy the Complete Experience!<br />
• Digital Conversion, Installation and Service<br />
• Drapery & Front-End Manufacturing and Big Screen Application<br />
• Concession Casework Manufacturing and<br />
Food Service Equipment Distribution<br />
Bridgewater <strong>Pro</strong>fessional Park, 4971 Van Dyke Road, Lutz, FL USA 33558<br />
Phone 813 • 960 • 1646 Fax 813 • 961 • 7209 www.ensutec.com
POWER 5 > CONCESSION<br />
SIGNAGE<br />
RETRIEVER SOFTWARE<br />
Retriever Software is best-known for its point-of-sale, office,<br />
and website software, but the Denver-based technology firm<br />
also offers integrated signage solutions, including concessions<br />
signs with video and graphics to capture consumers’ attention.<br />
EQUIPMENT<br />
GOLD MEDAL<br />
Even if you take a minimalist approach at your concession<br />
stand, you’re going to need a popcorn popper and a butter<br />
dispenser, and you can get those from Gold Medal. Ditto hot<br />
dog grills and cookers; nacho cheese warmers and dispensers;<br />
pretzel and pizza ovens and displays; and more. If you’re selling<br />
food at your theater, Cincinnati-based Gold Medal has the<br />
equipment to prepare and display it.<br />
WHAT IS GOLD MEDAL’S NEWEST OR SIGNATURE<br />
PRODUCT, AND WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT IT?<br />
BETHE FERGUSON, MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS CO-<br />
ORDINATOR: The #2242 Mobile Popcorn Crisper … has sliding<br />
panels on each side, fits the #2011EBRCH Pop-O-Gold for easy<br />
corn transfer, and has an optional butter-topping dispenser. It’s<br />
compact, mobile, and runs on a 15-amp plug. Staff can set up<br />
satellite locations during heavy traffic, cutting down on lines<br />
and encouraging impulse buys for multiple concession items.<br />
WHAT DIFFERENTIATES RETRIEVER’S PRODUCTS FROM<br />
OTHER BRANDS?<br />
PHIL NORRISH, VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES: Retriever<br />
Software offers a modularized signage solution. Customers<br />
can choose from a self-managed media delivery system and<br />
supply their own graphics or a comprehensive signage solution<br />
with fully automated image delivery services. This flexibility<br />
[allows] operators to completely customize their digital signage<br />
program while managing system costs.<br />
WHICH IS YOUR NEWEST OR SIGNATURE PRODUCT, AND<br />
WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT IT?<br />
NORRISH: Retriever Media Digital Signage software is central<br />
to our product offering. Our signage system is designed to<br />
be easy-to-use, reliable, cost-effective, and customizable for<br />
each theater’s needs. Our point-of-sale system automatically<br />
receives schedule information and film images to the digital<br />
signage system. Theater operators can upload title art, mylars,<br />
and digital posters form Retriever’s image database. For the<br />
concession stand, Retriever Software offers a comprehensive<br />
graphic design service for customizing menu graphics.<br />
Another interesting request from theater owners resulted in<br />
the hands-free, revolutionary #2499A Automatic Popcorn<br />
Topping Dispenser. Now the automatic eye does all the work;<br />
it’s ideal for convenient self-serve options, or staffers can hold<br />
the popcorn bag/cup with one hand and can serve drinks with<br />
the other. … The<br />
dispensing speed<br />
is also adjustable.<br />
It holds<br />
one 35-pound<br />
bag of product<br />
[and] includes<br />
an LED sign, a<br />
precision stainless steel pump,<br />
and manual push button. The<br />
#2499A is the perfect way to<br />
increase popcorn profits, cut<br />
down on waste, and serve the<br />
delicious, buttery topping that<br />
keeps customers coming back<br />
for more.<br />
WHAT DOES IT CONTRIBUTE TO THE MOVIEGOING<br />
EXPERIENCE?<br />
NORRISH: Retriever Software’s point-of-sale system improves<br />
operator efficiency at the box office and concession stands,<br />
shortening lines, and improving per-caps. Digital signage provides<br />
graphical marketing to patrons at the box office and<br />
concession stand and easy-to-follow directional “way finding”<br />
in corridors and the lobby.<br />
40 BOXOFFICE PRO AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
LOOKING AHEAD - WHAT’S THE BUZZ ON TWITTER? source: BoxOffice.com<br />
FILM TWEETS POS:NEG<br />
The Wolverine 1,590 7:1<br />
Fruitvale Station 1,367 8:1<br />
Oldboy (<strong>2013</strong>) 1,112 2:1<br />
Insidious Chapter 2 948 0:1<br />
Tomorrowland 793 11:1<br />
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire 715 29:1<br />
Ferdinand 560 11:1<br />
Her (<strong>2013</strong>) 518 4:1<br />
Thor: The Dark World 381 6:1<br />
Anchorman: The Legend Continues 373 16:1<br />
Kick-Ass 2 364 10:1<br />
Austenland 348 19:1<br />
Assassin's Creed 337 51:1<br />
2 Guns 328 32:1<br />
Home (2014) 327 5:1<br />
Transformers 4 307 4:1<br />
Elysium 305 11:1<br />
FILM TWEETS POS:NEG<br />
Ender's Game 295 1:1<br />
Godzilla (2014) 238 3:1<br />
Gravity 233 4:1<br />
Thanks for Sharing 203 107:1<br />
The World's End 196 11:1<br />
The To Do List 191 2:1<br />
The Lifeguard 188 10:1<br />
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones 183 39:1<br />
The Smurfs 2 170 7:1<br />
Think Like a Man Too 167 14:1<br />
Frankenstein (2014) 156 7:1<br />
Sex Tape 155 2:1<br />
X-Men: Days of Future Past 151 11:1<br />
Fifty Shades of Grey 150 12:1<br />
Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters 146 7:1<br />
Divergent 139 38:1<br />
The Way, Way Back 136 57:1<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BOXOFFICE PRO 41
BIG<br />
PICTURE<br />
Concert movies have been around for decades, but they didn’t become a<br />
viable option at the box office until the recession. What does the new crop<br />
of concert movies tell us about the music and film industries today?<br />
by Daniel Loria<br />
ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US OPENS<br />
NATIONWIDE ON AUG. 30, <strong>2013</strong><br />
42 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
’N<br />
Sync was at the height of its fame in<br />
2001. The band was coming off of the<br />
best-selling success of its album No<br />
Strings Attached during a time when<br />
record sales still mattered. The accompanying<br />
world tour had also been a hit,<br />
spawning an Imax version of one of the<br />
group’s sold-out shows in Detroit. ’N<br />
Sync: Bigger Than Live was released<br />
in the giant-screen format in 2001 as<br />
a 48-minute concert film. The movie grossed $44,082 in its opening<br />
weekend and topped out its theatrical run at $1.8 million. By the end<br />
of the decade, ’N Sync would no longer be releasing albums, and the<br />
music industry would be turned on its<br />
head. Concert movies, however, would be<br />
entering a new age of financial viability.<br />
The rise of digital media completely<br />
changed the music industry. A byproduct<br />
of that transition was the added pressure<br />
on recording artists to increase the scope<br />
and length of their tours, adding performances<br />
to mitigate the losses resulting<br />
from the steep drop in album sales.<br />
Musicians faced the same challenge that<br />
exhibitors have dealt with for generations:<br />
how to sustain an industry amid the rise<br />
of new home-entertainment technologies.<br />
Concerts sought to reconnect the public<br />
with the excitement and spectacle of live<br />
music.<br />
The top five highest-grossing concert<br />
films of all time have been released over<br />
the past six years. The time frame directly<br />
aligns with the recession and postrecession<br />
era that followed the 2008 financial<br />
crash. The economic turmoil left families<br />
with a decrease in disposable income as<br />
the global economy struggled to reassert<br />
itself. A family outing to the closest venue<br />
for a big concert suddenly had the potential<br />
to become a burdensome expense.<br />
High ticket prices, transportation costs,<br />
parking, concessions, and merchandise<br />
could easily turn a family night out into<br />
an evening costing upward of $500.<br />
Postrecession America has provided<br />
the perfect circumstances for concert<br />
films to find an audience. Families with<br />
children too young to attend live concerts<br />
and those who find it too expensive to<br />
attend the events can now enjoy a similar<br />
level of a concert’s excitement and spectacle<br />
at a fraction of the cost in their local<br />
movie theaters.<br />
This isn’t to imply that ticket sales<br />
for concerts have dipped since 2008, nor<br />
that concert films have in any way begun to supplant live music events.<br />
Concert movies have instead become a viable alternative for family entertainment<br />
and, for the first time in box office history, a potential source of<br />
significant profit for exhibitors, distributors, artists, and audiences.<br />
Pop idols were born as soon as teenagers became a demographic of<br />
consumers with enough buying power to bring in profit for any company.<br />
If these artists could sell records, the assumption was that they could sell<br />
movies as well. The rise of the teenage consumer occurred throughout<br />
TOP-GROSSING CONCERT FILMS<br />
OF ALL TIME<br />
ARTIST<br />
Justin Bieber:<br />
Never Say Never<br />
This Is It<br />
Michael Jackson<br />
Hannah Montana &<br />
Miley Cyrus: Best of<br />
Both Worlds Concert<br />
the 1950s, a period coinciding with the popular emergence of television<br />
and during the height of Hollywood’s studio system. This was a period<br />
when studios were in the business of making movies with a streamlined<br />
efficiency; studios had their own backlots, stables of screenwriters, and an<br />
ever-rotating talent pool of actors and directors on exclusive contracts. It<br />
didn’t really matter if Elvis could act or not, there was already a team on<br />
salary employed by the studio that could mold a project around the star.<br />
These star vehicles saw minor changes as the film industry went<br />
through its own transformation over the subsequent years. The generations<br />
that followed came with their share of recording artists who<br />
attempted a transition to the silver screen. There are too many failures in<br />
this category to list, but Britney Spears’ star turn on Crossroads comes<br />
to mind. The road-trip movie grossed just $37.2 million at the box<br />
office, and Spears hasn’t starred in another<br />
Domestic<br />
Gross<br />
$73,013,910<br />
$72,091,016<br />
$65,281,781<br />
Katy Perry: Part of Me $25,326,071<br />
Jonas Brothers:<br />
The 3D Concert<br />
Experience<br />
Madonna:<br />
Truth or Dare<br />
Glee: The 3D<br />
Concert Movie<br />
$19,162,740<br />
$15,012,935<br />
$11,862,398<br />
U2 3D $10,363,341<br />
U2: Rattle and Hum $8,600,823<br />
Shine a Light<br />
Rolling Stones<br />
SOURCE: BOXOFFICE.COM<br />
$5,505,267<br />
movie since. There have also been a good<br />
number of success stories from artists like<br />
Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson, Cher,<br />
Will Smith, and Mark Wahlberg—all of<br />
whom have built respectable film careers<br />
for themselves. The most striking recent<br />
example comes with ’N Sync’s Justin<br />
Timberlake, who has spent the better part<br />
of the last decade on acting projects in<br />
addition to his solo pop career.<br />
If the Spice Girls were formed in<br />
today’s media market, one has to wonder<br />
if something like Spice World would<br />
still get made. Pop stars have turned a<br />
corner thanks to the newfound box office<br />
viability of concert films; if the public<br />
loves to see these artists sing, does that<br />
mean they’re just as interested in seeing<br />
them act? A great Spice Girls concert<br />
can be a fun experience, even within a<br />
kitsch context, but a Spice Girls film<br />
can’t guarantee a good shelf life beyond<br />
a cult appreciation. Today’s concert films<br />
cut out the middleman of a screenwriter<br />
and rid themselves from the constraints<br />
of narrative cinema to give audiences a<br />
simpler product: pop stars doing what<br />
they do best.<br />
Concert films are equally as enticing<br />
for producers and artists themselves. The<br />
entire shoot can be incorporated into an<br />
existing tour, requiring little extra effort<br />
or time from stars. No script development,<br />
no creative differences with directors,<br />
no time editing around a dramatic<br />
performance that doesn’t work on screen.<br />
The film’s theatrical release becomes a<br />
de facto global tour for recording artists<br />
without requiring any additional nights<br />
inside of a tour bus. The concert film has<br />
therefore become ingrained into a band’s<br />
marketing strategy. Morgan Spurlock, the<br />
documentary filmmaker of the product-placement satire The Greatest<br />
Movie Ever Sold, knows a thing or two about today’s nebulous line<br />
between a feature film and a marketing campaign. He is also the director<br />
and one of the producers of this summer’s biggest concert movie, One<br />
Direction: This Is Us.<br />
The success of recent music documentaries owes a lot to the rise of<br />
reality television as well. Live music had been a staple of network TV for<br />
years before the introduction of MTV shifted recording artists to cable<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 43
BIG PICTURE<br />
ONE DIRECTION’S HARRY<br />
STYLES, LOUIS TOMLINSON,<br />
ZAYN MALIK, NIALL HORAN AND<br />
LIAM PAYNE<br />
television. The pop band explosion of the late<br />
’90s used MTV’s popular after-school talkshow/music-video-countdown<br />
Total Request<br />
Live as a launching pad. The show was filmed<br />
at MTV’s Times Square studios with sweeping<br />
shots of screaming teenage fans holding homemade<br />
signs in support of their teen idols. TRL<br />
was cancelled in 2008 as MTV began to focus<br />
more on unscripted reality series like The Hills,<br />
the successful spinoff to the wildly popular<br />
Laguna Beach.<br />
By that time, music performances had<br />
moved back to network television thanks to<br />
the success of Fox’s American Idol. The show<br />
came on as a summer replacement in 2002<br />
and became a national phenomenon. Music<br />
performances on network television dominated<br />
watercooler chatter around the nation.<br />
Fox would continue to bank on this renewed<br />
interest in musical performances with Glee in<br />
2009. That show went on to get its very own<br />
big-screen concert film in 2011. Glee: The<br />
3D Concert Movie finished a limited release in<br />
North America with $11.8 million.<br />
The Disney Channel took a cue from this<br />
trend when it premiered Hannah Montana in<br />
2006. The show launched the music career of<br />
its star, Miley Cyrus, by focusing on the story<br />
of the day-to-day life of a tween pop star. It was<br />
only a matter of time before Cyrus became a<br />
star in her own right, free from her fictional alter<br />
ego. Disney banked on the popularity of the<br />
Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana phenomenon<br />
with the 2008 film Hannah Montana & Miley<br />
Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert. The movie<br />
broke records in limited release, grossing $65.3<br />
Ava is seven years old and a loyal<br />
fan of One Direction. Despite a<br />
summer full of animated releases,<br />
she claims that One Direction:<br />
This Is Us is the movie she is most<br />
excited about seeing, even if it<br />
doesn’t come out until the last<br />
weekend in <strong>August</strong>. When pressed<br />
about her allegiance to the band,<br />
Ava responds unequivocally: “I<br />
think One Direction is cool for five<br />
reasons: 1) They’re awesome, 2)<br />
they’re awesome, 3) they’re awesome,<br />
4) they’re awesome, and 5)<br />
they’re hilarious.” After attending<br />
a live concert in December, Ava<br />
shared that she is looking forward<br />
to seeing the special effects from<br />
the performance on the big screen,<br />
especially if it means wearing 3D<br />
glasses—all the better to swoon<br />
over fave Harry Styles.<br />
million during its North American run. The<br />
Cyrus vehicle still holds the highest opening<br />
weekend of all time for a concert film with a<br />
$31.3 million debut.<br />
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of<br />
Both Worlds Concert included an appearance by<br />
another band featured in Cyrus’ television show,<br />
the Jonas Brothers. The boy band trio would<br />
release a concert film of its own the following<br />
year, Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience.<br />
The project managed to become one of the<br />
most successful films in the genre after grossing<br />
$19.1 million in North America.<br />
The success of these Disney releases motivated<br />
other studios to seek out similar projects<br />
of their own. Michael Jackson’s untimely death<br />
prevented the King of Pop from embarking on<br />
a comeback world tour. The rehearsal footage<br />
was edited into a concert documentary and<br />
released by Sony only four months after the<br />
singer’s death. This Is It grossed $72 million in<br />
North America and became the highest-grossing<br />
concert film of all time in the global box<br />
office, making $261 million worldwide.<br />
It was only going to be a matter of time<br />
before other pop stars joined the act. Justin<br />
Bieber: Never Say Never was released in North<br />
America in 2011, becoming the highest-grossing<br />
concert film of all time domestically with a<br />
$73 million total in North America. Paramount<br />
distributed the 3D concert film, which went on<br />
to finish its theatrical run with a $98.4 million<br />
global cume.<br />
The release of One Direction: This Is Us will<br />
come as an interesting closing chapter in a<br />
turbulent summer for the film’s distributor. Sony<br />
44 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
BIG PICTURE<br />
began the season with two costly misfires: M. Night<br />
Shyamalan’s sci-fi father-and-son adventure After<br />
Earth crash-landed at the North American<br />
box office with a lackluster $27.5 million<br />
opening weekend. Roland Emmerich’s<br />
disaster flick White House Down was<br />
also a disaster with a $25.7 million<br />
opening weekend. The rest of<br />
Sony’s summer slate includes one<br />
last try at a post-apocalyptic sci-fi<br />
action epic with Elysium, a pair of<br />
comedies with This Is the End and<br />
Grown Ups 2, and a nod to younger<br />
audiences with The Smurfs 2 and<br />
Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.<br />
Sony can count on One Direction:<br />
This Is Us as one of the safest bets<br />
of the year. The band comes with an<br />
established legion of global fans, particularly<br />
the types of fans who go to movie<br />
theaters with their parents.<br />
It makes sense that both the music and film<br />
industries are relying on spectacle to compete<br />
against emerging home-entertainment technologies.<br />
Exhibitors have been down this road before<br />
and are used to tapping into audience trends<br />
in their programming. It’s becoming easier to<br />
find screenings of live events simulcast in movie<br />
screens around the country, bringing a range of<br />
events from performances by New York’s Metropolitan<br />
Opera to the latest Floyd Mayweather Jr.<br />
fight to a theater near you.<br />
MORE MUSIC IN AUGUST<br />
On Tuesday, Aug. 13, Eric Clapton’s<br />
Crossroads Guitar Festival <strong>2013</strong><br />
will be presented by NCM Fathom<br />
Events at hundreds of theaters<br />
across the country. Artists include<br />
Allman Brothers Band, Booker T.,<br />
Buddy Guy, Derek Trucks, Eric<br />
Clapton, Jeff Beck, John Mayer,<br />
Keith Richards, Keith Urban, Los<br />
Lobos, Robert Cray, Vince Gill, and<br />
Warren Haynes. For ticket information,<br />
go to: fathomevents.com<br />
Live events have the potential to become an<br />
important alternative for exhibitors. Speculation<br />
abounds in the cable television industry about<br />
a future where cord-cutting becomes commonplace,<br />
bringing down the subscriber<br />
count in the pay-television business.<br />
This provides an interesting opportunity<br />
for exhibitors, who could offer<br />
live events on a big screen at a fraction<br />
of the cost of a cable subscription<br />
or pay-per-view package.<br />
While concert movies haven’t<br />
reached the blockbuster box office<br />
level of studios’ summer tentpoles,<br />
they provide the industry the<br />
simple alternative to produce a film<br />
with built-in audience awareness<br />
and a loyal fan base without going<br />
anywhere near the inflating budgets<br />
of recognizable franchises. The concert<br />
film’s box office revival is a testament to the<br />
resiliency of the silver screen amid a changing<br />
media landscape.<br />
New technology in the entertainment industry<br />
is discarding old business models as fast<br />
as it is creating new opportunities. Exhibitors<br />
have been able to thrive throughout all the<br />
changes in the film industry by consistently innovating<br />
and connecting with audiences’ tastes<br />
and viewing tendencies. Concert movies could<br />
be the first step for the big screen to go live in<br />
the near future.<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 45
BIG PICTURE<br />
‘THE BIEB’<br />
IN NEVER SAY NEVER<br />
THE<br />
INVASION<br />
OF THE<br />
TEEN<br />
IDOLS<br />
BY DANIEL LORIA<br />
The collapse of the music industry<br />
has put more pressure on<br />
recording artists to tour, bringing<br />
in a renewed age of live music.<br />
High ticket prices for concerts,<br />
however, have made it difficult<br />
for families to afford these events<br />
during a particularly tough<br />
economic period. Studios have<br />
turned a recovering economy<br />
and dip in disposable income for<br />
families into a new opportunity<br />
for concert films. Pop stars have<br />
begun popping up on the big<br />
screen, bringing the excitement<br />
and spectacle of their concerts to<br />
audiences across the country at<br />
a fraction of the cost. The experiment<br />
has worked so far, with the<br />
economic recession bringing in<br />
record numbers for concert films<br />
at the box office—specifically<br />
those aimed at younger audiences.<br />
The top five concert films<br />
of all time at the box office have<br />
come out in the last six years.<br />
JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER 2011<br />
OPENING<br />
WEEKEND<br />
DOMESTIC<br />
GROSS<br />
WORLDWIDE<br />
GROSS<br />
$29.5 $73.0 $98.6<br />
THIS IS IT 2011<br />
OPENING<br />
WEEKEND<br />
DOMESTIC<br />
GROSS<br />
WORLDWIDE<br />
GROSS<br />
$23.2 $72.0 $261<br />
HANNAH MONTANA & MILEY CYRUS:<br />
BEST OF BOTH WORLDS CONCERT 2008<br />
OPENING<br />
WEEKEND<br />
DOMESTIC<br />
GROSS<br />
WORLDWIDE<br />
GROSS<br />
$31.1 $65.2 $70.6<br />
KATY PERRY: PART OF ME 2011<br />
OPENING<br />
WEEKEND<br />
DOMESTIC<br />
GROSS<br />
WORLDWIDE<br />
GROSS<br />
$7.1 $25.3 $32.2<br />
JONAS BROTHERS:<br />
THE 3D CONCERT EXPERIENCE 2009<br />
OPENING<br />
WEEKEND<br />
DOMESTIC<br />
GROSS<br />
WORLDWIDE<br />
GROSS<br />
$12.5 $19.1 $23.0<br />
46 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
COMING<br />
IN AUGUST<br />
2 GUNS<br />
READY, FIRE, AIM<br />
WIDE<br />
n Icelandic director Baltasar<br />
Kormákur helms this action comedy<br />
based on the graphic novel of the<br />
same name. Denzel Washington as a<br />
DEA agent and Mark Wahlberg as a<br />
Navy Seal must team up when they<br />
suspect they’ve been set up by the<br />
CIA. It’s a sure bet that guns will fire<br />
and quips will be thrown.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Universal Pictures CAST Denzel<br />
Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Paula Patton,<br />
Bill Paxton DIRECTOR Baltasar Kormákur<br />
SCREENWRITER Blake Masters PRODUCERS Andrew<br />
Cosby, Randall Emmett, George Furla,<br />
Norton Herrick, Marc Platt, Ross Richie<br />
GENRE Action comedy RATING TBD RUNNING<br />
TIME TBD RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 2, <strong>2013</strong><br />
LTD.<br />
DRIFT<br />
COWABUNGA!<br />
n <strong>Pro</strong>ject Greenlight’s 2005 winner Morgan<br />
O’Neill co-directs this period piece about the<br />
dawn of the surf era in Australia during the<br />
1970s. Myles Pollard (X-Men Origins: Wolverine)<br />
and Xavier Samuel (The Twilight Saga:<br />
Eclipse) play brothers who struggle to make<br />
ends meet as they launch a fledgling surf shop<br />
out of their backyard garage. Sam Worthington<br />
(Avatar) shows up as a filmmaker along for the<br />
ride. Say g’day to short boards and wetsuits.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Sam Worthington,<br />
Xavier Samuel, Myles Pollard DIRECTORS<br />
Morgan O’Neill, Ben Nott SCREENWRITER<br />
Morgan O’Neill PRODUCERS Michele Bennett,<br />
Tim Duffy, Myles Pollard GENRE Sports drama<br />
RATING R RUNNING TIME 113 min. RELEASE<br />
DATE <strong>August</strong> 2<br />
LTD.<br />
EUROPA REPORT<br />
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?<br />
n Sharlto Copley (who body-melded with<br />
“prawns” in 2009’s District 9) toplines this tale<br />
about a group of six astronauts who journey<br />
to one of Jupiter’s moons on a search for E.T.<br />
and lose contact with Earth after a member of<br />
their team dies. Joining him on the ride is The<br />
Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’s Michael Nyqvist.<br />
Rather than travel to the Galilean moons,<br />
Equadorian director Sebastián Cordero shot<br />
this found-footage film in far-off Brooklyn.<br />
Rotten Tomatoes already has this scored at 69<br />
percent. It’s fresh!<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Magnet CAST Sharlto Copley, Michael<br />
Nyqvist, Embeth Davidtz, Dan Fogler<br />
DIRECTOR Sebastián Cordero SCREENWRITER<br />
Philip Gelatt PRODUCER Ben Browning GENRE<br />
Science fiction RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME<br />
89 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 2<br />
LTD.<br />
THE SPECTACULAR NOW<br />
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRITS<br />
n At hit at Sundance, The Spectacular Now<br />
attempts to refresh the teen movie formula<br />
and by most accounts succeeds. Miles Teller<br />
(Footloose) plays an aimless high school senior<br />
(and budding alcoholic) who meets a girl (The<br />
Descendants’ Shailene Woodley) with more on<br />
her mind than simple carpe diem.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR A24 CAST Miles Teller, Shailene<br />
Woodley, Brie Larson, Jennifer Jason Leigh,<br />
Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kyle Chandler<br />
DIRECTOR James Ponsoldt SCREENWRITERS<br />
Scott Neustadter, Michael H. Weber PRODUC-<br />
ERS Michelle Krumm, Andrew Lauren, Shawn<br />
Levy GENRE Dramedy RATING PG-13 RUNNING<br />
TIME 100 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 2<br />
48 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
COMING IN AUGUST<br />
WIDE<br />
WIDE<br />
WIDE<br />
PERCY JACKSON:<br />
SEA OF MONSTERS<br />
PERCY AND THE GOLDEN FLEECE<br />
n This follow-up to 2010’s sizable hit Percy<br />
Jackson & the Lightning Thief finds Percy (Logan<br />
Lerman), the son of Poseidon, embarking<br />
on a quest for the Golden Fleece, last hunted<br />
down by Todd Armstrong and crew in the<br />
1963 classic Jason and the Argonauts.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox CAST Logan<br />
Lerman, Alexandra Daddario, Brandon T.<br />
Jackson, Leven Rambin, Jake Abel, Stanley<br />
Tucci, Nathan Fillion DIRECTOR Thor Freudenthal<br />
SCREENWRITER Marc Guggenheim PRO-<br />
DUCERS Michael Barnathan, Karen Rosenfelt<br />
GENRE Comedy, drama RATING PG-13 RUNNING<br />
TIME 107 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 7<br />
PLANES<br />
WE SUPPOSE TRAINS IS NEXT<br />
n Though not a Pixar film, Planes is a spin-off<br />
of the Cars franchise produced by DisneyToon<br />
Studios and originally planned as a<br />
direct-to-video title. Comedian Dane Cook<br />
(replacing Jon Cryer) voices Dusty Crophopper<br />
whose dream is to compete as a high-speed air<br />
racer. One problem: he’s afraid of heights.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Disney CAST Dane Cook, Stacy<br />
Keach, Priyanka Chopra, Brad Garrett, Teri<br />
Hatcher, Cedric the Entertainer DIRECTOR<br />
Klay Hall SCREENWRITER Jeffrey M. Howard<br />
PRODUCER Traci Balthazor-Flynn GENRE<br />
Animation RATING PG RUNNING TIME 91 min.<br />
RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 9<br />
ELYSIUM<br />
THE HAVES AND HAVE NOTS<br />
n Director Neill Blomkamp’s sophomore effort<br />
delivers this futuristic look at an Earth that<br />
is a grim and grimey wasteland orbited by a<br />
massive space station, dubbed Elysium, that is a<br />
utopia for the rich and powerful, where disease<br />
is unknown. Earth-bound Matt Damon races<br />
to get to Elysium—uninvited—to find a cure<br />
for his cancer. Jodie Foster stands in his way.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Sony CAST Matt Damon, Jodie<br />
Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga, Diego<br />
Luna DIRECTOR Neill Blomkamp SCREENWRIT-<br />
ER Neill Blomkamp PRODUCERS Bill Block,<br />
Neill Blomkamp, Simon Kinberg GENRE<br />
Science fiction RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 109<br />
min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 9<br />
WIDE<br />
WE’RE THE MILLERS<br />
DUDE, WHERE’S MY STASH?<br />
n The writer-director of DodgeBall: A True<br />
Underdog Story brings us this R-rated comedy<br />
about a pot dealer (SNL’s Jason Sudeikis) who<br />
hires a stripper (Jennifer Aniston) and two<br />
teens to act as his fake family so he can smuggle<br />
a couple of tons of weed into the country<br />
from Mexico for big-shot Ed Helms (TV’s The<br />
Office). Hilarity (and the munchies, no doubt)<br />
ensues.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Warner Bros. CAST Jason<br />
Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Emma Roberts,<br />
Ed Helms DIRECTOR Rawson Marshall Thurber<br />
SCREENWRITERS Bob Fisher, Steve Faber,<br />
Sean Anders, John Morris PRODUCERS Chris<br />
Bender, Vincent Newman, Tucker Tooley,<br />
Happy Walters GENRE Comedy RATING R<br />
RUNNING TIME 110 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 7<br />
LTD.<br />
IN A WORLD …<br />
DON LAFONTAINE WOULD BE<br />
PROUD<br />
n Actor Lake Bell (Black Rock) writes and<br />
directs her first feature, which nabbed her a<br />
screenwriting award at the <strong>2013</strong> Sundance Film<br />
Festival. Bell plays Carol Solomon, a struggling<br />
voice coach who is in direct competition<br />
with her father (Woody Allen-regular Fred<br />
Melamed)—a legendary voice-over artist—in<br />
the male-dominated field. The prize: voicing<br />
the trailer for something called Amazon Games.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Roadside Attractions CAST Lake<br />
Bell, Fred Melamed, Demetri Martin, Michaela<br />
Watkins DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER Lake<br />
Bell PRODUCERS Lake Bell, Mark Roberts,<br />
Jett Steiger, Eddie Vaisman GENRE Comedy<br />
RATING R RUNNING TIME 93 min. RELEASE DATE<br />
<strong>August</strong> 9<br />
LTD.<br />
PRINCE AVALANCE<br />
ROAD WARRIORS<br />
n Serious-minded Alvin (Paul Rudd) and<br />
his girlfriend’s doofus brother Lance (Emile<br />
Hirsch) spend a summer repainting the yellow<br />
lines down the middle of a country road.<br />
Helmed in indie fashion by high-concept<br />
writer-director David Gordon Green (Pineapple<br />
Express, Your Highness, The Sitter), Prince<br />
Avalanche was shot away from prying eyes in<br />
Bastrop, Texas.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Magnolia CAST Paul Rudd, Emile<br />
Hirsch DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER David Gordon<br />
Green PRODUCERS James Belfer, David<br />
Gordon Green, Lisa Muskat, Derrick Tseng,<br />
Craig Zobel GENRE Dramedy RATING R RUN-<br />
NING TIME 94 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 9<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 49
COMING IN AUGUST<br />
WIDE<br />
KICK-ASS 2<br />
LET THE EXPLETIVES FLY<br />
n Sans Nicolas Cage, the faux superheros of<br />
Kick-Ass return with the addition of Jim Carrey<br />
as vigilante Colonel Stars and Stripes (Carrey<br />
recently apologized for the violence in the film<br />
much to the chagrin of the filmmakers). Red<br />
Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) returns with<br />
a new two-word moniker, the first of which is<br />
Mother. You can figure out the rest.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Universal CAST Aaron Taylor-Johnson,<br />
Christopher Mintz-Plasse,<br />
Chloë Grace Moretz, Jim Carrey DIRECTOR/<br />
SCREENWRITER Jeff Wadlow PRODUCERS<br />
Matthew Vaughn, Brad Pitt, Adam Bohling,<br />
Tarquin Pack, David Reid GENRE Action comedy<br />
RATING R RUNNING TIME 113 min. RELEASE<br />
DATE <strong>August</strong> 16<br />
WIDE<br />
PARANOIA<br />
EMPIRES STRIKE BACK AND FORTH<br />
n Indiana Jones with a buzz cut? Harrison<br />
Ford, in cranky mode, portrays a high-tech<br />
CEO playing a high-stakes game with rival<br />
CEO Gary Oldman. Caught in the middle is<br />
low-level nerd Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger<br />
Games), who’s forced to go undercover as a corporate<br />
spy in order to save his job. Skulduggery<br />
and shenanigans ensue.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Relativity Media CAST Liam<br />
Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford,<br />
Amber Heard DIRECTOR Robert Luketic<br />
SCREENWRITERS Barry L. Levy, Jason Dean<br />
Hall PRODUCERS Alexandra Milchan, Scott<br />
Lambert, Deepak Nayar GENRE Thriller RAT-<br />
ING R RUNNING TIME 115 min. RELEASE DATE<br />
<strong>August</strong> 16<br />
LTD.<br />
AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS<br />
BONNIE AND CLYDE REDUX<br />
n Sporting award-winning cinematography,<br />
this film concerns a hardened outlaw Patrick<br />
(Ben Foster, The Messenger) escaping from a<br />
Texas prison—serving time for a crime committed<br />
by his wife—to reunite with his outlaw<br />
spouse Ruth (Rooney Mara, Side Effects) and<br />
young child whom he’s never seen.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR IFC Films CAST Rooney Mara,<br />
Ben Foster, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Keith<br />
Carradine, Charles Baker DIRECTOR/SCREEN-<br />
WRITER David Lowery PRODUCERS Cassian<br />
Elwes, Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston,<br />
Amy Kaufman, Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy<br />
GENRE Drama RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 105<br />
min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 16<br />
LTD.<br />
THE BUTLER<br />
HALL OF PRESIDENTS<br />
n Based on the memoir of White House butler<br />
Eugene Allen, The Butler, directed by Lee Daniels<br />
(Precious), presents history through the eyes of<br />
Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker (The Last King of<br />
Scotland) with Robin Williams and Melissa Leo<br />
as the Eisenhowers, James Marsden and Minka<br />
Kelly as the Kennedys, Liev Schreiber as LBJ,<br />
John Cusack as Nixon, and Alan Rickman and<br />
Jane Fonda as the Reagans. The title may change<br />
before release due to a dispute with Warner Bros.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Weinstein CAST Forest Whitaker,<br />
Oprah Winfrey, Liev Schreiber, John<br />
Cusack, Jane Fonda DIRECTOR Lee Daniels<br />
SCREENWRITERS Danny Strong, Lee Daniels<br />
PRODUCERS Lee Daniels, Cassian Elwes, Buddy<br />
Patrick, Pam Williams, Laura Ziskin GENRE<br />
Historical RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD<br />
RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 16<br />
LTD.<br />
J0BS<br />
HERE’S TO THE CRAZY ONES<br />
n Ashton Kutcher bears a striking resemblance<br />
to Steve Jobs in this biopic about the late Apple<br />
cofounder’s rise from brash nerd to brusque<br />
tech titan. The former That ’70s Show star and<br />
celebrity Twitter powerhouse (14.5 million<br />
followers and counting). Josh Gad (Broadway’s<br />
Book of Mormon) plays the other Steve—Apple<br />
cofounder Steve Wozniak. Aaron Sorkin,<br />
Oscar-winning scribe of The Social Network, is<br />
penning another Jobs film; this one is based on<br />
the authorized biography by Walter Isaacson<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Open Road CAST Ashton<br />
Kutcher, Josh Gad, Ahna O’Reilly, Dermot<br />
Mulroney, Matthew Modine DIRECTOR Joshua<br />
Michael Stern SCREENWRITER Matt Whiteley<br />
PRODUCERS Mark Hulme, Marcos A. Rodriguez<br />
GENRE Biography RATING PG-13 RUNNING<br />
TIME 122 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 16<br />
WIDE<br />
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS:<br />
CITY OF BONES<br />
UPSIDE DOWNWORLD<br />
n Here comes another young-adult franchise!<br />
Based on a six-book series by Cassandra Clare,<br />
City of Bones lays out the premise: teen Clary<br />
Fray discovers that her kidnapped mother is<br />
a Shadowhunter, a half-angel, half-human<br />
warrior and that she, too, has Shadowhunter<br />
powers. The MacGuffin? The Mortal Cup her<br />
mother hid that is being hunted by—what else?<br />
Dark forces. Norwegian director Harald Zwart<br />
helmed the reboot of The Karate Kid.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Screen Gems CAST Lily Collins,<br />
Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan,<br />
Kevin Zegers, Lena Headey, Kevin Durand<br />
DIRECTOR Harald Zwart SCREENWRITER Jessica<br />
Postigo Paquette PRODUCERS Don Carmody,<br />
Robert Kulzer GENRE Fantasy RATING PG-13<br />
RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 21<br />
50 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
exhibition history at your fingertips<br />
at www.BoxOffice.com
COMING IN AUGUST<br />
LTD.<br />
THE GRANDMASTER<br />
ENTER THE IP MAN<br />
n Before there was Bruce Lee there was Ip<br />
Man, the early 20th century martial artist<br />
and teacher. This Hong Kong-Chinese feature<br />
stars Tony Leung, winner of the 2000 Best<br />
Actor award at Cannes, as Yip Man, while the<br />
film covers his triumphs and challenges from<br />
childhood through the Second Sino-Japanese<br />
War to the early 1950s. Zhang Ziyi (Crouching<br />
Tiger, Hidden Dragon) stars as Ip Man’s female<br />
adversary.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Weinstein CAST Tony Leung,<br />
Zhang Ziyi, Chang Chen, Zhao Benshan<br />
DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER Wong Kar-wai PRO-<br />
DUCERS Ng See-yuen, Megan Ellison, Wong<br />
Kar-wai GENRE Martial arts, biography RATING<br />
PG-13 RUNNING TIME 130 min. RELEASE DATE<br />
<strong>August</strong> 23<br />
WIDE<br />
THE WORLD’S END<br />
CORNETTO TRILOGY CONCLUDES<br />
n Five childhood friends vow to complete the<br />
pub crawl they failed to finish in their youth.<br />
With a dozen pubs between themselves and the<br />
fabled The World’s End, Simon Pegg (Star Trek<br />
Into Darkness) and mates set off not knowing<br />
that their evening may well be humanity’s last.<br />
Reason? The local populace is being replaced by<br />
robot replicants.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Focus CAST Simon Pegg, Nick<br />
Frost, Paddy Considine, Martin Freeman DI-<br />
RECTOR Edgar Wright SCREENWRITERS Edgar<br />
Wright, Simon Pegg PRODUCERS Nira Park,<br />
Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner GENRE Comedy, science<br />
fiction RATING R RUNNING TIME 109 min.<br />
RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 23<br />
WIDE<br />
YOU’RE NEXT<br />
… NEXT TO HIDE UNDER YOUR SEAT<br />
n When a gang of masked, ax-wielding<br />
murderers descend upon the Davison family<br />
reunion, the hapless victims seem trapped …<br />
until an unlikely guest of the family proves<br />
to be the most talented killer of all. Rotten<br />
Tomatoes has You’re Next at an astounding 91<br />
percent fresh. Director Adam Wingard contributed<br />
the framing narrative to the anthology<br />
horror film V/H/S.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Sharni Vinson,<br />
AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Barbara Crampton,<br />
Wendy Glenn DIRECTOR Adam Wingard<br />
SCREENWRITER Simon Barrett PRODUCERS<br />
Simon Barrett, Keith Calder, Kim Sherman,<br />
Jessica Wu GENRE Horror thriller RATING R<br />
RUNNING TIME 94 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong><br />
23<br />
LTD.<br />
SHORT TERM 12<br />
TEEN TROUBLE<br />
n A young foster-care supervisor (Brie Larson,<br />
TV’s United States of Tara) looks after troubled<br />
teens, wrestles with her own difficult past,<br />
and manages a long-term relationship with<br />
her coworker. Writer-director Destin Daniel<br />
Cretton, who once worked with foster children,<br />
based the film on an earlier short he made in<br />
2009. An award winner at the <strong>2013</strong> SXSW<br />
Film Festival.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Cinedigm CAST Brie Larson,<br />
John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever, Rami<br />
Malek, Keith Stanfield DIRECTOR/SCREENWRIT-<br />
ER Destin Daniel Cretton PRODUCERS Maren<br />
Olson, Asher Goldstein, Joshua Astrachan,<br />
Ron Najor GENRE Drama RATING R RUNNING<br />
TIME 96 min. RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 23<br />
WIDE<br />
CLOSED CIRCUIT<br />
ROMANCING THE DOCKET<br />
n Following a mysterious explosion in a busy<br />
London market, the police swoop in, a suspect<br />
is detained, and the country prepares for one<br />
of the most high-profile trials in British history.<br />
Lawyers—and ex-lovers—Martin (Eric Bana)<br />
and Claudia (Rebecca Hall) step into a dangerous<br />
web of secrets and lies, and when evidence<br />
points to a possible British Secret Service<br />
cover-up, it’s not just their reputations but their<br />
lives that are at stake.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Focus CAST Eric Bana, Rebecca<br />
Hall, Ciarán Hinds, Jim Broadbent, Riz<br />
Ahmed DIRECTOR John Crowley SCREENWRIT-<br />
ER Steven Knight PRODUCERS Mairi Bett, Tim<br />
Bevan, Chris Clark, Eric Fellner GENRE Crime<br />
thriller RATING R RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE<br />
DATE <strong>August</strong> 28<br />
WIDE<br />
GETAWAY<br />
DRIVE, SHE SAID<br />
n Former race-car driver Brent Magna (Ethan<br />
Hawke, Before Midnight) is pitted against the<br />
clock. Desperately trying to save the life of his<br />
kidnapped wife, Brent commandeers a custom<br />
Mustang Shelby Cobra, taking it and its unwitting<br />
owner (singer Selena Gomez) on a highspeed<br />
race against time, at the command of the<br />
mysterious villain holding his wife hostage.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Warner Bros. CAST Ethan<br />
Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight, Bruce<br />
Payne DIRECTOR Courtney Solomon SCREEN-<br />
WRITERS Gregg Maxwell Parker, Sean<br />
Finegan PRODUCERS Steve Richards, Moshe<br />
Diamant, Joel Silver, Courtney Solomon<br />
GENRE Crime action RATING PG-13 RUNNING<br />
TIME TBD RELEASE DATE <strong>August</strong> 30<br />
52 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
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ON THE<br />
HORIZON<br />
NOVEMBER<br />
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET<br />
MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ’ROUND<br />
n Based on Jordan Belfort’s memoir, this film centers on a New York stockbroker who refuses to cooperate<br />
in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street and mob infiltration.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Paramount CAST Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Matthew McConaughey DIRECTOR Martin<br />
Scorsese SCREENWRITER Terence Winter PRODUCERS Riza Aziz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Joey McFarland,<br />
Martin Scorsese GENRE Dark comedy RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE November 15<br />
THOR: THE DARK<br />
WORLD<br />
IT’S HAMMER TIME …<br />
AGAIN<br />
n When we last saw the mighty<br />
Thor (Chris Hemsworth) he was<br />
enjoying some nice shawarma<br />
with his fellow Avengers. This<br />
fall he returns to the screen<br />
sans Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.<br />
Natalie Portman returns from<br />
wherever she was hiding during<br />
The Avengers to travel with Thor<br />
to Asgard where most of this installment<br />
takes place. Idris Elba,<br />
last seen canceling the apocalypse<br />
in Pacific Rim, expands his<br />
tiny role as an Asgardian sentry<br />
from the first film. Trickster<br />
Loki (Tom Hiddleston) returns<br />
to help, or perhaps hinder his<br />
brother Thor’s quest to save the<br />
Nine Realms.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Disney CAST Chris<br />
Hemsworth, Natalie Portman,<br />
Tom Hiddleston, Stellan<br />
Skarsgård DIRECTOR Alan Taylor<br />
SCREENWRITERS Christopher<br />
Yost, Christopher Markus, Stephen<br />
McFeely PRODUCER Kevin<br />
Feige GENRE Fantasy RATING<br />
TBD RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE<br />
DATE November 8<br />
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE<br />
MAY THE ODDS BE EVER IN YOUR FAVOR<br />
n Katniss returns to District 12 with Peeta and they embark on a Victory Tour of the other<br />
districts while President Snow hatches some threatening schemes for the 75th Hunger Games.<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody<br />
Harrelson DIRECTOR Francis Lawrence SCREENWRITERS Simon Beaufoy, Michael Arndt PRO-<br />
DUCERS Nina Jacobson, Jon Kilik GENRE Fantasy RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD RELEASE DATE<br />
November 22<br />
54 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
SNEAK<br />
PEEK<br />
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR AND MICHAEL FASSBENDER IN<br />
TWELVE YEARS A SLAVE<br />
SOLOMON NORTHUP’S MEMOIR COMES TO LIFE<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Fox Searchlight CAST Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender,<br />
Benedict Cumberbatch DIRECTOR Steve McQueen SCREENWRITER John Ridley<br />
GENRE Historical RELEASE DATE October 18, <strong>2013</strong><br />
SHAILENE WOODLEY IN<br />
DIVERGENT<br />
A SQUARE PEG IN A ROUND HOLE<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Kate<br />
Winslett DIRECTOR Neil Burger SCREENWRITER Evan Daugherty GENRE<br />
SciFi RELEASE DATE March 21, 2014<br />
RICKY GERVAIS, MISS PIGGY AND KERMIT IN<br />
MUPPETS MOST WANTED<br />
KERMIT MEETS HIS DOPPELGÄNGER<br />
DISTRIBUTOR Disney CAST Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, Ty Burrell DIREC-<br />
TOR James Bobin SCREENWRITERS Nicholas Stoller, James Bobin<br />
GENRE Family RELEASE DATE March 21, 2014<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 55
BOOKING<br />
GUIDE<br />
compiled by Daniel Garris<br />
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS<br />
CBS FILMS Lauren Douglas / 310-575-7052 / lauren.douglas@cbs.com<br />
LAST VEGAS Fri, 11/1/13 WIDE Michael Douglas, Robert De Niro Jon Turteltaub R Com Dolby Dig<br />
INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS Fri, 12/6/13 LTD. Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan Ethan Coen, Joel Coen R Dra<br />
DISNEY 818-560-1000 / Ask for Distribution<br />
PLANES Fri, 8/9/13 WIDE Dane Cook, Brad Garrett Klay Hall PG Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig<br />
THE FIFTH ESTATE Fri, 10/11/13 LTD. Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl Bill Condon NR Dra<br />
THOR: THE DARK WORLD Fri, 11/8/13 WIDE Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman Alan Taylor NR Act/Adv 3D/Dolby Dig<br />
DELIVERY MAN Fri, 11/22/13 WIDE Vince Vaughn, Cobie Smulders Ken Scott PG-13 Com<br />
FROZEN<br />
Wed, 11/27/13 WIDE Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel<br />
Chris Buck, Jennifer<br />
Lee<br />
NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig<br />
SAVING MR. BANKS Fri, 12/13/13 LTD. Tom Hanks, Emma Thompson John Lee Hancock PG-13 Dra<br />
NEED FOR SPEED Fri, 3/14/14 WIDE Aaron Paul, Imogen Poots Scott Waugh NR Act<br />
MUPPETS MOST WANTED Fri, 3/21/14 WIDE Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey James Bobin NR Com/Fam<br />
CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER<br />
SOLDIER<br />
BEARS<br />
Fri, 4/4/14 WIDE<br />
Fri, 4/18/14 WIDE<br />
Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson<br />
Anthony Russo, Joe<br />
Russo<br />
Alastair Fothergill,<br />
Keith Scholey<br />
NR Act/Adv 3D<br />
THE GOOD DINOSAUR Fri, 5/30/14 WIDE Bob Peterson NR Ani/Fam 3D<br />
FILMDISTRICT Deborah Johnson / 646-380-4497 / djohnson@filmdistrict.com<br />
INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 2 Fri, 9/13/13 WIDE Rose Byrne, Patrick Wilson James Wan PG-13 Hor/Thr Dolby Atmos<br />
OLDBOY Fri, 10/25/13 WIDE Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Olsen Spike Lee R Act/Thr<br />
ARE WE OFFICIALLY DATING? Fri, 1/31/14 WIDE Zac Efron, Michael B. Jordan Tom Gormican NR Rom/Com<br />
WALK OF SHAME Fri, 3/14/14 WIDE Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden Steven Brill R Rom/Com<br />
FOCUS FEATURES Mingun Kim / 818-777-3071<br />
THE WORLD’S END Fri, 8/23/13 WIDE Simon Pegg, Nick Frost Edgar Wright R Com/SF Dolby Dig<br />
CLOSED CIRCUIT Wed, 8/28/13 WIDE Eric Bana, Rebecca Hall John Crowley R Cri/Thr Dolby Dig<br />
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB<br />
Fri, 12/6/13 EXCL<br />
NY/LA<br />
Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto Jean-Marc Vallée NR Dra Dolby Dig<br />
FOX 310-369-1000 / 212-556-2400<br />
PERCY JACKSON: SEA OF MONSTERS Wed, 8/7/13 WIDE Logan Lerman, Alexandra Daddario Thor Freudenthal PG Act/Adv/Fan 3D/Dolby Atmos<br />
RUNNER, RUNNER Fri, 10/04/13 WIDE Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlake Brad Furman R Cri/Thr Dolby Dig<br />
THE COUNSELOR Fri, 10/25/13 WIDE Michael Fassbender, Brad Pitt Ridley Scott NR Dra/Thr<br />
THE BOOK THIEF Fri, 11/15/13 WIDE Sophie Nélisse, Geoffrey Rush Brian Percival NR Dra<br />
WALKING WITH DINOSAURS: THE<br />
MOVIE 3D<br />
Fri, 12/20/13 WIDE<br />
Charlie Rowe, Angourie Rice<br />
Neil Nightingale, Barry<br />
Cook<br />
NR<br />
Doc<br />
NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D<br />
THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY Wed, 12/25/13 WIDE Ben Stiller, Kristen Wiig Ben Stiller NR Adv/Com/Dra<br />
DEVIL’S DUE Wed, 1/1/14 WIDE Zach Gilford, Allison Miller Radio Silence NR Hor/Thr<br />
THE MAZE RUNNER Fri, 2/14/14 WIDE Dylan O’Brien, Will Poulter Wes Ball NR SF/Thr<br />
MR. PEABODY & SHERMAN Fri, 3/7/14 WIDE Ty Burrell, Max Charles Rob Minkoff NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D<br />
RIO 2 Fri, 4/11/14 WIDE Anne Hathaway, Jesse Eisenberg Carlos Saldanha NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig<br />
THE OTHER WOMAN Fri, 4/25/14 WIDE Cameron Diaz, Leslie Mann Nick Cassavetes NR Com<br />
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Fri, 5/23/14 WIDE Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy Bryan Singer NR Act/Adv 3D<br />
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 Fri, 6/20/14 WIDE Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler Dean DeBlois NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D<br />
FOX SEARCHLIGHT 212-556-2400<br />
BAGGAGE CLAIM Fri, 9/27/13 WIDE Paula Patton, Derek Luke David E. Talbert PG-13 Rom/Com<br />
12 YEARS A SLAVE Fri, 10/18/13 LTD. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Fassbender Steve McQueen R Dra<br />
BLACK NATIVITY Wed, 11/27/13 WIDE Jacob Latimore, Forest Whitaker Kasi Lemmons NR Dra/Mus<br />
56 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
BOOKING GUIDE<br />
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS<br />
LIONSGATE / 310-309-8400<br />
DRIFT Fri, 8/2/13 LTD. Myles Pollard, Xavier Samuel<br />
Ben Nott, Morgan<br />
O’Neill<br />
YOU’RE NEXT Fri, 8/23/13 WIDE Sharni Vinson, Joe Swanberg Adam Wingard R Hor/Thr<br />
ESCAPE PLAN<br />
Fri, 10/18/13 WIDE<br />
Sylvester Stallone, Arnold<br />
Schwarzenegger<br />
Mikael Hafström NR Act/Thr<br />
R Dra/Sport Dolby Dig<br />
ENDER’S GAME Fri, 11/1/13 WIDE Asa Butterfield, Harrison Ford Gavin Hood NR Act/Thr IMAX<br />
THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE Fri, 11/22/13 WIDE Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson Francis Lawrence NR Act/Adv/SF IMAX/Dolby Dig<br />
A MADEA CHRISTMAS Fri, 12/13/13 WIDE Tyler Perry, Larry the Cable Guy Tyler Perry NR Com<br />
JESSABELLE Fri, 1/10/14 WIDE Sarah Snook, Mark Webber Kevin Greutert NR Hor/Thr<br />
I, FRANKENSTEIN Fri, 1/24/14 WIDE Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy Stuart Beattie PG-13 Act/Hor 3D/Quad<br />
DIVERGENT Fri, 3/21/14 WIDE Shailene Woodley, Theo James Neil Burger NR Adv/Dra/SF<br />
THE QUIET ONES Fri, 4/25/14 WIDE Jared Harris, Sam Claflin John Pogue PG-13 Hor<br />
SINGLE MOMS CLUB Fri, 5/9/14 WIDE Tyler Perry, Nia Long Tyler Perry NR Com/Dra<br />
OPEN ROAD FILMS 310-696-7504<br />
JOBS Fri, 8/16/13 WIDE Ashton Kutcher, Dermot Mulroney Joshua Michael Stern PG-13 Dra<br />
MACHETE KILLS Fri, 10/4/13 WIDE Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez Robert Rodriguez NR Act/Cri<br />
HOMEFRONT Wed, 11/27/13 WIDE Jason Statham, James Franco Gary Fleder R Act/Thr<br />
THE NUT JOB Fri, 1/17/14 WIDE Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl Peter Lepeniotis NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D<br />
SABOTAGE<br />
Fri, 1/24/14 WIDE<br />
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sam<br />
Worthington<br />
David Ayer NR Act/Thr<br />
A HAUNTED HOUSE 2 Fri, 3/28/14 WIDE Marlon Wayans Michael Tiddes NR Com/Hor<br />
CHEF Fri, 5/9/14 WIDE Jon Favreau, Sofía Vergara Jon Favreau NR Com<br />
Complete Theatre Management at Your Fingertips<br />
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AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 57
BOOKING GUIDE<br />
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS<br />
PARAMOUNT 323-956-5000<br />
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET Fri, 11/15/13 WIDE Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill Martin Scorsese NR Cri/Dra Dolby Dig<br />
NEBRASKA Fri, 11/22/13 LTD. Bruce Dern, Will Forte Alexander Payne R Com/Dra<br />
ANCHORMAN: THE LEGEND CONTIN-<br />
UES<br />
Fri, 12/20/13 WIDE Will Ferrell, Steve Carell Adam McKay NR Com Quad<br />
JACK RYAN Wed, 12/25/13 WIDE Chris Pine, Keira Knightley Kenneth Branagh NR Act/Thr<br />
LABOR DAY Wed, 12/25/13 LTD. Kate Winslet, Josh Brolin Jason Reitman NR Dra<br />
ALMANAC Fri, 2/28/14 WIDE Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D’Elia Dean Israelite NR SF/Thr<br />
NOAH Fri, 3/28/14 WIDE Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly Darren Aronofsky NR Dra<br />
TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES Fri, 6/6/14 WIDE Megan Fox, William Fichtner Jonathan Liebesman NR Act/Adv<br />
RELATIVITY Mara Buxbaum / 323-822-4800 / relativity@id-pr.com<br />
PARANOIA Fri, 8/16/13 WIDE Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman Robert Luketic PG-13 Dra/Thr Dolby Dig<br />
THE FAMILY Fri, 9/13/13 WIDE Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer Luc Besson NR Cri/Thr Dolby Dig<br />
DON JON<br />
Fri, 9/27/13 WIDE<br />
Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Scarlett<br />
Johansson<br />
Joseph Gordon-Levitt R Com Dolby Dig<br />
ROMEO AND JULIET Fri, 10/11/13 MOD. Hailee Steinfeld, Douglas Booth Carlo Carlei NR Dra/Rom<br />
FREE BIRDS Fri, 11/1/13 WIDE Owen Wilson, Woody Harrelson Jimmy Hayward NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig<br />
OUT OF THE FURNACE Fri, 11/27/13 LTD. Christian Bale, Casey Affleck Scott Cooper NR Dra/Thr<br />
THREE DAYS TO KILL Fri, 2/14/14 WIDE Kevin Costner, Hailee Steinfeld McG NR Act/Thr<br />
STRETCH ARMSTRONG Fri, 4/11/14 WIDE Breck Eisner NR Act/Adv 3D<br />
SONY 212-833-8500<br />
ELYSIUM Fri, 8/9/13 WIDE Matt Damon, Jodie Foster Neill Blomkamp NR Act/SF<br />
THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF<br />
BONES<br />
IMAX/Dolby Atmos/<br />
Quad<br />
Wed, 8/21/13 WIDE Lily Collins, Lena Headey Harald Zwart PG-13 Act/Adv/Dra Quad<br />
ONE DIRECTION: THIS IS US Fri, 8/30/13 WIDE Niall Horan, Zayn Malik Morgan Spurlock NR Con/Doc 3D<br />
C<br />
M<br />
Y<br />
CM<br />
MY<br />
CY<br />
CMY<br />
K
BOOKING GUIDE<br />
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS<br />
BATTLE OF THE YEAR Fri, 9/27/13 WIDE Josh Holloway, Laz Alonso Benson Lee NR Dra 3D/Quad<br />
CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEAT-<br />
BALLS 2<br />
Fri, 9/27/13 WIDE<br />
Bill Hader, Anna Faris<br />
Cody Cameron, Kris<br />
Pearn<br />
NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Quad<br />
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS Fri, 10/11/13 WIDE Tom Hanks, Catherine Keener Paul Greengrass NR Act/Dra Quad<br />
CARRIE Fri, 10/18/13 WIDE Chloë Grace Moretz, Julianne Moore Kimberly Peirce NR Hor/Thr Quad<br />
AMERICAN HUSTLE Fri, 12/13/13 LTD. Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence David O. Russell NR Dra/Thr<br />
THE MONUMENTS MEN Wed, 12/18/13 WIDE George Clooney, Matt Damon George Clooney NR Dra<br />
ROBOCOP Fri, 2/7/14 WIDE Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman José Padilha NR Act/Cri/SF Quad<br />
ABOUT LAST NIGHT Fri, 2/14/14 WIDE Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy Steve Pink NR Com/Dra/Rom<br />
POMPEII Fri, 2/21/14 WIDE Kit Harington, Emily Browning Paul W.S. Anderson NR Act/Adv/Dra 3D<br />
THE EQUALIZER<br />
Fri, 4/11/14 WIDE<br />
Denzel Washington, Chloë Grace<br />
Moretz<br />
Antoine Fuqua NR Act/Thr<br />
HEAVEN IS FOR REAL Wed, 4/16/14 WIDE Greg Kinnear, Kelly Reilly Randall Wallace NR Dra/Fam<br />
NO GOOD DEED Fri, 4/25/14 WIDE Idris Elba, Taraji P. Henson Sam Miller NR Dra/Thr<br />
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 Fri, 5/2/14 WIDE Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone Marc Webb NR Act/Adv 3D<br />
22 JUMP STREET Fri, 6/13/14 WIDE Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill Phil Lord, Chris Miller NR Act/Com<br />
THINK LIKE A MAN TOO Fri, 6/20/14 WIDE Kevin Hart, Michael Ealy Tim Story NR Rom/Com<br />
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS Tom Prassis / 212-833-4981<br />
THE PATIENCE STONE<br />
AUSTENLAND<br />
WADJDA<br />
Wed, 8/14/13 EXCL<br />
NY/LA<br />
Fri, 8/16/13 EXCL<br />
NY/LA<br />
Fri, 9/13/13 EXCL<br />
NY/LA<br />
Golshifteh Farahani, Hamidreza<br />
Javdan<br />
Atiq Rahimi R Dra<br />
Keri Russell, JJ Feild Jerusha Hess PG-13 Rom/Com<br />
Reem Abdullah, Waad Mohammed Haifaa Al-Mansour PG Dra<br />
Fri, 10/18/13 EXCL<br />
KILL YOUR DARLINGS<br />
Daniel Radcliffe, Jack Huston John Krokidas NR Dra<br />
OMNITERM-No Location-7.5x5 copy.pdf NY/LA 1 13-03-27 9:44 AM<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 59
BOOKING GUIDE<br />
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS<br />
UNIVERSAL 818-777-1000<br />
2 GUNS Fri, 8/2/13 WIDE Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg Baltasar Kormákur R Act/Cri Quad<br />
KICK-ASS 2<br />
Fri, 8/16/13 WIDE<br />
Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloë Grace<br />
Moretz<br />
Jeff Wadlow R Act/Com Quad<br />
RIDDICK Fri, 9/6/13 WIDE Vin Diesel, Karl Urban David Twohy R Act/SF IMAX/Quad<br />
RUSH Fri, 9/27/13 WIDE Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl Ron Howard R Act/Dra Quad<br />
ABOUT TIME Fri, 11/1/13 LTD. Rachel McAdams, Domhnall Gleeson Richard Curtis R Rom/Com/SF Quad<br />
THE BEST MAN HOLIDAY Fri, 11/15/13 WIDE Taye Diggs, Nia Long Malcolm D. Lee NR Com/Dra Quad<br />
47 RONIN Wed, 12/25/13 WIDE Keanu Reeves, Hiroyuki Sanada Carl Rinsch NR Act/Adv/Dra 3D/Quad<br />
LONE SURVIVOR<br />
Fri, 12/27/13 EXCL<br />
NY/LA<br />
Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch Peter Berg R Act/Thr<br />
RIDE ALONG Fri, 1/17/14 WIDE Kevin Hart, Ice Cube Tim Story PG-13 Act/Com<br />
ENDLESS LOVE Fri, 2/14/14 WIDE Alex Pettyfer, Gabriella Wilde Shana Feste NR Dra/Rom<br />
NON-STOP Fri, 2/28/14 WIDE Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore Jaume Collet-Serra NR Act/Thr<br />
STRETCH Fri, 3/21/14 WIDE Patrick Wilson, Ed Helms Joe Carnahan NR Act/Com<br />
A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST Fri, 5/30/14 WIDE Seth MacFarlane, Charlize Theron Seth MacFarlane NR Com/Wes<br />
WARNER BROS. 818-977-1850<br />
WE’RE THE MILLERS Wed, 8/7/13 WIDE Jennifer Aniston, Jason Sudeikis<br />
Rawson Marshall<br />
Thurber<br />
R Com Quad<br />
GETAWAY Fri, 8/30/13 WIDE Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez Courtney Solomon PG-13 Act/Cri Quad<br />
PRISONERS Fri, 9/20/13 WIDE Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal Denis Villeneuve NR Cri/Thr<br />
THE WIZARD OF OZ 3D Fri, 9/20/13 LTD. Judy Garland, Frank Morgan Victor Fleming PG Adv/Fam/Fan 3D/IMAX<br />
GRAVITY Fri, 10/4/13 WIDE Sandra Bullock, George Clooney Alfonso Cuarón PG-13 Dra/SF/Thr<br />
HER Wed, 11/20/13 LTD. Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson Spike Jonze NR Rom/Com/SF<br />
3D/IMAX/Dolby<br />
Atmos/Quad<br />
60 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
BOOKING GUIDE<br />
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS<br />
THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF<br />
SMAUG<br />
Fri, 12/13/13 WIDE Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman Peter Jackson NR Act/Adv/Fan<br />
GRUDGE MATCH Wed, 12/25/13 WIDE Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro Peter Segal NR Com/Sport<br />
3D/IMAX/Dolby<br />
Atmos<br />
SEVENTH SON Fri, 1/17/14 WIDE Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes Sergey Bodrov NR Adv/Fan 3D/IMAX<br />
THE LEGO MOVIE Fri, 2/7/14 WIDE Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell Phil Lord, Chris Miller NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Quad<br />
300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE Fri, 3/7/14 WIDE Sullivan Stapleton, Eva Green Noam Murro NR Act 3D/IMAX/Quad<br />
TRANSCENDENCE Fri, 4/18/14 WIDE Johnny Depp, Paul Bettany Wally Pfister NR Act/SF<br />
GODZILLA Fri, 5/16/14 WIDE Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ken Watanabe Gareth Edwards NR Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX<br />
BLENDED Fri, 5/23/14 WIDE Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore Frank Coraci NR Rom/Com<br />
EDGE OF TOMORROW Fri, 6/6/14 WIDE Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt Doug Liman NR Act/SF 3D/IMAX<br />
WEINSTEIN CO./DIMENSION 646-862-3400<br />
THE BUTLER Fri, 8/16/13 WIDE Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey Lee Daniels NR Dra Dolby Dig<br />
THE GRANDMASTER Fri, 8/23/13 WIDE Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Ziyi Zhang Wong Kar Wai NR Act/Dra Dolby Dig<br />
SATANIC Fri, 8/30/13 WIDE Haley Bennett, Ashley Greene Oliver Blackburn NR Hor/Thr<br />
POPULAIRE Fri, 9/6/13 LTD. Romain Duris, Déborah François Régis Roinsard R Com Dolby Dig<br />
SALINGER Fri, 9/6/13 LTD. Shane Salerno NR Doc<br />
HAUTE CUISINE Fri, 9/20/13 LTD. Catherine Frot, Jean d’Ormesson Christian Vincent PG-13 Com Dolby Dig<br />
GRACE OF MONACO Wed, 11/27/13 MOD. Nicole Kidman, Tim Roth Olivier Dahan NR Dra<br />
MANDELA: LONG WALK TO FREEDOM Fri, 11/29/13 LTD. Idris Elba, Naomie Harris Justin Chadwick NR Dra<br />
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY Wed, 12/25/13 LTD. Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts John Wells NR Com/Dra<br />
VAMPIRE ACADEMY: BLOOD SISTERS Fri, 2/14/14 WIDE Zoey Deutch, Danila Kozlovskiy Mark Waters NR Fan/Rom<br />
AUGUST <strong>2013</strong> BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies 61
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AMC ENTERTAINMENT, INC.<br />
P.O. Box 725489<br />
Atlanta, GA 31139-9923<br />
www.amctheatres.com<br />
PG 35<br />
CARDINAL SOUND &<br />
MOTION PICTURE SYSTEMS<br />
6330 Howard Ln.<br />
Elkridge, MD 21075<br />
cardinal@cardinalsound.com<br />
www.cardinalsound.com<br />
PG 64<br />
CHRISTIE DIGITAL SYSTEMS<br />
10550 Camden Dr.<br />
Cypress, CA 90630<br />
www.christiedigital.com<br />
INSIDE FRONT COVER<br />
CINEMA CONCEPTS<br />
2030 Powers Ferry Rd., Ste. 214<br />
Atlanta GA 30339<br />
www.cinemaconcepts.com<br />
PG 17<br />
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY<br />
P.O. Box 1734<br />
Atlanta, GA 30301, USA<br />
1 800 GET COKE<br />
PG 33<br />
DOLBY LABORATORIES<br />
100 Potrero Ave.<br />
San Francisco, CA 94103<br />
Christie Ventura / 415-558-2200<br />
cah@dolby.com<br />
www.dolby.com<br />
INSIDE BACK COVER<br />
DOLPHIN SEATING<br />
313 Remuda St.<br />
Clovis, NM 88101<br />
575-762-6468<br />
www.dolphinseating.com<br />
PG 45<br />
ENPAR AUDIO<br />
Stetson Snell<br />
505-807-2154 / 505-615-2913<br />
stetsonsnell@enparaudio.com<br />
PG 61<br />
ENTERTAINMENT SUPPLY &<br />
TECHNOLOGIES, LLC<br />
4971 Van Dyke Road<br />
Lutz, FL 33558<br />
813-960-1646<br />
www.ensutec.com<br />
PG 39<br />
GENEVA CONVENTION<br />
Carol Brown<br />
262-532-0017<br />
nato@natoofwiup.org<br />
www.genevaconvention.com<br />
PG 53<br />
GOLD MEDAL PRODUCTS<br />
10700 Medallion Dr.<br />
Cincinnati, OH 45241-4807<br />
Erin Meyer / 513-769-7676<br />
info@gmpopcorn.com<br />
www.gmpopcorn.com<br />
PG 58<br />
HARKNESS SCREENS<br />
Unit A, Norton Road<br />
Stevenage, Herts<br />
SG1 2BB UK<br />
+44 1438 725200<br />
sales@harkness-screens.com<br />
www.harkness-screens.com<br />
PG 9, 11<br />
KERNEL SEASONS<br />
1958 N. Western Ave.<br />
Chicago, IL 60647<br />
Krystal LaReese-Gaul<br />
773-292-4576<br />
info@kernelseasons.com<br />
www.kernelseasons.com<br />
PG 29<br />
MAROEVICH, O’SHEA &<br />
COUGHLAN<br />
44 Montgomery St., 17th Fl.<br />
San Francisco, CA 94104<br />
Steve Elkins<br />
800-951-0600<br />
selkins@maroevich.com<br />
www.mocins.com<br />
PG 3<br />
MOVING IMAGE<br />
TECHNOLOGIES<br />
17760 Newhope St.<br />
Fountain, Valley, CA 92708<br />
714-751-7998<br />
www.movingimagetech.com<br />
PG 15<br />
ODELL’S<br />
40 Pointe Dr.<br />
Brea, CA 92821<br />
800-635-0436<br />
www.popntop.com<br />
PG 7<br />
OMNITERM<br />
2785 Skymark Avenue, Unit 11<br />
Mississauga, Ontario<br />
Canada, L4W 4Y3<br />
866-629-4757<br />
www.omniterm.com<br />
PG 59<br />
PACKAGING CONCEPTS INC<br />
9832 Evergreen Industrial Dr.<br />
St. Louis, MO 63123<br />
314-329-9700<br />
www.packagingconceptsinc.com<br />
PG 41<br />
PROCTOR COMPANIES<br />
10497 Centennial Rd.<br />
Littleton, Colorado 80127<br />
303-973-8989<br />
www.proctorco.com<br />
PG 51<br />
PROMOTION IN MOTION<br />
25 Commerce De.<br />
P.O. Box 8<br />
Allendale, NJ 07401-0008<br />
800-369-7391<br />
www.promotioninmotion.com<br />
PG 1<br />
QUEST CINEMA<br />
866-933-7486<br />
www.questcinema.com<br />
PG 64<br />
READY THEATRE SYSTEMS<br />
4 Hartford Blvd.<br />
Hartford, MI 49057<br />
Mary Snyder<br />
865-212-9703x114<br />
sales@rts-solutions.com<br />
www.rts-solutions.com.com<br />
PG 60<br />
REALD<br />
100 North Crescent Dr.,<br />
Ste. 200<br />
Beverly Hills, CA 90210<br />
310-385-4000<br />
realdglasses@reald.com<br />
www.reald.com<br />
PG 4–5<br />
RETRIEVER SOFTWARE<br />
7040 Avenida Encinas<br />
Ste. 104-363<br />
Carlsbad, CA 92011<br />
760-929-2101<br />
www.retrieversoftware.com<br />
PG 57<br />
SCREENVISION<br />
1411 Broadway 33rd Fl.<br />
New York, NY 10018<br />
Darryl Schaffer<br />
212-497-0480<br />
BACK COVER<br />
SENSIBLE CINEMA<br />
SOFTWARE<br />
7216 Sutton Pl.<br />
Fairview, TN 37062<br />
Rusty Gordon<br />
615-799-6366<br />
rusty@sensiblecinema.com<br />
www.sensiblecinema.com<br />
PG 64<br />
USHIO AMERICA, INC.<br />
5440 Cerritos Ave.<br />
Cypress, CA 90630<br />
800-838-7446<br />
www.ushio.com<br />
PG 13<br />
THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY<br />
345 Hudson St.<br />
New York, NY 10014<br />
646-862-3400<br />
www.weinsteinco.com<br />
PG 31<br />
WHITE CASTLE<br />
555 West Goodale St.<br />
Columbus, OH 43215<br />
Timothy Carroll<br />
614-559-2453<br />
carrollt@whitecastle.com<br />
www.whitecastle.com<br />
PG 27<br />
WILL ROGERS INSTITUTE<br />
Will Rogers Institute<br />
10045 Riverside Dr., Third Fl.<br />
Toluca Lake, CA 91602<br />
877-957-7575<br />
www.wrinstitute.com<br />
PG 25<br />
62 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
BUYING & SELLING<br />
MARQUEE LETTERS. Buying and selling. New<br />
and Used marquee letters all types. We buy old.<br />
We sell new. All styles. Trade in your old letters<br />
and get new letters. Turn those old letters into<br />
cash. Your source for new <strong>Pro</strong>nto, Zip-Change,<br />
Snap Lok, Slotted. mike@pilut.com 800-545-<br />
8956<br />
DRIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION<br />
DRIVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS since 1945. Selby<br />
<strong>Pro</strong>ducts Inc., P.O. Box 267, Richfield, OH<br />
44286. Phone: 330-659-6631.<br />
EQUIPMENT WANTED<br />
AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS<br />
LLC is buying projectors, processors, amplifiers,<br />
speakers, seating, platters. If you are closing,<br />
remodeling or have excess equipment in<br />
your warehouse and want to turn equipment<br />
into cash, please call 866-653-2834 or email<br />
aep30@comcast.net. Need to move quickly to<br />
close a location and dismantle equipment? We<br />
come to you with trucks, crew and equipment,<br />
no job too small or too large. Call today for a<br />
quotation: 866-653-2834. Vintage equipment<br />
wanted also! Old speakers like Western Electric<br />
and Altec, horns, cabinets, woofers, etc.,<br />
and any tube audio equipment. Call or email:<br />
aep30@comcast.net.<br />
COLLECTOR WANTS TO BUY: We pay top<br />
money for any 1920-1980 theater equipment.<br />
We’ll buy all theater-related equipment, working<br />
or dead. We remove and pick up anywhere in<br />
the U.S. or Canada. Amplifiers, speakers, horns,<br />
drivers, woofers, tubes, transformers; Western<br />
Electric, RCA, Altec, JBL, Jensen, Simplex and<br />
more. We’ll remove installed equipment if it’s<br />
in a closing location. We buy projection and<br />
equipment too. Call today: 773-339-9035; cinema-tech.com;<br />
email ILG821@aol.com.<br />
ASTER AUDITORIUM SEATING & AUDIO. We<br />
offer the best pricing on good used projection<br />
and sound equipment. Large quantities available.<br />
Please visit our website, www.asterseating.<br />
com, or call 888-409-1414.<br />
FOR SALE<br />
BARCO 3D/DIGITAL EQUIPMENT FOR SALE:<br />
Purchase for $55K. Equipment list provided<br />
upon request. Contact seller at mschwartz@<br />
pennprolaw.com.<br />
PREFERRED SEATING COMPANY, your<br />
source for new, used and refurbished theater<br />
and stadium seating. Buying and selling<br />
used seating is our specialty. Call toll-free<br />
866-922-0226 or visit our website www.<br />
preferred-seating.com.<br />
TWIN DRIVE IN THEATRE FOR SALE or lease<br />
w/option to buy. Located N.E. Indiana, Huntington.<br />
20 miles from Ft. Wayne. Pop. draw<br />
250,000. 16.86 acres commercial I-1. Call John<br />
@ 219-742-4801 for more info. www.huntingtondrivein.com.<br />
12 PLEX THEATER FOR SALE with stadium<br />
seating. 6 acres of Land. Selling at below land<br />
value. $2,000,000. Located in Huntsville AL, at<br />
the University Mall. Please call 407-948-6751.<br />
TWO CHRISTIE DIGITAL PROJECTORS<br />
CP2000SB, Two Dolby DSS100, Two Dolby<br />
Show Player, Two Christie Series 1 ACT & Four<br />
Dolby Filter Wheel and <strong>Pro</strong>jector Assembly. All<br />
in very good condition. Call 360-993-0010.<br />
HELP WANTED<br />
THEATRE MANAGEMENT POSITIONS AVAIL-<br />
ABLE Pacific Northwest Theatre Company. Previous<br />
management experience required. Work<br />
weekends, evenings and holidays. Send resume<br />
and salary history to movietheatrejobs@gmail.<br />
com<br />
SERVICES<br />
DULL FLAT PICTURE? RESTORE YOUR XENON<br />
REFLECTORS! Ultraflat repolishes and recoats<br />
xenon reflectors. Many reflectors available for<br />
immediate exchange. (ORC, Strong, Christie,<br />
Xetron, others!) Ultraflat, 20306 Sherman Way,<br />
Winnetka, CA 91306; 818-884-0184.<br />
ALLSTATE SEATING specializes in refurbishing,<br />
complete painting, molded foam, tailor-made<br />
seat covers, installations and removals. Please<br />
call for pricing and spare parts for all types of<br />
theater seating. Boston, Mass.; 617-770-1112; fax:<br />
617-770-1140.<br />
CONSOLIDATED THEATRE SERVICES, LLC<br />
has a wide variety of theatre sound equipment<br />
available at competitive prices. Our extensive<br />
inventory includes amplifiers, processors,<br />
speakers and sound racks from makers such<br />
as JBL, Dolby, Ashly, Klipsch, Crown and more.<br />
You are welcome to call us at 305-908-1613 for<br />
further information.<br />
THEATER SPACE FOR LEASE<br />
AN 8,400 SQ. FT. SPACE containing two movie<br />
theaters is available for lease in Frankfort, KY, at<br />
a very reasonable lease rate. It would be perfect<br />
for the new concept of eating in the theater.<br />
The theaters are located in the middle of a major<br />
shopping center. The center owners would<br />
prefer an operating movie theater rather than<br />
convert the space into retail use. Contact Alexa<br />
at 859-221-9921 or email her at alexarkelley@<br />
gmail.com for more information.<br />
64 BoxOffice ® <strong>Pro</strong> The Business of Movies AUGUST <strong>2013</strong>
With 40 titles and counting, Dolby ® Atmos is<br />
transforming the world of motion pictures.<br />
The Dolby Atmos Cinema <strong>Pro</strong>cessor CP850 now brings<br />
this revolutionary audio experience to your theatre.<br />
DOLBY ATMOS CINEMA PROCESSOR CP850<br />
AVAILABLE<br />
NOW!<br />
Dolby and the double-D symbol are registered trademarks of Dolby Laboratories. Dolby Atmos is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories.<br />
© <strong>2013</strong> Dolby Laboratories, Inc. All rights reserved. S13/26912
• Comprehensive cinema ad sales<br />
• Innovative new pre-show, The Limelight,<br />
designed to entertain<br />
• Leading edge technology and flexibility<br />
with any digital installation system<br />
• Totally turnkey execution<br />
• Lobby <strong>Pro</strong>motions<br />
• Alternative Content <strong>Pro</strong>gramming<br />
To learn more, contact us today<br />
David Ostrander<br />
212-497-0490<br />
dostrander@screenvision.com<br />
www.screenvision.com