Boxoffice - January 2016

$6.95 

JANUARY 2016 

Leonardo DiCaprio 

stars as Hugh Glass in 

Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s 

The Revenant 

FILMMAKER 

INTERVIEWS 

ALEJANDRO 

GONZÁLEZ 

IÑÁRRITU 

THE REVENANT 

DAVID O. 

RUSSELL 

JOY 

ELIZABETH 

CANTILLON 

CONCUSSION 

WILLIAM 

BRENT BELL 

THE BOY 

ART 

HOUSE 

CONVERGENCE 

DAN BORSCHKE NAC 

CHERYL BOONE ISAACS AMPAS 

EMILY BEST SEED&SPARK 

LAW&ORDER 

MOVIE THEATERS 

AND TED CRUZ 

CINEMACON 2016 

WHERE THE EXHIBITION 

COMMUNITY LOOKS TO REDEFINE 

THE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE 

CHARITY 

SPOTLIGHT 

VARIETY ENDS THE YEAR 

IN A GIVING SPIRIT 

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MIT 1

Daniel Loria 

Managing Editor 

BoxOffice Media 

For many outlets, box office reporting falls into one of two categories: either 

the sky is falling because of a couple of slow weekends, or the future of film 

will be exclusively dominated by big-event movies because of the success of one 

or two titles. Star Wars: The Force Awakens seemed to loom over the film industry 

as soon as the ball dropped in Times Square last year. The conversation was 

rarely about “how good?” but “how big?” Expectations were all over the place, 

but by October there was an increasingly anxious urgency to those questions—as 

if the entire fate of the franchise depended on its record-breaking muscle. 

Out of all conversations to have about movies, talking numbers can be among 

the least interesting if it doesn’t relate to the other crucial, more compelling 

effects those numbers have on the industry as a whole. The Force Awakens does 

have the potential to be the highest-grossing film of all time, but why obsess over it by framing it as an 

expectation? Instead, my own comments to the press repeatedly returned to the more interesting issue at 

hand: how can we ride this wave of momentum, this excitement over the theatrical cinematic experience, 

into 2016? 

Whether you’re a Star Wars fan or not, the beauty of a film like that is its ability to turn the conversation 

about film squarely toward the cinematic experience and the pleasure of going to the movies: a full house, 

a bucket of popcorn, and feeling your heart begin to race when the opening credits hit the screen. It’s not 

only a pleasure to see lines of fans at theaters, it’s great to hear people talking about going to the movies in 

general with such passion. 

2015 was a great year for films that celebrated the theatrical experience and Quentin Tarantino’s insistence 

on screening a special version of The Hateful Eight in 70 millimeter is proof that some of today’s 

most compelling filmmakers embrace the theatrical experience. It’s a pleasure to be able to see the latest 

top-of-the-line digital cinema technology with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and enjoy the grandeur of 70 

millimeter the very next weekend with The Hateful Eight. 

More importantly, the communal aspect of cinema going remains as powerful as ever. My favorite moment 

at the movies in 2015 was cheering, audibly cheering, through the last 20 minutes of Creed along 

with an entire auditorium full of people. We were captivated. We were engaged. We were at the movies. 

Daniel Loria 

daniel.loria@boxoffice.com 

JANUARY 2016 BoxOffice ® 3

JANUARY 2016 VOL. 152 NO. 1 

ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE 

INTERVIEWS 

CHERYL BOONE ISAACS President, AMPAS 24 

EMILY BEST Founder and CEO, Seed&Spark 26 

DAN BORSCHKE Executive Vice President, NAC 28 

F I L M M A K E R I N T E R V I E W S 

Hello by Daniel Loria 3 

Exhibition Briefs Edited by Laura Silver 6 

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Convention Preview CinemaCon 2016: Where the exhibition 

community looks to define the theatrical experience by Matt Shapiro 

12 

Alternative Content Calendar 16 

Law & Order Ted Talk: Movie theaters and Ted Cruz by Esther Baruh 17 

Charity Spotlight Variety ends the year in a giving spirit Compiled by Erica Lopez 18 

BoxOffice Breakouts 2015’s top indie hits 22 

Cinema Showcase Belcourt Theatre & a/perture cinemas 30 

Timecode Go for Gold: Oscar season is upon us by Kenneth James Bacon 34 

3D Release Calendar Sponsored by RealD 40 

On Screen Capsule previews by Daniel Loria & Jonathan Papish 50 

Booking Guide Compiled by Daniel Garris 58 

Classifieds 64 

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EXHIBITION BRIEFS 

BOXOFFICE ... 

BY WEBEDIA TOO! 

This past year we 

announced the 

exciting news of 

Webedia’s acquisition 

of BoxOffice Media. 

Now, as we anticipate 

Webedia’s growing 

presence in the U.S., 

we are taking the 

opportunity to bring 

more consistency 

to our branding 

with a much needed 

refresh. We’re going 

back to the original 

magazine’s name 

(BoxOffice vs. 

BoxOffice Pro), 

and we have added 

the ‘by Webedia’ 

endorsement to our 

corporate identity 

(see p.63), a name 

that should become 

increasingly familiar 

to the professionals 

of our industry in the 

next few years. 

—Julien Marcel 

WEBEDIA CONTINUES U.S. EXPANSION, 

ACQUIRES WEST WORLD MEDIA 

n Webedia, the largest digital media group in France, 

has announced it has acquired West World Media, a 

global leader in cinema data syndication and a digital 

marketing partner of numerous cinema circuits across 

the United States. This operation marks the next stage 

for the French group’s international expansion, which 

now reaches an audience of 80 million unique visitors 

a month around the globe. 

West World Media operates several databases 

serving the entertainment industry, most notably its 

show times platform CinemaSource (covering 80 

countries in 16 languages) and live-event listing service 

EventSource. The company also focuses on providing 

digital marketing services (websites, mobile apps, and 

social media management) to a significant number of 

U.S. cinema circuits. West World Media aggregates 

nearly a hundred U.S. cinema circuits through its 

MovieGoer Network brand, generating a combined 

traffic of more than 6 million unique visitors per 

month, primarily consisting of consumers looking to 

buy a ticket to the movies. 

With this transaction, the Webedia group 

reinforces its presence in the American market, where 

it currently employs more than 100 professionals 

in Los Angeles, New York, and Ridgefield, Conn. 

This move follows Webedia’s April 2015 acquisition 

of BoxOffice Media and the October 2015 capital 

investment in MoviePilot.com. 

“This acquisition will accelerate our growth in the 

United States,” said Véronique Morali, president of 

Webedia’s board of directors. “Webedia has already 

reached leadership positions in the cinema industry in 

Europe and South America. The U.S. market is now a 

priority for us, and this move will allow us to further 

grow our global presence, currently the second largest 

cinema audience in the world.” 

Julien Marcel, CEO of Webedia U.S. cinema 

operations (West World Media and BoxOffice 

Media), added, “We believe our partnerships with 

cinema exhibitors should be a key component of our 

future development plans. With innovation being our 

top priority, our newly established presence on the 

West Coast will allow us to work more closely with 

studios and our technology partners in Silicon Valley.” 

6 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2016

SCREENVISION PROMOTES 

SALES-PLANNING AND BUSINESS- 

STRATEGY EXECS 

n Screenvision has announced the promotions 

of two key executives—Kristen Edge 

and Bernadette McCabe—who’ve each 

been with the company for over a decade. 

This announcement comes just weeks after 

Screenvision named the company’s new 

CEO, John Partilla. 

Edge is now the senior vice president of 

sales planning, where she will be responsible 

for overseeing the sales-planning 

division. She began her career in advertising 

sales at Long Island Business News. 

Edge joined Screenvision in 2005 as an 

inventory supervisor working in campaign 

management, and in 2008 she helped create 

the sales-planning department, where 

she served as supervisor. She attended 

Ithaca College and received her bachelor 

of arts degree in advertising and communications. 

McCabe is now the senior vice president 

of business strategy at Screenvision, where 

she will be responsible for overseeing the 

long-term deal structures for the company’s 

more than 150 movie theater exhibition 

partners. In addition, she provides strategic 

and financial insights into the exhibition 

industry, as well as box office trends. Mc- 

Cabe began her career as a research associate 

at W.P. Stewart Asset Management and 

Sustainable Growth Advisers. She graduated 

from Fairfield University with a bachelor 

of arts degree in international studies and 

concentrations in art history and Italian 

studies. 

HARKNESS SCREENS REVEALS NEW 

DIGITAL PERFORATION PATTERN 

n Harkness Screens will transition from its 

existing standard perforation pattern to a 

new pattern for their leading screen surfaces. 

The new Harkness Digital Perforation 

Pattern has an open area of over 4 percent 

and more than 65,000 holes per square 

meter. It will help to significantly increase 

light reflectance into cinema auditoriums 

compared to Harkness’s previous standard 

perforation pattern and provides a brighter 

and better quality viewing experience. The 

smaller holes also allow for a closer viewing 

experience with less visible seams, while the 

increased number of perforations provide 

better sound attenuation. 

“Harkness’s Digital Perforation Pattern 

has been specifically designed to reduce the 

onset of the moiré effect,” explains David 

Harrison, chief technical officer at Harkness. 

“Moiré fringing is caused when the 

weave pattern of a screen aligns and then 

interferes with the projector’s pixelated 

images, resulting in an undesired, strobelike 

effect across the screen, which can have 

a huge impact on cinematic experience. It 

is a common issue in contemporary digital 

imaging, and the new perforation pattern 

helps to offset this.” 

As part of its switch to the new perforation 

pattern, Harkness has also increased 

the width of its base materials, significantly 

reducing the number of seams required to 

make a screen. 

BOBRICK ACQUIRES CENTRAL 

SPECIALTIES YOUTH SEATING LINE 

n Bobrick Washroom Equipment Inc. has 

acquired the commercial youth seating 

line (high chairs, boosters, and infant 

cradles) of Central Specialties Ltd. (CSL) of 

Crystal Lake, Illinois. Koala Kare Products 

(KKP) Centennial, Colorado, a division of 

(continued on page 9) 



MEDIAMATION INSTALLS MX4D THEATERS IN LATIN 

AMERICA 

n MediaMation, Inc. (MMI) announces four more installations 

of its next-generation 4D motion EFX theaters in 

Colombia and Mexico. The two Colombian theaters, both 

located in the capital city of Bogota, will be for Cine Colombia, 

the nation’s largest entertainment company. Between 

the two Colombian projects, close to 400 MX4D seats are 

scheduled for assembly in MediaMation’s Torrance, California, 

headquarters. Cine Colombia opened its first MMI theater in 

June 2014 and has five MX4D theaters (branded as Dinamix 

4D) in four cities—the aforementioned Bogota, Barranquilla, 

Villavicencio, and Cali. 

The first Colombia 180-seat MX4D installation will be 

constructed for the chain’s Titan Theatre, which serves 1.2 

million people annually, with a second, larger, 208-seat project 

slated for the Americas theater—a complex that attracts 1.5 

million patrons a year. Both new MX4D motion EFX theaters 

will introduce MediaMation’s patent-pending arm rest EFX 

technology to Latin America. The EFX delivery system, available 

as an option from MMI, allows scents, wind, air blasts, 

fog, and other special effects to emanate from each theater 

patron’s seat arm rest. According to MMI vice president/CTO 

Dan Jamele, besides eliminating the need for fans and other 

infrastructure in the 4D theater, “the armrest gives each moviegoer 

a more uniform, enhanced, and immersive experience.” 


Bobrick, will be responsible for the sales, 

marketing, and distribution of the product 

line with its current offering in the foodservice 

and hospitality markets. 

“CSL’s quality products will enhance 

KKP’s existing portfolio and expand customer 

categories with a variety of product designs, 

material selections, and price points,” says 

Brendan Cherry, vice president and general 

manager of Koala. “CSL’s seating products will 

be integrated into KKP’s Childcare line but 

will initially ship from Central’s Illinois facility 

prior to the full transition.” 

Customers will continue to purchase 

through CSL until further notice. Integration 

updates will be available through CSL’s 

representatives and periodically posted on 

koalabear.com and csltd.com. 

PREMIERE ACQUIRES REI CINEMAS 

n Texas-based Premiere Cinema Corp. has 

purchased South Carolina–based REI Cinemas. 

The all-cash transaction included REI’s 

real estate holdings and cinema operations 

in the state and expands Premiere’s footprint 

across the South, complementing its existing 

operations in Alabama, Florida, New Mexico 

and Texas. 

“We were honored to have worked with 

REI,” says Gary Moore, CEO of Premiere. 

“REI shares our love of movies and hometown 

values, and their markets were thought to be 

great fits for us.” 

“We wanted a buyer who would continue 

the movie experience REI has strived to achieve, 

and we feel Premiere brings the resources and 

reputation necessary to step into our operation 

and further improve the guest experience,” says 

REI’s president, Richard Robb. 

Premiere has rebranded and begun renovations 

to the facilities inside and out, adding 

new features including additional leather 

seating, ticketing kiosks, and other amenities. 

REI was represented in the transaction by 

Atlanta-based Brandt Gully of EFA Partners, a 

leading advisory firm specializing in entertainment 

and media. 

NOTORIOUS PICTURES SELECTS 

MACCS INTERNATIONAL 

n Italian distributor Notorious Pictures has 

licensed MACCS International, the distribution-software 

developer, to run its distribution 

operations. 

“Our strong growth and our position as 

the leading independent distributor in Italy 

required a major review of all of our operations, 

processes, and IT systems,” says Enrico 

Locatelli, Notorious Pictures CFO. “We were 

totally convinced by MACCS International 

for its expertise and leadership in the film-distribution 

industry.” 

MACCS Rights & Royalties module manages 

film-rights purchases, the sales of rights 

to TV channels, airlines, closed circuits, VoD 

parties and any other sublicensees. MACCS 

Prints & Advertising is a full accounts 

payable system offering budget management, 

planning, ordering, control of delivery, and 

inventory management. 

4DX ARRIVES IN TURKEY, EXPANDS 

IN SWITZERLAND AND UK 

n CJ 4DPLEX, creator of immersive theater 

technology 4DX, has opened 4DX auditoriums 

with Mars Cinema Group in Turkey 

and expanded its deal with Arena Cinemas in 

Switzerland and Cineworld in the U.K. The 

theater in Turkey is the result of the recently 

announced partnership between CJ 4DPLEX 

and Mars Cinema Group. Mars Cinema 

Group is the No.1 multiplex chain in Turkey. 

Cinemaximum Marmara Forum, with the 

first 4DX theater in the country, is located in 



Marmara Forum Shopping Mall in Istanbul. 

At the same time, Switzerland opened its 

second 4DX auditorium at Arena Cinemas 

Zurich after the country’s first 4DX cinema 

opened in Geneva in early March 2015. Arena 

Cinemas Geneva has reported a more than 50 

percent average occupancy rate from its first 

opening till now. 

In the U.K., which saw the successful 

opening of its first 4DX theater, Cineworld 

Milton Keynes, in January this year, Cineworld 

has recently rolled out additional 4DX 

theaters, Cineworld Sheffield and Cineworld 

Crawley. 

As of November, 4DX has been operating 

in over 10 countries across Europe—from 

Hungary and Poland to the U.K., Switzerland, 

and Turkey—in its aim to spur gradual 

expansion throughout the continent. 

TOHO’S IMAX FOOTPRINT GOES TO 11 

n IMAX Corporation and Toho Cinemas 

Ltd., Japan’s highest-grossing exhibition 

company and a subsidiary of Toho Co. Ltd., 

announced an agreement for 10 additional 

IMAX theaters; the deal increases the number 

of Toho Cinemas’ IMAX sites to 11. Japan 

currently ranks among the top 10 highest-grossing 

IMAX territories globally, with 

per-screen averages of approximately $1.2 

million, mirroring those of leading markets 

such as China. 

Toho Cinemas now becomes one of 

IMAX’s largest partners in Japan. The exhibitor’s 

first IMAX theater opened in April 

at the Toho Cinemas Shinjuku multiplex in 

downtown Tokyo. Since then, the site has 

been Japan’s highest-grossing IMAX theater; 

Jurassic World marked IMAX’s highest-grossing 

opening weekend ever in Japan, with a 

record-setting $1 million. 

IMAX and Toho Cinemas’ parent company, 

Toho Co. Ltd., recently signed their first 

film agreement for the IMAX release of Attack 

on Titan Part One and Attack on Titan Part 

Two. The first installment was released to 19 

IMAX theaters in Japan and additional IMAX 

theaters across Europe and Asia Pacific. 

ARTHUR MILLER CENTENARY RAISES 

MONEY FOR FILM EDUCATION 

n In honor of the 100th birthday of 

playwright Arthur Miller, the Arthur Miller 

Foundation has announced a star-studded 

Broadway benefit performance to take place 

on January 25, 2016. The one-night-only celebration 

will raise funds for the foundation’s 

theater and film education programs. Actors 

will read from Miller’s autobiography and 

unpublished works and from his classic plays, 

Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, All My 

Sons, and more. The event will take place on 

the set of Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the 

Lyceum Theatre and will feature performances 

by Alec Baldwin, Ellen Barkin, Laurence 

Fishburne, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Tony 

Kushner, and Sam Shepard among others, 

with Tony Award–winner Gregory Mosher 

directing. 

All proceeds from the evening will go to 

the Arthur Miller Foundation for Theater 

and Film Education, which is committed 

to promoting access and equity to theater 

and film education in public schools. The 

Arthur Miller Theater and Film Pilot Program 

supports in-school theater and film courses 

for students at New York City public school 

Quest to Learn. Created in 2014 in partnership 

with Institute of Play, the program 

continues to grow, with the goal of exporting 

to other schools in need. n 


BARCO ESCAPE MAKES ASIA DEBUT 

n Barco and China Film Group (CFG) announced the installation of 

Asia’s first multiscreen, panoramic Barco Escape movie theater at the 

Changping AEON Cineplex in Beijing, one of the largest box offices 

in CFG cinema. A second Barco Escape theater opened at CFG’s 

United square Cineplex in Shanghai in December. The format debuted 

to audiences in China with 20th Century Fox’s Maze Runner: 

The Scorch Trials, which premiered at No. 1 at China’s box office. 

After debuting to positive reviews from audiences in fall 

2014 with 20th Century Fox’s The Maze Runner, Barco Escape announced 

a five-year multi-title-per-year agreement with the movie 

studio to release more films in Barco Escape. Since its initial 

launch last year, Barco Escape expanded its footprint to more than 

20 theaters in the U.S., Europe, Mexico, and now China, with 

plans for more than 150 theaters globally in 2016. 


CONVENTION PREVIEW 

CINEMACON 2016 

WHERE THE EXHIBITION 

COMMUNITY LOOKS TO REDEFINE 

THE THEATRICAL EXPERIENCE 

by Matt Shapiro, Operations Manager, NATO 

n Since its inception in 

2011, CinemaCon has 

established itself as the 

largest trade event for 

the worldwide motion 

picture theater industry. 

Cinema owners from 

over 80 countries gather 

annually in Las Vegas at 

the CinemaCon trade 

show to see the latest 

advances in theater 

equipment, technology, and concessions products. 

The products and services featured at the show help 

owners, from the largest circuits to single-screen momand-pop 

theaters, achieve one common goal: providing 

customers a state-of-the-art presentation and the best 

theatrical experience possible. The landscape of the 

industry, however, has changed dramatically in recent 

years, redefining “theatrical experience” at the trade 

show. 

Since the early days of ShoWest, cinema owners 

have relied most heavily on acquiring the best content 

from distribution to fill their seats, offering customers 

blockbusters for the summer and holiday seasons. While 

the studio product remains just as important today, the 

emergence of projection and sound technologies ushered 

in a new era for the trade show as exhibitors made 

the transition from film to digital. 

Around the time of CinemaCon’s first outing, with 

the digital rollout nearing completion, exhibitors’ focus 

shifted. As competition for consumers’ disposable 

income and recreational time have sharply risen (mainly 

due to mobile and in-home streaming technologies), 

theaters are now more focused on the entire moviegoing 

experience, starting with their guests’ first steps 

into the lobby. This shift has considerably changed 

the landscape of the trade show floor, with companies 

now focused on advancements in food service, luxury 

seating, building materials and layout, audio and visual 

formats, and overall presentation. 

Popcorn, candy, and soda have been iconic fare 

at the concessions stand in theaters for generations. 

But with the increased emphasis on guest experience, 

cinema owners are redirecting focus on high-end menu 

items, offering their customers a variety of dine-in 

options. This has had a major effect on the scope of 

concessions vendors featured on the trade show floor 

at CinemaCon, particularly in the Forum Ballroom. 

Companies like MTI Products, Quik n’ Crispy 

Greaseless Fryers, and Ovention Inc. offer automated 

and rapid-cook fryers and ovens for prepared foods. 

Point-of-sale companies are offering mobile options for 

taking orders in auditoriums. In 2016, US Foods looks 

to bring its expertise in food preparation and service to 

the trade show for the first time in the Forum Ballroom. 

There is also a greater emphasis on alternative 

concessions items with the inclusion of Dole Packaged 

Foods and EdaMovie (steamed edamame), providing 

healthy options to the consumer. According to Dan 

Borschke, executive vice president of the National 

Association of Concessionaires, “Variety, quality, and 

price are the three elements moviegoers are demanding 

when they spend their hard-earned dollars at theater 

concession stands.” The dine-in model offers food and 

liquor options, resulting in higher per-caps for the 

concessionaire and making the moviegoing experience 

memorable for customers. Borschke continues, 

“Though consumer actions are sometimes not what 

they profess to be, concessionaries are looking for the 

healthy, tasty item that will result in a bountiful return 

on their investment.” 

Perhaps the greatest area of change on the trade 

show floor in the last six years has been in the seating 

category. As in-home movie-watching technologies 

have greatly improved, theater owners are competing 

with the living room couch by renovating their 

auditorium seating with leather recliners and rockers. 

Though the increased seat size reduces overall inventory 

in auditoriums, these conversions have resulted 

in higher admissions. The addition of luxury-seating 

options in theaters has gone hand in hand with the 

increased prevalence of the dine-in experience; consumers 

enjoy their meals in comfort, and servers can 

tactfully cross the wider aisles. While seating has al- 


ways been a fixture at the trade show, there has been an 

explosion in its overall footprint on the show floor and 

the number of companies participating. A newcomer 

to the show in 2015, Krian Media has increased its 

visibility fivefold for the 2016 convention. Cinema- 

Con mainstays including Dolphin Seating, First Class 

Seating, and VIP Cinema Seating have all increased 

their overall presence at the show in recent years and 

once again will return to CinemaCon 2016. 

Not only have cinema owners been rethinking 

what they sell at concessions stands and the layout 

of seating in their auditoriums but also how theaters 

are being built altogether. New theaters are built 

with full restaurant and bar service in mind. Lobbies 

that were once only occupied by cardboard standees 

of upcoming titles are now being filled with massive 

digital displays. Companies on the show floor aim 

to provide back-office solutions, point-of-sale and 

self-order systems, digital merchandising, digital 

menu boards, and box office and movie-poster 

systems all to provide consumers with a cutting-edge 

experience. The 2015 trade show featured over 25 

companies in the construction, architecture, and 

lobby-display category with an additional 14 offering 

ticketing or point-of-sale solutions. 

When households didn’t have the equipment or 

capability, going to the movie theater was the only 

opportunity consumers had to access quality entertainment 

on a high-definition screen. Today, most 

consumers are able to stream content on demand in 

their living rooms on televisions, computers, phones, 

and tablets. Home theater solutions offer 4K, 3D and 

smart televisions to consumers in-home. Theaters 

have upped the ante to offer more than just content, 

but an enhanced overall presentation. While the 

viewing public might not always be aware of what’s 

going on behind the screen, digital projection manufacturers 

continue to develop the latest in digital 

cinema, as evidenced by the latest advancements in 

laser projection. At CinemaCon 2016, four manufacturers 

of DCI-compliant projectors (Barco, Christie, 

NEC, and Sony) will showcase their cutting-edge 

laser models as part of the trade show in private 

demonstration suites. 

In addition to the developments in visual presentation, 

companies like Dolby and Barco have been 

working on further enhancements in audio with 

their Atmos and Auro systems respectively. These 

immersive sound systems redefine the experience for 

theatergoers, creating a soundscape unmatched by 

solutions available to the in-home market. In 2016, 

Dolby will further demonstrate its cinema technologies 

in the Augustus Ballroom, and Barco will once 

again return with “Barcoville” in the Milano and 

Neopolitan demonstration suites. 

The immersive experience doesn’t stop with projection 

and sound. 4DX is leading the way with motion 

seating, having attracted over 10 million moviegoers 

to theaters in 2015. With its environmental 

effects such as wind, rain, fog, lights, and scents, 

4DX paves a new path in the moviegoing experience 

and will once again be featured at the trade show in 

2016. Motion seating companies D-Box, Mediation, 

and Tremor FX will also be featured in the Augustus 

Ballroom at CinemaCon 2016. 

Theater owners continue looking for better ways to 

get people to leave their homes, not just for summer 

blockbusters but for all types of movies, and year 

round; the trade show reflects that focus. “The show 

gives me the ability to actually have demonstrations 

to evaluate new technology and see firsthand exciting 

innovations in new software and hardware,” says Rob 

Del Moro, chief technical and theater operations officer 

for Regal Entertainment Group. “The CinemaCon 

trade show is the only place in the world that has such 

a large number of vendors for anything and everything 

related to our industry,” Bob Bagby, president of 

B&B Theaters, adds. This is what makes CinemaCon 

important as the industry looks toward the future, 

finding ways to offer consumers the best in variety, 

quality, and price. 

CinemaCon 2016 will take place April 11 through 

14, 2016, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. For more information 

on convention registration, hotel rooms, and 

the trade show, please visit www.cinemacon.com. n 


Fathom Events brings you a full 

slate of exciting upcoming cinema 

events this January. 

SHERLOCK: 

THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE 

Tues., Jan. 5 and Wed., Jan. 6 

7:30pm (local time) 

In this feature-length special, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson 

are set in London, 1895. 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD: 

LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES 

Sat., Jan. 16 

12:55pm et / 11:55am ct / 10:55am mt / 9:55am pt 

Wed., Jan. 20: 6:30pm (local time) 

Bizet’s gorgeous opera of lust and longing set in the Far East returns 

to the Met stage for the first time in 100 years. 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: 

BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID 

Sun., Jan. 17 and Wed., Jan. 20 

2:00pm / 7:00pm (local time) 

Paul Newman and Robert Redford set the standard for the buddy 

film, winner of four Academy Awards ® , with this Western classic. 

THE BEST OF RIFFTRAX LIVE: 

STARSHIP TROOPERS 

Thurs., Jan. 14 


Originally riffed in August 2013, this fan favorite features the guys 

riffing what has become the king of modern campy sci-fi epics. 

ISRAEL 

HOUGHTON & 

NEWBREED 

COVERED: 

ALIVE IN ASIA 

Tues., Jan. 19 


Israel & NewBreed 

performed all across 

Asia, recording their 

performances and 

filming the entire tour 

for this one-night 

concert event. 


BOLSHOI BALLET: 

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW 

Sun., Jan. 24 

Times vary by location. Please check your local listing 

French choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot lands a coup with 

his adaptation of Shakespeare’s comedy tailored specifically to the 

Bolshoi dancers. 

THE PASTOR 

Mon., Jan. 25 


This is the first Christian cinematic event to depict the life of a Latino 

Christian Community in the United States as it takes a closer look at 

how our youth are being targeted by gangs. 

ART & ARCHITECTURE: FLORENCE AND 

THE UFFIZI GALLERY 

Wed., Jan. 27: 


Florence And The Uffizi Gallery is a journey through the city that 

was once the cradle of the Italian Renaissance. 

THE BEST OF RIFFTRAX LIVE: 

THE ROOM 

Thurs., Jan. 28 


Originally riffed in May of 2015, this classic features the guys 

hurling their wisecracks at perhaps the most baffling and hilarious 

independent feature ever produced. 

THE MET: LIVE IN 

HD: TURANDOT 

Sat., Jan. 30: 

12:55pm et / 11:55am ct 

10:55am mt / 9:55am pt 

Wed., Feb. 3: 6:30pm 

(local time) 

Nina Stemme, one of 

opera’s greatest dramatic 

sopranos, takes on the title 

role of the proud princess 

of legendary China. 

NEXT PAGE > ALTERNATIVE CONTENT CALENDAR 

For participating theatres and ticket information please visit FathomEvents.Com 


ALTERNATIVE CONTENT CALENDAR 

FATHOM EVENTS fathomevents.com • 855-473-4612 

SHERLOCK: THE ABOMINABLE BRIDE Tue, 1/5/16 & Wed, 1/6/16 Drama 

THE BEST OF RIFFTRAX LIVE: STARSHIP TROOPERS Thu, 1/14/16 Comedy 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD - LES PÈCHEURS DE PERLES Sat, 1/16/16 & Wed, 1/20/16 Opera 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID Sun, 1/17/16 & Wed, 1/20/16 Western 

ISRAEL HOUGHTON & NEW BREED - COVERED: ALIVE IN ASIA Tue, 1/19/16 Concert 

BOLSHOI BALLET: THE TAMING OF THE SHREW Sun, 1/24/16 Ballet 

THE PASTOR Mon, 1/25/16 Drama 

THE BEST OF RIFFTRAX LIVE: THE ROOM Thu, 1/28/16 Comedy 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD - TURANDOT Sat, 1/30/16 & Wed, 2/3/16 Opera 

TED2016: DREAM “OPENING NIGHT” LIVE IN CINEMAS Mon, 2/15/16 Conference 

WOMEN OF FAITH: AN AMAZING JOYFUL JOURNEY Thu, 2/18/16 & Sat, 2/20/16 Conference 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: THE MALTESE FALCON Sun, 2/21/16 & Wed, 2/24/16 Film Noir 

JONAS KAUFMANN: AN EVENING WITH PUCCINI Tue, 2/23/16 Concert 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD - MANON LESCAUT Sat, 3/5/16 & Wed, 3/9/16 Opera 

BOLSHOI BALLET: SPARTACUS Sun, 3/13/16 Ballet 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS Sun, 3/20/16 & Wed, 3/23/16 Drama 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD - MADAMA BUTTERFLY Sat, 4/2/16 & Wed, 4/6/16 Opera 

BOLSHOI BALLET: DON QUIXOTE Sun, 4/10/16 Ballet 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD - ROBERTO DEVEREUX Sat, 4/16/16 & Wed, 4/20/16 Opera 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: ON THE WATERFRONT Sun, 4/24/16 & Wed, 4/27/16 Drama 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD - ELEKTRA Sat, 4/30/16 & Wed, 5/4/16 Opera 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: FERRIS BUELLER’S DAY OFF Sun, 5/15/16 & Wed, 5/18/16 Comedy 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY Sun, 6/26/16 & Wed, 6/29/16 Family 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: PLANET OF THE APES Sun, 7/24/16 & Wed, 7/27/16 Sci-Fi 

NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE ntlive.nationaltheatre.org.uk • info@byexperience.net 

LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES Thu, 1/28/16 Theater 

AS YOU LIKE IT Thu, 2/25/16 Theater 

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE roh.org.uk/cinemas • cinema@roh.org.uk 

RHAPSODY / THE TWO PIGEONS Tue, 1/26/16 Ballet 

LA TRAVIATA Thu, 2/4/16 Opera 

BORIS GODUNOV Mon, 3/21/16 Opera 

GISELLE Wed, 4/6/16 Ballet 

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR Mon, 4/25/16 Opera 

FRANKENSTEIN Wed, 5/18/16 Ballet 

WERTHER Mon, 6/27/16 Opera 

SPECTICAST specticast.com • 866-996-2842 

ELVIS COSTELLO DETOUR Thu, 1/14/16 Concert 

FLORENCE AND THE UFFIZI GALLERY Wed, 1/27/16 Art Exhibition 

GOYA: VISIONS OF FLESH AND BLOOD Thu, 2/11/16 Art Exhibition 

LEONARDO DA VINCI: THE GENIUS IN MILAN Thu, 3/31/16 Art Exhibition 

RENOIR: REVILED AND REVERED Thu, 4/21/16 Art Exhibition 

PAINTING THE MODERN GARDEN: MONET TO MATISSE Thu, 5/12/16 Art Exhibition 

TEATRO ALLA SCALA: THE TEMPLE OF WONDERS Thu, 6/16/16 Documentary 

THE PAPAL BASILICAS OF ROME Thu, 7/14/16 Documentary 


LAW & ORDER 

n Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz 

(R-TX) is known for his uncompromising stance on 

small government and frequent rhetoric on constitutional 

issues. As Texas solicitor general, Cruz successfully 

argued a First Amendment case concerning 

religious displays on government property before the 

Supreme Court. While Cruz has long been a proponent 

of religious liberty, he has also expressed strong 

feelings on another aspect of the First Amendment, 

freedom of speech. 

Early in Cruz’s tenure as senator, Senator Dianne 

Feinstein (D-CA) introduced a bill reinstating the 

federal ban on assault weapons. Feinstein’s legislation 

was met with strong resistance from Republicans, 

including Cruz, who voiced his opposition to the bill 

multiple times during Senate Judiciary Committee 

deliberations. 

The committee considered a number of amendments 

to the bill, including one offered by Senator 

Chris Coons (D-DE) on mass shootings. Coons’s 

amendment ordered the attorney general to study the 

impact of “depictions of violence in the media and 

entertainment industry,” among other factors, on 

perpetrators of mass shootings. Coons’s amendment 

was an expansion of one offered by Senator Chuck 

Grassley (R-IA), whose version only required the attorney 

general to study the effects of violent video games, 

not other forms of entertainment media. 

The committee adopted the Coons amendment, 

but not without objection from Senator Cruz. “This 

committee voted to fund a study of the impact of films 

and video games on violent crimes. And I would note 

that I voted no against that as well, because I believe 

in the First Amendment,” Cruz said during committee 

deliberations. (Side note: Cruz is an admitted gamer.) 

The bill never made it to a floor vote, but Cruz’s 

objection to the Coons amendment on free speech 

grounds showed his understanding of the problematic 

nature of linking criminal activity to media consumption. 

The American Psychological Association concluded 

as recently as August 2015 that while playing 

violent video games can lead to increased aggression, 

researchers have not established that playing such 

games leads to criminal acts. 

Cruz has also displayed support for a key issue 

affecting industry practice, limitations on food and 

beverage. In 2013, Cruz introduced an amendment 

to the Senate budget resolution cheekily dubbed the 

“Bloomberg Big Gulp Amendment.” The amendment 

would have prohibited federal regulation of quantity 

and size of food and beverages. 

Budget resolution amendments are nonbinding 

and are often used as a statement of principle or a 

barometer of Congressional sentiment on an issue. 

If the amendment had passed—which it didn’t—no 

federal agencies would have been required to follow 

such a condition. To be sure, no federal agencies at 

the time were proposing any regulations limiting 

TED TALK 

MOVIE THEATERS AND TED CRUZ 

by Esther Baruh, Manager, Government Relations, NATO 

food and beverage container sizes like those New 

York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was pushing for 

with his ban on fountain sodas over 16 ounces. But 

Cruz’s amendment staked out his public opposition to 

cup-size bans and general government involvement in 

food-size regulations. 

Food and beverage sizes are not the only major 

industry issue against which Cruz has inveighed. 

As labor costs continue to mount, wage increases 

across the country have had 

serious implications for 

movie theater owners and 

operators. Cruz has been 

vocal in his opposition to 

minimum-wage increases. 

Throughout his time in the 

Senate and on the campaign 

trail, he has consistently 

pushed the message that 

wage increases are a barrier 

to job entry, noting that the 

populations most affected 

by these changes would be 

those already suffering from 

high unemployment rates. 

Cruz has also connected 

increased wages with 

economic struggles. In a 

2013 interview, Cruz cited 

his own father’s experience 

as a restaurant dishwasher, 

theorizing that had wages 

been higher at the time his father was looking for 

employment, businesses would have opted to mechanize 

dishwashing instead of hiring his father to do 

the work. That job opened doors, Cruz said. Without 

that first opportunity, his father would not have been 

able to eventually attend college and open his own 

business. Wage increases are a “wrongheaded solution,” 

Cruz said. 

Congress took up wage legislation in Cruz’s second 

year in office. In 2014, the Senate failed to move 

forward then Senator Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) bill raising 

federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10. Cruz 

used the debate on the bill to reiterate his position 

on wage increases. During a floor speech, he warned 

that raising minimum wage “would cost jobs from the 

most vulnerable.” Since then, Congress has not voted 

on wage legislation, although multiple bills have been 

introduced raising federal minimum wage. 

The 2016 presidential primaries begin February 1 

with the Iowa caucuses. n 

This article is the second 

in a series that examines 

declared presidential candidates’ 

attitudes toward 

industry issues. In this 

issue: Senator Ted Cruz’s 

stance on First Amendment 

rights, soda-size bans, and 

minimum wage. 


CHARITY SPOTLIGHT 

VARIETY ENDS THE YEAR 

IN A GIVING SPIRIT 

Compiled by Erica Lopez, Executive Director, 

Variety–the Children’s Charity of the United States 

Variety of New York, the 47th Annual Variety–the Children’s 

Charity of New York Kids Holiday Party 

Variety welcomes more than 1,000 of the tristate area’s most 

underserved children and youth to celebrate the holiday season. The 

kids are treated to a movie screening (this year it was Hotel Transylvania 

2) as well as a party with dancing, face painting, crafts, pizza and 

snacks, and brand-new toys!] 

Variety of New York, the Wishing Well Campaign 

The Wishing Well Campaign is Variety New York’s largest 

fund-raising effort; more than 100 theaters in the tristate area solicit 

patrons to make donations that support transformative arts programs 

for youth. Last year the campaign raised more than $300,000 for 

underserved children in our area. At the dinner, we will celebrate 

Jessica Bynoe, Executive Director, Variety–the Children’s Charity 

of New York, and Ricky Smith, comedy writer and #R.A.K.E 

(rakenow.org) founder (holding the phone) with some of the 

kids from the annual holiday party. 

the accomplishments of theater managers for raising funds during 

the campaign as well as unveil the new creative for the 2015/16 

campaign. 

Variety of New York Laugh with HeART: A Comedic 

Fundraiser 

Variety–the Children’s Charity of New York is pleased to announce 

Laugh with HeART: A Comedic Fundraiser. Variety New 

York will partner with philanthropist and comedy writer Ricky Smith 

(Kevin Hart, Adult Swim) as he hosts an all-star lineup benefiting 

two great causes in one hilarious night. 


Variety–the Children’s 

Charity of New York’s 

staff, L. to R.: Kerry 

Maloney, Events 

Specialist, Jessica 

Bynoe, Executive 

Director, Lauren 

Stewart, Operations 

Manager, and Nikki 

Mapili, Events Assistant 

with new artwork for a 

campaign that will be 

seen in theaters. 

From left: Matthew Troy, 

Executive Director, 

Variety Boys & Girls 

Club of Queens; Costa 

Constantinides, NYC 

Council Member, District 

22; Jeremy Kerley, 

New York Jets Wide 

Receiver; Jessica Bynoe, 

Executive Director, 


Charity of New York; 

Aravella Simotas, N.Y. 

State Assemblywoman, 

District 36; Ricky Smith, 

comedy writer and 

#R.A.K.E (rakenow.org) 

founder; Guy Gresham, 

Board President, 


Charity of New York; 

Jodi Lin Gresham and 

Kerry Maloney, Events 

Specialist, Variety–the 

Children’s Charity of 

New York 

Variety of Florida 

Adaptive Bike 

Presentation 

Big thanks to Florida 

residents who made a donation 

for a Variety Gold 

Heart Pin in theaters and 

online—the funds raised 

helped purchase two 

adaptive bikes for Progressive 

Pediatric Therapy 

in West Palm Beach. 

Variety of Northern California 12th Annual Toys for Tots of 

Variety 

Hosted by Gregg Lynn & Friends at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, 

this toy drive was a fantastic event attended by a who’s who of the 

San Francisco social scene. Attendees were asked in lieu of an admission 

price to bring two or more toys to donate to Variety kids. Last year more 

than 2,300 new toys, valued at more than $75,000, were donated in the 

three hours of the party and distributed to more than 20 local children’s 

organizations that Variety partners with to serve children in need. 


CHARITY SPOTLIGHT 

Variety of Northern California “Star 

Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens” 

Benefit Screening 

Attendees of this IMAX screening at the 

Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose, Calif., 

were greeted and joined by members of the 

501st Golden Gate Garrison. Everyone who 

purchased a ticket was placed into a drawing 

to win a Kylo Ren helmet along with some 

Black Series figures. Ticket buyers also had the 

chance to purchase their own commemorative 

T-shirt as well as two limited-edition patches 

from our friends at the bDC and the Korriban 

Overlords in collaboration with The Patch 

Wizard. The patches are also available for purchase 

at thepatchwizard.com. Variety presented 

two local children with their own custom-built 

adaptive bicycles prior to the movie so that 

everyone could feel the direct impact of their 

donations. 

Preston Bostwick couldn’t wait 

to see Cookie Monster again this 

year! Grandmother Lolita Bostwick 

looks just as excited. 

Ledger Marsala gets a chance to 

visit with Santa Claus. 

Jayda Hooley (left) and Alia 

Tyson are excited to open their 

gifts. 

Variety of 

Philadelphia 

Downtown Holiday 

Party 

Variety kids with 

disabilities were treated 

to an afternoon of 

holiday fun including 

lunch, dancing, some 

party time with Cookie 

Monster and Elmo, and 

a visit from Santa. Each 

child with special needs 

received a gift selected 

especially for him or her. 

Variety of St. Louis Kids 

Meet Stevie Wonder 

Variety kids met musical 

legend Stevie Wonder when his 

tour stopped in St. Louis. They 

also presented Stevie with a 

personalized hockey jersey and 

enjoyed a mini concert. 

Variety of St. Louis Bikes 

for Kids 

More than 150 regular and 

adaptive bikes were given to 

Variety kids and kids served by 

partner agencies. Big thanks to 

the corporate supporters who 

assembled bikes right before the 

giveaway! 

Variety of St. Louis Champions for Children Summit 

Variety of St. Louis celebrated its annual program in which it 

salutes corporate sponsors, agency partners, and individuals who help 

support Variety’s mission. Football Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams 

was named the 2015 Champion for Children; Dr. Janice Brunstrom-Hernandez 

gave the keynote speech; and the family of Variety 

kid Mollie C. was presented with a free wheelchair-accessible van. 


Variety of St. Louis Kids Meet X 

Ambassadors 

Variety kids joined musical group X Ambassadors 

for an impromptu arts and crafts session, 

then played and sang with the band on their hit 

“Renegade,” which was filmed for an upcoming 

video. 

VARIETY OF IOWA BLACK TIE DINNER 

Friday, January 8, 2016 

7 p.m.–11 p.m. 

Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center 

833 5th Avenue, Des Moines, Iowa 50309 

www.varietyiowa.com 

n The Black Tie Dinner is one of Central Iowa’s premier parties, 

drawing 400-plus people. This year’s theme is “A Night 

in New Orleans” with New Orleans–style food and music. Jamie 

Pollard, Iowa State Athletic Director, will be the speaker, 

talking about his son James and his battle with childhood 

cancer. Dance to Final Mix at the end of the evening. 

EAST VILLES DE FOLIES BENEFITING 

VARIETY–THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF NEW YORK 

Saturday, January 16, 2016 

www.websterhall.com/eastvillesdesfolies 

n On January 16, the legendary venue Webster Hall is resurrecting 

the not-so-temperate 1920s with its fourth annual 

beer and whiskey festival, called East Ville des Folies, with a 

portion of proceeds benefiting Variety–the Children’s Charity 

of New York. 

VARIETY OF FLORIDA’S CASINO NIGHT 

Sunday, January 17, 2016 

6 p.m.–10 p.m. 

Fashion Square Mall 

3471 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando, Fla. 32803 

www.varietyflorida.org 

VARIETY OF ST. LOUIS YOUNG VARIETY TRIVIA NIGHT 

Saturday, January 23, 2016 

7 p.m. 

St. Louis University High School 

4970 Oakland Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63110 

www.varietystl.org 

n Trivia junkies: it’s time to flex those mental muscles! 

Our fun-loving annual trivia night, hosted by a group of 

young professionals ages 21 to 40, was a sold-out smash 

hit in 2015, with more than 600 people present, as dozens 

of teams competed to raise money for local kids with 

disabilities. This year, local radio personality Curt Copeland 

will host as we have a slew of fun activities with a Barrel of 

Booze, Balloon Pop, 50/50 Raffle, Attendance Prize, and 

more. 

Tell us more about your most recent campaign. 

Variety–the Children’s Charity is excited 

and honored to collaborate with Lionsgate for 

our 26th annual Gold Heart Campaign. This 

year’s pin features the fourth film in the studio’s 

blockbuster franchise, The Hunger Games: 

Mockingjay–Part 2, and is available in about 

1,000 movie theaters across the country. Our 

little pins make a big impact, raising about 

$2.5 million every year to provide life-saving, life-changing, and lifeenriching 

equipment and services to children who have a disability or are 

disadvantaged. 

How did you get the word out for this campaign? 

Lionsgate created an amazing PSA that features many of our 

Variety kids to demonstrate how every donation makes a tangible 

impact in the life of a child, their family, and their community. Our 

fantastic advertising and theater partners show the PSA on-screen and 

in theater lobbies, and that drives much of the campaign’s success. The 

support that West World Media and its Moviegoer Network has given 

Variety has been indispensable. It’s allowed us to execute a form of 

advertising that we’d never done before that’s incredibly far reaching and 

efficient. Also, West World Media’s Facebook following has introduced 

Variety to people who might not have heard of us otherwise, which 

has been really helpful as we work to grow our social media presence. 

Variety’s Mockingjay Gold Heart Pin has been well received. One of our 

participating theater circuits has sold 112,000 pins in less than a month! 

What have been some highlights of Variety’s other campaigns 

from 2015? 

Variety is excited to start our first nationwide peer-to-peer fundraising 

campaign using a completely intuitive video-driven online platform. It’s 

a simple donation of $1 a day for 90 days. Together, all the donations 

will help purchase specially designed adaptive bicycles for children with 

disabilities in cities across the country. These kids can’t ride a regular bike 

due to physical challenges but are able to safely balance on and propel 

adaptive bikes so that they can exercise and play with their siblings and 

friends. Riding bikes is a favorite childhood memory that we think every 

kid deserves to have! n 


BOXOFFICE BREAKOUTS 

2015’s Top Indie Hits 

Lost in the shuffle of blockbusters each year, more 

than a few art-house gems manage to find their way 

out of obscurity and into the public eye. The ever 

changing distribution model for low-budget films 

has brought its share of advantages and disadvantages 

to the industry’s indie segment, but in 2015 

several worthy titles found their measure of theatrical 

box office success. 

The year’s top five earners: 

MR. HOLMES 

Roadside Attractions 

Sherlock Holmes is a highly 

prolific literary character again 

these days thanks to the BBC’s 

award-winning Sherlock television 

series, as well as the Robert 

Downey Jr.–led films in 2009 

and 2011. Sir Ian McKellen 

brought to life an older interpretation 

of the beloved character in 

Mr. Holmes, delivering a strongly 

reviewed film that never played 

in more than 898 theaters but 

earned $18 million stateside and 

$26 million in all. 

grosses as of december 7, 2015 

EX MACHINA 

A24 Alex Garland is no stranger 

to writing “the little movie that 

could,” having penned 2003’s 28 

Days Later (directed by Danny 

Boyle). Garland wrote and made 

his directorial debut with Ex 

Machina, a sci-fi thriller that 

challenged convention and set 

a new standard for provocative 

storytelling in the genre. The 

film enjoyed a healthy run after 

expanding into semi-wide release 

in its third weekend, ultimately 

taking in almost $26 million 

domestically and $38 million 

globally. 

DOPE 

Open Road Films This love 

letter to 1990s hip-hop culture 

won over critics and posted 

around $18 million worldwide 

($17.5 million from the 

U.S.). The strong buzz didn’t 

quite translate into the kind of 

wide-release run once hoped 

for, but for a film produced at a 

cost of under $1 million, Dope 

certainly made its mark. 

STILL ALICE 

Sony Classics This well-reviewed 

drama about a linguistics 

professor coming to terms with 

early-onset Alzheimer’s disease 

won Julianne Moore the Academy 

Award for Best Actress early 

in the year. Its box office haul 

rang up a solid $19 million in 

North America. 

IT FOLLOWS 

Radius-TWC Horror fans didn’t 

see this one coming. It Follows 

launched to an excellent $40,022 

per-theater average when it 

opened in four locations back in 

March. Two weeks later it was 

playing in semi-wide release in 

1,218 theaters and claimed a 

spot on the weekend box office 

top five. Earning around $15 

million in North America and 

$19 million overall, It Follows 

was both creepy and retro (with 

a fabulous ’80s-like synth-music 

score), while uniquely shot in an 

understated way that will probably 

influence horror/thrillers in 

the years to come. 


BROOKLYN 

The New York Film Critics Circle named Saoirse 

Ronan their Best Actress for 2015 (seen here with 

Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) 

Current Award-Season Contenders 

Many other films have made (or are currently making) an impact 

at the box office on the art-house level in 2015: 

Oscar contender Spotlight, from Open Road, has earned close 

to $17 million as of this article’s writing and looks to add more in 

the months ahead with Michael Keaton currently a front-runner for 

Supporting Actor awards. Given the increasing buzz around the film, 

plus a decidedly mainstream cast and production team, we’ve excluded 

it from the list above—but it will almost certainly finish with a 

higher box office total than all of those films. 

Fox Searchlight’s Brooklyn, starring Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall 

Gleeson, is also currently enjoying an impressive run nationwide with 

$11.5 million earned through December 7. The New York Film Critics 

Circle recently named Ronan 2015’s Best Actress for her role in the film. 

Meanwhile, A24’s Room has also made an impact through strong 

reviews and palpable buzz around lead actress Brie Larson. Not to 

play down acclaim for her role in Short Term 12, but this may be her 

breakout as she is currently the award-season favorite for Best Actress 

trophies. The film is in the middle of a staggered limited rollout, having 

earned about $4 million so far. That total should continue rising 

as long as Larson’s front-runner momentum keeps the pace. n 

HONORABLE MENTIONS 

grosses through December 7 

Love & Mercy Roadside Attractions 

$12.5 million domestic / $15 million global 

Far From the Madding Crowd Fox Searchlight 

$12 million domestic / $28 million global 

Amy A24 

$8 million domestic / $22 million global 


What is the importance of art-house theaters in today’s film industry? 

Two words right off the bat: very important. And I do believe that. I grew up in 

a world prior to multiplexes. I grew up in a medium-sized town in Massachusetts, 

and so much of my moviegoing experience was at a single-screen theater. When 

I lived in San Francisco, a big part of my moviegoing experience was at art-house 

theaters. I think it’s terrific that there is this movement, because it wasn’t that long 

ago that people were saying the single-theater experience was on its way out. I think 

it’s important overall for the entire industry to have a very healthy independent-theater 

organization. 

Since the beginning, the Academy Awards have helped market the 

cinema-going experience to the general public. And for a while, 

especially early on, it helped legitimize the cinema as an art form 

for mass audiences. Today, however, cinema isn’t exclusively tied to 

moviegoing as it once was. What role do the Academy Awards play in 

promoting that moviegoing experience today? 

With regard to our present rules, a film must play theatrically in Los Angeles for 

seven days in order to qualify. That is still our basic rule of inclusion for recognition 

by the academy. A film can qualify regardless of whether it’s played in four 

thousand screens or two theaters; for us what matters is that it has been played for 

a general audience for at least those seven days. I’m always asked if that’s ever going 

to change. I have no idea. Right now, these are the rules that we have. There’s a lot 

of talk right now about the theatrical experience changing. Yes, it is changing, but 

when you have films grossing over $100 million over three- or four-day periods, it’s 

hard for me to believe that this experience is actually waning. I think that the idea 

and the camaraderie and the communal experience of watching a movie with others 

is something that we humans really like. I think that experience will never go away. 

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW 

Cheryl BooneIsaacs 

President 

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 

Currently serving her third term as president of the 

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), 

Cheryl Boone Isaacs is a seasoned veteran of the film 

industry. Her storied career includes tenures as executive 

vice president of worldwide publicity for Paramount 

Pictures and president of theatrical marketing for New Line 

Cinema. Today, Boone Isaacs also acts as governor of the 

academy’s public relations branch, a post she has held for 

23 years, and heads the film marketing consultancy CBI 

Industries. BoxOffice spoke with Boone Isaacs ahead of 

her keynote address at Art House Convergence. 

Interview by Daniel Loria 

It can be frustrating to read how the 

academy is portrayed in some outlets, as this 

monolithic bloc making unilateral decisions. 

We know that’s not the case; each of the 

craft branches has its own voice, tendencies, 

and regulations. There remains a public 

perception problem, however, with audiences 

calling for more diversity on the screen and 

behind the camera. 

It’s an industry-wide issue, that’s for sure. Studios 

and production companies really need to look at 

the audience they serve, because this is a business of 

serving that audience. I think the production entities 

need to widen their view of what is talent and start 

hiring, mentoring, and promoting—not only hiring, 

but promoting—different voices. The cinema experience 

is expanding quite a bit, especially in Asia and 

Africa. Folks like to see stories about themselves and 

others, because at the core we like to experience other 

people’s journeys—whether it be in a documentary or 

a big-budget feature film. It’s all about entertainment, 

and it comes in very different forms. 

What upcoming projects are on your agenda? 

Our biggest one is our museum, the Academy 

Museum of Motion Pictures, which is scheduled to 

open in early 2018. We’re very excited about this 

project; it’s a very big one for us. As you are aware, 

there hasn’t been a museum dedicated to this art form 

in its hometown, and I do consider the hometown to 

be Hollywood, even though movies are made around 

the world. n 


CLOSING KEYNOTE INTERVIEW 

Emily Best 

Founder and CEO 

Seed&Spark 

A filmmaker, both in practice and 

at heart, Emily Best developed 

Seed&Spark after finding current 

independent production and 

distribution models out of 

touch with today’s culture and 

technology. Seed&Spark is a 

crowdfunding and distribution 

platform that gives filmmakers the 

tools they need to take full control 

of their career. BoxOffice spoke 

with Best ahead of her closing 

keynote address at Art House 

Convergence. 


Seed&Spark originated from an 

independent-film production; 

can you tell us more about that 

experience? 

I made a movie with some friends 

in 2011 called Like the Water. This is 

before women and media hit the zeitgeist; 

we wanted to make a movie that 

we felt reflected women we recognized 

as opposed to the ones we were told 

we were. We wanted women who had 

strong friendships and complicated, 

interesting journeys as opposed to 

ones who had problems that only a 

man could solve. My friend Caitlin 

Fitzgerald was making Newlyweds 

with Ed Burns at the time; he was 

one of the first filmmakers to really 

embrace the digital revolution 

and released a movie theatrically 

that he made for $9,000. This was 

really the ushering in of a totally 

new era, and that’s really when 

I got into filmmaking. I didn’t 

enter with any of the traditional 

industry rules and regulations; 

I came into it knowing the ways 

things were changing and the 

opportunities that created. 

Is that where the crowdsourcing 

component of Seed&Spark comes 

from? 

When we tried to fund this movie 

about women we recognized, we were 

constantly told there probably wasn’t 

an audience for the film. Kickstarter 

and Indiegogo had been around for a 

little while, but we didn’t want to ask 

for a pile of money. We wanted to get 

our community involved in a way that 

would help them understand what 

it would take to get the movie made 

and what the journey would look like. 

I don’t know, maybe you don’t need 

to get a group of women in a room 

for that long to get to the idea of a 

wedding registry: a list of things and 

their associated costs. We made a wish 

list and listed everything we needed: 

$20,000 in 30 days. We raised $23,000 

cash and hundreds of thousands of 

dollars in gifts and loans of locations, 

goods, and services. We listed bug spray 

and sunscreen because we were going to 

shoot in Maine over the summer, and 

my cousin—who didn’t have a ton of 

money at the time—was working in a 

sports-supply warehouse in California 

and shipped us a case of each. He was 

a legend for it. A local car dealership 

loaned us a couple of cars for six weeks. 

A local coffee shop gave us 60 pounds 

of coffee and kept us caffeinated for our 

22-day shoot. It’s a way of filmmaking 

that respects what filmmakers are really 

trying to do; it captures a community 

in one way or another, it not only tells 

us a story. When we finished the film 

and started taking it around the festival 

circuit, people who contributed to our 

campaign would begin bringing friends 

to our screenings. Even when we were 

in Poland and Oaxaca, Mexico—places 

where we didn’t know we knew people. 

Beyond funding, Seed&Spark 

can also be seen as a disruptive 

platform for the current 

independent-film distribution 

model. 

I was meeting all these gatekeepers: 

sales agents, financiers, and distributors. 

They kept telling me there wasn’t an 

audience for the movie. I would keep on 

going to festivals, however, and we’d see 

how positively people reacted. Clearly, 

the gatekeepers seemed incredibly out of 

touch, but, more critically, they didn’t 

seem to know how to reach a community 

of interest in a way beyond what 

they’d been doing for years. 

Seed&Spark was born out of our 

desire to help filmmakers connect with 

the communities that would support 

their careers—not just for one film but 

for their entire career. We also wanted 

to distribute those films in a responsible 

way that could also reap financial returns 

for the filmmakers. A lot of people have 

said they’re there to help filmmakers 

make money, but very few have meant 

it. We are a for-filmmaker, by-filmmaker 

company, and we’re aiming to transform 

the industry into a place where we think 

we have a sustainable future making 

films. 

Last year we went on the road to 

teach this class called Crowdfunding 

to Build Independence, which is really 

about using crowdfunding to build a 

lasting, sustainable, direct relationship 

with audiences that can be monetized 

to build distribution for many films— 

not just one. We’re building increasing 

numbers of features into our product, 

which allows filmmakers to leverage the 

data they gather about their audience 

from crowdfunding to build strategic 

and sustainable distribution plans. Not 


every [independent] film can be released 

theatrically, but the ones that do often aren’t 

doing it based on anything other than their 

desire to release theatrically. We want every 

single person that touches a crowdfunding 

venture to receive a survey asking where they 

watch films. It would be a very different 

thing to start building a distribution plan if 

you had 500 guaranteed audience members 

who indicate they like to watch content at 

art-house theaters across three states. Then 

we can work directly with theater owners in 

each state. 

Speaking about distribution, can you 

tell us more about your partnership 

with Tugg, the communal film-booking 

platform? 

Our partnership really centers on the 

educational efforts, teaching filmmakers that 

all the tools are available for them to control 

every aspect of their careers. Filmmakers 

will never have to talk to another gatekeeper 

again to create, generate, and capitalize on 

the demand for their own films. I fundamentally 

believe that while there will always 

be the business of the gatekeepers, if you’re 

not telling the stories they’re used to making 

money on, they’re just not going to pick 

you. That is not going to happen. So you can 

either try and change the things that matter 

to you and write, produce, and direct films 

that look more like the ones they’re making, 

or you can tell your own stories and connect 

directly with the audiences who are being 

massively underserved by the Hollywood 

model. It’s a different way of coming to work; 

you need to take more entrepreneurial control 

of your career. That’s really where Tugg 

and Seed&Spark have found our greatest 

overlap—in our desire to give filmmakers all 

the tools they need to build the sustainable 

careers they want. 

There’s a curatorial aspect to film 

programming, but the root of it 

all really does come down to what 

sort of films are being acquired by 

distributors. How does crowdfunding 

alter that model? 

As we align more around our interests, 

taste becomes a very tricky way to judge 

things, because taste is heavily biased. We 

just saw Project Greenlight, and while Matt 

Damon is talking about meritocracy, we need 

to realize that a meritocracy to Matt Damon 

is stuff that looks like him. He’s the success 

story, and therefore stuff that looks like him 

has merit. Inside our notions of merit and 

taste are built deep, entrenched biases: racial, 

gender, regional. We need to start thinking 

that part of diversity is getting people outside 

of New York and Los Angeles. Crowdfunding 

brings things to the forefront that might not 

be for me but that have huge audiences that 

feel they’re well represented by these stories. 

The only kind of gatekeeping there should be 

is one where the audience says yes or no. 

Ultimately taste doesn’t sell tickets, 

demand does. With Seed&Spark 

you’re identifying that demand on a 

community-by-community basis. 

Our hope is that we can seed films directly 

into the communities that are demanding 

them. We can identify projects that might 

not think of themselves as art-house worthy, 

projects that have strong connections to 

communities. This is what the Internet 

promised it could always do, and we’re 

doing it. n 


What are some of the main points that arthouse 

and independent exhibitors can take 

away from your presentation at Art House 

Convergence? 

This is the first time NAC is involved with Art 

House Convergence, and we’ll be talking about the 

value and benefits of concessions at art-house theaters. 

Interestingly, the average independent art-house 

theater only gets around 15 percent of its total revenue 

from concessions, whereas the typical circuit or chain 

theater gets around 35 to 40 percent of its revenue 

from concessions. We see an opportunity for the 

smaller independent theaters to improve their bottom 

line while also providing people with what they like on 

a trip to the movies. We always operate under the same 

philosophy: why should you allow people to leave your 

theater without eating if they plan to do so, whether 

it’s before or after? It’d be wonderful to keep that money 

under one roof. In this case, hopefully with some 

creativity and real marketing savvy, we’ll be able to 

find a way for art-house theaters to keep that money. 

I’m going to be doing a 75- to 90-minute presentation 

showing the benefits and trends in food, not just in 

concessions but also through many hospitality venues. 

We’ll be going through product after product in the 

presentation; I’ll have around 30 samples of everything, 

including bottled water, corn chips, and candy. 

It’s a wonderful opportunity to engage with what can 

and what cannot work, examples that range from alcohol 

and dine-in to standards like popcorn and candy. 

THE CONCESSIONS STAND 

Dan Borschke 

Executive Vice President 

National Association of Concessionaires 

The National Association of 

Concessionaires exec talks to BoxOffice 

ahead of the group’s first presentation at 

Art House Convergence. 


What sort of potential do art-house audiences 

represent in terms of concessions sales? 

The average art-house moviegoer can go to the 

cinema almost twice as much as they go to any other 

theater. We’re talking about going to the movies ten 

times a year instead of four. That speaks to the loyalty 

of those moviegoers. These are moviegoers that are 

usually more upscale, and that presents a wonderful 

opportunity. It’s a different audience, so you need to 

be aware of trends like non-GMO to gluten-free and 

types of items that can appeal to that audience. 

One of my favorite cinemas here in New York 

City draws an older crowd—let’s just say they 

sell a lot of senior-discount tickets—and it’s 

interesting to see how that is reflected in their 

concessions strategy: they offer a variety of 

cakes and muffins that they display just as 

prominently as their popcorn and candy. How 

do demographics play into the equation? 

Like any owner of a retail establishment, you need 

to know the demographics of your customers. What 

works in Manhattan, New York, doesn’t necessarily 

work in Manhattan, Kansas. You need to know your 

audience, key questions like knowing if they have 

dollars to spend. If they don’t, then you can always 

down charge some of the more popular items. In many 

ways you need to know your demographics in order to 

make your concessions business more profitable. 


Hot food has been an important trend in 

exhibition as of late, but I can understand 

why more budget-conscious exhibitors might 

shy away from tapping into it. Are there any 

alternatives for smaller exhibitors who might 

want to try an extended concessions menu 

without having to take the financial risk it 

entails? 

Some theater chains are hiring third parties so 

they don’t incur the hassle or expense of opening up 

a kitchen. I know of locations that have opened up 

doughnut stands and bars that have been contracted 

out to third parties, receiving a percentage of their 

take. There are ways of getting around the overhead 

and liability issues involved in hot food. 

What role does in-theater dining play in 

today’s art-house cinema? 

One of the largest members of Art House Convergence 

is Alamo Drafthouse. In my book they’re an 

art house, but they’re certainly a circuit as well if you 

see how they’re growing and franchising throughout 

the country. They’re doing very, very well. They’ve 

found a great way to make money through food and 

beverage. Companies like Alamo are just as good 

restaurants and bars as they are cinemas. We have 

members that focus just as much on their food and 

beverage as what they 

have on screen, because 

that’s where they make 

more money. 

How can NAC help 

art-house cinemas 

in their concessions 

strategies? 

We pride ourselves 

on our work with smaller 

companies and entrepreneurial 

exhibitors and 

suppliers, and we’ve had 

a lot of success. We are 

obviously very excited 

to have great members 

like AMC, Cinemark, 

and Regal as part of our 

organization because 

they bring a lot to our company. But frankly, the 

ones who need our services most are the smaller 

companies that don’t have the excess cash to do the 

research on their own. We can help them. We have 

the education and certification programs for them. In 

that sense, it’s an opportunity to use the membership 

to extend their value. n 


The 

Belcourt Theatre 

C I N E M A S H O W C A S E 

Submitted by 

Stephanie Silverman, Executive Director / Nashville, Tenn. 

Screens: 2 

Capacity: 366 / 332* 

Projection: Barco 4K projection 

Installation: We have been very lucky to work with Mack Williams of 

Williams Cinema Equipment for the last 16 years. Mack has installed 

and maintained our 35 millimeter equipment, helped us install our 

digital equipment side by side with our 35s. He keeps our rooms tuned 

and sounding great, and he has been a tremendous partner to our 

facilities director and head projectionist, Kirk Futrell. Between the 

two of them we can give our audiences the high-quality exhibition 

experience they deserve. 

*Upcoming renovation will add another auditorium, seating between 45 and 50 people. 

History 

The Belcourt Theatre is a 90-year-old neighborhood 

theater in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee. 

Film has been a part of this building from the very 

beginning—in fact, the opening event in 1925 was a 

screening of D.W. Griffith’s America. As was typical 

in 1925, our theater also has a stage space that, most 

famously, was home to the Grand Ole Opry from 

1934 to 1936 when the Opry moved from the radio 

station to the stage for the first time. Our nonprofit 

organization has operated the theater since 2000, 

purchasing the building in 2007 and now taking on 

the first major renovation of the building in at least 50 

years. We will be able to preserve the historic elements 

in our spaces while dramatically upgrading our lobby, 

adding the small screening room as well as another 

space we are particularly excited about, a film-education 

classroom that will house programs for people of 

all ages. We already have a vital education and engagement 

program including our Mobile Movie Theatre 

initiative for students throughout Middle Tennessee 

and hundreds of other in-theater events connected to 

our films annually. We’ll be able to do an even deeper 

dive into the work of the art and artists we love with 

this new education-dedicated space. 


Concessions 

We have a full bar, and audiences love being able to have wine or beer with 

their popcorn. We also do very well with items from local producers like local 

chocolatiers Olive & Sinclair and baked goods from Bongo World Bakery. This year 

we’ve also added savory items in a partnership with local commercial kitchen Mesa 

Komal, a program of one of our favorite partner organizations Conexión Américas. 

Their food entrepreneurs now supply our concessions stand with delicious tamales, 

empanadas, and the most delicious hummus I’ve ever eaten. Our community values 

supporting local businesses, and we’re proud to be one and be a partner with others. 

Community 

The Belcourt’s audiences are quite diverse, and we work to widen the net all the 

time. I think it’s the responsibility of all film exhibitors to try and build an audience 

that reflects your community. For us that’s programming across age, race, orientation, 

gender. Making sure we’re having conversations about serious issues raised 

by films and creating a welcoming environment for audience members across our 

community. 

Programming 

The Belcourt’s programming is a healthy mix of both first runs and repertory. 

One of the things we’re proud of is not only turning out big audiences for newly 

released films, but also filling our rooms for great repertory screenings. Since 2015 

was the 40th anniversary of Robert Altman’s Nashville, Belcourt programming 

director, Toby Leonard, put together a great month-long series of Altman films that 

included sold-out screenings of Nashville. We love deepening the film experience, 

and with this film we were able to screen a 20-minute pre-show of archival footage 

from the film’s original opening night in Nashville and a special taped welcome 

from Lily Tomlin. At other Altman screenings and at screenings of the documentary 

Altman, we were thrilled to have Kathryn Reed Altman, Michael Murphy, and John 

Schuck in town for discussions following films. They also led a session with a group 

of Nashville high school students who were taking part in our summer film seminar, 

also focused on the work of Robert Altman. 

The Belcourt is lucky to be in a film-loving community who are willing to 

dive into films both new and old. We love the vital combination of great repertory 

programming right alongside newly released films. We find audiences love the deep 

dive of repertory series programming or our month-long focus on documentaries 

each October (Doctober) as much as they anticipate seeing a new film with a lot of 

critical acclaim like Room or Chi-raq. 

Membership 

We have a robust membership program, and it’s a great way to keep audiences 

feeling like they’re part of the theater’s family. We have around 4,500 members who 

renew annually. In addition to benefits like discounts at concessions, we have fun 

events like an annual membership cookout just before an outdoor film screening on 

a summer evening, which is a fun way to both thank and get to know some of our 

biggest fans. n 


a/perture cinema 

C I N E M A S H O W C A S E 

History 

A/perture opened in early 2010 to fill a need in the 

community for year-round art-house films. As a majority 

owner and the sole operator, I’ve been involved 

from the very beginning. 

Concessions 

Popcorn! Which goes well with our beer and wine. 

We try to stock local products when possible—beer, 

popcorn, gourmet chocolate, peanuts, frozen custard. 

Community 

I hope we are building social capital and bringing 

people together in a way that opens our patrons up 

to conversations about film, our community, and the 

world at large. 

Submitted by 

Lawren Desai, Owner & Curator / Winston-Salem, N.C. 

Screens: 4 

Capacity: 82 / 79 / 45 / 25 

Installation: American Cinema Equipment installation 

Projectors: Christie 

Servers: Doremi 

Seats: Irwin Seating Company 

Top Titles: 2015 

Mr. Holmes 

The Imitation Game 

Birdman 

Love & Mercy 

I’ll See You in My 

Dreams 

Speakers: JBL 

Top Titles: All-time 

The King’s Speech 

Midnight in Paris 

Chef 

Moonrise Kingdom 

Programming 

We try to take risks when we can with our programming, 

and we treat film as the art form it is, and 

I think that’s what really sets us apart. We play a lot of 

foreign language and documentaries, and whenever we 

can we highlight local films and filmmakers. 

Showmanship 

Marketing to target audiences and specific groups 

is extremely important to us. When we book a film 

that should attract a specific audience, we immediately 

start sending out e-mails and working to get them 

excited about the film. We have a marketing partnership 

with one of our local record shops, and it’s been 

great to get the word out about our music-related films 

and documentaries and to hopefully send some of our 

patrons their way to purchase some vinyl. 

Members Only 

We have had a membership program from the beginning, 

but we are always trying to grow it. We count 

on our members to help sustain our operations. n 


Hot food has been an important trend in 

exhibition as of late, but I can understand 

why more budget-conscious exhibitors might 

shy away from tapping into it. Are there any 

alternatives for smaller exhibitors who might 

want to try an extended concessions menu 

without having to take the financial risk it 

entails? 

Some theater chains are hiring third parties so 

they don’t incur the hassle or expense of opening up 

a kitchen. I know of locations that have opened up 

doughnut stands and bars that have been contracted 

out to third parties, receiving a percentage of their 

take. There are ways of getting around the overhead 

and liability issues involved in hot food. 

What role does in-theater dining play in 

today’s art-house cinema? 

One of the largest members of Art House Convergence 

is Alamo Drafthouse. In my book they’re an 

art house, but they’re certainly a circuit as well if you 

see how they’re growing and franchising throughout 

the country. They’re doing very, very well. They’ve 

found a great way to make money through food and 

beverage. Companies like Alamo are just as good 

restaurants and bars as they are cinemas. We have 

members that focus just as much on their food and 

beverage as what they 

have on screen, because 

that’s where they make 

more money. 

How can NAC help 

art-house cinemas 

in their concessions 

strategies? 

We pride ourselves 

on our work with smaller 

companies and entrepreneurial 

exhibitors and 

suppliers, and we’ve had 

a lot of success. We are 

obviously very excited 

to have great members 

like AMC, Cinemark, 

and Regal as part of our 

organization because 

they bring a lot to our company. But frankly, the 

ones who need our services most are the smaller 

companies that don’t have the excess cash to do the 

research on their own. We can help them. We have 

the education and certification programs for them. In 

that sense, it’s an opportunity to use the membership 

to extend their value. n 

JANUARY 2016 BoxOffice ® Pro 33

TIMECODE 

It’s awards season, and the Oscar nominations will 

be announced on January 14. The first ceremony, in 

1929, was a private affair with just 250 guests. This 

year’s edition will be viewed by several hundred 

million people around the globe—more if 

Star Wars: The Force Awaits sneaks into 

the Best Picture race [psst—it won’t]. 

by Kenneth James Bacon 

n FX’s creepy, crawly American Horror Story: Hotel features 

platinum-haired child vampires that sleep in fancy coffins by day 

and play video games by night, demons with unusual sexual appetites 

that live in the mattresses of haunted room 64 (with a monster baby in 

room 33), and the chic and fabulous 115-year-old Lady Gaga. Who is a 

vampire. Wha??? The haunted hotel in question, the fictional Hotel Cortez, 

is said to be inspired by the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, which some 

say actually has a ghost problem. 

The 88-year-old hotel—a wooden stake’s throw away from Oscar’s 

home, the Dolby Theatre—has quite the haunted history. Many guests 

have claimed to see the ghost of Montgomery Clift in room 928— 

where Monty practiced his trumpet for From Here to Eternity. Guests 

in the Marilyn Monroe Suite, room 1200, have been spooked by Norma 

Jean’s ethereal presence. There have been whispers about the Girl in 

the Blue Dress who flits around the lobby. The little girl, Caroline? 

She searches endlessly for her long-lost mother. But these are not the 

eerie manifestations we are concerned with here. Our interest is in the 

Blossom Room; and the Blossom Room—which you can rent to this 

day—is ghost central. 

(continued on page 36) 

The first 

mention of 

the awards in 

BoxOffice was this 

item on page 9 of 

the Nov. 17, 1931, 

issue. 


This classic ad 

from the March 

4, 1939, issue of 

BoxOffice was the 

first of many studio ads 

touting Oscar wins; Gone 

with the Wind would 

win the big prize the 

following year. 


TIMECODE > ACADEMY AWARDS 

BoxOffice 

began reporting 

on Hollywood news 

in earnest about the 

time Gone with the Wind 

swept the country. Our 

L.A. reporter, Ivan Speer, 

was also the manager 

of the famed Dionne 

Quintuplets. 


Guests have seen a man in a tux appear where a 

cold spot always seems to be. Other visitors have heard 

the room’s piano play when there is no one tickling 

the ivories. Is this specter a long-dead jilted suitor, lost 

and alone? Perhaps a crooner who drank too much 

Prohibition-era hooch before falling off the bandstand 

during a drunken rendition of “If I Had a Talking 

Picture of You.” Much more likely (if you believe such 

things), he’s a faded film star who was snubbed at the 

first Academy Awards and found solace in a cocktail 

of vodka and strychnine. I offer this theory, as the 

Blossom Room is famous for two things: ghosts and 

hosting the very first Academy Awards. 

Louis B. Mayer founded the Academy of Motion 

Picture Arts and Science in 1927, the same year 

the Roosevelt opened to guests. According to Scott 

Eyman’s book Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend 

of Louis B. Mayer, Mayer once said of the awards, “I 

found that the best way to handle [filmmakers] was to 

hang medals all over them ... If I got them cups and 

awards they’d kill themselves to produce what I wanted. 

That’s why the Academy Award was created.” On May 

16, 1929, the first award banquet was held in the preghost 

Blossom Room. Two hundred and seventy guests 

were fed and perhaps watered (Prohibition wouldn’t 

end for another four years). As today, celebrities arrived 

via luxury auto with fans lining the streets to see their 

favorite stars. (“Oh! Mabel! It’s Richard Barthelmess!”) 

Howard Hughes, 

How Green 

just 24, was nominated that year for 

Was My Valley is 

what was then called Outstanding Picture remembered today as 

for the crime drama The Racket (Wings was the film that beat out 

Citizan Kane for the Best 

the victor). Cameraman George Barnes was 

Picture prize. This Fox ad 

nominated three times in the same category appeared in the March 

for three different pictures—and lost. Charlie 

Chaplin won a special award “for versatility 

BoxOffice 

7, 1942, edition of 

and genius in acting, writing, directing, and 

producing The Circus.” The brothers Warner were 

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TIMECODE > ACADEMY AWARDS 

BoxOffice, 

April, 11, 1960— 

Ben Hur is tied with 

two others for most wins: 

11 

BoxOffice, March 11, 1963— 

Peter O’Toole holds the 

record for the most 

nominations with 

zero wins: 

8 

cited for revolutionizing the industry by producing 

the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer. The entire 

ceremony was 15 minutes. 

BoxOffice (then called The Reel Journal) was 

nine years old in 1929. For a Kansas City–based 

exhibitor-centric magazine, Hollywood and 

what happened in Hollywood stayed in 

Hollywood. That first awards ceremony 

went unmentioned in our pages. 

Our first reporting of the Oscars 

appeared on page nine of the Nov. 

17, 1931, issue (shown on page 34). 

Through the years when the magazine 

was a weekly, our coverage of the 

ceremony became more prominent. 

Studios began to tout their awards 

in full-page ads in the late 1930s. 

Today, of course, the Oscars, as 

they came to be known, are coveted 

by every major, mini-major, 

and independent studio and filmmaker. 

Cheryl Boone Isaacs, the 

organization’s current president, 

is interviewed in this very issue. 

But back to the Blossom 

Room. The Academy held 

their awards ceremony just 

once at the Roosevelt. The 

following year they moved 

to the Ambassador Hotel, 

home to the famed Cocoanut 

Grove nightclub. But the 

Oscars outgrew hotels and 

moved to auditoriums when 

television began to take 

an interest. Today, Dolby 

Theatre is its permanent 

home. But you can still 

stay at the Roosevelt if 

you wish and be one of 

the screaming horde hoping for a selfie with 

Leonardo DiCaprio on February 28. Well, actually, 

you can’t. It’s booked—I just checked. n 

TOP-GROSSING BEST PICTURE WINNERS IN 2015 DOLLARS 

1 Gone with the Wind 1939 $1,685,052,200 

2 The Sound of Music 1965 $1,187,744,200 

3 Titanic 1997 $1,129,857,100 

4 Ben-Hur 1959 $817,320,000 

5 The Sting 1973 $743,451,400 

6 The Godfather 1972 $658,214,200 

7 Forrest Gump 1994 $655,628,800 

8 Around the World in 80 Days 1956 $538,892,300 

9 The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King 2003 $514,075,100 

10 My Fair Lady 1964 $500,400,000 

Note: The lowest-grossing BP winner since 1978 is 2009’s The Hurt Locker, grossing just $17,017,811, 

with last year’s Birdman in second-to-last place with only $42,340,598. 


GOING OUT ON A LIMB 

The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 14, well after we have gone to press. However, here I shall bravely and 

irresponsibly predict who will surprise and who will be snubbed: 

PICTURE 

ACTRESS 

ACTOR 

IN! 

SNUB! 

IN! 

SNUB! 

IN! 

SNUB! 

Straight Outta 

Compton 

DIRECTOR 

Star Wars: 

The Force Awakens 

Brie Larson 

Room 

Jennifer Lawrence 

Joy 

SUPPORTING ACTRESS 

Brian Cranston 

Trumbo 

Johnny Depp 

Black Mass 

SUPPORTING ACTOR 

IN! 

SNUB! 

IN! 

SNUB! 

IN! 

SNUB! 

Steven Spielberg 

Bridge of Spies 

Todd Haynes 

Carol 

Alicia Vikander 

Ex Machina 

Alicia Vikander 

The Danish Girl 

Sylvester Stallone 

Creed 

Idris Elba 

Beast of No Nation 


COMING SOON IN 3D 

KUNG FU PANDA 3 

JAN. 29 · FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION 

CAST Jack Black, Bryan Cranston 

DIR Jennifer Yuh, Alessandro Carloni 

GENRE Ani/Com/Fam 

SPECS 3D/Dolby Dig 

THE FINEST HOURS 

JAN. 29 · DISNEY 

CAST Chris Pine, Casey Affleck 

DIR Craig Gillespie 

GENRE Dra/Thr 

SPECS 3D/IMAX/Dolby Dig 

GODS OF EGYPT 

FEB. 26 · LIONSGATE 

CAST Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau 

DIR Alex Proyas 

GENRE Act/Adv/Fan 

SPECS 3D 

ZOOTOPIA 

MAR. 4 · DISNEY 

CAST Jason Bateman, Ginnifer Goodwin 

DIR Byron Howard, Rich Moore 

GENRE Ani/Adv/Fam 


THE LITTLE PRINCE 

MAR. 18 · PARAMOUNT 

CAST Jeff Bridges, Mackenzie Foy 

DIR Mark Osborne 

GENRE Ani/Fan/Fam 


BATMAN V SUPERMAN: DAWN OF JUSTICE 

MAR. 25 · WARNER BROS. 

CAST Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck 

DIR Zack Snyder 

GENRE Act/Adv 

SPECS 3D/IMAX/Dolby Atmos 

THE JUNGLE BOOK 

APR. 15 · DISNEY 

CAST Neel Sethi, Bill Murray 

DIR Jon Favreau 

GENRE Adv/Fan/Ani 


A BEAUTIFUL PLANET 

APR. 29 · DISNEY/IMAX 

DIR Toni Myers 

GENRE Doc 

SPECS 3D/IMAX 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR 

MAY 6 · DISNEY 

CAST Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. 

DIR Anthony Russo, Joe Russo 

GENRE Act/Adv 



ALSO UPCOMING IN 3D 

2016 

MAY 20 SONY/COLUMBIA THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE 

MAY 27 DISNEY ALICE THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS 

MAY 27 FOX X-MEN: APOCALYPSE 

JUN 3 

PARAMOUNT 

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: 

OUT OF THE SHADOWS 

JUN 10 UNIVERSAL WARCRAFT 

JUN 17 DISNEY FINDING DORY 

JUN 24 FOX INDEPENDENCE DAY RESURGENCE 

JUL 1 DISNEY/DREAMWORKS THE BFG 

JUL 1 WARNER BROS. THE LEGEND OF TARZAN 

JUL 8 UNIVERSAL THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 

JUL 15 SONY/COLUMBIA GHOSTBUSTERS 

JUL 22 FOX ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE 

JUL 22 WARNER BROS. KING ARTHUR 

JUL 22 PARAMOUNT STAR TREK BEYOND 

AUG 5 WARNER BROS. SUICIDE SQUAD 

AUG 12 DISNEY PETE’S DRAGON 

AUG 12 UNIVERSAL SPECTRAL 

AUG 19 FOCUS FEATURES KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS 

SEP 23 WARNER BROS. STORKS 

NOV 4 DISNEY DOCTOR STRANGE 

NOV 4 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION TROLLS 

NOV 11 SONY/TRISTAR BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK 

NOV 18 WARNER BROS. FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM 

NOV 23 DISNEY MOANA 

NOV 23 UNIVERSAL THE GREAT WALL 

DEC 16 DISNEY ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY 

2017 

JAN 13 WARNER BROS. GEOSTORM 

JAN 13 PARAMOUNT MONSTER TRUCKS 

JAN 27 SONY/SCREEN GEMS RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER 

FEB 10 WARNER BROS. THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 

MAR 10 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION BOSS BABY 

MAR 10 WARNER BROS. KONG: SKULL ISLAND 

MAR 17 DISNEY BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 

MAR 31 DISNEY/DREAMWORKS GHOST IN THE SHELL 

MAR 31 SONY/COLUMBIA GET SMURFY 

APR 7 FOX FERDINAND 

MAY 5 DISNEY GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2 

MAY 26 DISNEY STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII 

JUN 16 DISNEY CARS 3 

JUL 7 

DISNEY 

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: 

DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES 

JUL 28 SONY/COLUMBIA UNTITLED SPIDER-MAN FILM 

SEP 22 WARNER BROS. THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE 

OCT 6 WARNER BROS. JUNGLE BOOK: ORIGINS 

NOV. 3 DISNEY THOR: RAGNAROK 

NOV 22 DISNEY COCO 

DEC 8 SONY/COLUMBIA THE LAMB 

DEC 22 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION THE CROODS 2 

2018 

FEB 9 WARNER BROS. UNTITLED WARNER ANIMATION PROJECT 

FEB 16 DISNEY BLACK PANTHER 

FEB 16 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION LARRIKINS 

MAR 9 DISNEY GIGANTIC 

MAR 23 FOX ANUBIS 

MAY 4 DISNEY AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART I 

MAY 18 WARNER BROS. THE LEGO MOVIE SEQUEL 

MAY 25 DISNEY UNTITLED HAN SOLO PROJECT 

JUN 15 DISNEY TOY STORY 4 

JUN 29 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3 

JUL 6 DISNEY ANT-MAN AND THE WASP 

JUL 20 SONY/COLUMBIA UNTITLED ANIMATED SPIDER-MAN FILM 

SEP 21 SONY/COLUMBIA HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 

NOV 21 DISNEY UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 1 

2019 

MAR 8 DISNEY CAPTAIN MARVEL 

MAY 3 DISNEY AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR PART II 

JUN 21 DISNEY THE INCREDIBLES 2 

JUL 12 DISNEY INHUMANS 


2020 

MAR 13 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 1 

JUN 19 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 2 



IN THE 

DEAD OF 

WINTER 

Alejandro González Iñárritu 

follows up his Academy 

Award–winning Birdman 

with The Revenant, a 

survivalist frontier epic. 

by Daniel Loria 

ALEJANDRO 

GONZÁLEZ 

IÑÁRRITU AT THE 

MOVIES 

MOVIE MOMENT 

One film I remember that I really 

loved seeing was Once Upon a 

Time in America, the Sergio Leone 

film. It’s one of many, but if you 

want me to name one, that’s 

one that I remember had 

a lot of impact in 

my life. 

There’s a singular charm to a snow-packed 

Western. Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. 

Miller sets the stage by showing us a frontier 

that has been pushed up against the farthest 

edge of the continent, the Pacific Northwest, 

where the harsh elements represent only a 

fraction of the dangers lurking behind the 

breathtaking landscape. But whereas Altman’s 

film takes place in the early 1900s and 

more rigidly follows the notions of a Western 

(if only to subvert them), The Revenant is 

set significantly earlier—in the 1800s—and 

forgoes any preoccupation with adhering to 

or rejecting the conventions of the Western 

genre. The Revenant is a movie about 

survival on the frontier. It stars Leonardo 

DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, guiding a company 

of fur trappers through the perils of a land 

between cultures. Glass is abandoned by 

John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) after a vicious 

bear attack and must find his way to safety 

despite his physical and emotional wounds. 

It’s an ambitious film, featuring a harrowing 

opening sequence that will be remembered 

for years to come, the result of the uncompromising 

vision of director Alejandro González 

Iñárritu, who shot the film on location and 

using only natural light. BoxOffice spoke 

with the Academy Award–winning director 

about the big-screen epic. 


What was it about this 

story that hooked you, that 

made you want to make 

this film? 

At the heart of the film there 

is a father-son story that I was 

interested in. To be a father of 

a mixed-race son during a time 

when so much prejudice was 

floating in the country—as it is 

now, unfortunately, but at that 

time it was even tougher. I was 

also drawn by these men who 

survived and dragged through 

the country during this very big 

winter after almost being killed 

by a bear and being abandoned. What does it mean to be alive? What 

made these men have so much resilience and endurance? Personally, I 

thought that there was a lot to explore there cinematically. There was 

a very clear dramatic line while at the same time a lot of opportunity 

to make poetry out of it. 

Iñárritu with The Revenant’s star Leonardo DiCaprio 

Violence has played an interesting role in your films, in 

terms of its collateral damage, the ripples and lasting 

effects it has on society. Although violence is present 

in your work, the audience never really roots for it; in 

fact, one comes to dread it as it seeps into the entire 

atmosphere of a film. That’s especially true in The 

Revenant. 

I’m not very interested in violence at all. I think violence is a 

very serious matter. Coming from Mexico, I don’t laugh about it, I 

don’t exploit violence, and I don’t use it to entertain people. I think 

violence, in this case, is part of the world where these guys live. They 

are threatened all the time by nature itself, animal attacks, accidents, 

attacks from other tribes, or diseases. This is a film about man 

against nature and man against man. Every violent act in the film is 

absolutely integrated with the narrative and the characters. There’s 

always a consequence to the violence; there’s no exploitation. There’s 

no irony to it, no wink for people to sit back and say, “Ah, that was 

cool.” Every act of violence has consequences, and that’s true to this 

story and its characters. It’s a compassionate look at violence, or at 

least that’s what I intended. 

A lot of your work builds up to crucial moments where 

characters are forced to make a moral decision. It’s very 

present in The Revenant, particularly with Tom Hardy’s 

character, John Fitzgerald; even though he is set up as an 

antagonist, you can see the logic in all of his decisions. You 

might not agree with Fitzgerald or take his side, but you 

can always understand him—there’s an accessibility to that 

character. 

I always thought these men were victims of their context and 

time. Most of them were illiterate, poor, exploited, and victims of a 

lot of prejudice. Fitzgerald is a man who has his own right to survive. 

He works his ass off; he’s a worker who’s been exploited and who was 

just about to be killed by an attack in the past, so he’s afraid of that 

otherness. His religious vision of the world makes it very childish, 

but his reasons to survive are very valid. He is a very pragmatic person, 

and sometimes I agree with him, so he’s not a one-dimensional 

villain, he’s a human being with his own reasons and without much 

consideration or compassion to 

others. But that doesn’t necessarily 

make him wrong. 

Some of the conversation 

around Birdman last 

year had to do with the 

technical challenge it 

posed, something you 

seemed to embrace. That 

film has a playful defiance 

to it that reminds me a 

lot of Jean-Luc Godard’s 

work, right down to the 

opening credits. You took 

on an entirely new level 

of challenge with The Revenant, shooting on location 

in brutal weather and only using natural light alongside 

cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki. Stylistically, the end 

result is closer to the other end of the spectrum. There’s a 

patience to the way you shoot the landscape that recalls 

the more formalist filmmaking of a Tarkovsky, Kubrick, or 

Malick. 

I wanted this film to capture a light and a space in ecstasy. I think 

films and cinemas are suited for that. Unfortunately, a lot of films 

today have become TV on a large screen. People just talking in this 

boring grammatical language. There’s no mystery, everything is predictable 

and already feels told. There’s no exploration in what cinema 

can really bring to the audience. We shot almost 50 percent of this 

film in 65 millimeter, using the ALEXA 65 during dusk, capturing 

spectacular landscapes. It’s the time of the day when God speaks; 

you hear the wind in the trees, you feel the cold, you smell the fear. I 

hope people at the cinemas will be absolutely immersed so they can 

physically experience something that is very difficult to experience 

nowadays at the movies. The kind of films with all that talking, or 

even the ones that are more like a spectacular populist entertainment—they 

are just pixelous. They are just pixels. It’s like when you 

bite a tasteless, genetically modified apple: it looks great but it tastes 

likes nothing. But when you bite into a real, organic apple, that taste 

is just amazing. I think this film has that quality, something that is 

almost impossible to find in cinemas. 

So much of Mexican cinema of the 1980s and ’90s was 

weighed down by a hyperpolitical sensitivity or an 

aspirational longing for validation from abroad until the 

breakthrough of your debut feature, Amores Perros, which 

was so revitalizing because it wasn’t concerned with any 

of that. You’re not really an explicitly political filmmaker, 

but considering the dire situation in Mexico with a 

president like Enrique Peña Nieto, or the rhetoric used 

by a candidate like Donald Trump in the U.S., would you 

consider tackling an explicitly political film in the future? 

Yeah, but I think it all depends on the story and the point of view. 

That’s all you need. I’m interested in politics, not in politicians. Honestly, 

people now don’t really talk about politics, about ideas, about 

in-depth subjects that could really bring societies to change and 

impact communities. They talk about individuals: what they wear, 

who they marry, or the scandal of the moment. I couldn’t be less 

interested in a politician wearing a suit. I would love to make a film 

about politics instead; I think that would be a lot more interesting. n 


HARD-HITTING 

FACTS 

Producer 

Elizabeth Cantillon 

on the Making of 

Concussion 

Interview by Michael Lourie 

Will Smith stars as Nigerian forensic 

pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, 

who published findings of chronic 

traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in 

American football players. 


Jason Merritt/Getty Images North America 

How did 

this project 

originate? 

It originated 

with Ridley 

Scott and Giannina 

Scott at 

Scott Free Productions—they 

are the ones 

who optioned 

the article from GQ and put [director] Peter 

Landesman on it. And then they came to the 

studio and sold it to [producer] Amy Pascal, 

and then Amy brought me on. 

Were you involved from the 

beginning? 

From the very first draft. They had turned 

the draft in when I came on. 

Can you talk a little bit about when 

Will Smith signed on? That must have 

been mildly thrilling, right? 

It was the propulsion for the movie, because 

the studio (Amy Pascal) really wanted 

to make it with Will, and Will had a window 

of opportunity because I think another 

movie he had been working on fell apart for 

whatever reason—I don’t even know what 

movie it was—and he was available. But he 

was available for a short window; so we had 

a target, which was the fall of last year to put 

the movie together and to finish shooting by 

January—which we did. 

So it sounds like Will Smith was 

always the first choice for the role. 

Of course; he’s so magnificent. 

Can you talk a little bit about how the 

casting of Albert Brooks as famed 

forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht came 

about? 

Sure—that was really Peter Landesman’s 

choice. Peter always wanted Albert Brooks, 

and naturally you have a lot of conversation 

because everybody’s got their point of view, 

but Peter really always wanted Albert, always 

thought that Albert captured just organically 

Cyril Wecht’s kind of subversive humor and 

big personality. 

Any Albert Brooks stories from the 

set? When the cameras stopped 

rolling, I’m thinking it was just a 

nonstop crack-up session. 

He is very funny—just hearing his voice 

makes me laugh. So I just feel like we were 

so lucky to have him. I mean first of all, I 

would never do justice to repeat an Albert 

Brooks story because with me it wouldn’t be 

funny, but he was just a great spirit and great 

energy to have around. 

How much leeway was given to Albert 

Brooks when it came to improvising 

dialogue on the set? 

He had a little leeway; he basically kept 

to the script, but he played with it a little bit. 

Thinking back to previous footballthemed 

films—Any Given Sunday 

(1999) and Two for the Money 

(2005) come to mind—it is rare that 

filmmakers are able to use NFL logos, 

team names, footage, etc. How were 

you able to do it? 

We used it under fair use. 

And in terms of the NFL, let me ask 

you: was there cooperation from the 

NFL on any level? 

No, there was no engagement with the 

NFL on any level. 

Is there any concern about the fact 

that you have gone after one of the 

behemoths of corporate America? 

The concussion issue is—we’re not breaking 

that news story. That is an issue that the 

NFL has been made aware of, partly by Dr. 

Bennet Omalu [portrayed by Will Smith] 

and the other doctors that have been on the 

concussion studies and doing brain studies 

of NFL players. It’s a current issue, and that’s 

what makes the movie relevant. [What’s 

depicted in the movie] was the beginning of 

the issue, but the issue isn’t over, obviously. 

There are people getting concussed every 

game, so I think the film only brings to light 

the concussion issues of the story of this one 

man. But I think we’re respectful and honest 

about what the historical evolution of the 

concussion issue and conversation is—but it 

is still a conversation. And that’s what makes 

the movie important now. 

What are your thoughts on the recent 

revelation by Frank Gifford’s family 

about his struggles with CTE (chronic 

traumatic encephalopathy) prior to 

his death? 

Obviously, the family is very courageous, 

first of all, to make the commitment to 

have his brain studied and to be curious to 

know what his medical condition was. And 

they did a service to everybody by donating 

Frank Gifford’s brain, and they should be 

commended for that because it’s a hard thing 

to do, I would imagine. I think that if you 

look at any of the brain studies that are being 

done now on former football players, you’ll 

find it’s not an uncommon result. 

To your point, it’s still relevant. There 

are still players being concussed 

almost on a regular basis, and the 

Frank Gifford revelation fits within the 

context of the film. 

Well, like in the film, where you have 

Junior Seau and Dave Duerson and famous 

players afflicted, Frank Gifford is in that 

canon, right? But he will not be the last one. 

Was there any type of dialogue 

between you and the family of Mike 

Webster, the Hall of Fame center 

whose death has been attributed to 

CTE, portrayed in the film by David 

Morse? 

There wasn’t, but that was more or less a 

legal issue that I don’t know enough of the 

details to provide. We did interact with Justin 

Strzelczyk’s family, with Dave Duerson’s 

family, Andre Waters’s family, Junior Seau’s 

family—all of those families were part of 

either our research or part of the movie. The 

Webster family had a different situation. We 

reached out to them, but they were obligated 

in a different way. 

How did you get started in the 

industry? 

I have a degree in film theory and criticism 

from University of California, Berkeley, 

and so I was interested in film when I graduated. 

And I started how everybody starts; 

I started as a production assistant and then 

as an assistant, and my first real job was at 

Showtime where I worked for Peter Chernin. 

Then I started working for Michael Shamberg, 

and then Michael Shamberg and Danny 

DeVito, and I started producing movies with 

those guys. That’s how I came along. So I’ve 

produced movies and I’ve been a studio executive—I’ve 

kind of gone back and forth. Now 

I’m squarely producing. I don’t imagine I’ll be 

a studio executive again. n 

ELIZABETH CANTILLON 

QUICK HITS 

Favorite movie 

Best movie 

ever made 

Person I’d like 

to work with 

Shampoo 

Godfather I & II 

Martin Scorsese 


Jennifer Lawrence 

portrays entrepreneur and 

inventor Joy Mangano 

in Joy 

By Daniel Loria 

Since 2010, filmmaker David O. Russell has 

had a particularly strong streak of productivity; 

he’s directed, at a frenetic pace of nearly one film 

a year, three of the most memorable films of the 

current decade. The streak is still alive with Joy, 

Russell’s eighth feature film and third consecutive 

collaboration with star Jennifer Lawrence. 

Joy tells the story of Joy Mangano, the inventor 

and entrepreneur who developed the self-wringing 

Miracle Mop and found success through the 

home-shopping cable channel HSN. Lawrence 

portrays the working-class single mother as she 

navigates the treacherous challenges of—and 

conflicts between—entrepreneurship and family. 

BoxOffice joined David O. Russell to talk 

about his latest feature film. 

You’ve already tackled real-life subjects in your films, 

notably in The Fighter, where, instead of focusing on the 

parts of Mickey Ward’s career that were ripe for a bigscreen 

adaptation, you focused on a more personal period 

in his life, telling essentially a story about how family can 

be a blessing but also hold us back. Silver Linings Playbook 

is similar in that way; the protagonists eventually take 

charge and break free from family expectations. Joy is 

very similar, but the story isn’t as focused on one period 

in Joy Mangano’s life. It spans many years, like a biopic 

would, to tell her story. 

It’s not a biopic. We made a cinematic fable about a girl from 

girlhood to adulthood, defining her by the world she grew up in until 

she wakes up and makes that world her own. 

The families in the films I just mentioned become 

obstacles that hold the protagonists back in one way or 

another. That’s something that resonates very clearly 

in Joy, but it’s never presented in a cynical way. There 

doesn’t seem to be any lingering bitterness in your 

depiction of these families. 

You mean in being sincere about it? That’s what I like about it. I 

like taking ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. I’d 

say that’s true of all the movies that I’ve done. Treating them with the 

dignity and seriousness as they treated their own lives, including the 

guy who ran the little cable station in Lancaster, Pennsylvania—he 

treated it like it was a motion picture studio. 

You use soap operas as a motif throughout the film, toying 

with the melodramatic mode in a way similar to Pedro 


DAVID O. RUSSELL 

AT THE MOVIES 

MOVIE MOMENT 

“I like making movies that are 

about real people, that are intense 

and inspiring in an unexacting 

way. I’ve loved that from the 

moment I saw my first David Lean 

movie when I was a kid to seeing 

Mary Poppins and Singin’ in the 

Rain in a revival house. Movies to 

me are a temple, and going to see 

them is a very, very special thing when it comes to keeping 

me happy. I always aspire to create a movie that people will 

watch 20 years or more from now.” 

FAVORITE CINEMA 

“There are many. The New Rochelle United Artists theater 

comes to mind, because for some reason my girlfriend in 

high school had a United Artists card from her grandmother 

that allowed us into any UA theater. I remember the 

Larchmont Playhouse, the Mamaroneck Playhouse, Cinema 

Village in New York City. And the Ziegfeld Theater, of 

course, where this movie is going to premiere. That was very 

important to me, having a theater like the Ziegfeld: huge 

auditorium, fifteen hundred seats, with a marquee—and not 

in a mall, that was also important.” 

Almodovar; there’s a playfulness to it that embraces its 

more camp aspects. You open the film with a soap opera 

clip and continue calling back to it throughout the story. 

Why did you want to give that so much prominence in the 

film? 

The true mother had retired from the world and watched soap 

operas, so I thought that was part of the little girl’s psyche: the little 

girl’s soap operas and the father’s garage where metal was made, the 

sister who is somewhat envious, and the Latino singer. This is what 

made her life until she changed her own course. I also find soap operas 

kind of fascinating because in some ways she’s a prisoner of her 

family’s soap opera until she liberates herself from it. I find that in 

many ways some things are a lot like soap operas, including Russian 

literature. I love the emotional stakes of life, soul, death—the stories 

they tell. 

The domestic space is very important in your films; 

you have this knack of featuring distinctly middle- and 

working-class homes in your films. In Joy the house takes 

on a special kind of importance. 

It’s a very important world inside the house. The home is between 

middle class and working class, lower middle class you could say. I 

think the home is where so much happens; defining the home is very 

important to me from a design standpoint and from a human-heart 

standpoint. Each room is a different world. The little girl’s room is 

where she can draw and create things at the table she had as a child. 

In the mother’s room there’s always a soap opera playing. 

You seem to have found a great groove working with 

Jennifer Lawrence. How did you first come upon her? 

I was aware of her from Winter’s Bone, and she was the last person 

to audition for Silver Linings Playbook. There’s something very 

ordinary and open about her, something very alive and unpretentious 

about her. Something magical. And she’s also hard working, so to me 

that’s it. We just have great chemistry. 

When did you feel you finally started having the freedom 

and, more importantly, the control, to make the type of 

films you wanted? 

These are all stories I wanted to tell. You have to earn it every 

time. It’s not easy to tell a good story, period. You need to find a story 

that has a lot of dimension, heart, and imagination in it. And very, 

very specific characters. That means everything to me. 

We live in a world of sequels, and many of your characters 

feel like they could carry another story by themselves. Is 

that something you would be interested in, revisiting a 

new story with a previous character? 

I do feel that I could. I like to create a whole story for each of 

my characters, and sometimes there’s much more than we could 

ever use. I do feel I could take older characters and make movies 

out of them. 

Which characters come to mind? 

The Richie DiMaso character from American Hustle [played by 

Bradley Cooper]. Or the Rosalyn [Jennifer Lawrence] character 

from that movie. Those are two that spring to mind. In this one I 

can also imagine Joy going from middle age to death. That would be 

interesting to me, getting to know her as an adult. But those are just 

speculative questions. n 


THE BOY 

Director William Brent Bell on Horror 

By Daniel Loria 

A long-time platform for 

launching new talent, horror 

films have a tendency 

to turn filmmakers into 

genre directors. William 

Brent Bell knows the 

genre well, having made 

features like Stay Alive 

(2006) and The Devil Inside 

(2012). Bell returns to 

horror with this January’s 

The Boy, a supernatural 

thriller about a babysitter 

and her unusual 

charge—a doll used as a 

surrogate for a couple’s 

recently deceased child. 

BoxOffice talked with 

Bell about his latest film 

and what directing horror 

films means to him. 

Let’s start with The Boy. Tell me a bit about 

the film and how you became involved 

with the project. 

Last year I really wanted to do a classic “haunted 

house” horror film. I wanted to do something 

spooky with things that went bump in the night. 

I first met with Gary Lucchesi, president of 

Lakeshore Entertainment; he sent me home with 

the screenplay for The Boy. I read it that night and 

loved it. It was exactly what I wanted to do—and 

then some. That week, I went back in to meet 

with him and Tom Rosenberg, the founder of 

Lakeshore. The three of us shared a passion and 

clear vision for this film and they brought me on 

to direct it. 

On the surface, the film seems to have a 

Twilight Zone quality to it. Was that at all 

an inspiration for your approach? Were 

there any other inspirations you drew from 

when dealing with the material? 

The Twilight Zone in general is a huge influence 

on my filmmaking. With respect to The Boy, an 

episode called “Living Doll” was a great inspiration 

when dealing with the material. Another 

terrifying doll story is from the made-for-television 

anthology horror film called Trilogy of Terror. My 

older sister made me watch this, and it truly, truly 

haunted my childhood. Doll stories aside, I was 

inspired greatly by my own fear of Damien, the 

evil young boy in the film The Omen. 

Going back to horror, The Boy is more in 

the supernatural vein—something you’ve 

shown a skill in tackling in your previous 

work. Why do you think supernatural 

horror films became so popular with 

audiences in the last half decade or so? 

How does The Boy fit into this era? 

The supernatural is something the world has 

been fascinated with for centuries. In a recent poll, 

over 60 percent of people believe in some form of 

supernatural phenomena. A horror film, by creating 

highly visual images and sound of what the 

supernatural might be, allows us to see things that 

were only in our imaginations before. That is both 

captivating—and horrifying. To be honest, The Boy 

is quite different from comparable films in this era. 

I don’t want to say much about it except to say I 

believe it will distinguish itself as a highly unique 

and entertaining experience for moviegoers. 

It seems a lot of trends in horror reach a 

point of saturation. I think back to George 

A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, 

a bare-bones production that works so 

effectively, and then I see where zombies 

are today: several shows on TV, Brad Pitt 

as a globe-trotting big-budget James 

Bond zombie killer, a world where “romzom-com” 

(romantic zombie comedy) is 

a very real thing. Is that a challenge when 

making a horror film—how do you keep the 

material from exploiting itself? 

I know when I am making horror film it is 

a tightrope act when it comes to tone. For the 

most part, I like to create a world that feels real 

and believable—sometimes visually, sometimes 

emotionally, and sometimes both. Hopefully this 

believability makes the viewer feel less like an 

audience member and more like the story could 

actually happen to them. I truly believe when a 

movie is relatable the film stays with the audience 

longer. When that works, the movie experience 

can follow them home. And so can the fear. 

Did you set out to become a “horror” 

director? Or is there a romantic comedy 

up your sleeve somewhere waiting for the 

right moment? 

Horror is the only genre of film that consistently 

takes risks with emerging filmmakers, and I love 

that about it. In fact, many people will say that a 

studio’s horror films pay for their Oscar films. I 

wouldn’t say I set out to do only horror. Like most 

people, I am a fan of so many types of films so I 

absolutely want to branch out into other genres. 

But I must say the kind of excitement a horror 

film brings out in an audience makes it hard to 

want to do anything else. For me, bringing scary 

stories to life is such an exciting thing because of 

the audience. There is nothing more rewarding 

than watching my films with a packed house, 

because horror elicits so many reactions from 

moviegoers. It might be gasps or laughs or screams 

or long, horrible silences. It’s like creating a roller 

coaster and watching park goers ride it for the first 

time. n 


WILLIAM BRENT BELL 

QUICK HITS 

Movie Moment 

“Without a doubt, Star Wars, 

Episode 4: A New Hope changed 

my life. From the first note of John 

Williams’s score over the opening 

crawl, it transcended the moviegoing 

experience.” 

Favorite Cinema 

“My favorite movie theater is 

Mann’s Chinese Theater. I love the 

decor, the size, the history, and 

most of all the huge sound.” 

Concessions 

“Since as long as I can remember, 

my go-to movie snack has been 

Junior Mints and popcorn. For me, 

they are the perfect mix of salty 

and sweet. I can’t see a movie 

without it.” 

Greta (Lauren Cohan, The Walking Dead) is 

a young American woman who takes a job 

as a nanny in a remote English village, only 

to discover that the family’s 8-year-old is a 

life-size doll that the parents care for just 

like a real boy, as a way to cope with the 

death of their actual son 20 years before. 

After she violates a list of strict rules, a series 

of disturbing and inexplicable events bring 

Greta’s worst nightmare to life, leading her to 

believe that the doll is actually alive. 


FILM CAPSULES BY DANIEL LORIA & JONATHAN PAPISH 

Jennifer 

Jason Leigh is 

THE 

PRISONER 

Kurt 

Russell is 

THE 

HANGMAN 

Samuel L. 

Jackson is 

THE 

BOUNTY HUNTER 

Bruce 

Dern is 

THE 

CONFEDERATE 

Michael 

Madsen is 

THE 

COW PUNCHER 

Tim 

Roth is 

THE 

LITTLE MAN 

THE HATEFUL EIGHT 

December 31 

Eight strangers, each with his or her own nefarious motivation, are 

forced to hole up in Minnie’s Haberdashery during a blizzard in 

post–Civil War Wyoming. Tarantino considered publishing The Hateful 

Eight as a graphic novel after the script was leaked in 2014, but 

changed his mind after a public live reading in Los Angeles. 

DISTRIBUTOR The Weinstein Company CAST Samuel L. 

Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton 

Goggins, Demián Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce 

Dern DIRECTOR Quentin Tarantino GENRE Western RATING R 

RUNNING TIME 168 min. 

Walton 

Goggins is 

THE 

SHERIFF 

Demián 

Bichir is 

THE 

MEXICAN 


THE REVENANT 

January 8 

The Revenant is based on the true story 

of frontiersman Hugh Glass, who 

became a folk hero after surviving a 

vicious grizzly bear attack. Glass (Di- 

Caprio) was left for dead by his fellow 

fur trappers but managed to survive a 

six-week trek through the wilderness 

back to civilization. 

DISTRIBUTOR 20th Century Fox 

CAST Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom 

Hardy, Will Poulter, Domhnall 

Gleeson DIRECTOR Alejandro 

G. Iñárritu GENRE Adventure / 

Western RATING R RUNNING TIME 

151 min. 

THE FOREST 


This supernatural thriller stars Natalie Dormer (The Hunger Games) 

as a woman searching for her disappeared sister in Japan’s Aokigahara 

Forest. The task, however, is a bit more complicated than she initially 

planned: the forest is inhabited by the angry and tormented souls of 

the dead—not exactly the most welcoming type. 

DISTRIBUTOR Focus Features CAST Natalie Dormer, Taylor 

Kinney, Eoin Macken, Yukiyoshi Ozawa DIRECTOR Jason Zada 

GENRE Horror RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME TBD 

NORM OF THE NORTH 


Norm is a polar bear who is rarely at a loss for words, especially when 

he has to deal with pesky tourists in his beloved Arctic. As if the 

influx of visitors weren’t enough to deal with, Norm finds his quaint 

neighborhood endangered when a maniacal developer threatens to 

build luxury condos in his own backyard. What’s a polar bear to do? 

Go to New York City and put an end to it, of course. 

DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Rob Schneider, Heather 

Graham, Ken Jeong DIRECTOR Joseph Daniello GENRE 

Animation RATING PG RUNNING TIME 86 min. 


ON SCREEN 

RIDE ALONG 2 


Kevin Hart and Ice Cube come back for this 

sequel to the 2014 box office comedy hit. The 

odd-couple cops take a case in Miami this time 

around, while still having to work through their own 

issues in the partnership. The original grossed $41.5 

million when it opened over the same weekend two 

years ago. 

DISTRIBUTOR Universal CAST Ice Cube, 

Kevin Hart DIRECTOR Tim Story 

GENRE Comedy RATING PG-13 

RUNNING TIME TBD 


13 HOURS: THE SECRET 

SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI 


Michael Bay directs this dramatization of the 

events surrounding the deadly 2012 terrorist 

attacks at a diplomatic compound in Benghazi, 

Libya. The film, based on Mitchell Zuckoff’s 

nonfiction book 13 Hours: The Inside Account 

of What Really Happened in Benghazi, details 

the story of the team who defended the U.S. 

compound during the attack. 

DISTRIBUTOR Paramount CAST John 

Krasinski, James Badge Dale, Max Martini, 

Pablo Schreiber DIRECTOR Michael Bay 

GENRE Action RATING R RUNNING TIME TBD 

THE 5TH WAVE 


A young girl sets out to find her missing 

brother after he’s taken by aliens that 

have invaded Earth. She falls for a boy 

helping her search—even though she’s 

not exactly sure 

if he’s human 

or just an alien 

in disguise. 

Starring Chloë 

Grace Moritz 

and based on 

Rick Yancey’s 

New York Times 

best seller, The 

5th Wave will be looking to tap into the 

young-adult fan base. 

DISTRIBUTOR Sony / Columbia CAST 

Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, 

Alex Roe-Brown DIRECTOR J. 

Blakeson GENRE Action RATING PG-13 


THE BOY 


An American girl escaping an abusive relationship 

takes a nanny job in England to care for a 

couple’s eight-year-old child. As is often the case 

in horror movies, there’s a catch: there’s no boy, 

it’s actually just a life-size porcelain doll that 

the parents use as a way to cope with their son’s 

death. Doesn’t really sound like a tough job, 

that is until disturbing events begin to raise the 

question—is the doll alive? 

DISTRIBUTOR STX Entertainment CAST 

Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans, Jim Norton 

DIRECTOR William Brent Bell GENRE Horror 

RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME TBD 


ON SCREEN 

DIRTY GRANDPA 


Zac Efron stars in this comedy about a guy who is tricked into taking his grandfather to Florida 

for spring break before his own impending wedding. Sounds like a fun time, especially since the 

grandfather is a foulmouthed former Army general played by Robert De Niro. And who knows— 

maybe that AARP card will come in handy during happy hour. 

DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate CAST Robert De Niro, Zac Efron DIRECTOR Dan Mazer GENRE 

Comedy RATING R RUNNING TIME 102 min. 

FIFTY SHADES 

OF BLACK 


It was just a matter of time, 

wasn’t it? Marlon Wayans 

takes on the role of Mr. 

Black in this Fifty Shades of 

Grey spoof. Wayans found 

modest success the last time 

he rolled out a spoof in 

January; 2013’s A Haunted 

House grossed $40 million 

and spawned a sequel. As 

opposed to the film it spoofs, 

the laughs in Fifty Shades of 

Black appear to be intentional. 

DISTRIBUTOR Open Road 

CAST Marlon Wayans 

DIRECTOR Michael Tiddes 

GENRE Comedy RATING R 


THE FINEST HOURS 3D, IMAX 3D 


Based on real events, The Finest Hours tells the story of a heroic small boat rescue 

that took place off the coast of Cape Cod during the winter of 1952. Casey Affleck 

stars as the senior officer on board a sinking oil tanker, while Chris Pine comes to 

the rescue as a Coast Guard captain. 

DISTRIBUTOR Disney CAST Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Holliday Grainger, Eric 

Bana, Ben Foster DIRECTOR Craig Gillespie GENRE Drama RATING PG-13 



KUNG FU 

PANDA 3 3D 


Kung Fu Panda is still 

kicking in the third 

entry of the fan-favorite 

animated franchise. Po 

and his father arrive at 

a secret panda paradise, 

but not all is fun and 

games. The evil spirit, 

Kai, has begun a path 

of destruction across 

China, leaving kung fu 

masters in his wake. It’s 

up to Po and his new 

team of friends to put a 

stop to Kai’s nefarious 

plans. 

DISTRIBUTOR Fox CAST 

Jack Black, Bryan 

Cranston, Mads 

Mikkelsen, Rebel 

Wilson DIRECTOR 

Jennifer Yuh GENRE 

Animation RATING PG 


JANE GOT A 

GUN 


Natalie Portman plays 

Jane Hammond, a woman 

putting her life back together 

after being tormented by 

the ultraviolent Bishop 

Boys outlaw gang. After her 

husband stumbles home, 

riddled by bullets following 

an altercation with the gang, 

Jane is forced to confront the 

old memories that haunt her 

and take her safety into her 

own hands. 

DISTRIBUTOR The 

Weinstein Company 

CAST Ewan McGregor, 

Natalie Portman, Noah 

Emmerich DIRECTOR 

Gavin O’Connor GENRE 

Western RATING TBD 



ON SCREEN 

TROUBLEMAKERS: 

THE STORY OF LAND ART 

January 8 (New York) 

“The greatest paintbrush is a Caterpillar earth 

mover.” Land art, or earthworks, was an artistic 

movement that grew out of the concept 

that our planet’s varied landscapes were inextricably 

linked to works of art. This documentary, 

directed by James Crump, delves into the 

story of the band of renegades and firebrands 

who started the experimental movement in 

the desolate desert of the American Southwest 

in the late 1960s and early 1970s. 

DISTRIBUTOR First Run Features DIRECTOR 

James Crump GENRE Documentary 

RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 72 min. 

THE MASKED SAINT 


Unbreakable for the faith-based demographic, 

The Masked Saint tells the story of Chris Samuels, 

a former pro wrestler turned small-town 

pastor, who takes the law into his own hands, 

moonlighting as a vigilante to fight injustice. 

The film is based on the popular book of the 

same name by Chris Whaley and is distributed 

by Freestyle Releasing, the company 

behind the faith-based hit God’s Not Dead 

($62.6M). 

DISTRIBUTOR Freestyle Releasing CAST 

Brett Granstaff, Lara Jean Chorostecki, 

Diahann Carroll, Patrick McKenna, Roddy 

Piper DIRECTOR Warren P. Sonoda GENRE 

Action / Biography / Crime RATING 

PG-13 for some violence and thematic 

elements RUNNING TIME 111 min. 

EISENSTEIN IN 

GUANAJUATO 


The Soviet film director Sergei Eisenstein is 

revered by film historians for pioneering the 

use of montage, and his Battleship Potemkin 

is on every film geek’s must-see list. After 

the success of Battleship Potemkin, he was 

celebrated the world over and invited to join 

Hollywood but was ultimately rejected by 

conservative Americans. In this film from 

writer/director Peter Greenaway, Eisenstein 

travels to Mexico for a film funded by American 

pro-Communist sympathizers. The 10- 

day shoot would become a pivotal experience 

in his career. 

DISTRIBUTOR Strand Releasing CAST 

Elmer Bäck DIRECTOR Peter Greenaway 

GENRE Comedy / Romance RATING TBD 



THE LADY IN THE VAN 


Director Nicholas Hytner, writer Alan Bennett, and actress 

Maggie Smith reunite in this film adapted from their hit 1999 

stage play of the same name. Based on a true story, The Lady 

in the Van stars Smith as ornery Mary Shephard, an eccentric 

homeless woman whom Bennett befriends and allows to live 

temporarily in his driveway in a parked van; she ends up 

staying 15 years. This crowd-pleaser would be a smart piece of 

counter-programming for the older crowd over the holidays. 

DISTRIBUTOR Sony Pictures Classics CAST Maggie 

Smith, Alex Jennings DIRECTOR Nicholas Hytner GENRE 

Biography / Drama RATING PG-13 for a brief unsettling 

image. RUNNING TIME 104 min. 

IP MAN 3 


Master Ip (Donnie Yen), the renowned martial arts master to 

Bruce Lee, returns to defend his city against a brutal band of 

gangsters led by a corrupt property developer. Director Wilson 

Yip and screenwriter Edmond Wong also return for the 

third film in the acclaimed Ip Man series, which has earned 

more than $37 million worldwide. Boxer Mike Tyson co-stars 

as the villanous street fighter. 

DISTRIBUTOR Well Go USA CAST Donnie Yen, Zhang 

Jin, Mike Tyson DIRECTOR Wilson Yip GENRE Action / 

Biography / Drama RATING TBD RUNNING TIME TBD 

AFERIM! 


In this tragicomedy from Romania, a father and son trek 

across the barren landscape of 19th-century Wallachia in 

search of a gypsy slave suspected of having an affair with his 

master’s wife. On their journey, the duo encounter people of 

many different nationalities, forcing them to confront longheld 

stereotypes. Aferim! (“Bravo” in Romanian) is the official 

Romanian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at this 

year’s Academy Awards. 

DISTRIBUTOR Big World Pictures CAST Teodor Corban, 

Mihai Comãnoiu, Cuzin Toma DIRECTOR Radu Jude 

GENRE Adventure / Comedy / Drama RATING TBD 


COLLIDING DREAMS 

Feb 19 (New York) / March 4 (L.A.) 

In the comprehensive Colliding Dreams, documentarians 

Joseph Dorman and Oren Rudavsky explore the little understood 

and often disorted meaning of Zionism against the 

backdrop of the century-old Middle East conflict between 

Israel and Palestine. The film featurs interviews from scholars 

and academics well versed in the Zionist movement, but also 

ordinary Israeli and Palestinian citizens caught in the middle 

of this fierce conflict. 

DISTRIBUTOR International Film Circuit DIRECTORS 

Joseph Dorman, Oren Rudavsky GENRE Documentary 

RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 165 min. 


BOOKING GUIDE 

Compiled by Daniel Garris 

TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS 

DISNEY 818-560-1000 / Ask for Distribution 

THE FINEST HOURS Fri, 1/29/16 WIDE Chris Pine, Casey Affleck Craig Gillespie PG-13 Dra/Act/Thr 3D/IMAX/Dolby Dig 

ZOOTOPIA 

Fri, 3/4/16 WIDE 

Jason Bateman, Ginnifer 

Goodwin 

Byron Howard, Rich 

Moore 

NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig 

THE JUNGLE BOOK Fri, 4/15/16 WIDE Neel Sethi, Bill Murray Jon Favreau NR Adv/Fan/Ani 

3D/IMAX/Dolby 

Atmos 

A BEAUTIFUL PLANET Fri, 4/29/16 LTD. Toni Myers NR Doc 3D/IMAX 

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL 

WAR 

ALICE THROUGH THE 

LOOKING GLASS 


Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr. 

Anthony Russo, Joe 

Russo 

NR 

Act/Adv 

3D/IMAX/Dolby 

Atmos 

Fri, 5/27/16 WIDE Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska James Bobin NR Adv/Fan 3D/IMAX/Dolby Dig 

FINDING DORY Fri, 6/17/16 WIDE Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks Andrew Stanton NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/IMAX/Dolby Dig 

THE BFG Fri, 7/1/16 WIDE Mark Rylance, Ruby Barnhill Steven Spielberg NR Adv/Fan/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig 

PETE’S DRAGON 

DOCTOR STRANGE 

Fri, 8/12/16 WIDE 

Fri, 11/4/16 WIDE 

Oakes Fegley, Bryce Dallas 

Howard 

Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel 

Ejiofor 

MOANA Wed, 11/23/16 WIDE Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS 

STORY 

David Lowery NR Fan/Fam/Ani 3D 

Scott Derrickson NR Act/Adv 3D/IMAX 

Ron Clements, John 

Musker 

NR Ani/Mus/Fam 3D 

Fri, 12/16/16 WIDE Felicity Jones, Diego Luna Gareth Edwards NR Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX/Dolby Dig 

BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Fri, 3/17/17 WIDE Emma Watson, Dan Stevens Bill Condon NR Mus/Rom/Fan 3D 

GHOST IN THE SHELL Fri, 3/31/17 WIDE Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbæk Rupert Sanders NR Act/Thr/SF 3D 

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 

2 

Fri, 5/5/17 WIDE Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana James Gunn NR Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX 

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII Fri, 5/26/17 WIDE Rian Johnson NR Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX 

EUROPACORP FILMS, USA 310-205-0255 / Ask for Distribution 

SHUT IN Fri, 6/17/16 WIDE Naomi Watts, Oliver Platt Farren Blackburn NR Thr 

NINE LIVES Fri, 4/29/16 WIDE Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Garner Barry Sonnenfeld NR Com 

THE LAKE Fri, 7/15/16 WIDE Sullivan Stapleton, J.K. Simmons Steven Quale NR Act/Thr 

FOCUS FEATURES 424-214-6360 

THE FOREST Fri, 1/8/16 WIDE Natalie Dormer, Taylor Kinney Jason Zada PG-13 Hor/Thr 

RACE Fri, 2/19/16 WIDE Stephan James, Jason Sudeikis Stephen Hopkins PG-13 Dra/Sport Dolby Dig 

LONDON HAS FALLEN Fri, 3/4/16 WIDE Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart Babak Najafi NR Act/Thr Dolby Dig 

THE YOUNG MESSIAH 

Fri, 3/11/16 WIDE 

Adam Greaves-Neal, Sara 

Lazzaro 

Cyrus Nowrasteh PG-13 Dra Dolby Dig 

RATCHET & CLANK Fri, 4/29/16 WIDE James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye 

KUBO AND THE TWO 

STRINGS 

Fri, 8/19/16 WIDE 

Art Parkinson, Matthew 

McConaughey 

Jericca Cleland, Kevin 

Munroe 

PG Ani/SF/Adv Dolby Dig 

Travis Knight NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D 

A MONSTER CALLS Fri, 10/14/16 WIDE Lewis MacDougall, Liam Neeson J.A. Bayona NR Dra/Fan 

FOX 310-369-1000 / 212-556-2400 

KUNG FU PANDA 3 Fri, 1/29/16 WIDE Jack Black, Bryan Cranston 

Jennifer Yuh, Alessandro 

Carloni 

PG Ani/Com/Fam 3D/Dolby Atmos 

DEADPOOL Fri, 2/12/16 WIDE Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin Tim Miller NR Act/Adv IMAX/Dolby Atmos 

EDDIE THE EAGLE Fri, 2/26/16 WIDE Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman Dexter Fletcher NR 

THE OTHER SIDE OF THE 

DOOR 

X-MEN: APOCALYPSE 

INDEPENDENCE DAY 

RESURGENCE 

Com/Dra/ 

Sport 

Fri, 3/11/16 MOD. Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto Johannes Roberts R Hor 

Fri, 5/27/16 WIDE 

James McAvoy, Michael 

Fassbender 

Bryan Singer NR Act/Adv 3D/Dolby Atmos 

Fri, 6/24/16 WIDE Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum Roland Emmerich NR Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX 



MIKE & DAVE NEED 

WEDDING DATES 

Fri, 7/8/16 WIDE Zac Efron, Adam DeVine Jake Szymanski NR Com 

ICE AGE: COLLISION COURSE Fri, 7/22/16 WIDE Ray Romano, John Leguizamo Mike Thurmeier NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D 

A CURE FOR WELLNESS Fri, 9/23/16 WIDE Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth Gore Verbinski NR Hor/Thr Dolby Dig 

GAMBIT Fri, 10/7/16 WIDE Channing Tatum, Lea Seydoux Doug Liman NR Act/Adv 

TROLLS Fri, 11/4/16 WIDE Anna Kendrick, Justin Timberlake Mike Mitchell NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D 

WHY HIM? Fri, 11/11/16 WIDE Bryan Cranston, James Franco John Hamburg NR Com 

ASSASSIN’S CREED 

MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME 

FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN 

Wed, 12/21/16 WIDE 

Michael Fassbender, Marion 

Cotillard 

Justin Kurzel NR Act/Adv Dolby Dig 

Sun, 12/25/16 WIDE Eva Green, Asa Butterfield Tim Burton NR Adv/Fan 

HIDDEN FIGURES Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE Ted Melfi NR Dra 

THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN 

US 

MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH 

CURE 

Fri, 2/10/17 WIDE Rosamund Pike, Charlie Hunnam Hany Abu-Assad NR Dra/Rom 

Fri, 2/17/17 WIDE Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario Wes Ball NR SF/Thr IMAX 

WOLVERINE Fri, 3/3/17 WIDE Hugh Jackman James Mangold NR Act/Adv IMAX 

BOSS BABY Fri, 3/10/17 WIDE Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey Tom McGrath NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D 

FERDINAND Fri, 4/7/17 WIDE Carlos Saldanha NR Ani/Fam 3D 

MOTHER/DAUGHTER Fri, 5/12/17 WIDE Amy Schumer Jonathan Levine NR Com 

FOX SEARCHLIGHT 212-556-2400 

DEMOLITION Fri, 4/8/16 LTD. Jake Gyllenhaal, Naomi Watts Jean-Marc Vallée R Dra/Rom Dolby Dig 

A BIGGER SPLASH Fri, 5/13/16 LTD. Ralph Fiennes, Tilda Swinton Luca Guadagnino NR Dra/Thr 

LIONSGATE 310-309-8400 

NORM OF THE NORTH Fri, 1/15/16 WIDE Rob Schneider, Heather Graham Trevor Wall PG Ani/Com/Fam 

DIRTY GRANDPA Fri, 1/22/16 WIDE Robert De Niro, Zac Efron Dan Mazer R Com 

THE CHOICE Fri, 2/5/16 WIDE Benjamin Walker, Teresa Palmer Ross Katz PG-13 Dra/Rom 

GODS OF EGYPT 

Fri, 2/26/16 WIDE 

Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster- 

Waldau 

Alex Proyas NR Act/Adv/Fan 3D 

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: 

ALLEGIANT 

Fri, 3/18/16 WIDE Shailene Woodley, Theo James Robert Schwentke NR Act/Adv/SF IMAX 

CRIMINAL Fri, 4/15/16 WIDE Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds Ariel Vromen NR Act/Cri/Thr 

NOW YOU SEE ME 2 Fri, 6/10/16 WIDE Mark Ruffalo, Jesse Eisenberg Jon M. Chu NR Cri/Thr 

LA LA LAND Fri, 7/15/16 WIDE Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone Damien Chazelle NR Mus/Rom Dolby Dig 

THE SHACK 

Fri, 8/12/16 WIDE 

Sam Worthington, Octavia 

Spencer 

Stuart Hazeldine NR Dra 

MECHANIC: RESURRECTION Fri, 8/26/16 WIDE Jason Statham, Jessica Alba Dennis Gansel NR Act/Thr Dolby Dig 

DEEPWATER HORIZON Fri, 9/30/16 WIDE Mark Wahlberg, Kurt Russell Peter Berg NR Dra/Act/Thr IMAX 

MIDDLE SCHOOL: THE 

WORST YEARS OF MY LIFE 

Fri, 10/7/16 WIDE Griffin Gluck, Lauren Graham Steve Carr NR Com/Fam 

POWER RANGERS Fri, 3/24/17 WIDE Dacre Montgomery, Naomi Scott Dean Israelite NR Act/Adv/Fam 

THE DIVERGENT SERIES: 

ASCENDANT 

Fri, 6/9/17 WIDE Shailene Woodley, Theo James Robert Schwentke NR Act/Adv/SF 

OPEN ROAD FILMS 310-696-7504 

FIFTY SHADES OF BLACK Fri, 1/29/16 WIDE Marlon Wayans, Kali Hawk Michael Tiddes R Com 

TRIPLE 9 Fri, 2/26/16 WIDE Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor John Hillcoat NR Cri/Thr Dolby Dig 

COLLIDE Fri, 4/1/16 WIDE Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones Eran Creevy PG-13 Act/Cri/Thr 

MOTHER’S DAY Fri, 4/29/16 WIDE Julia Roberts, Jennifer Aniston Garry Marshall NR Rom/Com 

SNOWDEN 

Fri, 5/13/16 WIDE 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Shailene 

Woodley 

Oliver Stone NR Dra/Thr Dolby Dig 

MAX STEEL Fri, 8/26/16 WIDE Ben Winchell, Josh Brener Stewart Hendler NR Act/Adv/SF 


BOOKING GUIDE 


PARAMOUNT 323-956-5000 

13 HOURS: THE SECRET 

SOLDIERS OF BENGHAZI 

Fri, 1/15/16 WIDE James Badge Dale, John Krasinski Michael Bay R Act/Thr/War Dolby Atmos 

ZOOLANDER 2 Fri, 2/12/16 WIDE Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson Ben Stiller NR Com Dolby Dig 

UNTITLED TINA FEY COMEDY Fri, 3/4/16 WIDE Tina Fey, Margot Robbie 

VALENCIA 

Fri, 3/11/16 WIDE 

Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John 

Goodman 

Glenn Ficarra, John 

Requa 

NR 

Com/War 

Dan Trachtenberg NR Thr 

THE LITTLE PRINCE Fri, 3/18/16 WIDE Jeff Bridges, Mackenzie Foy Mark Osborne NR Ani/Fan/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig 

RINGS Fri, 4/1/16 WIDE Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe F. Javier Gutiérrez NR Hor 

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME Fri, 4/15/16 WIDE Blake Jenner, Tyler Hoechlin Richard Linklater NR Com/Sport 

SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT 

AS ME 

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA 

TURTLES: OUT OF THE 

SHADOWS 

Fri, 4/29/16 WIDE Djimon Hounsou, Greg Kinnear Michael Carney NR Dra 

Fri, 6/3/16 WIDE Megan Fox, Stephen Amell Dave Green NR Act/Adv 3D 

STAR TREK BEYOND Fri, 7/22/16 WIDE Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto Justin Lin NR Act/Adv/SF 

BEN-HUR Fri, 8/12/16 WIDE Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell Timur Bekmambetov NR Dra 

JACK REACHER: NEVER GO 

BACK 

UNTITLED PITT / COTILLARD 

WWII FILM 

3D/IMAX/Dolby 

Atmos 

Fri, 10/21/16 WIDE Tom Cruise, Cobie Smulders Edward Zwick NR Act/Cri/Thr Dolby Dig 

Wed, 11/23/16 WIDE Brad Pitt, Marion Cotillard Robert Zemeckis NR Dra/Rom/Thr 

FRIDAY THE 13TH Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE NR Hor 

MONSTER TRUCKS Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE Jane Levy, Lucas Till Chris Wedge NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Dolby Atmos 

TERMINATOR 2 Fri, 5/19/17 WIDE NR Act/Adv/SF 

WORLD WAR Z 2 Fri, 6/9/17 WIDE Brad Pitt J.A. Bayona NR Act/Hor 

RELATIVITY STUDIOS 310-724-7700 / Ask for Distribution 

THE DISAPPOINTMENTS 

Fri, 3/25/16 WIDE Kate Beckinsale, Lucas Till D.J. Caruso NR Hor/Thr 

ROOM 

BEFORE I WAKE Fri, 4/8/16 WIDE Kate Bosworth, Thomas Jane Mike Flanagan PG-13 Hor/Thr 

KIDNAP Fri, 5/13/16 WIDE Halle Berry, Lew Temple Luis Prieto NR Act/Thr 

MASTERMINDS Fri, 9/30/16 WIDE Zach Galifianakis, Owen Wilson Jared Hess PG-13 Com/Cri 

STRANGERS 2 Fri, 12/2/16 WIDE Hor/Thr 

SONY 212-833-8500 

THE 5TH WAVE 

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND 

ZOMBIES 

Fri, 1/22/16 WIDE 

Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick 

Robinson 

Fri, 2/5/16 WIDE Lily James, Sam Riley Burr Steers PG-13 

J Blakeson PG-13 Adv/Thr/SF Dolby Dig 

Hor/Com/ 

Rom 

Dolby Dig 

RISEN Fri, 2/19/16 WIDE Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton Kevin Reynolds PG-13 Act/Dra Dolby Dig 

THE BROTHERS GRIMSBY Fri, 3/11/16 WIDE Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong Louis Leterrier NR Com 

MIRACLES FROM HEAVEN Fri, 3/18/16 WIDE Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers Patricia Riggen NR Dra 

MONEY MONSTER Fri, 5/13/16 WIDE George Clooney, Jack O’Connell Jodie Foster NR Dra/Thr 

THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE Fri, 5/20/16 WIDE Jason Sudeikis, Josh Gad Clay Kaytis, Fergal Reilly NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig 

THE SHALLOWS Fri, 6/24/16 WIDE Blake Lively, Óscar Jaenada Jaume Collet-Serra NR Thr 

GHOSTBUSTERS Fri, 7/15/16 WIDE Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig Paul Feig NR Com/Hor 3D 

SAUSAGE PARTY Fri, 8/12/16 WIDE Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill 

UNTITLED ALVAREZ / RAIMI 

HORROR FILM 

Greg Tiernan, Conrad 

Vernon 

NR 

Ani/Com 

Fri, 8/26/16 WIDE Dylan Minnette, Jane Levy Fede Alvarez NR Hor/Thr 

PATIENT ZERO Fri, 9/2/16 WIDE Matt Smith, Natalie Dormer Stefan Ruzowitzky NR Hor/Thr 

WHEN THE BOUGH BREAKS Fri, 9/16/16 WIDE Morris Chestnut, Regina Hall Jon Cassar NR Dra/Thr 

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN Fri, 9/23/16 WIDE Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt Antoine Fuqua NR Wes/Act 



UNDERWORLD 5 Fri, 10/14/16 WIDE Kate Beckinsale, Theo James Anna Foerster NR Act/Hor 

INFERNO Fri, 10/28/16 WIDE Tom Hanks, Felicity Jones Ron Howard NR Thr 

BILLY LYNN’S LONG 

HALFTIME WALK 

Fri, 11/11/16 WIDE Joe Alwyn, Garrett Hedlund Ang Lee NR Com/Dra/War 3D 

PASSENGERS Wed, 12/21/16 WIDE Chris Pratt, Jennifer Lawrence Morten Tyldum NR SF/Adv/Rom 

JUMANJI Sun, 12/25/16 WIDE Jonathan Liebesman NR Adv/Fan/Fam 

THE DARK TOWER Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE Nikolaj Arcel NR Wes/Act/Fan 

RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL 

CHAPTER 

Fri, 1/27/17 WIDE Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter Paul W.S. Anderson NR Act/Hor 3D 

BAD BOYS 3 Fri, 2/17/17 WIDE NR Act/Thr 

BABY DRIVER Fri, 3/17/17 WIDE Lily James, Ansel Elgort Edgar Wright NR Act/Com/Cri 

GET SMURFY Fri, 3/31/17 WIDE Demi Lovato, Mandy Patinkin Kelly Asbury NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D 

BARBIE Fri, 6/2/17 WIDE NR Com 

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS Tom Prassis / 212-833-4981 

THE LADY IN THE VAN Fri, 1/15/16 EXCL NY/LA Maggie Smith, Alex Jennings Nicholas Hytner PG-13 Dra Dolby Dig 

THE BRONZE Fri, 3/11/16 EXCL NY/LA Melissa Rauch, Gary Cole Bryan Buckley R Com 

I SAW THE LIGHT Fri, 3/25/16 LTD. Tom Hiddleston, Elizabeth Olsen Marc Abraham R Dra 

MILES AHEAD Fri, 4/1/16 EXCL NY/LA 

Don Cheadle, Emayatzy 

Corinealdi 

Don Cheadle NR Dra 

THE MEDDLER Fri, 4/22/16 EXCL NY/LA Susan Sarandon, Rose Byrne Lorene Scafaria PG-13 Com/Dra 

DARK HORSE Fri, 5/6/16 EXCL NY/LA Louise Osmond PG Doc/Sport 

MAGGIE’S PLAN Fri, 5/20/16 EXCL NY/LA Greta Gerwig, Julianne Moore Rebecca Miller NR Rom/Com 

STX ENTERTAINMENT 310-742-2300 

THE BOY Fri, 1/22/16 WIDE Lauren Cohan, Rupert Evans William Brent Bell PG-13 Hor/Thr Dolby Dig 

DESIERTO 


Gael García Bernal, Jeffrey Dean 

Morgan 

Jonás Cuarón NR Dra/Act/Thr 

THE FREE STATE OF JONES 

Fri, 5/13/16 WIDE 

Matthew McConaughey, Gugu 

Mbatha-Raw 

Gary Ross NR Act/Dra Dolby Dig 

THE SPACE BETWEEN US Fri, 7/29/16 WIDE Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson Peter Chelsom NR Adv/SF/Rom 

UNIVERSAL 818-777-1000 

RIDE ALONG 2 Fri, 1/15/16 WIDE Ice Cube, Kevin Hart Tim Story PG-13 Act/Com Dolby Dig 

HAIL, CAESAR! Fri, 2/5/16 WIDE Josh Brolin, George Clooney Joel Coen, Ethan Coen PG-13 Com Dolby Dig 

MY BIG FAT GREEK 

WEDDING 2 

Fri, 3/25/16 WIDE Nia Vardalos, John Corbett Kirk Jones NR Rom/Com Dolby Dig 

THE BOSS Fri, 4/8/16 WIDE Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Bell Ben Falcone R Com Dolby Dig 

THE HUNTSMAN: WINTER’S 

WAR 

Fri, 4/22/16 WIDE 

Chris Hemsworth, Charlize 

Theron 

Cedric Nicolas-Troyan NR Adv/Fan Dolby Dig 

NEIGHBORS 2 Fri, 5/20/16 WIDE Seth Rogen, Zac Efron Nicholas Stoller NR Com 

TOP SECRET UNTITLED 

LONELY ISLAND MOVIE 


Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer 

Akiva Schaffer, Jorma 

Taccone 

WARCRAFT Fri, 6/10/16 WIDE Ben Foster, Travis Fimmel Duncan Jones PG-13 Act/Adv/Fan 

THE PURGE 3 Fri, 7/1/16 WIDE Frank Grillo, Elizabeth Mitchell James DeMonaco NR Hor/Thr/SF 

NR 

Com 

3D/IMAX/Dolby 

Atmos 

THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS Fri, 7/8/16 WIDE Louis C.K., Eric Stonestreet Chris Renaud NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D/Dolby Dig 

UNTITLED NEXT BOURNE 

CHAPTER 

SPECTRAL 

Fri, 7/29/16 WIDE Matt Damon, Alicia Vikander Paul Greengrass NR Act/Adv/Thr 

Fri, 8/12/16 WIDE 

James Badge Dale, Emily 

Mortimer 

Nic Mathieu NR Act/Thr 3D 

BRIDGET JONES’S BABY Fri, 9/16/16 WIDE Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth Sharon Maguire NR Rom/Com 

THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN Fri, 10/7/16 WIDE Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson Tate Taylor NR Thr 

KEVIN HART: WHAT NOW? Fri, 10/14/16 WIDE Kevin Hart Leslie Small NR Com/Con/Doc 

OUIJA 2 Fri, 10/21/16 WIDE Annalise Basso, Henry Thomas Mike Flanagan NR Hor/Thr 


BOOKING GUIDE 


A MEYERS CHRISTMAS Fri, 11/11/16 WIDE Gabrielle Union, Danny Glover David E. Talbert NR Com 

THE GREAT WALL Wed, 11/23/16 WIDE Matt Damon, Andy Lau Zhang Yimou NR Act/Adv/Thr 3D 

LET IT SNOW Fri, 12/9/16 WIDE NR Rom/Com/Dra 

SING 

Wed, 12/21/16 WIDE 

Matthew McConaughey, Reese 

Witherspoon 

Garth Jennings NR Ani/Com/Fam 

MENA Fri, 1/6/17 WIDE Tom Cruise, Sarah Wright Doug Liman NR Cri/Thr 

SPLIT Fri, 1/20/17 WIDE James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy M. Night Shyamalan NR Hor/Thr 

FIFTY SHADES DARKER Fri, 2/10/17 WIDE Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan James Foley NR Dra/Rom 

THE MUMMY Fri, 3/24/17 WIDE Alex Kurtzman NR Act/Adv 

FURIOUS 8 Fri, 4/14/17 WIDE Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson F. Gary Gray NR Act/Cri 

WARNER BROS. 818-977-1850 

HOW TO BE SINGLE Fri, 2/12/16 WIDE Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson Christian Ditter R Rom/Com Dolby Dig 

ME BEFORE YOU Fri, 3/4/16 WIDE Emilia Clarke, Sam Claflin Thea Sharrock PG-13 Dra/Rom 

MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Fri, 3/18/16 LTD. Michael Shannon, Joel Edgerton Jeff Nichols PG-13 SF/Thr 

BATMAN V SUPERMAN: 

DAWN OF JUSTICE 

Fri, 3/25/16 WIDE Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck Zack Snyder PG-13 Act/Adv 

BARBERSHOP: THE NEXT CUT Fri, 4/15/16 WIDE Ice Cube, Cedric the Entertainer Malcolm D. Lee PG-13 Com 

KEANU 

Fri, 4/22/16 WIDE 

Keegan-Michael Key, Jordan 

Peele 

Peter Atencio NR Com 

GOING IN STYLE Fri, 5/6/16 WIDE Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine Zach Braff NR Com 

3D/IMAX/Dolby 

Atmos 

THE NICE GUYS Fri, 5/20/16 WIDE Russell Crowe, Ryan Gosling Shane Black R Cri/Thr Dolby Dig 

THE CONJURING 2 Fri, 6/10/16 WIDE Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson James Wan NR Hor/Thr 

CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE Fri, 6/17/16 WIDE Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart 

THE LEGEND OF TARZAN 

KING ARTHUR 


Fri, 7/22/16 WIDE 

Alexander Skarsgård, Margot 

Robbie 

Charlie Hunnam, Astrid Bergès- 

Frisbey 

Rawson Marshall 

Thurber 

NR Act/Com Dolby Dig 

David Yates NR Act/Adv 3D/IMAX 

Guy Ritchie NR Act/Adv 3D/IMAX 

SUICIDE SQUAD Fri, 8/5/16 WIDE Will Smith, Margot Robbie David Ayer NR Act/Adv 3D/IMAX 

ARMS & THE DUDES Fri, 8/19/16 WIDE Miles Teller, Jonah Hill Todd Phillips R Com/Dra 

UNTITLED NEW LINE 

HORROR FILM 

Fri, 9/9/16 WIDE NR Hor 

STORKS Fri, 9/23/16 WIDE Andy Samberg, Kelsey Grammer 

Nicholas Stoller, Doug 

Sweetland 

NR Ani/Com/Fam 3D 

THE ACCOUNTANT Fri, 10/7/16 WIDE Ben Affleck, Anna Kendrick Gavin O’Connor R Act/Thr 

BASTARDS Fri, 11/4/16 WIDE Ed Helms, Owen Wilson Lawrence Sher NR Com 

FANTASTIC BEASTS AND 

WHERE TO FIND THEM 

CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE 

SOUL 

Fri, 11/18/16 WIDE 

Eddie Redmayne, Katherine 

Waterston 

David Yates NR Adv/Fan 3D/IMAX 

Fri, 12/16/16 WIDE NR Dra 

GEOSTORM Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE Gerard Butler, Abbie Cornish Dean Devlin NR Act/Thr/SF 3D/IMAX 

THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE Fri, 2/10/17 WIDE Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis Chris McKay NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/IMAX 

KONG: SKULL ISLAND Fri, 3/10/17 WIDE Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson Jordan Vogt-Roberts NR Act/Adv 3D/IMAX 

THE HOUSE Fri, 6/2/17 WIDE Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler Andrew J. Cohen NR Com 

WEINSTEIN CO./DIMENSION 646-862-3400 

JANE GOT A GUN Fri, 1/29/16 WIDE Natalie Portman, Joel Edgerton Gavin O’Connor NR Act/Wes Dolby Dig 

REGRESSION Fri, 2/5/16 LTD. Ethan Hawke, Emma Watson Alejandro Amenábar NR Thr Dolby Dig 

VIRAL 

AMITYVILLE: THE 

AWAKENING 

Fri, 2/19/16 WIDE 

Sofia Black-D’Elia, Analeigh 

Tipton 

Ariel Schulman, Henry 

Joost 

NR 

Hor/Thr 

Fri, 4/15/16 WIDE Bella Thorne, Jennifer Jason Leigh Franck Khalfoun R Hor/Thr 

THE FOUNDER Fri, 11/25/16 LTD. Michael Keaton, Laura Dern John Lee Hancock NR Dra Dolby Dig 


Ryan Reynolds is the 

“Merc With the Mouth” 

in Deadpool, opening Feb. 12 

CARDINAL SOUND & MOTION 

PICTURE SYSTEMS 

6330 Howard Ln. 

Elkridge, MD 21075 

www.cardinalsound.com 

PG 64 

CHRISTIE DIGITAL SYSTEMS 

10550 Camden Dr. 

Cypress, CA 90630 

www.christiedigital.com 

INSIDE FRONT COVER 

DOLPHIN SEATING 

313 Remuda St. 

Clovis, NM 88101 

www.dolphinseating.com 

PG 33 

EC CINEMA SUPPLY 

1520 Country Road 5045 

Salem, MO 65560 

www.eccinemasupply.biz 

PG 11 

ENPAR AUDIO 

www@enparaudio.com 

PG 37 

FATHOM EVENTS 

5990 Greenwood Plaza Blvd. 

Bldg 2, Ste. 100 

Greenwood Village, CO 80111 

www.fathomevents.com 

PG 14–15 

HARKNESS SCREENS 

Unit A, Norton Road 

Stevenage, Herts 

SG1 2BB UK 

www.harkness-screens.com 

PG 7, 9 

INTENSNET 

Novosadskog Sajma 18 

21000 Novi Sad, Serbia 

www.intensnet.com 

PG 29 

LIGHTSPEED DESIGN INC. 

1611 116th Ave. NE, Ste. 112 

Bellevue, WA 98004 USA 

www.depthq.com 

PG 64 

MAROEVICH, O’SHEA & 

COUGHLAN 

44 Montgomery St., 17th Fl. 

San Francisco, CA 94104 

www.mocins.com 

PG 5 

MOVING IMAGE TECHNOLOGIES 

17760 Newhope St. 

Fountain, Valley, CA 92708 

www.movingimagetech.com 

PG 2, 25 

ODELL’S 

40 Pointe Dr. 

Brea, CA 92821 

www.popntop.com 

PG 23 

READY THEATRE SYSTEMS 

4 Hartford Blvd. 

Hartford, MI 49057 

www.rts-solutions.com.com 

PG 39 

REALD 

100 North Crescent Dr., 

Ste. 200 

Beverly Hills, CA 90210 

www.reald.com 

PG 40–41 

FEBRUARY IN BOXOFFICE 

THE STAR WARS MOVIE THEATER 

ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE RECAP 

UDITOA CONVENTION 

CINEMA SHOWCASE 

BOXOFFICE BREAKOUTS 

IN MEMORIAM: RON KRUEGER 

CONCESSION STAND: MOVIE TAVERN 

PLUS THE GIANTS OF EXHIBITION 

RETRIEVER SOFTWARE 

7040 Avenida Encinas 

Ste. 104-363 

Carlsbad, CA 92011 

www.retrieversoftware.com 

PG 10 

SENSIBLE CINEMA SOFTWARE 

7216 Sutton Pl. 

Fairview, TN 37062 

www.sensiblecinema.com 

PG 64 

SONIC EQUIPMENT COMPANY 

900 W Miller Rd. 

Iola,KS 66749 

www.sonicequipment.com 

BACK COVER 

SPOTLIGHT CINEMA NETWORKS 

www.spotlightcinemanetworks.com 

PG 4 

UNIFRANCE FILMS 

13, rue Henner 

75009 Paris, France 

en.unifrance.org 

PG 1 

USHIO AMERICA, INC. 

5440 Cerritos Ave. 

Cypress, CA 90630 

www.ushio.com 

PG 8 

WHITE CASTLE 

921 Virginia Ave. 

Indianapolis, IN 46203 

www.whitecastle.com 

PG 27 

WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE 

PIONEERS FOUNDATION 

10045 Riverside Dr., Third Fl. 

Toluca Lake, CA 91602 

www.wrpioneers.com 

INSIDE BACK COVER 

CEO 

Julien Marcel 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Kenneth James Bacon 

BOXOFFICE ® 

MANAGING EDITOR 

Daniel Loria 

COPY EDITOR 

Laura Silver 

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS 

Daniel Garris 

Shawn Robbins 

CONTRIBUTORS 

Esther Baruh 

Erica Lopez 

Michael Lourie 

Jonathan Papish 

Matt Shapiro 

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT 

Ally Bacon 

PRO.BOXOFFICE.COM 

OVERSEAS ANALYST 

Daniel Loria 

SENIOR ANALYSTS 

Daniel Garris 

Shawn Robbins 

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR 

Alex Edghill 

ADVERTISING 

VP, ADVERTISING 

Susan Uhrlass 

60 Broad St., Ste. 3502 

New York, NY 1004 

susan@boxoffice.com 

310-876-9090 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 

Lucia Borja 

Stark Services 

12444 Victory Blvd., 3rd Floor 

North Hollywood, CA 91606 

lucia@starkservices.com 

818-985-2003 

BOXOFFICE ® (ISSN 0006-8527), Volume 152, Number 1, January 2016. BOXOFFICE ® is published monthly by BoxOffice 

Media, LLC, 60 Broad St, Ste. 3502, New York, NY 10004, USA. corporate@boxoffice.com. www.boxoffice.com. Basic 

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Passive Polarization 

for 3D Digital Cinema 

3D 

Fast, Bright, Reliable... 

Quality you can Trust. 

www.depthq3d.com 

WE CLEAN THEATERS 

EXCLUSIVELY! 

From coast to coast for 35 YEARS. 

Let us give you our references. 

www.maintenancecooperative.com 

or call 770-503-1102 

BUYING & SELLING 

MARQUEE LETTERS. Buying and selling. 

New and Used marquee letters all types. 

We buy old. We sell new. All styles. Trade 

in your old letters and get new letters. Turn 

those old letters into cash. Your source for 

new Pronto, Zip-Change, Snap Lok, Slotted. 

mike@pilut.com 800-545-8956 

LOOKING TO PURCHASE 3-8 screen venue 

in California or south western United 

States. Contact: Atul Desai 949-291-5700 

DRIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION 

DRIVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS since 1945. 

Selby Products Inc., P.O. Box 267, Richfield, 

OH 44286. Phone: 330-659-6631. 

EQUIPMENT WANTED 

ASTER AUDITORIUM SEATING & AUDIO. 

We offer the best pricing on good used 

projection and sound equipment. Large 

quantities available. Please visit our website, 

www.asterseating.com, or call 888- 

409-1414. 

AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS 

LLC is buying projectors, processors, amplifiers, 

speakers, seating, platters. If you 

are closing, remodeling or have excess 

equipment in your warehouse and want to 

turn equipment into cash, please call 866- 

653-2834 or email aep30@comcast.net. 

Need to move quickly to close a location 

and dismantle equipment? We come to 

you with trucks, crew and equipment, no 

job too small or too large. Call today for 

a quotation: 866-653-2834. Vintage equipment 

wanted also! Old speakers like Western 

Electric and Altec, horns, cabinets, 

woofers, etc., and any tube audio equipment. 

Call or email: aep30@comcast.net. 

COLLECTOR WANTS TO BUY: We pay top 

money for any 1920-1980 theater equipment. 

We’ll buy all theater-related equip- 

ment, working or dead. We remove and 

pick up anywhere in the U.S. or Canada. 

Amplifiers, speakers, horns, drivers, woofers, 

tubes, transformers; Western Electric, 

RCA, Altec, JBL, Jensen, Simplex and 

more. We’ll remove installed equipment if 

it’s in a closing location. We buy projection 

and equipment too. Call today: 773-339- 

9035; cinema-tech.com; email ILG821@aol. 

com. 

FOR SALE 

USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS, (5) complete 

booths including sound equipment. 

Three years old. Contact seller at moviescope1000@gmail.com. 

2 BRAND NEW 3000 watts Christie Xenon 

lamps for 35mm projectors. Contact: Atul 

Desai 949-291-5700. 

BARCO 3D/DIGITAL EQUIPMENT FOR 

SALE: Purchase for $55K. Equipment list 

provided upon request. Contact seller at 

mschwartz@pennprolaw.com. 

PREFERRED SEATING COMPANY, your 

source for new, used and refurbished theater 

and stadium seating. Buying and selling 

used seating is our specialty. Call toll-free 

866-922-0226 or visit our website www. 

preferred-seating.com. 

USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS AVAIL- 

ABLE. Barco dcp2000 and others slightly 

used. Don’t close your theater conversion 

is cheaper than you think. Call Stetson 

Snell 505-615-2913 

18 SETS OF USED 35MM AUTOMATED 

PROJECTION SYSTEM (comes with Projector, 

Console, Automation Unit and Platter) 

comprising of 10 sets of Christie and 8 

sets of Strong 35mm system available on 

‘as is where is’ basis in Singapore. Contact 

seller at engthye_lim@cathay.com.sg 

APPROXIMATELY 2,000 SEATS FOR 

SALE. MOBILIARIO high-back rockers with 

cup holders. Located in Connecticut. Contact 

(203)758-2148. 

MOVIE THEATRES FOR SALE Established 

boutique movie theater chain in major midwest 

market. Long term leases in A plus 

locations.All digital projection and liquor 

licenses. Consistently nets over $500k a 

year. Outstanding opportunity for energetic 

entrepreneurs, expanding chain or 

foreign investor. Send inquiries to :movietheatersforsale@gmail.com. 

Principal only. 

HELP WANTED 

TRI STATE THEATRE SUPPLY in Memphis, 

TN has openings for experienced 

Digital Cinema Techs nationwide. Please 

send your resume to include qualifications, 

certifications and salary requirements to 

fred@tristatetheatre.com 

THEATRE MANAGEMENT POSITIONS 

AVAILABLE Pacific Northwest Theatre 

Company. Previous management experience 

required. Work weekends, evenings 

and holidays. Send resume and salary history 

to movietheatrejobs@gmail.com 

THEATRE MANAGEMENT POSITION 

AVAILABLE. Xscape Theatres is forecasting 

rapid expansion adding 2 to 4 sites per year. 

To qualify for possible immediate placement 

previous theatre management experience 

is required. Must be able to work evenings, 

weekends, and holidays. Send resumes and 

references to sbagwell@alianceent.com or 

mail to Aliance Management Co. LLC 825 

Northgate Blvd. Suite # 203 New Albany, IN 

47150. Compensation based on experience. 

POSITIONS AVAILABLE 

Paragon Theaters has THEATER MANAGE- 

MENT POSITIONS available at multiple locations. 

If you have previous management experience, 

please send your resume to robert. 

fronckoski@paragontheaters.com.. 

SERVICES 

DULL FLAT PICTURE? RESTORE YOUR XE- 

NON REFLECTORS! Ultraflat repolishes and 

recoats xenon reflectors. Many reflectors 

available for immediate exchange. (ORC, 

Strong, Christie, Xetron, others!) Ultraflat, 

20306 Sherman Way, Winnetka, CA 91306; 

818-884-0184. 

CONSOLIDATED THEATRE SERVICES, LLC 

has a wide variety of theatre sound equipment 

available at competitive prices. Our 

extensive inventory includes amplifiers, 

processors, speakers and sound racks from 

makers such as JBL, Dolby, Ashly, Klipsch, 

Crown and more. You are welcome to call 

us at 305-908-1613 for further information. 

THEATER SPACE FOR LEASE 

AN 8,400 SQ. FT. SPACE containing two 

movie theaters is available for lease in Frankfort, 

KY, at a very reasonable lease rate. It 

would be perfect for the new concept of 

eating in the theater. The theaters are located 

in the middle of a major shopping 

center. The center owners would prefer an 

operating movie theater rather than convert 

the space into retail use. Contact Alexa at 

859-221-9921 or email her at alexarkelley@ 

gmail.com for more information. 


We provide financial assistance and supportive counseling for film industry veterans 

nationwide in Trade Services (IATSE members), Exhibition, and Distribution who are 

experiencing hardship due to illness, accident, or underemployment. The Pioneers 

Assistance Fund’s team of social workers is knowledgeable about agencies and services 

nationwide and is here to provide information and referrals, regardless of eligibility. 

For more information visit us online or give us a call at 888-994-3863 Ext. 4 today.

Boxoffice - January 2016

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