Boxoffice - May 2016
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners
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EXHIBITOR PROFILE<br />
FOUR DECADES<br />
IN FILM BUYING<br />
Marcus Theatres vice president of film<br />
Sonny Gourley looks back on a career<br />
in booking<br />
by Daniel Loria<br />
Film booking has traditionally been crucial in ensuring the success<br />
of both distribution and exhibition—two sectors that have seen<br />
transformational changes over several years. Sonny Gourley<br />
began his career in the cinema business in the mid-1970s with AMC<br />
Entertainment, a professional relationship that spanned 37 years<br />
and led to several high-profile roles such as executive vice president<br />
of film marketing, head film buyer, and president of film programming.<br />
Gourley joined Marcus Theatres in 2012, establishing a West Coast<br />
office for the midwestern circuit in his native Los Angeles. <strong>Boxoffice</strong><br />
asked Gourley how film booking has changed during his long career.<br />
I’m assuming you didn’t just walk into the film department of a<br />
circuit. What was your first job in exhibition?<br />
I entered the industry back in 1975, when I went to what<br />
I believe was the first four-plex in Philadelphia to sell the<br />
theater manager a copy machine. The manager didn’t<br />
end up buying the machine, but he hired me instead,<br />
and that’s how I became assistant manager for an<br />
AMC location in Philadelphia. I had always been<br />
interested in the film-buying side. I had majored<br />
in English in college and had taken some film<br />
courses, so I let them know, and after four years<br />
of managing a theater they moved me into the<br />
film-buying department at their New Jersey<br />
office in 1979.<br />
What was the booking process like in<br />
those days?<br />
From the film-buying standpoint, there<br />
weren’t as many movies back then, and the<br />
films didn’t go through as many runs nationally.<br />
We would see what was available<br />
and would bid on those movies instead<br />
of just licensing them, and you found<br />
yourself not only evaluating these<br />
movies like you do today but also<br />
bidding for them in order to play<br />
them in whatever your territory<br />
was. The big difference now is that<br />
we simply license the pictures<br />
and the studios decide which<br />
theaters they want to play, but<br />
there’s no longer this elaborate<br />
bidding system.<br />
32 BoxOffice ® MAY <strong>2016</strong>
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