Boxoffice - October 2018

$6.95
OCTOBER 2018
WELCOME
NON-PROFITS!
NATO ADDS NEW
MEMBERS TO ITS RANKS
SHOWEAST 2018
FULL COVERAGE OF CINEMA’S
FALL GATHERING IN MIAMI
FALL MOVIES
INTERVIEWS WITH THE MAKERS OF
THE FRONT RUNNER AND WILDLIFE
DALLAS &
THE DIGITAL FUTURE
OUR RECAP OF CINÉSHOW 2018
RAMI MALEK AS
QUEEN FRONT MAN
FREDDIE MERCURY IN
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
THE PARAMOUNT
CONSENT DECREES
A LOOK AT THEIR LEGACY
AND ENDURING IMPACT
IS THIS THE
REAL LIFE?
PRODUCER GRAHAM KING
BRINGS THE STORY OF THE WORLD’S
BIGGEST BAND TO THE SCREEN IN
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners

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The prowess to offer flexible financing options that fit your solution.
The passion to create the largest portfolio in the industry.
The dedication to perfection for the thousands of laser projectors we’ve installed.
Be wowed at www.cinionic.com

2018 VOL. 154 NO. 10
DALLAS AND THE
DIGITAL FUTURE by Daniel Loria 30
EXHIBITORS GATHER FOR THE 20TH EDITION
OF CINÉSHOW AS THE INDUSTRY FORGES
A PATH TO A DIGITAL FUTURE
CARA AT 50 by Joan Graves 42
CELEBRATING HALF A CENTURY
OF MOVIE RATINGS
FAMILY PORTRAIT by Brian Vessa 46
INTERVIEW WITH WILDLIFE
DIRECTOR PAUL DANO
SHOWEAST 2018 AWARD WINNERS
TIM LEAGUE ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE 62
ROBERT CARRADY CARIBBEAN CINEMAS 70
CHRIS ARONSON 20TH CENTURY FOX 76
MARK BORDE ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES 78
MIGUEL RIVERA CINÉPOLIS 82
NEIL CAMPBELL LANDMARK CINEMAS CANADA 86
STRAIGHT FROM THE HART
INTERVIEW WITH THE FRONT
RUNNER SCREENWRITERS
MATT BAI AND JAY CARSON
BLAKE LIVELY
COVER STORY IS THIS THE REAL LIFE? IS THIS
JUST FANTASY? PRODUCER GRAHAM KING
BRINGS THE STORY OF THE WORLD’S BIGGEST
BAND TO THE SCREEN IN BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
5 HELLO
8 EXHIBITION BRIEFS
20 GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
24 NATO NEWS
28 CHARITY SPOTLIGHT
38 FOOD & BEVERAGE
88 BIG DATA
90 LEVERAGING INNOVATION brought to you by Atom Tickets
92 SOCIAL MEDIA
94 INDIE FOCUS brought to you by Spotlight Cinema Networks
98 INVESTOR RELATIONS
100 3D CALENDAR brought to you by RealD
102 EVENT CALENDAR
104 ON SCREEN
122 BOOKING GUIDE
128 MARKETPLACE
Boxoffice Magazine has served as the official publication of the National Association of
Theatre Owners (NATO) since 2007. As part of this partnership, Boxoffice is proud to feature
exclusive columns from NATO while retaining full editorial freedom throughout its pages. As
such, the views expressed in Boxoffice, except for columns signed by NATO executives, neither
reflect a stance nor endorsement from the National Association of Theatre Owners.
4 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

hello.
>> A fantastic October weekend ushered in Q4, with a record-setting
debut from Sony’s Venom and a blockbuster bow
by Warner Bros.’ A Star Is Born. It was an inspiring start to the
quarter, the first since 2014 without a Disney Star Wars title on
the schedule. For us at Boxoffice, it is evidence of the power of a
diverse studio slate: it’s hard to go wrong when you give moviegoers
enticing options at the multiplex.
With that bit of good news, we lead off this issue with two pieces
from our friends at NATO. Jackie Brenneman brings us an update
on the Department of Justice’s review of the Paramount Decrees, a
situation of utmost importance to our industry that NATO continues to monitor. Kathy Conroy
contributes a piece on NATO’s new nonprofit members, a recent development that we’re happy
to see flourish. I had the pleasure of visiting one of those new members last month: the Prospector
Theater in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The Prospector is a cinema dedicated to providing meaningful
employment to adults with disabilities—it is one of the most impressive theaters I’ve had the fortune
of seeing in my career. We look forward to the contributions of the Prospector and NATO’s
new nonprofit members moving forward.
October also brings another edition of ShowEast, an important event for our teams at Webedia
Movies Pro and Boxoffice. Daniel Loria conducted interviews with some of this year’s
honorees—including new conversations with industry leaders like Alamo Drafthouse’s Tim
League, Cinépolis’s Miguel Rivera, and Entertainment One’s Mark Borde. Reading our Q&A
with Tim League, I was pleasantly surprised to discover the small part our magazine played in
helping him launch his first cinema in Bakersfield, California. As always, we are humbled by
your ongoing support.
We can’t talk about ShowEast without mentioning the great work done by the Film Expo Group
in putting on the event. We’ve enjoyed a great relationship with the Film Expo over the years, and
we look forward to sharing more exciting news with you in Miami this year.
Julien Marcel
Chief Executive Officer
Webedia Movies Pro & Boxoffice Media
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 5

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REEL CINEMAS LAUNCHES LUXURY
CINEMA IN DUBAI
>> Emaar Entertainment, the entertainment,
leisure, and retail concepts
company and a business of global developer
Emaar Properties, will introduce
its Reel Cinemas in Dubai. The
luxury cinemas are driven by partnerships
with Dolby Cinema, ScreenX,
and its association with international
restaurateur Guy Fieri.
The newly opened Reel Cinemas –
The Dubai Mall has several innovative
firsts: The Platinum Suites that offer personalized butler services; a dine-in cinema with Guy
Fieri’s signature menu; a stand-alone 170-seater Guy Fieri’s Kitchen; viewing with Dolby
Cinema and the first ScreenX in the Middle East; Barco Laser Projectors and Dolby Atmos.
Damien Latham, CEO, Emaar Entertainment, said: “Reel Cinemas is bringing a multitude
of innovations to the cinema experience with our international partnerships that present
the newest technology to our cinemas. The aspirations of moviegoers have changed; it is not
just about watching a film but the whole journey. We are innovating across every touch point:
from facilitating ease of online booking to welcoming guests to aesthetically designed cinemas
and providing truly world-class viewing with high-end technology, and pampering them with
food and beverage choices.”
Reel Cinemas now has five cinemas in Dubai: the 26-screen Reel Cinemas – The Dubai
Mall; the 7-screen Reel Cinemas – Dubai Marina Mall; the 4-screen Guy Fieri’s Kitchen &
Bar and Dine-in Cinema by Reel Cinemas at Jebel Ali Recreation Club; the 6-screen Reel
Cinemas – The Springs Souk that includes a first dedicated screen for the little ones—Reel
Junior; and the Reel Boutique by Reel Cinemas at Rove Downtown, one of the UAE’s first
hotel cinemas. Several Reel Cinemas will open soon in central locations in Dubai and key
cities in the region.
CGR SELECTS CHRISTIE FOR CIRCUIT-WIDE
RGB LASER PROJECTION
>> CGR Cinemas has chosen Christie as its
exclusive laser projection partner, as it moves
to convert all 700 of its theaters to RGB pure
laser technology. Two hundred CGR Classic
auditoriums will be redeveloped for Christie
RealLaser over the next two years.
“Following the ICE [Immersive Cinema
Experience] premium screen success with our
cinemagoers, this investment demonstrates our
commitment to offering the best quality experience
for our audiences, as we look to keep them
coming back to CGR time and time again,”
said Jocelyn Bouyssy, CEO of CGR Cinemas.
“Having experienced what RGB pure laser can
do with ICE premium screens, we believe it is
the future of cinema, and, having successfully
upgraded to digital projection with Christie 10
years ago, we are delighted to again be utilizing
8 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
the company’s latest technology developments.”
The first 100 projectors will be installed in 2019, with the
remaining 100 projectors to arrive in 2020. To accommodate the
variety of screen sizes required to facilitate projection across CGR
Cínemas’ 73 locations, the projectors will be selected from across
Christie’s portfolio of RGB pure laser cinema projectors. This portfolio
includes the CP4325-RGB, the soon-to-be-released CP2315-
RGB and CP2320-RGB models, and further Christie RealLaser
cinema projector models to be released in the next 12 months.
With the support of Christie and Ciné Digital Service
(CDS)—the French cinema integrator—the company will oversee
the upgrade of 200 classic auditoria across its network from
lamp technology to RGB pure laser.
DAR AL ARKAN PARTNERS WITH MAJID AL FUTTAIM FOR VOX
MULTIPLEX IN RIYADH
>> Saudi real estate developer Dar Al Arkan has signed an agreement
with Majid Al Futtaim, owner and operator of shopping
malls, retail, and leisure establishments in the Middle East and
North Africa, to open VOX Cinemas multiplex in Saudi Arabia.
The deal was officially signed in Riyadh and work started
immediately. VOX Cinemas will operate the new 15-screen multiplex
at Dar Al Arkan’s Al Qasr Mall in the Saudi capital. The
multiplex is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2019 and
will include VOX Cinemas’ signature KIDS and MAX experiences.
KIDS is a family-friendly movie environment designed
for little movie fans, and MAX is the mega-screen made for big
blockbuster viewing.
The design involves the transformation of an existing section
of the mall for the brand-new 15-screen multiplex, as well as the
addition of more outlets for casual dining and entertainment,
including indoor bowling.
Yousef Bin Abdullah Al Shelash, chairman of Dar Al Arkan
Development, revealed the plans to mall visitors, saying:
“Majid Al Futtaim is a perfect partner that will help us create a
unique experience at Al Qasr Mall for Riyadh residents and visitors.
The company is considered the largest cinema operator in
the region. It offers the most innovative and customer-focused
cinema experience, including the latest cinematic technology
and a range of different cinema concepts to suit different consumer
expectations.”
He added: “These are exciting times for Saudi Arabia, and we
are delighted to be playing a small but significant part towards
achieving the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, which aims to build an
entire ecosystem for arts, tourism and entertainment.”
Cameron Mitchell, chief executive officer, Majid Al Futtaim
Cinemas, remarked: “We are pleased to partner with Dar Al Arkan
on this exciting project. This is a significant opportunity for
us to play an active role in contributing to Saudi Arabia’s 2030
vision, which places culture and entertainment at the heart of a
quality of life for Saudi citizens and residents.”
CMX NAMES MARTÍ AS NEW CEO
>> CMX Cinemas, the eighth-largest movie theater chain
in the U.S., has named its new chief executive officer, Jose
Leonardo Martí.
A 30-year career finance and cinema veteran, Martí led
the recent acquisition of Cobb Theaters and CinéBistro for
CMX Cinemas, which now has CMX Cinemas operating
36 locations in the U.S. As CEO for CMX, he is responsible
for spearheading the company’s aggressive growth
expansion plans.
“We are happy to welcome our great friend and colleague
Jose Leonardo Martí to the CMX Cinemas team
as our new CEO,” said Rogelio Velez, CEO of Grupo
Cinemex S.A de C.V., the owning and managing theater
company headquartered in Mexico. “He is a proven leader
in finance and operations, and thanks to his expertise and
diligence he has transformed the theater industry in the
region. Undoubtedly, Martí’s drive and vast experience will
help us continue to expand our presence as the preferred
destination for all moviegoers.”
For nine years prior to his role as the CEO for CMX
Cinemas, Martí was the CFO and CEO for Grupo
Cinemex, S.A. of C.V. and CFO for Latin America Movie
Theatres, where he led the acquisition of nearly 500
screens, leading the company to be the second-largest movie
company in Mexico.
“To join the CMX Cinemas team in the U.S. is both a
pleasing and a challenging experience. The diversity of our
brand with 36 theater locations and more to open in the
U.S. secures CMX as the preferred entertainment destination
in the region and allows us to offer a full range of
experiences for our customers. I’m excited about our future
at CMX.”
This year CMX’s expansion plans include new locations
in Tallahassee and Chicago and the upcoming opening of
CMX CinéBistro on New York’s Upper East Side.
10 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

PROUD SPONSOR OF
SHOWEAST 2018

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
CINIONIC RECEIVES AWARD FROM ICTA
>> At its Summer Business Retreat held in Napa, California,
last month, the International Cinema Technology
Association’s (ICTA) worldwide cinema dealer membership
awarded Cinionic the top honor for manufacturing and
service excellence.
In its address, the association’s leadership conveyed the
spirit and purpose of the award, to recognize “the ICTA manufacturer
who most closely exemplifies the progressive principles
of product development and provides the dealers with
service and up-to-date technical and sales information, while
supporting the status of his product without qualification.”
Cinionic focuses on a combination of innovative cinema
solutions, flexible financing, and a comprehensive service
model that enables exhibitors to focus on engagement
with their moviegoers while simplifying their technology
and operations.
“We are honored to receive the ICTA Teddy award. It celebrates
our mission, and our focus on quality, to deliver WOW
experiences for movie fans while empowering our valued dealers,”
said Wim Buyens, CEO of Cinionic.
ICTA was founded in 1971 and represents more than 180
manufacturers and cinema-related businesses, for a total of
more than 200 members worldwide. Past recipients include
Christie, JBL, QSC, USL, Dolby, and Schneider.
JOHN TRAFFORD-OWEN JOINS REALD
>> John Trafford-Owen has joined
RealD Inc. as managing director of
Europe, Middle East, Africa, and
Russia (EMEAR). Trafford-Owen will
be responsible for overseeing sales and
marketing of all EMEAR territories and
will report directly to Travis Reid, chief
operating officer of RealD. He will be
based in RealD Europe’s headquarters in
the U.K.
Trafford-Owen has worked in exhibition
and distribution for over 25 years.
Most recently at Gower Street Analytics,
he served as head of theatrical distribution
U.K. & Ireland for StudioCanal. He
has also held the position of sales director
for U.K. and Ireland for Paramount Pictures
International and United International
Pictures UK following a successful
early career as a senior film buyer with
Odeon Cinemas.
“John is a well-known leader in our
industry with a wealth of experience,
skills, and established relationships,” said
Reid. “He recognizes and understands
the value 3-D brings to the cinema
industry and will work closely with our
exhibition and distribution partners to
continue to expand and maximize the
potential of 3-D, the RealD cinema platform,
and RealD’s Ultimate Screen business
throughout the growing EMEAR
territories. We are thrilled to have him as
part of the RealD team.”
“RealD has and will always have a
massive impact on cinema and the movie
going experience,” said Trafford-Owen. “I
look forward to being part of this market
leading company that continues to innovate
and deliver game-changing cinema
technology to audiences worldwide.”
IMAX TO OPEN 14 NEW THEATERS
IN CHINA
>> IMAX Corporation, IMAX China
Holding Inc., and Wanying Cinema
Line, the subsidiary of China Resources
Land, one of China’s largest state-owned
commercial developers, announced an
agreement for 14 new IMAX theaters.
The theaters will feature IMAX with
Laser, IMAX’s new laser experience for
commercial multiplexes, and are expected
to open between 2018 and 2021. This
agreement brings the total number of
contracted IMAX theaters in Greater
China to more than 900.
The IMAX theaters will be installed
in new MIXCINE-branded multiplexes
within China Resources Land’s new luxury
shopping centers, a majority of which
will be located in tier-one and tier-two
cities. The parties signed their first agreement
for an IMAX theater earlier this
year, which opened in March, bringing
the total IMAX commitment of Wanying
Cinema Line, the subsidiary of China
Resources Land, to 15 theaters.
“We are pleased to build on this new
partnership with China Resources Land,
China’s most influential integrated urban
developer and operator, that will leverage
our premium brand and The IMAX
Experience as the anchor attraction
for its luxury shopping complexes. We
believe their commitment to IMAX with
Laser is a strong validation of our ability
to deliver an immersive experience that
simply can’t be matched by any other
medium or technology,” said IMAX
CEO Richard L. Gelfond.
“Over the years, we’ve witnessed the
success of IMAX to drive foot traffic to
multiplexes in many of our luxury malls
across China,” said Linkang Yu, vice president
for commercial real estate, China
12 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
Resources Land Limited. “When we launched our own cinema
business earlier this year, we immediately knew that IMAX
would serve as our flagship entertainment attraction at our new
cinema complexes as well as the luxury shopping centers where
they will be located.”
CJ 4DPLEX RECEIVES BIG CINE EXPO AWARD
>> CJ 4DPLEX has received the Innovative Technology
of the Year award at Big Cine Expo 2018 for its immersive
cinema technology, 4DX. The Innovative Technology
of the Year award is presented annually at the Big Cine
Expo to honor the technical excellence of professionals in
the cinema exhibition industry around the globe and to
applaud the innovative technologies that stand out in the
highly competitive industry.
Launched three years ago, Big Cine Expo (www.
bigcineexpo.com) returned in 2018, with a new location,
as the only cinema exhibition convention and trade show
specifically for the burgeoning cinema exhibition market
in Asia and India. The two-day event consists of product
displays, demos, presentations, seminars, panel discussions,
special events, film screenings, networking, B-2-B
meetings, a trade show, and more.
Over the past 12 months, 4DX expansion in Asia and
India has been extensive, a growth of 38 percent. This includes
the addition of 92 new screens across India, China,
Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, and Thailand.
“We are honored to be recognized for our achievements
bringing innovative technology to cinemas around
the world,” said CJ 4DPLEX CEO Byung-Hwan Choi.
“Our success is a result of hard work by a growing team,
and most importantly, our strong partnerships at the studios
and within the exhibition community internationally.
We look forward to continuing to work together with our
friends in the industry to bring even more new innovation
to the movies.”
AMC ENTERTAINMENT CLOSES ON $600 MILLION STRATEGIC
INVESTMENT FROM SILVER LAKE
>> AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. has entered into an
agreement with Silver Lake, the technology investing firm.
Under the agreement, AMC has issued $600 million senior
unsecured convertible notes due 2024, bearing interest at 2.95
percent and convertible into AMC Class A common shares at
$20.50 per share, before giving effect to the special dividend announced
today. At $20.50 per share, the pre-dividend conversion
price reflects a 17.1 percent premium to the reference price. The
convertible notes were issued September 14, 2018.
A portion of the proceeds from the convertible notes has been
used to repurchase 24,057,143 AMC Class B common shares
from, Dalian Wanda Group Co., Ltd., which represents 31.7
percent of the AMC Class B common shares held by Wanda, at
a price of $17.50 per share. Wanda now owns 51,769,784 AMC
Class B common shares.
A portion of the proceeds from the convertible notes was also
used to pay a $1.55 per share special dividend to all AMC Class
A common and Class B common shareholders of record as of
September 25, 2018. The remainder of the proceeds will be used
for transaction expenses and general corporate purposes.
As part of the transaction, Silver Lake will appoint one
director to the AMC board of directors. AMC has also agreed
to add a new independent director to its board who will have
significant technology experience and knowledge, with support
from Silver Lake.
Additionally, Silver Lake has a two-year right of first refusal
on certain future transfers of AMC shares by Wanda, reflecting
Silver Lake’s confidence in AMC.
FULL THEATRICAL RELEASE VITAL FOR AUDIENCES, SAYS
EUROPEAN CINEMA TRADE BODY
>> The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), representing
cinema associations and key operators across 37 territories in
Europe, has added its own voice to those seeking to ensure that
films selected for competition at leading film festivals receive a
full theatrical release.
Following recent discussions on the selection of films at a
number of major film festivals and the decision from the Venice
International Film Festival jury to award Alfonso Cuarón’s
Roma its Golden Lion prize, the association released the following
statement:
“UNIC wishes to express its support for Italian cinema exhibition
colleagues and others in encouraging festival competitions
14 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
CINEPLEX AND CJ 4DPLEX ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP,
CANADIAN EXPANSION
>> CJ 4DPLEX, the cinema technology company, in partnership
with Cineplex, the entertainment and media company,
together announced a new agreement that will bring the
4DX experience to as many as 13 additional Cineplex locations
across Canada over the coming years. The companies
opened Canada’s first 4D auditorium at Cineplex Cinemas
Yonge-Dundas and VIP in the heart of downtown Toronto,
Ontario, in 2016, and its popularity with guests has prompted
this new partnership and investment.
“We are incredibly proud of the success of 4DX in Toronto,
which brought our technology to audiences in Canada
for the first time,” said Brandon Choi, CEO of CJ 4DPLEX
America. “We look forward to growing our footprint
throughout major cities across the country as part of our
continued progress as the fastest-growing premium cinema
format in the industry.”
“Cineplex was proud to be the first company in Canada
to pilot the technology, but we are even prouder to be the
first to invest in a national rollout,” said Ellis Jacob, president
and CEO, Cineplex. “As part of this new agreement, Scotiabank
Theatre Chinook in Calgary, Alberta, will be the first
location to begin construction with the new, state-of-the-art
auditorium. 4DX is a truly immersive cinema experience,
and we know Calgarians, and all Canadians are really going
to love it.”
The opening of the 4DX auditorium at Cineplex Cinemas
Yonge-Dundas and VIP marked the 300th screen for the
premium format. Since the launch of CJ 4DPLEX in 2009,
the immersive theater technology expanded around the globe,
averaging 100 screen openings a year at an average yearly
growth rate of 70 percent. To date, 4DX is installed in 561
auditoriums, reaching 59 countries, and projected to reach
630 auditoriums by the end of the year.
only to consider for inclusion those films
intended for theatrical release.
“Central to the film business is the
shared experience of watching a feature
film on the big screen, something
which creates a strong sense of identity
and community. Cinemas offer their
audience unique cultural and social
experiences, at the same time allowing
films truly to do justice to their director’s
vision and, through their exclusive
nature, create unparalleled excitement
around their release.
“This is a proven strategy that ultimately
benefits the entire film value
chain. The theatrical success of each film
helps drive its performance and audience
awareness on other platforms. Growth in
subsequent markets—including video on
demand—develops best on these strong
foundations. It should not come at the
expense of theatrical exclusivity.
“The cinema industry can exist alongside
streaming providers, but believes that
their—and the audience’s—best interests
are served by a film receiving a proper cinema
release, including a clear and distinct
window. Respect for the life cycle of a film
not only supports a model that has proven
successful in terms of cultural diversity, but
also offers the opportunity for the widest
possible audience to discover and enjoy as
broad a range of film content as possible.
Leading film festivals should encourage
practices that benefit the audience as a
whole, through the inclusion of films in
their official selection that are within everyone’s
reach and not just that of streaming
platform subscribers. Should films
be available solely on these platforms or
receive only a “technical” release in another
window—yet still benefit from festival
selection as a marketing tool in addition
to their considerable resources—the vast
majority of their potential audience would
be denied access to great content.
“Films belong on the big screen and
we therefore encourage leading international
film festivals to take a lead from the
Cannes Film Festival and celebrate the
social, cultural, and economic relevance
of cinemas when designing their future
selection policies.”
METROPOLITAN THEATRES LAUNCHES
M REWARDS LOYALTY PROGRAM
>> Metropolitan Theatres launched a
free loyalty program called M Rewards on
September 17, 2018. Guest benefits will
include earning points on every qualifying
dollar spent, receiving M Rewards
dollars to spend on movie tickets, concessions,
and bar service, a free medium
popcorn upon registration, a free refill on
large popcorn and large soda purchases,
and a free medium popcorn on their
M Rewards anniversary. Additionally,
members will receive access to exclusive
offers, screenings, and more.
16 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
M Rewards will be launched across
Metropolitan’s 15 theater locations and
in its two new luxury dine-in multiplex
theaters opening in 2019.
Guests will be able to enroll at the box
office or on the Metropolitan Theatres
website using their email address and
phone number. Upon registration, benefits
will begin immediately for earning
points and receiving the free refill on
large popcorn and large soda purchases.
“Metropolitan Theatres values all of
our guests, and our new M Rewards
loyalty program allows us to personally
thank each moviegoer through
the benefits offered in our free rewards
program,” said David Corwin, president
of Metropolitan Theatres.
Every M Rewards member will
earn 10 points for each qualifying
dollar spent, and will receive $5 in M
Rewards dollars for every 1,000 points
earned, which will be redeemable at
the box office, concessions, or online at
www.metrotheatres.com.
Metropolitan Theatres, a fourth-generation
family-owned theater circuit
launched in 1923, provides a premium
moviegoing experience with a growing
number of plush luxury recliner auditoriums
and expanded food and beverage
offerings. Metropolitan will add two new
luxury dine-in complexes to its portfolio
in 2019 with the opening of a 7-plex at
The Foundry in downtown Loveland,
Colorado, and a 10-plex at Outlets at
San Clemente.
MARCUS CORPORATION
RECEIVES EMPLOYER AWARD
FOR COMMITMENT TO HIRING
INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES
>> The Wisconsin Department of
Workforce Development (DWD) has
presented a 2018 Exemplary Employer
Award to the Marcus Corporation in
honor of the company’s commitment
to recruit and hire individuals with disabilities.
The honor is awarded annually
during National Disability Employment
Awareness Month to selected companies
in each of the 11 workforce development
areas of the state.
DWD Assistant Deputy Secretary
B.J. Dernbach presented the award at
an event on October 4 at the Marcus
South Shore Cinema in Oak Creek, Wis.
Accepting the award was Rolando B.
Rodriguez, executive vice president of
the Marcus Corporation and chairman,
president, and CEO of Marcus Theatres.
“We recognize the value that all
our employees bring to our diverse and
inclusive workforce, regardless of any
disabilities,” said Rodriguez. “It’s our
hope that this award and the visibility
that comes with Disability Employment
Awareness Month will encourage more
employers to recognize this critical
population in our labor force and hire
job seekers with disabilities.”
The Marcus Corporation was nominated
as a result of its active engagement
with key programs that assist individuals
with disabilities in gaining employment.
Through its cinemas, hotels, and restaurant
operations, the Marcus Corporation
supports Project SEARCH, which
assists young adults with disabilities to
gain and maintain employment, and
actively recruits through the DWD’s
Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
In addition, the Marcus Corporation
supports programming efforts of organizations
that serve individuals with
disabilities, including Goodwill Industries
of Southeastern Wisconsin, Easter
Seals Southeast Wisconsin, Pantheon
Industries and Variety – The Children’s
Charity of Wisconsin.
AMC’S STUBS A-LIST LOYALTY
PROGRAM COUNTS 400,000
MEMBERS
>> AMC Theatres has announced that
AMC Stubs A-List now has more than
400,000 enrolled members.
Adam Aron, AMC CEO and president,
said, “While we do not plan to
issue A-List enrollment statistics on
a weekly basis, our hitting more than
400,000 enrolled members only three
months and a week after launching the
program is an enormous milestone.
Those who have been following our
progress with A-List are aware that
we had originally expected 500,000
enrollments at the one-year mark and
1,000,000 enrollments at the two-year
mark. Above our wildest hopes, in just
14 weeks, we have achieved 80 percent
of our one-year goal and 40 percent of
our two-year goal. This all bodes well
for the future of increased moviegoing
in America.”
CIELO PRESENTS CIELO RESCUE
>> CIELO, the Internet of Things
(IoT) platform originally developed
by CES+ to connect cinema devices
onto one platform, has announced
the introduction of its self-healing
machine capabilities, known as
CIELO Rescue. Described as a major
step toward autonomous cinemas
by its founders, CIELO Rescue uses
intelligent integration of monitoring,
control, and automation to enable
cinema systems to fix themselves from
potential show-stopping issues without
any human intervention.
“On average, we were already
demonstrating a five- to ten-times
return on investment to exhibitors with
CIELO. I’m excited to be able to bring
this breakthrough technology with
CIELO Rescue and to continue to add
value to our partners by helping them
operate as efficiently as possible,” said
Guillermo Younger, founder and CEO
of CIELO. “Self-healing machines
will have a significant impact to all of
our customers’ profitability and we are
proud to be the first to introduce them
to our industry.”
CIELO Rescue has already been
rolled out to over 12,000 screens currently
on the CIELO platform worldwide.
According to a company statement,
within its first 24 hours, CIELO Rescue
had already saved several dozen potential
lost shows for exhibitors by having their
projectors fix themselves autonomously. n
18 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
THE ENDURING IMPACT
OF THE PARAMOUNT
CONSENT DECREES
by Jackie Brenneman,
General Counsel and Director of Industry Relations, NATO
The only things
certain in life are
death and taxes. And
a periodic review
of the Paramount
Consent Decrees.
JACKIE BRENNEMAN
>> On August 2, the Antitrust Division of the
Department of Justice announced it would be
reviewing the Paramount Consent Decrees. The
decrees followed a decade of litigation initiated
by the department in the late 1930s against the
studios. The decrees varied a bit from studio to
studio, but in general they prohibited or otherwise
restricted the following behaviors: (1) vertical
integration (studios owning exhibitors), (2) block
booking (conditioning the booking of one film on
the booking of a block of other films), (3) circuit
dealing, (4) unreasonable clearances, and (5) resale
price maintenance/price fixing. The final settlements
reshaped the movie industry and are often
credited for ending the Hollywood studio system.
Since the late 1970s consent decrees come with
a 10-year expiration date.
In this way, the government hopes to draft
settlements that will avoid perpetual monitoring
by the courts. However, there are still nearly 1,300
consent decrees without any expiration date.
Earlier this year, the department announced an initiative
to terminate these so-called legacy consent
decrees. According to Makan Delrahim, the head
of the Antitrust Division, these legacy decrees are
“outdated judgments” that “do little more than
clog court dockets, create unnecessary uncertainty
for businesses or, in some cases, may actually elicit
anticompetitive market conditions.”
Without debating the merits of one standard
over another, it is certainly true that those
consent decrees entered before the current policy
change were not crafted with an expiration in
mind, so any repeal or modification should be
carefully considered.
Indeed, this is not the first time that the DOJ
has examined the
decrees. In at least
1985 and 2008 the
department opened
the review process to
determine the enduring
efficacy of the decrees.
And both times,
the department chose
to retain the decrees
despite many changes
to the industry.
So what is different
this time?
This time, the
department questioned
the continued benefits
of the decrees given
the rise of the multiplex
and the proliferation
of in-home
content. However,
20 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
FROM THE MAY 8, 1948 ISSUE OF BOXOFFICE
these elements were
certainly in place for
the 1985 and 2008
reviews with cable,
video rentals, and the
rise of the DVD, all
offering a wide variety
of options in the
home. The multiplex
model’s ubiquity is
similarly long-standing.
Rather, despite
any of these changes,
the movie distribution
model has remained
remarkably stable,
largely because of the
behavioral adjustments
required by the
decrees. This explains
why players such as
Disney and Amazon
generally act within
the bounds of the
decrees despite not
being parties to the
decrees themselves.
NATO interviewed
dozens of
members of all sizes
to hear their thoughts
on the specifics of the
decrees and whether
NATO should make
an official comment.
After this investigation
two things were
clear: our members broadly supported a
NATO comment, and our membership,
regardless of size, had incredibly diverse
perspectives on almost every provision of
the decrees. In the end, we were able to
find broad consensus on the importance
of block booking and therefore used this
provision as the focus of our comment.
In our interviews it was clear that the
prohibition on block booking is fundamental
to the business operations of
exhibitors of all sizes. For some, changing
seasonal clientele means programming
major studio blockbusters in the summer
and independent adult fare in the
off-season. For others, consumer preferences
mean exhibitors are often unable to
play R-rated films or films with certain
themes. Exhibitors are therefore understandably
concerned about major studios
suddenly being permitted to condition
the booking of a major release on the
booking of other less desirable titles. The
end of the VPF system could exacerbate
these concerns by allowing studios to demand
wider runs for little to no additional
cost. This could also shut out smaller
distributors that provide an important
alternate to the global
tentpoles that are
the primary focus of
the major studios.
As the industry
waits for the department
to make its determination,
it may
be useful to consider
what could happen
if the decrees were
repealed in whole or
in part. For the most
part, our existing
antitrust laws will
prohibit any players
from engaging in
anticompetitive
behavior. Aside from
vertical integration,
which was not explicitly
banned, each
provision describes
behaviors that are
still often considered
anticompetitive.
However, because
much of the specific
prohibitions have
not been directly
litigated for exhibition,
it may take
long and costly court
battles to get clarity
on the parameters of
lawful behavior in
the current landscape.
Many of the behaviors are also now
frequently evaluated under a looser and
fact-dependent “rule of reason” standard,
which increases uncertainty and cost.
Our members have different views on
the meaning of the decrees, and many
have communicated their own concerns
to the department. At NATO we simply
hope the department considers the
stabilizing influence of the decrees and
the key role America’s exhibitors play in
ensuring high-quality films of all varieties
are produced and distributed to audiences
here and across the globe. n
22 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

NATO NEWS
NONPROFITS BRING
A UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE
TO NATO
by Kathy Conroy, Vice President and COO, NATO
A/PERTURE CINEMA, WINSTON-SALEM, N.C
NATO is excited to bring to the readers of this magazine an update on new eligibility rules
for membership in the association. On June 28, NATO’s Executive Board approved an
amendment to NATO’s bylaws that makes nonprofit cinemas eligible for full, regular membership
in NATO. The decision reflects NATO’s desire to have exhibition, all of exhibition,
working together on common goals. That which previously divided the industry has now
been set aside to encourage all exhibition voices to be part of the conversation.
KATHY CONROY
THE BELCOURT THEATRE, NASHVILLE, TENN.
>> For years, the idea of opening NATO
membership to nonprofit cinemas was discussed
periodically but rebuffed by previous boards
whose members focused on a “level playing field”
argument. NATO’s current Executive Board members,
however, carefully considered the NATO
Membership Committee’s recommendation, and
determined that nonprofit theaters have more in
common with for-profits than not. Take government
relations, for example. Nonprofit cinemas
tackle many of the same challenges in both the
legislative and regulatory arenas. There are several
timely issues that NATO is currently addressing
that affect for-profit and nonprofit cinemas alike,
including ADA drive-by lawsuits and website accessibility
complaints, labor laws, the Paramount
Consent Decrees review, and the joint employer
standard. Many nonprofit cinemas with community-based
missions are actively engaged in local
government and bring a great deal of experience
and important relationships to the effort.
Working together is not entirely new, as
NATO collaborated effectively several years
ago with nonprofit cinemas in the Art House
Convergence (AHC) and with deaf and hearing-impaired
advocacy groups on a response
to the DOJ’s rule on closed-captioning and
audio-description technologies. During the
rule-making process, NATO and AHC represented
the industry in government forums, such
24 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

NATO NEWS
THE PROSPECTOR THEATER, RIDGEFIELD, CONN.
as a roundtable convened by the Small
Business Administration. In that setting,
both organizations played key roles in
educating regulators about the impact
of such rules on small businesses.
The labels of “for-profit” and “nonprofit”
for business entities are important
differentiators of tax status at the IRS but
should not define or restrict how exhibitors
work together to protect and advance
the moviegoing experience. NATO
looks forward to nonprofit theaters’
increased involvement in NATO’s technology
efforts to support a high-quality
theatrical experience in theaters everywhere,
and to explore new innovations in
cinema presentation and sound.
Through increased interaction with
nonprofits at NATO events, I believe
members might learn from, and be
inspired by, their nonprofit colleagues.
With their commitment to the communities
they serve, nonprofits have developed
extraordinary talent in guest relations.
As the old adage goes, “Necessity
is the mother of invention.” Often with
limited funds, nonprofits have found
amazing ways to attract and retain their
avid supporters. Many nonprofits host
film festivals and offer diverse programming
and specialty film series. Older
moviegoers can enjoy their favorite films
from decades past and younger guests
can discover old Hollywood classics at
their community theaters.
Nonprofit exhibitors have experimented
with innovative ideas that subsequently
spread throughout the industry.
Alternative content, for example, has
long been offered at many nonprofit
community-based cinemas. Visit your
neighborhood nonprofit theater, and you
will likely discover cool local eats, including
beverages from nearby microbreweries
and other unique and upscale concessions
choices created by local chefs. As
in the for-profit sector, many nonprofit
theaters provide employment for persons
with disabilities. One of NATO’s newest
members, The Prospector Theater in
Ridgefield, Connecticut, deserves a special
shout-out, as approximately 70 percent
of its employees self-identify with
a disability. Nonprofits have also been
responsible for saving many historic theaters
across the United States. Through
ambitious grassroots fund-raising efforts,
nonprofit organizations have successfully
restored some of America’s most beautiful
and iconic movie theaters.
A word about NATO and the Art
House Convergence (AHC): The AHC
plays a vital role in safeguarding and
innovating in the art house space. NATO
and AHC will continue to serve important
and complementary roles in the
industry, and we look forward to our
ongoing relationship with the dedicated
team at AHC.
At the time this article was written,
nine nonprofit theater organizations,
representing 11 locations and 39 screens,
have joined NATO. They are: a/perture
Cinema, Winston-Salem, N.C.; The
Belcourt Theatre, Nashville, Tenn.;
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline,
Mass.; Gateway Film, Columbus,
Ohio; Michigan Theater Foundation,
Ann Arbor, Mich.; The Prospector
Theater, Ridgefield, Conn.; SCERA
Corp., Orem, Utah; Salt Lake City Film
Society, Salt Lake City, Utah; and the
Sie FilmCenter (Denver Film Society),
Denver, Colo. These cinemas, and the
nonprofit exhibition community at
large, bring passion and creativity to the
moviegoing experience. I applaud them
and welcome them to NATO, and invite
other nonprofit cinemas to become
members of the association. n
26 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT
To add events in an upcoming issue, please send announcements to numbers@boxoffice.com
VARIETY OF ILLINOIS
Variety of Illinois celebrated its 75th
birthday on September 23 at Siegel’s
Cottonwood Farm in Lockport, Illinois, with
a day of free activities for children with
disabilities and their families. Kids met
Variety’s mascot, Heartly, wrote their names
on hearts to decorate the Variety of Illinois
tree, celebrated with cake and cookies,
balloon animals, magic, and music!
28 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SWOOP, THE MASCOT OF THE
PHILADELPHIA EAGLES,
SHARES A HUG WITH CHARLOTTE
BEFORE THE AWARD RECEPTION
VARIETY OF
PHILADELPHIA
Variety of Philadelphia’s Tri-
State Labor and Management
Golden Heart of Variety
Award Reception was held on
September 20 at the Down
Town Club in Philadelphia. The
event honored Nan Kelly and
John Kane and celebrated their
professional and humanitarian
accomplishments in the labor
and management communities
in Philadelphia. Swoop, the
Philadelphia Eagles mascot,
helped present an adapted
trike to Rory through the Direct
Care program.
VARIETY OF
PHILADELPHIA
Trail Run and Fall Fest
Saturday, October 13
on the web:
bit.ly/2Pajgcq
VARIETY OF DETROIT
Variety of Detroit held its first
Variety Feeds Kids Luncheon
on Thursday, September 27, at
Pine Lake Country Club. Guest
speaker for the luncheon was
Steve Pemberton, chief human
resources officer for Globoforce
and author of A Chance in the
World. The luncheon was soldout
a week before the event.
Variety Feeds Kids distributes
food every week to 1,200
qualifying children who are at
risk of weekend hunger. Working
with the school district and
Oakland County’s Sheriff Office,
Variety Feeds Kids distributes
bags of food every Friday
afternoon.
Variety of Philadelphia’s Trail Run and Fall Fest will be held on Saturday, October 13, from 10
a.m. to 3 p.m. with Trail Run registration beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Variety’s campus (2950
Potshop Road Worcester, PA 19490). The Trail Run lets racers choose between participating in
a four-mile timed run or a one- to four-mile untimed walk through Variety’s beautiful 80-acre
campus. After the race, the Fall Fest will feature a barbecue, beer, live music, vendors, and
family-friendly activities such as a dunk tank and sensory-friendly trick-or-treating.
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 29

CINÉSHOW RECAP
DALLAS AND THE
DIGITAL FUTURE
EXHIBITORS GATHER FOR THE 20TH EDITION OF CINÉSHOW AS
THE INDUSTRY FORGES A PATH TO A DIGITAL FUTURE
by Daniel Loria
>> Texas is home to a wide variety of exhibitors, from the
eye-catching locations of multinational players to the iconic
independent venues that have served local communities for
generations. Over the last couple of decades, Texas has also
hosted a concentration of the nation’s leading dine-in cinema
concepts, helping kick-start a nationwide trend based on the
innovations nurtured in its own backyard. This year’s edition of
CinéShow, the annual convention of NATO’s Theatre Owners
of Mid-America, held in Dallas on August 27–29, acted as
a reminder of the region’s longtime ties to exhibition and its
culture of innovation. The event, celebrating its 20th anniversary,
brought together an impressive roster of executives from some of
the country’s most high-profile studios, circuits, and vendors.
The hot topics at this year’s edition all revolved around the
30 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

CINÉSHOW RECAP
FROM L TO R: TODD HALSTEAD,
ALEX YOUNGER, JOSE LEONARDO
MARTI, BRIAN SCHULTZ,
EDUARDO ACUÑA, DANIEL LORIA
industry’s potential direction in the coming years.
Representatives from the newly formed Independent
Cinema Alliance were on hand for an open
discussion that addressed current concerns regarding
the Department of Justice’s proposed review
of the Paramount Consent Decrees. On a more
immediate level, CinéShow’s panel sessions looked
at the ongoing impact of the spread of dine-in
cinema and digital ticketing on the industry.
Joining the convention from his home base in
Scotland, Webedia Movies Pro’s SVP of Global
Exhibitor Sales & Marketing Malcolm MacMillan
summarized the digital-ticketing trend succinctly
highlighting the elevated market-share of third-party
ticketing aggregators in online ticket sales: “In Europe,
exhibition is very much focused on self-ticketing;
managing their own data and relationships with
clients. In the United States, we have a very different
direction.” According to MacMillan, U.S. exhibitors
have begun to diversify their efforts, moving away
from “a simple case of just selling tickets online, to
selling experiences—selling a brand.”
That shift is reflected in the investment exhibitors
have poured into their theaters. A stroll
through CinéShow’s sold-out trade show floor,
featuring over 70 different vendors, gave evidence
to the multiple options theater owners have for
bringing an extra dimension to their cinemas.
MacMillan noted that in today’s experience-based
economy, these new directions can act as key differentiators
in maintaining a competitive advantage,
“premium seating and dine-in drive high conversion
rates—much higher—to
the e-commerce average in this
industry,” he said.
While trends like dine-in
and alcohol service have gained
visibility nationwide, some
caution that these concepts
shouldn’t be seen as a one-sizefits-all
option for interested
exhibitors. “I’ve toured around
and seen a lot of situations that
haven’t worked out,” admitted
Flix Brewhouse CEO Allan
Reagan. Flix has embraced a
cinema-brewery model, with
each location featuring its own
in-house brewery and beer experts.
“Say you see a corner in
your lobby and think it would
be a great place to put a bar. It’s in the corner, it’s
out of the way, and you figure a little bar can make
you a fortune. You’ll find out fast that’s not a place
that people are going to want to hang out. It’s
really important to understand traffic patterns and
how they’re actually going to use the facility. Are
they going to be able to have a drink in the lobby,
in the lobby bar, or a bar above the lobby? Or are
you better off getting them a beverage at their seat
inside the auditorium?” Flix Brewhouse, founded
in 2011, is set to finish 2018 with three new locations—and
plans for a further national expansion
through 2019.
Mexico’s Cinépolis—which operates cinemas
in 13 countries, including two Texas locations—
has firsthand experience in using a measured,
region-specific approach when it comes to alcohol
service. “We’ve been very successful in some
countries, usually in more developed places like the
U.S. and Spain,” said Eduardo Acuña, the circuit’s
head of Americas, before warning that it has also
failed to connect in other markets. “There are other
countries in which it’s not even an option; in the
Middle East it’s against the law to serve alcohol.
In India and most parts of Latin America, it hasn’t
worked as well.” Acuña cited the varying costs and
strict regulations that are associated with alcohol
service at a cinema—rules that carry large fines
and that can be vastly different even within one
country. “Alcohol is a great business, but you have
to think of it as a business, not as an extension of
food and beverage.”
32 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

CINÉSHOW RECAP
CHUCK NORRIS AT THE VARIETY
OF TEXAS 2018 TEXAN OF THE
YEAR GALA
It’s a challenge shared by their corporate
compatriot, and competitor, Cinemex, which first
entered the U.S. market in 2017 under the brand
name CMX Cinemas. Newly appointed CMX
CEO Jose Leonardo Martí joined Acuña onstage
at a CinéShow panel organized by the Theater
Management System provider Cielo. Martí shared
his circuit’s own concerns in expanding across borders,
not only when it comes to alcohol but for its
dine-in operations as well. Entering a new market
like the United States, CMX was cautious in how
it pursued its expansion. “Wages in Mexico are
substantially lower, and so is the price of a ticket.
Rent, leases—they are also substantially higher in
the U.S. than in Mexico,” said the CEO. “It’s a
very different market, substantially more competitive
than it is in Mexico.” Due to these factors,
CMX grew in the U.S. by the strategic acquisition
of circuits like Cobb, which included CinéBistro
locations that were custom built with the correct
infrastructure for cinema dining.
In general, the diversity of exhibitors vying
for moviegoers’ time has made exhibition in the
United States extremely competitive.
Distinguishing your brand from the rest
of the pack has become crucial, a factor
that Dallas-based circuit Studio Movie
Grill acknowledges, especially in Texas’s
highly competitive dine-in cinema scene.
Studio Movie Grill has been able to
stand out from competitors by adopting
what CEO Brian Schultz calls a
“conscious capitalism model,” using its
business activities as a platform for social
good. “That’s behind all the decisions we
make as a team, from our local communities
to our vendors and investors.
It makes it pretty easy to create a brand
that’s defined and has a perspective.”
It’s not simply about competing with
other circuits or engaging in an arms
race of theater amenities—finding the
right real estate has become the latest
battlefront for circuits looking to expand
their operations. As retail destinations
struggle across the country, developers
have increasingly set their sights on movie
theaters as a viable alternative to big
box stores. “When it comes to shopping
malls—with all the important retail players
going away—they understand that
experiences like moviegoing aren’t going anywhere,
we’re going to endure,” said Cinépolis’s Acuña.
“Developers know this, and every time a big box
store disappears, everybody is talking about putting
in a theater. Retail is about buying products, cinemas
are about getting an experience.”
In the United States that experience begins
online. Whether it’s on Google or social networks
like Facebook, digital platforms have become a
highly influential source for trailer views, show
time discovery, and ticket purchases. According to
research conducted by Webedia Movies Pro (parent
company of Boxoffice Media), 90 percent of
today’s moviegoers begin their cinema journey on
the web. It’s one of the main focus areas for digital
ticketing start-up Atom Tickets, now entering its
second year in the market. “Social media is the
whole reason why Atom exists,” said Max Lynn,
director of corporate development at Atom Tickets.
“Our co-founders were trying to go to a movie
and couldn’t get through the pinpoints of texting,
calling, emailing—just to organize a four-people
trip to the movies. When we surveyed the land-
34 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

CINÉSHOW RECAP
STUDIO MOVIE GRILL HOSTED
THE OPENING NIGHT SCREENING
OF 20TH CENTURY FOX’S THE
PREDATOR AT CINESHOW 2018
scape, no one was really doing social with movie
ticketing. That’s an inherent part of the DNA of
our mobile platform. We use Facebook today and
we’re looking at the different social platforms out
there to see what’s next. Whether it’s Instagram,
Snapchat, wherever we see customers spending
time—that’s where we’re going to integrate next.”
Webedia’s MacMillan sees that integration as
part of cinema’s move toward an “everything, everywhere”
model, “exhibitors spreading their net as
wide as they possibly can so people can buy tickets
through them or the third parties who they work
with.” A growing part of the third-party conversation
are subscription services like Moviepass and
Sinemia, which have in turn helped popularize
the concept among exhibitors themselves. “Moviepass—for
all the good, the bad, and the other—
shook the anchoring everyone had,” said Atom’s
Lynn. “People are more open to more ideas now
that the consumer has spoken about being interested
in something other than the traditional model.”
For an independent exhibitor like Barak
Epstein, president of Aviation Cinemas—which
currently operates the historic Texas Theatre in
Dallas, subscription is still an unproven concept.
While larger circuits like AMC and Cinemark have
already rolled out their own in-house offerings,
Epstein is taking a wait-and-see approach to how
a third-party solution can help his theater. “We’ve
been agnostic about it,” he said during a panel
conversation. “We tell our customers that they
need to use [Moviepass] at their own risk. We can’t
tell them whether or not a movie we’re showing is
going to be available on their service at any given
time, or if they have the right amount of money
loaded into their system to pay for the ticket. We
have zero control over that. If it’s working, we’re
happy to say, ‘Sure, use it!’ I’m not sure if we’ve
seen a massive increase [in attendance] from it.”
That isn’t to say that subscription is the only
alternative in the industry. Rather than rolling out
a competing subscription product, Atom Tickets
opted for leveraging its relationship with exhibitors
and outside companies to create discount days
for consumers. A partnership with T-Mobile, for
example, enables $4 tickets for users—with the
phone carrier responsible for paying the difference
to the exhibitor. “It’s a great way to bring new,
incremental customers to the ecosystem. We’re a
conduit to that, bringing that benefit to all our
exhibitor partners.”
Flix Brewhouse’s Reagan considers tech innovations
in e-commerce and loyalty programs as
catalysts for continued growth. “Technology is a big
part of it, and I think we’ll get better as our industry
adopts some of the tools that companies like Apple
and Amazon or the hotel industry use to track and
service their customers,” he said. For MacMillan,
the true potential of big data’s promise is, simply,
control. “That’s the real issue, the control of your
customers’ journey,” he stressed. “If you are a progressive
exhibitor, you want to control that from end
to end—including the ticketing. That’s where you’re
going to get improved conversions, performance,
and a greater level of security. It’s about bringing
customers back into your brand, making sure your
data is being used to your advantage.”
Whatever the future holds, it is becoming increasingly
clear that the potential of consumer data
and the power of a cinema’s brand will go hand in
hand. The age of the cookie-cutter multiplex is over.
It has been for years. And while subscription might
be an unproven factor in this market (at least at
this early stage), the prevalence of loyalty programs
among exhibitors of all sizes points toward a future
where data and knowing one’s customers will be a
central part of any theater’s operations. n
36 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

Congratulations to all of the
honorees at ShowEast 2018.
Yours truly,

FOOD & BEVERAGE
ROLLING IN DOUGH
INTERVIEW WITH DIBLE DOUGH FOUNDER AND CEO JOLENE CONWAY
by Jesse Rifkin
(continued on page 40)
38 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

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FOOD & BEVERAGE
>> Everybody loves to sneak a taste of cookie dough, but what if came in an easy-to-eat snack size and was made
without raw eggs? That’s the idea behind Dible Dough, which won the 2018 Most Innovative Product Award from the
National Association of Concessionaires. Boxoffice spoke to Jolene Conway, the product’s inventor and company CEO,
about her new business and her plans to expand into movie theaters and nationwide.
How did you come up with the idea for
Dible Dough?
I was working at the concession stand
for our daughters’ sports games, and I
asked the coaches, “If I came up with a
product that was an edible cookie dough,
that didn’t have raw eggs in it, would you
allow me to sell it?” So I came up with
a recipe and I put it in little souffle cups
with a wooden spoon. If we sold one,
then we would sell 50, because people
would see that and go, “Wait a second, is
that cookie dough?”
It caught on, so it was a really good
experiment; it was great. I introduced
other flavors. People said, “I love chocolate
chip, but I’d really love to try the
sugar cookie flavor. I love peanut butter
but I don’t want a Reese’s Peanut Butter
Cup.” That’s how we got started. From
there, I went to a manufacturer. We were
living in Texas at the time; now we’re in
New Orleans because my husband is a
football coach. [Jeff Conway is the wide
receivers coach for Tulane University,
previously the co-offensive coordinator
for Texas State.]
How did you come up with the name
Dible Dough?
That’s actually a funny story. At first,
I called it Jo’s Edible Dough, short for
Jolene. So I sent it to my friend and said,
“I just bought the domain name josedibledough.com.”
She looked at it and
said, “That looks like José Dible Dough.”
Then she said, “But I like the name Dible
Dough! That sounds good, it’s like ‘edible’
without the ‘e.’ Just like how your cookie
dough doesn’t have any eggs in it, so
you’ve taken out the ‘e.’” Some people
have said that the word “Dible” looks like
it should rhyme with “Bible.” But the
tagline is “Nibble the Dible,” so people
can put that together and probably come
up with the right pronunciation.
What has been your biggest challenge
since you started?
Not knowing what I didn’t know. I
don’t have a food background; I graduated
from Iowa in speech and hearing
science and went into medical sales!
[Laughs] Once we started having babies, I
was a stay-at-home mom. We have three
daughters, so once our youngest started
kindergarten, I started a catering business
out of our home. We were living in
Missouri at the time. I did that for several
years. Then I thought, “I really need to
home in on something. I want to do one
thing.” I thought about chocolate-covered
strawberries, but there was already CherryBerry.
I wasn’t sure what that one thing
was until I realized it was cookie dough,
because who doesn’t like cookie dough?
How did you find out that you won the
2018 Most Innovative Product Award
from the NAC?
We were standing there at the booth,
talking to potential customers. The
president of the organization came over
and said, “The votes have been tallied.
The Most Innovative Product Award this
year goes to Dible Dough.” You had to
vote online. Then I had a lot of people
coming up to me afterward and saying,
“I knew you would win because I voted
for you.” So it wasn’t just a fluke thing;
people really did think it was a good
product. Because everybody knows what
cookie dough is, everybody has eaten
cookie dough before, but now we’re able
to make it available in a form that’s easy
to eat. You can eat cookie dough just
like you would eat a candy bar or an ice
cream bar.
It’s not available to purchase online
right now; it’s only available in retail
stores. Will that change?
Yes. We are currently looking at online
platforms. Because it’s a frozen product,
we have to find what is the best fit in
terms of what someone is willing to pay
for it and the cost of shipping it. Those
are the details that we’re working out
right now. But yes, that will hopefully be
within the next three months, by the end
of the year. We’ve gotten approved for
two grocery store chains in Kansas City:
Price Chopper and Hen House. We’ll
probably be there by the end of October.
But I really think this is a product that
is more geared toward the entertainment
industry. I just feel like having
this product available to consumers in
a concession stand or movie theater or
other venue is a good thing because it
makes it more of a novelty. Kind of like
what Dippin’ Dots was—you could only
get it when you’d go to a ballgame or an
amusement park.
Are you in any movie theaters right
now?
We’re going to be in Malco movie
theaters, out of Memphis, in a couple of
weeks. They were our first customer, so
we’re excited about that.
You have three flavors right now:
chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut
butter with chocolate chips, and sugar
cookie with sprinkles. Are there any
other potential flavors in the pipeline?
Yes, we have been asked a lot to make
gluten-free products, so we’re working
with a couple of different options. Then
the other ones we constantly get asked
about are snickerdoodles and oatmeal.
We’re also leaning toward butterscotch. n
40 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

CLASSIFICATION & RATINGS ADMINISTRATION
CELEBRATING A HALF CENTURY OF MOVIE RATINGS
by Joan Graves, SVP & Chairman, CARA
>> Since 1988, my job has been
watching movies. I have seen
more than 12,000 films of every
genre, style, and type as part of
the Classification and Rating
Administration (CARA).
CARA was established nearly 50
years ago by former MPAA CEO
Jack Valenti [shown here with
NATO Chairman Sherrill C. Corwin,
left, and MPAA general counsel
Louis Nizer, right in the June
3, 1968 edition of Boxoffice].
The voluntary system replaced the
Motion Picture Production Code,
or the Hays Code as it was called,
which outlined what was morally
acceptable and unacceptable for
films produced between 1930 and
1968. CARA provided an alternative
to government censorship—a
practice that had persisted at the
state level. Jack’s remarkable vision
created a system to inform parents,
while also protecting filmmakers
and the creative process from government
intervention.
Since its inception on November 1,
1968, CARA has provided American
parents with advance information about
the level of content in movies to help them
determine what’s appropriate for their children,
factoring in their own family values
and the individual sensitivities of their
children. As we celebrate our 50th anniversary,
it is clear that CARA has withstood the
test of time and remains a valuable tool for
parents across the country.
I have witnessed the evolution of the
movie rating system firsthand. In 1988, I
joined the CARA board as a part-time rater,
and in 2000 I took on the role of chairman.
In that time, I have seen shifts in parental
concerns and perspectives on everything
from violence and language to drug use and
sexuality. I’m proud to note that CARA
has continuously adapted, rating movies to
reflect those societal shifts.
Part of the reason our system works
so well is because CARA’s board is
composed of parents. We hire parents
of different backgrounds, from different
parts of the country. They have no prior
affiliation with the film and television
industry—the primary qualification is
the perspective of parenthood. Usually
the 10 to 13 parents on the board
have children between the ages of
five and 17 when they are hired.
Once their kids reach adulthood,
they rotate off the board.
We keep the identities of our
raters anonymous to shield them
from any sort of outside influence.
However, we do make public the
identities of our senior raters, including
myself, to increase transparency
in the process and allow
communication with filmmakers
and moviegoers. Our website,
filmratings.com, includes access
to our policies and procedures, a
database of all films rated since
1968, and a Contact Us link for
any questions or feedback.
On a typical day, we watch
two to three movies—always in
their entirety. We rate everything
in context on a case-by-case basis.
You may have heard that we try to
schedule violence in the morning
and sex in the afternoon. There is
some truth to that—and popcorn is always
available! We, of course, also watch animated
films, family comedies, documentaries,
and everything in between.
The process and our job are focused on
asking the question any parent would ask:
What would I want to know about this film
before I decide to let my child see it?
That question is why our system has
evolved so well over time. We are celebrating
five decades this year, because our purpose
is to reflect the standards of American
parents, not set them. Not one of our ratings
indicates whether a film is good or bad;
each merely indicates the level of content.
42 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

CLASSIFICATION & RATINGS ADMINISTRATION
THE FIRST FILMS RATED BY CARA AS PUBLISHED IN THE NOVEMBER 18. 1968, ISSUE OF BOXOFFICE
Most of the so-called “rating controversies” over
the years can be traced to a misunderstanding of
this key fact.
We are constantly working to evaluate and
improve our system. We regularly ask parents,
through surveys and focus groups, about their
perceptions of movie elements like violence,
language, drug use, and sexuality. And then
we mirror our ratings to reflect contemporary
concerns and better assist parents in making the
right family viewing choices.
Over the years, we have also made distinct
enhancements to the system. The most notable
change was the addition of the PG-13 rating in
1984, created to alert parents of more intense
film content. Unique rating descriptors for
movies rated PG or higher were added in 1990.
And in 2007, we decided to consider tobacco
imagery as a factor in assigning ratings and their
accompanying descriptors.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not
credit the success of CARA to the strong
relationship with the National Association of
Theatre Owners (NATO), which goes back
to the very beginning. When Jack created the
ratings, NATO agreed to support them. This
endorsement allowed the rating system to be
taken seriously by all stakeholders, audiences
and distributors alike. Over the years, we have
worked closely with NATO members to help
them give rating information as well as to encourage
feedback about the ratings themselves.
I look forward to the ongoing success of this
important partnership.
In the last 50 years, American audiences have
adjusted their views on almost everything. Our
values and opinions have evolved as the movies
we watch address tough issues and encourage discussion
of challenging themes. I am proud that
CARA has played a role in that discourse—and
that by helping American parents make the right
viewing choices for their families, we are also
protecting the rights of filmmakers to express
themselves freely.
Even after watching thousands of movies,
I cannot predict, unfortunately, what we
may see on-screen in the years ahead. But I
can confidently say the ratings system will
continue to adapt and stay true to our role of
keeping parents informed. n
This article originally appeared in the April 2018 issue of Boxoffice.
44 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
FAMILY PORTRAIT
INTERVIEW WITH WILDLIFE
DIRECTOR PAUL DANO
by Daniel Loria
CAREY MULLIGAN AND
JAKE GYLLENHAAL
>> Paul Dano has delivered several memorable performances
in his career thus far—from the brooding older
sibling in the feel-good comedy Little Miss Sunshine to
the zealous and ambitious Eli Sunday in P.T. Anderson’s
There Will Be Blood. It should be no surprise therefore
that Dano’s directorial debut, the big-screen adaptation
of author Richard Ford’s Wildlife, is a film that has already
been lauded for the dramatic performances of its lead
characters. The film follows teenage Joe (Ed Oxenbould),
the only child of Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry
(Jake Gyllenhaal), as the family struggles to settle into life
as new residents of a Montana town in the 1960s. Joe’s
and Jeanette’s lives are turned upside down when Jerry
loses his job and decides to join a local effort to control
nearby wildfires. Joe experiences the struggle to redefine
the family home firsthand in this coming-of-age drama,
a film that premiered to rave reviews at the Sundance
Film Festival earlier this year. Boxoffice spoke with Dano
about his directorial debut, and why a film like Wildlife is
the sort of movie best enjoyed in a theater.
How did you come across Richard Ford’s novel? And
what about it made you dedicate years of your life to
getting it made into a film?
I had actually just read a book of short stories by
Richard Ford called Rock Springs. I had read another
book of his, The Sportswriter, but Rock Springs had a
slightly different style of prose, and I’ve always loved
when something appears simple but is actually quite
complex. The prose in those stories was very poetic, even
though it’s sort of spare.
I went looking for another book of his like that and
saw Wildlife. I read the first paragraph and was like, “Oh,
this.” The first sentence and first paragraph of Wildlife
are probably some of my favorites, ever. I immediately
fell in love with this book. Around 20-something pages
in, there was a passage about this kid watching his mom
teach swim class. Something about how everybody else
looked like, “There’s a woman who’s happy” or “There’s a
good-looking woman” or “There’s a woman with a good
smile”—he knows something’s wrong at home. Something
about that duality was very beautiful and moving
and profound to me.
I thought about the book for about a year and read it
many times. When I thought of the final scene, the final
image of the film—which is different from the book—that’s
when I was like, “Okay, I think I can make a movie of this.”
The film doesn’t cover a lengthy passage of time, but
there’s a lot of emotional development—for all the
46 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

characters—within its time frame. And the
characters’ interiority, something you can
glean from Richard Ford’s prose, can present a
challenge when it comes to expressing it visually
in a film. How did you approach that challenge?
The book is interior, it’s future tense looking
back at this experience, and it’s largely internal.
That doesn’t necessarily make a movie. So a lot
of what I was asking while trying to write the
screenplay with Zoe [Kazan, Dano’s long-time
partner] was asking, “I love the feeling that’s
here. How is that an image or an action?” In
small ways, even a kid fixing a toilet is a way to
communicate through an image or an action. This
film is a family portrait, so the language of the
film is largely about images, moments. It doesn’t
lend itself to a lot of camera moves. That was the
part I looked forward to the most when making
it: where to put the camera and why. My director
of photography, Diego Garcia, is a very special
guy. I worked with a wonderful production designer
and costume designer.
What were some of the visual references you
used in creating a period piece like this?
One of the nice things about making a period
film is that you get to control everything. We get
to create every second of the film. Some of the
exteriors you have to find, because we just don’t
have the money. But the interiors—the colors, the
textures, everything—we make that. That’s so fun
and expressive. It’s such an important part of the
audience’s experience, especially just on a level of
unconscious detail. We didn’t have a big budget,
so that was a challenge—one that in pre-production
is driving you crazy. Once you’re there,
it’s great. The most important thing is to get the
feeling of it right, wanting to be period accurate
but also focus on what feels right.
Did you take visual cues from other films
or artists?
Certainly paintings or photography—Stephen
Shore, for example. There’s something there in
the images and in the colors. Of course, Norman
Rockwell and Edward Hopper.
Then just think of family portraits, something
Zoe and I have always collected—have you ever
gone to a thrift store or just somewhere in some
town, there’s a bucket of old photos sometimes?
We always go through those. I just think they’re
beautiful. We usually end up buying a couple. So
even stuff like that, where you’re trying to imbue
a slight sense of myth or nostalgia. Hopefully that
can help express the emotion in the present tense.
As an actor, how did you approach the
performances in the film?
I’m very lucky to have Carey [Mulligan] and
Jake [Gyllenhaal] and Ed [Oxenbould] and Bill
[Camp]. The film relies on them. The way that I
wanted to make the film would not work without
actors who are really giving you not just a piece
of themselves, but a real internal experience. The
space between the lines is just as important as
what they’re saying. That’s part of that duality I’m
interested in. You can look at the world and smile
at somebody, but also have something that you’re
struggling with. I think that’s true for most of us
at some point in our lives. You hope the script
is there to support them as a foundation, and I
think it was.
Working with the actors felt like parenting
a little bit, where you’re just trying to create
an environment for that person to be the best
version of themselves. Be their cheerleader and
push them when you need to. It was very fun to
re-look at acting as a director, appreciate it and
go, “Wow, I am, as a director, living through
Carey or Jake right now. They’re my extension to
the audience.”
I tried to give them the experience I would
want as an actor, which is just the chance to really
go to work. We shot it fairly economically, so we
got to do enough takes. Sometimes on a really
tight schedule you try to clip through things.
That’s an absolute no for me. I really believe that
once you’re there, you only get to do a scene once
on film. You’re not going back the next day to
that location, so you have to take the time to get
it right. I was lucky that they gave me so much
trust, that they went all-in on their characters.
Are you looking forward to getting back
to directing?
Definitely. I can’t wait to make another film.
I don’t know what it will be, but I would guess
and hope that it’s going to be something different
than Wildlife for sure. This was something I’ve
dreamed about for a long time, this type of film
and filmmaking that I love. It would be fun to do
something a little more playful.
FOR AS LONG AS I HAVE WANTED
TO MAKE FILMS, I HAVE KNOWN
I WOULD MAKE FILMS ABOUT
FAMILY.
IN MY HOME GROWING UP, THERE
WAS AN EXTRAORDINARY AMOUNT
OF LOVE. THERE WAS ALSO
INCREDIBLE TURBULENCE. I WAS
CAUGHT OFF-GUARD WHEN I READ
A BOOK THAT OPENED A WINDOW
TO THAT DUALITY: WILDLIFE, BY
RICHARD FORD. I READ IT MANY
TIMES, SPOOKED, UNSETTLED, AND
EXCITED BY THE UNCANNY FEELING
OF SHARING AN INNER LIFE WITH
THIS BOOK.
I SPENT A YEAR DAYDREAMING
ABOUT IT. ONE DAY, A FINAL SCENE
CAME TO ME—THE FINAL IMAGE
OF WHAT WOULD BE MY FILM. THAT
IMAGE GAVE ME THE COURAGE TO
GO FORWARD.
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 47

FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
CAREY MULLIGAN, ED OXENBOULD, AND JAKE GYLLENHAAL
I WROTE TO RICHARD FORD, AND
SECURED THE OPTION FOR THE
BOOK. FORD, IN AN EMAIL TO ME AT
THAT TIME, GAVE ME A GREAT GIFT.
HE WROTE, “I’M GRATEFUL TO YOU
FOR YOUR INTEREST IN MY BOOK;
BUT I SHOULD ALSO SAY THIS—IN
HOPES OF ACTUALLY ENCOURAGING
YOU: MY BOOK IS MY BOOK; YOUR
PICTURE—WERE YOU TO MAKE
IT—IS YOUR PICTURE. YOUR
MOVIEMAKER’S FIDELITY TO MY
NOVEL IS OF NO GREAT CONCERN
TO ME … ESTABLISH YOUR OWN
VALUES, MEANS, GOAL; LEAVE THE
BOOK BEHIND SO IT DOESN’T GET
IN THE WAY—AND WHERE IT’S
SAFEST.” HIS WORDS EMPOWERED
ME TO BEGIN WRITING WITH MY
PARTNER, ZOE KAZAN.
How was it for you and Zoe making a movie
together, both as a couple and as professionals,
dedicating years of your lives to a single project,
as opposed to being on set and then moving on
to the next project?
I would say it was pretty easy; she would
probably say it was hard. I wrote the first draft
of the screenplay and gave it to her to read. I
secretly thought it was pretty good but she just
tore it apart. There were notes on every page. It
was my first time writing something; it was the
first person ever reading something I wrote, so it
was especially debilitating. We didn’t get very far
in the notes and we were fighting. She said, “Why
don’t you just let me do a pass? I see what you’re
trying to do.”
Then we just traded it back and forth. We
would sit down and bang something out, then
talk about it for two or three hours, do a notes
session. Then one of us would take it and do
some work on it. We never sat at a computer
together and wrote dialogue or anything like
that. I think that was a good way to work for
us, creatively—and as people who live together.
There were challenges, for sure. But to get to
share something that we both love? We can’t do
it all the time, but it’s cool that we’ve been able
to do it.
You go to Sundance and the film gets great
reception. IFC picks up the film, a company that
has experience with both theatrical releases and
day-and-date VOD rollouts. How important was
it for you, in your debut film, to have a theatrical
release through IFC?
It was very important, simply because it’s
the type of film that is best appreciated when
you give it the time that it’s giving you. Maybe
there are different kinds of films that would
be good on a streaming platform, but this is a
movie where I would really love for somebody
to sit down with the characters and fall in with
the film for 104 minutes. It’s my first film, and I
wanted to make a film. Any kind of release these
days that is not a franchise film requires a great
amount of care. I’ve been around enough films
and worked with most distributors at this point.
The difference is really when people care about
the film, and I think IFC feels that way about
Wildlife. I don’t have anything against [streaming],
but a theatrical release is definitely what I
wanted for this film in particular. n
48 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

PAUL DANO AT THE MOVIES
MOVIEGOING MEMORY
I remember one time I had a babysitter who didn’t want to miss seeing Terminator
2 on opening weekend. She took me at a very young age, I was maybe 7. That was a
little young. When the actor is running out of breath before he blows the building,
I remember that and being like, “What the … ?” I don’t know if that made me want
to be an actor. Arnold is not who I am! But I remember seeing this movie and being
like “Whoa.” Super intense. That was definitely a favorite movie for a long time.
I think the most important step for me came probably in late high school and
college, where I really suddenly knew there were films of all kinds. Whether
it was going to see Terminator 2 or independent American cinema, leading
to world cinema and seeing films that I didn’t know you could make. Luckily,
living in New York and having the opportunity to see those was really amazing.
I remember seeing The Thin Red Line—that was a mindblower that you could
make a film like that.
CAREY MULLIGAN
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 49

COVER STORY
PRODUCER GRAHAM KING BRINGS THE STORY OF
THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BAND TO THE BIG SCREEN
IN BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
by Daniel Loria
The story of Queen—John Deacon, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and, of
course, Freddie Mercury—the larger-than-life band whose influence still
reverberates, and whose hits continue to thrill audiences, has been an
ongoing passion project for Graham King. The British producer is known
for bringing the stories of 20th-century icons to the silver screen—including
The Aviator, Martin Scorsese’s Howard Hughes biopic starring
Leonardo DiCaprio, and Ali, Michael Mann’s Muhammad Ali saga starring
Will Smith. His latest, Bohemian Rhapsody, tracks 15 years of the band’s
history, from its origins and early days to its tour de force performance
at Live Aid in 1985. Boxoffice spoke with King about the long road of
pre-production, his feelings about the band, and Rami Malek’s electrifying
performance as Mercury.
What is it about this story that inspired you to fight to get it on-screen?
I first met with Jim Beach [Queen’s manager], Brian May, and Roger
Taylor in 2010 to discuss making the film about Freddie and their lives.
For me, the intrigue of this particular project was twofold. There is, of
course, the incredibly exciting chance to tell the story of a band that is
so iconic and transcendent in what they’ve accomplished. But I was also
fascinated with the idea that there is so much about Freddie Mercury and
Queen—arguably one of the greatest bands in history—that the general
public does not know. People know the name, the headlines and, of
course, the music; but there is so much more to their journey. Freddie
was an immigrant kid who was bullied and overcame so many struggles
to become the best version of himself. Even when he became the biggest
rock star in the world, he never forgot that kid, and that mindset influenced
so much of who the band was then and still is now. To this day, at
every concert, Queen plays to the shy kid in the back of the arena. This
is such an important story to tell, and, for me, it was crucial that we not
only celebrate their music and achievements, but also give people a better
understanding of the band’s history.
(continued on page 53)
JOSEPH MAZZELLO AND RAMI MALEK
50 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 51

COVER STORY
JOSEPH MAZZELLO, BEN HARDY, RAMI MALEK, AND GWILYM LEE
52 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

Were you a big fan of the band?
I have always been a huge fan of Queen and
their music. Growing up in London during the
’70s and early ’80s, I was able to experience their
music and watch their rise to international icons
from the hometown perspective. This is music
that was essentially the soundtrack to so much of
my teenage years and young adulthood. Even just
having the chance to sit down with them to tell
them why I wanted to make this movie and why
they should trust me with this story was absolutely
surreal. I’ve been lucky enough to work in this
business for a long time and have made films with
some of the best in the business, and it is rare that
I feel starstuck meeting anyone. But meeting Jim
Beach, Brian May, and Roger Taylor for the first
time was definitely an exception to that rule. Meeting
these music legends in a London pub and then
having them agree to let me make this film—there
aren’t many memories than can top that.
This film has been in the works and experienced
a number of false starts and hiccups along the
way—nevertheless, the production team has
persevered in the journey to bring this movie to
cinemas. As a seasoned producer, what kind of
challenge does Bohemian Rhapsody represent in
your career?
I love telling real-life stories. I’ve made The
Aviator, the Howard Hughes story with Leonardo
DiCaprio; Ali, the Muhammad Ali story with Will
Smith; Argo, with Ben Affleck, which told the story
of Tony Mendez. The challenge on all these films
is turning someone’s real life into a theatrical film.
This was no exception when making Bohemian
Rhapsody, which is arguably the most daunting
of the films I’ve made, as it’s no secret this has
always been my passion project. So when the all
of the stars started to align and the film went into
production, it was a big moment for me. It’s always
a great feeling to get any movie made, especially
today, but this one was extra special.
Freddie Mercury was an incomparable superstar.
How did you hit upon Rami Malek for this role?
One of our biggest obstacles was finding the
right person to play Freddie Mercury. Freddie
was such an iconic person and was larger than
life in many ways. This movie lives or dies on the
audience investing in Freddie, so we had to get
someone who could embody Freddie in every sense
RAMI MALEK
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 53

COVER STORY
of the word—emotionally, physically, even the energy. This
haunted me for years—until Denis O’Sullivan, who works
for me, introduced me to Rami Malek. We spent hours
talking about Freddie and the band. He not only looked
the part, but was so passionate about the project. I can’t get
too specific but, trust me, Rami has done such an amazing
job with this role and has truly made it his own. His work
ethic and emotional range is incredible.
How did you choose a direction for the story?
The film starts with the formation of Queen, through
to Live Aid in 1985. It’s always difficult when making a
film based on real-life characters to tell their entire life
story in the span of a few hours. Especially in this case,
there were so many incredible stories and moments in
their lives that we could choose from. The most challenging
part was narrowing down these moments into a story
that worked cinematically. I always knew that I wanted
to create a film that takes people through Freddie and the
band’s journey in a real and emotional way. So when we
were shaping the story we focused on moments that celebrate
Freddie’s life and the band’s accomplishments but
also feel honest, raw, and relatable. Where we ultimately
landed was a great blend of all of those things—and I
think it will make people cry, laugh, and hopefully sing
out loud in the theaters.
How much involvement did the surviving members of the
band have on the film?
The band was very involved from the beginning. We
spent many hours together going through their real-life
experiences. It was not only an incredible and surreal
experience to be sitting with Queen and hear firsthand their
stories, but they were also tremendously helpful and open
to that part of the process.
GRAHAM KNIGHT AT THE MOVIES
MOVIEGOING MEMORY
One of my favorite things is sneaking into a movie
theater once one of my films is released and watching the
audience hopefully enjoy the experience. After spending
so many years making a film, it can be one of the most
rewarding experiences watching people enjoy what you
are so passionate about.
CONCESSIONS STAND
I’m always a sucker for the hot dog!
How do you think the film’s themes connect with today’s
audiences?
The film’s themes are as relevant as ever. It’s not just
about escapism—it’s more than that. It’s about discovering
who you are, going after your dreams, defying the odds,
making a difference, the importance of family and loved
ones, and finding your place in the world. That said, I also
wanted to make sure that the film still felt fun and exciting
and was a cinematic experience for the audience. Freddie
defied and transcended stereotypes and expectations, just
as Queen’s music refuses to be slotted into a traditional
genre. The impact Queen and Freddie have had through
their music is a cross-generational, multicultural, and global
phenomenon—and I wanted to make a film that felt like a
foot-stomping celebration of that. n
54 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

RAMI MALEK AND GWILYM LEE
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 55

FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
STRAIGHT FROM
THE HART
INTERVIEW WITH THE FRONT RUNNER SCREENWRITERS
MATT BAI AND JAY CARSON
by Jesse Rifkin
>> Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, Clarence
Thomas, Anthony Weiner—in the past three decades, allegations
of extramarital affairs or sexual improprieties committed by all
these men were fair game for reporters. Yet once upon a time,
politicians from Franklin Roosevelt to John F. Kennedy hid similar
skeletons in their closets that some in the press were aware of,
but never reported due to a long-held sense that such topics were
off-limits. What changed? The answer is Gary Hart. In 1987, the
Colorado senator was leading in the polls for both the Democratic
presidential nomination and the general election. That is until a
team of Miami Herald reporters broke all journalistic precedent
by publishing a front-page story about Hart’s alleged affair
with a blond model 21 years his junior. From that moment on,
everything changed.
Hart’s story comes to the big screen with Sony/Columbia’s The
Front Runner, starring Hugh Jackman as Hart and J.K. Simmons as
campaign manager Bill Dixon. The screenplay was co-written by
director Jason Reitman (known for directing Juno and Up in the
Air), journalist and Yahoo News national political columnist Matt
Bai (author of the book All the Truth is Out about Hart), and former
Hillary Clinton spokesperson-turned-screenwriter Jay Carson.
Boxoffice spoke to Bai and Carson about the story’s modern-day
parallels, their collaborative writing process, why they changed the
title of Bai’s book, and whether to let their children see the movie.
56 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

HUGH JACKMAN AS SEN. GARY HART
The three lead characters in your screenplay are Gary Hart, his wife, Lee,
and campaign manager Bill Dixon. After the recent successes of both The
Post and Spotlight, why didn’t you decide to structure the story primarily
around the journalists?
Carson: We were trying to tell a multifaceted story that drew you in to all
sides of this crisis. We wanted the audience to get to see it from the journalists’
perspective, so we take you there; from the candidate’s perspective,
so we take you there; from the spouse’s perspective, so we take you there;
from Donna Rice’s perspective, so we take you there. We made a conscious
decision not to lock in on one journalist or one candidate—one person who
is a classic protagonist and a good guy. There are no good guys or bad guys in
our movie, they’re just human beings put in really difficult situations, having
to make really difficult choices.
Bai: This is a little different for some people; it may be a little jarring or
confusing. Because you have journalists who embody the best of my profession,
but then also whose behavior raises legitimate questions. We’re really
asking you to consider all the different perspectives and to reflect a little. I’ve
been a journalist for more than 20 years, 11 years at the Times. My wife’s a
journalist, my friends are journalists. This is not by any means an indictment
of the decisions the journalists made. But we ask political operatives to reflect
a bit, we ask candidates and voters to reflect a bit, and we ask journalists to
reflect a bit on their decisions and the consequences. I think that’s different
from the movies you mentioned, because we’re not telling a morality tale or
lionizing anybody. We are asking a lot of questions in this film about decisions
everybody’s made and the consequences those have had through the years.
(continued on next page)
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 57

FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
How did you choose to portray the Hart/
Rice relationship in the screenplay?
Because although virtually everybody in
America assumes their relationship was
sexual, both of them have continued to
deny it, even decades later.
Bai: Just to be clear about it, primarily
their response has been that it’s not
anybody’s business. Hart said there was
“no relationship.” How he defines that
is his question. I don’t think that they’ve
denied, so much as declined to talk about
it; that would be a more accurate way to
put it.
Carson: The point of the movie is
that the event is not the crux of the issue.
There are a lot of other issues going on.
We deal with it in that way in the movie.
Both in the visual and audio style of the
movie, we give the viewer a lot of choices
of what to pay attention to. We very
rarely lock on one person. There’s very
rarely a tight shot on one character for a
long period of time, because we’re giving
the audience a choice of what’s important.
The event in question is obliquely
referred to, but we’re giving the audience
the choice. Do you think that’s absolutely
central to the story? Great, you can focus
on it. But it’s your choice as a viewer.
Why did you decide to go for an R
rating here?
Carson: We made the world feel true
to life. People use a lot of bad words in
the real world. In order for that world
to feel real, fortunately or unfortunately,
people need to talk “real.” Fortunately or
unfortunately, some people have really
foul mouths in that world. So we wrote
people the way that they actually sound.
As a result, that’s the rating. But the content
and the themes of this are well over
the head of a 13-year-old anyway! We’re
asking people to grapple with big human
conflict, big geopolitical conflict. This is
not a 12-year-old’s movie, having nothing
to do with sex scenes.
Bai: To Jay’s point about making
the world feel real, I’m trying to decide
whether to let my 13- and 10-year-old
kids be able to see this movie. On the one
hand, there’s a lot of profanity. On the
other hand, they hear me on the phone
all day long. The world may be so real
that it doesn’t matter!
Matt, your 2014 book about Hart
was titled All the Truth is Out. Whose
decision was it to change the title to
The Front Runner?
Bai: We all talked about it. My only
regret is that we’re re-titling the book,
which as an author is much more painful
than as a screenwriter. The title came
from a Yeats poem; it’s a very literary
reference that Hart recites at one point in
the book. It’s a lovely title that my wife
came up with, and I’m very attached it to
it for a book. But you’re not going to use
a poem in a movie title, not in a way that
feels natural and real. I think the reference
would have been lost. All of us came
around in the end.
How certain is it that Hart’s front-runner
status prior to the scandal would have
lasted, either for winning the party
nomination or the presidency? Neither
of our last two presidents were the front
runner for their party’s nomination on
the day they announced.
Bai: That is true today, certainly. But
in 1988, if you had the kind of numbers
that Gary Hart had going into that
campaign, you would have been a very
formidable favorite. It was very rare that
someone with that much of a hold on
their party’s nomination process was
upended, at that time. No one can say
for certain. But The Front Runner is an
entirely accurate title. The idea that he
would have been the nominee is a pretty
strong one.
Talk about your relationship as co-screenwriters.
How did you guys work together?
Did both of you write each scene, or did
one of you write one scene and then the
other would write the next one?
Bai: We’ve known each other a
long time; we were close friends before
we started co-screenwriting, so there
was a very comfortable collaborative
rhythm to it. Everything we write, we
pass it back and forth. Someone will
do a bunch of scenes, then get busy or
get stuck and hand it off to the other
person. We talk about it constantly.
We don’t use Track Changes, we don’t
litigate the changes. Our rule with each
other is “If you didn’t notice I changed
it, it was probably worth changing.” It
ends up being such a collaborative process
that we don’t even know by the end
who started what scene. It’s always fun
because we’re always laughing. I think
that helps the process too, the fact that
we have a lot of fun doing it.
Carson: I totally agree with that. It’s
enjoyable. We’ve been friends since 1999
and that really helps. We’ve also been on
opposite sides of the fence, so we know
how to be tough but respectful to each
other. Neither of us lets the other get
away with anything, but there are no axes
to grind with either of us, because we are
actually really close friends. We enjoy it.
And as Matt says, we pass it back and
forth so often. We don’t do a Frankenstein
approach, so it’s not like I write
something and Matt writes some and we
stitch it together. Someone starts it and
writes until they stop, then the next person
gets it and does a pass, then it keeps
going so there’s a continuity of voice and
feel throughout. We’re similar but bring
slightly different approaches to it.
Bai: We should note that there were
three of us. We sort of dragged Jason
[Reitman] into our way of passing it
back and forth. It was probably new to
him, but it all melded so seamlessly. I
learned an awful lot about screenwriting
working with him. I’m sure Jay would
say the same. The three of us had a
really great collaboration. We are three
people who could work together really,
really well.
Carson: We’re actually doing another
project with Jason after this one. We
can’t say what it is yet! But it worked so
well, we’re doing it again. n
58 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

MATT BAI AND JAY CARSON
AT THE MOVIES
MOVIEGOING MEMORY
Bai: I have a vivid memory of going to
the movies with a buddy of mine in
elementary school when going to the
movies was a really big deal; there was no
other way to see a movie. Watching the
movie Airplane and practically falling out
of our chairs in hysterics, at 10 or 11 years
old. To me, that is my most vivid memory
of the transformative power of movies. It’s
not any of the great dramatic movies that
I saw after that, which I love. Just the pure
joy of watching something that as a little
kid I found absolutely hilarious.
Carson: Mine is seeing Back to the Future,
the first one, at the Riverside in Macon,
Georgia. A very similar experience to
Matt: just being absolutely floored by
it, completely brought into the world,
MATT BAI, JAY CARSON, AND JASON REITMAN
blown away by the character, by the story.
I grew up in a little town, felt weird and
isolated and trapped. You hear people tell
this kind of story at the Oscars, but I just
felt transported out of my town to a place
that was exciting and fun and with a ton
of possibilities. I probably went back and
saw that movie in the theaters 15 times,
convincing every relative and friend I
could possibly find to take me back to
that movie. I still remember the airconditioning;
I remember the theater, the
big comfortable seats. It was really great.
AT THE CONCESSIONS STAND
Bai: For me, absolutely popcorn. I’m a
purist on this. I always have popcorn.
And as my wife would tell you with no
small amount of irritation, although
we’ve been going to the movies
together for more than 20 years, I do not
start the popcorn until the actual feature
presentation begins. And I don’t care
how long that takes.
Carson: I always get popcorn, but my
favorite snack is peanut M&M’s. I literally
get popcorn every time I go to the
movies, whether I want it or not. But
I’m 41 now, so I don’t get peanut M&M’s
every single time, because I go to the
movies a ton. I reward myself for finishing
a writing project by going to see two
or three features in a single day. But if I
were 21, I would get peanut M&M’s every
single time.
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 59

BINGHAM RAY SPIRIT AWARD
TIM LEAGUE
FOUNDER & CEO, ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE...........................................................................................62
AWARD OF RECOGNITION
ROBERT CARRADY
PRESIDENT, CARIBBEAN CINEMAS.....................................................................................................70
SALAH M. HASSANEIN HUMANITARIAN AWARD
CHRIS ARONSON
PRESIDENT, DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION, 20TH CENTURY FOX..........................................................76
AL SHAPIRO DISTINGUISHED SERVICE AWARD
MARK BORDE
PRESIDENT, THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION, ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES.........78
INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITOR OF THE YEAR
MIGUEL RIVERA
GLOBAL VP OF PROGRAMMING AND CONTENT, CINÉPOLIS...........................................................82
DAN FELLMAN SHOW ‘E’ AWARD
NEIL CAMPBELL
VICE CHAIRMAN, LANDMARK CINEMAS CANADA...........................................................................86
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 61

SHOWEAST 2018
TIM LEAGUE
FOUNDER & CEO
ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE
SPIRIT AWARD
RAY BINGHAM
Interview by Daniel Loria
Among cinephiles, it’s common knowledge that a
passion for the movies can have a big influence
on major life decisions. In Tim League’s case, that
passion drove him to take a big risk that would
eventually change his life—and help popularize
an alternative to moviegoing in the United States.
In his mid-20s, only several years removed from
degrees in engineering and art history at Rice University, League
traded in a fledgling career at Shell Oil to lease a movie theater in
Bakersfield, California. That risk didn’t pan out, but he didn’t let that
keep him down. Together with his wife, Karrie, League regrouped
and decided to try his hand at exhibition one more time—this
time in Austin, Texas. That theater has grown to become a fixture
in American moviegoing, and today the Alamo Drafthouse brand
stretches from exhibition (named the 22nd largest circuit in the U.S.
& Canada in our 2018 Giants of Exhibition ranking) to film festivals
(Austin’s Fantasy Fest) to film journalism (Birth.Movies.Death) and
theatrical distribution (Neon). Boxoffice caught up with League
ahead of ShowEast, where he will be receiving this year’s Bingham
Ray Spirit Award. He talked about his beginnings in the industry
and how he helped establish Alamo Drafthouse as one of the most
recognizable circuits in theatrical exhibition.
Alamo wasn’t your first foray in exhibition;
can you tell us about the first
theater you opened in your career?
That would be 1994. I was 24 years
old and had previously been working
for Shell Oil in Bakersfield, California.
On my way to work was an abandoned
movie theater that I passed by every day.
One day, the marquee with red old-fashioned
letters said “For Lease.” I had
never thought of that as a career path. I
wasn’t really happy with my first choice
of careers, being an engineer, but I loved
movies. So that weekend I had the idea
of signing that lease. I spent most of that
whole week putting a rough business
plan together. Literally a week later, I
signed the lease and entered exhibition,
with no real right to do it. I just loved
movies and wanted a change. I was close
to L.A., so actually one of the first things
I did was I went down to L.A., went to a
good magazine shop, and bought a copy
of Boxoffice magazine. They had all
the distributor contact info in the back.
That’s how I started to figure out how the
whole system worked.
One of the things I’m most excited
about for this award is that it’s named
after Bingham Ray. He was one of those
figures, my first year in operations at
Bakersfield, who really took me under his
wing. He was so kind to me. I obviously
didn’t know a damn thing about what
I was doing. We were late on payments
and we didn’t even know how anything
worked. He took the time to walk me
through the steps, gave me films that he
didn’t have to, like Killing Zoe and The
Last Seduction. He was one of those kind
human beings that helped me understand
the business that I had embarked upon.
I met him for the very first time, face to
face, at Art House Convergence—literally
four days before he passed away. I was
so excited to be able to say thank you
personally. It was such a strange ball of
emotions, because he was so important to
me in those Bakersfield years.
What were some of the lessons that you
took from that first experience that are
still with you today?
I was really wide-eyed and optimistic.
The theater failed. We ran it for almost
two years, running it as an art house
theater. It wasn’t in a great neighborhood;
there was a lot of crime in the neighborhood.
We just couldn’t get people to
come. So that resonated, having a process
for determining what is important about
a location. I didn’t go to business school,
but that’s what you hear: the “location,
location, location” mantra was driven
home to me by failure. So we take that
very seriously now.
On the more positive side, my only
qualification for getting into the business
was that my girlfriend at the time, Karrie,
agreed to marry me in the middle of that
two-year stretch in Bakersfield. She also
quit her job and went into operations, and
helped basically stabilize the theater that
I had started. We both loved movies, and
that’s the core of our company now: we
go to great pains to make sure that we hire
people that love what we’re doing, love
our mission, love going to the cinema.
You weren’t deterred after that first
rough experience in the business. What
62 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

TIM LEAGUE
PHOTOGRAPHED BY VICTORIA STEVENS
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 63

ought you back to exhibition, to
Austin with what we now know as
Alamo Drafthouse?
We learned the business in Bakersfield.
We also learned from some of the things
we did wrong. We knew in our hearts
that we could make it work if we started
all over again. So we basically shuttered
the Bakersfield theater, reupholstered a
bunch of seats, bought a used projector,
a used screen, packed everything up. We
actually stayed at Karrie’s parents’ house
for six months and started to look at
other markets, to develop a more serious
business plan. Eventually we landed
on Austin and found what we thought
would be a great location. It was a cool
film town, with the Austin Film Society
and a big university.
Was it difficult to sign a lease this
time around?
Everybody was turning us down. We
had one failed business to speak of. It was
one of the growing boom times of Austin,
in the late ’90s. Somebody agreed to lease
us a second-floor space in a burgeoning
entertainment district. We raised a bit of
money, mostly from our parents. We had
this business plan. If we fail again, we
won’t ever talk about it. We’ll go take our
science careers back and pay it back slowly
over the course of the next seven years.
We built the first single-screen theater in
Bakersfield for about $200,000, just us
doing all the construction ourselves and a
pretty poor job of it. We introduced the
food component, we didn’t really have
any experience with that either. I got a
job at a pizza restaurant; Karrie got a job
waiting tables.
Cinema dining was an integral part of
the renewed concept once you got to
Austin. How did you come upon that?
During that time the concept was very
far away from what it is today.
In Bakersfield we did some tests. We
had some shows where we would partner
with local restaurants and would show
largely classic films. We showed The
Bicycle Thief with an Italian five-course
meal, but we had it catered. They would
bring a catered operation into our lobby
and serve it this way. We really liked that
synthesis of marrying food to film. Then
when I actually proposed to my wife
and we got married in the middle of
that two-year stretch in Bakersfield, our
honeymoon was a working honeymoon;
we went up to Portland to go see how
the McMenamins team did it. We were
certainly inspired by what they were
doing in Portland and built our own
take on what they were doing, created
our own system. (continued on page 66)
64 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

THAT IS HOW
CHANGE HAPPENS.
ONE GESTURE,
ONE PERSON,
ONE MOMENT
AT A TIME
LIBBA BRAY
Webedia Movies Pro congratulates
Tim League
Founder and CEO of Alamo Drafthouse, on being the
worthy recipient of the Bingham Ray Spirit Award.

SHOWEAST 2018
A big part of the identity that you
guys have grown has really come
through programming. Curation
might a better way to put it. It’s
something that permeates the
brand: your film festival Fantastic
Fest, digital publishing with Birth.
Movies.Death, and now theatrical
distribution with Neon. Why has
this curatorial component been so
central to the Drafthouse brand?
I think they all stem from the same
idea: that we’re for movie lovers, by
movie lovers. We love a wide swath of
films. In particular, I personally love
very strange films and genre films. So
we bill Fantastic Fest as a celebration
of those and to provide opportunities
for young genre filmmakers. Helping
them find distribution, helping them
find press and word of mouth for really
amazing films that were flying under
the radar. It’s certainly similar with
what was first Drafthouse Films and
is now Neon, being a distributor that can
bring really interesting and amazing stories
to as many people as possible. It’s a nice
synthesis between the brick-and-mortar
theater, our repertory programming, the
distribution, and the editorial side. They’re
all serving the same idea, to get people
excited about really awesome movies.
Another big part of the Alamo experience
is the no-talking, no-interruptions
policy. How did that policy evolve?
We had to make a decision in terms
of our identity really early on: are we a
restaurant where there’s a movie on the
wall, or are we a cinema that offers upgraded
concessions? We chose the latter.
We want to have great food, beer, and
wine—we want to deliver on that side
of the promise—but, first and foremost,
we love movies and want it to be a respectful
environment where people can
go to enjoy movies. I’m very particular
about that.
We didn’t have a policy for the first
couple of months; we just opened up.
Then at this one particular screening, a
midnight screening of Blue Velvet, we had
a very cheap Pabst Blue Ribbon special.
You could get six for the price of five.
There were a few people in the audience
who were enjoying it too much. They
started shouting at the film, acting up. I
went in and it was out of control. I was
almost physically sick. This was not what
I had signed up for; this is not what I’m
trying to build.
So we got a copy of Final Cut Pro
[software], and by the next weekend we
had a video of the “kick your ass out”
policy. Don’t talk during the movie. We
tried that policy, launched it with live
introductions and the video that we’d
cut. And we enforced it. Once we started
enforcing it, we became known for it. The
audience expected it and became part of
the enforcement squad.
Do you remember the first time you had
to enforce it?
I don’t remember the exact first one,
but I was in charge of throwing them
out initially. I wasn’t the best at it. We
got much better systems and policies. I
was a little ham-handed about the
enforcement but got the job done.
We don’t usually kick that many
people out—though now that we’re
bigger, by numbers, we do. But generally,
you stop having an issue if you
warn somebody one time and say, “If
I have to come back again, I’m going
to kick you out.” I’ll never forget
the time I did that to a guy and he
was quiet for the whole movie, but
he was apparently brooding. After
the film, he came up to me and was
obviously angry. I thought maybe
he was going to punch me. It just so
happened that Quentin Tarantino
was in town—shooting a movie, I
think—and this guy is up in my face,
waving his finger at me. Quentin
walks up behind, taps him on the
shoulder, and says “No, man, you’re
in the wrong.” Then he just wandered
off, amazed.
There was a period between 2004 and
2010 when you stepped back from
leading the company.
I’ll tell you, when I stepped away, I
wasn’t stepping totally away from the
company. I was nervous about growing;
my headspace wasn’t wrapped around it.
So we sold the company to somebody
who did want to grow it. They started
building up this infrastructure for operations
and accounting, kind of building
the growth engine. At the same time,
I pulled back. My wife and I were just
managing and overseeing the original
three Austin locations. During that time,
I really focused on the idea of being a
part of a community. In that same time,
we built Fantastic Fest in 2005. It was
really dialing into building out the special
local Austin-based brand. Then years
later, these two companies—Alamo Austin
and the Alamo that was growing—we
didn’t always see eye to eye. We were in a
bit of conflict. Then something amazing
happened. Instead of going to war,
we sat down and talked about how we
could potentially work together. That’s
66 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SHOWEAST 2018
when I became really interested in this
idea. We’re doing something that feels
a little bit outside of the norm in terms
of exhibition, but what if we replicate
that across the country? That would be a
meaningful way to support independent
films, like I was saying we were doing
but were only really doing it in Austin.
I got really excited about changing my
job to grow that, in service of supporting
independent film. The other folks at Alamo
had built this great expansion team.
Then we really focused on building the
brand, and really needed their expertise
and operations. Our expertise in brand
dovetailed perfectly.
There are very few, if any, other
companies in this industry today who
have been able to build a brand as
unique and recognizable as Alamo
Drafthouse. How did you get to that
point of establishing and building this
level of brand loyalty, this connection
with your audience?
A lot of it was accidental, especially
early on. Karrie and I were just at the
theater every day, so we got to know our
locals, our regulars. The lines blurred
between friendship and customer. It’s
easy to do on a single-screen 200-seat
theater. As we started to grow, my biggest
panic and fear about it was not to
screw it all up. Not to grow and make it
generic, death-by-a-thousand-cuts type
of thing. One of my primary jobs is to
make sure, as we grow, that we don’t
dilute that experience. We didn’t want
to just stamp these things as we grew.
Every time we go into a new location,
we hire a community liaison, we hire
a creative director, we hire a beverage
director, we hire a chef. We give them a
lot of freedom to curate to that particular
audience, whether it’s the film tastes
that are reflective of the personality of
the manager, the social media voice
that’s local. So you’re not getting a social
media voice from a brand, you’re getting
it from Christina in Brooklyn or James
in Dallas. We worked on support and
training and developing some national
initiatives, but largely each individual
location has a lot of freedom to express
their own passions and local beers.
Where do you think our industry is
today? What are the challenges and
opportunities facing our business in the
coming years?
I’m pretty bullish about exhibition.
It’s been a great year, not just for the
blockbusters but also for independent
films. We’ve had three documentaries
that grossed over $10 million—that’s
pretty unheard of. I’m excited about
where we are. I think there’s a lot of
fear about the unknown, about viewing
habits of a younger generation, what is
the effect of this transition to streaming.
But what I’m seeing is we still offer the
same value that we always have as an
industry. It’s a relatively affordable indulgence
and it’s a magical time. When
you go to the cinema and you see a
great film, it’s not comparable to a home
experience. I believe very strongly that
no matter how good your home entertainment
system is, no matter how deep
the streaming options are, every once in
a while you want to get out of the house
and have an experience.
The biggest challenge we have as an
industry is to ensure that the experience
stays awesome. You look at some of the
multinational players—I like seeing the
innovation that other exhibitors do; it
keeps us on our toes. From my perspective,
I want everybody to be focused on
having a great experience and making
sure it’s magical when people come to see
the movies. If we all do that, then I feel
very confident about the future of cinema.
I feel confident about encouraging
younger viewers to come and experience
the movies, because it’s special.
Talking about multinational circuits, is
an international expansion in the cards
for Alamo Drafthouse?
I feel like we have a lot of work to
do in the U.S., so we’re focusing there
right now. I can’t say what the long-term
future holds, but for now we’re a U.S.
company. We like to think of ourselves
as a brand that’s stayed nimble on many
fronts, I think evidenced by us plowing
past our subscription alternative that’s
in beta right now. We’re a pretty small
company to be able to dedicate the technology
resources, but I didn’t want to be
on my heels. If there was something that
could potentially change the way people
engage and transact with movies, we felt
it was important to spend the money and
get out there.
What makes the subscription model so
alluring for your circuit?
It was interesting, when MoviePass
dropped their price to $9.99, a lot of
folks were saying it was impossible, a crazy
business idea, that it was never going
to work. Obviously it had a turbulent
time, trying out a bunch of different
things, but it was a very intriguing idea.
We’re well aware of the European models
at a slightly higher price point that are
working and are successful. Our thought
was, “Hey, why don’t we test this out,
share our results and findings with the
studios, and have conversations about
how this might be a positive?”
The argument is that by lowering
the barrier of entry to make impulse
decisions on movies, then you could
potentially build up an audience that sees
more than just the blockbusters. The vast
bulk of our audience really only comes to
see movies three or four times a year. So
what if you can encourage them to double
that? What if you could encourage
them to come out and see BlackKklansman
or The Favourite or what have you?
That’s an exciting idea to me.
I think there’s a model out there that
will work for everybody, will be a value to
customers, will not bankrupt us, and will
be a benefit to the studios. It will also be
in alignment with our mission of building
up an audience that loves a wide swath of
films, including independent films, foreign-language
films, and documentaries. n
68 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SHOWEAST 2018
RECOGNITION
OF AWARD
ROBERT CARRADY
PRESIDENT
CARIBBEAN CINEMAS
Interview by Daniel Loria
Robert Carrady’s roots always
bring him back to the island.
As president of Caribbean
Cinemas, a circuit founded in
Puerto Rico by his father in
1969, Carrady oversees the
largest exhibition circuit in
the region with a network of nearly 500
screens in 13 territories. Carrady returned
to the family business after completing
his education at Tufts University, coming
back to a small circuit with six screens in
Puerto Rico and a newly opened six-screen
location in the Dominican Republic. With
his involvement, Caribbean Cinemas
has undergone a regional expansion
and become a leader in bringing the
latest cinema technology and concepts
to audiences across the Caribbean.
Boxoffice caught up with Carrady ahead
of CinemaCon to discuss what sets the
Caribbean region apart from any other, and
how the circuit overcame terrible obstacles
following 2017’s tragic natural disasters.
(continued on page 72)
70 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SHOWEAST 2018
CARIBBEAN CINEMAS
BARCELONETA, PUERTO RICO
Like many folks in the industry, your
family legacy is exhibition. What are
your earliest memories of working at
a theater?
I grew up in the business. Even
though Caribbean Cinemas was started
in 1969 by my dad, he was in the business
since I was a kid. I would spend a
lot of time in movie theaters, and when
he went out on his own in ’69, it became
the best way for me to learn the business
and go through its growing pains. I was
in charge of the vending machines in
high school. I would work the morning
shows on Sundays and be a theater
manager throughout the summers. I got
the bug at a young age and I jumped
back into the business full time after
graduating college. I thought I would go
back and get an MBA, but that didn’t
happen—I just stayed working.
Of all those roles, is there one that still
stands out as a personal favorite?
The excitement of figuring out the
hit of the week, the hit of the month.
When you were operating single- and
twin-screen theaters, you really had to
study what you were going to program. If
you were in a downtown area, with six or
seven theaters around you, it was crucial
to pick the right film come Christmas or
early June—because you were essentially
rejecting everything else. As a result, I’ve
always enjoyed the film-buying and booking
part of the job. Film buying is a little
easier today because you end up playing
almost everything, but back then you really
needed to have a historical knowledge
of markets and what type of films and
genres would work in them.
Caribbean Cinemas is present throughout
the entire region—a diverse collection
of territories with different cultures
and tastes. What makes the Caribbean
region so distinct?
When you look at it as a bloc, it has
a lot of similarities to the global market
in that action-exploitation, slapstick
comedies, and mass-market-appeal
movies stand out. Another distinction
is that sophisticated films have a much
more limited market—but that market
still exists. The San Juan area of Puerto
Rico and the Santo Domingo area of the
Dominican Republic, they have the audience
to support those films. In those very
markets we have our Fine Arts theaters—
three multiplex cinemas—where we cater
specialty product. We’ve been doing that
for over 30 years, opened the first one in
1986. That’s exciting because the theaters
themselves have followings. For example,
films from Spain and Argentina will only
work in those cinemas as opposed to
commercial cinemas, even though these
are predominantly Spanish-speaking
countries. In other countries, like Trinidad,
for example, we’ve found that Indian
films do very well because there is a
sizable Indian population in the country.
It all depends on the local audience.
Which amenities and new technologies
are most popular across your circuit?
We absolutely love bringing the latest
in amenities and technology to our theaters.
We have three 4DX auditoriums,
one IMAX, and 14 private-label PLFs
[CXC, Caribbean Cinemas Extreme]
with Dolby Atmos sound. The programming
that goes along with those formats
is a perfect fit for our audience in the
Spanish-, English-, and French-speaking
Caribbean. Over the years we’ve always
introduced new concepts—from reserve
seating today to high-back rockers in the
’90s and cup holders in the ’80s. Those
cup holders, let me tell you, they helped
us keep auditoriums clean. Back in the
’80s we didn’t think twice about it! By
the time your Saturday 9 p.m. show
opened its doors, it was standard operating
procedure to have guests walk over
the cups and popcorn bags from earlier
in the day. Whether it’s innovating or
renovating, it’s what helps keep us fresh
and focused.
You’re coming off a very difficult year,
marked by the devastation of two hurricanes.
What was that experience like
from your perspective as an exhibitor?
I grew up in Puerto Rico and I barely
remember hurricanes in my school days.
There was Hurricane Hugo in 1989,
George in 1998—we used to get hit, but
it would only be a piece of the island
72 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SHOWEAST 2018
that would be affected. So if San Juan
in the north was hit hard, you still had
hotels and power in Ponce in the south.
Hurricane Maria was totally devastating
in that the entire landmass was affected;
there wasn’t one square inch of the island
untouched. It came two weeks after Hurricane
Irma, which affected the islands
of St. Thomas and St. Martin, where we
have theaters. With Maria, every one of
our theaters in Puerto Rico remained
closed six or seven days after the storm.
It was frustrating, and there was such a
huge unknown around that period, we
didn’t know when we’d see the light at the
end of the tunnel. The hurricane came on
a Wednesday, and I remember that first
weekend was the first time in my life that
I didn’t even want to look at weekend
grosses from the U.S. I didn’t even want
to know because it was too sad; it was
almost like having an arm cut off. It took
about six or seven weeks to start to turn
the corner towards a predictable recovery.
We did have some theaters with generators,
and when they started operating
again the second weekend after the storm,
people came back. We had curfew, so our
last shows were at 4 p.m. because people
had to be in their homes by sundown.
When the power started to come back,
it came back near the highways and
areas near our theaters. We probably had
around half of our theaters back operating
five weeks after the storm in locations
spread out across the island. We received
tremendous damage—working through
those insurance claims was and it still is a
full-time job in itself— we had to throw
out all of the chairs in some of these theaters;
I think we had to buy 250 air-conditioning
units within 10 weeks of the
storm. The numbers are mind-boggling.
How long did it take to get your entire
circuit back up and running?
We reopened our last closed theater in
Puerto Rico on December 28—that’s 100
days after Maria. We opened St. Thomas
on February 8, and we hope to reopen in
St. Martin sometime in April.
It seems like these natural disasters are
occurring more and more often. Is there
any way to prepare a business like this
for the next one?
All our theaters outside Puerto Rico
have emergency generators because the
norm in those markets is that energy is
undependable. You work it into your initial
design. A generator for a movie theater,
once you finish getting it installed,
probably runs you between $250,000
and $300,000, plus ongoing maintenance
costs, so you try to avoid it unless there’s
no other choice. Our theaters in Trinidad,
Dominican Republic, Antigua, St. Lucia,
and Guyana all have backup generators.
But having them in Puerto Rico wasn’t
the norm until now—now we know we
need generators for half our theaters in
the island ahead of the next storm season.
Only 4 of our 31 theaters in Puerto Rico
had generators, but we learned that those
generators allowed us to get into those
theaters to clean up and assess the damage
faster and limited longer-term damage.
Since the island was hit head-to-toe,
even getting diesel for those theaters with
generators proved to be an ordeal. It’s not
an exaggeration to think we will need
our own diesel truck for next hurricane
season.
What role did your cinemas play during
that lengthy reconstruction period, as
the country was in the middle of a very
difficult recovery effort?
There was great appreciation [from the
public] that we were able to get theaters
back up and running as fast as we did.
Obviously, if you own the theaters you
don’t think it’s that quick. But compared
to what was going on in the island, we
were back up and running rather quickly.
People were grateful they had a place
where they could go take a break, a place
with air-conditioning and snacks, where
they could see a movie and escape for a
couple of hours. In St. Croix, which was
also hit, the governor of the Virgin Islands
was tweeting away that our theaters
were now open, encouraging people to
go to the movies and take a break. We
extended price specials for early shows,
more than we usually do, which customers
also appreciated.
I would like to mention and thank
John Fithian for putting us in direct
contact with the kind folks at the Will
Rogers Foundation in California who
were so comprehending and understanding
to provide direct grants to over 140
of our employees whose day-to-day living
expenses mushroomed, as their homes
were severely damaged and being without
power and water for such an extended
period of time. This outreach by Will
Rogers adds to my gratitude for being a
part of this industry.
What do you think the future holds
for exhibition? What are some of the
biggest challenges ahead?
The fact that theaters today are more
luxurious, more comfortable, have better
picture and sound—that’s a big advantage.
In terms of what we need, the variety
of supply is important, making sure
we don’t have too much of a homogenous
offering. This year’s Oscar season is a fantastic
example of a great group of diverse
films, a wonderful mix of product. I keep
my fingers crossed that Fox Searchlight
will continue under Disney. You hate
hearing that specialty films don’t have to
be seen at movie theaters, that you can
see them on a smaller screen—and I don’t
know where that’s going, if that’s part of
what you hear from younger audiences
who like to see movies on their mobile
devices. Let’s face it, there’s great home
entertainment technology out there and
we really need to keep our eye on the
ball. I think that the introduction of
home video made us a better industry; we
couldn’t take it for granted that the only
place you could see a movie was in a theater.
That’s what led to a better moviegoing
experience: better seats, better sound,
bigger screens. n
This story originally appeared in the April,
2018, edition of Boxoffice.
74 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SHOWEAST 2018
HASSANEIN
M. SALAH
AWARD
HUMANITARIAN
HUMANITARIAN
CHRIS ARONSON
PRESIDENT, DOMESTIC DISTRIBUTION
20TH CENTURY FOX
Interview by Daniel Loria
The Salah M. Hassanein Humanitarian
Award has been a
fixture of ShowEast since 1987,
honoring companies and executives
in the industry who have
made an impact through their
philanthropic efforts. This year’s
recipient, 20th Century Fox’s Chris Aronson,
has been involved in industry charities for
over two decades. Aronson’s support of
the Variety Club ‘s Northern and Southern
California chapters has spanned 25 years,
and he recently served as president and
chairman of the Will Rogers Motion Picture
Foundation—an organization he has been
involved with for 20 years. Aronson oversees
sales and theatrical distribution for 20th
Century Fox across the United States and
Canada. Boxoffice caught up with the
executive to talk about his career—and
the changes awaiting our industry in the
coming years.
How did you find yourself working in
the film industry? Is there anyone you
consider to have been a mentor or
instrumental in your career?
After graduation from college, I
worked in a management training
program for an industrial company that
sold tube and pipe. I heard of a job
opening at Universal Film Exchange
and was asked if I wanted to apply. I
did and went on the interview. It was
a weighty decision to make—tube and
pipe or movies? It was close (not at all),
but movies won. Lou Lencioni, Chuck
76 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

Viane, and Bruce Snyder have bestowed
upon me the gifts of patience, guidance,
and wisdom in navigating the sometime
choppy waters of the motion picture
industry. And Tom Sherak instilled in so
many of us the virtues of philanthropy
and the importance of giving back.
How would you recap 2018 so far for
our industry?
For the industry as a whole, it has been
a banner year as we look to be on course for
setting a new high for box office revenue.
Simultaneously, 2018 will be a sea change
year with the Disney/Fox deal, which will
forever alter our business landscape.
Fox has embraced the idea of a varied
slate—from ensemble superhero movies
(X-Men and Deadpool) to films with
social relevance (October’s The Hate
U Give) and big cinematic spectacles
that aren’t pre-packaged in a readybuilt
franchise (November’s Bohemian
Rhapsody). How important is having
such a diverse offering at the multiplex?
Walk down any street, in any city in
the world, and you’ll find diversity. We
live in a diverse world and moviegoers
reflect that diversity. At Fox, we have
always believed in making movies for a
wide range of global audiences. Successful
movies are about great storytelling, and
as long as there are great stories to tell, we
will make movies that tell those stories to
entertain audiences around the world.
What do you consider to be the biggest
threats facing theatrical exhibition?
How can exhibition and distribution
prepare to face those challenges?
Let’s face it—we’re in a fiercely
competitive environment for entertainment
choices. It’s incumbent upon our
industry, distribution and exhibition
collectively, to ensure the theatrical
moviegoing experience caters to modern
media consumption demands. Studios
must create the most compelling content
possible, and exhibition must create the
most inviting environment possible,
while simultaneously ensuring the priceto-value
ratio is balanced.
You’ve been in this industry for three
decades, including 13 years at Fox. How
would you describe Fox’s legacy in the
film industry?
Since its inception, 20th Century Fox
has been innovative and daring when it
comes to creating big-screen entertainment.
From How Green Was My Valley to The
Sound of Music to The French Connection to
Star Wars, this can certainly be attributed
to great filmmakers and bold leadership.
The Darryl Zanuck era set the stage for
the modern iteration of Fox with James
Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar being monumental
global achievements. Twentieth
Century Fox has championed filmmakers
and visionary storytelling, which has had a
profound impact on this great industry. n
TIM LEAGUE
PHOTOGRAPHED BY VICTORIA STEVENS
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 77

SHOWEAST 2018
SHAPIRO
AL
MARK BORDE
PRESIDENT, THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION
ENTERTAINMENT STUDIOS MOTION PICTURES
SERVICE AWARD
AWARD
DISTINGUISHED Interview by Daniel Loria
Aveteran of the motion
picture industry, Mark
Borde has a career that
reaches back to the early
1970s, when he joined
the family business as an
independent distributor.
Borde has helped bring dozens of films
to screens across the United States—all
with the insight and understanding of
an executive with direct experience in
production and exhibition. Boxoffice
spoke with Borde ahead of ShowEast,
where he will be receiving this year’s Al
Shapiro Distinguished Service Award,
and asked him to reflect on a career full
of memories—including the in-theater
marketing campaigns that continue to
reverberate today.
CLAIRE HOLT AND MANDY MOORE
IN 47 METERS DOWN
How did you first get involved in the
industry?
My father was a division salesman for
Disney when I was growing up, so the
movie business has been in my blood
ever since I was a little boy. I remember
for my birthdays he would bring home
16-millimeter movies of animated films
like 101 Dalmatians. My friends would
all sit around the living room floor and
watch movies—then we’d get tickets to
Disneyland! So the movies are part of
my heritage, my legacy, since I learned
to walk.
I didn’t plan to go into it; I was going
to be a lawyer, went to law school. But
I also got married early and needed a
job, so I asked my dad if he would let
me work in the family business. He had
started a company called Seymour Borde
and Associates. He let me in but had me
start at the bottom. I was in the shipping
room, pasting labels onto 35-millimeter
cans for years, putting them on trucks.
It happened a lot like Al Shapiro’s
experience; I started off the same way. I
was a theater usher, then I was a theater
cashier, then I was a theater assistant
manager, then I was a theater manager.
All during my teenage years, I had the
smell of popcorn all over me, wearing
that old tuxedo suit that never fit. That
was part of my background. I put in
78 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

the time in the shipping department of
my dad’s company until he let me do
sales; I started selling short subjects and
cartoons.
I went from that to selling film. My
territory was the 13 western states. As
a young married man, I had to travel
to Denver, Salt Lake City, Portland,
Seattle, San Francisco, San Diego, and
Hawaii every other month. That was a
great learning experience. In those days,
all the exhibitors actually had offices in
these cities. You’d actually go and sell
these guys where they lived. There’s no
replacing that experience. I wouldn’t say
it was fun, because it was a lot of pressure
on a young man to perform. If you didn’t
come back with a lot of bookings, you’d
hear about it. It was just a fabulous way
to get out there, interact with exhibitors,
and learn the business.
A lot of things were going on back
then that you don’t have now, since all
the clearances are gone. You had to worry
about clearances first and foremost. There
was a certain mileage requirement, so you
had to have these big charts: “I can’t take
that theater with this theater, and I can’t
take this theater with that theater.”
The good news about all that was
you could stay at a theater longer. You
were in a zone all by yourself, and there
wasn’t anything like home entertainment
to worry about. If the picture was doing
well, you could hold it over for a long period
of time: 10, 12, 15, 20 weeks. Now,
of course, you open on 4,000 screens
and the theaters are playing across the
street from each other. All the grosses are
compacted into the first week, which is
why we’re seeing 50 or 60 percent drops
in week 2. Nobody gets turned away
anymore. There are no lines. We used to
love lines. We would create lines! Five
years ago I owned an art house theater
up in Monterey, a six-plex. Even if there
were only 20 people and we had plenty
of room for them, we’d make them wait
in line outside until the show started,
so that when people were walking by
it looked like, “Whoa, must be a good
movie—there’s a line outside!” That’s part
of the old showmanship that’s kind of
lost nowadays. That’s how I cut my teeth;
that’s how I got started.
After you were up and running, did you
ever think of stepping back and doing
law like you intended?
Once it’s in your blood, there’s no going
back to doing anything else. My dad
retired and I started my own business.
I called it Borde Films. I created a very
successful independent company called
Legacy. Then I sold Legacy to a company
called Independent Artists and worked
with them for a year. Then I went to
work for Robert Vince and Keystone as
president of distribution—we did the
Air Bud movies.
Then I started a company called
Innovation Film Group. At that time I
F U L L M O T I O N + E F X
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MX4D Motion EFX Theatres
contact: sales@mediamation.com I 1.310.320.0696
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TIM LEAGUE
PHOTOGRAPHED BY VICTORIA STEVENS
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 79

SHOWEAST 2018
met my partner, Susan Jackson. She was
handling all the TV stuff. I would get
domestic rights to movies, so I would do
the theatrical and I would ask Susan to do
the TV side. We started being successful;
she would give me movies and I would
give her movies. One day we looked at
each other and said, “Well, we should
just do a company.” We called it Freestyle
Releasing. It went on to have a very long,
healthy, successful run.
I had invented, at that time, a model
called the service deal, which started
actually a little sooner than Freestyle,
but it went full tilt with Freestyle. People
would hire us for a fee and we would put
it in theaters. That was a very successful
model. We did that with Susan for
many, many years. Unfortunately, she
passed away, and I was approached by
a number of companies to buy it and I
was in a mood to sell. Byron Allen and
Entertainment Studios came along, he
made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and I
didn’t refuse it. That was three years ago,
and now I’m president of distribution for
Entertainment Studios Motion Pictures
and having a ball.
What stands out for you the most when
you think back to that time span?
The thing that stands out most is
how fast the time goes. I don’t feel my
age and I don’t think I look my age,
but when I realize that I’ve been selling
films to theaters for 45 years, I can’t even
believe it myself. My advice to people
is enjoy the moment, because it goes by
very, very quickly.
Looking back, as I’m receiving this
award named after Al Shapiro, he comes
to mind easily. I got to know Al. One of
the things that he was particularly good
at—and gained a reputation for—was
thinking outside the box, creating release
patterns and marketing plans that were
different over at New Line. I’ve more
or less done something similar, though
I didn’t specifically set out to emulate
him. I admired him and found him to
be a terrific executive. I’ve done something
similar in my career, in a much
smaller way.
I’ve never worked for a studio in my
life. I’ve worked with studios, but I’ve
never worked for a studio. In fact, around
the time I sold Freestyle to Byron, I had
never worked for anybody except for
my father. I admired Al’s style and I’ve
tried to emulate that in my way. I’ve
been lucky enough to have the ability to
do things my way, because I didn’t have
to answer to anybody. A lot of times it
worked and a lot of times it didn’t work,
but at least it was my way.
You mentioned showmanship earlier.
What tricks of the trade still have a place
in today’s moviegoing culture?
My father first introduced me to
showmanship at a very early age, when
he distributed a movie called Carry On
Nurse, a British comedy. The final scene
of the movie, the lead gets wheeled out of
the hospital with a daffodil sticking out
of his butt. That was the big laugh at the
end of the movie. We played Carry On
Nurse at the Crest Theater in Westwood
for 50 weeks. We ordered daffodils from
the flower yard and handed them out to
people as they left the theater. They’re
walking around Westwood with daffodils
in their hands, and when people asked
where they got them, they’d say, “Oh, we
just came out of Carry On Nurse. It’s over
at the Crest Theater.”
That was my introduction to marketing.
I realized you could do something
you “couldn’t do.” Back in my early days,
drive-ins were huge. Certain theaters in
Los Angeles had dozens and dozens of
drive-ins. They did tremendous box office
all over the country but did particularly
well in Southern California, where there’s
good weather year-round. A lot of times
they would play triple films, so we would
play three horror films at one time. So I
came up with this idea where we hired
young ladies in nurses’ uniforms. We
mimeographed thousands and thousands
of made-up insurance policies with a little
seal that said, “By buying a ticket to this
theater, you absolve management and the
filmmakers of any responsibility should
you die of fright after watching these
movies.” The nurses would stand at the
box office at the drive-in and would make
the driver sign this insurance certificate
to everyone that came in. Pretty soon,
getting this insurance certificate was more
exciting than seeing the movies.
I released a movie called Flesh Gordon,
an R-rated takeoff on Flash Gordon. In
the major cities, I would hire a crane
and take the star, Jason Williams, to the
top in his costume. We did it in front of
the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco;
we did it in Times Square in New York.
That’s how we got press in those days.
I don’t want to use the phrase “the
good old days,” because we still have gimmicks.
We did a lot of stuff for 47 Meters
Down with our shark—our standee was
five times the size of a normal standee. It
encouraged people to take selfies looking
like you were being eaten by a shark. It
sort of took on a life of its own; people
were stealing parts of the standee, taking
them home.
Now if you go through the theater,
you’ll see the standees are getting bigger
and more complicated. Some of them
take up a whole wall. Here in L.A., the
ArcLight does a lot of standees. The
Landmark, they’ll put in entire Plexiglas
[displays] with the costumes from the
movie they’re playing. Anything that you
can think of to get the attention of the
moviegoing audience. Very high-priced
marketing people racking their brains
for new and exciting. We had a very
successful Snapchat lens on 47 Meters
Down, which had a shark coming out of
the water.
It’s always fun hearing how
showmanship has evolved over the
years. It’s what stands out whenever we
look at older issues of the magazine.
I’ve been reading Boxoffice magazine
for many years. When my office was at
1800 North Hyland, Boxoffice magazine
was in my building. I was very tight
80 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

with the publishers back then. We did a lot of advertising with
Boxoffice back in the ’70s and ’80s and ’90s. We’d have lunch
together and schmooze. There was always a Boxoffice magazine
on my desk, and there’s still a Boxoffice magazine on my desk!
You’ve been around as long as me!
What, in your opinion, is the current state of theatrical
exhibition?
What I’ve seen in the last five decades is that the business is
adaptable. It’s like a plastic mold; it bends and it bends and it
bends, but it doesn’t break. It keeps reinventing itself in order
to keep people from staying at home and giving up on going
to the movie theater. As somebody who’s now into his seventh
decade of living, the moviegoing experience is vital and dear
to me. I’ll never give it up, I love going to the movies. I go to
the movie theater all the time. My kids and my grandkids, I
insist that they go see the movies in the theater, not at home.
Therefore, my philosophy and my mandate is the moviegoing
experience. I don’t think anybody wants to get all their entertainment
at home. I’m impressed with the way the industry has
recognized that and still to this day insists on windows as much
as they can. I’m a big proponent of windows. I love the 90-day
window for theaters before home entertainment and VOD. I’ll
always be a proponent of that.
I like what’s going on in theaters today, making it a more
interactive place to go and be entertained. I’m a little disappointed—though
I understand why we have them—with smaller
auditoriums, having to make room for those fancy seats that
expand out into beds, like first class on an airplane. It’s a great experience,
so I get it. The serving of beer and wine in the theaters
and food service, that’s all necessary. Maybe not for a traditionalist
to see and embrace completely, but I get it. These theaters
they’re building now are beautiful. The auditoriums are a little
small for my taste, but a small price to pay for getting people to
come out of their houses and not watch movies on TV.
While there are other forms of entertainment and things to
do, the movies are still the best bargain ever. At the cost of two
tickets and some popcorn (and maybe parking), it’s the best deal
in town. That’s why I think it’s going to survive everything that’s
being thrown at it. It wasn’t supposed to survive television, it
wasn’t supposed to survive HBO, it wasn’t supposed to survive
DVDs. But we’re having one of the best years ever.
I don’t see anything stopping it in the foreseeable future, even
with all the technology in the world. Theaters have the ability
to keep up with the technology, and movies have the ability to
keep up with the technology. I always look forward to the newest
piece of technology, the newest things they’re doing, whether it’s
immersive seating or augmented reality, or whatever’s going on. I
like going to conventions and seeing some of the new inventions.
I get excited about this stuff, I get motivated by it. I see a bright
future for movies and movie theaters. n
TIM LEAGUE
PHOTOGRAPHED BY VICTORIA STEVENS
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 81

Cinépolis has quickly risen to
become one of the biggest
exhibition circuits in the
world. The Mexican circuit is
now present in 14 territories
worldwide, and will soon
add Saudi Arabia to that list.
Miguel Rivera joined the company as
strategic planning director in 2005, serving
as the director of programming in its
Mexican operations from 2009 to 2015. In
his current role, Rivera oversees the circuit’s
programming teams around the world—
including all event cinema and distribution
initiatives. During his tenure, Rivera has
led company efforts in digital deployment,
anti-piracy measure, and film festival activities.
Boxoffice spoke with Rivera ahead
of ShowEast to get the latest on Cinépolis’s
growing stature as a multinational circuit.
(continued on page 84)
INTERNATIONAL
YEAR
YEAR
THE OF EXHIBITOR
MIGUEL RIVERA
GLOBAL VP OF PROGRAMMING
AND CONTENT
CINÉPOLIS
Interview by Daniel Loria
82 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

THE SECRET OF
CHANGE IS TO
FOCUS ALL OF YOUR
ENERGY NOT ON
FIGHTING THE OLD,
BUT ON BUILDING
THE NEW
SOCRATES
Webedia Movies Pro congratulates
Miguel Rivera
Global VP of Programming & Content for Cinepolis
on being the deserved recipient of the
International Exhibitor of the Year Award.

SHOWEAST 2018
CINÉPOLIS LUXURY CINEMAS WESTLAKE VILLAGE
THOUSAND OAKS, CA
Cinépolis has been in the U.S. market for
several years already. How would you
describe the company’s experience in
the market?
The U.S. market is one of the most
challenging in the world. We knew how
competitive it would be since we entered
the market in 2011, and how important
it would be to have a clear differentiation
from other players. Our first theaters in
California were quite successful with our
Luxury brand, targeting high-income
pockets of the population. Over the years,
we have expanded not only geographically
but also to other theater models in order to
accommodate our offering to the relevant
market. Even though this has been a great
year in terms of box office and attendance,
there are still challenges ahead, like the
need to excel at customer satisfaction, continue
to innovate around the experience of
going to the movies, seek more productive
ways of collaboration with distributors,
and continue to look for relevant content
that appeals to niche audiences.
Cinépolis was recently granted one
of the coveted licenses to operate a cinema
in Saudi Arabia. What are your plans
for the market, both in the next year and
in the long term?
We started exploring the Middle
East market a couple of years back as an
extension of our operation in India. We
actually decided to enter the region before
the ban on cinemas was lifted in Saudi
Arabia, though we were hoping it would
open soon as it was an important part of
our strategy for the region. We set up an
office in Dubai in early 2017 and started
signing deals for the region. For instance,
we will open our first cinema this December
in Bahrain. By the end of 2019, we’ll
have more than 50 screens operating in
the UAE, Bahrain, and Oman. With our
presence in the region, it was important
for us to take the Saudi opportunity. Even
before the reopening of cinemas became
official in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,
we started working with Al Tayer, our regional
partner, and Al Hokair, our Saudi
partner. Al Hokair has been able to secure
a license to operate, and we worked hard
in the setting up of the company and the
team on the ground. We plan to open
our first cinema there next year and hope
to become an important player in the
kingdom in the years to come.
What are the challenges of
programming for a global circuit like
Cinépolis? Are there any specific regions
that demand more attention to detail
than others?
Cinépolis has become an international
circuit in a relatively short amount of
time. Ten years ago, our only international
presence was in Central America; now
we are in more than 14 countries and we
are entering the GCC market at the end
of the year. It was only three years ago
that my position as VP of global programming
was created in order to look
for efficiencies and opportunities. Some
of the most interesting challenges of
programming for a global circuit have to
84 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

do with managing teams in very different
time zones, implementing a standard
set of processes to operate, defining
reports and using analytic tools for better
decision making, learning the specifics of
every territory in terms of film suppliers,
audience tastes, traditional practices,
legislation nuances, and business intricacies.
No specific region requires more
attention—all of them demand attention
and dedication.
We are in the midst of big political
changes in two of Latin America’s
biggest markets—Mexico and Brazil—
changes that could have a lasting
impact on those economies. Have these
changes reverberated in the exhibition
business in those markets?
In our experience, the exhibition
business is generally quite resilient to
political changes and even to economic
crises. Of course, there have been specific
instances where an economy may be so
affected that there is a short-term impact
on cinema attendance. But, in general,
cinema-going remains the cheapest form
of out-of-home entertainment, and it
continues to be a great value-for-money
proposition in our territories in Latin
America, including Mexico and Brazil.
Our expectation is that Mexico and Brazil
will continue to be growth markets despite
the political changes that are taking
place at the moment.
We’re living through an age of
transformation for cinemas around the
world. Cinépolis has been a pioneer—a
trendsetter—when it comes to
adopting and expanding new concepts
and cinema technologies. What do
you believe is the next stage in this
transformation?
One concept that I believe will be
relevant for the future is the customization
or individualization of our communication
with each of our patrons.
The possibility of targeting our messages
down to the individual level and providing
him or her with relevant information
may result in a powerful new way
to nurture our customers and create a
special bond. We already see in other
companies how the information that a
customer provides to a business via his
or her consuming habits is then used to
develop a relationship with that customer
in the form of relevant messages. In
our business, whether it is information
on the next movie or a promotion that
was relevant the previous year or a film
festival that he or she attended, we can
use data and the direct relationship for
the benefit of maintaining a healthy
frequency of attendance. n
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 85

SHOWEAST 2018
FELLMAN
DAN
SHOW ‘E’ AWARD
SHOW ‘E’ AWARD
NEIL CAMPBELL
VICE CHAIRMAN
LANDMARK CINEMAS CANADA
Neil Campbell, vice chairman for Landmark Cinemas
Canada, will receive this year’s Dan Fellman Show ‘E’
Award at ShowEast. Campbell will be presented with
this special honor as part of the Final Night Awards
Ceremony hosted by the Coca-Cola Company on
Thursday, October 25, at the Loews Miami Beach.
The Dan Fellman Show ‘E’ Award was renamed in 2015 to
honor long-time Warner Bros. Distribution Chief Dan Fellman
and to celebrate his impressive 38-year career within the industry.
Each year, the award is presented to an industry member or
company whose achievements, accomplishments, and dedication
to the industry are unequalled.
“We are extremely honored to present Neil Campbell with
this award at ShowEast this year,” said Andrew Sunshine, president
of the Film Expo Group. “Campbell’s continued dedication
and commitment to advance the movie industry is second to
none. For 44 years, Neil has been a leader in the industry and we
congratulate him on this award.”
Neil Campbell began his career in the entertainment industry
in 1974 with Landmark Cinemas, and in 1986 he joined the
distribution team at Cineplex Odeon Films in Calgary. Campbell
was promoted to general manager Western Canada and, in
1998, moved to Sony Releasing in Toronto as managing director.
In 2001, Campbell moved back to Calgary and exhibition
to take on the position of COO with Landmark Cinemas. In
2007, Campbell and his business partner Brian McIntosh bought
Landmark Cinemas of Canada Inc. and managed Landmark’s
biggest growth in 2012, building three new theaters plus fully
digitizing the circuit. In 2013, they also bought Empire Theatres
and tripled in size.
In December 2017, Campbell & McIntosh sold Landmark
Canada to Kinepolis Theatres from Belgium, and the new company
has doubled in size and is a respected exhibitor globally. The company
now operates 94 theaters, with 822 screens in eight countries.
Campbell currently serves as chairman of the Motion Picture
Theatre Association of Canada and is an active member of
NATO as Executive Board member, serving on the Advisory
Board and Membership Committee. n
86 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

THEY ALWAYS SAY
TIME CHANGES
THINGS, BUT YOU
ACTUALLY HAVE
TO CHANGE
THEM YOURSELF
ANDY WARHOL
Webedia Movies Pro congratulates
Neil Campbell
of Landmark Cinemas, Canada on being the deserved
recipient of the Dan Fellman Show ‘E’ Award.

BIG DATA
boxofficeprofile
VENOM AND A STAR IS BORN COMBINE FOR RECORD WEEKEND
Sony’s Venom and Warner Bros.’ A Star Is Born kickstarted Q4 with the highest-grossing October weekend
of all time. Boxoffice Profile crunches the numbers behind each films’ respective blockbuster debuts.
venom
SONY This horror-tinged comic book adaptation skewed heavily male, nearly
two-thirds of its audience were men. Venom pushed aside competition
from college football, playoff baseball, and a pay-per-view Mixed Martial Arts
contest to deliver a record opening weekend for an October release.
OPENING WEEKEND
$80,255,756
Highest October Opening Weekend
of All Time
4,250 Locations / $18,885 Per Screen Average
D
E
M
O
50+
35–49
23.0 %
G
R
A
13.7 % 25–34
22.8 %
P
H
I
C S
3–14
15.6 % 15–24
24.8 %
a star is born
WARNER BROS. Older moviegoers were drawn to the latest version of A
Star Is Born, making up over half of its opening weekend audience. There
was virtually no cannibalization of the audience between the weekend’s
two top films, each appealing to different core demographics.
OPENING WEEKEND
$42,908,051
Opening weekend audience skewed slightly female,
continuing 2018’s trends of box office hit driven by female audiences
3,686 Locations / $11,641 Per Screen Average
D
E
M
O
3–14
2.2 %
G
R
A
P
H
I
15–24
16.8 %
C S
50+
25–34
54.2 % 12.9 %
35–49
23.0 %
Developed in collaboration by Webedia Movies Pro and French market research firm, Vertigo, Boxoffice Profile is a business intelligence tool
designed to gather demographic data around key elements of a consumer’s moviegoing experience through a series of weekly surveys covering a
representative sample of 2,000 moviegoers. Between 60,000 and 80,000 people representative of the U.S. population ages 3+ are surveyed weekly
online. A minimum of 2,000 respondents who have been confirmed as having visited a cinema in the past 7 days complete a 5-minute survey via
email. Respondent can’t participate in any interview more than once a month.
88 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

GET A MARY POPPINS RETURNS GOLD HEART PIN AND HELP A CHILD IN NEED
HELP TRANSFORM THE LIFE
Contact Erica Lopez at (323) 954-0820 for information on how your theatre can join more than 700 other locations
throughout the country in supporting U.S. Variety’s signature fundraiser, the Gold Heart Pin Campaign,
starting December 2018. Pins are given to moviegoers for a minimum donation of $3.00 each to raise
funds that help us provide life-changing mobility devices, life-saving hospital equipment, and
life-enriching experiences to children who are disabled and disadvantaged. Extra special thanks
to The Walt Disney Studios for sponsoring this year’s campaign.
OF A CHILD IN YOUR COMMUNITY

LEVERAGING INNOVATION
b r o u g h t t o y o u b y
Interview by Matthew
Bakal, Co-Founder,
Atom Tickets
Interview with
Stephen Colanero,
Executive Vice President
& Chief Marketing Officer,
AMC Theatres
In this column, Atom Tickets features conversations with executives and influencers in the cinema
industry, sharing insights into how the latest technologies and innovations are transforming the
moviegoing experience. In this edition, Atom Tickets Executive Chairman & Co-Founder Matthew
Bakal talks to AMC Chief Marketing Officer Stephen Colanero to learn how the world’s largest
exhibition circuit focuses on digital innovation to enhance the moviegoing experience.
STEPHEN COLANERO
2018 has
been a great
year for AMC
Theatres. In
what ways has
the moviegoing
experience
been enhanced
at your circuit?
How have the
changes been
received?
About a
decade ago,
AMC shifted
its focus to the
future, which
meant putting a
heavy emphasis
on what gets
moviegoers
excited about
coming to our
movie theatres. The AMC Signature Recliner renovations
helped revolutionize the industry, with
more than one-third of the AMC circuit now
offering these incredibly comfortable and popular
recliners in at least one auditorium. Our food
and drink offerings have considerably widened
through the introduction of our expanded menu
with AMC Feature Fare, as well as our MacGuffins
adult-beverage concept, which has expanded
from fewer than 10 in 2010 to nearly 300 today.
AMC has more IMAX screens than anyone in
the world, and our Dolby Cinema at AMC experience
is available in 115 locations nationwide.
We vastly improved our website, added a mobile
app, and enhanced our online ticketing process
through not only our own platforms but through
our great partnerships, like Atom Tickets. And
most recently we launched AMC Stubs A-List,
which allows AMC moviegoers to see three
movies a week in any format for one monthly
price. A-List is a huge hit with moviegoers, as
sign-ups continue to grow at a much faster rate
than our initial expectations. In fact, we recently
announced that A-List members can obtain their
tickets through Atom Tickets. All these areas
touch a different part of the overall moviegoing
experience, but what they all have in common
is a focus on and commitment to providing the
best possible guest experience, and the response
from moviegoers has not only helped AMC, it’s
helped lead the entire industry.
It was recently mentioned that online ticketing
represents 40 percent of tickets sold at AMC.
What do you think is driving that growth?
We’re living on our phones now. Everyone and
everything is mobile, and the expectation is that
everything must be accessible and convenient.
The rise in online ticketing, especially the last five
to 10 years, really mirrors the rise in online retail
growth. People can go online and order just about
anything, and because it’s so prevalent, it is only
natural that has occurred in this business as well.
Specific to this industry, the increase in reserved
seating and AMC Signature Recliners has played
a big part in the rise of online ticketing. It’s much
more common and convenient now for moviegoers
to not just check the time of the movie, but check
how many seats are left, which seats are left, and,
while they’re there checking, make that decision to
purchase tickets. Online ticketing is a huge convenience
and we’re happy to continue to make that
process as easy as possible for our guests.
90 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

AMC was one of Atom’s first exhibitor partners, and
we have greatly appreciated working with your
team. How has working with Atom benefited AMC?
One of the things I’ve appreciated about our
partnership is Atom’s fresh and unique approach to
the online ticketing industry. Atom shares AMC’s
philosophy on making their platform as convenient
as possible for their consumers and understands that
this is not a zero-sum game. We all benefit when
more people go to the movies, and Atom is willing to
try new and different benefits and promotions to not
only encourage the use of Atom Tickets for an online
ticket purchase, but they also encourage overall moviegoing,
which benefits the entire industry.
A great example is Atom’s recent work with
Amazon Prime. AMC was thrilled to participate in
the first Atom-Amazon offer to give Prime members
the chance to watch the movie Jumanji: Welcome to
the Jungle 12 days before its release date. We had the
opportunity to do it again with Hotel Transylvania 3:
Summer Vacation and look forward to working with
Atom on future partnerships.
AMC CLEARFORK 8
FORT WORTH, TX
AMC has been actively engaging loyal guests
and movie fans with special ticketing prices,
perks through your loyalty program, AMC
Stubs, and most recently by introducing a movie
subscription service, A-List. What’s been the
reaction to these efforts?
Guests have responded in a big way, and in some
cases, much bigger than we could have hoped.
Through our AMC Stubs $5 Ticket Tuesday promotion,
we’ve seen Tuesday go from our slowest day of
the week to our second busiest, and we continue to
add members to our overall AMC Stubs program,
as it now sits at more than 15 million members. We
only recently launched AMC Stubs A-List, but it
continues to outpace our expectations. We crossed
380,000 members in the program’s first three months
and, given that we anticipated we’d cross 500,000
after the first 12 months, we’re very pleased with the
guest response.
In terms of innovation, 2019 is just around the
corner; what’s next for AMC?
We’re still focused on a strong finish to 2018! But
AMC has always been an industry leader in innovation,
and after AMC Feature Fare in 2017 and AMC
Stubs A-List in 2018, we’ll continue to look forward
to new and exciting ways that we can bring guests
out to the movie theater, again and again. n
AMC SOUTH BAY CENTER 12
DORCHESTER, MA
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 91

SOCIAL MEDIA
Q3 REVIEW
A LOOK AT THE SOCIAL
MEDIA BUZZ BEHIND THE
QUARTER’S HOTTEST TITLES
by Alex Edghill
>> The box office machine kept rolling
in the third quarter of 2018, as the
industry remains well ahead of record
pace. Receipts are up over 8 percent
from 2017 and 3 percent above 2016.
With big titles still on the horizon,
there is a good chance of overtaking
2016’s record tally of $11.38 billion. In
this month’s social media column, we’ll
examine the most notable third-quarter
releases in terms of revenue and key
markers to get a better understanding
of the last few months—while mining
for clues about the fourth quarter and
potential upcoming gems.
Methodology
To accomplish
this, we looked at all
wide-release films in the
third quarter (34 total) as well
as the year as a whole (99 total)
for reference. The key data points we
focused on were opening-weekend gross,
tweet totals from the four days prior to
release, and Facebook like increases for
the same four days before release. To add
a further data point, we also ranked all
wide-release films on the year for both
of these social media platforms to get a
better idea of how they all stacked up.
Results
Unsurprisingly, Disney continued its
streak from the first two quarters by having
the highest-grossing opener, this time
with Ant-Man and the Wasp’s hefty $75
million July debut. That performance
gave Disney five of the eight biggest
opening films of the year—the only
studio with more than one title in the
top eight. Ant-Man had solid returns on
Twitter, ranking 5th in the quarter and
17th on the year as a whole, but its Facebook
numbers were very weak by comparison,
only managing 18th best in the
quarter and 60th in the full year. It
was the worst Facebook gain
among films in the
top 20 opening
weekends of
the year. This
might be due to
the bigger Avengers
page attracting more fans,
but, in any case, Ant-Man only trails
Black Panther for the dubious title of least
“liked” page of any of the MCU spin-off
franchises on Facebook.
Paramount’s Mission: Impossible
– Fallout was the second-biggest
opening film of the quarter with
a franchise-best $61 million in
July. Few franchises can boast
that their sixth installment
was the biggest in terms
of opening weekends
and domestic/worldwide
grosses—not
to mention its being
the best
reviewed
entry in
the franchise
on Rotten Tomatoes. It performed
well on the social media front, finishing
13th and 17th on the year as a whole
across Twitter and Facebook respectively
(3rd and 4th in the quarter). The
22-year-old franchise is very much alive
and kicking—as is Tom Cruise’s status as
an action star, despite his career’s many
highs and lows over that span.
Horror’s strong showing in 2018
(and indeed in recent years) continued
with The Nun’s massive $54 million
start. The fifth film in the Conjuring
universe, it grossed over $200 million
worldwide despite having the weakest
reviews of any film in the franchise. It
was only the ninth-biggest film of the
quarter in terms of Twitter buzz leading
up to release (37th on the year), understandable
given its generic name—which
made narrowing down tweets difficult.
By comparison, its new Facebook likes
leading up to release were
the highest in the third
quarter, adding 20,619
likes, ninth most on the
year as a whole.
The Meg was perhaps the
biggest surprise of
this top 10. Warner
Bros.’ shark
flick scared up
$45 million
on its opening weekend, making it the
biggest opening film in the killer-shark
creature-feature subgenre. Like the The
Nun, its generic name made Twitter
monitoring difficult, and with that in
mind it was the 19th most talked-about
wide release in the third quarter (53rd
on the year), while its Facebook returns
were stronger (10th in the quarter and
33rd on the year). Although the film
didn’t explode on social media or have
a franchise fan base to rely on, killer
sharks have proven to generate strong
openings over the years with very little
marketing spend: The Shallows (2016)
and 47 Meters Down (2017) come to
mind as recent examples.
Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation
rounds out our top 5 with a $44 million
start, making it the biggest animated film
of the quarter. While it had a mediocre 59
percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes
(curiously, the highest of the franchise),
the franchise seems to have established
performances throughout the years. Its
social media numbers were good enough,
even if they weren’t explosive, as would be
expected for an animated film with kids
as a large part of its target audience (11th
and 8th on Twitter and Facebook respectively
for the third quarter).
We can’t omit Crazy Rich Asians when
discussing other notables in the quarter,
a film that has experienced great holdover
numbers by turning a $35 million
92 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

five-day debut into $166 million (and
counting) through its run. This makes it
the third-biggest third-quarter movie in
terms of total gross. It was hugely popular
on Twitter, where it was the second most
talked-about film pre-release in the quarter
with just under 130,000 tweets, 10th
largest on the year. Facebook was much
less busy, with only 19th in the quarter in
new likes and 61st on the year. The Twitter
numbers really echoed the growing
buzz for the film in the days and weeks
leading up to release, going from scant
mentions before its first trailer to having a
consistent presence in the top 10 after its
marketing campaign kicked off.
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again was
also a very strong entry in the quarter,
both in terms of earnings and social
media buzz. It opened to a hefty $35
million and as of the writing of this
column is approaching $400 million
worldwide. It was the most talked-about
film on Twitter in the third quarter and
sixth on the year, while it was second
most liked on Facebook in the quarter
and 11th on the year.
Whether 2018 turns out to be
another record year will largely depend
on many unknown and untested commodities.
The biggest question marks
surround the newly minted Aquaman
franchise, the Bumblebee spinoff, Disney’s
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,
and Sony’s animated Spider-Man: Into
the Spider-Verse. Twitter and Facebook
buzz has not been dominated by any
single release in recent weeks, while
many films have had surprisingly strong
showings including Bohemian Rhapsody,
Halloween, and The Hate U Give. There
is no giant, surefire hit this December;
the first time in three years that Disney’s
Star Wars franchise takes the month off.
That absence could potentially become
a great showcase opportunity for any of
the other studios—with no lightsabers
or Jedis in sight, who will take the lead
in this year’s holiday corridor? And will
that be enough to push us to another
record year at the box office? n
4/27/18 Avengers: Infinity War Disney
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
212,114 $257,698,183.00 1,690,857 43,341 1 2
2/16/18 Black Panther Disney
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
172,525 $202,003,951.00 976,722 29,232 3 6
6/15/18 Incredibles 2 Disney
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
317,541 $182,687,905.00 1,066,178 6,048 2 30
6/22/18 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom Universal
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
22,013 $148,024,610.00 115,074 32,122 11 5
5/18/18 Deadpool 2 Fox
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
113,600 $125,507,153.00 765,783 42,456 4 3
5/25/18 Solo: A Star Wars Story Disney
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
26,304 $84,420,489.00 140,905 9,395 7 20
7/06/18 Ant-Man and the Wasp Disney
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
6,988 $75,812,205.00 64,754 2,382 17 60
7/27/18 Mission: Impossible - Fallout Paramount
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
14,796 $61,236,534.00 82,966 11,347 13 17
9/07/18 The Nun Warners / New Line
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
1,127 $53,807,379.00 15,425 20,619 37 9
4/06/18 A Quiet Place Paramount
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
407 $50,203,562.00 4,943 16,053 65 13
8/10/18 The Meg Warner Bros.
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
500 $45,402,195.00 8,068 5,752 53 33
7/13/18 Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation Sony / Columbia
MONDAY OPENING MON-THUR TWITTER MON-THUR NEW TWITTER RANK FACEBOOK RANK
2,034 $44,076,225.00 14,312 6,163 39 29
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 93

INDIE FOCUS
b r o u g h t t o y o u b y
CORAL GABLES ART CINEMA
MIAMI, FLORIDA
Contributor: Javier Chavez, Associate Director
(continued on page 96)
94 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

INDIE FOCUS
SCREENS
We have one auditorium with 141 seats. While we’re a small
single screen, our projection booth packs state-of-the-art technology,
including a Barco 4K DCP projector capable of 3-D and
dual Century JJ 35mm/70mm projectors that are frequently used
to show films on actual celluloid.
TOP TITLES
This past year, we had exceptional runs with repertory
programs including the 50th anniversary rerelease of 2001: A
Space Odyssey on 70 millimeter, for which we had a 98 percent
occupancy rate for the entire run; a record-breaking retrospective
of Pedro Almodovar’s films called Almodovar: The Top Ten; and
another successful program of anime films with The Complete
Studio Ghibli, a retrospective showcasing all 22 films in the
studio’s repertoire.
In September 2017, we premiered Fernando Trueba’s new
film, The Queen of Spain, with him in attendance. We sold out
all of our weekend screenings, including Monday as it was Labor
Day. It was a record for us, and unfortunately we had to cancel
the rest of the run due to Hurricane Irma.
STAFF
The Coral Gables Art Cinema is the brainchild of Founder &
Executive Director Steven Krams, who founded the organization
in 2006. After four years of development, CGAC opened its
doors on October 15, 2010, with the film Freakonomics. Krams
is a veteran film industry professional whose other businesses
include Magna-Tech Electronic Company and the post-production
house Continental Film & Digital Lab. Over the years,
CGAC has become a cultural hub in South Florida and the
highest-grossing single-screen art house in the region. In addition
to theatrical exhibitions, it is also host to live performances and
educational events. The facility features a film antiquities gallery
in the second-floor lobby that pulls from Krams’s extensive personal
collection. Director of Programming Nat Chediak joined
the team in November 2014. Chediak is known as the dean of
South Florida independent art house exhibitors (celebrating 50
years in the business in 2020) and the founder of the Miami
Film Festival, which he directed from 1984 to 2001. During
his tenure at CGAC, Chediak has developed unique and highly
successful programs that speak to the vibrant, diverse, multicultural,
and multilingual community and incorporate the best of
independent, foreign, and classic films.
He is assisted in this endeavor by Associate Director Javier
Chavez, who joined the cinema in 2012; in addition to
overall programming work (from curation with Chediak to
print trafficking, film schedules, box office payments, etc.),
he personally curates the After Hours program, directs the
overall marketing efforts of the organization, and manages the
Spotlight Cinema Networks account. Administrative Director
Brenda Moe joined the team in January 2008, although she
was instrumental in CGAC’s founding as she worked with
Krams and the nonprofit from 2006 up until the theater first
opened. Her leadership in the past two years has elevated the
organization to the next level and significantly increased funding
via membership, donations, and grants. She leads a team
consisting of Operations Manager Elizabeth Dedios, Marketing
Manager Carolina Mayo, Theater Manager Nelson Junco,
and Front-of-House Manager Reginald Desjardins.
We are proud to say that a significant number of our managerial
staff rose through the ranks of the cinema. All our employers
are integral to our success, and we always keep an eye out for
exceptional staff who are capable of so much more.
COMMUNITY
The core audience is primarily affluent, retired culture lovers,
with our varied programming attracting a diverse audience.
96 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

From 20-somethings at our weekly late-night series, After
Hours, to young children experiencing movies for the first time
at the monthly Family Day on Aragon, CGAC draws from the
multitude of peoples living in the region. Miami itself is a melting
pot, and the cinema speaks to that: it provides a welcome
space for everyone to share a communal experience. By presenting
foreign films in particular, the cinema is, in a way, a gateway
to other destinations.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
Popcorn and bottled water reign supreme at our concession
stand. But besides traditional movie theater food, we serve
specialty gourmet products from local vendors. For us, being a
community theater extends beyond the patrons we serve. People
especially enjoy a concession item if it has a story. Some of the
local vendors we serve include Zak the Baker, Panther Coffee,
and Cacao Art. We do serve beer and wine and, as you might
expect, it’s a huge hit especially at our late-night screenings on
Saturdays. We like to say popcorn goes well with a glass of wine!
PROGRAMMING
We focus on our demographic and target audiences that attend
our theater. Even though our offerings are the main reason
to patronize us (or anyone else for that matter), we find that
mainstream theaters present prefabricated programming without
regard for their specific communities. It is thanks to the extensive
experience in South Florida film exhibition of our director of
programming, Nat Chediak, that we are so able to focus on the
unique audiences that attend CGAC.
While our first-run films are our bread and butter, we believe
it’s important to provide South Florida a film education like
no other, which is why we consistently present repertory films
in new restorations or in retrospectives. As mentioned before,
this year saw great success with 2001: A Space Odyssey on 70
millimeter, Almodovar: The Top Ten, and The Complete Studio
Ghibli. Another program of note unique to South Florida was
Forbidden Fruit: Cuban Independent Film in the 21st Century, a
9-program 25-film salute to the intrepid Cuban indie filmmakers
who’ve been carving out a niche for themselves armed with little
more than their immense talent.
At CGAC, you can find almost any kind of program: family-oriented,
late-night classics, repertory film series, National
Theatre Live presentations, live concerts, and the best new indie
and foreign films.
GRASSROOTS MARKETING
We find that our patrons respond best when we directly
engage them and not only advertise our films. Some examples
include posting photos of a sold-out crowd on our social
media and sending a personalized invitation to an event—basically,
showing a human side to the organization. As a result,
we are shifting our marketing strategies to focus more on this
kind of outreach.
CINEMA ADVERTISING
Spotlight Cinema Networks is important to us for three key
reasons: 1) It helps fund our operations, allowing us to continue
bringing great films to the community; 2) Ads on the network
are top-tier quality and often elicit appropriate responses from
our audience, either laughter when it’s comic or a simple “wow”
when it’s an exceptionally produced piece; 3) Many filmmakers,
such as Wes Anderson and Spike Jonze, cut their teeth directing
commercials, and because the ads Spotlight runs are much more
artistic, as stated before, it makes sense for an art house to feature
ads that might be from a director who’ll make a movie they’ll see
in the future! For these reasons, as well as Spotlight’s super-simple
approval process, I would wholeheartedly recommend it to
other art houses. n
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 97

INVESTOR RELATIONS
CINEMA ACROSS
THE STREET
by Rob Rinderman
Rob Rinderman is an avid follower
and fan of the cinema
and exhibition businesses.
He has assisted many public
and privately held companies
with communications
and business development
consulting services for over
two decades and written as a
freelance journalist covering
these industries since 2015.
AMC
In a corporate news announcement issued in
late September, exactly three months after the
launch of its Stubs A-List membership program,
AMC announced that A-List membership had
grown to more than 380,000 moviegoers.
This represents a 120,000 subscriber increase
in total membership over its most recent six-week
period (mid-August to late September), which is
traditionally a slower time at the domestic box
office for the entire industry.
In the same press release, AMC Entertainment
noted that more than 45 percent of its A-List
members were not previously signed up to its
AMC Stubs loyalty program. AMC also projected
that its U.S. attendance for the full 2018 calendar
year is on pace to achieve a year-over-year increase
for the first time since 2015, excluding the positive
impact from its Carmike Cinemas acquisition.
Early Stubs A-List program analysis indicates
that incremental moviegoing frequency among
members after joining the program is significant.
AMC also recently announced that its 12-month
protection guarantee from the date of a member’s
enrollment against any increases in A-List monthly
pricing has been broadened to all A-List members
enrolling anytime in 2018, including no pricing
or benefits changes within a member’s initial 12
months after joining the program.
AMC expanded A-List’s flexibility and convenience
by allowing its members to obtain their
tickets through AMC’s ticketing partners, Fandango
and Atom Tickets. A-List members may secure
a ticket reservation that is applied as one of their
three movies per week. Because A-List members
receive the benefits of AMC Stubs Premiere, the
typical online ticketing fee is waived.
In mid-September, AMC announced an agreement
with leading tech investor Silver Lake pursuant
to which AMC issued $600 million of senior
unsecured convertible notes due 2024, bearing
interest at 2.95 percent and convertible into AMC
Class A common shares at $20.50 per share, before
giving effect to a $1.55 per share special dividend
payable to AMC Class A and Class B common
shareholders of record as of September 25, 2018.
A portion of the proceeds from the Convertible
Notes has been used to repurchase approximately
24.1 million AMC Class B Common shares from
Dalian Wanda Group (“Wanda”), which represents
roughly 32 percent of the AMC Class B common
shares held by Wanda, at a price of $17.50 per
share. Giving effect to this transaction, Wanda
now owns just shy of 51.8 million AMC Class B
Common shares.
IMAX
IMAX Corporation and Universal Pictures
recently announced that the companies have
expanded their growing partnership with a new,
multiyear, multipicture deal. The IMAX release
of each movie will be digitally remastered into the
98 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience,
with proprietary IMAX DMR (digital remastering)
technology.
As part of the agreement, IMAX will release
several highly anticipated upcoming Universal
Pictures tentpole titles, including Academy
Award winner Damien Chazelle’s First Man,
Illumination’s Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch, Mortal Engines,
executive produced by three-time Academy
Award–winning filmmaker Peter Jackson, M.
Night Shyamalan’s Glass, DreamWorks Animation’s
How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden
World, The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle, starring Robert
Downey Jr., and the next chapter in the billion-dollar
Fast & Furious franchise, slated for an
April 2020 release date.
Wanying Cinema Line, a subsidiary of China
Resources Land, one of China’s largest state-owned
commercial developers, announced an agreement
for 14 new IMAX theaters. The theaters will
feature IMAX with Laser, the company’s new laser
experience for commercial
multiplexes, and
are expected to open
between 2018 and
2021. This agreement
brings the total number
of contracted IMAX
theaters in Greater China
to more than 900.
Marcus
The Marcus Corporation,
parent company
of Marcus Theatres, filed
a new universal shelf
registration statement
with the SEC (Securities
and Exchange Commission), allowing Marcus
to potentially offer an indeterminate principal
amount and number of securities in the future
with a proposed maximum aggregate offering price
of up to $150 million. The new shelf registration
statement replaces the company’s prior statement,
which expired September 10, 2018. n
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 99

COMING SOON IN 3D
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE FOUR REALMS
NOVEMBER 2 · DISNEY
CAST Keira Knightley, Mackenzie Foy
DIR Lasse Hallström
GENRE Adv/Fam/Fan
DR. SEUSS’ THE GRINCH
NOVEMBER 9 · UNIVERSAL
VOICE CAST Benedict Cumberbatch
DIR Scott Mosier, Yarrow Cheney
GENRE Ani/Com/Fam
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET
NOVEMBER 21 · DISNEY
VOICE CAST John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman
DIR Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
GENRE Ani/Adv/Com
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE
DECEMBER 14 · SONY
VOICE CAST Jake Johnson, Shameik Moore
DIR Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman
GENRE Ani/Act/Adv
MORTAL ENGINES
DECEMBER 14 · UNIVERSAL
CAST Hugo Weaving, Hera Hilmar
DIR Christian Rivers
GENRE Act/Fan/SciFi
AQUAMAN
DECEMBER 21 · WARNER BROS.
CAST Jason Momoa, Amber Heard
DIR James Wan
GENRE Act/Adv/Fan
BUMBLEBEE
DECEMBER 21 · PARAMOUNT
CAST Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena
DIR Travis Knight
GENRE Act/Adv/SciFi
THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART
FEBRUARY 8 · WARNER BROS.
VOICE CAST Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks
DIR Mike Mitchell, Trisha Gum
GENRE Ani/Act/Adv
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL
FEBRUARY 14 · FOX
CAST Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz
DIR Robert Rodriguez
GENRE Act/Adv/Rom

ALSO UPCOMING IN 3D
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:
THE HIDDEN WORLD
March 1, 2019 – Universal
CAPTAIN MARVEL
March 8, 2019 – Disney
DUMBO
March 29, 2019 – Disney
UNTITLED AVENGERS
May 3, 2019 – Disney
TOY STORY 4
June 21, 2019 – Disney
THE LION KING
July 19, 2019 – Disney
SONY PICTURES ANIMATION TBA
July 26, 2019 – Sony
WONDER WOMAN 1984
November 1, 2019 – Warner Bros.
FROZEN 2
November 27, 2019 – Disney
ALADDIN
December 20, 2019 – Disney
STAR WARS: EPISODE IX
December 20, 2019 – Disney
SONY PICTURES ANIMATION TBA
December 25, 2019 – Sony
PIXAR TBA
March 6, 2020 – Disney
MULAN
March 27, 2020 – Disney
SONY PICTURES ANIMATION TBA
April 3, 2020 – Sony
UNTITLED MARVEL FILM
May 1, 2020 – Disney
SCOOBY
May 15, 2020 – Warner Bros.
PIXAR TBA
June 19, 2020 – Disney
REALD.COM

EVENT CINEMA CALENDAR
THE NUTCRACKER / DENIS RODKIN AND ANA NIKULINA
PHOTO BY DAMIR YUSUPOV
FATHOM EVENTS fathomevents.com 855-473-4612
THE NUTCRACKER (TCHAIKOVSKY) Wed, 12/12/18 Ballet
FATHOM EVENTS fathomevents.com 855-473-4612
TWILIGHT 10TH ANNIVERSARY Sun, 10/21/18 and Tues 10/23/18 Classic Film
NT LIVE: FRANKENSTEIN Mon, 10/22/18 and Mon, 10/29/18 Theatre
GEORGE A. ROMERO'S NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD Wed, 10/24 and Thurs, 10/25 Classic Film
RWBY VOLUME 6 PREMIERE Thurs, 10/25/18 Anime
THE MET: LIVE IN HD LA FUNICULLA DEL WEST Sat, 10/27/18 and Wed, 10/31/18 Arts & Entertainment
SPIRITED AWAY Sun, 10/28/18, Mon, 10/29/18 and Wed 10/31/18 Anime
RUSS TAFF: I STILL BELIEVE Tues, 10/30/18 Inspirational
NEVER HEARD Thurs, 11/1 Premieres
DRAGON BALL Z SAIYAN DOUBLE FEATURE Sat, 11/3/18 and Mon, 11/5/18 Anime
HYMN - SARAH BRIGHTMAN IN CONCERT Thurs, 11/8 Arts & Entertainment
THE MET: LIVE IN HD MARNIE Sat, 11/10/18 and Wed, 11/14/18 Arts & Entertainment
BOLSHOI BALLET: LA SYLPHIDE Sun, 11/11/2018 Arts & Entertainment
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: DIE HARD 30TH ANNIVERSARY (1988) Sun, 11/11/18 and Wed, 11/14/18 Classic Film
BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM Mon, 11/12 Classic Film
RESTORING TOMOROW Tues, 11/13 Documentaries
CASTLE IN THE SKY Sun, 11/18/18, Mon, 11/19/18 and Wed, 11/21/18 Anime
102 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

POKEMON THE MOVIE: THE POWER OF US Sat, 11/24/18, Mon, 11/26/18, Wed, 11/28/18 Anime
SUPERMAN 40TH ANNIVERSARY Sun, 11/25 and Tues, 11/27 Classic Film
MIRAI Thurs, 11/29 Anime
THE MAGIC FLUTE SPECIAL HOLIDAY ENCORE Sat, 12/1/18 Arts & Entertainment
POKEMON THE MOVIE: THE POWER OF US Sat, 12/1/18 Anime
BOLSHOI BALLET: DON QUIXOTE Sun, 12/2/18 Arts & Entertainment
SUPERMAN 40TH ANNIVERSARY Mon, 12/3 Classic Film
MIRAI Wed, 12/5 and Sat, 12/8 Anime
NT LIVE: ANTHONY & CLEOPATRA Thurs, 12/6/18 Theatre
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: WHITE CHRISTMAS (1954) Sun, 12/9/18 and Wed, 12/12/18 Classic Film
THE MET: LIVE IN HD LA TRAVIATA Sat, 12/15/18 and Wed 12/19/18 Arts & Entertainment
BOLSHOI BALLET: THE NUTCRACKER Sun, 12/23/18 Arts & Entertainment
THE MET: LIVE IN HD ADRIANA LECOUVREUR Sat, 1/12/18 and Wed 1/16/18 Arts & Entertainment
BOLSHOI BALLET: LA BAYADERE Sat, 1/20/18 Arts & Entertainment
THE MET: LIVE IN HD CARMEN Sat, 2/2/19, Wed, 2/6/18 and Sat 2/9/18 Arts & Entertainment
THE MET: LEA FILLE DU REGIMENT Sat, 3/2 and Wed, 3/6 Arts & Entertainment
BOLSHOI: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Sat, 3/10 Arts & Entertainment
THE MET: DIE WALKURE Fri, 3/30 and Tue, 4/3 Arts & Entertainment
BOLSHOI: THE GOLDEN BALLET Sat, 4/7 Arts & Entertainment
THE PILGRAM'S PROMISE Thurs, 4/18 and Sat, 4/20 Kids and Family
THE MET: DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES Sat, 5/11 and Wed, 5/15 Arts & Entertainment
BOLSHOI: CARMEN SUITE/PETRUSHKA Sat, 5/19 Arts & Entertainment
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE roh.org.uk/cinemas cinema@roh.org.uk
DIE WALKÜRE Sun, 10/28/18 Opera
LA BAYADÈRE Tue, 11/13/18 Ballet
THE NUTCRACKER Mon, 12/3/18 Ballet
THE QUEEN OF SPADES Tue, 1/22/19 Opera
LA TRAVIATA Wed, 1/30/19 Opera
DON QUIXOTE Tue, 2/19/19 Ballet
LA FORZA DEL DESTINO Tue, 4/2/19 Opera
FAUST Tue, 4/30/19 Opera
WITHIN THE GOLDEN HOUR / NEW SIDI LARBI CHERKAOUI / FLIGHT PATTERN Thu, 5/16/19 Ballet
ROMEO AND JULIET Tue, 6/11/19 Ballet
SCREENVISION MEDIA
screenvisionmedia.com/events
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE Wed, 11/7, 11/10, 11/11, 11/14 Theatre
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 103

ON SCREEN
SYNOPSES COURTESY OF QUICKLOOKFILMS.COM
HALLOWEEN
OCT. 19 / WIDE / UNIVERSAL
>> Laurie Strode comes to her final confrontation
with Michael Myers, the masked figure who has
haunted her since she narrowly escaped his killing
spree on Halloween night four decades ago.
CAST JAMIE LEE CURTIS, JUDY GREER, ANDI MATICHAK
DIRECTOR DAVID GORDON GREEN WRITERS DAVID
GORDON GREEN, DANNY MCBRIDE, JEFF FRADLEY
GENRE HORROR, THRILLER RATING R FOR HORROR
VIOLENCE AND BLOODY IMAGES, LANGUAGE, BRIEF
DRUG USE AND NUDITY RUNNING TIME 109 MIN.
104 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

HALLOWEEN OCTOBER 25, 1978 $47,000,000
FRIDAY THE 13TH MAY 9, 1980 $39,754,601
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART II APRIL 30, 1981 $21,722,776
HALLOWEEN II OCTOBER 30, 1981 $25,533,818
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART III AUGUST 13, 1982 $36,690,067
HALLOWEEN III: SEASON OF THE WITCH OCTOBER 22, 1982 $14,400,000
FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE FINAL CHAPTER APRIL 13, 1984 $32,980,880
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET NOVEMBER 9, 1984 $25,504,513
FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING MARCH 22, 1985 $21,930,418
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE NOVEMBER 1, 1985 $29,999,213
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VI: JASON LIVES AUGUST 1, 1986 $19,472,057
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS FEBRUARY 27, 1987 $44,793,222
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VII: THE NEW BLOOD MAY 13, 1988 $19,170,001
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 4: THE DREAM MASTER AUGUST 19, 1988 $49,369,899
HALLOWEEN 4: THE RETURN OF MICHAEL MYERS OCTOBER 21, 1988 $17,768,757
FRIDAY THE 13TH PART VIII: JASON TAKES MANHATTAN JULY 28, 1989 $14,343,976
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5: THE DREAM CHILD AUGUST 11, 1989 $22,168,359
HALLOWEEN 5: THE REVENGE OF MICHAEL MYERS OCTOBER 13, 1989 $11,642,254
FREDDY’S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE SEPTEMBER 13, 1991 $34,872,033
JASON GOES TO HELL: THE FINAL FRIDAY AUGUST 13, 1993 $15,935,068
WES CRAVEN’S NEW NIGHTMARE OCTOBER 14, 1994 $18,090,181
HALLOWEEN: THE CURSE OF MICHAEL MYERS SEPTEMBER 29, 1995 $15,116,634
HALLOWEEN H20: 20 YEARS LATER AUGUST 5, 1998 $55,041,738
JASON X APRIL 26, 2002 $13,121,555
HALLOWEEN: RESURRECTION JULY 12, 2002 $30,354,442
FREDDY VS. JASON AUGUST 15, 2003 $82,622,655
FREDDY VS. JASON AUGUST 15, 2003 $82,622,655
HALLOWEEN AUGUST 31, 2007 $58,272,029
FRIDAY THE 13TH FEBRUARY 13, 2009 $65,002,019
HALLOWEEN II AUGUST 28, 2009 $33,392,973
A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET APRIL 30, 2010 $63,075,011
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 105

ON SCREEN
MELISSA MCCARTHY
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
OCT. 19 / LIMITED / FOX SEARCHLIGHT
>> Can You Ever Forgive Me? is the true story of best-selling celebrity biographer
(and friend to cats) Lee Israel who made her living in the 1970s and ‘80s profiling
the likes of Katharine Hepburn, Tallulah Bankhead, Estee Lauder, and journalist
Dorothy Kilgallen. When Lee is no longer able to get published because she has
fallen out of step with current tastes, she turns her art form to deception, abetted
by her loyal friend Jack.
CAST MELISSA MCCARTHY, RICHARD E. GRANT, DOLLY
WELLS DIRECTOR MARIELLE HELLER WRITERS NICOLE
HOLOFCENER, JEFF WHITTY GENRE BIOGRAPHY, COME-
DY, DRAMA RATING R FOR LANGUAGE INCLUDING SOME
SEXUAL REFERENCES, AND BRIEF DRUG USE RUNNING
TIME 106 MIN.
WHAT THEY HAD
OCT. 19 / LIMITED / BLEECKER
STREET
>> The film centers on a family in
crisis. Bridget returns home to Chicago
at her brother’s urging to deal with her
ailing mother and her father’s reluctance
to let go of their life together.
BLYTHE DANNER AND ROBERT FORSTER
CAST HILARY SWANK, MICHAEL SHANNON,
ROBERT FORSTER DIRECTOR ELIZABETH
CHOMKO WRITER ELIZABETH CHOMKO
GENRE DRAMA RATING R FOR LANGUAGE,
INCLUDING A BRIEF SEXUAL REFERENCE
RUNNING TIME 101 MIN.
106 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

SERENITY
NEW DATE: JAN. 25 / WIDE / AVIRON PICTURES
>> Baker Dill is a fishing boat captain leading
tours off a tranquil tropical enclave called Plymouth
Island. His quiet life is shattered, however,
when his ex-wife Karen tracks him down with
a desperate plea for help. She begs Dill to save
her—and their young son—from her new, violent
husband by taking him out to sea on a fishing excursion,
only to throw him to the sharks and leave
him for dead. Karen’s appearance thrusts Dill back
into a life he’d tried to forget, and as he struggles
between right and wrong, his world is plunged
into a new reality that may not be all that it seems.
CAST MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, ANNE HATHAWAY, DIANE
LANE DIRECTOR STEVEN KNIGHT WRITER STEVEN KNIGHT
GENRE DRAMA, THRILLER RATING R FOR LANGUAGE
THROUGHOUT, SEXUAL CONTENT, AND SOME BLOODY
IMAGES RUNNING TIME TBD
MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 107

ON SCREEN
SUNNY SULJIC AND NA-KEL SMITH
MID90S
OCT. 19 / LIMITED / A24
>> Mid90s follows Stevie, a 13-year-old in ‘90s-era L.A., who spends
his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group
of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop.
CAST SUNNY SULJIC, LUCAS HEDGES, NA-KEL SMITH DIRECTOR JONAH HILL
WRITER JONAH HILL GENRE COMEDY, DRAMA RATING TBD RUNNING TIME
84 MIN.
INDIVISIBLE
OCT. 26 / WIDE / PURE FLIX
>> Indivisible is based on the extraordinary true story of Army
Chaplain Darren Turner and his wife, Heather. With a strong,
faith-filled marriage, the Turners are ready to follow their calling:
serving God, family, and country. Fresh from seminary and basic
training, Chaplain Turner and his family arrive at Fort Stewart. Yet
before the Turners can even unpack their new house, Darren is
deployed to Iraq. Heather is left taking care of their three young
children alone—as well as serving the families of the other
deployed soldiers.
JUSTIN BRUENING
CAST JUSTIN BRUENING, SARAH DREW, JASON GEORGE DIRECTOR DAVID
G. EVANS WRITERS DAVID G. EVANS, CHERYL MCKAY, PETER WHITE GENRE
DRAMA, WAR RATING PG-13 FOR SOME THEMATIC MATERIAL AND WAR
VIOLENCE RUNNING TIME TBD
108 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

JOHNNY ENGLISH
STRIKES AGAIN
OCT. 26 / WIDE / UNIVERSAL
>> When a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all active undercover
agents in Britain, the country’s only hope—Johnny
English—is called out of retirement. English’s new mission
is his most critical to date: Dive head first into action to find
the mastermind hacker. A man with few skills and analogue
methods, English must overcome the challenges of modern
technology—or his newest mission will become the Secret
Service’s last.
CAST ROWAN ATKINSON, OLGA KURYLENKO, EMMA THOMPSON
DIRECTOR DAVID KERR WRITER WILLIAM DAVIES GENRE ACTION,
ADVENTURE, COMEDY RATING PG FOR SOME ACTION VIOLENCE, RUDE
HUMOR, LANGUAGE, AND BRIEF NUDITY RUNNING TIME 88 MIN.
ROWAN ATKINSON
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 109

ON SCREEN
TILDA SWINTON
SUSPIRIA
OCT. 26 / LIMITED / AMAZON STUDIOS
>> A darkness swirls at the center of a world-renowned
dance company, one that will engulf the troupe’s artistic
director, an ambitious young dancer, and a grieving psychotherapist.
Some will succumb to the nightmare—others will
finally wake up.
CAST DAKOTA JOHNSON, TILDA SWINTON, MIA GOTH DIRECTOR
LUCA GUADAGNINO WRITER DAVID KAJGANICH GENRE FANTASY,
HORROR, MYSTERY RATING R FOR DISTURBING CONTENT INVOLVING
RITUALISTIC VIOLENCE, BLOODY IMAGES AND GRAPHIC NUDITY, AND
FOR SOME LANGUAGE INCLUDING SEXUAL REFERENCES RUNNING
TIME 152 MIN.
110 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

VIPER CLUB
OCT. 26 / LIMITED / ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS
>> ER nurse Helen Sterling struggles to free her grown son,
a journalist captured by terrorists in the Middle East. After
hitting walls with the FBI and state agencies, she discovers
a clandestine community of journalists, advocates, and
philanthropists who might be able to help.
CAST SUSAN SARANDON, LOLA KIRKE, MATT BOMER DIRECTOR
MARYAM KESHAVARZ WRITERS MARYAM KESHAVARZ, JONATHAN
MASTRO GENRE DRAMA RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 109 MIN.
SUSAN SARANDON WITH DIRECTOR MARYAM KESHAVARZ
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 111

ON SCREEN
JOSEPH MAZZELLO, BRAD HENRY, RAMI MALEK, AND GWILYM LEE
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY
NOV. 2 / WIDE / FOX
>> The film traces the meteoric rise of Queen through their iconic
songs and revolutionary sound, their near-implosion as front
man Freddie Mercury’s lifestyle spirals out of control, and their
triumphant reunion on the eve of Live Aid, where Mercury, facing
a life-threatening illness, leads the band in one of the greatest performances
in the history of rock music. In the process, they cement
the legacy of a band that were always more like a family, and who
continue to inspire outsiders, dreamers, and music lovers to this day.
CAST RAMI MALEK, JOSEPH MAZZELLO, MIKE MYERS DIRECTOR BRYAN
SINGER WRITER ANTHONY MCCARTEN GENRE BIOGRAPHY, DRAMA, MUSIC
RATING PG-13 FOR THEMATIC ELEMENTS, SUGGESTIVE MATERIAL, DRUG
CONTENT, AND LANGUAGE RUNNING TIME TBD
IN SEARCH OF GREATNESS
NOV. 2 / LIMITED / ATLAS
>> In Search of Greatness reveals the true nature and nurture
of the greatest athletes of all time. Through a series of intimate
conversations and captivating footage, director Gabe Polsky
leads viewers on an entertaining, thrilling, and inspiring personal
journey. Featuring original interviews with iconic athletes Wayne
Gretzky, Pelé, and Jerry Rice, as well as renowned thought leaders
Sir Ken Robinson and David Epstein.
DIRECTOR GABE POLSKY WITH JERRY RICE
CAST WAYNE GRETZKY, JERRY RICE, PELÉ DIRECTOR GABE POLSKY WRITER
GABE POLSKY GENRE DOCUMENTARY RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 80 MIN.
112 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

BOY ERASED
NOV. 2 / LIMITED / FOCUS
FEATURES
>> Boy Erased tells the story
of Jared, the son of a Baptist
pastor in a small American
town, who is outed to his
parents at age 19. Jared is
faced with an ultimatum:
attend a gay conversion
therapy program—or be
permanently exiled and
shunned by his family, friends,
and faith. Boy Erased is the
true story of one young man’s
struggle to find himself while
being forced to question every
aspect of his identity.
NICOLE KIDMAN AND RUSSELL CROWE
CAST LUCAS HEDGES, NICOLE
KIDMAN, JOEL EDGERTON
DIRECTOR JOEL EDGERTON
WRITER JOEL EDGERTON GENRE
BIOGRAPHY, DRAMA RATING TBD
RUNNING TIME 104 MIN.
Theatre Architects & Engineers
616.785.5656
www.paradigmae.com
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 113

ON SCREEN
MARIA BY CALLAS
NOV. 2 / LIMITED / SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
>> The definitive documentary on the life and work
of the Greek-American opera singer. Director Tom Volf
spent nearly five years working on the film, which
features never-before seen or heard footage and performances
of Callas.
CAST FANNY ARDANT, MARIA CALLAS, ARISTOTLE ONASSIS
DIRECTOR TOM VOLF GENRE DOCUMENTARY RATING PG
FOR MILD THEMATIC ELEMENTS, SOME SMOKING, AND BRIEF
LANGUAGE RUNNING TIME 103 MIN.
MARIA CALLAS
114 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

MACKENZIE FOY AND KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
THE NUTCRACKER AND
THE FOUR REALMS
NOV. 2 / WIDE / DISNEY
>> All Clara wants is a key—a one-of-a-kind
key that will unlock a box that holds a priceless
gift from her late mother. A golden thread,
presented to her at Godfather Drosselmeyer’s
annual holiday party, leads her to the coveted
key, which promptly disappears into a strange
and mysterious parallel world. It’s there that
Clara encounters a soldier named Phillip, a
gang of mice, and the regents who preside
over three Realms: Land of Snowflakes, Land of
Flowers, and Land of Sweets. Clara and Phillip
must brave the ominous Fourth Realm, home
to the tyrant Mother Ginger, to retrieve Clara’s
key and hopefully return harmony to the
unstable world.
CAST KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, MACKENZIE FOY, MORGAN
FREEMAN DIRECTORS LASSE HALLSTRÖM, JOE
JOHNSTON WRITERS ASHLEIGH POWELL, TOM
MCCARTHY GENRE ADVENTURE, FAMILY, FANTASY
RATING PG FOR SOME MILD PERIL RUNNING TIME
TBD
Projectors Audio Servers
Seating
Screens Drapery
Lighting Closed Captioned NOC
ON YOUR TEAM
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higher. American Cinema Equipment is your
support team to create the experiences you
demand. Meeting expectations may be the
industry standard; exceeding them is ours.
LMS
Technician Help
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[ 503] 285-7015
1927 N. Argyle Street, Portland, OR 97217
[ 503] 285-6765 orders@cinequip.com
cinequip.com
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 115

ON SCREEN
A PRIVATE WAR
NOV. 2 / LIMITED (WIDE NOV. 16) / AVIRON PICTURES
>> Marie Colvin is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. After being hit by a grenade
in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with
London’s elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over
time her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she’s witnessed takes its toll.
Yet her mission to show the true cost of war leads her, along with renowned war
photographer Paul Conroy, to embark on the most dangerous assignment of
their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs.
CAST ROSAMUND PIKE, JAMIE DORNAN,
STANLEY TUCCI DIRECTOR MATTHEW
HEINEMAN WRITER MARIE
BRENNER GENRE BIOGRAPHY,
DRAMA, WAR RATING
TBD RUNNING TIME
106 MIN.
ROSAMUND PIKE
116 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

THE FRONT RUNNER
NOV. 6 / LIMITED (WIDE NOV. 21) /
SONY-COLUMBIA
>> The film follows the rise and fall
of Senator Gary Hart, who captured
the imagination of young voters and
was considered the overwhelming
front runner for the 1988 Democratic
presidential nomination when his
campaign was sidelined by the story
of an extramarital relationship with
Donna Rice. As tabloid journalism and
political journalism merged for the first
time, Hart was forced to drop out of the
race—events that left a profound and
lasting impact on American politics
and the world stage.
CAST HUGH JACKMAN, VERA FARMIGA,
MOLLY EPHRAIM DIRECTOR JASON REITMAN
WRITERS MATT BAI, JAY CARSON, JASON
REITMAN GENRE BIOGRAPHY, DRAMA RATING
R FOR LANGUAGE INCLUDING SOME SEXUAL
REFERENCES RUNNING TIME 103 MIN.
HUGH JACKMAN
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 117

DR. SEUSS’ THE GRINCH
NOV. 9 / WIDE / UNIVERSAL
>> The Grinch tells the story of a cynical grump who
goes on a mission to steal Christmas, only to have
his heart changed by a young girl’s generous holiday
spirit. Funny, heartwarming, and visually stunning, it’s
a universal story about the spirit of Christmas and
the indomitable power of optimism.
VOICE CAST BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH,
RASHIDA JONES, ANGELA LANSBURY DIREC-
TORS YARROW CHENEY, SCOTT MOSIER
WRITER MICHAEL LESIEUR GENRE ANI-
MATION, COMEDY, FAMILY RATING PG
FOR BRIEF RUDE HUMOR RUNNING
TIME 90 MIN.
THE GRINCH
118 OCTOBER 2018

PETERLOO
NEW DATE: APR. 5 / LIMITED / AMAZON STUDIOS
>> Internationally acclaimed and Oscar-nominated
filmmaker Mike Leigh portrays one of the bloodiest episodes
in British history, the infamous Peterloo Massacre of 1819,
where government-backed cavalry charged into a peaceful
crowd of 80,000 that gathered in Manchester, England, to
demand democratic reform.
CAST RORY KINNEAR, MAXINE PEAKE, NEIL BELL DIRECTOR MIKE
LEIGH WRITER MIKE LEIGH GENRE DRAMA, HISTORY RATING PG-13
FOR A SEQUENCE OF VIOLENCE AND CHAOS RUNNING TIME 154
MIN.
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 119

ON SCREEN
THE GIRL IN THE
SPIDER’S WEB
NOV. 9 / WIDE / SONY-COLUMBIA
>> Computer hacker Lisbeth Salander and
journalist Mikael Blomkvist find themselves
caught in a web of spies, cyber criminals,
and corrupt government officials.
CLAIRE FOY
CAST CLAIRE FOY, SYLVIA HOEKS, LAKEITH
STANFIELD DIRECTOR FEDE ALVAREZ WRITERS
JAY BASU, FEDE ALVAREZ, STEVEN KNIGHT
GENRE CRIME, DRAMA, THRILLER RATING TBD
CONTENT RUNNING TIME TBD
120 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

OVERLORD
NOV. 9 / WIDE / PARAMOUNT
>> With only hours until D-Day, a team of
American paratroopers drop into Nazi-occupied
France to carry out a mission that’s
crucial to the invasion’s success. Tasked
with destroying a radio transmitter atop a
fortified church, the desperate soldiers join
forces with a young French villager to penetrate
the walls and take down the tower.
But, in a mysterious Nazi lab beneath the
church, the outnumbered GIs come faceto-face
with enemies unlike any the world
has ever seen.
CAST WYATT RUSSELL, JOHN MAGARO, PILOU
ASBÆK DIRECTOR JULIUS AVERY WRITERS
BILLY RAY, MARK L. SMITH GENRE ACTION,
HORROR, MYSTERY RATING R FOR STRONG
BLOODY VIOLENCE, DISTURBING IMAGES,
LANGUAGE, AND BRIEF SEXUAL CONTENT
RUNNING TIME 109 MIN.
MATHILDE OLLIVIER
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 121

BOOKING GUIDE
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
A24 646-568-6015
MID90S Fri, 10/19/18 LTD Sunny Suljic, Lucas Hedges Jonah Hill NR Com
UNDER THE SILVER LAKE Fri, 12/7/18 LTD. Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough David Robert Mitchell R Thr/Cri
GLORIA BELL Fri, 3/8/19 LTD. Sebastián Lelio Sebastián Lelio NR Dra/Rom/Com
ANNAPURNA PICTURES
IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK Fri, 11/30/18 LTD. Kiki Layne, Stephan James Barry Jenkins R Dra/Rom
VICE Tue, 12/25/18 LTD. Christian Bale, Amy Adams Adam, McKay NR Com/Dra
DESTROYER Tue, 12/25/18 LTD. Nicole Kidman, Tatiana Maslany Karyn Kusama NR Cri/Thr
WHERE’D YOU GO BERNADETTE? Fri, 3/22/19 WIDE Cate Blanchett, Troian Bellisario Richard Linklater PG-13 Com/Dra
UNTITLED BABAK ANVARI Fri, 3/29/19 WIDE Babak Anvari NR Hor
MISSING LINK Fri, 4/19/19 WIDE Zach Galifianakis, Hugh Jackman Chris Butler NR Ani
DISNEY 818-560-1000 Ask for Distribution
THE NUTCRACKER AND
THE FOUR REALMS
Fri, 11/2/18 WIDE Keira Knightley, Mackenzie Foy Lasse Hallström PG Mus/Fan 3D
RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET Fri, 11/21/18 WIDE John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman Phil Johnston, Rich Moore PG Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/IMAX
MARY POPPINS RETURNS Fri, 12/19/18 WIDE Emily Blunt, Lin-Manuel Miranda Rob Marshall PG Fam/Fan
CAPTAIN MARVEL Fri, 3/8/19 WIDE Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck NR Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX
DUMBO Fri, 3/29/19 WIDE Colin Farrell, Michael Keaton Tim Burton NR Fan/Fam 3D
PENGUINS Wed, 4/17/19 WIDE G Doc
UNTITLED AVENGERS Fri, 5/3/19 WIDE NR Act/Adv/Fan/SF
ALADDIN Fri, 5/24/19 WIDE Will Smith, Mena Massoud Guy Ritchie NR Act/Adv/Com
TOY STORY 4 Fri, 6/21/19 WIDE NR Ani 3D/IMAX
THE LION KING Fri, 7/19/19 WIDE Donald Glover, Beyoncé Jon Favreau NR Fan
ARTEMIS FOWL Fri, 8/9/19 WIDE Ferdia Shaw, Josh Gad Kenneth Branagh NR Fan 3D
JUNGLE CRUISE Fri, 10/11/19 WIDE Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt Jaume Collet-Serra NR Act/Adv
FROZEN 2 Wed, 11/27/19 WIDE NR Ani 3D
STAR WARS: EPISODE IX Fri, 12/20/19 WIDE NR Act/Adv/SF
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
Fri, 2/14/20 WIDE
FOCUS FEATURES 424-214-6360 3D
BOY ERASED Fri, 11/2/18 LTD Lucas Hedges, Nicole Kidman Joel Edgerton R Dra
EVERYBODY KNOWS Fri, 11/30/18 LTD Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem Asghar Farhadi NR Thr
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS Fri, 12/7/18 LTD Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie Josie Rourke NR Dra/His
ON THE BASIS OF SEX Tue, 12/25/18 LTD Felicity Jones Mimi Leder NR Dra/Bio
CAPTIVE STATE Wed, 3/29/19 WIDE John Goodman, Ashton Sanders Rupert Wyatt PG-13 SF
DOWNTON ABBEY Fri, 9/20/19 WIDE Hugh Bonneville, Laura Carmichael Michael Engler NR Dra
FOX 310-369-1000 212-556-2400
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY Fri, 11/2/18 WIDE Rami Malek, Ben Hardy Bryan Singer, Dexter Fletcher PG-13 Bio/Mus
WIDOWS Fri, 11/16/18 WIDE Michelle Rodriguez, Viola Davis Steve McQueen R Dra
UNTITLED DEADPOOL MOVIE Fri, 12/21/18 WIDE Ryan Reynolds NR Act/Com/SF
AD ASTRA Fri, 1/11/19 WIDE Brad Pitt James Gray NR SF/Thr
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Dig
122 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL Fri, 2/14/19 WIDE Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz Robert Rodriguez NR Act/Adv/Rom 3D/IMAX
THE KID WHO WOULD BE KING Fri, 3/1/19 WIDE Louis Ashbourne Serkis, Dean Chaumoo Joe Cornish NR Fan/Fam/Act/Adv
BREAKTHROUGH Fri, 4/12/19 WIDE Chrissy Metz Roxann Dawson NR Dra/Bio
STUBER Fri, 5/24/19 WIDE Dave Bautista, Kumail Nanjiani NR Act/Com
X-MEN: DARK PHOENIX Fri, 6/17/19 WIDE Sophie Turner, Jennifer Lawrence Simon Kinberg NR Act/Adv/SF
UNTITLED JAMES MANGOLD Fri, 6/28/19 WIDE Matt Damon, Christian Bale James Mangold NR Dra
THE NEW MUTANTS Fri, 8/2/19 WIDE Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams Josh Boone NR Act/Hor/SF
SPIES IN DISGUISE Fri, 9/13/19 WIDE Will Smith, Tom Holland Nick Bruno & Troy Quane NR Ani
THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW Fri, 10/4/19 WIDE Amy Adams Joe Wright NR Cri/Dra/Mys
UNTITLED KINGSMAN MOVIE Fri, 11/8/19 WIDE Matthew Vaughn NR Act/Adv
UNTITLED FOX / MARVEL FILM Fri, 11/15/19 WIDE NR
DEATH ON THE NILE Fri, 12/20/19 WIDE Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer Sir Kenneth Branagh NR Dra
THE CALL OF THE WILD Wed, 12/25/19 WIDE Harrison Ford, Dan Stevens Chris Sanders NR Dra
NIMONA Fri, 2/14/20 WIDE Patrick Osborne NR Ani
GAMBIT Fri, 3/13/20 WIDE Channing Tatum, Lizzy Caplan NR Act/Adv/SF
FOX SEARCHLIGHT 212-556-2400
CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? Fri, 10/19/18 LTD. Melissa McCarthy, Richard E. Grant Marielle Heller R Bio/Com/Dra
THE FAVOURITE Fri, 11/23/18 LTD. Olivia Colman, Emma Stone Yorgos Lanthimos R Dra
STAN & OLLIE Fri, 12/28/18 LTD. John C. Riley, Steve Coogan Jon S. Baird NR Dra/Bio
THE AFTERMATH Fri, 4/26/19 WIDE Keira Knightley, Alexander Skarsgård James Kent R Dra/War
GLOBAL ROAD FILMS 310-696-7504
THE SILENCE Fri, 12/7/18 LTD Stanley Tucci, Kiernan Shipka John R. Leonetti NR Hor
PLAYMOBILE UNCHARTED Fri, 1/18/19 WIDE NR Ani
IFC FILMS
WILDLIFE Fri, 10/19/18 LTD. Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan Paul Dano PG-13 Dra
DON’T GO Fri, 10/26/18 LTD. Stephen Dorff, Melissa George David Gleeson NR Mys
WELCOME TO MERCY Fri, 11/2/18 LTD. Lily Newmark, Eva Ariel Binder Tommy Bertelsen NR Thr
THE CLOVENHITCH KILLER Fri, 11/16/18 LTD. Charlie Plummer, Dylan McDermott Duncan Skiles NR Hor
LIONSGATE 310-309-8400
HUNTER KILLER Fri, 10/26/18 WIDE Gerard Butler, Gary Oldman Donovan Marsh NR
ROBIN HOOD Fri, 11/21/18 WIDE Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx Otto Bathurst PG-13 Adv
HARD POWDER Fri, 2/8/19 WIDE Liam Neeson, Emmy Rossum Hans Petter Moland NR Act/Dra
CHAOS WALKING Fri, 3/1/19 WIDE Tom Holland, Daisy Ridley Doug Liman NR Adv/SF
TYLER PERRY’S A MADEA
FAMILY FUNERAL
Fri, 3/1/19 WIDE Tyler Perry, Cassi Davis Tyler Perry PG-13 Com
FIVE FEET APART Fri, 3/22/19 WIDE Haley Lu Richardson, Cole Sprouse Justin Baldoni NR Dra/Rom
HELLBOY Fri, 4/12/19 WIDE David Harbour, Milla Jovovich Neil Marshall NR Act
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER THREE Fri, 5/17/19 WIDE Keanu Reeves, Halle Berry Chad Stahelski NR Act
FLARSKY Fri, 6/7/19 WIDE Seth Rogen, Charlize Theron Jonathan Levine NR Com
MIDWAY Fri, 11/8/19 WIDE Woody Harrelson, Patrick Wilson Roland Emmerich NR Act/Dra/War
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 123

BOOKING GUIDE
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
MGM
CREED II Fri, 12/21/18 LTD. Sylvester Stallone, Michael B. Jordan Steven Caple Jr. NR Dra/Act
FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY
Fri, 3/1/19 LTD.
Florence Pugh, Vince Vaughn,
Dwayne Johnson
Stephen Merchant NR Dra/Bio
THE HUSTLE Fri, 5/10/19 LTD. Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson Chris Addison NR Com
THE ADDAMS FAMILY Fri, 10/11/19 WIDE Oscar Isaac, Charlize Theron Conrad Vernon NR Ani
UNTITLED JAMES BOND 25 Fri, 2/14/20 WIDE Daniel Craig Cary Joji Fukunaga NR Act/Thr
LEGALLY BLONDE 3 Fri, 5/8/20 WIDE Reese Witherspoon NR Com
NEON
BORDER Fri, 10/26/18 LTD. Eva Melander, Eero Milonoff Ali Abbasi R Thr/SF
VOX LUX Fri, 12/7/18 LTD. Natalie Portman, Raffey Cassidy Brady Corbet NR Dra
THIS ONE’S FOR THE LADIES Fri, 2/15/19 LTD. New Jersey Nasty Boyz Eugene Graham NR Doc/Com
THE BEACH BUM Fri, 3/22/19 LTD. Matthew McConaughey, Snoop Dogg Harmony Korine NR Com
WILD ROSE Fri, 5/10/19 LTD. Julie Walters, Jessie Buckley Tom Harper NR Dra/Com/Mus
OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES
SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN Fri, 11/2/18 NY Margarethe von Trotta NR Doc
PARAMOUNT 323-956-5000
NOBODY’S FOOL Fri, 11/2/18 WIDE Tiffany Haddish, Tika Sumpter Tyler Perry R
OVERLORD Fri, 11/9/18 WIDE Wyatt Russell and Jovan Adepo Julius Avery R War/Thr
INSTANT FAMILY Fri, 11/16/18 WIDE Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne Sean Anders NR Com
BUMBLEBEE Wed, 12/21/18 WIDE Hailee Steinfeld, Pamela Adlon Travis Knight NR Act/Adv/SF 3D
ELI Fri, 1/4/19 WIDE Ciaran Foy NR Hor
WHAT MEN WANT Fri, 2/8/19 WIDE Taraji P. Henson, Aldis Hodge Adam Shankman NR Com
RHYTHM SECTION Fri, 2/22/19 WIDE Blake Lively Reed Morano NR Thr
WONDER PARK Fri, 3/15/19 WIDE Mila Junis, Jennifer Garner Dylan Brown PG Ani/Adv/Com
PET SEMATARY Fri, 4/5/19 WIDE Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz
Kevin Kölsch and
Dennis Widmyer
ROCKETMAN Fri, 5/31/19 WIDE Taron Egerton, Jamie Bell Dexter Fletcher NR Bio/Dra
LIMITED PARTNERS Fri, 6/28/19 WIDE Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne NR Com
DORA THE EXLPORER Fri, 8/2/19 WIDE Isabela Moner, Eugenio Derbez James Bobin NR Adv
GEMINI MAN Fri, 10/4/19 WIDE Will Smith, Mary Elizabeth Winstead Ang Lee NR Act/Thr
ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? Fri, 10/19/19 WIDE NR Hor
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Fri, 11/8/19 WIDE James Marsden Jeff Fowler NR Ani/Adv/Com
UNTITLED TERMINATOR PROJECT Fri, 11/15/19 WIDE NR Act/SF
LOUD HOUSE Fri, 2/7/20 WIDE NR Ani
SONY 212-833-8500
THE GIRL IN THE SPIDER’S WEB Fri, 11/9/18 WIDE Claire Foy, Sverrir Gudnason Fede Alvarez NR Dra/Thr
THE FRONT RUNNER Tue, 11/6/18 NY/LA Hugh Jackman, Vera Farmiga Jason Reitman R Dra/Bio
THE POSSESSION OF HANNAH GRACE Fri, 11/30/18 WIDE Stana Katic, Shay Mitchell Diederik Van Rooijen NR Hor
NR
Hor
124 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE Fri, 12/14/18 WIDE Shameik Moore
Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey,
Rodney Rothman
NR
Ani/Act/Fam
HOLMES AND WATSON Fri, 12/25/18 WIDE Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly Ethan Cohen NR Act/Thr
BRIGHTBURN Fri, 12/25/18 WIDE NR Hor
A DOG’S WAY HOME Fri, 1/11/19 WIDE Ashley Judd, Edward James Olmos NR Dra
MISS BALA Fri, 1/25/19 WIDE Gina Rodriguez Catherine Hardwicke NR Act/Dra/Thr
ESCAPE ROOM Fri, 2/1/19 WIDE NR
GREYHOUND Fri, 3/22/19 WIDE Tom Hanks Aaron Schneider NR Dra/War
THE INTRUDER Fri, 4/26/19 WIDE Dennis Quaid, Meaghan Good Deon Taylor PG-13 Thr
THE ROSIE PROJECT Fri, 5/10/19 WIDE NR Rom/Com
MEN IN BLACK SPINOFF Fri, 6/14/19 WIDE Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson F. Gary Gray NR SF/Act/Com
SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME Fri, 7/5/19 WIDE Tom Holland, Michael Keaton NR Act/Adv/SF/Com
ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD Fri, 7/26/19 WIDE Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt Quentin Tarantino NR Dra
GRUDGE Fri, 8/16/19 WIDE Nicolas Pesce NR Hor
OVERCOMER Fri, 8/23/19 WIDE NR Dra/Rel
ANGRY BIRDS 2 Fri, 9/6/19 WIDE NR Ani
CHARLIE’S ANGELS Fri, 9/27/19 WIDE Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott Elizabeth Banks NR Act/Com
ZOMBIELAND 2 Fri, 10/11/19 WIDE Emma Stone, Woody Harrelson Ruben Fleischer NR Act/Hor/Com
UNTITLED MR.ROGERS / TOM HANKS
PROJECT
JUMANJI: WELCOME TO THE
JUNGLE SEQUEL
Fri, 10/18/19 WIDE Tom Hanks Marielle Heller NR Dra
Fri, 12/13/19 WIDE Dwayne Johnson NR Com/Act/Adv
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Fri, 12/18/19 WIDE NR Act/Adv/Fan
LITTLE WOMEN Fri, 12/25/19 WIDE Greta Gerwig NR Dra
MILLER/LORD PRODUCED SPA MOVIE Fri, 1/10/20 WIDE NR Ani
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE Fri, 1/17/20 WIDE NR Act
PETER RABBIT 2 Fri, 2/7/20 WIDE NR Ani
BLOODSHOT Fri, 2/21/20 WIDE NR Act
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS Tom Prassis 212-833-4981
MARIA BY CALLAS Fri, 10/26/18 NY/LA Tom Volf PG Doc
CAPERNAUM Fri, 12/14/18 NY/LA Zain Alrafeea, Yordanos Shifera Nadine Labaki NR Dra
STX ENTERTAINMENT 310-742-2300
SECOND ACT Fri, 12/14/18 WIDE Jennifer Lopez, Milo Ventimiglia Peter Segal NR Rom/Com
THE UPSIDE Fri, 1/11/19 WIDE Kevin Hart, Bryan Cranston Jon Hartmere NR Com/Dra
UNTITLED STX ACTION/THRILLER Fri, 1/25/19 WIDE NR Act/Thr
THE BEST OF ENEMIES Fri, 4/5/19 WIDE Taraji P. Henson, Sam Rockwell Robin Bissell NR Dra
UGLYDOLLS Fri, 5/10/19 WIDE Robert Rodriguez NR Ani
17 BRIDGES Fri, 7/12/19 WIDE Chadwick Boseman Brian Kirk NR Cri/Thr/Act
UNIVERSAL 818-777-1000
JOHNNY ENGLISH STRIKES AGAIN Fri, 10/26/18 WIDE Rowan Atkinson, Ben Miller, David Kerr PG Act/Com
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 125

BOOKING GUIDE
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
DR. SEUSS’ THE GRINCH Fri, 11/9/18 WIDE Benedict Cumberbatch
Peter Candeland,
Yarrow Cheney
GREEN BOOK Wed, 11/21/18 WIDE Viggo Mortensen, Mahershala Ali Peter Farrelly NR
PG Ani/Com/Fam 3D
SCHINDLER’S LIST 25TH ANNIVERSARY Fri, 12/7/18 LTD. Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley Steven Spielberg NR Dra/War
MORTAL ENGINES Fri, 12/14/18 WIDE Hera Hilmar, Robert Sheehan Christian Rivers NR SF 3D/IMAX
WELCOME TO MARWEN Fri, 12/21/18 WIDE Steve Carell Robert Zemeckis PG-13 Dra
GLASS Fri, 1/18/19 WIDE James McAvoy, Bruce Willis M. Night Shyamalan PG-13 Thr
HAPPY DEATH DAY 2U Thu, 2/14/19 WIDE NR Hor
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON:
THE HIDDEN WORLD
Fri, 2/22/19 WIDE Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler Dean DeBlois NR Ani/Com/Fam
US Fri, 3/15/19 WIDE Jordan Peele NR Thr
LITTLE Fri, 4/12/19 WIDE Marsai Martin Tina Gordon NR Com
A DOG’S JOURNEY Fri, 5/17/19 WIDE Gail Mancuso NR Fam
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE
PRODUCTIONS PROJECT
Fri, 5/31/19 WIDE Jessica Rothe Christopher Landon NR Hor
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 Fri, 6/7/19 WIDE Chris Renaud NR Ani
UNTITLED DANNY BOYLE/RICHARD
CURTIS COMEDY
Fri, 6/28/19 WIDE Lily James, Himesh Patel Danny Boyle NR Com/Mus
UNTITLED FAST & FURIOUS SPIN-OFF Fri, 8/2/19 WIDE NR Act/Adv
GOOD BOYS Fri, 8/16/19 WIDE Jacob Tremblay
Lee Eisenberg &
Gene Stupnitsky
ABOMINABE Fri, 9/27/19 WIDE Tim Johnson NR Ani
THE HUNT Fri, 9/27/19 WIDE Craig Zobel NR Act/Thr
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS Fri, 10/18/19 WIDE NR Hor
WILL PACKER COMEDY Fri, 11/15/19 WIDE NR Com
QUEEN & SLIM Fri, 11/27/19 WIDE NR Dra/Rom
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS Fri, 12/13/19 WIDE NR Hor
CATS Fri, 12/20/19 WIDE Tom Hooper NR Mus
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS Fri, 1/3/20 WIDE NR Hor
THE VOYAGE OF DOCTOR DOLITTLE Fri, 1/17/20 WIDE Robert Downy, Jr., Ralph Fiennes Stephen Gaghan NR Com
WARNER BROS. 818-977-1850
FANTASTIC BEASTS: THE CRIMES
OF GRINDELWALD
Fri, 11/16/18 WIDE Eddie Redmayne, Johnny Depp David Yates PG-13 Act/Adv/Fan
HEAD FULL OF HONEY 1/30/18 NY/LA Nick Nolte, Eric Roberts Til Schweiger NR Dra
THE MULE Fri, 12/14/18 WIDE Clint Eastwood Clint Eastwood NR Dra/Cri/Mys
AQUAMAN Fri, 12/21/18 WIDE Jason Momoa, Amber Heard James Wan PG-13 Act/Adv/SF 3D/IMAX
THE LEGO MOVIE 2: THE SECOND PART Fri, 2/8/19 WIDE Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks Mike Mitchell NR Ani
ISN’T IT ROMANTIC Fri, 2/14/19 WIDE Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth Todd Strauss-Schulson PG-13 Com
SHAZAM! Fri, 4/5/19 WIDE Zachary Levi, Asher Angel David F. Sandberg NR Act/Adv/Fan IMAX
THE CURSE OF LA LLORONA Fri, 4/19/19 WIDE NR Hor
DETECTIVE PIKACHU Fri, 5/10/19 WIDE Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith Rob Letterman NR Adv
NR
Com
126 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018

TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
THE SUN IS ALSO A STAR Fri, 5/17/19 WIDE NR
MINECRAFT: THE MOVIE Fri, 5/24/19 WIDE NR
GODZILLA: KING OF THE MONSTERS Fri, 5/31/19 WIDE PG-13 SF/Act
SHAFT Fri, 6/14/19 WIDE NR Act
UNTITLED CONJURING UNIVERSE FILM Fri, 7/3/19 WIDE NR Hor
UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM Fri, 8/2/19 WIDE NR
IT SEQUEL Fri, 9/6/19 WIDE NR Hor IMAX
THE KITCHEN Fri, 9/20/19 WIDE Elisabeth Moss, Melissa McCarthy NR Cri/Thr
JOKER Fri, 10/4/19 WIDE Joaquin Phoenix Todd Phillips NR Act
THE GOLDFINCH Fri, 10/11/19 WIDE NR Dra
WONDER WOMAN 1984 Fri, 11/1/19 WIDE Gal Gadot, Kristin Wiig Patty Jenkins NR Act/Adv/Fan IMAX/3D
MARGIE CLAUS Fri, 11/15/19 WIDE NR Com/Mus
SUPERINTELLIGENCE Fri, 12/25/19 WIDE Melissa McCarthy Ben Falcone NR Act/Com
JUST MERCY Fri, 1/17/19 WIDE Brie Larson, Michael B. Jordan Destin Daniel Cretton NR Dra
DOCTOR SLEEP Fri, 1/24/19 WIDE Ewan McGregor, Rebecca Ferguson Mike Flanagan NR Hor
UNTITLED BIRDS OF PREY PROJECT
Fri, 2/7/20 WIDE
Margot Robbie,
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Cathy Yan NR Act/Adv
OUR SPONSORS
20TH CENTURY FOX 9
AMERICAN CINEMA EQUIPMENT 115
ARTS ALLIANCE MEDIA 17
ATOM TICKETS
BACK COVER
BARCO/CINIONIC 1
CAIZ ELECTRONICS 35
CAMATIC 27
CARDINAL SOUND 128
CINEASIA 73
C. CRETORS & COMPANY 39
CY YOUNG INDUSTRIES 128
DOLPHIN SEATING 67
ENPAR AUDIO 121
FANDANGO 11
GDC TECHNOLOGY 6–7
GOLD MEDAL PRODUCTS 49
IRWIN SEATING 21
LIGHTSPEED/DEPTH Q 128
MAGNA TECH 117
MEDIAMATION 79
MOC INSURANCE SERVICES 5
MOVIEPASS 37
MOVING IMAGE TECHNOLOGIES 15, 43
MTI/AUTOFRY 119
NCM 25
NEC DISPLAY 13
OMNITERM 85
PARADIGM DESIGN 113
PARAMOUNT PICTURES 60
PROMOTION IN MOTION 33
QSC 19
READY THEATER SYSTEMS 99
REAL D 100–101
RETRIEVER SYSTEMS 59
SCREENVISION
INSIDE FRONT COVER
SENSIBLE CINEMA 128
SONIC EQUIPMENT 23
SPOTLIGHT CINEMA NETWORK 45, 95
ST. JUDE CHILDREN’S RESEARCH HOSPITAL 69
STADIUM SAVERS 111
TALISMAN MILLS 41
TELESCOPIC SEATING SYSTEMS
INSIDE BACK COVER
TIVOLI LIGHTING 31
USHIO 81
VARIETY - THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY 89
VIP CINEMA SEATING FRONT COVER, 2–3
WEBEDIA MOVIES PRO 65, 71, 83, 87
WHITE CASTLE 77
WILL ROGERS MOTION PICTURE PIONEERS FOUNDATION 75
OCTOBER 2018 BOXOFFICE ® 127

MARKETPLACE
HELP WANTED
SENIOR LEVEL CHANNEL ACCOUNT MAN-
AGER wanted by NEC Display Solutions for
expanding Digital Cinema group. Seeking minimum
8 years’ experience within hi-tech, cinema
or Pro A/V industry to drive strategic growth.
Field-based, travel throughout US & Canada
required. Apply: www.necdisplay.com/careers
FOR SALE
USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS AND SOUND
EQUIPMENT. 3 Solaria One Plus projectors
with NAS and projector base. 14 JBL stage
speakers, 12 JBL surround speakers. Processors
and monitors. Contact: boothmw@chakerestheatres.com
or call Mark at (937) 323-6447.
BISTRO CHAIRS FOR SALE: (392) Red vinyl
and (328) gray vinyl seven year old Seating
Concepts Palermo style in-theatre bistro chairs
to be available in early Spring 2018. All chairs
equipped with tray tables. Some of the seats
will require covers/repairs. Please contact
mhooker@aztcorporation.comor 972-428-2943
for more information.
USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS, Five complete
booths including sound equipment. Three
years old. Contact seller at moviescope1000@
gmail.com.
TWO BRAND NEW 3000 watts Christie Xenon
lamps for 35mm projectors. Contact: Atul Desai
949-291-5700.
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.
18 SETS OF USED 35MM AUTOMATED PRO-
JECTION 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. MO-
BILIARIO high-back rockers with cup holders.
Located in Connecticut. Contact (203)758-2148.
6 PLEX EQUIPMENT PACKAGE. Six complete
booths digital projectors/sound, 72 speakers,
seats, screens/frames, concession equipment,
computers, led signs/marquees, safe/
misc equipment. Serious inquiries only. For
equipment list email contact@digitalequipmenttechnologies.com
or call 801-548-0108 or
fax 801-281-0482.
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 AVAIL-
ABLE Pacific Northwest Theatre Company.
Previous management experience required.
Work weekends, evenings and holidays. Send
resume and salary history to movietheatrejobs@gmail.com
POSITIONS AVAILABLE
The three-screen Stavros Niarchos Foundation
Parkway Film Center in Baltimore is seeking an
OPERATIONS DIRECTOR to oversee all aspects
of running the theater and concessions.
The Film Center, a partnership among the
Maryland Film Festival, Johns Hopkins University
and MICA will open in spring of 2017 and
offer a broad range of the world’s best arthouse,
independent, documentary, and classic
cinema. The full job description and application
instructions are found at mdfilmfest.com/
about-the-festival/jobs.php.
128 BOXOFFICE ® OCTOBER 2018