Boxoffice - January 2017

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JANUARY 2017
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Janelle Monáe, Taraji
P. Henson, and Octavia
Spencer star as NASA
mathematicians in
Hidden Figures
ART HOUSE
CONVERGENCE
A LOOK AT THE HISTORY OF THE EVENT
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners

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© 2016 Christie Digital Systems USA, Inc. All rights reserved.

JANUARY 2017
VOL. 153 NO. 1
COVER STORY
THE MATH BEHIND THE MISSION
Hidden Figures director Ted Melfi tackles the little-known story of the
African American women who helped NASA win the Space Race
Exhibition Briefs edited by Laura Silver 4
Executive Suite
Virtual reality: Point counterpoint by John Fithian and Phil Contrino
Law & Order
The DOJ rule: Reasonable regulation comes to Washington by Esther Baruh
Charity Spotlight
A look at recent events
by Daniel Loria
Concessions Stand
B&B Theatres employs a variety of strategies in its F&B game plan by Daniel Loria
Social Media
2017 Social media heat map: What online buzz tells us about the year ahead
20
by Alex Edghill
Technology
The latest in audio, digital ticketing, immersive seating, and laser projection
22
Exhibitor Marketing presented by Webedia Entertainment
Web access: New ADA regulations and your website by James Devin
26
Art House Convergence
Spotlight Cinema Networks targets advertising in art-house
34
and upscale theaters by Jesse Rifkin
The first 10 years: A look back at the history of the event by Barbara Twist 36
Cinema Showcase
Prospector Theater, Ridgefield, Conn. by Kathryn Milczarski
39
Inside Your Theater
Severtson presents new line of screens at Cineasia
42
Event Cinema
Not so alternative anymore: Two art-house theaters describe the different ways 44
they found success with event cinema
Event Calendar 47
3D Calendar presented by RealD 48
On Screen
Capsule previews of upcoming wide- and limited-release films by Kenneth James Bacon
50
Booking Guide
Booking details for over 150 upcoming releases
58
Classifieds 64
8
12
16
18
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 3

EXHIBITION
BRIEFS
IMAX’S RAPOSO TO JOIN D-BOX
n D-BOX Technologies Inc. has announced the appointment of Bob Raposo (above)
as the new vice president, Americas and EMEA markets, for its theatrical sales division.
Raposo brings over 20 years of experience in sales and business development to his new
role with the company.
Prior to joining D-BOX, Raposo held the position of vice president for theater development
and sales in the Americas at IMAX Corporation. During his six-year tenure,
he was instrumental in pursuing new business opportunities, negotiating a range of
complex transactions and agreements with multiple deal structures, and executing a
variety of joint-revenue-share transactions.
“Bob’s industry experience and financial background coupled with his extensive
network of contacts are key advantages that will play an important role in our success,”
said Claude McMaster, president and chief executive officer of D-BOX. “As we continue
to build the brand and bring recurring revenues for our exhibitors around the
world, Bob’s expertise, insights, and focus will be extremely important assets for our
organization.”
in screen count for Marcus, which will
operate a total of 885 screens at 68 locations
across eight states upon closing, expected to
come before the end of the year. Terms of the
transaction were not disclosed.
“Acquisitions are an important component
of our growth strategy, and we are
pleased to add the Wehrenberg Theatres
locations to our circuit,” said Gregory S.
Marcus, president and chief executive officer
of the Marcus Corporation. “The acquisition
demonstrates our continued confidence in
our theater business.”
Of the 14 locations acquired, nine are in
the Greater St. Louis area; one each in Cape
Girardeau and Lake Ozark, Missouri; one in
Cedar Rapids, Iowa; one in Rochester, Minnesota;
and one in Bloomington, Illinois. As
part of the deal, Marcus Theatres will also
acquire the real estate for six of the locations,
as well as an 84,000-square-foot retail center
located in St. Louis.
“Wehrenberg Theatres is highly respected
in the industry, having served generations of
moviegoers in four states with its premium
service and strong family values,” said
Rolando B. Rodriguez, president and chief
executive officer of Marcus Theatres, in a
press release. “We will retain the Wehrenberg
name on the acquired theaters. In addition,
we look forward to working with the company’s
associates to continue the tradition of
excellence built by the Wehrenberg family.”
After the transaction is completed, Marcus
plans to make enhancements at select
theaters.
AMC CLOSES ODEON & UCI
ACQUISITION
n AMC Theatres has acquired Odeon &
UCI Cinemas Holdings from private equity
firm Terra Vista, a $1.2 billion transaction.
Odeon & UCI is Europe’s largest exhibition
circuit, with 244 locations, 2,243 screens,
and 90 million tickets sold annually. The acquisition
makes AMC the world’s largest exhibition
circuit at 636 locations worldwide,
with 7,623 screens across eight countries.
Odeon reported revenues of $1.14 billion in
2015 and $779.3 million through the end of
September 2016.
AMC will continue operating in its
Leawood, Kansas, headquarters with its
current leadership structure. Odeon will act
as a wholly owned subsidiary headquartered
in London under the name Odeon Cinemas
Group. Paul Donovan, who served as CEO
of Odeon & UCI since February 2014, will
be departing the company.
“We congratulate Paul Donovan on his
successful leadership of Odeon,” said AMC
CEO and president Adam Aron. “He is a
talented executive who has made a difference
to the business. We fully understand that
his ambitions lie in developing his career as
a chief executive of a stand-alone enterprise
and are pleased that Paul will act as an advisor
to AMC during the period of transition.”
AMC’s screen count is set to see another
significant expansion with the imminent
closing of its acquisition of Carmike Cinemas,
expected to come by the end of 2016 or
early 2017 pending regulatory approval.
MARCUS ACQUIRES
WEHRENBERG LOCATIONS
n Marcus Theatres is set to add an additional
197 screens to its circuit with the acquisition
of 14 Wehrenberg Theatres locations in
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. The
acquisition represents a 29 percent increase
CJ 4DPLEX TO MERGE WITH
SIMULINE
n CJ 4DPLEX has announced plans to
merge with Simuline, a company that creates
rides and simulators for the attraction industry.
With this merger, CJ 4DPLEX aims
to expand its business beyond immersive
cinema, including virtual reality and other
areas of the attraction industry.
CJ 4DPLEX launched the first 4D
cinema technology for feature films in 2009.
Through this merger, CJ 4DPLEX expects
to integrate and expand both their business
portfolio and network to 74 countries and
90 partners.
Simuline has been in the motion-simulation
business and state-of-the-art motion
platforms for thrill rides, motion theaters,
and simulators. Simuline was founded in
1996 and has supplied motion chairs to 4DX
since the company’s inception in 2009. In
partnership with 26 businesses, Simuline’s
attractions have been installed at 164 sites,
4 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

including various types of entertainment
spaces, theaters and theme parks.
“The merger between CJ 4DPLEX
and Simuline is to lay the groundwork to
strengthen 4DX’s global business. We will
accelerate our pace towards global expansion
and broaden our business to include the
theme park and attraction entertainment
industry, going beyond the 4D cinema
market.” said, Byung-Hwan Choi, CEO of
CJ 4DPLEX.
BELGIAN ROYALTY HONORS
CINEMARK’S MITCHELL
n As part of the Belgian economic mission
to the United States, Her Royal Highness
Princess Astrid of Belgium visited Austin,
Texas, in December and honored the
founder and executive chairman of Cinemark
Holdings, Lee Roy Mitchell, during
her stay. The award was in recognition of the
company’s longstanding relationship with
Barco, a worldwide digital cinema leader and
a Belgium-based company.
The purpose of the mission to Texas was
to explore technology and business innovation
in the state, while focusing on ways to
create a closer working relationship between
the state and country. Accompanying HRH
Princess Astrid throughout the tour were
several key federal cabinet ministers and
senior representatives from each of Belgium’s
three regional governments, including
deputy prime minister Didier Reynders. By
royal decree, HRH Princess Astrid presented
the Order of the Crown (Commandeur in de
Kroonorde) medal, representing an honorary
distinction, to Cinemark’s Mitchell. The
event, hosted by Barco, took place at Cinemark
Tinseltown 20 and XD in Pflugerville,
Texas. Complete information about the
event and trade mission can be found at the
Belgian Economic Mission website.
YMAGIS ACQUIRES OPEN
SKY CINEMA
Ymagis Group announced an agreement
with Vicenza, Italy–based Open Sky SRL for
the acquisition of its theatrical-content-delivery
activities dedicated to cinema exhibition
(Open Sky Cinema). Under the terms of the
agreement, Open Sky SRL will transfer the
related assets to the group.
“It’s a strategic move for our company to
take over these valuable assets from Open
Sky SRL at a time when we are actively
pursuing our market-consolidation strategy
in theatrical delivery,” said Ymagis Group
president and CEO Jean Mizrahi. “Open
Sky Cinema had been acting as a sales and
technical agent for our recently acquired
satellite content-delivery specialist DSAT
Cinema in Italy. We’ve significantly strengthened
our position as the undisputed leader
in theatrical-content delivery in Europe,
and it’s our intention to reap the benefits of
increased synergies within the group to reach
our profit target for this activity.”
Both parties expected to close the deal
before the end of the year. Current Open Sky
Cinema managing director Walter Munarini
will remain on board, overseeing the daily
operations of the group’s new content-services
venture in Italy. Open Sky Cinema’s
eight employees will now join the Ymagis
Group. In addition to this new venture,
Ymagis Group already operates from Rome
its exhibitor-services activities, CinemaNext
Italia, headed by Tony Vagnarelli.
NCM CREATES AFFILIATE
PARTNERSHIPS TEAM
n National CineMedia (NCM) has created a
new affiliate-partnerships team dedicated to
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 5

EXHIBITION BRIEFS
JEFF SPAIN JOINS
REALD
n RealD Founder and CEO Michael
V. Lewis recently announced that Jeff
Spain has joined the company as chief
financial officer.
Based in RealD’s Beverly Hills corporate
office, Spain will have oversight
of all accounting and finance functions
and report directly to Lewis. Most
recently he served as CFO at Rentech
Inc. and brings with him over 20 years
of experience with public-, venture-,
and private-equity-backed companies.
Spain has worked in a variety
of industries including technology,
e-commerce, digital media, consumer,
and energy.
“Jeff’s background aligns with
our business objectives, and his track
record speaks for itself,” said Lewis. “I
can’t think of anyone better than Jeff
to lead the charge as we continue to
grow our core cinema platform and
bring RealD technology to the consumer
marketplace.” Last month Lewis
announced that Travis Reid had joined
the company as COO.
RealD has the world’s largest 3D
cinema platform, with over of 28,000
current installations and a backlog
of 7,000, including the addition of
the recently announced 4,000-screen
installation agreement with Wanda
Cinema Line Corporation. RealD is
used by approximately 1,200 exhibitors
in 72 countries.
serving the needs of its more than 40 movie
theater affiliates nationwide.
Veteran NCM executive Stacie Tursi has
been tapped to lead the team in the new
role of senior vice president of affiliate partnerships,
based in the company’s Centennial,
Colorado, headquarters. Tursi will report
directly to NCM president Cliff Marks,
who will be taking a more active role working
with NCM’s affiliate partners.
“NCM is very fortunate to have great
affiliates, who, along with our three founding
members, AMC, Cinemark, and Regal,
make up the largest and most impactful
theater network in the U.S.,” said Marks.
“We are grateful for the trust they have
placed in us to help grow their business,
and I believe that Stacie and our new affiliate
partnerships team will allow us to work
together to be more strategic and more
service oriented moving forward.”
Most recently, Tursi had served as senior
vice president, eastern region, with NCM,
where she led the local and regional sales
team in training, on-boarding new personnel,
and developing sales strategy. Also
joining the new affiliate partnerships team
is another NCM veteran, Jennifer Lupo,
who has been named vice president, affiliate
partnerships, and will report to Tursi. Bob
Brouillette, NCM’s long-time senior vice
president of business development, will
continue to serve as an affiliate partnerships
consultant until his retirement in December
of 2017.
FANDANGO EXPANDS IN
LATIN AMERICA
n Fandango is expanding its business in
Latin America with the acquisition of Peru-based
online movie ticketer Cinepapaya.
Following last year’s acquisition of Ingresso.
com in Brazil, with cinema ticketing up 30
percent year-over-year, Fandango’s acquisition
of Cinepapaya will nearly double the
company’s consumer reach in the region
and extend its ticketing business to seven
new countries: Mexico, Argentina, Colombia,
Peru, Chile, Ecuador, and Bolivia.
“This is an exciting time at Fandango,”
said company president Paul Yanover.
While our business in the U.S. continues to
accelerate across online, mobile, and social
platforms, we are currently experiencing
tremendous momentum in Brazil, with
Ingresso’s significant growth. With the addition
of Cinepapaya, Fandango will emerge
as a leading online ticketer throughout
Latin America.”
According to the Motion Picture Association
of America, Latin America’s box office
grew 13 percent in 2015, with $3.4 billion
in sales, and has increased 31 percent since
2011. Based on an online-ticketing study
published earlier this year by Grand View
Research, the Latin American online-movie-ticketing
market share is expected to
grow at a compound annual growth rate of
over 16 percent by 2022.
SARATOGA ACQUIRES
XENON CINEMA BUSINESS
FROM PHILIPS
n Saratoga Partners, an alternative asset
manager headquartered in New York City,
has acquired the Xenon cinema business
from Philips Lighting. The business, to
be named Lighting Technologies International
LLC (LTI), is a major manufacturer
of xenon arc lamps for digital cinema
projectors used in the worldwide cinema
exhibition industry. LTI has approximately
220 employees located primarily in Baldwin
Park, California, near Los Angeles. The LTI
management team and all employees have
transitioned to the new operating unit.
As part of the transaction, Philips
Lighting has granted LTI a license enabling
the new entity to continue to produce and
sell xenon lamps under the Philips brand
worldwide. Philips Lighting will continue
to provide lighting applications and systems
to cinemas and theaters and remains
committed to LED-based projection lamp
innovations.
“We see substantial growth opportunities
in the cinema and other specialty
lighting markets, and we look forward to
working with management to build the
business,” said Christian L. Oberbeck,
managing director of Saratoga Partners.
“We believe that we are well positioned
to acquire and grow LTI as a stand-alone
entity, building on our history of successful
acquisitions in the lighting space, track
record of growing revenues and improving
profitability of our lighting businesses, and
long history and success in acquiring and
building similarly sized companies.”
SCREENVISION’S TRACY
KAIN TO LEAD NEW
AUTOMOTIVE CATEGORY
TEAM
n Screenvision has formed a dedicated
automotive category team in response to
interest in the company’s services from the
automotive industry. Screenvision Media’s
own Tracy Kain will lead the team, bringing
14 years of experience at the company and
6 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

a wealth of automotive sales knowledge to
her new role.
The creation of an automotive category
team, coupled with Kain’s appointment,
will expand the array of resources Screenvision
Media offers to the category, including
creative direction and research capabilities.
Screenvision has already worked
with several automotive brands, including
Toyota, Chevrolet, Nissan, Mazda
and Kia, on national, regional, and local
levels. Its accomplishments have included
its award-winning Technically Speaking
branded segment commissioned by Ford,
its work with Chevrolet to place the brand’s
mock scary movie trailer in theaters, and
a recently announced attribution program
with comScore.
“The automotive category is very important
to us, and we recognize that cinema
advertising is an increasingly important
part of automotive media campaigns—from
launch initiatives to local dealership promotions,”
said Katy Loria, EVP, chief revenue
officer, Screenvision Media. “Tracy has a
wealth of cinema-advertising experience and
has had a heavy influence on our automotive
business throughout her 14-year tenure
at Screenvision Media. We feel that this
is the opportune time to elevate Tracy to
help us further grow the category and foster
incredible opportunities for our automotive
advertisers.”
Joining Tracy’s team are current Screenvision
media account executives Laura
Griffith and Brad Ritchie.
HUNTINGTON BANK, RAD
INVEST IN THE TULL FAMILY
THEATER
n Village Theater Company, the nonprofit
organization that has built and soon will
screen films at the Tull Family Theater in
Sewickley, Pennsylvania, has attracted the
backing of Huntington Bank, one of the
nation’s largest bank holding companies,
and Allegheny County’s Regional Asset
District (RAD), a leading public funder of
arts and culture in Allegheny County.
Huntington has committed to sponsoring
a screening room in the Tull Family
Theater. Beyond naming rights, Huntington
will extend resources to support ongoing
initiatives such as outreach programs and
film festivals. The seven-year partnership is
the institution’s first of its kind in Pennsylvania.
It links Huntington, a leader in
community reinvestment, to the Tull Family
Theater, which accommodates well over
400 patrons in two screenings rooms and a
flexible space for small-scale performances
and events.
“There is no greater privilege than helping
to transform the lives of people in our
own backyard,” said Susan Baker Shipley,
president of Huntington Bank in western
Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley.
Since 1995, RAD has invested more
than $3.4 billion in the region, providing
grants to libraries, parks, sports facilities,
and arts and culture programs.
The Tull Family Theater will bring arthouse
movies and other cultural programming
to local communities in the region
and beyond. The theater’s programming
plans include: contemporary, independent,
foreign, documentary, classic and regional
films; programming for children and youth;
community outreach, including seniors;
speaker series; black box theater; live music
and other small-scale performances. n
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 7

EXECUTIVE
SUITE
VIRTUAL REALITY
POINT COUNTERPOINT
By John Fithian, President, NATO and
Phil Contrino, Manager of Research and Data, NATO
Virtual reality (“VR”) is the new, hot thing in entertainment. Major content and technology companies have developed VR
applications and are devoting significant R&D to the subject. Consumers are buying VR headsets for holiday presents. And
movie theaters are evolving to include the VR experience. But in the end, will the advent of VR be a good or bad thing for
the exhibition industry? In this column two NATO colleagues square off on the topic. Phil Contrino, the millennial, serves as
NATO’s manager of research and data, and John Fithian, the old guy, is NATO’s president. (continued on page 10)
8 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

EXECUTIVE SUITE
Phil: VR will create
intense competition
in the gaming world,
but it won’t directly
compete with featurelength
films.
People like to leave their homes and do
stuff together. It’s that simple. That’s why
theaters continue to prosper despite an
overwhelming number of entertainment
options in the home. It’s important to view
VR as something that will take time away
from in-home options but not necessarily
from out-of-home options. Video games that
use VR in engaging and innovative ways will
steal attention from those that don’t use it
well or don’t use it all, but gamers will still
love going to theaters—even if only to watch
other people play games (which they are
doing in rapidly growing numbers) rather
than Hollywood’s latest efforts. VR is simply
a different experience—and “different” really
is the key word here. It’s important not to
use “better” or “worse” when comparing
VR to theatrical releases. Sometimes people
will crave the visceral experience that VR
provides, and at other times they will crave
the experience of being completely engrossed
in a theatrical release over the course of two
hours.
John: VR may become
a direct competitor—
for the consumers’
leisure time. Let’s
hope VR stays limited
to shorter-length
content.
Though going out to the movies will
always be different from entertainment in
the home, consumers only have so much
available leisure time. Before the advent of
television, Americans went to the movies
30 times a year or more; now it is less than
four. Movie theaters remain profitable by
continually improving the offering, including
sight and sound, so that the home experience
remains inferior. But the VR experience
in the home will be very similar to the VR
experience in the cinema. As consumers dedicate
a greater percentage of their leisure time
to VR, that time will be spent mainly in the
home. Hopefully feature length movies will
never be commercially viable in VR!
Phil: The side effects of virtual reality
will limit it as a platform that can
match the duration of feature-length
films.
In its current form, virtual reality is
best for quick bursts of content and not a
sustained narrative. Some people who try
VR report a wide range of negative side
effects such as seizures, headaches, nausea,
dizziness, or trouble with hand-eye coordination—in
these cases using VR for an hour
and a half would be impossible. Even people
who have no physical problems with VR in
short bursts may end up having problems if
they use it for too long. As the technology
improves, these side effects will likely be
reduced, but there will always be a portion
of the population that just doesn’t enjoy VR
because of the physical drawbacks.
John: VR could become a
transformative way to experience
content. But ultimately that
experience will occur in the home.
One can watch movies (or television
programs) at home or watch movies in the
cinema. The cinema offers the superior experience
in sight and sound, and it is social.
Video games started as a social experience
in arcades, then migrated to the home, and
are now being experienced in cinemas, too.
Video games can be a solitary or a social
experience. VR, however, is completely
solitary. Headsets transport the viewer/gamer
to a different world, where they cannot see
anyone standing or sitting next to them in
the real world. VR may only exist in the
cinema as long as the technology is considered
novel and the device price points remain
high. Once VR content is widely available
and headsets relatively affordable, why would
anyone leave their home to experience VR?
Phil: There are plenty of ways for
movie theaters and VR creators to
come together in order to make
money.
Imagine that a big-name director—Michael
Bay and Steven Spielberg are already
embracing this technology—wants to
create a VR experience that really stands
out and has all the qualities of a polished
studio movie. Creating it wouldn’t be cheap.
Releasing it to only people with VR headsets
at home would limit its potential even once
penetration of the technology reaches the
bullish expectations placed on it. What kind
of price point could VR creators working in
a narrative format expect to set? Certainly
not the same amount—north of $50—that
the gaming industry can snag for new
content. If Steven Spielberg makes a VR
experience it will still be labeled as a movie,
and consumers will react accordingly. Would
people want to own these VR experiences
or just rent them? If the answer is mostly
“rent,” then the price point drops again.
It’s easier to justify the expense of creating
quality VR if it spurs consumers to go to
theaters for a continuation of the world they
just enjoyed. This strategy has already been
put in place with such successful titles as
Interstellar, The Martian, and Goosebumps,
and plenty more movies will be using it in
the months and years to come. A theatrical
release adds a pedigree to any film, and that
pedigree comes with real financial value.
Putting certain VR content into theaters will
give it that pedigree.
VR also has the potential to create a
new type of programming for theaters. “VR
theaters,” which allow people to sit in a chair
for a given amount of time and consume
a couple of VR experiences, are already
popping up all over the globe. If this format
continues to gain popularity, it’s not hard
to imagine multiplexes devoting space to it.
An expansion of VR options in theaters may
spur more filmmakers to work in the format.
If VR is still enjoyed in short bursts, imagine
the drawing power of three major filmmakers
producing 10-minute shorts that are sold together
for the price of a movie ticket. There
would be no complaints about the number
of showings that can fit into a day!
John: Full-length theatrical movies
remain the bread and butter of
the exhibition industry even with
alternative content, and now VR, in
cinemas. Maybe the millennial is right.
Maybe VR isn’t a big threat after all,
but it probably isn’t a big win for
exhibition either.
With the advent of digital cinema, some
industry observers heralded the coming
growth of alternative programming in
cinemas with a belief that such programming
could produce substantial revenues. And
to be fair, there have been some surprising
successes—such as opera. Nonetheless,
digital cinema has now enabled alternative
programming for many years, but nontheatrical
content still constitutes low-single-digit
percentage revenues compared to movies.
Cinemas are now experimenting with
gaming and also VR short programs. Yet I
can’t imagine that VR will ever grow in the
theatrical space to be much more than lobby
programming or small, short programs in a
designated auditorium. Even if VR does not
pose much of a threat, I don’t see it as a big
win either.
Let us know what you think. n
10 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

LAW &
ORDER
THE DOJ RULE
REASONABLE REGULATION
COMES TO WASHINGTON
by Esther Baruh, Director, Government Relations, NATO
n After six years of deliberation, 1,583 public comments,
and three different rule-making documents, the Department
of Justice has finalized regulations requiring digital
movie theaters across America to provide specialty access
systems for the hearing and visually impaired. This rule
builds on years of progress made by movie theaters in
providing these technologies. At the time of the final rule’s
publication in early December, the majority of digital movie
screens in the United States were equipped with closed
captioning and audio-description systems. By the summer
of 2018, in time for the release of major movies such as The
Incredibles 2 and Ocean’s Eight, all digital movie theaters in
America will be able to offer these services.
The final rule reflects a historic agreement reached by
the National Association of Theatre Owners and deaf and
hard-of-hearing advocates. NATO and four different advocacy
groups—the National Association of the Deaf, Hearing
Loss Association of America, the Alexander Graham Bell
Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the Association
of Late-Deafened Adults—submitted a framework
for access to the DOJ. The significance of this document
did not go unnoticed by the DOJ, which incorporated into
the rule certain major provisions outlined in this model. The
device minimums for both closed captioning and audio-description
devices, perhaps the most significant aspect of
the rule, were adopted exactly as suggested by NATO and
the advocacy groups.
The DOJ’s acceptance of the joint model reflects the
crucial role played by trade associations in the regulatory
process. By collaborating with major advocacy groups on
this measure, NATO impacted the rule-making in a way
uniquely achievable by virtue of its position as the collective
voice of exhibition. Initially the DOJ was considering
an onerous and costly rule that would have resulted in
wasted resources and heaps of equipment sitting unused.
The proposed rule released two years ago recommended
closed-captioning-device numbers equivalent to 2 percent
of theater seats—a figure that far exceeds the demand—
and mandated an abbreviated and impractical compliance
window of six months. NATO’s efforts paved the way for
reasonable rule-making at the DOJ and will save exhibitors
millions of dollars. (continued on page 14)
12 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

LAW & ORDER
A SUMMARY OF THE RULE’S HIGHLIGHTS
FOLLOWS
Timeline
The rule is effective January 17, 2017, 45 days after its publication
in the Federal Register. Compliance is required by June
2, 2018, 18 months from the rule’s publication in the Federal
Register.
Covered Theaters
All digital auditoriums are required to comply
with the rule. Analog auditoriums are excluded
from this requirement. The DOJ may engage
in rule-making at a later date regarding
exclusively analog auditoriums. If a movie
auditorium is converted from analog
to digital projection after the rule is
published in the Federal Register, the
theater has either six months or within
24 months of publication in the Federal
Register to install CC and AD systems in
that auditorium, whichever is later.
Drive-In Theaters
Drive-in theaters are exempted from this
rule.
Closed-Captioning Scoping Requirements
Theaters covered by this rule are required to have a minimum
number of CC devices based on screen count. Those minimums are:
• Single screen: 4 devices
• 2–7 screens: 6 devices
• 8–15 screens: 8 devices
• 16+ screens: 12 devices
Record Keeping and High Demand
The DOJ did not impose a record-keeping requirement in
this rule, nor did the department require theaters to increase their
minimum device amounts if demand were to exceed supply. Instead,
the DOJ “strongly encourages” theaters located in places with an
“unusually high concentration” of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals
to work voluntarily with their local communities to maintain an
appropriate number of devices or adopt other approaches to satisfy
this higher demand.
Audio-Description Scoping Requirements
Theaters covered by this rule are required to have a minimum
number of AD devices based on screen count. Theaters must have
one AD device for every two digital auditoriums (rounded up to the
nearest whole number), with a minimum of two devices per theater.
Theaters that use two-channel assistive listening receivers that are
compatible with AD systems can meet their AD scoping requirements
with these two-channel receivers.
Device Maintenance
Theaters must “properly maintain” CC and AD devices so that
the devices are fully operational, available in a timely manner, and
easily usable. CC devices must be adjustable and must provide clear,
sharp images to ensure readability.
Alternative Technologies (Open Captioning)
The rule does not require theaters to provide open-captioned
shows. A theater can use open captioning as an alternative to comply
with the requirement to obtain CC devices if (1) the theater exhibits
open-captioned movies at all show times of all movies available with
open captions or (2) the theater turns on open captions at all times
it receives a request to turn on open captioning prior to the start of a
movie. If a theater holds only some open-captioned show times, the
theater will still have to comply with the requirements to obtain CC
devices.
Advertising Captioned and Audio-
Described Show Times
Theaters must advertise the availability of
CC and AD show times in the following
ways, if the theater uses these methods to
announce show times: at the box office and
other ticketing locations, on websites and
mobile apps, in newspapers, and over the
telephone. Movie theaters that already have
CC and AD systems installed must comply
with this provision by January 17, 2017,
when the rule takes effect. For theaters that
install CC or AD systems after the rule becomes
effective, this provision applies as soon as the
devices become available for patrons, even if the date
of that installation occurs before the compliance period.
Staff Training
At least one employee must be available at all times to assist a patron
requesting CC and AD devices. This employee must be able to
locate, activate, and operate the devices; address any problems with
device usage; turn on open captioning if the theater is relying on
open captioning to meet the requirements of this rule; and communicate
effectively with patrons about how to use, operate, and resolve
issues with the devices. Movie theaters that already have CC and AD
systems installed must comply with this provision by January 17,
2017, when the rule takes effect. For theaters that install CC or AD
systems after the rule becomes effective, this provision applies as soon
as the devices become available for patrons, even if the date of that
installation occurs before the compliance period.
Movies without Captioning or Audio-Description Files
Movie theaters are not prohibited from exhibiting movies that do
not come with captioning or audio-description files. Movie theaters
are not required to add captioning and audio-description files to a
movie that is not distributed with these features.
Undue Burden
Theater owners should note that per the DOJ’s guidance on the
rule, “all movie theaters, regardless of size, status of conversion to
digital cinema, or economic viability, continue to have available to
them the individualized and fact-specific undue burden limitation”
under the ADA. However, the guidance also notes that if it is an
undue burden for a theater to install CC and AD systems in all its
digital auditoriums, “the movie theater is still obligated to comply
with [the ADA’s requirement to provide auxiliary aids and services]
and provide alternatives to full compliance by providing captioning
and audio description in some of its auditoriums up to the point
where the cost becomes an undue burden.” n
14 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

CHARITY
SPOTLIGHT
Compiled by:
Erica Lopez, Executive Director, Variety – the Children’s Charity of the United States
Maryrose McMahon, Donor Relations and Events Manager, Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation
ACADEMY PRESIDENT
CHERYL BOONE ISAACS
TO BE HONORED AS 2017
PIONEER OF THE YEAR
n The Will Rogers Motion Picture
Pioneers Foundation has announced
that Cheryl Boone Isaacs, president
of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences, will receive the
2017 Pioneer of the Year honor on
March 29, 2017, at the annual theater
owners’ convention, Cinema-
Con, in Las Vegas.
Boone Isaacs is the first African
American and third woman to hold
the office of academy president, to
which she was elected in 2013. She
has represented the public relations
branch of the academy as a governor
for 24 years.
In her role as president, Boone
Isaacs presides over the academy’s
board of governors, a group of 54
artists and filmmakers who sets
the academy’s strategic vision, preserves the organization’s financial
health, and assures the fulfillment of its mission. She also oversees the
Oscars and Governors awards and has been instrumental in leading
several successful academy initiatives including launching A2020, a
comprehensive five-year plan to bring new voices into all areas of the
organization and helping increase inclusion.
An accomplished film marketing and public relations executive,
Boone Isaacs runs her own company, CBI Enterprises Inc., where she
has created and executed publicity campaigns for Academy Award–
winning films, including The King’s Speech and The Artist.
Previously, Boone Isaacs was president of theatrical marketing
for New Line Cinema, where she promoted campaigns for Austin
Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,
The Wedding Singer, Rush Hour,
and Blade. Prior to her role at New
Line Cinema, Boone Isaacs worked
at Paramount Pictures for 13 years,
eventually becoming the studio’s
worldwide director of publicity.
While at Paramount, Boone Isaacs
led marketing and publicity campaigns
for Academy Award–winning
films Forrest Gump and Braveheart.
Boone Isaacs was inducted into
the NAACP Hall of Fame in 2014,
and in 2016 she was awarded the
Rosa Parks Humanitarian award by
the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference of Southern California.
She has also received honors from
Essence magazine, the International
Cinematographers Guild,
and African-American Film Critics
Association for her professional
achievements and impact on the
entertainment industry, as well as
honorary doctorates from Chapman University and the University of
North Carolina.
“We are delighted that Cheryl has accepted the 2017 Pioneer
of the Year Award and will be receiving this well-deserved honor,”
said Jim Orr, president of WRMPPF and executive vice-president of
domestic theatrical distribution at Universal Pictures. “She is a true
pioneer in our industry, who demonstrates extraordinary leadership
and vision not only in her role at the Academy, but also as a
committed member of the entertainment community at large. We
look forward to celebrating Cheryl’s philanthropic contributions and
professional accomplishments at CinemaCon 2017, as well as raising
much-needed funds for the Pioneers Assistance program.”
BRAVE BEGINNINGS’ NEONATAL COMMITTEE HOSTS SUPERHEROES
SIDEKICK SYMPOSIUM
n Brave Beginnings’ Neonatal Committee recently hosted their first-ever symposium in
honor of November’s Prematurity Awareness Month. The Superheroes Sidekick event featured
a red carpet speaker panel, buffet lunch, gift bags, and a silent auction. In addition, guests
enjoyed an inspirational performance by the students of School of Rock.
Actress and Brave Beginnings 2015 theatrical fund-raising spokesperson Zoe Saldana
(right), herself the mother of twins born prematurely, kicked off the symposium to a packed
crowd at the Beverly Hills Library Auditorium. The program included a speaker panel
featuring Dr. Raj Dasgupta (Keck School of Medicine of USC; “Dr. Raj” from the TV show
The Doctors) and Dr. Philippe Friedlich (Children’s Hospital Los Angeles interim chief of the
Division of Neonatology, and director of the Center for Fetal and Neonatal Medicine). Topics
ranged from “Saving our Smallest Babies: We Have Come a Long Way” to “Lung Basics and
the Physiology of Prematurity on the Respiratory System.”
The Brave Beginnings Neonatal Committee was formed in 2008 to ensure that life-saving
neonatal equipment is provided to hospitals across the United States. The seven-member
committee (Meg Wilson and Branden Miller, co-chairs; and Nora Dashwood, Alan Davy,
Sheila DeLoach, Paul Holliman, and Belinda Judson) painstakingly evaluates more hospital
grant applications than Brave Beginnings is currently able to fund, and each year the requests
continue to grow. To date, the program has given $5.7 million in grants to 148 hospitals
nationwide.
16 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

UPCOMING EVENTS
VARIETY OF IOWA
Black Tie Gala, “Fire & Ice”
January 13
Ron Pearson Center
bit.ly/2hLMSQq
VARIETY OF NEW YORK: WISHING WELL DINNER & 48TH ANNUAL
CHILDREN’S HOLIDAY PARTY
n On November 9, Variety of New York hosted its annual Wishing Well kickoff dinner. The
event brought together more than 200 theater-industry professionals to celebrate theater
managers for their fund-raising efforts and unveiled our new creative for the 2017 Wishing
Well Campaign.
On December 3, Variety of New York hosted its 48th Annual Children’s Holiday Party
at the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Queens, located in Long Island City. The Holiday Party
hosted about 1,000 of the tri-state area’s most underserved children and youth to celebrate
the holiday season, where they were treated to a viewing of Moana at United Artists Kaufman
Astoria 14 theater followed by dancing, crafts, pizza, snacks, and brand-new toys.
Variety of Iowa is hosting its 32nd
annual black-tie gala, “Fire & Ice” January
13, 2017, featuring guest speaker
Jay Williams. Williams is a former NBA
player, ESPN analyst, and author. After
just one season with the Chicago Bulls,
Williams destroyed his career when
he suffered a motorcycle accident,
leaving him unable to walk. In Life
Is Not an Accident, Williams shares
his story—both heartbreaking and
uplifting—of being a young man trying
to wrest control of his life from his
overinvolved parents, from the pleasures
and perils of fame and money,
and from the near-fatal mistake that
threatened to define him.
Williams will recount, with a rare honesty,
his hard-fought path to college
basketball stardom and the painful
lessons he has learned while reconstructing
his life after his accident. In
addition to being an author, Williams
is the CEO and national director of
special events for Rising Stars Youth
Foundation based in Garden City, New
York, using basketball as the vehicle
to promote education and provide
academic and financial assistance to
students within the program.
Des Moines Sweetheart
Charity Date Auction
February 4
Jasper Winery
Rory Bruer (left), president of worldwide distribution at Sony Pictures, receives his Heart of
Show Business Award from Josh Greenstein, president of worldwide marketing and distribution
at Sony Pictures.
VARIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: HEART OF SHOW BUSINESS
LUNCHEON
n Variety of Southern California held its Annual Heart of Show Business Luncheon on December
8 at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. This year’s Heart of Show Business
Award was given to Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution at Sony Pictures. Over
425 distinguished members of the entertainment industry attended the fund-raiser to help
celebrate Rory. The Heart of Show Business Award honors an individual for his or her commitment
to the causes and mission of Variety – the Children’s Charity, as well as his or her
position in the entertainment community. Proceeds from the luncheon will support Variety
SoCal’s three core areas of funding for children with special needs: education, health care, and
mobility. n
Single? Looking for a Valentine’s date?
Join Variety of Iowa for the sixth-annual
Des Moines Sweetheart Date
Night Auction! This super-fun event
for singles and young professionals
will be held at Jasper Winery and
feature 20 of the most eligible guys
and ladies from around Des Moines.
Admission is $10 at the door and
includes appetizers, dessert, and the
opportunity to bid. Remember, bid
early and often as all proceeds benefit
Variety and Iowa children.
Mommy & Me: Sweetheart Dance
February 11 at 1:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn Downtown
bit.ly/2hzOnk3
Mommy and Me dance with games
and food
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 17

CONCESSIONS
STAND
B&B THEATRES EMPLOYS A VARIETY OF STRATEGIES
IN ITS F&B GAME PLAN
by Daniel Loria
In the past several years, B&B Theatres has experienced a steady
growth that has made it one of the 10 biggest exhibition circuits in
North America. Innovation has been a big factor in that success, as
the family-run company continues to look for new ways to bring a
premier entertainment experience to its audiences nationwide. B&B
has tweaked its current concessions strategy to include some of the
biggest food and beverage trends in the industry, with stand-alone
bars, dine-in theaters, self-service offerings, and expanded menus
at different locations. Boxoffice asked B&B’s Brittanie Bagby how
the theater chain maintains a fresh approach at the concessions
stand.
Interview with Brittanie Bagby, VP of Business Affairs
B&B Theatres
When did B&B first start looking to
diversify and significantly expand
your concessions offerings? Was
there a concept or strategy you tried
first, or were they all considered
simultaneously across different
markets?
In 2010 we opened our first Marquee
Suites concept. This concept included luxury
recliners in two auditoriums, a full bar, and
limited expanded food offerings that were
catered from a local restaurant. This was our
first adventure into luxury as well as expanded
concessions offerings. We’ve learned a lot
since then, and our concepts have evolved
over time as we learn from our trials, listen
to our customers, and watch the industry
evolve.
What has your experience been in
implementing your dine-in concept?
We currently have two Marquee Suites
locations that offer full-service dining with
luxury recliners. Our goal is to be as discreet
as possible when serving our guests, as we
don’t want to disturb their moviegoing
experience. We encourage our guests to
arrive 20 minutes early to be seated and
have their orders taken prior to the movie’s
start. We then have call buttons on each seat,
allowing guests to continue to place orders
throughout the movie. This way they are
only disturbed by our servers when needed,
yet service is offered throughout the movie.
Our menu features great burgers, pizzas, and
finger foods that are easily eaten in the dark,
which is an important consideration when
designing a menu. We try to offer a variety to
our guests while keeping our menu focused.
It ensures we keep our food standards high
and our ticket times low. One of the hardest
aspects of dine-in is the fact that our kitchen
is trying to serve an entire sold-out auditorium
at the same time. It’s not like a restaurant
that has constant rolling table turnover. Sixty
to 150 guests arrive at the same time, are
seated at the same time, and all need their
food at the same time.
You have two dine-in locations. These
concepts can be “high-risk/highreward”
because of the investment
required; what led you to open the
dine-in concept where you have, and
where else are you looking to expand?
We are always looking for ways to bring
excitement and innovation to our buildings.
Guests are looking for new experiences, so
it’s important to be open to change and to
invest in the trends of the industry. We were
fortunate enough to pick up a management
agreement of an existing dine-in operation
in Texas that came fully staffed. It was a
fantastic opportunity for us to get our feet
wet preparing our own food and full service.
Once we felt more comfortable with dine-in,
we chose to expand the concept to a nearby
theater we had under construction. From
there we also opened a Marquee Suites in
Ozark, Missouri, which was our next fromthe-ground-up
build.
People are busy and it’s hard to secure a
babysitter and afford a four-hour evening
that includes a dinner and a movie. We’ve
found guests love getting to combine dinner
with their movie, and it gets them to commit
their evening to us instead of dinner running
late and choosing to skip the movie.
We have plans to add more Marquee
Suites, but we are choosing our markets
wisely as they take a lot of time and attention
and we want to ensure we always offer our
guests a premium experience.
What are some of the advantages
you’ve seen in adopting self-serve
concessions in your theaters?
18 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

Self-service once again is bringing innovation
to our buildings. We have self-serve
soda, butter bars where guests can perfectly
season and butter their popcorn, and selfserve
candy. We find customers love the offerings—it
speeds up our lines and increases
our per caps. It’s a win all around.
Concessions partners have also
helped make the self-serve concept
fun; what has been your experience
with putting the Pepsi Spire machines
in your theaters?
We recently installed our first Pepsi Spire
machines in our newly remodeled theater
in Shawnee, Kansas. Customers are loving
them, as they can mix flavors and add flavor
shots to their heart’s content. They are also
fantastic eye candy—the frame around the
massive screens changes colors based on the
customer’s selections.
When did you begin offering
expanded menu offerings, and
what has been the result of that
implementation?
Expanded menu offerings really evolved
after our dine-in concept because we realized
we were limiting ourselves by only offering
food and alcohol in our suites. The expanded
menu offerings allow guests to have a beer,
mozzarella sticks, and still get their No. 1
combo. We make all our food fresh and work
hard to ensure that by the time they’ve filled
their soda or grabbed a drink at the bar, their
food is ready to be picked up.
What are some of the logistical
challenges posed by the expanded
menu; does it require a significant
redesign of the concessions space to
accommodate for food prep?
Yes, we have to make sure we have an
area designated for the food prep and an
area reserved for food pick-up and customer
preparation. It all has to be easy to maneuver
so on those slow September days one
person can handle all food orders. We also
wanted to be sure our theaters continued
to smell like popcorn and not grease, so we
were cautious to have proper ventilation in a
contained space.
Some exhibitors might be scared
away by the legal and liability
challenges posed by adding alcoholic
beverages in their theaters. How did
you navigate those challenges?
Very carefully! Every state and even every
county has different laws. We’ve had to work
through each situation on a case-by-case
basis. In some areas we’ve chosen to limit
our alcohol sales to designated 21-and-over
auditoriums, in others to not have liquor at
all, but most markets are excited about the
new offering and are willing to work with us.
We remain diligent to walk our auditoriums
frequently to ensure guests are consuming
responsibly, limit guest consumption when
necessary, and ensure our employees are
properly trained in the handling of alcohol.
How has alcohol impacted the per cap
spend at the concessions stand for
B&B?
We are finding alcohol is often an add-on
to what guest have already purchased at the
concessions stand, so it certainly increases
our per caps, as does the expanded food.
We’ve found alcohol not only increases our
per caps, it enhances the guest experience.
We try to have fun with our bars by creating
movie-themed cocktails that add to the
excitement of the moviegoing experience. n
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 19

SOCIAL
MEDIA
2017 SOCIAL MEDIA
HEAT MAP
WHAT ONLINE BUZZ TELLS US
ABOUT THE YEAR AHEAD
by Alex Edghill
n There are currently over 120 wide releases scheduled for
release in 2017, among them numerous big-budget tentpoles
hoping to propel their respective studios to the promised
land of record-breaking revenues. Traditionally,
pundits look at factors such as franchise history,
sequel performance, and stars’ recent box
office power to gauge their forecasts. Today’s
analysts, however, are increasingly looking
at how social media metrics from companies
like Twitter help influence a film’s box office
performance ahead of their release. Our staff
here at Boxoffice Pro has been tracking the
Twitter presence of each film slated for wide
release in 2017. Here’s what the early numbers
are telling us about what’s in store:
The first thing that the table below exposes
is that films with trailers released within the
month feature prominently, as expected. Two
examples are Ghost in the Shell and Valerian and
the City of a Thousand Planets. The other is that
there is a bias in the data toward films released
in the first half of 2017, simply because most
of the films released toward the end of the
year don’t have many marketing dollars
invested as yet to
raise their profile.
We tallied November 2016 tweet totals for every 2017 wide release and then pulled rankings for the total
tweets, average tweets, and the median tweets to try to gain a better perspective on the data.
Date Movie
Tweet
Rank
Median
Rank
Avg.
Rank
Avg. Studio
3/17/17 Beauty and the Beast 1 1 1 1.00 Disney
6/02/17 Wonder Woman 2 2 2 2.00 Warner Bros.
6/23/17 Transformers: The Last Knight 5 4 5 4.67 Paramount
3/31/17 Ghost in the Shell 3 9 3 5.00 Paramount / DreamWorks
4/14/17 Fast 8 6 3 6 5.00 Universal
3/03/17 Logan 8 5 8 7.00 Fox
3/24/17 Power Rangers 9 7 9 8.33 Lionsgate
2/10/17 Fifty Shades Darker 10 6 10 8.67 Universal
12/15/17 Star Wars: Episode VIII 4 19 4 9.00 Disney
11/17/17 Justice League 11 8 11 10.00 Warner Bros.
7/21/17 Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets 7 18 7 10.67 EuropaCorp Films
2/17/17 The Great Wall 12 11 12 11.67 Universal
7/21/17 Dunkirk 14 12 14 13.33 Warner Bros.
10/06/17 My Little Pony 15 10 15 13.33 Lionsgate
5/05/17 Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 16 14 16 15.33 Disney
4/07/17 Before I Fall 17 15 17 16.33 Open Road
5/26/17 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales 18 13 18 16.33 Disney
10/13/17 Friday the 13th 19 17 19 18.33 Paramount
3/10/17 Kong: Skull Island 13 20 13 15.33 Warner Bros.
5/19/17 Baywatch 20 16 20 18.67 Paramount
20 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

The Big Winners
According to our Twitter analysis, Beauty
and the Beast has taken an early lead among
2017 titles. The film ranked first across all
three metrics we reviewed for our November
data (median tweets, average tweets per day,
and total tweets). The animated original was
an instant classic that amassed over $400 million
worldwide (over $700 million if adjusted
for inflation); the new release appears to have
a good chance to better those numbers at the
box office, making it a shoo-in for a top 10
position by year’s end, much like Disney’s
2015 live-action remake of Cinderella.
Given the lukewarm reviews of Batman v
Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad,
pundits worried that perhaps the shine would
wear off of the DC Comics franchise. Wonder
Woman, however, has proven the naysayers
wrong. The film has generated huge interest
on Twitter and came in second across all
three measured data points behind only the
aforementioned Beauty and the Beast. Unlike
rival Marvel Comics, DC Comics has had
few characters make it to the big screen and
even fewer to have fulfilled their potential.
Wonder Woman will attempt to join Superman
and Batman, who are currently the only
DC characters to have ever seen an opening
north of $55 million—not including Suicide
Squad, which we’re counting as an ensemble
film.
Transformers: The Last Knight ranks third
in our assessment, in what appears to be a
return to form considering the last film in
the franchise, Transformers: Age of Extinction,
seemed to experience a slight slip by being
the only entry in the series to fall under the
$300 million mark domestically. If Twitter
performance is any indication, The Last
Knight might very well lift the latest Transformers
entry back into the $300 million club
domestically.
The Big Surprise
Go, go, Power Rangers! Power Rangers was
a staple on TV for much of the 1990s and
generated quite a following among kids and
teens. Even though that success translated to
merchandise sales and TV ratings, it never
did quite make a triumphant leap to the big
screen; two feature films based on the property
were unable to combine for $50 million
domestically in the mid-90s. Early reception
for this latest entry, however, has been nothing
short of spectacular—finishing seventh
among all 2017 films in the chart opposite.
With many of its original diehard fans now
in the workforce, with spending power and
children of their own, this franchise might
have matured enough to be on the cusp of a
breakout.
Closing Comments
Many films not included in our results
will no doubt have huge box office returns.
We can confidently expect big business from
titles such as The LEGO Batman Movie,
World War Z 2, and Thor: Ragnarok, but these
titles have yet to ramp up their marketing
campaigns in earnest or may, as in the case of
The LEGO Batman Movie, prove unsuitable
for accurate Twitter tracking since they are
targeting kids as their primary demographic.
Children tend to have weaker numbers in
general on social media for obvious reasons.
Twitter offers a unique and different take
on long-range tracking, and although it
shouldn’t be seen as a crystal ball, it provides
a valuable tool that complements traditional
prediction methods. n
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 21

CINEMANEXT AND QSC BRING THE LATEST SOUND TECHNOLOGY TO
MUNICH CINEMA
The Mathäser Filmpalast Auditorium
in Munich became the first
German “QSC-Certified Theater,”
thanks to the partnership of exhibitor-services
company CinemaNext
and audio leader QSC in bringing
the latest audio technology to
Kinopolis’s largest auditorium in the
country. Kinopolis is known as the largest
family-owned exhibitor in Germany,
operating 137 screens across 17 locations.
The 835-seat Mathäser Filmpalast Auditorium
now becomes one of the world’s
largest Dolby Atmos auditoriums following
a tech upgrade that also includes a 4K
projector for its 20.6-meter-wide screen
and new LED lighting concept.
QSC offers its certification program
(CTP) to all QSC-equipped cinemas who
adhere to industry best practices in general
room design and acoustics, projection
quality, and sound-system design
and operation. The auditorium is powered
by QSC’s Q-SYS technology, a new offering
from the audio company: an integrated,
scalable audio solution built with an
open and IT-friendly foundation meant
to push an auditorium’s sound system to
fulfill its full potential.
The system installed in Munich’s
Mathäser Filmpalast Auditorium includes
a network of 23 QSC DPA-1 amplifiers
and 50 QSC loudspeakers, controlled
and monitored by a Q-SYS Core 500i
processor. The theater’s technological
renovation also features a new 4K projection
system and a new LED lighting
concept.
“Our company has enjoyed a very
successful partnership with QSC for many
years,” said Till Cussmann, CinemaNext
senior vice president, in a press release.
“The QSC Q-SYS has truly revolutionized
cinema sound technology. This system
has so many capabilities, uses much less
hardware with a lot more power, and
turns every cinema into an easy-to-manage,
multipurpose auditorium.”
The installation was no easy task,
according to Kinopolis CEO Gregory
Theile. “I’m thrilled to be able to provide
a unique experience to our guests at our
upgraded (m)K6 auditorium. Moreover,
for presentations and special events,
the newly installed Q-SYS system offers
great flexibility, transforming it into a
multipurpose facility,” he said in a press
release. “The Dolby Atmos installation
presented a great challenge to both CinemaNext
and QSC due to the auditorium
size and the ceiling construction we had
to put in place. But the effort paid off!”
22 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

ARCLIGHT CHOOSES MEYER SOUND FOR
NEW PREMIUM SCREENS
Meyer Sound’s cinema audio systems
will be featured at three
of ArcLight’s new upscale
locations in the coming
months. Multiplexes in
Chicago; Bethesda, Maryland;
and Santa Monica,
California, will join a previously
installed location in La
Jolla, California, as the companies
extend their collaboration
during an expansion period for
the ArcLight brand.
All four theaters will be
equipped with Dolby Atmos immersive sound and
will have nearly identical features across all three
locations: five Acheron 100 screen loudspeakers,
five Acheron LF loudspeakers, six X-800C cinema
subwoofers, four HMS-12 front wall surround
loudspeakers, two 500-HP ceiling surround subwoofers,
and a Galileo loudspeaker management
system with one Galileo 616 processor. The configurations
differ only in wall surrounds, with 16 or 18
HMS-10 loudspeakers, and ceiling surrounds, with
14 or 16 HMS-12 loudspeakers.
All systems were provided by
ACS Enterprises Inc. of Walnut,
California.
“We were very happy with
the results in La Jolla,” said Joe
Miraglia, ArcLight’s director of
design, construction, and facilities,
in an announcement. “We
continue to see Meyer Sound as
the premium brand for cinema
audio, offering a superior
level of quality that our guests
appreciate.”
The new ArcLight screens also feature Christie
4230 4K digital projection and Dolby 3D technology,
with screen sizes ranging from 53 feet to 60
feet and auditorium capacities between 220 and
280.
4DX MAKES FRENCH DEBUT IN GAUMONT PATHÉ’S NEW
PARISIAN MULTIPLEX
Immersive Seating provider 4DX is coming to France in
early 2017. The company announced its first French location
through a new partnership with Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé,
the leading circuit in France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.
4DX seats will be available at Pathé’s new 16-screen La
Vilette location in northern Paris. “We are very delighted to
open the first-ever 4DX theater in France,” said Martine
Odillard, president of Les Cinémas Gaumont Pathé, in
a press release. “The French love various leisure and
entertainment opportunities, and they will welcome the
chance to experience an unprecedented and immersive
4DX experience. With this agreement, Les Cinémas
Gaumont Pathé will solidify its position as a pioneer in
the cinema exhibition business in France, delivering a
fully immersive cinema experience to French moviegoers.”
4DX made its European debut in 2012 and has
since expanded to a total of 15 countries in the
region. The company cites a successful adoption
across European markets, signaling an 80 percent
occupancy rate for Batman v Superman: Dawn of
Justice’s opening weekend in the UK as a prime
example.
“Western Europe is very important market for
4DX,” stated Byung-Hwan Choi, CEO of 4DX parent
company CJ 4DPLEX. “Through our new opening, we are
looking forward to further expanding our reach to additional
Western European countries. We strongly believe that 4DX will
offer new moviegoing opportunities to French movie fans and will
gradually change the country’s moviegoing trends, as well as those
of other neighboring countries.”
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 23

TECHNOLOGY
DYNAMIC PRICING POISED FOR GROWTH IN EUROPE
Germany’s Smart Pricer and point-of-sale ticketing
system Compeso announced integration between the
two companies that could open the door for a further
expansion of the dynamic pricing concept across Europe.
Berlin-based Smart Pricer delivers exhibitors the same
price-optimization technology that has revolutionized
ticket sales across the airline, sports, and entertainment
industries. The integration with Compeso’s POS ticketing
system now opens the door to dynamic pricing for more
than 2,500 screens across Europe. It also provides several key
upgrades for current Compeso clients, including the ability
to track real-time pricing changes for each show time
and a “plug-and-play” approach that can introduce dynamic
pricing to new locations in a matter of days rather than
weeks. According to data from Smart Pricer, the company’s
price-optimization software can help exhibitors increase
box office revenue by 5 to 10 percent.
Christian Kluge, Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Smart Pricer
IMAX BRINGS NEW LASER
PROJECTION SYSTEM TO
NEW YORK CITY
Audiences visiting the IMAX
auditorium at New York City’s
AMC Loews Lincoln Square
13 were pleasantly surprised
this holiday season. The theater
was reopened ahead of
Thanksgiving, right on time for
the premiere of Warner Bros.’s
Fantastic Beasts and Where to
Find Them, with IMAX’s laser
projection system, immersive
12-channel sound, and new premium
seating.
“The IMAX at AMC Loews
Lincoln Square is not only an
iconic moviegoing destination
in Manhattan and throughout New York,
but is known around the country as one
of the premier moviegoing venues,” said
John McDonald, AMC’s executive vice
president of U.S. operations, in an official
statement. “IMAX with laser takes moviegoing
to a whole new level, and together
with the new plush seating, we’re excited
to offer our New York guests this one-ofa-kind
IMAX experience that they won’t
find in their homes or any other movie
theater in New York.”
AMC has already installed its new laser
projection system at three other AMC locations:
the Metreon 16 in San Francisco,
the Universal Citywalk 19 in Los Angeles,
and the recently rebranded Navy Pier
IMAX at AMC in Chicago.
24 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

REGAL L.A. LIVE BECOMES FIRST ALL-LASER MULTIPLEX ON THE WEST COAST
It’s official: downtown Los Angeles’s
Regal L.A. LIVE: A Barco Innovation Center
is the first multiplex on the West Coast
to have adapted laser projection in all of
its auditoriums. The theater, first opened
in 2009, has shared its title branding with
the cinema tech giant since last April.
The relationship has brought many of
Barco’s suite of innovations to the location
in addition to laser projection: Barco
Lobby Experience, the company’s digital
lobby advertising solution; Barco Escape,
its immersive screen offering; and immersive
audio through Barco Auro.
“We are proud to welcome Barco’s
exciting technology into our theater, and we’re
confident it will not only wow our guests and keep
them coming back for more, but also help us maximize
overall efficiencies and business operations,”
said Greg Dunn, president and chief operating officer
for Regal, in a press release. “Barco is an innovative
partner who has truly mastered the art of laser
projection technology. We look forward to growing
our relationship and bringing our immersive cinema
concept to greater and greater heights to the benefit
of our guests.”
Barco’s laser technology promises to offer audiences
a better viewer experience while reducing
exhibitors’ cost at the projection booth by eliminating
the lamp- and maintenance-related costs of
xenon-powered digital projectors. Regal L.A. LIVE
features newly installed, fully DCI-compliant laser
phosphor projectors with a sealed light engine and
liquid cooling system, meant to extend the service
life of the laser phosphor source to 30,000 hours at
50 percent light output. Barco states that the projectors
can also provide exhibitors 50 percent savings
on energy costs and a simplified operation.
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 25

EXHIBITOR
MARKETING
PRESENTED BY
WEB ACCESS
New ADA regulations
and your website
by James Devin, SVP
Chief Marketing Officer,
Webedia Entertainment
n Ours is an industry built upon the privilege of
entertaining the masses. Each year we witness the birth
of cult favorites, new memorable one-liners, mainstream
successes, and indie triumphs. As marketers,
we strive to deliver that perfect message to both loyal
patrons and casual moviegoers through any digital,
print, social, or broadcast medium at our disposal to
entice would-be moviegoers to see these instant classics
in our auditoriums. Aided by evolving technology like
the reemergence of 3D, PLF, 4D seating, and myriad
premium sound formats and amenities such as food
delivery, bar access, and luxury and reserved seating,
our job has become more fun, if not
easier.
But what about those valued guests
who cannot experience all of the amenities
our cinemas have to offer?
Every marketer in our industry is
keenly aware that many of our guests
are unable to enjoy the full experience
modern cinema has to offer, and they
factor that into their marketing plans.
The challenge before us, however, grows more complicated
with each new technology and communication
innovation.
To aid us in our mission to ensure that all our
guests are properly accommodated and entertained,
the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has provided
several guidelines for best practices to address
all aspects of the moviegoing experience; from online
discovery to in-house accessibility and enjoyment of
feature films.
In November, NATO prepared an introductory
FAQ to assist exhibitors in exploring issues specific to
the topic of reserved seating and how that can potentially
affect a specific segment of the moviegoing population
and their companions. While not completely
exhaustive, and coming with the recommendation to
consult with legal counsel, the preliminary FAQ has
some great advice for exhibitors who are currently
offering or considering offering reserved seating. If
you missed it, you can find the guide at www.ada.gov/
regs2016/movie_rule.htm.
Regardless of specific reserved-seating availability,
every exhibitor should spend some time reviewing the
best practices for physical and digital accessibility. The
ADA website (www.ada.gov) has several documents
available that address physical location and digital
presentation of show times and available accessibility
to amenities.
Some simple steps you can take immediately
include:
• Indicate accessibility options with show times
wherever possible (CC/DVS).
• Have a clear policy for the use of accessible
seating in your auditoriums and post it in lobby and
online (please consult legal counsel).
• Check your digital presence for potential ADA
compliancy issues (wave.webaim.org).
Our goal as marketers is to inform, engage, entice,
and accommodate all of our patrons. Brand loyalty
and the success of our campaigns are driven by
succinct and comprehensive messaging, and with a
few readily available tips, we can ensure that all of our
guests enjoy the most robust movie experience we can
offer.
The movies continue to offer the best opportunity
for an enjoyable leisure experience, and if we are willing
to meet our guests where they are, we will continue
to thrive as an industry. Each new innovation should
be celebrated for its achievement and we should, as
marketers, strive to make them accessible to all. n
NONDISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF DISABILITY BY PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS
Movie Theaters; Movie Captioning and Audio Description: This final rule amends the Department of Justice (Department)
regulation implementing title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which prohibits
discrimination against persons with disabilities by public accommodations and commercial facilities, including movie
theaters. The rule adds specific requirements addressing the obligations of public accommodations that own, lease,
or operate movie theaters to provide effective communication to patrons who are deaf or hard of hearing, or blind or
have low vision. The rule requires that movie theater auditoriums provide closed movie captioning and audio description
when showing a digital movie distributed with such features unless doing so would result in an undue burden or a
fundamental alteration. The rule requires movie theaters to have a specified number of captioning devices and audio
description devices based on the number of auditoriums in the movie theater that show digital movies. The rule does
not impose any specific requirements for movie theater auditoriums that exhibit analog movies exclusively.
This rule is effective January 17, 2017. Public accommodations with movie theater auditoriums showing digital movies
on December 2, 2016 must comply with the rule’s requirement to provide closed movie captioning and audio description
in such auditoriums by June 2, 2018. If a public accommodation converts a movie theater auditorium from an
analog projection system to a system that it allows it show digital movies after December 2, 2016, the public accommodation
must comply with the rule’s requirement to provide closed movie captioning and audio description in such
auditoriums by December 2, 2018, or within 6 months of that auditorium’s complete installation of a digital projection
system, whichever is later.
26 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

S P O N S O R E D C O N T E N T

COVER
STORY
Janelle Monáe, Taraji P. Henson,
and Octavia Spencer
THE MATH BEHIND THE MISSION
Hidden Figures director Ted Melfi tackles the little-known story of the
African American women who helped NASA win the Space Race
by Daniel Loria
Hidden Figures tells the real-life stories of three African
American women—Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and
Mary Jackson—NASA employees who were directly
caught up in America’s Space Race with the Soviets,
the civil rights movement at home, and the changing
role of women in the workforce. Boxoffice spoke
with Ted Melfi (left), who directed and shares a
screenwriting credit on the film, about how
this remarkable story finally made it to the
big screen.
How did you first encounter this project?
I first heard about it from producer Donna Gigliotti.
She has a great nose for finding material and she found
this book by Margot Lee Shetterly that was shockingly
unheard of. She gave me a copy of the book, I read it on a
Friday, and by Monday I said, “I’ve got to be involved with
this no matter what.” It is just one of those remarkable stories.
The fact that you’ve never heard of the story before, that there were
women behind the math and the science for the Mercury space missions,
it is just staggering in and of itself—but then to find out that they were a
team of African American women is even more staggering, coupled with the
fact that they were going through segregation at the time. These women had
to work in separate facilities and use separate bathrooms, separate cafeterias,
separate everything. It so touched me and inspired me, especially because I
28 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

have two daughters and
I really felt obligated to
deal with the sexism and
racism cinematically.
You co-wrote the
screenplay with
Allison Schroeder;
did structuring the
script present any
challenges? It’s
not very easy to
balance three central
characters with
different story lines
who don’t share too
many scenes.
Writing is my first
love and I’ve been writing
for, I don’t know, 30
years? Since I was a kid.
I’m just really driven
by story, structure, and
how to weave things
together. I took the three
female story lines and I
wrote them out on index
cards and wove them
together along the way.
I had a lot of help from
a lot of smart people.
My wife, Kimberly Quinn, is a great writer and was
instrumental in helping craft the material. Everyone
else over at Fox was very helpful as well, people like
Jenno Topping and Donna Gigliotti—lots of female
voices throughout the process. They provided a series
of checks and balances along the way.
Unfortunately, there continues to be a
dearth of roles for minority actors in studio
productions. Hidden Figures stands out by
not only having three great roles for African
American women but also a number of
intriguing supporting roles as well. What was
the casting process like for the film?
I think we all know this; it’s nothing new: women
are underserved in general in the entertainment business,
especially in regard to the size and quality of their
roles. Women for the longest time were limited to
playing the girlfriend, secretary, or wife in the movies.
Thank God that’s changing, but it’s particularly hard
to see that change with African American roles. Dr.
Stacy Smith, a faculty members at the Annenberg
School of Media and Communications at USC, she
researches this. She studied 290 of the highest-grossing
films that had come out over the last couple of years.
Of those 290 films, there was not one, not one African
American female in any role that had something to
do with stature or intellect. Not one. It’s shocking
to think about. Casting-wise, what you find is the
opposite: there are so many actors that want to play
the roles and would be great at it, so you have to be
really selective. I had been wanting to work with Taraji
P. Henson since I saw her in The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button. I fell in love with her during Benjamin
Button, and then to see her in Empire, you go, “How
can that possibly be the same person!” She can do
anything. When I told her about the script—I didn’t
even give her a script, I didn’t have a script yet—I
told her about the project on the phone and she just
said, “I’m in.” The same thing happened with Octavia
Spencer, who I’d been wanting to work with for years
as well. Janelle Monáe was the only actress of the three
principals that we auditioned—we wanted to find a
fresh idea for Mary because she was such a firecracker.
She came in and read for us and just blew us away. The
three of them came together relatively quickly; the rest
of the cast took a lot more time.
The film is anchored by those three
performances. Would you say you’re an
actor’s director, or do you pull a Hitchcock,
step behind the camera, and let them work on
their own?
I spent many years in acting classes before I became
a director. That’s actually where I met my wife, in acting
class, but I was studying actors to learn how to talk
to them and learn the process and understand what
they went through. I wanted to understand what it
Glen Powell portrays
John Glenn, the first
American to orbit the
Earth
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 29

COVER STORY > HIDDEN FIGURES
Katherine Johnson
(played by Taraji P.
Henson) worked for
NASA for decades.
In addition to her
responsibilities on
the Mercury missions
as shown in the film,
Johnson also played
a role on the Gemini,
Apollo, and Space
Shuttle programs.
Dorothy Vaughan
(above left, and
played by Octavia
Spencer) was an early
pioneer in electronic
computing.
Mary Jackson (played
by Janelle Monáe)
was an aerospace engineer
who worked at
NASA for 34 years.
30 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

takes to build a role and build a character, so I would consider myself
an actor’s director because I only care about the acting. I think the
visual always has to be secondary to the acting. If you put great actors
with a great script in a white room, it will be compelling. People will
watch it. What they won’t watch is bad acting in the most amazing
setting—that’s not compelling. That’s why I lean into the acting more
than anything, and that’s where I’m going to stay for the rest of my
life, because that’s really all that matters.
Kevin Costner as
Al Harrison, director of
NASA's Space Task Group
Not to take anything away from the visual elements of the
film, specifically the production design, which was really
able to capture the era.
We decided to work with Mandy Walker, who is brilliant and
has a wonderful eye, as our director of photography, alongside Wynn
Thomas, a star of the industry, as our production designer, and Renee
Kalfus as our wardrobe stylist. We brainstormed for a long time on
what the film would look like, and we decided that the film would
have two distinct looks. The look of NASA would be clean, bright,
and white—sterile, not warm. It would be a place that looked very
modern for its time. The home lodge of the women would be the exact
opposite, showing the tremendous warmth, love, and support of
their home and church life. Their car became their sanctuary where
they could talk and say anything they wanted to. Back in those days,
from research and interviewing Katherine Johnson, these women
went three places: they went to work, they went home, and they went
to church. That was the life of an African American woman in 1960s
segregated America. We really wanted to capture those ideas: the
warmth and care of the home and the coldness of the work envi-
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 31

COVER STORY > HIDDEN FIGURES
In 2015, Katherine
Johnson, now 98,
was awarded the
Presidential Medal
of Freedom along
with such luminaries
as Steven Spielberg,
Yogi Berra, and Itzhak
Perlman. During
her lengthy career
she co-authored 26
scientific papers.
Earlier this year the
Katherine G. Johnson
Computational
Research Facility
was dedicated in
her honor at NASA's
Langley Research
Center.
32 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

onment. That started to build the film’s visual vocabulary. Then we
did hectic research through sources like Gordon Parks photographs,
NASA’s brilliant documentary When We Left Earth, NASA, and the
civil rights documentary Eyes on the Prize. All these things added to
the visual vocabulary of the film.
This film is going to be coming out during what feels like
a very divisive time here in the United States, with a new
administration entering the White House days after the
film’s wide release. It’s hard to deny that there exists a
general concern about the future of civil rights and civil
liberties in this country. Do you think this film can be an
inspiration to audiences entering the theater with those
anxieties?
What I would say is, paraphrasing something Octavia Spencer
said in London a couple of days ago: "In 1961, these women, Katherine
Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, didn’t even have
the right to vote.” They could not even vote but they still put their
heads down, did the work, and achieved great success in helping
America achieve its greatest mission at the time: getting a man into
space. This country has been through a lot but it knows how to succeed,
how to be resilient. I hope that the movie inspires people to put
their heads down and do the work as Katherine Johnson, Dorothy
Vaughan, and Mary Jackson did. They did the work, achieved something
great, and now we’re honoring them. There was a time in this
country when black and white, male and female came together and
achieved NASA’s greatest mission. That’s what I hope people get out
of it, and I hope it helps with the anxiety of the times. n
TED MELFI AT THE MOVIES
MOVIE MEMORY
My favorite memory of going to the movies growing up
was seeing kung fu and Bruce Lee movies on 42nd Street
as a kid in New York. We’d go every Saturday morning to
see these flicks for like a dollar. The theaters then were
not in very good shape, and 42nd Street was not a place
for kids, but it’s one of my favorite memories. Nowadays,
my favorite theater is the ArcLight Sherman Oaks.
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 33

ART HOUSE
CONVERGENCE
SPOTLIGHT CINEMA
NETWORKS
TARGETS
ADVERTISING IN
ART-HOUSE AND
UPSCALE THEATERS
Will debut new annual Spotlight
Lifetime Achievement Award at
2017 Art House Convergence
by Jesse Rifkin
n A solitary figure, barely lit and viewed in silhouette,
slowly approaches a low table covered with a rectangular
sheet of ice. He lights a welding iron, setting
the tool ablaze with scorching blue flames. As classical
piano music crescendos, the flames hover over and
around the ice. But instead of melting into water, the
ice is raised and modeled by the fire into a figure gradually
taking shape before our eyes. After a full minute,
the sculptor steps away and admires his completed
creation: the ice has been shaped into the form of a
luxury automobile. Words appear on the screen: “The
new Porsche Panamera. Thrilling contradictions.”
The custom short film, commissioned by Spotlight
Cinema Networks for Porsche, was cited by Spotlight’s
president Michael Sakin (left) in a recent interview as
a particularly effective advertisement unique to the arthouse
and upscale-cinema advertising space, a niche in
which his company specializes.
“Porsche wanted to create mini films. We reached
out to a couple of up-and-coming filmmakers; some
we had through contacts, others we found through
universities. We gave them a concept and they produced
a short film. We then narrowed it down to a
few finalists. Those finalists were then given an actual
car and told to shoot a movie short. The winner, Fire
and Ice by Ross Cohen, appeared on our screen with
a one-minute movie short,” Sakin recounts. “That’s
the most impactful—when you have something that’s
completely unique that’s made specifically for your
screen. It’s 100 percent original content.”
Spotlight Cinema Networks, which grew out of
the Arthouse Marketing Group, was founded in 2010
to serve an untapped segment in the cinema-advertising
space: art-house and upscale cinemas. Beginning
with about 400 screens at their inception, they have
expanded to over 900 and expect to reach or surpass
1,000 nationwide in 2017.
The country’s biggest in-theater advertising company,
National CineMedia, reaches 34,000 screens
nationwide, but make no mistake: Spotlight is not
seeking domination on that scale but rather to revolutionize
and expand within their chosen space. And
they have, working with more than 100 independent
34 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

A still from Fire and Ice by
director Ross Cohen
exhibitors—about half of them nonprofit—and in the process almost
single-handedly inventing an advertising industry for a category of
theater that had gone decades without any advertising whatsoever.
“I had spent the last 30 years in media on the ad sales side. I came
up through the cable TV ranks,” Sakin says. “That’s where, back in
the ’90s, cable exploded, because there was a need for niches. All
of a sudden, you saw all these niches grow: you saw MTV, you saw
CNBC. It used to just be general entertainment networks like USA,
TBS, and TNT. People realized that it’s not about mass; it’s about a
specific demographic. When I got to cinema, I realized that no one
had done that yet, so I really felt it was time that cinema took that
on.”
The launch was not without its challenges. “A lot of art houses out
there did not want to accept advertising. They felt it was a negative
to their consumers. It took a company focused solely on them and
their business to show them that we can provide revenue but not hurt
their business, not alienate their audiences, showing them the type of
advertising we can bring on,” Sakin recounts.
Eventually, smaller theaters that needed new revenue streams, and
upscale advertisers who found it difficult to access certain hard-toreach
customers, both came around. Companies that had never before
advertised in cinema, like Louis Vuitton and Chanel, signed on
with memorable results. “Cinema is a great medium because it’s such
a captive environment and you can see the ad on this big screen. We
run our ads at the advertised show time with the lights down,” Sakin
says. “So we give our advertisers the maximum impact, the maximum
recall, in an environment where the audience is focused.”
Spotlight serves as a lead sponsor for the annual Art House
Convergence conference (taking place this month in Salt Lake
City, Utah), the country’s biggest meeting for those involved with
art-house cinema and festivals. Sakin explains why: “Spotlight’s been
involved since our inception in 2010. The most important thing is
that we want to be a resource for the smaller exhibitors that focus
on independent film. We are there monetarily to contribute and
bring things to the Convergence, help them grow, bring solutions, be
counsel for any advice.”
Spotlight will also debut a new annual honor at the 2017 Convergence.
The Spotlight Lifetime Achievement Award will recognize
an individual who has dedicated his or her career to excellence and
service in the independent-film field. The winner is to be selected by
the Art House Convergence board.
“Anybody who’s in independent film is there because they’re passionate,”
Sakin says. “We believe in independent film so much, and
we want to bring revenue to them, so that these art houses grow and
don’t get swallowed up by those bigger exhibitors and corporations
out there.” n
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 35

ART HOUSE
CONVERGENCE
CLASS OF 2016
THE FIRST TEN YEARS
A look back at the history of the event
by Barbara Twist, Managing Director, Art House Convergence
CLASS OF 2008 CLASS OF 2010 CLASS OF 2012
CLASS OF 2013 CLASS OF 2014 CLASS OF 2015
The first official Art House Convergence conference was held January 16–17, 2008, at the historic
Peery Hotel in Salt Lake City. We had 27 attendees for the wonderful gathering, organized by the
Michigan Theater, the Coolidge Corner Theatre, the Pickford Cinema, the Salt Lake Film Society, and
Jan Klingelhofer of Pacific Film Resources. The group’s mission was to get to know one another and
share our successes, our challenges, our anxieties, and, most importantly, our hopes and dreams.
(continued on page 38)
36 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

ART HOUSE CONVERGENCE
In 2009, attendance nearly tripled, to 76, despite the economic
struggles faced by independent exhibitors during the Great Recession.
“How to Survive an Economic Downturn” was, fortunately,
only a one-time session, but a session on current technology
highlighted the growing anxiety and confusion about how art houses
should respond to the impending conversion from 35 millimeter to
DCI digital cinema.
In 2010, the conference moved to its current home in Midway,
Utah, as attendance grew yet again. For the first time we welcomed
allied businesses, including many film distributors. The first Art
House Theater Operations Study was conducted and presented by
Juliet Goodfriend of Bryn
Mawr Film Institute. The
study has since evolved
into our annual State-ofthe-Art-House
Report,
including the theater-operations
survey and the
national-audience survey.
Academy Award–winning
documentarian Michael
Moore gave a memorable
closing keynote speech
laying out the “Homestead
Declaration,” an art-house
manifesto.
In 2011, the Sloan
Foundation announced its
Science on Screen program
at the annual conference,
offering grants exclusively
to art houses to develop
film series with speakers
discussing the science in
the films and facilitating a
Q&A after the films. Films
from The Birds to It Follows
have been presented at
theaters across the country
as part of this program.
By 2012, the Art House
Convergence felt like a genuine
movement, with 300
attendees and a very active
online forum. At the annual
conference, the mandatory
DCI/DCP digital cinema
compliance was felt in conversations, keynotes, and a pair of sessions titled
simply “DCP: Part 1 and Part 2.” Yet, the passion and enthusiasm
for 35-millimeter projection was equally present in a session titled “The
Art House and the Archive: 35 millimeter is Not Dead (Yet)!”
In 2013, the conference celebrated the Brave New American
Art House, recognizing our theaters as cultural institutions with
fervent community support and committed to state-of-the-art audio
and visual presentations. We faced difficult conversations about the
financial and aesthetic ramifications of the industry-wide migration
to DCI/DCP digital cinema. We welcomed, for the first time, our
European colleagues, beginning our strong partnership with Europa
Cinemas and cementing our support of the art-house movement all
across the globe.
In 2014, we welcomed our film-festival colleagues with a formal
session track, developed by the Film Festival Alliance (formerly IFP
Festival Forum). With so many art houses hosting film festivals, it was
a natural partnership and development of our education program.
Our partnership has grown stronger over the years and Film Festival
Alliance is now a vital partner in our annual conference program.
In 2015, the brains behind Renew Theaters in Pennsylvania
brought us Art House Tales, a collection of lightning-fast talks
about art-house cinemas. With over 500 attendees, Art House Tales
quickly became the favorite session and has become a staple of our
conference program. To see each Art House Tales presentation,
visit amblertheater.org/
arthouse.
In 2016, nearly 600
delegates attended the annual
conference. In under
10 years, the community
grew 20-fold, bringing
together exhibitors, film
festivals, bookers, film
distributors, vendors, and
filmmakers. Our State
of the Art House told us
that our patrons attend
the movies 32.5 times per
year. It also told us that
while 91 percent of our
theaters have DCI-compliant
projectors, more
than 50 percent have
35-millimeter capabilities.
We celebrated this fact
with several sessions on
film, including how to
borrow and care for increasingly
rare film prints
and how to celebrate the
artistic virtues of movies
on film. Thanks to continued
support by Boston
Light and Sound, we were
able to offer scholarships
to emerging art-house
exhibitors. As the final
hurrah of the conference,
Art House Theater Day
was announced, spearheaded
by Lawren Desai and Gabe Chicoine and sponsored by the
Art House Convergence on September 24, 2016.
Now, as we look to the 2017 annual conference, we expect our
first-ever sell-out conference, with over 600 attendees from around
the globe. We will host dialogues on inclusiveness in our programming
and staffing, on green technologies at our concessions stands,
and risk management from data security to everyday liability. We
will welcome James Schamus as our keynote speaker, learning from
his experience both in distribution and in filmmaking. And most
of all, we will take a moment to celebrate our progress over the last
10 years in increasing the quantity and quality of art-house cinemas
in North America. Before we get to work on the next 10 years, of
course. n
38 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

CINEMA
SHOWCASE
Sparkling
Prospects
A theater’s mission to employ adults
with disabilities
by Kathryn Milczarski
Prospector Theater
Ridgefield, Connecticut
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 39

PROSPECTOR THEATER
n In 2016, some of the nation’s highest-grossing films (Finding Dory,
X-Men: Apocalypse, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, to
name a few) centered on themes of overcoming stereotypes, promoting
tolerance, and celebrating diversity. They implored audiences to
see differences and disabilities as strengths, rather than weaknesses.
But despite this seemingly good press, adults with disabilities in
today’s society remain undervalued and underemployed. One theater
in Ridgefield, Connecticut, aptly named the Prospector Theater, has
spent the past two years advocating for change and raising awareness
about disabled adults in the workforce.
The first-run, nonprofit movie theater first opened in 2014, on
the same site as the town’s very first movie theater, the Ridgefield
Playhouse. The one-screen Playhouse operated for 30 years until
it was turned into a bank, which ultimately went out of business.
In 2010 the building was saved from
demolition and renovated by local
resident Valerie Jensen as the four-screen
Prospector Theater, with a purpose of
providing valued employment for people
with disabilities.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported that in 2015 only 17.5 percent
of persons with a disability were employed,
compared to 65 percent of those
without a disability. Jensen’s mission
with the Prospector is to change that.
She says the theater currently employs
105 people, over 70 percent of whom
have disabilities ranging from mild to
profound. “Employers are afraid to hire
people with disabilities because they
don’t know what they’re getting,” says
Jensen, “but when they’ve got a reference,
a recommendation, and a track record
of work, then they’re totally hirable.
There’s an untapped and amazing talent
pool right there and right in everyone’s
backyard.”
The Prospector strives to tap into the
potential of every one of its employees
(known as “Prospects”). “There’s
something to match up with everyone’s
passion,” says Jensen. With four screens
featuring Christie digital projectors, two
concessions stands, a bar, a café, a full
kitchen, and an in-house production
department, the state-of-the-art theater provides training programs
in a variety of fields, from concessions and culinary arts to graphic
design and video production. “We take whatever their talent is and
we weave it into the operation of the movie theater. With all the
marketing that comes out with each new movie release, there are so
many opportunities built in right there,” she says. “The job skills here
would be appropriate in absolutely any industry.”
According to Jensen, since opening in 2014 the Prospector has
sold over 250,000 tickets, employed a total of 188 employees, and
paid out $3.6 million in payroll. That’s a substantial impact on the
community, and a substantial amount of wages going to a group of
people who might have otherwise been excluded from the workforce.
Jensen hopes other theaters across the country will follow her
lead. “Theaters have so much downtime,” she admits, “and we use
that downtime for educating, training, and making new curricula,
because even outside the movie industry there’s really no model of
employment like what we’ve got here. There’s such a huge need for
it.”
While the Prospector may be unique in its employment model, it
is not entirely different from other entertainment venues. As at most
movie theaters, patrons of the Prospector can expect a comfy seat, a
hot bag of popcorn, and good movie all at a reasonable price. But the
Prospector goes beyond what most would expect from a premium
cinema. Patrons are greeted at the door with a smile. Ushers greet
and seat moviegoers and offer fresh gourmet popcorn. Prospects
introduce the film to the audience before each feature presentation.
The in-house production team creates the theater’s pre-show content,
which largely stars the Prospects themselves. The theater hosts sensory-friendly
screenings and organizes field
trips for local schools to come and meet
the Prospects.
The entire theater has been designed
to help break down the barriers of
communication between patrons and
Prospects. There are activities and games
set up in the lobby, which act as a tool
to foster connections between those with
disabilities and those without. “To a kid,
they might not realize that the person
they’re playing with has autism,” says
Jensen, “but they’re having that engagement
so we’re learning how to make that
conversation happen and giving people
that opportunity where they don’t have
to hide from disability. Creating those
moments is what we’re good at and what
we do here.”
What is perhaps the focal point of
the theater’s interior is an eye-catching
two-story art piece hanging from the
ceiling in the lobby. Created by artist
Warren Muller, it features reclaimed
items that have been repurposed and
reformed into a stunning, sparkling piece
of unconventional beauty. The sculpture,
for Jensen, represents the vision
of the Prospector. “If you look at [the
sculpture] and see the car parts, the toys,
skates, sports equipment, etc., you can
imagine the life these things lived before
they became pieces of junk; and when you think of someone with
a disability who’s always wanted to be in the workforce, or who was
in the workforce and then got a disability, then they can feel like a
discarded piece of junk. But with the right structure, with the right
lighting, with the right environment, it sparkles. And that’s what people
do too when they’re given the right kind of support.”
So what’s next for the Prospector? Jensen says they are currently
looking into a second location several miles south in New Canaan,
Connecticut. A second theater would provide new challenges and
new learning experiences, but what’s most important is the opportunity
for more for people with disabilities to gain meaningful, relevant
employment. Jensen’s mission is never ending. “We love it,” she
boasts. “People are really happy to come to work and want to make a
big difference.” n
40 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 41

INSIDE YOUR
THEATER
SEVERTSON PRESENTS NEW LINE OF SCREENS AT CINEASIA
TECH SPECS
Severtson
SAT-4K Screens
SURFACE
SAT-4K acoustically woven screen
material
GAIN
1.18
MAXIMUM HEIGHT
16 ft.
VIEWING ANGLE
160 degrees
Flame and mildew resistant
n Severtson Screens made the trek to Hong Kong in December, its 30th anniversary, to
discuss its folded SAT-4K cinema screen line at CineAsia 2016. The screens are currently
available up to 16 feet in height, meeting industry standards for video and acoustic performance.
Microperf technology has allowed Severtson to ship its screens internationally at a
considerably lower cost by allowing them to fold the product without causing any structural
damage.
“The foldable SAT-4K, which is made in the USA, is the ideal projection screen for
virtually all cinema requirements,” said Toby Severtson, president and CEO of Severtson, in
a statement touting its new line of screens. “Like perforated screens, the sound stage can be
placed directly behind the screen at the same horizontal axis, allowing the vocals and the special
effects to be completely in sync with the brilliant images on display. Due to almost no
audio-frequency loss, the SAT-4K screen allows for a completely immersive cinema experience.”
Severtson’s SēVision 3D GX line of cinema projection screens is also shipping with microperf
options. “Our new folded shipping method now makes international distribution of
our industry-acclaimed SēVision 3D GX highly affordable, reducing international shipping
costs by up to 70 percent,” added Severtson. “Besides standard perforated white and sliver
screens, we now also offer the immensely popular microperf option to the folded SēVision
3D GX line of cinema projection screens for international shipment. Since its recent launch,
we’ve had to renovate our facility and upgrade our machinery to keep up with worldwide
demand.”
According to Severtson, microperf offers multiple benefits versus standard perforation
screens, such as 7 percent open space against the traditional 4.5 percent open space and ideal
for 4K, 8K, 12K, and higher projection resolutions as they evolve in the coming years. n
42 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

EVENT
CINEMA
NOT SO ALTERNATIVE ANYMORE
Two art-house theaters describe the different ways
they found success with event cinema
Sarah Erlewine, The Michigan Theater, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Carol & Robert Sadlon, The Moviehouse, Millerton, New York
INITIAL APPROACH
Moviehouse: The Moviehouse is located in Dutchess
County, a beautiful, pristine area two hours north of Manhattan
on the boarder of Litchfield County, Connecticut. We are
fortunate to be in an interesting region populated by artists,
writers, celebrities, and people in the performing and creative
arts. The Met Opera was a pioneer in the digital delivery of
opera in HD, and we felt we would have success with this type
of cultural programming, which was slowly coming into the
marketplace. We invested in satellite equipment to access the
Met Opera Live in HD, the National Theatre Live, and the
Bolshoi Ballet; with the digital access in place we now could
market content beyond movies—concerts, plays, ballet, opera,
and exhibitions.
Michigan Theater: We started National Theatre Live in
fall 2009 with UMS, the University of Michigan’s University
Musical Society, as a partner from the start. RSC Live started
in 2014. We’ve only done a handful of programs without
UMS, primarily what we call “eventized” film screenings, including
having live director’s commentary from John Cameron
Mitchell during a screening of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and
a lot of sing-alongs. For what it’s worth, we don’t do broadcast
opera—our market is saturated.
FIRST SCREENING
Moviehouse: Our first event screening was from NT Live
via satellite. It was a fascinating experience screening Travelling
Light, which is a play by Nicholas Wright, directed by
the talented theater and film director Nicholas Hytner, (he
also directed last year’s film The Lady in the Van). The play is
a tribute to the Eastern European immigrants who became
major players in Hollywood’s golden age—the experience
was interesting because the audience was in a movie theater
watching a play from London about the inception of film.
In the beginning the audience was very small because event
cinema was relatively new and most people were unsure of
what to expect: Was it a movie? What does “live” mean? The
talk-backs during intermission helped engage the audience in
the experience, and we made a concerted effort to educate and
explain the nuances of what we were offering. We made flyers
with detailed information about the production, actors, plot,
run time, etc. We also used the key time during intermission to
interact with our audience and create that sense of community
and shared experience that event cinema offers. In time, with
marketing and exposure to this new art form, the audience
gradually became familiar with National Theatre; today it is
one of our strongest programs.
Michigan Theater: Our first event screening was All’s Well
That Ends Well; 450 people attended. We are in a fortunate
position to have a partner organization to help offset the costs
and to market the event. I highly recommend seeking out other
like-minded organizations to work with, if at all possible.
44 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

TIPS TO
EXHIBITORS:
MICHIGAN THEATER
Don’t get bogged down on how
you do things from day to day. These
events are generally for fun, so you should
have fun with them. How can you make them
special and tailored to your community? Our
job as art-house exhibitors is to provide an
experience that a film-going public can’t get
at the multiplex. So what can you do to
show that in a special event, and to
show that year round?
BOX OFFICE IMPACT
Michigan Theater: The impact has been huge on our box
office. We live in a very diverse town, so when you can have
an event that touches lots of different audiences, I think that’s
a huge win for us. And it’s more than just a financial win—
sometimes we are so focused on right-fitting an audience to a
movie that we forget that what we’re selling is a communal experience.
People are really appreciative that we bring this kind
of programming here, making these one-of-a-kind productions
accessible both geographically and financially.
Moviehouse: Event cinema has had a positive impact
on our revenue and has broadened the audience to include
people who might have diverse interests other than films. In
time, it has led to an increase of approximately 14 percent in
gross revenue without putting a dent into movie attendance.
Historically movie theaters have been the community “campfire,”
where people gathered to experience the pleasure of the
shared experience; incorporating the cultural events into our
programming has further enhanced the concept of the theater
as the community gathering place. We believe what is currently
called “event cinema” is the natural evolution of the contemporary
movie theater. The digital conversion of movie theaters has
made this evolution possible.
GENRES
Michigan Theater: The sing-alongs do really well for us.
We pay more to the distributor, but we earn more. Plus, they
bring in a multigenerational audience. Our sing-along audiences
grow every year.
Moviehouse: From the beginning NT Live has been
number one because of the varied type of productions the National
Theatre presents, from experimental new plays to classic
Shakespeare. The Met Opera and the ballet are also strong. A
new genre that we have been nurturing is called Exhibition
on Screen; it takes the audience into blockbuster museum
exhibitions for an in-depth look at the art exhibition led by
museum professionals—to learn about curating the exhibits,
art conservation, and, most interesting, the lives of the artists
themselves. It began in 2012 with London’s National Gallery
exhibition called “Leonardo Live” and continues today with
exhibitions from the great museums of the world such as the
Prado in Madrid, the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, MoMA, and
the Tate in London.
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 45

EVENT CINEMA
TIPS TO EXHIBITORS:
MOVIEHOUSE
Analyze your audience profile and your market
demographics; do the research with exhibitors who have
experience and are willing to share. The world of event cinema
is in its infancy but already it is broad, diverse, and global.
Exhibitors should do careful research to find their niche, as every
market is different. Joining a trade organization like the UK-based
Event Cinema Association, which has a U.S. office, is a good idea. You
will have the opportunity to connect with distribution and exhibition
internationally as well as analyze actual numbers for what works in
theaters throughout the world. Event cinema also includes socially conscious
documentary films followed by live or Skype Q&A’s, concerts
from classic rock—Grateful Dead, Beatles, Rolling Stones—to contemporary
music, lectures, and readings. As access to event cinema
evolves, sports and gaming will continue to grow. Event cinema
requires special attention to the details and the audience;
it takes time and consistency to find and retain the audience—so
promote, educate, and communicate
through all channels at your disposal.
MARKETING CHALLENGES
Michigan Theater: I don’t think [marketing event cinema]
is a challenge, necessarily—it’s about reeducating your audience
regarding the kind of programming you offer. We’re lucky
in that we’re also a performing arts center, so people are used
to non-film programming here. We market the series (in the
case of National Theatre Live and RSC in HD) as much as we
market the individual titles, playing up the exclusivity of the
programming.
Moviehouse: Unlike movies, which are marketed by our
distributors with national campaigns that we can tag onto,
event cinema requires grassroots promotions. The most
important way to reach the audience is building an extensive
e-mail list supported by a strong website and social media. In
theater, promotional materials, posters, flyers, guest speakers
who moderate talk-backs are all important aspects. The
event-cinema audience wants and expects interaction in the
theater. Cross promoting special events with arts organizations
in our region is also a valuable relationship—to help promote
and stimulate interest in the many choices available to today’s
audience. Setting up radio interviews with cast members, directors,
producers—and then posting these interviews on your
social media. We have a chronological PDF of all events available
for download from our website for our audience who want
to save the date for events they don’t want to miss. Engaging
your audience during the 15- to 20-minute intermissions is a
great opportunity to nurture the relationship. Event cinema is
an “event,” and patrons should be nurtured. Carefully training
staff to interact with and inform patrons about the upcoming
schedule is critical.
TOP PERFORMING TITLES
Moviehouse: Just like we have blockbuster movies, there
are blockbuster events. Early on in 2013 Helen Mirren gave
a breathtaking performance as Queen Elizabeth II in Peter
Morgan’s extraordinary play for the National Theatre, The
Audience. In addition to the live satellite showing, we did 14
captured-live screenings. Following the tremendous global
success of The Audience, it was booked for a theatrical run
on Broadway starring Helen Mirren. After the Broadway
run was finished it was offered back to theaters in 2015 and
had an unprecedented second successful run. The same thing
occurred with War Horse, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time, One Man Two Guvnors, and Skylight. The most
sought-after ticket last season was Benedict Cumberbatch in
Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Danny Boyle’s dazzling production of
Frankenstein, first released in 2011, is now an annual seasonal
favorite. It is gratifying to hear our audience say they saw it
first at the Moviehouse before Broadway. Likewise, the Met
Opera and the Bolshoi have had many successful productions
and many loyal fans. We consider the Moviehouse to
be a portal to world-class performances from fantastic stages
worldwide.
Michigan Theater: Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch
(3,000 tickets sold for two performances) and Frozen Sing-
Along. Recognizable marquee names certainly help increase
audiences.
46 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

EVENT CINEMA
CALENDAR
FATHOM EVENTS fathomevents.com • 855-473-4612
PRINCESS MONONOKE 20TH ANNIVERSARY Thurs, 1/5/17 & Mon, 1/9/17 Anime
THE MET LIVE IN HD: NABUCCO Sat, 1/7/17 & Wed, 1/11/17 Opera
CAROUSEL 60TH ANNIVERSARY Sun, 1/8/17 and Wed, 1/11/17 Classic Film
THE BOWDEN DYNASTY: A STORY OF FAITH, FAMILY & FOOTBALL Sun, 1/8/17 Documentary
DISNEY JUNIOR AT THE MOVIES - MICKEY’S BIG CELEBRATION Sat, 1/14/17 Family
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN 65TH ANNIVERSARY (1952) Sun, 1/15/17 & Wed, 1/18/17 Classic Film
SHERLOCK: SEASON 4 FINALE Mon, 1/16/17 & Wed, 1/18/17 TV Special
LOST IN LONDON LIVE Thurs, 1/19/17 Comedy
THE MET LIVE IN HD: ROMEO ET JULIETTE Sat, 1/21/17 & Wed, 1/25/17 Opera
BOLSHOI BALLET: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Sun, 1/22/17 Ballet
DIRTY DANCING 30TH ANNIVERSARY Sun, 1/29/17 & Weds, 2/1/17 Drama
BOLSHOI BALLET: SWAN LAKE Sun, 2/5/17 Ballet
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: AN AFFAIR TO REMEMBER 60TH ANNIVERSARY (1957) Sun, 2/12/17 & Wed, 2/15/17 Classic Film
DISNEY’S NEWSIES: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL!
Thurs, 2/16/17, Sat, 2/18/17 &
Wed, 2/22/17
Theatre
IS GENESIS HISTORY? Thurs, 2/23/17 Documentary
THE MET LIVE IN HD: RUSALKA Sat, 2/25/2017 & Wed, 3/1/17 Opera
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: ALL ABOUT EVE (1950) Sun, 3/5/17 & Wed, 3/8/17 Classic Film
THE MET LIVE IN HD: LA TRAVIATA Sat, 3/11/2017 & Wed, 3/15/17 Opera
BOLSHOI BALLET: A CONTEMPORARY EVENING Sun, 3/19/17 Ballet
MET LIVE IN HD: IDOMENEO Sat, 3/25/17 & Wed, 3/29/17 Opera
FACING DARKNESS Thurs, 3/30/17 Inspirational
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959) Sun, 4/2/17 & Wed, 4/5/17 Classic Film
BOLSHOI BALLET: A HERO OF OUR TIME Sun, 4/9/17 Ballet
THE MET LIVE IN HD: EUGENE ONEGIN Sat, 4/22/17 & Wed, 4/26/17 Opera
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: THE GRADUATE 50TH ANNIVERSARY (1967) Sun, 4/23/17 & Wed, 4/26/17 Classic Film
TED CINEMA EXPERIENCE
Mon, 4/24/17, Tues, 4/25/17 &
Sun, 4/30/17
Conference
THE MET LIVE IN HD: DER ROSENKAVALIER Sat, 5/13/2017 & Wed, 5/17/17 Opera
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: SMOKEY AND THE BANDIT 40TH ANNIVERSARY (1977) Sun, 5/21/17 & Wed, 5/24/17 Classic Film
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE roh.org.uk/cinemas • cinema@roh.org.uk
IL TROVATORE Tues, 1/31/17 Opera
WOOLF WORKS Wed, 2/8/17 Ballet
THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Tue, 2/28/17 Ballet
MADAMA BUTTERFLY Thurs, 3/30/17 Opera
JEWELS Tue, 4/11/17 Ballet
THE DREAM / SYMPHONIC VARIATIONS / MARGUERITE AND ARMAND Wed, 6/7/17 Ballet
OTELLO Wed, 6/28/17 Opera
SCREENVISION MEDIA screenvisionmedia.com
YU-GI-OH! THE DARK SIDE OF DIMENSIONS Fri, 1/20/17 Animation
SPECTICAST specticast.com • 866-996-2842
ANNA KARENINA Thu, 1/19/17 Theatre
THE BLACK MONK Thu, 3/2/17 Theatre
THREE COMRADES Thu, 4/13/17 Theatre
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 47

COMING SOON IN 3D
MONSTER TRUCKS
JANUARY 13 · PARAMOUNT
CAST Lucas Till, Jane Levy
DIR Chris Wedge
GENRE Ani/Act/Com
SPECS 3D/Dolby Atmos
GEOSTORM
JANUARY 13 · WARNER BROS.
CAST Gerard Butler, Abbie Cornish
DIR Dean Devlin
GENRE Act/Thr/SF
SPECS 3D/IMAX
RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER
JANUARY 27 · SONY/SCREEN GEMS
CAST Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter
DIR Paul W.S. Anderson
GENRE Act/Hor
SPECS 3D
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE
FEBRUARY 10 · WARNER BROS.
VOICE CAST Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis
DIR Chris McKay
GENRE Ani/Act/Fam
SPECS 3D/IMAX/Dolby Atmos
THE GREAT WALL
FEBRUARY 17 · UNIVERSAL
CAST Matt Damon, Andy Lau
DIR Zhang Yimou
GENRE Act/Adv/Thr
SPECS 3D
KONG: SKULL ISLAND
MARCH 10 · WARNER BROS.
CAST Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson
DIR Jordan Vogt-Roberts
GENRE Act/Adv
SPECS 3D/IMAX/Dolby Dig
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
MARCH 17 · DISNEY
VOICE CAST Emma Watson, Dan Stevens
DIR Bill Condon
GENRE Mus/Rom/Fan
SPECS 3D
GHOST IN THE SHELL
MARCH 31 · PARAMOUNT
CAST Scarlett Johansson, Pilou Asbaek
DIR Rupert Sanders
GENRE Act/Thr/SF
SPECS 3D
THE BOSS BABY
MARCH 31 · FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION
VOICE CAST Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey
DIR Tom McGrath
GENRE Ani/Com/Fam
SPECS 3D/Dolby Dig
48 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

ALSO UPCOMING IN 3D
2017
APR 7 SONY/COLUMBIA SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE
MAY 5 DISNEY GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 2
MAY 12 WARNER BROS. KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD
MAY 19 OPEN ROAD THE NUT JOB 2: NUTTY BY NATURE
MAY 26 DISNEY PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
JUN 2 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS
JUN 16 DISNEY CARS 3
JUL 7 SONY/COLUMBIA SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING
JUL 21 EUROPACORP FILMS VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS
AUG 11 SONY/COLUMBIA EMOJIMOVIE: EXPRESS YOURSELF
SEP 22 WARNER BROS. THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE
NOV. 3 DISNEY THOR: RAGNAROK
NOV 10 SONY/COLUMBIA THE STAR
NOV 22 DISNEY COCO
DEC 15 DISNEY STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII
DEC 22 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION FERDINAND
2018
FEB 9 WARNER BROS. UNTITLED WARNER ANIMATION PROJECT
FEB 16 DISNEY BLACK PANTHER
FEB 16 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION LARRIKINS
MAR 9 DISNEY WRECK-IT RALPH SEQUEL
MAR 16 WARNER BROS. TOMB RAIDER
MAR 23 FOX ANUBIS
APR 6 DISNEY A WRINKLE IN TIME
APR 20 WARNER BROS. RAMPAGE
MAY 4 DISNEY AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR
MAY 18 FOX/DREAMWORKS ANIMATION HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 3
MAY 25 DISNEY UNTITLED HAN SOLO PROJECT
JUN 15 DISNEY THE INCREDIBLES 2
JUL 6 DISNEY ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
SEP 21 SONY/COLUMBIA HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3
SEP 21 WARNER BROS. S.C.O.O.B.
OCT 19 WARNER BROS. JUNGLE BOOK
NOV 2 DISNEY MULAN
NOV 9 UNIVERSAL DR. SEUSS’ HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
NOV 21 DISNEY GIGANTIC
DEC 21 SONY/COLUMBIA UNTITLED ANIMATED SPIDER-MAN FILM
2019
FEB 8 WARNER BROS. THE LEGO MOVIE SEQUEL
MAR 8 DISNEY CAPTAIN MARVEL
MAY 3 DISNEY UNTITLED AVENGERS
JUN 21 DISNEY TOY STORY 4
JUL 26 SONY SPA ANIMATED FRANCHISE 1
NOV 27 DISNEY UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 2
DEC 25 SONY SPA ANIMATED FRANCHISE 2
2020
MAR 13 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 1
APR 3 SONY SPA ANIMATED FRANCHISE 3
JUN 19 DISNEY UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION FILM 2
SEP 25 SONY SPA ANIMATED FRANCHISE 4
NOV 25 DISNEY UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION FILM 3
DEC 11 SONY SPA ANIMATED ORIGINAL
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 49

FILM CAPSULES
BY KENNETH JAMES BACON
SLEEPLESS
JAN 13 WIDE
n Jamie Foxx stars in this remake of the French hit Nuit Blanche. His character, Vincent,
a Vegas cop knee-deep in the drug world, decides to rob a cocaine kingpin’s minions. They
retaliate by kidnapping Vincent’s son, which results in car chases, explosions, and other assorted
slow-motion mayhem. Michelle Monaghan is on board as an internal affairs officer on Vincent’s
trail, while Scoot McNairy, who blew up Holly Hunter in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice,
appears as the man behind the kidnapping.
DISTRIBUTOR OPEN ROAD FILMS CAST JAMIE FOXX, MICHELLE MONAGHAN, DERMOT
MULRONEY, DAVID HARBOUR DIRECTOR BARAN BO ODAR GENRE ACTION, CRIME, THRILLER
RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 95 MIN.
PATRIOTS DAY
JAN 13 WIDE
n If, in 2013, you were a slowish weekend
warrior with an eye toward running the
Boston Marathon, you would have toed
the starting line as part of Wave Three at
10:40 a.m. on Tax Day, April 15th. Elite
runners—like my friend Lorraine Moller,
who won this race in 1984—start as early as
9:32. The Tsarnaev brothers unleashed their
hell at 2:49, just as the Wave Three runners,
many hoping to crack the four-hour barrier
for the first time, were joyously struggling
down Boylston Street. The rest you know.
Patriots Day reunites director Peter Berg
and Mark Wahlberg in this docudrama
that recreates the crime itself as well as the
subsequent manhunt.
DISTRIBUTOR CBS FILMS / LIONSGATE CAST
MARK WAHLBERG, MICHELLE MONAGHAN,
JOHN GOODMAN DIRECTOR PETER BERG
GENRE DRAMA, HISTORY, THRILLER RATING
R FOR VIOLENCE, REALISTIC GRAPHIC
INJURY IMAGES, LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT,
AND SOME DRUG USE RUNNING TIME 130
MIN.
PICTURED: MICHELLE MONAGHAN AND JAMIE FOXX
PICTURED: MARK WAHLBERG
50 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

THE BYE BYE MAN
JAN 13 WIDE
n It used to be that if you watched a certain videotape
you would die in seven days. In The Bye Bye Man, your
fate is sealed if you say his name or even think it. Which
is what you just did and now you’re doomed. You’re
welcome.
DISTRIBUTOR STX ENTERTAINMENT CAST DOUGLAS
SMITH, LUCIEN LAVISCOUNT, CRESSIDA BONAS
DIRECTOR STACY TITLE GENRE HORROR, THRILLER
RATING PG-13 FOR TERROR, HORROR VIOLENCE,
BLOODY IMAGES, SEXUAL CONTENT, THEMATIC
ELEMENTS, PARTIAL NUDITY, SOME LANGUAGE, AND
TEEN DRINKING RUNNING TIME TBD
PICTURED: DOUGLAS SMITH
MONSTER TRUCKS
JAN 13 WIDE
n Animation director Chris Wedge won an Oscar for
his short film Bunny in 1998. His production house,
Blue Sky Studios, is responsible for the popular Ice Age
franchise. (Wedge even voices its breakout character,
Scrat.) Monster Trucks is his first live-action effort, and
things are off to a rocky start. The title is the set-up—
monster trucks. Reddit has had a field day with its
treacly trailer: “E.T. meets How to Train Your Dragon
meets SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!!” Originally
set for May 2015, the film has shifted releases dates
several times—I may have already written about
it—and Paramount is prepared to write off its $100
million cost. I was surprised to see that Danny Glover
is in the trailer; I thought he was too old for this s***.
DISTRIBUTOR PARAMOUNT CAST JANE LEVY, ROB
LOWE, LUCAS TILL DIRECTOR CHRIS WEDGE GENRE
ANIMATION, ACTION, ADVENTURE RATING TBD
RUNNING TIME 104 MIN.
PICTURED: LUCAS TILL
LIVE BY NIGHT
JAN 13 WIDE
n Director-star Ben Affleck has gone back to his pile of
Dennis Lehane novels for this gangster story set during
the Prohibition era. Affleck plays Joe Coughlin, son of a
Boston cop who becomes a Florida rum runner. Affleck
behind the camera is always something to look forward
THE BIRTH OF A NATION
to—he’s three for three with producing and screenwriting
Oscars on his mantle—so the prospects for this
period piece are very good.
DISTRIBUTOR WARNER BROS. CAST ZOE SALDANA,
BEN AFFLECK, SCOTT EASTWOOD DIRECTOR BEN
AFFLECK GENRE CRIME, DRAMA RATING R FOR
STRONG VIOLENCE, LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT, AND
SOME SEXUALITY/NUDITY RUNNING TIME 128 MIN.
PICTURED: BEN AFFLECK
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 51

ON SCREEN
THE RESURRECTION
OF GAVIN STONE
JAN 20 WIDE
n I’ll state upfront that I have never seen a Christian-themed
film, other than old Hollywood swordand-sandals
classics, King of Kings, Ben-Hur, and The
Robe among them. Contemporary Christian fare—at
least their trailers—strike me as having a particularly
preachy tone that causes me to squirm a bit in my
seat. I note, however, that by all accounts these films
are getting better and are attracting solid talent both
in front of and behind the camera. Gavin Stone is an
oddity in this regard: it’s a comedy, it was produced
by Vertical Church Films (its first feature film), and
is being distributed by WWE Studios (yes, the wrestling
outfit whose former CEO, Linda McMahon,
is going to be the new head of the Small Business
Administration) along with High Top Releasing, a
distribution-for-hire unit of Focus Features. Top-lining
the film is Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D’s Brett Dalton
with The Middle’s Neil Flynn, D.B. Sweeney, and
WWE Hall-of-Famer Shawn Michaels.
DISTRIBUTOR HIGH TOP RELEASING CAST BRETT DAL-
TON, ANJELAH JOHNSON-REYES, SHAWN MICHAELS
DIRECTOR DALLAS JENKINS GENRE COMEDY, DRAMA,
FAMILY RATING PG FOR THEMATIC ELEMENTS IN-
CLUDING A CRUCIFIXION IMAGE RUNNING TIME TBD
XXX: THE RETURN OF XANDER CAGE
JAN 20 WIDE
n This is quite the return for Xander Cage, as he was killed in the second film of this
series. No matter, as Vin Diesel cannot be killed. This follow-up to the decade-old Ice
Cube vehicle XXX: State of the Union is sorta-kinda ignoring it and linking instead to
the first in the series, XXX (pronounced Triple X, you knuckleheads). Cage, as you are
supposed to know, is an athlete/government agent (like Russell Wilson) who leads a
ragtag group on a chase for a McGuffin called Pandora’s Box. ’Splosions!
DISTRIBUTOR PARAMOUNT CAST VIN DIESEL, NINA DOBREV, RUBY ROSE DIRECTOR
D.J. CARUSO GENRE ACTION, ADVENTURE, THRILLER RATING TBD RUNNING TIME
TBD
PICTURE: BRETT DALTON
PICTURED: VIN DIESEL AND NINA DOBREV
52 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

20TH CENTURY
WOMEN
JAN 20 WIDE
n It’s uncommon for film directors to design
their own marketing materials. Director Tom
Ford doesn’t even design costumes for his films,
and he was the creative director of Gucci and
Yves Saint Laurent. But Mike Mills is a graphic
designer in addition to this film’s director, so he
gets to make his own posters. Mills’s breezy work
here is about three women in 1979 Santa Barbara
connected by the teen son of an older single
mom, played by Annette Bening.
DISTRIBUTOR A24 CAST ANNETTE BENING,
ELLE FANNING, GRETA GERWIG DIRECTOR MIKE
MILLS GENRE COMEDY, DRAMA RATING R FOR
SEXUAL MATERIAL, LANGUAGE, SOME NUDITY,
AND BRIEF DRUG USE RUNNING TIME 118 MIN.
PICTURED: ELLE FANNING
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 53

ON SCREEN
SPLIT
JAN 20 WIDE
n M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense) has
been serving time in the Hollywood penalty
box for some years since foisting some awful
films upon us. Exhibit A: The Happening,
about killer flora, in which Mark Wahlberg
says this to a potted, plastic plant: “Hello. My
name is Elliot Moore. I’m just going to talk in
a very positive manner, giving off good vibes.
We’re just here to use the bathroom, and we’re
just going to leave. I hope that’s okay.” Now,
after a pretty good return to form with the
found-footage horror gem The Visit, Shyamalan
has regained his sure footing—if Rotten Tomatoes
is your guide—with Split, starring James
McAvoy as a guy with 23 personalities who
kidnaps three young women.
DISTRIBUTOR UNIVERSAL CAST JAMES
MCAVOY, HALEY LU RICHARDSON, KIM
DIRECTOR DIRECTOR M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN
GENRE HORROR, THRILLER RATING PG-13
FOR DISTURBING THEMATIC CONTENT AND
BEHAVIOR, VIOLENCE, AND SOME LANGUAGE
RUNNING TIME 117 MIN.
PICTURED: JAMES MCAVOY
54 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

THE FOUNDER
JAN 20 WIDE
n Hoping for another run at an Oscar for statuette-less
Michael Keaton, The Weinstein Company has juggled
the release date of this backstory about the founding of
McDonald’s several times. Though the film is getting
fine notices, it’s all going to be for naught (though Keaton
did score a Golden Globes nod) as the competition
this go-around will be fierce.
DISTRIBUTOR THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY CAST
MICHAEL KEATON, LINDA CARDELLINI, NICK
OFFERMAN DIRECTOR JOHN LEE HANCOCK GENRE
BIOGRAPHY, DRAMA, HISTORY RATING PG-13 FOR
BRIEF STRONG LANGUAGE RUNNING TIME 115 MIN.
PICTURED: MICHAEL KEATON
GOLD
JAN 27 WIDE
n The last time Stephen Gaghan wrote and directed
a film, George Clooney won an Oscar (2005’s
Syriana). Since then his sole writing credit has been
a video game, Call of Duty: Ghosts. With Gold, one
hopes he’s back to the quality level that nabbed him
an Oscar for writing Steven Soderbergh’s Traffic.
Gold is a heavily fictionalized account of the 1997
Canadian gold stock scandal, with Matthew McConaughey
starring as a businessman who hooks up
with a geologist to find gold in the jungles of Borneo.
The film was delayed from a crowded December
schedule.
DISTRIBUTOR THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY / DIMENSION
CAST MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, TOBY KEBBELL,
BRYCE DALLAS HOWARD DIRECTOR STEPHEN
GAGHAN GENRE ADVENTURE, DRAMA, THRILLER
RATING R FOR LANGUAGE THROUGHOUT AND SOME
SEXUALITY/NUDITY RUNNING TIME 121 MIN.
PICTURED: MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY AND CAST
UN PADRE NO TAN PADRE
JAN 27 WIDE
n Let me describe this comedy in the best way I know
how: Cuando Don Servando Villegas, un buen viejo
patriarca mexicano es expulsado de su casa de retiro, su
hijo más joven, Francisco, lo lleca con él. Don Servando
está a punto de descubrir la verdad sobre su hijo y
su forma de vida. Star Héctor Bonilla is a popular actor
in Mexico and, along with his son, dubbed Pixar’s
Ratatouille for Spanish-speaking audiences.
DISTRIBUTOR LIONSGATE / PANTELION FILMS CAST
HÉCTOR BONILLA, JACQUELINE BRACAMONTES,
CAMILA SELSER, ZAMIA FANDIÑO DIRECTOR RAÚL
MARTÍNEZ GENRE COMEDY RATING TBD RUNNING
TIME 94 MIN.
PICTURED: HÉCTOR BONILLA AND TIM ROSS
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 55

ON SCREEN
A DOG’S PURPOSE
JAN 27 WIDE
n My lovely gal, whom we’ll call Kathy as that is her
name, recently lost her beloved bichon frise after 14
years. There is no way I am taking her to this three-hankie
dog tale. Marley and Me is banned from the home. I
now can’t even show her this page of the magazine—because
she’ll want to see this movie! Lasse Hallström (The
Cider House Rules, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape) is an
expert at making moviegoers cry and, damn it, he’s at it
again. A Dog’s Purpose is based on the popular novel by
humorist W. Bruce Cameron (8 Simple Rules for Dating
My Teenage Daughter) and is the simple tale of a dog
(the narrator) who experiences many lives with many
owners through reincarnation. Yes—he gets euthanized
in this movie. Twice! Damn you, Hallström! There is
a sequel to the book—A Dog’s Journey—and the damn
dog dies in that book, too! Five-star reviews abound
for these novels—Pulitzer recipient Alice Walker loves
them—and no doubt, if this movie makes bank, I’ll be
writing about this damn dog again next year. Excuse
me, I have something in my eye.
DISTRIBUTOR UNIVERSAL CAST BRITT ROBERTSON,
DENNIS QUAID DIRECTOR LASSE HALLSTRÖM GENRE
ADVENTURE, COMEDY, DRAMA RATING PG FOR
THEMATIC ELEMENTS AND SOME PERIL RUNNING TIME
120 MIN.
PICTURED: DENNIS QUAID WITH HIS DOG (VOICED BY
JOSH GAD)
BASTARDS
JAN 27 WIDE
n Veteran cinematographer Lawrence Sher (The Hangover trilogy) directs his first
feature about two adult brothers who discover that the stories their mother (Glenn
Close) told about their late father are untrue: he is, in fact, alive. Quicker than you
can say “road trip,” the duo are off in search of their pop, who may or not be Terry
Bradshaw. J.K. Simmons appears as a hard-as-nails possibility, with Ving Rhames as
Bradshaw’s ex-football pal.
DISTRIBUTOR WARNER BROS. CAST OWEN WILSON, ED HELMS, J.K. SIMMONS
DIRECTOR LAWRENCE SHER GENRE COMEDY RATING R FOR LANGUAGE AND
SEXUAL REFERENCES THROUGHOUT RUNNING TIME TBD
PICTURED: OWEN WILSON AND ED HELMS
56 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER
JAN 27 WIDE
n The story behind this film is more riveting than whatever Paul W.S. Anderson
puts on screen in this, the sixth in the Resident Evil series. Star Milla
Jovovich’s stunt double Olivia Jackson was severely injured during a gag that
went off the rails. The motorcycle she was riding with no helmet collided with a
camera crane, resulting in cerebral trauma, a crushed and flayed face, a severed
artery in her neck, a paralyzed arm, several broken ribs, a shattered scapula, a
broken clavicle, torn fingers with a thumb that needed to be amputated, and
five nerves torn out of her spinal cord. Her left arm was later amputated. Her
road to recovery is a remarkable story that would make a compelling movie.
Talking to Glamour she says, “My injuries might sound depressing, but I am
not depressed. And I’m not bitter or angry. Learning to sit up and walk again
was so hard, my mind was wholly focused on regaining strength—I don’t have
the time or headspace to feel down. At first I missed my old face and now I’m
amazed by my new one.”
DISTRIBUTOR SONY / SCREEN GEMS CAST MILLA JOVOVICH, RUBY ROSE, ALI
LARTER DIRECTOR PAUL W.S. ANDERSON GENRE ACTION, HORROR, SCI-FI
RATING TBD RUNNING TIME 106 MIN.
PICTURE: MILLA JOVOVICH
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 57

BOOKING
GUIDE
Compiled by Diogo Busato
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
A24 646-568-6015
FREE FIRE Fri, 3/17/17 WIDE Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer Ben Wheatley R Com/Act
DISNEY 818-560-1000 / Ask for Distribution
BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Fri, 3/17/17 WIDE Emma Watson, Dan Stevens Bill Condon PG
Mus/Rom/
Fan
BORN IN CHINA Fri, 4/21/17 WIDE John Krasinski Chuan Lu G Doc
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
VOL. 2
Fri, 5/5/17 WIDE Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana James Gunn NR Act/Adv/SF
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN:
DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
Fri, 5/26/17 WIDE
Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom
Joachim Rønning,
Espen Sandberg
NR
Act/Adv
3D
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Dig
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Dig
CARS 3 Fri, 6/16/17 WIDE Owen Wilson Brian Fee NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
FAIRY TALE 1
THOR: RAGNAROK
Fri, 7/28/17 WIDE NR Fan
Fri, 11/3/17 WIDE
Tom Hiddleston, Chris
Hemsworth, Idris Elba
Taika Waititi NR Act/Adv/Fan 3D/IMAX
COCO Fri, 11/22/17 WIDE Benjamin Bratt Lee Unkrich NR Ani
STAR WARS: EPISODE VII
BLACK PANTHER
Fri, 12/15/17 WIDE
Fri, 2/16/18 WIDE
Daisy Ridley, John Boyega,
Oscar Isaac
Chadwick Boseman, Lupita
Nyong’o
WRECK-IT RALPH SEQUEL Fri, 3/9/18 WIDE John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman
A WRINKLE IN TIME
Fri, 4/6/18 WIDE
Oprah Winfrey, Reese
Witherspoon
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Fri, 5/4/18 WIDE Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans
UNTITLED HAN SOLO STAR WARS
ANTHOLOGY FILM
Fri, 5/25/18 WIDE
Alden Ehrenreich, Donald
Glover
Rian Johnson NR Act/Adv/SF
Ryan Coogler NR Act/Adv/SF
Phil Johnston, Rich
Moore
Anthony Russo & Joe
Russo
Phil Lord & Christopher
Miller
NR
NR
NR
NR
Ani/Adv/Fam
Fan
Act/Adv/SF
Act/Adv/SF
THE INCREDIBLES 2 Fri, 6/15/18 WIDE Brad Bird NR Ani/Adv/Fam
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP Fri, 7/6/18 WIDE Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly Peyton Reed NR Act/Adv/SF
EUROPACORP FILMS, USA 310-205-0255 / Ask for Distribution
THEIR FINEST Fri, 3/24/17 LTD. Sam Claflin, Jake Lacy Lone Scherfig NR Com
THE CIRCLE Fri, 4/28/17 WIDE Emma Watson, Tom Hanks James Ponsoldt NR Thr
VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A
THOUSAND PLANETS
Fri, 7/21/17 WIDE Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne Luc Besson NR Act/Adv/SF
FOCUS FEATURES 424-214-6360
RAW Fri, 3/10/17 LTD. Garance Marillier Julia Ducournau NR Hor/Thr
THE ZOOKEEPER’S WIFE
Fri, 3/31/17 LTD.
Jessica Chastain, Johan
Heldenbergh
Niki Caro NR Bio/Dra/His
THE BOOK OF HENRY Fri, 6/16/17 LTD. Naomi Watts, Lee Pace Colin Trevorrow PG-13 Dra
THE BEGUILED Fri, 6/23/17 LTD. Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman Sofia Coppola NR Dra/His
THE COLDEST CITY Fri, 7/28/17 LTD. Sofia Boutella, James McAvoy David Leitch NR Thr
VICTORIA AND ABDUL Fri, 9/22/17 LTD. Judi Dench, Ali Fazal Stephen Frears NR Dra
DARKEST HOUR Fri, 11/24/17 WIDE Gary Oldman, Lily James Joe Wright NR Bio
UNTITILED LAIKA FILM Fri, 5/18/18 WIDE NR
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Dig
FOX 310-369-1000 / 212-556-2400
A CURE FOR WELLNESS Fri, 2/17/17 WIDE Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth Gore Verbinski NR Hor/Thr Dolby Dig
LOGAN Fri, 3/3/17 WIDE Hugh Jackman, Boyd Holbrook James Mangold NR Act/Adv IMAX
THE BOSS BABY Fri, 3/31/17 WIDE Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey Tom McGrath NR
Ani/Com/
Fam
3D/Dolby Dig
MOTHER/DAUGHTER Fri, 5/12/17 WIDE Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn Jonathan Levine NR Com
58 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
ALIEN: COVENANT
DIARY OF A WIMPY KID:
THE LONG HAUL
Fri, 5/19/17 WIDE
Fri, 5/19/17 WIDE
Michael Fassbender, Katherine
Waterston
Alicia Silverstone, Tom Everett
Scott
Ridley Scott NR SF/Thr
David Bowers NR Com/Fam
CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS Fri, 6/2/17 WIDE Ed Helms, Kevin Hart David Soren NR
WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE
APES
Ani/Com/
Fam
Fri, 7/14/17 WIDE Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson Matt Reeves NR Act/SF
KINGSMAN: THE GOLDEN CIRCLE Fri, 10/6/17 WIDE Taron Egerton, Julianne Moore Matthew Vaughn NR Act/Thr
THE MOUNTAIN BETWEEN US
Fri, 10/20/17 WIDE
Charlie Hunnam, Rosamund
Pike
Hany Abu-Assad NR Dra/Rom
RED SPARROW Fri, 11/10/17 WIDE Jennifer Lawrence Francis Lawrence NR Thr
MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS Fri, 11/22/17 WIDE Johnny Depp, Daisy Ridley Kenneth Branagh NR Dra/Mys
FERDINAND Fri, 12/22/17 WIDE Carlos Saldanha NR Ani/Fam 3D
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
ON EARTH
Mon, 12/25/17 WIDE Hugh Jackman Michael Gracey NR Mus/Dra
MAZE RUNNER: THE DEATH CURE Fri, 1/12/18 WIDE Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario Wes Ball NR SF/Thr IMAX
THE PREDATOR Fri, 2/9/18 WIDE Shane Black NR Act/SF/Hor
UNTITLED FOX / MARVEL FILM 1 Fri, 3/2/18 WIDE NR Act/Adv/SF
ANUBIS Fri, 3/23/18 WIDE Chris Wedge NR Ani 3D
UNTITLED FOX / MARVEL FILM 2 Fri, 6/29/18 WIDE NR Act/Adv/SF
ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL Fri, 7/20/18 WIDE Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz Robert Rodriguez NR Act/Adv/Rom
UNTITLED FOX / MARVEL FILM 3 Fri, 11/2/18 WIDE NR Act/Adv/SF
FOX SEARCHLIGHT 212-556-2400
A UNITED KINGDOM Fri, 2/17/17 LTD. David Oyelowo, Rosamund Pike Guy Hibbert PG-13 Dra/His
TABLE 19 Fri, 3/3/17 WIDE Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson Jeffrey Blitz PG-13 Com/Dra
WILSON Fri, 3/24/17 LTD. Woody Harrelson, Judy Greer Craig Johnson R Com
GIFTED Wed, 4/12/17 LTD. Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace Marc Webb PG-13 Dra
MY COUSIN RACHEL Fri, 5/5/17 LTD. Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin Roger Michell NR Dra/Rom
LIONSGATE 310-309-8400
PADRE NO TAN PADRE
Fri, 1/27/16 MOD.
Hector Bonilla, Benny Ibarra
de Llano
Raul Martinez NR Com/For
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 2 Fri, 2/10/17 WIDE Keanu Reeves, Common Chad Stahelski NR Act/Thr
ROCK DOG Fri, 2/24/17 WIDE Luke Wilson, Eddie Izzard Ash Brannon NR Ani/Fam
THE SHACK
POWER RANGERS
Fri, 3/3/17 WIDE
Fri, 3/24/17 WIDE
Sam Worthington, Octavia
Spencer
Elizabeth Banks, Dacre
Montgomery
Stuart Hazeldine NR Dra
Dean Israelite NR Act/Adv/Fam
WONDER Fri, 4/7/17 WIDE Julia Roberts, Jacob Tremblay Stephen Chbosky NR Dra
HOW TO BE A LATIN LOVER Fri, 4/28/17 WIDE Kristen Bell, Rob Lowe Ken Marino NR Com
THE HITMAN’S BODYGUARD
Fri, 8/18/17 WIDE
Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L.
Jackson
Patrick Hughes NR Act/Com
GRANITE MOUNTAIN Fri, 9/22/17 WIDE Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller Joseph Kosinski NR Dra
MY LITTLE PONY Fri, 10/6/17 WIDE Tara Strong, Emily Blunt Jayson Thiessen NR Ani/Fan/Fam
THE COMMUTER Fri, 10/13/17 WIDE Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga Jaume Collet-Serra NR Act
SAW: LEGACY
Fri, 10/27/17 WIDE
Michael Spierig, Peter
Spierig
ROBIN HOOD Fri, 3/23/18 WIDE Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx Otto Bathurst NR Adv
OPEN ROAD FILMS 310-696-7504
COLLIDE Fri, 2/3/17 LTD. Felicity Jones, Anthony Hopkins Eran Creevy PG-13 Act/Thr
SLEEPLESS Fri, 2/24/17 WIDE Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan Baran bo Odar NR Act/Cri/Thr
NR
Hor
3D
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 59

BOOKING GUIDE
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
BEFORE I FALL Fri, 3/3/17 WIDE Zoey Deutch, Logan Miller Ry Russo-Young NR Dra
SPARK Fri, 4/14/17 WIDE Jessica Biel, Susan Sarandon Aaron Woodley NR Ani
THE NUT JOB 2:
NUTTY BY NATURE
Fri, 5/19/17 WIDE Will Arnett, Katherine Heigl Cal Brunker NR
Ani/Com/
Fam
ALL I SEE IS YOU Fri, 8/4/17 WIDE Blake Lively, Yvonne Strahovski Marc Forster NR Dra/Thr
BLAZING SAMURAI
Fri, 8/25/17 WIDE
Samuel L. Jackson, Michael
Cera
Chris Bailey, Mark
Koetsier
NR
Ani/Adv/Fam
SHOW DOGS Fri, 11/10/17 WIDE Will Arnett, Natasha Lyonne Raja Gosnell NR Com/Fam
PARAMOUNT 323-956-5000
MONSTER TRUCKS Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE Jane Levy, Lucas Till Chris Wedge PG Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/Dolby Atmos
xXx: THE RETURN OF
XANDER CAGE
Fri, 1/20/17 WIDE Vin Diesel, Samuel L. Jackson D.J. Caruso NR Act/Adv/Thr
RINGS Fri, 2/3/17 WIDE Matilda Lutz, Alex Roe F. Javier Gutiérrez NR Hor
SAME KIND OF DIFFERENT AS ME Fri, 2/3/17 WIDE Djimon Hounsou, Greg Kinnear Michael Carney NR Dra
GOD PARTICLE
Fri, 2/24/17 WIDE
David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-
Raw
Julius Onah NR SF/Thr
GHOST IN THE SHELL
UNTITLED PARAMOUNT EVENT
HORROR FILM
Fri, 3/31/17 WIDE
Scarlett Johansson, Pilou
Asbæk
Rupert Sanders NR Act/Thr/SF 3D
Fri, 4/28/17 WIDE NR Hor IMAX
BAYWATCH Fri, 5/26/17 WIDE Dwayne Johnson, Zac Efron Seth Gordon NR Act/Com
WORLD WAR Z 2 Fri, 6/9/17 WIDE Brad Pitt NR Act/Hor
TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST
KNIGHT
Fri, 6/23/17 WIDE Mark Wahlberg, Isabela Moner Michael Bay NR Act/Adv/SF
FRIDAY THE 13TH Fri, 10/13/17 WIDE Breck Eisner NR Hor
DOWNSIZING Fri, 10/22/17 WIDE Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig Alexander Payne NR Com
GNOMEO & JULIET:
SHERLOCK GNOMES
Fri, 1/12/18 WIDE James McAvoy, Emily Blunt John Stevenson NR
Ani/Com/
Fam
TRANSFORMERS 6 Fri, 6/8/18 WIDE NR SF/Act
MISSION: IMPOSSILBE 6 Fri, 7/27/18 WIDE Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson Christopher McQuarrie NR Act/Adv
SONY 212-833-8500
UNDERWORLD: BLOOD WARS Fri, 1/6/17 WIDE Kate Beckinsale, Theo James Anna Foerster R Act/Hor
RESIDENT EVIL:
THE FINAL CHAPTER
Fri, 1/27/17 WIDE Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter Paul W.S. Anderson NR Act/Hor 3D
PATIENT ZERO Fri, 2/17/17 LTD. Natalie Dormer, Matt Smith Stefan Ruzowitzky NR Act/Hor/Dra
T2: TRAINSPOTTING Fri, 3/3/17 LTD.
Ewan McGregor, Robert Carlyle,
Jonny Lee Miller
Danny Boyle NR Dra
LIFE Fri, 3/24/17 WIDE Ryan Reynolds, Jake Gyllenhaal Daniel Espinosa NR SF/Thr
SMURFS: THE LOST VILLAGE Fri, 4/7/17 WIDE Demi Lovato, Mandy Patinkin Kelly Asbury NR
BARBIE Fri, 5/12/17 WIDE NR Com
ROCK THAT BODY
Fri, 6/16/17 WIDE
Scarlett Johanson, Kate
McKinnon
Ani/Com/
Fam
Lucia Aniello NR Com/Dra
SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING Fri, 7/7/17 WIDE Tom Holland, Marisa Tomei Jon Watts NR Act/Adv
THE DARK TOWER
Fri, 7/28/17 WIDE
Idris Elba, Matthew
McConaughey
Nikolaj Arcel NR Wes/Act/Fan
3D
3D
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Atmos
EMOJIMOVIE: EXPRESS YOURSELF Fri, 8/4/17 WIDE James Corden, Ilana Glazer Tony Leondis NR Ani 3D
BABY DRIVER Fri, 8/11/17 WIDE Ansel Elgort, Lily James Edgar Wright NR Act/Com/Cri Dolby Atmos
THE EQUALIZER 2 Thu, 9/14/17 WIDE Denzel Washington NR Act/Thr
THE SOLUTREAN
Fri, 9/15/17 WIDE
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Leonor
Varela
Albert Hughes NR Act/Dra/Thr
60 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
FLATLINERS Fri, 9/29/17 WIDE Nina Dobrev, Kiefer Sutherland Niels Arden Oplev NR Dra/Hor/SF
THE STAR Fri, 11/10/17 WIDE Timothy Reckart NR Ani
JUMANJI Fri, 12/22/17 WIDE Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black Jake Kasdan NR Adv/Fan/Fam
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE Fri, 1/12/18 WIDE Will Smith, Martin Lawrence Joe Carnahan NR Act/Thr
PETER RABBIT Fri, 3/23/18 WIDE Will Gluck
Rose Byrne, James
Corden
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA 3 Fri, 9/21/18 WIDE Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez Genndy Tartakovsky NR
UNTITLED ANIMATED
SPIDER-MAN FILM
Fri, 12/21/18 WIDE
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS Tom Prassis / 212-833-4981
THE COMEDIAN Fri, 1/13/17 LTD Robert De Niro, Leslie Mann Taylor Hackford R Com
NR
Fam/Ani
Ani/Com/
Fam
THE RED TURTLE Fri, 1/20/17 EXCL NY/LA - Michael Dudok de Wit PG Ani/Fan
LAND OF MINE Fri, 2/17/17 LTD Roland Møller, Louis Hofmann Martin Zandvliet R Dra/His/War
STX ENTERTAINMENT 310-742-2300
THE BYE BYE MAN Fri, 1/13/17 WIDE Douglas Smith, Cressida Bonas Stacy Title R Hor/Thr
THE SPACE BETWEEN US Fri, 2/3/17 WIDE Asa Butterfield, Britt Robertson Peter Chelsom PG-13 Adv/SF/Rom
BAD DADS Fri, 7/14/17 WIDE NR Com
UNIVERSAL 818-777-1000
SPLIT Fri, 1/20/17 WIDE James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy M. Night Shyamalan PG-13 Hor/Thr
A DOG’S PURPOSE Fri, 1/27/17 WIDE Dennis Quaid, Britt Robertson Lasse Hallström PG
Com/Dra/
Fam
FIFTY SHADES DARKER Fri, 2/10/17 WIDE Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan James Foley R Dra/Rom
THE GREAT WALL Fri, 2/17/17 WIDE Matt Damon, Andy Lau Zhang Yimou PG-13 Act/Adv/Thr 3D
GET OUT Fri, 2/24/17 WIDE Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams Jordan Peele NR Hor
FAST 8 Fri, 4/14/17 WIDE Vin Diesel, Dwayne Johnson F. Gary Gray NR Act/Cri IMAX
UNTITLED 2017 BLUMHOUSE
HORROR PROJECT 2
Fri, 4/28/17 WIDE NR Hor
THE MUMMY Fri, 6/9/17 WIDE Tom Cruise, Sofia Boutella Alex Kurtzman NR Act/Adv
DESPICABLE ME 3 Fri, 6/30/17 WIDE Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig
Kyle Balda & Pierre
Coffin
GIRL TRIP Fri, 7/21/17 WIDE Regina Hall Malcolm D. Lee NR Com
NR
Ani/Com/
Fam
AMERICAN MADE Fri, 9/29/17 WIDE Tom Cruise, Domhnall Gleeson Doug Liman NR Cri/Thr
THE SNOWMAN
Fri, 10/13/17 WIDE
Michael Fassbender, Rebecca
Ferguson
Tomas Alfredson NR Cri/Thr
INSIDIOUS: CHAPTER 4 Fri, 10/20/17 WIDE Lin Shaye Adam Robitel NR Hor/Thr
LET IT SNOW Fri, 11/22/17 WIDE Luke Snellin NR Rom/Com
PITCH PERFECT 3 Fri, 12/22/17 WIDE Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson Elizabeth Banks NR Com/Mus
UNTITLED 2018 BLUMHOUSE
HORROR PROJECT 1
Fri, 1/5/18 WIDE NR Hor
FIFTY SHADES FREED Fri, 2/9/18 WIDE Dakota Johnson, Jamie Dornan James Foley NR Dra/Rom
LARRIKINS Fri, 2/16/18 WIDE Margot Robbie, Hugh Jackman NR Ani/Com
PACIFIC RIM: MAELSTROM Fri, 2/23/18 WIDE Scott Eastwood, John Boyega Steven S. DeKnight NR SF/Act
UNTITLED 2018 UNIVERSAL
MONSTER FRANCISE FILM
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL R-RATED
COMEDY
Fri, 4/13/18 WIDE NR Hor
Fri, 4/13/18 WIDE R Com
JURRASIC WORLD SEQUEL
Fri, 6/22/18 WIDE
Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas
Howard
J.A. Bayona NR Act/Adv
JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 61

BOOKING GUIDE
TITLE RELEASE DATE STARS DIRECTOR(S) RATING GENRE SPECS
THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS 2 Fri, 7/13/18 WIDE Chris Renaud NR
UNTITLED UNVIERSAL EVENT
FILM 1
Fri, 10/8/18 WIDE
NR
Ani/Com/
Fam
WARNER BROS. 818-977-1850
BASTARDS Fri, 1/27/17 WIDE Ed Helms, Owen Wilson Lawrence Sher R Com
THE LEGO BATMAN MOVIE Fri, 2/10/17 WIDE Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis Chris McKay NR Ani/Adv/Fam
FIST FIGHT Fri, 2/17/17 WIDE Ice Cube, Charlie Day Richie Keen NR Com
KONG: SKULL ISLAND Fri, 3/10/17 WIDE Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson Jordan Vogt-Roberts NR Act/Adv
KING ARTHUR:
LEGEND OF THE SWORD
GOING IN STYLE
UNFORGETTABLE
ANNABELLE 2
Fri, 3/24/17 WIDE
Fri, 4/7/17 WIDE
Fri, 4/21/17 WIDE
Fri, 5/19/17 WIDE
Charlie Hunnam, Astrid Bergès-
Frisbey
Morgan Freeman, Michael
Caine
Rosasio Dawson, Katherine
Heigl
Stephanie Sigman, Alicia
Vela-Bailey
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Atmos
3D/IMAX/Dolby
Dig
Guy Ritchie NR Act/Adv 3D/IMAX
Zach Braff PG-13 Com/Cri
Denise Di Novi NR Thr
David F. Sandberg NR Hor/Thr
WONDER WOMAN Fri, 6/2/17 WIDE Gal Gadot, Chris Pine Patty Jenkins NR Act/Adv Dolby Atmos
THE HOUSE Fri, 6/30/17 WIDE Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler Andrew J. Cohen NR Com
DUNKIRK Fri, 7/21/17 WIDE Tom Hardy, Kenneth Branagh Christopher Nolan NR Act/Thr/War IMAX
CHIPS Fri, 8/11/17 WIDE Michael Peña, Dax Shepard Dax Shepard NR Act/Com
IT Fri, 9/8/17 WIDE Finn Wolfhard, Bill Skarsgård Andrés Muschietti NR Hor/Thr
THE LEGO NINJAGO MOVIE Fri, 9/22/17 WIDE Dave Franco, Michael Peña Charlie Bean NR Ani/Adv/Fam 3D/IMAX
BLADE RUNNER 2049 Fri, 10/6/17 WIDE Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford Denis Villeneuve NR SF/Thr
GEOSTORM Fri, 10/20/17 WIDE Gerard Butler, Abbie Cornish Dean Devlin NR Act/Thr/SF 3D/IMAX
JUSTICE LEAGUE Fri, 11/17/17 WIDE Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot Zack Snyder NR Act/Adv
UNTITLED WARNER BROS.
PG-13 COMEDY
UNTITLED WARNER ANIMATION
GROUP
Fri, 12/22/17 WIDE PG-13 Com
Fri, 2/9/18 WIDE NR Ani
MEG Fri, 3/2/18 WIDE Jason Statham, Bingbing Fan Jon Turteltaub NR Act/Hor/SF
TOMB RAIDER Fri, 3/16/18 WIDE Alicia Vikander Roar Uthaug NR Act/Adv 3D
READY PLAYER ONE Fri, 3/30/18 WIDE Simon Pegg, T.J. Miller Steven Spielburg NR Act/SF/Thr
RAMPAGE Fri, 4/20/18 WIDE Dwayne Johnson Brad Peyton NR Adv/Fan
LIFE OF THE PARTY Fri, 5/11/18 WIDE Melissa McCarthy, Julie Bowen Ben Falcone NR Com
OCEAN’S 8 Fri, 6/8/18 WIDE Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett Gary Ross NR Cri
WEINSTEIN CO./DIMENSION 646-862-3400
AMITYVILLE: THE AWAKENING
Fri, 1/6/17 WIDE
Jennifer Jason Leigh, Bella
Thorne
Franck Khalfoun PG-13 Hor/Thr
THE FOUNDER Fri, 1/20/17 WIDE Michael Keaton, Laura Dern John Lee Hancock PG-13 Dra Dolby Dig
GOLD
Sun, 1/27/17 WIDE
Bryce Dallas Howard, Matthew
McConaughey
Stephen Gaghan R Adv/Dra/Thr
TULIP FEVER Fri, 2/24/17 MOD. Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan Justin Chadwick NR Dra/Rom
POLAROID Fri, 8/25/17 WIDE Lars Klevberg NR Hor/Sus
WAR WITH GRANDPA Fri, 10/20/17 WIDE Robert De Niro Tim Hill NR Fam/Com
THE SIX BILLION DOLLAR MAN Fri, 12/22/17 WIDE Mark Wahlberg
Peter Berg, Damián
Szifrón
NR
Act/SF
62 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017

I N T H E F E B R U A R Y I S S U E O F B O X O F F I C E
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BACK COVER
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PG 64
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JANUARY 2017 BoxOffice ® 63

Passive Polarization
for 3D Digital Cinema
Fast, Bright, Reliable...
Quality you can Trust.
Over 1,950
locations worldwide.
BUYING & SELLING
MARQUEE LETTERS. Buying and selling. New
and Used marquee letters all types. We buy old.
We sell new. All styles. Trade in your old letters
and get new letters. Turn those old letters into
cash. Your source for new Pronto, Zip-Change,
Snap Lok, Slotted. mike@pilut.com 800-545-
8956
LOOKING TO PURCHASE 3-8 screen venue in
California or south western United States. Contact:
Atul Desai 949-291-5700
DRIVE-IN CONSTRUCTION
DRIVE-IN SCREEN TOWERS since 1945. Selby
Products Inc., P.O. Box 267, Richfield, OH
44286. Phone: 330-659-6631.
EQUIPMENT WANTED
ASTER AUDITORIUM SEATING & AUDIO. We
offer the best pricing on good used projection
and sound equipment. Large quantities available.
Please visit our website, www.asterseating.
com, or call 888-409-1414.
AMERICAN ENTERTAINMENT PRODUCTS
LLC is buying projectors, processors, amplifiers,
speakers, seating, platters. If you are closing,
remodeling or have excess equipment in
your warehouse and want to turn equipment
into cash, please call 866-653-2834 or email
aep30@comcast.net. Need to move quickly to
close a location and dismantle equipment? We
come to you with trucks, crew and equipment,
no job too small or too large. Call today for a
quotation: 866-653-2834. Vintage equipment
wanted also! Old speakers like Western Electric
and Altec, horns, cabinets, woofers, etc.,
and any tube audio equipment. Call or email:
aep30@comcast.net.
COLLECTOR WANTS TO BUY: We pay top
money for any 1920-1980 theater equipment.
We’ll buy all theater-related equipment, working
or dead. We remove and pick up anywhere in
the U.S. or Canada. Amplifiers, speakers, horns,
drivers, woofers, tubes, transformers; Western
Electric, RCA, Altec, JBL, Jensen, Simplex and
more. We’ll remove installed equipment if it’s
in a closing location. We buy projection and
equipment too. Call today: 773-339-9035; cinema-tech.com;
email ILG821@aol.com.
www.depthq3d.com
FOR SALE
LEGENDARY 4 STAR THEATRE in San Francisco
for sale; great neighborhood, corner location.
2 screens. Zoned NC-40. Currently open;
first-run mainstream and foreign films. Excellent
demographics. Locally owned operated since
1992. Great commercial development opportunity
for right operator. 3400 square feet, price
includes prime real estate and business. www.
lntsf.com. Send inquiries to 4starlnt@gmail.com.
Principals only
CLASSIC CINEMAS is looking to sell 616 slightly
used electric 1st edition Bliss Loungers to
replace with the new Bliss Zero Lounger. They
are selling 22” wide electric reclining loveseats
in excellent condition with lit aisle and seat tags.
If interested, please call Jeremy Chupp at 770-
823-1330.
USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS, (5) complete
booths including sound equipment. Three years
old. Contact seller at moviescope1000@gmail.
com.
2 BRAND NEW 3000 watts Christie Xenon
lamps for 35mm projectors. Contact: Atul Desai
949-291-5700.
BARCO 3D/DIGITAL EQUIPMENT FOR SALE:
Purchase for $55K. Equipment list provided
upon request. Contact seller at mschwartz@
pennprolaw.com.
PREFERRED SEATING COMPANY, your source
for new, used and refurbished theater and stadium
seating. Buying and selling used seating
is our specialty. Call toll-free 866-922-0226 or
visit our website www.‐preferred-seating.com.
USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS Two NEC
NC1200 with two-year warranty $23,000.
Six new NEC NC900 with lens $18,000.
Warranty starts when installed. Used servers
and USL hearing-impaired equipment.
Call Stetson Snell 505-615-2913. Email
stetsonsnell@enparaudio.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.
MOBILIARIO high-back rockers with cup holders.
Located in Connecticut. Contact (203)758-
2148.
6 PLEX EQUIPMENT PACKAGE. 6 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
Paragon Theaters has THEATER MANAGEMENT
POSITIONS available at multiple locations. If
you have previous management experience,
please send your resume to robert.fronckoski@
paragontheaters.com.
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 art-house, independent, documentary,
and classic cinema. The full job description
and application instructions are found
at mdfilmfest.com/about-the-festival/jobs.php.
SERVICES
DULL FLAT PICTURE? RESTORE YOUR XENON
REFLECTORS! Ultraflat repolishes and recoats
xenon reflectors. Many reflectors available for
immediate exchange. (ORC, Strong, Christie,
Xetron, others!) Ultraflat, 20306 Sherman Way,
Winnetka, CA 91306; 818-884-0184.
THEATER SPACE FOR LEASE
AN 8,400 SQ. FT. SPACE containing two movie
theaters is available for lease in Frankfort, KY, at
a very reasonable lease rate. It would be perfect
for the new concept of eating in the theater.
The theaters are located in the middle of a major
shopping center. The center owners would
prefer an operating movie theater rather than
convert the space into retail use. Contact Alexa
at 859-221-9921 or email her at alexarkelley@
gmail.com for more information.
64 BoxOffice ® JANUARY 2017