Boxoffice - May 2019
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners
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CELEBRATING ADRIAN SMITH<br />
Boy, it’s been great teaming<br />
up with Adrian all of these<br />
years. What he brings to<br />
the company is textbook<br />
leadership. He has passion for<br />
the job, integrity, character,<br />
and a tireless, dedicated work<br />
ethic. Adrian has tremendous<br />
respect for his colleagues and<br />
employees, creates dynamic<br />
strategies, and has a can-do<br />
attitude for every challenge<br />
put on his plate. On top<br />
of it all, he is successful<br />
at everything that he does<br />
without ever losing his sense<br />
of humor. Not only is he<br />
great at his job, he makes<br />
all of our jobs easier in the<br />
process. And, he might be the<br />
nicest, most genuine guy you<br />
will ever meet in your life.<br />
I’m very proud to be able to<br />
count him as a close friend.<br />
STEVEN O’DELL<br />
President, Sony Pictures Releasing<br />
International, Motion Picture Group<br />
TRUST EACH OTHER, AND NEVER BLINK … THE MISSING PIECE IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK<br />
Kevin Hart, Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, and Jack Black will suit up again for the next Jumanji adventure this year.<br />
it in theaters. We had a lot of help from<br />
the exhibition community; they definitely<br />
rallied behind the film and helped<br />
us keep it in theaters and relevant to the<br />
moviegoing public.<br />
From your perspective, how has the<br />
business changed the most over the<br />
past three decades?<br />
The thing that most comes to mind<br />
is that the marketplace has become<br />
more competitive. The number of films<br />
released, finding a release date—it’s a<br />
real challenge. Production and marketing<br />
costs have increased, and I guess it’s<br />
fair to say that there are so many quality<br />
forms of entertainment available for<br />
consumers that never existed years ago.<br />
It’s made competing for entertainment<br />
dollars more challenging.<br />
On the bright side, I truly believe<br />
that the one thing that has been<br />
constant—and will continue to matter—<br />
is that audiences have a desire for that<br />
shared communal experience of a movie<br />
theater. They love going to the movies<br />
with 500 of their closest friends they’ve<br />
never met before.<br />
Exhibitors have done a great job,<br />
especially in the last couple of years, by<br />
enhancing the moviegoing experience<br />
and creating an environment attractive<br />
for people to leave their homes. To their<br />
credit, they’ve invested a substantial<br />
amount of capital on premium sound<br />
or projection, on reclining seats<br />
and food services to improve the<br />
moviegoing experience.<br />
What are some of the challenges<br />
and opportunities facing theatrical<br />
exhibition in the coming years?<br />
The challenge is competing for<br />
the entertainment dollars with all the<br />
different platforms and opportunities<br />
consumers have to be entertained. As an<br />
industry we have to continue creating<br />
content that will get consumers off their<br />
couches and into movie theaters. Exhibitors<br />
have to do their part, as they have<br />
been and will continue to do, in creating<br />
environments that people really want to<br />
watch a movie in. An environment that<br />
has more to offer than what they could<br />
get at home.<br />
You’ve been very involved in industry<br />
charities, including stints on the<br />
boards of Variety – the Children’s<br />
Charity and the Will Rogers Motion<br />
PHOTO: ©2017 COLUMBIA PICTURES INDUSTRIES, INC. / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED / COURTESY OF COLUMBIA PICTURES<br />
48 MAY <strong>2019</strong>
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