Boxoffice Pro - December 2019

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2019 VOL. 155 NO. 12 

JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL 

A MEGA ANNIVERSARY 

20 years later, Megaplex Theatres 

still gives back 

24 

PR EMIUM SEATING 

New trends like dine-in cinemas and 

VIP auditoriums have helped 

premium seating evolve 

28 

SHOWEAST RECAP 

Companies across the industry increase 

collaborative efforts in confronting the 

(digital) challenges ahead 

32 

DEPARTMENTS 

HELLO 3 

TRADE TALK 4 

NATO NEWS 8 

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS 10 

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT 14 

INDIE FOCUS 16 

TIMECODE 22 

SOCIAL MEDIA 60 

LONG-RANGE FORECAST 62 

BOXOFFICE PULSE 63 

ON SCREEN 64 

EVENT CINEMA CALENDAR 72 

BOOKING GUIDE 74 

MARKETPLACE 80 

Boxoffice Pro has served as the official publication of the National 

Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) since 2007. As part of this 

partnership, Boxoffice Pro is proud to feature exclusive columns from 

NATO while retaining full editorial freedom throughout its pages. As 

such, the views expressed in Boxoffice Pro, except for columns signed 

by NATO executives, reflect neither a stance nor an endorsement from 

the National Association of Theatre Owners. 

Women in 

Exhibition 

Earlier this year, 

Boxoffice Pro 

partnered with Celluloid 

Junkie to present the 

fourth-annual list of 

Top Women in Global 

Exhibition, published in 

our CinemaCon issue. 

Throughout 2019 and 

early 2020, Boxoffice 

Pro will continue to 

honor the women who 

have an immeasurable 

impact on the exhibition 

industry with a series of 

in-depth profiles. 

50 

EMMY-WINNING 

'FLEABAG' 

FINDS A HOME 

ON THE BIG 

SCREEN 

48 

Entering the Next Level 

JAKE KASDAN SHAKES THINGS UP FOR 

SEQUEL TO JUMANJI BLOCKBUSTER 

36 

LITTLE WOMEN 

‘Great or Nothing’ 

GRETA GERWIG MARCHES FORTH 

WITH LITTLE WOMEN 

40 

SEARCHING FOR DONALD RUGOFF 

Tales of Manhattan 

IRA DEUTCHMAN CHRONICLES THE RISE 

AND FALL OF THE CINEMA 5 MOGUL 

44 

2 DECEMBER 2019

Delivering 

innovative 

insurance products 

for the cinema 

exhibition industry 

As 2019 comes to a close, I can’t help but think back on 

what has proved to be a dramatic decade in our industry. The 

2010s were marked by the expansion of digital cinema, which 

now covers the vast majority of screens worldwide, producing a 

seismic shift in how this industry operates—and establishing a new 

standard for the future of cinema technology. 

But because of the emergence of streaming technology, the real disruption 

in the entertainment industry has largely occurred in the home, as 

cord-cutting has slowly chipped away at cable subscriptions (once touted 

as one of many doomsday technologies) and DVD sales have declined considerably 

for studios. The home entertainment landscape is vastly different 

going into 2020, with media conglomerates (and some exhibitors) devising 

their very own streaming services. 

INSURANCE COVERAGE 

C O M P A N I E S 

P R I C E 

The imminent changes ahead—from consolidation to the Justice Department’s 

eventual ruling on the Paramount Decrees—offer a glimpse into 

the next decade. It’s an exciting time to have this job, to say the least. 

On a personal level, I’ll always look back on this decade as a fantastic 10 

years of achievement for Latin American cinema. The groundbreaking 

work of Mexican filmmakers in Hollywood immediately comes to mind. 

Directors Alfonso Cuarón, Alejandro González Iñárritu, and Guillermo 

del Toro and cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki have collaborated on 

some truly amazing films, including a handful of masterpieces that will 

be talked about for years to come. 

Local markets in Latin America continue producing remarkable films— 

and filmmakers as well. From established directors like Argentina’s 

Lucrecia Martel, Chile’s Patricio Guzmán, and Mexico’s Carlos Reygadas 

to exciting new voices like Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho, Chile’s 

Sebastián Lelio, and Colombia’s Ciro Guerra, the region boasts some 

of today’s most daring and innovative filmmaking. I am fortunate to 

see most of their films on the big screen here in New York City, and 

I genuinely hope the coming years will see more Latin American 

cinema make its way to more screens across the U.S. and around 

the world. 

This industry continues to move at a pace of relentless innovation—both 

on and off the screen. Like all my colleagues here 

at Boxoffice Pro, I am excited to see what the future will 

bring. 

Daniel Loría 

Editorial Director 

Boxoffice Pro 

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3

EDITED BY LAURA SILVER 

BOXOFFICE MEDIA 

CEO 

Julien Marcel 

SVP CONTENT STRATEGY 

Daniel Loria 

CREATIVE DIRECTOR 

Kenneth James Bacon 

CINEPAX TO BRING ESPORTS 

TO PAKISTAN 

>> Cinepax, with 45 screens at 13 

sites in nine Pakistani cities, equivalent 

to 7,400 seats nationwide, has been 

announced as the first international 

partner of CineLeague, an international 

esports tournament hosted and broadcast 

at movie theaters. CineLeague is an 

initiative from U.K.-based Cooldown 

Ventures, which owns Manchester-based 

team Vexed Gaming. Cooldown has been 

consulting with Cinepax to help curate 

content for the cinema chain’s esports 

pre-show events, which will eventually 

feed into the international tournaments. 

Vexed Gaming is also undertaking 

a friendship tour of Pakistan in 2020, 

bringing a professional team to play 

alongside local talent. 

Cooldown Ventures is currently in 

discussion with a further 10 international 

cinema chains as part of the initial Cine- 

League rollout. 

“Esports is huge in Pakistan, and it’s 

great to be able to nurture and build 

local talent and deliver locally created 

content,” said Cinepax CEO Mariam El 

Bacha. “Cooldown Ventures are unique 

in understanding both esports and the 

specific dynamic that is the cinema 

industry and have helped deliver a program 

that will offer engaging, community-driven 

content that leverages the 

power of esports and the excitement of 

big-screen entertainment.” 

4DX DRAWS $22M GLOBAL 

BOX OFFICE 

>> CJ 4DPLEX has announced that its 

multisensory 4DX format drew $22 million 

at the global box office in October, 

up 16 percent year over year, making it 

the company’s highest ever recorded for 

the month of October. 

Increased performances around the 

globe were led by China at 164 percent, 

followed by Austria at 110 percent, India 

at 66 percent, the U.S. at 27 percent, and 

Japan at 21 percent. 

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TRADE TALK 

These October results were driven not 

only by Hollywood titles—including 

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and Gemini 

Man—but also by several local titles in 

China, India, and Japan. 

China’s box office feat can be attributed 

to strong performances of two Chinese 

films released in October in 4DX: The 

Captain and The Climbers. 

War, an Indian action film produced 

B&B COMPLEX TO OPEN 

IN TEXAS 

>> B&B Theatres and Victron Group 

will partner on a new upscale, state-ofthe-art 

theater complex in Red Oak, 

Texas. The review process by Red Oak 

City Council is under way and construction 

is slated to begin in early 2020. 

Located off of I-35E, the new theater 

will be part of the dining, shopping, 

and entertainment development known 

as Red Oak Legacy Square. Projected 

opening date is spring of 2021. 

The facility itself will feature 12 

theaters and some of B&B’s own 

concepts, including the company’s 

signature Grand Screen premium 

large format with specialized wall-towall 

curved screens, 28-inch stadium 

seating, RealD 3-D and high frame rate 

(on select films), DTS-X immersive 

surround sound, and digital projection. 

by Yash Raj Films, contributed to a 66 

percent growth over last year’s October 

4DX box office in India. 

In addition, Japanese animated films 

Weathering with You, Girls und Panzer 

das Finale: Part 1-2, Konosuba-God’s 

Blessing on this Wonderful World! Legend 

of Crimson, and Promare hit 4DX screens 

in Japan, topping $2.8 million at the 

box office. 

The Grand Screen will be 70 feet wide, 

making it one of the largest screens in 

the nation. 

B&B Theatres Red Oak will also be 

home to 16 lanes of B-Roll Bowling and 

an Outtakes Arcade, featuring both classic 

and cutting-edge games, with ticketing 

and prize redemption. The amenities 

include reserved recliner seating in every 

auditorium and the Marquee Bar and 

Grille, with an extended to-go menu, 

plus wine, beer, and cocktails. 

City of Red Oak Mayor Mark 

Stanfill stated, “Our citizens have been 

asking for development that will allow 

them to have more entertainment, 

dining, and shopping right here in our 

own town. I’m excited that this project 

is going to provide a venue that will 

do not only that, but draw others to 

our fabulous city. It’s a great win for 

Red Oak.” 

Altogether, the success of local films 

contributed to the 4DX global box office 

share in October of up to 43 percent. 

SERWITZ NAMED PRESIDENT & 

COO OF LANDMARK THEATRES 

>> Charles S. Cohen, owner and 

chairman of Landmark Theatres, has 

announced the appointment of veteran 

exhibition executive Paul Serwitz as 

Landmark Theatres’ president and chief 

operating officer. 

Serwitz comes to Landmark after 

serving 17 years as vice president of film 

for Regal Entertainment Group, the 

national theater circuit whose brands 

include Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, 

and United Artists Theatres. For the 

better part of a decade, his role included 

oversight of Regal’s national art and specialized 

program, growing that segment 

of the business to nearly $200M. Prior 

to Serwitz’s 25-year tenure at Regal, he 

was in film with Toronto-based Cineplex 

Odeon in Washington D.C. and originally 

was in operations and film with 

Neighborhood Entertainment Group in 

Richmond, Virginia. 

Landmark is the nation’s largest 

specialized theater chain dedicated to independent 

cinema, with 51 theaters and 

251 screens in 27 markets. The chain’s 

theaters include The Landmark in Los 

Angeles and The Landmark at 57 West in 

New York City, both favored by filmmakers 

and studios to host award season 

events and screenings. 

Paul Serwitz said, “I have long 

admired the unique space Landmark 

occupies in the exhibition and theatrical 

landscape. They are a trailblazer in 

the cinema experience. I am thrilled to 

have this opportunity to join Landmark 

and help expand the company’s vision 

and reach.” 

CINEMARK WIDENS SOUTH 

DAKOTA FOOTPRINT 

>> Cinemark Holdings Inc., in partnership 

with Foursquare Properties, has 

announced that it will build a state-of- 


the-art 12-screen theater in the Gateway 

at Rapid City Center. The new theater, 

located just off Interstate 90, is scheduled 

to open in the spring of 2021. This 

will be Cinemark’s third theater in South 

Dakota, in addition to the Century 

Stadium 14 and XD and Century East 

in Sioux Falls. 

All 12 auditoriums will have reserved 

seating and will feature Cinemark’s Luxury 

Loungers, which are plush, oversize, 

heat-controlled reclining seats. The multiplex 

will also feature an XD auditorium 

with an immersive wall-to-wall screen 

and enhanced sound system. 

“We are excited to expand our offerings 

in South Dakota to provide even 

more guests with an innovative moviegoing 

experience featuring our immersive 

technology and customer-preferred 

amenities,” said Mark Zoradi, Cinemark 

CEO. “Our brand-new Cinemark 

theater will be the latest entertainment 

anchor to the Gateway Development at 

Rapid City.” 

This 43-acre project serves as a regional 

destination for all ages and will provide 

additional food and beverage, entertainment, 

and lifestyle offerings. 

“Cinemark will be a great additional 

anchor to Gateway at Rapid City and 

will be the catalyst to additional entertainment 

and tourist-friendly hospitality 

venues including restaurants, family 

entertainment uses, and recreational 

draws,” said Margaret Hyatt, Foursquare 

Properties project manager. “Foursquare 

Properties is excited to be partnering 

again with this fantastic organization.” 

MULTICINES OPENS ECUADOR’S 

FIRST 4-D THEATER 

>> Multicines is the first cinema to introduce 

a 4-D theater in Quito, Ecuador. 

Located in the Condado Shopping Center, 

the theater is equipped with 96 seats 

with motion and special effects. Moviegoers 

can experience wind, water, vibration, 

smell, and air shots among other effects, 

all perfectly synchronized with the onscreen 

action. 

4D E-Motion Multicines Quito has 

been exhibiting Hollywood blockbusters 

since October, with the theater premiering 

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and 

Terminator: Dark Fate. 

According to Gonzalo Lopez, general 

manager of Multicines, “This is the first 

theater in Ecuador with this technology, 

so its opening redefines the company as 

a leader in innovation of the national 

cinematic exhibition industry.” 

This state-of- the-art experience has 

been embraced by moviegoers. During 

the past few weeks Multicines 4D E-Motion 

Theater hit box office and occupancy-level 

records. 

“It’s an honor installing the first 4D 

E-Motion Theater of Ecuador alongside 

Multicines, a company dedicated to innovation 

and offering the best experience 

to the audience,” said Sebastian Franco, 

CEO of Lumma. There are currently 

nine countries that have 4D E-Motion 

technology worldwide, with more slated 

for Ecuador in 2020. 

SCREENVISION ADDS MEGAPLEX 

TO ITS NETWORK 

>> Screenvision Media has announced 

the addition of Megaplex Theatres and a 

new deal with Epic Theatres. Screenvision 

has signed 11 exhibitor partnership deals 

to date in 2019, including with Emagine 

Entertainment, increasing the company’s 

total screen count to more than 15,000 

nationwide with eight of the top 10 

exhibitors in the country. 

“We deeply value our exhibitor partner 

relationships, which are the foundation 

of Screenvision Media’s business,” 

said Darryl Schaffer, executive vice president 

of operations and exhibitor relations. 

“These deals underscore our company’s 

value to exhibitors and our commitment 

to productive, impactful partnerships.” 

Screenvision Media’s new multiyear 

relationship with Megaplex Theatres, 

based in Utah, encompasses 178 screens 

across 16 theaters. In addition, Screenvision 

Media’s multiyear renewal with 

Epic Theatres includes new and expanded 

creative inventory. The relationship spans 

122 screens across 11 Florida theaters, 

targeting moviegoers in Tampa, Orlando, 

West Palm Beach, and Jacksonville. 

“Our new partnership reflects a shared 

passion for creating a memorable and 

engaging moviegoing experience,” said 

Blake Andersen, president of Megaplex 

Theatres. “After assessing the marketplace, 

we believed Screenvision was best suited 

to our business based on their flexible and 

innovative strategies.” 

SPOTLIGHT ANNOUNCES 

PROMOTIONS IN NATIONAL 

AD SALES 

>> Spotlight Cinema Networks has 

announced a series of moves that will 

strengthen its corporate team within its 

national ad sales department. The changes 

are effective immediately and include: 

Bob Shaw promoted to executive vice 

president of advertising sales (national); 

Karen Brady promoted to senior vice 

president of advertising sales (eastern 

region); and Mandi Dyner promoted to 

senior vice president of advertising sales 

(western region). 

Bob Shaw will lead and oversee the 

national sales strategy, revenue generation, 

and team management. He has been a 

key leader within the eastern region and 

partnership sales during his 10 years at the 

company. Each national advertising sales 

executive will now report directly to him. 

Karen Brady joined Spotlight five 

years ago and is responsible for national 

ad sales within the eastern region. Since 

joining Spotlight Cinema Networks in 

2014, Brady has worked with agencies 

and content partner clients and helped 

launch the first-to-demonstrate Google 

Home Mini activation in movie theaters. 

Mandi Dyner will continue to build 

the Spotlight brand on the West Coast 

for national ad sales. Dyner has been 

with Spotlight for almost eight years and 

helped launch the first-to-market Apple 

cinema campaign and has successfully 

increased long-term relationships with 

luxury brands. 


7

NATO NEWS 

BY PHIL CONTRINO, DIRECTOR OF MEDIA & RESEARCH, NATO, AND 

ERIN VON HOETZENDORFF, GLOBAL AFFAIRS AND ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT, NATO 

NATO SURVEYS YOUNG MEMBERS COMMITTEE 

ON PRESENT, FUTURE OF EXHIBITION 

>> This year, NATO conducted the first survey of our Young 

Members Committee (YMC) in order to gain a better sense of 

how the industry is viewed by the next generation of exhibition-industry 

professionals. 

We received 45 responses from a diverse range of YMC 

members. Some respondents have only worked in the industry 

for one year, while others have been working in exhibition for 

16 years. The responses were spread out pretty evenly among 

employer size: 14 from companies with 500-plus screens, 19 

from companies with 75–499 screens, and 12 from companies 

with 1–74 screens. 

In terms of the respondents’ involvement in NATO events, 

25 out of 45 have been to CinemaCon, and 14 have been to the 

Fall Summit/General Membership meeting. 

The 39-question survey focused on a range of topics relevant 

to exhibition: from opportunities and risks to the theatrical 

viability of certain genres to attracting younger moviegoers. 

Here is a brief rundown of key takeaways: 

When asked to rate different significant opportunities 

for the industry on a scale of one to five, 

one being not significant and five being highly 

significant, NATO’s young members found alcohol 

service to be the most significant opportunity on 

the list, with an average score of 4.44. Automation 

and artificial intelligence, increased diversity in 

front of and behind the camera, and recliners and 

reserved seating also received high ratings. Not far 

behind those were major studios focusing on creating 

films that play well globally and the increased 

use of green technology and sustainability practices 

in cinemas. Surprisingly, lowest on the list with 

average scores hovering around a neutral score were 

esports and virtual and augmented reality. 

Later, the survey asked, “What do you think is 

the best way to create a love for cinema in audiences 

under 12 years old?” This open-ended question 

generated a range of responses aimed at maintaining 

the industry’s popularity in the years to come. 

“Experience” was one of the words that popped 

up the most in responses. While every answer was 

slightly different, the majority of answers focused 

on the fact that the content shown on cinema 

screens will be the ultimate attractor to audiences 

under 12 years old, but the experience provided at 

the cinema is also vital. 

Many respondents encouraged creating new, fun 

experiences for younger audiences by providing activities 

that are exciting and engaging, ranging from 

giveaways, concession offers, movie-related photo 

opportunities, crafts, and arcade games. Offering 

content that can be enjoyed by adults and children 

was also a frequent part of responses, as the money 

for tickets and concessions ultimately comes from 

the adult parents or guardians. As one respondent 

remarked, “We must offer something that is completely 

or at least relatively unattainable through the 

handheld devices that kids interact with daily.” 

When asked: “Do you think the growth of 

easily accessible short-form content has a negative 

impact on the desire of moviegoers under the age 

of 12 to consume feature-length films?” only five 

respondents said yes. The other 39 responses were 

spread evenly among Maybe, No, and Too Soon to 


When asked: “Do you think 

the growth of easily accessible 

short-form content has a negative 

impact on the desire of moviegoers 

under the age of 12 to consume 

feature-length films?” only five 

respondents said yes. 

Tell. This topic will be increasingly important 

for our industry in the years to come, 

as many social critics are sounding 

alarms about decreasing attention 

spans and the impact that will 

have on our culture. 

When it came to risks, 

shorter theatrical windows 

were perceived as the most 

threatening, with directors 

and actors creating 

content for streaming 

services instead of theatrical 

distributors coming not too 

far behind. 

In terms of which genres 

are viewed as the most viable 

long term, action and animated 

scored the highest, while low-budget 

independent and documentaries 

scored the lowest. Related to that: only 

12 respondents answered yes to, “Is the reliance 

on franchise films by major studios bad 

for the overall health/public image of our 

industry?” 

When it comes to the factors 

that drive younger audiences to 

the movies, the respondents 

rated social media buzz the 

highest and awards buzz / 

nominations / film-festival 

wins the lowest. Rotten 

Tomatoes / Metacritic score 

finished in the middle. The 

lack of interest in movie 

awards should come as no 

surprise, considering that 

the Oscar telecast has been 

struggling to retain viewership 

in recent years. 

At NATO, we plan on surveying 

the YMC on a regular basis for the 

benefit of the entire trade body. The full 

survey is available online to members. 

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RTS 


9

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS 

BY ESTHER BARUH, DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, NATO 

PROJECTING THE VOICE OF EXHIBITION: 

NATO TAKES CAPITOL HILL 

>> In November, NATO was proud to host our members in 

our nation’s capital, so they could exercise one of the most 

fundamental rights of American democracy—petitioning the 

government for a redress of grievances. NATO members from 

across the United States gathered in Washington, D.C., for a 

fly-in to lobby Congress on key issues facing the industry: tax 

depreciation for capital improvements and the Department 

of Justice’s review of the music-licensing consent decrees. Accompanied 

by NATO President and CEO John Fithian, Director 

of Government Relations Esther Baruh, General Counsel and 

Director of Industry Relations Jackie Brenneman, and Manager 

of State Government Relations Alex Rich, exhibitors from 

the largest national circuits to midsize regional companies to 

single-screen theaters met with Democrats and Republicans 

to chat about movie theaters, the impact of a slower recoupment 

schedule for interior remodels, and the importance of 

preserving the ASCAP and BMI consent decrees. In addition 

to the Capitol Hill meetings, NATO’s political action committee 

(NATOPAC) hosted an intimate gathering supporting Senator 

Lindsey Graham (R-SC), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary 

Committee. The two-day program was capped with a special 

“Beyond the Red Carpet” reception on Capitol Hill, co-hosted 

by the Creative Rights Caucus, NATO, and other entertainment-industry 

partners. 

Nathan Hunstable, Randy Hester, Emelyn Stuart, Roger Stuart, Patrick Micalizzi, and Dan Herrle 

Rick Novak, Rich Daughtridge, Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD), 

Mark O’Meara, and Scott Cohen 

Mike Hagan, Rep. Roger Marshall (R-KS), Scott Cohen, and Rich Daughtridge 

Rich Daughtridge, Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC), and Scott Cohen 


Russell Allen, Rep. Scott Tipton (R-CO), Steve Zuehlke, and John Fithian 

Scott Lotter and Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-CA) 

John Vincent, Scott Lotter, Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-CA), Racheal Wilson, and Mike Bowers 

George Rouman, Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI), and Mark Gramz 

Mark Gramz, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), Mike Hagan, and Mike Barstow 

Dan Herrle, Rep. Peter King (R-NY), Emelyn Stuart, and Roger Stuart 


11

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS 

John Fithian, Scott Lotter, John Vincent, Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Dan Herrle, Rob Bruchman, and Dave Castelli 

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Rich Daughtridge 

Mark O’Meara and Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) 

Rick Novak, Deepak Keshani, Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN), and Mark O’Meara 


Art Murtha, Russell Allen, Mike Bowers, Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ), Rob Bruchman, 

Jackie Brenneman, Racheal Wilson, and Steve Zuehlke 

Bo Chambliss, Randy Hester, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), and Nathan Hunstable 

Randy Hester, Nathan Hunstable, Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), and Bo Chambliss 

Deepak Keshani, Art Murtha, Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA), and Scott Lotter 


13

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT 

TO ADD EVENTS IN AN UPCOMING ISSUE, PLEASE SEND ANNOUNCEMENTS TO NUMBERS@BOXOFFICE.COM 

>> On November 6, Variety – the Children’s 

Charity of New York, with support from the 

Motion Picture Club, hosted a cocktail party and 

special advance screening of Warner Bros.’ Doctor 

Sleep at the Chelsea Cinépolis in New York City. 

Over $10,000 was raised for sick, disadvantaged, 

and underprivileged children in New York, Connecticut, 

and New Jersey. 

The fantastically successful event, attended 

by over 120 excited supporters of Variety and 

its work, allowed Variety’s New York chapter to 

reintroduce itself to the community following its 

relaunch earlier this year. 

The highlight of the evening for all those who 

attended was the grant of an adaptive bicycle to 

8-year-old Mikayla. Mikayla has cerebral palsy, 

meaning she cannot walk or stand without support 

… yet. Her new bicycle, with its adjustable support 

that will allow Mikayla to use it as she grows, will 

help her build strength in her legs and core and 

achieve her goal of walking on her own. 

>> On October 24, 

Variety – the Children’s 

Charity of 

Southern California 

hosted its 48th Annual 

Golf Classic. This 

year’s honoree was 

Mike Viane, executive 

vice president of theatrical 

distribution and 

head of sales at STXfilms. Says Variety: “Thank you to all the amazing sponsors 

and supporters who braved the high winds at the Moorpark Golf Club and 

helped raise $189,000 for children with special needs in Southern California!” 

>> Variety – the Children’s Charity of Eastern 

Tennessee was given the honor by Lionsgate of 

presenting a special screening of Roland Emmerich’s 

Midway at the Turkey Creek shopping center’s 

Regal Pinnacle Stadium 18 in Knoxville on October 

22. Midway centers on the Battle of Midway, a 

clash between the American fleet and the imperial 

Japanese Navy, which marked an important 

turning point in the Pacific Theater during WWII. 

The film tells the story of the leaders and soldiers 

who used their instincts, fortitude, and bravery to 

overcome the odds. One of Midway’s stars, Dennis 

Quaid, made a special appearance at the event. 

>> Variety – the Children’s 

Charity of the Desert was 

thrilled to kick off November 

with a presentation of six 

adaptive bicycles and customized 

strollers to local children in 

order to improve their mobility 

and social inclusion. Thanks to 

Marker Broadcasting and Big 

106 FM, Variety of the Desert 

also held its 24th Annual KPLM Variety Cares for Kids Radiothon. More 

than $73,000 was raised to help provide bikes and helmets to underprivileged 

children throughout the upcoming holiday season. 


UPCOMING EVENTS 

VARIETY – THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF THE DESERT 

22nd Annual Bike Giveaway, Palm Springs Motors 

December 8 / Cathedral City, CA 

Variety – the Children’s Charity of the Desert will partner with Palm Springs 

Motors and the 4ShayJ Foundation for a presentation of 400 bikes and helmets to 

underprivileged children throughout the Coachella Valley school district. For more 

information, visit http://bit.ly/2CA0TZQ. 

>> Variety – the Children’s Charity would like to 

give a big thank you to Prospect Airport Services 

for welcoming the Variety family with a celebratory 

Thanksgiving dinner. Additionally, Prospect 

Airport Services announced that their charitable 

foundation, which previously worked with Variety 

of Illinois, will now extend its help to Variety nationwide! 

Both groups were proud to fund a special 

bike for Jeny, who used it to move on her own for 

the first time ever. 

VARIETY – THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 

Heart of Show Business Luncheon 

December 12 / Los Angeles 

The board of directors of Variety – the Children’s Charity of Southern California 

is proud to honor Stella Burks, senior vice president of distribution services at 

Warner Bros. Pictures, with the 2019 Heart of Show Business Award. Burks will be 

presented with her award at the annual Heart of Show Business Luncheon, held 

on Thursday, December 12, at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The 

Heart of Show Business Luncheon is one of the most popular events of the year 

and is attended by over 400 members of the entertainment community. Proceeds 

from the luncheon will support Variety’s three core areas of funding for children 

with special needs: education, health care, and mobility. For tickets and more 

information, visit www.varietysocal.org. 

VARIETY – THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF ILLINOIS 

Kendra Scott Gives Back 

December 12 / Oakbrook, IL 

Holiday shoppers will enjoy complimentary sips and sweets at the Kendra Scott 

Gives Back event, held at the Oakbrook Center shopping mall on Thursday, December 

12, 6–8 p.m. Twenty percent of all purchases made during this event will 

benefit Variety – the Children’s Charity of Illinois. 

VARIETY – THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF SOUTHERN NEVADA 

Christmas Bash 

December 19 

Variety – the Children’s Charity of Southern Nevada will host a Christmas Bash for 

multiple local schools and community center programs serving children in need. 

The bash will take place on December 19, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Master magician Lance 

Burton and friends will perform a variety show, and toys will be distributed at 

each location. 

>> As a thank you to the generous cinema industry 

and its Variety partners, Variety – the Children’s 

Charity of Texas celebrated the kickoff of the Dine- 

In Cinema Summit in Austin on November 4 with 

a bike presentation to Dell Children’s Medical 

Clinic. This adaptive trike will benefit hundreds of 

children with special needs each year. Also at the 

event, Stacy Bruce, executive director of Variety of 

Texas, hosted a panel on partnerships and community 

involvement. Panelists included representatives 

from Cinemark, Alamo Drafthouse, Cinergy 

Entertainment Group, and the three-theater Texas 

chain Violet Crown. 

VARIETY – THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF THE DESERT 

Second Annual Shottenkirk Desert Lexus Variety Golf Scramble 

January 20 / Palm Desert, CA 

Join Variety – the Children’s Charity of the Desert on the links to raise funds in 

support of children in need in the Coachella Valley! This January’s charity golf 

tournament will take place at the Palm Valley Country Club. For more information, 

visit http://bit.ly/2CA0TZQ. 

VARIETY – THE CHILDREN’S CHARITY OF DETROIT 

Variety Slider, Spuds & Soup(er) Bowl 

January 24 / Birmingham, MI 

Variety Slider, Spuds & Soup(er) Bowl will be held on Friday, January 24, 2020, 

at the Townsend Hotel to benefit Variety – the Children’s Charity of Detroit. 

The event provides a fun-filled evening of competition between some of metro 

Detroit’s most talented chefs, with Critics’ Choice and Peoples’ Choice awards for 

best slider, best spud, and best soup. Food, beverages, raffles, and live entertainment 

from the Dan Rafferty Band are provided. Tickets can be purchased at 

http://bit.ly/2pVzu1X. 


15

INDIE FOCUS 

b r o u g h t t o y o u b y 

MICHAEL SODANO 

WITH NANCY SABINO 

SHOWROOM CINEMA 

MONMOUTH COUNTY, NJ 

CONTRIBUTOR 

MICHAEL SODANO, OWNER 

LOCATIONS & SCREENS 

We operate two locations in Monmouth County, 

New Jersey. The ShowRoom Cinema Asbury 

Park features three intimate theaters seating 66, 25, 

and 15 people. The ShowRoom Cinema Bradley 

Beach has two theaters, one that seats 315; the 

other, more intimate, theater seats 23. 

HISTORY 

We opened in 2009 as a storefront cinema 

with 50 seats in Asbury Park. The interesting 

thing about Asbury Park was that in the 1940s 

and ’50s, the city had seven movie palaces that 

are now gone. We couldn’t understand why such 

a movie-rich town had no cinema. Was there 

no audience, or was it just because there was no 

cinema? My partner, Nancy Sabino, and I rented 

a small storefront and filled it with the best projection 

and sound we could resource, put in 50 

patio chairs, hung out a shingle, and waited to see 


INDIE FOCUS 

what happened. Social media wasn’t as popular 

back then, so we added a website and people discovered 

us, and they kept coming. We added talk 

backs and various live performances and really 

became a community hub. 

One of our biggest successes was screening The 

Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. We were one of the 

few cinemas in the area screening it, and the popularity 

of that film drove more and more audiences 

to our cinema. It was offbeat, different, intimate, 

and it fit the Asbury Park vibe. 

Since we developed an audience over the 

course of three years or so, an opportunity arose 

across the street to expand our operation. We acquired 

a 1940s men’s clothing store and designed 

three theaters in it. The building was one of the 

few clear-span structures in the downtown area, 

and, since opening in 2012, we’ve become the 

anchor entertainment tenant on the main street 

in Asbury Park. 

COMMUNITY 

Our Asbury Park location features a discerning 

audience that enjoys the unique intimate setting 

we provide and the special attention to detail and 

customer service that they receive upon entering 

the theater. No customer is just a number here. 

Our staff knows a lot of customers on a first-name 

basis, since they patronize us so often. 

In addition to being the center of film in the 

city, we are also a centralized event space as well. 

Our auditoriums are available for rent, and many 

community groups and events are held here. 

We’ve hosted environmental groups, civic events, 

children’s recreation events, business forums, local 

film festivals, birthday parties, and even engagement 

events. 

FOOD & BEVERAGE 

Many of our incredible snacks are sourced from 

local suppliers, so we feature cookies, cakes, and 

sweets that are not found in many other establishments—certainly 

not in other cinemas. In addition, 

we’ve discovered that vegan and gluten-free 

snacks are favorites. 

PROGRAMMING 

If it’s featured in The New York Times or men- 


tioned on NPR, our guests are aware of the title 

and are first in line when we program those titles. 

We also take many suggestions from our guests. 

Our email inbox is full of unsolicited title suggestions, 

and our staff encourages that kind of engagement. 

Series that make The ShowRoom Cinema 

stand out include our monthly series of Sunday 

morning horror classics entitled “Horror Church.” 

In addition, we often screen one-night-only music 

concert films—like the Joni Mitchell anniversary 

concert, Joni 75: A Birthday Celebration—which 

are very well received. 

GRASSROOTS MARKETING 

We are big city-business boosters, and to that 

end we work in concert with many of the local 

businesses downtown in pairing events. For 

example, we hold a weekly dinner and a movie 

special with Mogo Korean Fusion Tacos. We offer 

a drink-package special with our Italian restaurant 

around the corner, Brando’s. We’ve also partnered 

with our local bookstore in producing “BookFlx” 

events—movies inspired by novels with Skype 

interviews with key production personnel. 

CINEMA ADVERTISING 

We were very cautious about introducing 

advertising into our cinema, as it initially went 

against our idea of providing an exceptional 

entertainment environment. However, upon 

screening some of the initial Spotlight ads, our 

impression was immediately changed. Spotlight 

ads are cinematic—the production values are 

extremely high, and they are not just television 

retreads. Our guests are never offended by them, 

and many are wonderful stories that you don’t 

realize are advertisements. In addition, Spotlight 

is a true exhibitor partner. If there’s an ad that 

we don’t feel fits our audience, we simply opt not 

to run it, and they agree. If we think there are 

too many ads in a particular playlist, we request 

to reduce the number, and they comply. In the 

exhibition business, we’ve found there are few 

suppliers who treat exhibitors as true partners 

in consumer entertainment—Spotlight breaks 

the mold and wants nothing but the best for our 

guests. It’s truly a win-win scenario. 


19

TIMECODE 

BY KENNETH JAMES BACON 

Happy 120th Birthday, Humphrey Bogart 

Born Christmas Day, 1899 

PART 12 OF OUR 

12-PART DEEP DIVE 

INTO THE BOXOFFICE 

ARCHIVES 

CLASSIC AD / JAN. 4, 1941 

Warner Bros. was 

a major advertiser 

during the war years 

and touted Casablanca 

for several weeks in 

the fall of 1942. This 

ad appeared in the 

Nov. 28, 1942, edition 

of Boxoffice. One of 

the film’s ads featured 

three tuxedo-wearing 

gents in 1940s sports 

gear—baseball, hockey, 

and football—with 

the tagline, “They’re 

ready for ‘Casablanca’! 

The Warner Kind of 

Smash!” Sometimes 

you just run out of 

clever ideas. 

CLASSIC AD / OCT. 11, 1941 


CLASSIC AD / AUG. 24, 1946 

CLASSIC THREE-PAGE SPREAD / MAR. 22, 1952 

CLASSIC AD / DEC. 27, 1947 

CLASSIC AD / JULY 31, 1954 


23

A MEGA 

ANNIVERSARY 

20 YEARS LATER, 

MEGAPLEX 

THEATRES STILL 

GIVES BACK 

by Rebecca Pahle 

“Congrats, Megaplex, on the milestone anniversary! 

Megaplex has been a dedicated partner to Atom 

and has believed in us from the start. Megaplex was 

among the first exhibitors to leverage our platform 

to drive more digital ticket sales and turned to us to 

launch their first-ever movie subscription service, 

MegaPass. From ops to marketing to technology, 

their team is easy to work with and the best 

in the business. We’re a huge fan of 

Megaplex and their forward-thinking 

moviegoing experiences.” 

—Matthew Bakal, 

Co-Founder and Chairman, 

Atom Tickets 

MEGAPLEX THEATRES’ GENEVA LOCATION IN VINEYARD, UTAH, 

BOASTS D-BOX, IMAX, AND DOLBY ATMOS 

“I had the privilege 

of working with Megaplex 

during the theatrical run of my first 

feature film, The Other Side of Heaven, clear 

back in 2000. They were a young chain then with 

only a few houses, and the movie was my directorial 

debut. They locked arms with me and my distributor 

as if we were true partners and old friends. The movie 

thrived in some of their theaters for months. [Its 2019 

sequel] The Other Side of Heaven 2 thrived in Megaplex 

locations for almost 14 weeks. Their generosity and 

professionalism went unmatched anywhere in the 

U.S. This time, when they locked arms with 

me, it was really true that they were 

my old friends.” —Mitch Davis, 

Filmmaker 


“Larry Miller always used to say, ‘I 

don’t mind getting big. I just don’t want 

to act big.’” 

It’s that philosophy—explained 

by the circuit’s president 

Blake Andersen—that 

has carried Utah-based 

Megaplex Theatres to 

its 20th anniversary, 

which it celebrated in 

November. 

The late Miller, who 

passed away in 2009, 

didn’t go into the theatrical 

exhibition business 

already bitten by the 

movie bug. The owner 

of several sports teams in 

the Utah area, as well as 

dozens of car dealerships and 

other assorted business ventures, 

Miller was approached by the mayor 

of Sandy, Utah, to do something with 

a sizable plot of land in the city. “Jordan 

High School stood for over a hundred 

years on this site, and it went into a major 

disrepair,” recalls film buyer Cal Gundersen, 

one of Megaplex Theatres’ original 

hires. “The school district couldn’t afford 

to bring it up to code,” so for years 

the property languished. Miller came 

on-board, and in November 1999 the 

property found new life as Jordan Commons, 

a business and retail complex that 

boasts offices, restaurants, and Megaplex 

Theatres’ flagship location. 

At the beginning, Gundersen says, 

Miller didn’t really know how to run a theater—he 

recalls Miller asking him, around 

the time the building was completed, 

“‘How do you get your movies?’” I said 

FOOD (AND MOVIE) OPTIONS ABOUND AT JORDAN COMMONS 

to him, ‘Well, you have to contact the 

movie studios and sign an agreement with 

them.’ And he said, ‘Gotcha! Guess we 

better get on that, because we have this 

building almost finished, and we don’t 

have any movies!’ 

“He didn’t have a clue how to get 

movies, but he was determined to build 

something and give back to the community. 

And here we are 20 years later, still 

giving back.” 

The road, at first, was rocky, since no 

one knew what Megaplex Theatres was. 

“It took us, oh, probably six months or 

so until we had an opportunity to play 

Toy Story 2,” says Gundersen. “It proved 

to be a very successful run for us. It 

actually put Megaplex Theatres on the 

map with major studios. After that, 

instead of us chasing people, 

[they would] call us and say, 

‘We have this film coming 

up, and we’d like to play it 

in your theater complex.’” 

In the 20 years since 

they proved themselves 

with Toy Story 2, 

Megaplex Theatres has 

grown exponentially. 

The chain currently has 

182 screens in 17 locations 

(16 in Utah, one in 

Nevada), with expansion 

planned in 2021 and 2022 

to states in which the Miller 

family owns car dealerships. 

“Over the last 20 years, we’ve had 

a great opportunity to rank in the 

top five locations across the country for 

most of the major tentpole films, like Pirates 

of the Caribbean and Star Wars,” says 

Gundersen. “Harry Potter was extremely 

successful here. Hunger Games. All of 

those we did major premieres for. We 

have theaters that are ranked in the topfive-grossing 

theaters for North America.” 

Family movies do well for Megaplex, as 

do musicals (“We played [The Greatest 

Showman] until they made us take it 

off!”) and movies based on books. “Utahans 

are quite well read,” notes Gundersen. 

“They read a lot of books, and so when 

something’s made into a movie, they 

support it wholeheartedly.” 

Andersen attributes the success of 

Megaplex Theatres in part to the chain’s 

embrace of technology. “We always try to 

“The Larry H. Miller Megaplex Theatre Group is indispensable to the independent Utah film community. Gail Miller has continued 

the legacy of her late husband by ensuring that each of their companies endeavors to have a positive local and community 

impact. The theater group, run by Blake Andersen and Cal Gundersen, is no exception. It is every filmmaker’s dream to see their 

work displayed on a giant screen with a large audience. Traditionally, that privilege has been reserved for only the very few, elite 

Hollywood productions. But Megaplex Theatres understands the power of local stories and art to transform communities and has 

given us a rare platform to exhibit our films and make them accessible to audiences in the same manner as expensive studio films. 

… Twenty years is a massive accomplishment, and I can’t imagine the Utah film community without their dedication and support.” 

—Arthur VanWagenen, Director, Excel Entertainment Group 


25

Larry H. Miller and Gail Miller celebrate the opening of Megaplex Theatres’ Jordan Commons location in 1999 

stay cutting edge without being bleeding 

edge,” he says. Megaplex was “one of the 

very first chains in the nation to go 100 

percent reserved seating. We were the first 

chain to bring out heated recliners.” They 

were, he continues, the first chain 

to “roll out Dolby 3-D” 

and the first outside 

Atlanta to install 

the now-ubiquitous 

Coca-Cola 

Freestyle 

machines. 

Within 

Utah, 

Megaplex 

was the 

first chain 

to introduce 

Dolby Atmos, 

laser projection, 

and D-Box motion 

seating. “We have 

five Imax locations,” adds 

Gundersen. “We’re the only theater 

chain in the Intermountain West with 

that many.” 

In May of this year, Megaplex Theatres 

became the first chain to partner with 

Atom Tickets for a custom subscription 

service, created through the latter’s white 

label Atom Movie Access platform. 

Beyond the technological angle, Megaplex’s 

Jordan Commons location, with 

its many food venues serving as hubs for 

the spoke-like arrangement of theaters, is 

“something that you would never see in a 

normal movie theater chain,” Gundersen 

says. “All of the hallways are framed 

with marquees of theaters 

from gone-by times that 

were very prominent 

in Salt Lake City. 

[They’re the 

places] where 

Gail and 

Larry Miller 

used to go as 

teenagers to 

see movies. 

It’s a unique 

place. We’ve 

had people 

say, ‘Gosh, I’ve 

never seen a movie 

theater complex like 

this before.’ And I say, ‘You 

probably won’t [again], because you 

couldn’t afford to build it.’” 

Larry Miller’s goal of giving back to 

the community isn’t just accomplished 

through Megaplex’s amenities. The 

company’s connection to the community 

mainly lies in its uncanny understanding 

of what people want to see, even—perhaps 

especially—when those desires 

“Congratulations to 

Megaplex Theatres for 20 

extraordinary years in support of film 

in Utah! Megaplex Theatres and the Larry 

H. Miller Group have been the key component 

in facilitating and sustaining the growth of the 

local film community by consistently engaging 

producers, directors, and distributors [and] giving 

them a place to showcase and share their work. 

Thank you, Megaplex, for a wonderful ongoing 

partnership and for the care and attention 

you give to all types of filmmakers.” 

—Michelle Moore, Moore PR 

Group 

extend outside mainstream cinema. 

“Larry gave me the charge when I started 

doing the film buying that he wanted me 

to keep my mind and eyes open for any 

great independent film,” says Gundersen. 

“And so we support the independent 

film and filmmakers here and around the 

country that come to us with their films. 

In most instances, if we feel that there’s 

something that the public wants to see, 

we’re great supporters.” 

Adds Andersen: “[Community involvement 

has] been a mandate from the Miller 

family, from Larry and Gail, from day one. 

When we go into a community, one of 

our principles is to make the community 

better for being there. We work with local 

filmmakers. We try to assimilate and become 

part of the communities in which we 

have our theaters.” (You can find testimonials 

from those involved in the Utah film 

community throughout this piece.) 

With the Church of Jesus Christ of 

Latter-day Saints having a large presence in 

Utah, Megaplex Theatre plays a lot of Mormon 

and otherwise faith-based films. One 

of those is T.C. Christensen’s The Fighting 

Preacher, which opened in July 2019. Andersen 

recalls hearing from the director after 

his “little independent film” had played 

at Megaplex for 13 weeks: “He said, ‘I can’t 

thank you enough.’ We moved it around to 

different markets and different places. He 

was just overcome that we would give him 

a chance and let him compete that way. 

And he actually did very well. That’s neat 

to hear from a director like that.” 

Gundersen plays an active role in 

seeking out these smaller films. “We just 

finished up an independent film that 

was made in Vermont called Farmer of 

the Year. I contacted [the filmmaker] 

and asked him about playing it. He said, 

‘Clear out in Utah? What do you want to 

watch it for?’ But I’d watched the trailer 

and I thought, that’s something that will 

play well here. … People send me a lot of 

stuff now that they know what Megaplex 

Theatres is all about. But, on the other 

hand, I’m always looking for things that 

Utahans will love that may not play as 

well in other places.” 


(Another example of being open to 

off-the-beaten-track options in programming: 

Anime does really well at Megaplex 

Theatres. “We kind of stumbled onto the 

fact that there are huge anime fans out 

here in Utah,” says Gundersen. FanX, a 

well-attended comic convention, puts 

on events in Salt Lake City several times 

a year. Megaplex Theatres taps into that 

crowd by screening films from anime 

distributor Funimation as well 

as Fathom Events, which 

has a partnership with 

anime powerhouse 

Studio Ghibli. “We 

[screen anime] 

quite often, two 

or three times a 

month if we can 

get that much 

content. … The 

anime’s turned out 

to be a lot bigger 

than what I thought it 

was going to be.”) 

When it comes to making 

potential moviegoers aware of smaller 

titles, Megaplex benefits from other 

components of the Miller empire. “We 

own a local radio station, so we can 

help get the word out [with that],” says 

Andersen. “We own sporting events, so 

we can place adds in the Jazz arena or 

in our Bees stadium.” (Basketball team 

the Utah Jazz and minor league baseball 

franchise the Salt Lake Bees are owned 

by the Miller family through their LHM 

Group.) In addition, Megaplex creates 

its own pre-show, giving the chain more 

“Megaplex 

Theatres and its 

team are the best in the 

business. Megaplex Theatres 

has provided a worldwide launching 

ground for local indie films coming 

out of Utah consistently for 20 years. 

They do what few in the business can, 

at an unprecedented level.” — 

Brandon Purdie, President, 

Purdie Distribution 

Megaplex Theatres’ Jordan Commons location counts D-Box motion seating among its luxury amenities. 

freedom to promote 

independent 

titles months out 

from their release. 

“There isn’t much 

that happens” in the Miller 

empire, Gundersen explains— 

whether it’s Megaplex Theatres, sports 

teams, or car dealerships—that “the 

[Miller] family is not highly involved in.” 

That strategy won’t change. Gail Miller 

“continues to be a very viable part of the 

community and is very much involved 

in trying to give back,” Gundersen says. 

And the Miller children and grandchildren, 

Andersen explains, “are active in 

the business and learning the ropes from 

the ground up. The Miller family has 

all of the children who want to work 

in the business start just like everyone 

else: in the concession stands, the ticket 

booth, doing what everyone else does to 

learn the business and work their way up 

through the ranks. … As we continue 

to grow and reach out and spread our 

footprint throughout different areas in 

different states, I hope that we can continue 

to operate in a way that melds with 

[our] communities and that brings in 

innovative ideas and technologies.” 

“Megaplex Theatres is terrific and has made every effort to make our independent 

films successful. So here’s my plan ... I’m not dead yet. We’ve got more films to 

make, so we’ll keep producing and you keep being great!” 

—T.C. Christensen, Filmmaker 

“For 20 years Megaplex Theatres has been here for both film lovers and 

filmmakers. By helping local filmmakers showcase their work on the big screen, 

they support talent in Utah and allow audiences to see stories from their own 

backyard. They are true community builders.” 

—Virginia Pearce, Director, Utah Film Commission 

Blake Andersen and Gail Miller cut the cake at 

Megaplex’s 100 Millionth Guest Celebration in 

December 2018. 


27

SEATING 

BY ROB RINDERMAN 

TELESCOPIC SEATING 

SYSTEMS 

PREMIUM 

SEATING 

NEW TRENDS LIKE 

DINE-IN CINEMAS AND 

VIP AUDITORIUMS 

HAVE HELPED PREMIUM 

SEATING EVOLVE 

>> With the emergence of advanced 

formats and other premium amenities 

like alcohol service and expanded 

menus, it’s easy to overlook the continued 

expansion of premium seating 

throughout the industry. For our annual 

seating survey, we looked at the latest 

earnings calls from several publicly held 

exhibitors and reached out to some 

privately held circuits and seating manufacturers 

to get a closer look at premium 

seating’s current footprint. 

While the industry has enjoyed an increase in 

premium recliners, many of the 40,000 screens 

throughout the U.S. and Canada have yet to be 

upgraded, according to Irwin Seating. In every 

market, exhibitors are seeing the need for luxury 

recliners, but there’s also a high demand for 

rocker seating—especially given budgetary and 

space constraints. 

To compete with home-entertainment options, 

sporting events, and other movie theaters, exhibitors 

are finding new ways to make the customer 

experience more comfortable, engaging, and 

communal. While larger screens, bigger sound, and 

inspired dining options all bring significant value, 

seating still makes the greatest tangible impact, in 

the company’s view. 

Down the road, Irwin expects seating to be 

driven by consumer demand for wireless charging, 

5G network speed, and higher levels of comfort. 

In the United States, the country’s leading 

circuits reported their latest figures during their 

respective third-quarter investor conference calls. 

Leading the charge, AMC reports it already has 

recliner seats installed in 78 percent of its larger 

AMC-branded and AMC-Dine-In theater locations 

across the United States. In the same call, 


the company reported that AMC Classic–branded 

theaters have much lower visitation levels 

(typical ticket sales in the range of 200 to 1,000 

sold per day), which do not warrant an attractive 

enough financial return for a sizable investment 

in added theater amenities, according to company 

management. 

At the end of Q3, nearly 2,700 (58%) of 

Cinemark’s domestic auditoriums featured Luxury 

Lounger recliners. According to Cinemark 

management, this represents the highest recliner 

premium-seating penetration among major U.S. 

cinema players. At its current pace, Cinemark 

anticipates that approximately 60 percent of its 

domestic footprint will have reclining seats by the 

end of 2019. 

Marcus Theatres, for its part, states that 

during the first nine months of 2019, the company 

apportioned approximately $22 million in 

capital expenditures to its theater division (Marcus 

Corporation also operates a hotel division), related 

primarily to its ongoing DreamLounger recliner 

seating projects, as well as premium large-format 

screen conversions. 

Among privately held companies, Studio 

Movie Grill (SMG) and New Vision Theatres 

(NVT) are examples of two circuits with solid 

representation across the country; SMG is up 

to 343 screens, while NVT currently owns and 

operates close to 200 auditoriums. SMG’s latest 

location, in Glendale, California, installed luxury 

leather recliners, which are adjustable for both the 

headrest and the patron’s legs. Guests have many 

other options, including the ability to heat their 

seats, use cooling cup holders, turn on a light 

to read dine-in menus, and charge their mobile 

phones via a plug-in. SMG continues to focus on 

combining comfort and the ability to eat while 

watching a movie, without compromising one or 

the other experience. 

Similarly, lobby renovations at NVT’s Fleming 

Island 12 (Florida) were completed in mid-summer, 

which management attributes to a regained 

market share as it complemented the reserved 

seating and luxury recliners introduced last December. 

The company plans to continue exploring 

opportunities to upgrade its seating wherever it is 

feasible to do so. 

Now in its second decade as a premium-seating 

manufacturer to exhibition, VIP Cinema 

Seating believes there has been a direct correlation 

to substantial increases in attendance as well as 

IRWIN SEATING 

COMPANY 


29

SEATING 

ENCORE BY PALLISER 

concessions as a result of innovations on the seating 

front. Additionally, it sees significant growth 

opportunities for premium-seating upgrades outside 

the U.S. Looking ahead, the company cites 

connectivity, personalization, and data analytics 

as trends worth watching. 

A factor in this sustained level of interest in 

premium seating is the rise of dine-in cinemas, 

leading circuits to consider seating partners that 

can help them maintain cleaning standards at 

their locations. 

Telescopic Seating Systems has begun addressing 

this in its product line with its Smart Clean 

Sweep technology, which lowers theater costs by 

only opening recliners for cleaning that have been 

recently occupied. The company believes that dinein 

cinemas will become the fastest-growing and 

most profitable segment of the exhibition market, 

something it’s prepared for with a line of dynamic 

table systems specifically designed for that segment. 

Another trend in exhibition that has helped 

spur premium seating is VIP cinemas and auditoriums. 

Canada-based Palliser sees the market 

evolving from switching out traditional seats for 

recliners to offering consumers a variety of choices 

at different price points, reminiscent of what the 

airline industry has been doing. This means that 

one could potentially have different sections of 

the same auditorium equipped with different 

premium-seating options—going from basic seats 

near the front of the auditorium to more luxury 

options, priced accordingly—aligned with the best 

viewing angles. Consulting its crystal ball, Palliser 

foresees more electronics options that will offer 

customers the ability to personalize their comfort. 

As the latest quarter’s earnings reports from the 

top public circuits show, reseating isn’t a one-anddone 

proposition, and it appears that new innovations 

from manufacturers will continue addressing 

evolving consumer demand. 


SHOWEAST 2019 

BY DANIEL LORIA 

TECH/SUPPORT 

COMPANIES ACROSS THE 

INDUSTRY INCREASE 

COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS IN 

CONFRONTING THE (DIGITAL) 

CHALLENGES AHEAD 

>> Digital cinema has 

brought a growing array 

of audiovisual formats 

and technologies—features 

like immersive 

audio, laser projection, 

panoramic screens, and 

motion seating—that has 

led to unique moviegoing experiences, oftentimes 

at higher ticket prices. As we approach the expiration 

of the virtual print fee (VPF) model, questions 

about the availability and sustainability of new 

advanced formats have been raised by the National 

Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) and other 

industry members. Their concerns include not 

only keeping tabs on digital cinema standards, but 

ensuring the affordability of new technology that 

can help grow the industry. 

Paramount’s release of Ang Lee’s Gemini Man 

dominated the conversation in a cinema technology 

roundtable at ShowEast, held October 14–17 

at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. The 

film, which had just premiered the weekend leading 

up to the convention, had enjoyed a lukewarm 

box office after a release that promoted its pioneering 

advanced-format credentials: shot in 120 fps 

high frame rate (HFR) 3-D. The overwhelming 

majority of theaters around the world weren’t 

equipped to exhibit it at its full potential, so Paramount 

worked with exhibitors to develop a suitable 

advanced-format alternative that could work 

for a large-scale release. Despite the tepid response 

from audiences, tech executives at ShowEast remained 

confident that HFR could eventually gain 

traction among moviegoers. 

“There is still a perception today that HFR 

has a ‘soap-opera effect’ [i.e., it resembles video 

footage] regarding the way that the content looks,” 

said Andrew Poulain, director of worldwide cinema 

products at Dolby Laboratories. “Filmmakers 

have to learn how to use this tool to better engage 

their audience. I think that high frame rates are 

ultimately inevitable, tied together with other 

technology changes like increasing high brightness 

and display technologies.” 

As cinema technology advances, the roundtable 

agreed that exhibitors’ views of new offerings had 

similarly evolved. “I’ve been in the general technology-leasing 

business too many years to mention, 

and technology was viewed as a necessary evil for 

years,” said Michael Vienhage, SVP and regional 

manager of CSI Leasing. “Now it’s beginning to be 

seen as a way to differentiate one’s offerings, and I 

think that’s how exhibitors will look at technology 

going forward.” 

No longer that “necessary evil,” emerging 

technologies are now seen as either catalysts to 

raising the audiovisual standard or (more cynically) 

responsible for raising ticket prices. Communicating 

what exactly a tech upgrade brings, both 

to the exhibitor and its moviegoers, will become 

a bigger responsibility for marketers. “Putting 


‘4K’ on a billboard doesn’t necessarily allow 

you to charge more for a movie ticket,” 

said Brian Claypool, V.P. of product 

management of global cinema at 

Christie Digital. 

That doesn’t mean the technology 

isn’t worth embracing; a 

switch from xenon digital projectors 

to laser projectors, for 

example, simultaneously increases 

the picture quality and 

brightness levels and lowers 

overall energy costs. “The real 

benefit of laser isn’t going to be 

its wider color gamut or higher 

frame rates, but the fact that 

you’ve got a consistent, high-quality, 

and bright image that’s actually more 

affordable for your cinema,” said Todd 

Hoddick, chief revenue officer at Cinionic. 

Tony Adamson, SVP of strategic 

planning at GDC Technology of America, agreed with that 

sentiment—adding the caveat that marketing any technology 

investment is important for exhibitors. “I’ve seen laser [and 

xenon digital projection] side by side, and where the consumer 

gets stuck is that I don’t think they really care,” he said. “They’re 

here to see a movie and I don’t think they care about what the 

light source is. I think it’s incumbent on the exhibitor to market 

the difference … to educate and let [audiences] know that things 

are changing.” 

Another ShowEast session, on broader marketing challenges, 

addressed the influence of social media on digital ticketing, and 

in particular the benefits (or not) of a title-driven marketing 

strategy. Promoting studio content, after all, doesn’t necessarily 

build awareness of any one cinema chain. In this age of expanded 

amenities and premium cinema experiences, distinguishing one’s 

own cinema has become nearly as important as promoting the 

upcoming weekend’s new releases. “Let’s face it, the consumer is 

going to find the studios’ content; it’s exciting and they’re going 

to respond to it, and you have to promote your own amenities 

in addition to that,” said Valerie Shortall, V.P. international marketing 

at Cinemark. “It just depends what that experience is. You 

have to examine these markets individually and how to get your 

messages through in conjunction with the studios’ content.” 

Engaging with moviegoers online has become a priority for 

many of the companies who provide services to exhibitors. A 

prime example is national cinema-advertising leader NCM, 

which communicates with a mass movie audience every weekend 

through its pre-show. “For the past few years we’ve moved 

beyond and rebranded our pre-show to take a much greater 

B2C focus,” said Steve Ochs, SVP of marketing and creative at 

NCM. “We have a scaled audience of 700 million moviegoers 

UNIC CEO Laura Houlgatte Abbott addresses the 

ShowEast audience during a panel session on the 

Global Cinema Federation 

going through our 20,000-plus screens every 

year, so we’re constantly asking ourselves, 

how do we talk to them on a regular 

basis? How do we drive them to the 

exhibitors’ experiences?” 

While social media platforms 

represent the most visible 

digital front in the marketing 

battle for viewers’ attention, 

older tools like email marketing 

have made a resurgence 

thanks to the rise of big data. 

“It’s a channel that remains 

incredibly relevant in specific 

targeting, because you know 

in advance what these customers 

want to see, and that data becomes 

extremely relevant,” said Cinemark’s 

Shortall. “If you don’t have an email-marketing 

platform, I suggest you get one, as 

you’ll see an automatic uplift [in sales]. It’s a 

weekly exercise aimed at loyalty customers. It’s all about tailoring 

different messages to different people.” 

“It has to be targeted; the days of mass emails are over,” 

agreed Mark Malinowski, V.P. of global marketing at National 

Amusements. “We’ll look at three to four emails per week, 

each with different messages, to the same audience every week. 

We target other emails to bring customers over to our loyalty 

program and site; it’s all about delivering a specific message to a 

specific customer.” 

All these avenues of communication lead to the same goal: 

increasing digital ticketing transactions. That part of the equation 

is at the center of the efforts of companies like Atom Tickets 

and Fandango, who specialize in bringing innovative e-commerce 

solutions to exhibitors. Max Lynn, V.P. of corporate development 

at Atom Tickets, believes movie ticketing is following in the 

steps of ecommerce to become a mobile-native experience. “[We] 

decided to tackle mobile ticketing from the standpoint of ecommerce,” 

he said. “We asked, how do we get people from [content] 

discovery into theaters as quickly as possible? That’s why we 

invested heavily from the perspective of the social conversation 

from the ground level: What are my friends talking about [seeing]? 

And how can we reduce the friction [of ticket buying] as 

much as possible when three-plus friends are involved?” 

Tackling mobile ticketing as an ecommerce solution, Fandango 

has expanded its ticketing operations beyond its own 

website and app to include other web publishers popular with 

consumers. “Our goal at Fandango is to be where the customer 

is,” explained Melissa Heller, V.P. of domestic ticketing. “From a 

typical ecommerce standpoint, we’ve done integrations across the 

board—from Google to Apple—we’re not trying to change your 

buying behavior, we’re trying to convert you [to purchase] where 


33

A panel on women in cinema offered different suggestions on how to mentor and help support women in the workplace. 

the customer is or where they might be.” 

Not all tech innovations come with an 

immediate adoption rate, however. While 

voice-activated ticketing through virtual 

assistants like Amazon Alexa and Apple’s 

Siri have been available for over a year, 

they haven’t caught on in a significant 

way. “It’s really about ‘test and learn’; you 

don’t know which of the 10 new things 

around the corner will work—but as 

a technology company, you have to be 

there,” said Atom’s Lynn. “Our Amazon 

Alexa skill was the first to enable reserved 

seating. Do a lot of people use it? Not 

really. Will they? Perhaps … sometimes 

you just have to take a leap of faith [on 

new technology], while ensuring that the 

ecommerce app maintains that fidelity 

across the website and mobile app. It’s 

often a case of blazing a trail, seeing if 

it works, and waiting for the use across 

channels to follow from that.” 

This spirit of innovation and collaboration 

among competitors in digital 

ticketing and cinema technology signals a 

change in the business culture that is also 

spreading among exhibitors. As new challenges 

to the business emerge, initiatives 

like the Global Cinema Federation (GCF) 

have helped bring competitors together in 

an effort to better tackle mutual concerns. 

“To some extent, [exhibitors] were 

not informed enough in several countries 

on what was happening elsewhere and 

what we could do about it,” said Eduardo 

Acuña, head of Americas at Cinépolis, 

during a panel session featuring members 

from the GCF. “There are great associations 

like NATO and UNIC, but in the 

rest of the world most exhibitors didn’t 

know what was happening. It made sense 

to join forces in an effort to inform and 

educate our fellow exhibitors on what’s 

happening in other countries and how 

that can affect us.” 

Among the issues that have become 

top priorities for the GCF are international 

trade and investment, movie theft, 

music rights, accessibility, and last, but 

certainly not least, theatrical exclusivity. 

“It’s absolutely, if not number one, a 

top concern for exhibitors everywhere 

across the globe,” said Jackie Brenneman, 

general counsel and director of industry relations 

at NATO. “Because we are a trade 

body and have the world’s largest exhibitors 

in the same room, we can’t internally 

discuss or externally advocate for any 

specific window—at all. What we can do 

is collect meaningful data, and good data 

tells stories … using that kind of publicly 

available data, we can start to do real advocacy 

and education work that’s appropriate 

within the constraints of competition law, 

which we take very seriously.” 

That sharing of data has helped 

international exhibitors learn from each 

other’s success stories. From decreasing 

the rate of movie theft in Canada 

to learning about negotiations with 

distributors about the theatrical window 

in the U.K., this collaboration has led 

to better-informed decisions at circuits 

around the world. It helps establish a 

standard that can address mutual goals 

and concerns simultaneously. 

When it comes to cinema technology, 

that level of collaboration among 

exhibitors is precisely what John Fithian, 

NATO president and CEO, suggested 

in a recent Boxoffice Pro column (“It’s 

Time for Theater Owners to Reassert 

Leadership on Cinema Technology,” September 

2019). At ShowEast, the technology 

executives on the industry roundtable 

seemed open to a closer rapport with 

exhibitors. “It’s up to us tech vendors to 

keep our technologies relevant and bring 

them to bear, but I’d like to see the industry 

coming together … to tell us what 

is important so we can build technology 

that is relevant to the cinemas. The exhibitor’s 

voice is critical to this,” said Wim 

Buyens, CEO of Cinionic. 

Whether it was international trade, 

advanced formats, or emerging ecommerce 

solutions, ShowEast 2019 revealed 

that continued success for theatrical 

exhibition depends on the collaboration 

among exhibitors and the companies that 

help them bring the magic of the movies 

to audiences worldwide. 


Entering the Next Level 

JAKE KASDAN SHAKES THINGS UP 

FOR SEQUEL TO JUMANJI BLOCKBUSTER 

by Kevin Lally 

NICK JONAS, JACK BLACK, KAREN GILLAN, DWAYNE JOHNSON, AWKWAFINA, AND KEVIN HART 

>> No one was more surprised than director 

Jake Kasdan when his 2017 sequel to the 1995 

adventure-fantasy-comedy Jumanji became a 

$964 million worldwide smash and the second-highest-performing 

Sony domestic release 

ever. The perfect four-quadrant movie, appealing 

to men and women, children and adults, Jumanji: 

Welcome to the Jungle updated the (supernatural) 

board game premise to the video game era. 

And what made it especially irresistible was the 

inspired casting of the avatars the game’s four 

teenage players become once they get sucked into 

its fantasy realm: Nerdy Spencer transformed into 

muscle god Dwayne Johnson; hulking jock Fridge 

turned into diminutive Kevin Hart; emo outcast 

Martha became the formidable Karen Gillan; and 

mean girl Bethany entered the chubby body of 

Jack Black. 

Kasdan and co-writers Scott Rosenberg (Con 

Air, Venom) and Jeff Pinkner (“Fringe,” Venom) 

alter the mix for the eagerly awaited sequel, 

Jumanji: The Next Level, opening on December 

13. This time around, Spencer’s grandfather, 

played by Danny DeVito, gets transported into 

the body of Johnson, while his elderly friend Milo 

(Danny Glover) enters Hart’s avatar. To make 

matters more complicated, Fridge is now the Jack 

Black avatar. Meanwhile, Spencer and Bethany 

are missing in action. The adventure also expands 

beyond the jungle, encompassing deserts and 

snow-capped mountains. 

Welcome to the Jungle took Kasdan’s career to an 

entirely new plateau. Previously, he had directed a 

series of relatively low-budget comedies including 

Orange County, The TV Set, Walk Hard: The Dewey 

Cox Story, Bad Teacher, and Sex Tape. He’s also a 

successful TV producer, with credits including 

“New Girl,” “Fresh Off the Boat,” “Speechless,” 

and new series “Bless This Mess.” The action-driven 

Jumanji series brings him closer to the oeuvre of 

his celebrated father, Lawrence Kasdan, co-writer 

of Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back, 

and Star Wars: Episode VII—The Force Awakens, as 

well as writer-director of such acclaimed ensemble 

dramas as The Big Chill, The Accidental Tourist, and 

Grand Canyon. 

In this phone interview, Jake Kasdan talks about 

the challenges of revisiting the world of Jumanji. 


Welcome to the Jungle was a massive 

success. What is your state of mind as 

you get to work on a sequel and try to 

match the impact of that film? 

All of us loved working together on 

that first one, so there was a real appetite—if 

we could figure out an idea that 

we loved—to do it again. We were also 

all adamant that unless we could come 

up with an idea that really excited us, 

we weren’t going to do it, because the 

first movie holds a special place for us. 

And so it was a little daunting, but fairly 

quick, actually, as we started to explore 

the possibilities. We came to some ideas 

about how to do a sequel that got us 

all really excited, and then that sort of 

becomes, what’s on your mind? It’s not 

so much about the last movie it’s, what 

can we do now? 

So what was the germ that got you 

excited the second time around? 

As we were finishing up a promotion 

of the last movie around the world, I had 

a conversation with Dwayne. We were 

saying how if we allowed ourselves to 

think about it, if there was another one, 

what would it look like? And both of us 

felt pretty strongly that the fun opportunity, 

the big opportunity with our Jumanji 

conceit as we’re using it in these movies, 

is that you could have the cast playing 

different people each time. He identified 

with that immediately—that as much as 

we had the great fun and pleasure of him 

playing a kid in the first movie, it wasn’t 

the only way that these could work, and 

in fact it could all be new again by shaking 

that up. The idea that he and Kevin 

would be playing these older guys at a 

completely different part of their lives, 

experiencing the adventure the way the 

kids had, changed everything. 

Am I crazy or is there a little bit of a 

subtle homage to Twins? DeVito costarred 

with Arnold Schwarzenegger in 

that film, and here you’re matching him 

up with Dwayne Johnson. 

Because of how these movies work, 

they never have a scene together. But I 

can certainly see where you might think 

that. And while they’re not actually side 

by side in the movie, you really feel that 

they’re both playing the same guy. And 

Danny’s presence and persona and genius 

hopefully continue through the part of 

the movie that he’s not in. You feel him 

there all the time. 

Did you have the two of them work 

together off screen to get each other’s 

vibes? 

Yes, a bit. It was important to us going 

in that these guys get to spend a little 

bit of time with the people that they are 

playing, because unlike the first movie 

where you have the stars playing these 

kids [whom] you don’t exactly know 

apart from their characters, here we have 

the characters they’re playing, but also 

both Danny DeVito and Danny Glover 

are iconic movie actors that we have very 

powerful associations with. 

Can you talk about the interaction 

between Kevin Hart and Danny Glover? 

When I went to Kevin and said, here’s 

what I’m thinking about for the next one, 

he immediately said Danny Glover. The 

second he said it, I just said, yes, this is 

a guy that I look up to, and he’s one of 

my all-time favorites for as long as I can 

remember. He made some movies with 

my dad, so Danny lives very large in my 

movie consciousness. And it was one 

of those things where the second Kevin 

said [his name], I said there couldn’t be a 

more perfect person to do this. Let me try 

and get him. 

What new sides of Jack Black are we 

going to see in this film? 

Well, Jack’s doing a whole new thing, 

as he says in the trailer. And he is just 

brilliant playing this character that Kevin 

was playing in the last movie. And in 

order to do that, you have to triangulate 

a lot of the kid that plays the character 

in the real world and our familiarity with 

what Kevin did in the last movie. He’s 

taken both of those things and expanded 

on them and made them his own. 

Karen Gillan is part of two big franchises 

now. I keep waiting for her to carry a 

film on her own. It seems like she’s due. 

Well, that’ll happen. The thing is, 

when you’re into big franchises like that 

and you’re a central part of both, it means 

that you’re working on those movies all 

the time. Just the logistics of her complicated 

schedule make it so that’s what 

she’s working on much of the time. But 

she has a lot of stuff on the runway. 

Truthfully, she has a much bigger piece of 

this movie than she did the first, and she 

carries a lot on her shoulders for large sections 

of this movie. I love working with 

her and I love what she’s done here. 

Talk a little bit about Dwayne Johnson 

and the phenomenon that he is. When 

you think of where he came from, the 

wrestling career, and now he’s one of 

the biggest movie stars in the world. 

What is he like to work with on a day-today 

basis? 

It’s boring to say, but he’s been a total 

pleasure. The personality that he presents 

in public is completely genuine. He’s this 

lovely, incredibly hardworking guy with 

a big heart and a big sense of humor. He 

wants to make it great, and it’s been a 

blast doing these with him. 

Welcome to the Jungle was a huge 

transition for you. You’d been doing 

these low-budget comedies, and now 

you’re suddenly working on a huge 

scale. Do you enjoy doing action and 

working with visual effects? 

I love it. It’s something that I didn’t 

really anticipate I would love as much as 

I do. I’d always wanted to make a movie 

that was a big-scale adventure. The visual 

effects aspect of it is not what I was most 

focused on, but it is something that I’ve 

come to really love doing—designing the 

action, shooting this action stuff with all 

of the amazing people that you work with. 

I’m sure Welcome to the Jungle exceeded 

your expectations, but it came in 

just under a billion dollars. Is that 

frustrating for you? 


37

JACK BLACK AND DIRECTOR JAKE KASDAN ON LOCATION FOR JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL 

Not in the least bit [laughs]. There was 

not one single aspect of how that movie 

was received that was frustrating. I was 

nothing but grateful. 

Do you mind talking about your father 

and his influence on you as 

a filmmaker? 

Not at all. The gift of growing up 

with him is that I got to see from a very 

young age how this is the best job in 

the world. And I got to realize that was 

the case when most people don’t know 

what a director is. The result is I’ve had 

this exposure to this thing that I’ve loved 

since I was a little kid. And in addition 

to that, my whole family is very close. 

[Jake’s brother, Jonathan, is also a writer 

and director.] It’s something that we all 

share to some extent—we are involved 

in each other’s lives and work, and it’s 

a great, lucky thing. His influences are 

many. While we’ve made different kinds 

of movies, a lot of what interests us is 

quite similar. 

With Jumanji, you kind of entered 

his domain. There’s definitely a 

connection with the Star Wars and 

Indiana Jones worlds. 

Certainly much more so than any of 

the other movies that I’ve made. I always 

think of Jumanji as being actually a comedy 

that has all of this other stuff—the 

machinery and mechanics that come with 

it—and this fantasy component that is 

certainly informed by those movies, the 

ones he’s made and the ones like them. 

The Jumanji movies obviously owe a great 

debt to all action comedies. It’s definitely 

a step into territory that is more like the 

work he’s done. 

Have you thought about the possibility 

of a third Jumanji film? 

Yeah, anything’s possible at the moment. 

I’m just trying to finish this one 

up as well as I can and make it its best 

version of itself, and then we’ll see if that’s 

something the world wants. 

We’re now in this new era where 

people are streaming a lot of their 

entertainment on their home screens. 

How important is it that people still go 

out to the theater to see a film like The 

Next Level? 

We spend a lot of time and thought 

and energy on that theatrical experience. 

And there’s no question that for this 

particular movie, from the conception 

through every stage of the way we’re 

building it, the idea is that people sit in 

a room and have this big screen in front 

of them presenting big action and they’ll 

laugh together in the communal experience 

of watching the story. I do a lot of 

work for television also, but these Jumanji 

movies are built for the movie theater. 


LITTLE WOMEN STAR SAOIRSE RONAN AS JO MARCH 

‘Great or Nothing’ 

GRETA GERWIG MARCHES FORTH WITH LITTLE WOMEN 

by Rebecca Pahle 

>> It’s been 25 years since Gillian Armstrong’s Little Women hit 

the big screen. Benefiting from a highly accomplished cast—Susan 

Sarandon, future A-listers Kirsten Dunst and Christian Bale, 

and Winona Ryder as the iconic Jo March—the film became 

a touchstone for a generation of women and a critical and 

commercial triumph, much like Louisa May Alcott’s semiautobiographical 

1868 novel. 

Little Women tells the story of the March sisters—Jo, a tomboy 

and aspiring writer; Beth, the sweet one; Meg, who dreams 

of the life she had before her family fell into poverty; and Amy, 

the “girly-girl” of the bunch—and their transition to adulthood. 

The road is not always a smooth one. Jo rejects the marriage 

proposal of her best friend, Laurie, befuddling her family and 

devastating generations of heart-eyed adolescent readers. One 

sister contracts scarlet fever. Another has her dreams of artistic 

greatness dashed. And, of course, there’s the small matter 

that all this takes place while the March family patriarch is off 

serving in the Civil War. 

In its depiction of four young women trying to muddle 

through adverse circumstances to become the best versions 

of themselves, Little Women even today feels strikingly modern—making 

this a perfect time for a new adaptation, out on 

Christmas Day from Sony Pictures Entertainment. 

In her version—Hollywood has produced six others so far— 

writer-director Greta Gerwig switches things up a bit, cutting back 

and forth between the childhood and adult periods of the March 

sisters’ lives. She also sought to further “merge the identities of 

Louisa May Alcott and Jo March,” the author’s alter ego. (Famously, 

Alcott didn’t want Jo to get married off at the end of Little 

Women but eventually succumbed to the wishes of her readers. 

Gerwig pokes at the fourth wall through the character of Jo’s editor, 

who insists that the budding writer’s memoir, also called Little 

Women, end with the main character getting hitched.) 

Like the ’90s adaptation before it, Gerwig’s Little Women has 

an enviable cast. Three-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan 

plays Jo March alongside screen sisters Emma Watson (Meg), 

Eliza Scanlan (Beth), and cast standout Florence Pugh (Amy), an 

up-and-coming star who, between Little Women, Fighting with My 

Family, and Midsommar, is having quite the 2019. Also on hand 

are Timothée Chalamet (as Laurie), Laura Dern, Chris Cooper, 

Bob Odenkirk, Tracy Letts, Louis Garrel, and the inimitable 

Meryl Streep as the March sisters’ stern, rich aunt. 


I assume you were a big fan of the book 

growing up. 

I loved Little Women growing up. And 

in particular I loved Jo March. Because 

Jo March was ambitious and funny and 

boyish and wanted to be a writer and 

wanted to be a boy and wanted to get out 

there and see the world. She was larger 

than life. She says at one point during the 

book, she thinks she wants to be a writer, 

but she doesn’t know. Writing, acting— 

she wants to do something big. She says, 

“I mean to astonish you all.” And Jo 

March-slash-Louisa May Alcott does. 

That character is so close to me that it felt 

like my memories and my sisters. 

Did you see Jo differently when you 

were a kid reading the book versus 

when you revisited Little Women as a 

filmmaker? 

That’s what’s so interesting. When I 

read the book as an adult, I hadn’t read it 

for years and years and years. I read it and 

reread it and reread it when I was young, 

but then I hadn’t looked at it for a long 

time. And rereading it as an adult—first 

of all, so many things jumped out at me 

as being completely modern and exciting. 

Things like Marmee [the March sisters’ 

mother, played by Laura Dern] saying, 

“I’m angry almost every single day of my 

life.” Or Amy saying, “I want to be great or 

nothing.” Those things are amazing to me, 

that they were lines of dialogue from the 

book. I felt like I’d never read them before. 

The other thing about it was that I 

immediately was so intrigued by them as 

adults, because I think that so much of 

our collective memory of what that book 

is, is who they are in their teenage years, 

their childhood. I found the chapters 

when they were adults to be incredibly 

moving and interesting. It’s Jo in New 

York trying to be a writer and Beth living 

in her childhood home alone, facing 

death. It’s Meg with two children living 

on not enough money with a man she 

loves, but there’s a lot of isolation. And 

it’s Amy in Europe trying to be a painter 

and figuring out that she might not be a 

genius. All of those things were fascinating 

to me. I knew that I wanted to start 

the film with the second half of the book, 

which is when they’re all in these separate 

lives. The thing that they are yearning for, 

that they are nostalgic for, is childhood. It 

exists in a snow globe of memory. It’s this 

thing that the audience is also yearning 

for and aching for. And it’s that ache of 

the fact that it’s gone. 

Something that’s incredibly moving 

to me is that once Amy goes to Europe, 

the four girls are never again together. 

Whatever that was that those four girls 

had together, it will never happen again. 

And that, to me, was so heartbreaking. 

And to start from the place of being separate 

and then, through this time travel 

that you are able to do in film, to bring 

them together again—that was the thing 

I wanted to do, because it struck me so 

much in rereading the book. 

It really did work for me, the crosscutting 

between the adult and 

childhood time periods. Because reading 

the book, the first impression of these 

characters is when they’re girls, so when 

they become adults ... it’s not that their 

problems are less serious, but part of 

you takes them less seriously because in 

your mind, they’re still children. 

I think when you read it as an adult, 

and you read that second half, all of a 

sudden it hits you very differently than it 

does when you’re young. 

It’s interesting, because there’s a narrator 

to the book. It’s Louisa May Alcott. 

Jo March is not narrating the book. The 

presence of the narrator is stronger in the 

second half. Her speaking through the 

book is stronger. There’s this beautiful 

passage that makes me cry every single 

time I read it. It’s right before the scene 

where Jo tells Marmee, “Maybe I should 

have said yes to Laurie.” She’s lonely. 

There’s this passage where Louisa, the 

narrator, goes on a digression where she’s 

talking about Jo and Jo being alone. She 

says: Women who are five and twenty 

joke about being spinsters, potentially 

because they know they’ve still got a 

shot. But once they become 30, they 

stop talking about it, because they know 

what’s happening. 

And then she has this whole thing 

of, you have to be kind to spinsters. You 

don’t know what romances and dramas 

beat under their somber gowns. Basically, 

“You don’t know what happened. Just be 

nice.” And then she addresses men directly 

and says, “The only chivalry worth 

having treats the sober spinsters kindly.” 

The way that I heard Louisa May Alcott 

speaking through these pages in the adult 

section of the books broke my heart. 

Because you know that’s who she is! She’s 

gone to the Civil War [as a nurse]. She’s 

gotten typhoid fever. She was cured with 

mercury and got very ill both from the 

fever and from the cure. She was broken. 

She lost all her hair. She was not able to 

run anymore, which is what she loved 

doing. She’s 36, and she’s writing Little 

Women. She knows she’s not going get 

married and have children. But she’s 

going to write these books. And I found 

it so moving to think about her. I heard 

the sadness, but I also heard the spikiness, 

and I heard the anger, and I heard the 

messiness of being an ambitious woman 

come through in a way that I just didn’t 

when I was 14. 

Reading the book originally, I felt—as 

a lot of kids felt—that Jo and Laurie 

should have gotten married, instead of 

Laurie and Amy. I didn’t get Amy. 

I love Amy so much. And I also think 

Amy and Laurie should be together. I 

think that’s the correct pairing. That’s 

why I have [Jo’s editor] Dashwood say, 

“Frankly, I don’t know why she didn’t 

marry the neighbor,” because that’s the 

way everybody felt! 

I think that Laurie and Amy are 

perfectly matched. And the other thing I 

think is Amy has always been given short 

shrift. All these [parts of her personality 

that are] in the book didn’t coalesce into 

our collective memory of who Amy was. 

I’ve mentioned her artistic ambitions 

and her I-want-to-be-great-or-nothing 

bravado, which is fabulous. And then her 

clear-eyed way of looking at the world. 


41

GRETA GERWIG WITH MERYL STREEP AS AUNT MARCH 

She sees how it is. She’s just as ambitious 

as Jo, but she’s got to figure out how she’s 

going to make this work. And I think 

there’s something about her ability to talk 

with almost a clinical clarity about her 

position. It’s so fascinating. 

In the book, she has two lines that I 

love that I didn’t manage to put in the 

screenplay. One is, “I don’t pretend to 

be wise, but I am observant.” And you 

think, holy shit, that girl sees everything. 

And the second one is, “The world is 

hard on ambitious girls.” And you think, 

she knows! She’s the same as Jo! She’s 

a worthy adversary and she’s a worthy 

partner. I felt that with Florence Pugh, 

who is so extraordinary. I knew I wanted 

her to play Amy. I wanted an actor who 

could punch the same weight class as 

Saoirse, which is hard because Saoirse is 

extraordinary. 

There are all kinds of interesting 

things written about Jo and Laurie. One 

thing is, Jo is a girl with a boy’s name, 

and Laurie is a boy with a girl’s name, 

and that plays with gender inversion. 

Throughout the entire film I have them 

switch costumes. I have them wear each 

other’s clothes. I wanted to draw out this 

androgynous aspect of their relationship, 

because I think they really are each 

other’s twins in a way. And the thing that 

happens when Laurie asks Jo to marry 

him is Laurie rejecting the androgyny of 

childhood. And Jo’s not ready to leave it 

yet. He’s saying, “No, I would like you to 

be the woman to my man, the wife to my 

husband.” And Jo’s saying, “Can’t we just 

stay down here where we don’t have to 

make any of those decisions?” She doesn’t 

want to. And Amy’s ready to. And Amy 

wants to. And Amy loves him. 

You and Saoirse and Timothée Chalamet 

had already worked together on Lady 

Bird. For the rest of the cast, though, did 

you do anything to help them achieve 

that intimacy that the March family and 

their various hangers-on have? 

We were very lucky that we were 

able to get two full weeks of rehearsal. 

It’s always the first thing to go. No one 

ever believes me that we did that much 

rehearsal. But I did, because I knew that I 

really had a specific way that I wanted the 

scenes to be played. In particular with the 

four sisters, I wanted them to feel like one 

organism. That they were a four-headed 

beast. The way I wrote the dialogue 

was very specific—overlaps and people 

cutting each other off at very specific 

points. And it took time to get all of that 

up to speed and to get it into their muscle 

memory so they could run the scene very 

fast and all be in sync with each other. 

For Timothée, I wanted him to experience 

what Laurie experiences, which is 

wanting to be part of all these girls! And 

he did, which was wonderful, because 

they really took him in and made him 

part of their group. He has a sister. He 

understands that. Part of why I wanted to 

cast him is that I would see him during 

awards stuff a couple years ago, and he 

would bring his sister to a lot of things. 

And I loved seeing them together. They’re 

so sweet. His sister’s lovely. I saw the relationship 

between him and his sister, and I 

thought, “That’s what it is! That’s Laurie!” 

The physicality between the four 

sisters is so present. They really lean 

into each other. 

They’re always hitting each other or 

hugging or pinching or grabbing. I didn’t 

want any of us to be polite. Any time 

you’re around four sisters, it’s loud. 


Tales of 

Manhattan 

IRA DEUTCHMAN 

CHRONICLES THE RISE AND 

FALL OF CINEMA 5 MOGUL 

DONALD RUGOFF 

by Kevin Lally 

DONALD RUGOFF IN HIS OFFICE IN THE 1970S FROM THE DOCUMENTARY FILM SEARCHING FOR MR. RUGOFF 

>> For any filmgoer who lived in New York City 

in the 1960s and 1970s, the name “Cinema 5” was 

as familiar as that of Loews or Trans-Lux. Cinema 

5 was the premier art house circuit in Manhattan, 

comprising an array of stylish theaters including 

the Beekman, the Sutton, the Paris, the Plaza, the 

Paramount, and the Gramercy. Single-handedly, 

company founder Donald Rugoff turned New York’s 

Upper East Side into a cinema mecca. His Cinema I 

and II was the first purpose-built twin movie theater 

in the country and soon became a sought-after 

venue for the exclusive runs of major Hollywood releases. 

Woody Allen insisted his movies open at the 

Beekman; Mel Brooks always wanted the Sutton. 

Cinema 5 was also a major specialty distributor. 

Among its breakout hits were the landmark 

surfing doc The Endless Summer, Oscar Best Picture 

nominee Z, the Rolling Stones doc Gimme Shelter, 

Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, Lina 

Wertmüller’s Swept Away and Seven Beauties, Monty 

Python and the Holy Grail, and the film that introduced 

Arnold Schwarzenegger to movie audiences, 

Pumping Iron. 

Rugoff was a man of taste and a true visionary, 

but as Ira Deutchman’s documentary Searching 

for Mr. Rugoff shows, he was also a notoriously 

erratic and unpleasant boss. Deutchman worked for 

Cinema 5 for three years and witnessed firsthand his 

tantrums, his shocking unkemptness, and his tendency 

to fall asleep during meetings and screenings. 

Rumors circulated that he had a metal plate in his 

head—not true, though he did battle a serious pituitary 

disorder. Rugoff lost control of his company in 

1979 in a shareholder battle with West Coast exhibitor 

William Forman. He retired to Edgartown on 

Martha’s Vineyard in 1986 and opened a makeshift 

cinema in an old church. He died three years later. 

Deutchman was inspired to make his documentary 

after hearing another New York distribution/ 

exhibition legend, Dan Talbot, pay tribute to Rugoff 

at the Gotham Awards, stating incorrectly that he 

died “in a pauper’s grave” in Edgartown. The firsttime 

filmmaker soon discovered, however, that this 

major force in the New York film world was all but 

forgotten, with little to be found on the internet. 

His apprenticeship with Rugoff changed 

Deutchman’s life. In 1981, he joined the team at 

the newly transformed United Artists Classics, 

overseeing marketing of such films as Diva and The 

Last Metro. One year later, he founded Cinecom 

International, which released such important films 

as El Norte, Stop Making Sense, Matewan, and Oscar 

Best Picture nominee A Room with a View. In 1990, 

Deutchman founded New Line specialty division 

Fine Line Features, whose triumphs included Robert 

Altman’s The Player and Short Cuts, Gus Van Sant’s 

My Own Private Idaho, Steve James’s Hoop Dreams, 

Jim Jarmusch’s Night on Earth, Mike Leigh’s Naked, 

David O. Russell’s Spanking the Monkey, and Whit 

Stillman’s Barcelona. Subsequently, he produced 


such films as Lulu on the Bridge and Kiss 

Me, Guido, and he founded another 

producer-distributor, Emerging Pictures, a 

pioneer in alternative content for alternative 

venues. Deutchman has taught in the 

film department at Columbia University 

since 1987, serving as chair of the film 

program from 2011 to 2015 and founding 

Columbia’s Digital Storytelling Lab with 

Lance Weiler in 2013. He is also producing 

the next film from acclaimed director 

Debra Granik (Leave No Trace), Nickel and 

Dimed, based on the best-selling book by 

Barbara Ehrenreich. 

Searching for Mr. Rugoff, whose 

on-camera subjects include Rugoff’s first 

wife and two sons, filmmakers Costa-Gavras 

and Lina Wertmüller, and many 

veterans of the New York film business, 

recently debuted at New York’s IFC Center, 

part of the annual DOC NYC festival. 

Here, Deutchman reflects on the legacy of 

Don Rugoff. 

The film is such a nostalgia trip for 

me. I went to college in New York in 

the ’70s and I spent a lot of time in 

Cinema 5 theaters, and I remember 

those marketing campaigns vividly. 

I’m shocked that Don Rugoff is so 

forgotten today. 

It shocked me too. That was one of the 

things that inspired the movie. I talked 

about him for decades and decades, mainly 

telling stories about his not-so-great behavior 

and how crazy he was. And then one 

day I was at a film festival and there was a 

group of people around me, and as I was 

telling stories about this outrageous guy, I 

realized nobody knew who he was. That’s 

what got me going. 

What do you think made Rugoff such a 

success story in his heyday? 

I think being crazy was part of it. This 

is kind of a cliché, but a lot of people 

think you have to be at least a little bit 

crazy to be interested in being in the film 

business. I think that sometimes when 

you look at the world askew and you’re 

not necessarily being completely logical 

and businesslike, you end up taking the 

kinds of chances that sometimes pay off. 

That was part of his brilliance. He was 

more of a carnival barker than he was 

a businessperson, in contrast to a lot of 

other people who attempt to make things 

go in the film business and are surprised 

when there’s no formula that they can put 

in a spreadsheet and make things work. 

I would say that that’s one of the biggest 

lessons I took from working at Cinema 5, 

that there was no logic to any of it and you 

had to go with your gut instincts. He had 

no compunctions about doing that. If he 

saw something and thought there was an 

angle that he could exploit, he would just 

go for it. 

The Cinema 5 posters and 

marketing campaigns were 

so graphically interesting 

and vivid; I almost got the 

impression that everything 

he touched at that time was 

a success. Do I have the 

wrong impression? 

You definitely have 

the wrong impression. 

He had 

a few periods 

where what 

he touched 

turned to gold, 

and then lots 

of fallow periods 

in between. The 

PRODUCER/DIRECTOR IRA DEUTCHMAN INTERVIEWING LINA WERTMÜLLER 

FOR THE DOCUMENTARY FILM SEARCHING FOR MR. RUGOFF 

vast majority of films that he distributed 

during that 15- to 17-year period were not 

that successful, but here and there he had 

something that broke through. There’s a 

line in the movie from Jim Hudson, the 

CFO, something that he wrote in the 

annual report: “Critical acclaim exceeded 

box office grosses.” He thinks that’s funny 

and it is, but the impression of success 

came very much from the fact that these 

were acclaimed movies. Rugoff definitely 

made a lot of noise for every movie he put 

out there, and he refused to give up. So 

they had a longevity in the marketplace 

that wasn’t necessarily the right business 

decision—it doesn’t necessarily add up to 

making money. 

What are some of the lessons you 

took from your time at Cinema 

5 that you brought to your later 

career? 

Bottom line is that it’s 

not easy, nor has it ever 

been easy, to get butts 

in seats, at least 

once there was 

competition for 

the movies. A 

lot of people 

think that 

this is a new 

IRA DEUTCHMAN 


45

thing because of what’s going on with 

the streaming world right now, et cetera. 

And I keep talking about how we’ve been 

living this nightmare for a long time. The 

era that Rugoff was operating in was not 

dissimilar—everybody was worried that 

television was becoming a mass medium 

that would put movies out of business, 

and it just created a business opportunity 

for somebody who looked at things a little 

differently. I think the same thing is potentially 

true now. Everybody who’s moaning 

about how awful things are—what 

I took away from my Rugoff experience 

was: think differently. Don’t look at the 

marketplace and say I want to do what 

other people are doing or whatever the last 

success was. Think about, oh, this is really 

different from anything out there and 

there’s a way that I could make noise with 

this. It still works. 

You saw Don Rugoff up close up for 

a number of years, but were there 

surprises as you researched him? 

It really played out in life the way it 

plays out in the movie, which is that I 

never understood quite what his illness 

was. I never knew when it started and how 

far into it he was at the time I worked 

there. I never was able to put together the 

whole picture of his behavior and what 

might have been the cause of it. I didn’t 

know anything about his personal history, 

and then of course there was all this stuff 

that happened after I worked there, which 

is what sort of set me on the journey to 

begin with, trying to figure out why he 

completely disappeared. It didn’t make it 

into the movie, but one of the people I 

interviewed said something to the effect 

that when people get fired or kicked out 

of companies in the movie business, it’s 

pretty standard that they have a second act 

or third act. But in Rugoff’s case, he just 

completely disappeared once he was out of 

Cinema 5. Now that I’ve done the research 

and talked to all these people, I sort of get 

it. He burned every bridge; nobody really 

wanted to do any business with him at all. 

And he was not the type of personality 

who could just go work for somebody else. 

Now it makes sense to me, but I didn’t 

really understand that at the time. 

We both come from a generation where 

foreign-language films really had some 

box office clout, and now a movie like 

Parasite is more of a rarity. What do you 

think has changed? 

It’s funny because, again, I feel like 

we have a tendency, all of us from that 

generation, to romanticize things. But the 

reality is that successful foreign-language 

films were always the exception. There 

were plenty of films that were released. 

The only difference is that the ones that 

don’t break through do way worse now 

than they did then. There was a cottage 

business in being able to do foreign-language 

films that could gross a million, a 

million and a half. If you handled them 

frugally and really focused on the target 

audience, you could make money on 

films like that. But nowadays those same 

movies might do $50,000 at the box 

office. The lower end has dropped off 

tremendously. But the ones that really 

crossed over and did big business, those 

were always few and far between. 

How do you feel about the future of 

theatrical film and movie theaters? 

Well, I’m going to sound really 

Pollyannaish. I refuse to believe that this 

existential crisis is any worse than the 

last five existential crises the theatrical 

movie business has been through. There 

have to be changes. And that’s not new 

either, because the business has evolved 

all through its history, both through new 

technologies and new business models. 

There’s been a resistance to every advance 

that’s happened in terms of films getting 

into the hands of consumers, and then 

when the resistance stops, all of a sudden 

they find out that there’s actually a way 

to make it work, that there is a compatibility. 

I think that we’ll reach another 

moment where there’s going to be some 

stability. The major studios are in a really 

awkward spot, because the kinds of risks 

that they have on each film are just so 

extreme in terms of what the marketplace 

can support on a predictable basis. 

There’s no doubt in my mind that 

the consolidation that’s going on in the 

business is going to continue. But I think 

that there’s always going to be a really enthusiastic 

group of people who are going 

to want to see movies in movie theaters. 

And I don’t necessarily think it’s going 

to have anything to do with exclusivity. 

I do think it’s going to have something 

to do with the pricing model and also 

with the kinds of experiences that people 

are given when they go to the movies. I 

honestly don’t think it has anything to do 

with reclining chairs and the sound being 

so deafening that you can’t even hear 

yourself laugh at a comedy. I think that 

all the wrong solutions are being looked 

at at the moment, but the movie business 

will survive. 

Part of that is the communal experience. 

Do you think people still have a hunger 

for that? 

It’s all about that. And if you really look 

closely at some of the businesses that are 

rebounding from similar existential crises, 

like the music business and the book business, 

there’s a side of the younger generation 

that wants authentic experiences and 

there’s nothing more authentic than seeing 

a movie in a movie theater. 


EVENT CINEMA 

BY REBECCA PAHLE 

EMMY-WINNING 

‘FLEABAG’ 

CONTINUES TO 

FIND SUCCESS ON 

THE BIG SCREEN 

PICTURED: PHOEBE WALLER-BRIDGE’S FLEABAG 

PHOTO BY MATT HUMPHREY 

>> “Fleabag” may be gone from your television screens, barring 

your first, second, or fifth rewatch of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Emmy-winning 

comedy. But it’s still to be found in theaters, thanks 

to twin efforts from event cinema providers Fathom Events and 

BY Experience. 

The BBC series “Fleabag,” distributed in the United States on 

Amazon Prime, stars creator-writer Waller-Bridge as the show’s 

unnamed main character: a confused, angry, honest—and very, 

very funny—woman living in London. The show had its origins in 

a one-woman show presented by Waller-Bridge at the Edinburgh 

Fringe Festival in 2013. Following the success of the television show, 

the play was brought to London’s West End and New York City 

… but by that point “Fleabag” was so popular that getting tickets 

required an act of God. (Or maybe a Hot Priest.) 

“I got shut out of the New York staging earlier in the year,” recalls 

John Vanco, senior vice president and general manager of New 

York City’s IFC Center. “And I thought, wow. I’m just thinking 

of my own neck of the woods, in New York City, of all the people 

who got shut out or didn’t even know that the New York run of the 

play was happening. People are discovering ‘Fleabag’ all the time. 

Nobody knew about it in the beginning, and then it kept building 

and building and building.” 

The IFC Center was one of the theaters to jump on NT Live’s 

broadcast of Fleabag. The show is being distributed in the United 

States by two companies. The first, BY Experience, represents NT 

Live globally, excluding the U.K.; they have a presence in around 

75 countries (depending on the show) and are bringing Fleabag to 

countries across North America, Europe, and Eastern Europe, as 

well as Russia, India, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. In the 

United States, their network largely consists of smaller theaters 

and performing arts spaces, among them the IFC Center. With 

screenings taking place through the beginning of 2020, it’s hard to 

pin down exact numbers, but co-founder Julie Borchard-Young estimates 

they’re bringing Fleabag to around 2,000 screens worldwide 

(minus the U.K.) throughout the show’s event cinema run. 

BY Experience first screened Fleabag on September 12, which 

was after Emmy nominations were announced but before the show 

steamrolled the comedy competition to win six awards, three of 

them (Writing, Lead Actress, and Outstanding Comedy Series) by 

Waller-Bridge herself. Since that initial screening of the NT Live 

show, BY Experience has had “huge, overwhelming demand from all 

of our exhibitor partners to screen it,” says Borchard-Young. “Many 

are doing multiple screenings, so it’s almost like a little mini film 

run. Obviously this dovetails very well with Phoebe Waller-Bridge 

and her success with the Emmys and her presence on late-night TV, 

hosting ‘SNL.’ She’s been very present here in the U.S. So it’s been 

great to take what was otherwise a very limited theatrical experience 

that happened in London and Edinburgh and New York and really 

eventize it through cinema.” 

“Fleabag is a zeitgeist moment,” adds Borchard-Young. “It’s so 

rare. You can’t plan it, the fact that Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s star 

has ascended concurrent with the availability of this play.” When 

48 

DECEMBER 2019

an NT Live show reaches a high level of 

consumer demand—whether through 

an aligning of the stars as with Fleabag 

or the presence of an already-big name, 

like Helen Mirren in The Audience or 

Benedict Cumberbatch in the Danny 

Boyle–directed Frankenstein—in steps 

Fathom Events with its extensive theatrical 

network. BY Experience’s distribution 

of Fleabag is ongoing, whereas with 

Fathom, it’s a one-night event that took 

place on November 18. 

“When we have a big commercial hit 

that we think is going to travel, that’s 

when Fathom comes on board, because 

they can reach many more markets across 

the country in a very national campaign,” 

explains Borchard-Young. “The truth is 

when we got notice that Fleabag was going 

to happen for cinema, it was very short 

notice. We scrambled, put together a great 

platform to begin [with], and then Fathom 

saw what had happened with the initial 

launch and said, ‘Even though we couldn’t 

participate because of the timing, now 

we’d like to.’ It’s great that they’ve come 

on board. It’ll give customers across the 

country who otherwise wouldn’t have the 

chance to see this an opportunity to do so.” 

“We program primarily for broad-appeal 

content. [Borchard-Young will] 

bring us content, and we’ll make a 

decision based on what that audience 

is,” says Fathom vice president of programming, 

business affairs, and strategy 

Daren Miller. “We’d had conversations 

with Julie early on. Our challenge really 

has been that, at this time of year, we 

are super-challenged [from] a scheduling 

perspective. It’s a very, very busy time 

of year between tentpoles and working 

around studio releases and our own 

releases. It was really all about finding 

the right date that we could optimize for 

the content.” 

Fathom and BY Experience’s releases 

of Fleabag—as with previous NT Live 

productions, like The Audience, Frankenstein, 

and Benedict Cumberbatch in 

Hamlet—are done independently from 

one another; BY Experience licenses content 

to Fathom, and they each distribute 

to their own networks. Both companies, 

it goes without saying, benefited from 

the show’s Emmy wins. Marketing can be 

tricky with event cinema, given you’re not 

working with studios that have millions 

of dollars to drop on P&A. Here, Fleabag 

got a substantial bump in name recognition 

without Fathom or BY Experience 

having to lift a finger. 

“It’s definitely key in event cinema 

that we tap into preexisting franchises 

and the audience and fan base,” explains 

Miller. Fleabag “clearly has all the right 

ingredients that we look for in any product 

that we distribute. It has a lot of good 

things working for it.” 

As such, pre-sales “came out of the 

gate strong,” says Fathom vice president 

of operations Lynne Schmidt. “I’m a little 

surprised, especially because [at the time 

pre-sales started] a lot of our marketing 

hadn’t even hit yet.” As of press time, 

Fathom has placed Fleabag in 409 theaters. 

“We are encouraged by the strong pre-sales 

for Fleabag and expect a great turnout on 

event night,” says Schmidt. “This reinforces 

the demand we have been seeing for 

top-quality theater content in cinemas, so 

audiences can certainly expect more.” 

Pre-sales are massively important 

in the world of event cinema. It’s there 

in the name—it’s an event, something 

exclusive, so if you want to get in you’d 

better buy your ticket in advance. “When 

I go see a film, I mostly wait for the day 

of, because I know if I’m going to get 

sold out for the five o’clock screening, big 

deal, I can go at 6:30,” says Borchard- 

Young. “Whereas with event cinema, 

people plan like they’re going to the arts. 

They buy tickets well in advance. So we’re 

seeing great pre-sales [for Fleabag], and 

that doesn’t surprise me.” 

At the IFC Center, Fleabag smashed 

its own pre-sale records, with over 3,000 

people buying tickets in advance. The 

IFC Center, however, did something 

unusual: giving Fleabag not just one 

or two screenings, as is typical with 

event cinema, but an entire week’s run, 

nights and weekends included, on two 

screens. “It did $100,000 for the first 

week, which put it at that point second 

only to Boyhood for the biggest opening 

week of a film that we’d had,” says 

Vanco. (Pre-sale and first week records 

were swiftly thereafter broken by Bong 

Joon Ho’s Parasite. November was a busy 

month for the IFC.) A second week on 

one screen was added, and “we started 

patchworking shows after that.” As of 

press time, Fleabag has grossed $177,646 

at the IFC Center with additional show 

times planned after Fathom’s November 

18 screening. 

Part of the success of Fleabag at the 

IFC Center, Vanco explains, is that “we 

leaned into the presentation.” The tickets 

are at a premium price point, but the 

experience is premium, too: “We didn’t 

show any trailers. There are very few 

times that we don’t show the IFC Center 

logo trailer. This was one of them. We 

didn’t put up any ads for popcorn or 

anything. And people felt like, OK, well, 

this is different. I’ve gone to the IFC 

Center as a regular movie theater lots of 

times, and this is something that I don’t 

normally get.” 

The production quality, as well, 

contributes to NT Live as an exceptional 

experience, argues Vanco: “They set up all 

their technology within some West End 

theater in London, they cut from camera 

to camera, and they create this movie that 

[makes it seem] like you’re there, in the 

best seat in the house. You get close-ups. 

There’s all this pre-show [content] that 

makes you feel like you’re in the room. 

You have ambient noise from the [live audience], 

and there’s an introduction from 

a host. It’s really quite a thing.” 

Many programmers, Vanco says, 

“kind of use different parts of their 

brains” for event cinema versus more 

traditional content. “You don’t think of 

them as crossing over. You think, OK, 

I’ve got my alternative content, and it 

fits in whatever week I’m playing it. 

They fit in around the periphery and 

have no impact on my regular, first-run 

stuff. It’s out of sight, out of mind. But, 

I’m sorry—when it’s Fleabag, you have 

to change the rules!” 


49

PART 7 

IN THE 

SERIES 

TOP WOMEN 

IN GLOBAL 

EXHIBITION 

EDITED BY REBECCA PAHLE 

Earlier this year, Boxoffice Pro partnered with Celluloid Junkie to present 

the fourth-annual list of Top Women in Global Exhibition, published in our 

CinemaCon issue. Throughout 2019 and early 2020, Boxoffice Pro will 

continue to honor the women who have an immeasurable impact on the 

exhibition industry with a series of in-depth profiles. 


THE TICKETING TANGO 

MELISSA HELLER’S ‘SMALL BETS’ 

KEEP FANDANGO MOVING 

FORWARD 

>> “At the end of the day, it’s about the relationships 

you have.” Fandango’s vice president of 

domestic ticketing, Melissa Heller, says relationships 

are key to every facet of what she does—her 

own relationships with mentors and other industry 

professionals as well as the relationships Fandango 

itself cultivates with exhibitors, studios, and of 

course the all-important moviegoer. 

Heller grew up in a “tiny, tiny town in Northern 

California,” where the closest theater—Coast 

Cinemas in Fort Bragg, still in operation—was 

an hour away. From the beginning, going to the 

movies was “a big deal. … When we got the opportunity 

to do it, it was one of those life-changing 

miracle moments.” (An early moviegoing experience 

that’s stuck with Heller: going to the Coast 

with her best friend to see Babe.) “Sharing those 

movie moments with my best friend, enjoying 

candy, and feeling like we were there on that farm 

with a talking pig … does life get any better than 

that?” No, it does not. 

While Heller has always known the magic of 

moviegoing, she “stumbled into” the job of providing 

that magic for other people. In college, Heller 

studied business and economics, which took her to 

a job at Quantum Loyalty Solutions. A “rewards 

and incentives firm,” Quantum Loyalty Solutions 

partnered with studios, exhibitors, and outside 

companies to offer “Hollywood Movie Money” 

to consumers. Fandango, looking to beef up its 

own promotions operations, acquired Quantum in 

2015, rebranding the service as Fandango Rewards. 

“At the time, there was an ask to relocate to 

Los Angeles and join the core exhibitor relations 

and ticketing commerce team,” recalls Heller. “I 

couldn’t pass up the opportunity. It was a personal 

and professional challenge—an opportunity to 

grow and learn from incredible people. So, despite 

my fears of L.A. traffic, I decided to move. And 

[now] I’m here to stay.” 

One of those “incredible people” Heller learned 

from was Fandango’s chief commercial officer and 

executive vice president Kevin Shepela. “Since the 

day I started at Fandango, Kevin always challenged 

me to think more broadly, to look at strategy and 

align decisions accordingly, to ask questions, to 

think bigger. He supported me doubling down and 

getting my MBA along the way, no matter what it 

took. All in support of me as a person first, and an 

employee second.” 

While Heller has benefited from structured 

mentorship programs, she cites informal mentorship 

as the thing that’s helped her professional 

growth the most. “It’s just seeing how people work 

with each other: ‘Oh, wow, that’s how she responded 

to a really hard question. That’s what I want 

to do the next time I’m in a position like that.’ 

Or: ‘That was a really unique way to tackle that 

problem.’ Just really being able to learn, and not 

sit at your desk with your headphones on, answering 

emails. It’s really about absorbing the people 

around you. Inside [Fandango], outside, all over 

MELISSA HELLER 


51

TOP WOMEN IN GLOBAL EXHIBITION 

First, buying my 

ticket in advance, 

on Fandango of 

course! Reserving 

my seat: third 

to the very back 

row, middle. Then 

it’s feet up, big 

comfortable seats, 

and booming 

sound! The louder 

the better. Oh, and 

do not forget the 

Sour Patch Kids! 

– Melissa Heller on 

her ideal moviegoing 

experience 

the industry. It’s actively listening and figuring out 

what your style is, not mimicking someone else.” 

One of these informal mentors was Heller’s 

mother, who, as a co-owner of a construction 

company, “excelled in a heavily male-dominated 

industry, keeping her focus on creating houses 

that became homes and meeting every challenge 

along the way. She is an advocate for women in 

her industry, and it is empowering to see her help 

showcase others. She showed me how a rising tide 

lifts all boats.” Fandango embodies that spirit, 

Heller explains, through their chapter of Tech- 

Women, an initiative geared toward supporting the 

next generation of women working in STEM (science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics) 

fields. Fandango’s TechWomen chapter, founded 

by director of project management Shanit DeLuca 

and director of software engineering Rema Morgan-Aluko, 

provides professional development for 

the women of Fandango. “It is exhilarating to see 

progress on this level. I’m hopeful for the future.” 

As for what the future holds for digital ticketing 

in general, it’s hard to say, if not impossible, and 

“that’s the fun challenge” for Heller. The growth 

of digital ticketing has been both massive and relatively 

rapid; Heller recalls that the year she joined 

Quantum Loyalty Solutions, 2007, was the year 

the first iPhone came out. “One way you can look 

at it is, OK, we don’t know” what digital ticketing 

will look like in five, 10, 20 years. “But can 

we help shape that? Can we help work with our 

partners to prepare for it? It’s very dynamic. Every 

day there’s some new company, some new technology. 

I think it’s about making small bets and trying 

out new integrations with emerging companies 

and market incumbents, like the Apples and the 

Googles of the world. And just doing what we can 

to innovate, innovate, innovate.” 

Those “small bets” have included the acquisition 

of trailer-streaming outfit Movieclips in 2014 and 

movie-review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes in 2016. 

Partnerships, Heller argues, are also key to Fandango’s 

success, present and future; she cites Fandango’s 

integration with Apple iOS, where a plugin 

lets moviegoers purchase tickets within a text conversation, 

as well as AT&T Ticket Twosdays, which 

lets members of AT&T’s loyalty program get two 

tickets for the price of one every Tuesday (using a 

Fandango code, of course). Heller is particularly 

passionate about “expanding Fandango ticketing to 

independent exhibition—giving movie fans a theater 

as close as possible to plan their movie night 

out with friends and family in their hometown.” 

All this can fly under the radar for consumers 

who just want to buy their movie tickets with 

minimal hassle. But that, explains Heller, is the 

point. “Our goal is to have things very simple and 

easy and seamless for a movie fan,” she explains. 

“We want you to be able to buy your ticket and go. 

And because we’ve done that, I think the misconception 

is that it’s really easy to do it. Because it’s 

easy to use, it’s easy to do. But it definitely takes a 

lot of very talented people and a really strong team 

environment to be able to deliver an easy consumer-facing 

product.” 

NORDISK FILM 

JANNICKE HAUGEN 

CEO 

>> Headed by CEO Jannicke Haugen, Scandinavia’s 

Nordisk Film has made strides into the future 

with their installation of a 4DX screen in Oslo’s 

Ringen Cinema. The success of that theater 

led to the planned installation of an additional 

nine 4DX screens by the end of 2021. The chain 

was also an early adopter in the growing world 

of esports; on November 10, they invited guests 

to watch the League of Legends world championship 

through their EsportBio concept. Nordisk 

Film currently has 22 theaters across Denmark, 

Norway, and Sweden. 

What have been the highest-grossing films in 

Norway so far in 2019, both among Hollywood 

imports and local titles? 

The highest-grossing films so far in 2019 are 

The Lion King and Avengers: Endgame. The highest-grossing 

Norwegian film is The Ash Lad: In 

Search of the Golden Castle. 

What are the biggest challenges facing theatrical 

exhibition in Norway? 

Competition from other out-of-home activities 

is obviously one of the biggest challenges we face. 

But at least we can deal with this ourselves by improving 

our own products. The most frustrating 

challenges are the external ones, such as weather 

and [the quality of] films. As soon as we get some 

sun and warm weather in Norway, it is practically 

impossible to get people into the cinemas. 


Earlier this year, it was announced that nine 

4DX screens will be coming to Nordisk, in 

addition to the screen already in place at the 

Ringen location. Is it fair to say, then, that 

Norwegian audiences are enthusiastic about 

immersive seating? 

Yes. The screen we have in Oslo is extremely 

popular. The occupancy is far above the estimates 

we initially had and above anything else we have 

seen here. We are currently adding two more 4DX 

screens in Tønsberg and Bergen and additional 

screens in Denmark as well. Hopefully, they will be 

as popular as the one in Oslo. 

What other high-end amenities—for example, 

dine-in theaters with custom food/drink menus, 

recliner seats, or PLF screens—are particularly 

popular among Norwegian audiences? 

Recliner seats are very popular. Our new cinema 

in Bergen [is] full-recliner. We have very strict alcohol 

policies in Norway, but we are allowed to sell 

alcohol in some of the cinemas targeted to an adult 

audience. This is very popular, and people really 

enjoy a glass of wine at the cinemas. 

The most spectacular cinema in Norway is 

Colosseum, where the largest screen has 888 seats 

and an amazing dome. A couple of years ago we rebuilt 

the screen and brought life to the dome, with 

projection mapping and customized dome shows. 

We still get extremely positive feedback from our 

customers. A lot of people prefer this legendary 

cinema over the new builds. 

What does Nordisk Film do to support 

local filmmaking? 

In addition to the 2.5 percent of the ticket 

revenues that all Norwegian cinemas pay to 

the Film Institute, Nordisk Film supports local 

filmmaking through both distribution and 

production. This is done through other entities 

than the cinemas, though. 

How much of Nordisk Film’s yearly box office 

would you say comes from local productions? 

Our aim is 25 percent of the yearly box office, 

but [that] depends on the films. In 2019, we will 

unfortunately not be close to this. 

When did Nordisk launch your EsportBio 

concept? How many theaters does it operate in, 

and what has customer response been like? 

EsportBio launched in Norway in 2016 and has 

been tested out in both Colosseum and Ringen in 

Oslo. Response from our guests has been superb. 

There is no doubt that esport in cinema will be a 

winner in the years to come. 

What’s your proudest achievement from your 

time so far at Nordisk Film? 

I am proud that we had the guts to invest big 

JANNICKE HAUGEN 


53


The perfect movie 

night starts at one 

of our cinemas, 

where we watch a 

touching film while 

enjoying a glass of 

wine. Afterwards, 

we discuss the 

film with a good 

meal at a local 

restaurant. 

– Jannicke Haugen 

in 4DX, despite the warnings about not being 

able to make it profitable in as small a market as 

Oslo. I am also proud to be part of a company 

that was willing to invest in projection mapping 

and customized dome shows at Colosseum. In this 

business, we tend to define a cinema’s quality based 

on seat comfort and technical specifications. At 

Colosseum, we invested huge amounts in the larger 

experience. This has been profitable from day one. 

And, of course, I am proud that our staff provides 

excellent service on a day-to-day basis. 

What advice would you give to women entering 

the theatrical exhibition business? 

I think women should find their own paths and 

formulas for success based on their own qualities. 

My personal experience is that the business is 

much more complex than I dreamt of. They should 

at least be aware of the complexity before entering 

the business. Which obviously also applies to the 

men in the same position. 

How would you evaluate the progress women 

have made in the exhibition business in 

Scandinavia over the past few years? 

In our company, we have as many women 

in the management team as we have men. I am 

not impressed with the progress in the business, 

though. There are still too many men compared 

to women. I think most companies would benefit 

from a better mix. 

How did you come to be the CEO at Nordisk Film? 

What has your career path looked like? 

I have been working at Egmont—the owner of 

Nordisk Film—for many years. The last position was 

CEO Nordic at Egmont Kids Media. After a while, 

I wanted to cut back on traveling, and the position 

at Nordisk Film opened up. It turned out to be even 

more exciting and complex than I’d dreamt of. 

VOLFONI 

ARACELI VAELLO 

CHIEF SALES OFFICER 

>> Araceli Vaello, chief sales officer at 3-D 

provider Volfoni, was one of the most-nominated 

executives on this year’s list of Top Women in 

Global Exhibition; customers and suppliers she’s 

worked with since joining Volfoni in 2012 praised 

her professionalism, knowledge, and enthusiasm. 

Volfoni’s network extends across 103 countries. 

Over the last year, they have partnered with Vox 

Cinemas to become the 3-D supplier of their fourscreen 

Riyadh Park location in Saudi Arabia. 

Before joining Volfoni, you worked as a 

purchasing sales manager. What did you learn 

from your previous employment that you’ve 

been able to carry through to Volfoni? 

Before Volfoni I worked as the purchasing and 

sales manager for [a group of companies involved 

with] advertising gifts and merchandising. I spent 

my life traveling to China to find new suppliers 

and add products to our existing portfolio. 

In that position, I had to do many jobs at the 

same time. As it was a family business, I learned 

to handle practically every aspect of the company. 

Also, the fact that I was traveling so much to countries 

with different customs and cultures taught 

me a lot when it came to work and getting along 

with people from all over the world. That company 

really believed in me, and today I thank them from 

the bottom of my heart, because I learned so much 

from them. Being a family business, [the group] 

was managed by five siblings, so the effort invested 

in getting the company going was much greater 

than what you usually see in other companies. 

The tremendous effort they made on a daily basis 

rubbed off on me. Much of what I took to Volfoni 

was thanks to them. 

Can you describe a formative moviegoing 

experience from your childhood? 

I have a lot of memories from the cinemas. I remember 

my first movie date; I snuck my glasses on 

in the dark, because I did not want my date to know 

that I wore glasses. I remember learning to dance 

by watching Grease and Saturday Night Fever, and I 

remember buying tickets to Kramer vs. Kramer for 

my parents when they decided to divorce. I have so 

many memories that the list could be never-ending. 

It’s been (I think it’s fair to say) a bit of a bumpy 

road for 3-D in North America over the years. 

There was oversaturation for a time, with a lot of 

films being released with subpar post-conversion 

that turned some customers off, leading to a 

decline in popularity. What has the situation 

been like in Europe? 

The 3-D world is like that. It has its ups and 

downs. In North America and Europe the trend 

is very, very similar. But there are always countries 


where 3-D is very popular, especially the so-called 

BRIC territories [Brazil, Russia, India, China] and 

in the Middle East. We always have stability in one 

way or another. 

I think there are several factors that directly affect 

whether or not people go to watch a 3-D movie. 

The first and main reason is the contents! As 

soon as there are high-quality 3-D movies (movies 

that haven’t suffered from bad conversions), a lot 

of people go to the cinema to see them. Of course, 

there are countries where 3-D is less popular, but it 

usually is like that. 

Look at the case of Gemini Man, where all the 

critics and experts recommended seeing it in 3-D 

rather than in 2-D. Or Avengers, or Avatar. The 

issue is that it is very complicated and extremely 

expensive for the studios to convert to 3-D. If a 

studio doesn’t consider the movie a blockbuster, 

then it just won’t invest in 3-D. This results in 

exhibitors investing less in 3-D technologies, as 

they don’t have good 3-D movies to generate 

ticket sales. 

Recently new 3-D crews for medium-budget 

Hollywood films have started shooting in pure 

native 3-D for the same price as regular filmmaking 

or HD productions. The result is far superior 

to the plain, flat 2-D experience. This change also 

allows distributors to bring a wide variety of content 

to theaters, giving customers greater choice on 

their local 3-D screens. 

The second factor is, of course, the price of a 

3-D ticket compared to the regular 2-D ticket. 

In the USA, small- and medium-sized exhibitors 

cannot afford to have 3-D in their cinemas 

because of the excessively high fees the studios 

charge for playing these movies. Or there are other 

3-D companies that have a monopoly. Again, 

this is especially true in the U.S. and Europe, 

where there is a pattern of unfair competition and 

3-D numbers falling. 

However, in countries where 3-D is very 

successful—for example, in India, China, and 

Russia, countries which, by the way, also produce 

their own 3-D movies—we have customers who 

charge the same ticket price for 2-D and 3-D 

movies, and their attendance is great. In addition 

to being a cultural issue, it is a matter of educating 

the customers. Prices in the end are a matter of 

marketing psychology, like offering something for 

$9.99 instead of $10. Customers will attend if they 

think that they will not spend more money and if 

the contents are good. 

What are the technological advancements 

happening in the world of 3-D that you believe 

will have the most long-term impact? 

3-D technology is rapidly evolving, but it’s too 

soon to talk about [these changes] in the short 

ARACELI VAELLO 


55


All the 

grandchildren 

going together to 

the cinema with 

my grandfather is 

what I remember 

the most. For 

me, going to the 

movies is more 

about experiences 

than the movie 

itself. I remember 

the fights between 

us about which 

movie to choose, 

all of us wanting 

the biggest box of 

popcorn when we 

knew we wouldn’t 

be able to finish it. 

I remember those 

times with great 

tenderness and 

joy. Every time I 

enter the cinema, I 

have that feeling. 

– Araceli Vaello on 

her most memorable 

moviegoing experience 

term. It takes a lot of time and research for something 

as complicated as 3-D to evolve, even though 

we’re constantly improving our existing products 

for a better experience. 

Things like LED walls with high definition for 

3-D will come very soon to the cinemas. With the 

help of our colleagues in the industry (screen and 

projector manufacturers, amongst others) the 3-D 

experience will be improved, with more light and 

brighter colors, due to laser projectors, for example. 

Of course, the holy grail is 3-D autostereoscopic 

LED walls for multiple viewers, referred to as 

multiscopic 3-D. Or, in other words, 3-D without 

the glasses. 

We got a lot of nominations for the Top Women 

in Global Exhibition list—and as far as individual 

people are concerned, you definitely got the 

most! People clearly enjoy working with you. 

What advice would you give to those new to 

our industry when it comes to networking and 

cultivating professional relationships? 

I try to get involved as much as I can and learn 

everything possible about the company I’m working 

in. I always try to stay real and be who I am. I place 

a lot of importance on ethics at work. I’m loyal, 

and I think that’s why people trust me. I’ve made a 

lot of friends in this industry, which instead of an 

industry, seems like a small family to me. 

The only advice I can really give to anyone is to 

be passionate about their work. Passion is everything. 

If you love what you do, then everyone feels 

it and believes what you’re saying. You create a 

bond. Another very important thing is to try not 

to stay in your comfort zone. Step outside of it and 

take risks. Comfort zones are usually for people 

who do not want to thrive. This means you’ll always 

stay where you are. You won’t evolve. Taking risks 

can sometimes go wrong. They’re very scary. But in 

the end, what you get back is always positive. You 

always learn something from failure. 

Who have been your mentors in this industry 

since you joined Volfoni? 

To start with, [my former colleague at Volfoni] 

Alain Chamaillard, who is now head of cinema 

EMEA & CIS at NEC. Apart from being an 

amazing man, leader, and friend, he’s always trusted 

me implicitly and pushed me to improve ever since 

I met him. He’s always shared his success with me 

and celebrated when I’ve had [success]. He always 

promoted me when he thought I deserved it, 

fighting for my rights without my even asking him 

to do so. I’ve learned so much from him, from this 

industry, and from my job. I’ve grown so much 

personally that I can’t thank him enough. 

Apart from Alain, who is still acting as my 

mentor even though we’re not at the same company 

any longer, I have Francisco Lafuente, CEO of 

CinemaNext Spain, who supported me when Alain 

left. He guided me when I asked for help or was 

lost and has been there whenever I needed his help 

or advice, always wanting me to shine and succeed. 

Finally, within Volfoni, I can also highlight 

mentors like Fabien Gattault, who was the CFO 

of Volfoni and one of the brightest people I’ve 

ever met in my life. And also my dear Bertrand 

Caillaud, current COO of Volfoni, who is always 

thinking about me and actively involving me as a 

key player in the future of Volfoni. 

What’s your ideal movie night? 

Very simple! My husband, the little cozy cinema 

in my neighborhood, a huge box of popcorn, and, 

of course, a very good 3-D movie. 

CHRISTIE 

SUSIE BEIERSDORF 

VICE PRESIDENT OF SALES, 

CINEMA – THE AMERICAS 

>> There are few people in the exhibition industry 

that need no introduction, and Susie Beiersdorf is 

one of them. Currently the vice president of sales 

– the Americas for Christie, Beiersdorf has a long 

history in the cinema business dating back to her 

childhood when she worked at her parents’ drive-in 

theater in Southern California. She began working 

her way up the corporate ladder at Cineplex Odeon 

before becoming director of sales at DTS, where 

she helped secure the adoption of digital surround 

sound. Before Christie, Beiersdorf worked at Sony, 

where she helped with the rollout of the company’s 

4K digital cinema projection systems. 

Early in your career, you worked in a 

management capacity at Cineplex Odeon. How 

did your time there help when you moved to the 

technology side of the industry? 

I was fortunate to grow up in a theater family. 

Three of my siblings and I continue in the business 


INTERNATIONAL CINEMA TECHNOLOGY ASSOCIATION 

28TH 

ANNUAL ICTA 

LOS ANGELES 

SEMINAR SERIES 

JANUARY 20-22 

Hilton Universal City, Los Angeles, CA 

FOR MORE INFO AND TO REGISTER: 

VISIT ICTA-WEB.COM 

KEYNOTE- JOHN FITHIAN 

CYBER THREAT INTELLIGENCE 

STREAMING: FOCUS ON CONTENT 

& TECHNOLOGY 

TECHNOLOGY UPDATE 

EXHIBITOR ROUNDTABLE 

AUDITORIUM DESIGN 

MINI THEATRES 

NEW CINEMA DISPLAYS 

THE FULLY-NETWORKED CINEMA 

DEALER ROUNDTABLE 

& MORE!

TOP WOMEN IN GLOBAL EXHIBITION 2019 

Regardless of one’s role or gender, if you make 

it your mission to understand the technology and 

theater business and consider all stakeholders’ views 

as part of the entire ecosystem, you can be successful 

in this industry. As we have embraced the digital 

revolution, bootstrapping has evolved into more 

technical and corporate technology-driven individuals 

being sought out. 

What can companies like Christie do to A) 

encourage gender diversity within the theatrical 

exhibition industry and B) once there is more 

gender diversity, encourage women to move up 

the ladder and achieve executive positions? 

Christie is a leading cinema technology provider 

with a diverse workforce, and we are very proud of 

this. I believe all businesses should hire based on 

skills, potential, and performance. 

SUSIE BEIERSDORF 

I’ve been 

around 

theaters my 

entire life and 

appreciate 

that I grew up 

sharing this 

industry with 

my family. 

That carries on 

to this day. 

– Susie Beiersdorf 

today. The majority of theater operations at that 

time were tightly knit family or relatively small 

corporate entities that sought out people with a 

passion for the business. Cineplex was one of the 

companies that was on the forefront of design, 

operations, and technology. I was exposed to the 

entrepreneurship of innovation early. 

You’ve been an integral part of the theater 

industry’s digital transition. What’s the next stage 

now that digital projectors are installed in most 

of the world’s cinemas? 

I think it’s important to note that “digital” 

applies to both audio and image presentation. 

Digital has created a variety of opportunities 

across the industry for enhancing the moviegoing 

experience, and these are being adopted as exhibitors 

continue to invest in creating differentiating 

environments. We are also starting to see the early 

stages of refresh for the original fleet of digital projectors, 

as we are near the end of the virtual print 

fee (VPF) programs. 

You’ve been in the more tech-focused side of 

exhibition industry for years now—at DTS, Sony, 

and now Christie—but your career has seen you 

form strong relationships with theater chains. 

Do you perceive a difference in gender diversity 

between those two areas? Is the tech side of the 

exhibition industry more male-dominated? 

Tell me about your mentors in this business. 

First and foremost, my father, who was a wise 

man with great passion for the theater business. I 

am fortunate to have been involved with the swift 

change of the industry at the forefront of the digital 

transition and developed many relationships along 

the way. Much of this industry is relationship-based, 

and the sharing of knowledge is important. 

What’s the best piece of professional advice 

you’ve ever gotten? 

My father—my mentor—taught me to always 

be genuine, honest, and inquisitive. 

What advice would you give to women just 

entering the movie exhibition business? 

This industry is like no other. You need to have 

a passion for it. To be successful, and to grow as a 

leader, it’s key to learn the ecosystem, build your 

knowledge and relationships, and get involved in 

various industry-specific associations. 

In speaking with executives, a lot of them are, 

ironically, too busy to regularly go to the movies! 

But if you aren’t, is there a favorite theater you 

like to go to? What’s your ideal movie night? 

I love watching movies on the big screen and 

never get tired of popcorn. I am fortunate to live in 

Los Angeles, where there are many choices for a great 

movie experience. When I travel, which is often, I 

like to check out the local theaters and see how operators 

are catering to the different markets. 


SOCIAL MEDIA 

BY ALEX EDGHILL 

NOW STREAMING 

HOW DISNEY PLUS CAN 

HELP THE BOX OFFICE 

The launch of Disney Plus on 

November 12 marked a watershed 

moment in both online streaming 

and theatrical box office. Content 

is king when it comes to streaming, 

and while the service began 

with only 10 new original series, 

the inclusion of family-friendly 

entries from the Disney vault, the 

Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) 

films, the Star Wars franchise, 

and the studio’s newly acquired 

Fox content, makes Disney Plus 

an attractive option in a crowded 

marketplace. 

PEDRO PASCAL 

AS “THE MANDALORIAN” 

>> Social media tracking reveals that 

Disney Plus original programming has 

the potential to become a new driver 

for the studio’s theatrical offerings. This 

would not only set it apart from the other 

streaming giants, but pay off in more 

than just monthly subscriptions. Disney 

Plus’s flagship original series, “The 

Mandalorian,” offers an instructive look 

at the potentially symbiotic relationship 

between Disney Plus and the box office. 

The Disney marketing arm for the 

Star Wars franchise has used its official 

social media accounts to market the new 

series relentlessly and to great effect. The 

Instagram page for Star Wars has almost 

12 million followers, with close to 20 

million on Facebook and over 4 million 

on Twitter. With Star Wars: The Rise of 

Skywalker scheduled to release a month 

after the launch of Disney Plus, the synergy 

between them has been spectacular. 

Instagram has already generated over 34 

million likes since June 1 to lead all films 

tracked on the service, handily beating 

the second and third place of 23 million 

and 20 million (both of which happen to 

be Disney titles: Avengers: Endgame and 

Spider-Man: Far From Home). 

While Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 

will not owe its ultimate success to “The 

Mandalorian,” the series has generated 

great interest and awareness among fans. 

For any franchise, increased interest on 

the eve of a release is always a good thing. 

Consider a similar model for Marvel 

movies, with a collection of web series 

already in the pipeline, including “The 

Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Wanda- 

Vision,” “Loki,” and “Hawkeye.” All of 

these will be more closely tied to the 

successful MCU franchise than previous 

Marvel series such as “Agent of 

S.H.I.E.L.D,” “Luke Cage,” or “Jessica 

Jones.” The audience for the MCU is 

huge, garnering worldwide revenue above 

$22 billion. Original content on Disney 

Plus featuring these characters will not 

only drive subscriptions but help drive 

interest in further theatrical films. If we 

consider a similar model for other popular 

titles, Pixar films, the Fox catalogue, 

or Disney animated releases—the sky is 

truly the limit. 

Disney owns some of the most popular 

social media pages for movies on all 

major platforms. And as they showed 

in the lead up to the release of Disney 

Plus, they were adept in leveraging those 

pages to drive subscriptions. The banner 

images for many of those pages were 

used to promote Disney Plus in the lead 

up to its launch. This is a luxury Disney 

has that its competitors do not: access 

to tens of millions of fans worldwide, 

actively engaged across multiple social 

channels. This is an invaluable resource 

for the company to leverage, allowing it 

to achieve a level of success none of its 

streaming competitors can match. 

Online streaming has been painted 

as an existential threat to the theatrical 

box office. Disney Plus might be the first 

streaming service to show how the two 

can coexist and thrive together. 


LONG-RANGE FORECAST 

BY SHAWN ROBBINS 

COMING ATTRACTIONS 

SIX FILMS WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON THIS JANUARY 

1917 Director Sam Mendes on the set of the World War I drama with George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman 

1917 

Universal | January 10 (Wide Expansion) 

This WWI drama from Sam Mendes is one to watch as a 

potential awards-season candidate. Fans of Dunkirk and Saving 

Private Ryan could turn out. 

JUST MERCY 

Warner Bros. | January 10 (Wide Expansion) 

A strong cast led by Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, and Brie 

Larson has us intrigued. Opening before MLK weekend will be 

a strength given the film’s focus on civil rights. 

LIKE A BOSS 

Paramount | January 10 

Tiffany Haddish’s rising stardom and the potent match-up with 

Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek could drive this film to success, 

especially among girls-night-out crowds. 

BAD BOYS FOR LIFE 

Sony | January 17 

The return of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence to this late- 

’90s/early-’00s action franchise should appeal to fans over 

MLK weekend. The first trailer has gone over quite well on 

social media. 

DOLITTLE 

Universal | January 17 

Robert Downey Jr.’s star power will be a major factor in this reimagining 

of the classic character. We’re optimistic for now, but 

future marketing will give us a better idea of what to expect. 

THE GENTLEMEN 

STX | January 24 

Guy Ritchie’s next film shows promise on paper as a 

crime-comedy film with an ensemble cast, although opening after 

a holiday weekend and competing with NFL playoffs could 

result in back-loading. 


Check out more box office data insights 

at pulse.boxofficepro.com 

A LONG TIME AGO, IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY ... 

Disney’s 2012 acquisition of Lucasfilm set off a new era of Star Wars movies 

at cinemas around the world. Since the release of Disney’s first film in the 

franchise, 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, the series has 

grossed over $4.8 billion worldwide. The industry is anxiously awaiting 

the release of the latest entry in the series, Star Wars: Episode IX - The 

Rise of Skywalker. Coming off mixed reactions from a fervently vocal 

fan community after the 2017 release of Episode VIII, and a rare box 

office disappointment with 2018 spin-off Solo: A Star Wars Story, the 

future of the Star Wars universe might be at stake depending on the 

new film’s numbers. 

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY 

STAR WARS: EPISODE VII — THE FORCE AWAKENS 

DOMESTIC $ 936,662,225 

INTERNATIONAL $ 1,131,561,399 

WORLDWIDE $ 2,068,223,624 

DOMESTIC $ 532,177,324 

INTERNATIONAL $ 523,879,949 

WORLDWIDE $ 1,056,057,273 

SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY 

STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII — THE LAST JEDI 

DOMESTIC $ 620,181,382 

INTERNATIONAL 

PAUL WALKER IN 

$ 712,358,507 

FURIOUS WORLDWIDE 6 $ 1,332,539,889 

2013 

DOMESTIC $ 213,767,512 

INTERNATIONAL $ 179,157,295 

WORLDWIDE $ 392,924,807 


63

BY KEVIN LALLY 

SAOIRSE RONAN 

LITTLE WOMEN 

DEC. 25 / SONY-COLUMBIA 

Louisa May Alcott’s classic 1860s novel gets its 

seventh feature adaptation (the last was in 1994), 

reconceived by Oscar-nominated Lady Bird writer-director 

Greta Gerwig. Alcott loosely based 

the story of the four March sisters coming of age 

after the Civil War on her own family dynamics. 

CAST SAOIRSE RONAN, EMMA WATSON, FLORENCE 

PUGH, TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET, LAURA DERN, MERYL 

STREEP, ELIZA SCANLEN, LOUIS GARREL, JAMES 

NORTON, CHRIS COOPER, BOB ODENKIRK RATING 

PG RUNNING TIME 135 MIN. 


DEMIÁN BICHIR 

THE GRUDGE 

JAN. 3 / SONY-SCREEN GEMS 

Producers Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert reboot the horror series that began in 

Japan in 2002 and spawned three American versions, all about a supernatural 

curse that spreads from victim to victim. John Cho plays a realtor who’s the 

first to encounter the angry spirit inside an ominous old house. Nicolas Pesce 

(The Eyes of My Mother) directed. 

CAST JOHN CHO, ANDREA RISEBOROUGH, DEMIÁN BICHIR, BETTY GILPIN, LIN 

SHAYE, JACKI WEAVER, FRANKIE FAISON RATING R RUNNING TIME TBA 

SPIES IN DISGUISE 

DEC. 25 / DISNEY-FOX 

Blue Sky Studios, the animation house 

behind the Ice Age films, returns to theaters 

with this comedy about a super-suave spy 

who is transformed into a pigeon, thanks 

to the well-meaning efforts of a young tech 

nerd at the agency. Together, they try to 

make the best of this bizarre turn of events 

in their mission to save the world. Nick 

Bruno and Troy Quane directed. 

VOICE CAST WILL SMITH, TOM HOLLAND, 

BEN MENDELSOHN, KAREN GILLAN, RASHIDA 

JONES, REBA MCINTYRE, DJ KHALED, RACHEL 

BROSNAHAN, MASI OKA RATING PG RUN- 

NING TIME TBA 

ROSE BYRNE AND TIFFANY HADDISH 

LIKE A BOSS 

JAN. 10 / PARAMOUNT 

Tiffany Haddish and Rose Byrne are best friends who own a cosmetics company 

in financial trouble. When the women accept a buyout from a powerful 

rival, their beauty business takes an ugly turn. Miguel Arteta (The Good Girl, 

Beatriz at Dinner) directed. 

CAST TIFFANY HADDISH, ROSE BYRNE, SALMA HAYEK, BILLY PORTER, JENNIFER 

COOLIDGE, ARI GRAYNOR RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA 


65

ON SCREEN 

MY SPY 

JAN. 10 / STX FILMS 

Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) plays a disgraced 

CIA agent whose cover is nearly blown when 

a precocious 9-year-old girl discovers him surveilling 

her family. In exchange for her secrecy, he agrees to 

teach her how to be a spy. Peter Segal (Tommy Boy, 50 

First Dates, Get Smart) directed this action comedy. 

CAST DAVE BAUTISTA, CHLOE COLEMAN, KRISTEN 

SCHAAL, KEN JEONG, PARISA FITZ-HENLEY RATING PG-13 

RUNNING TIME TBA 

CHLOE COLEMAN AND DAVE BAUTISTA 

UNDERWATER 

JAN. 10 / DISNEY-FOX 

A team of scientists struggles to 

stay alive when an earthquake 

decimates their deep-sea laboratory. 

But, as the trailer warns, something 

has awakened. William 

Eubank (The Signal) directed. 

CAST KRISTEN STEWART, VINCENT 

CASSEL, T.J. MILLER, JOHN 

GALLAGHER JR., MAMOUDOU 

ATHIE, JESSICA HENWICK RATING 

PG-13 RUNNING TIME TBA 

KRISTEN STEWART AND VINCENT CASSEL 


DOLITTLE 

JAN. 17 / UNIVERSAL 

Dr. John Dolittle is an eccentric widower 

who shuns humans for the company of a huge 

menagerie of animals with whom he converses. When 

the queen becomes seriously ill, he sets off for a mythical 

island on a quest for a cure. Robert Downey Jr. is the third 

actor to play the role on film, following Eddie Murphy in 

1998 and 2001 and Rex Harrison in the 1967 Best Picture 

nominee. Stephen Gaghan (Syriana) directed. 

CAST ROBERT DOWNEY JR., ANTONIO BANDERAS, MICHAEL 

SHEEN, JESSIE BUCKLEY; VOICES OF EMMA THOMPSON, 

RALPH FIENNES, TOM HOLLAND, SELENA GOMEZ, 

OCTAVIA SPENCER, MARION COTILLARD, RAMI 

MALEK, JOHN CENA, KUMAIL NANJIANI 

RATING TBA RUNNING 

TIME TBA 


67

ON SCREEN 

MARTIN LAWRENCE AND WILL SMITH 


JAN. 17 / SONY-COLUMBIA 

Bad Boys, about two maverick cops, was Will Smith’s first box 

office hit in 1995. Nearly 25 years later, Smith reunites with 

co-star Martin Lawrence for another round of wild action and 

comedy. Lawrence’s Marcus Burnett is now a police inspector, 

and Smith’s Mike Lowery is dealing with a midlife crisis and a 

mercenary with a grudge against him. Adil El Arbi and Bilall 

Fallah directed. 

CAST WILL SMITH, MARTIN LAWRENCE, VANESSA HUDGENS, 

ALEXANDER LUDWIG, JOE PANTOLIANO, CHARLES MELTON RATING 

TBA RUNNING TIME TBA 

THE LAST FULL MEASURE 

JAN. 17 / ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS 

William Pitsenbarger (played by Jeremy Irvine, left) was an Air 

Force medic who stayed behind and saved over 60 men during a 

horrific battle of the Vietnam War. Writer-director Todd Robinson’s 

drama chronicles the efforts by his father and comrades to 

award him the Congressional Medal of Honor 20 years later. 

CAST SEBASTIAN STAN, CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, SAMUEL L. 

JACKSON, WILLIAM HURT, ED HARRIS, GRANT GUSTIN, PETER 

FONDA, JEREMY IRVINE, BRADLEY WHITFORD, DIANE LADD RATING 

R RUNNING TIME 110 MIN. 

JEREMY IRVINE 

RUN 

JAN. 24 / LIONSGATE-SUMMIT 

A teenage girl, raised in complete isolation by her mother, 

learns that Mom has been harboring a terrible secret. Director/ 

co-writer Aneesh Chaganty earned acclaim for the innovative 

2018 thriller Searching. 

CAST SARAH PAULSON, KIERA ALLEN, PAT HEALY RATING TBA 



THE TURNING 

JAN. 24 / UNIVERSAL 

This modern update of Henry James’s classic 1898 horror 

novella The Turn of the Screw centers on a governess who’s 

hired to care for two orphaned children and comes to 

believe her new household is haunted. This is celebrated 

music-video director Floria Sigismondi’s first feature since 

2010’s The Runaways. 

CAST MACKENZIE DAVIS, FINN WOLFHARD, BROOKLYNN 

PRINCE, KAREN EGAN RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME TBA 

MACKENZIE DAVIS 

MICHELLE DOCKERY AND MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY 

THE GENTLEMEN 

JAN. 24 / STX FILMS 

Director Guy Ritchie returns to his 

crime-comedy roots with this tale 

of an American expat who’s made a 

fortune as a marijuana magnate in 

London. But when he tries to cash 

out and retire, his rivals set in motion 

assorted plots to rip him off. 

CAST MATTHEW MCCONAUGHEY, 

CHARLIE HUNNAM, MICHELLE 

DOCKERY, COLIN FARRELL, HUGH 

GRANT, JEREMY STRONG, HENRY 

GOLDING RATING R RUNNING 

TIME TBA 


69

ON SCREEN 

IP MAN 4: THE FINALE 

DEC. 25 / WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT 

In this fourth entry in the series based on the life of a Wing 

Chun martial arts master, Ip Man travels to America and 

encounters racial discrimination and conflict in the martial arts 

community. Wilson Yip has directed all four films featuring 

Hong Kong superstar Donnie Yen. 

CAST DONNIE YEN, SCOTT ADKINS, WU YUE, 

VAN NESS, DANNY CHAN RATING TBA 


JUST MERCY 

DEC. 25 (WIDE JAN. 10) / 

WARNER BROS. 

Black Panther and Creed star 

Michael B. Jordan plays 

Bryan Stevenson, a young 

Harvard Law School graduate 

who settles in Alabama 

with the goal of defending 

those unjustly condemned. 

Destin Daniel Cretton’s drama, 

based on Stevenson’s best-selling 

memoir, centers on the case 

of Walter McMillian, sentenced to 

death for the murder of an 18-year-old 

girl despite a mountain of evidence proving 

his innocence. 

CAST MICHAEL B. JORDAN, JAMIE FOXX, BRIE LARSON, ROB 

MORGAN, TIM BLAKE NELSON, RAFE SPALL, O’SHEA JACKSON JR. 

RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME 136 MIN. 

THE SONG OF NAMES 

DEC. 25 / SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 

On the eve of World War II, a 9-year-old Polish-Jewish violin 

prodigy named Dovidl is taken in by a Christian family in 

London and bonds with their own 9-year-old, Martin. At 21, 

the violinist is set to make his concert debut—and disappears 

without a trace. Decades later, the adult Martin feels compelled 

to search for his missing friend. Director François Girard helmed 

the similarly music-driven drama The Red Violin in 1998. 

CAST TIM ROTH, CLIVE OWEN, CATHERINE MCCORMACK, JONAH 

HAUER-KING, LUKE DOYLE, GERRAN HOWELL, MISHA HANDLEY, 

SAUL RUBINEK, STANLEY TOWNSEND, EDDIE IZZARD RATING PG-13 

RUNNING TIME 113 MIN. 

1917 

DEC. 25 (WIDE JAN. 10) / UNIVERSAL 

In World War I, two young British soldiers are assigned a risky 

mission: cross enemy lines and deliver a message that will save 

an entire brigade, including the brother of one of the soldiers, 

LIMITED RELEASES 

GEORGE MACKAY IN SAM MENDES’S UPCOMING 1917 

from a deadly attack. Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes and 

master cinematographer Roger Deakins choreograph the action 

to appear as one continuous shot. 

CAST GEORGE MACKAY, DEAN-CHARLES CHAPMAN, BENEDICT 

CUMBERBATCH, RICHARD MADDEN, MARK STRONG, ANDREW 

SCOTT, COLIN FIRTH RATING R RUNNING TIME 110 MIN. 

CLEMENCY 

DEC. 27 / NEON 

Alfre Woodard is earning raves 

for her performance as a prison 

warden whose years of overseeing 

death row executions have 

taken a psychological toll. As 

she prepares to kill another 

inmate, she reaches a crisis of 

conscience. Writer-director 

Chinonye Chukwu spent 

four years researching this 

grim topic. 

CAST ALFRE WOODARD, ALDIS 

HODGE, RICHARD SCHIFF, 

WENDELL PIERCE, DANIELLE 

BROOKS, MICHAEL O’NEILL, 

RICHARD GUNN, VERNEE WATSON, 

DENNIS HASKINS, LAMONICA GARRETT 

RATING R RUNNING TIME 112 MIN. 

LES MISÉRABLES 

JAN. 10 / AMAZON STUDIOS 

Director Ladj Ly riffs on Victor Hugo’s famous novel with this 

21st-century update inspired by the 2005 riots in Paris. A young 

cop joins the anticrime squad in the impoverished neighborhood 

of Montfermeil and struggles to maintain order after an arrest 

goes terribly wrong. The film is France’s selection for this year’s 

foreign-language Oscar race. 

CAST DAMIEN BONNARD, ALEXIS MANENTI, DJEBRIL ZONGA, 

STEVE TIENTCHEU, JEANNE BALIBAR RATING TBA RUNNING 

TIME 103 MIN. 

WEATHERING WITH YOU 

JAN. 15 / GKIDS 

Japanese animation director Makoto Shinkai’s gorgeous 2016 

feature Your Name earned a huge $357 million worldwide. 

Shinkai returns with this equally striking fantasy about the relationship 

between a teenage runaway and a girl with the power 

to stop the constant rain and coax out the sun. Japan has chosen 

the film, already an overseas hit, for this year’s foreign-language 

Oscar race. 

VOICE CAST KOTARO DAIGO, NANA MORI, TSUBASA HONDA, 

SAKURA KIRYU RATING PG-13 RUNNING TIME 114 MIN. 


EVENT CINEMA CALENDAR 

CINELIFE 

ENTERTAINMENT 

cinelifeentertainment.com 

310-309-5774 

GAUGUIN FROM THE NATIONAL 

GALLERY, LONDON 

Tues. 1/21-Mon. 1/27 (U.S. release) · Art 

RIGOLETTO ON THE LAKE 

Mon. 2/10-Sun. 2/16 · Opera 

ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET - 

AKRAM KHAN’S GISELLE 

Fri. 3/6 - Fri. 3/13 (U.S. release) · Ballet 

FATHOM EVENTS 

fathomevents.com 

855-473-4612 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: 

WHEN HARRY MET SALLY 

Sun. 12/1, Tues. 12/3 · Classics 

GUNDAM 40TH ANNIVERSARY 

CELEBRATION: CHARS 

COUNTERATTACK 

Thurs. 12/5 · Anime 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD: THE MAGIC 

FLUTE HOLIDAY ENCORE 

Sat. 12/7 · Opera 

THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD 

Sat. 12/7, Tues. 12/17, Weds. 12/18 · 

Documentaries 

PROMARE (REDUX) 

Sun. 12/8 (sub), Tues. 12/10 (dub) · 

Anime 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: 

MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS 

Sun. 12/8, Weds. 12/11 · Classics 

INXS: LIVE BABY LIVE AT 

WEMBLEY STADIUM 

Mon. 12/9 · Music 

BOLSHOI BALLET: THE NUTCRACKER 

Sun. 12/15 · Ballet 

STUDIO GHIBLI FEST 2019: THE 

TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA 

Mon. 12/16 (dub), Weds. 12/18 (sub) · 

Anime 

MYSTIFY: MICHAEL HUTCHENCE 

Tues. 1/7 · Documentaries 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD: WOZZECK 

Sat. 1/11 (live), Weds. 1/15 (encore) · 

Opera 

WEATHERING WITH YOU 

Weds. 1/15, Thurs. 1/16 · Anime 

BLIND EYES OPENED 

Thurs. 1/23 · Inspirational 

BOLSHOI BALLET: GISELLE 


THE MET: LIVE IN HD: THE 

GERSHWINS’ PORGY AND BESS 

Sat. 2/1 (live), Weds. 2/5 (encore), Sat. 

2/8 (encore) · Opera 

BOLSHOI BALLET: SWAN LAKE 


FREE BURMA RANGERS 

Mon. 2/24, Tues. 2/25 · Inspirational 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD: AGRIPPINA 


Opera 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD: 

DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER 


Opera 

CBN: I AM PATRICK 

Tues. 3/17, Weds. 3/18 · Inspirational 

BOLSHOI BALLET: 

ROMEO AND JULIET 


SIGHT AND SOUND PRESENTS JESUS 

Tues. 4/7, Thurs. 4/9, Sat. 4/11 · 

Inspirational 

THE MET: LIVE IN HD: TOSCA 

Sat. 4/11 (live), Weds. 4/15 (encore), Sat. 

4/18 (encore) · Opera 

BOLSHOI BALLET: JEWELS 


THE MET: LIVE IN HD: 

MARIA STUARDA 

Sat. 5/9 (live), Weds. 5/13 (encore) · Opera 

MORE2SCREEN 

www.more2screen.com 

BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER LIVE 

NEW YEAR’S EVE CONCERT 

Tues. 12/31 (U.K./Republic of Ireland) · 

Music 


KINKY BOOTS – THE MUSICAL 

Tues. 2/4, Sun 4/9 (except North 

America) · Musical 

JONAS KAUFMANN MY VIENNA 

Tues., 2/11 · Opera 

BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER LIVE 

SEASON FINALE CONCERT 

Fri. 6/12 (U.K./Republic of Ireland) · 

Music 

MYCINEMA 

www.mycinema.live 

MURDEROUS TRANCE 

Fri. 11/1 · Premiere 

HARPOON 

Fri. 11/1 · Premiere 

APOCALYPSE NOW: FINAL CUT, 

VETERAN’S DAY RE-RELEASE 

Weds. 11/11 · Classics 

MAN’S BEST FRIEND, 

VETERAN’S DAY 

Weds. 11/11 · Premiere 

LE CIRQUE ALIS 

Tues.11/24 · Arts 

ROYAL OPERA HOUSE 

roh.org.uk/cinemas 

cinema@roh.org.uk 

COPPÉLIA 

Tues. 12/10 · Ballet 

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY 

Thurs. 1/16 · Ballet 

LA BOHÈME 

Weds. 1/29 · Opera 

THE CELLIST / DANCES AT 

A GATHERING 

Tues. 2/25 · Ballet 

FIDELIO 

Tues/ 3/17 · Opera 

SWAN LAKE 

Weds. 4/1 · Ballet 

CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA / 

PAGLIACCI 

Tues. 4/21 · Opera 

THE DANTE PROJECT 

Thurs. 5/28 · Ballet 

ELEKTRA 

Thurs. 6/18 · Opera 

TRAFALGAR RELEASING 

trafalgar-releasing.com 

BRANAGH THEATRE LIVE: 

THE WINTER’S TALE 

Weds. 12/4 · Theater 


73

BOOKING GUIDE 

DISNEY 

ONWARD 

MAR. 6, 2020 

A24 

646-568-6015 

IN FABRIC 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD 

C Marianne Jean-Baptiste, 

Gwendoline Christie 

D Peter Strickland 

R · Com/Hor 

UNCUT GEMS 

Fri, 12/13/19 LTD 

C Adam Sandler, LaKeith Stanfield 

D Josh Safdie, Benny Safdie 

R · Com 

FIRST COW 

Fri, 3/6/20 LTD 

C John Magaro, Orion Lee 

D Kelly Reichardt 

NR · Dra/Wes 

AMAZON STUDIOS 

310-573-0652 

brian.flanagan@amazonstudios.com 

THE AERONAUTS 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD 

C Eddie Redmayne, Felicity Jones 

D Tom Harper 

PG-13 · Act/Adv · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

SEBERG 

Fri, 12/13/19 LTD 

C Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell 

D Benedict Andrews 

R · Dra 

LES MISÉRABLES 

Fri, 1/10/20 LTD 

C Damien Bonnard, Alexis Manenti 

D Ladj Ly 

R · Dra 

BLUE FOX ENTERTAINMENT 

William Gruenberg 

william@bluefoxentertainment.com 

FEEDBACK 

Fri, 1/17/20 LTD 

C Eddie Marsan, Paul Anderson 

D Pedro C. Alonso 

NR · Thr/Hor 

SOMETIMES ALWAYS NEVER 

Fri, 3/6/20 LTD 

C Bill Nighy, Sam Riley 

D Carl Hunter 

NR · Com/Dra 

BLEECKER STREET 

THE ASSISTANT 

Fri, 1/31/20 LTD 

C Julia Garner 

D Kitty Green 

NR · Dra 

ORDINARY LOVE 

Fri, 2/14/20 LTD 

C Liam Neeson, Lesley Manville 

D Lisa Barros D’Sa, Glenn Leyburn 

R · Dra/Rom 

DISNEY 

818-560-1000 / Ask for Distribution 

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER 

Fri, 12/20/19 WIDE 

C Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver 

D J.J. Abrams 

NR · Act/Adv/SF · 3D/IMAX/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

ONWARD 

Fri, 3/6/20 WIDE 

C Chris Pratt, Tom Holland 

D Dan Scanlon 

NR · Ani · 3D/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

MULAN 

Fri, 3/27/20 WIDE 

C Yifei Liu, Donnie Yen 

D Niki Caro 

NR · Fan/Act/Adv · 3D/IMAX 

BLACK WIDOW 


C Scarlett Johansson, David Harbour 

D Cate Shortland 

NR · Act/Adv · 3D 

ARTEMIS FOWL 

Fri, 5/29/20 WIDE 

C Ferdia Shaw, Josh Gad 

D Kenneth Branagh 

NR · Fan · 3D 

SOUL 

Fri, 6/19/20 WIDE 

C Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey 

D Pete Docter 

NR · Ani · 3D/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

JUNGLE CRUISE 

Fri, 7/24/20 WIDE 

C Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt 

D Jaume Collet-Serra 

NR · Act/Adv · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE ONE AND ONLY IVAN 

Fri, 8/14/20 WIDE 

NR · Ani 

THE ETERNALS 

Fri, 11/6/20 WIDE 

C Richard Madden, Angelina Jolie 

D Chloé Zhao 

NR · Act/Adv/SF 

RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON 

Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE 

C Awkwafina, Cassie Steele 

D Paul Briggs, Dean Wellins 

NR · Ani · 3D 

FOCUS FEATURES 

424-214-636 

EMMA 

Fri, 2/21/20 WIDE 

C Anya Taylor-Joy, Johnny Flynn 

D Autumn de Wilde 

NR · Dra/Com 


COVERS 

Fri, 5/8/20 LTD 

C Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross 

D Nisha Ganatra 

NR · Com · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

LAST NIGHT IN SOHO 

Fri, 9/25/20 WIDE 

C Anya Taylor-Joy, 

Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie 

D Edgar Wright 

NR · Hor/Thr · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

UNTITLED TOM McCARTHY PROJECT 

Fri, 11/6/20 LTD 

C Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin 

D Tom McCarthy 

NR · Thr 

FOX 

310-369-1000 / 212-556-2400 

SPIES IN DISGUISE 

Wed, 12/25/19 WIDE 

C Will Smith, Tom Holland 

D Nick Bruno, Troy Quane 

PG · Ani 

UNDERWATER 

Fri, 1/10/20 WIDE 

C Kristen Stewart, T.J. Miller 

D William Eubank 

NR · Act · Dolby Atmos 

CALL OF THE WILD 

Fri, 2/21/20 WIDE 

NR · Dra 

THE NEW MUTANTS 


C Anya Taylor-Joy, Maisie Williams 

D Josh Boone 

NR · Act/Hor/SF · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW 

Fri, 5/15/20 WIDE 

C Amy Adams, Gary Oldman 

D Joe Wright 

NR · Cri/Dra/Mys 

FREE GUY 


C Ryan Reynolds 

D Shawn Levy 

NR · Com/Act 

BOB’S BURGERS 

Fri, 7/17/20 WIDE 

C H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal 

NR · Ani 

EMPTY MAN 


NR · Cri/Dra/Hor 

THE KING’S MAN 

Fri, 9/18/20 WIDE 

C Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton 

D Matthew Vaughn 

NR · Act/Adv · IMAX 

DEATH ON THE NILE 

Fri, 10/9/20 WIDE 

C Tom Bateman, Annette Bening 

D Kenneth Branagh 

NR · Cri/Dra/Mys 

EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE 

Fri, 10/23/20 WIDE 

NR · Dra/Mus 

DEEP WATER 

Fri, 11/13/20 WIDE 

C Ben Affleck, Ana de Armas 

NR - Thr 

WEST SIDE STORY 

Fri, 12/18/20 WIDE 

C Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler 

D Steven Spielberg 

NR · Mus 

FOX SEARCHLIGHT 

212-556-2400 

A HIDDEN LIFE 

Fri, 12/13/19 WIDE 

C August Diehl, Valerie Pachner 

D Terrence Malick 

PG-13 · Dra/War 

WENDY 

Fri, 2/28/20 LTD 

D Benh Zeitlin 

PG-13 · Dra/Fan 

ANTLERS 

Fri, 4/17/20 LTD 

C Keri Russell, Jessie Plemons 

D Scott Cooper 

NR · Hor 

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF 

DAVID COPPERFIELD 

Fri, 5/8/20 LTD 

NR 

IFC FILMS 

bookings@ifcfilms.com 

KNIVES AND SKIN 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD 

C Marika Engelhardt, Grace Smith 

D Jennifer Reeder 

NR · Dra 

THREE CHRISTS 

Fri, 1/3/20 LTD 

C Richard Gere, Peter Dinklage 

D Jon Avnet 

NR · Com 

OLYMPIC DREAMS 

Fri, 2/14/20 LTD 

C Alexi Pappas, Nick Kroll 

D Jeremy Teicher 

PG-13 · Com/Rom 

PREMATURE 

Fri, 2/21/20 LTD 

C Zora Howard, Joshua Boone 

D Rashaad Ernesto Green 

NR · Dra 

KINO LORBER 

BEANPOLE 

Fri, 1/29/20 LTD 

C Viktoria Miroshnichenko, Vasilisa Perelygina 

D Kantemir Balagov 

NR · Dra 

LIONSGATE 

310-309-8400 

EN BRAZOS DE UN ASESINO 

Fri, 12/6/19 MOD 

C William Levy, Alicia Sanz 

D Matias Moltrasio 

R 

BOMBSHELL 

Fri, 12/13/19 LTD. 

C Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie 

D Jay Roach 

NR · Dra/Bio 

RUN 

Fri, 1/24/20 WIDE 

C Sarah Paulson, Kiera Allen 

D Aneesh Chaganty 

NR · Sus 

LAS PILDORAS DE MI NOVIO 

Fri, 2/21/20 WIDE 

C Jaime Camil, Sandra Echeverría 

D Diego Kaplan 

NR · Com 

I STILL BELIEVE 

Fri, 3/20/20 WIDE 

C K.J. Apa, Gary Sinise 

D Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin 

NR · Dra 

UNTITLED JANELLE MONÁE FILM 

Fri, 4/24/20 WIDE 

C Janelle Monáe 

D Gerard Bush, Christopher Renz 

NR 


75

BOOKING GUIDE 

PARAMOUNT 

323-956-5000 

LIKE A BOSS 

Fri, 1/10/20 WIDE 

C Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne 

D Miguel Arteta 

NR · Com 

THE RHYTHM SECTION 

Fri, 1/31/20 WIDE 

C Blake Lively 

D Reed Morano 

NR · Thr 

MAGNOLIA PICTURES 

LITTLE JOE 

DEC. 6, 2019 

EMILY BEECHAM 

UNTITLED SAW FILM 

Fri, 5/15/20 WIDE 

C Chris Rock, Samuel L. Jackson 

D Darren Lynn Bousman 

NR · Hor 

BARB AND STAR GO TO VISTA DEL MAR 

Fri, 7/31/20 WIDE 

C Kristen Wiig, Annie Mumolo 

D Josh Greenbaum 

NR · Com 

FATALE 

Fri, 10/9/20 WIDE 

C Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy 

D Deon Taylor 

NR · Sus 

MAGNOLIA PICTURES 

212-379-9704 / Neal Block 

nblock@magpictures.com 

LITTLE JOE 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD. 

C Emily Beecham, Ben Whishaw 

D Jessica Hausne 

NR · Dra 

CUNNINGHAM 

Fri, 12/13/19 LTD. 

D Alla Kovgan 

PG · Doc 

THE WHISTLERS 

Fri, 2/28/20 LTD. 

C Vlad Ivanov, Catrinel Marlon 

D Corneliu Porumboiu 

NR · Com 

NEON 

hal@neonrated.com 

PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD. 

C Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel 

D Céline Sciamma 

NR · Dra/Rom 

CLEMENCY 

Fri, 12/27/19 LTD. 

C Alfre Woodard, Aldis Hodge 

D Chinoye Chukwu 

NR · Dra 

THE LODGE 

Fri, 2/7/20 LTD. 

C Riley Keough, Richard Armitage 

D Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz 

R · Hor 

1091 

Richard Matson / 323-540-5476 

rmatson@theorchard.com 

MIDNIGHT FAMILY 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD. 

D Luke Lorentzen 

NR · Doc 

OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES 

212-219-4029 

CANE RIVER 

Fri, 2/7/20 LTD 

C Tommye Myrick, Richard Romain 

D Horace B. Jenkins 

NR · Dra 

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 

Fri, 2/14/20 WIDE 

C Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey 

D Jeff Fowler 

NR · Ani/Adv/Com 

A QUIET PLACE PART II 

Fri, 3/20/20 WIDE 

C Emily Blunt 

D John Krasinski 

NR · Hor/Thr · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE LOVEBIRDS 


C Anna Camp, Kumail Nanjiani 

D Michael Showalter 

NR · Rom/Com 

MONSTER PROBLEMS 

Fri, 4/17/20 WIDE 

C Dylan O’Brien 

D Michael Matthews 

NR · Adv 

THE SPONGEBOB MOVIE: 

SPONGE ON THE RUN 

Fri, 5/22/20 WIDE 

C Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke 

D Tim Hill 

NR · Ani 

TOP GUN: MAVERICK 

Fri, 6/26/20 WIDE 

C Tom Cruise, Miles Teller 

D Joseph Kosinski 

NR · Act/Adv · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

INFINITE 


NR · SF 

SPELL 

Fri, 8/28/20 WIDE 

NR · Hor/Thr 

TOM CLANCY’S WITHOUT REMORSE 

Fri, 9/18/20 WIDE 

NR · Thr 


THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 

Fri, 9/25/20 LTD 

D Aaron Sorkin 

NR · Dra 

GI JOE 

Fri, 10/16/20 WIDE 

NR · Act/Adv 

UNTITLED FAMILY EVENT MOVIE 

Fri, 11/13/20 WIDE 

NR · Fam 

UNTITLED COMING TO 

AMERICA SEQUEL 

Fri, 12/18/20 WIDE 

NR · Com 

THE TOMORROW WAR 

Fri, 12/25/20 WIDE 

C Yvonne Strahovski, Chris Pratt 

D Chris McKay 

NR · Act/SF 

RUMBLE 

Fri, 1/29/20 WIDE 

NR · Ani 

ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS 

323-882-8490 

THE LAST FULL MEASURE 

Fri, 1/17/20 WIDE 

C Samuel L. Jackson, Bradley Whitford 

D Todd Robinson 

R · Dra/War · Dolby Stereo 

SAMUEL GOLDWYN FILMS 

DANIEL ISN’T REAL 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD 

C Patrick Schwarzenegger, Miles Robbins 

D Adam Egypt Mortimer 

NR · Thr 

EXTRACURRICULAR 

Fri, 1/17/20 LTD 

C Keenan Tracey, Brittany Raymond 

D Ray Xue 

NR · Hor 

COME AS YOU ARE 

Fri, 2/14/20 LTD 

C Grant Rosenmeyer, Hayden Szeto 

D Richard Wong 

NR · Com/Dra 

SONY 

212-833-8500 

JUMANJI: THE NEXT LEVEL 

Fri, 12/13/19 WIDE 

C Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black 

D Jake Kasdan 

NR · Com/Act/Adv · IMAX/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

LITTLE WOMEN 

Fri, 12/25/19 WIDE 

C Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson 

D Greta Gerwig 

PG · Dra · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE GRUDGE 


C Andrea Riseborough, Demián Bichir 

D Nicolas Pesce 

R · Hor 


Fri, 1/17/20 WIDE 

C Will Smith, Martin Lawrence 

D Adil El Arbi, Bilall Fallah 

NR · Act/Com · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

FANTASY ISLAND 

Fri, 2/14/20 WIDE 

C Michael Peña, Maggie Q 

D Jeff Wadlow 

NR · Hor 

BLOODSHOT 

Fri, 2/21/20 WIDE 

C Vin Diesel, Eiza González 

NR · Act · Dolby Atmos 

PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY 


C James Corden, Rose Byrne 

D Will Gluck 

NR · Ani 

FATHERHOOD 


C Kevin Hart, Melody Hurd 

D Pail Weitz 

NR · Dra 

UNTITLED AFFIRM FILMS 

COACH PROJECT 

Fri, 4/10/20 WIDE 

NR 

GREYHOUND 


C Tom Hanks 

D Aaron Schneider 

NR · Dra/War 

GHOSTBUSTERS 2020 

Fri, 7/10/20 WIDE 

C Paul Rudd 

NR · Hor/Com/SF 

UNTITLED SONY ANIMATION FILM 

Fri, 7/24/20 WIDE 

NR · Ani 

SONY/MARVEL MORBIUS 

Fri, 7/31/20 WIDE 

NR · Act/Thr/SF 

ESCAPE ROOM 2 

Fri, 8/14/20 WIDE 

C Kristen Stewart, Mackenzie Davis 

D Clea DuVall 

NR · Hor/Thr 

MONSTER HUNTER 


C Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa 

D Paul W.S. Anderson 

NR · Act/Fan 

THE MITCHELLS VS. THE MACHINES 

Fri, 9/18/20 WIDE 

D Mike Rianda 

NR · Ani 

UNTITLED SONY/MARVEL 

Fri, 10/2/20 WIDE 

NR · Act/SF 

HAPPIEST SEASON 

Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE 

NR · Rom/Com/Hol 

UNTITLED SPA ANIMATED ORIGINAL 

Fri, 12/11/20 WIDE 

NR · Ani 

UNCHARTED 

Fri, 12/18/20 WIDE 

C Tom Holland 

D Travis Knight 

NR · Act/Adv 

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 

Tom Prassis / 212-833-4981 

THE SONG OF NAMES 

Fri, 12/25/19 LTD 

C Tim Roth, Clive Owen 

D François Girard 

NR · Dra 

THE TRAITOR 

Fri, 1/31/20 LTD 

C Pierfrancesco Favino, 

Maria Fernanda Candido 

D Marco Bellocchio 

NR · Dra/Cri 

GREED 

Fri, 2/21/20 LTD 

C Asa Butterfield, Isa Fisher 

D Michael Winterbottom 

NR · Com/Dra 

BURNT ORANGE HERESY 

Fri, 3/6/20 LTD 

C Elizabeth Debicki, Donald Sutherland 

D Giuseppe Capotondi 

NR · Act/Thr 


77

BOOKING GUIDE 

THE CLIMB 

Fri, 3/20/20 LTD 

C Kyle Marvin, Michael Angelo Covino 

D Michael Angelo Covino 

R · Com/Dra 

CHARM CITY KINGS 

Fri, 4/10/20 LTD 

C Teyonah Parris, Jahi Di’Allo Winston 

D Angel Manuel Soto 

R · Dra 

STX ENTERTAINMENT 

310-742-2300 

PLAYMOBIL: THE MOVIE 

Fri, 12/6/19 WIDE 

C Daniel Radcliffe, Jim Gaffigan 

D Lino DiSalvo 

NR · Ani 

MY SPY 

Fri, 1/10/19 WIDE 

C Dave Bautista, Kristen Schaal 

D Peter Segal 

PG-13 · Com 

THE GENTLEMEN 

Fri, 1/24/19 WIDE 

C Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam 

D Guy Ritchie 

R · Act/Com 

BRAHMS: THE BOY II 

Fri, 2/21/20 WIDE 

C Katie Holmes 

D William Brent Bell 

PG-13 · Hor/Thr 

UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING 

310-724-5678 / Ask for Distribution 

GRETEL & HANSEL 

Fri, 1/31/20 WIDE 

C Sophia Lillis, Sammy Leakey 

D Osgood Perkins 

NR · Hor 

NO TIME TO DIE 


C Daniel Craig, Rami Malek 

D Cary Joji Fukunaga 

NR · Act/Thr · IMAX 

BAD TRIP 

Fri, 4/24/20 WIDE 

C Eric André, Lil Rel Howery 

D Kitao Sakurai 

NR · Com 

LEGALLY BLONDE 3 


C Reese Witherspoon 

NR · Com 

RESPECT 

Fri, 8/14/20 WIDE 

C Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker 

D Liesl Tommy 

NR · Dra/Mus 

BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC 

Fri, 8/21/20 WIDE 

C Keanu Reeves, Alex Winter 

D Dean Parisot 

NR · Com/Adv 

UNIVERSAL 

818-777-1000 

BLACK CHRISTMAS 

Fri, 12/13/19 WIDE 

C Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon 

D Sophia Takal 

PG-13 · Hor 

CATS 

Fri, 12/20/19 WIDE 

C James Corden, Judi Dench 

D Tom Hooper 

NR · Mus · Dolby Atmos 

1917 

Fri, 12/25/19 WIDE 

C George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman 

D Sam Mendes 

R · Dra/War · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

DOLITTLE 

Fri, 1/17/20 WIDE 

C Robert Downey Jr., Ralph Fiennes 

D Stephen Gaghan 

NR · Com · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE TURNING 

Fri, 1/24/20 WIDE 

C Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard 

D Floria Sigismondi 

PG-13 · Thr 

THE PHOTOGRAPH 

Fri, 2/14/20 WIDE 

C Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield 

D Stella Meghie 

PG-13 · Rom 

THE INVISIBLE MAN 

Fri, 2/28/20 WIDE 

C Elisabeth Moss, Storm Reid 

D Leigh Whannell 

NR · Hor 

UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE PRODUCTIONS 

Fri, 3/13/20 WIDE 

NR · Hor 

TROLLS WORLD TOUR 

Fri, 4/17/20 WIDE 

C Anna Kendrick , Justin Timberlake 

D Walt Dohrn 

PG · Ani 

FAST & FURIOUS 9 

Fri, 5/22/20 WIDE 

C Vin Diesel, Charlize Theron 

D Justin Lin 

NR · Act/Adv 

CANDYMAN 

Fri, 6/12/20 WIDE 

D Nia DaCosta 

NR · Hor 

UNTITLED JUDD APATOW/ 

PETE DAVIDSON COMEDY 

Fri, 6/19/20 WIDE 

D Judd Apatow 

NR · Com 

MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU 


C Steve Carell 

D Kyle Balda 

NR · Ani 

UNTITLED NEXT PURGE CHAPTER 

Fri, 7/10/20 WIDE 

NR · Hor 

NOBODY 

Fri, 8/14/20 WIDE 

C Bob Odenkirk 

D Ilya Naishuller 

NR · Act/Thr 

PRAISE THIS 

Fri, 9/25/20 WIDE 

NR · Com 

BIOS 

Fri, 10/2/20 WIDE 

C Tom Hanks 

D Miguel Sapochnik 

NR · SF 

HALLOWEEN KILLS 

Fri, 10/16/20 WIDE 

D David Gordon Green 

NR · Hor 

UNTITLED UNIVERSAL EVENT COMEDY 

Fri, 10/23/20 WIDE 

NR · Com 

UNTITLED UNIVERSAL EVENT FILM 2020 

Fri, 11/13/20 WIDE 

NR 

UNTITLED AMBLIN PROJECT 

Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE 

Joel Crawford 

NR 

THE CROODS 2 

Fri, 12/23/20 WIDE 

NR · Ani 


VERTICAL ENTERTAINMENT 

DARK LIGHT 

Fri, 12/6/19 LTD 

C Jessica Madsen, Opal Littleton 

D Padraig Reynolds 

NR · HOR/SF 

CODE 8 

Fri, 12/13/19 LTD 

C Robbie Amell, Stephen Amell 

D Jeff Chan 

NR · SF 

WARNER BROS. 

818-977-1850 

RICHARD JEWELL 

Fri, 12/13/19 WIDE 

C Sam Rockwell, Kathy Bates 

D Clint Eastwood 

R · Dra 

JUST MERCY 

Fri, 12/25/19 LTD 

C Brie Larson, Michael B. Jordan 

D Destin Daniel Cretton 

PG-13 · Dra 

BIRDS OF PREY 


C Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead 

D Cathy Yan 

NR · Act/Adv · IMAX/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE WAY BACK 


C Ben Affleck 

D Gavin O’Connor 

NR · Dra 

GODZILLA VS KONG 

Fri, 3/13/20 WIDE 

C Millie Bobby Brown, Eiza González 

D Adam Wingard 

NR · SF/Act · Dolby Vis/Atmos 

UNTITLED DC FILM 


NR · Act/Adv/SF 

SCOOB! 

Fri, 5/15/20 WIDE 

C Kiersey Clemons, Zac Efron 

D Tony Cervone 

NR · Ani 

WONDER WOMAN 1984 


C Gal Gadot, Kristen Wiig 

D Patty Jenkins 

NR · Act/Adv/Fan · IMAX/3D/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

IN THE HEIGHTS 

Fri, 6/26/20 WIDE 

NR · Mus/Rom/Dra 

TENET 

Fri, 7/17/20 WIDE 

C John David Washington, Robert Pattinson 

D Christopher Nolan 

NR · Act/Thr 

UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM 

Fri, 8/17/20 WIDE 

NR 

MALIGNANT 

Fri, 8/14/20 WIDE 

D James Wan 

NR · Hor 

CONJURING 3 

Fri, 9/11/20 WIDE 

NR · Hor 

THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK 

Fri, 9/25/20 WIDE 

NR · Dra/Cri 

THE WITCHES 

Fri, 10/09/20 WIDE 

C Anne Hathaway 

D Robert Zemeckis 

NR · Adv/Com 

UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM 

Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE 

NR · Bio/Dra 

KING RICHARD 

Fri, 11/25/20 WIDE 

NR · Dra/Bio 

DUNE 

Fri, 12/18/20 WIDE 

NR · SF 

WELL GO USA ENTERTAINMENT 

IP MAN 4: THE FINALE 

Fri, 12/25/19 LTD 

C Donnie Yen, Wu Yue 

D Wilson Yip Wai Shun 

NR 

OUR SPONSORS 

Arts Alliance Media 

Inside Front Cover 

Mobiliario Seating 31 

MOC Insurance 3 

Barco / Cinionic 1 

The Boxoffice Company 20–21, 39, 47 

Cardinal Sound 80 

Dolphin Seating 71 

Ready Theatre Systems 11 

Retriever Software 13 

Sensible Cinema 80 

Screenvision Media 35 

Encore Performance Seating 

Back Cover 

Sonic Equipment 9 

Enpar 69 

Spotlight Cinema Networks 17 

International Cinema Technology Association 43 

Irwin Seating 7 

Telescopic Seating Systems 

Inside Back Cover 

LightSpeed Design 80 


79

MARKETPLACE 

Passive Polarization 

for 3D Digital Cinema 

Fast, Bright, Reliable... 

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USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS AND SOUND 

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USED DIGITAL PROJECTORS, Five complete 

booths including sound equipment. Three 

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TWO BRAND NEW 3000 watts Christie Xenon 

lamps for 35mm projectors. Contact: Atul Desai 

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PREFERRED SEATING COMPANY, your source 

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is our specialty. Call toll-free 866-922-0226 or 

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18 SETS OF USED 35MM AUTOMATED PRO- 

JECTION SYSTEM (comes with Projector, Console, 

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of 10 sets of Christie and 8 sets of Strong 

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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. Six complete 

booths digital projectors/sound, 72 speakers, 

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misc equipment. Serious inquiries only. For 

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or call 801-548-0108 or 

fax 801-281-0482. 

CLASSIC GEM FOR SALE. Tiny, hand-made 

storefront arts cinema, 99 seats, in historic 

seaside community north of Boston. Ongoing 

37 years. Profitable. Remarkable community 

support. Original owners getting old. Contact 

portmovies@aol.com 

www.depthq3d.com 

BE READY FOR YOUR NEXT DRIVE-IN OR 

OPEN AIR CINEMA EVENT! Used inflatable 

screens from 5m (16ft) to 27m (88ft) width for 

sale. Contact Mr. Alexander Thye, info@moviescreens-technologies.com. 

HELP WANTED 

TRI STATE THEATRE SUPPLY in Memphis, TN 

has openings for experienced Digital Cinema 

Techs nationwide. Please send your resume to 

include qualifications, certifications and salary 

requirements to fred@tristatetheatre.com 

THEATRE MANAGEMENT POSITIONS AVAIL- 

ABLE Pacific Northwest Theatre Company. 

Previous management experience required. 

Work weekends, evenings and holidays. Send 

resume and salary history to movietheatrejobs@gmail.com 

POSITIONS AVAILABLE 

The three-screen Stavros Niarchos Foundation 

Parkway Film Center in Baltimore is seeking an 

OPERATIONS DIRECTOR to oversee all aspects 

of running the theater and concessions. 

The Film Center, a partnership among the 

Maryland Film Festival, Johns Hopkins University 

and MICA will open in spring of 2017 and 

offer a broad range of the world’s best arthouse, 

independent, documentary, and classic 

cinema. The full job description and application 

instructions are found at mdfilmfest.com/ 

about-the-festival/jobs.php. 

ADVERTISE IN JANUARY’S ISSUE OF 

RESERVE BY 

DECEMBER 10, 2019 

MATERIALS BY 

DECEMBER 13, 2019 

CALL 

OR EMAIL 

TO BOOK 

SPACE TODAY! 

SUSAN UHRLASS 

SUSAN@BOXOFFICE.COM 

310-876-9090 


CLASSIC AD FROM FEBRUARY 17, 1951

CLASSIC COVER

Amazing food while your sitting in an 

amazing theatre. I can’t say enough. This 

place has adjustable head and reclining 

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Visit us on Social Media! 

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encore.palliser.com 

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International: +1-204-396-1136 

Canada & USA Toll Free: +1-866-314-2820 

Europe: +33 (0) 603 362 173 

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Boxoffice Pro - December 2019

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