Boxoffice Pro - January 2020
The Official Publication of the National Association of Theatre Owners
The Official Publication of the National Association of Theatre Owners
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Y E A R S<br />
STEVE GILULA<br />
LOOKS BACK ON<br />
FOX SEARCHLIGHT’S<br />
LEGACY AS IT ENTERS<br />
A NEW ERA<br />
by Kevin Lally<br />
OSCARS<br />
STEVE GILULA<br />
NANCY UTLEY<br />
>> Few specialty distributors approach<br />
the record of accomplishment<br />
of Fox Searchlight Pictures, currently<br />
celebrating its 25th anniversary (and<br />
recently rebranded as Searchlight<br />
Pictures). Formed in 1994 by Tom<br />
Rothman and making its debut in<br />
theaters in August 1995 with Edward<br />
Burns’s The Brothers McMullen, this<br />
cutting-edge studio boasts the rare<br />
distinction of releasing four Oscar<br />
Best Picture winners in the last 12<br />
years: Slumdog Millionaire, 12 Years a<br />
Slave, Birdman, and The Shape of Water.<br />
Its first international smash was<br />
cheeky Best Picture nominee The Full<br />
Monty in 1997, and its many Oscar<br />
competitors over the years include<br />
a multitude of Best Picture nominees<br />
(Sideways, Little Miss Sunshine,<br />
Juno, Black Swan, The Tree of Life, The<br />
Descendants, 127 Hours, Beasts of the<br />
Southern Wild, The Grand Budapest Hotel,<br />
Brooklyn, The Favourite, and Three<br />
Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri)<br />
and winning lead actors Hilary Swank<br />
(Boys Don’t Cry), Forest Whitaker (The<br />
Last King of Scotland), Jeff Bridges<br />
(Crazy Heart), Natalie Portman (Black<br />
Swan), Frances McDormand (Three<br />
Billboards), and Olivia Colman (The<br />
Favourite). Fox Searchlight also found<br />
popular success with Bend It Like<br />
Beckham (introducing an ingenue<br />
named Keira Knightley), the eccentric<br />
cult comedy Napoleon Dynamite, and<br />
romantic comedy Garden State, and<br />
saw two of its sleeper hits, Once and<br />
Waitress, become long-running Broadway<br />
musicals. Currently the company<br />
has awards-season contenders with<br />
Taika Waititi’s daring World War II satire<br />
Jojo Rabbit and the latest spiritual<br />
drama from leading director Terrence<br />
Malick, A Hidden Life.<br />
Much of the credit for Fox Searchlight’s<br />
remarkable performance must<br />
go to Steve Gilula and Nancy Utley,<br />
co-chairmen of the studio since July<br />
2018. Twenty-year veterans of the<br />
company, they were named presidents<br />
in 2009, succeeding Peter<br />
Rice, who took the helm in 2000.<br />
Now they’ve entered a new era with<br />
Disney’s acquisition of Fox this past<br />
March. Gilula, a former exhibitor who<br />
co-founded Landmark Theatres, recently<br />
took time out of his busy schedule<br />
to talk about Searchlight’s latest<br />
chapter and its highly successful run.<br />
30 JANUARY <strong>2020</strong><br />
0120_FoxSearchlight2.indd 30<br />
12/18/19 1:52 PM
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