Boxoffice Pro - March 2020

$6.95 / March 2020
Kyle Marvin
& Michael Angelo Covino
in Sony Pictures Classics’
The Climb
THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF THEATRE OWNERS

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Boxoffice® (ISSN 0006-8527), Volume 157, Number 3,
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HELLO.
BY DANIEL LORIA,
EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
›› March is finally here, and with CinemaCon around the corner
(starting March 30), we decided to use this issue as an amuse-bouche
to tide you over before our biggest issue of the year. And to keep the
metaphor going, we have some especially tasty features to whet your
appetite. Among them, Rebecca Pahle talks to our friends at GDC
Technology in a look back at the company’s first 20 years in the cinema
industry. With its digital innovations, GDC has played an important
role in the expansion of digital cinema and the rise of overseas box office,
making it a trusted industry partner worldwide.
On the exhibition side, Jesse Rifkin profiles the cinemas that
participated in the Independent Cinema Alliance’s Independent Cinema
Day, the first of what we hope will become an annual tradition. The
ICA’s answer to Small Business Saturday, Independent Cinema Day was a
success, bringing moviegoers to hometown cinemas nationwide.
Always tracking the latest trends, Kevin Lally talks to our partners
at Proctor Companies for advice on incorporating a bar area into your
theater. Alcohol service is one of the hottest food & beverage trends in
exhibition today, and it’s a topic we’ll explore in greater depth in next
month’s CinemaCon edition.
As we continue our centennial celebrations, Vassiliki Malouchou
delves into our archives to track the industry’s evolution during WWII
and the continuing saga of the Paramount Consent Decrees. It’s another
great read from our history and a regular editorial feature that we’ll
continue throughout the year.
Thank you again for your continued support of our publication. If
you’re attending CinemaCon and would like to meet in person, feel free
to drop me a line. My email address is below, and I’ll be happy to find
some time to chat.
Daniel Loria
Editorial Director
daniel@boxoffice.com

MARCH 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Kyle Marvin as Kyle, Michael Angelo Covino as Mike,
Gayle Rankin as Marissa in The Climb, page 34
ZACH KUPERSTEIN/ SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
FEATURES
Digital Decades.. . . . . . . . . . 22
GDC Technology celebrates
its 20th year
The Sound of Silence .. . . . . 30
A Quiet Place Part II sound editors
speak up
Uphill Battlers.. . . . . . . . . . 34
Michael Angelo Covino
and Kyle Marvin play
comic alter egos in The Climb
Indies, Unite. . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Independent Cinema Day
marks a successful debut
Building a Bar.. . . . . . . . . . . 40
Alcohol service in theaters
requires extensive pre-planning
Dr. Man-Nang Chong, CEO and founder
of GDC, p. 22
DEPARTMENTS
HELLO ......................... 1
TRADE TALK .................... 4
NATO MEMBER NEWS. .......... 14
INDIE FOCUS. .................. 16
CHARITY SPOTLIGHT. . . . . . . . . . . 20
ON SCREEN. ................... 50
EVENT CINEMA CALENDAR. ..... 56
BOOKING GUIDE ............... 58
Century in Exhibition .. . . . . 44
1940s: Global conflict
and consent decrees
Coming Attractions. . . . . . . 48
Forthcoming new releases
with promising box office potential
A Century in Exhibition: 1940s, p. 44
Boxoffice Pro has served as the official publication of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) since 2007.
As part of this partnership, Boxoffice is proud to feature exclusive columns from NATO while retaining full editorial freedom
throughout its pages. As such, the views expressed in Boxoffice Pro, neither reflect a stance nor endorsement from the
National Association of Theatre Owners.

#SonicsGotYouCovered
1 DESIGN
2 BUILD
3 EQUIP
4
SERVICE & S.O.S.
CALL CENTER
S O N I C E Q U I P M E N T . C O M
i n f o @ s o n i c e q u i p m e n t . c o m 8 0 0 - 3 6 5 - 5 7 0 1

TRADE TALK EDITED BY LAURA SILVER
Comscore Expands Box Office
Measurement to Saudi Arabia
Comscore Inc. has expanded its box office measurement service
into Saudi Arabia. The global expansion will provide box
office data for all theatrical film releases in the kingdom. This
follows the opening of commercial cinemas across the kingdom
after a 35-year pause.
“We are delighted to be able to expand our offering to cover
the new commercial film industry in Saudi Arabia,” said Arturo
Guillén, senior vice president and global managing director for
Comscore Movies. “Our partners welcome the opportunity to
leverage audience insights from a massive untapped market in
which we expect to see rapid growth for the film industry. The
kingdom of Saudi Arabia is set to be a top 10 cinema market
over the coming years, and we look forward to helping the
industry grow as a whole through our data and analytics.”
The expansion also marks another milestone for Comscore.
Previously, in May 2019, Comscore announced operations into
southern and West Africa and the expansion of its real-time box
office and polling solution, PostTrak, to Australia, Germany,
Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
NEC Announces First-Ever
Digital Projectors
with Replaceable Laser Modules
NEC Display Solutions of America has released a new
18,000-lumen digital cinema projector to complete the world’s
first series of modular laser projectors. With the option to
replace the laser light module in the projector head, the NC
Series delivers 2K imagery on small to medium screens while
allowing for simple installation and maintenance.
With the NEC NC1802ML (shown below left) and its three
swappable light modules (24,000, 20,000, and 18,000 lumens),
cinema operators can adapt the projector for various screen sizes
up to 72 feet. This functionality allows operators to get more
out of their investment and ensures they can always showcase
premieres, whether 2-D features or 3-D showpieces.
“With the NC1802ML rounding out the series, we’ve
created a digital cinema projector without limits,” said Rich
McPherson, senior product manager at NEC Display. “We’re
looking at the future of laser projection: a single solution that
can operate as many. With this revolutionary design, we can
alleviate many of the concerns that came with traditional laser
projectors and lower the cost of operation as much as we can.”
The innovative design of this series also extends to its installation:
The unit features an internal liquid chiller, removing
the need for an external cooling system and thereby making it
easier to install into tight spaces.
Santikos Announces 11 TH Location
Santikos Enterprises has announced the next location for a
state-of-the-art theater and entertainment center on Bulverde
Road in San Antonio, Texas. This new location is planned to be
a 50,000-square-foot building filled with 10–12 auditoriums,
the AVX viewing experience, a fully stocked bar, and an arcade.
“The announcement of an 11th location is extremely exciting
for us,” said Tim Handren, CEO of Santikos Enterprises.
“Our continual goal is not just to create space for families
and friends to come together for an unmatched experience.
The goal is to carry on John Santikos’s legacy and make an
impact in our community. Our company is unique in that
100 percent of our profits go directly back into the community
through the San Antonio Area Foundation. This is
what separates Santikos from all other entertainment venues;
they can’t say their profits are truly staying local. We believe
this location will only expand our ability to make a positive
community impact and solidify our presence in this city and
surrounding counties. John Santikos’s vision was to have his
businesses grow and continue operating for the benefit of the
community. We work hard every day to be good stewards of
those assets and his legacy.”
4 / MARCH 2020

TRADE TALK
PETER AARON -– OTTO
Film Forum Receives
$1M Anniversary Gift
from King Family
Karen Cooper, director of New York City’s
Film Forum since 1972, announced more than $1
million in gifts to commemorate the theater’s 50th
anniversary this year, including a $1 million gift
from the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation
in memory of the foundation’s founder and
longtime chair and president, Diana King, who
passed away in January 2019. Film Forum has
received funding from the foundation every year
since 2005, and since 2015 specifically to support
its “Film Forum Jr.” program of weekend classics
for children. Film Forum is honoring King’s legacy
with the naming of the Diana King Theater.
The Robert Jolin Osborne Trust will make a
$250,000 gift to Film Forum during its anniversary
year, to establish the Robert Jolin Osborne
Endowed Fund for American Classic Cinema
of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s. Robert Osborne
(1932–2017) was the iconic silver-haired host on
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) for more than two
decades; he was termed “a one-of-a-kind cinematic
savant” by The New York Times.
Having opened on the Upper West Side in
1970 with 50 folding chairs, the nonprofit cinema
has grown to its present incarnation: four screens,
469 seats, open 365 days year, with a $6 million
operating budget. Film Forum maintains a dual
profile—as a leading cinema for NYC premieres
of independent foreign and American features,
and as a leading repertory cinema, championing
classic movies and overlooked masterpieces.
In addition to the naming of the Diana King
Theater and the establishment of the Robert Jolin
Osborne Endowed Fund, Film Forum is marking
its 50th anniversary with projects including
in-person filmmaker presentations, special series
presentations, two celebrity-studded anniversary
trailers, a six-minute original film, and a new
Film Forum T-shirt design.
6 / MARCH 2020

ORDER
NOW

TRADE TALK
GEORGIA THEATRE
COMPANY’S
BILL STEMBLER:
“Our employees
are the foundation
of Georgia
Theatre Company.
By transitioning
to an
employee-owned
company, we
are empowering
them to play an
integral role in
the company’s
future.”
Georgia Theatre Company
Becomes Employee-Owned
Circuit
Georgia Theatre Company, a fourth-generation,
family-owned theater circuit based in St.
Simons Island, Georgia, has completed a sale of
100 percent of its stock to the Georgia Theatre
Company Employee Stock Ownership Trust
(ESOT).
The original company, founded in the mid-
1920s, has operated theaters in Georgia for nearly
100 years. Over the past three decades, founder
and chairman William (Bill) J. Stembler has grown
this latest company from just a few locations with
about $5 million in annual revenue to 25 locations
with revenue surpassing $75 million annually and
a team of approximately 700 employees.
“Our employees are the foundation of Georgia
Theatre Company,” said Stembler. “By transitioning
to an employee-owned company, we are
empowering them to play an integral role in the
company’s future. My family and I are grateful for
this opportunity to reward our employees for their
hard work, loyalty, and contributions by creating
the Employee Stock Ownership Plan [ESOP].”
An ESOP is an employee benefit plan that
provides company stock to eligible employees.
Eligibility is governed by ERISA and administered
by an independent trustee. By becoming
100 percent ESOP-owned, all company stock is
now held in trust by the ESOT. As an employee-owned
company, Georgia Theatre Company
will retain the same management structure, with
Stembler remaining chairman of the board.
CFO Mike Warren and president Bo Chambliss
will also continue in their positions of
leadership of the company. “This is an exciting
day for Georgia Theatre Company,” said Chambliss.
“Employee-owned companies are renowned
as some of the world’s best companies to work for,
and we are honored to be joining the list.”
Artists Den & CineLife
Partner on Cinema Series
CineLife Entertainment, a division of Spotlight
Cinema Networks, has signed a partnership with
Artists Den Entertainment to host its Emmy-nominated
television music series, “Live from the Artists
Den,” as an in-cinema feature this year. The series
will be a selection of shows from the brand’s extensive
catalog and a mix of new seasons for the series.
This partnership further expands Artists
Den’s global reach and provides music content to
CineLife Entertainment, Spotlight Cinema Networks’
newest event-cinema division. Audience
members are randomly selected through ticket
sweepstakes for live Artists Den shows, available
exclusively via the Artists Den mailing list.
Unlike other televised music series, “Live from
the Artists Den” unveils new, unexpected venues
for each concert, with the venue serving as the
co-star alongside each featured artist.
This partnership allows consumers access to
experience these unique shows, featuring extraordinary
artists performing in nontraditional, often
historic settings that are complemented by the art
house cinemas they will be shown in.
“We can’t think of a better partner for our series
than Spotlight and CineLife Entertainment,
who specialize in bringing cultural audiences
around the country together with important art
house theaters,” said Mark Lieberman, CEO, Artists
Den Entertainment. “Given our major focus
on the sense of place in our shows, this is an ideal
alignment for Artists Den in cinema.”
GTC EMPLOYEE-
OWNED
Georgia Theatre
Company ranked
as the #18 circuit in
Boxoffice Pro’s 2020
Giants of Exhibition
8 / MARCH 2020

TRADE TALK
Multicines Opens
First 4K RGB Laser Cinema
in Ecuador
Ecuador’s first cinema equipped with 4K RGB
laser projection has opened in the Condado
de Quito shopping mall. The integrator CES+
(Cinema Equipment & Supplies) recently
installed a Christie CP4330-RGB projector with
RealLaser illumination in the MCX Multicines
Xtreme theater.
The new theater, part of the Multicines exhibition
chain, has 257 premium seats, a 15-meter
screen, and Dolby Atmos sound. “With this new
theater we wanted to replicate the quality of image
and sound that film directors and producers
aspire to convey in their movies,” said Gonzalo
López, general manager of Multicines. “The fact
we have introduced the first 4K RGB laser cinema
theater in Ecuador reinforces our reputation as
leaders in technological innovation, which is part
and parcel of Multicines’ DNA.”
López also took note of “the economical operating
costs of the projector with its low energy
consumption and maintenance, which help to
safeguard our company’s bottom line.”
When Multicines began operating in Ecuador
in 1996, it pioneered the use of new technology
and multi-theater complexes in the country. It
currently has 54 screens in different cities around
the country, many of them equipped with Christie
cinema projectors.
ICA Partners with Eclair
The Independent Cinema Alliance (ICA)
and the Cinema Buying Alliance (CBA) have
announced a partnership with Eclair USA
to include Eclair’s DCP delivery platform
EclairPlay in ICA’s portfolio of discounted
product offerings for its exhibitor membership.
Current Eclair contracted exhibitors that join
ICA will also receive a discounted membership.
“The partnership with Eclair is our first step in
bringing a valuable specialized content program
to our members,” said Rob Del Moro, managing
director of the CBA. “Eclair is a leader in the
industry that is already serving numerous
independents worldwide.” The CBA is an entity
wholly owned and managed by ICA.
“Like the ICA, Eclair considers the independent
exhibitor our core customer, and we look
forward to working with the ICA and CBA to
bring new efficiencies to support those cinemas,”
said Chris Sharp, general manager of Eclair USA.
Developed specifically with independent
exhibitors in mind, EclairPlay provides cinemas
4K RGB
LASER
PROJECTION
Multicines
Xtreme theater
is the first of its kind
in Ecuador.
10 / MARCH 2020

UPCOMING EVENTS
CinemaCon
Caesars Palace
Las Vegas, Nev.
March 30–April 2
North Central
States NATO
Sheraton West
Des Moines, Iowa
April 20–April 22
Mid-Atlantic NATO
“Cinema Show
& Tell”
Maryland Live!
Hotel
Arundel Mills–
Hanover, Md.
May 13–14
ShowCanada
The Explorer Hotel
& Chateau Nova
Yellowknife
Yellowknife, N.W.T.
May 26–28
CINEMA STUDIES
QSC’s online course
for cinema engineers
with access to a wide range of first-run specialized
film and event-cinema product from a growing
list of distributors, with DCPs available for
secure download from its website. The platform
gives exhibitors a cost-efficient solution to order
and receive both trailers and features and an
electronic delivery option for independent and
specialty titles unavailable by satellite or other
digital means.
QSC Introduces New Training
for Q-SYS Cinema Applications
QSC has recently implemented Q-SYS Level
One for Cinema, a modular online course specially
constructed for cinema engineers who want to
learn how to use Q-SYS in cinema auditoriums.
Students will learn the basics of designing
a multiplex cinema with the Q-SYS ecosystem
while receiving an overview of Q-SYS designer
software. Much of the course material is shared
with the Q-SYS Level One training, but users
will also learn about peripherals and components
that are exclusive to cinema applications.
The six-module course covers topics ranging
from basic Q-SYS ecosystem for cinema introduction,
including hardware introductions to Q-SYS
core cinema processors, the DCIO, and DPA-Q
Series network amplifiers, to user control interfaces.
The curriculum culminates with a walkthrough
of an entire cinema design signal path
and troubleshooting exercise, with each student
receiving written feedback on the final exam from
cinema training experts. The course provides
students with 4.0 InfoComm CTS RU credits.
Additionally, it is a prerequisite for purchasing
Q-SYS products and for attending advanced
Q-SYS training.
MARCH 2020 / 11

TRADE TALK
CINEMARK
BRINGS THE MOVIES
BACK TO SALEM, N.H.
Cinemark Holdings
Inc. has opened
a brand-new 12-
screen theater,
located adjacent to
The Mall at Rockingham
Park, in Salem,
New Hampshire.
Cinemark
Rockingham Park is
the first Cinemark
theater in New
Hampshire, and it
marks the return
of first-run films to
Salem after 17
years.
All auditoriums
offer reserved
seating and feature
Cinemark’s heated
Luxury Lounger
recliners in addition
to immersive wallto-wall
screens,
advanced sound
systems, enhanced
food offerings, and
an XD premium
large-format auditorium.
“We are excited
to celebrate the
opening of our
first Cinemark
New Hampshire
theater right in the
heart of the Salem
community,” said
Mark Zoradi, CEO,
Cinemark. “We’re
always developing
new ways to augment
the entertainment
experience
for our guests, and
this new multiplex
will provide our
Salem guests with
innovative theater
technology as well
as a multitude of
food and beverage
offerings for the
optimal viewing
experience.”
“The Q-SYS training program has become
a benchmark for the AV industry,” said Patrick
Heyn, senior director of system marketing and
training. “We are proud to bring the same engaging
curriculum style and deployment methodology
to our cinema integrators, consultants, and
venue owner community.”
SMG Announces Expansion
in 2020
Dallas-based Studio Movie Grill (SMG) has
announced its plans to open five new locations
during the first three quarters of 2020: Fort
Worth, Texas (SMG Chisholm Trail, opening
Q2); Atlanta (SMG Northpoint, opening Q2);
Sacramento, California (SMG Citrus Heights,
opening summer); Philadelphia (SMG Willow
Grove, opening summer); and Richmond, Texas
(SMG Aliana, opening Q4). All are markets in
which SMG already has a presence.
“We are extremely excited to confirm further
expansion for SMG in 2020,” said COO Ted Croft
in a statement. “New locations will add 62 screens
to our existing 353 screens operating nationwide,
bringing our screen count to over 400. Not only
does this expansion offer SMG and our guests
more screens and seats, it also allows us to grow
our outreach into the communities we serve.”
Of particular note among the new theaters is
SMG Aliana, near Houston, which, per SMG’s
official press release, will “be a new prototype
THE MOTION IS PASSED
D-Box Technologies will code
Onward, Mulan, and Top Gun:
Maverick, among other major
releases for 2020.
for SMG and house 12 screens and 1,160 luxury
recliners, plus an outdoor viewing area for movies
on the yard.” All five theaters will have luxury
recliners and SMG’s signature dine-in menu.
D-Box Announces Slate
for First Half 2020
D-Box Technologies Inc. will release a new
slate of movies in the first half of 2020 that has
been coded using D-Box’s motion technology.
The company is planning to add its motion
technology to 80 titles, including movies from
the international market (Europe, South America,
Asia, and Southeast Asia).
Among these are Onward: March 6; Bloodshot:
March 13; A Quiet Place Part II: March 20;
Mulan: March 27; Trolls World Tour: April 17;
Black Widow: May 1; Greyhound: May 8; F9 The
Fast Saga: May 22; Wonder Woman 1984: June 5;
Top Gun: Maverick: June 26; Ghostbusters: Afterlife:
July 10; and Morbius: July 31.
“The ongoing collaboration with all these
different film studios is proof that our motion
technology works with all types of feature films
including action, thrillers, horror, epic dramas,
family, and adventure,” said Claude Mc Master,
president and CEO of D-Box. “We are excited to
offer moviegoers an unprecedented opportunity
to enjoy the latest blockbusters in an entirely
new and innovative way for an unforgettable
night out.”
12 / MARCH 2020

‘HAMILTON’
TO THE BIG SCREEN
Daveed Diggs,
Okieriete
Onaodowan,
Anthony Ramos,
and Lin-Manuel
Miranda
JOAN MARCUS
Disney to Release
‘Hamilton’ to Theaters
The Walt Disney Company, Lin-Manuel
Miranda, Jeffrey Seller, and Thomas Kail have
announced an agreement for the worldwide distribution
rights that will bring the 11-time-Tony
Award–, Grammy Award–, Olivier Award–, and
Pulitzer Prize–winning stage musical Hamilton to
cinema screens. The film will be released by The
Walt Disney Studios in the United States and
Canada on Oct. 15, 2021.
Producers for Hamilton, the film of the original
Broadway production, include Miranda, Seller,
and Kail, who also directs.
“I fell in love with musical storytelling growing
up with the legendary Howard Ashman–Alan
Menken Disney collaborations—The Little Mermaid,
Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin,” Miranda
said. “I’m so proud of what Tommy Kail has been
able to capture in this filmed version of Hamilton—a
live theatrical experience that feels just as
immediate in your local movie theater. We’re excited
to partner with Disney to bring the original
Broadway company of Hamilton to the largest
audience possible.”
so it is particularly rewarding to launch our 10th
California location here,” said Luis Olloqui, chief
executive officer of Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas.
“We’re excited to introduce our latest building
design, featuring an expanded bar area and new
chef-driven menu, to a community that has been
so supportive of us over the last eight years.”
Theater auditoriums at Cinépolis Luxury
Cinemas La Costa Town Square will offer guests
fully reclining leather seats, a full gourmet menu,
and in-theater waiter service available via the push
of a button. An upscale lounge-style lobby area anchors
the entry space and provides seating options
for guests to mingle and relax before and after a
movie. Cinépolis will also offer a full bar menu
that includes craft beer, specialty cocktails, and a
hand-selected wine program. New to the menu are
the “bottomless” options such as bottomless sodas,
bottomless Icees, and bottomless popcorn: one
size at one price with endless same-stay refills.
LUXURY SEATS,
GOURMET MENU
The Cinépolis
Luxury Cinemas
La Costa Town Square
Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas
Debuts New Cinema in San Diego
Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas has officially opened
the Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas La Costa Town
Square. The 33,368-square-foot, eight-screen,
570-seat luxury concept, located in Carlsbad, California,
will serve as the entertainment anchor for
the La Costa Town Square shopping center. The
Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce celebrated the
opening on February 7 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony
that included music, prizes, and giveaways.
“We opened our first U.S. cinema in San Diego,
MARCH 2020 / 13

MEMBER NEWS BY ESTHER BARUH, DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, NATO
AND ALEX RICH, MANAGER OF STATE GOVERNMENT RELATIONS, NATO
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
AT THE MOVIES
NATO STAFF HITS THE ROAD
TO VISIT MEMBER LOCATIONS
Penn Cinema
Lititz, Pa.; Wilmington, Del.;
Huntingdon Valley, Pa.; Ephrata, Pa.
www.penncinema.com
Penn Ketchum, Owner/Usher/Manager
Visit Date: Monday, January 6, 2020
›› In January, my colleague Alex Rich and
I had the delightful occasion to visit with
Penn Ketchum (shown above and at right
at promotional event) at his Penn Cinema
Riverfront 14 + Imax in Wilmington, Delaware.
As we toured his theater, Penn shared his
thoughts on industry trends, what it is like to
open a new theater from the ground up, and
the range of movies exhibited in theaters. Penn
represents the best of NATO’s small-business
members—an imaginative and creative movie
lover who brings that joy to new communities
while maintaining a great sense of humor no
matter what.
Following our visit, Penn was gracious enough
to share some additional background about his
cinemas. We are very pleased to profile him in
this month’s edition of BoxOffice Pro.
What attracted you to the cinema industry, and how
did you start?
My story is simple: I always loved the movies. When I
had the chance growing up, I would go to the movies. I grew
up in Brooklyn so I never did hunt, fish, golf, or whatever;
it was really about the magic of the movies. That began for
me in 1977 when my parents took me to see Star Wars in
Manhattan, and I never looked back. Eventually I got a
grown-up job with a desk and an office, but it was no fun.
Meanwhile, I lived in an area where there was no good movie
theater. So naturally, one day I said, “They should build a
movie theater in Lititz.” I did not know who “they” was, so I
decided to do it myself. I snuck into ShoWest 2004 (literally)
and began learning all about the movie business. I heard
M. Night Shyamalan speak, and I will never forget it. He
spoke so eloquently about the magic of the movies. It was a
wonderful night and really validated all the crazy energy I was
putting into this movie theater idea. My family and I were
taking a lot of risks, so it meant a lot for us to hear him talk
like that. In some ways, it kept us in the game when it was
not easy to keep at it. Eventually, I was able to recruit some
partners and we got it done. Therefore, in November of 2006,
my partners and I opened Penn Cinema and I started in the
movie business as a theater owner/usher/manager all at once.
We opened with Casino Royale and Happy Feet. To say that we
had a steep learning curve would be an understatement, but
we worked it out. It was great.
What do you appreciate most about your customers?
Our customers are amazing. They are so smart, and they
regularly let me know about what is happening out there
beyond the Penn Cinema walls and how they would or would
not like to see certain trends play out in their theater. Yeah, it
is their theater. They love it, they support it, and they see it as
their own, which is really great.
I recently (one year ago) began doing a weekly Penn
Cinema Podcast (available on iTunes, all podcast platforms,
and Facebook). This has been a wonderful experience for me.
It has taken me out of my sometimes-narrow field of vision
related to studios, film rent, schedules, and put me squarely
back in touch with what the movies mean. We record the
show, take listeners’ notes, and sometimes present “live” with
our customers in the audience. It has given me a great chance
to interact with customers at all our locations and a great
place for customers to share their views too. It is a really fun
escape … just like the movies.
Our customers are responsible for so many of our best
innovations. We were among the early adopters on the
Metropolitan Opera series through Fathom Events. We have
enjoyed great success with them. That was an idea that came
from our guests. It is just one example, but often our best
14 / MARCH 2020

ideas begin in the lobby with me chatting with a
customer as I drink my coffee.
I joined my friend (and one of our regular
customers), who bought two tickets to see
Avengers: Endgame in Imax at my movie
theater, and then did the same thing when
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker came out.
We waited in line, got our seats in the soldout,
jam-packed theater, and soaked up
the experience. I’ve worked countless “big
openings” and premieres, and these were the
first two where I took it all in exactly as our
customers did. It was cool. We had a blast
and I recommend the experience to any senior
managers or theater owners who may not have
recently enjoyed this type of experience. It is
awesome in a way that calls back the magic that
M. Night spoke about way back when.
How has your theater grown?
When we opened in 2006, it was a 10-screen
theater and we quickly added four more screens.
Then we installed an Imax. In 2010, we opened
our second location in Wilmington, Delaware
(also 15 screens), and recently opened Penn Cinema
Huntingdon Valley, a 7-plex outside Philly.
My wife and I also took over an old-school
twin in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, called The Main
(www. facebook.com/TheNewMain/). It’s funny
because I have four sites to manage and book
films for, which feels massive to me. I do not
know how you guys with tons of sites manage
it all! However, it is fun and I enjoy working
with the studios. When we opened, we used
a third-party film broker, but we eventually
decided to book our films directly. This has
been great. I love working directly with the
studios and have formed great relationships and
friendships over the years with our “friends in
distribution,” as NATO refers to them. But it’s
true, they are our friends, and they do want
the same things we want, namely to deliver
the best possible content to the most possible
people. Sometimes we have to work through
some things, but in the end it has been a terrific
experience for me. I believe it makes me a better
theater owner for putting in the effort. (“So
then, I say, ‘Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little
something, you know, for the effort, you know?’
And he says, ‘Oh, uh, there won’t be any money,
but when you die, on your deathbed, you will
receive total consciousness.’ So I got that goin’
for me, which is nice.”)
What is your biggest challenge (i.e., does
anything keep you up at night)?
I think the greatest challenge facing anyone
with more than one location is the inability to
be in more than one place at a time. I would love
to be on-site at each theater every day, but that is
just not realistic.
Luckily, our management team is second to
none, and they got it all under control. So with
that challenge sort of under control, I think the
next greatest challenge, and this probably should
be discussed in a deeper way somewhere else,
but I think the exhibition industry faces some
real challenges related to the frequent lack of
choices from certain types of vendors. In many
aspects of our operations, often important ones,
we only have one or two choices. So when there’s
nowhere else to turn it can be frustrating when
the “one vendor” falls short of our expectations,
but maybe there’s nowhere else to turn so we are
left just trying to tolerate subpar service. That
is a real challenge that in many ways limits our
industry’s ability to really excel.
What’s your favorite movie and what concessions
would you have while watching it?
I am a Godfather guy, but I also need to give
a shout-out to Moonstruck, Christmas Vacation,
and Rocky. My most typical movie routine is to
get fresh bagels and hot coffee at my local bagel
shop (what’s up, Dosie Dough!) and go watch a
movie by myself at 7 a.m., or whatever. When
I go out with a gang of friends and either check
up on our colleagues’ operations at another
theater or join the audience in our own theater,
I’m a Twizzlers guy with a water. That is not to
say I have not grabbed an odd box of Goobers
too! I am an easy film critic. Sit me up front
with some treats and I am happy.
PENN KETCHUM
“I recently [one
year ago] began
doing a weekly Penn
Cinema Podcast
[available on
iTunes, all podcast
platforms, and
Facebook]. This has
been a wonderful
experience for
me.… We record
the show, take
listeners’ notes,
and sometimes
present ‘live’ with
our customers in
the audience. It has
given me a great
chance to interact
with customers at
all our locations
and a great place
for customers to
share their views
too. It is a really fun
escape … just like
the movies.”
MARCH 2020 / 15

INDIE FOCUS
SPONSORED BY SPOTLIGHT CINEMA NETWORKS
Broadway Metro
Eugene, Oregon
CONTRIBUTOR: EDWARD SCHIESSL, MANAGING DIRECTOR
EDWARD SCHIESSL
“We do everything
we can to
subsidize and incentivize
community
groups, festivals,
and local filmmakers
to make our
venue their home
for screenings
and other social
events.”
SINGLE-SERVING
PLASTICS BEGONE!
Bulk candies
are served in compostable
cups.
SCREENS
7 Screens / Total Capacity: 329
TOP HISTORICAL TITLES
What We Do in the Shadows holds the record
for our longest run of 26 weeks (Free Solo came
close at 22 weeks). The Shape of Water, Moonlight,
Manchester by the Sea, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, I,
Tonya, and Birdman are also among our top-grossing
films.
HISTORY
In 2010, my partners and I bought Eugene’s
only art house—a 30-year-old 200-seat twin
cinema housed in a historic chapel—from the
estate of the cinema’s late founder. Having worked
at the theater for several years, we were already well
aware of the struggle we would face operating a
twin cinema in today’s market and immediately set
about building a supplemental location. This took
shape as a tiny “boutique miniplex” in the heart
of Eugene’s newly revitalized downtown. The new
venue—dubbed The Broadway Metro—initially
housed just four screens ranging in size from 20 to
34 seats, with standard concessions fare, and both
digital and 35-millimeter film projection systems.
The plan was to use the venue mostly for moveovers
and niche-market product, as well as classic
and genre series, but the community
response was so overwhelmingly
positive that it quickly began outperforming
the flagship location.
While our original twin cinema
continued to struggle, packed
houses and turn-aways were common
year round at the Metro—even
on weeknights—so
we decided to refocus our
energies and transferred
ownership of the twin to a former partner.
Now, just a few short years later, not only have
we expanded the Metro into an adjacent property,
but we’ve upgraded the experience in every way
possible. With seven screens totaling over 300
seats, deluxe stadium-style seating in auditoriums
of every size, a comfortable lounge and dining area,
and splashy lobby decor, we can now offer an experience
unlike any other available in our area.
COMMUNITY
Our business has long been reliant on the
senior community—and they’re still a substantial
part of our audience—but after years of trying to
attract a younger audience, our efforts are finally
starting to pay off. Being a part of the downtown
nightlife has helped us appeal to a younger crowd,
and maintaining an energetic programming mix of
both art house and mainstream product has helped
make college students and 30-somethings our core
demographic.
We do everything we can to subsidize and
incentivize community groups, festivals, and local
filmmakers to make our venue their home for
screenings and other social events. Supporting
local visual artists and facilitating visual literacy as
much as possible is our way of giving back to the
community, and making ourselves available as a
hub for any and all cinema-related events benefits
us by bringing in fresh faces all the time.
FOOD & BEVERAGE
With the expansion project this summer, we
have added a kitchen and now offer a wide variety
of house-made food and beverages. Our menu is
mostly made up of finger foods—spring rolls,
skewers, dips, paninis, charcuterie,
cookies, etc.—and
was designed
16 / MARCH 2020

INDIE FOCUS
METRO & SPOTLIGHT
“Knowing the
risk of customer
blowback from a
too-long or overly
aggressive preshow
ad reel, I was
happy to learn that
Spotlight allowed
each theater to
curate its national
ad content on a
case-by-case basis
and signed up right
away.”
UPGRADING
FOOD OPTIONS
“With the expansion
project this
summer, we have
added a kitchen
and now offer a
wide variety of
house-made food
and beverages.”
with short ticket times in mind so that food can be
picked up by the customer within minutes of ordering,
avoiding any in-theater disruptions. Another
huge hit coming out of our new kitchen is our delicious
house-made caramel corn, which we can hardly
churn out fast enough to accommodate demand!
As long as we were upgrading the food options,
we decided to move away from bottles and cans and
now make most of our drinks in-house, featuring
such items as fruit-infused iced teas, ginger ale, and
lemonades. We’ve always served craft beer, cider,
and wine but have now added mulled wine, sangria,
boozy slushees, and batch-made cocktails, which we
serve on draft for speed and precision.
All of these offerings are unique to our cinema
and create a sense of excitement and exclusivity
when patrons visit the concession stand. Our per
capita sales for both food and beverage have nearly
doubled since the expansion, and promoting specials
and new products on social media has been a
driver of ticket sales as well.
The other big change we’ve made is a shift
away from single-serving plastics in our concession
stand. In addition to dropping most of our bottled
beverages, we’ve begun buying most of our candies
in bulk and serving them in compostable cups.
Making our business model more sustainable and
decreasing our waste has helped customers feel
good about visiting the theater and less guilty about
spending at the concession stand.
PROGRAMMING
With seven screens, we’ve been doing our best
to cater to as many niche audiences as possible.
Playing smaller releases in our cozy 20-seat rooms,
alongside the newest blockbusters in our largest
rooms, helps us bring in the broadest audience
SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE
“We make our space afforable and partner
with local filmmakers and festival organizers.”
possible. Giving films the breathing room they need
to build word of mouth is a luxury we’ve never had
before, and it has been hugely beneficial for films
like Peanut Butter Falcon (which is currently still
selling out shows in week 12). We make our space
affordable and partner with local filmmakers and
festival organizers to make sure they’re able to put
on successful events, which helps keep a level of
buzz about what’s going on at the Metro—whether
it’s a director Q&A, a local film premiere, or a latenight
genre film, we have something special going
on almost every night.
MARKETING
It’s hard to name a single program that’s been a
major driver for us—we’ve always gone in so many
directions at once. Jumping at every chance to
collaborate or support other businesses and organizations
has served us well and built the broadest
support in our community we could hope for.
There’s just such a wide range of niche markets to
serve, we try to have something for everyone, and
having such a wide range of auditorium sizes makes
accommodating even the smallest events viable.
CINEMA ADVERTISING
On-screen advertising (both our local digital
slideshow and Spotlight’s trailer ads presentation)
18 / MARCH 2020

is one of our largest revenue streams, and Spotlight
Cinema Networks accounts for the lion’s share of
that income. We love having the opportunity to
showcase our local business partners in our digital
slideshow, but Spotlight’s programming is what really
makes on-screen advertising such an important
part of our model.
Knowing the risk of customer blowback from a
too-long or overly aggressive pre-show ad reel, I was
happy to learn that Spotlight allowed each theater
to curate its national ad content on a case-bycase
basis and signed up right away. After I began
reviewing the content, I quickly discovered that
everything Spotlight had to offer was very high end,
often cinematic, and not of the abrasive sort I’ve
experienced in other theaters. At this point it’s been
several years and I’ve never declined an ad placement!
Audiences are happy with the presentation,
we can be proud of what we show, and the extra
revenue helps us keep our ticket and concessions
prices competitive. Everyone at Spotlight is an
absolute pleasure to work with, and I can’t imagine
operating without them as a partner.
UPGRADING THE EXPERIENCE
The Broadway Metro has grown to seven auditoriums from an original four screens.
FACILITATING VISUAL LITERACY
“Supporting local visual artists and facilitating visual literacy as much as possible is our way of giving back to the community,
and making ourselves available as a hub for any and all cinema-related events benefits us by bringing in fresh faces all the time.”
MARCH 2020 / 19

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT
In celebration of
National Popcorn
Day, volunteers
from Cinemark
visited the Boys
and Girls Club of
Plano, Texas. Over
130 youth got to
try Cinemark’s
special “mystery
flavor” popcorn,
play movie trivia
On January 20, Variety of the Desert held
the second annual Shottenkirk Desert Lexus Variety
Golf Scramble, presented by Contour Dermatology
at Palm Valley Country Club. It was
a great success, with more than 80 participants
generously supporting Variety and the children
of the Coachella Valley most in need.
games, and hear
“corny” jokes from
Team Cinemark. The
children left their
after-school program
with fun prizes
and smiles on their
faces. Elsewhere in
Plano, volunteers
from Cinemark
visited all 13 of the
city’s fire stations to
hand out four tasty
flavors of Cinemark
popcorn. The first
responders were
delighted to receive
the treat.
Amy Poehler helped Lollipop
Theater Network make Christmas Day
a little bit more joyful for some special
kids and families. She joined Lollipop in
a visit to Hassenfeld Children’s Hospital
in New York City and made it extra special by
enlisting the support of her friends at Xbox, who
gifted the kids with their own consoles.
Variety of Detroit’s Sliders, Spuds &
Soup(er) Bowl was held January 24 at the
Townsend Hotel. Nine restaurants competed in
a friendly competition. Proceeds raised from the
event support Variety of Detroit’s six core programs,
helping local children who have special
needs or are disadvantaged. Pictured (l–r) are
Variety of Detroit co-chair Dante Rosa, president
David King, and co-chair Aubrey Tobin.
On December 20, Lollipop Theater Network
brought artists from DreamWorks Animation
to spend some time with the children at
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. They created some
wonderful artwork and even incorporated one of
the kids into her very own drawing!
20 / MARCH 2020

GEORGIA THEATRE COMPANY
EMPOWERS ITS EMPLOYEES TO GIVE BACK by Rebecca Pahle
In the aftermath of 9/11, NATO helped
organize a one-day event that saw theaters
nationwide donate 100 percent of their ticket
and concessions sales to those affected by the
attacks. One of the participating theaters was
the Georgia Theatre Company. In 2004, the St.
Simons Island–based chain decided they liked
the idea so much that they were going to bring it
back. There are some changes to the initiative—a
new name, Cinema for a Cause, and different
organizations that benefit—but the spirit of
charity is the same.
Cinema for a Cause celebrated its 16th
year on September 29, 2019; all 25 of the
Georgia Theatre Company’s locations,
spread across Georgia, Florida, South
Carolina, and Virginia, participated. As in
the 2001 event, 100 percent of ticket and
concessions sales on that day were donated to
charity. The total 2019 sum was $179,902; add all
16 years together, and the amount donated to
charity comes to a staggering $1.85 million.
Ten percent of proceeds each year goes to
Variety of Georgia. In a move that strengthens
the connection between individual Georgia
Theatre Company locations and the communities
they serve, each theater gets to choose two local
charities to split the remaining 90 percent. For
the 2019 Cinema for a Cause, 34 charities were
chosen by local theater managers. Those include
local chapters of the Humane Society, Habitat
for Humanity, and United Way, in addition to
the Jacobs’ Ladder Therapeutic Riding Center,
selected by the Valdosta, Georgia, location; Camp
Hooray (“Where Every Camper Can”), selected by
the Commerce, Georgia, location; and the Grace
Gate Free Clinic, selected by Habersham Hills
Cinemas in Mt. Airy, Georgia.
Said Georgia Theatre Company president Bo
Chambliss in a statement following the 2019 Cinema
for a Cause: “We were honored to be able to
give back once again to the communities that support
us. Our employees are the foundation of our
company and interact with their communities on
a daily basis. Georgia Theatre Company is grateful
to allow our employees to select the charities
that matter the most to them to benefit
from this impactful event.”
The benefit provided to
these charities is not just
a short-term infusion
of cash. According to
Kate Sabbe, marketing
manager at Georgia
Theatre Company, the
chosen charities are
invited to set up tables
in the lobby on the day of
Cinema for a Cause, so they can
“have a platform to talk about what they do …
hopefully we’re giving a platform and exposure
to [people they] wouldn’t normally interact with.”
Customers, meanwhile, “get to see where their
money is going.”
To drive attendance—and thus money to the
chosen charities—in the run-up to Cinema for
a Cause, the Georgia Theatre Company works
with its charity partners to market the event.
“We really empower the charities to help us out
with that and reach their local connections,”
Sabbe notes. “I produce all the marketing
material in-house, but we really use them to
help us get the word out. We’ll print posters for
inside the lobby. We find that people come both
because they know about the event, and also
because it’s a Sunday and they want to go the
movies. But we really try to get as many people
in the door as possible.”
MARCH 2020 / 21

Cinemark Theatres was a proud supporter of the recent Dallas Film
Society Fundraiser Luncheon. Established in 2006, the DFS is a nonprofit
organization that exists to celebrate film—the past, present, and future—
in the Dallas community. This year’s luncheon honored producer and
publisher Dallas Sonnier; proceeds went to the DFS’s Mercury One High
School Film Labs series, which gives high schoolers in North Texas handson
experience with various aspects of film production.
The team at Cinemark 18 and XD,
located in Los Angeles, welcomed over 1,000
children and families for their annual Children’s
Holiday Movie event. In partnership
with the Venice Family Clinic and numerous
other sponsors, Cinemark team members
made sure that everyone had a fun time at the
special screening of Dora and the Lost City of
Gold. Attendees enjoyed free popcorn from
Cinemark and Honest juice pouches and
Dasani water provided by Coca-Cola.
The annual event raises funds for the
Venice Family Clinic’s programs for children.
These programs provide educational,
preventive, and health care services through
the clinic’s pediatric medicine programs and
its Children First Early Head Start program.
Special activities at the Cinemark event
included face painting, visits with Santa,
music, and games.
On January 25, in collaboration with Variety – the Children’s Charity, the team at Studio Movie Grill’s new Prosperity Village location in Charlotte, N.C.,
kicked off their Special Needs Screening Series with a bike giveaway. Three-year-old Max and his parents were excited to receive his special adaptive bike.

UPCOMING EVENTS
Variety of the Desert
Dancing with Our Stars
March 1 / Rancho Mirage, Calif.
This dancing competition and
fundraising event—held in the
Agua Caliente Casino’s Cahuilla
Ballroom—showcases local celebrity
and Channel 3 meteorologist
Patrick Evans as Variety of
the Desert’s dancer. The dancer
with the most votes wins! Variety
of the Desert will be filling
two tables at this event, and you
may contact them to purchase a
ticket—including one vote—for
$90. Additional votes are $20.
There is no maximum number of
votes that you may cast. Seats
may be reserved. Votes can
be purchased by contacting
Variety of the Desert at variety@
varietyofthedesert.org or
(760) 773-9800.
Variety of Detroit
SHINE Fashion Show
March 15 / Troy, Mich.
Proceeds from Variety of
Detroit’s SHINE Fashion Show,
held at the Somerset Collection
mall, benefit the summer programs
of FAR Therapeutic Arts &
Recreation and the Variety 4-H
Horseback Riding Program. To
purchase tickets, visit http://
bit.ly/2u4FqaZ.
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MARCH 2020 / 23

Digital Decades
GDC TECHNOLOGY CELEBRATES ITS 20TH YEAR
BY REBECCA PAHLE
›› 2020 marks the 20th year in operation for GDC Technology. Over the past two
decades, the Hong Kong–based company has established itself as an industry leader
in supplying digital cinema solutions, including media servers, integrated media
blocks, and theater management systems. As of November 2019, approximately one
out of every three screens worldwide used some type of GDC product. Twenty-five
of the top 30 chains count themselves as GDC customers.

GDC Technology began in 2000—but
its story started years before. In 1996, Texas
Instruments hosted a contest—the DSP
Solutions Challenge—designed to encourage
innovation in digital signal-processing
technology. The team that won the $100,000
grand prize was led by Dr. Man-Nang Chong,
then a professor at Nanyang Technological
University in Singapore. The winning solution
was a semi-automated restoration processing
system whereby damaged motion picture film
could be rid of scratches and marks. Dr. Chong
would continue his work in the film-restoration
field, but he remained intrigued by the advances
being made in digital filmmaking and projection
during that time.
“When I was working in film restoration, I
thought that people would love to restore classics
like Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Hitchcock
movies, James Bond, Truffaut. ... Then I realized
that the experts in Hollywood were not in the
archival sections of these companies.”
It was the late ’90s. Texas Instruments
debuted its DLP Cinema projector and Star
Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace became
the first film to be screened digitally. Dr.
Chong knew that to be on the cutting edge
of cinema technology meant going digital. So
he did just that. “1999 was the year I sold my
SHANGHAI 2001
GDC’s first
Chinese installation
of digital cinema
equipment, paired
with Christie technology
CINITY 2020
A Cinity screen in
China utilizes GDC’s
SR-6400C media
server.
GDC AT 20
Dr. Man-Nang
Chong and images
of the Bona Film
Group’s Joy City
flagship location
(insets), opened in
2018. The facility
boasts ScreenX and
MX4D technology,
two DTS:X
immersive sound
auditoriums, and an
assortment of GDC
Technology products,
among them
the SR-1000 media
server (shown
opposite, inset),
Cinema Automation
CA2.0, and the SCL-
2000 Centralized
Playback Server.
MARCH 2020 / 25

motion picture restoration company to
Da Vinci [Technologies]. I registered
a company to manufacture equipment
and develop solutions for digital
cinemas.” In 2000, GDC Technology
was officially born.
That same year, GDC Technology
became the first company to develop a
software-based digital cinema server,
allowing theaters to gain access to movies
digitally, without spending thousands
of dollars per film print. That
high cost was particularly prohibitive
for exhibitors in China, who at the
time could typically only afford “a few
hundred prints per blockbuster” at the
maximum, explains Dr. Chong. “I saw
the opportunities. I also went to India.
These are developing countries that
cannot afford to make too many analogue
prints. So I thought that the solution
would be to use digital cinemas.”
“We started early” compared
to other companies working in the
digital cinema space, he notes. “But I
thought the quality was good. … In
those days, the projector’s resolution
was not 4K. Not even 2K. It was
1.3K.” All the same, “I thought that
the digital prints were definitely better
than the film release prints. And the
sound was so great, because it was
always 5.1 uncompressed PCM [pulsecode
modulation] audio. I thought
everything was great. I thought it was
ready! [But] the cost of equipment was
high; it was possibly almost 10 times
the price of what projectors and media
servers would cost today.”
“Year after year, the market for
digital cinema didn’t take off,” he says.
In fact, GDC Technology lost money
for its first nine years. Dr. Chong likens
digital cinema at the time to PLF (premium
large-format) cinema today: a
premium experience. Still, GDC stuck
it out, holding to Dr. Chong’s philosophy
of “listening to what the customer
wants and what the industry needs.”
In an era when so much of filmmaking
was increasingly going digital, the industry
needed an alternative to expensive,
analogue projection norms, even if
it didn’t realize it yet.
During the first half of GDC’s exis-
26 / MARCH 2020

tence, the company made technological
strides, although it didn’t make money.
In April 2002, they paid for two DLP
Cinema projectors and installed them
with GDC servers at China’s first two
digital theaters, which in turn screened
the country’s first digital print. In 2003,
GDC introduced the DSR Digital
Film Agile Encoder and DSR Digital
Film Server, the first server capable of
handling 2K resolution. Also in 2003,
GDC digital servers entered the U.S.
with an installation of its DSR server
at the AMC in Santa Monica, California.
In 2004, GDC brought 2K servers
to Korea and China; in 2006, GDC
servers were used for the Asian premiere
of Columbia Pictures’ 3-D release
Monster House. By the following year,
the company signed an agreement with
the China Film Group to install 700 2K
digital cinema projection systems across
the country. By the end of 2007, more
GRAND CINEMA SUNSHINE LOBBY
In July 2019, the Grand Cinema Sunshine
in Tokyo installed GDC’s Cinema
Automation 2.0 (CA2.0) and SR-1000
Standalone Integrated Media Block with
CineCache, designed to fully automate
workflow.
AND PROJECTION ROOM
The GDC XSP-1000 in the projection room
than 1,000 GDC 2K servers had been
installed worldwide.
Then came the turning point. With
the introduction of the virtual print
fee, which allowed theaters to upgrade
to digital projection with financial
assistance from a coalition of major
studios, exhibitors in North America
transitioned to digital projection en
masse within a relatively short span
of time. “The market did not take off
until 2008, when the VPF business
models championed by Hollywood
was accepted by exhibitors for only
one good reason: 3-D,” says Dr.
Chong. “3-D really created a catalyst
for exhibitors to quickly jump on the
bandwagon” of digital projection.
Though the high cost and
unfamiliar technology initially bred
skepticism among some exhibitors,
“after they saw the big box office—I
believe at that time 3-D ticket prices
were 25, 30 percent more than the
average ticket price—everyone jumped
in.” And GDC Technology, with years
of developing digital tools for cinemas
already under its belt, was more than
ready to meet them.
When the shift to digital happened,
“we were fortunate enough to be in a
position to mass produce equipment.
In the heydays of 2008 and 2009, we
were producing close to 10,000 media
servers a year. Before that, selling one
digital cinema screen was like, ‘Wow!’
A big celebration. Selling 10 meant we
were having champagne!”
Growth from there
was exponential, both
in North American and
in Asian markets. GDC’s
first major U.S. contract,
inked in April of 2009,
was to install 99 servers
for Premiere Cinemas. In
December of that year, GDC
signed VPF agreements with
major studios and contributed
to the digital transition of
major cinema chains in Japan
and Hong Kong. A year later,
GDC’s VPF program expanded
to North and South America. By
2007, as previously noted, GDC
had installed more than 1,000
2K servers worldwide; fewer than five
years later, in 2011, that number had
ballooned to 10,000-plus.
The technological innovations,
too, kept on coming. In 2004, with
a grant from Singapore’s Media
Development Authority (MDA), GDC
installed the world’s first entirely
digital cinema multiplexes with GDC’s
TMS (Theater Management System).
In 2010, GDC provided a live-content
decoder plug-in for its media servers,
installed at Lotte Cinema for the
Live 3D FIFA World Cup. In 2015,
partnering with DTS Inc., GDC
produced and installed the world’s first
DTS:X media servers in China. The
world’s first DTS:X-encoded movie,
Monk Comes Down the Mountain,
premiered in Beijing immediately
following the installations. In 2017,
in collaboration with Samsung, came
the world’s first LED screen, installed
at the Lotte Cinema World Tower in
Seoul, South Korea.
And then, last year, the
announcement of the Cinity Cinema
System: a combined venture among
GDC, Huaxia Film, and Christie
Digital Systems meant to encourage
advanced filmmaking formats. Director
Ang Lee’s Gemini Man—filmed in
120FPS, 4K, 3-D—was released with
the support of the GDC SR-6400C
media servers, capable of running
240FPS, 4K, 3-D footage with two
projector systems.
On the subject of Cinity, Dr. Chong
says, “We had the computing power
already. No one had really approached
us until Huaxia and Ang Lee said that
they really believe in this super-realistic
type of motion picture exhibition. I
saw the demonstration. I thought it was
like a different canvas altogether. The
3-D, the high brightness, high dynamic
range, and high frame rate, it makes
the exhibition of the movies so real. …
We created the technology as if it were
a new canvas for painters. Sometimes
you have to be patient. You create the
technology, you create the canvas, and
you wait. Some great artist will come
and paint a good picture, tell a good
story, and people will enjoy it.”
Cinity, notes Dr. Chong, represents
MARCH 2020 / 27

the “high end” of digital projection.
But it’s by no stretch of the imagination
the only arena that GDC is interested
in. The company has worked with Sony
and Texas Instruments, Dr. Chong
notes, to “produce projectors that are
quiet and light enough—and have
DCI compliance—to be installed in
the home, in hotels, [and] in small-size
mini-theaters. Because these are lowbrightness
projectors in the range of
5,000 lumens with a laser light source,
they are very reliable.” Their 35dB
ambient noise means “they’re quieter
than air conditioners.” Oftentimes,
these projectors are small enough so
as to not require a standard projection
booth; that was the case with Cinema
Automation 2.0, a fully automatic,
boothless cinema presented by GDC at
CineAsia 2017.
The smaller, more compact
projection and integrated media block
technology that GDC is developing
opens the door for nontraditional
exhibition options. Dr. Chong touts
iconic department store Selfridges in
the U.K., which in autumn of 2019
announced that it will add a cinema to
its London flagship location.
“These are small theaters where
the height of the ceiling is no more
than 12 to 15 feet,” Dr. Chong says of
these more compact locations. “Both
Texas Instruments and Sony saw the
opportunity and approached GDC
in 2017. We believe we have the best
technology in terms of making the
media servers reliably and also making
them cost effective enough to be used
for different markets.”
It’s that diversity of formats—ev-
JOY CITY
The Kids Theater
of the Bona Film
Group’s flagship
location
28 / MARCH 2020

erything from a theater in a department
store to the world’s first LED
screen—that Dr. Chong says he loves
about the movie industry, and what
GDC is able to contribute to it. “I see
cinemas evolving to meet different
needs,” he explains. “The old days of
one gigantic screen for everyone to
watch has evolved into different forms.
Hopefully GDC will be relevant in
whatever forms [cinema] keeps evolving
into, whether it’s high end like Cinity
or mini-theaters. I hope to play a part
in this exciting growth.”
GDC’s 2019 SCHOLARS
GDC Looks to the Future
With Computer Science Scholarship
“I believe in scholarship. I benefited from it,” says Dr. Man-Nang Chong. The
future chairman, CEO, and founder of GDC Technology studied in Scotland in
the 1980s, specializing in electronics and later computer science and image processing.
Because he did not come from a wealthy family, Dr. Chong would later
reflect, without financial assistance he would not have been able to “complete
my Ph.D. I would not have been able to achieve what I have achieved today and
have contributed to the digital cinema industry.”
In 2012, Dr. Chong began paying it forward with its GDC Scholarship.
Granted to between 30 and 50 students every year, the scholarship is given
in cooperation with the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC)
to undergraduate and postgraduate students from three USTC colleges: the
School of Computer Science and Technology, the School of Information Science
and Technology, and the School of Software Engineering.
The scholarship, explains Dr. Chong, is a way for him to “repay society” for
the help he was given decades prior. More than that, however, the GDC Scholarship
is intended to “encourage today’s engineers or engineers-to-be to think
more about media technology,” specifically when it comes to cinemas. “We
wanted to [encourage] bright engineers to think about what they can do for the
industry—not just apps or other technology!”
“I think education is so important,” continues Dr. Chong. “It can change a
person.” Through the GDC Scholarship, Dr. Chong says he hopes to motivate,
encourage, and inspire future innovators in the cinema-technology industry.
“We hope to continue to contribute and to make exhibitors and moviegoers
happy,” he says. “Most important are the moviegoers, [that they] experience
these new technologies in the cinema, so they keep coming back instead of
watching movies on their iPads, their phones, or their tablets. This is what we
want to do:”—through GDC’s technology and its contributions to future generations—“make
[theaters] innovative to bring in more moviegoers.”
MARCH 2020 / 29

The Sound
A Quiet Place Part II
Sound Editors Speak Up
BY JESSE RIFKIN
›› Behind Simon and Garfunkel, the second
most famous duo associated with “the sounds
of silence” may be Erik Aadahl and Ethan
Van der Ryn. The sound editors sculpted the
auditory environment of 2018’s breakout
horror-drama A Quiet Place, about a family
of four attempting to silently survive a world
overrun by blind predatory creatures with
acute hearing. The pair earned an Academy
Award nomination for Best Sound Editing
for their work.
The duo returns for director John
Krasinski’s sequel, A Quiet Place Part II,
in theaters March 20 from Paramount.
Our phone interview got off to an
inauspicious start—their voices were
barely audible due to a weak cell phone
connection. After reconnecting a minute
later on a landline, Van der Ryn quipped,
“We were in a quiet place.”
A QUIET PLACE PART II
SOUND EDITORS SPEAK UP
A Quiet Place, more than perhaps any other film in
recent memory, elicited nearly total silence in the theater.
Moviegoers wouldn’t so much as open their soda bottles.
Did you keep that in mind when doing the sound design?
Ethan Van der Ryn: It was a question in our minds the
whole time, when we were mixing and designing the sound
during the original: Would people be able to stay quiet
enough for the film to actually work? If people are making
too much sound, they’re going to obliterate the story and the
experience, which requires people to be completely silent. It
© 2019 PARAMOUNT PICTURES
30 / MARCH 2020

of Silence
ALL QUIET
From left: Millicent Simmonds,
Noah Jupe, and Emily Blunt
in A Quiet Place Part II
MARCH 2020 / 31

was an experiment, in a way, whether or not that could work.
Fortunately, it did.
Erik Aadahl: Our goal was really to make the audience an
active participant in the movie, putting the audience in the
shoes of the character. When Emily Blunt’s character, Evelyn, is
holding her breath, trying not to make a noise, ideally we’d have
the audience do the exact same thing. We didn’t really know if
the whole thing would work until we premiered it at South by
Southwest. A packed auditorium and the audience just went
with it. They were holding their breath until the very end. It was
such a vindication for this crazy experiment.
What was similar or different about working on the
sequel versus the original?
Van der Ryn: In the first one, we were setting up this
whole universe where creatures have taken control of the earth.
Humanity has had to adapt to be able to survive, by staying
silent. We worked on creating and setting up all the rules of
this whole universe. Obviously, with this one, because it’s a
direct continuation of the story, we have this established set of
rules in which to start playing. We don’t have to start from the
ground up to create the universe. It’s been created, so we can
just take off from there.
Aadahl: The last film was so successful, we feel like we
caught lightning in a bottle. So the challenge is how do we
top it? How do we take it even further? Not just repeat ourselves,
but create a new experience that’s going to be even more
effective. That was the challenge for everybody involved with
the film, not just for us in sound design, but [director] John
[Krasinski] and the incredible cast.
So how did you try to top it?
Aadahl: If the first film was more intimate, this film definitely
expands beyond the borders of the farm and the homestead.
We’re exploring the world a little bit more. [The trailer opens
with the family speeding down a street as dozens around flee on
foot, already showing more people in one scene than the first
film did in total.] The first film opens a certain time after the
invasion, but in this [film] we get a glimpse of day one. That was
pretty fun to work on. Our challenge as a sound designer is, how
do we expand upon the vocabulary and behavior of these creatures,
go deeper with it? There were a lot more moments where
we could play with that tension.
What was the hardest individual sound to create?
Van der Ryn: With the first film, we had to invent the
creature sounds from scratch—something nobody had ever
heard before, reverse engineering their biology. Knowing that
they use sound to navigate the world, that they’re blind, we
developed their palette of sound based on other living creatures
that have a similar use of sound to navigate the world.
For example, animals with echolocation or sonar. It was quite
an experiment, going through and trying things, playing with
sounds of dolphins and whales and bats. All of them use a similar
clicking to reflect objects in their environment, so through
sound they can paint a three-dimensional map. Eventually, we
SILENT FILM
Cillian Murphy
in A Quiet Place Part II
stumbled upon a stun gun, which had this really creepy alien
feel. It was an electric Taser, essentially, that became the spine
of our echolocation sound.
Van der Ryn: We were playing around with this stun gun,
trying to use it on different props that we had lying around our
studio. There were some grapes sitting on a table in the kitchen.
We tried it against the grapes and got the best sound. Grapes
have a thin skin and fleshy interior, similar to humans. So that
ended up being what we used. We just stumbled into that by
accident. That’s why this is a great job! Play is required.
What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done to create
a sound in a movie?
Aadahl: I was working with Ethan on the first Transformers.
We’d had a late night and I pulled into my driveway at home.
I stepped out of the car and a garden hose was lying out. I
stepped on it in such a way that the liquid in the hose made a
gurgly sound. It almost sounded like a creature. I grabbed the
garden hose, pulled it inside into the bathtub, started recording
it, and those became the splatty vocals for Bumblebee in all the
Transformers movies. If your ears are open, magic can happen.
How did the sound team work with Marco Beltrami
on the score? [Beltrami, who also scored the first film,
is a two-time Academy Award nominee for The Hurt
Locker and the 3:10 to Yuma remake.]
Van der Ryn: We love working with Marco. He just has
such a big-picture, holistic sense of the film. He’s very gracious
with not just where to play music, but where not to play music,
so we can get really, really quiet, make the audience lean in and
hold their breath. He’s doing a gorgeous job expanding on the
musical themes of the first film.
© 2019 PARAMOUNT PICTURES
32 / MARCH 2020

There’s a beautiful scene in the first film where Lee and Evelyn
slow dance to the song Harvest Moon by Neil Young, listening
through earbuds so they won’t attract the creatures. Whose
decision was that—yours, the music supervisor’s, Krasinski’s?
Van der Ryn: That’s John Krasinski, all the way. He wrote that
into the script, specifically to be that song. He talked about it a little
bit with us. The song was expensive, but it was important to him
that it be that song specifically. It was worth securing the rights to
use it and paying the money. For a lower-budget film to spend that
kind of money on one song was obviously a pretty big deal.
Aadahl: That song has special significance for him and his wife,
Emily. That’s a scene that’s based on their real-life relationship.
Between the two of you, you’ve won or been nominated
for multiple awards, including the Oscars. [The pair has been
nominated jointly for Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Argo,
and the first A Quiet Place]. What’s your best awards show
story?
Van der Ryn: My favorite awards experience was at the
BAFTA Awards [in Britain]. I took my mom. As we were walking
to the ball afterwards, all the photographers there started
calling out, “Dame Judi! Dame Judi!” They thought my mom
was Dame Judi Dench. So she started posing!
Aadahl: Before the Oscars, there’s the nominees’ luncheon.
As my date, I brought my godmother. She lives in Washington
state; she has nothing to do with Hollywood. We were standing
next to Glenn Close, who’s her favorite actress of all time. She
was just freaking out on me. “Can I take a picture?” It was fun
to experience it through her eyes.
Why is it important to see A Quiet Place Part II
in a cinema?
Van der Ryn: One of the unique things we experienced
with the first A Quiet Place was that it really brought back the
idea of cinemagoing as a communal experience. It became such
an interactive experience, where audiences were required to be
completely silent in order for the movie to work. Hundreds of
people were gathered together in this temple of cinema, being
hushed, not talking. That’s such a special experience to have in
this age of streaming.
Aadahl: We got a lot of feedback after the first film, people
mentioning that after they saw it in a theater, after the end credits
they heard the world in a completely new way. The sounds
of traffic, the city. They were almost overwhelmed with the
reality of sound in the world after having gone through this
experience of A Quiet Place. I think it would be a very different
experience to watch it on Blu-ray in your home, when
there might be a washing machine going.
AT THE MOVIES
What is your all-time favorite moviegoing memory or experience?
Aadahl: I grew up in the Bay Area. My parents took me to my very first movie when I was about
5 or 6 years old. It was E.T. on a big, beautiful 70-millimeter screen. That was the first movie I ever
saw in a theater. I still remember that feeling of “Whoa!” This big theater, that giant screen. The
movie moved me so much. I was crying when E.T. was dying. My parents were concerned that maybe
they should take me out of there, but I refused. “No, I have to stay and see this film!” It really
had a profound and powerful effect on me. It’s probably one of the reasons I fell in love with cinema
and went into it.
Van der Ryn: It was the [1971] Nicolas Roeg movie Walkabout, which I saw when I was probably
about 7 years old. It just really engaged me in a way that I had never experienced before, in any
other form. It took me on this incredible journey that involved these two kids, an older sister and
her younger brother, who was probably about 7, so I could relate completely to him. They’re on this
journey across the Australian outback. For most of the movie, there’s no talking. It’s a completely
cinematic experience that you can’t have in any other way, where you’re taken on this journey of
sight and sound.
What’s your favorite snack at the movie theater concession stand?
Aadahl: I’m a popcorn guy. Lightly buttered and lightly salted.
Van der Ryn: Of course, in a movie like A Quiet Place Part II, you have to be careful with the crunching,
or the audience might turn on you.
Aadahl: Junior Mints might work better.
Van der Ryn: Or gummy bears. Something soft.
MARCH 2020 / 33

Uphill Battlers
MICHAEL ANGELO COVINO AND KYLE MARVIN
PLAY COMIC ALTER EGOS IN THE CLIMB
BY KEVIN LALLY
›› The buddy comedy is a venerable movie genre, but there have been few movie buddies like
Mike and Kyle, the duo at the center of the acclaimed Sony Pictures Classics release The Climb.
In the opening scene, as the best friends are cycling in the South of France and schlubby Kyle
rhapsodizes about his pending marriage, Mike blurts out that he’s slept with Kyle’s fiancée.
That’s just the first bump in a decade-spanning relationship that’s equally sustaining and toxic.
Mike and Kyle are actually played
by two best friends, director Michael
Angelo Covino and his co-writer, Kyle
Marvin, in comically heightened versions
of their own disparate personalities. (In a
nutshell, Kyle is the gentle pushover and
Mike is the aggressive one.) What also
distinguishes The Climb is its style: That
bike ride, the confession, and its madcap
aftermath are all filmed in one lengthy,
precisely choreographed single take.
And all the sequences that follow, which
often jump far ahead in time, are also
conceived as elaborate single takes. The
ambitiousness of this low-budget indie,
expanded from a short the pair debuted
at Sundance in 2018, earned it the Un
Certain Regard Jury Coup de Coeur at
last spring’s Cannes Film Festival and the
Jury Prize at the Deauville Film Festival.
The original short comprised the
opening bike ride. “What we realized
as we were rehearsing and eventually
shooting is that those characters were
interesting for us to explore in a longer
story,” Covino recalls. “One character is
very giving almost to a fault and the other
character is selfish to a fault, but they
just had this bond that they couldn’t get
rid of. How would that story play out
over a lifetime? That was the thing that
Kyle and I both responded to so strongly,
that made us want to stop everything we
were doing and figure out how to turn it
into a feature.”
“In the early conversations on the
script,” Marvin notes, “we talked about
doing something like Rope, where you
never cut; you just live in this space. But
we ended up pursuing this version where
we travel over longer periods of time and
utilize a similar sort of camerawork, but
consciously add interruptions in between
to give you a break or a palate cleanse
before we throw you into the middle of
a scene and make the audience catch up
and get immersed again.”
Asked about his decision to use long
takes, Covino half-jokingly responds,
“The simple answer is that I hate editing,
so it just made the whole process
easier. But not really. It adds way more
complexity to shoot it in one take, but it
also simplifies the edit in some ways. But
the real decision came from the fact that
there was this immediacy in shooting the
short that way. We found ourselves not
wanting to look away, to just experience
real time and watch these characters
struggle through this uphill battle while
also struggling through their conversation.
The pacing of the conversation just
felt different than it probably would have
if we were cutting it up and covering
it in a more traditional sense. That was
really exciting.”
An essential partner in making this
concept work was cinematographer Zach
Kuperstein (The Eyes of My Mother). “We
developed a really beautiful relationship
throughout the process of making this
movie,” Covino says. “Sometimes he was
operating when it was handheld, and
other times it was our Steadicam operator,
and he and I just creating this sort
of dance. We considered the perspective
of the camera almost a character within
the scene sometimes. It had to move
differently depending on what feelings
we were trying to convey. In that scene
where the camera wraps around the
house [during a Thanksgiving gathering]
and my character is seeing this family for
the first time after betraying them all,
we got this idea of placing the camera
outside and letting it have an outsider
perspective as we’re watching this person
go through this series of hurdles. There
was a constant conversation with Zach
about how the camera contributed to the
story, communicating additional layers
of emotion.”
Audiences might be forgiven for
thinking Covino and Marvin are playing
themselves. So how close are they to
their onscreen characters? “We’re getting
closer and closer the longer this goes on.
I think we projected our future,” Marvin
jokes. “We have inherent traits which
34 / MARCH 2020

CLIMBING TO THE TOP
Kyle Marvin as Kyle,
Michael Angelo
Covino as Mike
in The Climb
ZACH KUPERSTEIN / COURTESY SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
naturally fed into the characters. In the
short, and then for the feature, we leaned
into them to make them more interesting.
Mike hasn’t slept with my wife, as
far as I know. He’s not normally that
kind of a personality, but there are pieces
of the pushover nature that’s inherent in
me and a piece of the aggressive nature
that’s in Mike. It was fun for us to expand
on it. … Part of the reason why we
used our real names was to blur that line
a little and have this conversation. We
thought it would be interesting.”
Covino and Marvin met 10 years
ago working on a commercial and soon
formed their own commercial production
company. “We’d work together in
various capacities but never as writing
partners,” Covino recalls. “And then one
day, like four or five years ago, we were
just like, why don’t we try writing a pilot
together? And we did that and it actually
felt very seamless. What we turned out
ended up being great, and we sold that
pilot and it was like, oh wow, there
might be something here.”
The duo’s comic heroes include
Monty Python and Jim Carrey. “There’s
something about slapstick,” Covino says.
“When I was little, I dressed up like Charlie
Chaplin almost every Halloween for
some reason. My parents and my grandparents
would lead me into watching old
comedy classics, which is probably part
of why we gravitate toward having deeper
emotional moments in the movie that are
interrupted by physical comedy.”
Marvin adds, “There’s something in
our sensibility about pacing that some
of the greats like Jim Carrey have. They
have an authenticity to their characters,
but they also have a command over
timing and pacing. And that I think is
a mark of good comedy. We were given
the luxury of being able to set up a joke
and then pay it off six minutes later. And
luckily our financiers stood by it. It’s
something that takes a little bit of commitment,
both as a performer and as an
audience member, to just say we’re really
gonna commit to this thing and it might
take more time than we’re used to. Unlike
the new style of American comedy,
where it’s pack as many jokes into this
scene as you can, as fast as possible.”
“That’s the best thing about doing
these long takes in a comedy,” Covino
says, “to not be pressured into cutting
in more jokes. By pacing the movie
slower, it allowed us to be a bit more
patient with our comedy, and therefore
certain jokes land harder. We have the
luxury of what a lot of the great comedic
filmmakers in the past had, people like
Mel Brooks and Mike Nichols—filmmakers
who created film at a time when
there was an inherent level of patience
that was greater than what exists today,
when people would go to a theater and
watch The Deer Hunter and a 20-minute
wedding scene and be OK with it. That
stuff doesn’t really fly as much in cinema
anymore, certainly not in comedy. And
that, at times, can be to a fault, because
half of what makes something funny is
the anticipation of it.”
As huge fans of French cinema, Covino
and Marvin say they were “walking
MARCH 2020 / 35

ON THE PISTE
Gayle Rankin as
Marissa, Kyle
Marvin as Kyle,
Michael Angelo
Covino as Mike
in The Climb
ZACH KUPERSTEIN / COURTESY SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
on a cloud” when The Climb debuted
in Cannes. “We shot the opening scene
30 minutes from Cannes, not really
thinking that would be any reason why
anyone would accept it there,” Covino
says. “But we thought, let’s start it there
and maybe we’ll end it there in some
way. That was a conversation between
Kyle and me: How do we make this
comedy, and how do we make it in a way
that maybe if we knock it out of the park
or pull a rabbit out of a hat, we could
go to Cannes with it? Because that is the
pinnacle of world cinema. That’s where
you immerse yourself in French cinema
and inspire yourself to write your American
love letter to French cinema.”
Sony Pictures Classics acquired the
film during Cannes’s closing weekend.
The company has “a love and appreciation
for film,” Marvin says. “For us they were
a good fit in that they give theatrical support
to films that sometimes need a little
bit of time to find their legs. It’s a great
partnership with someone who’s willing to
put us in theaters and keep us on screens
while people discover the film. Because
Mike and I are not household names, and
it’s a tricky time to go into theaters with
comedies, but they check the exact box
that we were looking for. Someone who’d
be willing to support a film in theaters.”
SPC opens the film on March 20, following
a January 26 simulcast (in partnership
with Trafalgar Releasing) in 10 theaters
of its Sundance screening and Q&A with
the filmmakers.
Covino and Marvin have already
written a TV show and are working on
a new feature script. Will it be similar
to The Climb? “I think everything we
do will be character driven, because
that’s our way into writing,” Covino
says. “There’s a bittersweet quality that
our movie has that we love exploring.
Finding humor in sadness and in darker
kinds of experiences is something that
we gravitate toward. That’s my approach
as a director more than anything. I love
a slower-paced approach to filmmaking,
but I don’t think I would ever make
another movie that has long single takes
for each scene. But certainly there are
elements of that aesthetic we would
incorporate into any movie or show that
we would do.”
Covino recently completed filming
a small role as a villain in News of the
World, Paul Greengrass’s post–Civil War
western starring Tom Hanks. Both he
and Marvin say they’re looking to branch
out as actors. “That’s the thrill and the
joy of creating art,” Marvin says. “To try
and do something different.”
“On that note,” Covino jokes, “we
are going to make The Climb 2.”
36 / MARCH 2020

Indies, Unite
INDEPENDENT CINEMA DAY MARKS
A SUCCESSFUL DEBUT
BY JESSE RIFKIN
›› With North America’s
three largest cinema circuits—
AMC, Regal, and Cinemark—
comprising more than half of all
box office revenue, independent
cinemas face a challenge: how
to attract customers with
conglomerates dominating
so much of the market. To
help them in their goal,
independent cinema owners
looked to Small Business
Saturday, created in 2010 as
an alternative to the more
corporate Black Friday. Could
Small Business Saturday
be replicated for the movie
exhibition business?
This germ of an idea
inspired Independent
Cinema Day, which took
place for the first time on
January 18, 2019. Thirty
exhibitors across North America
participated, representing more
than 400 screens. The day was
organized by the Independent
Cinema Alliance (ICA), a
national nonprofit founded
in 2018 to advocate for the
independent segment of the
exhibition industry.
LOVE LOCAL CINEMA
The Villages Movie Theaters in Florida
leveraged indies’ ability to cater movie
selections to local audiences.
BOX OFFICE UP 20 PERCENT
Cinergy, a five-theater company in Texas
and Oklahoma, employed innovative
marketing strategies, including social media,
to spur interest in Independent Cinema Day.
Getting the Word Out
Judging by the numbers, Independent
Cinema Day was a success. Participating
cinemas used unique marketing tactics to
draw customers in, with a resultant jump
in box office compared to the equivalent
day from previous years. (Some good
timing also helped: Independent Cinema
Day coincided with the Saturday of Martin
Luther King weekend, which saw the
$73 million debut of Bad Boys for Life.)
“I was like, ‘Hey, why don’t we give out
popcorn for everybody?’” recalls Deborah
Mills, director of operations at The
Villages Movie Theaters, which has
three locations in Florida. “Then I
went to the party store and got boas,
hats, and beads for cute photos.
People were taking photos in front of
a sign that said ‘Love. Local. Cinema,’
and posting it on social media.”
The company notched 1,533
attendees at its Old Mill Playhouse
and 2,032 at its Barnstorm Theater
on Independent Cinema Day.
“Our total box office was up a
little over 20 percent compared to the
equivalent Saturday last year,” says
Traci Hoey, V.P. of marketing at Cinergy,
a five-theater company in Texas
and Oklahoma. “Overall, all of our
centers were up compared to last year.”
“It went wonderful!” concurs
Maureen Paquet, co-owner of the Gem
Theatre in British Columbia. “We had
a great time. Although, it was the first
[Independent Cinema Day], so people
are not quite as aware of it as they will be
in future years.”
Standing Out from the Pack
Independent Cinema Day is an
example of independent cinemas using
innovative marketing strategies to differentiate
themselves from the competition.
It’s a necessity that participants in the
campaign were already well aware of.
“Our locations range from 14 to 18
bowling lanes,” says Hoey of Cinergy.
“Half of our locations have escape rooms.
We’re adding ax throwing in Kansas City,
when we’re opening there later this sum-
38 / MARCH 2020

mer. We’ve got laser tag, an above-ground
ropes course, and heated seats.”
To promote the wrestling-themed
Fighting with My Family last February,
The Villages Movie Theaters featured a
live wrestling event starring WWE Hall of
Famer Dory Funk Jr., held in a full-sized
wrestling ring. The Villages also hosted a
military-themed film festival in November,
catering to the large number of
veterans in that area of Florida.
Gem Theatre has hosted live concerts—recent
performers include Beatles
and Abba tribute bands—and holds a
weekly “Freebie Friday” memorabilia
giveaway on its Facebook page. Sony
presented the theater with the winter hat
Jack Black wore in December’s Jumanji:
The Next Level, which the theater in turn
gave away to a loyal fan.
“We’ve done ‘Margarita and a Movie,’
which will take a movie like Bad Moms
and make a big party out of it. [Distributor]
STX [Entertainment] was happy
about it, because we overperformed [relative
to most theaters] with that movie,”
says Rich Daughtridge, president and
CEO of HighRock Group, the marketing
company that spearheaded the Independent
Cinema Day campaign.
Looking Forward
Independent Cinema Day participants
hope to expand upon its initial success
in next year’s iteration, attracting a whole
new legion of customers to its offerings.
But that can only occur if those customers
understand why local cinema is important.
“For a healthy exhibition landscape,
you need a mix of large chains but also
smaller operations,” says Daughtridge.
He maintains that independent cinema
comprises about 20 percent of total box
office revenue. “If independents don’t
continue to thrive, don’t continue to
evolve, the hit on the actual industry
would be significant.”
Independent cinemas can serve as
integral parts of their communities.
“I’ve been in the local movie industry
for almost 50 years,” says Gem Theatre’s
Paquet. “The audience supports
us, and we support them. That’s how
it works in your smaller areas. We do
fundraisers for different organizations
and charities. We do celebrations for
the local hockey team.”
Mills of The Villages cites the ability
of indies to cater movie selections to local
audiences, such as the older demographic
in her part of Florida. “The Bucket List
played here forever, probably like 18
months. Book Club, we had one print and
we were the number one theater [for that
movie] in the country,” she says.
“We’re the gateway to content,” she
continues. “It goes on Netflix, and people
might not watch it. But if we play it here,
they go, ‘Oh, maybe this is actually something.’
[Unlike larger national chains],
we’re not forced to have 14 screens of
Avengers: Endgame.”
“I mean, we were selling Avengers
out,” Mills clarifies. “But we only played
it on one screen.”
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INTERNET TICKETING
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MARCH 2020 / 39

Building
a Bar Area
ALCOHOL SERVICE IN THEATERS
REQUIRES EXTENSIVE
PRE-PLANNING
BY KEVIN LALLY
›› More and more cinemas are adding wine,
beer, and cocktail service to their amenities,
part of an ongoing trend to make a night out
at the movies an even more special occasion.
But what do you need to know before making
this momentous business decision? Michael
Giacinto, director of sales at leading cinema
food-service design, construction, and supply
firm Proctor Companies, has the answers.
What factors should exhibitors consider when deciding
whether to add bar service?
• Can I succeed in the face of my local competition?
• Can I secure a liquor license?
• Do I have enough floor space?
• Am I prepared to manage a bar operation?
If you answered yes to these four questions, you’re a good candidate
for a bar. But to fully succeed with your new bar operation,
you’ll also need to ask:
• Will I be serving wine/beer only, or will I serve mixed drinks
as well?
• Do I intend to serve drinks in-theater?
• What equipment is required to support my bar operation?
• Who should I get to build my bar?
What are the biggest construction and operational challenges
involved?
Let’s look at each of these considerations separately.
The biggest construction challenges are space and infrastructure.
Bars not only take up plenty of square footage, they also require tap
lines for beer, soda lines for soft drinks, floor and sink drainage, and
expanded power and refrigeration capabilities. In
addition, local building codes may dictate special
considerations for venting, lighting, access, or fire
suppression. In the case of new construction, most
of these items can be addressed fairly easily; in the
case of a renovation, they can be particularly challenging.
It all hinges on just what type of bar you
intend to build. Will you be creating a full-service
40 / MARCH 2020

ar and restaurant? A stand-alone bar? A service
bar only? Each of these will dictate different design,
space, and equipment needs.
Operationally, the biggest challenge is working
within the parameters of your liquor license.
Serving alcohol is new to most theaters, so training
your staff to check IDs and recognize the signs of
intoxication is critical to managing the increased
liability that comes with a bar operation. Hiring an
experienced manager and requiring TIPS certification
for all bar employees are highly recommended.
What are the optimal locations in the theater
complex for adding a bar?
In a traditional layout, the most common
bar location is in the lobby near the concession
PLENTY OF GLASS
The Malco
Powerhouse in
Memphis, Tenn.
MARCH 2020 / 41

IN-LOBBY BAR
The Verité Lounge
inside Harkins
Camelview Theatre
in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Don’t forget
the lighting.
The right
lighting
design will
make your
bar look
warm and
inviting ...
after all, you
can’t sell
customers
anything if
they don’t
come in.
stand, visible from the entry. In the case of a
renovation, what was formerly arcade space is
often the best place for the bar. (The ROI for a
bar is far greater than the ROI of an arcade.) In
the case of new construction, the bar is typically
located near the restaurant, if there is one. If
not, prominent placement in the lobby is recommended.
For family entertainment centers, the
bar is often placed near the bowling alley.
Are there particular construction materials
you recommend?
Absolutely! At Proctor Companies, we’ve
found that the first concern must be durability
and maintenance. Otherwise, your brand-spanking-new
bar is likely to look dirty and dumpy in
short order. Fortunately, there are a number of
material options that feature striking colors and
textures—and more are being developed all the
time. For instance, quartz, Okite, and natural
stone countertops are particularly well-suited to
bar applications: They’re beautiful, durable, and
easy to clean. Corian is also a good choice and
can be applied to façades as well.
Stainless steel is a must for under-bar
construction and equipment like sinks, bottle
caddies, and backsplashes. We always specify
18-gauge #403 stainless, which has a slight
grain so it resists showing scratches. For ease of
cleaning, floors should be made of concrete, tile,
or linoleum.
What visual/presentation elements do you
recommend to attract customers and boost
sales?
First, we recommend a bold, branded design.
This will set you apart and provide a compelling
customer experience. For instance, if your bar
carries a tropical theme, you’ll want to include
elements that communicate that right away with
things like thatched palm textures, coconut
trees, and tiki torches. Similarly, a bar with an
African theme may include ceremonial masks, a
zebra-pattern carpet, and a crossed-spear entryway.
Whatever your theme is, don’t be afraid to
transform your establishment into an experience
your customers can get nowhere else.
Second, consider visibility. Seeing people
having fun is the best way to get additional customers
to join the party. So we recommend open
floor plans and plenty of glass.
Finally, don’t forget the lighting. The right
lighting design will make your bar look warm
and inviting so your customers feel welcome;
after all, you can’t sell them anything if they
don’t come in. At Proctor Companies, we use
strategic spot and undershelf lighting to highlight
the items that make you the most money.
42 / MARCH 2020

And we specify ambient and task lighting that
helps your employees work efficiently and avoid
accidents. We strongly recommend Hafele
fixtures. Although they initially cost more than
cheap off-shore knockoffs, they last much longer
and require less maintenance, saving you money
in the long run. Many of our designs feature
backlit or under-lit Corian, which creates a striking
visual effect.
What kind of seating do you recommend?
The type of seating depends on the type
of service you provide. If you’ve got just a bar,
high-top seating is all that is necessary. However,
if you also have cocktail or dinner tables,
you’ll need low-top seating as well.
Once you’ve determined the appropriate
mix of high-top and low-top seating, there are
myriad other factors to consider. Will chairs
and stools need to be moved or reconfigured?
If so, are they heavy, do they fold, will they
scuff the floor? How durable is the seating and
can it be repaired if damaged? After the basics,
you’ll want to delve into the details. Does the
bar have a foot rail or will the bar stools need
built-in footrests? Is a swiveling seat preferred?
Does your seating need to be weather resistant
for indoor/outdoor use? How much space is
available for storing spares? Do they need to
stack? How easily can upholstery be cleaned,
refinished, or replaced? Is the bar floor carpeted
or a hard surface? This determines whether felt,
rubber, plastic, polyethylene, or nylon is the best
foot material.
What else do you recommend to add to the
ambiance?
Make your bar space a place in which your
customers feel as comfortable as they do at
home, where they can share great times with
their friends in a friendly setting. In addition
to a general bar area, create niches and nooks
customers can claim as their own. Define
these areas with different floor heights, colors,
materials, fixtures, lighting, and features. Train
your wait staff to be professional, friendly, and
accommodating. Remember, comfortable is the
new profitable! Your customers will reward your
efforts by staying longer and spending more—so
you can sit back and count the cash.
HERE’S LOOKIN’
AT YOU
Rick’s Café
Americain at
The Palms Theatres
& IMAX in Waukee,
Iowa, part of the
Fridley Theatres
circuit
YOUR SOURCE FOR VENTLESS
KITCHEN SOLUTIONS
MEET US AT
CINEMACON
BOOTH
100J
products.com
1-800-348-2976
MARCH 2020 / 43

Century in Exhibition
2020 marks the 100th
anniversary of the founding
of Boxoffice Pro. Though
the publication you hold in
your hands has had different
owners, headquarters,
and even names—it was
founded in Kansas City by
18-year-old Ben Shlyen as
The Reel Journal, then called
Boxoffice in 1933, and more
recently Boxoffice Pro—it has
always remained committed
to theatrical exhibition.
From the 1920s to the
2020s, Boxoffice Pro has
always had one goal: to
provide knowledge and
insight to those who bring
movies to the public. Radio,
TV, home video, and
streaming have all been
perceived as threats to
the theatrical exhibition
industry over the years,
but movie theaters are still
here—and so are we.
We at Boxoffice Pro are
devotees of the exhibition
industry, so we couldn’t
resist the excuse of a
centennial to explore our
archives. What we found
was not just the story of a
magazine, but the story of
an industry—the debates,
the innovations, the concerns,
and above all the
beloved movies. We’ll share
our findings in our yearlong
series, A Century in
Exhibition.
1940S: GLOBAL CONFLICT AND
CONSENT DECREES
BY VASSILIKI MALOUCHOU
›› The exhibition industry started the 1940s rocked by the
wars in Europe and Asia. World War II would impact where
films could be distributed, what films would be made, and
even how theaters could be run. By the end of the decade,
the U.S. government would turn its attention to something
that remains a hot-button issue for our industry today: the
Paramount Consent Decrees.
Although the United States wouldn’t enter the war until 1941, Boxoffice Pro,
and the industry as a whole, was uninterested in neutrality. As early as fall 1938, Boxoffice
Pro spearheaded the cause of “Americanism” to promote American values,
including patriotism and democracy.
Cecil B. DeMille’s documentary Land of Liberty and John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln
emphasized patriotic themes, while films like Confessions of a Nazi Spy and Inside
Nazi Germany took direct aim at Hitler and the Third Reich. Boxoffice Pro owner/
editor Ben Shlyen identified these films as an important part of the war effort. There
were more coming; a July 1939 feature identified at least 42 “Americanism” films slated
for release through the end of the year. In that same piece, editor-in-chief Maurice
“Red” Kann wrote, “No one can successfully argue that the screen should not do
everything in its considerable power to maintain and perpetuate the good things in
the American scene.”
Americanism did not fall on sympathetic ears in Washington, however. In
September 1941, a Senate subcommittee launched an investigation into the motion
picture industry, accusing it of warmongering and of violating neutrality law. Boxoffice
Pro fought back against what it perceived as censorship. Red Kann accused the
committee members of using the industry “as a springboard for an isolationist support
of the administration’s foreign policy.” (And in fact, four out of five subcommittee
members were isolationists.)
Both Shlyen and Kann feared that if studios were labeled as peddlers of propaganda,
it would have catastrophic consequences at the box office. Kann warned that “one
grave danger, perhaps the gravest, confronting the industry is the possibility [that the
probe] may succeed in establishing a link in the public mind between the industry
and propaganda, thereby making suspect whatever Hollywood may produce and
newsreels may report with feared effects on the box office.” Kann also applauded efforts
by the Hays Office to stop the probe, writing, “After years of taking it square on
the chin and folding up under the impact of criticism [...] the industry now discovers
its backbone and returns the blows.”
The motion picture industry did not stand alone in this battle. A survey conducted
by the Hays Office and published in our pages in October 1941 found that
90 percent of editorials in American publications were in support of the motion
picture industry rather than the Senate subcommittee. Editorial support from various
outlets praised the industry’s patriotism and attacked the Senators’ attempt to
curtail freedom of expression.
44 / MARCH 2020

Everything changed with the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. As
the U.S. officially entered the war, the probe was dropped. A few days later, Shlyen
urged the industry to unite, less for its own benefit than for the nation’s welfare.
Soon after, the Motion Picture Committee Cooperating for National Defense, established
in 1940, changed its name to the War Activities Committee and began the
work of supporting the war effort.
Boxoffice Pro ran campaigns to inform exhibitors about how they could
contribute as well. The magazine proved a staunch supporter of many industry-wide
drives to collect money to support refugees and encourage the purchase of war
bonds. Throughout the war, the magazine often ran pleas for theater owners to
conserve and recover precious materials, like copper drippings and aluminum (from
projector arc lamps and other equipment), and offered instructions on how to do so.
The pages of Boxoffice Pro also documented—and often applauded—various exhibitor
efforts to encourage patriotism among their patrons, whether through the use
of lobby displays promoting the purchase of war bonds, running “D for Democracy”
banners on marquees, or hosting training for “airstrike wardens.”
The magazine also kept readers up to date on the grim reality that faced theaters
as the war progressed. With rationing,
popcorn became increasingly scarce. Film
shortages caused frequent delays in film
delivery. Fuel shortages forced theaters to
modify their hours or shut down temporarily.
In 1942, the War Production Board
issued orders forbidding the construction
of new theaters for the remainder of
the war. There was a high cost in terms
of manpower as well, as many in the
industry—from exhibition executives
to lower-level staff—joined the military,
putting them alongside Hollywood stars
like Charlton Heston, Jimmy Stewart, and
Clark Gable.
The exhibition community also faced
a crumbling demand, both domestically
and abroad. Just two weeks after the
start of the conflict overseas, Boxoffice
Pro writers joined studio executives and
prominent exhibitors in calling for a self-sufficiency strategy that would rely solely
on U.S. distribution. In 1940, 20th Century Fox’s Darryl F. Zanuck stated, “We’ve
got a grave responsibility—to place ourselves in a position where we are domestically
self-sufficient. When we have done that—and we must do that—then and only then
we’ll last forever with the destiny of our business in our hands.”
By the first six months of 1940, film exports to Europe were down by six million
feet compared to the same period in 1939. A commentator jokingly wrote that Hitler
controlled the largest theater chain in the world. With Europe in turmoil, the industry
turned to Latin American markets for their exports. In May 1940, Red Kann
estimated that the loss of foreign markets would amount to an annual $50 million
deficit during the war.
As the end of the war approached, the film industry looked to the financial
potential of the liberated markets. In 1943, Boxoffice Pro reported that French
director Julien Duvivier believed that the French, “being an emotional people,
[required] substantial food for their minds,” which “must be supplied” in the form
of American films. That same year, we reported that crowds in Italian theaters were
chanting, “We want American films again.”
After 1945, there was a sharp increase in exports, owing to both the postwar eco-
COVERING WWII
Boxoffice Pro promoted war bonds
and owner/editor Ben Shlyen launched
a “United We Stand” campaign.
MARCH 2020 / 45

nomic boom and the presence abroad of
American troops, who were stationed in
such numbers as to offset the impact of
trade tariffs. By 1947, the vice president
of the Motion Picture Export Association
stated that “American pictures have
recaptured their prewar prestige and are
again the preferred entertainment in
every country I visited.” Foreign films
were also becoming popular in the U.S.;
in 1947, 250 theaters showed pictures
from overseas.
0P-EDs DEFEND FREE EXPRESSION
Boxoffice Pro excerpted editorials
and cartoons from a variety
of American newspapers.
Boxoffice Pro expressed hope
for the industry’s prospects, publishing
articles on the postwar “theater of
the future” and praising the return of
innovation. Yet the return of business
as usual also meant the return of a legal
battle that had preoccupied the industry
for decades: the antitrust
question.
It all started in
1921, when the Federal
Trade Commission
declared block booking
anticompetitive and
questioned the studios’
monopolistic practices.
Nine years later, the major
studios were declared
guilty of monopolization,
but the decision was nullified
by the Roosevelt administration
during the Depression.
In 1938, as studios became
more powerful, the Department
of Justice filed another
antitrust suit against the Big
Eight (Paramount Pictures,
Twentieth Century-Fox
Corporation, Loew’s, RKO,
Warner Brothers Pictures,
Columbia Pictures Corporation, Universal
Corporation, and United Artists
Corporation), accusing them of conspiring
to control the industry through
the ownership of both distribution and
exhibition channels.
A 1940 article reported that between
1930 and 1940, exhibitors had filed 793
complaints with the Justice Department.
That same year, studios reached
a deal with the Justice Department:
During a three-year trial period, studios
could keep ownership of their theaters,
but block booking was limited to groups
of five and exhibitors were allowed to
watch movies before purchasing them.
An arbitration system was enacted a
year later. This consent decree ended in
1943, when the Department of Justice
filed yet another lawsuit, which was put
on pause due to the war.
The end of the war led the Justice
Department, with the support of the
Society of Independent Motion Picture
Producers (SIMPP), to renew the case.
In 1948, after two decades of legal battles,
the Supreme Court handed down
its order abolishing block booking,
circuit dealing, and resale price maintenance.
Studios would also be forced to
divest themselves of their theater chains
or spin them off into discrete new
corporate entities.
RKO was the first
studio to sign the
consent decree in
November 1948,
followed by Paramount
in May
of the following
ANTITRUST TROUBLES
The 1940s saw the Justice
Department challenge
movies studios.
Boxoffice Pro GOES TO WAR
The magazine followed
theater manager
Sam Dart to Sicily.
year, and Loew’s, Fox, and
Warner in July 1949. The
series of consent decrees that
were formalized during that
period came to be collectively
known as the Paramount
Consent Decrees.
The exhibition industry was far
from united in how it viewed the
consent decrees. The Motion Picture
Theater Owners of America (MPTOA),
predecessor of NATO, was in favor of
self-regulation over federal regulation.
Its president, E.L. Kuykendall, declared
in April 1940 that “we know [the independent
theater owner] has reached the
stage of favoring any regulation, or law,
whether he would benefit by it or not
since he has little to lose anyway. But,
in any instance, he has allowed a temporary
cloud to blind his vision and he
will eventually learn he will suffer most
if such legislation is enacted.” In reaction
to the decrees, Shlyen wrote, “The
industry has its greatest opportunity
to date to come through with a trade
practice plan designed for elimination
of inter-factional troubles.”
But, like Kuykendall, Shlyen
thought the decrees wouldn’t solve the
industry’s problems. Exhibitors and
distributors, he believed, “must sit down
and agree on terms that will best serve
their mutual interests.” In 1946, Shlyen
wrote that “the government’s failure to
win its ‘main issue’ of divorcement”—
which it would go on to “win” two years
later—“[was] actually a victory for the
independent exhibitor.” Going back to
the self-regulation argument, he wrote
in 1949 that the long legal battle “has
drained the industry of millions of
dollars and the time and thought which
otherwise would have been devoted to
production improvement and merchandising.”
Ultimately, for
Shlyen, it was hard to assess
the real impact of the decrees.
That wouldn’t reveal itself until
future years.
46 / MARCH 2020

Meet us at
CinemaCon to
demo our high
performance
ticketing services
& learn to drive
online sales.
Find us on booth 2207A.
THE
COMPANY
WEBEDIA GROUP

Coming Attractions
FORTHCOMING NEW RELEASES
WITH PROMISING BOX OFFICE POTENTIAL
BY SHAWN ROBBINS
A QUIET PLACE PART II
Paramount | March 20
A Quiet Place was a runaway
success for Paramount two
years ago, following an intense
and effective marketing
campaign that helped generate
excitement for the inventive scifi
thriller. The film delivered a
$50.2 million domestic opening
weekend—the highest ever for
an original film in April.
The original’s ability to build
on that strong opening with
a 3.7-times multiplier proved
it had legs. Staying power
was more like that of the first
Conjuring film than of frontloaded
favorites like It or
Halloween (2018).
Early social metrics for the
sequel are strong: The trailer
has generated sentiment and
impressions comparable to
previous blockbuster openings
from the genre like Us and the
aforementioned Halloween. An
opening on that scale would
land this sequel in the top 10
March openings of all time.
Emily Blunt’s return, as well as
48 / MARCH 2020

another directorial effort from
John Krasinski, provides the
kind of creative consistency that
should continue to fuel interest
in the apparent world-building
sequel. If buzz keeps rolling
and reviews come in positive,
it’s safe to expect one of the
biggest first-quarter horror
openings of all time.
MULAN
Disney | March 27
Second to no one, Disney
has all but mastered the
ability to capitalize on existing
I.P. and nostalgia. In recent
years, they’ve sent remakes
of The Lion King, Beauty and
the Beast, Aladdin, The Jungle
Book, Maleficent, and Cinderella
to varying degrees of big box
office success.
As audiences and the industry
embrace diversity on the big
screen, the appeal of a largescale
English-language film
starring a predominantly Asian
cast could attract a strong
turnout from Asian American
communities and families.
Mulan opens three weeks
after Pixar’s Onward, enough
of a gap to prevent significant
competition—especially given
the earlier film’s lean toward
young male audiences, as
opposed this feature’s reliance
on young women.
Trailer impressions are
notably high, as the film
received a considerable
amount of promotion in front
of blockbusters like Star Wars:
The Rise of Skywalker and Frozen
II over the holidays.
NO TIME TO DIE
United Artists | April 10
Daniel Craig’s final outing
as 007 is likely to generate
significant buzz leading up to
release, and the Good Friday/
Easter weekend debut could
inflate opening earnings.
Whether the films plays as
audience friendly as Skyfall
and Casino Royale—or more
fan-centric like Quantum of
Solace and Spectre—remains
to be seen.
MARCH 2020 / 49

ON SCREEN
WIDE RELEASES
PHOTOS AND ART COURTESY OF STUDIOS / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Yifei Liu
in Mulan
MULAN
MARCH 27 / DISNEY
Acclaimed filmmaker Niki Caro brings the epic tale
of China’s legendary warrior to life in this live-action
version of the 1998 Disney animated classic. When
the emperor of China issues a decree that one man
per family must serve in the imperial army to defend
the country from northern invaders, Hua Mulan,
the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in
to take the place of her ailing father. Masquerading
as a man (her nom de guerre: Hua Jun), she is tested
every step of the way and must harness her inner
strength and embrace her true potential.
CAST YIFEI LIU, DONNIE YEN, JASON SCOTT LEE,
JET LI, GONG LI, ROSALIND CHAO, YOSON AN,
TZI MA, UTKARSH AMBUDKAR, RON YUAN DIR
NIKI CARO RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA
Scan image with Fuze Viewer app to access AR content.
Issa Rae and
Kumail Nanjiani
in The Lovebirds
THE LOVEBIRDS APRIL 3 / PARAMOUNT
A couple experiences a defining moment in their relationship
when they are unintentionally embroiled in a murder mystery. As
their journey to clear their names takes them from one extreme
circumstance to the next, they must figure out how they, and their
relationship, can survive the night.
CAST ISSA RAE, KUMAIL NANJIANI, ANNA CAMP, KYLE
BORNHEIMER, PAUL SPARKS DIR MICHAEL SHOWALTER
RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA

Maisie Williams, Henry
Zaga, Blu Hunt, Charlie
Heaton, and Anya Taylor-
Joy in The New Mutants
Ben Affleck in The Way Back
THE NEW MUTANTS
APRIL 3 / DISNEY-20TH CENTURY
This Marvel horror-thriller is set in an isolated hospital where a
group of young mutants is being held for psychiatric monitoring.
When strange occurrences begin to take place, both their new
mutant abilities and their friendships will be tested as they battle
to try to make it out alive.
CAST ANYA TAYLOR-JOY, MAISIE WILLIAMS, CHARLIE
HEATON, ALICE BRAGA, HENRY ZAGA, BLU HUNT DIR JOSH
BOONE RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA
PETER RABBIT 2: THE RUNAWAY
APRIL 3 / SONY-COLUMBIA
Bea, Thomas, and the rabbits have created a makeshift family,
but despite his best efforts, Peter can’t seem to shake his mischievous
reputation. Adventuring out of the garden, Peter finds
himself in a world where his mischief is appreciated, but when
his family risks everything to come looking for him, Peter must
figure out what kind of bunny he wants to be.
James Corden
voices Peter Rabbit
CAST JAMES CORDEN, ROSE BYRNE, DOMHNALL GLEESON,
MARGOT ROBBIE, DAISY RIDLEY, DAVID OYELOWO,
ELIZABETH DEBICKI DIR WILL GLUCK RATING TBA
RUNNING TIME TBA
NO TIME TO DIE
APRIL 10 / UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING
James Bond has left active service and is enjoying a tranquil life
in Jamaica. His peace is short-lived when his old friend Felix
Leiter from the CIA turns up asking for help. The mission to
rescue a kidnapped scientist turns out to be far more treacherous
than expected, leading Bond onto the trail of a mysterious villain
armed with dangerous new technology.
CAST DANIEL CRAIG, RAMI MALEK, ANA DE ARMAS,
RALPH FIENNES, LASHANA LYNCH, LÉA SEYDOUX, BEN
WHISHAW, JEFFREY WRIGHT, NAOMIE HARRIS, CHRISTOPH
WALTZ, RORY KINNEAR, BILLY MAGNUSSEN DIR CARY JOJI
FUKUNAGA RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA
Daniel Craig
in No Time to Die
Scan with Fuze Viewer app to access AR content.
MARCH 2020 / 51

ON SCREEN
WIDE RELEASES
MONSTER PROBLEMS
APRIL 17 / PARAMOUNT
In this comedy-adventure, a young man learns how to survive a monster
apocalypse with the help of an expert hunter.
CAST DYLAN O’BRIEN, MICHAEL ROOKER, ELLEN HOLLMAN,
JESSICA HENWICK DIR MICHAEL MATTHEWS RATING TBA
RUNNING TIME TBA
TROLLS WORLD TOUR
APRIL 17 / UNIVERSAL
Poppy and Branch discover that they are but one of six different Troll
tribes scattered over six different lands and devoted to six different kinds of
music: funk, country, techno, classical, pop, and rock. A member of hardrock
royalty, Queen Barb wants to destroy all other kinds of music to let
rock reign supreme. Poppy and Branch, along with their friends, set out to
visit all the other lands to unify the Trolls in harmony against Barb.
VOICE CAST ANNA KENDRICK, JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE, JAMES CORD-
EN, SAM ROCKWELL, CHANCE THE RAPPER, ANTHONY RAMOS,
RON FUNCHES, KUNAL NAYYAR, RACHEL BLOOM DIR WALT
DOHRN RATING PG RUNNING TIME TBA
BAD TRIP
APRIL 24 / UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING
Bad Trip follows two best friends on a cross-country road trip full of
inventive pranks, pulling the real-life audience into the mayhem.
CAST ERIC ANDRÉ, LIL REL HOWERY, TIFFANY HADDISH DIR
KITAO SAKURAI RATING R RUNNING TIME TBA
ANTEBELLUM
APRIL 24 / LIONSGATE
Successful author Veronica Henley finds herself trapped in a horrifying
reality and must uncover the mind-bending mystery before it’s
too late.
Lil Rel Howery
in Bad Trip
CAST JANELLE MONÁE, ERIC LANGE, JENA MALONE, JACK
HUSTON, KIERSEY CLEMONS, GABOUREY SIBIDE DIRS GERARD
BUSH, CHRISTOPHER RENZ RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA
52 / MARCH 2020

Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Queen Barb
(Rachel Bloom) in Trolls World Tour
Scan with Fuze Viewer app to access AR content.
ON SCREEN
LIMITED RELEASES
MILITARY WIVES
MARCH 27 / BLEECKER STREET
Military Wives is a fact-based story of a group of women in England
whose partners are away serving in Afghanistan. In their absence, they
form a choir and quickly find themselves at the center of a media
sensation.
CAST KRISTIN SCOTT THOMAS, SHARON HORGAN, EMMA LOWN-
DES, GABY FRENCH, JASON FLEMYNG DIR PETER CATTANEO
RATING R RUNNING TIME 112 MIN.
SAINT MAUD
MARCH 27 / A24
Maud, a newly devout hospice nurse, becomes obsessed with saving
her dying patient’s soul—but sinister forces, and her own sinful past,
threaten to put an end to her holy calling.
CAST MORFYDD CLARK, JENNIFER EHLE, LILY FRAZER, LILY
KNIGHT, MARCUS HUTTON DIR ROSE GLASS RATING R
RUNNING TIME 83 MIN.
MARCH 2020 / 53

ON SCREEN
LIMITED RELEASES
NOMAD: IN THE FOOTSTEPS
OF BRUCE CHATWIN
APRIL 8 / MUSIC BOX FILMS
Veteran director Werner Herzog shares his portrait of travel writer
Bruce Chatwin, the prolific author of In Patagonia and a champion of
the nomadic lifestyle.
FEATURING BRUCE CHATWIN, KARIN EBERHARD, NICHOLAS
SHAKESPEARE, ELIZABETH CHATWIN DIR WERNER HERZOG
RATING TBA RUNNING TIME 85 MIN.
CHARM CITY KINGS
APRIL 10 / SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
Mouse desperately wants to join Baltimore’s infamous Midnight
Clique, a group of dirt bike riders who rule the summertime streets.
When Midnight’s leader, Blax, takes the 14-year-old under his wing,
Mouse soon finds himself torn between the straight and narrow and
a road filled with fast money and violence.
Keri Russell
in Antlers
CAST JAHI DI’ALLO WINSTON, MEEK MILL, TEYONAH PARRIS,
WILLIAM CATLETT, JAMAAL BURCHER DIR ANGEL MANUEL SOTO
RATING R RUNNING TIME 125 MIN.
ANTLERS
APRIL 17 / SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
A small-town Oregon teacher and her brother, the local sheriff,
discover that a young student is harboring a dangerous secret with
frightening consequences.
THE PAINTED BIRD
APRIL 17 / IFC FILMS
This adaptation of the acclaimed novel by Jerzy Kosinski, set in Eastern
Europe at the bloody close of World War II, centers on a young boy
entrusted by his persecuted parents to an elderly foster mother, who
soon dies. He suffers extraordinary brutality meted out by ignorant,
superstitious peasants, and witnesses terrifying violence by both Russian
and German soldiers.
CAST KERI RUSSELL, JESSE PLEMONS, JEREMY T. THOMAS,
GRAHAM GREENE, SCOTT HAZE, RORY COCHRANE, AMY
MADIGAN DIR SCOTT COOPER RATING R RUNNING TIME TBA
MARTIN EDEN
APRIL 17 / KINO LORBER
Set in a provocatively unspecified moment in Italy’s history yet
adapted from a 1909 novel by American author Jack London, Martin
Eden follows a self-taught proletarian who hopes that his dreams of
becoming a writer will help him rise above his station and marry a
wealthy young university student.
CAST PETR KOTLÁR, UDO KIER, STELLAN SKARSGÅRD, LECH
DIBLIK, HARVEY KEITEL, BARRY PEPPER, JULIAN SANDS DIR
VÁCLAV MARHOUL RATING TBA RUNNING TIME 169 MIN.
PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN
APRIL 17 / FOCUS FEATURES
Everyone said Cassie was a promising young woman ... until a mysterious
event abruptly derailed her future. But nothing in Cassie’s life is
what it appears to be: She’s wickedly smart, tantalizingly cunning, and
she’s living a secret double life by night. Now, an unexpected encounter
is about to give Cassie a chance to right the wrongs of the past.
CAST LUCA MARINELLI, JESSICA CRESSY, DENISE SARDISCO,
MARCO LEONARDI, VINCENZO NEMOLATO DIR PIETRO
MARCELLO RATING TBA RUNNING TIME 129 MIN.
CAST CAREY MULLIGAN, BO BURNHAM, LAVERNE COX,
ALISON BRIE, CONNIE BRITTON, CLANCY BROWN, JENNIFER
COOLIDGE, MOLLY SHANNON, ADAM BRODY, ALFRED MOLINA,
CHRISTOPHER MINTZ-PLASSE DIR EMERALD FENNELL RATING
TBA RUNNING TIME 113 MIN.
54 / MARCH 2020

THE SECRET:
DARE TO DREAM
APRIL 17 / GRAVITAS VENTURES
Miranda Wells is a hard-working young widow struggling to raise
three children on her own. A powerful storm brings a devastating
challenge and a mysterious man, Bray Johnson, into her life. In just
a few short days, Bray’s presence reignites the family’s spirit, but he
carries a secret—and that secret could change everything.
CAST KATIE HOLMES, JOSH LUCAS, CELIA WESTON,
JERRY O’CONNELL DIR ANDY TENNANT RATING PG
RUNNING TIME TBA
Y CÓMO ES ÉL?
APRIL 17 / LIONSGATE-PANTELION
Tomás is a meek man on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Despite
his situation, he decides to fake a work trip to go to Vallarta to confront
Jero, a taxi driver who is sleeping with his wife.
CAST MAURICIO OCHMANN, OMAR CHAPARRO, ZURIA
VEGA, MIGUEL RODARTE DIR ARIEL WINOGRAD RATING TBA
RUNNING TIME TBA
FÁTIMA
APRIL 24 / PICTUREHOUSE FILMS
A 10-year-old shepherd and her two young cousins in Fátima, Portugal,
report seeing visions of the Virgin Mary. Their revelations inspire believers
but anger officials of both the Church and the secular government, who
try to force them to recant their story. As word spreads, tens of thousands
of religious pilgrims flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle.
CAST GORAN VISNJIC, SONIA BRAGA, HARVEY KEITEL, JOACHIM
DE ALMEIDA, STEPHANIE GIL, LÚCIA MONIZ DIR MARCO
PONTECORVO RATING TBA RUNNING TIME TBA
THE TRUE HISTORY
OF THE KELLY GANG
APRIL 24 / IFC FILMS
This film tells the story of Australian bush ranger Ned Kelly and his
gang as they flee from authorities during the 1870s. Based on Peter
Carey’s novel.
CAST GEORGE MACKAY, CHARLIE HUNNAM, NICHOLAS HOULT,
RUSSELL CROWE, ESSIE DAVIS, THOMASIN MCKENZIE, EARL CAVE
DIR JUSTIN KURZEL RATING TBA RUNNING TIME 124 MIN.
MARCH 2020 / 55

EVENT CINEMA CALENDAR
PHOTOS PUBLISHED WITH PERMISSION / ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
CINELIFE ENTERTAINMENT
cinelifeentertainment.com
COMÉDIE-FRANÇAISE: ELECTRA/
ORESTES
Weds. 3/4, Sun. 3/8 • Theater
ENGLISH NATIONAL BALLET–
AKRAM KHAN’S GISELLE
(U.S. RELEASE)
Fri. 3/6 - Fri. 3/13 • Ballet
CELEBRATING THE SOPRANOS
Tues. 4/14 - Mon. 4/27
Documentary
COMÉDIE-FRANÇAISE:
A FLEA IN HER EAR
Weds. 4/22, Sun. 4/26
Theater
THE BROKEN HEARTS CLUB:
A ROMANTIC COMEDY
(20TH ANNIVERSARY)
May • Classics
COMÉDIE-FRANÇAISE:
SCAPIN THE SCHEMER
Weds. 5/27, Sun. 5/31
Theater
MA VIE EN ROSE
June • Classics
A FANTASTIC WOMAN
June • Classics
CALL ME BY YOUR NAME
July • Classics
FREDERICO GARCÍA LORCA:
MOONS OF NEW YORK
& GIANT MOON
Sept. • Documentary
DRACULA
Thurs. 10/1 - Sat. 10/31
Ballet
CERVANTES: THE SEARCH
Oct. • Documentary
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
FROM SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE
Oct. • Theater
THE WINTER’S TALE
FROM SHAKESPEARE’S GLOBE
Nov. • Theater
EXHIBITION ON SCREEN
Exhibitiononscreen.com
EASTER IN ART
From Tues. 4/7
Art
FRIDA KAHLO
From Mon. 7/6
Art
FATHOM EVENTS
Fathomevents.com
855-473-4612
TOKYO GODFATHERS
Mon. 3/9, Weds. 3/11
Anime
THE MET: LIVE IN HD:
DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER
Sat. 3/14 (live),
Weds. 3/18 (encore)
Opera
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
KING KONG (1933)
Sun. 3/15
Classics
CBN: I AM PATRICK
Tues. 3/17, Weds. 3/18
Inspirational
DINO DANA THE MOVIE
Sat. 3/21 • Family
DIGIMON ADVENTURE:
LAST EVOLUTION KIZUNA
Weds. 3/25 • Anime
BOLSHOI BALLET:
ROMEO AND JULIET
Sun. 3/29 • Ballet
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
Sun. 4/19 •Ballet
CLIMATE HUSTLE 2
Tues. 4/21 • Documentary
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
Sun. 4/26, Mon. 4/27, Weds. 4/29
Classics
PATTERNS OF EVIDENCE:
RED SEA MIRACLE PART 2
Tues. 5/5 • Inspirational
THE MET: LIVE IN HD:
MARIA STUARDA
Sat. 5/9 (live), Weds. 5/13 (encore)
Opera
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
AIRPLANE! 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 5/17, Weds. 5/20
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
THE SHINING 40TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 5/31, Weds. 6/3
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
ANNIE
Sun. 6/14, Weds. 6/17
Classics
56 / MARCH 2020

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
THE BLUES BROTHERS
40TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 6/28, Weds. 7/1
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
GHOST 30TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 7/19, Weds. 7/22
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
BABE 25TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 8/9, Weds. 8/12
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
OF THE THIRD KIND
Sun. 9/13, Mon. 9/14, Thurs. 9/17
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
PSYCHO 60TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 10/11, Mon. 10/12
Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S
NEST 45TH ANNIVERSARY
Sun. 11/8, Mon. 11/9 • Classics
TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS:
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF
Sun. 12/13, Mon. 12/14
Classics
MORE2SCREEN
www.more2screen.com
RIVERDANCE
25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
Tues., 3/3 • Dance
BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER
LIVE SEASON FINALE CONCERT
Fri. 6/12 (U.K./Republic of Ireland)
Music
MYCINEMA
www.mycinema.live
THE ORDER OF RIGHTS
Mon. 3/9 • Inspirational
RIGHT BEFORE YOUR EYES
Mon. 3/23 • Inspirational
COWBOY AND INDIANA
Mon. 3/30 • Inspirational
APOCALYPSE NOW FINAL CUT
March • Classics
DARK STAR
March • Horror
FORGIVEN
Sat. 4/4 • Inspirational
FEARLESS FAITH
Sun. 5/10 • Inspirational
HELL NIGHT
Sun. 5/10 • Horror
ROYAL OPERA HOUSE
roh.org.uk/cinemas
cinema@roh.org.uk
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
NICK MASON’S SAUCERFUL
OF SECRETS: LIVE AT THE
ROUNDHOUSE
Tues. 3/10 • Music
RIVERDANCE
25TH ANNIVERSARY SHOW
Sun. 3/15 (U.S.) • Dance
CINELIFE ENTERTAINMENT
SCAPIN THE SCHEMER
May • Theater
MYCINEMA / APOCALYPSE NOW FINAL CUT
March • Classics
TRAFALGAR RELEASING / MORE2SCREEN
RIVERDANCE • March • Dance
MARCH 2020 / 57

BOOKING GUIDE
101 STUDIOS
LA BELLE ÉPOQUE
Fri, 5/22/20 LTD
C Daniel Auteuil, Guillaume Canet
D Nicolas Bedos
NR • Com/Dra
CITY OF A MILLION
SOLDIERS
Fri, 6/12/20 LTD
C Waleed Elgadi, Hayat Kamille
D Matthew Michael Carnahan
NR • Dra, War
A24
646-568-6015
FIRST COW
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C John Magaro, Orion Lee
D Kelly Reichardt
NR • Dra/Wes
SAINT MAUD
Fri, 3/27/20 LTD
C Jennifer Ehle / D Rose Glass
NR • Dra
ABRAMORAMA
914-741-1818
A DOG CALLED MONEY
Fri, 3/18/20 LTD
C Seamus Murphy
NR • DOC
THE MINDFULNESS
MOVEMENT
Fri, 3/31/20 LTD
C Rob Beemer
NR • DOC
AMAZON STUDIOS
THE VAST OF NIGHT
Fri, 3/13/20 LTD
C Sierra McCormick, Jake Horowitz
D Andrew Patterson
PG-13 • SF
BLUE FOX
ENTERTAINMENT
William Gruenberg
william@bluefoxentertain
ment.com
SOMETIMES ALWAYS
NEVER
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Bill Nighy, Sam Riley
D Carl Hunter
NR • Com/Dra
BLEECKER STREET
THE ROADS NOT TAKEN
Fri, 3/13/20 LTD
C Javier Bardem, Elle Fanning
D Sally Potter
Dra • R
MILITARY WIVES
Fri, 3/27/20 LTD
C Kristin Scott Thomas,
Sharon Horgan
D Peter Cattaneo
NR • Dra
DREAM HORSE
Fri, 5/1/20 LTD
C Toni Collette
D Jan Vokes
NR • Dra
DISNEY
818-560-1000
Ask for Distribution
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
Fri, 5/1/20 WIDE
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, 11/25/20 WIDE
C Awkwafina, Cassie Steele
D Paul Briggs, Dean Wellins
NR • Ani • 3D
SHANG CHI
AND THE LEGEND
OF THE TEN RINGS
Fri, 2/12/21 WIDE
C Simu Liu, Awkwafina
D Destin Daniel Cretton
NR • Act/Adv/Fan
UNTITLED DISNEY
LIVE ACTION
Fri, 3/12/21 WIDE
NR
FOCUS FEATURES
424-214-6360
NEVER RARELY
SOMETIMES ALWAYS
Fri, 3/13/20 LTD
C Sidney Flanigan, Talia Ryder
D Eliza Hittman
NR • Dra
PROMISING YOUNG
WOMAN
Fri, 4/17/20 LTD
C Carey Mulligan, Laverne Cox
D Emerald Fennell
NR • Cri/Thr • Dolby Vis/
Atmos
COVERS
Fri, 5/8/20 LTD
C Dakota Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross
D Nisha Ganatra
NR • Com • Dolby Vis/
Atmos
IRRESISTIBLE
Fri, 5/29/20 LTD
C Steve Carell, Rose Byrne
D Jon Stewart
NR • Com
LET HIM GO
Fri, 8/21/20 LTD
C Kevin Costner, Diane Lane
D Thomas Bezucha
NR • Thr
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
58 / MARCH 2020

UNTITLED TOM
MCCARTHY PROJECT
Fri, 11/6/20 LTD
C Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin
D Tom McCarthy
NR • Thr
20TH CENTURY
STUDIOS
310-369-1000
212-556-2400
THE NEW MUTANTS
Fri, 4/3/20 WIDE
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
R • Cri/Dra/Mys
FREE GUY
Fri, 7/3/20 WIDE
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
Fri, 8/7/20 WIDE
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 Ana de Armas, Ben Affleck
D Adrian Lyne
NR • Thr
WEST SIDE STORY
Fri, 12/18/20 WIDE
C Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler
D Steven Spielberg
NR • Mus
THE LAST DUEL
Fri, 12/25/20 LTD
C Matt Damon, Ben Affleck
D Ridley Scott
NR • Dra
RON’S GONE WRONG
Fri, 2/26/21 LTD
NR • Ani
SEARCHLIGHT
PICTURES
212-556-2400
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
FREESTYLE
RELEASING
310-277-3500
CLOVER
Fri, 4/3/20 LTD
C Mark Webber,
Nicole Elizabeth Berger
D Jon Abrahams
NR • Com
brought to you by the point of sale you know
RTS
MARCH 2020 / 59

BOOKING GUIDE
THE FRENCH DISPATCH
Fri, 7/24/20 LTD
C Timothée Chalamet,
Saoirse Ronan
D Wes Anderson
R • Com
GOOD DEED
ENTERTAINMENT
EXTRA ORDINARY.
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Maeve Higgins, Barry Ward
D Mike Ahern, Enda Loughman
R • Com
GREENWICH
ENTERTAINMENT
THE BOOKSELLERS
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Parker Posey
D D.W. Young
NR • Doc
DEERSKIN
Fri, 6/19/20 LTD
C Jean Dujardin,
Adèle Haenel
D Quentin Dupieux
NR • Com
IFC FILMS
BOOKINGS@IFCFILMS.COM
SWALLOW
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Haley Bennett,
Austin Stowell
D Carlo Mirabella-Davis
R • Thr
THE TRUTH
Fri, 3/20/20 LTD
C Catherine Deneuve,
Juliette Binoche
D Hirokazu Kore-eda
PG-13 • Dra
RESISTANCE
Fri, 3/27/20 LTD
C Jesse Eisenberg, Ed Harris
D Jonathan Jakubowicz
NR • Dra
THE PAINTED BIRD
Fri, 4/17/20 LTD
C Petr Kotlae, Udo Kier
D Václav Marhoul
NR • Dra
TRUE HISTORY
OF THE KELLY GANG
Fri, 4/24/20 LTD
C George MacKay, Russell Crowe
D Justin Kurzel
R • Dra
THE WRETCHED
Fri, 5/1/20 LTD
C John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda
D Brett Pierce, Drew T. Pierce
NR • Hor
HOW TO BUILD A GIRL
Fri, 5/8/20 LTD
C Beanie Feldstein, Alfie Allen
D Coky Giedroyc
NR • Com
KINO LORBER
BACURAU
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Sônia Braga, Udo Kier
D Kleber Medonça
Filho, Juliano Dornelles
NR • Dra
CAPITAL
IN THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
Fri, 4/3/20 LTD
C Justin Pemberton
NR • Doc
MARTIN EDEN
Fri, 4/17/20 LTD
C Luca Marinelli, Jessica Cressy
D Pietro Marcello
NR • Dra
LIONSGATE
310-309-8400
I STILL BELIEVE
Fri, 3/13/20 WIDE
C K.J. Apa, Gary Sinise
D Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin
NR • Dra
Y CÓMO ES ÉL?
Fri, 4/17/20 MOD
C Mauricio Ochmann,
Omar Chaparro
D Ariel Winograd
NR • Com
ANTEBELLUM
Fri, 4/24/20 WIDE
C Janelle Monáe
D Gerard Bush,
Christopher Renz
NR • Thr
RUN
Fri, 5/8/20 WIDE
C Sarah Paulson,
Kiera Allen
D Aneesh Chaganty
NR • Thr
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
THE HITMAN’S
BODYGUARD 2
Fri, 8/22/20 WIDE
C Ryan Reynolds, Samuel L. Jackson
D Patrick Hughes
NR • Act/Com
FATALE
Fri, 10/9/20 WIDE
C Hilary Swank, Michael Ealy
D Deon Taylor
NR • Sus
JESUS REVOLUTION
Fri, 3/26/21 WIDE
C Jon Gunn
D Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin
NR
MAGNOLIA
PICTURES
212-379-9704
Neal Block
nblock@magpictures.com
SLAY THE DRAGON
Fri, 3/13/20 LTD.
C Barak Goodman,
Chris Durrance
NR • Doc
MYCINEMA
480-430-7017
DARK STAR
Fri, 3/9/20 LTD.
C Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm
D John Carpenter
G • Com/SF
FORGIVEN
Sat, 4/4/20 LTD.
C Kevin Sorbo, Jenn Gotzon
D Kevan Otto
NR • Dra/Thr
FEARLESS FAITH
Sat, 5/10/20 LTD.
C Jason Burkey, Ben Davies
D Kevin Rushing
NR • Dra/Thr
HELL NIGHT
Sat, 5/10/20 LTD.
C Linda Blair,
Vincent Van Patten
D Tom DeSimone
R • Hor
60 / MARCH 2020

OSCILLOSCOPE
LABORATORIES
RUN THIS TOWN
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Ben Platt, Mena Massoud
D Ricky Tollman
R • Dra/Thr
PARAMOUNT
323-956-5000
A QUIET PLACE PART II
Fri, 3/20/20 WIDE
C Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy
D John Krasinski
NR • Hor/Thr • IMAX/Dolby
Vis/Atmos
THE LOVEBIRDS
Fri, 4/3/20 WIDE
C Anna Camp, Kumail Nanjiani
D Michael Showalter
R • 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 •IMAX/Dolby
Vis/Atmos
INFINITE
Fri, 8/7/20 WIDE
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
SNAKE EYES
Fri, 10/23/20 WIDE
C Henry Golding, Andrew Koj
D Robert Schwentke
NR • Act/Adv
CLIFFORD
THE BIG RED DOG
Fri, 11/13/20 WIDE
NR • Fam
COMING 2 AMERICA
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, 1/29/21 WIDE
NR • Ani
JACKASS
Fri, 3/5/21 WIDE
NR • Com
UNTITLED PARANORMAL
ACTIVITY MOVIE
Fri, 3/19/21 WIDE
NR • Hor
ROADSIDE
ATTRACTIONS
323.882.8490
HOPE GAP
Fri, 3/6/20 WIDE
C Annette Bening, Bill Nighy
D William Nicholson
PG-13 • Dra
THE SECRET:
DARE TO DREAM
Fri, 4/17/20 LTD
C Katie Holmes, Josh Lucas
D Andy Tennant
PG • Dra
SAMUEL GOLDWYN
FILMS
BULL
Fri, 3/20/20 LTD
C Rob Morgan,
Amber Havard
D Annie Silverstein
NR • Dra
SONY
212-833-8500
BLOODSHOT
Fri, 3/13/20 WIDE
C Vin Diesel, Eiza González
D David S. F. Wilson
NR • Act • Dolby Vis/Atmos
PETER RABBIT 2:
THE RUNAWAY
Fri, 4/3/20 WIDE
C James Corden, Rose Byrne
D Will Gluck
NR • Ani
GREYHOUND
Fri, 5/8/20 WIDE
C Tom Hanks
D Aaron Schneider
NR • Dra/War
GHOSTBUSTERS:
AFTERLIFE
Fri, 7/10/20 WIDE
C Carrie Coon,
Finn Wolfhard
D Jason Reitman
NR • Hor/Com/SF
MORBIUS
Fri, 7/31/20 WIDE
C Jared Leto, Matt Smith
D Daniel Espinosa
NR • Act/Thr/SF • Dolby
Vis/Atmos
ESCAPE ROOM 2
Fri, 8/14/20 WIDE
C Kristen Stewart,
Mackenzie Davis
D Clea DuVall
NR • Hor/Thr
MONSTER HUNTER
Fri, 9/4/20 WIDE
C Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa
D Paul W.S. Anderson
NR • Act/Fan
THE MITCHELLS VS.
THE MACHINES
Fri, 9/18/20 WIDE
C Mike Rianda
NR • Ani
UNTITLED SONY/
|MARVEL
Fri, 10/2/20 WIDE
NR • Act/SF
MAN FROM TORONTO
Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE
C Kevin Hart, Jason Statham
NR
HAPPIEST SEASON
Fri, 11/25/20 WIDE
C Kristen Stewart,
Mackenzie Davis
D Clea DuVall
NR • Rom/Com/Hol
UNTITLED SPA
ANIMATED ORIGINAL
Fri, 12/11/20 WIDE
NR • Ani
FATHERHOOD
Fri, 1/15/21 WIDE
C Kevin Hart, Melody Hurd
D Paul Weitz
NR • Dra
CINDERELLA
Fri, 2/5/21 WIDE
NR • Fan
UNCHARTED
Fri, 3/5/21 WIDE
C Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg
NR • Act/Adv
MARCH 2020 / 61

BOOKING GUIDE
SONY PICTURES
CLASSICS
Tom Prassis
212-833-4981
BURNT ORANGE
HERESY
Fri, 3/6/20 LTD
C Elizabeth Debicki,
Donald Sutherland
D Giuseppe Capotondi
R • Act/Thr
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
THE LAST VERMEER
Fri, 5/22/20 LTD
C Claes Bang,
Guy Pearce
D Dan Friedkin
R • Dra
THE HUMAN FACTOR
Fri, 6/26/20 LTD
C Dror Moreh
NR • Doc
STX
ENTERTAINMENT
310-742-2300
MY SPY
Fri, 3/13/20 WIDE
C Dave Bautista,
Kristen Schaal
D Peter Segal
PG-13 • Com
UNITED ARTISTS
RELEASING
310-724-5678
Ask for Distribution
NO TIME TO DIE
Fri, 4/10/20 WIDE
C Daniel Craig, Rami Malek
D Cary Joji Fukunaga
NR • Act/Thr • IMAX/Dolby
Vis/Atmos
BAD TRIP
Fri, 4/24/20 WIDE
C Eric André, Lil Rel Howery
D Kitao Sakurai
NR • Com
VALLEY GIRL
Fri, 5/8/20 WIDE
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
SAMARITAN
Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE
C Sylvester Stalone D Julius Avery
NR • Act/Thr
UNITED GUY RITCHIE
Fri, 1/15/21 WIDE • NR
UNIVERSAL
818-777-1000
TROLLS WORLD TOUR
Fri, 4/17/20 WIDE
C Anna Kendrick , Justin Timberlake
D Walt Dohrn
PG • Ani •Dolby Vis/Atmos
F9
Fri, 5/22/20 WIDE
C Vin Diesel,
Charlize Theron
D Justin Lin
NR • Act/Adv • IMAX/Dolby
Vis/Atmos
CANDYMAN
Fri, 6/12/20 WIDE
C Nia DaCosta
NR • Hor
THE KING
OF STATEN ISLAND
Fri, 6/19/20 WIDE
D Judd Apatow
NR • Com
MINIONS:
THE RISE OF GRU
Fri, 7/3/20 WIDE
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
C David Gordon Green
NR • Hor
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL
EVENT COMEDY
Fri, 10/23/20 WIDE
NR • Com
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL
EVENT FILM
Fri, 11/13/20 WIDE
NR
UNTITLED AMBLIN
PROJECT
Fri, 11/20/20 WIDE
C Joel Crawford
NR
THE CROODS 2
Fri, 12/23/20 WIDE
NR • Ani
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Fri, 12/25/20 WIDE
C Tom Hanks
D Paul Greengrass
NR • Dra
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE
PRODUCTIONS
Fri, 1/8/21 WIDE
NR
355
Fri, 1/15/21 WIDE
C Jessica Chastain,
Lupita Nyong’o
D Simon Kinberg
NR • Thr
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL
ROMANTIC COMEDY
Fri, 2/12/20 WIDE
NR • Rom/Com
UNTITLED M. NIGHT
SHYAMALAN THRILLER
Fri, 2/12/20 WIDE
D M. Night Shyamalan
NR • Thr
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL
EVENT FILM
Fri, 3/5/20 WIDE
NR
62 / MARCH 2020

THE BOSS BABY 2
IN THE HEIGHTS
THE CONJURING:
GODZILLA VS KONG
Fri, balance, 3/26/20 sparking WIDEboth an intense rivalry Fri, 6/26/20
THE
WIDELODGE
THE DEVIL MADE comes from spending Fri, 11/20/20 a lifetime WIDEtogether.
NR and • romantic Ani desire that may cause C him Jon M. Chu FEB. 7 / NEON ME DO IT When Joan is C diagnosed Millie Bobby with Brown, breast cancer,
to risk his future in dance as well as NR his • Mus/Rom/Dra From the directors of Goodnight Fri, 9/11/20 Mommy,
this chiller follows a C family Patrick Wilson, who
WIDE
relationships with Mary and his family. Dolby Vis/Atmos
the course Eiza of her González treatment shines a
light on their D enduring Adam Wingard devotion, as they
WARNER CAST LEVAN GELBAKHIANI, BROS. BACHI VALISH-
818-977-1850
VILI, ANA JAVAKISHVILI, GIORGI TSERETELI, TENET
retreat to their remote winter Vera Farmiga cabin over
the holidays. When the D father Michael is Chaves forced
must find the NR humor • SF/Act and • grace IMAX/3D/ to survive
a year of adversity. Dolby Vis/Atmos
KAKHA GOGIDZE DIR LEVAN AKIN RATING Fri, 7/17/20 to WIDE abruptly depart for work, NR • Hor he leaves his CAST LIAM NEESON, LESLEY MANVILLE,
TBA THE RUNNING WAY BACK TIME 113 MIN.
C John David Washington, children in the care of his Dolby new Vis/Atmos girlfriend, AMIT SHAH, DAVID KING WILMOT RICHARD DIR LISA
Fri, 3/6/20 WIDE
Robert Pattinson
Grace. Isolated and alone, a blizzard
Fri, 11/25/20 WIDE
BARROS D’SA, GLENN LEYBURN RATING R
C Ben Affleck / D Gavin O’Connor D Christopher Nolan
THE MANY SAINTS
NR • Dra/Bio
CANE RIVER
traps them inside the lodge as terrifying RUNNING TIME 92 MIN.
NR • Dra • Dolby Atmos NR • Act/Thr
OF NEWARK
FEB. 7 / OSCILLOSCOPE
events summon specters from Grace’s
Fri, 9/25/20 WIDE
DUNE
SCOOB!
This drama about an African American
MALIGNANT
dark past.
C Alessandro Nivola,
GREED
Fri, 12/18/20 WIDE
Fri, college 5/15/20 football WIDE star who returns to Fri, his 8/14/20
CAST
WIDE
RILEY KEOUGH, RICHARD Vera Farmiga ARMITAGE, FEB. 21 / SONY NR • SFPICTURES
C hometown Kiersey Clemons, in Louisiana Zac Efron and falls in C James WanALICIA SILVERSTONE, JAEDEN D Alan LIEBERHER, Taylor CLASSICS
D love Tony with Cervone a local tour guide was filmed NR • Hor
NR in 1982 • Ani and • Dolby is just Vis/Atmos now receiving its
LIA MCHUGH DIR SEVERIN NR FIALA, • Dra/Cri
VERONIKA FRANZ RATING Dolby R RUNNING Vis/Atmos
Veteran British UNTITLED filmmaker TOM Michael &
Winterbottom JERRY wrote FILM and directed
theatrical debut after being presumed THE lost UNTITLED TIME 100 MIN.
this satire of Fri, the excesses 12/23/20 of WIDE the
WONDER for many years. WOMAN It’s the only 1984feature FRED by HAMPTON
THE WITCHES fashion industry, NR • starring Ani his frequent
Fri, Horace 6/5/20 B. Jenkins, WIDE who died soon after PROJECT ORDINARY LOVE Fri, 10/09/20 WIDE collaborator, Steve Coogan.
C filming Gal Gadot, was Kristen completed. Wiig
Fri, 8/21/20 FEB. WIDE 14 / BLEECKER C STREET Anne Hathaway CAST STEVE COOGAN, MORTAL ISLA KOMBAT FISHER, ASA
D Patty Jenkins
NR
D Robert Zemeckis
Fri, 1/15/20 WIDE
CAST RICHARD ROMAIN, TÔMMYE
Joan and Tom have been married for BUTTERFIELD, SHIRLEY HENDERSON,
NR • Act/Adv/Fan • IMAX
NR • Adv/Com
NR • Act
MEYRICK, CAROL SUTTON, BARBARA many years. They are an everyday couple SOPHIE COOKSON DIR MICHAEL
/3D/Dolby Vis/Atmos
TASKER DIR HORACE B. JENKINS RATING with a remarkable love, and there is an WINTERBOTTOM RATING TBA RUNNING
TBA RUNNING TIME 90 MIN.
ease to their relationship which only
TIME 104 MIN.
JANUARY 2020
69
MARCH 2020 / 63

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