Boxoffice Pro - April 2020

getting smarter about adding showtimes
in the peak.”
When dynamic scheduling isn’t used,
says Frank, a 10-screen theater might play
six or seven titles at a time. “When we
think more dynamically, more flexibly,
about programming, we may have 20 titles
that are on the menu” that same weekend—say
a six-week-old family title in a
screen’s matinee slot when there’s demand
for it, followed that night by “a little
avant-garde horror film” that few people
are probably lining up to see at 11 a.m.
In the near future, “I think we’re going
to see more inclusive programming,”
says Frank. “We’re going to see both the
creative community and the exhibition
community bring a wider diversity of
content to audiences both across the U.S.
and around the world.” Part of AMC’s
current strategy of diversifying its slate
involves its AMC Artisan Films program,
which counted among its 2019 releases
the Oscar-winning Joker. Frank cites the
film as a prime example of cooperation
between AMC and its studio partners.
Working together with Warner Bros.’
marketing department, she explains, the
chain was able to get granular, using data
to promote Joker differently to different
audience segments depending on their
past moviegoing behavior—the moviegoers
who show up to every superhero movie,
for example, or the more “demanding film
audience” that might be attracted to the
film’s tackling of “social issues.”
Data was a factor in one of the biggest
AMC stories of last decade: the launch (in
June 2018) and subsequent massive growth
of subscription program A-List. The program
was in active development for a year
before it was finally rolled out to the public,
though AMC’s executive vice president and
chief marketing officer Stephen Colanero
notes that “we’d been wanting to do it for a
while, even before then.”
Those early conversations involved
deciding whether A-List would be a part of
“We’re going to see both the creative community and the
exhibition community bring a wider diversity of content
to audiences both across the U.S. and around the world.”
—Elizabeth Frank, Executive V.P., Worldwide Programming
and Chief Content Officer
Excerpt from “ShoWester of
the Year,” Boxoffice, May 1996
Since joining his family’s
Durwood Theatre circuit after
World War II, AMC chairman
and CEO Stanley H. Durwood
has dedicated his career
to improving and enlarging
upon exhibition standards.
Hailed by his contemporaries
as a visionary, he has helped
set the pace for exhibition
industry advancement for over
three decades. In doing so,
he has nurtured the growth of
the AMC chain to its current
position as one of the top
theatre circuits in America.
His efforts have won him the
ShoWester of the Year award,
which honors an individual who
has demonstrated a dedication
to the exhibition industry
throughout his or her career.
Durwood got his start at his
family’s Durwood Theatres
circuit which his father, Edward
Durwood, founded in 1920.
After serving in World War II
as a lieutenant in the U.S. Air
Force, Durwood joined the
eight-theatre circuit. He rose
to president in 1960, taking the
opportunity to challenge many
industry standards. In 1960,
Durwood Theatres opened one
of the nation’s first multiplexes—a
two-screen theatre in
Kansas City.
After changing the
circuit’s name to American
Multi-Cinema (AMC), the
company continues to make
history, opening the world’s first
shopping center multiplex in
1963, the first four-plex in 1966
and the first six-plex in 1969.
Other advancements included
the use of automated projection
systems, computerized
boxoffices, cupholder armrests,
a frequent-moviegoer program,
computer-aided theatre
designs, and a theatre-management
training academy.
Image courtesy National
CineMedia (NCM)
April 2020
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