Boxoffice Pro Q1 2021

million, New Line, and October Films—
plus Sundance directors like Quentin
Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh—
reinvigorated independent films and their
theatrical consumption. “Independents,”
wrote Greene in August 1994, “continue
to survive and even thrive by doing what
they’ve always done—offering alternatives
to mainstream sensibilities in which the
majors specialize.”
Interactivity and the ‘Information
Superhighway’
The hypercompetitive landscape of the
American market pushed theaters to
innovate. American companies began
creating immense urban screening
environments capable of handling a wide
range of films in release at any given
moment under a single roof. But the
megaplex of the 1990s was not merely
a movie theater: It strived to be a total
entertainment complex. Special formats
were sought after for their impressive
effects and potential to explore new
narratives. After Sony Theatres’ giant
flagship in Manhattan’s Lincoln Square
became the first major circuit in North
America to house an Imax venue, Imax
rapidly moved into conventional
exhibition. More and more exhibitors
capitalized on the convergence between
film and new entertainment technologies
to create “family entertainment centers”
aimed at providing innovative, interactive,
multimedia experiences to their patrons.
United Artists had its “Starports,” Regal
its “Funscapes,” Carmike its “Hollywood
Connection,” and Cineplex its “Cinescapes.”
One such multimedia product
appeared in the winter of 1992 in select
Loews locations in Los Angeles and
New York. The “interfilm” I’m Your Man,
which ran for 20 minutes, gave audiences
the capability to select plot twists and
pick the characters’ next moves. In 1994,
AMC installed the interactive Interfilm
technology exhibition system in some of
its auditoriums. Loews partnered with ITT
Systems Corp. to exhibit games in 10 of its
multiplexes, and Cineplex teamed with
Sega, DreamWorks, and MCA for its own
entertainment center in 1996. Studios, too,
got in on the action. By 1995, Time Warner,
Sony, and Viacom/Paramount boasted
interactive divisions, with Disney jumping
on the bandwagon that same year.
The studios capitalized on their IPs with
film-based video games or CD-ROMs that
complemented individual movies. That
strategy paired especially well with the
exponential growth of animation prompted
by Disney, Pixar, and the undeniable
amelioration of computer graphics. In
1993, Disney’s Aladdin became the first
animated feature in history to earn more
than $200 million at the U.S. box office.
The successes of The Lion King and later
Pixar’s Toy Story validated the studios’
investments in interactive IPs. For instance,
Disney’s animated storybook of The Lion
King, which compressed the story of
the film and offered additional material,
animated characters, narration, and search
options, sold successfully for $39.95 apiece.
Yet, Boxoffice Pro was rather skeptical
about the marriage of CD-ROMs and
moviegoing, pointing to the flops of gamebased
movies like Mortal Kombat and
Super Mario Bros.
Theater lobbies, seen as perfect
locations for cross-marketing due to
their heavy foot traffic, also underwent
significant revamps. The lobby needed
to expand far beyond its old identity as
a place for concession stands with menu
boards that merely displayed pricing
information. “We propose entertainment
be brought out of the theater and into
the lobby,” argued Cineplex Odeon’s
manager of design and construction,
Dana Kalczak, who supported showing
trailers and other marketing material on
HDTVs in theater lobbies. One critical
innovation, developed by companies
such as EIMS, ETM, Vast, and RDS Data
Group, was the introduction of interactive
POS kiosks that displayed information
about current and upcoming films and
discounts and allowed ticket sales to take
place outside the typical box office stand.
One example written about in Boxoffice
Q1 2021
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