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A FURIOUS
RETURN
Blockbusters roar back to the big screen for a
long-awaited summer movie season
The Official Magazine of the National Association of Theatre Owners

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Q2 2021
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Q2 2021
CONTENTS
60
A Furious Return
Director Justin Lin Brings a
$6 Billion Franchise Back to
Cinemas with F9
50
New York City Welcomes
Back Cinemas
The Big Apple’s Movie Theaters
Reopen After Nearly a Year of
Closures
54
Multiplexes in Minsk
Silver Screen Cinemas Brings
the Modern Movie Chain to
Belarus
40
Boxoffice Barometer
Exhibitors Vote on the Best
of the Industry
66
Worth the Wait
Director Will Gluck Takes the
Delayed Release of Peter Rabbit
2: The Runaway in Stride
Q2 2021
03

CONTENTS
INDUSTRY THEATER ON SCREEN
10
12
14
16
NATO
An Army of NATO Member
Volunteers Helped Save the
Moviegoing Experience
NATO
Senate Majority Leader Schumer on
the Importance of Helping Cinemas
Survive the Covid-19 Pandemic
Charity Spotlight
A Recap of Industry-Wide Charity
Initiatives
A Century in Exhibition
The 2000s: From Bankruptcies to a
Double Revolution
34
40
50
54
Indie Focus
The Gateway Film Center Thrives
on Community Connection
Boxoffice Barometer
Exhibitors Vote on the Best of
the Industry
New York City Welcomes
Back Cinemas
The Big Apple’s Movie Theaters
Reopen After Nearly a Year of Closures
Multiplexes in Minsk
Silver Screen Cinemas Brings the
Modern Movie Chain to Belarus
60
66
73
A Furious Return
Director Justin Lin Brings a Billion-
Dollar Franchise Back to Cinemas
with F9
Worth the Wait
Director Will Gluck Takes the
Delayed Release of Peter Rabbit 2:
The Runaway in Stride
Booking Guide
26
30
Big Data
The MPA THEME Report Breaks
Down the Numbers of Covid-19
Industry Insiders
Paramount’s Patricia Gonzalez Loves
the Movies, Heart and Soul
Traditionally, cinemas
in Belarus have either
been privately owned
single locations or, more
frequently, theaters owned
and run by the state.
International Spotlight, p. 54
04 Q2 2021

Q2 2021
05

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ANALYSTS
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CONTRIBUTORS
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Vassiliki Malouchou
Rolando B. Rodriguez
Charles E. Schumer
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06 Q2 2021

EXECUTIVE LETTER
MOVIES
ARE BETTER
TOGETHER AND
SO ARE WE
“Now, more than a year
into this pandemic, having
gone through the worst, I
am realistic, but I am truly
optimistic.”
When I was elected NATO chairman
in October of last year, the movie
theater industry in the United States was
almost completely shut down. Europe had
fared somewhat better, and Latin America
was roughly in the same circumstances as
the U.S.; only the Asia Pacific region was
somewhat close to normal. Yet most of the
movie industry depends on global theatrical
releases, and with the Covid-19 pandemic
raging, they were nowhere in sight.
Early optimism that the virus could
be managed by business shutdowns and
swift, consistent government action had
given way to the sober judgment that
the movie theater business could not
return to normal until effective vaccines
were created and administered widely
and virus case numbers had declined
far below where they then stood. Since
April, NATO’s Executive Board had been
meeting weekly, and shortly after NATO
staff began conducting weekly webinars to
keep our members up to date. So, despite
our optimism, we had very few illusions
about what we faced.
It has been my privilege as NATO
chairman to see how this industry has
responded, from creating a nationwide set
of voluntary health and safety protocols—
CinemaSafe—to lobbying state, local,
and federal officials on reopening and
relief measures to continuously engaging
with the studios on the release calendar
and navigating a new coexistence with
streaming services, I have never seen this
industry so committed and engaged. And
that engagement has not just been for the
survival of individual companies, but for
the good of the industry.
Friends and allies of exhibition have
also been there for us. Studio executives,
directors, and talent agencies, particularly
CAA, have been instrumental in making
the case for aid to the industry. We cannot
thank them enough.
In this issue of Boxoffice Pro, you
can read about those enormous volunteer
exhibitor contributions in John Fithian’s
column. We also have the honor of hosting
a guest column from Senate Majority
Leader Charles E. Schumer, who has been
a key ally for exhibition, shepherding
important provisions for the industry
through the CARES Act, to the HELP ACT
in 2020, and on to the American Rescue
Plan this year. Furloughed workers have
received an unprecedented level of
financial support to get them through this
long, painful crisis. Important tax relief
through the Net Operating Loss provision
allowed companies to shift losses to earlier,
more profitable, tax years. Hundreds of
theater owners have received Paycheck
Protection Program loans and have now
applied for Shuttered Venue Operators
Grants, and that desperately needed
money will have started flowing by the
time you read this.
As I write seven months into my tenure,
we see real signs of recovery. Vaccination
rates, in the U.S. in particular, are soaring.
Cases of the virus are in rapid decline,
markets are reopening, and capacity
restrictions are being lifted. All of this
positive news has been accompanied by
a strengthening and solidifying release
slate, as, unlike last summer and fall,
distributors are not waiting for the entire
world to reopen at once. A strong May
and June calendar becomes an absolutely
packed summer and later half of the year,
with an unprecedentedly crowded 2022 in
view: #TheBigScreenisBack.
Now, more than a year into this
pandemic, having gone through the worst,
I am realistic, but I am truly optimistic.
Moviegoers around the world have
demonstrated that when they feel safe and
the movies are there, they will come out to
the movie theater. An industry that many
had counted out has survived the worst
that could be thrown at it. Together, we
have shown the strength, resiliency, and
importance of the movie theater industry
and the moviegoing experience. The core
of what we offer to moviegoers is simple.
Movies are better together. So are we.
Rolando B. Rodriguez
Chairman, National Association
of Theatre Owners
President & CEO, Marcus Theatres
Q2 2021
07

ce4-7 OCT
ce2021
convention & tradeshow
CCIB/BARCELONA
CELEBRATING
30
YEARS OF
CINEEUROPE
CENTRE CONVENCIONS INTERNACIONAL BARCELONA (CCIB)
CINEEUROPE.NET
OFFICIAL CORPORATE SPONSOR

NATO 10 | A Century in Exhibition 16 | Big Data 26 | Industry Insiders 30
INDUSTRY
“We will continue to work together to make sure movie
theaters make a strong recovery from this horrible time in
our country’s history.”
Senator Charles E. Schumer, p. 12
Q2 2021
09

Industry NATO
A ROUND OF
APPLAUSE
An Army of NATO Member
Volunteers Helped Save the
Moviegoing Experience
BY JOHN FITHIAN
During a NATO Executive Board of
Directors meeting in early March of
2020, Cineworld’s Mooky Greidinger said
to his fellow NATO leaders something
like, “We’ve seen what this virus is
doing to cinema operations in Europe
and it’s headed to North America,
so get ready.” At the time, none of us
could comprehend what impact the
Covid-19 pandemic would have on the
moviegoing experience, nor the duration
of that impact. Now, 14 months later, the
exhibition business has experienced the
longest tunnel and the biggest existential
challenge of its history. But finally, there
is light at the end of the tunnel.
In the last edition of this magazine,
NATO’s Patrick Corcoran ably described
many of the efforts undertaken by this trade
association to help its members survive
to the end of the pandemic tunnel and to
revive the business. This column offers
another part of that story—in a shout-out to
the army of NATO member volunteers who
worked tirelessly through the pandemic
on behalf of the entire industry. But first, a
word of thanks to the NATO staff team.
No doubt this author’s extraordinarily
talented staff colleagues have had a huge
impact throughout the pandemic. The
“SVOG” experts Jackie Brenneman and
Esther Baruh designed and guided a
legislative and regulatory strategy that
will result in several billion dollars’ worth
of grants for the association’s midsize
and smaller members in the U.S. The
aforementioned Patrick Corcoran, along
with Phil Contrino, oversaw a messaging
plan that has helped restore confidence in
the moviegoing business once again. Kathy
Conroy, supported by Cheryl Dickson and
Enid Palazzolo, managed the association’s
operational and financial challenges
through its most difficult period ever.
Alex Rich, working with Esther, helped
guide the various state legislative efforts
across the country to enable cinemas to
reopen once more and to provide other
forms of relief. While much of the team
focused on the domestic crisis, Erin Von
Hoetzendorff helped keep members
around the world connected through
the Global Cinema Federation. And the
CinemaCon team of Mitch Neuhauser,
Matt Pollock, Matt Shapiro, and Cynthia
Schuler worked through the cancellation
of one convention, the scheduling of
another convention, the offering of online
educational programming, and active
support of NATO’s various grassroots
lobbying campaigns. And in a vital group
effort, nearly every NATO and CinemaCon
staff person and consultant played a role
in the development, execution, and
publicity of the industry’s essential health
and safety protocols—CinemaSafe. This
author has never been prouder of the
association’s team.
NATO’s staff and budget, however, are
quite limited (particularly when no dues
are being collected and no convention
revenues generated.) A strong and
dedicated army of volunteer members
has indeed helped save the moviegoing
business, and they deserve recognition.
At the top of the list stand NATO’s two
“pandemic-era chairpersons”—Ellis Jacob
of Cineplex (below right) and Rolando
Rodriguez of Marcus (below left). These
two industry giants, who have also had
These two industry giants,
who have also had
their hands full with the
extraordinary challenge of
managing major circuits
through the crisis, have
literally dedicated a thousand
hours or more to the cause of
saving this industry.
10 Q2 2021

their hands full with the extraordinary
challenge of managing major circuits
through the crisis, have literally dedicated
a thousand hours or more to the cause
of saving this industry. Their daily
(including weekends and holidays) service
has included the management of the
association’s boards and membership,
strategic advice to the NATO staff,
lobbying of studio and government
leaders, and countless other tasks that
typically go unseen by the membership.
Joining with Ellis and Rolando has
been the most active, and productive,
Executive Board in the history of NATO.
The 17-member board met weekly through
the crisis, making strategic decisions
about the direction of the industry. They
reviewed and acted on countless strategic
and financial proposals, accepted followup
assignments, and communicated with
their fellow NATO members, all while
running their own companies. The current
list of NATO’s Executive Board members
can be found at the end of this column.
They all deserve a round of applause.
But the NATO army has extended
well beyond its Executive Board. NATO’s
network of affiliated regional units
mobilized immediately to address state
and local theater shutdowns and eventual
reopenings, working tirelessly to educate
key officials on theater operations and
safety. The regionals also pressed for
the creation of assistance programs for
cinemas, achieving success in several
jurisdictions and enabling theater
operators to access bridge funding.
Through the immense efforts of regional
units and their members, nearly all movie
theaters across the United States have been
permitted to reopen to the public safely.
In addition to mobilizing on the
state and local level, NATO members
responded to our calls to action at
the federal level. Theater operators in
all 50 states built relationships with
their representatives and senators,
educating them on the financial impact
of the pandemic and urging Congress
to support favorable legislation for
theaters. NATO members also galvanized
their loyal guests to speak up on behalf
of theaters, generating over 368,000
letters to Congress as part of NATO’s
#SaveYourCinema campaign. Thanks to
the collective efforts of theater owners of
all sizes, we achieved $16 billion in grants
for independent operators and preserved
billions in tax provisions for companies
large and small.
Though I risk leaving important names
off the list, the following members deserve
special recognition for their superstar
lobbying efforts in support of the industry.
State and Local Lobbying
- Russell Allen
- Bobbie Bagby
- John Curry
- Mary Ann Frank
- Marina Gephart
- Dale Haider
- Chris Johnson
- Drew Kaza
- Joe Masher
- Art Murtha
- Tom Ranieri
Federal Lobbying
- Bobbie Bagby
- Mike Bowers
- Bo Chambliss
- James Cox
- Cory Jacobson
- Ron Krueger
- Bobby Levy
- Cindy Ramsden
- Steve Schoaps
- Russell Vannorsdel
- Mark Zoradi
Beyond the governmental lobbying effort,
scores of NATO members have helped
to develop and support the CinemaSafe
program and have lobbied the movie
distributors regarding movie supply
during the pandemic. And of course,
each and every NATO member has
worked tirelessly to keep their company
and operations going through the most
challenging of circumstances, so that
moviegoing would not die out.
Someday a book will be written about
the NATO movie theater operators and
their fight to preserve moviegoing. And
hundreds of leaders deserve to be at that
book signing.
John Fithian is the President & CEO of the
National Association of Theatre Owners
Thanks to the collective
efforts of theater owners of all
sizes, we achieved $16 billion
in grants for independent
operators and preserved
billions in tax provisions for
companies large and small.
NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF
THEATRE OWNERS
EXECUTIVE BOARD
- Adam Aron
- Robert Bagby
- Bo Chambliss
- Eddy Duquenne
- Don Fox
- Moshe “Mooky” Greidinger
- Daniel Harkins
- Ellis Jacob
- Chris Johnson
- Ronald Krueger
- J.D. Loeks
- Joseph Masher
- Joseph Paletta
- Rolando Rodriguez
- John Vincent
- David Wright
- Mark Zoradi
Q2 2021
11

Industry NATO
SENATE MAJORITY LEADER
SCHUMER ON THE IMPORTANCE
OF HELPING CINEMAS SURVIVE
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC
BY SENATE MAJORITY LEADER
CHARLES E. SCHUMER, U.S. SENATOR FOR NEW YORK
Movie theaters are beloved anchors
of our communities. They are
places we come to experience stories
together. In the dark—with popcorn or
some candy—we laugh, feel joy, and shed
tears as one audience. I absolutely love
going to the movies.
And the pandemic took all that away.
When the shutdowns began last
spring, theaters across the country were
devastated. Overnight, many saw their
revenue wiped out. Ushers, concession
workers, ticket sellers, and projectionists
lost their jobs. The future looked bleak.
One could have imagined theater owners
giving in to messages of doom and gloom.
But when I walked the streets of
New York I saw a different message. On
marquees, theaters declared in different
“Theater owners across the
country are applying for
grants through the SBA.
Soon, money will flow to
beleaguered theaters.”
ways that they would not lose hope. On
the marquee of Nitehawk Cinema, a great
independent theater near my home in
Brooklyn, there were three messages: “Now
showing: Onward,” “See you on the other
side,” and “Be excellent to each other.”
All across the country, one could
see these messages of hope on theater
marquees. Some had riffs on movie titles,
others dark jokes, and many earnest
messages asking us all to be good to one
another in troubled times. Together they
told a story: Theaters weren’t going to give
up; they were going to fight back against
the darkness of Covid-19.
But no amount of hope could change
the dire financial realities that movie
theaters found themselves in. With
revenues gone and months to go before
reopening, something needed to be done.
NATO stepped up in a huge way. You
mobilized theater owners from across
the country around the rallying cry
#SaveYourCinema. You helped remind
people that theaters are the beating hearts
of the communities they serve. And you
made sure the country understood that
without massive federal aid hundreds of
theaters would go out of business and tens
of thousands of jobs would be lost.
I am so proud to have worked to convert
your fantastic advocacy into meaningful
legislation. I made sure that movie theaters
were included in the Save Our Stages Act,
and worked hard with you to make sure that
the aid addressed the needs of the industry.
Together we made the case to America that
we needed to help our theaters. Passing
the Save Our Stage Act and securing $16+
billion in federal aid wasn’t easy, and I
know I would not have been able to do it
without your tireless support.
We are at the point—finally—when the
lights will dim, and the main feature will
start. Theater owners across the country
are applying for grants through the SBA.
Soon, money will flow to beleaguered
theaters. Vaccine rollouts, super-charged
by the passage of the American Rescue
Plan, have surpassed expectations. In
many places, movie theaters are open for
business and film-loving audiences are
filling seats once again.
We will continue to work together to
make sure movie theaters make a strong
recovery from this horrible time in our
country’s history. And I know that because
of our efforts together, Americans all
across the country will get to experience
the wonders of movie magic together in
theaters again.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
(D-NY) is the senior U.S. Senator from the
state of New York.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,
Senator Schumer has been a steadfast
ally of exhibition’s interest. From the CARES
Act and Save Our Stages Act in 2020 to
the American Rescue Plan in 2021, Senator
Schumer has fought for and expanded
funding for the $16.2 billion Shuttered
Venue Operators Grant program for
independent movie theater companies
and pressed the SBA to implement it in a
timely, efficient, and fair manner.
His support for expanded unemployment
insurance has helped our furloughed
employees to weather the pandemic.
His support for the Paycheck Protection
Plan helped hundreds of movie theater
companies pay their employees and their
bills when no revenues were coming into
the industry. Crucial tax benefits like Net
Operating Loss carrybacks and Employee
Retention Tax Credits provided muchneeded
relief to companies of all sizes.
It is our pleasure to turn over some of
NATO’s space in this issue of Boxoffice Pro
to a good friend of the movie theater
industry and give him the opportunity to
address you directly.
12 Q2 2021

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Q2 2021
13

Industry CHARITY SPOTLIGHT
CHARITY
SPOTLIGHT
Variety Wisconsin
Variety of Wisconsin was excited to
welcome families to a night at the Springs
Water Park in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on
March 25, 2021. This is an annual event
that families love—it was Variety of
Wisconsin’s last live event for families
before the shutdown in March 2020 and
their first live event for families in 2021!
They were pleased to host 80 individuals
at the event, which was generously
sponsored by the Greater Milwaukee
Association of Realtors Youth Foundation.
Studio Movie Grill
The team at Studio Movie Grill’s Sunset
Walk location in Kissimmee/Orlando,
Florida, received the Partners in Education
Award from Westside K–8, a Title 1 school
that partnered with the Sunset Walk
cinema for its Chefs for Children program.
The school board voted SMG Sunset Walk
as their Business Partner of the Year. The
proceeds from the Chefs for Children
program—over $5,000—has helped
Variety of Wisconsin
Westside K–8 fund sensory-soothing areas
in its special needs classrooms.
Consolidated Theatres
Hawaii’s Consolidated Theatres, owned
by Reading International, partnered with
health care provider Kaiser Permanente
Hawaii to provide a mass vaccination
Variety of Wisconsin
site at the chain’s Kapolei Consolidated
Theatres location in West O’ahu. “We
are honored to be part of this effort to
help our community,” said Rod Tengan,
division manager of Consolidated
Theatres. “Vaccinations will allow us to
safely enjoy everyday pleasures again like
going to the movies.”
UPCOMING EVENTS
JUNE 15
Variety of the Delaware Valley
Black Hat Bash
Philadelphia, PA
Variety of the Delaware Valley will be
honoring the 2020 Golden Heart of Variety
award recipients at their signature Black
Hat Bash, held on Tuesday, June 15, at the
outdoor venue Water Works in Philadelphia.
More details and tickets are available at
varietyphila.org/black-hat-bash.
JULY 26
Variety of Wisconsin
Ben Marcus Memorial Variety
Golf Classic
Lake Geneva, WI
The Ben Marcus Memorial Variety Golf
Classic returns—celebrating its 44th
edition—on Monday, July 26, at the
Grand Geneva Resort and Spa in Lake
Geneva, Wisconsin. The event will benefit
Variety of Wisconsin. Register today at
https://e.givesmart.com/events/lqU/.
AUGUST 26
Variety of the Delaware Valley
Vegas at Variety
Blue Bell, PA
Wager your luck on a night of fun at Vegas
at Variety! The event, taking place in
the Empress Room at St. Helena School
in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, will also see
Variety of the Delaware Valley honor their
2020–2021 Ace of Variety: the Mossop and
Gaul families. Tickets are $47 in advance,
$55 at the door, and include buffet,
beverages, and $25 in chips. For more
information and to purchase tickets, visit
varietyphila.org/vegas-at-variety.
14 Q2 2021

CHARITY
HEROES
Variety of Illinois President
Kelly Reynolds, formerly
of Disney and Variety of
Southern California, has
had her hands full delivering
boxes of PPE, paper goods,
and sanitizing supplies to
Variety families in Illinois for
almost a year, often bringing
her own kids along for the
ride! Boxoffice Pro and Variety
– the Children’s Charity thank
Kelly for being a Variety hero.
Boxoffice Pro invites you
to honor a Charity Hero—
someone in the exhibition
space who has gone above
and beyond to help those in
need. Nominations—along
with a description of the
person’s charity activities
and a photo—can be sent to
numbers@boxoffice.com.
WILL ROGERS PIONEERS ASSISTANCE
FUND LAUNCHES ‘BIG SCREENS BIG
HEARTS’ CAMPAIGN TO HELP MOVIE
THEATER WORKERS
Since the onset of the Covid-19
pandemic—and, for that matter,
for 80-plus years prior—the Will Rogers
Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation
has made a priority of assisting theater
employees in need. That need has never
been greater than over the past year. As
such, in March 2020 the Will Rogers
Pioneers Assistance Fund launched their
Covid-19 Emergency Grant, through
which they distributed $3.5 million in
grants to furloughed or laid-off theater
employees throughout 2020. Now, the
Pioneers Assistance Fund has launched
the “Big Screens Big Hearts” Campaign
as a way to further assist in-need theater
workers as the industry recovers.
The existence of the “Big Screens Big
Hearts” campaign reflects the fact that,
though the bulk of theaters in North
America have reopened (if at limited
capacity) and films are slowly making their
way back to theaters, the negative impact
of the pandemic and its resultant cinema
closures on those in the theater industry
remains. Per data provided by Will Rogers,
100,000-plus theater employees were
affected by the pandemic and 55 percent of
the cinemas that closed were communityor
family-owned and operated.
With the pandemic still ongoing, Will
Rogers is unable to host its annual Pioneer
of the Year Dinner, which traditionally
serves as one of the nonprofit’s key
fundraising events. With the “Big Screens
Big Hearts” campaign, the Will Rogers
Pioneers Assistance Fund hopes to fill
that gap by raising $1 million to provide
financial aid and supportive counseling to
those who work in the exhibition arena—
whether as an employee of a cinema, a
theatrical distributor, or a vendor that
works exclusively in the theatrical space.
“The Pioneers Assistance Fund’s ‘Big
Screens Big Hearts’ campaign wants to
raise $1 million to support exhibitors and
their employees who work tirelessly to
make our moviegoing experience special,”
says Todd Vradenburg, executive director
of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers
Foundation. “While movie theaters may
be open, theater workers all over the
country are struggling to rebuild their
lives. We value the critical role these
individuals play in the film industry.
Supporting ‘Big Screens Big Hearts’ will
help our workforce get back on their feet.”
The Pioneers Assistance Fund is
supported by the theatrical industry at
large, with senior leadership from both
the theatrical and distribution side of
the business appearing on the group’s
board. One of those, Paramount Pictures’
President of Film Distribution and PAF
Committee Chairman Chris Aronson, said
of the “Big Screen Big Hearts” campaign:
“The Will Rogers Pioneers Assistance
Fund wants to help exhibitors bring
back furloughed employees and retain
their dynamic and skilled workforce.
These hard-working individuals matter
to providing audiences with a magical
moviegoing experience. We are grateful
for the motion picture industry’s support
of our Covid emergency grant program,
which supplemented the federal relief
package and helped workers weather
the storm. Now that stimulus money
is nearing an end, our ‘Big Screens Big
Hearts’ campaign will continue to support
theater employees and their families as we
embark on the road to recovery.”
“While movie theaters may
be open, theater workers
all over the country are
struggling to rebuild their
lives. We value the critical
role these individuals play in
the film industry.”
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15

INDUSTRY CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
0
‘ s
02020 marked the 100th anniversary of
A CENTURY
IN EXHIBITION
The 2000s: From
Bankruptcies to a
Double Revolution
BY VASSILIKI MALOUCHOU
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 this series, A Century in
Exhibition.
16 Q2 2021

The new millennium marked nothing
short of a historic turning point for
the exhibition business. Even though
exhibition survived Y2K unscathed, its
own reckless spending on megaplexes
and overbuilding in the 1990s resulted in
a series of bankruptcies that cast serious
doubts on the industry’s future.
But perseverance and resilience, even
during the Great Recession of 2008,
proved doomsayers wrong. Exhibitors
rebounded and confronted the biggest
technological revolution since the advent
of sound: digital cinema. The revolution
was long and full of turmoil, as technical
standards and fair financing for this
costly investment became the object of
intense debates between exhibitors and
studios. During this journey, theater
owners ventured into alternative forms
of content and devised new revenue
channels afforded by digital technologies,
with a special interest in preshow digital
advertising.
The 2000s were also marked by a
strong uptick of interest in another
revolutionary tool: the internet. Yet
as online ticketing began to reach its
full potential and exhibitors slowly
discovered the power of social media,
new digital platforms and the threats
of online piracy created unprecedented
challenges that continue to rock the
industry today.
From Boom to Bust to Boom
The megaplex rush of the 1990s proved
to be a costly mistake for most of the
exhibition industry, driving many
theaters to the verge of extinction. As
a result of overbuilding, a wave of
bankruptcies began in the early 2000s.
The fate of United Artists Theatres, one
of the biggest circuits in the country, was
a scary harbinger: even the exhibition
giants, it was feared, were not immune
from the bankruptcy trend. In February
2000, the circuit reported a net loss of
$25.6 million. By May, the rating agency
Moody’s downgraded its public debt
while considering doing so for Regal
Cinemas, Loews Cineplex, and Carmike
Cinemas. Soon after, in September
2000, United Artists sought Chapter
11 protection from its creditors. Silver
Cinemas, the parent company of the
art house chain Landmark Theatres,
preceded it in May of that year, while
Carmike Cinemas, which faced $65
million in total debt, and Edward
Theatres filed for bankruptcy in August.
In October, General Cinema did so as well,
abandoning its plans for an art house
venture with Sundance Film Centers.
The shadow of bankruptcy loomed over
even bigger circuits, with many pundits
correctly predicting that Regal Cinemas—
which would file for Chapter 11 in 2001—
was next.
How could an industry that had been
so confident in its megaplex strategy
just a few years before find itself in
such a situation? The problem was
simple: Exhibitors had cannibalized
themselves. In the 1990s, theater chains
added screens at a much more rapid pace
than their audiences grew. What small
gains were made came at the expense
of existing theaters, ultimately driving
many smaller operators out of business.
At the same time, the premiumization of
the moviegoing experience associated
with the expensive megaplexes drove
up the expectations of moviegoers, who
then demanded better services. “The
thinking was that bigger was better. Huge
multiplexes were built in areas that could
not support the large number of theaters
being built, and smaller mom-and-pops
didn’t close down as expected, leaving too
many screens open,” explained analyst
Wade Holden in April 2003.
Kurt Hall, president and CEO of United
Artists Theatre Company, explained in
January 2002 that the industry “created
a new theatre design called the megaplex
that turned out to be a profit eating
machine that put existing healthy theatres
out of business and changed film release
patterns and customer moviegoing habits
before an appropriate change in [the] film
cost structure was developed.” Indeed, the
advent of the megaplex coincided with
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INDUSTRY CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
the practice of “glut booking,” where an
extraordinary amount of prints was sent
out to theaters, often paired with a rapid
playoff—films cycling out of theaters
quicker—thus depriving operators of
the larger share of box office revenues
they would typically get later in a film’s
run—that was detrimental to the cinema
business model. Hall concluded that
the megaplex altered the perception of
moviegoing itself: “We, our suppliers,
and even our customers began to treat
moviegoing as a commodity, rather than
a special out-of-home entertainment
experience.”
Exhibitors faced other challenges that
compounded the overbuilding problem.
Activists and Washington brought
exhibitors to court over their alleged lack
of compliance with the Americans With
Disabilities Act (ADA). In a landmark
ruling, Cinemark’s stadium seating
was found to be ADA compliant by the
Supreme Court. Litigation in District
Court between AMC and the Justice
Department over stadium seating ADA
compliance, meanwhile, resulted in a
settlement, with AMC agreeing to spend
millions to retrofit the theaters cited in
the case.
Yet the biggest blow came on
September 11, 2001. Immediately after
the tragedy, some movie theaters in New
York City volunteered to help those in
need. The United Artists’ Union Square
theater, for instance, “opened its doors
to all needing a place to rest, something
cool to drink or even an abode for the
night, and in those initial days, the theatre
provided comfort to more than 16,000
people,” explained editor Kim Williamson
in November 2001.
The terrorist attacks raised new
questions about the security of movie
theaters. Following 9/11, several theaters
had to be checked for anthrax or reported
bomb threats. Williamson sought to
assuage the anxieties of exhibitors and
moviegoers by reminding them that “it’s
not that we’re not safe; it’s that we’re
unsettled, and the situation seems worse
because we are accustomed to calm and
comfort.” Regardless, many circuits
ramped up their security procedures as
part of special anti-terrorist measures.
New York City–based Loews Cineplex
Entertainment introduced restrictions
like a ban on backpacks and packages, as
well as searches upon entry. Boxoffice
Pro began a series of special articles on
managing crisis situations and increased
its coverage of international terrorism,
reporting, for example, the bombing
of four Bangladeshi movie theaters in
2003 that resulted in multiple deaths. In
November 2001, NATO launched a safety
and security training tape series on how to
prevent and handle emergencies. Despite
18 Q2 2021

the heated conversation about security
at the time, the debate faded until it was
reignited with more urgency after July
20, 2012, when 12 people lost their lives
in a tragic mass shooting at Cinemark’s
Century 16 in Aurora, Colorado.
2002 was a very different story.
Despite a weak economy and a dismal
stock market, exhibition was on its
way to recovery. “The year 2002 was an
extraordinary one for exhibitors,” wrote
Wade Holden, looking back from April
2003. Box office returns set a new record
of $9.2 million, and admissions grew 7.4
percent to nearly 1.6 billion, recovering
from the dip they took in 2000 that
landed them at 1.4 billion. The recovery
was boosted in part by a good slate of
superhero films and sequels/prequels,
including Spider-Man, Star Wars: Episode
II – Attack of the Clones, and The Lord of
the Rings: The Two Towers.
While most exhibitors continued to
close screens, the cash of billionaires
like Philip Anschutz—who led a group
that acquired majority investments
in Regal Cinemas, United Artists
Theatres, and Edwards Cinemas, and in
2002 consolidated them to form Regal
Entertainment Group—contributed to
a renaissance. AMC, which managed to
avoid the industry’s bankruptcy trend
partly thanks to a $250 million cash
infusion from Leon Black and his Apollo
Management, acquired both General
Cinema and Gulf States Theatres in early
2002 and issued an IPO of $100 million.
Regal Entertainment Group also pulled
off an IPO by putting up 18 million shares
of Class A common stock for $19 per share,
raising $345 million. As Kim Williamson
noted in May 2003, “the clearest sign of
how well things are going is who wants
to play too—not just how well you know
things are going, but how much people
elsewhere see how well things are going,
and want to be part of the scene. As I write
this, Microsoft has pacted with Landmark
to make the biggest digital cinema circuit
to date; names like NBC and Turner
are part of the preshow, and giants like
Boeing and TI are parts of the corps;
Krispy Kreme even wants to sell donuts at
Famous Players.”
The Long Road to Digital
The interest of outside players was not
a coincidence. It was linked to what
had seemed like a pipe dream during
the bankruptcy boom but was slowly
becoming a reality: the digital revolution.
In the first years of the decade, the idea of
spending upward of $100,000 to retrofit
just one screen was nothing more than a
fantasy. The beginning of the industry’s
financial recovery made that dream just
a little more reachable. Meanwhile, the
major studios had been moving full
steam ahead toward digital since 1999. On
June 18, 1999, Texas Instruments’ DLP
Cinema projector technology was publicly
demonstrated in two screens in Los
Angeles and New York City for the release
of Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom
Menace. Disney also led the way with Toy
Story 2 and Dinosaur. Filmmakers like
Mike Figgis enthusiastically embraced the
technology. In 2002, Star Wars: Episode II
– Attack of the Clones was released digitally
in 17 markets across 94 venues.
On June 6, 2000, digital history was
made. For the first time, a feature film was
transmitted via the internet from a studio
lot in Hollywood to the SuperComm
2000 telecommunications trade show in
Atlanta, Georgia. Cisco Systems, Qwest
Communications, Sigma Design Group,
Barco Digital Projection Systems, and 20th
Century Fox partnered to project Fox’s
Titan A.E. “The audience loved it,” said
digital cinema market manager for Barco
Wendy Bosley in Boxoffice Pro. “It’s a
great atmosphere, and people were just
stunned by the image [and] the quality
that the TI projector was able to screen.”
Similar partnerships between studios and
digital manufacturers, such as America
Online and Time Warner and Miramax
and Boeing, flourished.
It was in this context that the Digital
Cinema Initiatives (DCI) was formed in
March 2002. A joint endeavor of Disney,
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INDUSTRY CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
“Digital cinema could
revolutionize the business
by transforming the nature
of production, delivery,
and exhibition; by saving
distributors hundreds of
millions of dollars annually;
and by making it easier for
exhibitors to offer alternative
content.“
Fox, MGM, Universal, Paramount, Sony,
and Warner Bros. aimed at developing
a system specification for digital
cinemas, it was to become one of the key
battlegrounds in the digital revolution,
pitting studios against theaters and their
representative, NATO.
In 2000, the fan site TheForce.net
launched a petition encouraging fans to
contact their local cinema managers about
the lack of digital system installations
in most theaters. The petition named
NATO’s new president, John Fithian, as
a “major stumbling block” who wasn’t
“convinced that digital is worth it.” The
petitioners were unaware of the general
state of the exhibition industry, which
explained the small number of digital
screens (just 15 in December 2000) at
the time of the petition’s release. They
also ignored the many challenges that
needed to be resolved before exhibitors
could transition to this new technology.
“Digital cinema could revolutionize the
business by transforming the nature of
production, delivery, and exhibition; by
saving distributors hundreds of millions of
dollars annually; and by making it easier
for exhibitors to offer alternative content.
None of this will come easy, however.
Significant issues and challenges confront
the potential transition, not the least of
which is the issue of costs. No one knows
for sure which technology will prevail,
when the transition will occur, nor how it
is going to be financed. Nonetheless, the
transition will come …” Fithian said at
the National Institute of Standards and
Technology in April 2001.
The digital transition was inevitable.
Already in January 2000, a Boxoffice
Pro survey on the state of the industry
revealed that for all the exhibitors
surveyed, including Bruce J. Olson
of Marcus Theatres, Dan Harkins of
Harkins Theatres, Bob Babgy of B&B
Theatres, and Sheri Redstone of National
Amusements, digital cinema was the
biggest change facing exhibition in the
coming decade. However, the questions
of quality, release strategies, security and
piracy, standards, and most importantly
who would pay for it were far from being
resolved. Boxoffice Pro became a
forum for these often-heated debates, as
theater owners, managers, projectionists,
and technology specialists used the
publication as a tribune. In April 2000, an
exhibitor from Texas wrote a passionate
letter to Boxoffice Pro noting the top
five reasons not to go digital. Another
exhibitor from California responded,
concluding that he would “miss the days
of holding 35mm in his hand, splicing it
and threading it through projectors, but
the advantages of digital projection make
the moviegoer in [him] very happy.”
Image quality was a top concern for
exhibitors. By the beginning of the decade,
it had become almost routine for trade
shows to display side-by-side screen
presentations that juxtaposed images of
digital and 35 mm movies. A Boxoffice
Pro contributor noted that at one such
screening at Cine Expo in September
2000, “a suspicious eye may have noted
that in some cases … a particularly poor
print of the 35mm half was screened to the
audience, with jump and scratch in the
film markedly notable.”
“Personally, I feel like there is no
technology available today that can beat
the quality of a properly projected film
print,” wrote a former theater manager
and projectionist in a letter to Boxoffice
Pro in July 2001, echoing a widespread
viewpoint. As the technology progressed,
however, the quality of digital projection
became increasingly equal to or surpassed
that of 35 mm film. Another projectionist
shared his experience in February 2002,
when he watched a digital trailer for
Unbreakable: “As soon as I saw Bruce
Willis’ flesh tones, I knew that film was
dead as a projection medium. … George
Lucas was right when he said, ‘I love
film but it’s a 19th-century invention.’”
Exhibitors were also dreading projection
failures and changing release strategies.
“Having every theatre in the world playing
the exact same titles at the exact same
time takes away from the excitement of
going to the movies and is more akin to
television programming,” complained an
exhibitor.
NATO was on the front lines of
the digital battle between exhibitors,
distributors, and technology companies.
At the end of 2001, NATO and 20 of its
international counterparts, including
UNIC and the Motion Picture Theatre
Associations of Canada (MPTAC), sent out
a letter addressed to several organizations
working on the standardization of digital
cinema. The goal was to encourage
the development of interoperable yet
competitive products while maintaining
the relatively low cost of existing film
20 Q2 2021

projection systems. The nightmarish
transition to digital sound just a few years
prior, which led to many incompatible
systems competing in the market, could
be even more disastrous because of
the multitude of different components
(encryption, de-encryption, compression,
decompression, servers, projectors, etc.)
necessary for digital projection. To avoid
a monopolized market, standards needed
to be set up for all components to properly
interact with each other.
In February 2004, DCI’s long-awaited
technical specifications draft drew
criticism from exhibitors in the U.S. and
Europe. In a strongly worded letter, NATO
criticized the studio consortium for
wanting to weaken security standards
to remove exhibitor control over their
equipment. A widespread fear, for
instance, was that a studio could tamper
with the placement of a film in the
program and darken the auditorium.
NATO issued a resolution in January
2005 that highlighted the demands
of exhibitors: “The exhibitors want a
branded digital cinema experience that
exceeds the quality of 35mm film and
home-entertainment systems. They
also require open and global technical
standards that promote competition
and ensure interoperability. They seek
a system that secures the content yet
maintains the same operational control
that movie theaters yield today. And they
have called for a universal financing plan
that is funded by the Hollywood studios
and allows all exhibitors and studios to
participate.”
Later in 2005, three long years
after its creation and following
interminable negotiations among the
various stockholders, the DCI gathered
representatives of studios, NATO, and the
American Society of Cinematographers
to announce the completion of the digital
cinema specifications. NATO was strongly
supportive, cautioning, however, that
the list was not perfect but that “digital
cinema will happen very soon.”
The last obstacle was financing. Studios
argued that exhibitors would maximize
their revenues by rapidly rotating feature
films and finding alternative sources of
revenue. Exhibitors, meanwhile, argued
that studios would financially benefit
the most thanks to the dwindling cost of
digital distribution. For exhibitors, the
transition still seemed too expensive. A
projection booth with a new 35 mm film
projection unit could cost about $30,000
and last for decades. One digital screen
could be billed at about $100,000, with
no one yet knowing how long it would
be before upgrades became necessary.
“It’s very simple math,” said Fithian in
2001. “Digital cinema could never drive
enough extra traffic through our box
office and to our concession stands to
make up the difference.” By the time the
DCI issued its specifications, various
third-party integrators had proposed
financing and installation plans to North
American exhibitors. Third parties would
raise the capital to buy and install the
equipment. Over time studios would pay
“virtual print fees,” a cost paid per title
per screen, to the third parties for the
use of their equipment. Exhibitors would
make a smaller contribution that was
associated with the cost of installation and
maintenance.
2005 marked the turning point that
launched the digital rollout in the U.S.
and abroad. By the end of 2006, AcessIT
and Christie had installed digital cinema
systems in 1,000 commercial cinemas. By
June 2007, more than 4,000 screens were
equipped worldwide. Though difficulties
remained, the industry was already
looking forward to the opportunities
granted by digital. At the 2005 ShoWest
conference, 3-D eclipsed digital as the hot
topic. As James Cameron stated at the
event: “3-D is absolutely the future.”
Long before the digital rollout was
completed in the following decade, the
industry felt another effect of the digital
revolution. The exorbitant costs of the
digital transition triggered a quest for
new channels of revenue for exhibitors.
Alternative content, especially digital
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INDUSTRY CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
advertising in the preshow, became
another buzzword of the decade. “It has
become clear over the past couple of years
that the digital cinema revolution is going
to be more gradual than first predicted
and find its footing through cinema
advertising rather than feature films,”
wrote Boxoffice Pro in February 2003.
At the time, about 20 percent of U.S.
screens had digital technology capable
of projecting the preshow. According to a
Marketing Experts International article
published in Boxoffice Pro, advertisers
spent $800 million on global cinema
advertising in 2003, with expected growth
to $1 billion in 2004 and $1.5 billion in
2005. Nascent digital cinema offered a
more efficient, cost-effective, entertaining,
and flexible avenue for advertisers to
target their consumer demographics while
boosting the revenue of exhibitors.
Digital advertising, like digital cinema,
skyrocketed in 2005. In March of that
year, Regal Cinemas and AMC combined
to form National CineMedia, with
Cinemark joining as a founding member
in July. Screenvision launched a digital
ad network and released studies that
confirmed the effectiveness of cinema
advertising among consumers. Although
preshow advertising companies touted
their innovation, Boxoffice Pro pointed
out the fears of some exhibitors who were
wary of displaying a feature film after
commercial promotions. “Exhibition
representatives take issue with the
perception that preshow programming
is unpopular … the majority of patrons
much prefer seeing a preshow rather
than a blank screen when they arrive at
theaters early,” said Kurt Hall, president
and CEO of National CineMedia in March
2006. For exhibitors, the key was to adapt
advertising to the cinematic medium in
creative, engaging ways. “What we don’t
have in our content set is … overt sales
messaging,” explained Screenvision’s
Adam Stewart in June 2006. “We’re
encouraging our partners to … respect the
audience.” New companies, like TimePlay
or Gold Pocket Wireless, ventured into
interactive preshows to provide more
entertaining content while also acquiring
information about moviegoers. The era of
big data was just beginning.
Wired World
The first revolution of the new millennium
was the digital transition. The second
was happening virtually, with rapid
developments in online ticketing,
marketing, and distribution. In June 2000,
when the magazine asked Cineplex Odeon
chairman and CEO Allen Karp about
the future of online ticketing, he was
unapologetically optimistic. “Ultimately,
explosive,” he responded. “It will take
time for consumers’ habits (last-minute,
cash-on-the-line impulse buying) to
come around, but the convenience,
guaranteed fulfillment, and the evolution
of e-commerce as part of our daily lives
should assure success.”
The e-commerce landscape
was undergoing an unprecedented
competitive surge. In April 2000, in the
wake of United Artists’ alliance with AOL
MovieFone, AMC joined with Hollywood
.com to create MovieTickets.com, an online
ticketing hub that included additional
editorial content from Hollywood.com’s
library. Later that year, Canada’s Famous
Players and National Amusements joined
the endeavor as well. In 2000, just a month
after the debut of MovieTickets.com
at ShoWest, Regal, Loews Cineplex,
Cinemark, General Cinema, Edwards,
and Century—representing a combined
12,000-plus screens across North
America—announced that they had
joined forces to co-found their own movie
ticketing website, Fandango. “Remote
ticketing has really become an extension
of our business, and it is critical for our
business that we ensure the quality of
service to all our patrons,” argued Loews
Cineplex president and CEO Lawrence
Ruisi. The announcement came within
days of CBS’s 5 percent investment in
MovieTickets.com.
Europe was also picking up on the
digital ticketing trend. In Germany, for
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“Self-service technologies
in conjunction with member
cards have created the
ability to start to get more
data on the consumer in
terms of frequency, purchase
patterns, etc. …“
instance, Cinemaxx, UFA Theater, and
Kieft & Kieft Filmtheater jointly launched
a nationwide ticketing service in 2000.
Back in the States, to curb the increasing
power of Fandango, AOL MovieFone
and MovieTickets.com partnered to
create a co-branded alliance in June
2001, representing 80 percent of North
American screens, that offered internet
ticketing capability. AOL MovieFone
transferred all its ticketing services to
MovieTickets.com in 2004.
While Fandango still serviced more
screens, MovieTickets.com gained
exclusive rights to 32 circuits, twice that
of Fandango. The e-commerce battle
forced the pioneers of online ticketing
to continuously innovate. “Still buying
tickets online? That’s so 20th century,”
wrote a Boxoffice Pro contributor in
May 2006. At a time when around
6 percent of movie tickets were sold
online, the next frontier was mobile.
Both Fandango and MovieTickets.com
expanded their services to mobile
devices in the middle of the decade
with an emphasis on reserved seating,
concessions, and partnerships with search
engines. Boxoffice Pro dedicated many
pages to what was often called “DIY” or
“self-serve” ticketing. In a 2001 article,
Rukshan Mistry delved into the perils
and possibilities of e-ticketing. “The
question is not whether, but how,” he
stated. The challenges, he explained,
were mostly related to driving traffic
to the ticketing website, especially for
smaller theaters without a strong brand
or the capital to operate a proper website.
Customer service was also problematic
because of the patron’s inability to speak
directly to a person. But these concerns
were overpowered by the benefits: With
a clear, simple, transparent experience,
e-ticketing could revolutionize the box
office, cut expenses, and help theaters
attract a younger, more tech-savvy
generation.
Online ticketing, like interactive
preshows, represented a landmark for
data collection. “Typically, cinemas have
known very little about their customers in
the past,” said Vista’s Murray Holdaway in
October 2005. “Self-service technologies
in conjunction with member cards have
created the ability to start to get more data
on the consumer in terms of frequency,
purchase patterns, etc. …” Another way to
collect precious data and court younger
moviegoers was through online movie
marketing. Already in 2003, a TNS Media
Intelligence/CMR report presented in
Boxoffice Pro found that internet ad
spending had surged 71.2 percent over
the previous year. Marketing through
exhibitors’ websites skyrocketed, while
social media was beginning to pique
the interest of the industry. In 2009,
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INDUSTRY CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
Boxoffice Pro wrote extensively
about Facebook for the first time in the
publication’s history, with Phil Contrino
suggesting that the platform could help
independent exhibitors build a direct
relationship with their fans thanks to the
possibility of online grassroots campaigns,
direct messages, reviews, friend
invitations, and more. Contrino wrote,
somewhat prophetically: “Facebook is the
next step in film marketing, and exhibitors
should plug into its potential.”
The advent of the internet, however,
also instilled new fears and created
unique threats. Piracy was facilitated
by the transmission of digital films via
satellite as well as the proliferation of new
platforms for online downloading. Piracy
was costing the industry billions of dollars
every year. NATO, the MPAA (now the
MPA), and studios fought hard for legal
action, as the movie industry feared that
it would follow the somber example of
the music industry’s battle with pirates.
In an effort to prevent themselves from
being “Napster-ized,” MGM, Paramount,
Sony, Universal, and Warner Bros. joined
forces in October 2001 to launch their
own broadband service, tentatively called
MovieFly, which provided consumers
on-demand access to theatrically released
movies. Disney and Fox responded with
their model, Movies.com. In March 2007, a
Boxoffice Pro writer—who had himself
briefly become a pirate for the sake of
journalism—concluded that “the movie
industry does have to compete against
piracy, but as with the music business, if it
gave people what they wanted for a nicer
price, it wouldn’t have to.”
This was exactly the concept that new
VOD platforms capitalized on. With their
emergence, the decades-old debate on
windows became more urgent than ever,
and sparked again in 2005—a particularly
bad year at the box office—when
Disney’s chairman, Bob Iger, suggested
that consumers had a preference for
simultaneous theatrical and DVD release.
That same year, Mark Cuban—co-owner
of 2929 Entertainment, which controlled
Landmark Theatres—defended day-anddate
releases after Steven Soderbergh’s
Bubble was released in such a manner.
In a November 2006 article, Cuban even
argued for more studio ownership of
movie theaters to eliminate the exclusivity
problem altogether. NATO’s Fithian
called the high-profile debate “salutary,”
as it had generated media attention
and precipitated discussions between
exhibitors and studios.
“Thoughtful industry leaders like
Howard Stringer of Sony, Sumner
Redstone of Viacom, Ron Meyer of
Universal, and Jim Gianopulos of Fox
have all articulated publicly their support
for the theatrical release window because
they know the tiered release model
best serves their companies and their
consumers,” Fithian declared in April
2006. Filmmakers like Jonathan Demme
and Tim Burton also expressed their
support for longer windows. In a tribute
to the cinematic art at ShowEast in 2005,
M. Night Shyamalan movingly defended
longer windows: “When I sit down next
to you in a movie theatre, we get to share
each other’s point of view. We become
part of a collective soul. That’s the magic
in the movies. If [simultaneous release]
happens, you know the majority of
theaters are closing.”
By 2007, the theatrical-to-DVD window
had stabilized to four months and 16 days.
But the questions raised by VOD platforms
were far from resolved. “Suddenly, the
talked-about place to see a movie isn’t
the mall plex or old-town indie cinema.
It’s on your computer—or in your hand,”
lamented Boxoffice Pro’s Annlee
Ellingson in November 2006. A year later,
the trend had gathered more steam: “In
an era in which Google has entered the
lexicon as a verb, MySpace is a popular
social destination, and YouTube acts
as an egalitarian showcase for budding
filmmakers, it should come as little
surprise that the internet has emerged
as the next-generation film distribution
platform with most potential—if yet,
unrealized,” she remarked. iTunes, Xbox
Live Marketplace, and Amazon Unbox
were all considered to have this kind
of potential. A particular production
company, Red Envelope Entertainment,
and its distribution arm, Netflix, caught the
interest of Boxoffice Pro. Anticipating
one of the most important debates of the
next decade, Chad Greene noted in April
2007: “If alternative distributors like Red
Envelope have their way, more and more
film fans will realize they do, indeed, live
in a distribution democracy—one in which
they can cast their votes either at home or
at the box office.”
“The movie industry does
have to compete against
piracy, but as with the music
business, if it gave people
what they wanted for a nicer
price, it wouldn’t have to.”
24 Q2 2021

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Q2 2021
25

Industry BIG DATA
THE IMPACT OF
COVID-19 ON THE
GLOBAL BOX OFFICE
72% ↓ 80% ↓
The global movie
theater box office fell
by 72 percent.
The North American
movie theater box office
fell by 80 percent.
Global Box Office Down 72 Percent, Digital
Leads Home Entertainment in 2020, According
to the MPA’s 2020 THEME Report
BY DANIEL LORIA
In a beleaguered 2020, the global
movie theater box office fell by
72 percent, finishing the year with $12
billion in ticket sales, according to the
Motion Picture Association’s (MPA)
annual THEME report.
Overseas box office was responsible for
$9.8 billion in ticket sales, representing
81 percent of the overall global market.
Much of that business came from the $6
billion earned by the Asia Pacific region,
which hosted three of the world’s top five
box office markets in 2020: China (No. 1,
$3 billion), Japan (No. 3, $1.3 billion), and
South Korea (No. 5, $0.4 billion). The
Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA)
region suffered a 61 percent drop to $3.3.
billion, while Latin America suffered the
biggest losses during the pandemic, with
an 82 percent drop to $0.5 billion.
The North American market, comprising
the United States and Canada, experienced
an 80 percent decline in box office
($2.2 billion), translating to a total
of 240 million admissions in 2020. The
number of cinema admissions in the
United States had previously fluctuated
between 1.24 and 1.36 billion since 2011.
According to the MPA, the typical
moviegoer bought 1.5 tickets in 2020,
down from 4.6 the previous year.
Less than half of the U.S./Canada
population attended the cinema in 2020,
a year when digital home entertainment
accounted for 82 percent of the entire
entertainment sector. Streaming revenues
in the United States have more than
doubled over the last four years—from
$11.4 billion in 2016 to $26.5 billion in
2020—while physical media have shrunk
by more than half during the same term—
from $8 billion in 2016 to $3.5 billion in
2020. Theatrical revenues had consistently
surpassed $11 billion since 2016, until
falling to $2.2. billion in 2020 due to the
onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.
2020 Top 10 Global Box Office Markets
– All Films (US$ Billions)
1
2
3
4
5
China
1 2 3
$3.0
North America (U.S. & Canada)
Japan
France
$0.5
$1.3
South Korea
$0.5
$2.2
Global Box Office Market — All Films (US$ Billions)
International
U.S./Canada
6
$0.4
U.K.
$45
$40
$39.9
$40.9 $41.8 $42.3
7
$0.4
India
$35
$30
$25
$27.9
(71%)
$27.9
(71%)
$27.9
(71%)
$27.9
(71%)
8 Germany
$0.4
$20
$15
$10
$5
$12.0
$9.8
$11.4
$11.4 $11.4 $11.4
(81%)
$2.2
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
9 Russia
$0.3
10 Australia
$0.3
Source: Omdia, local sources
26 Q2 2021

Less than half of the U.S./
Canada population attended
the cinema in 2020, a
year when digital home
entertainment accounted
for 82 percent of the entire
entertainment sector.
Global Theatrical & Home/Mobile Entertainment Market (US$ Billions)
Physical Digital Theatrical
$98.3
$100
$92.0
$83.7
$80.8
$80
$77.8
$42.3
$12.0
$41.8
$40.9
$60
$39.3
$40
$61.8
$39.4
$47.2
$23.6
$30.1
$20
$14.9
$12.7 $10.8 $8.8
$7.0
Theater vs. Home Entertainment
The pandemic upended the usual
revenue from theatrical and helped spur
a dramatic rise in home entertainment
earnings as audiences stayed home. Home
entertainment brought in a total of $68.8
billion worldwide in 2020, propelled
almost entirely by digital—with physical
media representing only $7 billion of that
figure. Combined, theatrical and home
entertainment earned a total of $80.8
billion in the year, down 18 percent from
2019’s $98.3 billion.
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
Source: Omdia
U.S. Online Views & Transactions (Billions)
Online movie views/transactions
Online TV views/transactions
300
265.9
250
201.4
200
163.6
150
130.1
244.6
100
88.6
186.7
151.8
119.7
50
78.9
9.7
10.4
11.8
14.7
21.3
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 '20 vs. '19
Online movie views/transactions 9.7 10.4 11.8 14.7 21.3 45%
Online TV views/transactions 78.9 119.7 151.8 186.7 244.6 31%
Total 88.6 130.1 10.4 201.4 265.9 32%
Subscription
Subscription-based services within the
digital home entertainment category
experienced a particular upswing in 2020, a
reflection of new platforms introduced by
major media conglomerates. Subscription
video on demand (SVOD) was up by 35
percent in 2020, earning $21.2 billion in the
year—nearly three times the $7.8 billion
SVOD brought in 2016. Transactional digital
home entertainment, however, shrank by 2
percent in 2020 to $8.8 billion—down from
$11.6 billion in 2016.
The growth of digital home
entertainment has been significantly more
disruptive for linear television than it has for
the theatrical industry. Television content
represents 92 percent of the overall online
views and transactions in the United States.
Although it represents a minority of digital
transactions and viewership, streaming
movies at home has seen a relative rise in
popularity in recent years. Online movie
views and transactions in the United States
have more than doubled since 2016 and
increased by 45 percent from 2019 to 2020.
Q2 2021
27

Industry BIG DATA
Seven of the top 10 streamed
movies in the United States in
2020 were released in 2019 or
earlier—including the top three
titles of the year.
6% ↑ 1% ↑
The number of cinema
screens around the
world increased by 6
percent.
The number of cinema
screens in North
America increased by
1 percent.
Seven of the top 10 streamed movies
in the United States in 2020 were
released in 2019 or earlier—including
the top three titles of the year. Notably,
eight of the top 10 most-streamed
movies in 2020 were children’s titles.
The data reveals that despite an
increased adoption and engagement in
digital home entertainment platforms
because of the Covid-19 pandemic,
the bulk of home viewership remains
centered on serial television content and
library catalogue titles at this time.
Despite the disruption caused by
the pandemic, the number of cinema
screens around the world increased by
6 percent in 2020 to a total of 207,650
screens. Asia Pacific accounts for nearly
half of the world’s cinema screens with
103,603, followed by EMEA with 44,902,
North America (U.S. & Canada) with
44,111, and Latin America with 15,034.
The number of cinema screens in
North America increased by 1 percent
in 2020 and has risen by 3 percent since
2016 despite the increasing popularity of
digital home entertainment platforms.
In the United States specifically, the
number of screens decreased by 0.4
percent, from 41,172 to 40,998, but was
nevertheless higher than the national
screen counts of every year dating back
to 2016.
Top 10 Streaming Films in the U.S. in
2020 (million minutes streamed)
1
2
3
4
5 10 15
Frozen II (2019) Disney Plus
14,924
Moana (2016) Disney Plus
10,507
The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) Netflix
9,123
Onward (2020) Disney Plus
8,367
5
Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch (2018) Netflix
6,180
U.S. Screens by Type
Analog Digital non-3D Digital 3D
6
Hamilton (2020) Disney Plus
6,132
45,000
40,000
40,174 40,393 40,837
41,172 40,998
7
Spenser Confidential (2020) Netflix
5,374
35,000
30,000
15,318 15,530 15,511
15,136 14,848
8
Aladdin (2019) Disney Plus
25,000
5,172
20,000
9
Toy Story 4 (2019) Disney Plus
15,000
24,205 24,579 24,806 25,432 26,150
4,416
10,000
5,000
651 284 520 604 0
2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
Source: Omdia
10
Zootopia (2016) Disney Plus
4,400
Source: Nielsen
28 Q2 2021

RTS
Q2 2021
29

Industry INDUSTRY INSIDERS
A LIFE
IN FILM
Paramount’s Patricia
Gonzalez Loves the Movies,
Heart and Soul
BY REBECCA PAHLE
Regardless of the company
she worked for, or whether she
was on the distribution or the
exhibition side, her goal was
the same: getting people into
theaters.
A love of the movies runs deep in
Pat Gonzalez, SVP of in-theater
marketing at Paramount Pictures. A
child of Los Angeles, she grew up as a
regular at the Egyptian Theatre, where
her introduction to the art form in which
she would eventually establish a 40-year
career came, not from children’s movies,
but from capital-C Classics that were not
always the most appropriate viewing for a
child not yet in middle school.
“I was one of those younger girls
hanging out with older cousins,” Gonzalez
recalls. “At 9 years old, I was a chaperone
for my cousin, 17, and her boyfriend—at
the time, 19. When they went out to the
movies, they took me. So I saw movies that
were very much out of my age range. I saw
the Godfather at age 9.”
Such an early exposure to, say, The
Godfather’s horse-head scene (“I couldn’t
get that out of my mind”) could have
turned young Pat off film for good.
Fortunately, her childhood moviegoing
experiences were mostly thrilling,
with the classic old movie houses of
L.A. serving as the source of a cinema
obsession that continues to this day. “I
wasn’t, probably, in a multiplex until I was
a teenager,” she recalls. Gonzalez will take
a black-and-white movie over a color one.
The Hepburns—Audrey and Katharine—
are her actresses of choice, along with the
great Myrna Loy. For the men, it’s Clark
Gable. And as for big screen vs. small—the
answer should be obvious.
“It was at a time when it was safe. You
could walk places,” recalls Gonzalez of
her Hollywood childhood. “I was allowed
to walk to Hollywood Boulevard to go
to the movies.” Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance Kid, The Sting, The Heartbreak
Kid, and Jeremiah Johnson were early
favorites, along with the road comedies
of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. “It is such
a different way to see a movie, right when
you walk in,” says Gonzalez of her early
years haunting the Egyptian, the Mann’s
Chinese Theatre, and classic cinemas
dotted around Westwood. “In those
theaters, you feel so small. Especially
as a kid. And it’s this big, enormous
picture—it does suck you in. I love the
way that we see movies today. But there
is something really special about the
throwback of seeing them on those
big screens, where you had eight, nine
hundred people in one auditorium
seeing a big movie.”
It made sense that someone who spent
so much time in theaters would eventually
get a job in one—which Gonzalez did, at a
General Cinema location, where, starting at
age 17, she worked the concession stand one
day a week. One day turned into five, then
six. Gonzalez was “enamored by that whole
experience,” she says, and her plans of
being a graphic designer fell by the wayside.
It surely didn’t hurt that the cinema
where Gonzalez started her entertainment
career played host to extensive audience
research screenings—she estimates 250
a year. “You had Julia Roberts, Richard
Gere. It was a constant influx of talent for
research screenings and also just hanging
out and coming to the movies.”
Gonzalez moved to the corporate side
of General Cinema, eventually becoming
their national director of film marketing.
She would work on the exhibition side of
the business for 16 years before moving
over to DreamWorks—where she was the
head of theatrical marketing services
until 2006—and then Paramount Pictures.
Regardless of the company she worked for,
or whether she was on the distribution or
the exhibition side, her goal was the same:
getting people into theaters. Working
creatively to do just that was the part
of her time at General Cinema that she
loved the most. “We did a lot together
collectively as a staff,” she says. “If we
knew that Universal’s coming in, and they
were doing a big research screening, I’d
get our team together: ‘Listen, Backdraft is
opening. Let’s do this really amazing still
life with set pieces and tie-ins with the
local fire station.’ You’d be collaborating
and actually creating something that
would create a focal point.”
In working on the exhibitor side of
in-theater marketing, Gonzalez would
collaborate with studios—though, at the
time, “exhibitor relations” was still coming
into being as a distinct role. “Way back
in the day, there wasn’t a department at
an exhibition company programming
the trailers. It would have been myself or
anybody else that was the manager of that
complex—we would be programming our
screens. And as things got more … I’m going
to say competitive, and you had everybody
vying to get on-screen, it actually got taken
out of the individual theaters and became a
home office responsibility. But back in the
day, in the ’80s, there were maybe two or
three people doing what, today, you might
have 100 people doing.”
30 Q2 2021

Whether it’s two people or 100,
distributor or exhibitor: “Whatever we
do, we have to continue to elevate the
theatrical experience. Showmanship
has always been important. But I feel
like it’s even more important today than
ever before.”
What does that mean in the post-
Covid era, when exhibitors and studios,
filmmakers and talent, must work together
to remind moviegoers of how powerful
the cinema experience can be—when the
resources for a big, splashy spend may not
be there? “What can you do that becomes
a little bit more turnkey yet feels special?”
Gonzalez asks. She offers up as an example
an event around Paramount’s A Quiet
Place Part II, where a Thursday preview
screening at the Cinemark Playa Vista and
XD featured a live Q&A with director John
Krasinski, simulcast to over 500 theaters
across the country.
“Our big thing was, how do you bring
this experience and not charge anything
extra for it? For this event, it’s the regular
price of admission,” says Gonzalez. “These
things—they were important before the
pandemic, but I think it’s really even
more important now. We’re doing some
taped greetings. We’re doing things to
verbally remind people: ‘You’re here. We
know it wasn’t easy for you to get out of
your house and come to the movie theater.
We’re grateful that you’re here.’”
The pandemic may have caused a time
of unprecedented, extended precarity in
the cinema industry, but championing the
experience of seeing movies in theaters is
nothing new to Gonzalez and her team, nor
is doing so on a shoestring budget. Asked
about an underdog film that she’s worked
on during her time at Paramount, Gonzalez
flashes back to the first Paranormal Activity,
the campaign for which memorably (and
quite successfully) showcased moviegoers’
terrified in-theater reactions to the horror
unspooling on the screen. “It was a small
group of us trying to do things in a very
nontraditional way,” she says. The film
initially opened in 13 markets—not “typical,
mainstream theaters,” but more out-ofthe-way
places and college towns. When
they added Santa Cruz, people would drive
the five-plus hours from Los Angeles to get
there, despite the fact that there were only
two screenings per day, one at 10 and the
other at midnight.
The experience was, “in the truest
sense, about working hand in hand with
your exhibitor partners,” says Gonzalez.
Promotion was largely by word-ofmouth—no
television and a modest
digital “Demand It!” campaign, in which
those curious about all the fuss could go
to the film’s official website and vote for
Paranormal Activity to come to their city.
If the film got a million votes—which it
did, as evidenced by the five-and-counting
sequels—it would open nationwide. “It
was really the strangest, most fascinating
process, but also the most rewarding,
because you saw the fruits of the
grassroots efforts,” says Gonzalez.
The Paranormal Activity marketing
campaign may have been exceptional in
its creativity and effectiveness, but every
film requires something a little different
from the rest—and that’s what Gonzalez
likes most about her job. “It’s a constantly
changing landscape. We get more involved
now in life cycle marketing, because
you’re talking about theatrical and the
home entertainment piece, and a lot of the
exhibitor partners now have [streaming
platforms],” she says. “You’re always going
to have what I call a traditional marketing
mix. And then separate from all that is,
what do you do to really step out? What
can you do that feels like you’re taking
the movie to the next level?” Whatever
marketing magic is required to get people
to see a particular film, Gonzalez says it’s
most important that the programs her
team proposes “have to be good for both of
us,” studio and theaters. “It can never be
one-sided. It has to be good for us and for
our exhibitor partners,” she says. “I have
fun! At the end of the day, I have fun doing
what I do with the team that I get to work
with and the people that I work with in
exhibition.”
The joy and the pride Gonzalez takes
in her work in the entertainment industry
extends beyond her work in exhibition
and distribution to her years of service
with Variety – the Children’s Charity,
where she serves on the boards of two
chapters: Variety the Children’s Charity
of Southern California and Variety Boys
& Girls Club of Boyle Heights. “I work
with incredible men and women,” she
says. “We all have day jobs. But we’re all
so motivated by this passion of trying to
make the world a little bit better. And one
of the ways you can do that is through
helping kids and youth, so that everyone
has a fair shot at making their dreams
come true.”
Through her work with Variety,
Gonzalez has seen first-hand the good
that the film industry does in providing
children who have health challenges with
the mobility bikes they need. “You give
that child a moment to actually feel like
other kids feel, things that we all take for
granted.” The children who attend the
Variety Boys & Girls Club of Boyle Heights,
meanwhile, “just take your breath away.
They’re such smart kids. This club is in
a really tough part of Los Angeles. It’s in
the inner city, and it’s surrounded by a lot
of gangs—it’s just a tough neighborhood
to live in. But that club is a safe haven
for all these kids. I’m inspired by the kids
and their desire to learn. I’m part of the
scholarship review at Variety SoCal. A lot
of those kids that get scholarships, they’re
the first in their families going off to
college.” Once they do, many come back,
“because they want to help make their
community better. I’m really inspired by
that, too.”
“I’ve been very lucky,” Gonzalez says. “I
don’t forget how blessed I am. I love this
industry.”
“Whatever we do, we have
to continue to elevate
the theatrical experience.
Showmanship has always
been important. But I feel
like it’s even more important
today than ever before.”
Q2 2021
31

Indie Focus 34 | Boxoffice Barometer 40 | NYC Reopens 50 | International Spotlight 54
THEATER
“We don’t really identify in any traditional programming bucket.
We’re just focused on booking the best films available.”
Indie Focus, p. 34
Q2 2021
33

Theater INDIE FOCUS
INDIE FOCUS
Brought to you by
As the cinema industry begins to emerge from the Covid-19
pandemic, Boxoffice Pro and Spotlight Cinema Networks are
partnering to profile movie theaters and influential industry
figures from across the country and asking them to share their
first-person accounts of bringing the movies back to the big screen.
GATEWAY FILM CENTER
Columbus, Ohio
Interview with Chris Hamel, President
What role does the Gateway
Film Center play in its local
community, and how did you get
involved with it?
The Film Center is the real epitome
of unique. We sometimes feel like an
arts center, sometimes it appears to be
somewhat of a commercial venue, but I
don’t think there’s anything really like it
in the country. It was originally developed
by the city and Ohio State University to
drive economic development to a part
of the city that was being revitalized. It
was originally operated by the Drexel
Theatres group, which was a small, local
chain that was here in Columbus at
the time. Landmark Theatres operated
the venue for a few years as well. I was
retained as a consultant in 2009 to figure
out why it wasn’t working the way that
the developers had hoped it would. We
realized at the time that we had to really
become an integral part of the arts
community in Columbus to reach those
goals. That is why the Film Center is
really focused on artists and filmmakers;
we don’t exclusively play independent,
commercial, or local films. We try to
curate a mix of the best of all three. And I
really think we’ve done a pretty good job
at building trust locally and in the region.
People believe in curation here. Columbus
is really a great arts city, and the Film
Center is a part of that arts community.
How did the Gateway Film Center
establish itself in the Columbus arts
scene?
I think it’s fair to say that the legacy arts
leaders in the city were a little skeptical of
us. They thought of us as just a traditional
movie theater, and a lot of people in the
U.S. think of movies as a commodity: get a
bunch of people in, sell concessions, move
on. We spent the first few years really trying
to explain to the other arts leaders in the
city that that wasn’t really our model ... in
time, I think we were able to earn their trust
and build really meaningful partnerships.
Sometimes our role here at the Film
Center is to act as the host, and sometimes
we’re the venue. If there’s a film festival or
another organization that wants to host a
screening, we have a great place to do it
and we take the responsibility seriously in
letting them tell their story. Other times
34 Q2 2021

Q2 2021
35

Theater INDIE FOCUS
our role is in the curation and creation of
these opportunities.
We see it as critically important to get
filmmakers in our city who are ready to
present their film the way they’ve always
wanted to, on the big screen. Nobody
spends two years of their life on a project
to watch it on their computer; they want
that big screen environment. If you’re a
filmmaker in our city or region, and you
want to see how your film looks along the
way, we make ourselves available so that
you can come in, without paying a bunch
of fees, and take a look at your work in
progress. A lot of venues in our industry
can’t offer that screen space without an
economic return—and I have nothing
but empathy for that position—but our
situation is a little bit unique. During the
time when the Film Center is closed, it’s
nice to allow people to use the screen to
take a look at their films.
How did the Gateway Film Center
navigate the Covid-19 pandemic?
I don’t know anybody in our field who
was prepared for the challenges of the
pandemic, but we still found ways to form
meaningful partnerships. We worked
“You could tell there was a
huge desire for people to
get back to the cinema. I
remember thinking that we
weren’t going to have much
of an issue reintroducing
ourselves to the community.”
with the [Columbus Museum of Art] on
presenting some films about artists, we did
talks ... we looked at every way we could
maintain our partnerships and find new
ways to innovate during the pandemic.
In some ways, the operational
challenges were greater than the external
ones. We’ve got a team assembled that’s
been in operations for a lot of years,
but we were all required to put on our
learning hats to really understand the
appropriate levels of sanitation, cleaning,
social distancing, and health measures
that were required to be a responsible
exhibitor. We spent the better part of
those first few months of the pandemic
trying to understand that. I don’t have
any animosity toward the CDC or our local
health organizations—they were learning
as well. Once we got our heads around it, it
really became about outfitting the venue
so that we could reopen responsibly and
ensure we kept our patrons safe.
Did you go through any cycles of
reopening and having to close back
down again?
We reopened for two little bursts during
the pandemic. The first was when we
36 Q2 2021

were selected as one of the venues to host
the Sundance Film Festival; we opened
for those five days in January. We then
did a little test run in late April, when we
screened all the Best Picture nominees
and all the nominated short films over
a four-day period. We were able to even
have our patrons stay and watch the
broadcast of this year’s Academy Awards.
We sold every ticket available, for both
those iterations. Now, granted, we were
operating at limited capacity, 30 percent,
so the sellouts didn’t feel the way they
used to back in 2019.
What were the main lessons you took
from those experiences?
The first lesson we all learned and talked
about as a group afterward is that people
cannot wait to see a movie on the big
screen again. The audience was amazing.
We had received countless individual
donations ahead of both openings. People
came in and brought our staff doughnuts
and food. You could tell there was a huge
desire for people to get back to the cinema.
I remember thinking that we weren’t going
to have much of an issue reintroducing
ourselves to the community.
Like a lot of venues that reopened, we
limited some of our food and beverage
offerings and amenities when we finally
opened our doors. We were very careful
about food and drink for both Sundance
and award-season weekend, but we
quickly learned that all of those missing
products were ones people had grown
accustomed to—and they asked for them.
They weren’t on our menu boards, but the
audience knew about them and wanted
them back.
“We don’t really identify in
any traditional programming
bucket. We’re just focused
on booking the best films
available from around the
world in any given week,
month, or season.”
don’t really identify in any traditional
programming bucket. We’re just focused
on booking the best films available from
around the world in any given week,
month, or season. And that’s what we’re
doing as we reopen: you’re going to see
some commercial stuff like A Quiet Place
Part II, and we’re also going to screen
independent and festival films like Gunda
and Port Authority. In our repertory
programming we’re doing a retrospective
of the films by Cartoon Saloon from
Ireland, we’re showing all of Chloé Zhao’s
feature films and shorts, and we’ve got a
4K restoration of The Silence of the Lambs
on the schedule.
How much of a role does curation and
programming play in how you engage
with your core audience?
Audiences will be subjective. Sometimes
they’ll like the thing that you curate,
sometimes they won’t. But I think they
can trust and feel something when they
know the effort’s going in to bring them
things that are original, innovative, and
interesting. That’s what we’re looking
for. It’s not hard to program A Quiet Place
What did your programming look
like when you “officially” reopened
in late May?
I feel like we’ve been in a period of
innovation in exhibition since 2010.
Things have changed so much. When
we got to 2020, it wasn’t like streaming
was invented that year. Netflix had
already fully cornered the market five
years ago. Now you’re seeing all these
new [streaming] players come along,
changing the options people have to watch
something at home. This is the time to
innovate [our programming], and I feel
pretty proud of what we’ve done. We
Q2 2021
37

Theater INDIE FOCUS
Part II, but I know a lot of traditional
art houses would say, “That’s just a
commercial genre sequel.” That’s not
really how we see it. If we think something
is thought-provoking and interesting,
if it’s from a filmmaker to keep an eye
on, then that’s a good thing to be a part
of if you’re an audience member. I have
a tremendous amount of respect for
traditional art house cinemas, but I also
think there’s an opportunity to be more
innovative, quite frankly, in this sector of
the exhibition world. I have never gotten
into a conversation about print count with
anybody outside of our industry. None of
my friends or family knows whether any
given film is being released in 500 venues.
Nobody cares. What they care about is
seeing quality films.
As we emerge from the pandemic,
how have additional revenue streams
like cinema advertising helped your
cinema recover from the impact of
the closures?
I can’t say enough complimentary things
about the folks at Spotlight Cinema
Networks. Full disclosure: I spent 10 years
“I have a tremendous amount
of respect for traditional art
house cinemas, but I also
think there’s an opportunity
to be more innovative, quite
frankly, in this sector of the
exhibition world.”
working in cinema advertising, so I know
how challenging it is to appeal to national
brands while still being respectful and
caring about local venues who have
footing in their cities. It’s a balancing
act, and they manage it quite well. There
are two ways that I think they really help
us. One, they help us gain credibility by
bringing in these national partners and
advertisers. If I’m an audience member,
and I see a major brand associated with
an independent venue, there’s some
added credibility there. And there’s also
the economics: quite frankly, this is an
important revenue stream for us, and it
was noticeable when we didn’t have it for
those 14 months. There are people who get
to have jobs in our venue because of the
relationship with Spotlight, and I’m really
pulling for them to have a great recovery
alongside us in 2021.
38 Q2 2021

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Q2 2021
39

theater BOXOFFICE BAROMETER
2021
Honoring Excellence in Theatrical Exhibition
Boxoffice Pro is reviving its iconic Boxoffice Barometer readers’ poll, a popular
annual feature of our magazine for decades, in which exhibitors vote on the best
achievements in the industry. In this newly revamped edition of the Barometer,
representatives from over 50 exhibition circuits around the world voted online
to select the most important and influential contributions in the exhibition
industry throughout 2020. Boxoffice Pro will be featuring profiles of each
honoree throughout our upcoming print editions in 2021.
40 Q2 2021

Industry Figure of the Year:
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
OF THEATRE OWNERS
Cinema Trend of the Year:
PRIVATE THEATER
RENTALS
Film of the Year:
TENET
(WARNER BROS.)
Theatrical Distributor of the Year:
WARNER BROS.
Exhibitor Relations Department
of the Year:
WARNER BROS.
Cinema Vendor of the Year:
VISTA GROUP
INTERNATIONAL
Food & Beverage Vendor of the Year:
VISTAR
Technology Vendor of the Year:
CINIONIC
Q2 2021
41

theater BOXOFFICE BAROMETER
CINEMA VENDOR
OF THE YEAR:
VISTA GROUP
INTERNATIONAL
“One of the earliest decisions
we took was to try and work
even more closely with our
customers and support them
as they experienced difficult
times.”
Interview with Kimbal Riley, Chief Executive
Officer, Vista Group International
As a global group of companies,
how did the Vista Group tackle
the early days of the Covid-19 crisis,
both internally, communicating with
staff and teams all over the world,
and externally, in communicating
with cinema clients globally?
The early days of the Covid-19 crisis
seemed like an accelerating sequence of
challenges to manage—every day brought
something new to wrestle with. We stuck
to our core priorities: Look after our
people, look after our customers, and look
after our company.
In the two weeks leading up to the
closure of cinemas all around the world, we
undertook a practice day of working from
home for every group location, anticipating
that this might become a reality. And
it did—really quickly. So, we were well
prepared when countries globally instituted
lockdown—our teams smoothly relocated
to working from home and kept working
together as they usually do. Remote
collaboration is in our DNA—it has to be—
so this simply broadened that to everyone.
Our executive teams ran a daily action
session via Zoom—managing our core
priorities. Constant communication with
our people from multiple levels—group
CEO down—was a key part of what we
discussed every day. (The group CEO learnt
how to record short—low production
quality—vidgrams on his phone, updating
people across the company to reinforce our
support for our people.)
As working from home has extended
for months and months, we’ve followed
42 Q2 2021

through with care packages, social events
via Zoom, and intense communication to
look after our people as best we can.
“Social distancing” became part
of our global culture practically
overnight. And in order for cinemas
to reopen at all, it was necessary to
implement that social distancing in
auditoriums. Vista had a direct hand
in that. Can you walk us through the
process of how social distancing was
able to be so quickly implemented at
cinemas worldwide?
We undertook a wide-ranging survey of
our customers around what they saw
as priorities/needs in a post-pandemic
world—and out of that generated
“reopening kits” from Vista Cinema, Movio,
and Veezi. The reopening kit from Vista
Cinema included the Dynamic Social
Distance seating capability. Development
only took six weeks, and the social
distance seating code was one of the
most difficult codes to include in the
Vista Cinema system yet was completely
revolutionary, enabling cinemas to
configure their seat plans to support a
wide range of government requirements—
from social distancing to capacity
restrictions. This flowed through each
sales channel—as moviegoers pivoted en
masse to contactless purchasing (when
the cinemas were open). We talked to our
customers, we assimilated their collective
thoughts, we added our own innovation
input, and we rapidly had the reopening
kits available for customers to take up.
How has the Vista Group kept
in touch with clients during the
closures? What role does that
communication with the client play in
Vista’s corporate culture?
One of the earliest decisions we took was
to try and work even more closely with
our customers and support them as they
experienced difficult times. We worked
really hard at sustaining our multilevel
communications with our customers—
proactively reaching out to support any
ideas they had for short-term revenue
opportunities (we supported a number of
cinemas offering a drive-by/pickup sales
offer for popcorn and other F&B offerings).
Creating and delivering innovationfocused
products and services that meet,
and aim to exceed, the needs and wants
of our customers is key to the Vista
Group culture—and therefore consistent
communication with our clients to ensure
these needs are being met is vital to us.
And to end on a positive note: The
Vista Group has a behind-the-scenes
look at the global exhibition industry.
From your perspective, which markets
have already recovered so far in
2021—and which do you expect can
steer closer to normality over the
summer?
With the acceleration of vaccination
rollouts, we’re starting to see light shining
on our industry. Globally the pattern is
still uneven, with renewed outbreaks in
some countries proving challenging to
handle. However, we are positive that
over the coming months we will see a
wide trend to control the pandemic and
subsequent recovery of the exhibition
community.
Q2 2021
43

theater BOXOFFICE BAROMETER
CUSTOMERS’ CHOICE
PRIVATE CINEMA
RENTALS
Private Cinema Rentals are
Boxoffice Pro’s Trend of the Year
BY REBECCA PAHLE
Roadside popcorn sales. Pop-up
drive-ins. Virtual cinema. The Covid
era has been one of experimentation
for the exhibition industry, as cinemas
worldwide struggle to compensate for
shutdowns, capacity limits, and a lack
of content. One of the most successful
methods for keeping theaters afloat as
they wade through a period of recovery
has been named Boxoffice Pro’s first
ever Trend of the Year: Private cinema
rentals and microcinemas.
Private cinema rentals, as a concept,
are nothing new. But with the pandemic,
the old world of private cinema rentals
in North America—corporate events and
children’s birthday parties—took a sharp
turn. For exhibitors, renting out cinemas
to small groups of moviegoers made sense
for many reasons: It let customers know
they were open and operating; it gave
exhibitors a way to sell tickets during a
period of content scarcity and let them
reopen their theaters gradually, rather
than all at once; and it gave moviegoers
still apprehensive about the full cinema
experience a way to dip their toes into
theatrical waters once more.
Cinemark was the first of North
America’s top chains out of the gate for
what a representative call “a streamlined,
direct-to-consumer online private
auditorium rental program.” The Texasbased
chain, the third largest in North
America, announced its “Private Watch
Parties” program in July of 2020, enabling
moviegoers to rent an auditorium for
as many as 20 guests. In August, Alamo
started with locations in Austin and
Denver. AMC soft launched a beta
program in October before officially
launching its “Private Theatre Rentals” in
November—noting in the press release
that the four weeks of the beta period
resulted in 110,000 guest requests, more
than quadruple the entire number in all of
2019, “without any significant marketing
and press announcement.”
Other chains, large and small, were
quick to see the benefits of private rentals.
One of those is San Antonio, Texas–based
Santikos Entertainment, one of the first
chains to reopen in summer 2020. “Back
in November, we started getting a lot of
requests from our customers about private
cinema rentals,” recalls COO Rob Lehman.
They started renting private cinemas
in December, with 658 groups taking
them up on the offer that month—54 on
Christmas Day alone. “It really took off
[from there]. We did three different price
structures. We did a $75 rental, we did
a $135 rental, and then [with] Wonder
Woman 1984 we did $175. We were blown
away by the number of people that
wanted private rentals. We had 194 alone
for Wonder Woman, and that was for
the month of December. In six days, 194
private showings.”
Santikos was not alone. Between
December’s launch of the Marcus Private
Cinema (MPC) program and mid-April
2021, Marcus Theatres sold nearly 25,000
private cinema rentals; over the final 11
weeks of the fiscal 2021 first quarter, they
averaged over 1,500 MPC events per week,
accounting for over 20 percent of their
admissions revenue.
Within four months of the launch of
Cinemark’s private cinema rental program,
they’d sold nearly 50,000 private events
attended by more than 600,000 people,
“with a significant portion reporting it
was their first time back in the theater
since the shutdown, underscoring the
opportunity for guests to sample the
cleanliness and safety of our theaters,”
said CEO Mark Zoradi in a November
“Consumer sentiment about
theater rentals shifted. It
was no longer thought of
as just for special events
like birthday parties or
corporate outings.”
44 Q2 2021

2020 call with investors. By the end of Q1
2021, Cinemark had welcomed over three
million attendees to more than 235,000
private rentals, making up 20 percent of
the chain’s U.S. admissions revenues in
that quarter.
AMC, too, saw the success of private
cinema rentals continue through the
end of 2020 and into 2021. As of press
time, they had hosted more than 165,000
private watch parties since reopening in
August 2020. Ryan Noonan, AMC Theatres’
V.P. of corporate communication, notes
that private rentals had long been
available at the chain, but what changed
in the pandemic era was a concerted
communication effort to inform patrons as
to their rental options. As a result, he says,
“Consumer sentiment about theater rentals
shifted. It was no longer thought of as just
for special events like birthday parties or
corporate outings. It was now friends and
families who were getting out of the house,
while enjoying the communal theatrical
experience in a way that made them feel
comfortable.”
Though the pandemic era has seen
millions of moviegoers attend a private
cinema screening for the first time,
audiences in select overseas countries
have been able to rent out cinemas in
small groups for years. According to Tony
Adamson, GDC Technology of America’s
SVP of strategic planning, private cinema
rentals have been waiting in the wings for
a while, their newfound popularity less
caused by than sped up by the pandemic.
“Let’s take a look at the evolution of the
movie theater,” said Adamson in an April
Boxoffice Pro LIVE Session webinar
on the subject of private cinema rentals.
“Early 20th century was the grand movie
Q2 2021
45

theater BOXOFFICE BAROMETER
palace. In 1963, the multiplex era began
with a twin, leading up to 14-, 16-, 18-plexes.
Then, in 1995, the megaplex era began
with the 24-, 30-screen complexes. And
now many would say we’re in the dine-in
era or the entertainment center era. So,
what’s next in the evolution of the movie
theater? We feel very strongly that it’s the
minitheater.” A smaller theater, rentable by
a small group, gives Gen Z and millennial
moviegoers in particular the experience
they want, Adamson argues: “They want
to be with their friends. They want to be
with their families. They want to text. They
want to talk.” In other words, they want to
see the movie they want to see, when they
want to see it, and with whom.
The concept has already caught on
in parts of Asia, says Adamson, where
“the introduction of a new media law in
China in April 2017 by media regulator
SAPPRFT kick-started the trend of
private cinemas (aka microcinemas)
in China. The law recognized private
cinemas as second-run theaters with
earnings now included in the national
box office.” GDC’s own GoGoCinema,
which allows moviegoers to create their
own mini-cinema screenings, launched
in Singapore and Shanghai in the final
months of 2019. Says Adamson, “Despite
the pilot test being stopped due to the
pandemic, the response from exhibitors
and customers was very positive. For
“The people that are renting
[cinemas] are the millennials
that are very tech savvy, and
they really don’t have any
interest in dealing with the
sales team.”
example, from October 30, 2019, to
January 5, 2020, Hall 4 (GoGoCinema Hall)
at GV Funan in Singapore averaged over
90 percent seating capacity, while Hall 3
averaged half the seating capacity of the
GoGoCinema Hall.”
With the pandemic, the private cinema
rental hopped overseas. North American
exhibitors experimented to find the price
points and mix of new and older films that
best worked for their audiences. Marcus
Theatres, noted CEO Greg Marcus in a May
2021 call with investors, found particular
success with family films, like Raya and
the Last Dragon, Tom and Jerry, and The
Croods: A New Age—two films (Raya, Tom
and Jerry), notably, that went day-anddate
in theaters and on streaming, and one
(The Croods) that had only three weekends
of theatrical exclusivity. Chris Tickner,
director of marketing and special events
for B&B Theatres, recalls wondering
“[when] all of this would end, as far as how
many people are going to continue to want
to come and … watch something they can
watch at home, which was pretty much
what we were able to show.” Happily, the
rentals kept coming, speaking to patrons’
desire to experience films theatrically
even when they could have watched them
at home from their sofas.
Some chains, like Santikos, broadened
the private cinema rental concept to
include gaming, inviting small groups
to bring in their own gaming consoles
and games and play on a large theater
screen. In March 2021, says Santikos’s
Lehman, “We had 43 private rentals on
just [gaming] alone. It’s been a huge
demand. The kids just love it. We did great
internal marketing from our video team
here, and we played that in front of the
movies that we were showing. Once we
started showing that, we got a spike on
the Xboxes and PlayStations and having
15 kids in an auditorium playing Madden
or Call of Duty.”
As cinemas and audiences alike
adapted to the private cinema rental
concept, tweaks had to be made. On
the opening week of Godzilla vs. Kong,
recalls Lehman, a group came in toting a
PlayStation and dressed in Team Godzilla
and Team Kong T-shirts. “They walk
into the auditorium. They hook up the
PlayStation. We have one of our managers
in there. And all of a sudden, they’re
loading up Godzilla vs. Kong through HBO
Max. They rented the auditorium for $75
46 Q2 2021

for that one. But we’re renting auditoriums
for $135 going through our projectors. So,
we said, ‘Whoa, wait a minute, this isn’t
gonna work. Give us 60 more dollars. We’ll
run it through our projector.’... That was
pretty creative. We had to tweak our FAQs
again on that one.”
Other changes didn’t involve rulebending
teenagers. For private cinema
rentals to have any sort of longevity—at
least enough to get the industry through
the pandemic—the booking process would
need to be streamlined and simplified
for the benefit of both the customers
and the theaters. That involved another
trend that’s seen a major boost during
the pandemic: mobile ticketing. At AMC,
previous investment in online ticketing
made its private rental campaign easier to
launch. Notes Noonan: “Online ticketing in
general has exploded over the last decade,
and AMC has invested greatly in our online
ticketing technology, as well as in features
that accompany online ticketing, like our
website, reserved seating, and mobile
ordering. Guests were already accustomed
to going online to purchase tickets and,
in many cases, purchase tickets well in
advance of a showtime, making it easier to
plan a night out with friends and family for
a Private Theatre Rental.”
“Bringing it online made a huge
difference for us,” says Marcus Theatres’
V.P. Sales Clint Wisialowski. “As much
as I love my crew and our Group Sales
Department, once we automated this
system and allowed people to come in
through what we’re calling our micro site,
it dramatically changed the numbers for
us. It allowed us to, with greatly depleted
staff based on all the furloughs we had,
monetize these private rentals.”
Added to that, notes Annelise Holyoak,
national director of marketing and
communications at Cinépolis Luxury
Cinemas, “The people that are renting
[cinemas] are the millennials that are very
tech savvy, and they really don’t have any
interest in dealing with the sales team.”
For Marcus, as they moved into April
2021, the volume for private cinema
rentals remained “tremendous,” says
Wisialowski. “Right now, we’re booking
about 40 percent more events than we
had in 2019 over this first quarter.” What
doesn’t match up in the current private
cinema rental landscape, he notes, is
attendance and revenue, which “[don’t]
even compare” to what Marcus was pulling
in pre-pandemic. “So, even at this volume,
it’s still not significant enough for us to
say that this would be our business model
going forward.”
“I call it the 100/100 phase,” Wisialowski
continues. “When you get to 100 percent
open and 100 percent occupied, this
system no longer works.” It’s a sentiment
echoed by other exhibitors. Deeply
discounted private cinema rentals (the
average event pre-pandemic at Marcus
cost around $850) make sense when
capacity limits and a lack of content
put a cap on attendance, but once those
restrictions are removed, a cinema can
typically make more money on a general
admission screening than they can by
renting it to a small group.
At Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, private
cinema rentals kicked off in a beta form
in May 2020 at their Moviehouse and
Eatery locations before they were even
open to the public. “It was a family affair,”
says Holyoak. “We had the CEO running
drinks. … Having a limited menu and just
opening up to those reservations made it
really easy for us to get started.” Private
cinema rentals later expanded to the wider
Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas brand, and
demand ballooned—to a point where it has
outstripped supply, at least when it comes
to what Holyoak terms “prime time hours.”
“People are kind of frustrated that they
can’t get a theater for four people, or even
20 people, now that capacity is up to 50
percent [in California],” says Holyoak. “It
really makes more sense for us to just have
it as a regular show.”
In April 2021, B&B Theatres stopped
letting people rent its cinemas to watch
older titles on weekends. Even a multiplex
with a dozen-plus screens, argues Tickner,
needs to devote most of those screens to
Once those restrictions are
removed, a cinema can
typically make more money
on a general admission
screening than they can by
renting it to a small group.
Q2 2021
47

theater BOXOFFICE BAROMETER
general screenings once lucrative new
films—like Godzilla vs. Kong—start to
debut. With moneymakers finally back
in cinemas, B&B Theatres and Cinépolis
count themselves among the chains that
have begun shifting private rentals to
off-peak hours. At AMC, the plan is to
continue to offer private rentals “after this
summer and likely far into the future,”
says Noonan. He anticipates that after the
pandemic subsides, AMC will continue
to see demand for special events like
birthday parties and corporate outings,
as well as the sort of friends-and-family
cinema gatherings that moviegoers have
been introduced to.
Meanwhile, at Cinemark, the increased
presence of blockbuster movies means
the chain has seen “an increased number
of people booking standard showtimes
over [Private Watch Parties], particularly
as Covid cases decline, vaccinations
increase, and consumer sentiment rises,”
says a Cinemark representative. “While
Private Watch Parties will still continue
to exist at Cinemark for the foreseeable
future, their frequency and amount may
evolve as we welcome new content from
our studio partners.”
“I don’t think the concept is going
away any time soon,” says Cinépolis’s
Holyoak. For one, the way the pandemic
has pressed cinemas to simplify the rental
process will impact traditional group sales
moving forward. “Prior to Covid,” she
says, “our company was doing thousands
of private events every year. Primarily
corporate, but we joked that the most
time-consuming events were the kids’
birthday parties. ... Our highly paid sales
team was focusing way too much attention
on that. This has been a game changer for
us now that we’ve gotten it online. If you
want to have your kid’s birthday party,
you can book it online yourself and, quite
frankly, we’re just not going to help you
coordinate clowns and all these other
things. If you want to go that route, you’ll
have to have a higher food and beverage
minimum and book with our team.”
Kid’s birthday parties and clowns
aside, if, moving forward, a customer
wants to rent a cinema for their group of
friends to see the latest blockbuster, they
may still be able to do so, depending on
the cinema. Just don’t plan on a Friday
night spot or Covid-era pricing. At B&B
Theatres, says Tickner, the presence of
30- to 40-seat auditoriums alongside
larger-capacity houses means private
cinema rentals might remain “an ongoing
revenue stream” after Covid. “They might
not get Avengers on opening weekend.
But we’ll tell them, ‘Hey, you can get that
30-seat auditorium two weeks after.’ And
[they can say], ‘OK, I’ll watch it opening
weekend and then I’ll come back for my
private rental two weeks after.’”
Given the potential of private cinema
rentals as an ongoing auxiliary revenue
stream, especially as cinemas continue
to explore alternative, niche forms of
programming—and given the general
unsuitability of large auditoriums to the
private cinema rental concept—could we
be seeing an increase in the number of
microcinemas in North America over the
coming years, either through new builds
or the renovation of existing theaters?
Adamson of GDC Technology believes we
will. “Many exhibitors are resistant,” he
admits, “but there are [an] equal amount
that are ready to move onto the next era.
Recently built suburban complexes, they
average seven screens with about 125 to
250 seats. There are several other barriers:
high capital investment, film distribution
costs”—and the need for projection
equipment suited to small spaces.
Mike Cummings, senior principal at
TK Architects, which has operated in
the cinema design space for 40 years,
believes that the private cinema rental
concept has “strong potential,” pointing
to the fact that “the pandemic has proven
that customers like the option of private
cinema rental.” Too, Cummings argues,
the relationship between exhibitors and
studios has changed over the course of
the pandemic, meaning, “Exhibitors
are exploring other content sources and
should also be exploring other revenue
sources. Microcinemas can be part of this
inevitable evolution of the exhibition
business model.”
The issue, expectedly, comes down to
money. Exhibitors, says Cummings, are
“immersed in recovery. Between SVOG
[the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant
program] and the complex logistics of
reopening facilities, they are striving
to achieve some semblance of financial
stability”—so, even though some
exhibitors have expressed “keen interest”
in microcinemas over the last several
months, “it is not their priority right now.”
As the industry stabilizes, Cummings
says, “Converting is the most likely first
wave. Right-sizing spaces is critical longterm
but less important with current
content availability. Many facilities have
more auditoriums than they can utilize
effectively right now. They could allocate
a few to microcinema[s]. ... We have seen
some experimentation, but we believe the
right formula is yet to be discovered.”
“Exhibitors are exploring
other content sources and
should also be exploring other
revenue sources. Microcinemas
can be part of this inevitable
evolution of the exhibition
business model.”
48 Q2 2021

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Theater NEW YORK CITY
The Big Apple’s Movie
Theaters Reopen After
Nearly a Year of Closures
BY DANIEL LORIA
NEW YORK CITY
WELCOMES
BACK CINEMAS
50 Q2 2021

Cinemas in New York City were
ordered to close on March 16, 2020,
as part of the city’s mitigation efforts to
contain the Covid-19 pandemic in its early
days. The virus would soon turn the city’s
five boroughs into its global epicenter,
extending the length of those closures
from what was initially expected to be
weeks to a matter of months.
Cases dropped from that first spring
peak and stabilized in the New York
City region throughout much of the
summer. Starting in May and extending
through August, cinemas slowly began
reopening on a state-by-state basis across
the country. As Labor Day approached,
however, the state of New York had yet
to provide a reopening time frame or
set of guidelines for cinemas. Despite
the lack of clarity around New York’s
reopening, Warner Bros.’ gambled on an
early September release for Christopher
Nolan’s Tenet, the first major studio
film released in cinemas during the
pandemic. The film’s release came and
went without the slightest indication
of a New York reopening, indefinitely
sidelining the top box office market in the
country—and putting the rest of the 2020
release schedule at risk. Days after Tenet’s
domestic debut, with New York and Los
Angeles theaters still closed, Warner Bros.
decided to push the October release of
Wonder Woman 1984 to Christmas.
When New York state finally
announced reopening guidelines timed
to late October, it excluded New York
City from those plans without providing
any further explanation. By the end of
October, nearly every remaining title on
the 2020 slate had been rescheduled to
the following year, premiered early or
simultaneously in streaming platforms, or
skipped theaters altogether.
It took a total of 50 weeks from Mayor
Bill De Blasio’s original announcement for
local moviegoers to finally learn when—
and how—they could return to the cinema.
It wasn’t until late February 2021, after
prioritizing several other businesses—
including restaurants, gyms, casinos,
pool halls, bowling alleys, and arcades—
that Governor Andrew Cuomo finally
announced that New York City cinemas
could reopen at 25 percent capacity, with
a maximum of 50 people per auditorium,
on March 5. After nearly a year of closures
without a single update, New York City
exhibitors were given 10 days to make all
the necessary arrangements, including
the installation of enhanced air-filtration
systems, in order to be among the first in
the city to reopen.
AMC Theatres was the first major circuit
to jump at the opportunity to announce
its return to New York City. The chain
released a statement from CEO Adam Aron
within hours of Cuomo’s announcement,
indicating it would be opening all its
NYC locations on March 5. Showcase
Cinemas was the only other major circuit
to announce it would open three NYC-area
locations on that date. Across the Brooklyn
Bridge, independent dine-in operator
Nitehawk Cinemas opened its Prospect
Park location. Other top chains—including
Regal, Alamo Drafthouse, and Cinépolis—
expressed optimism about reopening in
the coming weeks and months. Luxury
cinema chain Ipic announced it would
reopen its location in the financial district
on March 31.
Complementing its status as the
country’s top box office market, New York
also plays a crucial role in the specialty
market, both as a launching ground for
platform releases and a media hub for
marketing art house and foreign titles.
Two of the most prominent art house
theaters in New York City remained closed
until April: Film Forum, which reopened
on April 2, and Film at Lincoln Center,
which returned on April 16. A trio of
cinemas in Greenwich Village were among
the first to reopen on March 5. The IFC
Center was joined by Reading’s Angelika
Film Center and Cohen Media Group’s
Quad Cinema, programmed by the group’s
Landmark Theatres team, in welcoming
New Yorkers back to the movies with the
specialty programming they’re known for.
“It wasn’t easy. None of them have
been,” says Landmark Theatres President
and COO Paul Serwitz, recounting his
circuit’s experience in getting locations
back up and running. Landmark, the
largest specialty circuit in North America,
had to permanently close its flagship NYC
location earlier in the pandemic. The
circuit assisted in reopening its parent
company’s Quad Cinema in Greenwich
Village on March 5. “We have gotten
accustomed, dating back six months now,
to getting very little advance notice from
Complementing its status
as the country’s top box
office market, New York
also plays a crucial role in
the specialty market.
Q2 2021
51

Theater NEW YORK CITY
any particular state or locality. Having a
week to week and a half has been typical.
A couple of weeks is like a luxury,” he says.
“I think a lot of people in exhibition
have gotten pretty savvy at implementing
a pretty quick turnaround to get ready,”
he adds. “We’ve learned a lot along the
way: getting the jump on ordering PPE
materials and inventory items that we
need in advance, as we could see the
potential for various states and markets
to reopen. The Quad, specifically, came as
a surprise. A lot of people were thinking
New York and L.A. could be as far back as
April, May, or June to reopen. It seemed to
happen pretty quickly. There was a lot of
scrambling, but we were able to get it done
with all the necessary arrangements. … It
took about a week and a half of the 10 days
of nonstop activity and trying to get things
delivered to the theater for all that to be
ready, but we made it.”
Being ready to open by March 5 was
only half the equation for New York City
exhibitors. Even with all the preparations
in place, movie theater operators needed
to grapple with the financial challenge of
operating at 25 percent capacity for the
foreseeable future. In a city like New York,
where real estate comes at a premium, the
25 percent capacity restrictions can make it
financially unviable to reopen at all. In its
response to the reopening announcement,
the National Association of Theatre
Owners (NATO) was quick to emphasize
the need to increase capacity restrictions
to 50 percent to help more exhibitors
return to operation. “New York City is a
major market for moviegoing in the U.S.;
reopening there gives confidence to film
distributors in setting and holding their
theatrical release dates and is an important
step in the recovery of the entire industry,”
read NATO’s statement. “We look forward
to expanding the capacity from 25 to 50
percent in the very near future so that
theaters can operate profitably.”*
IFC Center was one of the theaters that
decided to reopen despite the financial
challenges of operating at 25 percent
capacity. The cinema went a step further
by choosing not to sell concessions
for the time being, in order to ensure
mask wearing at all times inside their
auditoriums.
“Being closed was absolutely more
challenging on a financial level than
being open with limitations, so we were
excited to open as soon as we were
allowed,” says John Vanco, senior vice
president and general manager at the
IFC Center. “The 25 percent capacity
limitation certainly makes the finances
more difficult, but we’re optimistic that
things will improve steadily in the next
several months, with growing comfort
of audiences, more movies in exclusive
theatrical windows, and eventually
easing capacity restrictions.”
Landmark’s Serwitz agrees about
the financial challenges of the state’s
current operating restrictions, but, like his
colleagues who also reopened on March 5,
he says he believes it’s a risk worth taking.
“It’s pretty hard to break even at 25 percent
with small capacity,” he says. “The Quad
is a good example, where that puts us at
roughly 25 people max per show, per film.
It’s pretty hard to drive enough revenue
from that to be in the black. A large part
of it is just trying to tap into that pent-up
demand for those audiences that are dying
to go, ready to go, and do go. Making it so
we can get important films and important
filmmakers’ content back in theaters,
where they belong to be seen, and create
the access the movie business has long
been associated with: the ability for
movies to be on-screen and for people to
be able to go to theaters and find them.”
“In any market, as the ability to open
theaters continues to expand, there’s going
to be a curve, from the point of opening
over the subsequent number of weeks and
months, for people to get accustomed to
the fact that theaters are open and movies
they want to see are available to be seen in
theaters. You have to provide some runway
for audiences to get back in,” says Serwitz.
For the IFC Center, a theater known for
having in-person filmmaker appearances
and Q&As, reopening is an opportunity
for moviegoers to engage with film culture
after a year dominated by streaming
providers. The theater hasn’t shied
away from programming Netflix titles
already available to subscribers at home.
“While we’re holding off on having any
in-person appearances in our first weeks
being reopened, we invited filmmakers to
contribute a video introduction to welcome
moviegoers back to the cinema. We were
thrilled at how many filmmakers sent us
something—from Spike Lee and Miranda
“The 25 percent capacity
limitation certainly makes the
finances more difficult, but
we’re optimistic that things
will improve steadily in the
next several months.”
52 Q2 2021

“Movie theaters are
something that can safely
bring people back into the
world again.”
July to Eliza Hittman, Aaron Sorkin,
George C. Wolfe, Thomas Vinterberg, and
David Fincher and the cast of Mank—and
audiences are getting a big kick out of
watching them,” says IFC’s Vanco.
While it’s still early to see a significant
box office impact from New York City’s
reopening, the industry is already
experiencing tangible benefits from
the market’s return to business. Focus
Features opened specialty title Boogie in
1,252 locations on March 5, finishing the
weekend as the fourth highest-grossing
film in the market with a $1.2 million
haul. Fourteen of the title’s 20 highestgrossing
locations came from New York,
seven of them in Manhattan—including
the AMC Empire in Times Square, the
film’s top-grossing theater. New York
accounted for nearly a fifth of Boogie’s
opening-weekend take.
“The impact of New York coming
back online is not going to be immediate,
but it will be a significant piece to how
distributors look at how and when they’re
going to release their specialty titles,” says
Landmark’s Serwitz, whose circuit focuses
primarily on programming specialty titles.
“It’s been hugely problematic for those
distributors through this period. There was
a point last fall before Covid numbers really
started resurging that there were close to
70 percent of theaters around the country
open, but not New York and L.A. That poses
a particular problem for all distributors and
studios, but particularly for the specialty
distributors who rely so much on New York
and L.A. to launch a movie.”
Focus Features president of
distribution Lisa Bunnell agrees,
describing New York as part of the overall
foundation the specialty market needs to
rebuild in the coming months. “Things are
still fluctuating. When you’re releasing a
specialty film, not only do you need New
York, but you also need L.A., you also
need Washington D.C.,” she says. “You
don’t have Washington, you don’t have Los
Angeles—there are still a lot of missing
pieces and markets.”
“I think the specialty market will take a
while to figure out where we’re going to go
and how we’re going to get our distribution
schedules back to where we were before
or maybe change them,” adds Bunnell.
“We’ve learned a lot during this time
period; maybe we do go a little broader
with some of these films than we used to in
the past. The knowledge that we’ve gained
from the pandemic, despite being a tough
way to learn, showed that there is interest
in specialty film across the country and we
need to take that into account when we are
releasing films. Having your anchors, New
York and L.A., open for business is going
to be tremendous for us across the board.”
Bunnell expresses hope that the
domestic cinema recovery can begin in
earnest as the spring turns to summer,
after a year of frustrated efforts and false
dawns. “A lot of that [optimism] has
to do with the vaccine. People see that
there’s light at the end of the tunnel,” she
says. “As we’re starting to understand
the pandemic more, we all know it’s not
going to be like flipping a switch and
everything’s going to be OK. Each step we
take into a positive direction is something
that brings everybody a little bit out of
their pandemic depression.”
“Movie theaters are something that
can safely bring people back into the
world again,” says Bunnell. “I think it’s
important to recognize that theaters
are doing a good job of keeping people
safe. We’ve seen that so far throughout
the country, even before Manhattan
reopened. I know that AMC and everybody
in New York who is open right now is
being very careful. That’s what we all
have to understand: there are going to be
protocols for a while, but we can still have
fun and see movies together again.”
*Editor’s Note: Cinemas in New York City
were granted permission to operate at 33
percent capacity on April 26. Additional
capacity restrictions were relaxed in May.
Q2 2021
53

Theater OVERSEAS
MULTIPLEXES
IN MINSK
Silver Screen Cinemas Brings
the Modern Movie Chain to
Belarus
BY REBECCA PAHLE
“We were called crazy!” says CEO
Oleg Tronik, reflecting on the 2014
birth of Silver Screen Cinemas. What is
now, in 2021, four theaters—including
one opened in March 2021, in the midst
of the Covid-19 pandemic—was then just
one, but that one represented a significant
milestone: Silver Screen’s Galileo theater,
in the capital city of Minsk, was the first
multiplex in the Eastern European nation
of Belarus.
Traditionally, cinemas in Belarus
have either been privately owned single
locations or, more frequently, theaters
owned and run by the state. Prior to Silver
Screen’s emergence, the former Soviet
country had no chains or multiplexes to
speak of. Government-owned cinemas,
though centrally located, typically aren’t
of the highest quality, Tronik explains—
and with their standard of having one
screen apiece, they certainly don’t provide
cinemagoers with much variety, either in
terms of programming or the exhibition
amenities that audiences in other
countries enjoy.
“There was no [moviegoing] culture”
in Belarus, Tronik says. The country’s
per capita annual movie attendance
rate was the lowest of any former Soviet
country. Five years and four Silver Screen
multiplexes later, it’s still low, with the
average person buying less than one ticket
per year. Similarly, there’s little in the way
of a local movie scene, with most of the
productions shot in Belarus originating
from nearby Russia rather than local
filmmakers. “But there was willingness to
54 Q2 2021

Left: In spring 2021,
multiple Silver Screen
locations played host
to a Lord of the Rings
movie marathon,
complete with special
concessions and
costumed characters.
Right: The concessions
area in Silver Screen’s
Mooon cinema, their
most recent location
and first in the city of
Grodno
develop from the nation, from the people,”
says Tronik. “We think that our business
actually helped to develop [a moviegoing]
culture [in Belarus]. …. Maybe it’s a big
word—but still, we think so.”
Building a cinema chain in a place
where there aren’t any cinema chains—
where there are no multiplexes, and
cinemagoing isn’t a common pastime—
took experimentation. Five million dollars
was invested in the first theater, at which
pricing was set at about five dollars per
ticket. (At state-owned cinemas, tickets
are about two dollars.) “With $5 million
invested in one location, we were
called crazy. But we succeeded,” says
Tronik. Despite the higher ticket prices,
the Galileo welcomes over 400,000
admissions a year. Silver Screen’s second
location, which opened in 2015, brought
Dolby Atmos sound and recliners to
Belarus for the first time; its third gave
the post-Soviet Commonwealth of
Independent States (CIS) region its first
ScreenX auditorium.
The Mooon, Silver Screen’s fourth and
most recent cinema—and its first located
outside Minsk, in the city of Grodno—
has a coffee shop, a self-serve snack bar,
and an entertainment/gaming area for
children, in addition to five auditoriums,
three of which are open as of press time—
one boasting ScreenX technology, and
another with tables and sofas for easier
in-theater dining. “We traveled a lot,” says
Tronik of how he and the rest of the Silver
Screen team decided which amenities
the Belarusian market would respond to.
They “saw a lot of locations throughout
the world—what they look like. What
they offer. We tried to bring to Belarus
everything that we liked in the world.”
That includes another first for the chain,
and indeed for Belarus: a self-serve M&M
machine at the Mooon location that had
to be purchased in London, because “we
have no distributors here in Belarus.”
The innovations extend beyond
amenities to the content on the screen;
in 2019, Silver Screen showed two films
dubbed into the Belarusian language, a
rarity in for the country and a move that
was “very popular for our audience.”
Alternative content, too, is an attractive
prospect for the chain. Being from a
small (if growing) market, “it’s not
so easy,” says Tronik. Their Russian
distribution partners “aren’t so interested
[in alternative content]. Everything
is good for them, because Russia is a
big market. … You don’t need to think
about niche, alternative stuff.” At Silver
Screen, the long-term goal is to establish
an overall programming strategy that
is “unique to our audience” and not so
dependent on Russia, which—along with
the United States—currently generates
the vast majority of Silver Screen’s
programming. (They typically look at
about an 80/20 split, with more films
from the States, though with Hollywood
releases continuing to lag as the Russian
film industry picked up steam in the first
quarter of 2021, the split was more like
50/50.) With the addition of theater, music,
and sports to Silver Screen, Tronik hopes
to “make a menu for our audience … to
bring everything that exists in the world.
“There was willingness to
develop from the nation, from
the people. We think that
our business actually helped
to develop [a moviegoing]
culture [in Belarus].”
Q2 2021
55

Theater OVERSEAS
That’s the strategy. And we have a lot of
work ahead of us!”
That work includes expansion. During
2020, as Covid pummeled the exhibition
business, Silver Screen had to decide
whether to move ahead with three
contracts for new locations. In a meeting
with the owners, Tronik recalls, “we
decided that the crisis was the best time
to develop, to grow. And we decided not
to refuse these plans and to invest in new
locations.” All three locations are slated to
open by the end of 2022.
The growth of Silver Screen, Tronik
admits, has not been without its
challenges. Though they would prefer to
be located in the major regional cities of
Belarus, they’re limited by the presence—
or lack thereof—of modern shopping
centers fit to host a multiplex. And there
are the state-owned theaters, which by
virtue of their central locations and sheer
quantity still draw the majority of the
country’s audiences. “Maybe our next step
will be to buy these state-owned cinemas
and to rebuild them—to make something
“We decided that the crisis
was the best time to develop,
to grow. And we decided not
to refuse these plans and to
invest in new locations.”
from these, because the locations are
great,” says Tronik.
But there are some tools at Silver
Screen’s disposal: for one, their exclusive
rights to operate ScreenX and 4DX
auditoriums in Belarus. In 2020 came
another exclusive license, this time with
Imax, which will have its grand entry into
Belarus with Silver Screen’s fifth location,
planned to open later this year. There has
been interest in the past from exhibitors
in other countries looking to enter Belarus,
but “we’ve built a very high limit [for
competitors] to enter the market,” says
Tronik. “The technology that’s behind
us, the quality, and the loyalty of our
audience—I don’t know what competitors
would do.”
56 Q2 2021

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Q2 2021
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F9 60 | Peter Rabbit 2 66 | Booking Guide 73
ON SCREEN
“We had a lot of Brits working on this movie who were
constantly saying to me, ‘That’s not right, that’s not
right, that’s not right.’”
Worth the Wait, p. 72
Q2 2021
59

On Screen FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
FURIOUS
Director Justin Lin Brings a $6 Billion
Franchise Back to Cinemas with F9
BY JESSE RIFKIN
60 Q2 2021

RETURN
Q2 2021
61

On Screen FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
To escape a villain in Furious 7, Vin
Diesel revs his Lykan HyperSport out
the window of one gleaming Abu Dhabi
skyscraper, then crashes through the
window of another, but not before flying
through the air for several moments. Yet
Justin Lin has audaciously claimed on
Twitter that F9, the upcoming ninth film
in the Fast and the Furious franchise, is “by
far the most ambitious film of the series.”
After directing the third through sixth
installments, Lin left for a few years to
direct other films (Star Trek Beyond) and
television shows including episodes of
NBC’s “Community” and HBO’s “True
Detective.” Now he’s back for Universal’s
F9, potentially a billion-dollar film; the
prior two installments earned $1.5 billion
and $1.2 billion globally.
Boxoffice Pro asked Lin about his
reported criticisms of the franchise’s
original 2001 installment, whether Fast
and Furious has turned him into a “car
guy,” and how working on the sitcom
“Community” prepared him to helm a
billion-dollar franchise.
The second film was titled 2 Fast 2
Furious. Did you consider naming this
one 9 Fast 9 Furious?
[Laughs.] [The fifth film] was supposed
to be Fast Five, and then Furious 6. The
title card in the actual movie even says
Furious 6. But when Universal actually
released it, they called it Fast & Furious 6,
just to make sure everybody knew which
franchise it was. So F9 shows how we’ve
evolved and grown the franchise to the
point that now we can just say F9 and
everybody knows what that means. It’s a
badge of honor.
What do you remember about seeing
the first Fast and the Furious in 2001?
I was at UCLA film school and a teaching
assistant for a documentary class. These
two students were doing a documentary
on car races out in the desert. I didn’t
really know much about cars, but by the
time [The Fast and the Furious] came out
six months later, I was really excited. I
went to see it at the AMC Santa Monica
and the audience was cheering and having
a great time.
At the same time, I remember thinking,
“All the Asian American faces I see onscreen
are the bad guys. They always
62 Q2 2021

FURIOUS
FRANCHISE
Worldwide grosses
$207.3M
The Fast and the
Furious
$236.3M
2 Fast 2 Furious
$158.9M
The Fast and the
Furious: Tokyo Drift
$360.3M
Fast & Furious
$626.1M
Fast Five
$788.6M
Fast & Furious 6
$1.5B
Furious 7
$1.2B
The Fate of the Furious
$759M
Fast & Furious Presents:
Hobbs & Shaw
“I came to understand and
respect the passion some
people have for cars. I
would not tell you that I’m
an aficionado, but now I
can appreciate cars and
car culture.”
have to hang out by pagodas and Buddha
statues. Oh my God.” I could connect with
the excitement, but I was disappointed by
the portrayal. That was 2001, and only four
years later I had the opportunity to join the
franchise, reshape it, and redefine it.
You didn’t know much about cars
back in 2001, but after directing
five of these movies, are you a
“car guy” now?
My passions in life are filmmaking and
basketball, and I wanted to treat cars the
same, so I went and hung out with all
these people who love cars. Over that time,
I came to understand and respect the
passion some people have for cars. I would
not tell you that I’m an aficionado, but
now I can appreciate cars and car culture.
You just said filmmaking is your
passion, but is it true that as a kid
you only saw two movies in a theater?
Because my parents had this fish-andchips
restaurant, they were always
working. E.T. was so big that my dad
actually closed the restaurant a little early
on a weeknight and took the family to
Cerritos Mall [in L.A.]. It was 10 p.m., with
me, my two brothers, and my parents
together. We knew their sacrifice, but they
didn’t want us to miss out. [The other
movie Lin saw in a theater as a child was
Rocky III.]
I read that you work every
Thanksgiving, in honor of your father.
For 26 years, he worked every day except
Thanksgiving. My work ethic was so
Q2 2021
63

On Screen FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
influenced and inspired by him and my
mom. When I went to UCLA’s film school,
they don’t fund your movies. You can
do whatever you want, and they support
you as a filmmaker, but you had to figure
out how to [pay for] your movies. I had
three jobs: making smoothies, working
at an audiovisual service, and working at
Tiverton House hotel. It became this ritual
that I would put in my name to work on
Christmas and Thanksgiving. Not only to
honor my dad, but also just for survival!
I really do enjoy working on holidays.
It’s a little harder now, with a family and
a son. But they still allow me to go off and
do some work. Some of my best work is
done during holidays. The phone does not
ring, so I get to really focus.
Do you have a favorite car or vehicle
in this film?
One of the perks of the job is “casting”
the cars. We go through months of
deliberation, going back and forth.
Especially living in L.A., what we drive is
kind of an extension of us. On F9, I got to
put the Pontiac Fiero in there. In eighth
grade, my history teacher, Miss Grant,
would show up in her red Pontiac Fiero.
“For me, it’s more about
the process than the fame.
... It’s humbling to do these
tentpoles, but to me it’s all
about trying to get better
every day. I’m still learning,
I’m still growing.“
I always had this image of how cool it was
in eighth grade.
Do you have a favorite story from the
set?
People bring their families on set.
Whenever the kids show up, whether it’s
me or Vin or other cast or crew members,
we’re so proud. We’re going to do this big
stunt. And the kids are never impressed
by what we’re doing. They’re always most
impressed by the craft service. “Look at
all the candies we can have!” My son just
wanted to go to set to get Starburst.
You directed several episodes of the
NBC sitcom “Community,” as did
Avengers: Endgame co-directors
Joe and Anthony Russo. What about
that sitcom apparently translated to
directing the biggest blockbusters?
After Better Luck Tomorrow [Lin’s 2002
directorial debut], I didn’t stop working.
The only time I took off was when I had
my son in 2009. Two weeks into my selfimposed
break, Joe calls and says, “Hey,
we’re doing this show. We’d love for you
to do an episode.” I loved the script, but
comedy is probably the scariest genre to
64 Q2 2021

direct. Rolling up my sleeves and learning
all that?
I was directing the Halloween episode
and decided I needed a Technocrane. At
first they said “What?” but then they
accommodated me. Joe thought that was
great, so then Joe upped his game. We
were always challenging each other. You
never felt like there were any limitations
on that show. They were always trying to
top themselves: in the scripts, in how it was
shot. You were doing 18 hours, it was insane.
Joe and I were actually at UCLA at the
same time. In our second year, we took
this amazing class with this Polish director
Jerzy Antczak. It was basically seven of
us on a soundstage with a dolly and a set
of lenses. We had to really learn camera
moves. It was one of my best experiences
in film school.
A profile article described you as
having “a perplexingly low profile
that belies his blistering box office
track record.” Is that intentional, or
would you prefer a bigger profile?
Sometimes with success, you can find
yourself in a bubble of protection with
people who just agree with you. I think
that’s dangerous. For me, it’s more about
the process than the fame. I love working.
It’s humbling to do these tentpoles, but to
me it’s all about trying to get better every
day. I’m still learning, I’m still growing.
So how did you try to grow when
directing F9?
When you make films that are financially
successful, the tendency is for studios to
repeat that business, so you get creatively
hemmed in. “It worked, so let’s do it
again.” At least on my watch, that’s never
been the case. When I say yes to do a
movie, it’s two years of my life, minimum.
Every film that I’ve done in this franchise
has been completely different. Tokyo
Drift (2006) was much more about the
drifting culture. We get to redefine
ourselves every time.
In this era of streaming, why should
people see this film in a cinema?
The convenience of watching things on
devices definitely has its perks, but so
rarely do we get to go out and make an
effort [and experience] that anticipation.
The inconvenience of parking or getting
a babysitter is all worth it. To this day,
I think it’s one of the most magical
experiences of my life, to sit in a room
with 600 strangers and laugh together or
cheer together. That shared emotion really
gives you a sense of humanity. Especially
with films like F9, you could watch it in
any medium—but it’s being built for the
big screen, to sit in that dark room and
escape for two hours.
AT THE MOVIES
What is your all-time favorite
moviegoing memory or
experience?
It was in the ’90s; I was
at UCLA. We went to see
Tommy Boy with a sold-out
crowd. There was this sense
of discovery and communal,
shared laughter throughout
the whole movie. It was at the
Mann National in Westwood
[California], which isn’t there
anymore. This huge theater,
maybe 2,000 people? To this
day, that’s one of my favorite
experiences of my life.
What’s your favorite snack at
the movie theater concession
stand?
I love a plain pretzel, but I
pay for extra cheese. Even
sometimes when I go to the
movies after a meal, I still
love that. Then there’s also
the Raisinets. When we were
growing up, financially it was
tough. When we went to
movies, it was this second-run
cinema where they’d play two
of them back-to-back. I never
had money for all the snacks.
To this day, I still get so excited
because I can afford snacks
now. To be able to afford a
large water? I really made it!
Q2 2021
65

On Screen FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
WORTH
THE WAIT
Director Will Gluck Takes the Delayed Release of
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway in Stride
BY JESSE RIFKIN
Of all the theatrical release-date
changes caused by the pandemic,
Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway may take
the cake—or, should we say, the carrot
cake. The June 11 release for Sony Pictures’
animated sequel counts as its staggering
tenth domestic date.
The pandemic’s timing couldn’t have
been worse for director and co-screenwriter
Will Gluck, known for helming early 2010s
comedies including Easy A and Friends
with Benefits before pivoting to more
family-friendly fare. On the very same day
66 Q2 2021

“We had a lot of Brits
working on this movie who
were constantly saying to
me, ‘That’s not right, that’s
not right, that’s not right.’”
in March 2020 that all airline flights were
canceled, Gluck was scheduled to fly to
London for Runaway’s premiere.
Gluck directed 2018’s original Peter
Rabbit, which earned a surprise $115.2
million domestically and $347 million
globally. The sequel reunites the voices
of James Corden, as the animated title
character, and Margot Robbie, as his
friend Flopsy Rabbit, while Rose Byrne
and Domhnall Gleeson return as the
McGregors, the live-action married couple
whose garden the rabbits live in. New
to the series is David Oyelowo, as the
McGregors’ unscrupulous book publisher,
Nigel Basil-Jones. In this installment,
Peter wanders away and gets taken in by
a criminal gang of animals, who threaten
to keep him from both the rabbits and the
humans he’s come to consider family.
We asked Gluck how he navigated the
British/American culture gap, how he came
up with the names of minor characters,
and why he cast his VFX supervisor and an
animator as voice actors.
Q2 2021
67

On Screen FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
This is the tenth domestic release
date announced for this film. Is that
some sort of all-time record?
I know that the box office people always
talk about the release date. I truly believe,
in this pandemic era, nobody else cares.
As soon as a movie starts doing marketing,
when it’s about to come out, that’s when
people start to pay attention—especially
kids. We were released in Australia on
March 25 and it did amazing, and that date
changed five or six times, too! That wasn’t
the narrative. The narrative was, “Hey,
there’s a movie in theaters!”
The movie business is kind of a fandom,
as you well know. Release dates are such a
big thing. What the pandemic is showing
people is there’s no such thing as a
summer movie, there’s no such thing as a
fall movie, there’s no such thing as a spring
movie. There’s just a “movie” now. If you
want to see a movie, you’re going to see it.
Where were you in the production
process on Wednesday, March 11,
2020, “the day everything changed”?
We were about to get on an airplane to go
to London for the premiere! I always finish
a movie at midnight, the night before they
have to yank it from my hands and start
“What the pandemic is
showing people is there’s
no such thing as a summer
movie, there’s no such thing
as a fall movie, there’s no
such thing as a spring movie.
There’s just a ‘movie’ now.”
making digital copies. We finished Sunday
night. Monday, I took my daughter to the
Mulan premiere at the Kodak Theater,
with thousands of people. And Wednesday
the 11th we were about to go to London.
They’d warned us for a few days, “This
might not happen.” Then that morning,
“It’s not going to happen.” My daughter
couldn’t go look at colleges in the U.K.
because of that. The most important
thing! [Laughs.]
We decided after much consternation
to move the movie. I remember talking to
the head of the studio, saying, “How do
you feel about this decision?” And even he
goes, “I don’t like it.” But then the whole
world shut down. So it’s kind of funny,
looking back.
Even before everything shut down, I did
have a sense this was going to be a big deal,
just talking to my friends and family back
east. New York got hit, as you well know,
really badly. They said, “No one’s going to
the movies here.” So it was pretty clear.
Let’s talk about the movie itself. What
was the hardest thing to animate?
I’m so impressed with the visual
effects people in Australia, how they
anthropomorphize these animals while
68 Q2 2021

continuing to make them look like
animals. Most movies either make them
look completely like animals, like the new
Lion King, or barely at all. We tried for
both. That was the hardest thing.
The two hardest were the deer and
the cat [Tom Kitten, voiced by Damon
Herriman]. We changed the rabbits a little
bit with their eyes, because real rabbits
have eyes on the sides of their heads,
so we moved them to the front of their
heads. But when you look at an animated
character that you know so well in real
life, like a cat, it has to be either perfect
or completely off. Otherwise, it messes
with your head because it’s not quite what
you’re used to.
You’re an American, and this is a very
British movie. The story is British, your
three main live-action characters are
British, James Corden is British. Were
there any cultural differences you had
to navigate?
Sure. We made this with [Peter Rabbit
author and illustrator] Beatrix Potter’s
estate. We got the rights, and we spent
a lot of time with them in London,
every step of the way. We had a lot of
Brits working on this movie who were
constantly saying to me, “That’s not right,
that’s not right, that’s not right.” But by
the end of working on the movie, I, myself,
started to talk that way! There’s actually a
joke in the movie about whether it’s called
a “flashlight” or a “torch.”
There’s an extended sequence
featuring the song “Boulevard of
Broken Dreams” by Green Day.
This movie hardly jibes with the
public image Green Day has
cultivated for almost 30 years.
Was it hard to get their permission
for the rights to that song?
Every time you put a song in a movie,
especially when you’re actually
highlighting the song, it takes time and
finessing. Bands like Green Day—and, in
the last movie, Fort Minor—they have kids.
That’s the golden ticket we have. We call
the songwriter up and say, “For your kid.”
They want to be relevant!
How many takes did the screaming
rooster require? And can that voice
actor still speak?
The rooster is a character I created for
these movies. Beatrix Potter didn’t have
Left: Elizabeth Debicki,
Margot Robbie, Colin
Moody, James Corden,
and Aimee Horneg find
their inner rabbit in Peter
Rabbit 2: The Runaway.
Above: Domhnall Gleeson
and Rose Byrne revisit
the world of Beatrix
Potter (top), as director
Will Gluck confers with
Gleeson and director
of photography Peter
Menzies Jr. on set
(bottom).
him. If you look online at the credits for
the first movie, that voice actor is our
[award-winning] VFX supervisor. The way
it works in these movies, you start at the
beginning with people recording what they
call scratch tracks—you bring in anyone to
do it instead of real actors, just so you get a
sense of it. He was always so good, we knew
he was going to do it [for the actual film].
The thing about that is, since he’s not
an actor, when he does that voice, he
literally gets red, hyperventilates, downs
water, needs to take a break. He just
screams into the microphone. And he’s
Australian, so we had to have a dialect
coach in there to help him with the British.
So it becomes like this four-hour session,
this poor man, Will Reichelt, just getting
red and sweaty and almost passing out.
Q2 2021
69

On Screen FILMMAKER INTERVIEW
Do you have any other funny stories
from the set or from production?
It’s fun making a movie like this with
people who are just friends. It makes the
set very easy, especially when half the
time they’re acting with stuffed socks and
blue suits and tennis balls. David Oyelowo
came down halfway through the movie. In
his first scene, he had to interact with this
rabbit and with Rose and with Domhnall.
He was amazed how crazy it was, yet how
confident Rose and Domhnall were doing
it. They helped him through the process.
If you step onto a set halfway through
one of these movies, especially since
it’s the second movie, it’s insanity. The
actors have to interact with an animated
character, first with a stuffed blue
animal, then with a little laser light, then
with what’s called the ghost pass—with
nothing. So it’s this constant mind
scramble. But the movie doesn’t look that
way, so that’s a testament to the VFX team
and the actors.
“It’s fun making a movie like
this with people who are just
friends. It makes the set very
easy, especially when half
the time they’re acting with
stuffed socks and blue suits
and tennis balls.”
Did you use any other scratch track
actors?
I wanted the fox to be Scottish, so I
had some scratch track. The more you
hear stuff, you get used to it. You start
animating to that. Once again, the guy
playing Mr. Tod is an animator on the
movie [Stewart Alves].
For the crowd scenes, I needed more
British voices. So I asked David [Oyelowo],
“On your phone, can you do this for me?”
So some of the background voices in
London are actually him. That’s the fun
thing about animation: you can always
change things and enhance things. My
voice is actually there in a few places.
What’s a good example of a shot or
scene that was particularly crazy for
the actors to shoot with the ghost
pass?
At the very beginning of the movie, when
Peter daydreams a fantasy sequence
where he’s fighting Mr. McGregor and
kicks him in the face in super slow motion.
You see Domhnall’s face move. That’s not
fake. The way we did that is Domhnall
put a blue [screen] glove on his arm and
smacked himself in the face, over and
over and over again. Then you remove the
arm [in post-production], but the face still
looks smacked.
What about the scene where Mr.
McGregor violently rolls down the hill?
That was him, too. He held a real camera
out in front of him as he rolled all the way
down the hill. We just made sure his hand
was out of frame. That’s all real. Those are
my favorite times in moviemaking. In one
scene, you’ll have 300 crew members. In
the next scene, it’s just the actor holding
the camera.
What about in that crazy climactic
sequence? Domhnall Gleeson didn’t
actually skydive, did he?
We did shoot that in a real airplane, and a
stuntman really did skydive. But Domhnall
was hung way up in the air, on a crane.
70 Q2 2021

Who came up with some of these
minor characters’ names? I’m looking
at Busker K. Bushy, Esq.; Trainer von
Stauffenmouse; Kennedy St. Squirrel;
and Sir Tweedy Fantastic III.
I believe in giving actors real character
names, so when they go on auditions
it doesn’t say they played Man 1 or Man
2. I always like doing that. Those are all
named after friends of mine. I have a
friend who used to go by Tweedy. For von
Stauffenmouse, I have a friend with the
last name von Stauffenberg.
Why is it important for audiences to
see this in a cinema?
The movies you really [should] see in
theaters, in my opinion, are big Marvel
kind of movies and family movies. Parents
and kids, you’re all enjoying something
together and not otherwise disposed.
Seeing the first Peter Rabbit in the theater,
it was the nicest thing, seeing parents
and their kids together, sharing moments
together. Because what’s going on now is
everyone’s kind of doing their own thing
at home: Kids are watching their own
thing, adults are watching their own thing.
Theaters are the one time when you have
a real co-viewing experience and can talk
about it later.
If I could find a way to financially
bet on the exhibition business, I would.
People love predicting the death knell of
things, but I know for a fact that people
are going to be flocking back to the movies.
There are so many movies that haven’t
been released yet. I predict this Christmas
is going to be the biggest Christmas season
in the history of this business.
AT THE MOVIES
What is your all-time favorite moviegoing
memory or experience?
Probably seeing Breaking Away the
second time. I loved it so much the
first time, I remember not leaving the
theater and just sitting there [until it
played again]. I saw it recently again
with my kids, and it was everything I’d
remembered.
What’s your favorite snack at the movie
theater concession stand?
My favorite would be the sausage
sandwich at the ArcLight. The ArcLight
was one of the first theaters where you
could eat dinner while you watched a
movie. ArcLight is in trouble, but I hope
they’re going to come back.
Q2 2021
71

Big screen.
Bigger cause.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® is
leading the way the world understands,
treats and defeats childhood cancer and
other life-threatening diseases. But, we
couldn’t do it without you. By donating
pre-show advertising to screen the annual
St. Jude Thanks and Giving® movie trailer,
you support our lifesaving mission: Finding
cures. Saving children.® The generosity of
you and your patrons helps ensure that
families never receive a bill from St. Jude
for treatment, travel, housing or food—
because all a family should worry about is
helping their child live.
St. Jude patient
Eleanor
Art inspired by St. Jude patients
For more information, please email
chance.weaver@alsac.stjude.org or visit stjude.org/theaters
©2021 ALSAC/St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (RELM-634)
Q2 2021
72

On Screen BOOKING GUIDE
BOOKING
GUIDE
Release calendar for theatrical
distribution in North America
Release dates are accurate as of May 24.
20TH CENTURY STUDIOS
310-369-1000
212-556-2400
FREE GUY
Fri, 8/13/21 WIDE
Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: NR
Genre: Com/Act
THE LAST DUEL
Fri, 10/15/21 WIDE
Director: Ridley Scott
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
RON’S GONE WRONG
Fri, 10/22/21 WIDE
Directors: Alessandro Carloni,
J.P. Vine
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
WEST SIDE STORY
Fri, 12/10/21 WIDE
Stars: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler
Director: Steven Spielberg
Rating: NR
Genre: Mus
THE KING’S MAN
Fri, 12/22/21 WIDE
Stars: Ralph Fiennes,
Gemma Arterton
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2022 1
Fri, 1/7/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
DEEP WATER
Fri, 1/14/22 WIDE
Stars: Ana de Armas, Ben Affleck
Director: Adrian Lyne
Rating: NR
Genre: Thr
The King’s Man
Fri, 12/22/21 WIDE
DEATH ON THE NILE
Fri, 2/11/22 WIDE
Stars: Tom Bateman, Annette
Bening
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Rating: NR
Genre: Cri/Dra/Mys
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2022 2
Fri, 6/10/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2022 3
Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2022 4
Fri, 10/21/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
AVATAR 2
Fri, 12/16/22 WIDE
Stars: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington
Director: James Cameron
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Fan/SF
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2022 5
Fri, 12/23/22 WIDE
Rating: R
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2023 1
Fri, 1/13/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2023 2
Fri, 3/24/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
THE GREEN KNIGHT
Fri, 7/30/21 LTD
Stars: Dev Patel, Alicia Vikander
Director: David Lowery
Rating: R
Genre: Fan
BLEECKER STREET
THE LONELIEST WHALE: THE
SEARCH FOR 52
Fri, 7/9/21 LTD
Director: Joshua Zeman
Rating: R
Genre: Doc
A24
646-568-6015
Q2 2021
73

On Screen BOOKING GUIDE
Jungle Cruise
Fri, 7/30/21 WIDE
THE MARVELS
Fri, 11/11/22 WIDE
Stars: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris
Director: Nia DaCosta
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/SF/Fan
UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION 2022
Fri, 11/23/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: ANI
ANT-MAN AND THE WASP:
QUANTUMANIA
Fri, 2/17/23 WIDE
Stars: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lily
Director: Reyton Reed
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/SF
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
2023
Fri, 3/10/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
DISNEY
818-560-1000
Ask for Distribution
BLACK WIDOW
Fri, 7/9/21 WIDE
Stars: Scarlett Johansson, David
Harbour
Director: Cate Shortland
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Act/Adv
Specs: 3-D
JUNGLE CRUISE
Fri, 7/30/21 WIDE
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv
Specs: Dolby Vis/Atmos
THE BEATLES: GET BACK
Fri, 8/27/21 WIDE
Stars: The Beatles
Director: Peter Jackson
Rating: NR
Genre: Doc
SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF
THE TEN RINGS
Fri, 9/3/21 WIDE
Stars: Simu Liu, Awkwafina
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv/Fan
ETERNALS
Fri, 11/5/21 WIDE
Stars: Richard Madden,
Angelina Jolie
Director: Chloé Zhao
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv/SF
ENCANTO
Fri, 11/24/21 WIDE
Directors: Byron Howard, Jared Bush
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
TURNING RED
Fri, 3/11/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
DOCTOR STRANGE IN THE
MULTIVERSE OF MADNESS
Fri, 3/25/22 WIDE
Stars: Benedict Cumberbatch
Director: Sam Raimi
Rating: NR
Genre: SF/Fan/Adv
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
2022 1
Fri, 4/8/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER
Fri, 5/6/22 WIDE
Stars: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa
Thompson
Director: Taika Waititi
Rating: NR
Genre: SF/Fan/Act
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
2022 2
Fri, 5/27/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
LIGHTYEAR
Fri, 6/17/22 WIDE
Stars: Chris Evans
Director: Angus MacLane
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA
FOREVER
Fri, 7/8/22 WIDE
Director: Ryan Coogler
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/SF/Fan
UNTITLED INDIANA JONES
Fri, 7/29/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
2022 3
Fri, 8/12/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED MARVEL 2022
Fri, 10/7/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION
2022 4
Fri, 11/4/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3
Fri, 5/5/23 WIDE
Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana
Director: James Gunn
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv/SF
FOCUS FEATURES
ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT
ANTHONY BOURDAIN
Fri, 7/16/21 LTD
Director: Morgan Neville
Rating: NR
Genre: Doc
STILLWATER
Fri, 7/30/21 WIDE
Stars: Matt Damon, Abigail Breslin
Director: Tom McCarthy
Rating: R
Genre: Dra
THE CARD COUNTER
Fri, 9/10/21
Stars: Tiffany Haddish, Oscar Isaac
Director: Paul Schrader
Rating: NR
Genre: Thr
LAST NIGHT IN SOHO
Fri, 10/22/21 WIDE
Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy,
Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie
Director: Edgar Wright
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor/Thr
Specs: Dolby Vis/Atmos
BELFAST
Fri, 11/12/21 WIDE
Stars: Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench
Director: Kenneth Branagh
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
74 Q2 2021

MRS HARRIS GOES TO PARIS
Fri, 3/4/22 WIDE
Stars: Lesley Manville, Isabelle
Huppert
Director: Anthony Fabian
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT
THE PHANTOM
Fri, 7/2/21 LTD
Director: Patrick Forbes
Rating: NR
Genre: Doc
ALL THE STREETS ARE SILENT
Fri, 7/23/21 LTD
Director: Jeremy Elkin
Rating: NR
Genre: Doc
IFC FILMS
BOOKINGS@IFCFILMS.COM
SETTLERS
Fri, 7/23/21 LTD
Stars: Sofia Boutella, Ismael Cruz
Cordova
Director: Wyatt Rockefeller
Rating: NR
Genre: SF/Thr
ENEMIES OF THE STATE
Fri, 7/30/21 LTD
Director: Sonia Kennebeck
Rating: NR
Genre: Doc
JOHN AND THE HOLE
Fri, 8/6/21 LTD
Stars: Charlie Shotwell,
Michael C. Hall
Director: Pascual Sisto
Rating: NR
Genre: Thr
DEMONIC
Fri, 8/20/21 LTD
Stars: Carly Pope,
Chris William Martin
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING
Fri, 9/3/21 LTD
Stars: Vinessa Shaw, Sierra
McCormick
Director: Sean King O’Grady
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
LIONSGATE
310-309-8400
THE PROTÉGÉ
Fri, 8/20/21 WIDE
Stars: Michael Keaton, Maggie Q
Director: Martin Campbell
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Sus
AMERICAN UNDERDOG: THE KURT
WARNER STORY
Fri, 12/10/21 WIDE
Directors: Jon Erwin, Andrew Erwin
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4
Fri, 5/27/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Rating: Act
SHOTGUN WEDDING
Wed, 6/29/22 WIDE
Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Josh Duhamel
Director: Jason Moore
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Com
WHITE BIRD: A WONDER STORY
Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE
Stars: Bryce Gheisar, Ariella Glaser
Director: Marc Forster
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra/Fam
MAGNOLIA PICTURES
212-379-9704
Neal Block - nblock@magpictures.com
FIRST DATE
Fri, 7/2/21 LTD
Stars: Tyson Brown, Shelby Duclos
Directors: Manuel Crosby,
Darren Knapp
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
MANDIBLES
Fri, 7/23/21 LTD
Stars: Grégoire Ludig, David Marsais
Director: Quentin Dupieux
Rating: NR
Genre: Com/Fan
SWAN SONG
Fri, 8/6/21 LTD
Stars: Udo Kier, Jennifer Coolidge
Director: Todd Stephens
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
THE EAST
Fri, 8/13/21 LTD
Stars: Martijn Lakemeyer,
Marwan Kenzari
Director: Jim Taihuttu
Rating: NR
Genre: War
Q2 2021
75

On Screen BOOKING GUIDE
CRYPTOZOO
Fri, 8/20/21 LTD
Stars: Lake Bell, Zoe Kazan
Director: Dash Shaw
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
NEON
hal@neonrated.com
AILEY
Fri, 7/16/21 LTD
Director: Jamila Wignot
Rating: NR
Genre: Doc
PARAMOUNT
323-956-5000
SNAKE EYES
Fri, 7/23/21 WIDE
Stars: Henry Golding, Andrew Koj
Director: Robert Schwentke
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv
PAW PATROL: THE MOVIE
Fri, 8/20/21 WIDE
Stars: Iain Armitage, Marsai Martin
Director: Cal Brunker
Rating: G
Genre: Ani
JACKASS
Fri, 10/22/21 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG
Fri, 11/5/21 WIDE
Stars: Jack Whitehall, Darby Camp
Director: Walt Becker
Rating: NR
Genre: Fam
TOP GUN: MAVERICK
Fri, 11/19/21 WIDE
Stars: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv
Specs: Imax/Dolby Vis/Atmos
SCREAM
Fri, 1/14/22 WIDE
Stars: Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin,
Tyler Gillett
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
RUMBLE
Fri, 2/18/22 WIDE
Stars: Will Arnett, Terry Crews
Director: Hamish Grieve
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2
Fri, 4/8/22 WIDE
Stars: Ben Schwartz
Rating: NR
Genre: Adv/Fan
LOST CITY OF D
Fri, 4/15/22 WIDE
Stars: Sandra Bullock,
Channing Tatum
Directors: Adam Nee, Aaron Nee
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 7
Fri, 5/27/22 WIDE
Stars: Tom Cruise
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
UNTITLED TRANSFORMERS
Fri, 6/24/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv/SF
UNDER THE BOARDWALK
Fri, 7/22/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
UNTITLED BEE GEES
Fri, 11/4/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra/Mus/Bio
BABYLON
Fri, 12/23/22 WIDE
Director: Damien Chazelle
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
TIGER’S APPRENTICE
Fri, 2/10/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
Fri, 3/3/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Fan
UNTITLED STAR TREK
Fri, 6/9/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: SF/Act
MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8
Fri, 7/7/23 WIDE
Stars: Tom Cruise
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
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76 Q2 2021

SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES
212-556-2400
SUMMER OF SOUL
Fri, 7/2/21 LTD
Director: Ahmir “Questlove”
Thompson
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Doc
THE NIGHT HOUSE
Fri, 8/20/21 LTD
Stars: Rebecca Hall, Sarah Goldberg
Director: David Bruckner
Rating: R
Genre: Hor
THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE
Fri, 9/24/21 LTD
Stars: Jessica Chastain,
Andrew Garfield
Director: Michael Showalter
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
ANTLERS
Fri, 10/29/21 LTD
Stars: Keri Russell, Jesse Plemons
Director: Scott Cooper
Rating: R
Genre: Hor
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
Fri, 12/3/21 LTD
Stars: Bradley Cooper,
Cate Blanchett
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Rating: NR
Genre: Thr
SHOUT! FACTORY
DON’T BREATHE SEQUEL
Fri, 8/13/21 WIDE
Director: Rodo Sayagues
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
VENOM: LET THERE BE CARNAGE
Fri, 9/24/21 WIDE
Stars: Tom Hardy, Woody Harrelson
Director: Andy Serkis
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/SF
A JOURNAL FOR JORDAN
Fri, 12/10/21 WIDE
Stars: Michael B. Jordan
Director: Denzel Washington
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE
Fri, 11/11/21 WIDE
Stars: Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard
Director: Jason Reitman
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Hor/Com/SF
RESIDENT EVIL: WELCOME TO
RACCOON CITY
Fri, 11/24/21 WIDE
Stars: Kaya Scodelario,
Hannah John-Kamen
Director: Johannes Roberts
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor/Act
SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME
Fri, 12/17/21 WIDE
Stars: Tom Holland, Zendaya
Director: Jon Watts
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
THE MAN FROM TORONTO
Fri, 1/14/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
MORBIUS
Fri, 1/28/22 WIDE
Stars: Jared Leto, Matt Smith
Director: Daniel Espinosa
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Thr/SF
Specs: Imax/Dolby Vis/Atmos
UNCHARTED
Fri, 2/18/22 WIDE
Stars: Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv
Specs: Imax
WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING
Fri, 6/24/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE
Fri, 7/22/22 WIDE
Directors: Will Speck, Josh Gordon
Rating: NR
SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE
SPIDERVERSE SEQUEL
Fri, 10/7/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
THE NIGHTINGALE
Wed, 12/23/22 WIDE
Stars: Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning
Director: Mélanie Laurent
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
SONY PICTURES CLASSICS
Tom Prassis
212-833-4981
NINE DAYS
Fri, 7/30/21 LTD
Stars: Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz
Director: Edson Oda
Rating: R
Genre: Dra
THE LOST LEONARDO
Fri, 8/13/21 LTD
Director: Andreas Koefoed
UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING
310-724-5678
Ask for Distribution
HOW IT ENDS
Tue, 7/20/21 WIDE
Stars: Zoe Lister-Jones,
Cailee Spaeny
Directors: Zoe Lister-Jones,
Daryl Wein
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
RESPECT
Fri, 8/13/21 WIDE
Stars: Jennifer Hudson, Forest
Whitaker
Directors: Liesl Tommy
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Dra/Mus
HOW TO DETER A ROBBER
Fri, 7/16/21 LTD
Stars: Vanessa Marano, Chris Mulkey
Director: Maria Bissell
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
The Night House
Fri, 8/20/21 LTD
SONY
212-833-8500
ESCAPE ROOM 2
Fri, 7/16/21 WIDE
Stars: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller
Director: Adam Robitel
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
HOTEL TRANSYLVANIA:
TRANSFORMANIA
Fri, 7/23/21 WIDE
Directors: Jennifer Kluska,
Derek Drymon
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani/Com
Q2 2021
77

On Screen BOOKING GUIDE
The Forever Purge
Fri, 7/2/21 WIDE
THE ADDAMS FAMILY 2
Fri, 10/1/21 WIDE
Stars: Charlize Theron, Oscar Isaac
Director: Greg Tiernan
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
NO TIME TO DIE
Fri, 10/8/21 WIDE
Stars: Daniel Craig, Rami Malek
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Act/Thr
Specs: Imax
HOUSE OF GUCCI
Wed, 11/24/21 WIDE
Stars: Lady Gaga, Jared Leto
Director: Ridley Scott
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
UNTITLED PAUL THOMAS
ANDERSON PROJECT
Fri, 11/26/21 WIDE
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
CYRANO
Fri, 12/24/21 LTD
Stars: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett
Director: Joe Wright
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra/Mus
DOG
Fri, 2/18/22 WIDE
Stars: Channing Tatum
Directors: Reid Carolin, Channing
Tatum
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
LEGALLY BLONDE 3
Fri, 5/20/22 WIDE
Stars: Reese Witherspoon
Rating: NR
Genre: Com
DARK HARVEST
Fri, 9/23/22 WIDE
Director: David Slade
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
CREED III
Fri, 11/23/22 WIDE
Stars: Michael B. Jordan,
Tessa Thompson
Director: Michael B. Jordan
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra
UNTITLED RUSSO BROTHERS
FAMILY FILM
Fri, 1/13/23 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: FAM
UNIVERSAL
818-777-1000
THE FOREVER PURGE
Fri, 7/2/21 WIDE
Director: Everardo Gout
Rating: R
Genre: Hor
THE BOSS BABY: FAMILY BUSINESS
Fri, 7/2/21 WIDE
Stars: Alec Baldwin, Jeff Goldblum
Director: Tom McGrath
Rating: PG
Genre: Ani
OLD
Fri, 7/23/21 WIDE
Stars: Gael García Bernal, Vicky
Krieps
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Rating: NR
Genre: Thr
CANDYMAN
Fri, 8/27/21 WIDE
Stars: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II,
Teyonah Parris
Director: Nia DaCosta
Rating: R
Genre: Hor
DEAR EVAN HANSEN
Fri, 9/24/21 WIDE
Stars: Ben Platt
Director: Stephen Chbosky
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra/Mus
HALLOWEEN KILLS
Fri, 10/15/21 WIDE
Director: David Gordon Green
Rating: R
Genre: Hor
SING 2
Fri, 12/22/21 WIDE
Stars: Matthew McConaughey,
Reese Witherspoon
Director: Garth Jennings
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani/Mus
THE 355
Fri, 1/7/22 WIDE
Stars: Jessica Chastain,
Lupita Nyong’o
Director: Simon Kinberg
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Thr
THE BLACK PHONE
Fri, 1/28/22 WIDE
Stars: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames
Director: Scott Derrickson
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
MARRY ME
Fri, 2/11/22 WIDE
Stars: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson
Director: Kat Coiro
Rating: NR
Genre: Rom/Com
AMBULANCE
Fri, 2/18/22 WIDE
Director: Michael Bay
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Thr
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL MUSICAL
EVENT
Fri, 3/11/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Mus
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL EVENT FILM
2022 1
Fri, 4/8/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
THE BAD GUYS
Fri, 4/15/22 WIDE
Director: Pierre Perifel
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
UNTITLED BLUMHOUSE
PRODUCTIONS PROJECT
Fri, 5/14/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION
Fri, 6/10/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Adv
MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU
Fri, 7/1/22 WIDE
Stars: Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson
Director: Kyle Balda
Rating: PG
Genre: Ani
UNTITLED JORDAN PEELE HORROR
EVENT
Fri, 7/22/22 WIDE
Director: Joran Peele
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
BROS
Fri, 8/12/22 WIDE
Stars: Billy Eichner
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Rating: NR
Genre: Com/Rom
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL EVENT FILM
2022 2
Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
PUSS IN BOOTS: THE LAST WISH
Fri, 9/23/22 WIDE
Stars: Antonio Banderas
Director: Joel Crawford
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
TICKET TO PARADISE
Fri, 9/30/22 WIDE
Stars: George Clooney,
Julia Roberts
Director: Ol Parker
Rating: NR
Genre: Rom/Com
HALLOWEEN ENDS
Fri, 10/14/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
UNTITLED UNIVERSAL EVENT FILM
2022 3
Fri, 11/18/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED ILLUMINATION ANIMATED
FILM
Fri, 12/21/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
WARNER BROS.
818-977-1850
SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY
Fri, 7/16/21 WIDE
Stars: LeBron James, Don Cheadle
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani/Com
78 Q2 2021

THE SUICIDE SQUAD
Fri, 8/6/21 WIDE
Stars: Margot Robbie, Taika Waititi
Director: James Gunn
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
REMINISCENCE
Fri, 8/20/21 WIDE
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Rebecca
Ferguson
Director: Lisa Joy
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Act/Thr
MALIGNANT
Fri, 9/10/21 WIDE
Director: James Wan
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK
Fri, 9/24/21 WIDE
Stars: Alessandro Nivola,
Leslie Odom Jr.
Director: Alan Taylor
Rating: R
Genre: Dra/Cri
DUNE
Fri, 10/1/21 WIDE
Stars: Timothée Chalamet,
Rebecca Ferguson
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Rating: PG-13
Genre: SF
CRY MACHO
Fri, 10/22/21 WIDE
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Dra
KING RICHARD
Fri, 11/19/21 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra/Bio
UNTITLED MATRIX FILM
Fri, 12/22/21 WIDE
Stars: Keanu Reeves
Director: Lana Wachowski
Rating: NR
Genre: SF
UNTITLED SESAME STREET
Fri, 1/14/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Fam
THE BATMAN
Fri, 3/4/22 WIDE
Stars: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz
Director: Matt Reeves
Rating: NR
Genre: Act
UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM 2022 1
Fri, 4/15/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
DC SUPER PETS
Fri, 5/20/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Ani
UNTITLED ELVIS FILM
Fri, 6/3/22 WIDE
Director: Baz Luhrmann
Rating: NR
Genre: Dra/Bio/Mus
UNTITLED FANTASTIC BEASTS 3
Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Fan/Act
BLACK ADAM
Fri, 7/29/22 WIDE
Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis
Hodge
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/Fan
UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM 2022 2
Fri, 8/5/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
UNTITLED NEW LINE HORROR FILM
2022
Fri, 9/9/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
Genre: Hor
THE FLASH
Fri, 11/4/22 WIDE
Stars: Ezra Miller, Kiersey Clemons
Director: Andy Muschietti
Rating: NR
Genre: Act/SF/Fan
UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM 2022 3
Fri, 11/18/22 WIDE
Rating: NR
AQUAMAN 2
Fri, 12/16/22 WIDE
Stars: Jason Momoa
Director: James Wan
Genre: Act/SF/Fan
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Q2 2021
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Atom Seating 43
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Image Credits & Acknowledgments
Cover: Image courtesy Universal Pictures
p3: F9 - Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures.
p4: Theater pic courtesy Silver Screen Cinemas
p9: Nitehawk image courtesy Rebecca Pahle
p10: Images courtesy of the National Association of
Theatre Owners
p12: Image courtesy of the office of Charles E. Schumer,
United States Senator for New York
p14-15: Images courtesy Variety - the Children’s Charity
p16-24: All images courtesy Boxoffice Pro
p30: Photo: Nicholas Gonzalez
p33: Image by Serenity Strull
p34: Image courtesy of Gateway Film Center
p36: Image by Ethan Benevidez
p.37: Top (step and repeat photo) Image by Serenity Strull
p.37: bottom left - Image by Serenity Strull
p37: bottom right - Image by Heather Taylor
p38: Image by Serenity Strull
p42: TK
p44-45: Adobe Stock
p46: Image Courtesy Cinemark
p47: Photo Credit: Nick Simonite
p50: Nitehawk image courtesy Rebecca Pahle
p54-56: All images courtesy Silver Screen Cinemas
p59: Courtesy of Sony Pictures
p60-65: All images Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
p65: Pretzel - Adobe Stock
p66-67: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All
Rights Reserved.
p68: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
p69: © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Photo by: Mark
Rogers
p70: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
p71: Courtesy of Sony Pictures. © 2020 CTMG, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
p71: ArcLight - Adobe Stock
p73: Photo Credit: Courtesy of 20th Century Studios. © 2020
Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
p74: © 2021 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
p77: Photo Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2021 20th
Century Studios All Rights Reserved
p78: Photo Credit: Jake Giles Netter/Universal Pictures
© 2021 UNIVERSAL STUDIOS. All Rights Reserved.
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80 Q2 2021

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