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CineEurope 2022 

CONTENTS 

86 

Mr. Malcolm’s List 

Emma Holly Jones Brings 

Regency Rom-Com to the Big 

Screen with Mr. Malcolm’s List 

30 

Setting a New Standard 

Cinema Technology Innovations 

Seek to Set New Benchmarks at 

CinemaCon 2022 

51 

Giants of Exhibition: Europe 

Ranking the Top 50 Exhibition 

Circuits in Europe by Screen 

Count 

68 

Booking Beyond the 

Blockbuster 

Six Intriguing Post-Summer, 

Non-Tentpole Films Previewed 

at CinemaCon 

72 

Movies in the Marsh 

Olivia Newman Brings Best- 

Selling Book Where the 

Crawdads Sing to the Big Screen

CONTENTS 

INDUSTRY THEATER ON SCREEN 

12 

NATO 

NATO President and CEO 

John Fithian’s State of the Industry 

Address at CinemaCon 2022 

22 

Indie Focus 

Interview with Moisés Esparza, 

Exhibitions Manager of the Digital 

Gym Cinema in San Diego, California 

68 

Booking Beyond the Blockbuster 

Six Intriguing Post-Summer, 

Non-Tentpole Films Previewed at 

CinemaCon 

14 

16 

Charity Spotlight 

A Recap of Industry-Wide Charity 

Initiatives 

Cultural Capital 

Ross Melnick’s New Book Explores 

the History of Hollywood’s Global 

Cinemas 

30 

Setting a New Standard 

Cinema Technology Innovations 

Seek to Set New Benchmarks at 


72 

80 

Movies in the Marsh 

Olivia Newman Brings Best-Selling 

Book Where the Crawdads Sing to the 

Big Screen 

The Extraordinary Lives of 

So-Called Ordinary People 

Writer-Director Clio Barnard 

Celebrates Mature Love in Ali & Ava 

86 


Emma Holly Jones Brings Regency 

Rom-Com to the Big Screen with 


“The future of movie 

theaters will always be first 

and foremost about movies, 

but our industry is much 

more dynamic than it is 

given credit for.” 

John Fithian, p. 12 

94 

97 

Event Cinema Calendar 

A Sampling of Event Cinema 

Programming Hitting the Big 

Screen in 2022 

Booking Guide 

CINEEUROPE 

38 

40 

44 

48 

51 

58 

62 

Welcome to CineEurope 2022 

Let’s celebrate, together, the return 

of the big screen. 

International Exhibitor of the Year 

Steve Knibbs, Chief Operating Officer, 

Vue International 

International Distributor of the Year 

Anna Marsh, Chief Executive Officer, 

Studiocanal 

UNIC Achievement Award 

Géke Roelink, Managing Director, 

Filmhuis Den Haag 

Giants of Exhibition: Europe 

Ranking the Top 50 Exhibition 

Circuits in Europe by Screen Count 

Giants of Exhibition: France 

Giants of Exhibition: U.K. & Ireland 

04 CineEurope 2022

BOXOFFICE MEDIA 

CEO 

Julien Marcel 

SVP Content Strategy 

Daniel Loría 

Creative Direction 

Chris Vickers & Craig Scott 

at She Was Only 

EVP Chief Administrative Officer 

Susan Rich 

VP Advertising 

Susan Uhrlass 

BOXOFFICE PRO 

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR 

Daniel Loría 

DEPUTY EDITOR 

Rebecca Pahle 

MANAGING EDITOR 

Laura Silver 

CHIEF ANALYST 

Shawn Robbins 

ANALYSTS 

Chad Kennerk 

Jesse Rifkin 

DATABASE 

Diogo Hausen 

CONTRIBUTORS 

John Fithian 

Charlotte Orzel 

Laura Houlgatte 

ADVERTISING 

Susan Uhrlass 

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Boxoffice Pro (ISSN 0006-8527), Volume 158, Number 4, CineEurope 2022. Boxoffice Pro is published by 

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(Jan–Dec 2021) 2,566 / Print - 2,101 / Digital - 465 

08 CinemaCon 2022

EXECUTIVE LETTER 

10 DAYS THAT CHANGED 

THE MOVIE INDUSTRY 

A series of events between April 

19 and 29 marked a changing 

narrative for the movie industry 

more than two years after the start 

of the Covid-19 crisis. 

It’s risky business to predict the 

historical impact of events while 

they’re happening. Yet in the span of 10 

days, we’ve witnessed a significant shift 

in the narrative surrounding the movie 

industry, a shift that might very well mark 

the beginning of a new era, a renaissance 

for cinemas. 

Trees Don’t Grow to the Sky 

In just one night, Netflix’s market 

capitalization took a $50 billion dollar 

plunge after it announced a loss of 

200,000 subscribers on April 19 — a loss 

it projected will plummet to 2 million in 

its second quarter. The company couldn’t 

account for such a loss, considering the 

sky-high rate of home entertainment 

consumption during the heart of the 

crisis and nationwide lockdowns. 

Netflix attributed said attrition to 

rampant password sharing, competition in 

the streaming landscape, and the ongoing 

Russian invasion of Ukraine. To compensate 

for its losses, Netflix announced a potential 

move from its historical model to an adbased 

one. Such a departure, however, 

signals more than just Netflix’s attempt 

to recover from a major blow. It is the 

beginning of a new development stage 

in which the streaming giant will need to 

innovate, and movie theaters may play a 

pivotal role in this innovation. 


On the heels of a major backslide for 

streaming’s golden child, studios and 

exhibitors from around the world gathered 

in Las Vegas for CinemaCon. This year’s 

convention looked staggeringly different 

from the muted one that took place last 

August and may very well have been the 

most important CinemaCon to date, as 

it seems to have dramatically shifted 

the discourse on moviegoing in a postpandemic 

era. 

If CinemaCon’s large attendance 

didn’t prove that the tables are turning 

for the cinema industry, then perhaps the 

response to a speech given by National 

Association of Theatre Owners president 

and CEO John Fithian did. 

On Tuesday morning at the Caesars 

Palace Colosseum, Fithian made a 

statement that earned thundering 

applause: Simultaneous release is dead. 

Its killer? Piracy. “When a pristine copy 

of a movie makes its way online and 

spreads, it has a very damaging impact 

on our industry,” Fithian said. Just hours 

after his declaration, Fithian asserted 

that theatrical runs are the driving force 

behind box office successes—that they 

create awareness and even drive the 

streaming business. 

Studios at the convention had no 

intention of refuting Fithian’s claims, all 

of which highlighted the importance and 

uniqueness of the theatrical experience 

on a large, especially premium, screen. 

Just two days after Fithian’s resounding 

declaration, Top Gun: Maverick screened 

at the Colosseum theater and drew cheers, 

applause, and praise. Jerry Bruckheimer, 

producer of the original Top Gun and the 

sequel, told attendees he always thought 

that Top Gun: Maverick was a movie for 

theaters. “You felt it today,” he said during 

a panel shortly after the screening. “It’s a 

communal experience.” 

After two years, during which a number 

of reports depicted moviegoing as a thing 

of the past and movie theaters as a medium 

that refuses to adapt, CinemaCon showed a 

very different image of the movie industry 

by highlighting exactly what movie 

theaters represent. 

Even in the week’s less exciting news, 

one could find notes of optimism. In a 

recent interview, AMC CEO Adam Aron 

said that movie theaters would start to 

make what they were making in 2019 by 

2024, but that they’d have to continue 

to be flexible to survive. Indeed, it will 

take time for theaters to get back to prepandemic 

box office levels, but it’s no 

longer a matter of if so much as when. 

Diversity of Content Brings Promise 

Given that our industry is all about content, 

it would be a mistake to omit the lineup 

of big-budget titles with exclusive theater 

releases, like Disney’s highly anticipated 

Avatar: The Way of Water, a film expected 

to galvanize 3D and premium formats 

in general and whose trailer also had a 

week-long exclusive run in theaters. That’s 

remarkable news considering Disney has 

repeatedly disappointed movie theaters by 

pulling new films from their auditoriums to 

put them on Disney Plus. 

What’s particularly encouraging about 

the theatrical lineup is the diversity of 

content. Between titles like Doctor Strange 

in the Multiverse of Madness, Avatar: The 

Way of Water, and Top Gun: Maverick, 

then Damien Chazelle’s musical Babylon, 

Pixar’s Lightyear, and Universal and 

Illumination Entertainment’s Minions: 

The Rise of Gru, there’s great promise for 

audiences of all ages and tastes. 

Even greater is the potential for the 

rise of a new era for cinemas. The road to 

recovery will undoubtedly be long and 

difficult, but we now see a long-awaited 

alignment of stars: a mix of strategic 

aspects (the release window adjustment, 

market consolidation), symbolic ones with 

catchphrases like, “Can movie theaters 

save Netflix?,” and a final spark from 

films like Top Gun: Maverick, a cherished 

franchise whose return coincides with the 

resurgence of cinema. 

Julien Marcel 

CEO, The Boxoffice Company 


09

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NATO: State of the Industry 12 | Charity Spotlight 14 | Cinema Books 16 

INDUSTRY 

“Simultaneous release is dead as a viable business model, 

and piracy is what killed it.” 

NATO: State of the Industry, p. 12 


11

Industry NATO 

STATE OF THE 

INDUSTRY 

NATO President and CEO 

John Fithian’s State of 

the Industry Address at 


BY JOHN FITHIAN 

“The slate of films in 2022 

and beyond is robust and 

full of massive box office 

potential. The renewed 

commitment of our studio 

partners to exhibition is on 

full display this week.” 

Welcome to CinemaCon 2022, 

everyone! We have such an amazing 

week planned for you that’s full of great 

exclusive footage from major new releases, 

important panels about the future of this 

business, and plenty of opportunities to 

network. 

I want to start out by congratulating 

my friend Ellis Jacob on his well-deserved 

Marquee Award. Ellis, your passion for the 

exhibition industry is undeniable. I know 

I speak for all your colleagues and peers 

when I say that we could not be giving this 

award to a nicer guy. 

I echo Rolando [Rodriguez]’s comments 

about our partnership with the Motion 

Picture Association (MPA) and Charlie 

Rivkin’s leadership of that organization. 

Making it to 100 years is a massive 

achievement. Please give the entire MPA 

team another huge round of applause. 

I’d also like to take a moment to 

recognize an important member of 

the NATO staff who is about to start a 

new chapter. Our vice president and 

chief operating officer Kathy Conroy is 

stepping down after 15 years of dedication 

to the industry she loves so much. Our 

members know how important Kathy’s 

work has been to NATO’s mission, and 

now everyone else in this room will as 

well as we give her the round of applause 

she deserves. 

Finally, a big thank-you goes out to 

our partners at the National Association 

of Concessionaires (NAC), which is led by 

Denise de Zutter, and the International 

Cinema Technology Association (ICTA), 

led by Frank Tees, as well as to NCM for 

designing our presentation today. 

This week is all about the future of our 

industry. There are plenty of reasons to be 

optimistic about what is ahead of us. 

The slate of films in 2022 and beyond 

is robust and full of massive box office 

potential. The renewed commitment of 

our studio partners to exhibition is on 

full display this week. We are happy that 

distributors are releasing movies with 

windows, and that studios and exhibitors 

are working together. 

There is a diverse mix of titles to look 

forward to in the months to come. Blockbusters 

are the keystone of this industry, 

but midrange titles and films aimed specifically 

at families are crucial as well. We’ve 

got all of that. It’s not rocket science: More 

movies results in more box office. 

Just look at the success we’ve had this 

month as the release schedule ramps 

back up. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 proved 

unequivocally that families are ready 


to come back by shattering pre-release 

expectations and topping the debut of its 

predecessor. 

During his speech, Charlie [Rivkin] 

referenced the great work the MPA does 

to combat piracy. I mention piracy right 

after the box office because the two are 

tied very closely together. When a pristine 

copy of a movie makes its way online and 

spreads, it has a very damaging impact on 

our industry. 

Robust theatrical windows protect 

against piracy. If a major title that people 

are clamoring to see in theaters is released 

too quickly to the home and then pirated, 

the temptation to stay home becomes 

greater for many potential moviegoers. 

With the help of the research firm MUSO, 

we closely track piracy levels. When 

analyzing title after title it becomes 

very clear that spikes in piracy are most 

drastic when a movie is first available to 

watch in the home: It doesn’t matter if it’s 

available via premium video-on-demand 

or subscription video-on-demand. 

There is no debating one simple fact: 

Devaluing the importance of the theatrical 

window damages our entire industry. 

Simultaneous release is dead as a viable 

“The future of movie theaters 

will always be first and 

foremost about movies, but 

our industry is much more 

dynamic than it is given 

credit for.” 

business model, and piracy is what killed it. 

Speaking of prioritizing theatrical 

exhibition, this week you will hear a 

lot about the Cinema Foundation that 

NATO recently launched. I am so excited 

about what this historic organization will 

accomplish in the years to come. 

The mission of the Cinema 

Foundation is simple: to advance the 

moviegoing experience. At launch, the 

Cinema Foundation’s key priorities are: 

Moviegoing Promotion and Creative 

Community Involvement, a Center for 

Innovation and Technology, Cinema 

Careers, Education and Diversity, and 

Industry Data and Research. 

The foundation will broaden how our 

industry recruits and retains employees. 

It will gather the best data and research 

possible. It will create two major industry 

think tanks. It will lead exhibition into a 

new era. 

The future of movie theaters will 

always be first and foremost about movies, 

but our industry is much more dynamic 

than it is given credit for. Through its 

groundbreaking initiatives, the Cinema 

Foundation will make that innovation 

even more prominent. 

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13

INDUSTRY CHARITY SPOTLIGHT 

CHARITY 

SPOTLIGHT 

On April 21, Variety – the Children’s 

Charity of St. Louis hosted Variety 

Unbound: An Evening of Empowerment, 

a joyful and inclusive celebration 

featuring performances by Variety 

children’s chorus and dance groups as 

well as Broadway star Ali Stroker, the first 

actor in a wheelchair to win a Tony Award. 

Guests enjoyed dinner, video experiences 

showcasing Variety Kids and their families, 

and a moving grand finale with Variety 

Kids and Stroker performing “A Million 

Dreams” together on stage. 

Thanks to Variety of Texas’s generous 

friends at Cinemark, Cinergy 

Entertainment, Santikos Entertainment, 

and Studio Movie Grill—to name just a 

few of the 20 participating theaters—sales 

of this year’s Cinema Passport generated 

$55,000 to help children in need. In its 

lifetime, the Cinema Passport program— 

which lets those who donate at least $300 

go to the movies for free for a year—has 

brought in $917,200 total for Variety of 

Texas; their goal next year is to cross the 

$1 million mark. 

Illumination and Universal Pictures 

Partner with Variety – the Children’s 

Charity for Annual Gold Heart Campaign 

Illumination and Universal Pictures 

have collaborated with Variety – the 

Children’s Charity to create limitededition 

gold heart pins featuring a new 

character from Illumination’s actionpacked 

new animated film Minions: The 

Rise of Gru, arriving in theaters July 1, 

2022. The collector’s item pin featuring 

the unforgettable new Minion, Otto, who 

sports braces and is always eager to help, 

is available for a minimum donation of 

three dollars in movie theaters nationwide. 

A full list of participating locations can be 

found at www.usvariety.org. 

Proceeds from sales of the pins 

benefit Variety programs that provide 

life-changing equipment, services, and 

experiences to children who live with 

special needs or who are disadvantaged. 

“It costs about four to five times as much 

to raise a child with special needs,” says 

Erica Lopez, executive director of Variety 

– the Children’s Charity of the United 

States. “Thanks to Illumination, Universal 

Pictures, and every person who supports 

our 31st annual Gold Heart campaign, 

Variety can help as many kids as possible 

be active, be social, and belong.” 

Film Industry Rallies in Support 

of Ukraine with Special Re-Release 

of The Guide 

As the North American cinema industry 

continued to pick up steam in the spring 

of 2022, there was an exceptional film 

to be found in theaters alongside the 

Batmans and the Sonics. Released to over 

600 cinemas, director Oles Sanin’s 2014 

drama The Guide tells a moving story of 

resilience in the face of Soviet oppression 

in 1930s Ukraine—a timely subject given 

the humanitarian crisis unfolding at the 

time. The combined efforts of a collection 

of exhibitors and vendors brought the film 

back to theaters, with all proceeds going to 

those affected by the war in Ukraine. 

The release came together rather 

quickly after Howard Kiedaisch, CEO of 

the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition 

(DCDC), met with civil rights activist 

and theater owner Marshall Strauss, 

who mentioned a plan to host a charity 

screening of The Guide at his Cinema 

Salem in Salem, Massachusetts; would 

Kiedaisch have any ideas on how to scale 

the release up? As the CEO of DCDC, 

which is responsible for digital delivery of 

content to cinemas, “I can basically press a 

button” and have the film on thousands of 

screens across North America, responded 

Kiedaisch. But getting it to theaters was 

one thing. Getting theaters to play it, and 

getting moviegoers to attend, was a larger 

and more daunting task—but one that 

Kiedaisch knew the industry would step 

up to accomplish. 

Within hours of meeting Strauss, 

Kiedaisch had made a few phone calls, 

enlisting the help of Mike Polydoros of 

PaperAirplane Media, Scott Kennedy 

of Falling Forward Films, and Jeremy 

Devine of GoTheatreMarketing to help 

with marketing assets, booking, and 

press. “Within 24 hours, I basically had a 

team,” says Kiedaisch. “Everyone I called 

The Guide tells a moving 

story of resilience in the face 

of Soviet oppression in 1930s 

Ukraine—a timely subject 

given the humanitarian crisis 

unfolding at the time. 


said yes. It wasn’t, ‘Oh, I don’t know, I’m 

busy.’ It was like, ‘This is a disaster that 

we’re witnessing—what can we do to help?’ 

So we pulled it all together. Fast forward 

two weeks later, and we had it out on 620 

screens across the U.S. and Canada.” 

There was a lot to be done in those two 

weeks—not least, getting a DCP of film, 

which involved dialing into a computer 

based in Kyiv and hoping the connection 

stayed up over the 30 hours it took to 

download the necessary files. Director 

Sanin, based in the Ukraine, filmed a 

special intro: “Basically him in a parka 

in a bunker. … It’s pretty heavy. There’s real, 

raw emotion there,” says Kiedaisch. More 

companies across the vendor community 

stepped up to help, including Deluxe 

(which did the mastering) and Powster 

(the website), 2656 Studios (outreach 

to independent cinemas), Cinedigm 

(who agreed to waive VPF fees), Vista 

(contributed a billing platform), Stampede 

Studios (cut the trailer), the Prenner Group 

(press outreach), Total Cinema Solutions 

(tech support), the Ukrainian Film Club at 

Columbia University, and finally Pronto 

Films, which waived the rights to The Guide 

under the condition that all proceeds go 

to Ukrainian relief. From there, “Scott and 

Bryce from Falling Forward just started 

calling every exhibitor we could think 

of to say, ‘Hey, are you interested?’” 

Many were, ranging from independently 

owned single cinemas all the way up 

to Regal, which screened the film at 

approximately 180 cinemas. The young 

star of The Guide, Anton Sviatoslav Greene, 

now attending university in Michigan, did 

interviews to drum up interest, speaking 

about the plight of his family and friends 

back in his home country. As of press time, 

Stand with Ukraine: The Guide has pulled 

in over $100,000, donated to the World 

Central Kitchen and the United Nations 

International Organization on Migration. 

Bookings are still coming in and have even 

expanded overseas, where Stand with 

Ukraine: The Guide has screened in France, 

Ireland, the Netherlands, and Australia. 

“It was a pretty intense six weeks,” 

reflects Kiedaisch—and, having gotten 

through them, next on the list is to figure 

out, “Can we make this infrastructure 

repeatable?” replicating the release strategy 

of The Guide to earn money for other 

causes. For now, donations to the Ukraine 

Relief Fund are still being accepted at 

www.standwithukrainethroughfilm.org. 


15

INDUSTRY CINEMA BOOKS 

CULTURAL 

CAPITAL 

Ross Melnick Explores 

the History of Hollywood’s 

Global Cinemas in His 

New Book, Hollywood’s 

Embassies: How Movie 

Theaters Projected American 

Power Around the World 

BY DANIEL LORIA 

How has Hollywood exported 

American values, including its 

ideals of consumerism and luxury, to 

the rest of the world? Through American 

movies, of course, but, more surprisingly, 

as discussed by Ross Melnick in his new 

book, through global American movie 

theaters. Melnick, a professor of film 

and media studies at the University 

of California, Santa Barbara, and a 

prominent scholar of theatrical exhibition 

history, reveals the history of these lavish 

movie theaters, owned and operated 

by the major American film companies, 

and how they allowed audiences from 

Buenos Aires to Johannesburg to watch 

American movies in a distinctly American 

way. Spanning six different global 

regions from 1923 to 2013, Hollywood’s 

Embassies: How Movie Theaters Projected 

American Power Around the World looks 

at how the exhibition of Hollywood 

films became a conduit for political and 

consumerist messaging, selling American 

ideas, products, and power, especially 

in contentious times. A global history 

of movie theaters and moviegoing as 

an American cultural export, Melnick’s 

book is a fascinating and important read. 

BOXOFFICE PRO spoke with the author 

in a wide-ranging interview covering 90 

years of exhibition history. 

I’d like to start our conversation by 

citing a different work of exhibition 

history, Richard Abel’s The Ciné Goes 

to Town: French Cinema, 1896–1914. His 

book describes how early cinema left 

the fairground and started modeling 

itself after the theater. That’s probably 

best exemplified with the opening of 

the Gaumont-Palace in Paris in 1907. 

Your book starts in 1920, the year this 

magazine was founded in Kansas City, 

when movie theaters were popping 

up all over the United States. What 

happened in that gap, between the 

1910s in Paris and the 1920s in the 

United States, as the concept of the 

movie theater begins to materialize? 

At the risk of self-promotion, I should 

mention my previous book, American 

Showman: Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel and 

the Birth of the Entertainment Industry, 

1908–1935, which precisely looks at 

the changes in exhibition from 1908. 

Specifically in New York, with the Regent, 

the Strand, the Rivoli, the Rialto, the 

Capitol, and the Roxy—essentially, the 

genesis and development of theatrical 

exhibition as it moved from the sort of 

smaller nickelodeon movie house and into 

the grand entertainment of cinemas that 

were growing from having 1,500 to 5,960 

seats. That happened in about a 15-year 

period from 1913 to 1927, in which a number 

of exhibitors—Sid Grauman, Samuel 

“Roxy” Rothafel—were working across the 

country to change the way people went 

to the movies. It wasn’t just a screen and 

projection of motion pictures, but it was a 

short newsreel as well as a stage show, live 

music—classical and otherwise—and what 

we would call an evening’s entertainment. 

Moving out of a fairground and into smaller 

venues, vaudeville houses, then becoming 

a purpose-built motion picture theater 

and eventually a deluxe motion picture 

entertainment in what we now refer to as 

the movie palace. 

Suddenly you have everyone going 

to the movies: lower, middle, and upper 

classes. Motion pictures are ascendant, 

vaudeville is receding. A lot of it has to do 

with the way empresarios drove people to 

movie houses in the period of transition 

from the 1910s to the 1920s. World War I 

changed distribution overseas, leading to 

the decline of the European film industry 

and the rise of the American film industry, 

especially as its infrastructure grew around 

the world. The other thing that happens, 

too, is that you have another pandemic, 

which comes between 1918 and 1920. 

Coming out of that, there is a huge influx 

of Wall Street capital that builds these 

vertically integrated companies that are 

not just producing and distributing film, 

they’re also exhibiting it. Suddenly, you 

have the entertainment stream we know 

today. You have vertical and horizontal 

integration, you have multimillion-dollar 

companies bankrolled by banks and other 

financiers, and you have a global industry 

that is concentrated in just a few companies. 

At that time, because we didn’t yet have a 

consent decree, movie theaters are owned 

by the same companies producing all the 

major motion pictures, which are then 

distributed around the world. 

What were the business reasons 

behind Hollywood studios’ decision 

to introduce America-style movie 

theaters overseas? 

Hollywood studios—MGM and 

Paramount first, then later Fox and 

Warner Bros.—had a two-pronged idea 


about operating cinemas overseas: First, 

they wanted to secure first-run venues in 

key international cities, they wanted to 

upgrade exhibition standards, and they 

also wanted to pressure local exhibitors 

to raise their prices and the standards of 

presentation. They realized they could 

export this American idea of deluxe 

entertainment from New York and Los 

Angeles, charge a certain dollar figure 

for it, and keep all the money. If you own 

the cinema, you get the distribution 

dollars and you keep the box office. The 

problem that would happen is that there 

were certain markets—Argentina was 

one, South Africa another—where local 

exhibitors were enormously powerful. 

They owned or managed most of the 

theaters in a given city—Buenos Aires, 

Johannesburg—so MGM and others 

couldn’t get in. Or if they did, they had 

to take very, very bad terms. Studios 

realized they needed a beachhead. 

One method was to open a 

“shopwindow cinema,” which was 

essentially a shopwindow display to 

show people in a given country how films 

should be presented. If you are a smaller 

exhibitor who was in Leeds, you would 

come into London to see how Paramount 

would present its own films at the Plaza. 

By 1928, you’d go to the Empire to see how 

MGM would present their films. It was a 

display model, like a shopwindow, that 

would allow exhibitors to see how they 

could do their lobby, how to present a film. 

Studios would get the money from 

their own box office, secure a first-run 

venue, and begin to pressure local 

exhibitors to either charge the same 

amount or present the same kind of 

projection technologies. Then you start 

thinking about sound, later wide-screen, 

infusing these cinemas with technologies 

that will attract moviegoers. 

In certain countries, there would be 

very few prints of any given film available. 

If you went to one of the “shopwindow 

cinemas” in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, 

or London, you got to see the film before 

it got scratched, which means the best 

presentation was at the American 

movie house. If you look at what MGM 

did in places like Bombay (now Mumbai) 

or Cairo, they developed kids’ clubs— 

what they called the “Cub Clubs”— 

and it was a chance to inculcate a new 

generation of moviegoer by getting the 

kids interested in Coca-Cola, Nabisco 

chocolate cakes, Saturday matinees, 

and Tom and Jerry cartoons. 

The U.S. State Department was very 

clear about the value of American films 

and American movie theaters overseas: 

Nothing sold a Ford automobile like 

seeing it in a movie. Cinemas were often 

the first American buildings in a major 

city. Before you had McDonald’s, before 

Disneyland, you had the movies. We 

don’t always think about American things 

as exotic, but it is worth remembering 

that if you lived in Barcelona in 1923, the 

American movie house was exotic—and 

people were excited to experience this 

idea of Hollywood. It was marketed as a 

way to visit your dreams and fantasies. 

If you love Charlie Chaplin, if you want 

to see Mary Pickford, you could only visit 

them at this one place. 

When and where does this export 

of the American concept of a movie 

theater begin? 

During the 1920s in Germany, you have 

people like [cultural critic and film 

theorist] Siegfried Kracauer saying, 

“We have this influx of American movie 

theaters; these are not like German 

cinemas. These fantasylands have all of 

this kind of entertainment. They’re very 

different than what we’ve had before.” 

You have a very British conception of 

“Here comes this American movie house 

concept. They’re bringing in variety, and 

they’re bringing in all these kinds of 

very American techniques.” Architecture 

plays a role, bringing very stylized Art 

Deco cinemas. But really, it’s about 

management. These companies always 

sent American managers, whether it was 

in Calcutta or Tel Aviv, to operate their 

shopwindow cinemas, which acted as 

cultural embassies for American values. 

You had an American citizen operating 

overseas theaters who would manage 

local staff that understood local customs. 

They brought in American projection 

equipment, sound, air-conditioning, 

concessions, even American usher 

outfits—they brought in everything 

that would replicate the moviegoing 

experience from the U.S. in a way it 

could appeal to local audiences. You 

felt the excitement of going to an exotic 

institution, [a foreign experience] at 

home. It had the ability to capture people 

from the outside but make them feel very 

comfortable and familiar at home. 

“The U.S. State Department 

was very clear about the 

value of American films and 

American movie theaters 

overseas: Nothing sold a 

Ford automobile like seeing 

it in a movie.” 


17

INDUSTRY CINEMA BOOKS 

In your book, you detail the political 

ideology behind this effort, something 

that becomes more pronounced 

during World War II and later as we 

enter the Cold War. 

Germany and the United States were 

playing a cat-and-mouse game around 

exhibition. They saw movie theaters as 

not just the transmission of feature films; 

they saw them as embassies to transmit 

local information and entertainment 

media directly to the citizens of a given 

country. They fought this out around the 

world, where UFA [the leading German 

film company, founded in 1917] was 

building Nazi-oriented cinemas while the 

United States was building Hollywoodoriented 

cinemas. Remember that at this 

point, in the 1930s and 1940s, it was not 

just about feature films: we also have 

shorts and newsreels. 

Looking at this from today’s 

perspective: A contemporary 12-screen 

multiplex is probably only showing 

eight films, maybe six, on any given 

day. When you look at streamers like 

Netflix or Amazon, there are hundreds of 

films the algorithm is serving you. The 

curation model of a movie theater means 

that somebody has very cleverly and 

carefully selected what is right for that 

market. When we talk about single-screen 

theaters, which is what they were in the 

’30s and ’40s, the major movie houses 

around the world had a very important 

role in defining what people saw as mass 

entertainment. UFA cinemas had the 

ability to transmit Nazi-sympathetic 

or even Nazi-promotional information 

directly to moviegoers. 

If you go back to something that 

the famous movie theater architect S. 

Charles Lee said, “The show starts on the 

sidewalk.” The moviegoing experience 

starts as you’re walking up to the 

marquee. The neon bulbs, the lettering 

on the marquee, the lobby display, 

everything inside the movie theater— 

including how the audience reacts to 

the movie—everything is programmed 

and organized. That’s giving you an 

opportunity to curate a feeling, a 

sentiment, and an ideology. 

My book looks at six regions around the 

world and studies how the American 

moviegoing experience plays out 

differently across every region and from 

country to country within those regions. 

“When you look at streamers 

like Netflix or Amazon, there 

are hundreds of films the 

algorithm is serving you. 

The curation model of a 

movie theater means that 

somebody has very cleverly 

and carefully selected what is 

right for that market.” 

During the postwar era in the 

United States we see a massive 

population shift, with people leaving 

urban centers, abandoning these 

historic cinemas built in the previous 

decades. The movie palace falls into 

disrepair in the late 1960s and the ’70s. 

Eventually, suburbanization comes 

to the U.S. exhibition business, 

introducing multiplexes in suburban 

shopping malls through the 1980s 

and ’90s. It changes the American 

conception of a movie theater here at 

home. What impact does that have on 

international markets? 

These massive movie houses built in 

the ’20s and ’30s go into a steep decline 

around the world as well. You see that 

in places like Johannesburg, in Rio de 

Janeiro, and across countless markets. 

A lot of it is because of rising real estate 

values, changing distribution patterns, and 

desires among audiences who don’t want 

to see Paint Your Wagon but actually want 

to go see Shaft instead. 

Suddenly, you have the desire for 

the multiplex, which can program 

different kinds of films for different 

kinds of audiences. Instead of having 

this Hollywood conception of a general 

audience that will see everything, you 

now have films that target a fragmented 

audience catered to by a multiplex. This 

doesn’t just happen in the suburban 

multiplex; in many cities you see the old 

movie houses get split up to accommodate 

more screens. Balconies walled off into 

their own auditorium, splitting the 

downstairs into three screens, and now 

you’ve got terrible sound bleeding through 

the walls and bad sightlines. People get 

upset with that experience and instead opt 

for the new four-plex out in the suburbs. 

I should clarify that although studios 

divested their domestic chains in that 

period between 1948 and 1959 because 

of the consent decree, they were still 

allowed to operate theaters internationally. 

Studios kept their foreign cinemas long 

after they closed their domestic chains. 

But Hollywood starts to move away from 

foreign exhibition by the 1970s. Fox sells all 

of its African theaters by 1975; it’s already 

out of South Africa and colonial Zimbabwe 

by 1969. You begin to see more and more of 

this transition to these new companies like 

Cinema International Corporation (CIC) and 

UGC, which eventually turn into exhibition 

conglomerates backed by studios. 


They reach a point where they’ve 

amassed a huge amount of debt and need 

to sustain a ton of overhead for aging 

cinemas that require upkeep as people 

begin desiring the new, big suburban 

cinemas. The transition from the 

“shopwindow” and single-screen model 

into the multiplex was jarring for everyone. 

But that transition was also a good way 

of getting a lot of debt off your books and 

making a good bit of money by selling 

your real estate holdings in downtown 

urban centers. 

The multiplex itself, however, is no less 

an American experience. If you look at 

the Latin American exhibition business 

today, cinemas in countries like Brazil 

are wholly reliant on building a new 

American-style shopping mall or 

retail center. The contemporary movie 

theater in Latin America is part of an 

American shopping experience, and a 

mall in Costa Rica is indistinguishable 

from one in Connecticut. 

Street cinemas, unfortunately, went away 

quite quickly in that period of the 1980s to 

the 2000s. The way these new shopping 

malls attracted people, not just in the U.S. 

but also overseas, is that there was the 

perception of privatized spaces—sticking 

movie theaters on the top level of a 

mall—to get this perception that within 

the wholly enclosed private building you 

have an element of security that a street 

cinema cannot provide. What’s lost in that 

moment is that [cinemas’ identities] are 

subsumed within the larger real estate 

project. You are often named for the name 

of the mall of the real estate complex. 

You’re no longer the Paramount or the 

Regent—you’re now the “Name-Your- 

Chain Crossings 12.” 

Once that happens, you begin to lose 

that architecture of fantasy, the idea that 

the show starts on the sidewalk—because 

it no longer starts on the sidewalk, and it 

may not even start on the escalator. The 

show now starts when you’re standing at 

the box office next to a department store. 

It’s a very different kind of model. The 

real excitement of the American movie 

house overseas, whether it was in Sydney 

or Tokyo, is that it was a Hollywood edifice, 

which often stood in contrast to either 

colonial architecture or the local aesthetic. 

You had an exotic Hollywood experience 

right on your street that was calling 

people’s attention to it. 

“Although studios divested 

their domestic chains in that 

period between 1948 and 

1959 because of the consent 

decree, they were still 

allowed to operate theaters 

internationally.” 

Your book closes its study in 2013, 

which ironically is when we see 

the reverse happening in the 

exhibition industry. Since 2013, 

there has been a massive wave of 

investment and acquisition from 

foreign exhibitors entering the 

United States. Now we have foreign 

models of the moviegoing experience 

staking a claim in the United States 

as parts of these foreign-owned 

multinational circuits. 

It was a very interesting irony that one 

of Warner Bros.’ earliest partners in 

China, Dalian Wanda, became at one 

time the owner of AMC and helped 

drive some of their acquisitions around 

the world. But there are many different 

companies that have come into the 

United States for all kinds of reasons. 

You had an Indian company like Reliance 

work with Phoenix Theatres to manage 

an Indian concept of cinemas in the 

United States. South Korea’s CJ CGV 

operates a number of Korean cinemas— 

which they very interestingly refer to as 

a “cultureplex”—with the idea that these 

are a way to engage with Korean culture. 

You have Cinépolis, a Mexican company 

that has been a huge player in the Latin 

American market, entering India and 

many other markets. As American studios 

shed their exhibition divisions, you see 

groups like Cineworld rise to prominence 

and eventually acquire Regal in the 

United States. 

We’re in quite a different moment, 

because the periods that I’m looking 

at in my book, 1923 to 2013, that’s a 90- 

year period where film is the primary 

entertainment for mass entertainment 

in the world. Right now, we have a real 

question about exactly how film functions 

in the U.S. We have so many films that 

are distributed immediately to streaming 

services that are not getting a theatrical 

run. It’s a very strange thing to have 

written a book dealing with 90 years of 

history and have it end just before this 

huge fissure in the industry. We’re seeing 

glimpses of a world where theatrical can 

return to its moment of glory. I still think 

there are a lot of questions about exactly 

how this is all going to shake out. 

Hollywood’s Embassies: How Movie 

Theaters Projected American Power 

Around the World by Ross Melnick is now 

available from Columbia University Press. 


19

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Indie Focus 22 | CinemaCon Technology Recap 30 

THEATER 

“That’s why the community aspect is so important. We are going to heal 

from the chaos of the pandemic. We all have to come together.” 

Indie Focus, p. 22 


21

Theater INDIE FOCUS 

INDIE FOCUS 

Brought to you by 

As the cinema industry emerges 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 ask them to share their first-person 

accounts of bringing the movies back to the big screen. 

DIGITAL GYM CINEMA 

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA 

Interview with Moisés Esparza, 

Exhibitions Manager 

What does San Diego’s indie cinema 

scene look like, and what role does the 

Digital Gym Cinema play in it? 

We’re really lucky that we have a very 

diverse and multifaceted film scene here. 

We have major film festivals, like the San 

Diego Asian Film Festival and the San 

Diego Latino Film Festival, which we also 

produce. The [San Diego International] 

Jewish Film Festival. There are many 

different types of film festivals in town 

that allow cinephiles and independent 

film lovers to be exposed to the very best 

that world cinema has to offer. 

And then we also have some indie 

cinemas, like La Paloma Theatre, which is a 

wonderful one-screen cinema in Encinitas, 

this very beautiful beachside town. There 

are also some Landmark [Theatres] in town 

that play independent films. But in the 

central San Diego area, the Digital Gym Cinema 

provides weekly access to indie films 

that wouldn’t be screened in other cinemas 

around town. That’s our main function, is 

to be able to give a voice and a platform to 

filmmakers who have these amazing, exciting 

propositions that may otherwise not get 

theatrical play in San Diego. 



23


We’re big believers in watching films 

communally. I know that the pandemic 

has pushed us all into our living rooms. 

The most exciting aspect of reopening 

is being able to offer this opportunity 

to watch films as a community. There’s 

such a special kinship that happens when 

you’re watching something truly moving 

on-screen, or something exciting or 

innovative. And when you see it with an 

audience, it just enhances that experience. 

The type of content that we screen 

isn’t always linear. Some of them don’t 

follow traditional plot devices. What I 

love the most is hearing our audience 

discuss the film afterwards. I’m not really 

that interested in whether people like the 

movies or not, but I am interested in the 

discussion that comes from innovation 

in genre modalities or sensibilities. If 

a film is really confounding, I love the 

opportunity to hear everyone else’s 

perspectives on what the meaning of the 

film is, because it can be so subjective. 

That not only enhances the viewing 

experience, but it also enhances my 

procedure as a programmer when I see 

that audiences are willing to take a risk on 

an experimental film or a film a little bit 

“There’s such a special 

kinship that happens when 

you’re watching something 

truly moving on-screen, 

or something exciting or 

innovative. And when you see 

it with an audience, it just 

enhances that experience.” 

left, left, left of center. It prompts me to 

look for more films that are in that vein. 

Sometimes, if there’s a string of films 

that are maybe just too out there, I scale 

back and try to book something that’s 

a little bit more accessible. That public 

feedback really helps me find that perfect 

medium between the accessible fare and 

the more avant-garde films. It humbles me 

to be able to reopen our cinema in a town 

that’s already so rich with organizations 

trying to screen wonderful films from all 

over the world. I’m humbled to be a part of 

this amazing community. 

Can you walk us through the Digital 

Gym’s timeline, specifically your recent 

move and why it took place? What 

were the challenges of getting a new 

cinema ready to open during Covid? 

We established the Digital Gym Cinema 

in 2013 in a neighborhood called North 

Park in San Diego. We took over an old 

auto parts store and turned it into a movie 

theater. At the time, it was one-of-a-kind 

in that neighborhood in particular. We 

were really instrumental in revitalizing 

that block of the North Park neighborhood. 

It took a while to build an audience, 


ecause people go to movie theaters 

they’re used to, or maybe sometimes 

people don’t want to seek out some of 

these independent films—until they do, 

and they become fans of them. So it took 

a while to get into the swing of things. 

But once we did, we became a really 

exciting hub where cinephiles could come 

visit, week after week, and be exposed to 

amazing content. 

Our lease expired during the pandemic, 

and we weren’t able to renew it. In August 

of 2020, we moved out of that North 

Park location. At the same time, we 

were developing a relationship with the 

University of California San Diego, and 

they were building a new cultural center 

[the Media Arts Center San Diego] in 

downtown. They were really excited about 

the idea of having a cinema be part of this 

new cultural center. We were able to work 

it out so that the new Digital Gym Cinema 

is in this amazing new building called the 

Park & Market, which is in downtown San 

Diego. It’s been almost two years since we 

were last open. We are really excited to be 

able to screen films once again. 

The pandemic also gave me and my 

team the time to really think about what 

type of cinema we want to be and what 

type of programming we want to have. 

We were able to really think about those 

questions. Now that we’re reopening, it 

all seems kind of rushed. But it’s been two 

years in the making. [The Digital Gym 

Cinema officially opened in the Media Arts 

Center San Diego on May 6, 2022.] 

It’s like pushing the reset button, almost. 

And in a brand-new neighborhood. We 

anticipate that it’ll take a while for us 

to build the type of attendance that we 

used to have at our former location. Like I 

said, we’re also very excited by the idea of 

tapping into new neighborhoods. We are 

surrounded by residential buildings that 

are 20 stories high, maybe. I know there 

are people in these buildings that love 

watching films, but it’s just going to take 

a while for us to be able to reach them. It’s 

an endeavor and a challenge that we’re 

really excited to undertake. 

Our partnership with the University of 

California San Diego is really valuable, and 

they’ve been super supportive. Whenever 

people stop by for tours, they’re like, “Oh, 

there’s a cinema here!” and I see their eyes 

light up. They get excited by the idea of a 

cinema in their neighborhood. I hope that 

“The pandemic also gave 

my team and me the time to 

really think about what type 

of cinema we want to be and 

what type of programming we 

want to have. We were able 

to really think about those 

questions.” 

we become a destination for cinephiles 

in downtown San Diego. It’s all very, very 

exciting. Definitely a reset. With each 

email that we send out, with each social 

media post that we put up, I see responses 

from individuals who supported us in our 

former location saying, “I can’t wait for 

you to open.” When you see advance sales 

coming in, it’s reassuring to know that you 

still have a place in the community after a 

long absence. 

That connection with local institutions 

and communities is so important. The 

pandemic made it more difficult across 

the board—and, with Digital Gym, you 

have the added messaging struggle of 

reopening in a different neighborhood. 

How did you approach that challenge? 

It’s definitely been a challenge. I think 

we’re all creatures of habit. We like 

things to be in exactly the same place 

that they’ve always been. If anything, the 

pandemic has taught us all that we have 

to adapt. And beyond adapting, we also 

have to support what’s important to us. 

Independent film is something that we’re 

really passionate about. The onus is on 

the audience to seek out that independent 

theater or that independent content. 

Otherwise, we won’t be able to serve 

the community anymore. We’re here to 

provide the films, but I do think that there 

are people out there who really want the 

cinematic experience to continue. 

If people really want to preserve the 

wonderful tradition of going to the movies, 

they have to go to the movies. That’s the 

bottom line. We’re there to help them 


25


along the way via email, social media 

posts, advertisements, radio interviews. 

We’ve been doing our part in getting the 

word out. Something that I’m looking 

forward to is reestablishing the wonderful 

partnerships we had with different film 

festivals and organizations who hosted 

their screenings at the [original] Digital 

Gym Cinema. There’s a group called the 

Film Geeks here in San Diego, and they 

program yearly showcases of horror 

cinema. We also hosted the San Diego 

Asian Film Festival and the German 

Film Festival [San Diego]. I want these 

institutions to know that our venue is 

available to them to screen their films, 

because I think the key to longevity 

is these partnerships with other local 

institutions and aligning ourselves under 

a common goal, which is the public 

exhibition of film. 

Programming, whether festival films 

or everyday screenings, is obviously 

a huge part of this new incarnation 

of Digital Gym. As you look to 

rebuild your audience, what sort 

of programming strands are you 

looking at? 

“That’s why the community 

aspect is so important. We are 

going to heal from the chaos of 

the pandemic. We all have to 

come together.” 

Right now we’re in a very exploratory 

period in terms of getting reacquainted 

with the content that’s available to us. I 

found, especially with the films that we’ve 

programmed in May—which include 

[Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s] Memoria, 

[Hong Sang-soo’s] In Front of Your Face, 

and Gaspar Noé’s newest, Vortex—a lot of 

these films are really, really personal and 

internal. These great big ideas—about 

existentialism, and why we’re here on 

Earth, and how to make the most out of 

life—are posed back on the audience. 

We’ve all been in the middle of one big 

existential crisis these last few years. 

The filmmakers are posing these 

questions right back at you. I think a 

really great way for us to mediate our own 

struggles with what it means to be alive 

right now is through art and through 

seeing other characters, whether fictional 

or not, go through something similar. 

And feeling the energy from other 

people in the room going through that 

same thing. 

Exactly. That’s why the community aspect 

is so important. We are going to heal from 


the chaos of the pandemic. We all have 

to come together. Art is a perfect way to 

conceptualize the trauma and hopefully 

come up with collective strategies to 

overcome what we’ve all been through. 

In terms of the programming, [we’re] 

trying to listen to what the filmmakers 

are saying and provide our cinema as a 

vessel for finding some sort of resolution 

to the state of the world right now. And 

then eventually I’ll go down some familiar 

roads. [At the original location,] we 

screened a lot of documentaries with a 

social justice angle. We screened a lot of 

films in Spanish—I mentioned that we 

also produce the San Diego Latino Film 

Festival. Films in Spanish are always really, 

really successful. We also did different 

showcases throughout the year that I’d 

love to repeat. We used to have a showcase 

called The Locals, where we screened local 

films. I look forward to bringing that back. 

Around December, January, when buzz 

is around a lot of nominated films, either 

through the Academy or the Independent 

Spirit Awards, we have this showcase 

called For Your Consideration, where we 

screen some of these very, very celebrated 

films. Sometimes we move films over from 

Landmark or other chains, [films] that 

may not have found their audience. We 

call those Last Chance Indies. There are 

all these showcases that were in play when 

we were previously open that I want to 

reintroduce over time. They might work. 

They might not. But right now, we’re just 

exploring. And first things first is just 

opening and letting people know that 

we’re back. 

It sounds like Digital Gym Cinema 

takes a very thoughtful approach to 

everything you do—I’d imagine that 

applies to your choice of in-theater 

advertising partner. 

Since we are reopening, working with 

someone we’ve worked with in the past was 

an important aspect, because maintaining 

relationships is very important to us. The 

ads that we receive from Spotlight [Cinema 

Networks]—we saw a lot of advertising 

tune-in spots for upcoming stuff that was 

going to be on Hulu [and] that already 

aligned with the type of content that we 

were screening. Even though we’re a little 

bit more off the beaten path in terms of 

independent cinema, I think there is a 

place for advertisers in our cinema and 

other indie cinemas. Partly because you 

“In terms of the programming, 

[we’re] trying to listen to what 

the filmmakers are saying 

and provide our cinema as a 

vessel for finding some sort of 

resolution to the state of the 

world right now.” 

can also look at commercials from a very 

creative standpoint. Not every ad that we 

screen is run of the mill. There are some 

that are very, very impactful. The ad is 

maybe selling you something, but in a way, 

most art forms are selling you something. If 

it’s not an actual product, it’s probably an 

idea or a thought or a concept. 

At their best, ads can be really good 

short films. 

Some of the ones I’ve seen are super 

well-made. It’s also part of the filmgoing 

experience. You go, you watch the 

commercials, you watch trailers, you 

watch the film. It’s like a threshold that 

you have to cross in order to gain access 

to the actual film. I personally like sitting 

through all that stuff. Some other people 

might not, but I enjoy just seeing moving 

images on screen, to be honest. There’s 

definitely a place for ads in the Digital 

Gym Cinema. 


27

Theater TECHNOLOGY 

SETTING 

A NEW 

STANDARD 

Cinema Technology Innovations Seek to Set 

New Benchmarks at CinemaCon 2022 

BY CHARLOTTE ORZEL 

30 

CineEurope 2022

At the event, studio 

executives exhorted theater 

owners to fine tune their 

existing technological 

presentations in anticipation 

of new titles. 


31


With cinema-industry professionals 

gathering again at CinemaCon 

2022 and studios showcasing exciting 

possibilities for enhanced presentation of 

their films alongside the slates themselves, 

exhibitors may finally be ready to 

consider upgrades to their technological 

infrastructure. At the event, studio 

executives exhorted theater owners to 

fine tune their existing technological 

presentations in anticipation of new 

titles, and they name-dropped technology 

partners that exhibitors might consider 

for new formats and upgrades. No 

upcoming title did this more effectively 

than Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water, 

which, as NATO president and CEO John 

Fithian noted at a press session during the 

proceedings, will be available in theaters 

in more versions than any movie in “the 

history of movies.” Because the film’s 

release date is set for December 2022 and 

three more sequels are scheduled for the 

next six years, The Way of Water arrives 

at the right moment in the recovery to get 

exhibitors thinking not only about special 

formats but the broader strategy and 

longevity of their technology approach. 

Technology has already been a major 

piece of exhibition’s recovery in the last 

year. Premium large-format auditoriums 

overindexed on box office as audiences 

returned to cinemas in 2021, becoming 

an important attraction for those looking 

for distinctive out-of-home experiences. 

This was especially important when key 

titles like Black Widow and Dune were still 

premiering day and date and as release 

windows shortened overall. But such 

trends also point to the importance of 

technology as a differentiator, whether 

premium format or rising standard, for 

drawing audiences back with a variety 

of elevated presentation options that 

enhance the cinemagoing experience. 

Some exhibitors are beginning to 

think more expansively about technology 

while developing their recovery-era 

approaches. Just ahead of CinemaCon, 

AMC Theatres announced a major 

investment in elevating the standard 

cinemagoing experience at its theaters. 

Partnering with Cinionic, they announced 

they would be upgrading 3,500 screens, 

just under half their U.S. circuit, to laser 

projection by 2026, calling the project 

their most substantial projector upgrade 

since the transition to digital. CEO Adam 

Aron framed the project as part of a longterm 

commitment to raising cinematic 

standards as the pandemic wanes: “For 

the last two years as AMC has navigated 

its way through the pandemic, we have 

done so not only with the intention of 

survival but with an eye to the future of 

moviegoing and continuing to enhance 

the guest experience at our theaters.” 

For Cinionic, the AMC partnership 

signals a growing appetite, particularly 

among large exhibitors, to elevate their 

technological infrastructure. “What you 

see some of the big players saying is 


“What you see some of the 

big players saying is that they 

want to get to where they can 

dramatically upgrade the 

experience to the moviegoer.” 

that they want to get to where they can 

dramatically upgrade the experience to 

the moviegoer,” says Cionic CEO Wim 

Buyens. “They want to go there first.” 

The watchword for Cinionic and other 

technology providers in the recovery era 

is flexibility. “For us,” says Buyens, “it’s 

very important that customers find their 

path to the next generation.” To that end, 

Cinionic offers a range of options for 

exhibitors of all sizes who are looking to 

move to laser projection. The company’s 

Laser Light Upgrade program allows 

exhibitors to retrofit a Barco Series 2 

xenon projector for laser projection in as 

little as three hours. For those looking for 

a projector designed from top to bottom 

for the latest improvements in laser, 

Barco’s Series 4 projector line offers higher 

performance, redesigned components, 

and quieter operation, among other 

features. Alongside image brightness, 

contrast, and color improvements onscreen, 

both retrofit and full projector 

upgrades extend projector lifetimes, 

simplify maintenance, and increase 

energy efficiency. Buyens says it is this 

combination of delivering stunning 

experiences to moviegoers hungry for 

high-quality presentation and increased 

efficiency to cost-conscious exhibitors 

that has led to a “business-decision 

acceleration” for the laser transition as the 

industry recovers. 

Christie has taken a different approach, 

continuing to develop both its laser 

and xenon projection technology; the 

company launched two new models of 

each type before CinemaCon. “Xenon 

has always been, in its class, the best 

performer at its price”, says Christopher 

Shu, senior global marketing manager 

for Christie’s cinema division. “So we’ve 

kept that as part of our product line but 

wanted to ensure that the functionality, 

the electronics that support it, are also up 

to the standards of today.” Christie’s new 

xenon models feature longer lamp life and 

greater reliability and are fully integrated 

with Christie’s CineLife+ system that 

simplifies color and brightness correction 

and enables remote projector operation. 

Laser technology is nonetheless building 

significant momentum. “As we look to the 

future,” Shu says, “RGB really is the way 

to go when you’re looking for something 

that’s better for the environment, better 

for your budget, better to operate, lower in 

maintenance, and that really delivers the 

picture you expect, not only in 2022 but 

in 2032.” 

He also notes that within these broad 

categories of its product line, Christie 

can easily combine its range of projectors 

with lenses and other accessories to 

customize projector setups for exhibitors. 

“There are over 400 permutations of 

projectors that are really tailored to find 

the right light to light the screen for your 

cinema. And we’ve created tools—our 

CineMaster calculator helps to create 

the bespoke solution that’s fit for that 

auditorium. We also have a lens guide 

that helps determine what exactly is 

going to squeeze the most light out of that 

projector and accomplish what you’re 

looking for. So whether you’re the small 

theater around the corner or the large 

cinema chain, we really address the needs 

of both sides.” 

Those exhibitors looking for upgraded 

projection tailored to smaller screening 

rooms and mini-theaters may turn to GDC 

Technology’s award-winning Espedeo 

Supra-5000, which is designed to offer 

high-quality laser projection quiet and 

compact enough that it can be mounted 

directly on an auditorium ceiling. GDC 

has also sought to raise the bar for cinema 

audio, developing a range of solutions 

for SMPTE’s Immersive Audio Bitstream 

(IAB) standard in partnership with sound 

partner DTS:X. These solutions enable 

greater flexibility in speaker configurations 

for a range of auditoriums, creating more 

choices and cost-effective options for 

exhibitors looking to retrofit sites for 3D 

sound. The Supra-5000 offers built-in 

options for IAB-compatible DTS:X audio 

processing, and the company offers IAB 

support with several of its media servers, 

such as its sixth-generation SR-1000 IMB, 

which is compatible with Series 1 to 4 DLP 

projectors from Barco, Christie, and NEC. 

As exhibitors and their technology 

partners at CinemaCon discussed 

opportunities to enhance the value 

of standard theater tickets, premium 

experiences were also on display. 

Exhibitors unwrapped their 3D glasses to 

get their first taste of the visual splendor of 

Avatar: The Way of Water in Dolby Vision 

3D. And the crisp, bright laser image and 

immersive sound of Top Gun: Maverick 

showcased in the film’s preview screening 

in the Colosseum, as well as ample 

discussion by director Joseph Kosinski 

of the technical challenges and visual 


33


rewards of filming with Imax cameras in 

the cockpits of real fighter jets, likely had 

many attendees hungry to see the film 

again, this time in a premium large format. 

One such format is ScreenX, the 

270-degree, three-panel screen concept 

created by CJ 4DPLEX, currently 

installed at 372 screens in 38 countries. 

“Joe Kosinski shot all the aerial footage 

scenes in Maverick with 680-degree 

cameras on the planes,” says Don Savant, 

CEO of CJ 4DPLEX Americas. “We 

had tremendous footage to work with 

on that that’s really opened up the 

picture.” Cultivating partnerships with 

talent like Kosinski has been essential 

for developing brand recognition for 

ScreenX and the company’s multisensory 

motion-seating format, 4DX. According to 

Duncan MacDonald, head of worldwide 

marketing and theater development, 

such partnerships have been a key piece 

of CJ 4DPLEX’s broader strategy to 

communicate to audiences that their 

premium formats offer an experience that 

they cannot get at home. 

In a time when premium formats are 

proliferating, Savant says that ScreenX 

and 4DX are an ideal part of a broader 

menu of experiences for moviegoers. 

“That’s the beauty of these two premium 

formats: they’re complementary to almost 

any other format because they’re so 

unique.” While ScreenX is intended for a 

broader moviegoing audience, 4DX, which 

offers motion chairs equipped with 21 

effects, including rain, scents, and fog, is 

especially effective for drawing in younger 

cinemagoers looking for something even 

more immersive. 

While both formats are designed for 

big movies, Savant emphasizes that the 

company understands that distinction in 

a flexible way. CJ 4DPLEX will be releasing 

Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis in ScreenX in June. 

They hope the film’s showpiece musical 

sequences will replicate the format’s 

success with 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, 

but the experience also requires a more 

intimate touch to depict the central 

relationship between the rock star and his 

manager, Colonel Tom Parker. This kind 

of oscillation is perfect for ScreenX, Savant 

says. “Directors love the fact that after a 

big vista scene or a big action scene that, 

when the sidewalls go black, it draws your 

attention back to the main screen, going 

where the story is.” 

Cinionic has taken another approach 

to branding premium experiences, 

developing a strategy for its Cinionic 

Giant Screen to meet a need they 

identified in the market: delivering 

premium screening solutions while 

allowing exhibitors to link them to their 

own brand identities. Cinionic works 

with exhibitors to offer laser projection, 

enhanced audio, and films remastered 

for larger screens alongside specialized 

posters and entryways under exhibitors’ 

own PLF brands. These premium screens 

are branded as “powered by Cinionic,” 

“elevating,” rather than eclipsing, 

exhibitors’ in-house branding, according 

to Buyens. Though only present on 20 

worldwide screens today, Cinionic hopes 

its solution will continue to grow. 

Increased technological sophistication 

also requires increased attention to 

monitoring, maintenance, and quality 

control. Technology partners have 

responded with tools and services that 

ease these processes for exhibitors as 

they try to get the most value from 

their investments. One such solution is 

Cinergy, developed by Digital Cinema 

Implementation Partners and Moving 

Image Technologies and acquired by 

Christie in December 2021. The cloudbased 

software allows exhibitors to 

manage and track digital content and 

assets, key delivery, equipment and 

systems health, and maintenance plans, 

including for non-Christie technology and 

assets. “It’s a tool built for cinema,” says 

Josh Klobeck, senior director of Christie’s 


NEW CINEMA 

TECHNOLOGY 

INNOVATIONS 

Network Operations Center and business 

operations in its professional services 

program. “It’s a tool that is really powerful 

for the market to manage the proliferation 

of technology we’ve seen in digital.” Key 

to this power is the software’s flexibility, 

which enables users to coordinate with 

Christie Professional Services and external 

service organizations or to monitor or 

manage maintenance themselves using 

the software or its mobile app. Christie has 

also made sure that its larger program is 

ready to support new and existing clients 

before, during, and after equipment 

purchase, as reopenings turn exhibitors’ 

attention back to technology. The 

company has also stocked up on key parts 

like lamps and filters to meet exhibitors’ 

maintenance needs and hedge against 

ongoing supply chain issues. 

In addition to their own service 

support program, Cinionic has built 

maintenance into the design of its Series 

4 laser projectors, adding a layer to the 

company’s emphasis on the efficiency 

potential of laser technology. These 

projectors, including their two newest 

models, include upgraded “smart” sensors 

that greatly simplify the maintenance 

and repair process. These sensors, says 

Buyens, allow for greater precision when 

handling delicate projector parts: “You 

know when you’re going to touch it and 

you know what you’re going to touch it for.” 

Along with improved sensors, Cinionic 

has attended to the design of laser plates, 

filters, and other components, developing 

these components and the projector 

body for ease of repair and replacement 

of key parts. They have also worked to 

improve component modularity, creating 

interchangeable parts across different 

projectors in the Series 4 line. 

CJ 4DPLEX also keeps exhibitors’ 

needs in mind after installation, offering 

comprehensive maintenance programs 

for both ScreenX and 4DX, as well as a 

one-year warranty. The program includes 

a yearly training visit, where maintenance 

technicians assess equipment and retrain 

exhibition employees on best practices. The 

company also keeps strategically located 

parts centers worldwide, which is especially 

important for 4DX, considering the 

complexity of the format’s effects system. 

Helping cinemas develop a strategy, 

says Christie’s Shu, is about weighing 

a range of concerns, including 

presentation quality, equipment capability, 

maintenance needs, and exhibitor budgets. 

“It’s really about bringing those options 

to the table.” The key factor, he says, is 

making sure the strategy each exhibitor 

lands on is forward-looking. “I’ve had 

customers come in and say, you know, 

we’ve been to a local theater. And I think 

the picture that I see in my house is better 

than what I’ve seen there,” he says. “You’ve 

got to be able to show movies like it’s 2022, 

right? Because that’s the world we live in 

now. And that’s the differentiation that 

we’re trying to establish.” 

Increased technological 

sophistication also requires 

increased attention to 

monitoring, maintenance, 

and quality control. 

Cinionic Barco SP2K 

The newest Barco Series 4 

additions expand Cinionic’s laser 

family with two new models, 

SP2K-20 and SP2K-25. The latest 

entries to the award-winning 

Barco Series 4 range deliver 

brilliant presentation in 2K and 

the benefits of a next-generation 

projection platform. 

Christie Xenon and RGB CineLife+ 

Series Cinema Projectors 

With the new Christie CP2420- 

Xe and CP4420-Xe, built with 

CineLife+ advanced electronics, 

cinemas will get the tried, tested, 

and true reliability they’ve come to 

expect from their projectors—and 

much more. 

GDC Technology of America 

Espedeo Supra-5000 

The new built-in DTS:X immersive 

audio solution featuring IAB 

support for the GDC ultra-reliable 

SR-1000 IMB and award-winning 

Espedeo Supra-5000 cinema 

laser projector. 


35

THE U 

MATE CINEMA EXPERIENCE 

longer warranty hours than standard lamps 

www.ltilighting.com

UNIC 38 | Steve Knibbs 40 | Anna Marsh 44 | Géke Roelink 48 | Giants of Exhibition 51 

CINEEUROPE 

“We’ve all been hit hard, but the past two years have shown the strength of our industry—not 

only cinemas but also colleagues in film distribution, technology, concessions, ticketing, data 

analytics, screen advertising, and so many other parts of the sector.” 

Welcome to CineEurope 2022, p. 38 


37

CINEEUROPE WELCOME TO CINEEUROPE 2022 

WELCOME TO 

CINEEUROPE 2022 

Let’s celebrate, together, the return of the big screen. 

BY LAURA HOULGATTE 

I’m delighted to welcome you all to 

the beautiful city of Barcelona for this 

year’s edition of CineEurope—the biggest 

convention of its kind in Europe. Having 

faced the most challenging of periods, 

everyone’s focus is now on how best to 

adapt to the “new normal,” sustaining a 

strong recovery and celebrating the return 

of the Big Screen—and what better place to 

do that than CineEurope? 

Over the past two years, we have 

witnessed the resilience of the cinema 

sector, its capacity to adapt to difficult 

circumstances and kick-start its recovery 

process. Although the impact of the 

Covid-19 pandemic on the European and 

global cinema industry remains significant, 

last year’s results illustrate the industry’s 

strength and the eagerness of European 

audiences to return to the big screen. 

In 2021, European cinema admissions 

increased by an estimated 38 percent, with 

over 590 million visits across the region. 

Box office reached an estimated €3.7 

billion, an increase of 42 percent on the 

previous year—and 58 percent down on 

the high point of 2019. 

At the E.U. level—including the U.K.— 

over 400 million tickets were sold, worth 

an estimated €2.9 billion at the box office, 

all of this when most screens across the 

region were shut for the first half of the 

year and operating in the six months that 

followed under limited occupancy and 

additional restrictions. 

As has been the case in the past, the 

box office was mainly driven by major 

international titles including Spider-Man: 

No Way Home, No Time to Die, F9: The 

Fast Saga, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, 

and Dune. Spider-Man: No Way Home in 

particular served as further evidence of 

cinemas’ capacity to attract audiences 

and create global events even during 

challenging times, with over $1.89 billion 

grossed at the global box office as of 

today—just $159 million shy of Avengers: 

Infinity War. 

At the same time, local titles have 

played a key role in the recovery process. 

National films’ market shares were 

higher than in normal years across the 

region, most impressively in France 

(40.8 %), the Czech Republic (38.3%), 

and Denmark (37.0%). 

For us, there is no better place to 

showcase European cinemagoing than 

CineEurope. The convention embodies 

everything that makes the European 

cinema industry so special and explores 

the latest trends and developments in 

the big-screen experience, highlighting 

its continued value for audiences and for 

the film sector. And this edition will be 

no exception. 

This year, we will kick off with a 

session on “Re-imagining the Big Screen 

Experience,” which will shine a light on 

how to continue to make the big screen 

so unique. We can then look forward to a 

highly anticipated executive roundtable 

bringing together top leaders from across 

the cinema landscape to explore the 

lessons learned from recent times and 

what comes next for our industry. Later 

in the week, our friends at The Coca-Cola 

Company will then delve into retail and 

sustainability trends. 

A selection of focus sessions on the 

trade show floor will cover a broad range 

of subject matters. “We Love the Big 

Screen—A Cinema Experience for All 

Audiences” will be looking into how 

cinemas can offer the best to all audiences. 

We will also have a series of short spotlight 

sessions, which will cover a diversity of 

topics such as film theft and accessibility. 

The ICTA will host a series of seminars, 

and don’t forget to spend some time on 

our trade show floor itself, to discover the 

latest innovations in sound, image, seats, 

and concessions. 

The convention embodies 

everything that makes the 

European cinema industry so 

special and explores the latest 

trends and developments in 

the big-screen experience, 

highlighting its continued 

value for audiences and for 

the film sector. 


GOING FOR GOLD: 

CINEEUROPE’S 

2022 GOLD AWARDS 

With CineEurope’s Gold Awards, first 

established in 2018, UNIC and the Film 

Expo Group honor cinema professionals 

across Europe who display dedication 

and commitment to the film industry— 

often in roles not frequently given 

the spotlight. The Gold Award, says 

UNIC president Phil Clapp, “reflects 

the respect and admiration [the 

recipients] command from their peers 

and colleagues from across the industry,” 

with Andrew Sunshine, president of the 

Film Expo Group, adding: “We would 

like to congratulate all of those being 

recognized with a Gold Award this 

year for their continued support and 

dedication to our great industry. We are 

delighted to be able to continue with 

this tradition not only again this year, 

but for years to come.” 

We’re delighted to again bring you 

the widest and best possible range of 

film content from our valued European 

and U.S. studio partners UniFrance, 

StudioCanal, Warner Bros. Pictures, 

Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Walt 

Disney Studios Motion Pictures, and 

Paramount Pictures. 

Don’t forget to join us for our awards 

ceremony—the success of our industry 

depends on the outstanding efforts of 

those working within it. To celebrate a 

few of the most noteworthy contributions, 

the CineEurope Gold Awards will be 

presented on Thursday afternoon. 

We’re also delighted that Géke Roelink 

will receive the UNIC Achievement 

Award this year, and that Steve Knibbs 

has been recognized for his incredible 

achievements as CineEurope 2022 

International Exhibitor of the Year. 

We also congratulate Anna Marsh on her 

Distributor of the Year award. 

During the week, UNIC will continue 

its efforts toward developing the UNIC 

Women’s Cinema Leadership Programme— 

our pioneering mentoring scheme for 

women in cinema exhibition, supported 

this year by Imax and Vista Group. 

Together with our partners from the 

Boxoffice Company, we will also unveil 

and celebrate for the first time the 

European edition of Giants of Exhibition, 

a top 50 list of European cinema operators. 

None of this would be possible without 

the dedication, commitment, and work 

of all our partners and colleagues—their 

continued trust and support have been 

invaluable. We’ve all been hit hard, but the 

past two years have shown the strength of 

our industry—not only cinemas but also 

colleagues in film distribution, technology, 

concessions, ticketing, data analytics, 

screen advertising, and so many other 

parts of the sector. We must all continue to 

work together to support a strong, diverse, 

and reliable supply of film content to 

cinemas and offer the best experience to 

our audiences. 

Let’s celebrate, together, the return of 

the big screen. 

Laura Houlgatte is Chief Executive Officer, 

International Union of Cinemas (UNIC). 

RECIPIENTS: 

Sylviane Amata 

Head of Construction Department 

UGC 

Mike Bradbury 

Group Head of Cinema Technology 

ODEON Cinemas Group 

Kiril Enikov 

Head of Technical (U.K.) 

Cineworld 

Thomas Erler 

Operations Manager 

Kinopolis 

Suzanna Holmqvist 

CMO 

Svenska Bio 

Eric Meyniel 

International Content Director 

Kinepolis 

Jon Nutton 

Marketing Director 

Empire Cinemas 

Eva Rekettyei 

Programming Director 

Yelmo Cines 


39

CINEEUROPE 2022 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITOR OF THE YEAR 

INTERNATIONAL 

EXHIBITOR OF 

THE YEAR 

Steve Knibbs, Chief Operating 

Officer, Vue International 


“I have been very lucky with 

the people I have worked 

for and with throughout my 

career who have helped, 

guided, taught, and 

encouraged me with advice 

and knowledge.” 

Steve Knibbs entered the cinema 

business in 1987 as manager of the 

first purpose-built multiplex in the U.K. 

and Europe, The Point in Milton Keynes, 

operated by AMC Cinemas. His role grew 

following the circuit’s acquisition by 

Paramount Pictures and Universal Studios 

and its renaming as United Cinemas 

International (UCI). In 1993 he was named 

managing director of the chain’s U.K. and 

Ireland business, eventually becoming 

the senior vice president of Northern 

Europe for UCI in 1998. That role saw him 

overseeing operations in more mature 

European markets such as the U.K., 

Ireland, Germany, and Austria as well as in 

emerging markets including Poland, the 

Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. 

In 2003, Knibbs left UCI to join 

Tim Richards at SBC, working as chief 

operating officer on the consolidation 

of the U.K. business, which became what 

is known as Vue International today. 

Several acquisitions have seen Vue 

International grow to become the thirdlargest 

exhibition circuit in Europe, 

operating nearly 2,000 screens across the 

continent. 

In this interview with boxoffice pro, 

Knibbs looks back on his career and ahead 

to the opportunities waiting for exhibition 

as it emerges from the pandemic. 

As a 35-year veteran of this industry, 

what are some of the early lessons 

you picked up in your first years in the 

business that are still relevant today? 

Three lessons come to mind: Bad cinema 

visits don’t help anyone; be nice to 

everyone; keep challenging and changing 

and keep ahead of what people expect of 

you and your company. 

Do you have anyone you would 

consider a mentor in your career? 

I have been very lucky with the people 

I have worked for and with throughout 

my career who have helped, guided, 

taught, and encouraged me with advice 

and knowledge. From day one at The Point 

in Milton Keynes, I came across Millard 

Ochs and Charles Wesoky, who passed 

on to me the basic fundamentals of how 

a great cinema operation should be run. 

It was great fun and a joy to be part of 

building a new industry in a market like 

the United Kingdom. A market that had 

essentially, with a few notable exceptions, 

given up trying to be relevant to people as 

a leisure offer in their lives. Millard and 

Chuck changed that, and I learnt so much 

from them, and that remains the bedrock 

of my standards and beliefs today. 

Whilst I was at UCI, I first met and 

worked with Joe Piexoto, Tim Richards, 

Alan McNair, and Geoff Moore, who 

would all in different ways teach me lots 

of things which have helped me along 

the way. Joe gave me the opportunity to 

work across multiple territories in a senior 

leadership role, and at a relatively young 

age he believed in me, and I will always be 

grateful for that. Alan taught me the need 

to focus on the details and make sound 

decisions based on facts, Geoff how to get 

things done no matter what the challenge, 

and Tim what real entrepreneurial vision 

looked like, not just being part of a 

corporate team, and to aim high and be 

bold in life. 

Tim, Alan, Geoff, and I all came back 

together when I left UCI and joined Tim 

as COO at Vue in 2003 and they had 

acquired the Warner Village circuit in 

the U.K. I think we all took the lessons 

we had learned along the way to build 

together with an amazing team that over 

the years has included Anne Whalley, Dee 

Vassili, Roland Jones, Mark de Quervain, 

Alison Cornwell, Euan Sutton, Kam 

Dosanjh, Dominic Rowell, and many, 

many others who have all helped make 

Vue the world-class cinema business it is 

today. At this stage in my career, I feel I 

have a responsibility to pass along some 

of the things I have learned to the next 

generation of brilliant managers and 

leaders we have in our business. 

As a multinational operator, you 

have unique insight into the pandemic 

recovery in different markets. 

How has the moviegoing recovery 

progressed across Vue’s territories? 

I don’t think I necessarily have any unique 

insights as to what has happened over the 

past two years. I do think that experience 

burnished over many years helps you make 

key, potentially life-changing, decisions, 

in a calm, yet balanced way. You have to 

move quickly to stem the flow of cash and 

ensure all your team is looked after in the 

very best way you can manage. Those two 

things were key for us and the foundation 

of the decision-making questions we asked 

ourselves on a daily basis. 

Moviegoing is improving every week 

as people return to pre-pandemic habits 


and the flow of content gathers pace and 

the gaps in the film release schedule start 

to be filled. Having just returned from 

CinemaCon in Las Vegas, I am more and 

more encouraged by the breadth, quality, 

and quantity of the films that are being 

made and released in the coming months 

and years. It is as good a lineup as I’ve 

ever seen, and I am very positive about 

the future. 

The differences we have seen across 

our territories in the recovery phase 

tend to be related to the length of time 

a country was locked down; how many 

restrictions were in place; and passes, 

capacity constraints, masks, and food 

and beverage (F&B) sales. Countries like 

the U.K., Denmark, Germany, and the 

Netherlands bounced back fairly quickly 

after each reopening and are performing 

well today. Poland and Italy have been 

slower, as they had greater restrictions 

than the countries I previously mentioned. 

Reseating has been a big focus for 

many major operators around the 

world. What role does premium 

seating play for Vue? 

Full recliner leather seats are, in my view, 

a game-changer. They elevate the 

customer experience to a new level in 

terms of their comfort watching films 

and perfectly complement the viewing 

experience only a cinema auditorium can 

provide. Nothing at home comes close—I 

don’t care how big your TV is, it’s still a TV 

and is just a compromise to the real thing. 

I think digital technology—whether it’s 

booking films using artificial intelligence 

or our customers booking their tickets and 

concessions orders on our website and 

apps—are combining to make the cinema 

experience frictionless. I also think laserprojection 

technology is going to provide 

the next step in quality and also cost 

efficiency that we need to round out the 

auditorium experience. 

What other trends or innovations in 

the cinema business do you consider 

to have been the most influential to 

the industry throughout your career? 

Without a doubt, digital projection. It 

massively improved the quality of all 

cinema presentations and the flexibility 

of what we can show and what a cinema 

can be. It remains in our hands as 

exhibitors how we choose to use and 

develop that flexibility. Social media was 

“Steve is amongst the most 

respected and admired 

executives currently working 

in exhibition and has been 

instrumental in building 

Vue International into the 

powerhouse it is today. We 

look forward to celebrating 

with him in Barcelona.” 

—Phil Clapp, President, UNIC 

another game-changer in how we 

engage with audiences. We can be so 

targeted now with how, when, and what 

we say to our customers. It is so powerful 

when used effectively and creatively. 

And finally, content. The range and 

quality of what is made and offered to 

our customers today are mind-blowing. 

It doesn’t matter what your taste is, we are 

likely to have something to offer you. 

It’s a myth that multiplexes don’t play 

a major role in the wide range of films 

on offer and only show blockbusters; it 

literally couldn’t be further from the 

truth. We just need to get better at 

promoting the platform we provide 

these films. 


41

CINEEUROPE 2022 INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITOR OF THE YEAR 

How is the moviegoer of 2022 different 

from the moviegoer of 2019? 

I’m not sure I have that answer. Some 

people have dived straight in as though 

the pandemic never happened, while 

other people remain more cautious. That’s 

not necessarily tied to our audience’s 

age but is more dependent on individual 

concerns or even what a country’s 

pandemic experiences were like. 

Our job is to continue to offer films to 

all the different demographics that make 

up our audiences. We need to make sure, 

along with our distributor partners, that 

our audiences know what’s on our screens 

and when they can see it. We need to 

make sure we have enough great content, 

especially for families, that provides 

our public at large with the incentive to 

return to our cinemas and regain their 

moviegoing habits. 

What are the challenges and 

opportunities facing theatrical 

exhibition as we emerge from the 

pandemic and return to normality? 

I think it’s pretty simple when you break 

it all down: Our key challenge is to recover 

the public’s moviegoing habit. At the 

same time, we can’t ignore the significant 

cost and supply-side challenges that 

are affecting all industries across the 

world. General inflation levels, the price 

of energy, and how tough it is to get the 

resources and materials you need for 

projects. These are the headwinds that 

can slow our recovery growth. There is a 

huge opportunity to grow and develop 

cinema’s place in peoples’ lives to a much 

greater extent than it has been in the past. 

If we can consistently surpass people’s 

expectations of what they see on the big 

screen at an affordable price, then there is 

no reason why we can’t say we are at the 

start of the next great era for cinemas. An 

era fully enabled by digital technology. 

“Steve and colleagues at 

Vue International have 

created one of the most 

expansive and successful 

exhibition circuits in Europe. 

We are delighted that we 

will have the opportunity to 

single out his achievements 

at CineEurope this year.” 

—Andrew Sunshine, President, 

Film Expo Group 


CINEEUROPE INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR 

INTERNATIONAL 

DISTRIBUTOR 

OF THE YEAR 

Anna Marsh, Chief Executive Officer, Studiocanal 


A two-decade veteran of the 

entertainment industry, Anna Marsh 

began her career at Studiocanal—one of 

Europe’s leading distributors—in 2008. 

First joining the firm as vice president 

of international sales, Marsh rose 

through the ranks to become the head of 

international distribution strategy in 2013 

and, shortly after, head of international 

sales. In 2017, she was appointed executive 

vice president, international distribution, 

and in March 2019, she was appointed 

managing director of Studiocanal U.K. 

In December 2019, Marsh was 

appointed CEO of Studiocanal. 

There have been seismic changes 

in the industry since you first joined 

Studiocanal in 2008. Do you believe it is 

harder to connect films to an audience 

today than it was 15 years ago? 

The pandemic has certainly accelerated 

many trends we’ve been seeing encroach 

upon us for years and possibly changed 

viewer habits forever. More than ever, the 

audience is spoilt for choice, both in terms 

of the breadth of content on offer, as well 

as the ease and speed at which people can 

now consume. The industry has certainly 

lived through major upheaval, as lockdown 

accelerated the launch of multiple global 

SVOD services and exhibitors faced the 

unthinkable in unprecedented times. 

While we are now ready to return to a 

new normal, distribution strategies are 

constantly being questioned, encouraging 

industry executives to push the limits of 

their creative boundaries and figure out 

innovative ways to draw audiences away 

from their homes and back to the big screen 

by making each release a true event. There 

is no longer a one-size-fits-all method as 

there may have been 15 years ago; this 

exponential rise in content on offer makes 

it increasingly challenging for a movie to 

cut through all the noise in oversaturated 

markets. We must think differently, create 

the unexpected, and endeavor to listen 

more carefully to our audience in order 

to take them by surprise! A film doesn’t 

always have to be for everyone, but it must 

cater to someone; understanding the 

specificities of our target audience is, more 

than ever, essential. 

One thing that hasn’t changed, however, 

is the importance of story. Whilst the 

pandemic may have put our businesses to 

the test, it also created the opportunity for 

us to take a step back and reset, affording 


ourselves the luxury to peel back the 

layers to the core of what we do: telling 

great stories. A lot of us dedicated more 

hours than usual to developing scripts 

throughout lockdown, reminding us that 

story is at the beating heart of all we do. 

We have the responsibility to dig deep and 

find powerful stories that will connect 

profoundly with audiences and inspire 

them to keep coming to the movies. 

It is certainly challenging as we all 

adapt to this new landscape, but I remain 

optimistic, as there have never been more 

ways to reach an audience than now— 

it’s just a matter of finding the correct 

approach for the right story each time. 

Studiocanal has been an active 

distributor since cinemas reopened in 

the pandemic. What are the lessons 

you’ve learned about today’s postpandemic 

audience? How has your 

distribution and marketing strategy 

evolved as a result? 

Studiocanal benefits from being the 

only European studio to be integrated 

into a pay TV group with over 24 million 

subscribers spread across 40 countries. 

We demonstrate the utmost flexibility 

with our distribution strategy, allowing 

the opportunity to extend our films’ 

reach such as with The Stronghold (BAC 

Nord), which surpassed 2.2 million 

admissions in theaters in France before 

becoming available just six months later 

on the group’s SVOD service myCANAL, 

collecting millions of views in just its first 

weeks, and released by Netflix in the rest 

of the world. 

As Europe’s leading homegrown studio 

for content production, it has been our 

mission to understand the unprecedented 

challenges and shifts in our industry. Of 

course, throughout the pandemic we 

remained passionate supporters of the 

big-screen experience and continued 

to release films theatrically in six major 

markets: France, the U.K., Germany, 

Austria, Australia, and New Zealand. 

As mentioned earlier, audiences 

demand premium content and are more 

incentivized to go see a movie when it 

becomes an event. We will really go above 

and beyond to tailor our campaigns for 

each market, encouraging our key talent 

to connect physically with the audience, 

particularly coming out of the pandemic. 

It’s no secret that local promotional 

tours are incredibly effective in building 

“We could not be more excited 

to honor our good friend Anna 

Marsh with this year’s award. 

She defines what an executive 

is and is well respected 

throughout our industry. Anna 

is a natural leader who has 

helped take Studiocanal— 

the European leader in the 

production and distribution of 

feature films and TV series—to 

the next level and could not be 

more deserving of this award.” 

—Andrew Sunshine, President, 

Film Expo Group 

awareness and garnering excitement 

pre-release. For the Philippe Lacheau– 

directed film Superwho?, we organized a 

promotional tour in over 110 cinemas all 

over France to build momentum within 

the targeted audience group, resulting in a 

record 60,000 admissions for the film two 

months before its release. 

We’ve also found that the more specific 

the target audience, the better. This 

applies extremely well for family films. 

Gilles de Maistre’s The Wolf and the Lion 

has already accumulated over $20 million 

in worldwide box office receipts and was 

the highest-grossing French film on the 

international market in 2021. 

Of course, we are led by the desire to 

produce films with broad international 

appeal that provide the audience with a 

diversified offering despite the changes 

the pandemic might have brought to 

their lives. We remain committed to 

strengthening our relationships with firstclass 

European talent and creating I.P.s 

that transgress the competitive theatrical 

landscape. Sequels are already under way 

for a number of our hit French comedies: 

30 Days Max, Barbecue, and 10 Days 

Without Mum, as well as new adventures 

for Ernest & Celestine. We are also 

developing new installments for Navot 

Papushado’s Gunpowder Milkshake and 

Hans Petter Moland’s Cold Pursuit … not 

to mention our beloved Paddington, who 

will make his return to the cinema. Our 

deep and rich catalog provides a wealth 

of I.P. from which we can really build 

part of our franchise strategy, while also 

betting on original stories that resonate 

with modern audiences—some of which 

may naturally evolve into the franchises 

of tomorrow. 

What role has local content played 

for Studiocanal during this period? 

This period proved to all the importance 

of local theatrical content. As the release 

dates of major U.S. titles were being 

pushed, exhibitors saw that they could not 

survive on studio tentpole films alone. 

The production and distribution of 

diverse and ambitious local content is 

part of our group’s DNA. The growth of 

the theatrical market depends largely 

on the strength of its local productions. 

While productions came to a halt during 

the pandemic, we shifted our focus to the 

development of our local projects (nearly 

100 projects across all territories). On July 


45

CINEEUROPE INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTOR OF THE YEAR 

15, we will release our very first U.K. inhouse 

production, The Railway Children 

Return, a sequel to the beloved British 

family classic. 

During this time, we also used the 

opportunity to invest in our prestigious 

library of over 6,500 titles. We’ve spent 

over $20 million in the past five years on 

over 750 titles, establishing ourselves as 

the leader in this domain in terms of both 

quantity and quality. We are thrilled to 

have our brand-new 4K restoration of 

Orson Welles’s The Trial premiere at this 

year’s Cannes Film Festival within Cannes 

Classics. It will be followed by a theatrical 

release in France and the U.S., giving our 

classics a second life and a chance to be 

enjoyed by the next generation. 

What can you share about 

Studiocanal’s 2022 slate? 

We have a rich and diverse slate of 30 titles 

releasing theatrically this year. So far, 

the year has been off to a fantastic start 

with excellent performances in France 

for Philippe Lacheau’s Superwho?—so 

far the second-biggest French success 

of the year, and fourth-biggest success 

overall in 2022 with more than 1.8 million 

admissions. Frédéric Tellier’s Goliath has 

grossed close to 800,000 admissions, and 

Rise, by Cédric Klapisch, is still in the top 

10 in its fifth week, grossing well over 1.1 

million admissions and playing on over 

715 screens in both commercial and art 

house circuits. We have been working with 

Cédric for decades and believed in this 

unique, heartwarming film from day one. 

Our latest French release, Ténor, stars 

Michèle Laroque and rapper MB14 in a 

story rooted in the rich operatic culture 

of Paris’s Palais Garnier and is directed by 

first-time filmmaker Claude Zidi Jr. 

In October, Stronghold director 

Cédric Jimenez will be back to captivate 

audiences with another groundbreaking 

film with November, starring Oscarwinning 

actor Jean Dujardin. 

Forthcoming, we also have Retribution, 

a high-octane action-thriller set in Berlin, 

emerging from our latest collaboration 

with Liam Neeson and our friends 

Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman from 

The Picture Company. Also in postproduction 

with TPC is the chilling horror 

movie Baghead by Alberto Corredor, 

starring Freya Allen and Ruby Barker. 

With Working Title, we have made a 

joyous, feel-good, romantic drama directed 

by Shekhar Kapur, What’s Love Got to Do 

with It? starring Lily James and Shazad 

Latif that we will date imminently. 

Cinema is the primary motivator behind 

Canal Plus subscriptions (in front of series 

and sports), making Studiocanal a key 

asset in subscriber growth. As such, we 

are committed to producing an exciting 

and diverse slate of films to help feed the 

increased appetite for high-quality content 

both on the big screen and at home. 

After two consecutive years with 

an ailing box office, what are your 

expectations for 2022? How would you 

define a successful year for the industry? 

2021 was a recovery year for movies, with 

much trial and error. Distributors around 

the world were forced to chop and change 

dates, opt for day-and-date, or release 

long-awaited films straight to platforms. 

With cinemas back open worldwide and 

restrictions lifted in almost all regions, 

2022 is looking to be a promising one with 

an exciting lineup of films to come. This 

will prove to be a defining year in which 

we build on our lessons from the past two 

trying years and continue to readjust to a 

new, more demanding market that keeps 

us on our toes. 

As we continue on this path to 

recovery, what do you think will be 

necessary for cinemas to reclaim the 

record-setting success we saw in the 

years leading up to the pandemic? 

More than ever, theaters need to incite 

audiences to return by bringing added 

value to the theatrical moviegoing 

experience for all. No demographic or 

age group can be neglected. 

Exhibitors need to continue to 

promote a diverse programming slate 

in order to compete and pull in a wide 

range of audiences. The market is already 

incredibly polarized, so without this 

varied offer, we risk creating a world 

where only one type of film survives, and 

midrange films stand little chance, which 

is unhealthy for the market long-term. 

I truly believe theatrical brings an 

unrivaled premium experience to movie 

watching, as human beings relish the 

collective experience. It is more important 

than ever that we maintain constant 

dialogue with exhibitors to work hand 

in hand on finding creative solutions to 

attract audiences back to theaters … and 

keep them wanting more! 

“We are delighted that 

Anna will be recognized as 

International Distributor of 

the Year at CineEurope 2022. 

Studiocanal remains a crucial 

partner of European cinema 

exhibition and has shown 

itself to be fully committed 

to bringing the best of 

European films to the big 

screen. This award recognizes 

Anna’s leadership and her 

outstanding dedication and 

extraordinary passion for 

our industry.” 

—Laura Houlgatte, CEO, UNIC 


ccib 

barcelona 

20-23 

june 2022 

CONVENTION AND TRADE FAIR 

CENTRE CONVENCIONS INTERNACIONAL BARCELONA (CCIB) 

CINEEUROPE.NET 

OFFICAL CORPORATE SPONSOR

CINEEUROPE UNIC ACHIEVEMENT AWARD 

UNIC ACHIEVEMENT 

AWARD 

Géke Roelink, Managing Director, Filmhuis Den Haag 

BY REBECCA PAHLE 

Receiving the UNIC Achievement 

Award at this year’s CineEurope is 

Géke Roelink, whose work as managing 

director of the Filmhuis Den Haag in The 

Hague, Netherlands, has helped keep 

the spirit of cinema alive in a country 

where the exhibition industry was—and 

remains—hard-hit by the pandemic, 

with four waves of lockdowns occurring 

between the onset of Covid and the 

beginning of 2022. 

Boasting five screens, the Filmhuis 

Den Haag is more than just a theater: 

It’s a cultural meeting center, designed 

to spark conversation with a wide array 

of programming (screenings, classes, 

and more) geared toward different local 

communities as well as issues raised 

by The Hague’s International Court 

of Justice and International Criminal 

Court. It’s a fitting place of employment 

for self-described idealist Roelink, who 

joined the Filmhuis in 2011 after a decadeplus 

of working at other Dutch cultural 

institutions, including Amsterdam’s 

Eye Filmmuseum and the University of 

Amsterdam; she spent seven years as a 

board member of the Netherlands Union 

of Cinemas (NVBF) and currently serves as 

an advisor to the Netherlands Council of 

Culture and a supervisory board member 

of Netherlands’ Imagine Film Festival. 

“We are absolutely delighted to honor 

Géke at CineEurope 2022,” says UNIC 

president Phil Clapp on Roelink’s receipt 

of the UNIC Achievement Award, given 

every year in recognition of service to the 

European cinema industry. “The award 

recognizes her incredible passion for 

the big screen, her outstanding career 

path, and her key role in developing both 

the Dutch and European cinemagoing 

experience. On behalf of the UNIC Board 

and colleagues from across the industry, 

I would like to congratulate Géke for this 

wonderful achievement.” 

How did you first get involved with 

the Filmhuis Den Haag? 

While working at the [Eye Filmmuseum] 

in Amsterdam, we collaborated multiple 

times with the Filmhuis Den Haag to 

organize retrospectives on, for example, the 

lovely actress Romy Schneider. When the 

opportunity arose, it was a great pleasure 

to become the director of the Filmhuis Den 

Haag, a beautiful movie theater right in the 

center of the international city of peace and 

justice. What more do you need? 

The Filmhuis Den Haag has a wide 

variety of programming, both films 

and other events. When it comes to 

programming, how has the Filmhuis 

kept things fresh and responsive to 

the community’s needs as they have 

evolved over the decades? 

The Hague houses over 50 nationalities. 

That gives us the chance to experiment 

with all kinds of film programs for a 

variety of communities. We have decided 

not only to recognize film as an art form 

or a form of entertainment, but also as a 

vehicle to help establish a more cohesive 

and harmonious society. That gave us, and 

still [gives us], a wide range of possibilities 

to put topics on the agenda that enhance 

mutual understanding. Film appears to 

be an effective antidote for polarization. 

Yes, I am definitely an idealist. 

We continuously try to stay relevant 

in a fast-changing society. To help us 

structure our programming we have 

carved it into three clusters: Your World, 

Your Talent, and Your City. Varying from 

regular programming with premieres 

and classic movies to film education and 

talent development. And—last but not 

least—programs addressing topics that 

are important for a multicultural city that 

is the site of national government and in 

which we can also present topics relevant 

to specific communities. 

Sometimes we literally hand over the 

key to a theater to a representative of a 

group with the request to develop a film 

program that is relevant to their peers. 

This involves close collaboration with 

many organizations, parties, and people. 

Lots of work, but also lots of fun and 

very satisfying. 

Can you share a memory of the 

first movie (or an early, formative 

movie) that you saw in a cinema? 

Disney’s 101 Dalmatians. After watching 

that movie, all I wanted was a Dalmatian 

puppy. Still trying to get one. Later, 

although I was still a little young, my 

older brothers took me to Jesus Christ 

Superstar. I immediately had a crush 

on Jesus, or at least the actor Ted Neely. 

Many movies later, cinema is still able 

to instantaneously alter my goals and 

emotions. After watching Wuthering 

Heights by Andrea Arnold, I immediately 

investigated how to move to North 

Yorkshire. Watched Ken Loach’s Sorry We 

Missed You? and from then on, all delivery 

people could use my bathroom. 

I’m not unique in responding to films 

this way. Every day I see people leaving 

the theaters in a different state of mind 

than they entered 90 minutes before. 

That is the magic of movies. 

Yuval Noah Harari, author of [Sapiens: 

A Brief History of Humankind] and 

Homo Deus, only realized that he was 

homosexual after seeing the 1996 movie 

Lilies by John Greyson when he was 21 

years old. In all his previous years, and 

despite his liberal upbringing, that 

thought had never crossed his mind. 

How would you assess the Dutch 

exhibition industry’s recovery from 

the pandemic? How does it compare to 

nearby countries? 

After a huge decline in 2020, the exhibition 

industry in the Netherlands has suffered 

even more in 2021. Cinemas and movie 

theaters were required to be closed even 

longer last year. In the 28 weeks in which 

the theaters were open, better results were 

achieved than in 2020, but compared to 

2019 (a normal cinema year) there was still 

a 31 percent decline in visitors in those 

months. The successive and accumulated 

restrictions, such as the limitation in the 

number of visitors, only access with proof 

of vaccination and/or testing, the 1.5-meter 

distance rule, and restricted opening 


times, resulted in a one-sixth maximum 

occupancy capacity, and consequently the 

decrease in visitors was 73 percent. The 

restrictions in the Netherlands were the 

most severe of all of Europe. 

This year so far, attendance rates in 

the Filmhuis have improved but are still 

less than 50 percent of pre-pandemic 

levels. People have to rediscover their way 

to the movie theaters, and that requires 

extra effort. I’m confident that we will get 

back to our previous numbers/visitors 

in time. Meanwhile, and as a sign of the 

times, we have developed remote options 

(i.e., in your own favorite chair) to enjoy 

films in our online Filmhuis and visit our 

exhibition “The Sound of Cinema.” 

A big theme over the last few years has 

been local films stepping in and filling 

content gaps left by major Hollywood 

studios. Was this the case in the 

Netherlands? What local films did well? 

In the Netherlands films are usually shown 

in their original language with subtitles. 

This means that films from all over the 

world and in any language can relatively 

easily find their way to a screen in a Dutch 

theater. Access to such a large source of 

movies provided us with sufficient new 

content during the pandemic. 

In 2020, at the beginning of the 

pandemic, thee market share of Dutch film 

productions doubled. This was partially 

caused by the significant reduction of 

blockbuster movies from the U.S. 

The most successful Dutch films in 

2020 and 2021 were Slag om de Schelde 

(The Forgotten Battle; we still make 

WWII movies here) and De Beentjes van 

Hildegard (The Little Legs of Hildegard). 

In fact, De Beentjes van Hildegard was 

in such a thick local dialect that it was 

subtitled to allow people in the next city 

to enjoy the movie. An added benefit 

of subtitling is that hearing-impaired 

people can always enjoy movies in the 

Netherlands! 

“We have decided not only to 

recognize film as an art form 

or a form of entertainment, 

but also as a vehicle to help 

establish a more cohesive 

and harmonious society.” 


49

N°1 

European movie 

theater chain. 

Crédit photo & création graphique : Vincent Bousserez 

N°1 among EU-based movie theater chains 

listed in the Boxoffice Pro Giants of Exhibition Europe.

PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH UNIC 

GIANTS 

OF EXHIBITION: EUROPE 

European cinemas were among the first outside 

Asia to be impacted by the Covid-19 crisis in 2020. 

Regional closures in northern Italy in February 2020 

forecast a difficult period for European movie theaters, 

plunging the industry into an existential crisis. Now, 

more than two years later, cinemas have shown signs 

of recovery—some markets more than others—as 

audiences begin to return to their local cinemas. 

In this inaugural European edition of our popular 

Giants of Exhibition ranking, boxoffice pro has 

partnered with UNIC to recognize and celebrate the 

resiliency of the European exhibition sector. 

As a statement of our solidarity with Ukrainian 

exhibitors, as well as with the Ukrainian people, UNIC 

and The Boxoffice Company have jointly agreed not to 

include the names and screen counts of the Russian 

companies that made it into the top 50. We cannot 

stand by and remain silent about the unprovoked 

attack by Russian forces on a sovereign nation, yet 

we also note with huge respect the statements and 

positions taken by some Russian colleagues in 

opposition to the war. 


51

CineEurope GIANTS OF EXHIBITION: EUROPE 

1 

ODEON CINEMAS GROUP 

United Kingdom 

Corporate Parent: AMC Theatres (U.S.) 

Screens: 2,493 

Locations: 286 

European Brands: Cinesa, Filmstaden, 

Finnkino, ODEON, UCI 

European Markets: Finland, Germany, Italy, 

Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, U.K. & 

Ireland 

Europe’s largest cinema operator is part 

of the world’s biggest movie theater 

chain. Since its acquisition by AMC 

Theatres in 2016, Odeon Cinemas Group 

has grown across the European region 

through a variety of brands: Cinesa in 

Spain; ODEON in the U.K. & Ireland and 

Norway; Filmstaden in Sweden; Finnkino 

in Finland; and UCI in Germany, Italy, and 

Portugal. Their cinemas built a strong 

reputation with audiences and employees 

alike, welcoming over 100 million guests 

annually and employing nearly 10,000 

people in the European market in the 

years leading up to the pandemic. Today, 

Odeon Cinemas Group represents nearly a 

quarter of AMC’s total global screen count. 

A regional leader in premium largeformat 

screens, Odeon Cinemas Group 

boasts 35 of AMC Theatres’ 186 Imax 

sites around the world. The chain has 

also been expanding its footprint of 

Dolby Cinema auditoriums, which it 

first introduced at its flagship Leicester 

Square location in London in December 

2018. The group’s proprietary premium 

auditorium brands also include its 

Luxe and iSense concepts, further 

driving enhanced cinema experiences 

across Europe. Recliner seating plays a 

prominent role in this strategy, available 

at 89 sites and 572 ODEON auditoriums, 

representing around 20 percent of AMC’s 

overseas circuit. 

On the food and beverage side, 

Odeon Cinemas Group has already 

begun introducing the dine-in theater 

concept at three European locations—a 

pioneering decision in a region where the 

idea remains largely new. Alcohol service 

is better established in Europe, with 243 

locations offering adult beverages across 

the region. 

Today, Odeon Cinemas 

Group represents nearly a 

quarter of AMC’s total global 

screen count. 


2 

CINEWORLD 




European Brands: Cinema City, Cineworld, 

Picturehouse 

European Markets: Bulgaria, Czech 

Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, 

Slovakia, U.K. & Ireland 

Cineworld nearly doubled its global 

admissions in 2021 after having to shutter 

its locations shortly after reopening in the 

second half of 2020. That recovery didn’t 

get started until Q2 of 2021, when it first 

began reopening its circuits in Bulgaria 

and the U.K. and Ireland during the month 

of April. The reopening continued in May, 

with Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, and 

concluded in early June with the Czech 

Republic and Hungary. Cineworld’s 

European presence represents nearly a 

quarter of its global circuit, which also 

includes important footprints in the United 

States (Regal) and Israel (Yes Planet). 

2021 saw two new cinemas open in 

the United Kingdom and an additional 

location in Romania. The circuit 

refurbished one site in the U.K. last 

year while closing one cinema each 

in the U.K. and Poland respectively. 

Cineworld attributes those closures to 

underperforming locations and plans to 

make up ground with additional strategic 

expansions across Europe in 2022. 

The company experienced a 59 percent 

increase in admissions and a 111 percent 

improvement in box office revenue in 

the United Kingdom and Ireland, where 

it operates as the market leader under 

the Cineworld and Picutrehouse brands. 

Its other European circuits (along with 

Israel) experienced a 71 percent bounce 

back in 2021. 

Cineworld counts on over 130 Imax 

screens, nearly 100 4DX auditoriums, 

and more than 70 ScreenX panoramic 

sites across its global circuit. It is the 

exclusive provider of 4DX seating in the 

United Kingdom. Increasing premium 

locations and expanding laser projection 

are among the circuit’s principal tech 

priorities for this year. 

Cineworld nearly doubled its 

global admissions in 2021 after 

having to shutter its locations 

shortly after reopening in the 

second half of 2020. 


53


3 

VUE INTERNATIONAL 




European Brands: CinemaxX, MultiKino, 

The Space Cinema, Vue 

European Markets: Denmark, Germany, 

Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, U.K. 

& Ireland 

The largest privately held cinema chain in 

Europe, Vue International has expanded 

its reach from its roots in the United 

Kingdom to several key markets across the 

region. Vue is also the top European chain 

without a presence in the North American 

market, Taiwan being its only territory 

outside the European region. 

The recovery journey has been 

quicker in some markets than others 

for Vue, which has a leading presence in 

Italy—the slowest of its key markets to 

get back on track during the pandemic. 

Seventy-five percent of Vue’s European 

cinemas had reopened by May 2021, with 

the Netherlands and Germany being 

among the last two markets to reopen in 

June and July respectively. 

The circuit has focused on raising 

the standard of its auditoriums to better 

compete in the post-pandemic landscape. 

It opened two new sites fully equipped 

with recliner seating in the first half of 

2021, in the Netherlands and Scotland, 

while installing recliners in additional 

locations across Germany. More than 14 

percent of Vue’s European circuit now 

counts on premium seating, as the chain 

continues to upgrade its fleet of theaters. 

Vue has been busy bringing 

innovative programming to its theaters 

in 2022. In May, the circuit launched a 

film series with the British Film Institute 

to bring more British, independent, and 

international titles to its U.K. theaters. 

Developing unique programming 

opportunities at a local level, the chain 

also held live screenings of the Europa 

League football final—where Glasgow 

Rangers competed in its first continental 

final since 2008—at its Scottish locations 

on May 18. 

The circuit has focused 

on raising the standard of 

its auditoriums to better 

compete in the postpandemic 

landscape. 


4 

LES CINÉMAS PATHÉ 

GAUMONT 

France 



European Brands: Pathé 

European Markets: Belgium, France, 

Netherlands, Switzerland 

France’s leading circuit and a reference 

brand of theatrical exhibition history, Les 

Cinémas Pathé Gaumont is the largest 

European circuit based outside the United 

Kingdom. The chain operates more 

than 1,000 screens in markets that also 

include Belgium, the Netherlands, and 

Switzerland. 

Pathé has been one of the leading 

European cinema brands to introduce 

premium large-format (PLF) auditoriums 

to the region. In 2018, the company signed 

a deal with Imax to bring a total of 20 

Imax with Laser auditoriums to its fleet 

of cinemas, including nine new sites and 

11 upgrades of existing Imax auditoriums. 

At the time of signing, the deal made 

Pathé one of Imax’s biggest partners in 

Europe, with a total commitment of 30 

auditoriums in the region. 

The chain has also been an active 

partner of CJ4DPlex, South Korea’s 

leading PLF provider, introducing both 

immersive seating technology 4DX and 

the panoramic screen format ScreenX 

across its markets. In 2017, Pathé agreed 

to increase its 4DX fleet in Europe to 50 

locations. In 2018, it opened the first 4DX 

with ScreenX auditorium in Europe at 

its state-of-the-art Pathé Beaugrenelle 

location in Paris. The circuit is also one 

of the principal providers of the Dolby 

Cinema PLF format in the region. 

Pathé has been undeterred by the 

disruption of the pandemic and continues 

to open new locations across its existing 

markets. The most recent addition to its 

circuit opened in May in Dijon, France. 

Pathé has been undeterred 

by the disruption of the 

pandemic and continues to 

open new locations across its 

existing markets. 


55


THE TOP 50 CINEMA 

CIRCUITS IN EUROPE 

5 

10 

15 

21 

CINEMAXIMUM 

Turkey 

Screens: 848 

Locations: 97 

Corporate Parent: CJ CGV 

(South Korea) 

European Brands: 

Cinemaximum 

CINEPLEX 

Germany 

Screens: 562 

Locations: 92 

European Brands: Cineplex 

11 

HELIOS 

Poland 

Screens: 291 

Locations: 52 

European Brands: Helios 

16 

SVENSKA BIO 

Sweden 

Screens: 222 

Locations: 53 

European Brands: Svenska Bio 

22 

6 

CGR CINÉMAS 

France 

Screens: 705 

Locations: 74 

European Brands: CGR Cinémas 

7 

RUSSIAN CINEMA CHAIN 

Russia 

8 

KINEPOLIS 

Belgium 

Screens: 608 

Locations: 58 

European Brands: Kinepolis 

European Markets: Belgium, 

France, Luxembourg, 

Netherlands, Poland, Spain, 

Switzerland 

9 

UGC 

France 

Screens: 586 

Locations: 57 

European Brands: UGC 

European Markets: Belgium, 

France 

YELMO CINES 

Spain 

Screens: 533 

Locations: 53 

Corporate Parent: Cinépolis 

(Mexico) 

European Brands: Yelmo Cines 

12 


Russia 

13 

CINEPLEXX 

Austria 

Screens: 446 

Locations: 68 

European Brands: Cineplexx 

European Markets: Albania, 

Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, 

Greece, Italy, Kosovo, North 

Macedonia, Montenegro, 

Romania, Serbia, Slovenia 

14 

CINESTAR 

Germany 

Screens: 376 

Locations: 48 

European Brands: CineStar 


Russia 

17 

NORDISK FILM CINEMAS 

Sweden 

Screens: 258 

Locations: 47 

European Brands: Nordisk Film 

Cinemas 

European Markets: Denmark, 

Norway, Sweden 

18 

OMNIPLEX 

Ireland 

Screens: 255 

Locations: 34 

European Brands: Omniplex 

18 


Russia 

20 

NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS 


Screens: 241 

Locations: 18 

Corporate Parent: National 

Amusements (United States) 

European Brands: Showcase 

Cinemas 

MK2 

France 

Screens: 211 

Locations: 23 

European Brands: Mk2, CineSur 

European Markets: France, Spain 

23 

MÉGARAMA 

France 

Screens: 209 

Locations: 27 

European Brands: Mégarama 

European Markets: France, Spain 

24 

CINEMAS NOS 

Portugal 

Screens: 208 

Locations: 29 

European Brands: Cinemas NOS 

25 

OCINE 

Spain 

Screens: 204 

Locations: 22 

European Brands: Ocine 


26 

33 

39 

45 

MULTIPLEX CINEMAS 

Ukraine 

Screens: 181 

Locations: 30 

European Brands: Multiplex 

Cinemas 

EMPIRE CINEMAS 


Screens: 137 

Locations: 15 

European Brands: Empire 

Cinemas 

CINEMARINE 

Turkey 

Screens: 110 

Locations: 15 

European Brands: Cinemarine 

CINES ACEC 

Spain 

Screens: 90 

Locations: 10 

European Brands: Cines ACEC 

27 

CINEMAPINK 

Turkey 

Screens: 173 

Locations: 24 

European Brands: CinemaPink 

33 

ODEON MULTICINES 

Spain 

Screens: 137 

Locations: 14 

European Brands: Odeon 

Multicines 

40 

FILMPALAST 

Germany 

Screens: 102 

Locations: 15 

European Brands: Filmpalast 

46 

GIOMETTI CINEMA 

Italy 

Screens: 87 

Locations: 12 

European Brands: Giometti 

Cinema 

28 


Russia 

29 

BLITZ CINESTAR 

Serbia 

Screens: 161 

Locations: 26 

European Brands: Blitz CineStar 

European Markets: Bosnia, 

Croatia, Serbia 

35 


Russia 

36 

CINEVILLE 

France 

Screens: 122 

Locations: 16 

European Brands: Cineville 

41 

PRESTIGE 

Turkey 

Screens: 101 

Locations: 12 

European Brands: Prestige 

42 

CINESTAR 

Czech Republic 

Screens: 98 

Locations: 13 

European Brands: CineStar 

47 

LIGHT CINEMAS 


Screens: 86 

Locations: 11 

European Brands: Light Cinemas 

48 

ARTESIETE 

Spain 

Screens: 85 

Locations: 12 

European Brands: Artesiete 

30 


Russia 

31 

KINOPOLIS 

Germany 

Screens: 143 

Locations: 16 

European Brands: Kinopolis 

32 

IMC CINEMAS 

Ireland 

Screens: 140 

Locations: 20 

European Brands: IMC Cinemas 

37 

EVERYMAN CINEMAS 


Screens: 119 

Locations: 36 

European Brands: Everyman 

Cinemas 

38 

UNION CINE CIUDAD 

Spain 

Screens: 118 

Locations: 13 

European Brands: Union Cine 

Ciudad 

43 

AVSAR SINEMA 

Turkey 

Screens: 96 

Locations: 10 

European Brands: Avsar Sinema 

44 

CINEMAX 

Slovakia 

Screens: 91 

Locations: 16 

European Brands: Cinemax 

European Markets: Czech 

Republic, Romania, Slovakia 

48 

CINEPLACE 

Portugal 

Screens: 85 

Locations: 14 

European Brands: Cineplace 

48 

GRAND ÉCRAN 

France 

Screens: 85 

Locations: 11 

European Brands: Grand Écran 


57


GIANTS OF 

EXHIBITION: 

FRANCE 

2021 was a year marked by obstacles, doubt, and, 

ultimately, hope for French exhibitors. Although 

cinema admissions failed to reach the 100 million mark 

for the second consecutive year, the Covid-19 crisis did 

not prevent the sector from exploring further growth 

when it came to new builds. Around 30 new cinemas 

opened in France in 2021, a figure similar to the number 

that opened in 2019. As the French cinema industry 

continues to reset and restructure, Boxoffice Pro and 

Boxoffice Pro France bring you the top 10 circuits in 

the French market ranked by screen count. 

1 

LES CINEMAS PATHÉ 

GAUMONT 

Screens: 891 

Locations: 82 

Pathé Gaumont is the undisputed leader 

of the French market in both screen count 

and attendance. The circuit brought in 

21.7 million admissions in 2021 for 22.6 

percent market share in the country. 

The admissions mark is a 48 percent 

improvement over its 2020 figures but 

represents a 57 percent drop compared 

to 2019. Pathé sold a couple of its French 

locations in 2021 to competing circuits but 

has since balanced out its location count 

in the country with new sites opening 

in Dijon and Brest. One of the leading 

premium large-format circuits in Europe, 

Pathé offers Imax, 4DX, ScreenX, and 

Dolby Cinema auditoriums. 

The circuit brought in 21.7 

million admissions in 2021 

for 22.6 percent market 

share in the country. 


2021 was a year marked 

by obstacles, doubt, and, 

ultimately, hope for French 

exhibitors. 

2 

CGR CINÉMAS 

3 

UGC 

4 

MÉGARAMA 

Screens: 705 

Locations: 74 

Screens: 512 

Locations: 50 

Screens: 194 

Locations: 25 

Second in both screen count and 

admissions, CGR Cinémas is known for 

its extensive presence outside France’s 

urban centers. The circuit brought in 11.5 

million admissions over 2021, a 68 percent 

improvement over 2020’s attendance 

figures, representing 11.9 percent of 

the country’s market share. CGR was 

busy during the pandemic, acquiring a 

10-screen site in Cholet from Cinémovida 

and opening a new 10-screen site in 

Nanterre. The circuit added an eightscreen 

complex in La Ciotat in November 

2021. Today, CGR is focused on upgrading 

its existing sites and adding more of its inhouse 

PLF concept, ICE Theaters, across 

its own circuit in France and other chains 

overseas. 

France’s third-largest cinema chain by 

screen count and admissions officially goes 

by Union Générale Cinématographique, 

but the industry and public alike know 

them better by their initials, UGC. The 

chain registered 11.2 million admissions in 

2021, a 37 percent improvement over 2020. 

The group experienced a notable expansion 

in France in 2021, adding 33 screens across 

four new locations to push its national 

screen count over the 500-auditorium 

mark. Recent projects for UGC include new 

sites in Issy-les-Moulineaux, the expansion 

of an existing location in Porte Maillot, and 

the renovation of its Majestic Cinema in 

Meaux. One of Europe’s top 10 circuits by 

screen count, UGC also operates cinemas 

in Belgium. 

In fourth place with just under 200 

screens is Mégarama. The circuit’s 25 

locations cover a large portion of the 

country, and its brand has a presence in 

foreign markets like Spain and Morocco. 

Mégarama opened two new locations 

in 2021, a 10-screen site in Denain and a 

seven-screen multiplex in Nice. The chain 

registered nearly 3 million admissions in 

2021, representing a 3.1 percent market 

share as the number five chain in the 

market based on annual admissions. 2022 

projects include a new multiplex near 

Annecy scheduled to open around Christmas 

and the development of new builds in 

Givors, Boulogne-sur-Mer, and expansion 

prospects in Chambly and Arras. 


59


Although cinema admissions failed 

to reach the 100 million mark for 

the second consecutive year, the 

Covid-19 crisis did not prevent the 

sector from exploring further growth 

when it came to new builds. 

5 

KINEPOLIS 

6 

CINÉVILLE 

7 

GRAND ÉCRAN 

Screens: 156 

Locations: 14 

Screens: 122 

Locations: 16 

Screens: 85 

Locations: 11 

The highest-ranking foreign-owned 

circuit in France, Belgium’s Kinepolis 

operates 156 screens across 14 locations 

in the market. The chain overperformed 

in admissions relative to its number of 

screens, selling 3.2 million tickets in 2021. 

That figure is an increase of 50 percent 

over 2020’s admissions, but still 56 percent 

below its 2019 standards. A new six-screen 

location in Metz, inaugurated in May 2021, 

will be complemented by a new eightscreen 

multiplex in the city scheduled to 

open later this year. Kinepolis’s French 

cinemas brought in 14.5 percent of the 

group’s global revenue in 2021, the 

company’s third-highest-earning market 

behind Belgium and Canada. 

With over 100 locations, Cinéville 

operates mostly in the northwest of 

France, the majority of its 16 locations 

concentrated in the region of Brittany. 

In 2021, the network registered nearly 

2.5 million admissions, up 44 percent 

compared to 2020. Cinéville opened 

several sites in 2019 and has since slowed 

its pace of expansion. In 2022, the circuit 

plans to concentrate on the extension of 

two existing sites and the development of 

an additional five-screen location. 

Cinéville has taken a methodical 

approach to its new sites and renovations, 

with an emphasis on upgrading the 

standards of all its auditoriums over the 

installation of premium screens. 

Grand Écran will inch closer to reaching 

the 100-screen benchmark in France in 

2023. The circuit received approval for the 

opening of a new six-screen location near 

Nantes in October 2021, with construction 

expected to begin this year. 

Like several other circuits on this list, 

Grand Écran increased its footprint across 

France with several new projects in 2019. 

Since their reopening from the pandemic, 

the circuit has focused on reconnecting 

with their audiences while searching for 

strategic opportunities within the market. 


8 

MK2 

9 

CINÉWEST 

10 

NOÉ CINEMAS 

Screens: 83 

Locations: 12 

Screens: 66 

Locations: 13 

Screens: 63 

Locations: 18 

France’s leading specialty chain is 

instantly recognizable for its eye-catching 

façades in major urban centers. Mk2 

continued innovating throughout the 

pandemic, opening its first cinemathemed 

hotel next to its mk2 Nation 

location in Paris. Hotel Paradiso features 

35 guest rooms that double as guests’ 

private auditoriums. Guests can upgrade 

to two suites offering first-run films from 

the programming selection available at 

the mk2 cinema located next to the hotel. 

Mk2 is also notable in the market by 

being one of France’s leading cinema 

brands to have expressed interest in 

working with streamers in the future. 

The fastest-growing cinema chain in 

the country, CinéWest went from being 

ranked 18th among French cinemas 

in terms of admissions in 2019 to the 

number 8 spot in 2021. A number of highprofile 

acquisitions during the pandemic, 

including a notable location from Pathé 

Gaumont, makes CinéWest one of the 

most compelling circuits emerging from 

the pandemic in France. 

Founded by Richard Patry, who also 

serves as president of France’s exhibition 

trade group, the FNCF, Noé Cinemas 

recorded 880,000 admissions in 2021. The 

circuit opened two cinemas last year, a 

six-screen site in Normandy and a threescreen 

location on the Côte d’Azur. The 

chain is spending 2022 continuing the 

renovation of its cinemas in Rouen and 

Elbeuf (Normandy) and is carrying out a 

four-screen cinema project in Vernon (also 

Normandy) with a group of independent 

cinema operators in the market. 


61


GIANTS OF 

EXHIBITION: 

U.K. & IRELAND 

The U.K. market—including cinemas in the U.K. and the 

Republic of Ireland—was one of the European markets 

hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, with an over 

76 percent drop in box office and a 75 percent drop in 

admissions in 2020 compared to the previous year. 2021 

saw the cinema sector recovering after several rounds 

of closures, with an 85 percent increase in box office 

revenue compared to 2020, despite mandated closures 

and capacity restrictions through the first quarter of 2021. 

The market was boosted by two films in particular: No 

Time to Die and Spider-Man: No Way Home, the first- and 

second-highest grossing films of 2021 in the U.K. market. 

1 

CINEWORLD 

Screens: UK: 1082 | Ireland: 17 | 

Picturehouse UK: 93 

Locations: UK: 101 | Ireland: 1 | 

Picturehouse UK: 26 

The corporate parent of the United States’ 

Regal cinema chain—and the world’s 

second-biggest exhibitor—Cineworld 

operates in the U.K. through its Cineworld 

and Picturehouse labels, the latter 

being a cinema, distribution, and home 

entertainment outfit that boasts 26 

theaters across the U.K. After a rocky 

2020 for the cinema industry, 2021 saw 

Cineworld’s revenue in the U.K. and 

Ireland more than double compared to 

the prior year, up from $153.9 million to 

$348.1 million. The first two decades of 

the 21st century were marked by growth 

for Cineworld, as they acquired UGC’s 

U.K. operations in 2004, Picturehouse 

in 2012, and Regal Entertainment Group 

in 2018, with a planned pre-pandemic 

acquisition of Canada’s Cineplex chain off 

the table and currently the subject of legal 

proceedings. 

After a rocky 2020 for the 

cinema industry, 2021 saw 

Cineworld’s revenue in the U.K. 

and Ireland more than double 

compared to the prior year. 


The U.K. market—including 

cinemas in the U.K. and the 

Republic of Ireland—was one 

of the European markets 

hardest hit by the Covid-19 

pandemic. 

2 

ODEON 

3 

VUE INTERNATIONAL 

4 

OMNIPLEX 

Screens: UK: 882 | Ireland: 77 

Locations: UK: 111 | Ireland: 11 





Acquired by U.S.-based AMC Theatres 

in 2016 (along with the UCI Cinemas 

chain), ODEON Cinemas is part of the 

world’s largest cinema chain–a milestone 

it reached with the completion of said 

acquisition of ODEON & UCI Cinemas 

from private equity firm Terra Firma for 

approximately $1.2 billion. The acquisition 

by AMC led to a raft of upgrades to bring 

the U.K. cinemas in line with AMC’s 

corporate identity, including powered 

recliners and expanded food and beverage 

offerings. In 2018, the ODEON flagship 

ODEON Luxe Leicester Square cinema, 

located in London, gave the U.K. its first 

Dolby Cinema auditorium; in the years 

since, it’s added four additional Dolby 

Cinema locations across the country. 

The largest privately owned cinema chain 

in Europe, the circuit now known as Vue 

International (then SBC International 

Cinemas) was founded in 1999, increasing 

its U.K. market share in part with 

acquisitions of Warner Village Cinemas 

U.K. (2003), Apollo Cinemas (2012), and 

Ireland’s Showtime Cinemas (2018). The 

chain has invested heavily in non-film 

programming, including sports, cultural 

offerings such as theater and ballet, and 

gaming—with the chain introducing the 

U.K.’s first e-sports cinema in 2015. 

Based in Dublin, Omniplex is Ireland’s 

biggest cinema chain, with locations 

split between Northern Ireland and the 

Republic of Ireland. Several months after 

the commencement of a phased reopening 

in July 2020, the Omniplex opened its 

first D’LUXX cinema in Northern Ireland’s 

Bangor, County Down. Omniplex’s inhouse 

luxury brand, D’LUXX combines 

a 1920s visual aesthetic with premium 

amenities, including electric recliners, 

Dolby digital sound, and laser projection. 

The chain also offers its proprietary PLF 

brand, OmniplexMAXX, boasting Dolby 

Atmos sound and a screen curved by 5 

percent. 


63


2021 saw the cinema sector 

recovering after several rounds of 

closures, with an 85 percent increase 

in box office revenue compared to 

2020, despite mandated closures and 

capacity restrictions through the first 

quarter of 2021. 

5 

NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS 

6 

IMC CINEMAS 

7 

EMPIRE CINEMAS 

Screens: 241 

Locations: 18 



Screens: 137 

Locations: 15 

Operating in the U.K. (as in the U.S.) under 

the Showcase Cinemas and Showcase 

Cinemas de Lux brands, multinational 

chain National Amusements, which also 

has theaters in Brazil and Argentina, 

offers cinemagoers of the U.K. several 

premium experiences, including the 

Director’s Hall and Lounge concept— 

open only to those 18 and over after 8 

p.m.—XLR premium seating, and XPlus 

PLF auditoriums. 2020 saw Showcase, as 

well as its U.S. counterpart, introduce its 

own streaming service, labeled “Showcase 

at Home” in the U.K., giving customers 

the opportunity to rent mainstream and 

independent film, as well as event cinema 

content, from their homes. 

Founded in 1998, IMC Cinemas—or Irish 

Multiplex Cinemas—boasts 20 cinemas 

spread across most major cities and towns 

in Northern Ireland and the Republic 

of Ireland, including Dublin, where it 

operates the nearly 100-year-old Savoy 

Cinemas. Until 2013, IMC was part of the 

Ward Anderson chain of cinemas, owned 

by the Ward and Anderson families; the 

chain was split into IMC Cinemas and 

Omniplex. 

In mid-2022, IMC partnered with 

green energy provider Energia to power 

the chain’s screens and head office with 

renewable energy. 

Founded in 2005, Empire Cinemas came 

about as a result of ODEON & UCI Cinemas 

and UGC merging with Cineworld, 

necessitating (per the order of the Office 

of Fair Trading) that those chains divest 

certain of their theaters; Empire Cinema’s 

flagship and namesake, the Empire 

Leicester Square in London, was sold to 

Cineworld in 2016. 

Subsequent years saw the chain either 

open or renovate several new theaters, 

including the Sutton cinema in Surrey, 

which offers D-BOX motion seating and 

several premium auditoriums under the 

brand’s Impact label. 


8 

EVERYMAN CINEMAS 

9 

THE LIGHT CINEMAS 

10 

REEL CINEMAS 

Screens: 119 

Locations: 36 

Screens: 86 

Locations: 11 

Screens: 78 

Locations: 15 

Based in London, Everyman Cinemas was 

founded in 2000 by entrepreneur Daniel 

Broch. A luxury, community-focused 

cinema brand, it offers moviegoers 

expanded food and beverage options 

and emphasizes customer service. 

Approximately a third of its 36 locations 

are in the greater London area. 

Expansion plans are in the works at 

Everyman, with the chain saying they 

plan to open four new cinemas in 2022. An 

additional two new locations are slatetd 

for 2023. 

Operating 11 theaters throughout England, 

independent cinema chain The Light was 

founded by former Cineworld executive 

Keith Pullinger and former Warner Village 

Cinemas executive John Sullivan. In 

partnership with The Big Picture Cinema 

Consultancy, The Light ventured into 

Saudi Arabia shortly after that country 

lifted its decades-long ban on cinemas, 

founding the cinema company Muvi. 

Back in the U.K., the chain has entered 

the entertainment center space, with two 

yet-to-open complexes—featuring cinema 

screens, bowling, arcade games, and 

more—in the works. 

Reel Cinemas was formed in 2001, when 

the Loughborough location of art house 

chain Curzon Cinemas was acquired 

as part of a property-development 

project. Subsequent years saw the chain 

acquire more theaters under the banner 

of Curzon Leisure Group, established 

to bring cinemas to town center–type 

environments. In 2005, Curzon Leisure 

Group was rebranded as Reel Cinemas Ltd. 

The chain is currently in expansion 

mode: 2021 saw it open a six-screen 

cinema in Blackburn, while an additional 

6 complexes are planned for 2023. 


65

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September 27-29, 2022 | Grand Geneva Resort & Spa | Lake Geneva, WI 

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Register at GenevaConvention.com or call 262-532-0017 

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Beyond Blockbusters 68 | Where the Crawdads Sing 72 | Ali & Ava 80 | Mr. Malcolm’s List 86 

ON SCREEN 

“I think it’s important that [diversity in casting] becomes a more 

mainstream approach to how we, as filmmakers, tell stories.” 

Mr. Malcolm’s List, p. 86 


67

On Screen LONG RANGE FORECAST 

BOOKING 

BEYOND THE 

BLOCKBUSTER 

Six Intriguing Post-Summer, Non-Tentpole 

Films Previewed at CinemaCon 

BY SHAWN ROBBINS AND DANIEL LORIA 

Tentpoles might have gotten 

all the attention at the studio 

presentations at CinemaCon 2022, 

but equally important to exhibitors 

was the range of titles that could 

appeal to audiences beyond the 

blockbusters. The following list 

features a half dozen of the most 

intriguing films we previewed in 

Las Vegas, a list compiled exclusively 

of non-tentpole titles set to open after 

the summer movie season. 


1 

STEPHEN 

KING AT THE 

BOX OFFICE 

THE WOMAN KING 

Sony 

September 16, 2022 

Numbers reflect 

cumulative 

domestic gross 

1. 

IT (2017) 

$328.8M 

CinemaCon is a great 

launchpad for titles that may 

have flown under the radar 

during production. Sony’s 

The Woman King showed 

how a successful studio 

presentation in Las Vegas can 

get the exhibition community 

buzzing. Viola Davis produces 

and stars in this historical 

epic set in the Kingdom of 

Dahomey, a powerful African 

state in the 18th and 19th 

centuries. Davis came onstage 

to preview early footage from 

the film, drawing an electric 

response from the audience 

in attendance. What we saw 

of her performance signals a 

potential awards run for the 

film later in the fall. There’s 

appeal to this title beyond 

its star, too; the action pieces 

suggest that the film could 

attract a wider mainstream 

audience. 

2 

SALEM’S LOT 

Warner Bros. 


The latest adaptation of 

a classic Stephen King 

novel lands on what’s been 

a lucrative page on the 

calendar for Warner Bros. The 

studio’s horror films fared 

exceptionally well in early 

September in the years before 

the pandemic. Hits like It 

(2017, $327.4M domestic), The 

Nun (2018, $117.4M), and It 

Chapter Two (2019, $211.5M) 

all did well in their respective 

post-summer frames. Salem’s 

Lot producer James Wan and 

director Gary Dauberman 

introduced the film’s trailer 

at CinemaCon and got an 

encouraging reaction. As with 

the It films, also based on a 

King novel, this is the first 

adaptation of Salem’s Lot made 

for the big screen. Warner Bros. 

is betting the vampire flick will 

appeal beyond Stephen King 

fans, helping the studio further 

expand on its success with 

King’s novels. 

Warner Bros. is 

betting the vampire 

flick will appeal 

beyond Stephen King 

fans, helping the 

studio further expand 

on its success with 

King’s novels. 

2. 

It Chapter Two (2019) 

$211.6M 

3. 

The Green Mile (1999) 

$136.8M 

4. 

1408 (2007) 

$71.9M 

5. 

Misery (1990) 

$61.2M 


69

On Screen LONG RANGE FORECAST 

3 

4 

ARE YOU THERE 

GOD? IT’S ME, 

MARGARET 

DON’T WORRY 

DARLING 

Lionsgate 


Literary adaptations have 

long been a go-to source for 

movie studios looking for new 

franchises. The latest on the 

list is Lionsgate’s upcoming 

take on Judy Blume’s comingof-age 

novel, Are You There 

God? It’s Me, Margaret. The 

film’s two leads, Rachel 

McAdams and Abby Ryder 

Fortson, were on hand at 

CinemaCon to introduce a 

first look at footage from the 

comedy-drama. CinemaCon 

delegates were treated to a 

charming and upbeat take 

on Blume’s source material— 

and a potential breakout 

performance by Fortson in 

the role of Margaret. Are You 

There God? It’s Me, Margaret is 

well-positioned to draw female 

audiences back to the movies 

with its fall release. 

Warner Bros. 


Olivia Wilde’s directorial 

follow-up to her 2019 comedy 

Booksmart promises an 

alluring mystery with shades 

of The Stepford Wives for 

audiences this fall. A cast led 

by Florence Pugh, Harry Styles, 

Chris Pine, and Wilde herself 

toplines this sleek thriller with 

plenty of breakout potential 

at the box office. This film 

won’t be a cross-quadrant 

family play like Are You There 

God? It’s Me, Margaret— 

which could benefit the 

market in terms of counterprogramming. 

Footage 

previewed at CinemaCon 

places this title squarely in an 

adult-targeted category; it’s 

poised to have a deep run into 

October if word-of-mouth is as 

good as the footage suggests 

the film could be. 

Delegates at the 

event were treated 

to an extended look 

at the star-studded 

big-screen spectacle 

set to hit theaters in 

November. 


DAVID O. 

RUSSELL 

AT THE 

BOX OFFICE 

Numbers reflect 

cumulative 

domestic gross 

1. 

American Hustle (2013) 

$150.0M 

6 

2. 

Silver Linings 

Playbook (2012) 

$132.0M 

M3GAN 

5 

AMSTERDAM 

20th Century Studios 

November 4, 2022 

Few in attendance at Disney’s 

CinemaCon presentation expected 

to discover anything about what 

was then called Untitled David 

O. Russell Project from 20th 

Century Studios. But delegates 

at the event were treated to an 

extended look at the star-studded 

big-screen spectacle set to hit 

theaters in November. Amsterdam, 

from the director behind Silver 

Linings Playbook, The Fighter, 

and American Hustle, looks 

like Russell’s most commercial 

title yet. Featuring an ensemble 

cast of Hollywood A-listers that 

includes Christian Bale, Margot 

Robbie, Anya Taylor-Joy, John 

David Washington, Robert De Niro, 

Michael B. Jordan, Rami Malek, 

Chris Rock, and pop superstar 

Taylor Swift, the film promises 

to be as eclectic and diverse as 

its cast; early footage suggests a 

period film with an interesting mix 

of comedy, mystery, and drama, 

a perfect recipe for moviegoers 

ahead of a blockbuster-heavy 

Thanksgiving frame. 

3. 

The Fighter (2010) 

$93.6M 

4. 

Three Kings (1999) 

$60.6M 

5. 

Joy (2015) 

$56.4M 

Universal Pictures 

January 13, 2023 

Producer James Wan bookends 

this article with yet another 

horror film on the release 

schedule, this time working 

under fellow producer Jason 

Blum’s Blumhouse label for 

Universal. M3GAN promises 

to be an update on Child’s Play 

for the digital generation. Star 

Allison Williams returns to 

the horror genre for the first 

time since her breakout role in 

Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) 

in this horror-thriller about 

a personal assistant robot 

with an evil streak. The first 

quarter of the year showed 

the domestic box office the 

importance of having fresh 

genre fare in January, with 

Paramount’s Scream (2022), 

which sprinted to an $80 

million domestic run. This 

low-profile horror title could 

hit similar heights with the 

right support behind it. 


71

ON SCREEN WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING 


Olivia Newman Brings Best-Selling Book 

Where the Crawdads Sing to the Big Screen 



73


Boasting 157 weeks on The New 

York Times Best Sellers list for 

fiction—and counting, as of press 

time—Delia Owens’s novel Where 

the Crawdads Sing has become a bona fide 

phenomenon since its release in mid-2018. 

Selected by Reese Witherspoon as part 

of her Hello Sunshine book club, it was 

the top-selling fiction book on Amazon 

in 2019; more recently, Publishers Weekly 

ranked it as the 14th best-selling book of 

2021, despite having come out more than 

two years earlier. Millions have connected 

with the story of Kya, a girl abandoned 

by her family and forced to survive on 

her own in the marshes of North Carolina. 

Viewed suspiciously by the townspeople, 

the “Marsh Girl” (as she is derisively 

known) faces additional trials when a man 

she’s formed a relationship with turns up 

dead, and she’s labeled the prime suspect. 

The film adaptation of Where the 

Crawdads Sing, out July 15 from Sony 

Pictures, offers fresh faces in the form of 

star Daisy Edgar-Jones, a British actress 

starring in her first theatrically released 

feature (she also starred in 2022’s horror 

film Fresh, released on Hulu); Lucy Alibar, 

penning only her third film (her first, 

Beasts of the Southern Wild, garnered 

her an Oscar nomination); and director 

Olivia Newman, making her first studio 

film. Behind the scenes is Witherspoon, 

producing the film through her Hello 

Sunshine banner. Neman talked to 

Boxoffice Pro about her big-screen debut. 

When we arranged this interview, I 

wasn’t aware that you directed 

[2018’s] First Match, [a Netflix original 

movie about a teenage girl trying to 

join the boy’s wrestling team], which I 

really liked. What was your path from 

that film to Where the Crawdads Sing? 

After First Match came out, I started 

writing lots of different things and 

directing television. I was getting into 

this crazy TV directing schedule, where 

you’re bouncing from show to show and 

then writing in between shows and getting 

different projects into different places. 

And then Covid hit. It was only two years 

after First Match came out. Everything 

shut down. It was a really scary time. 

I was actually on a TV show that got 

cut. We got shut down the day before our 

first day of shooting. And then Crawdads 

was sent to me. My agents brought it to 

“It was a huge relief, and it 

felt like this miracle that this 

beautiful book that I had been 

wanting to read and scared to 

read actually ended up being 

meant for me.” 


my attention. It was a book that I had been 

dying to read, but I knew that Reese had 

selected it for her book club, and I figured 

that it was going to end up getting made 

and I honestly was scared to read it and 

have my heart broken. My agents told me, 

“No, they’re looking for a director.” I read it 

in two days. I couldn’t put it down. Then 

I read Lucy [Alibar’s] script, which is a 

beautiful, lyrical adaptation. Amazingly, I 

got the job. That was July 2020. I had been 

shut down on this show in early March, 

thinking, “Oh my God, who knows when 

I’m going to work again?” and then got 

this job in July. So it was a huge relief, and 

it felt like this miracle that this beautiful 

book that I had been wanting to read and 

scared to read actually ended up being 

meant for me. 

“It’s interesting to see the 

recurring themes in [my own] 

work. There’s this theme of 

found family and a craving 

for connection. Even when 

you’re incredibly strong on 

your own, you can still crave 

human connection.” 

The trailer has sort of a southern 

gothic feel, which I really appreciate. 

Taylor Swift, who wrote that original song 

[for Where the Crawdads Sing], said to us 

that she imagined this southern gothic 

lullaby for the song, and I think that’s 

exactly right. The other thing is, just 

thinking about your question of, “Why 

did you get this movie?” It’s interesting, 

because when I first pitched, I was asked, 

“How can we envision you as a director [on 

Crawdads] when you’ve done First Match, 

which feels very different?” My response 

was, “I actually think these stories are very 

similar.” They’re both about young women 

who have been abandoned by family; who 

are growing up in very challenging and 

sometimes hostile environments; who 

discover that they have incredible skill, 

Surely there were a lot of people 

who wanted to direct this; what was 

your pitch? What did you sell the 

producers on? 

Well, you’d have to ask the studio and the 

producers why they picked me! One of 

the things that I clicked into when I read 

the book and the script and was thinking 

about how you adapt it for screen: In the 

book, you have these two different story 

lines. You have Kya’s survival and growing 

up in the marsh, and then you have this 

investigation [and] courtroom trial at the 

very end. My pitch to them was, “Let’s put 

her on trial from the beginning, so that 

we’re always with Kya.” I don’t know if 

anybody else had thought that, so maybe 

it was a fresh idea. 

I was trying to figure out, how do we 

create tension? And—from the beginning 

of the movie all the way through—get as 

much time as possible with Kya, because 

that’s really who we’re rooting for. Whether 

it’s in the marsh or in the courtroom, we 

always want to be hooked into her. 

I had a very personal reaction to the 

story of growing up in the marsh and 

surviving in nature. My father built a cabin 

in the woods when I was a kid—literally 

bought a piece of land and built a cabin 

with running water but no electricity. 

That’s where we spent weekends, 

summers—we would spend just running 

around the woods. He’s a lover of animals 

and taught us so much about appreciation 

for the cycle of life and our natural instinct 

to survive. So I really connected on that 

level to the setting of the story. 


75


strength, and resilience; and [who go 

on a journey to] find their own voice 

and figure out their own self-worth in 

finding that thing that makes them really 

unique and strong. 

In some ways, the reason [the story] 

really spoke to me is because it has this 

incredibly strong, resilient heroine at 

the center of it. Obviously, I’m drawn to 

those stories over and over again. It’s 

interesting to see the recurring themes 

in [my own] work. There’s this theme 

of found family and a craving for 

connection. Even when you’re incredibly 

strong on your own, you can still crave 

human connection. 

How did making this film compare to 

making First Match for Netflix? 

First Match was a Netflix original, and 

it was at a time when Netflix was just 

starting to fund low-budget movies. I 

don’t know what it’s like to work with 

Netflix now, because this was six years ago. 

At the time, the wonderful thing about 

working with Netflix was that they were 

very hands-off. They really had faith in 

our project and kind of let us do what we 

wanted. It was also a very low-budget film, 

so there’s different stakes there, obviously. 

But I felt completely supported by them. 

It was a wonderful experience in terms of 

creative liberty. It was fantastic. And it was 

such a rare treat for a first film to have the 

support of a studio like Netflix. 

I imagine this time it’s more 

structured, if only because you’re 

working with preexisting material. 

First Match I worked on for years. It came 

out of my research and my experience 

and relationships that I had with the 

wrestling community in New York. It was 

very much my baby, something that I 

completely invented and imagined and 

worked on for years and years and years, 

and spent years raising the money. It was 

this whole long, arduous process, as first 

films often are. 

With Crawdads it was completely 

different, because there’s a phenomenon 

of a book as the source material. There’s 

already a screenwriter in place who had 

been on the project before me and poured 

her heart into the script. And there was 

a studio and Hello Sunshine producing 

it. So it was much more of a collaboration 

between all of these important creative 

voices and a lot of people who are really 

passionate about the material. 

Reese Witherspoon has spoken 

about her support of female 

directors, and that really shows in 

Crawdads—that the studio didn’t just 

go with some guy who’d directed five 

studio movies already to direct this 

phenomenon of a book. 

I’m completely indebted to Reese for 

being willing to take a chance on me. And 

to Erin Siminoff and Elizabeth Gabler at 

[Sony subsidiary] 3000 pictures. They 

have worked with giant directors, some of 

my heroes, and so the fact that they put 

their faith in me means the world. They 

have been so incredibly supportive of my 

vision and supportive of me as a first-time 

studio filmmaker. 


It’s a group of powerhouse women in the 

film industry who are behind [adapting] 

this powerhouse of a first novel—Delia 

has written several memoirs, but this is 

her first piece of fiction. It’s my first studio 

movie. It’s all these women who have loads 

of experience coming in and saying, “We 

love this, and we have faith in this. We’re 

going to make it together.” It was quite an 

experience and very uplifting to know that 

opportunities like this can be made for 

women directors. 

What was it like seeing Crawdads in 

front of a test audience for the first time? 

Oh my God. It was terrifying. Our first test 

screening went very well, and that’s a huge 

relief. But it’s terrifying anytime somebody 

sees it for the first time, because it’s your 

baby and you love it. You’ve put so much 

care and thought into every frame of the 

movie and you just hope that it resonates 

with other people, but you really don’t have 

any control over how people experience 

it. I think there were 300 people in this 

giant theater. I’d never seen it projected on 

that big a screen. It was a mix of ages and 

races and ethnicities. It was a very diverse 

and large audience, so I had no idea how 

it would be experienced. And it was very 

positive, which was a huge relief! 

I would’ve been shaking. 

I was very sick to my stomach. But 

ultimately, it was a huge weight lifted. 

I think that’s a testament to Delia’s story, 

“It was quite an experience 

and very uplifting to know that 

opportunities like this can be 

made for women directors.” 


77


and I think it’s why the book has been 

such a phenomenon. I think because 

of Covid we’ve all existed in isolation; 

people really connect to Kya. She’s such 

an incredible heroine that audiences 

really root for her, because she has so 

much to overcome and yet she’s so strong, 

she’s so resilient, she’s so resourceful. It’s a 

character that anyone can relate to. 

Did you have a favorite hometown 

theater when you were growing up? 

I grew up in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

We had a tiny little movie theater. I think 

it was called Hoboken [Cinemas]. It was 

tiny. I think there were two theaters— 

there might have just been one theater. 

It was a tiny screen, but I have such vivid 

memories of the films I saw there. 

What are some of those early memories? 

I remember seeing Schindler’s List there. I 

spent much of the movie with my head on 

my knees, because I couldn’t watch and I 

was so nauseous. But I remember thinking, 

“Oh my God.” That a movie can do that to 

you, can affect you to have that emotional 

and visceral response. It’s incredible. I’m 

sure I saw Ghost there, and I’m sure I saw 

Robin Hood. Those were my childhood. 

The experience you get in the movie 

theater isn’t the same as the experience 

you get if you’re watching it at home. 

The thing about testing it for audiences 

on such a big screen; one of the things 

that was so heartwarming to hear was 

that, hands down, people felt like this is 

a movie that should be seen on the big 

screen. That was our feeling from the 

beginning, because the landscapes are 

so incredible. You don’t want to look at 

the marsh on a tiny little screen. You really 

want to be surrounded by it. I think it’s 

“You don’t want to look 

at the marsh on a tiny little 

screen. You really want to 

be surrounded by it.” 


one of the wonderful things about Delia’s 

book and hopefully about the movie, [the 

fact that] you just love being in that place. 

Seeing it on the big screen, you really get 

to experience Kya’s marsh more viscerally 

than if you’re watching it on your phone, 

which I hope nobody does. 

I’m thinking back to Jeff Nichols’s 

Mud—if I’d seen that on a TV, or God 

forbid my phone, I wouldn’t have 

appreciated it as much. 

Yes, that’s true. Actually, a lot of the images 

from Mud were part of my pitch. You really 

want to experience the mud and the muck 

of the marsh, right? We got stuck in the 

mud many, many times while shooting. 

We were constantly in mud. The mood of 

the swamps and the marsh is very specific. 

When you’re in the swamps, and there’s 

less light. We explore all those different 

landscapes in the movies. So it’s really fun. 

Crafting the soundscape must have 

been fun, too. 

That was one of the things I was most 

shocked by, was how loud it is in the marsh 

and the swamp. There is a certain kind 

of frog that sounds like sheep. The first 

time I heard it—“Where are there fields of 

sheep? Why do I keep hearing baa, baa?” 

Turns out it was a tiny little frog. There are 

thousands of them. It’s just so loud. The 

sound team was incredible, and it was 

really fun to do the sound mix and play 

with the different sounds of the marsh. 


79

ON SCREEN ALI & AVA 


THE EXTRAORDINARY 

LIVES OF SO-CALLED 

ORDINARY PEOPLE 

Writer-Director Clio Barnard 

Celebrates Mature Love in Ali & Ava 

BY CHAD KENNERK 


81


BAFTA-nominated writer-director 

Clio Barnard’s 2010 debut feature 

The Arbor, an experimental 

documentary about the life of 

playwright Andrea Dunbar, won her 

significant acclaim, including the Best 

New Documentary Filmmaker honor at 

the Tribeca Film Festival and the British 

Newcomer and Sutherland awards at the 

BFI London Film Festival. Now, inspired 

by the people and stories she discovered 

in Bradford, West Yorkshire (U.K.) while 

making The Arbor, Barnard continues 

shining a light on “so-called ordinary 

people,” bringing another Bradfordset 

story to the big screen. Greenwich 

Entertainment releases feature film Ali & 

Ava, starring Claire Rushbrook and Adeel 

Akhtar, in theaters on July 29. 

In the film, music enthusiast Ali 

(Akhtar) struggles to keep his recent 

separation a secret from his family. 

Teaching assistant Ava (Rushbrook) is 

the matriarch of a close-knit household. 

When a chance encounter brings them 

together, Ali and Ava recognize their 

shared love of music and begin a tentative 

friendship, which unexpectedly blossoms 

into romance. Barnard crafted her midlife 

love story through workshops between 

the actors and the real-life residents of 

Bradford who inspired their characters. 

While making her first film, the director 

had met amateur D.J. and landlord Moey 

Hassan. He would become the model for 

the character of Ali. When she returned to 

Bradford for her second feature, she met 

single parent and teaching assistant Rio, 

who became the basis for Ava. Though 

they inspired the film’s characters, Moey 

and Rio haven’t fallen in love in real life. 

Barnard discusses the unique genesis 

of her new film with Boxoffice Pro and 

shares her experience of seeing Ali & Ava 

on the big screen for the first time at the 

BFI London Film Festival. 

You’ve previously described your 

films as “bio-fiction.” Did you use a 

workshop process to find Ali & Ava’s 

story? 

Yes, it was a similar process. They were 

inspired by real people, as the boys in 

[Barnard’s 2013 film] The Selfish Giant 

were inspired by real people. So that was 

the starting point. I guess the difference 

Barnard crafted her midlife 

love story through workshops 

between the actors and the 

real-life residents of Bradford 

who inspired their characters. 


[this time] was the adult actors that I 

wasworkshopping with, specifically Adeel 

Akhtar, who was involved in the project 

from the get-go. We kind of workshopped 

the story and then I went back to the 

script, and then I went back to the people 

who inspired the characters. It was a kind 

of process of workshopping with the real 

people and with the actors, in order to 

arrive at a script. 

What were those workshops like? 

What were some of the tools you 

employed? 

Improvisations around the scenes. We did 

one workshop with Rio [the woman who 

inspired the character of Ava]. She was 

kind of watching and correcting, saying, 

“Well, it wouldn’t be quite like that.” Or, “It 

might be more like this.” There was a lot 

of involvement from Moey and Rio, who 

inspired the characters. And the tenants 

in the film are Moey’s real tenants. 

Music is so key to the film. As Ava 

and Ali share songs with each other, 

they also begin to share more of 

themselves: Ava loves country and 

folk, while Ali favors punk rock. It’s a 

musical way of stepping into someone 

else’s shoes. How did you go about 

putting the soundtrack together? 

Yeah, I love working with music. At 

different stages, different songs came up, I 

suppose. The Bob Dylan song [“Mama, You 

Been on My Mind”] was pretty woven into 

the script. Quite a lot hung on whether 

we were going to get the rights to use that 

or not, which involved me writing a letter 

to Bob. Then other songs were things 

that we kind of found along the way: the 

Daniel Avery song, that became kind of 

increasingly important [to the story], as 

did the song “Radio,” that Ali is playing on 

his headphones when he’s dancing with 

Ava on the sofa. I guess music plays a part 

when people fall in love. I really wanted 

that to be part of the fabric of the film. 

The Arbor is an experimental 

documentary that incorporates 

fictional elements, such as actors 

lip-synching to recorded interviews. 

What elements of your background in 

documentary filmmaking do you find 

most helpful in creating narrative films? 

All three films set in Bradford—The Arbor, 

The Selfish Giant, and Ali & Ava—they 

all come from making The Arbor, which 

“I guess music plays a part 

when people fall in love. I 

really wanted that to be part 

of the fabric of the film.” 

was a documentary, although it’s a film 

that partly explores what documentary 

is, in a way. It’s like a hybrid between 

documentary and fiction. The two fiction 

films really have grown out of that. So I’d 

say [the feature films] are very influenced 

by making the documentary. In The Arbor, 

there was a boy called Mattie Bailey. He 

and his best friend inspired the two best 

friends in The Selfish Giant, so they’re 

based very much on real people. In a way 

that’s what then led me to use that similar 

process in Ali & Ava. 

I love the way that your films pay 

homage to your previous work, with 

the character Arbor in The Selfish Giant 


83


recalling your first film about Bradford 

playwright Andrea Dunbar. She kind of 

makes a cameo in Ali & Ava, right? 

Yes, Ava walks down the street, which is 

called Brafferton Arbor, because in our 

fictional world her daughter, Michelle, 

lives on that street. On the wall in the 

background, there’s a blue plaque; after we 

made The Arbor, we put that up to say this 

is where Andrea Dunbar lived. In the U.K., 

you know, they put up these blue plaques 

to say so-and-so lived here. Then there’s a 

bit of [audio] of someone calling her, calling 

“Andrea, Andrea,” that the sound designer 

and I have actually used in all three films. 

So yeah, a little echo of her within Ali & Ava 

that is a little tribute to Andrea. 

Working on The Arbor brought you to 

the area and to these stories. 

Absolutely. 100 percent. Yeah, I wouldn’t 

have made the films otherwise, really. It was 

really because of making that film that I got 

to know a very particular street and a very 

particular group of people. I got to know 

and love them and feel that there were 

important stories to be told from so-called 

ordinary people and their extraordinary 

lives. Wanting to put that on the big screen 

and feeling like those stories have a place 

on the big screen. 

When were you able to see Ali & Ava 

on the big screen for the first time? 

It’s a really good question, because of the 

pandemic of course, and it being delayed. 

So it felt like a long wait for me and for 

the other people involved in making 

the film. The first time for me was at the 

London Film Festival last October. We 

finished shooting the pick-ups [minor 

shots or scenes recorded after principal 

photography has concluded] in February 

2020 and then went into lockdown. I 

wasn’t able to go to Cannes, which is 

actually where it had its premiere. I was 

shooting something and because of Covid, 

I wouldn’t have been able to come back 

onto the set. So the first time I saw it on 

the big screen was October of 2021. 

What was that experience like, 

getting back into the theater and 

getting to see your work for the first 

time on a big screen? 

Usually, I finish something and then quite 

quickly it’s up on the screen. But because 

it was a bit of a wait, I had distance on it. 

Which was a good thing in some ways. The 

London Film Festival had been remote the 

year before, so it was the first time for a lot of 

people, being in the theater again. It was at 

the Royal Festival Hall on the Southbank in 

London. So it’s a big cinema, and it was full. 

The sound was fantastic; it was really loud. 

Good sound. It was a really great experience 

actually. As we all know, songs are really 

designed to be [heard] on a big screen with 

a great sound system and surrounded by a 

lot of people. So it was really blissful. 

AT THE MOVIES 

WITH CLIO BARNARD 

Favorite Cinema 

London cinemas are the ones that do it for me, 

I suppose. Maybe the Ritzy [Picturehouse] in 

Brixton, because there was a certain point in my 

life when I was able to go to the cinema a lot, 

probably in my 20s. That was my local cinema, 

and I really loved going to see films there. 

Favorite Snack 

I really like to get an Earl Grey tea and a brownie. 


RTS 


85

On Screen MR. MALCOLM’S LIST 

LOVE 

Emma Holly Jones Brings Regency Rom-Com to 

the Big Screen with Mr. Malcolm’s List 


AND 


LAUGHTER 


87


It’s been a winding road for Mr. 

Malcolm’s List. The Regency romcom—complete 

with eligible, 

brooding heir; poor, plucky heroine; 

and any number of romantic false 

starts and misunderstandings— 

began life as a self-published book by 

author Suzanne Allain, who later spun 

a screenplay from her story. In brief, 

wealthy bachelor Mr. Malcolm (Sope 

Dìrísù) keeps an impractical “must-have” 

list for his bridal prospects, one of whom, 

the spirited Julia (Zawe Ashton), enlists 

the help of a friend (Freida Pinto) to woo 

and then reject this stonyhearted man, 

who definitely won’t (oh, who are we 

kidding?) discover his romantic side by 

the time the credits roll. 

The crew at podcast network Earwolf 

took the Mr. Malcolm’s List screenplay 

and turned it into an “earmovie”—or, in 

plainer English, did a live table read of 

the (still-not-a-) film for the Black List 

Table Reads podcast. From there, Mr. 

Malcolm and his list caught the attention 

of Emma Holly Jones, a British director 

with experience in commercial and 

documentary filmmaking. A short film 

was made, financed by website Refinery29 

as part of a short-film series supporting 

female filmmakers. The short was then put 

on YouTube, helping to secure financing 

for a feature volume, and voilà: On July 1, 

Mr. Malcolm’s List hits theaters courtesy 

distributor Bleecker Street. In advance of 

its release, Jones spoke to Boxoffice Pro 

about rom-coms, a move toward increased 

diversity in period romances, and her 

unlikely fandom of … Spice World? 

Congratulations on the film! Having 

your first feature get picked up for 

theatrical distribution must feel 

amazing. 

I feel extraordinarily lucky. To come out 

the other end of [the Covid-19 shutdown] 

and to find out that we’re getting a 

release that I was not expecting, during a 

pandemic, is the most exciting thing. I feel 

very lucky and very supported. Bleecker 

Street has been incredibly supportive 

of me and my vision for the movie. To 

get a platform like that, for any young 

filmmaker, is pretty special. 

Making this film during the pandemic, 

what was your vision as to how it 

would be released? 

I truthfully never thought about it that 

much. When you’re trying to make your 

first film, you’re so consumed with trying 

to get the film made. And, whilst making 

the film, trying to make the film good! 

When Bleecker Street bought the film, 

finding out that it was going to be theatrical 

was a really special moment, because being 

a young filmmaker I never knew if I was 

going to see a movie of mine in the cinema. 

The industry is changing so much. It is a 

special thing. Last week, I went to test the 

DCP. Even just that, seeing your work with 

a sound system like that and on a screen 

like that, is a really special moment. 

I made the short-film version [of Mr. 

Malcolm’s List] in 2018. When I finished 

the short-film version, Refinery29, who 

financed it, were very open. They were like, 

“I think the short film 

being on YouTube 

was a good decision, 

because it allowed 

us when we pitched 

the movie to be able 

to say, ‘There’s an 

audience for this.’” 


“Do you want to go to film festivals with 

it? What do you want to do with it?” And 

I was like, “I want to put it on YouTube.” 

Starting this project on the internet, really, 

and then ending up in the cinema is pretty 

cool. It’s been a long journey since 2018. 

I think the short film being on YouTube 

was a good decision, because it allowed 

us when we pitched the movie to be able 

to say, “There’s an audience for this.” As a 

young filmmaker trying to get your project 

off the ground, that ended up as a really 

strong part of our pitch for the feature. 

I love a good romantic movie. Put one 

in theaters every month, as far as I’m 

concerned. 

Oh God, me too! Clearly I’m obsessed with 

them. I grew up loving them. I’m obsessed 

with people like Richard Curtis and Nora 

Ephron and Nancy Meyers, and all these 

movies that I’ve watched time and time 

again since I was a young girl. That’s what 

I was trying to do, bring back my love of 

the rom-com. I was also obsessed with 

Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility and Joe 

Wright’s Pride & Prejudice. To be able to 

find and develop a project [combining] 

those two spaces was a dream come true 

for me. I rewatched every period drama I 

think ever made during prep, which I really 

was not complaining about! I had a great 

time. I watched the whole of “Downton 

Abbey” again. It was wonderful. I think my 

husband might not agree with me. 

So you haven’t gotten to see [Mr. Malcolm’s 

List] in front of an audience yet? 

I have not. Bleecker Street did a test 

screening with a big audience, but I 

couldn’t be there because I was in London. 

Are you texting Bleecker Street during 

the screening: “Where are people 

laughing? What’s the reaction?” 

It was really fun hearing how different 

people from different walks of life react 

to characters and react to the story. The 

funniest joke in the movie was not what I 

was expecting; that was a cool moment as 

well, when they told me what the biggest 

laughs were. I think you become immune 

to [a movie’s jokes] in the edit. The energy 

when people watch comedy—it’s a fun 

genre to watch in a room with people. That 

energy is really contagious. You can’t really 

beat a group of people laughing. If we can 


89


do that, then I feel like I did my job right. 

The first movie I saw back in the 

cinema last year was [directors Suhrud 

Godbole and Vaibhav Khisti’s] June. I 

forgot how much I missed it until I was in 

that room. It’s such a special experience. 

It’s so nice to see that people are going 

back. I was really worried for a second that 

Covid might really dampen the cinema 

moviegoing experience, but it does seem 

like it’s holding strong. 

You want movies of all different types 

to attract people back to the cinema, 

too, instead of just big-budget 

superhero films. 

Yeah. I guess we’ll find out. I hope that 

Malcolm draws people in, because it’s a 

movie that is about feeling good, making 

you laugh, falling in love with characters, 

and watching [the characters] fall in 

love with each other. There are no heavy 

politics to it. There’s no heavy drama to it. 

It’s hopefully just a joyful experience. I’m 

hoping that people, after these last two 

years, are looking for that, too. 

It is nice watching a movie where—and 

I don’t think this constitutes a spoiler— 

you can assume that everything’s going 

“There are no heavy politics 

to it. There’s no heavy drama 

to it. It’s hopefully just a joyful 

experience. I’m hoping that 

people, after these last two 

years, are looking for that, 

too.” 

to come out OK for the characters. 

You kind of know straight away [what you’re 

getting]. You can look at a poster for a romcom 

and know that they’re going to end up 

together, or know the basic idea. The trick is, 

even going in knowing what we’re going to 

get, somehow bringing the audience [along] 

on that journey, creating romantic stakes 

for them. Even though, deep down, we all 

know in a rom-com they end up together. 

That is the big trick of it. And also, 

and Freida did a wonderful job of building 

organic, sweet, lovely chemistry that carries 

the entire movie. 

How did the cast come together? It’s 

your first feature, and you have some 

pretty big names. 

I was super-lucky. We did the short in 2018. 

My casting director, Tamara-Lee Notcutt, 

who is a very dear friend—she used to 

work for Disney and now she has her own 

amazing company—was so supportive 

from day one. 

One of the first pieces [to casting the 

short] was Freida; she was really the first 

choice for that role. We were so lucky 

she was interested. When that first piece 

comes together, every subsequent piece 

becomes easier. I met in a casting 


session, and for me it was just instant. 

Even from three minutes of speaking to 

him, I remember texting the producers: 

“It’s him.” I cast him in the short, and I 

have been so lucky that he and Oliver 

Jackson-Cohen and Frieda apparently 

liked the short enough that they wanted to 

do the feature. 

It’s not a huge risk for actors of that 

caliber to do a short they believe in. It is 

a much bigger risk to do a feature. The 

short film was a wonderful place for them 

to get to know each other, to get to know 

me, to figure out this movie together. A 

huge part of its success is that original 

cast, and then [the cast from the short] 

was supplemented with some incredible 

talent as we moved on. Zawe Ashton came 

on last-minute [as Julia, a role played by 

Gemma Chan in the short]. 

“Because the reality is the 

world did not look like the way 

Hollywood has painted it to 

look in the early 19th century. 

The country of England was a 

lot more diverse than anybody 

has ever portrayed it to look.” 

look like the way Hollywood has painted 

it to look in the early 19th century. The 

country of England was a lot more diverse 

than anybody has ever portrayed it to 

look. I went down that [research] rabbit 

hole and couldn’t quite get out of it. You 

start finding art and poems and drawings 

and letters. And then to have this massive 

realization that Jane Austen had a mixedrace 

character in her final novel, Sanditon. 

For me, as a white person, I had to really 

question what I had been taught and what 

I knew. Mr. Malcolm then became about 

something so much more important to me, 

as well, which was [to make] the period 

drama that so many communities of people 

have never had. I love the genre, and it’s 

so sad to me that some people have never 

had that representation for themselves. 

She brings such great energy. 

She’s incredible. There was another 

actress originally attached to the part who 

dropped out very, very close to the shoot 

date, which was quite a scary moment. 

One of our casting directors put Zawe 

forward. She had the most fantastic take 

on the character of Julia, and she changed 

so much how I saw Julia through her 

own interpretation and her own brilliant 

comedic intelligence. She’s also a great 

filmmaker and writer. I feel so lucky that 

it was her, because that character is so 

memorable, so clever. She really found the 

meat to it and pushed me to develop and 

rewrite the character last-minute in a way 

that was even stronger. 

As someone who grew up devouring 

period romances, I’ve enjoyed seeing 

their casting get more diverse. 

For me, obviously, that’s been a huge part 

of this. I’d been developing the project 

for seven years. I found Suzanne Allain’s 

script, and I fell in love with it. To find 

something that was so original was a huge 

benefit and a huge bonus. The same week 

I heard the podcast episode about this 

script, I saw Hamilton for the first time. 

It was instant for me. Representation is 

important, obviously, across the board. 

When filmmakers or writers or artists 

take risks to make something different, to 

change the standard look of anything set in 

a period world, it sparks inspiration in me. 

All I can really hope is that Mr. Malcolm 

sparks that inspiration in somebody else. 

Because the reality is the world did not 


91


Not even necessarily period dramas, [just] 

rom-coms as a whole. It’s so rare to see a 

person of color get the guy or get the girl. 

In its genre and the diversity of 

its casting, I can see this getting 

compared to Netflix’s “Bridgerton.” 

I feel like every period drama should be 

made in a more inclusive way. I hope that 

the success of “Bridgerton” is something 

that paves the way for our success. From 

someone who’s consumed both, I think 

the tone is very different. The look of 

the movie is very different. There are 

similarities. Hopefully people enjoy our 

“I think it’s important 

that [diversity in casting] 

becomes a more mainstream 

approach to how we, as 

filmmakers, tell stories.” 

version, too. I don’t want to be out here like, 

“I did it first!” That’s not the point. I think 

it’s important that [diversity in casting] 

becomes a more mainstream approach to 

how we, as filmmakers, tell stories. 

I think of Armando Inannucci’s David 

Copperfield adaptation, starring Dev 

Patel—he was so good in it, but in the 

past it’s not a role he would have been 

offered. 

And by the way, [I know a lot of] British 

actors who went to drama school. These 

are the roles, the source material these 

guys study. Especially from a theater 


BLEECKER 

STREET AT THE 

BOX OFFICE 

The independent 

distributor’s highestgrossing 

films, 

domestically 

1. 

Logan Lucky (2017) 

3,031 screens 

$27.7M 

2. 

Eye in the Sky (2015) 

1,089 screens 

$18.7M 

3. 

Megan Leavey (2017) 

1,956 screens 

$13.4M 

4. 

Hotel Mumbai (2018) 

930 screens 

$9.6M 

5. 

The Lost City of Z 

(2016) 

866 screens 

$8.5M 

perspective, it was so much fun for them 

to get to stretch those muscles. They had a 

lot of fun with it. 

Do you remember the first movie you 

saw in a theater? 

I don’t know the first one—I was very 

young. But—this is a really random one, 

but I remember one of the first movies 

I was allowed to see alone at the movie 

theater, which is really embarrassing. It 

was Spice World! 

That is not embarrassing! 

When I was 8, 9, 10, 11, the Spice Girls were 

my life. I used to think I was Baby Spice. 

One of my first experiences of the cinema 

was being allowed to go see Spice World 

with my friends on my own and being 

picked up afterwards. It’s one of the first 

things your parents allow you to do on 

your own, isn’t it? Go to the movie theater. 

Being in an auditorium filled with 

Spice Girls fans must’ve made it even 

better. 

[Laughs.] I feel like I need to go rewatch 

Spice World now. 


93

ON SCREEN EVENT CINEMA CALENDAR 

EVENT CINEMA 

CALENDAR 

Updated through May 31, 2022. 

Contact distributors for latest listings. 

FATHOM EVENTS 

fathomevents.com 

855-473-4612 

MET SUMMER ENCORE: THE MERRY 

WIDOW 

July 13 

Genre: Opera 

THE DEER KING 

July 13, July 14 

Genre: Anime 

TCM BIG SCREEN CLASSICS: 

CABARET (50TH ANNIV.) 

July 17, July 20 

Genre: Classics 

NT LIVE: PRIMA FACIE 

July 21 

Genre: Theater 

MET SUMMER ENCORE: MADAMA 

BUTTERFLY 

July 27 

Genre: Opera 

STUDIO GHIBLI FEST 2022: 

KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE 

July 31, Aug. 1, Aug. 3 

Genre: Anime 

MET SUMMER ENCORE: LA BOHÈME 

Aug. 3 

Genre: Opera 

MET SUMMER ENCORE: LA FILLE 

DU RÉGIMENT 

Aug. 10 

Genre: Opera 

DRUM CORPS INTERNATIONAL: 

BIG, LOUD, & LIVE 17 

Aug. 11 

Genre: Music 


ONLY YESTERDAY 

Aug. 28, Aug. 29 

Genre: Anime 


STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN 

(40TH ANNIV.) 

Sept. 4, Sept. 5, Sept. 8 



HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE 


Genre: Anime 


POLTERGEIST (40TH ANNIV.) 


Genre: Music 

JOHNNY CASH: THE REDEMPTION 

OF AN AMERICAN ICON 

Oct. 11, Oct. 12, Oct. 13 

Genre: Music 


TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD 

(60TH ANNIV.) 

Nov. 13, Nov. 16 



IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE 

Dec. 18, Dec. 21 


ICONIC EVENTS 

iconicreleasing.com 

UFC 276: ADESANYA VS 

CANNONIER 

July 2 

Genre: Sports 

FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT 

HIGH 40TH ANNIVERSARY 

July 28 



IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT 

(55TH ANNIV.) 

Oct. 16, Oct. 19 



SPIRITED AWAY 

Oct. 30, Nov. 1, Nov. 2 

Genre: Anime 

TRAFALGAR RELEASING 

trafalgar-releasing.com 

GEORGE MICHAEL FREEDOM 

UNCUT 

June 22 

Genre: Music 

NT Live: Prima Facie 

Studio Ghibli Fest 2022: 

Spirited Away 


DIGITAL SIGNAGE 

Integrated Digital Signage, 

Concession Signs, Lobby & 

Directional Signs, Custom Graphics 

MOBILE APP & 

WEBSITES 

Web Management, Website 

Design and Programming, 

Online Ticket Purchasing, 

Mobile App Development, 

Mobile Ticketing Sales 

INTERNET TICKETING 

Online Ticket Sales with Theatre Branded Interface 

Your Complete Theatre 

Management Solution 

Starts Here! 

TICKETING & CONCESSION 

POINT-OF-SALE 

Touch Screen Ticketing, 

Concession Point-of-Sale, 

Two-in-One Terminals, Kiosk Sales 

& Redemptions, Assigned Seating 

BACK OFFICE 

MANAGEMENT 

Show Scheduling, Inventory, 

Cash Control, Remote Access, 

Labor Management, 

Real-Time Corporate Reports 

GIFT CARDS & LOYALTY 

PROGRAMS 

Gift Cards, Virtual Gift Card 

Sales, Customer Rewards 

888-988-4470 Sales 

FILM RENTAL MANAGEMENT 

Automatically Calculate Weekly Film Rental, Create 

Payment Vouchers, Settle Films & Manage Credits 

NETWORK & 

IT SERVICES 

Network Support, Hardware 

Monitoring, Phone & Surveillance 

System Support, ISP Monitoring, 

Security & Antivirus 

RetrieverSolutionsInc.com 


95

BOOKING 

GUIDE 

Release calendar for theatrical 

distribution in North America 

Release dates are updated through May 26, 2022. 

Please consult distributors to confirm latest listings. 

A24 

646-568-6015 

MARCEL THE SHELL WITH 

SHOES ON 

Fri, 6/24/22 WIDE 

Stars: Jenny Slate, Rosa Salazar 

Director: Dean Fleischer-Camp 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Com 

BODIES BODIES BODIES 

Fri, 8/5/22 WIDE 

Stars: Amandla Stenberg, 

Maria Bakalova 

Director: Halina Reijn 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

BRIARCLIFF / OPEN ROAD 

FILMS 

Avatar: The Way of Water 

Fri, 12/16/22 WIDE 

GABBY GIFFORDS WON’T BACK 

DOWN 

Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE 

Directors: Betsy West, Julie Cohen 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

20TH CENTURY STUDIOS 

310-369-1000 

212-556-2400 

BRAHMASTRA PART 1: SHIVA 


AVATAR (2009) 

Fri, 9/23/22 WIDE 

Stars: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington 

Director: James Cameron 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Fan/SF 

AMSTERDAM 

Fri, 11/4/22 WIDE 

Director: David O. Russell 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER 

Fri, 12/16/22 WIDE 

Stars: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington 

Director: James Cameron 

Rating: NR 


Specs: 3D, Imax, Dolby 

UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2022 

Fri, 12/23/22 WIDE 

Rating: R 

UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2023 

Fri, 9/15/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2024 1 

Fri, 5/24/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

UNTITLED 20TH CENTURY 2024 2 


Rating: NR 

AVATAR 3 

Fri, 12/20/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 


AMAZON STUDIOS 

CATHERINE CALLED BIRDY 

Fri, 9/23/22 LTD 

Stars: Bella Ramsey, Billie Piper 

Director: Lena Dunham 

Rating: PG-13 

Genre: Act 

GOOD NIGHT OPPY 

Fri, 11/4/22 LTD 

Director: Ryan White 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Doc 

BLEECKER STREET 

MR. MALCOLM’S LIST 

Fri, 7/1/22 LTD 

Stars: Zawe Ashton, Dìrísù 

Director: Emma Holly Jones 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Rom/Com/Dra 

A LOVE SONG 

Fri, 7/29/22 LTD 

Stars: Dale Dickey, Wes Studi 

Director: Max Walker-Silverman 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Dra 

SUMMERING 

Fri, 8/12/22 LTD 

Stars: Lake Bell, Megan Mullally 

Director: James Ponsoldt 

Rating: PG-13 

Genre: Dra 


97

ON SCREEN BOOKING GUIDE 

BREAKING 

Fri, 8/26/22 LTD 

Stars: John Boyega, 

Michael Kenneth Williams 

Director: Abi Damaris Corbin 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Thr 

DISNEY 

818-560-1000 

Ask for Distribution 

LIGHTYEAR 

Fri, 6/17/22 WIDE 

Stars: Chris Evans 

Director: Angus MacLane 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Ani 

Specs: 3D, Imax, Dolby Vis/Atmos 

STRANGE WORLD 

Fri, 11/23/22 WIDE 

Director: Don Hall 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

Specs: Dolby Vis/Atmos 

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP: 

QUANTUMANIA 

Fri, 2/17/23 WIDE 

Stars: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly 

Director: Peyton Reed 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/SF 

HAUNTED MANSION 

Fri, 3/10/23 WIDE 

Director: Justin Simien 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

UNTITLED INDIANA JONES 

Fri, 6/30/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Adv 

THE MARVELS 

Fri, 7/28/23 WIDE 

Stars: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris 

Director: Nia DaCosta 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/SF/Fan 

UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION 2023 

Fri, 8/11/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

UNTITLED MARVEL 2023 

Fri, 11/3/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Adv/SF 

UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION 2024 1 


Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

UNTITLED DISNEY LIVE ACTION 

2024 1 

Fri, 3/22/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

UNTITLED MARVEL 2024 2 


Rating: NR 


UNTITLED PIXAR ANIMATION 2024 2 

Fri, 6/14/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER 


Stars: Chris Hemsworth, 

Tessa Thompson 

Director: Taika Waititi 

Rating: NR 

Genre: SF/Fan/Act 


BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA 

FOREVER 

Fri, 11/11/22 WIDE 

Director: Ryan Coogler 

Rating: NR 



GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 


Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana 

Director: James Gunn 

Rating: NR 


THE LITTLE MERMAID 

Fri, 5/26/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

ELEMENTAL 

Fri, 6/16/23 WIDE 

Director: Peter Sohn 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

UNTITLED DISNEY ANIMATION 

2023 

Fri, 11/22/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

ROGUE SQUADRON 

Fri, 12/22/23 WIDE 

Director: Patty Jenkins 

Rating: NR 


UNTITLED MARVEL 2024 1 

Fri, 2/16/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 


FOCUS FEATURES 

BRIAN AND CHARLES 

Fri, 6/17/22 WIDE 

Stars: David Earl, Chris Hayward 

Director: Jim Archer 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Com/Dra 

MRS. HARRIS GOES TO PARIS 

Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE 

Stars: Lesley Manville, Isabelle 

Huppert 

Director: Anthony Fabian 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Dra 

VENGEANCE 

Fri, 7/29/22 WIDE 

Stars: B.J. Novak, Issa Rae 

Director: B.J. Novak 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com/Thr 

TÁR 


Stars: Cate Blanchett, Nina Hoss 

Director: Todd Field 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Bio 

GRAVITAS PREMIERE 

MACK & RITA 

Fri, 8/12/24 WIDE 

Stars: Diane Keaton, Elizabeth Lail 

Director: Katie Aselton 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com, Dra 

GREENWICH ENTERTAINMENT 

Thor: Love and Thunder 


MY DONKEY, MY LOVER & I 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Stars: Laure Calamy, 

Benjamin Lavernhe 

Director: Caroline Vignal 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com 

98 


STAY PRAYED UP 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Directors: D.L. Anderson, 

Matthew Durning 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank 

Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE 

ACCEPTED 

Fri, 7/1/24 LTD 

Director: Dan Chen 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

IFC FILMS 

BOOKINGS@IFCFILMS.COM 

OFFICIAL COMPETITION 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Stars: Penélope Cruz, 

Antonio Banderas 

Directors: Mariano Cohn, 

Gastón Duprat 

Rating: R 

Genre: Com/Dra 

FLUX GOURMET 

Fri, 6/24/22 LTD 

Stars: Asa Butterfield, 

Gwendoline Christie 

Director: Peter Strickland 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com/Hor 

RUBIKON 

Fri, 7/1/22 LTD 

Stars: Julia Franz Richter, 

George Blagden 

Director: Magdalena Lauritsch 

Rating: NR 

Genre: SF 

BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADE 

Fri, 7/8/22 LTD 

Stars: Juliette Binoche, 

Vincent Lindon 

Director: Claire Denis 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Rom 

SHE WILL 

Fri, 7/15/22 LTD 

Stars: Alice Krige, 

Malcolm McDowell 

Director: Charlotte Colbert 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

RESURRECTION 

Fri, 8/05/22 LTD 

Stars: Rebecca Hall, Tim Roth 

Director: Andrew Semans 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Hor 

SPIN ME ROUND 

Fri, 8/19/22 LTD 

Stars: Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza 

Director: Jeff Baena 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com 

PRETTY PROBLEMS 

Fri, 8/26/22 LTD 

Stars: Britt Rentschler, 

Michael Tennant 

Director: Kestrin Pantera 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com 

KINO LORBER 

OLGA 

Fri, 6/24/22 LTD 

Stars: Anastasia Budiashkina, 

Sabrina Rubtsova 

Director: Elie Grappe 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

LIONSGATE 

310-309-8400 

ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, 

MARGARET 

Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE 

Stars: Rachel McAdams, 

Abby Ryder Fortson 

Director: Kelly Fremon Craig 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Fam 

WHITE BIRD: A WONDER STORY 

Fri, 10/14/22 WIDE 

Stars: Bryce Gheisar, Ariella Glaser 

Director: Marc Forster 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Fam 

THE DEVIL’S LIGHT 

Fri, 10/28/22 WIDE 

Stars: Virginia Madsen, Ben Cross 

Director: Daniel Stamm 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 4 

Fri, 3/24/23 WIDE 

Stars: Keanu Reeves 

Director: Chad Stahelski 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

MAGNOLIA PICTURES 

212-379-9704 

Neal Block: nblock@magpictures.com 

MY OLD SCHOOL 

Fri, 7/22/22 LTD 

Stars: Alan Cumming 

Director: Jono McLeod 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

I LOVE MY DAD 

Fri, 8/5/22 LTD 

Stars: Patton Oswalt, 

James Morosini 

Director: James Morosini 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com/Rom 

RIOTSVILLE, USA 

Fri, 9/16/22 LTD 

Director: Sierra Pettengill 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

NEON 

hal@neonrated.com 

BEBA 

Fri, 6/24/22 LTD 

Director: Rebeca Huntt 

Rating: R 

Genre: Doc 

OSCILLOSCOPE LABORATORIES 

212-219-4029 

POSER 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Stars: Sylvie Mix, Bobbi Kitten 

Directors: Ori Segev, Noah Dixon 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Thr 

CLARA SOLA 

Fri, 7/1/22 LTD 

Director: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

ANONYMOUS CLUB 

Fri, 7/15/22 LTD 

Director: Danny Cohen 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

PARAMOUNT 

323-956-5000 

PAWS OF FURY: THE LEGEND 

OF HANK 

Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE 

Stars: Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais 

Directors: Mark Koetsier, Rob Minkoff 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Ani 

SECRET HEADQUARTERS 


Stars: Owen Wilson 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Fam/Adv 

SMILE 

Fri, 9/30/22 WIDE 

Director: Parker Finn 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 


99


The Woman King 

Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE 

SABAN FILMS 

TAKE THE NIGHT 

Fri, 7/8/22 LTD 

Stars: Seth McTigue, Roy Huang 

Director: Seth McTigue 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Thr 

SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES 

212-556-2400 

UNTITLED SEARCHLIGHT 2022 

Fri, 8/12/22 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN 

Fri, 10/21/22 WIDE 

Stars: Barry Keoghan, Colin Farrell 

Director: Martin McDonagh 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

BABYLON 

Fri, 12/23/22 WIDE 

Director: Damien Chazelle 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

UNTITLED A QUIET PLACE 

Fri, 9/22/23 WIDE 

Director: Jeff Nichols 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

UNTITLED TRANSFORMERS 

ANIMATION 

Fri, 7/19/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

THE MENU 

Fri, 11/18/22 WIDE 

Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes 

Director: Mark Mylod 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com/Hor 

SONY 

212-833-8500 

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: 

HONOR AMONG THIEVES 


Stars: Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez 

Directors: Jonathan Goldstein, 

John Francis Daley 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Fan 

UNTITLED SCREAM SEQUEL 

Fri, 3/31/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Hor 

TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE 

BEASTS 


Stars: Anthony Ramos, 

Dominique Fishback 

Director: Steven Caple Jr. 

Rating: NR 


MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE - DEAD 

RECKONING PART ONE 

Fri, 7/14/23 WIDE 

Stars: Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames 

Director: Christopher McQuarrie 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: 

THE NEXT CHAPTER 


Director: Jeff Rowe 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

PAW PATROL: THE MIGHTY MOVIE 

Fri, 10/13/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

UNTITLED RYAN REYNOLDS/JOHN 

KRASINSKI FILM 

Fri, 11/17/23 WIDE 

Stars: John Krasinski, Ryan Reynolds 

Director: John Krasinski 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com/Fan 

TIGER’S APPRENTICE 

Wed, 12/20/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

UNTITLED STAR TREK 

Fri, 12/22/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: SF/Act 

UNTITLED BOB MARLEY 

Fri, 1/12/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Bio 

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 8 

Fri, 6/28/24 WIDE 

Stars: Tom Cruise 

Director: Christopher McQuarrie 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

UNTITLED SMURFS ANIMATED 

MUSICAL 

Fri, 12/20/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani/Mus 

RLJ ENTERTAINMENT 

MURDER AT YELLOWSTONE CITY 

Fri, 6/24/22 LTD 

Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Thomas Jane 

Director: Richard Gray 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Wes 

ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS 

323-882-8490 

EMILY THE CRIMINAL 

Fri, 8/12/22 WIDE 

Stars: Aubrey Plaza, Theo Rossi 

Director: John Patton Ford 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Thr 

CALL JANE 

Fri, 10/14/22 WIDE 

Stars: Elizabeth Banks, 

Sigourney Weaver 

Director: Phyllis Nagy 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING 

Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE 

Stars: Daisy Edgar-Jones, 

Taylor John Smith 

Director: Olivia Newman 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

BULLET TRAIN 


Stars: Brad Pitt, Joey King 

Director: David Leitch 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

Specs: Imax, Dolby Vis/Atmos 

THE BRIDE 

Fri, 8/26/22 WIDE 

Stars: Nathalie Emmanuel, 

Thomas Doherty 

Director: Jessica M. Thompson 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor/Thr 

THE WOMAN KING 

Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE 

Stars: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu 

Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood 

Rating: NR 

Genre: His/Dra 

100 


LYLE, LYLE, CROCODILE 

Fri, 10/7/22 WIDE 

Stars: Javier Bardem, Winslow Fegley 

Directors: Will Speck, Josh Gordon 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Fam 

DEVOTION 

Fri, 10/14/22 LTD 

Stars: Jonathan Majors 

Director: J.D. Dillard 

Rating: PG-13 

Genre: Act/Dra/War 

I WANNA DANCE WITH SOMEBODY 

Wed, 12/21/22 WIDE 

Stars: Naomi Ackie, Stanley Tucci 

Director: Kasi Lemmons 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Bio/Mus 

A MAN CALLED OTTO 

Fri, 12/25/22 WIDE 

Stars: Tom Hanks, Mariana Treviño 

Director: Marc Foster 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

KRAVEN THE HUNTER 

Fri, 1/13/23 WID 

Stars: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, 

Russell Crowe 

Director: J.C. Chandor 

Rating: NR 


Specs: Imax 

HAROLD AND THE PURPLE CRAYON 

Fri, 1/27/23 WIDE 

Stars: Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel 

Director: Carlos Saldanha 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Fam 

Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, 

A Journey, A Song 

Fri, 7/1/22 LTD 

IT’S ALL COMING BACK TO ME 

Fri, 2/10/23 WIDE 

Stars: Priyanka Chopra Jonas, 

Sam Heughan 

Director: Jim Strouse 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Mus/Rom 

UNTITLED GEORGE FOREMAN 

BIOPIC 


Stars: Khris Davis, Sullivan Jones 

Director: George Tillman Jr. 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Bio 

65 

Fri, 4/14/23 WIDE 

Stars: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt 

Director: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods 

Rating: NR 

Genre: SF/Thr 

SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE 

SPIDER-VERSE 


Stars: Oscar Isaac, Shameik Moore 

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, 

Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

Specs: Imax 

UNTITLED SONY/MARVEL 

UNIVERSE 1 

Fri, 6/23/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

MADAME WEB 


Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Adv/Fan 

THE EQUALIZER 3 


Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Thr 

Specs: Imax 

UNTITLED SONY/MARVEL 

UNIVERSE 2 

Fri, 10/6/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

EL MUERTO 

Fri, 1/12/24 WIDE 

Stars: Bad Bunny 

SPIDER-MAN: BEYOND THE 

SPIDER-VERSE 

Fri, 3/29/24 WIDE 

Stars: Oscar Isaac, Shameik Moore 

Directors: Joaquim Dos Santos, 

Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

Specs: Imax 

SONY PICTURES CLASSICS 

Tom Prassis 

212-833-4981 

HALLELUJAH: LEONARD COHEN, 

A JOURNEY, A SONG 

Fri, 7/1/22 LTD 

Directors: Daniel Geller, 

Dayna Goldfine 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Doc 

STX ENTERTAINMENT 

310-742-2300 

BED REST 

Fri, 7/15/22 WIDE 

Stars: Melissa Barrera 

Director: Lori Evans Taylor 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

UNITED ARTISTS RELEASING 

310-724-5678 

Ask for Distribution 

SAMARITAN 

Fri, 8/26/22 WIDE 

Stars: Sylvester Stallone 

Director: Julius Avery 

Rating: PG-13 



THREE THOUSAND YEARS OF 

LONGING 

Fri, 8/31/22 WIDE 

Stars: Iris Elba, Tilda Swinton 

Director: George Miller 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Fan 

DARK HARVEST 

Fri, 9/23/22 WIDE 

Stars: Casey Likes, E’myri Crutchfield 

Director: David Slade 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

TILL 

Fri, 10/7/22 WIDE 

Stars: Danielle Deadwyler, 

Whoopi Goldberg 

Director: Chinonye Chukwu 

Rating: NR 

Genre: His/Dra 

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 

ON A WING AND A PRAYER 

Wed, 4/5/23 WIDE 

Stars: Dennis Quaid, 

Heather Graham 

Director: Sean McNamara 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 


101


UNIVERSAL 

818-777-1000 

THE BLACK PHONE 

Fri, 6/24/22 WIDE 

Stars: Ethan Hawke, Mason Thames 

Director: Scott Derrickson 

Rating: R 

Genre: Hor 


MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU 


Stars: Steve Carell, Taraji P. Henson 

Director: Kyle Balda 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Ani 


NOPE 

Fri, 7/22/22 WIDE 

Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer 

Director: Joran Peele 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

Specs: Imax/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

EASTER SUNDAY 


Stars: Jo Koy, Jimmy O. Yang 

Director: Jay Chandrasekhar 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com 

BEAST 

Fri, 8/19/22 WIDE 

Stars: Idris Elba 

Director: Baltasar Kormákur 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Thr 

Minions: The Rise of Gru 


DISTANT 

Fri, 9/16/22 WIDE 

Stars: Anthony Ramos, Zachary Quinto 

Directors: Josh Gordon, Will Speck 

Rating: PG-13 

Genre: Com/SF 

Specs: Dolby Atmos 

BROS 

Fri, 9/30/22 WIDE 

Stars: Billy Eichner 

Director: Nicholas Stoller 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com/Rom 

HALLOWEEN ENDS 

Fri, 10/14/22 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

Dolby Vis/Atmos 

TICKET TO PARADISE 

Fri, 10/21/22 WIDE 

Stars: George Clooney, Julia Roberts 

Director: Ol Parker 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Rom/Com 

SHE SAID 

Fri, 11/18/22 WIDE 

Stars: Carey Mulligan, Zoe Kazan 

Director: Maria Schrader 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

THE FABELMANS 

Wed, 11/23/22 WIDE 

Stars: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen 

Director: Steven Spielberg 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

VIOLENT NIGHT 

Fri, 12/2/22 WIDE 

Stars: David Harbour 

Director: Tommy Wirkola 

Rating: NR 


PUSS AND BOOTS: THE LAST WISH 

Fri, 12/21/22 WIDE 

Stars: Antonio Banderas, 

Salma Hayek 

Director: Joel Crawford 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

M3GAN 

Fri, 1/13/23 WIDE 

Stars: Allison Williams, Ronny Chieng 

Director: Gerard Johnstone 

Rating: NR 


KNOCK AT THE CABIN 


Director: M. Night Shyamalan 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Thr 

COCAINE BEAR 

Fri, 2/24/23 WIDE 

Stars: Keri Russell, Margo Martindale 

Director: Elizabeth Banks 

Rating: NR 

SUPER MARIO BROS. 


Stars: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy 

Directors: Aaron Horvath, 

Michael Jelenic 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

RENFIELD 

Fri, 4/14/23 WIDE 

Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage 

Director: Chris McKay 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor, Com 

FAST X 

Fri, 5/19/23 WIDE 

Stars: Vin Diesel, Charlize Theron 

Director: Louis Leterrier 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

STRAYS 


Stars: Will Ferrell, Jamie Foxx 

Director: Josh Greenbaum 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

MIGRATION 

Fri, 6/30/23 WIDE 

Director: Benjamin Renner 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

OPPENHEIMER 

Fri, 7/21/23 WIDE 

Stars: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt 

Director: Christopher Nolan 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/War 

UNTITLED UNIVERSAL EVENT FILM 

2023 1 


Rating: NR 

THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER 

Fri, 8/11/23 WIDE 

Stars: Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi 

Director: André Øvredal 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 


2023 2 

Fri, 9/29/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

EXORCIST FRANCHISE IP 

Fri, 10/13/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 

TROLLS 3 

Fri, 11/17/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

DESPICABLE ME 4 

Wed, 7/3/23 WIDE 

Stars: Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig 

Director: Chris Renaud 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 


2024 1 

Fri, 1/12/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

102 


Don’t Worry Darling 

Fri, 9/23/22 WIDE 

SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS 

Wed, 12/21/22 WIDE 

Stars: Zachary Levi, 

Jack Dylan Grazer 

Director: David F. Sandberg 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Adv/Fan 

Specs: Imax 

AQUAMAN AND THE LOST 

KINGDOM 

Fri, 3/17/23 WIDE 

Stars: Jason Momoa 

Director: James Wan 

Rating: NR 


Specs: Imax/Dolby Vis/Atmos 

WONKA 

Fri, 12/15/23 WIDE 

Stars: Timothée Chalamet 

Director: Paul King 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Fan 

Specs: Imax 

UNTITLED WB EVENT FILM 2023 

Fri, 12/25/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

TOTO 


Director: Alex Timbers 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

UNTITLED UNIVERSAL ANIMATED 

EVENT FILM 2024 1 


Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani 

UTOPIA MEDIA 

SHARP STICK 

Fri, 7/29/22 LTD 

Stars: Kristine Froseth, 

Jennifer Jason Leigh 

Director: Lena Dunham 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com 

VERTICAL ENTERTAINMENT 

THE ROAD TO GALENA 

Fri, 7/8/22 LTD 

Stars: Ben Winchell, 

Aimee Teegarden 

Director: Joe Hall 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

WARNER BROS. 

818-977-1850 

ELVIS 

Fri, 6/24/22 WIDE 

Stars: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks 

Director: Baz Luhrmann 

Rating: PG-13 

Genre: Dra/Bio/Mus 


THE LAST TRAIN TO NEW YORK 

Fri, 4/21/23 WIDE 

Director: Timo Tjahjanto 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Hor 

THE FLASH 

Fri, 6/23/23 WIDE 

Stars: Ezra Miller, Kiersey Clemons 

Director: Andy Muschietti 

Rating: NR 


Specs: Imax 

BARBIE 

Fri, 7/21/23 WIDE 

Stars: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling 

Director: Greta Gerwig 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Com 

UNTITLED DC EVENT FILM 2024 1 

Fri, 3/15/24 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR 

OF THE ROHIRRIM 

Fri, 4/12/24 WIDE 

Director: Kenji Kamiyama 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Ani/Fan 

FURIOSA 

Fri, 5/24/24 WIDE 

Stars: Anya Taylor-Joy, 

Chris Hemsworth 

Director: George Miller 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

ABANDONED 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Stars: Emma Roberts, 

Michael Shannon 

Director: Spencer Squire 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Hor 

THE LOST GIRLS 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Stars: Joely Richardson, 

Vanessa Redgrave 

Director: Livia De Paolis 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra/Fan 

FIRST LOVE 

Fri, 6/17/22 LTD 

Stars: Diane Kruger, 

Hero Fiennes Tiffin 

Director: A.J. Edwards 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Dra 

LAST THE NIGHT 

Fri, 7/1/22 LTD 

Stars: Brian Austin Green, Eve Mauro 

Director: Nick Leisure 

Rating: NR 


DC LEAGUE OF SUPER-PETS 

Fri, 7/29/22 WIDE 

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart 

Director: Sam Levine 

Rating: PG 

Genre: Ani 


SALEM’S LOT 


Stars: Alfre Woodard, Lewis Pullman 

Director: Gary Dauberman 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Hor 


DON’T WORRY DARLING 

Fri, 9/23/22 WIDE 

Stars: Florence Pugh, Harry Styles 

Director: Olivia Wilde 

Rating: R 

Genre: Thr 

BLACK ADAM 

Fri, 10/21/22 WIDE 

Stars: Dwayne Johnson, Aldis Hodge 

Director: Jaume Collet-Serra 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act/Fan 

Specs: Imax 

THE MEG 2 


Stars: Jason Statham, Wu Jing 

Director: Ben Wheatley 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

BLUE BEETLE 

Fri, 8/18/23 WIDE 

Stars: Xolo Maridueña 

Director: Angel Manuel Soto 

Rating: NR 

Genre: SF/Fan/Act 

UNTITLED DC EVENT FILM 2023 

Fri, 9/22/23 WIDE 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Act 

DUNE: PART TWO 

Fri, 10/20/23 WIDE 

Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya 

Director: Denis Villeneuve 

Rating: NR 

Genre: SF 

THE COLOR PURPLE 

Fri, 12/20/23 WIDE 

Stars: Corey Hawkins, Taraji P. Henson 

Director: Blitz Bazawule 

Rating: NR 

Genre: Mus 


103

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ADVERTISE 

IN THE NEXT 

ISSUE OF 

Our Sponsors 

Advertiser 

Page 

Arts Alliance Media 02 

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Gold Medal Products 85 

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Pathé 50 

QSC 

IFC 

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Redemption Plus 20 

Retriever Solutions 95 

Sensible Cinema Software 128 

Spotlight Cinema Networks 23 

Strong MDI 10 

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05, IBC 

The Boxoffice Company 95, 96 

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Vue International 43 

Image Credits & Acknowledgments 

Cover: Photo of Anna Marsh, courtesy StudioCanal 

© François Roelants / Canal+ 

Page 03: Courtesy of Bleecker Street, Photo by Ross Ferguson 

Page 04: Courtesy of Pathé 

Page 11: Courtesy of NATO, Photo by Ryan Miller 

Page 12: Courtesy of NATO, Photo by Ryan Miller 

Page 14: Courtesy of Variety - the Children’s Charity, 

Universal, Illumination Entertainment 

Page 15: Courtesy of Pronto Films 

Page 16-17: Courtesy of Ross Melnick 

Page 21: Courtesy of Courtesy of Digital Gym Cinema, 

Photo by Paulo Neira 

Page 22-27: Courtesy of Digital Gym Cinema, 

Photos by Paulo Neira 

Page 30: Adobe Stock 

Page 32: Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. 

Page 34: Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Photo by Hugh 

Stewart 

Page 35: Photo courtesy of ScreenX; sidebar photos 

courtesy of Cinionic, Christie, GDC Technology 

Page 37: Photo courtesy of Cineworld 

Page 38: Photo courtesy of UNIC 

Page 41: Photo courtesy of Vue 

Page 43: Adobe Stock 

Page 44: Photo courtesy StudioCanal 

Page 49: Photo courtesy of UNIC 

Page 51-65: All photos courtesy of respective companies 

Page 67: Courtesy of Bleecker Street, Photo by Ross Ferguson 

Page 68: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Photo 

by Ilze Kitshoff 

Page 69: Courtesy CinemaCon/ 

sidebar pic courtesy Warner Bros. 

Page 70: Amsterdam: © 2022 20th Century Studios. 

Page 71: Photo courtesy 20th Century Studios. 

Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures. 

Pages 72-79: Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment 

Inc. Photos by Michele K Short. 

Pages 80-84: Photos courtesy Avali Film Ltd. 

Pages 86-93: Courtesy of Bleecker Street, Photo by Ross 

Ferguson 

Page 94: Photos courtesy of Fathom Events 

Page 97: Photo courtesy of 20th Century Studios. 

Page 98: Photo by Jasin Boland. ©Marvel Studios 2022. 

Page 99: Photo courtesy Paramount Pictures 

Page 100: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. Photo 

by Ilze Kitshoff 

Page 101: Graeme Mitchell - Redux. 

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics. 

Page 102: Courtesy of Universal Pictures 

Page 103: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures 

Call or Email to book space 

today! 

Patricia Martin 

patricia.martin@boxoffice.com 

203-788-1447

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