EXCLUSIVE: Sound of Freedom distributor Angel Studios says nearly 84% of the tickets furnished by “pay-it-forward” buyers who wanted other patrons to see the movie for free were ultimately redeemed. With Jim Caviezel starring as real-life anti-child-trafficking activist Tim Ballard, the film became a left-field box office smash in 2023, outdoing mega-budget Hollywood titles like
Executives
Eduardo Acuna, who’s kept a low profile since taking the top job at Cineworld last summer, took a bow in NYC this week to showcase the world’s largest 4DX auditorium at the renovated Regal Times Square. The exhibitor partnered with CJ 4DPLEX, a cinema tech innovator of cutting-edge formats like this one that uses immersive
With Apple and Amazon Studios embracing theatrical distribution to enhance their content on streaming, is Netflix far behind? Despite the streamer dipping its toes in the water with a $15 million-grossing limited release of Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery during Thanksgiving 2022, and a hot title in the July 3 release of Eddie Murphy’s
Cinemark CEO Sean Gamble said Apple and Amazon, two behemoths of the tech world but newcomers to the wide-release movie business, are so far “very pleased” with their results. During a conference call with Wall Street analysts to discuss third-quarter results, the major exhibitor boss said Cinemark’s conversations with the two tech firms indicate they
Lionsgate Motion Picture Group executive Helen Lee-Kim has inked a new long-term deal as President, International. The news comes before Lionsgate takes over the world this holiday season with the highly anticipated prequel, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes on Nov. 17, which was cleared for a SAG-AFTRA interim agreement; one of
IFC Films is beefing up its depleted leadership ranks, naming Nicole Weis VP of Distribution. Judy Woloshen also joins as VP of Public Relations, managing national publicity efforts across IFC’s three film brands (IFC, RJLE Films, Shudder). Weis, who will manage theatrical rollout for the film group’s slate, was previously VP of sales and distribution
Giant theater chain AMC Entertainment has promoted Ellen Copaken to SVP Marketing, effective immediately. She was also appointed to sit on the company’s management executive committee. Copaken joined AMC in February of as VP, Growth Strategy, and led the exhibitor’s AMC Perfectly Popcorn launch in more than 2,600 Walmart stores (and Walmart.com) ), delivering “sales
It was a magnificent movie weekend. Barbie, Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom. All hits, a blow-out! So what else have you got? The question sounds obnoxious, like its near-cousin, the always infuriating: “What have you done for me lately?” But it’s an honest query, and an important one for a strike-bound, streaming-bent, pandemic-emergent industry that is
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema said CEO Shelli Taylor is retiring in August and named president Michael Kustermann as its new chief executive. The fast-growing dine-in chain, that’s been hugely successful luring post-pandemic moviegoers back to theaters, said its board of directors, including Taylor and executive chairman Tim League, selected Kustermann as Taylor steps down, effective August
What was it W. B. Yeats wrote, that line Joan Didion lifted and twisted in her essay “Slouching Towards Bethlehem,” about West Coast chaos in 1967? Things fall apart; the center cannot hold. That’s how it felt on Thursday, a few minutes before lunch with some seasoned film executive-friends at the Academy Museum (Salad Niçoise
As Regal parent Cineworld prepares to exit Chapter 11 this month, rumors are heating up over who will emerge as the giant theater chain’s new chief executive, with reports Monday pointing to Eduardo Acuna of Cinepolis. Longtime Cineworld CEO Moody Greidinger has a consulting contract during a transition period but isn’t likely to stay in
The National Association of Theatre Owners VP & Chief Communications Officer Patrick Corcoran is departing after 24-plus years. The news comes in the wake of NATO CEO and President John Fithian retiring after a 24-year run at the exhibition trade org. Together with Fithian, Corcoran, known for being a straight-shooter with the press, has had
D. Barry Reardon, former longtime Warner Bros. President of Sales and Distribution, has died at 92. The exec known as “The Dean of Distribution” among industry peers and filmmakers passed May 27 in Vero Beach, FL. Reardon was the head of theatrical distribution at Warner Bros from 1978-99, and was known for breaking the mold
AMC Entertainment chief executive Adam Aron said a booming box office and sharp pivot to theatrical by studios and streamers makes him “as relaxed and confident about AMC future as I possibly can be.” Speaking with Deadline at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Tuesday, Aron indicated the icing on the cake would be a judge’s
The death of MGM distribution chief Erik Lomis on Wednesday has shocked many around Hollywood. More than just being a sage to filmmakers and executives about the motion picture business, Lomis was known for his generosity fundraising with the Will Rogers Institute, cultivating others’ careers, and even being a mentor to many in their personal
The head of the VC firm that invested several hundred million dollars in A24 a year ago says the indie producer-distributor’s “extraordinary” momentum could lead to a large international business and potential acquisitions. As is their wont, A24 executives are not talking publicly, but Stripes partner Ken Fox did speak with Deadline soon after the
The National Association of Theatre Owners on Thursday said it has appointed Michael P. O’Leary president and CEO of the association beginning May 1. He takes over for outgoing NATO boss John Fithian, who announced his retirement in October after working with the exhibitor trade org for three decades. “On behalf of NATO’s Executive Board
Steve Bunnell has scored an exec job coveted by many in exhibition, from what I’ve been told: He’s been hired as EVP Content Strategy at Marcus Theatres. What Bunnell brings to the exec position is his years of working in both distribution (at Universal) and exhibition. He’ll lead the programming of new releases, alternative content,
Updated: The aftermath of Covid’s 2020-21 closure of cinemas will continue to be felt in 2023 as the domestic box office claws its way back to what many sources believe is an $8 billion-$9 billion result. On the high end, it’s a 22% jump from what Comscore is expecting 2022 to final at, that being
A little over a month after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued two former top execs at MoviePass and its parent company, Helios + Matheson, for fraud, the Justice Department today unsealed an indictment charging those same executives, Theodore Farnsworth and J. Mitchell Lowe, each with one count of securities fraud and three counts of wire
In the near future, it’s pretty simple what the new Warner Bros Discovery will zero in on: “We’re going to have a real focus on franchises,” President and CEO David Zaslav said on this afternoon’s Q3 earnings call. RELATED: Warner Bros Discovery Q3 Earnings: Deadline’s Full Coverage “We haven’t had a Superman movie in 13
Marcus, the fourth largest U.S. movie chain, said a trickle of films for the three months ended in September impacted earnings but were offset by the recovered Marcus Hotel & Resorts, which surpassed pre-pandemic revenues. Both businesses were up from last year but theaters saw a slowdown from Q2 to Q3. “This not only highlights
After more than a two decades run as the Boss of trade org the National Association of Theatre Owners, John Fithian is retiring, effective May 1, 2023. Technically, Fithian counts 30 years working for NATO, having begun working with the org as a former attorney at Washington DC’s Patton Boggs, LLC. NATO’s Executive Board has
Anne-Marie Ross (née Boysen), whose career in international film distribution at Lionsgate and Pantelion spanned more than two decades, died September 9 after a near-two-year battle with advanced-stage cancer caused by a rare gene mutation. She was 49. Ross began her career at Lionsgate in 2001, reporting to Nick Meyer, now the President of Film
Widespread optimism months ago that domestic box office might readily return to pre-Covid levels has given way to a new sense of pragmatism about the movie business. This year’s tally will far surpass last year’s $4.5 billion haul, but it will certainly fall billions short of 2019’s $11.4 billion in receipts, and all bets are
In an encouraging sign for specialized product, Sony/3000 Pictures/Hello Sunshine’s Where the Crawdads Sing has crossed the $100 million benchmark globally. Getting there on Tuesday, the feature adaptation of the Delia Owens novel sits at $78.8M domestic and $21.5M from the international box office. Crawdads initially released domestically in mid-July with $17M; a good win
Following the news of Marc Weinstock’s new oversee of a unified global marketing and distribution team at Paramount as President of Worldwide Marketing & Distribution, we’ve received news that a re-organization of both departments is underway Wednesday as the studio looks to meet consumers’ accelerated demands for content in a continued pandemic world. In total,
Imax has named former Lionsgate and Netflix publicity veteran Julie Fontaine as SVP Marketing in what is a newly created position at the large-format exhibitor. She will report directly to Imax chief marketing officer Denny Tu. Fontaine will oversee strategic marketing campaigns and creative for Imax’s global event features lineup as well as product and
Tom Cruise has bungee jumped into corporate silos, climbed cliffs in Australia with his bare hands and clung to planes as they’re taking off in previous Mission: Impossible movies. But his next big stunt in Mission: Impossible 7 is motorcycle jumping off a cliff in Norway. “This is far and away the most dangerous thing I’ve attempted;
Chris Pratt’s Owen Grady galloping after dinosaurs in a snowy mountain landscape, Bryce Dallas Howard’s Claire Dearing being chased by them on European rooftops, and the legacy trio of Sam Neil, Jeff Goldblum, and Laura Dern returning. These are some of the images from the BTS reel Uni presented for Jurassic World Dominion. While the studio