Juliana F. Hill has been appointed to National CineMedia’s board of directors. She has also been appointed by the board to serve as a member of the audit committee. Hill brings her extensive financial, media industry, and outdoor advertising expertise to NCM, following a long career in finance with iHeartMedia, Inc. (formerly Clear Channel Communications), the number one audio company in the United States.
Draken Film, Sweden’s leading streaming service for art house cinema, has launched an initiative to coax audiences back into theatres in a unique collaboration with the country’s cinemas, as they prepare to re-open after months-long closures. Starting today, Draken Film subscribers will have access to the opening weekend screenings of a hand picked selection of new releases as part of their monthly subscription offer.
The Hollywood Professional Association will hold its second Industry Recovery Task Force virtual global town hall meeting on August 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PDT.
Theatrical distributor Abramorama will host the world premiere of the documentary Herb Alpert Is…. The global event will take place October 1 via Facebook Live and will feature a Q&A with Herb Alpert and director John Scheinfeld moderated by the Grammy Museum’s artistic director Scott Goldman immediately following. On October 2 the film will be available via a nationwide virtual cinema release and globally on demand through Amazon, iTunes and other video-on-demand providers. The film will also be available on Blu-Ray and DVD via Amazon.
Christie is highlighting a new certified refurbishment program at the Beijing International Radio, TV & Film Exhibition 2020 online trade show, taking place on August 19-21.
Severtson Screens is partnering with systems integrator CES+ to provide projection screens for CES+’s InstaCinema inflatable outdoor cinema screen.
In response to the ongoing turmoil in the cinema business caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Atom Seating is lowering prices, extending payment times and donating five percent of sales to organizations fighting the virus.
Movie theatres worldwide continue to struggle simultaneously with the ongoing effects of both COVID-19 and a lack of first run movies to show their anxious patrons. What, then, will the pandemic’s long-term impact be on a business that is more than a century old? Incredibly, the biggest issue facing the UK exhibition industry as we blindly turned the corner into 2020 was Brexit. Scary and pointless to some, justified and overdue to others, it was heralded as a great success by a few high profile, self-serving politicians but barely acknowledged by the vast majority of UK voters, exhausted after four years of endless debate, negotiation and re-imagined expectations. The exit date of January 31 came and went with little fanfare in the end. A bland, commemorative Brexit 50p coin seemed to hit just the right level of anticlimax at the time. Is that it? After all that?
Last August, the Star Cinema Grill in Richmond, Texas, a Houston suburb, was having great success in its premium large format auditorium thanks to having installed the largest Samsung Onyx LED Cinema Screen in North America. It was just the second exhibitor in the country with an Onyx and audiences loved the experience; the theatre was sold out for almost every show. Cut to this August and times have changed dramatically. The United States in general and Texas in particular are still dealing with the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the handful of indoor theatres that are open are working under severe restrictions. In response to that, Star Cinema Grill is in the process of opening a drive-in theatre at its Cypress, Texas location
The Hip Hop Film Festival kicked off its fifth season August 6-9 with four days of film screenings, Master Cyphers, the Boss Pitch competition, and more. Thousands of filmmakers, movie lovers, and culture enthusiasts from all over the world gathered together for a series of live events and film screenings. The Hip Hop Film Festival continues through the month as filmmakers host special private watch parties.
