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An established home-entertainment destination for movie lovers, TCM has expanded its reach beyond cable television in recent years, increasing the access of Hollywood cinema to movie lovers through new initiatives like FilmStruck, their SVOD venture in partnership with the Criterion Collection, and event-cinema screenings organized in partnership with Fathom Events. Boxoffice spoke with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz, who will be accepting the Excellence in Event Cinema Award at CinemaCon 2017, and Genevieve McGillicuddy, VP of brand activations and partnerships at TCM, about the history and success of the company's crossover to theatrical exhibition.
When did TCM recognize the potential of event cinema to expand its brand?
Genevieve McGillicuddy: The Fathom Events partnership dates back to 2009, a time when we started to think more about our fan community and how to expand our brand beyond the borders of television. The Fathom relationship was one of the earliest partnerships we put together in this effort. We've enjoyed very robust relationships with studios in regard to home video promotion, and an opportunity arose to promote new restorations to be released on DVD by putting them back into theaters with the help of Fathom. It therefore became a priority project for the three parties involved: TCM, Fathom, and the studios. For the first few years it was very much about big tentpole titles and major anniversaries-Singin in the Rain, The Wizard of Oz. It was wonderful to put these movies back on the big screen, showing them the way the directors wanted them to be seen. As TCM, as a network, our role was to introduce these films and the context around them. In 2015 we made a point of building on this success and put together a continuous calendar-appointment viewing, if you will-where we would be putting a great classical film back into theaters monthly. Last year we did 13 titles, and this year we have 14 scheduled. Fathom Events have been fantastic to work with, and our studio partners have been incredible as well. Finally, I can't think of a brand extension that serves TCM in such a perfect way. We've heard from our...