AMC Theatres is entering the indie film fray.
The world’s largest movie theater chain announced Monday it will launch Leawood Films, a distribution venture advised by a trio of veteran Hollywood executives — including former Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich, Apple and Disney marketing whiz Ricky Strauss and former Paramount distro head Kyle Davies.
Leawood will “focus solely on films fully financed by their filmmakers, or already completed films, leveraging AMC’s exhibition, marketing, and distribution expertise to expand the supply of movies for a broad array of movie theater operators across the U.S. and internationally,” the announcement said. Emmerich and Strauss will consult, while Davies will help pilot the label as a full-time employee.
The move means that Davies is leaving his post as president of distribution at Bleecker Street.
Leawood is named for AMC’s Kansas headquarters, and its inception comes as the domestic box office is enjoying an undeniable revival (“Obsession,” “They Odyssey” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” are just a few of the titles packing in audiences this year to levels not seen since pre-COVID times).
The theater chain will have some key questions to answer about Leawood in the coming days. As an acquirer of films either financed or finished, it’s safe to say that representatives from Leawood will attend the annual film festival circuit in search of product. That would put them squarely in competition with the studios and fellow indie labels looking for titles, though the Leawood announcement said prominently that the company is “designed to be additive and not expected to compete with AMC’s longstanding studio and distribution relationships.” It’s also unclear if AMC will provide Leawood with its own marketing budget to attract moviegoers.
“Leawood Films is being created with a straightforward objective, given that substantial excess capacity exists in the movie theater industry: to bring more movies to theaters,” said AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron. “If we can take steps to ensure that a few extra movies come to theaters each year, it is gravy for AMC in the United States and Odeon in Europe, as well as for our fellow exhibitors.”
Emmerich, Strauss and Davies will report to Aron. The company is repped by Craig Jacobson, a leading entertainment attorney and a founding partner of Hansen Jacobson.
AMC has gone it alone on distribution in the past, notably for the juggernaut concert films “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and Beyoncé’s “Renaissance.”
