At a time when box offices are hungry for content and audiences seem more discerning than ever, Fathom Events is posting record revenue gains.
For 20 years, the consortium between AMCRegal and Cinemark it was best known for bringing alternative content to the big screen in the form of classic Hollywood titles, live telecasts of theater and opera productions, concerts, and even TV series.
Most recently, he entered the specialty distribution space to deliver “The Blind,” “The Chosen,” “Jesus Thirsts,” and “Waitress: the Musical.” Also coming is “The Journey: A Music Special from Andrea Bocelli”.
In 2023, Fathom brought in $100 million at the box office, a 116% increase over 2019 levels and the highest-grossing year ever. And that momentum continued into 2024, as the company raised $43 million in the first quarter, up nearly 140% from the $18 million it raised in the previous period.
Fathom’s relationships with Hollywood’s biggest studios and its cinematic reach—as a partnership of the industry’s three largest theater chains—have made it a formidable force at the box office. Its value proposition is twofold: It breathes new life into older movies and theaters.
“For most of the films at the event, anniversary titles have really come into vogue seemingly more now than in years past, with a special emphasis on those beloved older films,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. . “These anniversary re-releases are a win-win, bringing joy to movie fans and most importantly additional revenue to theaters often decades after they were originally released.”
In post-pandemic times, Fathom has acted as a crutch for many smaller cinema operators, providing much-needed content for the big screen amid pandemic-induced production droughts and strike-related production shutdowns.
Season 4 of “The Chosen,” a faith-based TV show about the life of Jesus, brought in $32 million at the box office for Fathom, about 75% of its first quarter.
“The chosen ones are finished [Fathom]and it was huge for us,” said Brock Bagby, president and chief content, programming and development officer at B&B Theatres. “It gave us a lot of extra revenue in February and early March that we wouldn’t have had. “
Fathom also benefited from its anniversary titles and classic film screenings. Each year, the company brings films back to theaters to celebrate milestone years alongside fan-favorite titles.
“We’ve seen that there’s a growing segment at the box office, people who are interested in seeing older movies on the big screen,” said Jordan Hohman, vice president of project development at Phoenix Theatres. “These audiences are enjoying classic movies, whether for the first time or for the first time, in a new way. I think that’s valuable.”
This year, the company celebrated the 85th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind” as well as the 35th anniversary of “Steel Magnolias.” Also on the calendar are the 50th anniversary of “Blazing Saddles,” the 70th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window,” the 40th anniversary of “Neverending Story” and the 20th anniversary of “Mean Girls.”
It also has a film series called Studio Ghibli Fest, which includes all 14 films from the studio in their original Japanese and English dubs. This year, the lineup boasts the 20th anniversary of “Howl’s Moving Castle,” the 25th anniversary of “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” and the 30th anniversary of “Pom Poko.”
And these titles can generate big tickets even decades after they were first released.
Fathom’s three-weekend run of the original Lord of the Rings trilogy resulted in $8.2 million at the box office.
“The Lord of the Rings has been a huge hit nationally, and for us,” Bagby said. “We just did 4DX Lord of the Rings this weekend in our new Dallas theater and sold out every show.”
4DX is a display format that uses motion positions, practical effects and sensory elements to immerse viewers in a cinematic experience.
Audiences are already buying tickets for performances in August to celebrate the 15th anniversary of “Coraline,” which will be shown widely in 3D for the first time since its original release.
Fathom has re-released “Coraline” twice before to great success. In 2022, the film was shown in 800 theaters for one day and collected $1.2 million in ticket sales. Last year, the film extended its run to five days and took in $7.1 million, making it the highest-grossing classic film in Fathom’s history.
That $7.1 million figure is about 10% of the original domestic take for “Coraline” in 2009 and 42% of its opening weekend, according to Comscore data.
In addition, 53% of the audience that attended screenings of the film last year were 34 and under.
“New audiences are seeing it for the first time, even though the film is 15 years old,” said Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom Events.
Fathom reports that advance sales for this year’s showings of “Coraline” are selling seven times as many tickets per location as they did at the same time last year, with two-thirds of those ticket sales going to the 3D version of the film.
Because Fathom has a large footprint through its parent companies and nationwide marketing, it does the heavy lifting for smaller theater chains.
“[Fathom has] they made a lot of connections,” said Hohman of the Phoenix Theatre. “They handled the licensing and created the marketing behind re-releasing these classic films that, you know, we can’t do on our own. It’s a national campaign. So I think they just offer a lot of value.”
