NATO’s 2024 Fall Summit Conveys Optimism For A Bright Future
By Michael O’Leary
President & CEO, National Association of Theatre Owners
The 2024 Fall Summit brought together more than 300 exhibitors in Los Angeles from September 23-26 for a week full of meetings, presentations, panel discussions, screenings, and networking events that were focused on the future of our great industry
We came to Los Angeles with our vision clearly set on a bright future for exhibition and on fans who love movies on the big screen. The Summit did not disappoint as the optimism for the future was palpable. As the box office continues to rebound, exhibitors across the country continue to create great experiences for moviegoers to enjoy. We have the wind at our backs for the first time in a while.
I want to thank all our members who volunteer their time to support NATO, The Cinema Foundation, and CinemaCon. You take time out of your busy schedules to help make sure this great industry thrives. We could not make the Fall Summit – or anything we do – a success without you.
The passion and innovative ideas that members conveyed in 1-on-1 conversations and on panels are truly inspiring. This industry is incredibly creative and dynamic, and the entire team at NATO is committed to promoting you each day. Our “Investing in Ourselves” panel—moderated by B&B’s Brock Bagby and featuring Salt Lake Film Society’s Tori A. Baker, Cinema Lab’s Brandon Jones, Emagine Entertainment’s Ally Smith—provided many examples of creativity in our space.
A vibrant future requires us to be clear about the challenges, and to be intentional in how we address them. This industry works best when we have open lines of communication with our partners in distribution. I applaud Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps of Warner Bros for their candor when answering important questions about the future of our industry. Jeff and Andrew are true champions of the theatrical experience. On a separate panel, NEON’s Tom Quinn, Focus Features’ Peter Kujawski, and Searchlight’s Matthew Greenfield addressed the state of mid-budget and specialty films and how confident they are in the future of this important part of the theatrical ecosystem. We need all aspects of distribution to excel!
Our film screenings at the Summit showed just how diverse and strong the upcoming slate is: Sony’s frenzied and fun Saturday Night, Paramount’s action-packed Gladiator II, and Universal’s highly anticipated new musical Wicked. The commitment from distribution to releasing films for theatre continues to be strong and it on full display during the week. I know that members felt energized by all three films.
During our visit to SONY, it was an honor to welcome acclaimed filmmaker Jason Reitman to the NATO family and to the Independent Theatre Owners Coalition (ITOC). Jason, along with a group of legendary directors including Christopher Nolan and Steven Spielberg, recently purchased the legendary Village Theatre in Westwood. Jason’s passion for the big-screen experience comes through in a big way, and he fits right in among the NATO membership. Jason shared a moving story about watching Ghostbusters: Afterlife at CinemaCon with his late father, Ivan Reitman, and how he’ll never forget the crowd’s reaction to a movie he made for his dad. Welcome, Jason, and we all look forward to all the great things in store for the Village Theatre.
For the NATO team, the Fall Summit is not just a welcome chance to catch-up with NATO members, it also signals the end of the summer movie season, and the time when we turn our focus to thinking about the coming year and how we are going to capitalize on the opportunities before us. As I noted at the Summit, we are at long last in a welcome period of “normalcy.” For the first time in almost five years, we are not dealing with the impact of outside factors on the marketplace. Rather, we are welcoming an increasing number of movie fans, looking at ways to enhance the experience of all those fans, and showing them a wide range of top-quality movies. In other words, you are getting to be theatre operators once again. The future holds much promise, both for this fall and into 2025. Now is the time for us to leave the pessimism and cynicism of the past to history and move deliberately to define ourselves and our role in the next century of filmed entertainment. Let’s build on the enthusiasm and optimism of the Fall Summit and continue to innovate and show the world that there simply is no other entertainment experience like a movie on a big screen in a theatre full of people.