At a time when the box office is starved for content and audiences seem more demanding than ever, Fathom Events is reporting record revenue gains.
For 20 years, the joint venture between AMCregal and Cinemarca It has been best known for bringing alternative content to the big screen in the form of classic Hollywood titles, live broadcasts of theater and opera productions, concerts, and even television series.
More recently, it has ventured into the specialty distribution space to bring audiences “The Blind,” “The Chosen,” “Jesus Thirsts” and “Waitress: the Musical.” Still to come is “The Journey: An Andrea Bocelli Musical Special.”
In 2023, Fathom generated $100 million at the box office, a 116% increase over 2019 levels and its highest-grossing year to date. And that momentum has continued into 2024, as the company recorded $43 million in the first quarter, up nearly 140% compared to the $18 million it recorded in the same period a year earlier.
Fathom's relationships with Hollywood's major 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 old movies and into theaters.
“Anniversary titles, which mostly fall under the event film genre, have really come into their own now, seemingly more so than in years past, with a particular emphasis on these beloved older films,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “These anniversary re-releases are a win-win situation, bringing joy to film fans and, in particular, additional revenue to movie theaters, often decades after their initial theatrical run.”
In post-pandemic times, Fathom has acted as a crutch for many smaller theater operators, providing much-needed content for the big screen amid a drought caused by the pandemic and strike-related production shutdowns.
The fourth season of “The Chosen,” a religious television show about the life of Jesus, generated $32 million at the box office for Fathom, about 75% of its first-quarter gross.
“'The Chosen' was over [Fathom]“And it was huge for us,” said Brock Bagby, president and chief content, programming and development officer for B&B Theatres. “It gave us a lot of additional revenue in February and early March that we wouldn’t have had.”
Fathom has 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 for Phoenix Theaters. “These audiences are enjoying classic films, 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 anniversaries of “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind,” as well as the 35th anniversary of “Steel Magnolias.” Still 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 the studio's 14 films in their original versions dubbed into Japanese and English. This year's lineup includes 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 huge box office profits even decades after their release.
The three-weekend run of Fathom's original The Lord of the Rings trilogy resulted in $8.2 million at the box office.
“The Lord of the Rings was a huge hit across the country and for us,” Bagby said. “We just did 4DX The Lord of the Rings this weekend at our new theater in Dallas and we sold out.”
4DX is a screen format that uses moving seats, practical effects and sensory elements to immerse viewers in a cinematic experience.
Audiences are already buying tickets for screenings 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 re-released “Coraline” twice before to great success. In 2022, the film was shown in 800 theaters for one day and grossed $1.2 million in ticket sales. Last year, the film extended its release to five days and grossed $7.1 million, making it the highest-grossing release of a classic film in Fathom history.
That $7.1 million figure is about 10% of “Coraline's” initial domestic performance in 2009 and 42% of its opening weekend, according to Comscore data.
What's more, 53% of viewers who attended screenings of the film last year were 34 years old or younger.
“New audiences are seeing it for the first time, even though the movie is 15 years old,” said Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom Events.
Fathom reports that pre-sales for this year's “Coraline” screenings are selling seven times as many tickets per location as they did during the same period last year, and two-thirds of those ticket sales are for the 3D version of the film .
Because Fathom has a broad presence through its parent companies and nationwide marketing, it does the heavy lifting for smaller theater chains.
“[Fathom has] “They built a lot of relationships,” Hohman said of the Phoenix Theatre. “They worked on the licensing and created the marketing behind re-releasing these classic movies that, you know, we just can't do ourselves. It's a national campaign. So I think they just offer a lot of value.”
