J. Sperling Reich, Author at Celluloid Junkie

AMC Theatres and Leawood Films

CinéShow 2026: The Most Important Lesson Wasn’t About Cinema

There are worse places to spend the last week of August than inside an air-conditioned convention center in Allen, Texas. Outside, temperatures topped 100°F (38°C) well into the evening. Inside, more than 60 cinema operators and 120 vendors and manufacturers gathered for this year’s CinéShow. North…

Allan Reagan, Founder & Executive Chair of Flix Brewhouse, receiving the Frank Liberto Award at CinéShow 2026 in Dallas, Texas on August 25, 2026.

Cinergy and Cinema United’s Todd Halstead Honored at CinéShow as Flix Brewhouse’s Allan Reagan Puts Ukraine Center Stage

CinéShow’s 2026 awards luncheon, held 25 August in Dallas, handed out three honors: a first-ever Exhibitor Marketing of the Year Award to Cinergy Entertainment, an inaugural Byron Berkley Leadership Award to Cinema United‘s Todd Halstead, and the Frank Liberto Award to Flix Brewhouse fou…

Qube Cinema - EPIQ - Premium Large Format

What the Headlines Are Missing About the Paramount-Warner Merger

Last week’s Marquee was a bit of an editorial experiment. For the first time in 19 years, we used what could fairly be called a clickbait headline. Playing off a joke made by Regal CEO Eduardo Acuña while being honored at the Variety Boys & Girls Club of Boyle Heights sponsorship gala, we put hi…

(From left) Paramount Skydance CEO David Ellison, California Attorney General, Rob Bonta, Cinema United President & CEO, Michael O'Leary

Cinema United Didn’t Back the Paramount-Warner Merger. It Put Its Terms on the Table.

As Paramount Skydance wins conditional support from America’s largest theatre chains, Cinema United is trying to turn months of warnings about consolidation into enforceable protections, particularly for smaller theatres that lack the leverage to negotiate their own deals. Four months ago, Michael O…

The Walt Disney Company - D23 - Josh D’Amaro

Regal CEO Eduardo Acuña Opts for “Natural Stupidity”

Before anyone interprets this week’s headline as my editorial assessment of Regal Global Entertainment CEO Eduardo Acuña publicly backing the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, let me be clear: those are Acuña’s words, not mine. Acuña came out in support of the deal just one week befo…

Loa Bola Negra - Netflix

The Cinema Industry Hits the Road With Plenty to Talk About

We have finally finished publishing Celluloid Junkie’s coverage from CineEurope and the ICTA sessions in Barcelona, along with Andreas Fuchs’ report from IND/EX. One might therefore assume that the global cinema industry would take a short break from airports, hotel ballrooms, convention centers and…

Eddy Duquenne, CEO of Kinepolis, Javier Sotomayor from Cineworld, Anna Marsh, CEO of StudioCanal, Laure de Boissard of Pathé France and Sharon Reid of Cinema First during the executive roundtable panel at CineEurope 2026 in Barcelona Spain on June 22, 2026.

A Stronger Release Slate Eases One Problem for Cinemas, but Reveals a Harder One

At CineEurope’s Executive Roundtable, leaders from exhibition, distribution and filmmaking argued that returning content is proving audience demand remains resilient. The harder task is making films discoverable, accessible and capable of creating lasting cinema habits. For nearly six years, the cin…

Alejandro Ramírez Magaña, CEO of Cinépolis and Cameron Mitchell, Executive Director of the Cinema Association Australasia, Mojisola Oladapo, Chief Marketing Officer of Filmhouse Group and Zsófia Varga from Everyman Cinemas during the "Best in Class: Lessons From Around the World" panel at CineEurope 2026 in Barcelona Spain on June 22, 2026.

There Is No Global Formula for Cinema Success, but the Best Ideas Travel

From affordable premium experiences in Australia to eventized local films in Nigeria and social listening across Cinépolis markets, exhibitors are finding growth by staying closer to their audiences. In Australia, a family could watch “Toy Story 5” in a premium-format auditorium during the day witho…

Stephanie Morgner, Senior Director Away-from-Home Customer Cinema, Leisure & Entertainment at The Coca-Cola Company, Sara Nieuwdorp of Cineplex Deutschland, Laila Kaid, Commercial Graduate – Category Executive at Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Francisco Serrano, Market Research Executive at Conecta Research & Consulting during the "Inside the Gen Z Mindset" panel presented by Coca-Cola at CineEurope 2026 in Barcelona Spain on June 23, 2026.

Gen Z Is Still Going to the Movies, but the Trip Has to Be Worth It

Research across five European markets presented during CineEurope found that younger audiences attend frequently and buy concessions at high rates, but they expect convenience, variety and an experience worth sharing. For years, Gen Z offered the cinema business a convenient explanation for almost a…

Cathy Huis in ’t Veld-Esser, Gofilex CTO and co-owner, Harry Bakas, Business Development and Marketing Manager at Village Cinemas Greece, Almudena Fernández-Golfín of the Federación de Cines de España (FECE) and Omdia analyst Charlotte Jones, during the UNIC Focus Session, "Audience Engagement Across Europe: What Really Works?" at CineEurope 2026 in Barcelona, Spain on June 24, 2026.

Growing Cinema Audiences Starts With Knowing Who You’re Targeting

From Village Cinemas’ Cine School and Spain’s Cine Sénior to solo moviegoers and creator communities, CineEurope showed how identifying specific audiences – and removing the barriers keeping them away – can build attendance. The most revealing audience statistic presented during CineEurope 2026 may…