National CineMedia

Last updated
National CineMedia, Inc.
Company type Public
Nasdaq:  NCMI
Russell 2000 Component
Industry Motion Picture Exhibition advertising
Founded2002;22 years ago (2002), in Centennial, Colorado
Fate Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Headquarters Centennial, Colorado, U.S.
Key people
 Tom Lesinski (CEO)
Subsidiaries
  • National CineMedia, LLC (43.7%)
  • Fathom Events (4%)
Website ncm.com

National CineMedia, Inc. (NCM) is an American cinema advertising company. NCM displays ads to U.S. consumers in movie theaters, online and through mobile technology. NCM presents cinema advertising across a digital in-theater network, consisting of theaters owned by AMC Theatres (excluding certain theaters whose advertising is fulfilled by Screenvision after AMC's purchase of Carmike Cinemas), Cinemark Theatres, Regal Cinemas and other regional theater circuits.

Contents

The publicly-traded National CineMedia, Inc. owns 48.8% and is the managing partner of NCM. Regal's parent company Cineworld and Cinemark and hold the remainder of NCM shares. [1] In May 2014, Screenvision entered into a merger agreement with NCM for US$375 million. [2] The merger was blocked by the Department of Justice over antitrust concerns, since Screenvision and NCM together would supply advertising to 34,000 of the nation's 39,000 movie theaters. [3] In March 2015, Screenvision and NCM terminated their deal and NCM paid Screenvision a $26.8 million termination payment. [4]

The company is perhaps best known to the general public for its advertising pre-show, Noovie.

On April 11, 2023, the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. [5]

FirstLook

FirstLook (2006–2017) was NCM's pre-feature programming. FirstLook consisted of pre-show advertising and entertainment, provided by content partners such as ABC Networks, A&E Television Networks, Amazon, Disney, Fandango, Google, Hulu, Microsoft, NBC, Nintendo and Turner Broadcasting System [6] interspersed with advertising. The program was approximately 20 minutes, and was timed to end exactly at the movie's start time, before any trailers.

FirstLook was the successor to Regal's The 2wenty preshow, introduced to that chain in 2003. FirstLook carried largely that same format, the main difference being that while 2wenty was Regal-exclusive, FirstLook was fed to founding members circuits AMC, Cinemark, and Regal, as well as many NCM affiliate circuits such as Goodrich Quality Theaters, Hollywood Theaters, and Kerasotes. It was also a successor to AMC's MovieWatcher Network'.

Several different versions were provided depending on the movie's MPAA rating or format; G- or PG-rated family films often featured FirstLook Play, while 3D films featured a second segment, FirstLook 3D.

Movie Night Out

Movie Night Out is an application for iOS and Android platforms, published by National CineMedia in 2010. The application allows users to organize an evening film viewing at a theatre as well as activities before and after the movie, such as dinner, coffee, dessert and shopping using a local data feed from Citysearch APIs. [7]

Noovie

In September 2017, NCM introduced a new pre-show known as Noovie; the new show includes new segments such as trivia games and augmented reality games via the Noovie ARCade mobile app, and new feature segments such as "Noovie Backlot" (which features behind-the-scenes content on upcoming films; the first partner for the segments was Walt Disney Studios, who featured segments focusing on its own upcoming films), and "Noovie Soundstage" (which featured filmed concert performances in partnership with Sony Music's content studio Rumble Yard. Noovie was designed as a multi-platform brand, with an accompanying website and social media outlets for film industry news. [8] [9] [10] [11]

Noovie was re-launched in December 2021 with new segments designed to make the show "more holistic". [12]

Fathom Events

Fathom Events, formerly known as NCM Fathom, was a division of National CineMedia that offered alternative entertainment events in movie theaters. In December 2013, it was announced that NCM was restructuring Fathom Events as a new stand-alone entity owned by AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, Regal Cinemas and NCM, with NCM retaining a 4% stake in the company. [13]

Past entertainment events have included:

NCM Digital

The NCM Digital offers 360-degree integrated marketing programs in combination with cinema, encompassing thousands of entertainment-related web sites and hundreds of mobile applications.

Fantasy Movie League

In May 2017, NCM acquired Fantasy Movie League, a fantasy movie league where players have $1,000 a week to spend and try to pick a combination of films that are currently out that week that would lead to the most money the films made that weekend at the box office. [14]

Since the purchase, it has also been promoted during Noovie. [9] [10] [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Movie theater</span> Venue for viewing films

A movie theater, cinema, or cinema hall, also known as a movie house, picture house, picture theater or simply theater, is a business that contains auditoria for viewing movies for public entertainment. Most are commercial operations catering to the general public, who attend by purchasing tickets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AMC Theatres</span> American movie theater chain

AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered in Leawood, Kansas. It is the largest movie theater chain in the world. Founded in 1920, AMC has the largest share of the U.S. theater market ahead of Regal Cinemas and Cinemark Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cineworld</span> British cinema chain

Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain, with 9,139 screens across 747 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group's primary brands are Cineworld Cinemas and Picturehouse in the United Kingdom and Ireland, Cinema City in Eastern and Central Europe, Planet in Israel, and Regal Cinemas in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regal Cinemas</span> Movie theater chain in the United States

Regal Cinemas is an American movie theater chain founded on August 10, 1989 and owned by the British company Cineworld, headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, and operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with 6,853 screens in 511 theaters as of December 31, 2021. The three main theater brands operated by Regal Entertainment Group are Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theatres, and United Artists Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rave Cinemas</span>

Rave Cinemas, formerly known as "Rave Motion Pictures", is a movie theater brand founded in 1999 and owned by Cinemark Theatres. It previously was headed by Thomas W. Stephenson, Jr., former CEO of Hollywood Theaters, and Rolando B. Rodriguez, former Vice President and Regional General Manager for Walmart in Illinois and northern Indiana. The chain was headquartered in Dallas, Texas until it was acquired by Plano-based Cinemark Theatres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muvico Theaters</span>

Muvico Theaters was a movie theater chain headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Muvico had seven complexes in Florida, one in the Chicago metropolitan area (Rosemont), and one in Thousand Oaks, California. Muvico's theaters were known for the use of decorative themes at several theaters, such as the Egyptian, 1950s drive-in, French opera house, Mediterranean palace, and 1920s grand movie palace themes.

Cinemark Holdings, Inc. is an American movie theater chain that started operations in 1984 and since then it has operated theaters with hundreds of locations throughout the Americas. It is headquartered in Plano, Texas, in the Dallas–Fort Worth area. Cinemark is a leader in the theatrical exhibition industry with 521 theaters and 5,855 screens in the U.S. and Latin America as of June 30, 2022. It is also the largest movie theater chain in Brazil, with a 30 percent market share.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cineplex Entertainment</span> Canadian entertainment company and movie theater chain

Cineplex Inc. is a Canadian operator of movie theater and family entertainment centers, headquartered in Toronto. It is the largest cinema chain in Canada; as of 2019, it operated 165 locations, and accounted for 75% of the domestic box office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmike Cinemas</span>

Carmike Cinemas, Inc. was an American motion picture exhibitor headquartered in Columbus, Georgia. As of March 2016, the company had 276 theaters with 2,954 screens in 41 states, and was the fourth largest movie theater chain in the United States. The company billed itself as "America's Hometown Theatre" and Carmike theaters were largely positioned in rural or suburban areas with populations under 200,000. The company's theaters operated under various names and generally had a name followed by the number of auditoriums at that location; for example, "Carmike 15".

Magic Johnson Theatres is a chain of movie theaters, originally developed in 1994 by Johnson Development Corporation, the business holding of basketball player-turned-entrepreneur Magic Johnson, and Sony Pictures Entertainment through a partnership with Sony-Loews Theatres.

Film distribution, also called film exhibition or film distribution and exhibition, is the process of making a movie available for viewing to an audience. This is normally the task of a professional film distributor, who would determine the marketing and release strategy for the film, the media by which a film is to be exhibited or made available for viewing and other matters. The film may be exhibited directly to the public either through a movie theater or television, or personal home viewing. For commercial projects, film distribution is usually accompanied by film promotion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multiplex (movie theater)</span> Movie theater complex

A multiplex is a movie theater complex with multiple screens or auditoriums within a single complex. They are usually housed in a specially designed building. Sometimes, an existing venue undergoes a renovation where the existing auditoriums are split into smaller ones, or more auditoriums are added in an extension or expansion of the building. The largest of these complexes can sit thousands of people and are sometimes referred to as a megaplex.

ArcLight Cinemas was an American movie theater chain that operated from 2002 to 2021. It was owned by The Decurion Corporation, which was also the parent company of Pacific Theatres. The ArcLight chain opened in 2002 as a single theater, the ArcLight Hollywood in Hollywood, Los Angeles, and later expanded to eleven locations in California, Massachusetts, Maryland, and Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MovieTickets.com</span> Movie ticket sales website

MovieTickets.com is an online movie ticketing website founded by AMC Theatres and Hollywood.com in 2000; CBS Corporation, Famous Players, and National Amusements all came on board prior to launch; and it is now a subsidiary of Fandango Media. MovieTickets.com provides movie times for all theaters, and online ticket purchasing for all Clearview Cinemas and National Amusements theaters, among other smaller chains; such as Mann Theatres in Los Angeles. In 2010, MovieTickets.com sold over 16 million tickets for over 200 exhibitors, with 14,000 screens.

Screenvision Media is a cinema advertising and film distribution company in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angels & Airwaves Presents Love Live</span>

Angels & Airwaves Presents Love Live was a one-night film screening and live-streamed concert that took place at 8:00pm ET on August 10, 2011, in 480 movie theatres across the United States and presented by the international rock multimedia project Angels & Airwaves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolby Cinema</span> Premium cinema screen technology created by Dolby Laboratories

Dolby Cinema is a premium cinema created by Dolby Laboratories that combines Dolby proprietary technologies such as Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, as well as other signature entrance and intrinsic design features. The technology competes with IMAX and other premium large formats such as Cinemark XD and Regal's RPX.

Fathom Events is an entertainment content provider that broadcasts entertainment events in movie theaters throughout the United States, including Metropolitan Opera Live in HD, the performing arts, major sporting events, and music concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema</span> Impact of COVID-19 on cinematic industry

The COVID-19 pandemic had a negative effect on certain films in the early 2020s, mirroring its impacts across all arts sectors. Across the world, and to varying degrees, cinemas and movie theaters were closed, festivals were cancelled or postponed, and film releases were moved to future dates or delayed indefinitely. Due to cinemas and movie theaters closing, the global box office dropped by billions of dollars, streaming saw a significant increase in popularity, and the stock of film exhibitors dropped dramatically. Many blockbusters originally scheduled to be released by mid-March 2020 were postponed or canceled around the world, with film productions also being halted. This in turn created openings for independent cinema productions to receive wider exposure.

References

  1. ↑ "Cineworld and Cinemark Announce Agreement to Purchase Remaining Units of National Cinemedia Held by AMC" (PDF) (Press release). Cineworld. June 18, 2018.
  2. ↑ "National CineMedia to buy Screenvision For $375 Million". The Wall Street Journal . May 5, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  3. ↑ Schwartzel, Erich; Tadena, Nathalie (November 3, 2014). "Justice Department Sues to Block Merger of Cinema Advertising Networks". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ Stynes, Tess (March 16, 2015). "National CineMedia, Screenvision Terminate Merger Deal". The Wall Street Journal . Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Theater advertiser National CineMedia files for bankruptcy". Yahoo. April 11, 2023. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
  6. ↑ "About Us". National CineMedia. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Movie Night Out for iPhone". Macworld . January 10, 2011.
  8. ↑ Goldsmith, Jill (2021-12-16). "National CineMedia's Hipper Noovie Preshow Debuts With 'Spider-Man'; New Content Tackles Marvel, DC Universe, Touts Upcoming Films". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  9. 1 2 Welk, Brian (3 July 2019). "How AR Games Attract Moviegoers to Their Seats Early". The Wrap Pro. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  10. 1 2 Hayes, Dade (September 27, 2017). "National CineMedia Teams With Disney, Sony Music On Revamped 'Noovie' Pre-Show". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  11. 1 2 Bond, Paul (2017-09-27). "Disney Partnership Will Bring Behind-the-Scenes Content to Theaters". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  12. ↑ Goldsmith, Jill (2021-12-16). "National CineMedia's Hipper Noovie Preshow Debuts With 'Spider-Man'; New Content Tackles Marvel, DC Universe, Touts Upcoming Films". Deadline. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  13. ↑ "National CineMedia (NCM) Restructures Ownership of Fathom Events". National CineMedia. December 30, 2013. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
  14. ↑ "National CineMedia (NCM) Acquiring Fantasy Movie League | About National CineMedia". press.ncm.com. Retrieved 2018-01-29.
11. ^ "National CineMedia Inc. Announces Financial Results for the Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2006" Investor.NCM.com Retrieved 2/10/19.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.