Having spent his entire professional career working in the movie theater business, Kevin Mitchell, a veteran of Cinemark and Showbiz Cinemas, threw his hat into theatrical distribution earlier this year. His new venture, Showbiz Direct, aims to bridge the distance between the creative community and cinema operators with a slate of films designed to program around the major studio tentpoles. Boxoffice Pro caught up with Mitchell ahead of the release of ShowBiz Direct’s first title, the political biopic Reagan, starring Dennis Quaid, to talk about the film and the company’s ambitions.
You have a long career in exhibition, and you recently moved to the distribution side of the business. What inspired that change?
I grew up in the exhibition industry. My family started Cinemark, and my dad was the CEO and chairman of the company. I worked my way up through Cinemark, from tearing tickets and sweeping floors, and stayed on with the company for a little over twenty years after he retired. Shortly after it went public, I left Cinemark and started my own circuit, Showbiz Cinemas, which operated in several states. We weathered the Covid storm, and once we made it through, I accepted an offer to buy out the circuit. The timing was right, especially after Covid-19, because I was already thinking about ways we could help alleviate the issues we were having with the shortage of films and the delays in the production pipeline from Hollywood. That’s how I came to start ShowBiz Direct. I felt there was a roadblock between the creative community and exhibition, and that’s precisely what we came in to address with our distribution company. While the studios focus on major holidays for their big tentpoles, ShowBiz Direct is here to fill the rest of the weeks year-round and close the gap between creatives and cinemas.
Your first film with Showbiz Direct is Reagan, a biopic of former President Ronald Reagan starring Dennis Quaid. You’ve taken a grassroots approach to marketing the film by visiting the home offices of some of the largest circuits in the country with your star to talk about the film.
In my opinion and experience, nobody is more in tune with their customers than exhibitors. Kansas City is better equipped to connect with its audience than West Hollywood, and we want to establish that partnership with the exhibitors across this country. When I say “partnership,” I mean a true partner—not a make-believe one. Our goals and interests are aligned. We can only accomplish them if we work together.
You have two industry veterans joining you at ShowBiz Direct: Richie Fay and Scott Kennedy. How did you come to assemble that team?
Early on in my career, my dad taught me the importance of surrounding yourself with people who are smarter and better than you. That’s what we have with Richie and Scott on our team. Richie has worked in both exhibition and distribution for a long time, representing major circuits and studios. When he was with Summit, Richie helped bring a little book that no one had heard of onto the big screen. He went to bat for it; he believed there was something special about it. With Richie’s faith in the project, Summit made the first Twilight movie—and the rest of that story is history, spawning a billion-dollar franchise. When Summit was acquired by Lionsgate, they struck gold in the same way with The Hunger Games. Scott Kennedy is our cheerleader; he’s our “Rah, Rah!” guy. Those who know him know exactly what I’m talking about. We grew up in the business together, his dad and my dad used to do business. He is a seasoned veteran who has helped make everything from specialty movies and award-winning titles to big, wide releases. They are both qualified veterans and invaluable partners in this venture.
Your first release, Reagan, is coming out in the middle of the presidential election season. Are you concerned that the film will only appeal to half of the country?
The timing of the release may suggest it’s a politically motivated movie, but it’s really not. It’s a love story, really. It’s about an actor who became the president of the actors’ union—helping navigate labor disputes and strikes—and how that led him to become a great political figure—first as the governor of California and then as president of the United States. The movie follows him from a child all the way up to his passing. Although Reagan was a prominent political figure, he was liked by both sides of the fence. He was a Democrat before he was a Republican. He was a master at bringing people together for the country’s greater good.
How are you approaching the film’s marketing beyond your grassroots efforts with exhibitors?
In this case, the producers are acting as the marketing team. They’ve done a great job so far. We’ve been doing many private screenings for prominent individuals. We hosted a screening of the film at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum in Los Angeles. Dennis [Quaid] has been traveling the country and working hard to promote the movie personally. He was present at the Republican National Convention and will be attending the Democratic National Convention as well.
On the national front, we have a big weekend planned at NASCAR’s race in Daytona. We’ve got a Reagan car, and Dennis will be the grand marshal at the event. In the fan zone, we’ll have a “Reagan stage,” where they’ll conduct all of the interviews at the race, and we’ll be running the trailer throughout the day.
It must be exciting to approach theatrical marketing in a way that you would have liked to when you were an exhibitor.
When I started this venture, I was driven by one question: How can we improve things? That’s what informs all our decisions here.
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