Charlie Rivkin: Last News

Motion Picture Association President and CEO Charlie Rivkin had words of solidarity for theater owners, telling the group assembled at CinemaCon that “we want what you want — great movies that draw big audiences to your theaters.”

In a ten-page comment directed to the White House Office of Science and Technology earlier this month, the Motion Picture Association said AI “can, and must, coexist with a copyright system that incentivizes the creation of original expression and protects the rights of copyright owners.”

Courtenay Valenti, head of film, streaming and theatrical at Amazon MGM Studios, said it will likely release12-14 films in theaters next year as it ramps up its commitment to the big screen both “financially and philosophically.”

Cinema owners, studios and indie distributors gathering in Las Vegas this week for exhibition’s biggest confab seek visibility into a theatrical landscape gut-punched by Hollywood strikes last year just as a post-Covid recovery was revving up. Production halted for months led to fewer releases on the schedule. But there’s reason for optimism, from Dune 2 and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire to a tentpole-laden slate with clips and peeks eagerly awaited by the CinemaCon crowd. Amazon and Apple and studio parents recognize the value of an exclusive theatrical release — a realization that wasn’t at all a given post-pandemic. National Association of Theatre Owners president and CEO Michael O’Leary and Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association, talked with Deadline on the state of the industry as CinemaCon kicks off and ahead of their keynotes on Tuesday.

Charna Flam Vans Stevenson, a senior government affairs executive with the Motion Pictures Association (MPA) concluded his 34-year career this week. He was a deeply knowledgeable expert on the inner workings of state bureaucracies, with an encyclopedic knowledge of the issues and key players in parts of the country where the movie business had set up shop. Before his recent role, Stevenson served as the senior VP of state government affairs for 25 years, where he attended to and managed MPA members’ interests on a national scale, as well as Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam. “I looked forward to going to work every day to improve, protect and defend the production, distribution and business practices of our member companies,” Stevenson said. “As I begin the next chapter of my career, I want to thank MPA CEO and chairman Charlie Rivkin for his leadership during my time at the association.”

MPA chief Charlie Rivkin celebrated a rebounding box office across genre and geographies in his annual speech today, telling exhibitors that his group’s major push is to get more films on more screens by encouraging production, tax breaks and “the freedom and agency” globally “for this great industry to do what it does best.”

CinemaCon launches Monday at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, the second in-person gathering of theater owners and Hollywood studios since August, and Covid. That edition was shadowed by the Delta Variant, ongoing theater closures and shifting release dates. Now the picture is significantly brighter. Domestic attendance at the confab, including a full complement of studio heads, is at a pre-pandemic level (international still a bit softer given challenges in some markets). Moviegoing is on the rise and the release sked looks full and fixed. NATO President & CEO John Fithian and MPA Chairman-CEO Charles Rivkin fielded questions from Deadline on the evolving post-Covid landscape and relationship between the two camps. (Some responses are condensed and edited for clarity.)