Patrick Corcoran: Last News

Brent Lang Executive Editor John Fithian, Patrick Corcoran and Jackie Brenneman, who were top executives at the National Association of Theatre Owners, are joining forces to launch a new consulting firm for clients in the cinema space. Dubbed The Fithian Group, the trio will advise clients on strategy and communications, as well as use their connections in the exhibition industry to find investors and forge partnerships. All three executives will serve as founding partners.

Deadline has confirmed that the National Association of Theatre Owners Tech Advisor, Jerry Pierce, has resigned from the exhibitor trade org following the dismissal of EVP and General Counsel Jackie Brenneman.

EXCLUSIVE: The National Association of Theatre Owners’ EVP & General Counsel Jackie Brenneman has departed, several sources inform Deadline. This became effective Friday. Brenneman was also one of the founders, and the President of NATO sister org, The Cinema Foundation.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Patrick Corcoran is stepping down from the National Association of Theatre Owners, ending a 24-year run that most recently saw him serve as vice president and chief communications officer of the exhibition industry lobbying organization. It’s a time of transition at NATO, with Michael O’Leary taking over as president and CEO from John Fithian, who ran the organization for decades. Corcoran worked closely with Fithian, helping to manage the group’s public relations outreach. His tenure overlapped with tectonic changes in the theatrical landscape, from consolidation of major chains to the rise of streaming to a public health crisis in COVID that led to the closure of cinemas for months. Through it all, Corcoran, a wry, unflappable presence labored to argue that movie theaters were not in a death spiral and would continue to attract customers, just as they had for more than a century. He also had to deal with fractious theater owners, all while helping to launch NATO’s annual exhibition business conference, CinemaCon.

The National Association of Theatre Owners VP & Chief Communications Officer Patrick Corcoran is departing after 24-plus years.

The flight of Tom Cruise’s Top Gun: Maverick from the July 4 corridor to Thanksgiving isn’t causing the panic that such a move would have prompted a few months ago. While theater owners weren’t ecstatic to learn of Top Gun’s move, they’re confident there will be some semblance of a summer season based on a flurry of positive data regarding the recovery of the U.S.