Sony Chief Tom Rothman Returns to CinemaCon With a Little Help From His Friends: The Beatles
Leave it to Tom Rothman to arrive at CinemaCon 2025 with a little help from his friends.
The chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group returned to the annual convention of theater owners in fine form Monday night when helping to present the studio's upcoming slate — culminating with details about Sam Mendes' four movies on each of The Beatles. That included announcing the cast of the Fab Four and the decision to release all of the movies in April 2028.
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'We are not just making one film about the Beatles. We're making four,' Mendes said to huge applause as he joined Rothman on stage at the Colosseum Theater at Caesar's Palace.
'Did I agree to that?' Rothman said.
'Astonishingly you did,' Mendes replied, adding it will be the 'first bingeable theatrical experience' in regards to releasing the pics in the same month. 'We need big cinematic events to get people out their houses.'
Rothman had some further fun with Mendes. 'Well, do you envision them being seen by the audience in any particular order?'
'I do, but that's for further down the road,' the filmmaker said.
'Alright, fair enough. I'll try a different line of cross-examination,' said Rothman. 'When does the Paul McCartney movie come out?' Mendes replied April 2028; the same question and answer were repeated three more times.
The Beatles project is arguably the biggest of Rothman's long career, alongside Avatar, which he worked on when running 20th Century Fox with Jim Gianopulos.
While CinemaCon 2025 is rife with talk of leadership shake-ups facing Hollywood studios, Rothman is not among those who may be making their last speeches at the show.
Sony brass intends to keep Rothman at the helm for the foreseeable future, even though no deal to extend his contract has been officially announced, sources tell The Hollywood Reporter. His boss, Sony Pictures Entertainment chair-CEO Ravi Ajuha, sat in the audience at the Colosseum in a show of support for Rothman and his team (Rothman gave a shoutout to Ajuha, noting it was his first time at CinemaCon).
Rothman also had a warning during his time on stage at CinemaCon, saying that rising ticket prices and shrinking windows are a danger to the future of theatrical.
'There's a magic word, and that word is Tuesday,' said Rothman. 'Why is Tuesday different from all other weekdays? The grosses are bigger every Tuesday because prices are lower.' He's correct. Almost every theater across the country lowers prices on that day.
Rothman also stressed the importance of exclusive theatrical windows in an era where a movie can be seen in the home on premium VOD as soon as 17 days or 30 after its release on the big screen. 'Cost and windows can work for us or against us. Theaters can be smart about both, and Sony will work with you on both,' he continued. 'If theaters and studios manage for the long term and do the right thing, the future will be grand.'
Sony distribution chief Adam Bergerman shared a far more sobering stat: a new survey shows that one in three Americans now believe they can see a movie in the home within a month of its release even though many studios wait until 40 or 45 days before making a title available on premium VOD (Disney adheres to 60 days).
'This undermines the reason to go to a theater,' he said. 'As a general rule, we try not to do this. We have to change this perception.'
A fierce advocate of the theatrical experience and repping the only major Hollywood studio that doesn't have its own streaming service, Rothman said it is imperative to provide moviegoers with a wide array of product, from the biggest tentpoles to original fare and everything in between. His upcoming slate includes features from a mix of both acclaimed filmmakers, including the likes of Danny Boyle and Darren Aronfsky, as well as up-and-coming talent.
Sony sat out last year's CinemaCon, saying its marketing dollars were better spent in other ways. Theater owners gathered inside the Colosseum Theater at Caesar's Palace on Monday didn't seem to hold any grudges, and gave a warm welcome to the exec.
That welcome turned ecstatic when Mendes and Rothman closed out the show by bringing the just-announced cast of the Beatles movies onstage. Set to star in the films are Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Each of the four movies will focus on one of the members of the Fab Four, but will intertwine.
The annual gathering of cinema owners and Hollywood studios is hosted by the newly rebranded Cinema United, which for decades was known as the National Association of Theatre Owners (its acronym NATO led to endless confusion, as it was mistaken for the 'other' NATO, as in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
Before Sony took the stage, CinemaCon managing director Mitch Neuhauser welcomed the thousands of cinema operators who traveled from across the country, and world, to attend this year's convention. He also paid tribute to the late Jon Landau, James Cameron's longtime producing partner, who passed away last year. 'Jon, we miss you,' he said. 'Your work will live forever on the big screen.' On Thursday, Cameron and Disney are expected to likewise pay tribute to Landau as part of its Avatar presentation.
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