Now in its 20th year of operation as a joint venture between leading US exhibitors AMC, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark, Fathom began distributing what the industry initially called alternative content, and then rebranded as event cinema.
The model, under which Fathom staged as many as 150 one- or two-night events each year, got the joint venture through the pandemic, but 18 months ago “we decided that we needed to do something a little bit different to grow the company”, says CEO Ray Nutt. “And that evolved into specialty distribution.”