On Monday, Regal Global Entertainment and Deadline are hosting the industry panel “Future of Storytelling for the Big Screen” with the studios bosses, execs and creators who are redefining it. The list of panelists includes Regal CEO Eduardo Acuna, Lionsgate Motion Picture Chair Adam Fogelson, Legendary Entertainment Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer Blair Rich, Walt Disney Studios Head of Theatrical Distribution Andrew Cripps, and Scary Movie filmmaker Michael Tiddes.
The event will take place at the newly remodeled Regal Sherman Oaks Galleria location in Sherman Oaks, CA, with doors opening at 10:30 a.m. and the event beginning at 11 a.m.
With the domestic box office per Rentrak at north of $1.3 billion, the highest it has been at since 2019, the event will present a forward-looking conversation about the state of the theatrical business, and how it’s evolving and continuing to penetrate culture. We’ll chat about how original movies continue to break through in a franchise-fueled marketplace, the rise of Gen Z and Gen Alpha moviegoers, next-generation viewing formats and more.
Acuna runs one of the world’s leading theatrical exhibition companies, having transformed Regal for long-term growth in attendance as well as revamped locations following its former parent company Cineworld Group’s emergence from Chapter 11 in 2023. Acuna had previously been at Cinepolis for two decades, prior to the Regal move as the President of Americas.
Fogelson has delivered Lionsgate its highest-grossing movie ever in the Michael Jackson biopic Michael, which is on the verge of becoming the highest-grossing musical biopic ever with a $911 million global box office gross. He continues to propel the studio as a forerunner with critically acclaimed movies such as Franchise Lawrence’s The Long Walk as well as fresh event titles such as The Housemaid, which was a destination for female moviegoers at Christmas, in addition to propelling storied Lionsgate franchises such as The Hunger Games into the future; the next installment, prequel The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, opens on November 20. He previously served as chairman of STX Films and Universal, the latter where he rallied such movies as The Despicable Me, Fast & Furious, American Pie and Bourne franchises in addition to the likes of Bridesmaids, Mamma Mia!, Les Miserables and more.
Cripps overseas the global distribution of Disney movies under the Pixar, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, 20th Century Studios, Walt Disney Animation and Searchlight labels. He’s on the verge of Disney delivering another hit-making summer, with Toy Story 5 expected to break records on top of such event titles as Star Wars: Mandalorian and Grogu and the upcoming live-action take of Moana with Dwayne Johnson reprising his role as the demigod Maui. Cripps previously was President of International Theatrical Distribution at Warner Bros and has served in international theatrical leadership roles at UIP and 20th Century Fox.
As Legendary’s Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer, Rich drives the global vision of marketing, branding, communications, while focusing on expanding the studio’s business through new technologies in marketing and data analytics. She was responsible for rallying Legendary and Warner Bros’ A Minecraft Movie to become the fourth highest-grossing MPA title of 2025 with close to $1 billion around the globe, and on deck there’s Dune: Part Three from four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Denis Villeneuve; the first two pics in that big-screen Frank Herbert franchise grossed a combined $1.1 billion worldwide. Previously, Rich was at Warner Bros 23 years, beginning as an intern and rising to President of Worldwide Marketing where she oversaw 700 movies for both theatrical and home entertainment across such franchise as Harry Potter, the DC Universe and more.
Tiddes is responsible for bringing big-screen comedies back with Scary Movie this summer; the pic opened to a franchise high $105M worldwide last weekend. He’s a longtime filmmaker with the Wayans Brothers with previous titles including A Haunted House franchise, Fifty Shades of Black, Sextuplets and Naked.
To RSVP to attend Monday’s event, please click here.
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