IMAX announced Monday that it has appointed former Paramount distribution head Megan Colligan as the new president of IMAX Entertainment and Executive Vice President of IMAX Corporation.
She will begin her duties in February 2019, succeeding Greg Foster, who has been at the large-format movie company since 2001.
Colligan served in executive roles at Paramount from 2006 to 2017, during which she oversaw the launch of the “Paranormal Activity” franchise and headed up worldwide distribution during the last three years of her tenure.
Prior to that, Colligan was head of the studio’s domestic marketing, overseeing campaigns for the first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with films like “Iron Man” and “Captain America: The First Avenger,” as well as that of the “Transfomers” franchise.
However, she resigned from her post last fall citing “gender bias” at Paramount, later reaching a legal settlement with the Viacom-owned studio.
According to IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond, Colligan was selected for her connections to both major Hollywood studios and streaming companies like Netflix and Amazon, the latter of which currently employs Colligan as a consultant.
As Netflix expands its film division and Amazon looks to produce mass-appeal blockbusters under new head Jennifer Salke, IMAX is hoping to bring some of its planned productions to its premium screens.
“The business is evolving and it’s incumbent on us to have relationships with everybody and never miss an opportunity,” Colligan told TheWrap. “Working with the top filmmakers and the biggest films from all the studios isn’t too shabby, but I’m also interested in the grey areas where new opportunities exist. IMAX is distributing films and expanding in markets around the world, and figuring out ways we maximize the potential of those films and ventures is particularly interesting to me.”
Colligan will take charge of IMAX shortly after the release of M. Night Shyamalan’s “Glass,” which will appear on IMAX screens nationwide. Other films set for wide IMAX release next year include “Avengers 4,” “It: Chapter Two” and “Wonder Woman 1984.”
“Megan has a unique perspective on how it is evolving and what IMAX can do to grow our global entertainment business in new and innovative ways,” Gelfond said in a statement. “Her strong relationships with film studios, exhibitors, filmmakers and talent around the world will help us take our already robust partnerships to new levels and build exciting new ones.”
Colligan’s arrival brings an end to Foster’s 18-year tenure at IMAX, where he served as CEO of the entertainment division since 2013.
During his tenure, Foster helped grow IMAX into a format synonymous with the biggest blockbusters of the year, contributing to their box office success while developing relationships with filmmakers like J.J. Abrams, Christopher Nolan, and Damien Chazelle, whose latest release, “First Man,” was made using IMAX cameras and audio technology.
“I’d like to thank Greg for his dedication and commitment to building IMAX’s blockbuster film business and contributing to our overall success,” Gelfond said. “He is a great friend who has worked tirelessly for IMAX and I’m grateful for his enormous contributions over nearly two decades.”
2017 Box Office Hits and Misses, From Marvel Blockbusters to Matt Damon's Many Duds
This year's box office had some obvious big hits -- Marvel, "Star Wars," "Beauty and the Beast" -- but the numbers also revealed some interesting trends when it comes to what was a hit and a miss financially. Here are just a few of them.
HIT: Representation
The demand for more women and people of color in media wasn’t just a Twitter trend, it was backed up by wallets. Patty Jenkins and Gal Gadot were the queens of the summer as “Wonder Woman” grossed $412.5 million domestic, while Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” was Hollywood’s biggest bang for its buck with $254 million grossed against a $4.5 million budget. Even indie films reflected this trend, as Best Picture winner “Moonlight” set a studio box office record for A24 … until it was broken by “Lady Bird,” the directorial debut of Greta Gerwig.
MISS: Long-running franchises
Audiences were very clearly not interested in a fifth “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Transformers” movie, as 2017 installments for both franchises proved to be by far the lowest grossing films in their respective series. Disney can absorb the loss on “Pirates” failing to launch, but for Paramount, which looked to “Transformers” as its major tentpole and has another sequel and a “Bumblebee” spinoff on the slate, this was very bad news.
HIT: Horror
By far, 2017 has been a huge year for horror at the box office. Blumhouse’s low budget formula for horror continues to pay dividends for Universal, while WB/New Line’s “Conjuring” series topped $1 billion after the release of “Annabelle: Creation.” And of course, there’s “It,” the biggest horror hit of all time with nearly $700 million worldwide gross.
MISS: Raunchy comedies
Very few comedies were able to find traction at the box office this year. New Line's "The House" was the lowest-grossing film of Will Ferrell's leading role career with $34.1 million, while others like "Girls' Night" and "Snatched" also fell flat. A film that did buck the trend was Universal's "Girls Trip," which earned rave reviews and a $139 million global gross
HIT: The MCU
Well, duh, Marvel Studios has been the one constant at the box office for the past decade. But why was it especially a hit? Because this year Marvel Studios became the first production studio to release three films to $100 million-plus openings. With “Black Panther” and “Avengers: Infinity War” coming up, that streak could increase to five.
MISS: Dark Universe
Universal had a strong year with over $5 billion grossed worldwide, but the Dark Universe’s failure to launch with “The Mummy” was a big blemish. Despite launching with much fanfare, “The Mummy” needed overseas help to stay out of the red as it only grossed $80 million domestically. Five months later, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, who were selected to oversee the project, stepped down.
HIT: Diverse Slates
Even though Disney remained on top with their stable of franchises, Warner Bros. and Universal were able to keep up with a diverse set of films. In addition to "Wonder Woman," WB also released hit horror films like "It" and "Annabelle: Creation" and a blockbuster Oscar contender in "Dunkirk," while Universal's Blumhouse horror films and franchises installments like "Fate of the Furious" performed well alongside films aimed for female audiences like "Fifty Shades Darker" and "Girls Trip."
MISS: Matt Damon
Two years after the success of "The Martian," Damon has fallen on hard times. His two awards season hopefuls, "Suburbicon" and "Downsizing," have both tanked at the box office, while his 2017 blockbuster, "The Great Wall," did decently in China but fell flat in America with just $45 million domestic.
MISS: Summer
This year's box office total won't beat the $11.3 billion made last year, and a weak summer is to blame. The May-August box office total was the lowest since 2006, ending with an August that had two weekends without a wide release and the lowest total for the month in two decades.
HIT: The rest of the calendar
But while the summer was bad, domestic totals could have been worse had it not been for strong performances in the spring and fall. March and September 2017 set new records for their respective months off of films like "Beauty and the Beast" and "It," while "Star Wars" and "Jumanji" have given theaters a strong holiday finish. The traditional slate schedule is being broken, and hit films can now come at any time of the year.
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Horror, female protagonists and diverse film slates all proved to be successful this year
This year's box office had some obvious big hits -- Marvel, "Star Wars," "Beauty and the Beast" -- but the numbers also revealed some interesting trends when it comes to what was a hit and a miss financially. Here are just a few of them.
