By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com

Landmark Theatres Names Paul Serwitz Prez, CEO

[pr] Charles S. Cohen, Owner and Chairman of Landmark Theatres, today announced the appointment of veteran exhibition executive Paul Serwitz as Landmark Theatres’ President and Chief Operating Officer.
Paul Serwitz brings his highly regarded reputation to Landmark after serving 17 years as Vice President of Film for Regal Entertainment Group, the national theatre circuit whose brands include Regal Cinemas, Edwards Theaters and United Artists Theaters.  For the better part of a decade, his role included oversight of Regal’s national art and specialized program, growing that segment of the business to nearly $200 million.  Prior to Paul’s 25year tenure at Regal, he was in Film with Torontobased Cineplex Odeon in Washington D.C. and originally was in Operations and Film with Neighborhood Entertainment Group in Richmond, VA.
Landmark is the nation’s largest specialized theater chain dedicated to independent cinema with 51 theaters and 251 screens in 27 markets. Landmark is a recognized leader in the industry for providing its customers consistently diverse and entertaining film products in a sophisticated adult-oriented atmosphere. The chain’s theaters include The Landmark in Los Angeles and The Landmark at 57 West in New York City, both favored by filmmakers and studios to host awards season events and screenings, as well as other iconic locations including the E Street Cinema and The Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema in Washington, D.C., The Landmark at Merrick Park in Coral Gables, Florida, and The Landmark at Greenwood Village in Denver’s flourishing Tech Center.
“I have long admired the unique space Landmark occupies in the exhibition and theatrical landscape,” Paul Serwitz says. “They are a trailblazer in the cinema experience.  I am thrilled to have this opportunity to join Landmark and help expand the company’s vision and reach.”
“Paul Serwitz has vast experience in all aspects of film exhibition and acquisition, in both local markets and on the national front,”Charles S. Cohen said. “He is highly respected and has cultivated solid relationships throughout the film industry – all of which make him the perfect choice to lead Landmark Theatres into the future.”
About Landmark Theatres
Founded in 1974, Landmark is known for both its award-winning historic theater and its more contemporary theater. Landmark’s mission is to create an enriched movie-going experience through unique and highly curated film selection and unsurpassed customer service.
Landmark Theatres was acquired by Cohen Media Group in 2018.  Formed in 2008 by Charles S. Cohen, Cohen Media Group is an Academy Award-winning independent theatrical exhibition, distribution and production company, releasing the world’s best in contemporary and classic cinema.
Be Sociable, Share!

Comments are closed.

Quote Unquotesee all »

It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?

So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.

And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.

There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.

I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.

So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.

But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”

My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher

“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.

~ David Simon