M+E Daily
Theaters Get Live-Streamed Harrelson Film
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From gaming to comedy to concerts, Fathom Events — a joint venture of AMC Entertainment, Cinemark Holdings and Regal Entertainment Group — has had a niche in the theatrical space, delivering specialized, live events, for targeted audiences.
But on Jan. 19, the movie theater exhibitor will deliver something completely new: a live film production, shot in real time, showing the movie-making process as if it were a stage play, with more than 550 theaters carrying the live event. Woody Harrelson will direct “Lost in London” — and star with Owen Wilson and Willie Nelson — which follows Harrelson as himself, relaying the true-life, manic events of one night in his life, with everything from the police to actual royalty crossing his path on the way home to his family.
“I’ve always loved theatre and film and wanted to find the best way to merge the two,” Harrelson said. “When I decided to shoot this in real time I realized it wasn’t quite like true theatre because the one piece missing was a live audience.
“By broadcasting the film live as its being shot I hope to truly blend the excitement of live theater with the scale and scope of film.”
The event — being broadcast in theaters equipped with Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN) — begins at 9 p.m. ET, and will be followed by a live Q&A with Harrelson and other members of the production.
“Harrelson continues to surprise his fans with new and exciting ideas [and] ‘Lost in London’ might be the boldest one yet,” said Fathom Events CEO John Rubey. “Fathom is thrilled to be part of this revolutionary project to bring a live feature film, paired with an exclusive Q&A, to audiences nationwide.”
Live-streamed filmmaking has been experimented with before, but not nearly on the scale of what Fathom and Harrelson are attempting. One of the first attempts of note was in mid-June of 2015, when the artist group Blast Theory live-streamed the production of their Toronto-based drama “My One Demand,” which was filmed in one continuous shot, and streamed live during the arts-centric Luminato Festival.
