AMC Theatres Is Launching Its Own Indie Film Label, and It’s Named After the Chain’s Corporate Hometown

Movie theaters have spent years grappling with a supply problem that’s only grown more visible as major studios trim their release calendars. Between the lingering effects of the pandemic and the 2023 industry strikes, exhibitors have increasingly leaned on concert films, live events, and alternative programming just to keep screens filled between traditional studio releases.

AMC Theatres has watched that shift up close, having already found real success stepping outside the usual studio pipeline with self-distributed concert events like ‘Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour’ and Beyoncé’s ‘Renaissance.’ Those wins apparently convinced the world’s largest theater chain that there was room to go even further into the distribution business itself.

That ambition became official this week when AMC announced the launch of Leawood Films, a new distribution label focused on bringing small and mid-budget independent movies to theaters that might otherwise struggle to find a home. The label will specifically target films that are already fully financed by their filmmakers or already completed, using AMC’s existing exhibition and marketing infrastructure to get those movies in front of wider audiences.

Leawood Films takes its name from Leawood, Kansas, the city where AMC’s corporate headquarters are located, and the venture will be based out of both Los Angeles and that Kansas hometown. AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron framed the initiative around a straightforward industry gap, explaining that Leawood Films is being created “to bring more movies to theaters” given the substantial excess capacity currently sitting unused across the exhibition business.

To guide the new label, AMC has assembled a trio of experienced Hollywood executives. Former Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich, former Disney and Apple marketing executive Ricky Strauss, and former Bleecker Street distribution chief Kyle Davies will all serve in advisory roles, with Davies specifically taking on distribution duties for the new venture. Entertainment attorney Craig Jacobson of Hansen Jacobson will represent Leawood Films as well.

The label also plans to partner with existing independent distribution outfits, including Variance Films, which previously worked alongside AMC on the release of the Taylor Swift concert film, and Piece of Magic Entertainment, which recently handled the European theatrical rollout of an animated feature. AMC has been careful to position Leawood Films as complementary rather than competitive to its existing relationships, describing the initiative as “additive” to its longstanding studio and distribution partnerships.

Despite the buzz surrounding the announcement, AMC hasn’t revealed any specific titles for the label just yet, and the company has indicated that audiences shouldn’t expect Leawood’s first theatrical release until sometime in 2027 or 2028 at the earliest. That timeline suggests the label is still very much in its early building phase, with representatives likely to start scouting projects at film festivals in the coming months.

This isn’t entirely new territory for AMC either. The chain previously dipped into distribution back in 2011 through Open Road Films, a joint venture with Regal that released titles including ‘Nightcrawler’ and even claimed a Best Picture Oscar win with ‘Spotlight’ before AMC eventually sold its stake in 2017.

With roughly $4 billion in existing debt and the independent film market known for being notoriously difficult to navigate profitably, Leawood Films represents a genuine gamble for AMC. Still, coming off a record-breaking summer at the box office, the theater chain appears confident that there’s untapped demand for more diverse theatrical content, even if turning that belief into a sustainable distribution business remains far from guaranteed.

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