AMC Entertainment, the world's largest theatrical exhibitor, has launched a new distribution venture called Leawood Films aimed at getting more small- and medium-budget movies onto the big screen. The company says the effort is designed to fill excess capacity across its theaters, a problem that has lingered since pandemic-era production slowdowns and Hollywood labor strikes thinned out the supply of new releases.
The idea traces back to a strategy AMC stumbled into with pop superstars. As reported by KCUR, AMC partnered directly with Taylor Swift to distribute her Eras Tour concert film in October 2023, a release that grossed $261.6 million worldwide and became the highest-grossing concert film in box office history, according to AMC Investor Relations. AMC also partnered with Beyoncé to distribute her Renaissance concert film in December 2023, which pulled in a $21 million domestic debut and topped $44 million globally during a typically sluggish post-Thanksgiving window, per Media Play News.
AMC also partnered with Swift again for the official release party of A Showgirl in 2025, according to the same KCUR report. Those experiences, the station notes, convinced AMC CEO Adam Aron that there was a repeatable business in going straight to theaters without a traditional studio in between — and that cooperation from movie theater circuits worldwide had helped make the Swift and Beyoncé projects work in the first place.
What Leawood Films Actually Offers Filmmakers
Leawood Films, headquartered in both Los Angeles and Leawood, Kansas, plans to partner with established and emerging filmmakers who can either fully finance their own films or already have completed projects in hand, the KCUR report states. Notably, the venture will not finance productions, develop scripts, or take on traditional film-production risk — it exists purely to plug completed or self-funded films into AMC's screen network.
In exchange, filmmakers keep 100% of their intellectual property and the vast majority of downstream revenue once the theatrical run ends, according to Screen Daily. The company frames its offering as movie theater screens, favorable economics, marketing muscle, and industry relationships bundled together for filmmakers who might otherwise struggle to find distribution backing elsewhere. As the largest theatrical exhibitor in the world, AMC operates roughly 900 locations and 10,000 screens globally, including Odeon Cinemas in Europe, giving Leawood Films built-in guaranteed access to auditoriums that a traditional indie distributor could never promise on its own.
The venture is advised by veteran executives from three major studios: former Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich, former Walt Disney Studios marketing president Ricky Strauss, and former Paramount distribution chief Kyle Davies, per Screen Daily's reporting. Distribution support will come from Variance Films in North America and Piece of Magic Entertainment internationally, according to TheWrap.
Not Just Concert Films, and Not a Threat to Blockbusters
Despite its origins in concert cinema, Leawood Films is not limited to music or concert-oriented movies, nor is it restricted to specific genres, per the KCUR report. Aron said the venture will take a collaborative approach with exhibitors worldwide, and AMC has been explicit that Leawood Films does not supplant the release slates of its traditional studio partners or compete with its longstanding relationships for blockbuster tentpole releases. Instead, the company says it augments the overall supply of movie content, aiming for titles that might otherwise have trouble securing distribution backing at all.
AMC has tried something like this before. Between 2011 and 2017, the company engaged in theatrical distribution through Open Road Films, a joint venture with Regal Entertainment Group that distributed the 2015 journalism drama Spotlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, according to the Los Angeles Times. Leawood Films differs structurally from that earlier joint venture, since AMC isn't taking on equity risk this time around, instead acting more like a landlord offering screens, marketing, and relationships in exchange for a cut of the theatrical run.
Strict Theatrical Windows and a Timeline Still Years Out
Leawood Films has committed to honoring a minimum 45-day exclusive theatrical window before any Premium Video-on-Demand release, and at least 90 days before a film can move to subscription streaming services, according to a company statement. That commitment is meant to reassure exhibitors that the new venture won't undercut the traditional theatrical model even as it opens the door to films that might not have made it to a big screen otherwise.
AMC has confirmed that Leawood Films has not yet selected its initial slate, with the first theatrical releases targeted for 2027 or 2028, per Boxoffice Pro. The KCUR story, first published by Startland News and written by editor-in-chief Tommy Felts, notes that the venture plans to commit a significant number of AMC's available screens to these new titles once the slate is finalized.
Wall Street took notice of the announcement. Shares of AMC Entertainment Holdings traded up more than 5% to approximately $2.65 following the August 31 announcement, alongside reports of improving box office momentum, according to StocksToTrade. Whether the strategy can replicate the outsized attendance of Swift's and Beyoncé's concert films with more conventional independent movies remains an open question, one that won't be answered until Leawood Films actually names its first titles.
