NATO Boss John Fithian On Retiring After 30 Years: Crusading Against Gov’t Censors; ‘Knives Out 2’ “Important Step” & Bringing The Exhibition Business Back Alive
deadline.comOn Monday, the exhibition trade org the National Association of Cinemas announced that it’s longtime CEO and President John Fithian of 24 years was retiring.
While that’s roughly half the run of late Motion Picture Association Boss Jack Valenti’s 38-year run at that trade org, who left behind his own legendary streak with the creation of the ratings system, Fithian well deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence.
As movie theaters were closed for the first time ever in their existence due to the pandemic, Fithian and his team tirelessly championed lawmakers from the federal to the city level to get cinemas reopened, and the motion picture industry back on its feet.
Not only that, but as studios experimented aggressively for a theatrical day-and-date model, Fithian and Co. behind the scenes poured water on that broken model as the box office returned.
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