Seth Willenson Dies: Longtime Film Exec & Producer Who Helped Market ‘Rocky Horror’ As Midnight Movie, Mentored Jim Gianopulos & Many More, Was 74

deadline.com:

Longtime marketing and distribution executive and producer Seth Willenson, who pioneered the Midnight Movie marketing concept and mentored many industry leaders, died Friday at his home in Los Angeles after a long bout with heart disease.

He was 74.Willenson began his 52-year career in 1970 as employee number two at New Line Cinema. It was there that he innovated the theatrical marketing concept of the Midnight Movie.

He began with the 1936 anti-cannabis propaganda film Reefer Madness and continued for more than a decade with soon-to-be classics such as Pink Flamingos, Sympathy for the Devil and the blockbuster Rocky Horror Picture Show, which is still being enjoyed today in late night showings, making its release the longest-running in movie history.Speaking of long runs, about 20 years after his first stint at New Line, Willenson returned as President of Telecommunications & Planning.

He subsequently served as a producer and EP on numerous indie films, most notably Allison Anders’ Gas Food Lodging (1992) and the Chuck Norris-starrer Top Dog (1995).Willenson was responsible for marketing the family movie Shiloh, released by Warner Bros in 1997.