Secret Cinema Boss on ‘Grease’ Returning and Record-Breaking ’Pirates of the Caribbean’ Pre-Sales: ‘When People Step Into This Room, They’re Going To Be Beside Themselves’

Jul 6, 2026 3:00am PT Secret Cinema Boss on ‘Grease’ Returning and Record-Breaking ’Pirates of the Caribbean’ Pre-Sales: ‘When People Step Into This Room, They’re Going To Be Beside Themselves’

By K.J. Yossman

Plus Icon

K.J. Yossman

@KJYossman

Latest

• Ed Gamble on His New Panel Show ‘Unacceptable’ and the State of U.K. Comedy: ‘There Are Hard Jobs Out There and Being a Comedian Is Absolutely Not One of Them’ 15 hours ago
• Peter Mullan, Rebecca Lucy Taylor, Iwan Rheon to Star in Celyn Jones’ Next Feature ‘Mountain’ (EXCLUSIVE) 3 days ago
• Award-Winning Independent Factual Producer Proper Content Shutters Citing Market Conditions: ‘There Simply Isn’t the Commissioning Risk’ 4 days ago

See All

©Walt Disney Pictures/courtesy Everett Collection

When TodayTix acquired Secret Cinema in 2022 for a reported $100 million, it marked a new era for the company, which started life as a ragtag bunch of film enthusiasts trying to bring movies to life. Originally, the screenings were kept secret (hence the name) and staged in out-of-the-way locations with audiences only finding out what they were seeing upon arrival.

But a few public slip-ups (such as a spate of last-minute cancellations, including the opening nights of a highly-anticipated “Back to the Future” screening in 2015) followed by the pandemic shutting down the events industry, saw Secret Cinema so strapped for cash it had resorted to Kickstarter funding. It needed a superhero to save it and along came TodayTix, the event ticketing company founded by Brian M. Fenty and Merritt Baer in 2013.

Popular on Variety

Related Stories

‘Alley Cats’ Trailer: Ricky Gervais Unveils Family of Foul-Mouthed Felines in Netflix Animated Series