Tom Cruise's 20-speaker system, Steven Spielberg's hidden entrance: Deluxe screening rooms in private homes have emerged as the epicenter of Hollywood's most exclusive social network.
When Brett Ratner, the director behind the "Rush Hour" franchise, presses a button on a remote, the lights in his living room—part of a Beverly Hills estate once owned by Ingrid Bergman—go dim. Shades creep across the windows, shrouding a Rodin sculpture in darkness. As an 18-foot-wide screen descends from the wood-paneled vaulted ceiling, part of the dark wood floor falls away, revealing an enormous speaker that rises from the basement below. (click below to read more)
Screening rooms at home have emerged as a critical fixture in Hollywood's social circles. Lauren Schuker on Lunch Break looks at some of the most glammed-up, sought-after spaces.
Mr. Ratner, who regularly watches movies with pals Brian Grazer, Edward Norton and Eddie Murphy, spent six months digging through his home's concrete foundation for the speaker elevator alone. In all, he sank about half a million dollars into renovating his tricked-out private screening room, an increasingly important fixture in Hollywood.
Steven Spielberg recently finished building his new screening facility at his Pacific Palisades home. With a touch of his iPad, he can unlock a hidden door that opens onto a corridor leading to the projectionist booth and lobby. In his 1940s Art Deco-styled screening room, with frosted-glass sconces, cherry-wood ribbing and fluted bronze panels, Mr. Spielberg sits in the back, on the highest tier of the stadium seats, directing the entire experience with his remote.
Jarl Mohn, who created E! Entertainment Television, and his wife have held their own film festival every year at their Brentwood home between Christmas and New Year's. Dubbed "MohnDance," it screens a new first-run film for about 10 people each night for seven nights. This holiday season, the roster included "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy," "Mission: Impossible—Ghost Protocol," "Hugo" and "Young Adult." On a recent evening last June, the Mohns showed the fourth installment of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise; guests arrived in pirate attire, ate Caribbean food and drank "grog."
"Our screening room is the centerpiece of our social life," says Mr. Mohn. People familiar with the room say Mr. Mohn spent more than $2 million furnishing and equipping it.
The first private screening rooms were built in the 1930 and 1940s for the original movie moguls to watch films they and their competitors made. But in recent years, as digital projection has replaced the need to hire a projectionist and run 35-millimeter film, there has been a screening-room building boom. As DVDs, video on demand and movies on the Web proliferate, the idea of watching a new movie the old-fashioned way has taken on new allure. Exclusive private screenings have become an increasingly essential component of both the social and business culture of Hollywood.
For people in the entertainment world, having an elaborate private screening room can be a key tool for entertaining business associates, building buzz and ginning up awards support. The Motion Picture Association of America has lobbied Washington bigwigs for years with private screenings. The White House often receives copies of movies when they hit theaters, to screen privately. Studios often pay to build home screening rooms as part of their employment contracts with studio chiefs and top executives. A screening room serves as a status symbol, too—a way to demonstrate that one has made it into the small club of people who receive early copies of movies. Tricked-out screening rooms have become an increasingly important fixture among Hollywood's elite. Here's a peek at how Brett Ratner, Peter Guber and other entertainment insiders watch the movies at home.
The ability to show a film at home before or when it comes out in theaters requires getting on an exclusive list, often referred to as the "Bel-Air circuit." Each of the six major Hollywood studios has its own list, but their rosters include mostly the same cast of characters, with a few variations. They spell out the roughly 300 to 500 power brokers, mostly in Los Angeles—from Mr. Spielberg and actor George Clooney to rapper Dr. Dre and businessman Ron Burkle—who are eligible to receive films from the studios on, or before, opening weekend.
For inclusion, one needs a strong track record in the entertainment business, whether it's as a studio chief, television producer, music executive or as talent. Movie stars have an automatic entrée. The occasional sports superstar is included: New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter was recently added to the lists at some studios. Others have invested heavily in the media and entertainment business. Studios refer to New Yorkers on their lists (Woody Allen, Harvey Weinstein) as the "subway circuit"; the Florida crew is the "gator circuit."
Once on the list, members can make requests to borrow a print or, increasingly, a digital copy; each weekend, a top studio official approves each request. At Paramount, for example, Chief Executive Brad Grey and Vice Chairman Rob Moore—the studio's two highest-ranking executives—personally handle each one. At Weinstein Co., the Weinstein brothers approve requests.
The cost of a top-of-the-line screening room averages $500,000 but can run up to $2 million or more with all the bells and whistles, according to Joseph Cali, a high-end home-theater designer and installer who built the screening rooms for George Clooney, Matt Damon and Tom Cruise. In Hollywood, few on the circuit have a screen smaller than 14 feet in width, says Mr. Cali. Most are 16 to 18 feet.
Standard screening room accoutrements are stadium-style seating, cutting-edge acoustics, ergonomic couches and automated shade coverings as well as fancy candy offerings. The room of restaurateur Michael Chow, best known for his eponymous restaurant chain Mr. Chow, shares a wall with his pool to create an aquarium effect. Often, the same companies that build screening rooms for the major studios are constructing these spaces.
The screening-room designer most in demand is Jeff Cooper, an MIT-educated architect and acoustic engineer who has built facilities for George Lucas, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Robert Zemeckis and, most recently, Mr. Spielberg.
Mr. Cooper is currently building a 49-seat screening room for "Transformers" franchise director Michael Bay in Bel-Air. To create a starry sky that appealed to Mr. Bay's love of special effects, Mr. Cooper is topping the theater with an elliptical dome and fiber-optic stars. Mr. Cooper says a key to his practice is using repetitive geometric forms to enhance acoustics and disguise obtrusive elements. To hide LED lighting and an array of speakers in Mr. Bay's theater, Mr. Cooper is using a recurring pattern of large curved wooden forms that extend from floor to ceiling. "We don't want to interrupt the fantasy with door frames or air conditioning," he says.
To extend the Bel-Air circuit to a larger group and possibly profit from it, a start-up called Prima Cinema is working with the studios to roll out a service that will make first-run studio films available the day they hit the big screen. Available in a few months, the service will allow homeowners with a high-end digital-projection screening room (who also pay $35,000 to install Prima's highly secure digital delivery system) to watch first-run films for an additional $500 each. The service won't deliver movies before their opening date.
Most owners of screening rooms tend not to visit other people's spaces. The most coveted screening rooms to get into are often the most private; few have seen Mr. Spielberg's space, widely considered one of the most beautiful. Tom Cruise's sitting room in his Beverly Hills home, which his interior decorators Alexandra and Michael Misczynski designed, transforms into another sought-after screening room. Mr. Cruise screens films most weekends, but few outsiders are invited, according to people close to Mr. Cruise who have visited the space. With the touch of a button, the room—which overlooks Mr. Cruise's garden—turns dark, a screen falls in front of French doors and about 20 different speakers and subwoofers hidden behind fabric walls turn on.
Twice a month, music mogul Irving Azoff invites a regular group to his Holmby Hills screening room, which is flanked by a 2-foot-wide bowl of M&Ms and a frozen-yogurt machine (inspired by one owned by Universal Studios President Ron Meyer). Mr. Azoff's regulars, or "the usual suspects," as he calls them, include talk-show host Chelsea Handler and longtime clients Glenn Frey and Joe Walsh of the Eagles and their wives. Sometimes, CBS Chief Executive Les Moonves—a neighbor—will also drop in.
Invitations can be strategic; the owner wants a business associate to see a particular film or is doing a favor by promoting a film for a studio. Some studios will ask prominent screening-room owners to host so-called tastemaker screenings, where the owners invite influential friends to come see a particular film. Summit used the strategy to promote "The Hurt Locker," which won the 2010 Academy Award for best picture, according to several screening room owners. "The Artist," which won several Oscars last weekend including best picture, was also screened in rooms across town this year, these people add.
"If you want people in town to chat up a movie, this is the best way to do it," explains one studio marketing executive, referring to tastemaker screenings.
Guests in a private screening room rarely walk out of a movie, although certain proprietors permit it. Seating is usually first come, first serve. Most owners reserve a special seat for themselves—and sometimes their spouses. "Don't sit in my wife, Shelli's, seat," says Mr. Azoff. Mr. Ratner requires guests to leave their shoes at the door to keep his wood floors pristine.
Food is one of the rare polarizing issues. Some strictly forbid it; Mr. Scorsese, who maintains a private screening room in his New York office, allows guests to bring in only water, according to a person close to the director. Sherry Lansing, who built a room in her home after leaving her post as chief executive of Paramount Pictures, says she allows both water and candy.
Woody Allen is a notable exception. The 76-year-old director holds business meetings over lunch in his New York screening room, which forms part of a three-room office suite on the ground floor of the Beekman, at Park Avenue and 63rd Street, according to a person close to the director. On Saturday nights, Mr. Allen will often invite friends over. An old friend of the director says the perennial routine was "a movie in the screening room followed by dinner at Elaine's." (Elaine's, a well-known restaurant, closed last year).
On a recent weekend, Peter Guber—the former head of Sony Pictures—screened a documentary that Deepak Chopra's son, Gotham, directed for a select group of friends, including Lady Gaga. Dessert, including ice cream and bread pudding on a stick, was served afterward in the lounge next to the screening room, a separate structure which was erected roughly 20 years ago on his Bel-Air estate.
Phil Rosenthal, the creator of "Everybody Loves Raymond" whose new film "Exporting Raymond" just hit HBO, started hosting Sunday night screenings in the 1970s for his high-school buddies with a 19-inch color television and take-out pizza. Since then he has upgraded: Five years ago, when he installed a screening room at his Hancock Park home, he also built a wood-burning pizza oven. A professional chef cooks the pizza before the movie.
"It's like programming your own movie theater—you choose the movie, the food, the time," Mr. Rosenthal says. "But you also get to choose everyone in the audience."
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