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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.
With Baer now at the helm of Secret Cinema (former CEO Max Alexander and founder Fabien Riggall having long exited), he is focused on steering the ship into less choppy waters. The first step has been to sign a 10-year lease for a venue (currently being built) at the Greenwich Peninsula in London, just a short walk from the O2 stadium, where, fittingly, the inaugural spectacle will be “Pirates of the Caribbean” next spring.
While the seas are still stormy in the live events business (“[for] the theater industry at large, costs have just spiraled post-pandemic,” Baer says) the appetite for experiential has never been greater and Baer is focused on turning regular theatre-goers into immersive experience enthusiasts.
Last year Secret Cinema tested the waters for its new model with a staging of “Grease” at Evolution in Battersea. Among the changes made from the previous administration were dropping the requirement for audiences to participate with pre-assigned storylines, instead letting them dip in and out of the action as they like, and also introducing some seated tickets, for those who may not – yet – feel brave enough to get involved. Baer says “Pirates” will work similarly.
Ahead of “Grease” returning this summer on July 22 (Kaiser Chiefs frontman Ricky Wilson is set to play Teen Angel), and with preparations for “Pirates” in full swing, Baer sat down with Variety to talk about Secret Cinema’s current state of play — including international expansion and the company’s upcoming 20th anniversary — plus what audiences can expect when the swashbuckling “Pirates” launches next year.
Why did TodayTix decide to acquire Secret Cinema in 2022?
We’re constantly looking at “How do you redefine audience experience for theater goers?” and we looked at Secret Cinema really as a creative powerhouse, as a company that was doing really cutting edge things in bringing audiences into the center of a story.
Really the acquisition was about “What is the marriage between theater audiences and immersive?” and that is where, as I lead the company, I make a lot of decisions from. Like, how do we take theater audiences’ expectations and buying patterns and the way they like to receive entertainment, and now apply that to immersive? Because there’s this whole world of incredible immersive theater that I think they would love.
One of the biggest changes you’ve made is taking a 10-year lease on a venue in London for Secret Cinema. What was the decision behind leasing a permanent location?
Secret has always been a creative powerhouse, but a lot of it, from its earliest days, as almost any entrepreneur needs to, was by the seat of their pants and figuring out things as they went along, and sometimes that is an incredibly expensive way to have to [run a company]. Every time you’re doing a production, bring in a zillion toilets or to bring in all sorts of equipment that could be feasibly used production to production. So a big part of the growing up was us thinking about how do we create more stability for Secret to produce creatively in a more stable way?
Why did you choose London first and do you have plans for another location in the U.S.?
I think London is our home base, it’s where our entire team is, it’s where our audience that’s lived and grown up with us and watched us evolve from screenings in a warehouse 15 years ago.
I can say we are actively still looking at various international locations, the U.S. among them. It’ll probably take us another couple years before we’re ready to announce a permanent location in another city, but I can say we’re in very active conversations about multiple pieces of IP, either launching in different U.S. cities or setting down in different cities, both U.S. and other international places.
Doing it right is more important than doing it fast.
What does the Greenwich Peninsula lease mean for your deal with Evolution in Battersea, where you did “Grease” last year?
We’re bringing “Grease” back this summer for a slightly longer run. The audience response was absolutely amazing. It was the highest selling summer run Secret has ever done. I think Secret fans of yesteryear were a little – I’ll be really honest and forthcoming – disappointed in the IP choice, but I think what we were trying to do with “Grease” was, again, it goes back to the thesis [of introducing theatregoers to immersive entertainment].
Helping bring those audiences to immersive — in most cases, for the very first time — was a huge goal of ours, and “Grease” felt like a really great piece of IP to do that with.
One of the elements of Secret Cinema that was off-putting to some potential attendees was being made to participate in an immersive storyline. Is that something Secret Cinema still does?
No, so the way the way “Grease” worked, and the way “Pirates” will work, is that we invited audiences to come to Rydell High… the film started inside and the musical came to life around you while the film was playing on about 30 different screens all around, and so you could watch simultaneously the film and the musical come to life. Anytime there was a song the sound of the film went off, the sound of the actors’ microphones went on, and so the number was fully live performed in this giant nearly 50,000 square foot space.
The film and the show would intersect again at the next musical number. So that was the format for “Grease,” which we did in close collaboration with both Paramount and the theatrical rights holders.
How will it work for “Pirates” since there are no musical numbers?
[There are] no musical numbers, but it does have a very iconic musical score by Hans Zimmer.
We haven’t announced creative team members yet, but I’ll tell you our creative team has some very major heavy hitters, in terms of musical direction, orchestration, and we are going to be doing very thrilling things to bring that score to life in some magical ways.
“Pirates” has initially been set as a 10-week run but is there a chance it could be extended?
I think we’ll see, based on demand, although so far demand has been off the charts, and has been the biggest presale in Secret Cinema history, so there’s always the potential to see what more lies ahead.
How involved are Disney in “Pirates”?
Obviously, it’s incredibly beloved IP that’s never had theatrical treatment before, and because of that, I think Disney Theatrical Group are honestly absolutely fantastic collaborators.
I think they were pretty early on really wowed by what we think we could do for audiences in a way that it feels distinct and unique from what stage production normally is, and yet very much in the wheelhouse of what Disney does in their parks, in terms of fully immersing audiences in an IP.
There is going to be flying and water and sequences — we are going all out. When people step into this room, I think they’re going to be beside themselves.
Secret Cinema’s 20th anniversary is on the horizon. Do you have anything planned?
“Pirates” is taking up most of my time. We have a handful of productions in active development with many major studios that get us really through the next three, four, five years, so all those productions are in different stages of development, and for various reasons things get paused or sped up at any given time based on studio timelines and whatnot. But we have three or four projects I’m incredibly excited about over the years ahead. Which one intersects with the 20th anniversary of Secret I don’t know exactly yet.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
