Erik Lomis dies: The veteran MGM sales executive was 64

Shocking news: MGM and United Artists sales chief Erik Lomis died suddenly Wednesday at his home in Santa Monica, sources told us. Details of his death have not been released. He was 64.

Lomis has been a major figure behind the hits of many filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, Adam McKay, Sylvester Stallone, Ryan Coogler, David O. Russell, Lee Daniels and Tom Hooper, to name a few, and most recently Michael B. Jordaan with Creed III.

RELATED: Hollywood colleagues and friends remember Erik Lomis: “Part of the industry died with him today,” says Barbara Broccoli

After Amazon’s purchase of MGM, Lomis, who made the leap, has become a trusted consigliere to Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke as the streamer looks to tap into more blockbusters.

Lomis gave Amazon a big hit with his first blockbuster belief III, which opened to over $100 million worldwide and currently grosses over $225 million at the worldwide box office. It was Lomis’s brave decision to move Creed III of Thanksgiving and posted it in March where the box photo wouldn’t be Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and have access to premium screens. The success of this rearrangement maneuver speaks for itself. Lomis will be greatly missed by many.

Lomis recently lobbied Amazon to list Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s first film under her Artists Equity label. Heaven, from Prime Video to a theatrical release over Easter weekend after testing through the ceiling. After its stunning SXSW premiere last week, this film is already hot.

“I don’t think the industry is going to realize in a few months what Erik Lomis was George Bailey,” said Derek McLay, a Lomis lieutenant in the early 2000s, an EDO analyst at MGM. “He was so many things to so many people that he was quietly touched and done and he’s involved in everything we do.”

An insider compared Lomis’ death here to that of former Academy president and Fox vet Tom Sherak, particularly citing the sales chief’s efforts to raise money with Will Rogers. “When Erik called you, you never said ‘no,'” said an industry colleague who worked with Lomis at MGM.

During his career, Lomis twice headed distribution for MGM, oversaw several James Bond releases and became a valued advisor to franchise producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson. Last fall, Lomis hosted and organized Broccoli and Wilson’s Will Rogers Pioneer Award tribute.

Lomis, a staunch supporter of the theater business at all costs, patronized Daniel Craig’s Swan Song 007, No time to die from the beginning during the pandemic, when many of the world’s circuits were closed, moving to premium VOD or streaming day-and-date release. He was the first to see how Covid would affect the entire company with a delay in March 2020 No time to die‘s theatrical release date from Easter this year to finally October 2021. Lomis stuck to his guns and made sure that was the case No time to die had a big screen release; The film grossed over $774 million worldwide, one of the highest-grossing films of the pandemic era.

UAR/MGM recently had the Oscar nominated winner for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay women talk by Sarah Polley.

Lomis was highly respected not only in exhibition circles but also among filmmakers and competing distribution executives for his razor-sharp, outspoken approach to business, his sharp distribution strategies and his shrewd box-office forecasts. It was not unusual for filmmakers’ agents to call Lomis over the weekend for his assessment, even though their client might not have a film in his studio. Notable sales executives Lomis oversaw in her early days include David Spitz, President of Lionsgate Domestic Distribution, Chris Aronson, President of Paramount Domestic Distribution, and Jim Orr, President of Universal Domestic Distribution. That list includes McLay, who runs EDO, Edward Norton’s cash register analysis company.

Born on November 21, 1958, Lomis grew up in the exhibition world and trained from scratch as a cinema artist in Philadelphia. His father, Irv Lomis, worked for the Philly Circuit Sameric Corp. worked; Lomis eventually became head buyer at Sameric. United Artists Theatres, then the nation’s largest theater chain, eventually acquired Sameric, and Lomis later became head of the national film department.

During Lomis’ early millennium at MGM, he served as president of worldwide theatrical distribution, home entertainment and acquisitions. There he oversaw domestic theatrical distribution as well as the marketing and distribution of MGM’s international theatrical, home entertainment and acquisitions titles. He then served as a senior director and advisor to MGM for more than 15 years. As president of domestic distribution from 2000 to 2005, he served on the Greenlight Committee and oversaw distribution for Licensed blonde, hair salon and four of the James Bond films, incl Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, the world is not enough And die on another day.

In 2011, Lomis joined The Weinstein Co. joined as President of Sales and grossed over $1.5 billion at the domestic box office for the label. He catapulted the studio genre and award-winning fare to great heights, including Tarantino Django unleashed ($162.8 million, $426 million WW) and Incredible bastards ($120.5 million, $321.4 million), Hooper’s The King’s Speech ($138.7M, $484M WW), Russell’s silver lining playbook ($132 million domestic, $236 million WW), The Butler by Lee Daniels ($116.6m domestic, $177.3m WW) and the Oscar winner The Imitation Game ($91 million domestic, $233.5 million WW). Lomis later took on additional marketing duties at the studio.

One of his most recent accomplishments at TWC was leading the launch of Tarantino The Hateful Eight in 70mm for the filmmaker, fetch stationary projectors and bring them to the theaters. In one instance, during the film’s Westwood LA premiere, Lomis rolled up his sleeves and headed to the screening booth to revive a troubled projector.

In March 2016, Lomis Weinstein Co. leaving for Megan Ellison’s Annapurna while she established a sales and marketing department for her studio. Annapurna would enter into a sales and marketing joint venture with MGM called United Artists Releasing which eventually led to Lomis being acquired by Amazon. Lomis released Annapurna films as McKay’s Oscar-winning comedy shame about former Vice President Dick Cheney and that of Kathryn Bigelow Detroit. He co-supervised the animated film with UAR The Addams Family which raised more than $204 million in WW; Ridley Scott House of Gucci ($153 million WW); Anne Hathaway – Rebel Wilson Comedy the difficulty ($97 million WW); Channing Tatums Dog ($85 million WW); Anderson has been nominated for an Oscar three times Liquorice Pizza ($33M WW), which was a bright spot for art houses during Covid; which Dwayne Johnson is producing, Starring Florence Pugh fight with my family ($42 million WW); and the Aretha Franklin biography Respectwith Jennifer Hudson. And of course there was Rocky turnoff Believe Franchise that grossed over $612 million WW.

Lomis is survived by his wife, Patricia Laucella, Lionsgate’s chairman of legal and corporate affairs; his children Natalia Jovovich, Nicole Rose Lomis and Zach Lomis; his stepmother Joanne Lomis; sister, Sandy McGuigan; and brother Charles Lomis.