Erik Lomis, the late MGM film distribution executive, was posthumously honored as the recipient of the Will Rogers Pioneer of the Year Award at a charity dinner held at the Beverly Hilton on Wednesday.
Paramount domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson hosted the event, sharing memories of one of his closest — and most profanity-laden — friends in the business. Among the stories Aronson told was the time that he suffered a life-threatening medical emergency that required hours of surgery and woke up in the hospital to find Lomis, suffering from a painful kidney stone, waiting by his bedside.
“‘What the F are you doing here?’” Aronson recalled asking Lomis, “I thought you were in the hospital. He said ‘Yeah, I was, but I heard you might die, so I thought I better get over here until you did.’ That was Erik Lomis, and that’s the way he was. The best and most loyal friend.”
Lomis was also honored by Paul Thomas Anderson, who worked with Lomis on distribution of his films “The Master” and “Licorice Pizza,” and his partner and successor at MGM, Kevin Wilson.
Wilson shared memories of discussing the weekend box office grosses with Lomis over the phone at 5 AM in what Lomis affectionately called “The Underwear Club.”
“At the beginning I wondered if this was a temporary exercise and a test of my commitment. It wasn’t,” Wilson said. “We did this every week for the next five years and up to the day of his passing. I can’t begin to tell you how much I miss those calls.”
Anderson recalled how he first met Lomis at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica ahead of a secret screening of “The Master.” As Lomis was head of distribution of The Weinstein Company at the time, Anderson was afraid Lomis had been sent by Harvey Weinstein to pressure him into accepting his demands for editing changes to the movie.
Instead he and Lomis had a long discussion about the latter’s plans for distributing “The Master,” including sending 70mm prints and projectors to select theaters. And as for Weinstein…
“I don’t work for that piece of s–t. I’m here to help you with your movie!” Anderson recalled Lomis telling him.
Along with his love of the movies and his family — his wife, Patricia and his two daughters Nicole and Natalia — Lomis was known as a massive fan of the Philadelphia Eagles. That fandom defined the evening as legendary Eagles play-by-play man Merrill Reese narrated a memorial reel of Lomis life and career, while the team’s mascot, Swoop, surprised Lomis’ family as they took the stage to accept the award on his behalf. ”
The Pioneer of the Year Award has been presented for more than 75 years to top names in the film industry, including Tom Cruise, Donna Langley, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Jack Warner and Cecil B. Demille. At last year’s dinner, Lomis presented the award to James Bond film producers Barbara Broccoli and James G. Wilson.
The dinner raised $1,200,007 — a nod to Lomis’ role in the James Bond series — to the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation (WRMPPF) and its assistance fund to provide financial aid and counseling to workers in the movie theater and distribution industry.
Lomis, who died at the age of 64 this past March, oversaw the theatrical release of MGM films like “Legally Blonde,” “Barbershop,” and all of Pierce Brosnan’s films as James Bond, including “GoldenEye,” during his initial tenure as distribution chief from 1993 to 2011.
From 2011 to 2016, Lomis served as head of distribution and acquisitions for The Weinstein Company, overseeing the release of multiple Oscar winners such as “The Artist,” “Django Unchained,” and “The Imitation Game.” He next oversaw the launch of Annapurna Pictures’ distribution wing.
In 2019, Lomis returned to MGM and took charge of United Artists Releasing, the joint venture between MGM and Annapurna, where he worked on films like Daniel Craig’s James Bond swan song “No Time to Die,” Michael B. Jordan’s “Creed III,” and Ben Affleck’s “Air,” the latter of which was released in theaters two weeks after his passing.
