The National Association of Theatre Owners, aka NATO, will now be known as Cinema United going forward.
It’s a big name change for the trade org, with one of the reasons behind the change because, after 60 years, it was tired of being confused with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
But also the name change of the movie theater lobbying group in Washington. D.C. is to reflect not just the org’s representation of owners, but also the workers who run the cinemas. Cinema United represents more than 32,000 movie screens in the U.S. and more than 30,000 screens in 88 countries.
NATO came to fruition in 1965, a union between the Theater Owners of America and the Allied States Association of Motion Picture Exhibitors, the latter which dates back to the 1920s.
Michael O’Leary, who took over as the head of NATO for John Fithian in 2023, remains president and CEO of Cinema United.
The Associated Press originally had the news on the NATO name change.
The news comes ahead of Cinema United’s exhibitor-studio confab CinemaCon, which runs March 31-April 3 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.