THE WAY Achieves the #2 Per-Screen Average as a One-Night Theatrical Event

Starring Martin Sheen and Directed by Emilio Estevez, THE WAY Shares a Timeless Story of Friendship, Grief, Faith, and Hope.

LOS ANGELES, CA – After an incredible one-night-only launch in theaters as a Fathom Event, Ocean Avenue Entertainment, Elixir Films, and E2 Films are launching Emilio Estevez’s film, THE WAY to home entertainment. Tickets for the daily screening times can be purchased at https://tickets.oceanave.tv/, from now until Father’s Day. 

On May 16, THE WAY launched as a one-night-only theatrical event, reaching #4 spot in the box office, despite only showing in 755 theaters. (In comparison, the #1 film - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 - screened in 4450 theaters.) The film also achieved the #2 per-screen average in the U.S.

Chris Bueno, CEO of Ocean Avenue Entertainment shares, “We are overwhelmed by the incredible response we have received from audiences. It has been an honor to continue the story, inspiring audiences to laugh, to meditate, and to find their own Camino.” 

During the Virtual Cinema Event, viewers will experience bonus footage: an intimate and lively discussion between popular public television host and best-selling guidebook author Rick Steves, actor Martin Sheen and filmmaker Emilio Estevez about faith, family, the importance of travel, of pilgrimage, and why THE WAY is "the movie we all need, at a time when we need it the most." 

A rare work of art that uniquely balances faith and doubt; sorrow and joy, THE WAY was filmed along Northern Spain’s picturesque pilgrimage El Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James.

THE WAY follows successful, yet irascible ophthalmologist Tom (Martin Sheen) who travels to St. Jean Pied de Part, France to recover the ashes of his adult son (Emilio Estevez) who perished during a storm in the Pyrenees while walking The Camino de Santiago. Tom decides to complete his son’s journey in an effort to better understand him, and to honor his commitment to complete the pilgrimage.  As Tom walks the Camino, he reluctantly finds himself with three other pilgrims who are walking the road to find answers to their own personal dilemmas. From the unexpected and oftentimes amusing experiences along the way, this unlikely quartet of misfits create an everlasting bond; and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again as he discovers the difference between “the life we live and the life we choose.” 

THE WAY is available as a Virtual Cinema Event from now until Father’s Day, June 18, 2023 with multiple screening times daily. Tickets are available at tickets.oceanave.tv

About Ocean Avenue Entertainment:

Ocean Avenue Entertainment, Inc. was established in 2009 and currently represents some of the very best films for a faith and general audience. In 2012, Ocean Ave established a direct relationship with Netflix and continues to be an official aggregator for their global platform. Recent films currently licensed to Netflix include TE ATA and THE CHICKSAW RANCHER.  In late 2014, Ocean Ave became a full-service distribution company with its first film 23 BLAST. Since then, Ocean Ave has released numerous films on platforms including Peacock TV, Amazon Prime, UPTV, Roku TV, Tubi TV, PureFlix, and numerous others both domestically and globally. In addition to licensing on streaming platforms and linear television, Ocean Ave releases its films on DVD. This includes the entire process of manufacturing and then securing retail placement in the general and faith markets. Most recently, Ocean Ave has a new initiative to develop and produce genre specific movies with a faith-forward emphasis. For more information, please visit oceanavenueentertainment.com.

THE WAY — Back in Theaters May 16

Audiences Can Once Again Share This Beloved Film of a Father’s Journey on the Camino De Santiago Starring Martin Sheen and Directed by Emilio Estevez. THE WAY Shares a Timeless Story of Friendship, Grief, Faith, and Hope.

LOS ANGELES, CA. March 31, 2023 – Ocean Avenue Entertainment, Elixir Films, E2 Films, and Fathom Events are partnering to bring Emilio Estevez’s film, THE WAY back to theaters on May 16, 2023 nationwide.  

Since its initial theatrical release in 2011, THE WAY has been running a quiet marathon, garnering millions of fans across all generations. Moviegoers can once again experience this rare work of art that uniquely balances faith and doubt; sorrow and joy. Filmed along Northern Spain’s picturesque pilgrimage El Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James, the movie will give audiences an opportunity to “travel to Spain” with friends, loved ones, and strangers without ever leaving the theater!

Following the film, and exclusive to the Fathom presentation, join your tour guide, popular public television host and best-selling guidebook author Rick Steves for an intimate and lively discussion with actor Martin Sheen and filmmaker Emilio Estevez about faith, family, the importance of travel, of pilgrimage, and why THE WAY is "the movie we all need, at a time when we need it the most." 

Tickets are now available with theaters being added daily. View the trailer and purchase tickets here: 

Estevez shares, “Now, as we are in a time where our lives are overwhelmed with the noise of technology and social media, grief from the pandemic, and lives running at a breakneck pace, more and more people are finding an interest in ways to step back, reflect, unplug, and breathe. People are discovering hope and healing in a thousand-year old pilgrimage.”

THE WAY is an inspiring, entertaining and honest story about life’s challenges while navigating an ever-changing and complicated world.  The film follows successful, yet irascible ophthalmologist Tom (Martin Sheen) who travels to St. Jean Pied de Part, France to recover the ashes of his adult son (Emilio Estevez) who perished during a storm in the Pyrenees while walking The Camino de Santiago. Tom decides to complete his son’s journey in an effort to better understand him, and to honor his commitment to complete the pilgrimage.  As Tom walks the Camino, he reluctantly finds himself with three other pilgrims who are walking the road to find answers to their own personal dilemmas.

From the unexpected and oftentimes amusing experiences along the way, this unlikely quartet of misfits create an everlasting bond; and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again as he discovers the difference between “the life we live and the life we choose.” 

THE WAY, written by Estevez, was partially inspired by the Jack Hitt book “Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim’s Route into Spain”, the film stars Martin Sheen (THE WEST WING, APOCALYPSE NOW), Emilio Estevez (YOUNG GUNS, BOBBY), Deborah Kara Unger (THIRTEEN, THE GAME), James Nesbitt (THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY, WAKING NED DEVINE) and Yorick van Wageningen (THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, THE CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK). 

This film has helped usher in a whole new generation of pilgrims yearning to travel. Estevez continues, “THE WAY is an extraordinary film that both Martin and I are immensely proud, passionate, and protective of. I am confident the re-release of the film will continue to inspire audiences to find a shared experience with other theatergoers; to laugh, to meditate, and inspire them to find their own Camino, and to remember that “life is too big to walk it alone.” 

Fathom Events, Elixir Films, Ocean Avenue Entertainment, and E2 Films will host THE WAY in movie theaters nationwide on May 16, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. local time. For a complete list of theater locations, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change). Tickets are available at FathomEvents.com and participating theater box offices.

About Fathom Events:

Fathom is a recognized leader in the entertainment industry as one of the top distributors of content to movie theaters in North America. Owned by AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: AMC); Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK); and Regal Cinemas, a subsidiary of the Cineworld Group (LSE: CINE.L)., Fathom operates the largest cinema distribution network, delivering a wide variety of programming and experiences to cinema audiences in all the top U.S. markets and to more than 45 countries. For more information, visit www.FathomEvents.com

About Ocean Avenue Entertainment:

Ocean Avenue Entertainment is the destination for entertaining movies that inspire and offer hope. Its distribution strategy optimizes each release platform to find the widest possible audience from theatrical to digital and streaming platforms like Amazon and Netflix. For more information, please visit: www.oceanavenueentertainment.com. 

AN ENTERTAINMENT WASTELAND FOR 30 PERCENT OF AMERICANS

As someone who distributes films for a faith or religious audience, it was so validating to read Richard Rushfield’s recent Ankler newsletter series on The American Viewer. If you’re not familiar with The Ankler, it’s a newsletter and podcast, with contributions from the leading experts in the entertainment industry. Here are some of the highlights he’s mined from Pew Research:

• 63% Americans self-identify as “Christian”

• 45% of Americans pray daily

• 32% of American attend church monthly

• 31% of Americans do not believe in evolution

• 25% of Americans attend church weekly

• 20% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal word of God

To quote Rushfield, “In other words, tens of millions of Americans are really, really religious. I mean, if you consider folks who pray every day, with 250 million adults in America, that’s over 100 million people. They pray every day, go to church every week, and believe that the Bible is the literal word of God. And 31 percent don’t believe in evolution. Let that sink in. That’s almost 1 in 3 Americans.”

Where are the quality series that would remotely cater to 30% of the adult American audience? As a distributor, I’ve done my very best to find and bring to market those quality films for this audience, but at times it feels like it’s a veritable trickle compared to the ocean of entertainment that gets presented each year. Especially when you consider the focus for every major streamer is to produce and present more and more scripted series to their audiences.

Last year (2021) the number of scripted series available in the United States hit an all-time high, according to FX’s annual count of shows across streaming, cable and broadcast outlets. The year featured 559 English-language scripted shows. That doesn’t include unscripted or reality TV series, that’s only scripted shows! Yet, by my own count I can only think of 10 to 12 that are targeted to this underserved 100 million viewers. THE CHOSEN would be the most well-known with a series budget that remotely comes close to low industry standards. VINDICATION on PureFlix is a good detective series, particularly if you know that each episode costs well under $100K to produce when the average half hours on broadcast and cable run from $1.5 million to more than $3 million. WHEN CALLS THE HEART is in its 10th season on The Hallmark Channel and that is a favorite for many Christian families, and I know that PureFlix has a handful of new series coming out. There are a few series on broadcast networks that you could stretch to say might appeal to this faith audience. However, when combined, I can’t think of more than 10 or maybe 12 series that remotely approach the lowest tier production budgets of the 559 from last year. That’s about 2% of the lowest budgeted entertainment being presented for 100 million Americans!

Trying to find anything suitable to watch with your children is even more challenging. It’s hard to get your 11-year-old boy to watch, WHEN CALLS THE HEART when it’s targeted to older women. It also seems that almost every time we think we may have found a new series to watch together, it ultimately devolves into something that finds it necessary to preach values that repeatedly undermine our own beliefs. Thank God for classic movies and older series like LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRARIE, THE ODD COUPLE and even MISSION IMPOSSIBLE. Sure, it’s presenting technology from the 60’s, but at least it’s something we can all watch together. Yet, with 559 scripted series available, it’s a wasteland when you’re trying to find something fresh that is remotely suitable to watch as a Christian family.

Regrettably, the majority of these 100 million “underserved” American are watching films and series that on a continual basis, assault their own convictions or beliefs. They either try to use the remote control to catch the parade of swear words or objectionable ads that assault the screens, or they pre-screen shows like my wife to know where to fast forward the overly violent scenes for our 11-year-old who loves THE MADALORIAN. Or, if they aren’t trying to protect their younger kids, they’ve simply given up and roll their eyes when they see another snarky comment or scene that undermines their beliefs or presents Christians as backward and out of touch. Far from being intolerant, this is the most tolerant group that I know of that consumes entertainment — because they simply don’t have anything else to watch.

Rushfield’s understated closing takeaway, which I believe was directed to the major studios and streamers, “Is there an opportunity here? I don’t know. But it sure seems like one is possible.” As someone who works to find and bring quality entertainment to this underserved audience, there is no doubt in my mind, there is a massive opportunity here. It’s only a matter of time and I believe, one of these majors will intentionally produce a series or two and find out just how much this underserved audience will embrace it.

HOPE: STORIES OF SURVIVAL

Ocean Avenue Entertainment is honored to release HOPE: Stories of Survival, the first-ever Eastern Territory Salvation Army produced full-length documentary focusing on Stories of survival in the face of adversity. HOPE is about survivors of human trafficking who let us into their day-to-day lives after their trauma recovery and show us how they’re taking back control of their destinies through empowerment, love, trust and hope. It’s about survivors who guide us through some of their darkest memories of fear of exploitation and provide HOPE for others through their ability to overcome obstacles with the support and effort of those around them.

We want to bring awareness to the public about human trafficking, bring support to those who are being trafficked along with family and friends and we want to bring empowerment to the victims and survivors. Most of all we want to share a message of HOPE through the recovery process and let victims and survivors know that they are not alone.

Available on DVD and digital through Amazon and other platforms.