Michael McClellan is a film commentator, historian, and author. He has worked in the film industry his entire professional career, and most recently served as the Senior Vice President/Head Film Buyer for Landmark Theatres, the nation’s largest specialized film exhibitor. Prior to his seventeen year tenure at Landmark, Mr. McClellan was a regional film buyer for General Cinema Corporation.
A life-long film fan, he has seen thousands of movies and has traveled internationally to film festivals in Cannes, Berlin, and Toronto, as well as festivals in Sundance, Los Angeles, Chicago, Palm Springs, and Telluride. He has also consulted extensively on the acquisition and marketing of movies with a number of independent film distributors and has leant his experience to panels at the DGA and American Cinematheque, NPR’s Weekend Edition; served on the jury at OutFest, and was on the board of appeals of the Classification and Ratings Administration of the MPAA for nine years. He is the co-creator and producer of the Anniversary Classics Series (ACS) with Stephen Farber, currently partnered with Laemmle Theatres in Los Angeles.
His acclaimed book, CINEMA ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies, (co-authored with Stephen Farber, the past president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the author of four previous books about the movie industry), was published by Rutgers University Press in March 2020. A new paperback edition was released in March 2024; both versions are available now in bookstores or online.
