Mark Gaines, who spent nearly 40 years at Universal, rising from local booker to EVP and general sales manager, died Wednesday at his home in Braselton, GA, Deadline has learned. He was 77.
Gaines began his career at Universal in 1976, working as a booker in its Atlanta branch. He went on to serve as branch manager in various Southern cities, including Dallas in 1988, before relocating to Los Angeles in 1990 as VP, Division Manager.
He was named SVP, National Sales Manager, at Universal in 1994 before his promotion to EVP and general sales manager in 1997. He retired from that post in early 2016.
“During his nearly four decades in our industry, Mark has been an integral part of a rapidly evolving business,” Uni’s then-distribution chief Nick Carpou said in a staff memo announcing Gaines’ retirement then. “In the early years, there were ‘mom-and-pop’ theaters in every town. He recalls selling films in gas stations and at exhibitors’ homes over dinner. The consummate distributor, Mark once even did business at a county fair where the theater owner was selling his prize bull.”
Gaines retired just after Universal Pictures‘ record-breaking year in 2015, when it led all studios with a nearly 24% domestic market share thanks to such mega-hits as Jurassic World, Furious 7, Fifty Shades of Grey and Pitch Perfect 2. That year, the studio set industry box-office speed records as the fastest to $1 billion domestic, $2 billion overseas and $3 billion worldwide. The studio did a personal-record $2.45 billion in 2015 and beat its all-time record for global grosses in a single year — by mid-June.
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After he retired, Gaines sold his home in L.A.’s Toluca Lake neighborhood and moved back to his home state of Georgia. He was an avid golfer and a member of Lakeside Golf Club.
Gaines lost his wife, former Paramount senior distribution executive Blayne Becker Gaines, in June 2024.
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