Newport Beach Film Festival attracted 48,000 visitors, organizers report

With the curtain down on this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival, organizers are turning their attention to next fall, when they plan to hold the 24th iteration of the marquee event.

“I think we were exceptionally happy about the entire 2022 festival from the incredible films to the reaction of our audience and the participation of celebrities both in front of and behind the camera,” chief executive director Gregg Schwenk said in an interview following last month’s festival. “There were several evenings during the festival that sold out. Our hotels, restaurants and many of our partners saw an uptick in reservations and events.”

While organizers did not disclose how many dollars the 2022 festival brought in over the course of its weeklong run, Schwenk confirmed it broke even this year and that a total of about 48,000 people attended.

It was the first time since 2019 that the festival was held fully in person. That year, an estimated 55,000 attended.

After the COVID-19 pandemic struck in the spring of 2020, the festival was held digitally. The following year it was presented in a hybrid format.

This year‘s festival ran between Oct. 13 through Oct. 20 and kicked off with a screening of Roku’s “WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story.” Dozens of films and events were screened and held throughout its run.

The festival was traditionally held in April until the onset of the pandemic. This was the first year that organizers shifted the event to fall, positioning it in the middle of Hollywood’s awards campaign season.

“Three of our major events this year were special conversations. One was with Paul Feig, who directed ‘Bridesmaids’ and ‘The School for Good and Evil’ and two conversations were with Adam Sandler and Eddie Redmayne,” Schwenk said. “They are all just insightful, kind and giving people and were really able to share so much with our community. We were really excited about that.

“Aside from just the great films, parties and events, these were opportunities [for attendees] to hear firsthand from legendary filmmakers and artisans. Really, this was very special.”

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