CinemaCon has reportedly ramped up its security protocols after Olivia Wilde was served child custody papers on stage during last year’s event.
The 39-year-old actor-director was presenting her Harry Styles-led thriller Don’t Worry Darling when a court process server handed her a brown envelope.
Wilde later called the incident a “sabotage” attempt by her ex-fiancé, Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis.
A source told Variety at the time that Sudeikis “had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered”.
Variety now cites CinemaCon sources as confirming that “extra layers of security” have been put in place to prevent similar debacles.
These new measures reportedly include security guards around the stage and the studios presenting will now get to decide who sits in the front row.
“We take our show very seriously. We said we were going to reevaluate and put into place more intensive plans and protocols, and we have. I’m not at liberty and won’t discuss those specific plans,” Mitch Neuhauser, managing director of CinemaCon, told the publication.
The Independent has contacted CinemaCon for further comment.
“It was my workplace,” Wilde said of the incident in an interview last year. “In any other workplace, it would be seen as an attack. It was really upsetting. It shouldn’t have been able to happen.”
She added: “But, you know, sadly, it was not something that was entirely surprising to me. I mean, there’s a reason I left that relationship.”
Wilde has since won the custody battle over their children. Sudeikis originally wanted their two children to live with him in New York, but a judge declared that their home state is California and his claim was dismissed, per court papers.
The former couple ended their relationship in November 2020, following a seven-year engagement.
CinemaCon 2023 will take place in Las Vegas from 24 April to 27 April.
