PaperAirplane’s The Hangar has crossed a major milestone, topping 2 million downloads and underscoring how essential digital tools have become in theatrical marketing. For an industry that once relied heavily on fragmented asset-sharing workflows, The Hangar now stands out as a central platform helping studios, distributors, and exhibitors move faster and market films more effectively.
Launched in October 2020 by former Lionsgate distribution executives Mike Polydoros and Will Preuss, The Hangar arrived at one of the most uncertain moments in modern cinema history. With theaters operating under severe pandemic pressure, the platform was designed to solve a practical but persistent problem: how exhibitors could quickly access approved marketing materials from studio partners without delays, confusion, or version-control issues.
How The Hangar reached 2 million downloads
The rise of The Hangar reflects a broader shift in how theatrical campaigns are executed. What began as a targeted operational fix has developed into a major piece of industry infrastructure. According to PaperAirplane, the platform now works with every major studio, exhibitors across North America, and premium format and promotional partners including Imax, Dolby, CJ 4DPlex, DBox, and Coca-Cola.
The Hangar gives exhibitors a streamlined digital interface where they can retrieve studio-approved materials for movie campaigns. That includes assets used across social channels, websites, in-lobby screens, and local promotions. By centralizing access, The Hangar reduces friction between content owners and theaters while improving campaign consistency.
Its adoption has accelerated sharply over the last several years:
- More than 2 million total downloads of marketing assets
- Asset volume has grown more than fivefold since launch
- Annual asset additions increased from 2,454 in 2020 to more than 61,000 in 2025
- Industry partners rose from 11 at launch to more than 105
- The platform now spans 27 global territories
- Usage averages roughly 360 daily users, 1,000 weekly users, and 1,800 monthly users
Those figures suggest The Hangar is no longer simply a convenience tool. It has become part of the routine operating backbone for theatrical promotion.
Why The Hangar matters to studios and exhibitors
The importance of The Hangar lies in both access and visibility. Exhibitors benefit because they can find approved campaign materials quickly, enabling local marketing teams to execute promotions without hunting across email threads or outdated folders. Studios benefit because The Hangar provides clearer insight into what assets are actually being used in the field.
That data loop is especially valuable in today’s marketing environment, where campaign performance depends on fast iteration and local relevance. If a studio can see which creative formats are driving exhibitor engagement, it can refine future campaign packages more intelligently.
Key operational benefits
- Faster access to current, approved promotional assets
- Greater consistency across theatrical marketing campaigns
- Better reporting on asset utilization
- Stronger collaboration between studios and theater partners
- More efficient localized marketing efforts
PaperAirplane leadership says that visibility has helped improve campaign efficiency across the theatrical marketplace. In practical terms, The Hangar supports smarter decision-making by showing what gets downloaded, what gets ignored, and where demand is trending.
What exhibitors are downloading most on The Hangar
The latest data from The Hangar offers a revealing look at where theatrical marketing is heading. Social media videos were the most downloaded asset category this summer, accounting for 27% of all downloads. Social media graphics followed at 23%, while digital lobby posters made up 19%.
Other formats also remained important:
- Web banners: 12%
- Production stills: about 8%
The mix shows that digital-first audience engagement is increasingly central to movie promotion. While in-theater materials still matter, exhibitors are placing major emphasis on content that can drive awareness online and connect with local audiences quickly.
That trend helps explain why The Hangar has gained traction. It supports the fast-moving asset demands of modern theatrical campaigns, where social clips, graphics, and digital display formats are often needed immediately and at scale.
PaperAirplane’s broader platform strategy
The success of The Hangar is part of a larger expansion by PaperAirplane into theatrical marketing technology and campaign operations. Beyond The Hangar, the company has rolled out several related products and services aimed at different parts of the movie release cycle.
Other PaperAirplane tools to know
- The Tower: A group sales management platform that centralizes communication, tracks leads, and offers real-time visibility into group sales activity. It has handled more than 10,000 leads and supported millions in theatrical group sales revenue.
- Flight Plan: A theatrical distribution campaign dashboard that gives marketing and distribution teams a centralized view of release activity and performance metrics.
- The Kiosk: A grassroots audience activation platform that encourages moviegoers to become community advocates and help build word-of-mouth momentum.
PaperAirplane also says it has produced nearly 75,000 studio-approved digital marketing assets for major campaigns and supported exhibitor marketing for more than 250 theatrical releases from independent distributors. Collectively, those films generated nearly half a billion dollars in domestic box office, showing the company’s growing role across both studio and indie spaces.
Its newer National Radio & Media Ambassador Division further expands that footprint by connecting theatrical campaigns with local personalities and media voices across North America.
What The Hangar milestone says about the future of theatrical marketing
The 2 million download mark for The Hangar arrives at a meaningful moment, with the news surfacing during Cinema United’s Fall Summit conference for exhibitors. The timing highlights how deeply the exhibition sector is focused on practical tools that improve campaign execution, audience outreach, and attendance.
The bigger takeaway is that theatrical marketing is becoming more integrated, measurable, and digitally coordinated. Platforms like The Hangar are helping bridge the gap between centralized studio strategy and localized exhibitor action. As campaigns become more data-aware and more asset-heavy, systems that simplify workflows are likely to become even more critical.
For studios, that means more transparency. For exhibitors, it means faster deployment. And for moviegoers, it can ultimately mean sharper, more relevant promotion that cuts through crowded entertainment choices.
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In the end, The Hangar milestone is about more than a download count. It signals that theatrical marketing now depends on connected digital infrastructure, and The Hangar has emerged as one of the clearest examples of that transformation in action.
