The Joe Lewis Company Adds Movie Premieres To Roster Of Large Scale Events

The Joe Lewis Company knows a thing or two about putting together a major event.  For example, the event production company designed, built and installed a seven-ton, 84-foot tall sarcophagus at the Hollywood and Highland Gateway for Universal Pictures release of The Mummy this summer. The structure was unveiled at the film’s premiere event, attended by the film’s star, Tom Cruise, director Alex Kurtzman, additional cast members and hundreds of movie fans. The sarcophagus was the largest-ever structure erected at the famous Los Angeles landmark.

Producing large-scale, one-of-a-kind activations and events is The Joe Lewis Company’s stock in trade. The company has provided event production services for high-profile events including the Academy Awards, the Super Bowl, the NBA All-Star Game, the Special Olympics, the Grammy Awards, the Billboard Music Awards, the CMT Music Awards, the BET Awards, AEG and Madison Square Garden. “We’ve been fortunate to participate in a lot of events that are big, memorable and have never been done before,” says company founder Joe Lewis. “We do exciting stuff really well.”  Already the industry leader in the awards show and sports arenas, JLC is expanding into new realms. The company recently hired Adam Atkins to head a new experiential division focused on consumer facing branded events and strategic experiences.  Also joining the company is Mary Pat Kasravi who will lead a team centering on premieres, parties and press events.

JLC is unique among event management companies in its ability to deliver integrated creative, production and management services. It operates out of more than 50,000 square feet of production facilities in Gardena, California. Where other event specialists rely on subcontractors, JLC offers a seamless, all-inclusive solution. Its creative team is led by Creative Director Ed Coco and it has a dedicated staff of designers, draftsmen and producers, as well as a full-service graphics print department, scene shop and full rentals division.

For The Mummy premiere, JLC’s team of designers and fabricators constructed the giant sarcophagus at its Gardena facility in the space of just a few weeks. Three separate independent engineering firms vetted the finished piece for structural integrity. It then took some 18 tractor trailers to haul the components to the Hollywood site and over 300 hours to set it up in place.

Erecting a structure as tall as a three-story building in the middle of a Hollywood on virtually a moment’s notice might seem like a tall order, but it’s business as usual for JLC. “We had a very tight timeline to get it designed, built, approved by the engineers and the city, and erected in place—but we never cut corners,” says company founder Joe Lewis. “For us, the exciting part is that we were able to deliver what we promised. The marketing team at Universal Pictures challenged us, and we exceeded their expectations.”