SkipStone Pictures celebrates ‘Max Winslow’
BECCA MARTIN-BROWN
bmartin@nwadg.com
The Free Weekly/CHARLIE KAIJO
VIP guests gather for the screening of “Max Winslow and the House of Secrets.”
“Max Winslow and the House of Secrets” was filmed in Bentonville and around Northwest Arkansas and will be released this summer by SkipStone Pictures, the same studio that produced “F.R.E.D.I.” But the big news at a red carpet premiere July 20 at Skylight Cinema in Bentonville was that producer Johnny Remo plans to make Northwest Arkansas a hub for the production company and will film two or three movies a year in the area.
The Free Weekly/CHARLIE KAIJO
Andy and Melissa Sheridan of Nashville, Tenn., take a selfie at a red carpet premiere of “Max Winslow and the House of Secrets.”
Remo says he was inspired to relocate his company by “the great rebate program implemented by Gov. Asa Hutchinson; how receptive the community has been; [and] how supportive the local sponsors have been.”
According to Remo, the next Northwest Arkansas project will be “a high school musical called ‘Allie Mitchell Must Win’” shooting in October.
Described by the director as a little bit “Willy Wonka” and a little bit “Breakfast Club,” “Max Winslow” follows a group of five teenagers as they spend the night at a “smart” mansion in an attempt to win the home. The house is owned by eccentric tech genius Atticus Virtue (Chad Michael Murray) and forces the teens to face its inner workings and themselves before the night is through.
The Free Weekly/CHARLIE KAIJO
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson gives an interview at the red carpet premiere of “Max Winslow.”
“SkipStone Pictures stands for good, clean, wholesome family entertainment — a movie that you can go to with the whole family and everybody enjoy the movie,” Remo said in an earlier interview.
The Free Weekly/CHARLIE KAIJO
VIP guests wait for the screening of “Max Winslow and the House of Secrets” July 20 at Skylight Cinema in Bentonville.
Among those attending the red carpet premiere was Emery Kelly, who plays the troubled Aiden in the film. Fans know him from the Emmy-nominated Netflix series “Alexa & Katie,” or from season three of the Fox singing competition “The X-Factor” and subsequent years with pop group Forever in Your Mind, and he performed the song he wrote for “Max Winslow” at the event.
Also on hand were director Sean Olson, local and state politicians and Walton Family Foundation representatives.
