..Gary Dretzka
..Noah Forrest
..Leonard Klady
..R.J. Matson
..David Poland
..Douglas Pratt
..Ray Pride
..Michael Wilmington

LAS VEGAS -- I guess the big news emanating from ShoWest 2007 was that anyone bothered to show up last week, at all.

Ignoring reports in the New York Times and trades of the abandonment of the annual NATO convention by the major studios, conventioneers resisted the temptation to cancel their reservations at the Paris Hotel & Casino. Instead, they made do by re-connecting with old pals and business partners, preview upcoming movies and nosh on free candy and popcorn.

It hardly came as news to the delegates that the studios had become fair-weather friends, at best. They knew only too well that Hollywood only comes a’courtin’ these days when it needs a favor or a movie requires special handling. Otherwise, studios can be counted on to embrace every new technology and delivery system that promises to save them a few bucks by bypassing traditional distribution routes.

Indeed, most of the same concerns voiced by attendees five years ago remained on the agenda last week, and the issue of declining star power wasn‘t among them. Instead, they included ever-shrinking theater-to-DVD windows; the growing threat of digital downloading and day-and-date releases of movies to hi-def pay-per-view channels and PCs; distribution policies that carve markets so thin exhibitors often are forced to share audiences with multiplexes just down the street; marketing campaigns that disappear almost immediately after a film opens; the cost of converting to digital cinema and keeping systems up to date; and a dearth of family movies that actually appeal to entire families, instead of tots and tweens. But, again, this hardly qualifies as news.

On the digital front, if nowhere else, there was plenty of reason for optimism. And, truth be told, most of the delegates arrived in Las Vegas looking a fun-filled break from business as usual.

Even though star sightings were down this year, the luminaries who did show up never will be confused with chopped liver. The biggest "Kodak moment" arrived Wednesday night, when the entire cast of Hairspray -- John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Queen Latifah, Allison Janney, Amanda Bynes and newcomer Nicole Blonsky -- either performed in song-and-dance numbers from the movie or took a curtain call. Many of the exhibitors in attendance had been burned by the movie adaptation of the Broadway-musical adaptation of Mel Brooks’ The Producers, but the ecstatic response to the Hairspray showcase indicated the exhibitors had forgiven that Hollywood transgression. (And, Travolta looked delightfully grotesque as Edna Turnblad.)

Jennifer Lopez and Marc Antony made the trek to the desert to introduce El Cantante, their brassy biopic of Puerto Rican salsa star Hector Lavoe. Lopez also participated in a panel discussion on independent films, alongside David Duchovy and Judy Greer (The TV Set), and mini-moguls Bob Berney and Bob Yari. Monday night, a.k.a. Indie night, Andrew and Elizabeth Shue sat in the audience, alongside blond ingénue Carly Schroeder, to watch Gracie, a girl-power soccer drama inspired by actual events in the Shues’ childhoods.

At Wednesday’s luncheon banquet, Lionsgate rolled out the red carpet for the stars of movies in its upcoming movie slate, which is heavy on action, horror and niche-comedy titles. The roster included a relatively subdued Dane Cook; tough guys "Stone Cold" Steve Austin and Jason Statham; Tobin Bell, villain-in-chief of the wildly successful Saw franchise; and Larry the Cable Guy, who performed a hilarious set of redneck humor.

NATO’s Male Star of Tomorrow Shia LaBeouf was a ubiquitous presence, showing up to introduce Paramount’s Disturbia, a Rear Window for the PG-13 crowd; a preview of DreamWorks’ hyper-active robot-warrior tent-pole wanna-be, Transformers; and 20 minutes from Sony’s animated penguins-on-boards comedy, Surf’s Up. If LaBeouf remains scarred by the seemingly horrific experience of making Project Greenlight’s The Battle of Shaker Heights, he didn’t show it.

Hot Fuzz, the hit Brit comedy from the makers of Shaun of the Dead, probably registered highest on the laughs-per-minute meter. Edgar Wright, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s smart action-comedy turns several familiar genres on their heads, including American and British cop films, slasher flicks, wicked clergy, crime-in-the-countryside whodunits, American westerns and buddy films. Even without committing to an expensive marketing campaign, word-of-mouth could turn Hot Fuzz into exactly the kind of leggy comedy that will sell tickets and popcorn long after the tent-poles have pulled up their stakes and started their journey to DVD afterlife.

The ShoWest tradition of showcasing indie hopefuls on the eve of the convention’s opening day continued with Picturehouse‘s Gracie, THINKFilms The TV Set, Focus’ Talk to Me, Lionsgate’s Away From Her, Sony Pictures Classics’ The Valet and Renart/Gigantic’s Goodbye Baby. "Indie night" is where exhibitors got their first glimpses of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and An Inconvenient Truth, and the five-hour movie marathon is well-attended.

The media wasn’t invited to attend the afternoon screening of MGM’s Mr. Brooks. This is rarely an advisable marketing strategy, especially at gathering in which buzz is traded as currency. Bruce Evans’ second feature stars Kevin Costner as a model dad who moonlights as a serial killer.

The screenings all drew large and appreciative crowds. NATO members may have enjoyed be accorded a longer look at some of the big summer titles, as they were last year, when Disney screened Cars. Nonetheless, the audiences seemed pleased with what they saw.

Seminars focused on everything from security and marketing issues, to updates on digital cinema and "dealing with trans-fat." Likewise, the Newspaper Association of America exhausted a lot of money, time and effort trying to convince exhibitors that reports of the demise of the print media are greatly exaggerated. The Internet-based campaign that helped launch 300 into the stratosphere suggested otherwise.

On the ShoWest exhibition floor, where concessionaires and equipment manufacturers held court, delegates were encouraged to sample everything from candy, popcorn and hot dogs, to cleaning fluids and food containers upon which dental-floss appliances are attached. With the exception of the movies promoted on various candy and popcorn boxes, very little had changed from last year’s trade show.

One thing that became abundantly clear over the course of the convention was widespread confidence the industry finally has to turned the corner on digital cinema. Such seminars as "3-D and Alternative Content: Not Just for Movies Anymore," "REAL D Presents: Hollywood and Beyond" and "Digital Cinema Update" drew full audiences, and the biggest banquets and parties again were sponsored by equipment manufacturers. It was a very good sign, indeed, that attendees didn’t simultaneously cross themselves whenever the word "digital," as was the case three or four years ago (figuratively speaking, anyway).

Analyst and publisher of DCinema Today Bill Mead informed attendees that, as of last week, 4,265 new-generation 2K systems have been shipped by Barco, Christie and NEC to customers around the world. Of that number, 2,157 systems actually have been installed and are being used in theaters and other venues. This was in stark contrast to 2005, when only 250 systems were on-line and American exhibitors lagged behind the Asian/Pacific and European markets. Sony Electronics 4K SXRD and Panasonics systems are about to make their presences felt, as well.

The growth spurt was attributed to the general acceptance of industry-wide Digital Cinema Initiatives specifications and a business plan that eased financial pressure on strapped business owners.

Mead also pointed out that the acceptance of digital cinema by audiences no longer is driven by widely spaced "tent pole" pictures, such as the Star Wars, Harry Potter and Shrek franchises. As if to punctuate that point, DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg announced that all of the studio’s pictures will be released in a 3-D format, starting in 2009.

Theater owners were especially pleased to learn that customers now seem willing to show up for special programming in what typically are off-hours for theater owners. Better yet, they aren’t balking at paying a couple of bucks more to see 3-D and large-format versions of new and previously released pictures.

It also came as news to many delegates that a newly launched real-time in-concert series, "Metropolitan Opera: Live in HD," had already reached a global audience of an estimated 30,000 people, with a total audience capacity of over 90 percent. The series, which will also include "Eugene Onegin," "The Barber of Seville" and "Il Trittico," set customers back about $20 a ticket, which by the standards set by the world‘s great opera houses, is a real bargain.

A decade’s worth of promises about the potential of digital cinema -- and delivery systems the included fiber-optics, satellites, discs and wireless -- were evolving from pipedreams to reality right before their eyes. Maybe not at warp speed, but faster than the usual snail‘s pace.

So, even if ShoWest was under-populated in the superstar department, there was no scarcity of news, and much of it was good. It just didn’t conform to the media notion that nothing about the movie industry is to be taken seriously, unless it’s negotiated at the Grill or Spago, carries a price tag of at least $100 million or walks down a red carpet in a designer gown.

March 19, 2007

- Gary Dretzka

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