Film future is bright
CINEMACON GIVES LOOK AT UPCOMING MOVIES
I spent an eventful and informative week at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last week. The trip started with an armed robbery at The Bellagio, followed by a random shooting directly in front of my hotel, with subsequent police shut-down of the strip. I felt like I was living the movies! Fortunately, the rest of the week was relatively normal.
Numerous Hollywood celebrities were present at 10 different studio presentations to promote both current and upcoming films for the coming year. Some of the stars introduced to us included Duane “The Rock” Johnson, Vin Diesel, Goldie Hawn, Amy Schumer, Mark Wahlberg, Hugh Jackman, Ryan Gosling, Charlize Theron, Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Zach Efron, Selma Hayek and many others.
The entire casts of “Fate of the Furious,” “Justice League” and “Baywatch” were on location promoting their anticipated upcoming films. Special screenings of “Fate of the Furious,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell no Tales” and “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” were shown in entirety, along with lots of extended footage of some great looking product!
Acclaimed director Christopher Nolan was on hand to speak with us and share footage from his upcoming “Dunkirk” — it looks stunning! He talked passionately about the theatre experience, and the preservation of that venue for his art. Emphasis on the shared, communal experience is something that has and will always be relevant. He was received with thunderous applause.
Michael Bay (“Transformers”), another director, talked about streaming, and watching films on devices or even larger in-home televisions. He spoke of childhood memories shaping his life and how he still enjoys sharing the communal experience of film with a room full of strangers.
Movies are made to be larger-than-life events and need to stay as such to fully enjoy them.
He told how the industry works very hard to make films that will be their very best on the big screen, in a dark theatre filled with all kinds of people. Again, thunderous applause.
What I enjoyed, once again, was the multitudes of stars, directors, movie studio heads and industry insiders who fell over themselves expressing their gratitude to us as theatre operators, and pledged to continue to make the best movies possible for, what they hope will be, the best theatres possible.
We came away re-charged and excited for the present and the future — and remain committed to being the best theatre we can be to you — here in southern Alberta. See you at the movies! Please feel free to contact me with your comments or feedback — even an idea for an article — len@moviemill.com. Hope to see you at the movies!