The Big Picture

The first CinemaCon convenes later this month at Caesar's Palace across the street from Bally's where ShoWest was held for so many years. The exhibition industry is clearly at a crossroads unlike anything quite like it in its entire history. It seems fitting then that North America’s biggest exhibition trade event is starting fresh. I asked John Fithian, president of the National Association of Theatre Owners for a preview of the show.

This is an interesting moment in the ongoing digital cinema era. The transition to digital technology continues at a steady, even rapid pace around most of the world. But the number of overall movie tickets sold remains essentially flat and patrons are showing an increasing reluctance to pay extra dollars for a movie just because it’s in 3D. Leading exhibition companies are addressing this situation – and adding new revenue streams – with a growing variety of content. And they’re building audiences using the growing power of social media. That suggests to me a new name for the increasingly popular programming that is now available at your local theatre: social content.

Geography informs perspective. Many aspects of making or exhibiting a movie are the same the world over but experience tells us that in every region around the world the details can be something else entirely. One of the virtues of the Internet and websites like Digital Cinema Report and IndieFilm3D is that, even though we’re based in New York, we have the ability to gather news from all over the world. But there is simply no substitute for actually being on the scene in the key places that are the heart of the movie business. With that in mind, I’m pleased to announce the addition of three new correspondents to our editorial staff. Starting today, Digital Cinema Report and IndieFilm3D will be represented by three talented journalists based in Hollywood, London and Singapore.

The Consumer Electronics Show has come and gone and this year, as in recent years one of the biggest buzzes at the show belonged to 3D televisions. The major studios want it, the consumer electronics manufacturers want it; the only people who don’t seem to really want it – at least in their homes – are their customers. This is good news for filmmakers and even better news for exhibitors. Movie going audiences have embraced 3D movies and still show a willingness to pay a premium to do so. This should continue as long as Hollywood doesn’t flood the market with 3D films that are poorly made or not suited to 3D in the first place, which is no certain bet. But 3D television in homes – in any meaningful numbers – are at best a decade away. Here are the top ten reasons why.

Jon Landau has produced the two highest grossing movies of all-time, Avatar and Titanic. Earlier this month he was the guest speaker at TheMuseum in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada where an exhibit about the Titanic is currently on display. I was invited to interview Landau by Christie Digital Systems, a major sponsor of the museum and the Titanic exhibit. In person Landau is friendly and approachable, intelligent and curious and passionate about his family, the movie industry and his work. He has many anecdotes he shares when asked what it is, exactly, that a producer does. Ultimately, he seems to attribute it to an unpredictable combination of hard work and luck. “Every film is a new venture,” he says. He calls the process of bringing a successful movie to the screen “this magical balancing act.”