CinemaCon 2021

CinemaCon 2017 demonstrated, once and for all, that this is truly the dawn of the digital cinema era. The installation of digital projection systems in virtually every movie theatre in the world was the beginning of something, not the conclusion, because it opened the door to a wide range of possibilities. The tradeshow floors in Caesar’s Palace demonstrated this fact more than ever before. For the third consecutive year, a host of new companies crowded the exhibit halls. On display were products and services designed not simply to improve the operation of a movie theatre, but, in some cases, to expand the concept of what a movie theatre is. And, for the third year in a row, Digital Cinema Report is presenting the Catalyst Award to those products that we consider to be the best new technology on display at CinemaCon 2017.

CinemaCon 2017 featured a dizzying array of technology possibilities that, depending on who you talked to, were exciting, intimidating or overwhelming. The trade show, held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas, is the National Association of Theatre Owners’ annual gathering of exhibitors from around the world. More than one attendee labeled the show Digital Cinema 2.0. The digital cinema transition was not the end of anything; it was very much the beginning of something even bigger. That was because this year’s CinemaCon made it perfectly clear that the days of the basic 2K-projector, server and vanilla theatre management software package are numbered. To remain competitive, perhaps even simply to stay in business, exhibitors must learn to fully embrace new technology.