Sure, celebrities are here, but they’re not the VIPs

LAS VEGAS —  There were movie stars, of course. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie strolled across the stage one day to present clips from “Mr. and Mrs. Smith.” There were filmmakers, naturally. Fox Filmed Entertainment recruited George Lucas -- who received an instantaneous standing ovation -- to introduce footage from “Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith.” There were promises of a digital, 3-D and fat-free future at the multiplex.

But most of all there was old-fashioned eye-to-eye, elbow-to elbow contact as studio and theater executives gathered to do business this past week.

Even in this era of e-mail, text messaging and video conferencing, they still like to see each other across a table, over drinks or blackjack. Goodwill and business relationships are solidified in a way that electronic communication can’t match.

“The value of ShoWest as a trade show is that it brings different parts of the industry together. It’s become a place to meet,” said Steve Gilula, president of distribution at Fox Searchlight. “Our customers are dispersed all over the country. It’s a very effective and efficient way to see a lot of people in a short period of time.”

“It’s quite beneficial,” agreed Mike Thomson, an executive at Malco Theatres, a Memphis, Tenn.-based circuit that has about 300 screens in 30 locations.

“The studios have slowed down,” Thomson said, from the more grandiose days of the past. Still there was a requisite amount of glitz. Passengers arriving at Las Vegas’ McCarran International Airport were greeted with illuminated signs for DreamWorks’ “Madagascar” above many of the baggage terminals, and banners for the film were on lampposts throughout the cobbled streets in the retail-restaurant area of the Paris Las Vegas hotel. Even the electronic key cards for guests’ rooms promoted the film.

Meanwhile, Paramount built a small cottage to promote its upcoming films “Elizabethtown” and “War of the Worlds.” Groups of eight were ushered in to see footage with prerecorded bits from the directors of those films, Cameron Crowe and Steven Spielberg, respectively. Outside the cottage, the studio set up a green-screen area where attendees could don football jerseys and see themselves inserted into scenes from “The Longest Yard.”

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. screened “Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous,” MGM showed “Beauty Shop,” Lions Gate showed “Crash” and “House of D” and Sony Pictures Classics showed Stephen Chow’s “Kung Fu Hustle.” The studios for those movies had executives here in force for private meetings with exhibitors, as did Disney, Universal and New Line.

Even without a nonstop star parade, Thomson said that anything the studios do at a convention is “almost a gimme, because we are going to play their product anyway.”

As for the trade show, he said, “I don’t believe on the exhibition side that it has scaled back, I think it’s gotten larger. There were a lot of theaters that went bankrupt, shed their non-stadium [seating] properties, and most of them have come back stronger than they ever were.”

Figures released by the Sunshine Group that puts on ShoWest and similar shows around the world appeared to back him up. Co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser said the number of booths at the trade show was up to 498, 41 more than last year, and the number of suites used for larger product demonstrations was up from seven to 12.

From popcorn machines to projectors (film and digital), as well as carpet and wall coverings and the equipment to clean them, anything required to build and maintain a theater, Thomson said, can be found at the ShoWest trade show.

“We are in the theater equipment supply business as well,” Thomson said. The Malco subsidiary’s customers include much larger chains such as Regal Entertainment and AMC Theatres. Thomson’s company supplied the high-end Klipsch loudspeakers that were installed in the American Cinematheque’s renovated Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, and he said negotiations were underway to upgrade the Egyptian in Hollywood with a Klipsch speaker system as well.

Official paid registration for this year’s ShoWest numbered about 2,800 delegates from 50 countries, Neuhauser said, but studio execs, trade show support and other people swelled attendance to more than 6,000. Show East draws about 1,300 registrants to the company’s Atlantic City, N.J., event in the fall, Cinema Expo in Amsterdam brings in about 1,250, and CineAsia, which later this year will be held in Beijing for the first time, has been smaller, but Neuhauser expects that to change.

“From an international point of view,” said Mann Theatres Chief Executive Peter Dobson, “ShoWest is the truly international show. More so than Amsterdam, Thailand, Beijing for Asia and Australia, in reality it is the place to go to see distributors and vendors. You can see anybody you want to in one place.”

Dobson, who before he joined the 128-screen Mann chain was senior vice president of film relations for Warner Bros. in London, said that at ShoWest he could “see all my film buyers from various parts of the world. As we were building theaters we could also see vendors as well.”

“It’s exactly the same for the U.S., for vendors and exhibitors. It’s a good excuse to get together. For anybody outside of L.A. it’s a one-stop shop.”

“I still like meeting people face to face,” said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Screening of product reels and works in progress leads to crucial awareness, and this is one of the best ways to show your product and generate buzz.”

“The exhibitors, they really are our partners,” Bruer said, tough negotiations on film payments notwithstanding. “They’re concerned about content, they want films that appeal to the widest denominator for an audience that they have going into their theaters. They’re interested in the marketing because certain types work better in some parts of the country than others, so we get a better sense of their particular needs.”

“From my position,” said Bruce Snyder, president of distribution for 20th Century Fox, “I regularly get to talk to the head film buyers, but I don’t always get to talk to the West Coast or East Coast national or regional film buyersWhen I sit at ShoWest, I get to talk to these guys, for them to get comfortable talking to me. We schedule meetings with pretty much every circuit. We bring everybody in from different territories.

“Even though [the number of chains has] shrunk, there are still so many little guys and so many film buyers that my guys don’t see regularly, particularly the New York buyers, they get a chance to see each other.”

It helps to see people from other parts of the country, Snyder said.

“They see things differently. We get to talk about where they’re building, about trailers, standees, one-sheets [posters].... They can express appreciation or displeasure,” Snyder said.

“Those little conversations go a long way.”