Category Archives: Trade Shows

CineEurope Makes The Move To Barcelona In 2012

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | October 14, 2011 11:34 pm

Having changed its name from Cinema Expo to CineEurope this year upon teaming up with the International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), now another change is in store for Europe’s largest motion picture exhibitor trade show; its location.

After being held at the Rai in Amsterdam for the past 15 years, the conference is being packed up and moved to Barcelona for the 2012 event. This was a move that had been rumored as far back as 2009, when UNIC decided to hold their own trade show in Brussels a week before Cinema Expo. Rather than compete head-to-head with a larger trade show, UNIC decided to fold the European Cinema Summit into Cinema Expo in 2011 and rebrand it as CineEurope. A change-of-venue could help in reposition the show in attendees’ minds.

In a press release statement announcing the move, Robert Sunshine, the Managing Director of CineEurope (not to mention ShowEast and CineAsia), said:

“The move to Barcelona represents CineEurope’s dedication to better serving the European cinema exhibition and distribution communities. CineEurope management and UNIC consulted with constituents and the overwhelming feedback received was that a move to Spain would be a beneficial change”.

Underscoring the new venture as a combined effort, Ad Westrate, the President of UNIC, also provided a press release quote

‘’I am sure I speak for all UNIC colleagues in welcoming CineEurope’s move to Barcelona and our continuing partnership with Bob Sunshine and his team. Our members will now have even more reasons to support the convention in its new host city.”

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Trade Shows
Tagged as Amsterdam, Barcelona, CineEurope, Cinema Expo, Robert Sunshine, UNIC

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CinemaCon 2011: Digital Funding Partnership Pacts With XDC For D-Cinema Deployment In UK

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | April 2, 2011 10:17 am

At the outset of CinemaCon this past Monday Steve Perrin gave an interesting presentation titled “Harnessing The Power of the VPF”. As the Chief Executive of Digital Funding Partnership (DFP) Perrin is in a position to know a thing or two about virtual print fees. He’ll have some help in this department now that DFP has entered into an agreement with XDC for the deployment of digital cinema in theatres throughout the United Kingdom.

The Cinema Exhibitors’ Association created DFP in 2009 to help small and mid-sized theatre owners in the UK secure funding for digital cinema conversions. The group is a legal entity consisting of approximately 400 screens at 130 mainstream and specialized cinemas operated by more than 100 theatre owners.

Perrin spent more than a year studying the country’s booking patterns, box office receipts and endless market data in an attempt to determine whether VPF deals would work for independent cinemas in the UK. In doing so he confirmed that VPFs work best for large theatre circuits which play mostly mainstream content. Smaller cinemas showing less mainstream content at varying turn rates are not as attractive to local or international distributors, making it difficult, if not impossible, for theatre owners to gain access to VPF deals.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Countries, Digital Cinema, Trade Shows
Tagged as Cinema Exhibitors' Association, CinemaCon, Digital Cinema, Digital Funding Partnership, Steve Perrin, United Kingdom, XDC

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CinemaCon 2011: Fithian Urges NATO Members To Begin Digital Transition

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 30, 2011 8:06 pm

John Fithian At CinemaCon 2011

John Fithian, President of the National Association of Theatre Owners, gave his annual State of the Industry address yesterday at the trade group’s inaugural CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas. His speech covered all the necessary points while reiterating some of the comments about the digital cinema transition which Fithian has made to smaller groups over the past several months.

He began with a handful of statistics that highlighted some economic figures, including a global box office which climbed 30% over the past five years to reach USD $31.8 billion in 2010. North American box office receipts rose 15% to USD $10.6 billion in that same period, while inflation only rose 8%. In what was perhaps a jab at the studios rumored plans to begin offering new films via premium video-on-demand, Fithian compared these numbers to home video sales, which have declined 13% during the past five years.

Fithian also provided an update on North America’s digital cinema roll out, telling the audience of over 2,000 delegates that almost 16,000 screens, out of a total of 39,000 had been converted to digital. Nearly 9,000 of those screens are equipped for 3D projection. After running through more industry numbers than most could ever remember, Fithian paused as he came to the most important point in his speech:

“For any exhibitor who can hear my voice who hasn’t begun your digital transition, I urge you to get moving. The distribution and exhibition industries achieved history when we agreed to technical standards and a virtual print fee model to enable this transition. But the VPFs won’t last forever. Domestically, you must be installed by the end of 2012 if you want to qualify. Equally significantly, based on our assessment of the roll-out schedule and our conversations with our distribution partners, I believe that film prints could be unavailable as early as the end of 2013. Simply put, if you don’t make the decision to get on the digital train soon, you will be making the decision to get out of the business.”

Fithian went on to remark that admissions had climbed in each of the last four decades and that 3D grosses in 2010 made up 21% of total receipts, doubling the amount such films earned in 2009. However, his earlier comments about the ongoing digital cinema transition is what most of the show’s attendees focused on after Fithian’s speech concluded. Was it true that all cinema owners had to convert their screens to digital before 2012 to qualify for a VPF? Are studios really going to stop distributing 35mm film prints after 2013?

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted in Trade Shows
Tagged as Box Office, CinemaCon, Digital Cinema, John Fithian, NATO, Virtual Print Fees

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CinemaCon 2011: Chris Dodd Makes Debut As MPAA Chairman

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | March 30, 2011 11:47 am

Chris Dodd At CinemaCon 2011

Nine days into his new position as Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, Senator Christopher Dodd showed up at CinemaCon yesterday to address more than 2,000 delegates from the exhibition and distribution industries in what he called “the first performance of this new chapter in my life”. As expected, Dodd’s speech focused on piracy and the increased expansion of Hollywood films in the global marketplace.

Before getting into the meat of his speech, Dodd tried to defuse the tension developing between exhibitors and distributors over the studio’s premium video-on-demand offerings. “Our films are still made to be shown on big screens in dark theatres filled with people,” said Dodd, speaking directly to exhibitors. “As the new CEO and Chairman of the MPAA, I passionately believe there remains no better way to see a movie than in theatre, and no more important relationship for our studios to maintain than the the one we have with you.”

Dodd went on to discuss a subject matter that continuously came during his initial conversations with studio heads; piracy. Calling it the single biggest threat the industry faces, Dodd avoided using the label for what he believes too many people see as a victimless crime. Instead he replaced the word piracy with the phrase “movie theft”.

The politician in Dodd came out as he stood before the crowd proclaiming, “It is critical that we aggressively educate people to understand that movie theft is not just a Hollywood problem. It is an American problem.” He went on to talk about the 2.5 million, mostly middle class, people who work in the film industry earning USD $140 billion in annual wages, all of whom are hurt by movie piracy.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Trade Shows
Tagged as China, Chris Dodd, CinemaCon, MPAA

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Cinema India Expo Sets Dates For 2011

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | January 7, 2011 11:40 pm

After taking over Cinema India Expo last year, Diversified Business Communications will be putting their own mark on the annual event in 2011 when it takes place June 24th and 25th in Mumbai.

A convention along the lines of Show East or Cinema Expo, Cinema India was first held in 2000 as a trade show for theatre owners and motion picture distributors. Held in conjunction with the music industry’s PALM Expo, Cinema India grew into India’s largest conference for exhibitors despite a program faulted for being “hit-or-miss”. That reputation changed for the better last year when Createasphere, a Diversified company, picked up the show.

This year Createasphere is continuing to modify the convention keeping all the changes from 2010′s show which received such positive feedback. Fist off, Cinema India 2011 won’t be held alongside PALM. Instead, the event has been moved back to late June and will take place at the upscale Renaissance Convent Centre. Secondly, the two day program is being crammed with keynotes and educational programs that go beyond exhibition and distribution, to include visual effects and cinematography. Organizers are currently lining-up world renown cinematographers and filmmakers for the event.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Posted in Trade Shows
Tagged as Anil Chopra, Cinema India Expo, Createasphere, Diversified Business Communications, India, Kristin Petrovich-Kennedy

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: David Hancock of Screen Digest

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 20, 2010 2:41 pm

The final entry in our series of posts presenting the comments of industry participants on last month’s Cinema Expo provides us with some valuable information.

David Hancock’s name will sound familiar to anyone having worked in motion picture exhibition or digital cinema over the past decade. He is the head of film and cinema at Screen Digest where he works as a senior analyst publishing numerous research reports on the industry.

Hancock moderated a panel discussion at Cinema Expo which reviewed the progress of digital cinema rollouts in Europe. Here are his impressions on last month’s conference:

David Hancock of Screen Digest

This was a very good Cine Expo. Thanks in great part to the efforts of Phil Clapp, the Chief Executive of UK Cinema Exhibitor Association, and Ad Weststrate, President of UNIC, who brought a strong European flavour to the seminar programming, there was much to be learned in both these formal events, as well as the more informal surroundings of the bars.

For me, there were two things that stood out at this year’s Cine Expo. The first was alternative content, which is now clearly on the map and was on most people’s lips. From almost a pariah subject a few years back, there is now strong interest from exhibitors in tracking down new content. The call for content is matched by the need for a central information point where exhibitors can view what is out there. Some exhibitors and content providers have been working in this area for many years, and it is good to finally see the rest of the market catch up with them. Their skills and experience will be in demand in the next few years. There were two panels on this, one on Monday and one on Thursday.

The second is that digital cinema is finally a mainstream movement. Left and right, people were taking deals, with integrators, projector companies, banks etc. In fact, there appears to be a projector shortage now and people are on waiting lists. It is rather strange, having spent so long talking about the future is coming, to talk about this in the present tense. It is even weirder that we are talking about projector shortages when in the past, the opposite was the case.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows
Tagged as Ad Westrate, Cinema Exhibitors' Association, Cinema Expo, David Hancock, Peter Buckingham, Peter Dawson Pick, Phil Clapp, Screen Digest, UK Film Council, UNIC

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: Frank de Neeve of Cineserver

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 14, 2010 6:29 pm

Frank de Neeve of Cineserver

Here is another entry in our series presenting the comments of industry participants on last month’s Cinema Expo.

Frank de Neeve is not only an experienced projectionist working in The Netherlands, but he also runs the digital cinema news website Cineserver.nl. For those whose Dutch might be a little rusty, the site can be translated by clicking on the U.K. flag in the upper right hand side of the navigation bar.

Without further ado, here is de Neeve’s thorough accounting of Cinema Expo:

Naturally this year’s Cinema Expo was the first one that was a joint production between UNIC – the European exhibitors Association and the Sunshines. I think the cooperation can work well; UNIC might not be able to manage on their own as NATO will do next year. Last year there were two conflicting shows: Cinema Expo and the week before that the European Cinema Summit in Brussels.

The European Cinema Summit was by far the worst show I have ever been to: it was badly organized, panels were boring and went on for too long, there were too many people that liked to hear themselves talk etc. No refreshments, hardly any companies on the trade show (Doremi even left after the first afternoon!). However, the topics they wanted to cover in discussions were good.

For years – although people flocked to Cinema Expo – Europeans have also been critical of the show:

It was too American, with only blockbusters, Coca Cola sponsored seminars, etc.

The trade show only being open a few hours a day as otherwise people might miss ‘important’ Hollywood films

There was not enough room for discussion that reflected the cultural diversity of Europe, with traditional discussion points like piracy and windows always popping up.

You could this year already see a shift in the panels:

Many were presented by Phil Clapp of the UK exhibitors association

There were even two instances where headphones were handed out, as one of the panelists was speaking in French. I think this has only happened once before.

Popularity: 6% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows
Tagged as Arqiva, Cinema Expo, Cineserver, David Hancock, Doremi, EDCF, Frank de Neeve, Panavision, Peter Buckingham, SmartJog, USL

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 10, 2010 12:53 pm

We continue our series of posts featuring the comments of leading industry members about last month’s Cinema Expo with a robust entry from C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com.

Theatre owners thinking about converting to digital cinema (or even those who already have) should swing by Flynn’s website for detailed information about long-term operation and maintenance of d-cinema equipment.

In the meantime, here’s what Flynn had to say about Cinema Expo:

C.J. Flynn of DCinemaTools.com

As usual, the most interesting parts for me at this year’s Cinema Expo were the the sporadic 15 minutes of hanging out with people of similar ilk, trying to stretch nuance and rumors thin enough to see a bit of truth through them. Reviewing them in my head, they seem to mostly to have centered on big-company finance and politics.

From a helicopter view, projectors and servers continue their momentum into being commodity items. This leaves some breathing room for other portions of the infrastructure. Audio systems have made inroads into the “Enhanced Experience” cinemas, which is a good sign, and hopefully one that will continue.

Unfortunately, it isn’t a “Build It and They Will Come” issue for the new Audio Processor offerings of QSC, Datasat and DMS Cinema. But it is good to see that they are incorporating fresh ideas like the Trinnov (DMS), Dirac (Datasat) and the systemic approach of QSC (plus Meyer, though their system is post AP.) I guess the common theme is getting feedback from the speakers to the processor… good feedback, that is, bringing quality assurance to those who care.

Dolby, to their credit, was casually elegant about the whole matter; they presented their 12.1 system with a work-in-process/got-any-ideas-for-us motif, letting the 7.1 take on the luster of a future standard-in-the-making that only costs $300 if you upgrade now (and politely reminding about the $700 amplifier that might need to be added to the system).

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows
Tagged as C.J. Flynn, Cinema Expo, DCinemaTools.com, Dolby, Doremi, Panavision, Real D

2 Comments

Cinema Expo Thoughts: Manel Carreras of Ymagis and Michael Karagosian of MKPE

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 6, 2010 10:21 am

Last week I mentioned that we would be running a series of posts featuring comments about last month’s Cinema Expo conference from leading members of the industry.

Today we’ll continue with Manel Carreras, Sales and Business Development Director at Ymagis, as well as Michael Karagosian of MKPE Consulting. Full disclosure: I used to work with Manel Carreras at DTS Digital Cinema and I presently work with Michael Karagosian on certain consulting projects.

First up is Mr. Carreras:

Manel Carreras of Ymagis

Although the trade show part of Cinema Expo International was much “smaller” with short hours, even shorter “effective” hours and wider corridors and more empty spaces than ever before, the high quality of attendees meant no time wasting, and this was good. We were busy during trade show hours and before and after these.

CEI is always a good opportunity to catch up with colleagues and check the pulse of the industry across Europe. This year the lack of important press releases during the show, was perhaps a reflection of the problems exhibitors experience with financing their systems and poor projector deliveries: one manufacturer didn’t even have a unit at the show!

Technology wise I am not sure there was that much to excite anyone. I was disappointed, as expected, with the new 3D system. I guess its still a prototype. This show was full of promises and declarations of intentions, now we have to see these delivered.

I did not manage to attend any seminars and only half a projection, but I heard very good feedback from some of the exhibitors about the movies coming up.

Finally digitization is really happening (in Europe), going well beyond the first 3D installs and starting to incorporate d-cinema as a 35mm replacement.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows
Tagged as Cinema Expo, Manel Carreras, Michael Karagosian, MKPE Consulting, Ymagis

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Cinema Expo Thoughts: Howard Kiedaisch of Arts Alliance Media

Posted by J. Sperling Reich | July 2, 2010 2:29 pm

Not being able to attend Cinema Expo last week was very disappointing since it is one of my favorite conferences each year. The annual trade show held in Amsterdam is always a great opportunity to catch up with exhibitors and distributors from all over the world, especially Europe.

Rather than try to cover Cinema Expo from a desk in Los Angeles, I turned to some of the leading players working in the space today, all of whom were in attendance at the show in Amsterdam. Over the next week I’ll be posting their thoughts for everyone to read in comment on.

Today, we’ll start with Howard Kiedaisch of Arts Alliance Media:

Howard Kiedasch of Arts Alliance Media

For AAM, this year’s CinemaExpo marked a significant change in our business.

The tide started to change at Showest and was flowing in our direction at Cannes but it was Cinema Expo where we really felt the current, heavily pushing digital cinema. The added benefit of a robust cinema market (in no small part due to digital), helps drive the digital cinema conversion even faster.

It has become clear that every exhibitor of any size (50+ screens) will have found a solution to full digital rollout before the end of the year. Though in the past there were concerns about the technology, the business model or the financing, the latest (and really only remaining) issue on everyone’s lips at Cinema Expo was the availability of machines. With the dramatic increase in demand, manufacturers are unable to deliver all the supply the market wants.

Fortunately, we ordered over 1,000 machines three months ago and have ample product for our customers’ needs. The number of deals in the pipeline also took a huge leap forward at Cinema Expo causing us to order nearly 2,000 projectors for 2011 before the end of the show. After 5 years of hard labor, it’s tremendously exciting to see an industry hit an inflection point and to be part of the transition. Clearly there are some exciting times ahead.

Popularity: 9% [?]

Posted in Events, Trade Shows
Tagged as Arts Alliance Media, Cinema Expo, Howard Kiedaisch

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