TOLDJA! Paramount Pocketing $190M From Disney For Marvel … 
‘Good Morning America’ Hits 19 Year Viewership … 
MGM Buys ‘Modern Family’ Producer Ben … 
‘Fashion Police’ Writers Chant On Picket Lines: … 
Universal Makes Seven-Figure Deal For ‘The School For … 
Steven Soderbergh Will Interrupt Retirement To Direct And … 
Cannes: EOne Announces Itself As Player In U.S. … 
Will LIN TV Stations Go Dark On Time Warner Cable? 
Very Crowded Memorial Weekend Kick-Off: ‘Hangover … 
Shareholders Quiz Time Warner Chief On Political Ties And … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Modern Family’, ‘Law … 
Hammond On Cannes: Paramount’s ‘Nebraska’ … 
Cannes: J.C. Chandor Sets Next Project ‘A Most … 
Hannibal Classics Sets Cast For Nic Cage Pic … 
Hammond On Cannes: Robert Redford’s Brave New Role … 
Hot Trailer: Jennifer Aniston And Jason Sudeikis’ … 
Brad Pitt’s Plan B Banner Promotes Jeremy Kleiner To … 
Hot Trailer: ‘Don Jon’ 
Billy Crystal-Starring Comedy From Matt Nix & Larry … 
RATINGS RAT RACE: ‘Dancing With The Stars’ … 
Hammond On Cannes: A New Day Comes To The Fest As HBO and … Here’s the heavy on action, light on plot Wolverine trailer Fox unveiled to exhibitors at CinemaCon. Hugh Jackman stars in the X-Men stand-alone directed by James Mangold. Pic opens stateside July 26. Check it out:
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Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond, Episode 22
Listen to (and share) episode 22 of our audio podcast Deadline Awards Watch With Pete Hammond. Our awards columnist and host David Bloom talk about the notable films showcased by all the major studios at this week’s CinemaCon; Pete’s take on the just-announced lineup for next month’s Cannes Film Festival; and his take on the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences’ rehiring this week of Craig Zadan and Neil Meron as producers of the 86th Annual Academy Awards.
Deadline Awards Watch, Episode 22 (MP3 format)
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CinemaCon: Who’s Bankable In 2013? Exhibitors Spill
Exhibitors I polled this week at CinemaCon had more faith in franchises than star-driven blockbusters on the 2013 slate. Like Tom Cruise in Oblivion, Will Smith is still a big deal to theater owners. He’s just not a sure thing in a slow-moving sci-fi vehicle like Sony’s After Earth, which now opens May 31.
Johnny Depp scored biggest with a surprise appearance in front of elated NATO members and the promise of another eccentric blockbuster role, but the specters of Universal’s Cowboys & Aliens and Disney’s own John Carter loom over the Western. 
Paramount even trotted out an uncomfortable-looking Brad Pitt to boost World War Z, but exhibitors worry the zombie pic won’t be a must-see for moviegoers.
Jennifer Lawrence and Lionsgate’s Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire, on the other hand, had CinemaCon attendees seeing dollar signs. Meanwhile the problem with Aubrey Plaza winning CinemaCon’s Breakthrough Performer Of The Year award (on the heels of her MTV Movie Awards stunt) is that exhibitors still have no idea who she is. The Parks And Recreation star is better known to younger TV viewers than the corporate-leaning CinemaCon crowd. And many theater owners still see television as the enemy, including Regal CEO Amy Miles, who said as much at a CinemaCon luncheon Thursday.
Related: Theater Owners Forecast Summer 2013 Hits And Bombs
But mid-sized theater owners are realizing they have to cater to their audiences, and those may not always be blockbuster crowds. “My biggest movie of last year was The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel“, a 40-year owner of a Michigan resort-town cinema said. “At my theater, the biggest star is Kevin James”, another operator of a California second-run multiplex told me. One thing that was not bankable at CinemaCon 2013: High-frame-rate technology. The Hobbit stumbled at last year’s confab by pushing its 48 FPS HFR 3D to exhibitors. Despite the first pic’s $1 billion global box office, nobody this year was pinning hopes on HFR specifically in The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug this Christmas — even Peter Jackson, who conspicuously made no mention of it in his taped message to the CinemaCon audience. Read More »
Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman, Episode 31
Listen to (and share) episode 31 of our audio podcast Deadline Big Media With David Lieberman as our executive editor and host David Bloom talk about this week’s CinemaCon gathering where exhibitors and major studios talked about creating more movies that more kinds of audiences might want to watch, and whether the theater business can coexist alongside Premium VOD services. David also discusses what Charlie Ergen may be trying to do with DishTV’s big $25.5 billion bid to buy the mobile phone company Sprint.
Deadline Big Media, Episode 31 (MP3 format)
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CinemaCon: After Digital Conversion, Theaters Investing Big Bucks In Wider Luxury Seating
The premium seating business has boomed in the last few years by as much as 60-70%, vendors tell me. That’s thanks to the new industry emphasis on high end moviegoing and the fact that the costly conversion from 35mm to digital projection is nearly complete across the industry. Per unit prices offered by a half-dozen companies at CinemaCon this year range from $500 to $5,000. Upgrade costs range depending on theater sizing and seating choices but one firm told me their clients’ average spend on seating alone is $200K per theater. Exhibitors of all sizes and regions are taking out standard 18- to 19-inch seats in favor of upgrades as wide as 25 inches or more, even if that means fewer seats in theaters. The polite reason is that “people are getting bigger” and will pay for comfort. (Could candy, food, and supersized soda sales have something to do with that?) Read More »
CinemaCon: Lionsgate Aiming For Major Studio Status With ‘Hunger Games’ Sequel Leading 2013 Slate
After the six major studios wrapped up their turns in front of the CinemaCon convention goers with 20th Century Fox earlier today, it was Lionsgate‘s turn to carry the flag for the indie sector, even though NATO’s John Fithian said last year that in Lionsgate we are seeing the birth of the “seventh major studio”. And although some of the speakers during the company’s relatively brief presentation this afternoon took up that mantle, Lionsgate in its sizzle reel actually touted the fact that they are the only non-major to actually go over $1 billion in a single year — certainly thanks to the dynamic duo of Summit’s Twilight finales and The Hunger Games, which became the third-highest-grossing film of 2012 with more than $400 million domestically. So are they are a major? A mini-major? A true independent? Or just a money-minting film company with a couple of franchises the real majors would kill for (and in the case of Twilight actually passed on — ouch).
But as befits any wannabe major, a spiffier, more corporate logo was in order, and as Deadline reported earlier they debuted it for the theatre owners here in Las Vegas. As distribution head Richie Fay put it during his turn onstage, “Lionsgate is an overnight success that was 12 years in the making”.
As far as the presentation went, Lionsgate certainly took an independent route from the way the majors have behaved all week, offering a musical-chairs lineup of executives taking their turn in front of delegates who crowded into the Colosseum to check out the product. In addition to Fay, we also heard from CEO and co-founder Jon Feltheimer, co-chairman of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Rob Friedman and AMC theatres exec Elizabeth Frank, who pointed out the company released 20 major films in 2012 and led the field 11 separate weeks. She said her company was looking forward to the 17 movies on tap this year and many of them were showcased for the first time over the course of the 80-minute show emceed by comedian Kevin Hart. Read More »
CinemaCon: Concessions Trending Toward Comfort Food, Self Service — And Fewer Employees
Legislators and theater owners may be worried about the health of the moviegoing public, but vendor trends indicate audiences have other priorities. New sugary desserts joining conventional candy and ice cream offerings include milkshakes and s’mores, with many companies moving toward self-service machines. Those machines come at a high price point, however, but cut down on the costs of manpower behind the counter. That’s become a trend too, with exhibition execs attending CinemaCon this week quietly planning to cut hours for part-time employees to less than 30 hours a week in order to avoid paying for their health care under ObamaCare.
Related: Disney, Not Government, Leading Soda Size Restrictions
The self-serve milkshake vendor F’real is attempting to break into the movie theater racket after placing their units in 7500 locations in North America, according to the company. What’s paved the way is Coca-Cola’s Freestyle machine, which allows customers to choose from hundreds of flavored soda combinations in a single unit. Theaters have been slow adopters of Freestyle, execs told me, because it alters the traditional behind-the-counter workflow of concessions counters. But with 14K units and counting springing up across the country and increasingly in major chain theaters, the long-developing technology is catching on. Read More »
CinemaCon: New Logo For Lionsgate
The indie film and TV studio unveiled its new corporate logo today during the presentation of its upcoming film slate to CinemaCon attendees. (The new one is on the … Read More »
CinemaCon: Disney, Not Government, Leading Soda Size Restrictions
NYC Mayor Bloomberg didn’t have the power to make soda regulations fly, but one movie studio did. Two years ago Disney enacted a sweeping health initiative across its brand and it’s still … Read More »
CinemaCon: Hollywood’s Male Focus Shortchanges Women And Box Office Sales, Panelists Agree
“It is a decades-long trend,” actress Geena Davis, who founded the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, said at a luncheon panel on the subject. “We want to believe that things are … Read More »
CinemaCon: Fox Unveils Ben Stiller’s ‘Secret Life Of Walter Mitty’ Which Could Be Oscar Bound
20th
Century Fox (“and it is called 20th Century Fox,” as Distribution President Chris Aronson wryly noted in his welcoming remarks) presented to theater owners at CinemaCon today. The highlight was about 12 minutes of selected scenes from the studio’s holiday release The … Read More »
CinemaCon: Movie Business Has Done A “Horrible Job” Winning Fans, Panel Told
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema’s Tim Reed made the observation this morning at the most refreshingly frank panel about the problems theaters face that I’ve seen so far at the industry event. He says that execs have ”done a horrible job building a fan base for the movie business over the last two decades.” That’s a problem because “we’re in a battle now…We’re brick and mortar. We’ve see a lot of brick and mortar businesses go down. We have to be nimble and find content that will sell to our base” — including young people to “make them movie-going fans.” He and others on the International Cinema Technology Association’s panel agreed that theaters need to become more aggressive about introducing alternative content including live sports and concerts. “This is the year for satellite (distribution) and that whole conversation,” Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures VP for Strategic Planning Paul Holliman says. But movie distributors have to help by relaxing their terms. For example, Warner Bros International Cinemas President Millard Ochs says studios could just require that a film be shown six nights a week instead of seven after it’s been out three weeks. “We have to change. Everything is changing around us.” Still, Reed warns that alternative content can be expensive and execs don’t know yet what material will pay off. “What we have found is that it’s more market driven on a psychographic level,” he says. Read More »
CinemaCon: Will Disney And Marvel Make Interactive Gaming The Next Texting In Movie Theaters?
Sparks flew last year at CinemaCon when Regal CEO Amy Miles and IMAX’s Greg Foster floated the idea of allowing texting in theaters. So how fast will audiences reject in-theater gaming? … Read More »
CinemaCon: Can Star-Driven 2013 Slate Power Sony To Top Their Best Year Ever?
Sony Pictures played it lean and mean with a tightly produced program for exhibitors at CinemaCon on Wednesday evening that put the emphasis squarely where the theatre owners wanted it — on the product. And the studio delivered as promised with an intriguing 51-minute reel showcasing their 2013 movie slate — and in no particular order. Where other studios this week have put the emphasis on summer, Sony presented a year-round picture with a wide diversity of product and more than one potential Oscar contender.
Among the previously unseen footage in the reel were brief snippets from year-end awards contenders The Monuments Men directed by and starring George Clooney and an all-star cast, along with David O. Russell’s newly named American Hustle with virtually the entire cast of last season’s Russell Oscar darling Silver Linings Playbook. Also, Tom Hanks is starring as Captain Phillips (October) from director Paul Greengrass, a true story about a ship hijacked by Somalian pirates. If this weren’t enough to whet Oscar-watcher appetites there was generous footage from 2010 Best Picture Oscar nominee Neil Blomkamp’s (District 9) latest, Elysium, which those who have seen a rough cut tell me could be another contender for the director. Matt Damon and Jodie Foster star. There’s also a Russian production of a World War II epic, Stalingrad, from director Fedor Bonarchuk which the studio is partnering on for fall release that has “prestige product” written all over it. Read More »
CinemaCon: Kathleen Kennedy Receives 2013 Pioneer Of The Year Award
Oscar-nominated producer and LucasFilm co-chair Kathleen Kennedy became only the second woman in history of the Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers Foundation to receive its annual Pioneer Of The Year honor, awarded tonight … Read More »
CinemaCon: Exhibitors See Future In Theater Dining, Bars, And Premium Moviegoing
Blame it on the baby boomers. Exhibitors desperate for ways to innovate and stay competitive are upgrading and remodeling to lure the 55+ crowd to the movies — and, hopefully, keep them there. In-house bars, restaurants, and lounges are on the rise nationwide and globally, vendors say, and that goes for theater chains and select independent operators alike with older and more affluent demos. It’s no longer enough to have stadium seating, IMAX or large format screens, or even inspired concessions options. Theater owners are eyeing conversions to one-stop entertainment complexes where patrons can catch a movie, have a drink, eat a meal, and socialize in one place — and with the industry switch to digital nearly complete, exhibitors are looking to spend on the next hot upgrade. Read More »
CinemaCon: Rival Companies Prepare For Immersive 3D Audio War
The battle over next-generation “immersive audio” is afoot, even if its top two major competitors are playing nice on the surface. For now. NATO’s pushing the theatrical innovation hard this year at CinemaCon, where industry leader Dolby scored crucial placement of its Dolby Atmos system in the main Coliseum theater for all major studio events. Today reps for Dolby and #2 rival Barco spoke in a panel discussion of how they, studios, and theater owners might work together to establish standards that would allow both Dolby Atmos and Barco’s Auro 11.1 immersive audio systems to co-exist. But some on the periphery are expecting a full-blown format war to erupt leaving a single victor dominating the field globally — and so theater owners are treading carefully. Theater upgrades to either premium audio system will involve the costly installation of additional speakers. Nobody wants to invest in a losing format. Especially after spending big cash to convert to digital.
Read More »
CinemaCon: Theater Owners Begin Cutting Employee Work Hours To Avoid Paying For Health Care
The Affordable Care Act — also known as ObamaCare – is designed to help provide health insurance coverage for those who are least able to pay. But exhibition execs attending CinemaCon this week … Read More »
CinemaCon: Directors Debate Whether They Should Try To Make Crowd-Pleasing Films
Oliver Stone stole the show at CinemaCon‘s Filmmakers Forum today, making the most challenging comments on a panel with fellow directors Sam Raimi and Guillermo del Toro. Too many movies are made to please audiences, copy each other, and lack a compelling story, Stone said at a session moderated by film critic Elvis Mitchell. “I don’t see the difference between one action movie and another…It becomes a form of torture for the eyes. CIA torture: I’d make you watch GI Joe 3,000 times. Just kidding.” All of the directors said that they enjoy seeing their movies in theaters with audiences. “It’s almost like a theater actor who calibrates [his] performance,” del Toro said adding that being a director “is very lonely.” Raimi described himself as “definitely an audience filmmaker….We’re working to move that audience.” But Stone said it’s dangerous for filmmakers to “run after them like dogs” because difficult films “won’t get audiences slavering.” For example, he said that in “the good old days” he didn’t allow Warner Bros to have previews for his film JFK telling execs “you’re going to get mixed cards all over the place. We’ll never get out of here alive.” Del Toro agreed that directors must fulfill their own vision, something he has tried to do in his horror films. “You can’t make a cozy horror film.” If someone screen-tested The Exorcist today many would object “because it’s transgressive.” Read More »
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