Social issue films have their day at ShoWest

By Sarah Sluis

ShoWest coordinated a first-of-its-kind panel discussion Thursday morning on "The Emergence of Social Issue Films" before the screening of the Sundance Audience Award winner The Cove. Ricky Strauss, president of Participant Media, producer of this acclaimed documentary and other socially engaged films like Syriana, An Inconvenient Truth and Good Night and Good Luck, called theatre owners "unsung heroes" in Participant's mission to "inspire and compel social change through great storytelling."

Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions, distributor of The Cove along with Lionsgate, noted that "people are getting more used to seeing documentaries" and that "when the subject matter hits people, [a documentary] can work very broadly."

Without a doubt, The Cove has the potential to play very broadly indeed. It's the powerful story of the efforts of former dolphin trainer Richard O'Barry (the man who trained TV's beloved Flipper) to expose the wholesale slaughter of dolphins in the fishing town of Taiji, Japan. The film's director Louis Psihoyos, a National Geographic cinematographer and founder of the Ocean Preservation Society, joins a team of divers and technology experts in their dangerous mission to record this horrific practice, which has been covered up by the Japanese government.

Speaking of his experience, Psihoyos told the ShoWest audience, "It was like I walked into a Stephen King novel." His movie has the suspense of a high-tech thriller, while being an endearing love letter to our aquatic neighbors and an expose of the savage, pointless murders happening in Japan's notorious cove. And let's not even talk about the film's revelations about the potential for mercury poisoning in our food. The Cove will surely be one of the most acclaimed and watched documentaries of the year and, more importantly, a real agent for change in the Participant spirit.

Live 3D sports events win raves from Rave, Carmike and Empire

By Sarah Sluis

"I'm convinced this is the future. The business model has changed. The possibilities are endless."

Those are the words of Fred Van Noy, chief operating officer and senior VP of operations at Carmike Cinemas, speaking at Cinedigm's Live 3D presentation at ShoWest Thursday morning. Van Noy and two other exhibitors recounted their success with Cinedigm's recent live 3D offerings of the BCS Championship Game and the NBA All-Star Saturday Night, the first such national sports broadcasts in cinemas.

Tom Stephenson, president and CEO of Rave Motion Pictures, reported that the BCS event sold out in nine Rave locations and overall accounted for seven of the top ten grossing cinema attractions that night. What's more, concessions (which at Rave included beer, wine and nachos) posted an increase of $5.23 per patron.

Dean Leland, VP of studio and media relations at Canada's Empire Theatres, said his circuit charged $20 plus tax for the NBA spectacular at his Toronto location, and company research showed that many patrons drove in from other cities and said they would return for a similar experience.

Cinedigm COO Michele Martell reported some impressive stats for each event: The BCS game, she said, did 2000% more business than the number-one movie that day, while the NBA event earned 45% more than nine of the top ten movies that Saturday night.

The audience at ShoWest got a look at footage from both events, and the NBA highlights were particularly impressive, with multiple 3D angles on the action produced exclusively for theatres.

Van Noy noted that, with the help of Disney and ESPN, Carmike first experimented with a live 3D broadcast of a Morgantown, West Virginia home football game in 2005, and patrons willingly paid $10 to $12 for something they could see free at home on TV. The tailgate parties in the parking lot and the cheering crowds were Van Noy's first inkling that "we've got something here."

On opening weekend of Monsters vs. Aliens, Carmike purposely played the 3D animated feature on 110 2D screens in addition to its 439 3D screens for comparison purposes. The difference in business was striking, as high as 17 to 1 in one Carmike multiplex, Van Noy reported.

Rave's Stephenson encouraged his fellow exhibitors to come aboard the 3D train. That's where the business growth is, he asserted, as audiences get accustomed to a whole new brand of cinema experience.

Digital financing gets spirited debate at ShoWest

By Sarah Sluis

FJI Executive Editor Kevin Lally continues his report from the annual ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas.

All the pieces seemed to be in place to make 2009 the year the transition to digital projection finally happened in earnest. The big studios were counting on it, preparing an ambitious slate of 3D productions that could only be shown with the new digital equipment. Then, in the fall of 2008, the financial markets plummeted, and a credit freeze dramatically impacted those grand conversion plans.

Some exhibitors with healthy balance sheets have been exploring the avenue of self-financing digital installations for the coming 3D wave, rather than being beholden to a bigger third-party integrator. The decision to self-finance was the topic of a surprisingly lively and substantive panel discussion on Wednesday at ShoWest in Las Vegas, with a sometimes outspoken group of participants representing a diverse range of viewpoints.

Moderated by G. Kendrick Macdowell, VP, general counsel and director of government affairs at NATO, the panel featured two studio execs who have pledged support in the form of virtual print fees to individual exhibitors. Mark Christiansen, executive VP of operations at Paramount Pictures, deemed his studio's plan "incredibly easy�something you can do now." But Fox exec VP of digital exhibition Julian Levin, who is also reaching out to individual cinema owners, bluntly criticized the streamlined Paramount offer document as having "a lot of holes," contrasting the Fox approach as that of "a grown-up business."

Even more contentious was exhibitor George Solomon, CEO of Southern Theatres. Dismissing the role of third-party integrators like Cinedigm and Digital Cinema Implementation Partners, he declared, "I believe that mid-size circuits should be able to negotiate virtual print fees directly or have their own consortiums� I don't believe in giving a cut to an integrator."

The plain-speaking Solomon, whom Macdowell at one point compared to a crafty Southern lawyer, proved not much of a champion of the digital revolution. "35mm is still better," he contended. "What's the difference between a hard drive and 35mm film? Forty pounds!" Arguing that the benefits of digital accrue mainly to the studios, he challenged, "If distribution wants 2K, give us the money!"

Fox's Levin quickly countered that a digital platform has great benefits for exhibition, including the growing business of alternative content and the higher per-screen revenues from 3D. He warned, "I don't know if Fox will be there forever to help with financing� You may not get these VPFs if you're waiting for certainty."

Everyone on the panel seemed to agree on one fundamental: that the commitment of two distributors to VPF deals is not enough to warrant individual exhibitor investments in digital equipment, that "a critical mass of studios," in Levin's words, is needed.

Also on the panel was Bill Campbell, the new managing director of NATO's Cinema Buying Group for smaller exhibitors, who took the most conciliatory role, seeking "multiple options" and a way to "make it all fit."

On a positive note, the panel's rep from the banking industry, Andrew Sriubas, managing director of JP Morgan Investment Banking, forecast a significant unfreezing of credit by this summer. If that proves true, perhaps the 3D product coming in the second half of 2009 will get the wide rollout that was always part of the plan.

3D all the rage at ShoWest

By Sarah Sluis

FJI Executive Editor Kevin Lally reports on movie highlights at the annual ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas.

The $59.3 million opening weekend for DreamWorks Animation's Monsters vs. Aliens was a timely prelude to the 3D programming that dominated the second day of ShoWest, the convention for the movie theatre business now taking place in Las Vegas. As if engaging in a game of one-upmanship with DreamWorks Animation head Jeffrey Katzenberg and his fervent campaign to get cinemas on the 3D bandwagon, Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Group President Mark Zoradi hosted a nearly two-hour program highlighting Disney's ambitious slate of 17 3D films coming up in the next three years.

Zoradi revealed that the reconfigured 3D Toy Story and Toy Story 2 will debut as a double feature in a two-week limited engagement in October, whetting the public's appetite for Pixar's all-new 3D Toy Story 3 on June 18, 2010.

Meanwhile, Cars 2 in 3D will be preceded by a series of 3D shorts dubbed "Cars Toons." ShoWest delegates got an exclusive look at one such short, "Tokyo Mater," a fantasy in which the countrified tow truck voiced by Larry the Cable Guy finds himself competing in a manic Tokyo drift race. It's fun to see the familiar Cars characters in a sleek, glittery Tokyo setting�an opportunity for director John Lasseter (and Pixar head honcho) to show his well-documented love for Japanese animation.

The Vegas audience also got to preview the opening sequence of Disney's 1991 classic Beauty and the Beast repurposed for 3D. It was a refreshing reminder of the charms of hand-drawn animation, here surprisingly smoothly adapted to the 3D medium, and the particular delights of the only animated feature ever nominated for Best Picture. I can't wait to see the whole movie in this new guise.

Disney is also reviving a property that laid some of the groundwork for today's computer animation�the experimental 1982 cult feature Tron, which placed live actors in a surreal game-racing environment. Zoradi showed a test sequence for the 21st-century Tron which showed lots of exciting potential, complete with the welcome return of the original movie's star, Jeff Bridges.

Zoradi also made note (without screening actual footage) of two upcoming 3D projects from major directors: Robert Zemeckis' motion-capture A Christmas Carol, with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge and all three of his ghostly intruders, and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which will combine live-action, motion-capture and CGI. Alice will also open on IMAX 3D screens.

The second half of the Disney program was a screening of the first 47 minutes of Pixar's first 3D feature, Up, which was recently chosen as the first animated and first 3D film to open the Cannes Film Festival. Director Pete Docter, of Monsters, Inc. fame, was on hand to enthusiastically introduce his handiwork. ShoWest forbids advance reviews of its screenings, but I think I can safely say this project is as original as we've come to expect from Pixar, and absolutely wonderful. In fact, I dare say the first ten minutes, which show the life story of the old man at the center of the tale, is as artful and poignant as any live-action sequence you'll see this year.

Docter noted that the Pixar folks consider all their films to be in 3D, but "we've just never showed them to you in stereo."

The Disney program went so long, lunch at the show was unusually late. But first, before we could eat, hosts Sony Pictures and RealD somewhat cruelly showed us two sequences from Sony's 3D adaptation of the popular children's book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, in which a young scientist's experiment results in food raining down from the sky. The 3D effects looked great�particularly the meatballs plopping in the foreground�and kids should, please pardon the pun, eat it up.

Overgrown kids of all ages, particularly unrepentant frat-boy types, will love The Hangover, which director Todd Phillips of Old School and Road Trip fame previewed during the part of the morning session conducted by Warner Bros. Entertainment president and COO Alan Horn. Judging by its wild and funny trailer, this comedy about a bachelor party run amok is destined to be one of the surefire hits of the summer. Horn also brought on the energetic McG to show an extended trailer for his Terminator Salvation, which looks like an action bull's-eye, and the ever-wry Robert Downey, Jr. to tout the cheeky, big-budget, action-oriented approach to his next starring vehicle, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes.

From the glimpses gained on ShoWest Day Two, it looks like the momentum of the movies in 2009 will be continuing for months to come.

ShoWest Day Four: Universal Thrills and Warner's Big Picture

By Kevin Lally

By Kevin Lally

Two major studios, Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., chose the final day of ShoWest to get the exhibition community excited about their upcoming product. First up was Universal, with a mostly trailer-driven showcase of their summer lineup.

Perhaps taking a cue from their massive success last summer with The Bourne Ultimatum, the emphasis is on action, often paired with sci-fi/fantasy elements. If audiences don't become exhausted by all the fast cuts, huge-scale FX and frenetic stuntwork, it should be a big summer for Universal.

Adam Fogelson, the studio's president of worldwide marketing and distribution, unveiled the new trailer for The Incredible Hulk, a property that has been reconceived with a new star and a new tone more in line with the heroic exploits of the hit 1970s TV series. With Edward Norton in the lead, expect an intriguing take on poor Bruce Banner's anger-management issues--no disrespect to Eric Bana, who acquitted himself quite well in the moderately performing 2003 Ang Lee version. The movie looks like it delivers what the Marvel audience craves, and the trailer ends with a big throwdown between the Hulk and Tim Roth's aptly named Abomination.

Universal's Hellboy was also a modest success, but Fogelson says the studio loved the world created by director Guillermo del Toro, and the movie's subsequent success on DVD boosted its prospects for a sequel. "Del Toro combines a profound connection with unusual characters and a practical use of special effects," Fogelson declared, and I couldn't agree more. The trailer for Hellboy II, also covered in our day one post, got an enthusiastic response in Vegas.

The Mummy franchise hasn't been a critical favorite, but audiences love it, and the third in the series moves to China and arrives just seven days before the Beijing Olympics. The trailer for The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor doesn't stint on visual effects, so the fate of one of Universal's biggest franchises. this time directed by Rob Cohen of Fast and the Furious fame, seems secure.

For Universal's fourth action movie of the summer, Wanted, Fogelson premiered a bravura chase sequence. It begins quietly enough in a supermarket, but within moments all hell breaks loose around unsuspecting target James McAvoy and his super-efficient and ultra-leggy protector, Angelina Jolie. The action then segues to a reckless, death-defying pursuit of Jolie's sports car by assassin Thomas Kretschmann, who is driving a most amusing cat-food delivery truck with the brand name "Nibbles."

"It's Angelina Jolie exactly as moviegoers want to see her," Fogelson declared, adding about McAvoy's character: "I want to be him, and there's no chance."

On the non-action front, Fogelson also showed the racy red-band (R-rated) trailer for the Jason Segel comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall; the trailer for Mamma Mia! and a scene from the Tina Fey-Amy Poehler comedy Baby Mama, all to good response.

Warner's Big Picture

Warner Bros. courted ShoWest delegates with a 90-minute program kicked off by distribution president Dan Fellman and international distribution president Veronika Kwan-Rubinek, followed by Warner Bros. Entertainment president and COO Alan Horn--all in a great mood after a record-breaking 2007 international gross of $3.66 billion. And cinema owners were happy to hear Horn proclaim, "Warner Bros. is committed to exhibition in theatres--period."

Touching on the recent folding of New Line Cinema into Warner Bros., Horn said the studio was still "figuring out" the new alignment, seeming to confess that the development was as much news to him as it was to New Line. But, he assured, New Line will remain a freestanding company, though scaled down dramatically.

Then Horn brought out the stars and star filmmakers. Veteran producer Joel Silver told how the Wachowski Brothers came to him with an idea for reviving his Speed Racer project, wanting to make something bright and G-rated after their dark, R-rated Matrix trilogy. "I, too, am an R-rated guy," Silver noted. Using composite opticals, they also wanted to make a movie where everything is in focus. The revved-up visuals in the extended trailer Silver showed are indeed blindingly colorful and ultra-clear, and so stylized that John Lasseter deserves to have a cameo.

Stars Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox and Christina Ricci then took to the stage, looking awestruck and declaring they were "blown away" by what they had just seen. "I can't believe I'm in this movie!" Ricci exulted.

Next up was Get Smart director Peter Segal, who said his movie "stands in the shadows" of the classic TV series created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry, and his main goal in making it was "not to completely suck." Stars Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway joined him, with Carell dubbing Get Smart "a popcorn, Goober, soft pretzel and drink movie," and telling the crowd, "This was the most fun I've ever had doing anything."

Segel then rolled a clip, and guess what? It didn't suck! In fact, it was a hilarious sequence onboard an airplane (and outside it) that bodes very well for this long-gestating project's summer success.

Horn next paid tribute to director Christopher Nolan and his role in reviving the Batman franchise and returning to "the essence of the character as drawn and loved." Nolan confessed to taking some heat for becoming a blockbuster director after his indie past, but admitted he's now "a bit addicted" to "epic, operatic storytelling."

Star Maggie Gyllenhaal happily told the crowd, "This is one you should see in a movie theatre," but the Dark Knight himself, Christian Bale, disappointingly stood to the side of the lit podium and had only a few words for the audience.

Nolan then introduced the opening sequence of the film, a gripping and nasty bank robbery, and said he was "extraordinarily proud to show the introduction" of the late Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker.

The darkness of The Dark Knight was followed by the lightness of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, with onstage appearances by first-time director Sanaa Hamri and stars America Ferrera (Ugly Betty herself!) and Alexis Bledel. The extended clips looked every bit as charming as the wholesome original.

In a final coup, Horn brought out George Lucas (accompanied by a complement of storm troopers) to introduce an extended trailer from his animated feature Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Lucas said his motivation for the project was that "you never got to see the whole spectacular epic battle" that happened between episodes of his live-action series, and that the TV animated version felt like it deserved a home on the big screen.

The clips looked exciting, but Lucas eschews photorealism here for a more stylized, anime-influenced look. Though the Star Wars films (especially the newer ones) have always been part animation anyway, will the absence of actual human performers elicit the same kind of reaction from fans? Lucas thinks Clone Wars "will hold up with the live-action features," but only time will tell.

OK, friends, it's been a pleasure reporting from ShoWest, but I'm late for the final-night awards banquet, which I'll report on sometime after my return to New York tomorrow. Unfortunately, packing takes precedence over blogging when you have a 7:30 a.m. flight.

ShoWest Day Three: 21 and Up

By Kevin Lally

I'm just back from Sony Pictures' party for their new film 21 at Vegas' revamped Planet Hollywood, which had no shortage of comfort food, liquor, and scantily clad dancing girls and aerial acrobats. So you'll indulge me if this post is brief and possibly incoherent.

21, based on the true story of a group of brilliant MIT students who scammed the Vegas blackjack tables by counting cards, was filmed on location all over Vegas and the very same Planet Hollywood, so it was an absolute natural for a ShoWest premiere. The film has exceedingly stylish direction by Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde), an engaging lead performance by Jim Sturgess of Across the Universe, and looks to be yet another hit out of this year's ShoWest. The screening at the Bally's Jubilee Theatre was also a great showcase for Sony Electronics' super-sharp 4K digital projection technology.

3D technology also starred at ShoWest today, first with a surprisingly charming excerpt from Summit Entertainment and nWave Entertainment's August animated release Fly Me to the Moon, about three flies who stow away on the first Apollo mission to the Moon. The images, presented in Dolby Digital 3D, were gratifyingly detailed, and the film itself is equally suitable for both educational venues and traditional cinemas. Capitalizing on every conceivable profit window, director Ben Stassen's project is already a four-and-a-half-minute ride film and a 13-minute theme park attraction--plus there's a shorter version for IMAX institutional theatres.

In an industry first, ShoWest also screened the very first live-action digital 3D feature, Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, which originated as a New Line project and will be going out this summer under the Warner Bros. banner. We can't review the film just yet, but we will tell you it has enough rollercoaster-like rides and scary monsters (here presented via Real D) to ensure a healthy box-office postscript for the one of the movie business' most fabled independents, New Line Cinema.

ShoWest Day Three: Let's Do Lunch

By Kevin Lally

ShoWest tried something unusual at one of its luncheon affairs this year--after everyone wolfed down their fish, exhibitors were treated to a panel discussion with four of the leading executives from the major studios, commandingly navigated by Hollywood Reporter editor Elizabeth Guider through a sea of industry issues.

Mark Zoradi, president of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, gauged the next 24 months as the tipping point for digital cinema, predicting 4,000 to 5,000 digital 3D installations by the end of 2010. But, because of the complications of finalizing business plans in vastly different countries, he cautioned that the international market is about one to two years behind North America in establishing digital-cinema beachheads. With studios already investing heavily in digital 3D product, "not having the same opportunities internationally is a challenge," according to Paramount Pictures vice chairman Rob Moore.

Unlike the television industry, the film industry won't be seeing much negative impact from the writers' strike, the studio execs agreed. "You couldn't find a date now in the summer of 2009," said Sony Pictures Entertainment vice chairman Jeff Blake. "Everyone's loaded, golden and ready to go."

One issue of great concern to exhibitors is the even distribution of movie product throughout the calendar year. "We love to spread them out," said Blake, adding that "success begets success." The strong April 2007 opening of Disturbia, for instance, proved that a film could work very well in what was once regarded as a fallow period, and the mid-January Martin Luther King holiday weekend has now become desirable, especially after this year's robust performance by Cloverfield and 27 Dresses. Observed Moore, "When a movie works on a certain date, it's easier to get people to stop seeing it as a dumping ground."

Reflecting on the power of the Internet, Universal Pictures president of worldwide marketing and distribution Adam Fogelson questioned whether it's possible to deliberately create a viral phenomenon. He cited J.J. Abrams' Cloverfield as an example of a movie whose Internet buzz was no great mystery, being the product of a creative mind with a huge online following from his work on TV's "Lost" and "Alias."

Sony's Jeff Blake contended that one of the most unsung promotional tools is in-theatre marketing. "It's valuable real estate for us," he said. "Only a fraction of people go to the movies regularly, and it's an opportunity for them to see your longest message."

Addressing the downside of movie mania, Universal's Fogelson questioned the way the success or failure of a movie is measured today. "It's the world's largest spectator sport," he observed. "Movies are labeled a success or failure instantaneously, regardless of what they cost." Paramount's Moore, meantime, lamented the rise of pundits who project in advance how a movie should perform, setting a sometimes arbitrary definition of success or failure.

In all, it was a lively and thoughtful discussion, and ShoWest attendees, many from smaller circuits, seemed to appreciate this privileged glimpse at the challenges faced by the people who supply the movies that strive to keep their customers coming back for more.

ShoWest Day Three: Looking at Alternatives

By Kevin Lally

A sizeable chunk of the day three agenda at ShoWest was devoted to programming alternatives, from live sports and concerts, to videogames on the big screen, to yet more groundbreaking 3D.

The morning began with four exhibition executives discusing their experiences with alternative content: moderator Tom Stephenson, president and CEO of Dallas-based Rave Motion Pictures; ShoWester of the Year Ellis Jacob, president and CEO of Canada's Cineplex Entertainment; Tim Richards, CEO of the U.K.'s Vue Entertainment; and Galen Kerasotes, VP of alternative programming at Chicago's Kerasotes Theatres.

Jacob noted that he's been doing alternative programming for nine years, before Rave and Vue even existed, beginning with wrestling matches and branching out to hockey and performances by the National Ballet of Canada and New York's Metropolitan Opera. He opined that new programming options could grow dramatically if the studios got involved, and that the financial incentive for them is there.

Vue's Richards has programmed concert events with Brit music stars Genesis, Queen, Pink Floyd and Take That, and U.K. comic Ross Noble (with "interactive heckling"), opera performances from the famed La Scala, and the British Grand Prix. In his view, video gaming at the cinema has "massive untapped potential."

Rave's Stephenson is a great believer in 3D--he feels that true growth and transformation of the cinema experience lies in "content that's an alternative to putting the 2D image on the screen." He also marveled at the impact of the recent Hannah Montana 3D concert film, noting that 29 of 33 consecutive shows sold out, and even eight a.m. shows at his theatres were 75% full. And, he boasted, Rave's 48-inch row spacing allowed Hannah's teenage fans plenty of room to get up and dance.

The program also included a look at rap star Missy Elliott's new 3D music-video "Ching-A-Ling," directed by Dave Meyers, a wildly colorful piece in which Elliott and her dancers gleefully reach out to the audience. As always, Elliott is on the music-video cutting edge, and the only place to see her latest in its proper form is on the big screen. I'd watch a full program of 3D music-videos. How about you?

Be sure to check out Katey Rich's exclusive FJI interviews with Tom Stephenson, Tim Richards and Galen Kerasotes on this site and in our current issue.

ShoWest Day Two: Independent Spirit

By Kevin Lally

For several years now, ShoWest has programmed a very successful Monday night evening of independent film, at which attendees could choose two movies from a menu of as many as seven new films from the specialty film companies. This year, the Las Vegas show has for the first time coordinated a special lunchtime event to acknowledge the growing clout of this sector of the moviegoing universe, which was especially well-represented in last month's Oscar race.

Ted Mundorff, CEO of leading art-house circuit Landmark Theatres, very ably moderated the program, which honored three Oscar winners and two acclaimed writer-directors. The biggest coup of the day was the appearance of screen icon Robert Redford, who accepted the inaugural ShoWest Visionary Award for his championing of new filmmakers and independent cinema via his Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival and their many offshoots.

Redford seemed genuinely humble as he asked, "Are you sure you've got the right guy?"--noting that he's sometimes confused with that fellow who makes the salad dressing. "What was once specialized is becoming the norm," he declared, "and we're all the better for it." Redford insisted that he's not anti-Hollywood, that he's happily worked in mainstream films along with more specialized projects, and the only reason he created Sundance in the mountains of Utah was because it was land he could afford. Still, he surmised that there's something to be said for a creative process situated in "a pure nature environment free from the sturm und drang of the marketplace."

In closing, Redford urged the industry "to continue to invest in new voices, and stories well told, told in new ways" and to "always move past what is acceptable and known."

The convention also presented its first ShoWest/NATO Freedom of Expression Award to director Ang Lee and his writing-producing partner James Schamus (also a co-founder of Focus Features) for sending out their film Lust, Caution with the NC-17 rating, an option NATO has been encouraging. NATO president John Fithian contends that the majority of cinema owners do not shun the rating, and declared in his introduction, "Serious filmmakers need to take the NC-17 rating seriously," while praising Lee and Schamus as "men of courage, imagination and genius."

Schamus mischievously took his opportunity at the podium to recount his experience dealing with the ratings board on the subversive Todd Solondz film Happiness, insisting that each of the board members at the time resembled Margaret Thatcher. Asked why they were giving Happiness an NC-17, their response was succinct: "It's obvious."

Honoree David Mamet, whose film Redbelt (with a charismatic lead performance by rising star Chiwetel Ejiofor) screened in the Monday indie showcase, also spoke in praise of freedom of expression: "It's fortunate that our forefathers insisted on a country where it's nobody's business who expresses what."

ShoWest also honored debuting directors Helen Hunt and Alan Ball (Oscar winner for American Beauty), whose films Then She Found Me and Towelhead also screened Monday night.

Late Night Star Power

I'm writing this last item at 2:30 a.m., all because ShoWest co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser talked me into going to the midnight screening of Fox's comedy What Happens in Vegas, hinting there would be a very special guest. Turns out it was star Cameron Diaz, looking great and very happy to be in Vegas, despite a 7 a.m. call on the movie she's currently shooting. The film is unfinished and therefore not reviewable, but suffice it to say Fox chairman Tom Rothman told the crowd it's the studio's best-testing comedy since There's Something About Mary, and the Vegas audience's response was strong.

Diaz's surprise appearance came just a few hours after another surprise at the 9:30 screening of Kung Fu Panda: Jeffrey Katzenberg introducing his Shrek good-luck charm Mike Myers, who appeared with Jessica Alba to unveil some scenes from his zany new comedy The Love Guru. Where else but at ShoWest can you see Mike Myers kiss Jeffrey Katzenberg on the lips?

As for Kung Fu Panda, also shown in incomplete form, don't be surprised if it and What Happens in Vegas wind up on next year's honor roll of $100 million films.

ShoWest Day One

By Kevin Lally

Welcome Film Journal International's executive editor Kevin Lally to the Screener blog, where he'll be filing daily dispatches from the ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas.

The 34th annual ShoWest Convention launched on Monday, March 10, at the Bally's and Paris Hotels in Las Vegas with its annual International Day�a tradition that's become increasingly relevant since it began a few years ago. As Veronika Kwan Rubinek, the elegant president of distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures International, pointed out, 75% of the top 20 films of 2007 made more money overseas than they did in North America. ShoWest's International Day, which started in a spirit of global inclusiveness, is now an essential part of the schedule�and good reason to come to Vegas a day before the "official" Tuesday opening.

Every year International Day includes a seminar focusing on a different part of the world, and this year's choice, Australia, produced a livelier-than-usual session moderated by witty industry vet Ian Sutherland. There was lots of good-natured joking around between Sony executive Stephen Basil-Jones and 2008 honoree Ross Entwistle, managing director of AHL Entertainment, the parent company of exhibition giant The Greater Union Organisation�each hinting at the tensions that still exist between distribution and exhibition.

Basil-Jones gave a succinct summary of the challenges facing the Australian movie industry, including rampant piracy, a glut of films, escalating release costs, and a shockingly low retention rate (i.e., how long films stay in theatres). Basil-Jones says the land Down Under ranks #57 in retention, just above Kuwait. (The Philippines is #1.)

Australia also has one of the lowest market shares in the world for homegrown films, a mere 4%. Sutherland speculated that Oz audiences may have an ingrained lack of interest in their own films that needs to be conquered. A couple of the panel members expressed hope that the upcoming Nicole Kidman/Hugh Jackman period epic Australia could be a "paradigm-shifting" movie for their beloved continent.

The panel also took a couple of shots at their behemoth rival, the USA. Sutherland noted that a film that works in the U.S. is expected to work in Australia�but so are the films that don't work in the U.S. But he cautioned that you can't always predict what Aussies will like: The comedy Death at a Funeral, which took in a poor $7.8 million in the States, earned a whopping $17 million in Australia.

One final note on this panel: If you happen to run into Stephen Basil-Jones, ask for a copy of his cheeky map "The World According to the United States," which basically sums up Australia in one word: "kangaroos."

"The Industry Speaks Out"

Now's the time to put in a plug for our sister publication The Hollywood Reporter's new publisher Eric Mika, who smoothly moderated a seminar called "The Industry Speaks Out," featuring an impressive lineup of industry heavy-hitters: Andrew Cripps, president of Paramount Pictures International; Mark Zucker, president of Sony Pictures International; Paul Hanneman, co-president of 20th Century Fox International; Anthony Marcoly, president of Walt Disney Motion Pictures International; Warner Bros.' Veronika Kwan-Rubinek; David Kosse, president of Universal Pictures International; Tim Richards, CEO of leading Brit circuit Vue; and Paul Heth, general director of Russia's Rising Star Media.

Andrew Cripps

The discussion covered issues ranging from a potential recession (which some felt works to the advantage of the movie business versus more expensive forms of entertainment) to piracy, digital cinema and 3D. All agreed that Europe still has great potential for growth, in places like Italy, the Baltic countries, the U.K. and Russia. Cripps warned against dividing the world into two parts, domestic and overseas: "All markets have different nuances," he cautioned.

And thanks largely to the Internet, international moviegoers are better informed and more sophisticated than ever before. "You just can't assume they'll only go for action movies," Cripps cautioned.

Trailers, Trailers, Trailers

Despite Cripps' caveat, there was plenty of action in the barrage of trailers screened by Cripps, Zucker and Universal Pictures International's Duncan Clark at the annual International Distribution Marketing Presentations. The emphasis here is on loud and fast, but you can still get early gleanings of the year's potential blockbusters.

Poster image from Hancock

Sony's Zucker, perhaps a little carried away, called Daniel Craig "the best Bond ever," but there's no denying that the new 007 looked fit, agile and stunt-worthy in the behind-the-scenes footage from the curiously titled Quantum of Solace. Will Smith no doubt has yet another Fourth of July blockbuster with his action comedy Hancock, about a most reluctant superhero; the visual effects are both wry and wild. I've never been much of an Adam Sandler fan, but his new film for Sony, You Don't Mess With the Zohan, about an Israeli Mossad agent turned New York hairdresser, actually looks funny. And Pineapple Express, Sony's summer entry from the Judd Apatow comedy factory, will set out to prove whether the stoner comedy lives in 2008. (With Seth Rogen and James Franco starring, at least we know that "Freaks and Geeks" lives on.)

For me, the most intriguing Universal offerings are from two visionary international directors: Guillermo del Toro, following his Pan's Labyrinth Oscar triumph, gets another shot at his underrated Hellboy action-fantasy world, and it looks great; and Russia's Timur Bekmambetov appears to have brought Matrix-like high style to his Angelina Jolie/James McAvoy assassins actioner, Wanted. I'm also eager to see George Clooney and Renee Zellweger in romantic screwball comedy mode in Leatherheads, which Clooney also directed. And God help me, Mamma Mia! looks like fun too.

Paramount's early summer triumvirate of Iron Man, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and Kung Fu Panda is surefire, and if Mike Myers' Love Guru seems like an Eastern cousin of Austin Powers (complete with gags at the expense of diminutive Verne Troyer), he still scored laughs from the ShoWest crowd.

Paramount's Cripps offered an impressive rundown of the elaborate marketing plans for these films, including a contest for an adventure trip to Morocco tied in with Indiana Jones, which is going out on more than 12,000 prints worldwide and dubbed in 16 languages.

Warner Bros. will be touting its 2008 lineup on Thursday, so Veronika Kwan-Rubinek used her International Day time to promote the studio's active role in foreign productions, in countries like France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and Mexico, with filmmakers like Pedro Almodvar, Guillermo del Toro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It's paid off. These homegrown productions have earned some $700 million since 2004. WB co-production The Orphanage is the highest-grossing native film in Spain ever, and Warner's ventures have produced huge hits in all the above countries. And now, the studio is embarking on its first major local production in India, Chandhini Chowk to China. Their slogan is "Filmmaking Without Borders"�a harbinger of where the international movie world may be heading.

ShoWest Honoring Lee, Schamus for Lust, Caution Bravery

By Katey Rich

The awards handed out at ShoWest are usually the same from year to year: Female Star of the Year, Female Star of Tomorrow, Director of the Year, etc. But every now and then an accomplishment comes up that warrants its own award, and hey, who better than ShoWest to hand out an award that no one else might? That's how Ang Lee and James Schamus will be honored at ShoWest this year, with the ShoWest/NATO Freedom of Expression Award.

You may remember how Lee's latest film, Lust, Caution, was slapped with an NC-17 rating, limiting the film's possible release locations and audience. But it turns out, that's exactly what National Association of Theatre Owners president John Fithian wanted to happen. As he said in a press release issued today, "One year ago at ShoWest, I called upon cinematic artists to take the NC-17 rating seriously. Ang Lee and James Schamus answered that call with Lust, Caution, demonstrating uncompromising integrity in their filmmaking."

Given how much meddling is done with the ratings before a movie comes out, adding an extra f-word here to get an R rating or cutting short a sex scene to get a PG-13, it's truly remarkable to find a filmmaker willing to stick with what the MPAA will give, even if that significantly damages the film's chance of getting a large audience. Does this mean a future in which NC-17 movies are considered respectable enough for the local multiplex? Maybe not. But as Fithian also points out, the rating guarantees that it is an adult movie for adults; so were Before The Devil Knows You're Dead and There Will Be Blood. The rating reflects the subject matter-- for Lust, Caution, a sexual relationship-- more than the film's quality.

It was a shame to see that Lee, after being rewarded so widely for Brokeback Mountain two years ago, was largely shut out of the awards race this year. But hey, that's ShoWest: always going with the unexpected.

Male Star of Tomorrow: Emile Hirsch

By Katey Rich

Hirsch and James McAvoy in this year's Vanity Fair Hollywood issue.

Congratulations to Emile Hirsch, who will be named Male Star of Tomorrow at our very own ShoWest Convention next month. Of all the names we hear bandied about the office in connection with the ShoWest awards, it's hard to think of someone who embodies the concept of their award better than Hirsch.

We all know his name and face for his breakout role in Into the Wild, which came thisclose to getting him an Oscar nomination at the ripe old age of 22. But come this May, the Oscar hype will pale in comparison to what's coming with Speed Racer, Andy and Larry Wachowski's live-action adaptation of the Japanese cartoon. In the lead role Hirsch will be a man among many, many computer-generated images, and though he'll be a little less alone than he was up in that Alaskan wilderness, you can bet it'll be his face on all the posters again. Teen girls should brace themselves for Leonardo DiCaprio-level mania.

By the time fall rolls around again, though, Hirsch will likely be in another prestige picture, Gus Van Sant's Milk. He joins a cast full of major male stars, including his Into the Wild director Sean Penn and No Country for Old Men star Josh Brolin. In this biopic about the pioneering gay San Francisco politician Harvey Milk, Hirsch plays Milk's assistant, Cleve Jones. Jones later went on to found the AIDS quilt project, which his website calls the largest community art project in the world.

The guy is 22 and in Hollywood, but digging up tabloid dirt on him is next to impossible, and he's moved gracefully from a teenybopper actor-for-hire start to leading man status. Right now he's the very definition of potential, which is what makes him a canny and excellent choice for Male Star of Tomorrow. I won't be at ShoWest when he accepts his award, but I might enlist some office spies to take some photos... and maybe ask for an exclusive Screener interview? He may be the male star of tomorrow, but let's hope he never gets too big for the fans.

Brendan Fraser Honored With ShoWest Award

By Katey Rich

Brendan Fraser was almost poised for a blockbuster triple-header in 2008, with Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Inkheart all slated for release this year. Now that Inkheart has been pushed to early 2009 his schedule is a little clearer, but that hasn't stopped ShoWest from presenting him with the award for Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film.

ShoWest, organized by the very same Nielsen Film Group that produces Film Journal International, is the annual convention of theatre owners that takes place in March in Las Vegas. There will be much, much more reporting on ShoWest in this space, including updates from the show floor from my editor, Kevin Lally. A key part of ShoWest is the final night banquet, where Fraser and other honorees will be presented with their awards. There will be a number of other announcements about who will be joining Fraser at the banquet in the upcoming days, but first let's take a look at what earned Fraser his honor.

In addition to his busy slate of movies this fall, Fraser is being recognized for his diverse body of work over the last decade-- it's fair to say he's come a long way since 1992's Encino Man. "From his roles in action-packed blockbusters such as The Mummy, The Mummy Returns and George of the Jungle, to his critically acclaimed roles in such independent films as Crash and Gods and Monsters, Fraser has delivered many inspirational performances over the past decade," said ShoWest's co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser when announcing the award.

Ten years ago, after a series of small supporting roles in the wake of Encino Man, Fraser broke out as a dramatic actor in Gods & Monsters, the critically acclaimed drama about Hollywood director James Whale, played by Ian McKellen. "The real surprise is Brendan Fraser as the guarded but vulnerable yard man," wrote the San Francisco Chronicle at the time. As Whale's gardener and love interest, the Washington Post wrote, Fraser brought "unexpected depth and nuance to his portrayal."

After a starring role in the sublimely silly comedy Blast to the Past the next year, Fraser truly rocketed into stardom with 1999's The Mummy, the adventure epic that made nearly $400 million worldwide. The movie, co-starring Rachel Weisz, inspired a 2001 sequel, The Mummy Returns, which fared even better-- $433 million total worldwide.

But Fraser didn't settle for being a big-budget star. Immediately after The Mummy Returns Fraser starred alongside eventual Oscar-nominee Michael Caine in The Quiet American, Philip Noyce's period drama about two men caught up in a love triangle in Vietnam in the 1950s. Again, the critics were enamored with Fraser's talents.  "Fraser is funny and effective as a foil to the old pro," wrote the Chicago Reader. Fraser's biggest critical success, though, was to come a few years later, when he and a huge ensemble cast joined an independent movie that was to become the Oscar-winning Crash. Playing a Los Angeles district attorney whose relationship with his wife suffers after they are held up at gunpoint, Fraser again had the opportunity to stretch his acting skills in a new direction.

This year Fraser is back in action mode, with the Mummy sequel and the high-tech adventure movie Journey 3D, but he can be seen in a dramatic role right now, in Jieho Lee's The Air I Breathe. There are few stars out there who can headline an ensemble independent film and two big-budget blockbusters in one year, but as Brendan Fraser has proved in his last decade-plus of acting, there aren't too many kinds of roles he can't take and make his own.