CinemaCon panel lights up texting debate

It was the closest thing yet to a skirmish at CinemaCon.

The venue: the Palace Ballroom at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas.

The subject: whether to allow texting in movie theaters.

Regal Entertainment Chief Executive Amy Miles, one of several panelists debating the ways theaters can lure "today's savvy moviegoer," suggested that exhibitors consider allowing younger patrons to use their cellphones with certain types of movies such as "21 Jump Street." 

That triggered a furious response from Tim League, chief executive of Alamo Drafthouse, the maverick Austin, Texas-based chain that is known as much for serving food and drinks in its theaters as it is for strictly enforcing a ban on talking and using cellphones in its auditoriums.

"Over my dead body will I be introducing texting into movie theaters.... That's a scourge of the industry,'' League said. "It's our job to understand that this is a sacred place."

Jeff Blake, vice chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, came to Miles' defense. "You don't mind giving them a beer for Christ's sake,'' he said.

Whether texting is allowed in theaters, mobile devices already are rapidly changing the exhibition industry, as the Los Angeles Times recently reported. There are dozens of phone apps that help consumers get to the movie theater, share their movie plans with friends and family on Facebook and receive special offers on concessions.

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MPAA's Dodd urges industry to reach out to 'connected consumers'

Box office going mobile

--Richard Verrier 

Photo: Tim League, Alamo Drafthouse founder and chief executive, outside of an Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas. Credit: Annie Ray

MPAA's Dodd urges industry to reach out to 'connected consumers'

LAS VEGAS -- Motion Picture Assn. of America of Chief Executive Chris Dodd touted a strong rebound at the box office this year but said the industry needs to find new ways to stay relevant to younger, "connected consumers."

"We need to make the case -- both to the new, younger, 'connected consumers,' and to others who wonder if the moviegoing experience remains something special, something to be savored and enjoyed, something so innovative and creative that it cannot be duplicated at home no matter how many boxes they have,'' Dodd said in a speech at the CinemaCon trade show here.

Dodd, the former senator from Connecticut, noted that worldwide box office revenues reached a record $32.6 billion last year and that domestic box office revenues are up 17% this year compared with the same period last year.

Still, Dodd noted that the industry faced long-term challenges, including boosting theatrical attendance in the U.S. and Canada, which fell 4% last year.

"One third of the public in the U.S. and Canada no longer goes to the movies," Dodd said. "We need to bring them back. I firmly believe that with our artistic and commercial vision and your stewardship of the great moviegoing tradition, we can do it."

Dodd also renewed his call for finding common ground with the technology industry to curb the theft of intellectual property. The MPAA backed tough laws, nicknamed SOPA and PIPA, to crack down on online piracy, but the bills were defeated by opposition from Google and other tech giants along with a strong public backlash.

"I want to dispense with the conventional wisdom that in order to protect our content we must be at war with the technology industry,'' Dodd said. "In fact, our two industries, content and technology, have far more in common than some have argued."

He added, "If protecting intellectual property results in an uninformed brawl between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, both sides will suffer -- but more importantly, so will millions of Americans who rely on these intellectual property industries for their jobs, and on the consumers whose lives have been enriched by their efforts. 

-- Richard Verrier

Photo: MPAA Chief Executive Chris Dodd. Credit: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Goodbye ShoWest, hello CinemaCon

Can adding a "con" to your name make you cool?

That's what the National Assn. of Theatre Owners is thinking. NATO said Wednesday it is changing the name of its annual convention from ShoWest to CinemaCon. Imagine the marketing. It's like Comic-Con but for movie-theater fanboys.

The new name will take effect at next year's convention, and NATO itself will produce the conference. For the last decade, ShoWest, which has been around for 36 years, was produced by the Sunshine Group, owned by Nielsen Business Media, which sold ShoWest among other assets in January to private equity firm e5 Global Media. The news was first reported by Variety.

“Taking the show under NATO’s control allows us to rethink everything about what works and what doesn’t,’’ said NATO spokesman Patrick Corcoran. “It allows the theater industry to take control of the messaging, marketing and perceptions of its industry’s premier event. All the decisions on programming will be aimed at serving the industry’s interest rather than generating profit for an outside company “

The new trade show will be held in March at a larger, single venue, Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The forum is currently hosted at the Paris and Bally’s hotels. Among the goals will be to encourage more studio participation in the event, which has declined in recent years as studios cut costs.

"We're bringing a little more star power and glamor back to the industry's most important convention,'' said Mitch Neuhauser, executive director of CinemaCon.

Robert Sunshine, who manages the show, declined to discuss his company’s budget for ShoWest but disputed the claim that studio involvement was weak this year. “We’ve probably had as good a studio participation as we’ve had in several years,’’ he said. “The relationship with NATO is wonderful. I hope the convention is very successful.”

[For the record: ShoWest was misspelled as ShowWest in an earlier version of this post.]

-- Richard Verrier