All the news coming out of CinemaCon, which wrapped up in Las Vegas earlier this week, has me thinking it’s a shame they are wasting all of these amazing appearances and sneak peeks on theater owners and journalists.
CinemaCon is the official convention of NATO (National Association of Theater Owners). It’s also where the studios bring their biggest upcoming films to get the theater owners excited about what’s coming up.
The star power and exclusives studios bring to CinemaCon make Comic-Con look like a D-List autograph signing in a small town American Legion. This year theater owners got a first look at Men in Black 3, Skyfall (the next Bond film) Adam Sandler’s That’s My Boy, The Amazing Spider-Man, Hope Springs (starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones and Steve Carrell), Total Recall, The Dark Knight Rises, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Diary of A Wimpy Kid: Dog Days, Taken 2, Parental Guidance, Life of Pi, Les Miserables, This Is 40, 47 Ronin, the Tom Cruise film Oblivion, and more.
As for the stars in attendance, Sylvester Stallone, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Garner, Charlize Theron, Michelle Pfeiffer, Anna Faris, Judd Apatow, Taylor Kitsch, Chloë Grace Moretz, Josh Hutcherson, and Diego Boneta were all there to be honored by NATO.
And, according to Film.com, not only is taking photos with celebs acceptable, its “expected.”
So why aren’t fans, who would most appreciate seeing new footage from their favorite film franchises, invited to join in the fun? The obvious reason is the convention is really more about business than anything and the vendors and studios sponsoring events at CinemaCon are ultimately just trying to do business with the theater owners. It’s probably also an opportunity for the studios to make the theater owners, who they depend on to carry their films, feel like VIPS, and screaming fans or geeks dressed like Batman would probably take away from that VIP experience.
But, that doesn’t mean the general public can’t attend, you just have to be willing to pay for it. According to CinemaCon’s website, non-NATO members can register for the convention, but it’s going to cost you. The “Domestic Package” non-member price is $995. Guess nothing deters regular folks from attending exclusive industry functions like a $1000 price tag.
To see more photos from this year’s CinemaCon, visit LasVegasWeekly.com.
