CinemaCon 2023

[Bruce Cloutier]

Just wondering as to everyone's plans for CinemaCon 2023. I realize it is early.

INTEG will not be exhibiting. This is likely the last time that we will use the COVID excuse. At this stage we are focused on being able to supply product to our existing customer base without excessive lead times and price increases. The supply chain (another std excuse) has been almost a daily challenge. I hate to jinx it but it does seem to be loosening up a bit and I expect that things will be greatly improved in a year's time. So we have not been investing in sales and marketing. We truly appreciate our loyal customers.

That said, Kevin and I are considering attending the show and making the rounds. Hopefully we can fill up our itinerary to make the trip worthwhile.

Rumor has it that the show will be pretty much back to pre-COVID capacity. I don't know about that. Not sure how last year was perceived.

What are any of you planning?

[Steve Guttag]

At this time, I do plan on being there.

[Leo Enticknap]

As far as I know, the MiT booth will be there as usual. That week has been blocked out in my calendar, which I guess means that I'm going, but I haven't been told anything further.

[Mike Blakesley]

Speaking as an exhibitor - we (my wife and I) want to go, especially since it will be John Fithian's last hurrah at NATO. We haven't made reservations yet but I think we will most likely be there.

Last time it felt pretty much like back-to-normal compared to the abbreviated version in August 2021. I think the attendance wasn't quite up to the norm but it was pretty close, from what I could tell. It was just as hard to get a decent seat in the Colosseum as usual.

[James Gardiner]

I cannot justify going these days. Long way and very expensive (From an Australian perspective. U.S. dollar is very strong now.). I am actually doing work for some post facilities now on the side of running my cinemas as.. I feel I must diversify. A major independent went into administration a few weeks ago, and the attendance levels have been getting worse not better. It will take time for some cinemas to run out of runway expecting a recovery that doesn't look like coming, not any time soon anyway. So I would expect a similar outcome in the U.S. and likely will result in a smaller turnout.

[Leo Enticknap]

I hope that you're on the pessimistic side, obviously, but it's hard to find evidence of that. Strange World bombing at the box office may be another canary in the coal mine.

The cost of attending Cinemacon from Australia must be horrific. Air transportation costs have been among the hardest hit by inflation (my mother comes to visit us from the UK each Christmas, and her plane ticket for this year cost 47% more than an almost identical one - same airline, itinerary, and dates - last year), there is the strong dollar, and finally the eye watering cost of anything at Caesar's Palace. I refer to it as the home of the $36 packet of Motrin, as a co-worker who developed a headache during the booth setup a few years ago discovered when he went to buy some. My hotel bill for the six-day stay (I have to be there a couple of days early for the booth setup) usually comes to around $2K, and I'm eating cheap (by the standards of that place, at any rate!) food court stuff most of the time. Sorry that you're not going to be able to come, but totally understood why.

[Steve Guttag]

Everything at Caesars is a rip off, for sure. I've never stayed there and try to avoid eating there. Note, there is a Walgreens about 2-blocks away (as one leaves the Colosseum) on Harrah's side of the strip (and there is an at-grade crossing between the Mirage to Harrahs...should the need for more reasonable medication prices arise. Coke products are also available at Walgreens for Non-Caesar's prices too (Caesar's, like all of their properties, only have Pepsi).

[Bruce Cloutier]

We started tossing around the idea of a sort of road trip visiting groups of customers in certain places (like Denver) on the way out to Vegas and then back. Avoiding the air travel. Not that that is of concern so much. But we could benefit from the visits. In many cases there would be techs not at home but out at CinemaCon. So I don't know.

[Leo Enticknap]

Steve - when fighting deadlines to set up and then man the booth, the time taken to get out of the building and then back in again is an issue. It's 10-15 minutes just to get from the trade show room to the front entrance! So for those actually working the show, they have somewhat of a captive audience for their ripoff prices. They can get away with the ripoff prices, IMHO, because almost everyone who steps foot in the place falls into one of three categories:

- Wealthy enough that cost isn't an issue
- "Vacation of a lifetime" visitors who are willing to put up with prices that they wouldn't in normal life
- Business/convention travelers whose hotel bill is going on an expense report.

For sole traders or smaller businesses for whom sending two or three people is a big overhead, the inflation over the last year will likely make the decision to come or not this time a difficult one.

[Marcel Birgelen]

I used to like those trade shows in Vegas but nowadays I despise them, that's why you won't see me around anymore... Usually, I'd get me a rental car and stayed in a hotel off-the-strip... cheaper, cleaner, less noise, just much more bang for the buck. There used to be plenty of good and relatively cheap dining and drinking options around the place, especially when you have a car. Even downtown used to be "relatively cheap" with all-you-can-eat buffets for under $20 a person...

Back in the day, all hotels, including those on the strip, offered free self-parking, so getting around was easy and cheap. Yeah, getting from the parking lot to your destination might take 15 minutes or more, but at least they wouldn't charge you for the privilege and you got a good walk out of it. Nowadays, with paid-parking everywhere, the car-option isn't fun anymore and getting around by public transportation is horrendously inefficient and not cheap either... It's a hopeless mix of overcrowded tourist buses and monorails to nowhere. Taxi and even Uber fares have since exploded to insanity, combined with often insane wait times. Trying to get into a restaurant at peak times on the strip, where you're guaranteed to be ripped off, feels like waiting for a theme-park ride where the payoff is actually getting seated, after a 1.5 hour wait or more... no thank you.

I've never been much of a gambler, but even the casinos today look like lackluster arcade halls. Most table games have been replaced by automated versions and slot machines with honking flashing screens. All the neon on the strip has long gone and the entire place nowadays feels like a Disneyland for neurotic sadomasochists rather than a "vacation paradise" where everything goes...

[James Gardiner]

Personally, I wished they moved it between LA, SanFran, Vegas and other locations from year to year. Its not like it's a super big show like NAB. Any large city could cater to CinemaCon if you ask me.
I find Vegas a bore after the 3-4th time. It's like all week Conference, then fast as you can on a plane and leave. Could be anywhere.

[Steve Guttag]

Honestly, if it moved to LA or San Fran...they'd lose me. I try to avoid California as much as possible. I go to ICTA annually, so I do get to LA but getting to/from the airport (which is LAX for me despite liking John Wayne much more, but it would double my air fare). Vegas makes it rather easy for me. Multiple direct flights and once I'm done...bam...the airport is right there and gone. The Cigarette thing one I could do without though.

Now, I'd prefer ShowEast move back to the Middle Atlantic area. That is one I wouldn't mind moving about a little. Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington DC...even Atlantic City again (though nobody really liked going there). I haven't gone since it moved to Miami. If the Mid-Atlantic NATO starts up their "Show-N-Tell", they were near Baltimore the last couple of times and Northern VA previously.

[Mike Babb]

I love Showeast being in Miami Beach, it is the best part of the event. It could definitely use a shot in the arm though as far as the attendance and trade show floor. A lot more goes on outside the show floor than on.
I don't like Vegas much but I have to say, its pretty easy to get in and out, and from my point of view its good being at a self contained entity like Caesars. I've been involved in converting the Colosseum to a cinema yearly (under the BLS umbrella) and although the equipment and workflow changes from year to year, our projection booth and a lot of the crew has stayed the same. Caesars "becomes" Cinemacon.
CineEurope Barcelona to me is the ideal event, a beautiful city, a nice location, with all you need to put on a convention.
I fly Saturday to Bangkok to see what CineAsia is like in a new location and venue. Seems like it could be good although I have already heard from some contacts they will not attend, when in the past they would have. My schedule is already booked up with meetings, dinners and tradeshow booth so it's already a success in my mind.
ICTA LA is a really good event especially when you add on the MIT cruise on the thursday.

[Leo Enticknap]

despite liking John Wayne much more, but it would double my air fare

That's a bit surprising. Ontario would always be my first choice (it's a 20 minute drive from home and the traffic is almost never heavy), but once in a blue moon I have to go from another airport, either because my final destination isn't available from ONT except at an obscene price and/or with risky connections. Palm Springs is my second choice (almost as far away as LAX geographically, but it takes one hour rather then three to get there thanks to lighter traffic), and LAX only if there absolutely no other viable alternative. I can only think of one occasion on which LAX has been more than around 20% cheaper than ONT in the nine years I've lived in the IE. Maybe SNA is unusually pricey at that time of year. If so, Long Beach and Burbank are also worth checking out as LAX avoidance strategies. I would not recommend Ontario if your final destination is downtown LA, as getting from the former to the latter requires doing battle with 40 miles of what is literally some of the most congested freeway in the world. Unless you're arriving at midnight, it will likely take 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

[Steve Guttag]

I just checked. Things have indeed changed some. ONT is indeed a reasonable price (all things being compared to LAX). LAX is the only Non-Stop options but both ONT and SNA are 1-stop options with very narrow choices if I don't want to spend the entire day waiting for a plane somewhere. The flight is long enough without adding hours of waiting. Then again, when there are change planes...you don't want them so tight that you miss the connection because "real world."

Every year I debate about doing the MIT booze cruise...but I don't drink and it would add a full day to the trip.