President's Report
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
President’s Report April 2017 / Vol. 18 No. 2 THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT April 2017 Vol. 18 No. 2 CINEMACON 2017 3 CINEMA BUYING GROUP 5 GLOBAL FEDERATION 6 GOVERNMENT RELATIONS—FEDERAL 7 GOVERNMENT RELATIONS—STATE 8 INDEPENDENT THEATER OWNERS 9 INDUSTRY DATA 10 MEMBERSHIP & MEMBERSHIP SERVICES 12 MOVIE THEFT 13 NATO ELECTIONS 16 NATO FALL SUMMIT 17 RATINGS 17 SECURITY 18 STRATEGIC PLANNING 19 TECHNOLOGY 20 THEATRICAL RELEASE WINDOWS 21 STAFF CONTACT INFORMATION 22 CONFIDENTIAL: FOR NATO MEMBERS ONLY 2 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT April 2017 Vol. 18 No. 2 CinemaCon 2017 CinemaCon is pleased to report another successful convention in the books this past March in Las Vegas. Attendance soared to over 3,250 fully-registered del- egates. As well, CinemaCon welcomed an additional 350+ Cinemark general managers to the show. The trade show and demonstration suites were busting at the seams including an exciting new VR demonstration from Universal Pictures and IMAX. Seminars had the highest ever attendance; including the NAC panel on “Adult Beverages at the Mov- ies”, the ICTA program on the landscape of Virtual Reality and a NATO led pro- gram on the DOJ’s ruling on captioning & audio description technology. NATO Chairman John D. Loeks (l), CEO, Celebration! Cinema, and NATO In 2017, CinemaCon featured a re- International Committee Chairman Jan Bernhardsson (r), CEO, Nordic Cinema Group, welcome attendees to CinemaCon 2017. cord-setting TEN studio events, including Colosseum presentations & screenings from Sony Pictures Entertainment, STX- films, Paramount Pictures, Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, 20th Century Fox and Lions- gate. Amazon Studios returned to the final day luncheon, and for the first time at CinemaCon, Focus Features celebrated their 15 year anniversary with a luncheon of their own. Attendees were also treated to early screenings of Universal’s The Fate of the Furious, Walt Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, and Lionsgate’s The Hitman’s Bodyguard. CinemaCon wishes everyone an excel- lent summer at the box office and looks forward to welcoming everyone back to Byron Berkley (l), President & CEO, Foothills Entertainment Co., and recipient of NATO’s 2017 Marquee Award, receives congratulations from Chris Aronson (r), Las Vegas next year for CinemaCon 2018 President, Domestic Distribution, 20th Century Fox. (23-26 April). Mark your calendars now! CONFIDENTIAL: FOR NATO MEMBERS ONLY 3 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT April 2017 Vol. 18 No. 2 Amy Schumer, Hugh Jackman, and Goldie Hawn CinemaCon 2017 saw more celebrities and filmmakers than ever, including appearances from: Ben Affleck Anthony Hopkins Michael Bay Charlie Hunnam Luc Besson Hugh Jackman Jack Black Patty Jenkins Sofia Boutella Dwayne Johnson Matt Damon and George Clooney promote the upcoming crime comedy Suburbicon Steve Carell Jake Johnson Jerrod Carmichael Nick Jonas Henry Cavill Mila Kunis John Cena Queen Latifah Jessica Chastain David Leitch Priyanka Chopra Jared Leto George Clooney Ludacris Sofia Coppola Chris Meledandri Alexandria Daddario Ezra Miller Matt Damon Jason Momoa Rosario Dawson Isabela Moner Cara Delevingne Julianne Moore Eugenio Derbez Kumail Nanjiani Vin Diesel Christopher Nolan Kirsten Dunst Gary Oldman Zac Efron David Oyelowo Ray Fisher, Ezra Miller, Director Zack Snyder, Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, and Jason Ansel Elgort Alexander Payne Momoa represent Warner Bros.’s Justice League Colin Farrell Chris Pine Ray Fisher Kurt Russell Dave Franco Amy Schumer Tyrese Gibson Jada Pinkett Smith Karen Gillan Zack Snyder Emily Gordon Aaron Sorkin Al Gore Charlize Theron Ryan Gosling Justin Theroux F. Gary Gray Brenton Thwaites Jon Hamm Colin Trevorrow Goldie Hawn Denis Villeneuve Salma Hayek Mark Wahlberg Katherine Heigl Naomi Watts Ed Helms Edgar Wright Bottom line, CinemaCon 2017 featured more CinemaCon award winners Isabela Moner (Transformers: The Last Knight), Salma Hayek product and talent on display than (How to Be a Latin Lover), Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No ever before! Tales), Eugenio Derbez (How to Be a Latin Lover), and Sophia Boutella (The Mummy) CONFIDENTIAL: FOR NATO MEMBERS ONLY 4 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT April 2017 Vol. 18 No. 2 Cinema Buying Group Early 2017 has been full of great program-related activity! The vendor community is showing heightened interest in the Cinema Buying Group in various forms and across varied service and product categories. New member programs and strengthened focus on promoting and marketing programs to our independent theater community is showing great results in this New Year. Member participation is up, vendor interest is high, and we had a very productive members-only meeting at CinemaCon last month. The future looks bright for the CBG community of independent operators! The most successful member program in 2016, the Philips Xenon Lamp Program, showed another quarter-over-quarter increase in the first quarter of this year. The Sign-on Purchase Incentive and a generous Customer Loyalty Program (free lamp rewards) make this program very popular with members. The Royal Corporation Janitorial & Sanitation Products Program proved to be a great cost-saving option for members with its best quarter of performance since introduction last April. We are in process with program improvements in both of these well-performing programs, exciting details coming soon. Created specifically to support the independent theater community through the Cinema Buying Group, the Indie Marketing Coalition (IMC) provides participating members expansive, studio-approved digital assets as well as selective hard assets (bus shelters, three-sheets, promo- tional packs, t-shirts, mini-posters, etc.) for use in promoting films and encouraging attendance. Other FREE member benefits include free show- time distribution through csXpress as well as inclusion in Movie Goer Network. The DCDC (Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition), which provides satellite delivery access for feature films and alternative content, continues to garner consistent interest within the membership through FREE equip- ment, installation and service, at a pre-negotiated exhibitor delivery cost. This partnership shows immediate cost benefit to our community with savings of ~50% on the majority of titles. In addition to our offering of standard Candy Rebate Programs from Nestle, Mars, Hershey and Promotion in Motion, we look to promote expansion in the concession arena this year. Our first Disney concession promotion launched this past month, with a Cars 3 Collectible Combo Pack. With special member pricing and free shipping to the U.S. and Canada, we anticipate increased concession per-caps, high purchase inci- CONFIDENTIAL: FOR NATO MEMBERS ONLY 5 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION THE PRESIDENT’S REPORT April 2017 Vol. 18 No. 2 dence, and a lot of smiling faces for this upcoming release. We look forward to a calendar full of these very targeted promotions for the balance of the year. Potential programs in the queue for 2017 could address the following areas of need: Equipment Financing Program (from reseating a single auditorium to a complete theater FF&E package), Promotional Programs (studio licensed drink cups, popcorn bags/tubs), Independent-branded Con- cession Container Program (popcorn bags/tubs, drink cups). The theoretical model of starting with base programs and key vendor relationships, effectively promoting the offerings to our community, showing continuous sales growth, then strategically enhancing and/or expanding offerings within the proven programs, has shown actual and measurable impact over the past year. The program model is working! The road to more meaningful program improvement in 2017 is Learn more about the CBG programs at vendor/manufacturer support with better and more programs www.cbgpurchasing.com. based on proven, measurable member support in existing and future programs. 2017 focus will be on improved individual For membership information please contact member outreach, expansion of current key programs, con- David Binet at [email protected], or for more tinued increases in member participation, and the strategic information on our programs you may contact introduction of a select combination of sponsorship and Brad Wardlow at [email protected]. program opportunities. Global Federation Representatives from ten leading global ex- At the group’s meeting, the representatives recommended hibitors, along with NATO and the Euro- supporting a global federation of exhibitors, which would pean association, UNIC, met at Cinema- include both existing trade associations and individual Con to discuss forming a global exhibitor exhibition companies. The global federation of exhibitors alliance. Members of the group discussed would serve two purposes: to (1) educate exhibitors globally key issues for a global group and what with greater information collection and sharing, and (2) to model would best achieve these priorities. advocate on behalf of exhibitors globally, consistent with all For each issue, the group also evaluated whether education, applicable laws. NATO’s Executive Board voted in support of advocacy or a combination of both would be most useful. Key exploring this option. issues included: (1) movie theft, (2) theatrical exclusivity, (3) music rights, (4) accessibility and related regulations, (5) work The group is currently evaluating membership and gover- with studios and the creative community, (6) technology and nance