CinemaCon

CinemaCon is two events running in the same building. One is the studio product reel: every major distributor takes a screen for a couple of hours and shows exhibitors what is coming, usually with talent on stage and usually with footage nobody outside the room has seen. That is the part that generates the trade headlines.

The other is a trade show floor and a programme of sessions on the business of running cinemas — concessions, premium formats, seating, projection, ticketing, staffing. That is the part that changes what exhibitors do when they get home.

The convention is organised by Cinema United, which is the same organisation that spent decades as the National Association of Theatre Owners. The rename is recent enough that both names are still in circulation, and searching for either will find the same event.

For a circuit, it is not really a question — the product presentations set the booking conversation for the year and the relationships are maintained in person.

For a single-site independent it is a genuine calculation. Las Vegas in April is not cheap, the studio reels are aimed at people booking hundreds of screens, and much of the content reaches you through the trade press within days. The argument for going anyway is the trade floor and the corridor: suppliers are all in one place, you can see equipment rather than a brochure, and the conversations with other operators are the part nobody writes up.

If the budget covers one convention a year and you are European, CineEurope is closer, cheaper and better targeted at your market. If you are an art house, Art House Convergence is more useful than either.