And what better way to do it than by plunking down $100,000 for a fancy new digital projector!
Financial worries be damned, this year's annual exhibitors conference cum schmoozefest has clearly gone high-tech, as companies are pushing theater owners to jump on the biggest thing since the advent of cup holders and self-serve butter-flavoring: digital cinema.
Tuesday night, Miramax presented its own proof with a special digital screening of Robert Rodriguez's new family thriller, Spy Kids, at the Paris Hotel and Casino. To many, the benefits were clear (literally): a flawless picture, no scratches (or those nasty little hairs), no fluttery jumping--and no matter how many times it's shown, the movie never loses quality.
It was enough for Rodriguez himself to all but swear off celluloid. "For the first time, I've seen a movie I shot that looked the way it looked when I shot it," says Rodriguez. "On film, it lost a lot of the luster."
The director originally shot Spy Kids on film, and it was later transferred to digital--typically an expensive process, and typically done the other way around (digital to film). In January, Rodriguez met with George Lucas, who showed him some footage he shot using digital, and Rodriguez decided to use it for some of his own special-effects scenes.
For Spy Kids, the film actually was completed Sunday, beamed via satellite by Boeing to Las Vegas on Monday, and screened Tuesday.
The spectacle was clearly designed to impress. But with all that gadgetry to drool over, National Association of Theater Owners President John Fithian is warning exhibitors not to get antsy about going digital too quickly. Fithian cautioned that a single digital standard hasn't been set, and buying a pricey $100,000-$150,000 system could be risky.
"The technology is developing, but it is not there yet," he said.
Still, it was an attention-grabbing way to debut Spy Kids, Rodriguez's family movie starring Antonio Banderas and Carla Cugino as a husband-wife spy team who unwittingly bring their kids into the family biz. Chances are the flick will be unavoidable when it's released later this month: A $55 million promotional campaign is planned with McDonalds, and a sequel is already in the works.
Theater owners are hoping Spy Kids, not to mention a slew of other big-ticket flicks, will help pull them out of the doldrums this year, after 11 major exhibitors filed for bankruptcy.
On Tuesday, Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Association of America, noted that movie admissions fell 3 percent last year, despite the box office surging to a $7.7 billion record. The good news, however, is that exhibitors are shutting down theaters to reduce the glut, and so far this year, Valenti says there's been a 25 percent jump in admissions compared to 2000--thanks to recent box-office champs like Hannibal and The Wedding Planner.
Meanwhile, Wednesday marked MGM's time to shine at ShoWest, as the studio unveiled its slate of promising pics for theater owners. One distributor called MGM's product reel "impressive and a nice mixture of genres from comedy to war movies."
Among the highlights:
The studio screened Heartbreakers, a lighthearted chick flick starring Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt as a mother/daughter con team, hitting theaters March 23. The film received polite applause from the delegates, but others went so far as to call it "fabulous." Another noted, "The word of mouth should be great."
The quote of the day, however, came from an MGM rep, who stood up and proudly announced "we're pleased because 75 percent of screening audiences said they thought it was better than they expected." (Hooray for low expectations!)
Also warmly received was the long trailer for What's The Worst That Can Happen?, a funny take on revenge and honor among thieves, starring Martin Lawrence and Danny DeVito. And crowds responded well to Legally Blonde, a sort of "Clueless in college" that stars Reese Witherspoon as a Chihuahua-toting USC sorority girl who follows her boyfriend to Harvard.
Among the other clips trotted out Wednesday: action flick Rollerball with LL Cool J and Chris Klein; Deuces Wild, a 1950s Brooklyn gang story starring Stephen Dorff and Fairuza Balk; Jeepers Creepers, a teen screamer filled with some good chills and laughs; Bandits, a prison-break action comedy starring Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Cate Blanchett; and Windtalkers, John Woo's World War II epic starring Nicolas Cage and Mark Ruffalo, which gets props as the classiest trailer of the bunch.
Wednesday night's offerings will include a Pepsi-sponsored cocktail reception for the much-anticipated Tomb Raider, and a screening of DreamWorks' computer-animated fantasy, Shrek.