THB #359: Hellooooo, CinemaCon!!!

My first CinemaCon was ShoWest, in 1994, a couple months after the Northridge Earthquake. I loved it. Journalists were seated at 4 or 5 tables amidst the massive crowd, engaged in much the same experience as the exhibitors who had come in from around the country and around the world to meet with peers and for the major studios to sell what was coming to theaters over the next year.

Almost every event was a sit-down meal in a massive ballroom with round tables, a stage on one side of the room, in some cases with dozens of stars eating their lunches in front of everyone there. We few from the media - 2 of the tables were the trades, 1 for EW, 1 international… and the rest of us - were not seen as a threat. Everyone from the press who attended was there with a specific assignment, whether it was celebrity interviews or getting a handle on the year to come with a handful of us talking to exhibitors and distributors about what they were working on.

I didn’t know it would become my favorite…