CinemaCon is the annual Las Vegas-based gathering of film studio execs, theater owners and exhibitors.
Movie ticket sales have been essentially flat in the U.S. for the past few years, so The Frame’s host, John Horn, visited the CinemaCon exhibit floor to get an idea of how theater owners are hoping to keep you going back to the multiplex. Hint: they may have to spend money to make money.
Figueras International Seating
This seat looks like something you'd see in the first class cabin of a very fancy airplane. What does it do?
It has two independent engines, one for the footrest and one for the backrest, that are completely independent.
So on this one, the back reclines, and if I push this, my footrest comes up. If it's a really boring movie, I guess I could just fall asleep and take a nice nap?
Definitely. Many people sleep, and in some cinemas they pass out blankets, so what else? Sleep, relax, whatever it is — people come to entertainment to try to forget their realities.
If I'm buying a hundred of these for my cinema, what's the best deal you could make me for these chairs right here?
Around $2,000 each.
[laughs] Do I get a free popcorn with that?
You get free popcorn and drinks. [laughs]
4DX
I'm here with Brandon Choi in the 4DX demo theater. Brandon, explain a little bit what 4DX does.
4DX is a synchronization of environmental effects such as rain, fog, lightning, thunder, rainstorms, snow ... plus you have all these motion movements — back and forth, up and down, and left and right.
Is the idea to create something in a movie theater that you can't replicate anywhere else?
We were thinking to come up with something that would really bring people back to the cinema. This is something really unique and you can't copy it elsewhere, so I think it's important to experience it.
I can barely hold on to my microphone in here! Now, if I'm a theater owner and I've got a 200-seat auditorium, will it cost me more or less than a million bucks to do a conversion?
It should be less than a million bucks, but it all depends on the layout of the cinema and the installation itself.
SmarTender
We're here with Scott Behnke and the SmarTender, which is an automated beverage system? Robotic bar?
Robotic bar, there you go. It's an automated liquor pouring system, and this particular machine has about 650 recipes. As soon as I put the different combinations of liquor and mixers in, we have 448 available.
Let me see a Tom Collins.
I can press "Tom Collins," you'll see the alcohol pour ... when it has multiple liquors, it pours it individually. There are 16 different pours, so there's no cross-contamination — your Bacardi doesn't taste like vodka, your tequila won't taste like rum.
Is the idea that this goes into the higher-end theaters that have a liquor license?
Yes. I've worked with Regal Cinemas so they can develop a consistent menu throughout all Regals. When we deliver this machine to them, their software and hardware's already set-up, and everything's done.
Can I taste that Tom Collins? Oh, wow, that's a really good Tom Collins. That's really good.