Day two of the15th anniversary Cinema Expo International got underway with a typicallyrousing speech from MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman.

Glickman praised the international and European marketsquoting figures that the international market had grown 89% in the past fiveyears, that 19 of 2005's top 20 films made more money internationally thandomestically and that stressed that the impact of local films could not beignored.

'It is truly becomingan international business,' he said. 'Europe is the most important worldwide marketoutside North America for USfilms.'

He continued: 'Theindustry in my judgment is thriving.' He backed this statement byrevealing that the top three films in 2006 had already grossed $1.3bnworldwide, with 67% of those takings coming from outside the US. He also pointed out that box office in 2006 was upin Germany, France, the UK, Russia, Japan, Mexico and Brazil, amongst other territories.

He warned that exhibitorsand distributors should not rest on their laurels and that new technologiesmean new opportunities to reach a wider audience. He said the cinema experiencewas of paramount importance. 'MPAA companies remain committed to the theatrical experience," Glickman said. "I am committed to showing consumers that itis a key part of their entertainment experience.'

'The public have somany entertainment choices we have to figure out ways to grow the theatricalaudience. We must get new people into theatres. We must get lapsed audiencesback into moviehouses. Weneed new and better environments.'

Glickman also said there had been a small triumph in thefight against copyright theft as peer-to-peer networks have been increasinglyforced to go legitimate or go bankrupt and that 81m pirated discs had beenseized in recent months. However, he continued to say that copyright theft wasstill 'the single greatest threat by far' to the film industry.

He spoke of a'worrying trend' in the subculture and legislation in Europegrowing faster than in the US amongst younger people to ignore intellectualcopyright protection and that he hopedto change attitudes reaching out to younger people, stressing the'unique potential' of educating the young. 'It is in the jointinterest of producers, distributors and exhibitors to tackle the problem," hesaid.

Glickman noted that of the $18.2bn worldwide industry loss topiracy, 80% of that was outside the US. Hard copy piracy represents $11bn with internetpiracy costing $7.1bn.

He noted that 90% of newlyreleased movies pirated are camcorder recordings. The MPAA and Nato haveaddressed this problem in the US and Canada with training programmes for theatre staff and cashrewards for clampdowns.

Glickman concluded with a strong message of his support fortheatrical exhibition. 'We need to do everything we can to preserve thisunique experience for generations to come," he said. "We cannot let changesfrustrate us. We must stay ahead of them. We must fight copyright theft andjoin together to stop this plague on our industry. We will work together on a myriadof ways to grow the cinema audience. The theatrical experience is the core tothe future of the film industry.'