CINEMACON: National Association Of Theatre Owners chief John Fithian urged delegates at the Las Vegas convention to release more family films year-round.

Box office has got off to a solid start in 2014, driven in no small part by Warner Bros’ The Lego Movie, DreamWorks Animation’s Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Disney’s Frozen and The Nut Job through Open Road.

“We could still use more calendar diversity,” said Fithian, who expressed satisfaction at the growing commercial might of Lionsgate as well as Open Road.

Fithian also said exhibitors were exploring a test week-night ticket discount in an unspecified US state, as exhibition does in Canada and Latin America.

In the subsequent annual meeting with reporters, Fithian and MPAA chairman and CEO Chris Dodd referenced but made no breakthrough announcements about texting in theatres, 3D and laser projection.

In other CinemaCon news:

  • Sony Digital Cinema Solutions and theatrical on demand pioneer Gathr Films are in talks to create the first web-based marketplace for exhibitors to book screenings.

  • Speaker and headphone manufacturer Klipsch unveiled five new professional cinema surround speakers. The two 8-inch woofer models are KPT-8000-M and KPT-8060-H and the three 12-inch woofer designs are KPT-1200-M, KPT 1260-H and KPT-1200-VBM.

  • Commercial LCD display and projector specialist NEC Display Solutions Of America has unveiled its NC1100L Digital Cinema Projector.

  • Harkness Screens has launched its fourth generation 2D and 3D screen surface, Clarus XC.

Topics