Moviemakers celebrate record profits, anticipate more success in ‘15

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

With record-breaking profits last year, moviemakers have returned with old dogs and new tricks, hoping to continue their success.

“I told you, ‘I’ll be back,’” Arnold Schwarzenegger told the thousand-member audience of CinemaCon’s “The State of the Industry: Past, Present and Future” Tuesday morning at Caesars Palace.

CinemaCon is “the largest and most important gathering for the worldwide motion picture theater industry,” its website says. The global event attracts professionals to Las Vegas from more than 80 countries with learning opportunities and discussions about the states of current film projects and technological advancements.

Dressed like his “Terminator Genisys” character in a sleek leather jacket and sunglasses, Schwarzenegger took a stage to introduce the Paramount movie’s preview. The film opens July 1.

The former California governor who played the world-famous robot was not the only action movie legend putting his best foot forward at the film convention’s opening ceremony.

Tom Cruise, with costars Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson, previewed the fifth “Mission: Impossible” installment, called “Rogue Nation,” opening July 31.

“Like ‘Mission: Impossible,’ it’s an absolute team effort to entertain,” Cruise said.

Small-town theater owners and behind-the-scene workers were among the less well-known to be recognized for their contributions to cinema and its $36 billion in revenue in 2014. Some $10.4 billion of revenue was generated in the U.S. alone, according to the National Association of Theater Owners Chairman David Passman.

“2015 is going to rewrite the record books,” Passman predicted.

John Fithian, president and CEO of the theater owners group, with 668 member companies across all 50 states, said he anticipates 2015 will gross higher than 2014, too.

He listed ten reasons, including more family films, affordable tickets, an increase of women in the industry; and expanded access to patrons with disabilities. The average cost of a movie ticket in 2014 was $8.17, he said.

Two items on his list, premium sight and sound, and luxury cinemas, were displayed heavily on the trade show floor, outside of the Colosseum inside Caesars Palace, where the convention got underway Monday.

Multiple vendors presented products to better the movie-going experience. Immersive technology, like 4-D with scent, wind and rain, along with extravagant, automatically reclining chairs were the most popular.

Fithian says he also expects there to be four to six blockbusters that will gross more than a billion dollars this year — but he didn’t specify which ones.

Although profits are steadily increasing, one threat continues to loom offshore — pirates.

Former Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd, now the chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, said he is fighting piracy for the 1.9 million Americans who, either directly or indirectly, rely on film and TV for their income.

“All of us who make our home in this industry, must stand up and speak out to protect their jobs and our industry,” he told the crowd.

He pushed a website, wheretowatch.com, where movies and TV shows can be legally watched online for a price.

CinemaCon continues at Caesars Palace this week until Thursday. The convention is expected to bring about 5,000 people to Las Vegas.

Contact Kimberly De La Cruz at kdelacruz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Find her on Twitter @KimberlyinLV.