Blockbusters, business hit the Strip

Las Vegas lives up to its sometimes-wishful "Hollywood East" nickname this week as the annual ShoWest convention and trade show attracts movie industry movers and shakers, from world-famous faces to technical wizards.

Today's famous faces, for example, include Oscar winners Robert Redford, Helen Hunt, director Ang Lee and writer-director Alan Ball, all of whom are scheduled to receive awards at a luncheon "celebrating the importance of independent and specialty film."

Independent and specialty releases may be in this afternoon's spotlight at ShoWest, which is headquartered at Paris Las Vegas. But it's the anticipated blockbusters -- high-profile sequels, effects-laden comic book adaptations, comedies and cinematic thrill rides -- that steal the focus every year.

Studio officials tout their upcoming box-office winners (they hope) to theater operators who pop the popcorn, tear the tickets and run the projectors at the local multiplex.

At Monday's International Day, delegates from around the world got sneak peeks at some of the year's most highly anticipated releases, featuring legendary silver-screen heroes from Indiana Jones to Bond, James Bond.

In on-the-set footage from "Quantum of Solace," the Bond adventure due in November, actor Daniel Craig -- fake blood smeared beneath his nose -- noted that "it's nice to start with some meaty dialogue sequences," before he's shown swinging from ropes and engaging in stunt training, jet-boat racing and other traditional 007 activities.

Similarly, Harrison Ford -- who returns in May as the world's favorite rogue archaeologist in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" -- cracks his trusty bullwhip, battles baddies and outraces ravenous beasties in a trailer designed to generate excitement for a movie that "will, without a doubt, smash box-office records," promised Andrew Cripps, president of Paramount Pictures International.

New heroes also get into the act, including Robert Downey Jr. as "Iron Man," the latest Marvel Comics hero to hit the big screen.

"Iron Man" filmed briefly in Las Vegas last year, but it's not the only made-in-Vegas contender for hit movie status.

Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher invited audiences to "get lucky" with them in the summer comedy "What Happens in Vegas."

And "21," about a group of MIT math whizzes demonstrating their blackjack prowess, premieres Wednesday at ShoWest, with star and producer Kevin Spacey joining co-stars Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne and others on the red carpet. (The movie hits theaters March 28.)

The "21" cast is scheduled to receive an ensemble award Thursday during ShoWest's closing-night banquet.

Other award-winners expected Thursday include Downey (ShoWest's Male Star of the Year), Anne Hathaway (Female Star of the Year), Seth Rogen (Comedy Star of the Year), Abigail Breslin and Emile Hirsch (Female and Male Star of Tomorrow, respectively), Brendan Fraser (Distinguished Decade of Achievement in Film) and Sarah Jessica Parker (Vanguard Award).

For all the glitz and starpower on display, however, there's also serious business being done at ShoWest.

"It's absolutely the premier trade show event," said Kathryn Cress, of projector manufacturer Christie Digital in Cypress, Calif.

"All my partners show up in one place," said Mitch Hershkowitz of the Florida-based online ticketing firm Movietickets.com. "If I have a hundred partners, I don't have to make a hundred different trips."

And for exhibitors from Alejandro Valdes of Mexico's Cinepolis chain to Sture Johansson of Sweden's SF Bio circuit, it's all about the movies coming to their theaters.

"I always walk away from this show inspired," said Ross Entwistle, accepting an award for Australia's Greater Union Organisation as ShoWest's International Exhibitor of the Year. "Bloody tired, mind you, but inspired."

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or (702) 383-0272.