This year, ShowCanada will do more than just tease Canadian exhibitors with coming movies and trailers from the major studios and indie Canadian distributors.

Attendees at the convention, being held in Banff April 29 to May 2, will also preview new billiard tables and bowling alleys, VIP auditoriums and party rooms, as Canadian multiplexes continue to undergo a facelift.

Dan McGrath, EVP of Cineplex Galaxy Cinemas, says exhibitors will be told in Banff to diversify their entertainment offerings and audiences, as they move beyond a traditional dependence on Hollywood movies to bring Canadians out to the local multiplex.

‘We have to provide a different experience – within the same box – that recognizes that we have different demographics,’ he says.

On display will be the new and emerging digital technology that’s driving the cinema of the future.

‘We’re in a transition to digital as we are about to come upon a film-less society. There’s lots to talk about as we get people ready,’ says Adina Lebo, ShowCanada executive director.

The industry was already shaken up as Cineplex began to fill its auditoriums on Saturday afternoons with content from the Metropolitan Opera, while Empire Theatres is screening performances from the Royal Opera House.

Even kids and their parents paid a premium to see the Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour 3D concert.

It’s new digital projection systems that are making the alternative entertainment offerings possible. In that vein, ShowCanada will also offer a peek at 3D cinema, which is set to explode in 2009 with a slew of Hollywood releases tailored to the new digital technology.

‘We are past the tipping point, and we will see the rapid deployment of digital projectors. They will transform movie theaters into more than movie theaters, and open them up as never before,’ says industry consultant Howard Lichtman of the Lightning Group. He points to stereoscopic 3D, new Imax digital projectors and rival 3D projectors from Dolby and others that Canadian cinema chains are increasingly acquiring.

Lichtman adds that an imminent deal between the Hollywood studios and the big three U.S. chains – Regal Entertainment, Cinemark and AMC Entertainment – will speed the conversion to digital projection and 3D in Canada.

Larry O’Reilly, EVP of theater development at Imax, will be at the conference to convey developments in large-format digital-projection systems, while Unolink president Daniel Benaim will unveil the latest in digital signage and programming for cinema interiors away from the main screens.

For example, party rooms at multiplexes can put kids content on LED flat screens for birthday parties, or the screens can project images of paintings by Miro or Chagall for cocktail parties.

Meanwhile, John Fithian, president and CEO of the U.S.-based National Association of Theater Owners, will return to ShowCanada to brief delegates on other hot-button issues, including release windows and piracy.

Issues closer to home will also get an airing. Organizational consultant Giselle Kovary will tell exhibitors how to recruit and retain staff in a booming Western Canadian economy.

‘We usually do panels on marketing and online consumers. But we’re out west, and exhibitors have a challenge to keep employees because of the booming oil business,’ Lebo explains.

Lichtman, in his annual state-of-the-industry address, will tout a rebound in box-office fortunes in 2007, and a possible record year in 2008.

But both French- and English-language Canadian films released in 2007 faced heavy sledding in a crowded market for specialty indie releases.

To help Canadian indie distributors and exhibitors capture the public’s imagination with indigenous films, ShowCanada will devote much of May 1 to previewing coming homegrown releases, including Kari Skogland’s The Stone Angel.

A complete event schedule is available at www.showcanada.com.