Ottawa: New film formats, new customer expectations, new frozen treats. ShowCanada ’97 delegates got a taste of it all.

The overriding message soaked up by attendees of the annual motion picture theater industry confab (Ottawa May 6-9) was the breakneck pace of change, and the equally accelerated rate of expansion.

With the resurgence of full-size screens, new technologies shifting labor distribution, and a storm of new screens on the build, Cineplex Odeon executive vp Howard Lichtman treated the crowd to record North American box office and attendance figures. In Canada alone, box office revenue for 1996 was the highest it’s been since 1991, and attendance reached 71.6 million.

Nonetheless, a family theme prevailed as theater owners and operators, suppliers, distributors, and an assortment of studio reps mixed seminars and screenings with outings designed to showcase the Ottawa/Hull region and the tulips therein. Fortunately, the delegates’ enthusiasm weathered long delays, ill-timed screenings, and general registration confusion.

The agenda for this year’s ShowCanada (cochaired by Dina Lebo and Cathy Watson of the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada) was as diverse as the range of delegates. The likes of Columbia TriStar, Warner Bros., PolyGram, Alliance Releasing and 20th Century Fox hosted lunches, dinners and cocktails (giving the companies a chance to trot out their promo reels for a captive audience) and the seminars were geared towards the crowd of theater owner/operators.

Topics for the seminars included an update on exhibitor problems with polyester film, the projected North American rollout for 6000-foot reels and related expectations for reduced labor costs, what exhibitors need to know about the cdp (compact digital print), and a discussion with Dolby Lab rep Robert Warren on consumer response to newer, louder sound standards.

Taking ‘the return of the big screen’ to the next level, Larry O’Reilly, Imax Corp.’s director of corporate development for Canada and the western u.s., addressed delegates on the benefits of adding an imax sr screen to an existing multiplex.

‘In order to keep from losing ground to increasingly sophisticated home entertainment,’ said O’Reilly, ‘you need to differentiate your movie house from your competitor’s.’

Hoping to make inroads into more cities, Imax has engineered the smaller sr venue with 270 seats, making it more suitable for second-tier markets. It’s expected the first imax sr venue will be built in New Brunswick by the end of this year. Currently, Imax has 149 full-size or ‘Grand’ theaters in operation in 22 countries.

Vendors at the ShowCanada trade show, some of whom made the trip from the u.s., were pushing everything from plush seats, box office data systems and foyer displays to soft pretzels, ice cream and Slush Puppies.