CINEMACON
DAY 1
CinemaCon (whose motto is "The world goes to the movies, the movie world goes to Cinemacon") is the world's largest movie industry convention, and has been ongoing in Las Vegas for many years. It is run by NATO, which is the North American Theatre Owners, so the attendance is in the thousands and from everywhere in the world. The distribution side of the movie business, which includes studio heads and producers, directors and stars, screenwriters and filmmakers, all come to Las Vegas every year and mingle with the Exhibitors who show films in towns across America and the world in their theatres.
And there is a trade show so large it is probably bigger than 50% of the towns in America, featuring everything from the latest in digital technology, which is moving up to 48 frames and 60 frames per second, to popcorn poppers, soda companies, and anything and everything to do with movie theatres.
And of course, being Las Vegas, the entire week is celebrated with top shelf everything. Studios put on huge events, attended by thousands, and all are fed fantastic food and offered wines, beers and alcohol from the entire planet. Everyone comes to CinemaCon, and many deals are made, meetings are forever ongoing, and the fun never stops. Today was Day 1, and it was spectacular.
Paramount Pictures celebrated and kicked off its 100 year anniversary of becoming a studio at the annual movie industry convention in Las Vegas, CinemaCon.
Paramount is the only movie studio actually still in Hollywood, and still at 5555 Melrose Avenue, and if you drive by you can see the famous Melrose Gate that was featured in many of their films. Paramount set a studio record last year with $5 billion 
in revenue, according to Rob Moore, of Paramount.
in revenue, according to Rob Moore, of Paramount.At CinemaCon, it was a love fest, as the studio presented its product lineup for the year with 20-30 minute glimpses of what was coming. And Paramount has all winners, that is for sure and all will be huge at box office, that is how good they are.
First, directer John Choo brought out "GI Joe- Retaliation," and what an epic this is! Scenes that will blow you away and a plot that was so original for such a tentpole movie were all there. Choo said he played with GI Joes as a child, and had so many times where he was saving the entire world, and this was an extension of that where he created a whole new word that needed to be saved
And then the star, Duane "The Rock" Johnson appeared, set the crowd ablaze when Choo referred to him as Franchise Viagra, as he "brings everybody's game up, no matter what." Johnson was also given an award as Best Action star of the past decade.
The Rock referred to himself as a Bamf, which you can guess what it stands for, and the film is just spectacular. Johnson shared how he grew up in Charlotte, NC, and how the first story that made an impression on him was Indy Jones, and he wanted to be Indy, so full of adventure, so everything, and he said he had an emotional connection to Indy Jones and in this film, his own dreams as an eight-year-old boy came to life and he made them even bigger than they were then.
A great line from the film was "The world ain't saving itself - we are." And my god wait till you see what is prepared in this film, It definitely will blow you away. And... the surprise was the appearance in the film of Bruce Willis! As a teammate of the Rock! And he was at his best.
Chris Rock and Jeffery Katzenberg appeared and presented "Madagascar 3 - Europe's Most Wanted" and Chris Rock was hilarious in saying he was "pissed off about the Rock winning". Chris Rock did a piece on how great M3 is, and compared it to Spiderman, and every other "piece of garbage" he joked.
Let me assure you that Madagascar 3 was hilarious, with a great story of some animals trying to get out of Europe and take offs on everything from Steve McQueen to Casablanca to the best take-off on Rosa Klebb, of James Bond fame in "From Russia With Love."
Katzenberg also presented, "The Guardian", a Christmas film in 3D, starring Sandman, St Nick, Easter bunny, Tooth Fairy and Jack Frost as the stars with voices by everyone from Alec Baldwin to Hugh Jackman. This one was so great it was unreal, a story of hope, and how it is stolen by the Bogeyman, and how it is restored by the rest of the gang, and was a treasure.
But when Tom Cruise cruised in and showed about 20 minutes of his Christmas time film, Oblivion", where he plays Jack Reacher, the psycho-action detective, the place blew apart. Cruise said in the book the character is 6'5", and though he wasn't that height, the director "thought I was the right guy to drive four cars and kick the shit out 
of the bad guys."
of the bad guys." And drive he does, in a red SS, with better driving scenes that "Bullet" and any other car movie you can think of. This film may be the biggest of the year.
But the absolute highlight was the appearance in full regalia of Sasha Baron Cohan, who took the audience by storm with hilarious jokes and remarks in character to his role in the film. This one I can't explain. It is over the top, it is outrageous, but it is perhaps the funniest film in history, and the dialogue and plot are so great, this guy is a genius! And there is not one PC line in the film and he offends everyone with such amazing dexterity that the entire audience laughed for half and hour before the move.
In the film he plays an arab-type dictator who kills anyone around. Now that's a character arc to work with! In character, Cohan said, "Roger Ebert loved the film and gave it two thumbs up, and he pulled two thumbs up out of his pocket. And that was the tame portion of the show!
Tomorrow brings several more studios. And the excitement continues. And the fun.
Mark Sevi contributed to this report.
