Posted in: Movies, News | Tagged: cinemacon, movies, trade show

The CinemaCon Show Floor is the Most Obvious Victim of the Pandemic

When it comes to CinemaCon, the effects of the pandemic can be felt everything. It's not just the mask-wearing or the fancy orange bracelet we had to get when we got here to prove we were either vaccinated or tested negative. It's the way that no talent and sometimes even executives did not come to the show at all, and the presentations are considerably smaller and more low-key than they have been in the recent past. There are usually full screenings of movies at CinemaCon, but this year there were three [at least, Lionsgate has not happened at the time of writing]. However, the place where the pandemic is the most apparent is on the show floor. The CinemaCon show floor is a fun little place where you'll out that no one cares more about your ass than people who make theater chairs and so much candy. We got some pictures of the show floor for this year, but they don't even show desolate and empty everything was.

There are usually multiple booths on the CinemaCon trade show floor that have fancy popcorn bins and cups or hotdog holders that look like the Infinity Gaunlet. However, this year we could only find two booths, RMC Media and Golden Link-Ping. And while their offerings were very cool, it was significantly fewer offerings than usual.

As you can see, there are some cool offerings here, but they aren't that many, and some of the coolest stuff is for movies that have already come out. This is not the fault of anyone here, for the record. The convention was always going to be scaled down, and CinemaCon 2022 is already scheduled for March, which isn't even that far away. And while many studios and people here are talking about the optimism game and that everything is going to be fine, there is this lingering sense that maybe things aren't going to be back to normal anytime soon and that they might get worse before it even starts to get better. They are putting on a brave front, but the fact that entire studios weren't willing to send someone to even intro their reels for their presentations? Well, let's just say that speaks volumes.

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