A Vegas Working Vacation at ShoWest

It was a class trip, Hollywood-style. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Mel Gibson, Meg Ryan, Dustin Hoffman, Costa-Gavras, George Clooney, Danny DeVito, Robert Zemeckis, Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Jodie Foster, Julia Roberts and Joel Schumacher, just for starters, boarded the Warner Bros. jet earlier in the week for Las Vegas’ annual ShoWest theater owners’ convention where, good soldiers all, they helped the studio peddle its wares.

In a cavernous ballroom at Bally’s Hotel, Crystal and Williams, who will star in Warners’ “Father’s Day” later this year, warmed up a crowd whose tolerance for long lines and rubber chicken was wearing thin. “Is this enough foreplay for you?” the duo asked Terry Semel, Warners’ co-chief executive officer, who hosted the event. The executive shook his head no. “We’ll keep on dancing,” the comedians replied.

It comes with the turf, said James Woods, a star of the sci-fi thriller “Contact.” “If you cash a check of theirs, you have a responsibility to stand tall and sing the praises of the project,” he said. “At MIT, we used to call it a ‘non-zero-sum game’--a win-win situation. They get us to promote their movies. We get to hang out with friends and feel like part of a community.”

Angela Bassett thought the experience broadened her perspective a bit. “You never think about the global scale of the industry, how people playing your film abroad help you get your next job,” she said. “This is the business of the business, right here.”

At times, to be sure, the glitz obscured that reality. For when Hollywood meets Vegas, understatement takes a backseat. Amid the clamor of one-armed bandits, the 9,000 attendees were inundated with T-shirts, caps and other paraphernalia. At the New Line Cinema lunch, middle-aged men had their pictures taken with four platinum-haired, negligee-clad actresses featured in “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.”

“ShoWest has gotten unwieldy. . . . It’s experiencing growing pains,” said Phil Lassila, owner of the Sun Basin theater chain in Wenatchee, Wash., echoing a familiar refrain.

“It’s gotten so big, some people had to watch the studio product reels in a video room. Why don’t they save them the air fare and just send them a tape?”

Still, said New Regency CEO David Matalon, from a corporate vantage point, the payoff is there. “Beneath all the flash, meetings go on from morning to night,” he said. “Though alliances are in place, they’re subject to modification. A theater owner might ask for more product in Kansas City in return for his support in Florida. He may also request a discount if a certain picture isn’t doing well.”

Theater owners, too, said they got bang for their bucks--$650 for the 3 1/2-day affair. “Seeing the film reels helps us start planning, matching films to the audience and getting the word out,” said Martin Griego, a promotion executive for the Encino-based Mann Theater chain. “Seeing the stars is another incentive, especially for the smaller guys.”

Andy Garcia, star of “Night Falls on Manhattan,” begged for exhibitor support--in no uncertain terms. “I’m the guy chosen to go up against the sequel to ‘Jurassic Park,’ ” he said at the Paramount dinner. “I’m available for any special favors for the women in the room--and, considering the task at hand, for the men, as well.”

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Those who hung in until the end attended Thursday night’s ShoWest Awards, broadcast on TNT. Among the honorees: Winona Ryder and Denzel Washington (actor and actress of the year); Elizabeth Hurley and Cuba Gooding Jr. (best supporting actress and actor); Schumacher (director); Arnon Milchan (producer); Claire Danes and “One Fine Day’s” Alex D. Linz (stars of tomorrow); Albert Brooks and Monica Johnson (writers); and Schwarzenegger (humanitarian of the year.) Moviegoers voted “The Rock” best picture. Will Smith won the international box-office award.

Some industry insiders say that ShoWest is held too early in the year for studios to preview complicated special-effects-laden summer releases. At late October’s ShoEast, holiday releases are ready and five or six pictures are shown. “We didn’t have footage from ‘The Lost World’--and we didn’t want to single out one film,” said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal which, like Disney and MGM/UA, decided against organized “presentations” this year.

The single-film approach was precisely the one adopted by 20th Century Fox, however. The focus was its first animated feature, “Anastasia,” around which they created a 45-minute show. Under the supervision of marketing president Bob Harper, two tents the size of a football field were set up. One contained a 60-foot-by-90-foot ice rink on which skaters, choreographed by former world champion Randy Gardner, performed between clips of the film.

Bill Mechanic, chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, said after the show, “In the end, this is less about bookings than about making theater owners part of the process. If they don’t believe, the public won’t believe.”

Major studios routinely spend more than $1 million for their product reels, plus the cost of transporting the stars.

“Since ShoWest has become a media event, it’s a chance to sell to the public, too,” said Mitch Goldman, New Line’s marketing and distribution chief. “But whether it’s worth the time and money, who knows? We thought it was important to be in people’s faces when the majors were. We may rethink that policy next year.”