What a Week at CineEurope

DCM's Head of Exhibition, Steve Davis, looks back on a whirlwind week at CineEurope in Barcelona, and shares his top picks from the upcoming film-slate. “Wow! What an amazing week. As a massive film fan, to be able to see what’s coming soon from all the major studios was brilliant. I honestly had to pinch myself for most of the time I was there.

It was a really busy week, and I think most delegates got a lot out of CineEurope. Everyone kept talking about how fast the week went by. For those of you who haven’t attended previously I’d say the largest proportion of the week is spent networking, closely followed by getting to see the up and coming slates and understanding what the companies sitting on the periphery of the industry have to offer. It’s a great event for those who are responsible for booking films, both in terms of seeing what is coming up and building distribution relationships. So if you can find the budget, I truly recommend you start saving for next year now. As mentioned earlier this year, the CEA offer a healthy reduction to first time attendees, which I’m sure they’ll repeat in 2015.

CineEurope, Barcelona 16 - 19 June 2014

With over 100 businesses trading at the exhibition we had some really in interesting meetings about what the future could look like including a number conversations with Box Office systems companies regarding further automated integration to make your lives easier. DCM's Exhibition partners also reported back that it was great to have an opportunity to make contact with new organisations that could help their business. Some companies  they never thought of contacting, and in some cases companies they had not heard of.

The DCM crew had some great meetings with some of our Exhibitors, as well as some soon to be new DCM Exhibitors… more on this soon. We also had some really positive conversations regarding Event Cinema - in terms of potential further revenue generation.

Our very own Phil Clapp did a sterling job as warm up man, welcoming the thousands of delegates on behalf of Union Internationale des Cinemas (UNIC). Alongside the Exhibition in the Convention Centre, is the Forum Auditorium. The building has become one of the landmarks of modern Barcelona. The majestic blue triangle layout is 25m high and houses an impressive 3,140 seats and is directly connected to the Convention Centre by an underground corridor. The Forum holds host to a mixture of movies and distributor slates, all delivered in show stopping style, each one trying to outdo the last.

The films screened were very varied. I think The One Hundred Foot Journey will do really well for a number of our independent sites - Helen Mirren at her best. The film was really well received. We then went Into the Storm in Dolby ATMOS, and you could not help but be totally immersed in this modern disaster movie. I kept expecting Ernest Borgnine and Shelley Winters to walk onto the screen. I also got to watch the 166 minutes that was Transformers 4 - Age of Extinction - you certainly get your money’s worth of screen time - this was also screened just hours before the Hong Kong world première, which felt like a real privilege to be the first audience in the world to watch it. The Dinobots took me right back to my childhood, some of the set locations are beautiful and really fresh and the inimitable Stanley Tucci delivers to his usual flamboyant standard. With all of that and Mark Walberg joining the team I would be shocked if T4 does not outperform its predecessors. I believe Transformers 5 is already in the pipeline. Sadly I missed Sex Tape, and Cameron Diaz, and they also screened the new Steve Carell Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

The trailers of tomorrow didn’t disappoint either. I honestly cannot recall just how many I watched, but I loved every minute. They were peppered with the odd personal message from the likes of Speliberg, Melissa McCarthy and J.J. Abrams, with a great one from Liam Neeson promoting Taken 3 - and yes, if you don’t exhibit Taken 3 “…I  don't know who you are. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills…” There were also a few live appearances. I was not expecting Luc Besson - who walked us through a couple of scenes from Lucy, which look amazing. Also Colin Firth and Taron Egerton introduced Kingsman: The Secret Service - I can’t wait to take my son to see that.

Disney looks set to dominate in 2015. With its portfolio across Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar, Walt Disney Animation and Disney Live action, Into the woods - an amalgamation of a number of children classics with a stellar cast. Other personal highlights, asides from meeting R2D2 and getting a Selfie with some Storm Troopers

DCM IT Director Simon Rose negotiates with some Storm Troopers

Unbroken - the unbelievable true story of an Olympian who becomes a POW looks to be a very powerful film directed by Angelina Jolie. Also The Theory of Everything - Eddie Redmayne’s portrayal of Stephen Hawkins. Even from the trailer you can tell he’ll be a focus come awards season. For me, Interstellar looks a class above. I sat bolt up-right in my seat once I realised it was a new trailer. I really hope this films lives up to the Nolan hype.

Simon Rose, Rebecca Rau and I left on Thursday evening, in time to get back for the Football… the less said about that the better. All in all it was a really good week that provided some very fruitful conversations. We’ll be in touch soon with the outcome of some of these regarding new Exhibitors and further innovations to make your lives easier and generate potential additional revenues.

So I would heartily recommend you flag Monday 22 June to Thursday 25 June 2015 in your calendar now, and we look forward to seeing you there next year.