Christopher Nolan Says “Magical Thinking, Nostalgia, Daydreams” Is “The Only Solid Business Plan” – CinemaCon

CinemaCon 2023 officially came to a close tonight in Las Vegas as NATO presented its Big Screen Achievement Awards to recipients including Christopher Nolan, Emma Thomas, Zendaya, Chris Meledandri and Melissa McCarthy. The mood of the evening continued the common thread of the four-day conference: the celebration and preservation of the theater experience.

Nolan and Thomas received the Spirit of the Industry Award. The Oppenheimer The director said he was walking past a Regal movie theater in New York recently and a young man walking past said, “You’re making the world a better place” and walked on. “The first thing I thought was that my agents never said anything nice to me,” Nolan joked. But then: “I started thinking about all of us who work in film — from the studios, distributors, theater owners, marketers, the people who serve popcorn — we’re all in a process that changes the world in one way or another. definitely good because we all work in the greatest art form ever created… It can combine another person’s subjective experience like a novel, but at the same time it can be combined with the empathic experience of being in a theater be, also feeling what the rest of the audience was feeling, and so I thought, ‘What a wonderful feeling’.

Nolan then admitted, “To be perfectly honest, the young man actually said, ‘You’re making the world a better place, Mr. Sorkin.'” More seriously, he added, “I think the sentiment is still there. It represents not only the great Aaron Sorkin, but all of us who work in film, because films are entertainment, fun, emotion, catharsis, fear, everything. It’s great to be there. We’re all incredibly privileged to be a part of it Those of us who have been more or less unashamedly called to the defense in recent years have often been accused, I have often been accused of magical thinking, nostalgia, daydreaming, rather than a proper business plan, and this has taken over lately . a few years we all realized that when you talk about movies, magical thinking, nostalgia, daydreaming, that’s the good business plan, that’s the only good business plan. It’s movies.” He told exhibitors in the auditorium: “All the dreamy stories that are allowed to come out of this medium are the foundation of your theaters. And that’s why it’s a privilege to work for you. Thank you very much.”

In connection with Oppenheimerthe star-studded drama about the creation of the atomic bomb, which Universal will release in July, Thomas said: world and it’s a terrifying, terrifying process.” She added that now that she and Nolan regularly watch each other and the question, “Why do us this?’”

But the answer will come soon enough, she told viewers, and usually “when we’re standing in the back of one of your theaters watching one of the first paying viewers to see our film … There’s something about having a heard to see what bothers.” power to leave the house, settle in these four walls of the theater and be transported by the businesses that we are told make sense of everything we do.

Afterwards, Zendaya was honored with the Star of the Year Award and told theater owners: “I love what I do so much and I’m so grateful to all of you because without you what I do would have no home. or a place to go.” The final spider man: Come home far from home And No way home Star remembers their first date at the age of 15 was to check out spider man in 3D, adding: “I think in the theater someone can feel that someone is seen there, someone can feel less alone there, someone can escape there, someone can build a new dream there.”

Also among the awardees was Chris Meledandri, CEO and founder of Illumination Movie Super Mario Bros surpassed $900 million worldwide earlier this week on its way to $1 billion. He said he snuck into three different theaters on opening weekend to see how audiences were watching the film. “In the second theater I stood and watched the audience consisting of grandparents, children, couples, people dressed up, just having a wonderful time. It dawned on me that at that point there were 25,000 theaters around the world playing our film and there was a certain level of joy that we were catering to that audience at a time when the world so desperately needed joy .

Meledandri added: “I feel so lucky to work with all of you on this effort. Thank you for being our partners, and as you’ve heard so many times this week, we wouldn’t be here without all of you. This whole art form will not slip through our fingers because everyone here is determined to make it great like never before.”

Cinema Vérité Award winner Melissa McCarthy, who co-stars in Disney’s live action The little mermaid as the underwater villain Ursula said: “It feels a little strange to be resigned by the attitude that encouraged me on my life’s journey… Movies were my inspiration, my educators, my friends.” Not only did they open my eyes to the possibilities of what I could become, and that feeling of being in a theater and experiencing the collective joy, fear and love not only changed how I saw the world, but also how I saw myself. in it. It made me realize from a young age that we are all in this together and we need it now more than ever. We’ve moved away from our shared humanities, but I truly believe that film and storytelling can help bridge that gap.”

The cast also accepted awards joy ride, Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, Stephanie Hsu and Sabrina Wu for the Comedy Ensemble. Park told theater owners, “None of us ever really thought we’d have a place on a big screen in that capacity, and the fact that you wanted it on your screens means so much to us. ” Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, who star in Paramount’s summer release, Transformers: Rise of the Beastswas named Rookie of the Year.