CinemaCon 2012 Pt. 1

I wanted to write this post last week, but after CinemaCon it took me a week to get back in my routine.  I am finally caught up, so now I can share everything about the convention!  Since there is so much to share, I am going to do two parts and post the second one next week.


CinemaCon is a convention held in Las Vegas each year and it is for theatre owners, movie studios, and everyone in between to see what new technology is available, new concession items, upcoming movies, and more.  My parents have been going to this convention, previously named ShoWest, for over 20 years and this was my fourth time attending.  Being a part of this convention really makes me excited to be involved in this industry.  It is a week long reminder of why going to the movies is a wonderful, magical experience, and continues to be for all ages.


We started opening day with a Paramount Pictures presentation.  Sacha Baron Cohen made quite the entrance in costume as The Dictator, which opens on May 16th here at Aksarben Cinema.  We got to see an extended clip from the movie and you found yourself laughing and cringing at the same time, in true Sacha Baron Cohen fashion.  We saw a bit from Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and Chris Rock came out and talked about working with this franchise, and he definitely had everyone laughing.  Next, they presented G.I. Joe: Retaliation and an appearance with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.  He is as cool and charming as they get!  Some other films they have coming out this year are Katy Perry: Part of Me, Paranormal Activity, Not Fade Away, Fun Size, Flight, The Guilt Trip, Rise of the Guardians, and One Shot starring Tom Cruise (one of my favorite clips we saw all week).  That night they also gave Dwayne Johnson the Action Star of the Decade award.  


On Tuesday, we started the day off with the Warner Brothers presentation.  This started off with them talking about Dark Shadows.  I was sitting on the edge of my seat to see if Johnny Depp was going to come out because he rarely does things like this, and guess who walked out from the side of the stage...Johnny Depp and Tim Burton!  We aren't allowed to take pictures in these presentations, otherwise I would have a ton of them!  Pee Wee's Big Adventure was my favorite movie growing up, so it was really cool to see Tim Burton.  Next, we got to see some clips from Rock of Ages, Magic Mike, and The Campaign.  The best part of their presentation was Christopher Nolan coming out to talk about The Dark Knight Rises. He is so sleek and you just want him to keep talking.  We saw a compilation of scenes, and everyone was wanting to see more!  As I am sure you know, TDKR opens on July 20th.  We also got to see about fifteen minutes of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey 3D from Peter Jackson.  There was a lot of talk about this because of the jump to 48 frames per second.  We were the first ones to see the film this way, and it was definitely different.  The new 48 frames per second may need a blog post of it's own.  Next, we saw my favorite compilation of scenes/trailer of the whole week.  I honestly almost started crying while watching it.  The Great Gatsby will be coming out on Christmas day and it will be starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey McGuire, and Carey Mulligan directed by the amazing Baz Luhrman (who also did Moulin Rouge and Romeo & Juliet).  The colors, movement, and costumes are so Luhrman and it was beautiful!  


To finish the day we saw what Disney has coming.  They kicked off with The Avengers, which many of you now know is amazing.  We got to see the fight scene with Thor and Iron Man, broken up by Captain America.  The one that got me really excited was Brave.  We got to see the first 30 minutes in 3D, and it was beautiful.  I tend to get excited anytime there is a new red-head character :)  On June 29th, People Like Us will open starring Chris Pine, who made an appearance, and Elizabeth Banks.  This is going to be a great heartfelt story inspired by true events.  We also got to see Jennifer Garner promoting The Odd Life of Timothy Green, which looks wonderful and sweet.   This one opens on August 15th.  Frankenweenie, a stop motion black and white film by Tim Burton opening this October looks great too.  You immediately fall in love with the little boy and his dog.  They also showed us a clip of Finding Nemo in 3D being re-released September 14th.  The 3D looked great, especially the bubbles in the water!


My next post will include what it was like to hear Martin Scorsese and Ang Lee discuss filmmaking, the award show, and other studio presentations.

The Mini Bar

We have had some exciting new changes for The Bar here at Aksarben Cinema.  Recently, we have added Hennessy, Courvoisier, Merlot, Moscato, a red and a white house wine, Blue Moon Summer Blonde Wheat Ale, Shock Top, Busch Light, Lucky Bucket Wheat, and Lucky Bucket IPA.  We love adding new products, and have something for everyone.


You may have also seen our new 'Mini' Bar in the front lobby near the control room.  We debuted it this past weekend for our customers' use.  We added this to be able to provide our customers with the bar experience in the lobby with a bottled beer and wine selection.  

We also have a new beer cooler in The Bar, the one in the back lobby.  We replaced the popcorn machine with this beautiful cooler.  We are able to expand our selection now because of this added space, which I am really excited about.  Here are some before and after pictures of the project.

Girls Night Out

It has been a few weeks since my last posting, so I am going to catch up a bit.  We have had so many events in the last few weeks, but a couple of my favorites were letting the kids from the Lydia House come again to see a new movie.  We had about 30 kids and staff come see The Lorax, and all had kiddie combos in hand.  Let's not forget about The Hunger Games as well!  For the midnight premiere we had over 1,600 people filling all 10 of our auditoriums.  We absolutely love when a movie like this comes along and we get to have fun with it.  


Last night we hosted our first Girls Night Out event in conjunction with Titanic 3D.  My friend Tracy Ponec is opening Rhylan Lang, a bridal boutique, at Regency Court next month.  She came to me about a month ago asking if we would like to do something like this.  We were all over it from the beginning, but didn't really know what it would turn into.  We ended up getting great support from local businesses that wanted to be a part of the night out.  We had sushi from Ponzu, cupcakes from Jones Bros, chips, salsa, and guacamole from Mojos Smokehouse & Ales, Chris Saub performed, Statement boutique was here selling some accessories, T'eez Salon was here styling our guests hair, Rhylan Lang was displaying one of her beautiful wedding dresses, Megan Christine Photography had a vintage themed photobooth, and STEP Group was here promoting Haute City.  On top of having all of them here, we had some awesome prizes- a gift card to Luvbird, a gift from Statement, a gift card to Aksarben Cinema, passes to Haute City on May 19th, photo sessions with Megan Christine Photography, and a beautiful Swarovski necklace donated by Rhylan Lang.  Here are some pictures from the event!

Be sure to check out all the businesses that were a part of our event!

Rhylan Lang:  http://rhylanlang.com/

Statement: http://www.statementomaha.com/

T'eez Salon: http://www.teezsalon.net/

Megan Christine Photography: http://meghanchristine.com/

Chris Saub: http://chrissaub.com/ 

Jones Bros Cupcakes: http://www.jonesbroscupcakes.com/

Mojos Smokehouse & Ales: http://mojosmokehouse.com/

STEP Group:  http://hautecity.com/ 

One More Great Event in the Books

Last night we hosted a great event for the Anti-Defamation League at the theatre.  They screened a documentary called When We Stop Counting, which focuses on immigration and the school system in Crete, Nebraska.  They did this to a sold out crowd.  They had a very engaging panel to answer questions following the film including the Co-Director, the Crete Superintendent, a Crete Bilingual Guidance Counselor, and a student featured in the film.  They also had someone here ready to help people register to vote, if they haven't done so already.

One of the pictures I posted from the event sparked a few comments about how we do things at Aksarben Cinema, and I kind of took it to heart.  Someone mentioned we are getting too political with our events.  Sure we may swing one way more than the other in that sense, but I don’t feel like we do anything but serve a true, genuine, good purpose.  My family, our staff, and I take a lot of pride in the community outreach we have done in the short time we have been open. 

We don’t discriminate against anyone who comes to us with an idea for an event, and we do the best we can to help them make their event a success.  We have done some great fundraising events for local churches and schools raising money for new computers, food groups raising money to help local farmers, biking groups raising awareness about biking in our community, and the list goes on.  We absolutely love doing events like these because they are fun, always create an exciting atmosphere, and those attending always have a great time.

We have received so many appreciative comments from our customers about everything we have started doing in the theatre, which we invite them to participate in.  One customer this weekend told me they like how easy we make it for them to donate or contribute, and that was our ultimate goal.

If you would like to learn more about the ADL check out their new Facebook page: ADL -Anti-Defamation League (Plains States) and their website: http://regions.adl.org/plains-states/

Donations at the Box Office

Before we opened, we knew we wanted to be able to leverage the amount of customers we were going to have and have something good come out of that.  We decided we were going to collect $1 donations at the box office for a local non-profit and allow our customers to contribute easily, quickly, and locally.  

We had heard about a local organization called Angels Among Us.  They provide financial assistance to families who have a child diagnosed with cancer.  After meeting some of the families being helped and learning more about what they are able to provide, we knew we found an organization we wanted to help as much as we could.  Since we opened we have raised over $9,000 for them and the families they assist.

After being open a couple of months, I was being approached by so many local, worthy organizations.  We decided to open up the program and collect for Angels Among Us every other month and spread the love through the community.  We are still able to provide a lot of financial assistance to them, as well as many organizations I was just learning about.  

We have worked with The Red Cross, American Heart Association, Nebraska Humane Society, Women's Center for Advancement, American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, and Together, Inc since we have opened and raised over $7,500.  In the next year we will be working with Cystic Fibrosis, Youth Emergency Services, Hope Center, Anti-Defamation League, Nebraska Kidney Association, and Hearts United for Animals, and of course Angels Among Us.

For the month of March, we are collecting for Open Door Mission.  My mom and I are starting to get more involved with the Mission, and what they are doing down there is incredible.  We attended a baby shower down there a couple weeks ago collecting new baby items for mothers staying at the Lydia House shelter, which I thought was a fabulous idea.  We were also able to attend their President's Luncheon and learn about what they have happening this year.  They will be completing their newest building soon including a larger kitchen to provide meals, emergency shelter for women, and the men's shelter.  It is fantastic to see how much they have been able to accomplish and see how much the people in the community are standing behind them.  

If you are interested in doing a tour there, definitely give them a call.  They also collect gently used items for clients to shop through in their Timberlake Outreach Center. Next time you are in, please consider donating $1 to Open Door Mission.  

For more information visit their website:  http://www.opendoormission.org/

If you are involved with a local non-profit, and would like to discuss our program, please give me a call at 402-502-1914.  I would be happy to discuss it with you!