CinemaCon 2018, Day 4: Big Screen Achievement Awards

(photo by Michael Dequina)

With all business matters and breaking news, from the studios selling their product for the year to come to vendors peddling the latest in cinema technologies and concessions offerings to exhibitors voicing and tending to their various industry concerns, firmly in the rear view, CinemaCon 2018 came to its close with the Thursday night, no-worries tradition of the Big Screen Achievement Awards, honoring notable acting and filmmaking talent, most of whom involved in upcoming releases featured throughout the week at the various studio presentations. This year's complete list of honorees:

• Breakthrough Producer of the Year: Gabrielle Union
• Action Star of the Year: Taron Egerton
• Breakthrough Performer of the Year: Lil Rel Howery
• Cinema Spotlight Award: Anna Kendrick
• Director of the Year: Ryan Coogler
• Award of Excellence in Acting: Felicity Jones
• Female Star of Tomorrow: Tiffany Haddish
• CinemaCon Vanguard Award: Jonah Hill
• CinemaCon Visionary Award: Jack Black
• Cinema Icon Award: Samuel L. Jackson
• Comedy Star of the Year: Kate McKinnon
• Male Star of the Year: Benicio del Toro
• Female Star of the Year: Dakota Johnson
• Lifetime Achievement Award: Jodie Foster

As in previous years, a pre-awards show press conference at the OMNIA Nightclub adjacent to the show venue of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace. Celebrity arrival times being unpredictable and still photographers and television news crews on the carpet being the awards winners' first, top priority stop, not every award ever stops by for the press conference stop. That said, this year marked an all-time low as far as honorees coming through, with only five of the fourteen stopping by. Below are the full videos of the quintet's sessions.

Taron Egerton, Action Star of the Year

Lil Rel Howery, Breakthrough Performer of the Year

Jodie Foster, Lifetime Achievement Award recipient

Anna Kendrick, Cinema Spotlight Award recipient,
with her A Simple Plan director Paul Feig

Felicity Jones, Award of Excellence in Acting recipient

Unlike last year, there was perfect honoree attendance at the Big Screen Achievement Awards show proper. (Director of the Year for 2017, Jordan Peele, had to miss the ceremony due to high winds in Los Angeles preventing air travel to Los Vegas in time.) Natalie Morales, host of Access and co-host of its daytime spinoff Access Live, returned as host for show for the second consecutive year.

(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski, Corey Barger, and the entire team at Rogers & Cowan for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew)

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