(photo by Michael Dequina)
While the 2025 edition of CinemaCon did kick off, as usual, with a morning and afternoon devoted to the international motion picture exhibition industry, this was no typical CinemaCon International Day. In keeping with the National Association of Theatre Owners, a.k.a. NATO, changing its name to Cinema United less than two weeks ago, so go the adjustments to their official annual convention. Instead of holding a breakfast event where one award was given out to go along with a pair of addresses, and then a big lunch with more awards and a filmmaker tribute, the two meals were consolidated into a single early morning function, with what had always been one of the more notable awards of the week, International Filmmaker of the Year, apparently discontinued.
Laura Houlgatte, CEO,International Union of Cinemas (UNIC)
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
After a half hour or so where attendees could eat their self-serve breakfast items at open seating tables (thankfully, every year after 2022 has not been a continental "breakfast"), the morning's moderator, Laura Houlgatte, CEO, International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), got the proceedings officially rolling with the customary sponsor remarks. First up was Dolby, represented by Michael Archer, vice president of cinema sales and partner management. He trumpeted both the cutting edge technological advances and continued widespread adoption of their Atmos audio, Vision HDR projection, and the deluxe Dolby Cinema platform (featuring custom designed auditoriums showing films in combined Dolby Vision + Atmos) worldwide. With the last product, beyond mere technology adoption growth, he also noted the growth in worldwide film titles being released to be shown for Dolby Cinema auditoriums, with studios around the globe releasing an average of 55 total annual releases in the format. This growth has yielded dividends at the box office, with all 50 of the top worldwide grossers of the last 5 years having been released in Dolby Vision + Atmos.
The morning's second sponsor, Comscore, was less about self-promotion and more about offering more objective information, courtesy of senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, who related a number of statistics about the ongoing box office recovery. International recovery continues to outpace domestic, but with seven of the top ten films of 2024 having been released from June to December, growth remains steady across the board.
Dergarabedian was then appropriately tasked to give out the morning's first award, one usually given during the day's lunch event, for International Box Office Achievement. With blockbusters such as Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Moana 2, it should come as no surprise that this award went to TThe Walt Disney Studios, accepted by senior vice president of international film distribution, Jeffrey Forman. In the year 2024, Disney grossed $5.46 billion at the global box office, with $3 billion of that from international markets, becoming the first studio to cross that overseas benchmark since 2019.
Jeffrey Forman, senior vice president,international film distribution, The Walt Disney Studios,
International Box Office Achievement honoree
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of distribution for last year's winner of that award, Universal Pictures International, presented the morning's second award, Global Achievement in Exhibition. This went to Tim Richards, founder and CEO of United Kingdom- and Ireland-based chain Vue International, who was able to thrive amid the twin crises of the pandemic and the labor strikes by investing in innovation in technology and amenities at his cinemas. Despite serving in the exhibition industry from long before he even founded Vue in 1999, Richards emphasized that this was not a retirement award, and he is "just getting warmed up."
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of distribution,Universal Pictures International;
Tim Richards, founder & CEO, Vue International,
Global Achievement in Exhibition honoree
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Handling the exhibition keynote this year was Valmir Fernandes, president of Cinemark International. He led off continuing a point made earlier by Dergarabedian: international box office recovery is outpacing domestic, with Latin America leading the way. He sees the way to continue the recovery is through the combination of specific efforts from both the studio and exhibitor sides. For the former's part, a supply of diverse wide releases, marketing campaigns tailored to regions, and a significant theatrical window can help the latter, who then can create compelling moviegoing experiences via seating, technology, and food offerings; and enhance their own marketing and theatre loyalty programs.
Stephen Basil-Jones, executive vice president and head of international marketing for Sony Pictures, delivered the exhibition keynote address. He related a number of observations about the motion exhibition market in its current state: (1) big films have been performing bigger, and mid-tier films have been performing smaller; (2) audiences want a "guaranteed" good time; (3) moviegoing is a social experience; (4) the movies need to feel fresh and unique; (5) young audiences drive the biggest hits; (6) older audiences have not been as quick to return to cinemas; and (7) movies need to feel like an event. To these points, he advised these next steps: (1) more variety in the types of films being released theatrically; (2) better marketing tactics, including localized ones taken by individual theatres for the specific communities they serve; and (2) widespread improvements in cinema technologies and amenities.
Stephen Basil-Jones, executive vice president andhead of international marketing, Sony Pictures
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
With another of International Day's usual lunchtime awards, the Passepartout award, which honors to an industry executive who demonstrates dedication and commitment to the international marketplace being skipped this year along with the aforementioned International Filmmaker of the Year, the final award for the 2025 International Day was the Award of Excellence in Cinema. Joe Chang, president and CEO of the Taiwan-based Ambassador Theatres, received the award from one of the honorees earlier in the morning, Disney's Jeffrey Forman. A tribute video to Chang featuring filmmakers Ang Lee and John Woo as well as distribution execs from Sony Pictures, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros. preceded Chang's spirited speech where he reminisced about the impact of watching -- and, most importantly, hearing -- the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, and he coined a phrase that Cinema United should adopt as a slogan: "Enjoy movie, enjoy life."
Jeffrey Forman, senior vice president,international film distribution, The Walt Disney Studios;
Joe Chang, president & CEO, Ambassador Theatres,
Award of Excellence in Cinema honoree
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
(photo by Michael Dequina)
Stay tuned here and on my Instagram, TikTok, Spill (user name: @twotrey23 ), and Twitter all week for ongoing coverage of all the goings-on at CinemaCon 2025!
(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski and the CinemaCon PR team for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew and Harry Medved and the Cinema United team)
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