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SPECIAL REPORT: Great States Recap<br />
BIG SKY, BIG "HEARTS"<br />
Straight From Scenic Kalispell, Mont.,<br />
Highlights of Great States 2001 \» a,,„ic, km^s,,,,<br />
GREAT STATES DAY ONE:<br />
GALA OPENING PARTY<br />
Attendees Somber as National Tragedy<br />
Strikes on Opening Day<br />
Conventioneers and staff alike had<br />
[dent) on their minds as they congregated<br />
for the first annual Great States<br />
Theatre Convention, held September 1 l-<br />
(9 in Kalispell. Mont. The gathering,<br />
which marked the unification of the<br />
Rock) Mountain and Geneva conventions,<br />
coincided with the terrorist attacks<br />
on the World Trade Center in New York<br />
and the Pentagon in Washington.<br />
D.C., shocking and<br />
saddening those in attendance.<br />
In his welcoming remarks.<br />
Great States co-chairman Dan<br />
Klusmann indicated that<br />
approximately 80 of 300 expected<br />
attendees had not<br />
arrived due to<br />
the natic<br />
cancellation of all flight<br />
been quite a day." Klusmann<br />
said to the group. "I think we'll<br />
alwavs remember it." But he enc<br />
those present to have as "'enjoyable time<br />
as possible" before asking for a moment<br />
of silence "for what happened today."<br />
and said to "say our prayers."<br />
Meanwhile the conventioneers did<br />
indeed try to concentrate on the reason<br />
for the gathering. Klusmann's remarks<br />
were followed by a good-natured prize<br />
giveaway from the golf tournament held<br />
in the morning in which the last-place finishers<br />
walked away with brand-new<br />
wedges while other winners received hotpink<br />
pony heads with which to cover their<br />
clubs. Discussions around the dinner<br />
tables included tales about bear sightings<br />
on the show-sponsored Glacier Park tour.<br />
The cocktail party was followed by a<br />
screening of Buena Vista's 'Big<br />
[rouble " Klusmann warned conventioneers<br />
that the film is a comedy that<br />
contains a plot about a bomb and a<br />
plane. He added that given the day's<br />
events, the studio had pulled the pic<br />
from its release slate—it had been due in<br />
theatres in September—to next year.<br />
DAY TWO: STARS UNDER THE<br />
BIG SKY AWARDS BANQUET<br />
Great States Honors<br />
Cinemark's Tim Warner<br />
The Great States awards banquet<br />
took on a roast-like tone as convention<br />
co-chairmen Dan Klusmann<br />
and Larry Hanson and<br />
Founders Award winner Tim<br />
Warner had a good time at the<br />
expense of each other and<br />
_ themselves. Still, it was clear<br />
^ HhH lnat tnese men 'lave tne utmost<br />
respect for each other, having<br />
all been involved with the<br />
Great States Theatre Convention<br />
in its earlier incarnation as<br />
the Rocky Mountain Theatre<br />
Convention since its very inception.<br />
In his acceptance speech, Warner.<br />
president of Cinemark International,<br />
paraphrased Will Rogers, saying. "I've<br />
left this industry better than I found it."<br />
Having traveled the world introducing<br />
the modern cinema to<br />
far-off<br />
places, he said, "The thing I'm<br />
most proud of is a whole new<br />
generation of people that I've<br />
introduced to what I feel is a<br />
great industry. I've tried to<br />
pass that love on to them."<br />
Unfortunately, like many<br />
conventioneers. Distributor of<br />
the Year awardee Wayne<br />
Lewellen, president of distribution<br />
for Paramount Pictures,<br />
was unable m be m attendance<br />
event in his honor. Warnei<br />
co-awardee, "Wayne does a great job<br />
working with exhibitors and his company....<br />
He has had the same people working<br />
for him for a number of years. That<br />
says a lot about him."<br />
The evening's festivities were followed<br />
by a screening of Warner Bros.'<br />
"Hearts in Atlantis," starring Anthony<br />
Hopkins. The presentation was in 35mm<br />
rather than digital<br />
as promoted due to<br />
the ongoing transportation difficulties,<br />
But the conventioneers seemed taken<br />
with the poignant drama and chuckled<br />
especially boisterously at the line.<br />
"Women. Can't live with 'em. Can't live<br />
without 'em. Can't shoot 'em— at least<br />
not outside of Montana."<br />
DAY THREE:<br />
BOXOFFICE CONFERENCE<br />
Panelists Diseuss State of the Industry<br />
NATO chairman John Fithian. who<br />
was schedule to deliver an address on the<br />
state of the industry, was among those<br />
who could not attend the Great States<br />
convention for obvious reasons and sent<br />
his regrets. Belinda Judson, executive<br />
director of Mid-States NATO, was asked<br />
to speak in his place, and the two had a<br />
detailed phone conversation about what<br />
he would like to have conveyed himself<br />
to the conventioneers.<br />
Among the topics addressed<br />
was the economic state of the<br />
industry. Via Judson, Fithian<br />
declared. "We are in<br />
the recovery<br />
stage." The national screen<br />
count is down bv about 2.(100<br />
since last year, and box office is<br />
up He offered a word o\' caution,<br />
however, indicating that<br />
there are always places that<br />
need new theatres. On the governmental<br />
from. Fithian communicated<br />
Ins (hanks to exhibitors lor enforcing the
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