Boxoffice Pro Q1 2021

INDUSTRY CENTURY IN EXHIBITION
“Like many of our readers,
we view the ‘brave new world’
of ‘cyberspace’ with what
we consider to be a certain
healthy skepticism.”
Pro with great enthusiasm, despite its
numerous glitches, was the installation
of the first Cinetouch kiosks in Cineplex
Odeon theaters in Toronto in March 1995.
“It’s called Cinetouch, and it’s going to
revolutionize the way moviegoers choose
movies,” wrote the magazine’s Canadian
correspondent, Shlomo Schwartzberg.
Throughout the decade, no other
technological development garnered
as much curiosity as the internet. In
November 1994, a Boxoffice Pro writer
defined this elusive new technology. “The
internet comprises more than 20,000
computer networks in 150 countries and
has over 25 million users worldwide. The
internet provides information in both
an exclusively text-based format and
in a multimedia format,” he wrote. As
it became increasingly clear that the
trend was here to stay, understanding
the internet became a central mission for
the magazine. In an editorial in October
1995, Greene elaborated: “We’ve made
informing you about developments on the
‘information superhighway’ a part of our
mandate, not because we’re particularly
obsessed with this stuff (like many of our
readers, we view the ‘brave new world’ of
‘cyberspace’ with what we consider to be a
certain healthy skepticism) but because—
whatever their current status—many
of the new ‘leading-edge’ information
transmission technologies may eventually
have a direct effect on the way exhibition
conducts business.” One of these effects
was the emergence of e-commerce. A
growing number of profiles of and ads
for companies like Moviefone showed
that virtual teleticketing and the ability
to book tickets online 24/7 was beginning
to intrigue exhibitors. “Patrons like
it because there’s no fuss—just a site
and a few keystrokes. Exhibitors like it
because it extends their box office into
the multi-ticketing arena, affording
greater coverage and helping translate a
cinemagoing impulse into a final ticketsales
transaction,” noted one writer in
November 1999.
Exhibitors also realized the importance
of the internet in finding information
about movies and theaters before
one’s visit. Several theater owners and
managers reported that they received
incessant requests from patrons that they
set up websites. Contributor Christine
James wrote in February 1997, “More
and more, modern-day moviegoers are
turning on their computers and seeking
out that ubiquitous https:// prefix to find
the information that they need to decide
where and when they’re going to see the
latest Hollywood blockbusters.” In 1997,
NATO initiated an ambitious plan to
take all of exhibition into the Digital Age.
Through an alliance with Times Mirror
Company, NATO set up “Hollywood
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