Hollywood Industry Shindig Downsizes

ShoWest, the big Hollywood convention held every year in Las Vegas, appears to be downsizing alongside the economy this year. While last year’s gathering included screenings of blockbusters like Transformers and Kung Fu Panda, this year no major titles made the cut. The headliners include The Proposal with Sandra Bullock, DreamWorks’ The Soloist, and a few other relatively small films. Attendance to the conference is down 15 percent to 2,400, due in part to the absence of studio executives, who are rumored to be lying low so as not to draw attention to their studios’ profits. Usually the MPAA releases industry stats the week before ShoWest to fuel the insider festivities, but this year it didn’t want to call attention to Hollywood’s high profits in case it might scare away a potential federal bailout.