At noon today the exhibitor floor opened. You can always tell a lot about a show by the exhibitor floor. You can also tell a lot about the industry by the exhibitor floor.

ShowEast’s floor is crowded with 147 vendors, showcasing their goods, ranging from Popcorn Vendor to Barco-Digital Cinema to Popcorn Vendor. There are a number of furniture companies and the future of theatre seating looks comfortable!

There are Digital projectors for sale. (more on the costs of that later). They are beautiful pieces of equipment! There are 35 mm projectors for sale. They are also quite beautiful! Their booths are a little less flashy and a lot less crowded than their digital rivals, but their sales continue despite the pleas from Hollywood.

The concessions? Booth after booth. Sometimes booth next to booth of popcorn, candy, pretzels, popcorn, nachos, and more popcorn. Apparently theaters sell a lot of popcorn. More than half the booths at this year’s show are dedicated to concessions. And the great new seats are designed to help you spill less of the good stuff.