Moviegoers may be getting their golf clubs out the next time a Hollywood blockbuster comes to town.

With a downturn at the ticket wicket in Canada, particularly in English-speaking cities, delegates at the 20th anniversary ShowCanada, which kicks off for four days in Victoria starting April 26, will be advised that adding some putting to the picture-viewing could be one way to revitalize the sagging exhibition industry.

That's according to Adina Lebo, executive director of the Motion Picture Theatre Associations of Canada, which organizes the annual convention and trade show that will host an expected 800 exhibitors, distributors, producers and theatrical suppliers. Lebo sees the recent box office plunge as simply part of a regular cyclical downturn.

"Exhibition has to reinvent itself every 10 years or so. The movie palaces with stadium seating and the comfy chairs were one reincarnation in the 1990s. Before that, theaters moved to shopping plazas from the street corners," she says. "I think you are going to see theaters become actual entertainment destination places. You may see bowling alleys and golf courses or driving ranges, expanded restaurant choices and play areas."

Lebo says that after years of talk, digital cinema has finally arrived, and that this new technology will allow for easy delivery of a more diversified in-theater viewing experience that will incorporate screenings of concerts, fashion shows and sporting events.

Cineplex Entertainment VP of business development Brad LaDouceur will discuss some of these alternative products on a ShowCanada panel on digital cinema.

Meanwhile, Raffaele Papalia, president of indie Quebec theater chain Ciné Entreprise and MPTAC chair, will discuss the creation of the Independent Digital Buying Group, which will enable Canada's independent exhibitors to get volume discounts. There are about 1,500 independent screens in Canada that could align. A similar group under the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) has signed on 4,000 American independent screens.

Howard Lichtman, president of consultancy company Lightning Group, says that this year his annual state-of-the-industry presentation will be different "because we are coming out of a slump and we have to deal with those issues."

Like Lebo, Lichtman believes the box office plunge isn't symbolic of a general demise of the movie theater. He ties the downturn to poor product and bad marketing rather than to young people favoring the Internet, video games and DVDs.

He says that box office was down around 7% across Canada in 2005, compared with 6% in the U.S. He is in the process of crunching the 2006 numbers so far, which he will present at the convention.

"What I am going to do is attempt to dispel the myths around the Internet and DVDs as being the main reason for lower movie theater attendance. I'm going to join the camp of people who suggest that the slump is no more than a historic reoccurrence of cyclicality in the industry," he states.