Ebert and Roeper on Board With ShoWest 2002; Famed Film Critics to Make Appearance at Confab.

Entertainment Editors

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Nov. 28, 2001

Respected film critics and co-hosts of the top-rated, nationally syndicated show "Ebert & Roeper," Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper, will be featured guests at ShoWest 2002 and will participate in an event on Wednesday, March 6, where they will review selected marketing campaigns and trailers for upcoming summer films, it was announced today by Robert Sunshine, co-chairman of Sunshine Group Worldwide, the company that manages ShoWest.

"We are so excited that Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper will be part of the programming at ShoWest 2002," said Sunshine. "With their unique brand of reviewing and distinct charm and humor, this event will surely be a hit with all the delegates."

Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper are co-hosts of Buena Vista Television's "Ebert & Roeper," which appears on more than 200 stations, and continues to rank as the top-rated weekly syndicated half-hour on television.

Ebert and Roeper continue the show's tradition of reviewing films in their own format: two people who go to a movie and then have a lively discussion about what they've seen. They then assign it either the coveted "thumbs up," one of film criticism's most trusted imprimaturs, or the dreaded "thumbs down."

Ebert is a Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago's WLS-TV, and the author of more than 15 books, including the forthcoming "The Great Movies," "Roger Ebert's Movie Yearbook," "I Hated, Hated, HATED This Movie," "Roger Ebert's Book of Film" and the best-selling "Ebert's Bigger Little Movie Glossary." Ebert is also the host of the live pre- and post-Academy Awards broadcasts for KABC-TV in Los Angeles and co-host of the live coverage of the Cannes Film Festival awards on the Independent Film Channel.

Ebert is a regular lecturer on film at the University of Chicago Fine Arts Program and an adjunct professor of cinema and media studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a jury member of the Sundance, Montreal, Chicago, Hawaii and Venice Film Festivals. In 1999, he launched his annual "Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival," which is presented each April at the historic Virginia Theatre in his hometown of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois.

After several appearances on "Roger Ebert & the Movies" as a guest critic, Richard Roeper joined "Ebert & Roeper" as full-time co-critic in July of 2000. His daily column appears in the Chicago Sun-Times and is distributed nationally by the New York Times Syndicate. Roeper has been writing the column since 1987 and has garnered numerous accolades, including the National Headliner Award as the top columnist in the country. He also has written for such publications as TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, Playboy and Spy.

Roeper is the co-author of "He Rents, She Rents," and he is the author of "Urban Legends," now in its fourth printing and coming out soon in paperback. The sequel, "Hollywood Urban Legends," was released in summer 2001. Over the last 10 years, Roeper has hosted talk radio programs on a number of Chicago stations, including WLS-AM, WLS-FM, WLUP-FM and WMVP-AM.

Celebrating its 28th year, ShoWest is the world's largest motion picture industry convention. Each year, ShoWest attracts delegates from more than 45 countries in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. ShoWest was founded by the National Association of Theatre Owners of California and Nevada, and the 2001 show was the first managed by SGW.

SGW, founded by brothers Robert and Jimmy Sunshine, owns ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo and CineAsia exhibition conventions. The group also publishes Film Journal International and is part of VNU Business Media.