Harrison Ford to Receive CINEMACON Lifetime Achievement Award

Legendary actor Harrison Ford will receive the "CinemaCon Lifetime Achievement Award" at this year's CinemaCon, it was announced today by the convention's Managing Director Mitch Neuhauser. CinemaCon, the largest and most important convention for the motion picture theatre industry, will be held from April 15-18, 2013 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas at which time more than 5,000 industry members will be gathering. Ford will be presented with this special honor at the "CinemaCon Big Screen Achievement Awards" ceremony to take place on Thursday evening, April 18, in The Colosseum at Caesars Palace. The Coca-Cola Company, the official presenting sponsor of CinemaCon, will host the final night gala awards program.

"With a career spanning five decades, Harrison Ford has brought some of the most memorable characters of our time alive on the big screen," noted Neuhauser. "From Han Solo to Indiana Jones, he has showcased his innate ability to embrace and mold these remarkable roles into characters that will forever be remembered by movie lovers around the world for decades to come. We could not be more honored to present this years 'CinemaCon Lifetime Achievement Award' to such a remarkable actor, Harrison Ford."

Ford can be seen later this year in "Ender's Game," which is set to be released by Summit Entertainment, a Lionsgate company, on November 1, 2013. The epic adventure film based on the best-selling, award-winning novel stars Ford as Colonel Hyrum Graff who, along with the International Military, is training the best young minds for an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race. "Ender's Game" also stars Ben Kingsley, Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld and Viola Davis with Abigail Breslin. In April, Ford will be seen in Legendary Entertainment's "42" as Branch Rickey, the Major League Baseball executive who helped shatter baseball's color barrier by making Jackie Robinson the first African-American player in the MLB. And in the fall of 2013, Ford will star in the Robert Luketic thriller "Paranoia."

Harrison Ford's Hollywood career was launched following his portrayal of hot rod demon Bob Falfa in George Lucas' 1973 Oscar-nominated hit, "American Graffiti." Four years later, he reunited with Lucas when he landed the now-legendary role of Han Solo in "Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope." In 1981, Ford brought Indiana Jones to life on the big screen for Steven Spielberg in the Best Picture-nominated "Raiders of the Lost Ark," reprising the heroic character in three sequels: "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom," "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." He earned an Academy Award nomination in 1986 for his compelling role as detective John Book in "Witness." In 2000, the American Film Institute honored him with their Lifetime Achievement Award. And, in addition to receiving four nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press for his roles in "Sabrina," "The Fugitive," "The Mosquito Coast" and "Witness," Ford was revered by the organization with the 2002 Cecil B. DeMille Award at the annuAl Golden Globes ceremony. His many other credits include Francis Coppola's Oscar-nominated epic "Apocalypse Now," "The Conversation," Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back" and "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi," Ridley Scott's iconic sci-fi classic "Blade Runner," Mike Nichols' Oscar-nominated romantic comedy "Working Girl" and his 1991 drama "Regarding Henry," "Patriot Games," "Clear and Present Danger," "Presumed Innocent," "Air Force One," "What Lies Beneath," "K-19: The Widowmaker," "Extraordinary Measures," "Morning Glory" and "Cowboys & Aliens." Several of these movies represent some of the highest-grossing films in their respective release years.