THB #517: CinemaCon - Episode Two, The 2024 Line-Up
I was all ready to do a list of the hits at CinemaCon when a friend called and we talked about the event. Verbalizing it was… well, depressing.
I love movies and I love movie theaters. I have never hid this… never will. I love TV as much as anyone and I am thrilled to have access to so much, both in TV series of every kind and all the movies the medium makes available in my daily life. I just turned on my TV and there is Purple Noon, the 1960 take on the Tom Ripley story from Rene’ Clement, starring Alain Delon. This is, obviously, reflected in the series version of Ripley on Netflix these days. Super Cool! (Say it with a French accent… even cooler!)
I do not believe the exhibition business is whistling past the graveyard. I believe that it is absolutely a viable business model with a long future in front of it… but one cannot be an ostrich either. A perfectly healthy person can die from choking on an under-chewed piece of steak.
It’s not completely fair for me to compare this CinemaCon to the ShoWest days of yore. I didn’t attend the last couple post-COVID years of the show. So I can’t say where this year’s event energy was compared to the most recent ones.
But I can say, fairly, that the sword of damocles is still hanging over this industry - not just exhibition - and that while each presenter offered its unique version of cheer and enthusiasm, the threat of change, not hinged to bad intentions or considered signifigance, was the very big elephant in the very big room… trying to defy gravity.
Many moments made the hearts of a room of more than 3000 participants soar during the week. The Super-Premium offerings, going into the event, were Joker: Folie à Deux and Wicked and Deadpool and Wolverine. Each film delivered what this audience was looking for… a tantalzing glimpse of thigh. The Marvel entry offered the longest look, but even that was really an extended version of the trailer already in theaters.
There were the films coming in 8 weeks or less… The Fall Guy screened in full, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes showed an extended scene (that was terrific and unexpected… all apes… and really should get released - in part - online), IF showed an extended trailer that explained what the idea of the movie is a bit more clearly (still not clear), Back To Black showed its trailer, Babes screened in full, and Furiosa offered a long, 3-act uber-trailer, and Young Woman & The Sea showed its new trailer.
June movies were less forthcoming. Ballerina moved from June 2024 to June 2025… but they showed us the old trailer. We also got trailers for The Watchers (new), Kinds of Kindness (old), and The Bikeriders (new). A Quiet Place: Day One gave us a new trailer with more info… that made it less compelling… though still very compelling. Kevin Costner’s Horizon double feature did a double-length trailer… but didn’t dig too deep into the story, aside from being clear that its about the big move west in America.
But the winner… perhaps of the whole week… was Inside Out 2, with a 35-minute look at the film that re-establishes the characters we loved and introduces out newly-pubescent host’s new emotions. And for me, the biggest surprise was Maya Hawke’s turn as the new lead emotion of the new group, Anxiety, zooming through twisty dialogue with a really deft touch.
July was really just 3 movies deep. We started with a scene from Despicable Me 4. Also from Universal, Twisters, which offered a slightly lengthened trailer. Focus’ 2 movies on the schedule were not pitched… not sure what that means. And then there was Deadpool & Wolverine, which filled out what is currently the trailer, with Deadpool’s birthday party and being taken into the TVA. They kicked in a Wolverine chunk for good measure… and opened with what I suspect will be in theaters in May or June with the duo telling the audience to turn off their phones in a delightfully profane way.
August saw 5 movies pitched. Lionsgate had 2, with the re-boot of The Crow and a big-swing videogame conversion, Borderlands. Warners continues the Shyamalan legacy summer with M. Night’s Trap, which trailered what seems to be a serial killer trapped in a sports arena with his unknowing kid, doing anything he can to escape (trailer). Horizon’s second part comes in August. And the movie that could become bigger than expected, Fede Alverez’s take on Alien, Alien: Romulus.
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