CinemaCon 2024: Warner Bros. Presentation – MASHAHER

Preview:

• Warner Bros. showed off its upcoming slate at CinemaCon Tuesday.
• Movies such as ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ and ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ were promoted.
• Talent including George Miller and Todd Phillips took to the stage to show off footage.

Warner Bros. was the first of the major studios to make a big presentation to theater owners at CinemaCon, so naturally it had to kick off by celebrating the box office success enjoyed by ‘Dune: Part Two’, ‘Wonka’, ‘Godzilla x Kong’ and, oh yes… a little movie called ‘Barbie’.

And it was also about looking forward to this year’s offerings, with the executive team dressing in Beetlejuice costumes. Got to love a slightly awkward business type outside of their comfort zone.

Of note in the opening montage? Footage from Bong Joon Ho’s sci-fi thriller ‘Mickey 17’, which stars Robert Pattinson and is scheduled for January next year. Its presence hints at more today…

The presentation, once the initial sizzle was over and done with, kicked off properly with…

Related Article: ‘Barbie,’ Oprah, ‘The Flash’ and More Dominate Warner Bros.’ CinemaCon Presentation

Warner Bros. was always going to launch with one of its bigger guns, and there are few bigger than this prequel to ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.

Director George Miller took the stage alongside his stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth. Miller admitted that the movie had only just been finished the week before the presentation –– just in time for its launch at the Cannes Film Festival next month.

Miller explained why ‘Furiosa’ came about: “To tell the story of Mad Max, we had to know where every vehicle, every character, every prop, every gesture came from. We wrote backstories of Furiosa overall these years and Mad Max the year before. When ‘Fury Road’ had enough traction we figured we had to do ‘Furiosa.’”

Taylor-Joy admitted that as a ‘Mad Max’ mega-fan, she was pinching herself every day on set, hardly able to believe she was on set. She called the movie “the story of one woman’s commitment to unrelenting hope,” and we can all use some of that.

Miller, for his part, explained that he cast Taylor-Joy because she’s the type of person he would want to hang out with during the apocalypse. Oh, and that the movie spans roughly 16-18 years of the narrative.

Hemsworth, meanwhile, described his character –– Dr. Dementus –– as “twisted” and “cruel”, but ultimately charming, since he has a following. And let’s be honest: even with a big fake nose, he still mostly looks like Chris Hemsworth!

And this being CinemaCon, there was an extended look at the film, which is suitably dystopian and crazed in the best Miller style.

‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ will be in theaters on May 24th.

Next up was…

A sneak peak of the new trailer for the Ishana Night Shyamalan thriller, which stars Dakota Fanning as a young woman who gets lost in a forest and ends up trapped inside a weird glass-walled structure where she and several others are observed by mysterious creatures/people.

‘The Watchers’ will be in theaters on June 14th.

James Gunn/‘Superman’

In between presentations there was a video message from DC Studios co-chief James Gunn, who thanked theater manages for helping with the success of ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,’ and teased his July 2025 release ‘Superman’ –– with a logo shown on screen. Sounds like he’ll be stopping by Las Vegas next year…

Following Gunn, it was the turn of his DC Studios colleague Peter Safran, who introduced a look at the moving documentary about the career and legacy of Christopher Reeve, who famously played Supes on screen in the Richard Donner movies and beyond.

‘Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story’ also tracks his time after a riding accident left his paralyzed. The documentary will be in theaters this September. Even the trailer when it arrives may make you tear up.

And next…

Kevin Costner took the stage to talk up his ambitious new Western epic ‘Horizon: An American Saga.’

Costner explains that he prefers “Journey Movies” over “Plot Movies,” preferring audiences take a ride with the characters. The first two chapters of ‘Horizon’ covers 12 years of time, starting before the Civil War and through it.

And because two chapters surely isn’t enough, he intends to make two more. He’s hoping audiences will binge the movies in theaters.

Warner Bros. will be releasing the first two chapters of the film series this year. ‘Chapter 1’ moseys in on June 28th, with ‘Chapter 2’ following on August 16th.

On to…

As the sizzle reel predicted, Bong Joon Ho and Robert Pattinson took the stage to show the trailer for their sci-fi movie, which sees the latter playing a cloned worker in space who takes on dangerous jobs.

Bong explained the movie’s title shift (the source novel is called ‘Mickey 7) –– he’s killed the character an addition 10 times (no word on whether we’ll see them all). And Pattinson plays two versions at once –– including Mickey 18, who decides he should kill his fellow clone.

And the tone of the movie certainly looks to learn towards the dark comedy vibes of ‘Snowpiercer’.

Why did Bong cast Pattinson? “He has a crazy thing in his eyes.”

‘Mickey 17’ appears to be worth waiting for… and we will have to wait until January 31 next year.

Next?

While his daughter’s film (‘The Watchers’) had just a trailer, M. Night Shyamalan himself was on stage to preview his next movie, ‘Trap’, his first with Warners.

Using the words “provocative” and “unusual” to describe his latest, Shyamalan explained that cinemagoers will feel like part of the audience attending a concert to see a performance by a singer called Lady Raven. Things take… a dark turn. Twist!

The story involves a father and a daughter attending the concert, only to learn that it’s all been organized as a trap for a local serial killer.

And in keeping with the performance feel, he had his daughter Saleka perform a song. 2024 is a family affair for the director.

The trailer played, but that one is best left to see for yourself.

‘Trap’ will be sprung in theaters on August 9th.

And, of course, attention now turned to…

The long-awaited sequel has finally come to life (or is it afterlife?) with Tim Burton back directing and Michael Keaton as the ghost with the most. Jenna Ortega stars alongside Keaton’s fellow veterans including Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara.

Of course, the angle here is heavily on the legacy of Tim Burton, and his commitment to making the new movie as practically as possible.

To big that up, a behind-the-scenes video was shown of filming on both the original and the sequel.

Burton took the stage with some of his cast, including Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Willem Dafoe, and, of course, Michael Keaton. The director admitted that his original focus was on Lydia Deetz (Ryder), but shifted to the family as a whole, and the different generation of Deetz women. He says the movie feels like a big family reunion.

Keaton kept things low key with his praise for the movie: “It’s really f*****g good. It’s really, really good. Actually, it’s great.”

Justin Theroux, meanwhile, shared that he found the experience “fun” (everyone crossed that out on their bingo card). There was praise for Ortega, who is apparently a natural fit for the story.

And they couldn’t stay too long, as Burton said he’s expected back in London to continue editing the movie itself.

So to the big finish…

Co-writer/director Todd Phillips was on stage, thanking cinema chains for supporting the first ‘Joker’ and mentioning “bizarre rumors” about it leading to violence that swirled ahead of its release.

He went on to add that while he called ‘Joker’ a one-off while promoting it, he and Joaquin Phoenix had talked about sequel ideas on set.

As for Lady Gaga, he described her as “magic” and knew from producing ‘A Star is Born’ that she was the right person to star alongside Phoenix.

And though he stopped short of describing the movie as a musical, he did say that it plays an important part. “Arthur has music to him. He has a dance to him.”

The first teaser trailer was shown, and you can find it below:

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