Our final night of CinemaCon closed out with a bang!
Disney showed 75 minutes of “content” throughout its presentation. It was the only presentation at CinemaCon that allowed us to take photos throughout the show, minus the previews/videos shown, of course.
The Disney presentation opened with a video of Deadpool and Wolverine breaking the fourth wall and telling everyone to silence their phones. Wolverine’s new suit looks fantastic, and this clip teased the comedic dynamic of the duo!
Kevin Feige took the stage and teased that Deadpool has “designed a popcorn bucket.” He followed this up with a sly shot at the Dune: Part Two popcorn bucket (without naming names).
Jerry Bruckheimer videoed in for the Daisy Ridley-led Young Woman and the Sea to say that this film is the highest testing of his career.
For the 30th anniversary of Searchlight Pictures, we saw the already released trailer for Yorgos Lanthimos’ upcoming Kinds of Kindness, starring Emma Stone, who is joined by Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn, Mamoudou Athie, and Hunter Schafer. This has to be one of my most anticipated films of the presentation!
We also saw first looks at A Real Pain and Nightbitch. Searchlight typically comes through with some award season heavy-hitters, so I feel like this year won’t be much different with this lineup.
Disney’s presentation delivered many standout moments with so much footage. This was the longest presentation of CinemaCon, and it was flashy and energetic.
Check out the biggest previews from the Disney presentation at CinemaCon below:
Deadpool & Wolverine
Kevin Feige and Shawn Levy introduced nine minutes of Deadpool & Wolverine. The new footage shows Wade (Ryan Reynolds) taking a break from being a hero and no longer in a relationship with Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). He then appears at a surprise party with Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), Dopinder (Karan Soni), Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand) and others in attendance.Wade and Vanessa talk about her seeing someone else now. Then the party is interrupted, and Wade is kidnapped. He wakes up to Matthew Macfadyen’s Mr. Paradox and the TVA, who allow him to leave his timeline and enter “the greatest universe.” Mr. Paradox has screens of Avengers, showing how they’re keeping an eye on everyone. Wade salutes footage of Chris Evans’ Captain America and Thor is shown crying.
Wade then officially leaves Fox for “Disneyland” and gets back into an upgraded suit. It ends with Deadpool and Wolverine driving in a car, where Wade is “trying to bond” with the Canadian X-Man. Cocaine, vaginal sex, and pegging are all mentioned in this footage. Disney is not pulling any punches with this one, and the crowd loved it!
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
We saw 13 minutes of footage from the next 20th Century Studios release, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Set several generations into the future, when apes rule the planet, Noa (Owen Teague) is a young ape coming into adulthood as his village is attacked. This peek showed themes of family and unity, and we got glimpses of top-tier action, sprawling landscapes, and apes riding horses. This seems to be a revenge-driven, coming-of-age Apes film, with a hero’s journey from Noa hinted at from the footage.
The VFX work was stunning! With the hyper-realistic apes that the modern films in the franchise are known for, they exude so much emotion and even details like the hair flow authentically. The cinematography looked lush. I’m very excited for this one!
Inside Out 2
Amy Poehler took the stage to talk about her love of playing the character Joy, how much Inside Out means to her and give us a sneak peek at the first 35 minutes of Inside Out 2.
Riley is experiencing puberty, which introduces a group of new emotions joining the crew – Anxiety, Embarrassment, Envy and Ennui. This first act was solid, showing how you do a sequel almost 10 years after the first film was released. I was so surprised by the mix of animation styles when we ventured into Riley’s “deepest secrets” portion of the footage. All these expanded concepts open the door to explore the world further and have a ton of fun with the story. Judging from the preview, there’s so much for people of all ages will relate to.
Captain America: Brave New World
Our Cap, Anthony Mackie, joined us to discuss the next Captain America franchise. The new footage from Captain America: Brave New World shows Mackie’s Sam Wilson meeting with Harrison Ford’s Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross. Noise comes through the speakers as group members, including Carl Lumbly’s Isaiah Bradley, become hypnotized into fighting their group.
This footage gave similar vibes to Captain America: Winter Soldier, one of the strongest MCU films. That excites me since the grounded political-thriller approach fits so well with the character of Captain America.
Alien: Romulus
Producer Ridley Scott and director/writer Fede Alvarez showed up to thank everyone for their support of the Alien franchise over the past 45 years and introduced a unique look at the upcoming film!
The premise goes back to the franchise’s roots, following a group of young space colonizers scavenging the deep ends of a space station when they come in contact with the aliens. This footage had a variation of the chest-burster scene, and it was indeed a terrifying callback with fantastic body horror effects. I was squirming in my seat, and I’m not sensitive about this kind of stuff. I’m a massive fan of Cailee Spaeny in her recent films Priscilla and Civil War, and I’m interested to see how she takes on this action-packed role.
Mufasa: The Lion King
Barry Jenkins introduced a teaser trailer for the film. I was not a fan of the live-action The Lion King, but I love Barry Jenkins’ work, so I’m very hesitantly optimistic about this next entry. It does give me hope that it’s their Christmas release, which is always an exciting moviegoing time for family films. We’ll see when it hits theaters at the end of this year!
Moana 2
They pulled out all the stops for Moana 2! Dwayne Johnson was joined onstage by Polynesian drummers and dancers.
Auli‘i Cravalho and Johnson return to Moana 2 for a new voyage alongside a crew of unlikely seafarers. After receiving an unexpected call from her wayfinding ancestors, Moana must journey to the far seas of Oceania and into dangerous, long-lost waters for an adventure unlike anything she’s ever faced.
This was meant to be a series, but Disney turned it into a film. That shows in the footage, but I hope the final movie can deliver. NATO chair Bob Bagby presented Johnson with the NATO Spirit of the Industry Award for his unparalleled dedication, passion, and commitment to the motion picture theatrical experience.