How Warner Bros. will spin “Justice League” and the next Batman movie
Theater owners are likely curious about “Wonder Woman” and Warner Bros. will no doubt push the strong reaction its gotten so far to both its trailer and on social media in general. That being said, theater owners don’t live in a bubble. They know many moviegoers (and the media) were disappointed by ‘Batman v Superman’ and that any franchise is on a slippery slope of being hot one moment and cold as ice the next (see: “Batman and Robin”). How will Warner’s spin releasing “Justice League” during the Thanksgiving frame? How do they demonstrate they learned from the perceived mistakes of ‘Batman v Superman’ when ‘Justice’ began shooting just a few weeks after its release? And, considering how Christopher Nolan’s last two Batman films each topped $1 billion worldwide, how do they convince theater owners to get excited about a re-launch that Oscar-winner Ben Affleck decided not to direct and is rumored to possibly want to bow out of starring in? These are incredibly important properties for WB and to keep NATO members in the fold they may really need to bluntly pull out all the stops to keep them excited.
What Amazon Studios and Focus Features have up their sleeves
Last year, Amazon Studios hosted one of the lunches (scheduled in-between the big panels) where they teased a number of their upcoming releases. This involved showing Michelle Williams’ key scene from “Manchester by the Sea” and a Skype conversation with “Neon Demon” director Nicolas Winding Refn (along with a ton of footage). The latter’s immediate wide release went down as one of the biggest mistakes of 2016, but the event effectively told theater owners that Amazon was serious about a theatrical rollout for their movies before they hit the streaming service (meanwhile, Netflix’s CEO continued to rip theater owners just last week). Amazon had major success with both ‘Manchester’ and “Love & Friendship” which both broke out from the arthouse circuit and they have a ton of potentially lucrative prestige films for the second half of 2017. Focus Features, on the other hand, had a rough start to the Peter Kujawski era, but its slate for the next 12 months is impressive with potential arthouse hits in Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled,” “Atomic Blonde” with Charlize Theron and Joe Wright’s “Darkest Hour.” Kujawski made a compelling argument for Focus returning to its roots at Cannes last May and he’ll be looking to convey that message to theater owners with potentially more interesting fare to tease than the company had a year ago.
STX convince the industry they are more than a one franchise wonder?
A year ago STX held its first presentation at CinemaCon. It was bold move for the new mini-major, but a chance to prove to NATO they had the goods and that the major theater chains should give their wide releases the same love they provide to Hollywood’s long standing major players. STX presented itself as a studio that was going to focus on the middle budgeted pictures that most studios are no longer making. Broad dramas, comedies and maybe a horror picture here and there that would help draw in moviegoers who were tiring of over-hyped tentpoles. Less than six months after that showcase STX’s plan has dramatically changed. The studio has one hit on major its hands, “Bad Moms,” and two minor ones, “The Boy” and “The Gift.” Outside of the critically acclaimed “Edge of Seventeen” everything else has pretty much been a costly failure. The studio appears to be now focusing on more action flicks and thrillers as well as a “Bad Moms” sequel. What exactly will they present that will get NATO excited about a slate that looks less commercial than that of Amazon Studios or Fox Searchlight?
Who presents for Paramount Pictures (aka: Who is accountable for all this again?)
Speaking of dramatic moments, many in the industry will be watching to see who speaks for Paramount Pictures during its annual presentation. The studio is currently without an acting CEO or president after the departures of Brad Grey and Rob Moore. Former 20th Century Fox topper Jim Gianapolos could sign on the dotted line as the new CEO and chairman by the time Paramount comes up to the plate and that would certainly get NATO excited about the studio’s future prospects. If not…perhaps a celebrity host can take the mic? Anyone think Dwayne Johnson would do the studio a solid? Actually, Paramount’s president of distribution, Kyle Davis, or worldwide president of marketing, Megan Colligan, would be the natural picks to lead most of the presentation, but without having someone to evangelize the studio’s future it will be slightly awkward. That being said, Paramount has tentpoles such as “Transformers: The Last Knight,” “Baywatch,” “Daddy’s Home 2” and “God Particle” to hype as well as prestige players including Alexander Payne’s “Downsizing” with Matt Damon and Darren Aronofsky’s “mother!” with Jennifer Lawrence, Michelle Pfeiffer and Javier Bardem. Needless to say, we can’t wait to see how this turns out.
What’s next for the X-Men franchise beyond “Deadpool”?
“Deadpool 2” is on the way and both “X-Force” and “New Mutants” films are in the works at 20th Century Fox (and, in theory, so is “Gambit”). The studio has three blank dates on the release schedule for “Untitled Fox/Marvel” films through 2019. The first, March 2, 2018, is expected to be “Deadpool 2.” But the question remains: what are the other two exactly and is the studio officially finished with the Jennifer Lawrence/Matthew Fassbender/James McAvoy series of ‘X-Men’ films for now? No one is expecting the studio to map out its complete game plan at CinemaCon, but we should get at least some greater hint on what the exact plan is. Maybe.
The “Blade Runner 2049” push
There is already a teaser trailer and select stills have been released, but if you don’t think “Blade Runner 2049” is a key title on WB’s release slate look at its opening date again. October 6th is the same window the studio found box office and awards season gold with “Argo” and “Gravity.” Warner’s needs to convince theater owners Denis Villeneuve’s long awaited sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 classic isn’t just a limited sci-fi play. They need to make sure they see it as an event movie not just for the cinephile or movie geek crowd. How they do that remains to be seen, but we’re expecting some sort of extended clip reel to convince NATO it’s pretty close to a four quadrant movie. And, hey, maybe Ryan Gosling and Harrison Ford will fly in. On second thought…
Lionsgate’s plans after “La La Land”
“La La Land” might not have taken home Best Picture, but the movie musical was a somewhat surprising global smash for the studio and theater owners earning $427 million worldwide (the studio’s original estimates were much more conservative). With both “The Hunger Games” and “Twilight” franchises currently in the rearview mirror what is exactly next for the studio? We’ll already know if Saban’s “Power Rangers” is a legit franchise by Sunday and Lionsgate is going to screen the Ryan Reynolds’ action comedy “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” for those in attendance over four months before its August 18 release (that means they think it plays). Beyond that will “American Assassin,” “Granite Mountain,” “Saw: Legacy” or “My Little Pony” (it’s real people!) create any buzz? At the worst, here’s hoping we get a look at the studio’s Oscar player for 2018, Stephen Chbosky’s “Wonder” with Julia Roberts and Jacob Tremblay.
Look for complete coverage from CinemaCon all week long beginning on Monday, March 24th on The Playlist. For more on site insight follow me on twitter @TheGregoryE.