By George & Josh Bate
CinemaCon 2024 was an incredible event that not only shined a spotlight on the joy of going to see a movie in the theaters, but also gave many, many, many reasons for you to go to the movies over the next few years. Out of the 50+ films discussed at CinemaCon, we’ve narrowed our highlights down to 6 films that impressed us the most. Check out our highlights of CinemaCon 2024 below.
Joker: Folie à Deux
Easily the most anticipated film of Warner Bros. slate, the sequel to Todd Phillips’ 2019 hit was discussed at CinemaCon. Presenting the film was Todd Phillips, who began his presentation by thanking movie theaters and exhibitors for screening Joker despite controversy surrounding the film.
Phillips spoke about how there is a sequel to Joker, despite originally saying it was a standalone film. “When we were making the first movie, I know I previously had said it’s a one off, but Joaquin [Phoenix] and I always spoke about making a sequel,” Phillips said. “Because we loved the character Joker and in turn Arthur.”
Joining Joaquin Phoenix in the film is Lady Gaga, who will play Harley Quinn. Phillips said he cast Gaga in this iconic role “because she’s magic.”
Phillips addressed a rumor that the Joker sequel is a musical, simply stating, “It’ll make sense once you see it.”
The trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux, which was shown at CinemaCon, can be seen below.
Joker: Folie à Deux is in theaters October 4, 2024.
Trap
It was Shyamalan2 at CinemaCon as M. Night Shyamalan was also at the event to present footage from his new film – Trap.
Introducing the new film with a live musical performance, the film will follow what happens when something terrible happens while people are at a concert.
The footage shown of Trap was easily the most impressive and gripping of the entire Warner Bros. presentation (which is saying something given the impressive array of films on display). The footage shows a father (Josh Hartnett) and his teen daughter attending a concert. When Hartnett’s character goes to the bathroom during the concert, he notices a strange police presence around the venue. The father asks a concessions employee what’s happening, to which the employee responds that the police are using the concert as a trap for a serial killer known as the Butcher. A few moments go by before the footage reveals the twist… that Hartnett’s father character IS the serial killer. To call the footage jaw-dropping would be an understatement. Shyamalan and Warner Bros. look like they have a real hit on their hands here.
Trap is in theaters August 9, 2024.
Deadpool & Wolverine
The highlight of Disney’s 2024 CinemaCon presentation was easily Deadpool & Wolverine, Marvel Studios’ first R-rated film. The two heroes played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman respectively kicked CinemaCon off with a hilarious video they seemingly filmed specifically for CinemaCon. In the clip, Deadpool and Wolverine are walking and begin to talk about a mysterious cameo in Avengers: Secret Wars when a cell phone goes off. Wolverine proceeds to face the camera and leads an explicit-filled tirade against the audience, warning everyone of what he’ll do to them if their phones aren’t silenced.
Later on in the presentation, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige came on stage to talk about the film and present exclusive footage to the CinemaCon crowd.
In a resounding statement, Kevin Feige said Deadpool & Wolverine is “fucking awesome.” The crowd went wild as Feige dropped an F-bomb, to which Feige responded he’s now allowed to do “because it’s an R-rated movie.”
Feige spoke about how Deadpool & Wolverine being rated R is a definite change of pace for the typically family friendly franchise. Feige mentioned that he asked designers to create a popcorn bucket for the upcoming movie, but, unlike Dune: Part Two’s infamous bucket, the one for Deadpool & Wolverine will be intentionally crude.
Joining Feige on stage to talk more about Deadpool & Wolverine was director Shawn Levy, who presented 9 minutes of exclusive footage to the CinemaCon crowd.
Check out a detailed description of the 9 minutes of footage below…
The footage begins as Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson works at a used car store. He tries (and fails) to sell a car to a friendly family as their ride is derailed by Wilson’s penchant for inappropriate language. Wilson makes a pointed remark about having kids, suggesting this is unlikely to happen as he tends to not have vaginal intercourse.
The next scene showed Wade joined by Rob Delaney’s Peter, who became a fan favorite after his appearance in Deadpool 2. Wade has retired from being Deadpool, despite Peter keeping Wade’s costume in case he ever decides to pick up the mantle again.
Wade and Peter head to Wade’s apartment, where they walk into a surprise birthday party for Wade. Present are many of the side characters from the first two Deadpool films. There’s Lewis Tan as Shatterstar and Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, both of whom were introduced in Deadpool 2. There was also Negasonic Teenage Warhead, played again by Brianna Hildebrand. Leslie Uggams returns as Blind Al, Deadpool’s blind and elderly roommate. Karan Soni is back as Dopinder, the taxi driver-turned-friend introduced in the first film. And lastly there is Morena Baccarin as Vanessa. Baccarin’s character was once Wade’s fiance, but this scene in Deadpool & Wolverine suggests the two have broken up and that their relationship now is platonic (they refer to one another as buddies).
Wade makes his way through all of the party guests in a number of humorous interactions. Just as he gets ready to blow the candles of his birthday cake out, there’s a knock on the door. Wade opens the door and is greeted by various TVA officers in a scene that was previewed in the first trailer for the film. A back-and-forth that extends this interaction from the trailer proceeds, followed by Wade being sent to the TVA.
Greeting him at the TVA is Mr. Paradox, played by Succession’s Matthew Macfadyen. This sequence was also shown in the trailer, although it’s greatly expanded in the footage shown at CinemaCon.
Mr. Paradox orients Wade to the TVA in an introduction just like Loki received when he was taken to the TVA. Mr. Paradox explains the organization’s purpose of ensuring the safety of the sacred timeline and said that Wade has been brought here for a reason. When Wade suggests this may be due to his time-travel antics with Cable from Deadpool 2, Mr. Paradox dismisses this, instead indicating that, although he doesn’t have all of the details, Wade is at the TVA for a special reason.
That special reason remains elusive, but Mr. Paradox does reveal more about the plot of Deadpool & Wolverine here. Mr. Paradox walks Wade over to a series of monitors, which show clips from various MCU films (we caught glimpses of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age of Ultron, and what looked like Thor). When Chris Evans’ Steve Rogers appears on one of the screens, Wade exclaims, “Cap!” and gives the screen a sarcastic salute.
Another screen shows what appears to be a variant of Deadpool dying in the arms of a weeping Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth. When Wade questions what this is, Mr. Paradox dismisses Wade and says that this doesn’t happen until quite a while into the future.
Mr. Paradox then tells Wade that he has been brought to the TVA to leave his universe and join another. In a classic fourth-wall break, Wade makes it very clear to the audience that this universe he is joining is the Marvel Cinematic Universe. When Mr. Paradox confirms Wade’s suspicion, Wade excitedly runs to the camera, screams something along the lines of “Fuck Fox!” and says “I’m going to Disneyland!”
After this, Wade is given a new suit from the TVA. He puts it on with the assistance of a predatory tailor before jokingly insulting a menial TVA employee for looking at him.
The clip then cut to an extended trailer, which showed parts of other scenes from Deadpool & Wolverine. Much of this was seen in the trailer previously released to the public, although it does show our best look yet at Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine. Deadpool and Wolverine are seen driving in a car together and clearly Jackman’s Wolverine can’t stand Reynolds’ Deadpool. If this brief moment is any indication, the chemistry and back-and-forth between Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds will be off the charts in this new film.
Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters July 26, 2024
Speak No Evil
Arriving from Blumhouse and Universal Studios is a remake of one of the more disturbing films in recent years – Speak No Evil.
The Danish horror film made audiences’ shriek in terror and cringe in discomfort, instantly gripping Jason Blum – so much so that Blum reportedly couldn’t stop thinking about the film for weeks after watching it.
In turn, Blum spearheaded an English language remake of the film at Blumhouse. The movie is directed by James Watkins and filmed in Gloucestershire, England.
An extended trailer for the film was shown, which essentially laid out the entire plot of the film. This wouldn’t be a big deal for those who have seen the Danish original, but those unfamiliar with it may have been spoiled as the footage outlined the narrative of the whole film. James McAvoy stars in the film and evokes the menace from his performance in Split in the trailer for the film.
Check out the trailer below:
Speak No Evil hits theaters Friday the 13th of September this year.
Nosferatu
One of the highlights of the entire CinemaCon was Nosferatu – the latest film from director/writer Robert Eggers. A reimagining of the 1922 classic will hit theaters over 100 years since the original film, which is widely regarded as one of the most influential and striking horror films of all time.
An exclusive preview of Eggers’ Nosferatu was shown to the CinemaCon crowd. The footage begins with Lily Rose-Depp’s Ellen Hunter, who speaks of having horrible dreams of something terrible happening to her. Sweeping shots of a winter-set city feature prominently in the trailer and shows that the film has a similar aesthetic as Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd.
The vampire Count Orlok, played by Bill Skarsgård, is shown in two shots of the footage, although neither shot gave a full look at the character. The first showed Count Orlok from behind and slowly turning around, only briefly revealing a side profile. The final shot of the footage showed a silhouette of Count Orlok with a black dog at his feet.
Also featuring in the trailer were Nicholas Hoult as Thomas Hutter, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Friedrich Harding, and Willem Dafoe as Professor Albin Eberhart Von Franz. Dafoe re-teams with director/writer Eggers after starring in the acclaimed horror film The Lighthouse for the director.
Nosferatu hits theaters December 25, 2024.
Gladiator II
“Are you not entertained?” The CinemaCon audience certainly was as Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II was the centerpiece of Paramount’s presentation. The sequel to the acclaimed 2000 film, Gladiator II is fittingly promoted around Caesar’s Palace (where CinemaCon is held) and Paramount’s president of domestic distribution Chris Aronson arrived while being escorted by a legion of Roman soldiers in a Ben-Hur-esque chariot.
Brief clips of Ridley Scott, Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, and Joseph Quinn were presented to the CinemaCon crowd where the director and actors expressed their excitement at making a follow-up to the beloved Gladiator. Pascal noted that he saw Gladiator twice in theaters when it came out and that the sequel is “greater than anything I could have ever imagined.”
An extended five-minute trailer of Gladiator II was presented to the crowd. Denzel Washington features heavily, with the trailer suggesting he will play a role similar to Oliver Reed’s Antonius Proximo in Gladiator.
Stranger Things’ Joseph Quinn plays the villain, a malevolent leader with eerily pale skin. Quinn’s villain seems clearly inspired by Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from the original film.
The trailer, which was set to a remix of Kanye West and Jay-Z’s ‘No Church in the Wild,’ spotlighted Paul Mescal’s Lucius Verus more than anyone. Mescal’s Lucius is involved in a number of colosseum fights in the trailer, including one in which he finds a group of baboons and another in which he takes on a rhino. The trailer also shows naval battles featuring sharks, so there’s a range of animals that feature in the sequel.
Also featuring prominently in the footage was Pedro Pascal. His role remains under wraps, but it appears he will also be an antagonist against Mescal’s Lucius. A colosseum duel between the characters was previewed in the trailer and, if we had to guess, will serve as the film’s climactic fight.
Gladiator II hits theaters November 22, 2024.