LAS VEGAS – As is recent tradition, Sony Pictures kicked off CinemaCon as the first major studio presentation, and this year wasted no time getting to the good stuff. Chairman and CEO Tom Rothman premiered a long, exclusive scene of Destin Daniel Cretton’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and ended the less than 90-minute showcase by showing footage from the new titled “Jumanji: Open World” coming this Christmas. But before he showed Sony’s wares, he gave theater owners and exhibitors some unsolicited advice.
The former co-head of 20th Century Fox, Rothman, has been in the movie industry for forty years. You can argue over his general aversion to prestige projects or greenlighting specific genres or healthy production budgets (sometimes warranted, sometimes not), but he knows every corner of this business. So, when he puts his reputation on the line speaking his mind to his peers on the other side of the business, he’s not making proclamations to himself in a vacuum. He’s generally concerned.
With “great respect” and acknowledging the investment exhibitors have made in upgrading theater venues, Rothman urged the circuits to begin making hard choices for the long-term health of the business. He had three immediate suggestions to increase admissions, because while he thinks this specific year will be a massive financial win, he won’t ignore the fact that admissions are still down since pre-pandemic.
Using the Olympic mantra of “Faster, Higher, Stronger,” as inspiration, his first bullet point was “Longer.” Theater owners need to enforce longer windows so customers don’t wait to see a movie on streaming on VOD. The next was “Shorter,” which likely every other studio executive would agree with. Rip the band-aid and get rid of the endless advertising, and shorten the pre-shows. Moviegoers are now coming late to avoid all trailers because they are often mixed in with ads, which hurts both portions of the business (trailers in theaters are still the no. 1 way people find out about a movie). Only slightly joking he pleaded, “Get off the ad crack” of the ad revenue as it will never equal ticket revenue. Third was “Affordability.” How this works remains to be seen, but Rothman bluntly remarked moviegoing “must be more affordable again.” At this point, it’s an issue that will haunt the business whether the economy is good or bad (notably, moviegoing used to go up during recessions because it was viewed as cheap entertainment, no longer).
Rothman had one last adverb for his audience: “Together,” a recent addition to the Olympic motto. Yes, these are changes that need to be executed on the exhibitor side, and “it’s not easy, it’s hard.” Rothman ended his remarks with, “I’m rooting for you.”
But then, it was on to the show.
After bringing out a digital Tom Holland for that “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” extended sneak (more here), a plethora of films were teased among some breaking news here and there.
“Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse”
The Oscar-winning series is finally returning next June, and this preview saw Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) meeting an alternate version of himself without spider powers, going by The Prowler, the vigilante identity Miles’ uncle assumed. The scene is beautifully composed by directors Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson, who are working in just a 3.4 aspect ratio for maximum IMAX and PLP screens’ impact. The dialogue is smart and funny. And there is genuine tension even three movies in. The filmmakers, along with producers Chris Miller and Phil Lord, who continue to be heavily involved as producers, are pushing the visuals a tad, but not diverging that much from the last installment, 2023’s “Across the Spider-Verse.” At least from what was shown. It looks like it will be worth the unexpected wait.
“The Breadwinner”
Mandy Moore is a mom headed to South Korea for a long work trip, leaving her husband, Nate Bargatze, alone to take care of their three daughters. Hijinks appear to ensue, but at a production budget that looks significantly cheaper than a Netflix or Amazon Prime Video streaming movie. Outside of hardcore Bargaze fans, we’re not sure how this will have good word of mouth. The good news is, it probably cost Sony very little.
“Resident Evil”
Zach Cregger was here to introduce his new adaptation of the legendary video game, and it’s decidedly a new direction. Unless you’re a hardcore gamer, you may not catch the connections right away at all (at least this teaser). We barely remember the “Resident Evil” movies, but there was no apocalyptic world and no visible Umbrella Corporation ties. No potential cameo from Milla Jovich either. Our hero this time around, played by Austin Abrams, finds his car breaks down in the middle of nowhere (think snowy woods nowhere). Before he can breathe, he’s on a nonstop race to get to safety as he encounters one weird mutant (we assume) after another. This chapter isn’t as beautifully lit as “Weapons,” but Cregger certainly displays a vision in the footage. Whether it will play more to non-“Evil” fans than the original movie (or game) fans is the question.
“Klara and the Sun”
This Taika Waititi adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s popular novel originally began production in January 2024, over two years ago. It was announced in the room that it will finally hit theaters on Sept. 20. The trailer introduced us to Klara (Jenny Ortega), an android, who is purchased to assist a dying or sick girl, Josie (Mia Tharia). Waititi’s vision of this alternate world teases a bright and bold 1950’s Hollywood musical future aesthetic (we don’t believe there is any singing or dancing). The preview showcased fun moments with Natasha Lyonne and some more serious ones with Amy Adams, but it was all a little hard to pin down. Is it a prestige awards movie? Is it a broad crowd pleaser? Is it both? If it’s a dump, why this prime October date? Is it this year’s respected, but not adored “Rental Family”? Wait, don’t answer that.
“The Social Reckoning”
Aaron Sorkin was on hand to introduce his follow-up to 2010’s Oscar-nominated and acclaimed drama “The Social Network.” A whole new cast is on board with Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg, Mikey Madison as Facebook/Meta whistleblower Frances Haugen, and Jeremy Allen White as Jeff Horwitz, a reporter investigating the harmful effects of the social media platform (and who wrote the book the movie is based on). Bill Barr and Billy Magnussen have key adversarial roles in a movie that finds Zuckerberg preparing for either a court hearing, a congressional hearing, or both. Madison seems a bit too young for her role, and Strong looks like Zuckerberg will appear 10 years from today, not in 2021. That being said, at the end of the preview, he nails the billionaire’s cadence, and you believe, for a second. The movie looks cinematically in the vein of Sorkin’s “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” which doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence after David Fincher’s work on “The Social Network,” but in context, maybe it all plays. It also has a prime awards release date of Oct. 9, so someone at Sony must think there’s something significant to campaign there.
“Grandgear”
Set to be written and directed by Takashi Yamazaki (“Godzilla Minus One”) and produced by J.J. Abrams, this original (we think) mecha movie won’t begin filming until next year and won’t arrive in theaters until February 18, 2028. That being said, what was clearly giant robot vs giant robot test footage looked fun and slicker than, say, the “Pacific Rim” universe. There might be something here.
“Jumanji: Open World”
Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, and Kevin Hart were on hand to introduce the third chapter in their portion of the “Jumanji” franchise, having just wrapped production in Hawaii. A preview that featured a long early scene in the movie with Spencer (Alex Wolff) and his friends discovering Smolder (Johnson) somehow existing in the real world alongside Mouse (Hart), Shelly (Black), and Ruby (Karen Gillan). The footage showed all sorts of action and jokes before Spencer and his buddies realize they need to re-inhabit their avatars and return to Jumanji once more. It may have been 8 years since they shot the last one, but this cast knows these characters, each other, and, most importantly, the tone director Jake Kasdan is looking for. Like the “Night at the Museum” franchise before it, audiences know what they are getting when they see “Open World” at Christmas and should be easily entertained.
The presentation also included the new trailer for “Insidious: Out of the Further,” which dropped online during the presentation.
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
