For the second year in a row, CinemaCon is in full swing. And, unlike last year when there were hopes the post-pandemic box office would turn around, the last six months have seen a slew of big hits and increased optimism that the movies are truly “back.” One studio that has had a somewhat slow start to 2023 is Sony Pictures, and the Culver City staple kicked off the convention touting a number of its upcoming tentpoles including “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Kraven the Hunter,” “Dumb Money” and, in partnership with Apple Original Films, Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon.”
Sony also brought some in-person star power to the event with Jennifer Lawrence (“No Hard Feelings”); David Harbour and Orlando Bloom (“Gran Turismo”); Issa Rae, Hailee Steinfeld, and Shameik Moore (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”); Glenn Powell and Sydney Sweeny (“Anyone But You”); and Dakota Fanning and Denzel Washington (“Equalizer 3”). Washington was also on hand to receive the CinemaCon Lifetime Achievement Award which was accompanied by a hearty standing ovation.
Washington accepted the award saying, “We would be nothing without you all. Without your houses. We are here for you. We are here because of you. and I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I am blessed beyond measure. “
A number of Sony execs made extended remarks, but some of the most interesting and, perhaps, pointed came from the Chairman and CEO himself, Tom Rothman. The former 20th Century Fox co-chairman admitted to the audience of theater exhibitors that originality is a risk, but a bigger risk is “boring the audience with sameness.” He also really hopes his competitors believe movie stars don’t matter. He says true movie stars matter more than ever. “Streaming doesn’t create movie stars, only global movie theaters do.”
(He counts Washington as a true movie star).
Here’s a quick rundown on the footage shown exclusively to exhibitors and the press on hand.
“Dumb Money”
Based on the true story of Gamestop short squeeze, which saw the gaming store’s stock price skyrocket in 2021, Paul Dano plays the gamer and Reddit user DeepF**kingValue (real name Keith Gill) who spurred the meme stock craze. The footage shown was from the beginning of the film where billionaires Vincent D’Onofrio (as Mets owner Steve Cohen) and Nick Offerman are reaching out to a shocked Seth Rogen (as Gabe Plotkin) wondering why Gamestop’s once worthless stock is now trading at over $100 a share. This subject matter is very much in Gillespie’s bag after “I, Tonya” and “Pam and Tommy” and screams a TIFF world premiere before its eventual Oct, 20 release date.
“Kraven the Hunter”
Aaaron Taylor Johnson plays the Marvel villain who is being reconfigured as an anti-hero with daddy issues (pops is played by Russell Crowe). Announced as Sony’s first R-rated action film, the preview saw Kraven bite a soldier’s nose off. Lots of bloody kills and somewhat non-super hero until Alessandro Nivola teases turning into the Rhino. Honestly didn’t look that much better than Sony’s other non-Spider-Man efforts, “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and “Morbius.”
“Napoleon”
Produced and financed by Apple, Ridley Scott’s latest epic reunites the filmmaker with Joaquin Phoenix as the European conquering emperor. As Rothman noted beforehand, the 85-year-old maestro has not lost his cinematic eye and can still run circles around established filmmakers half his age. The footage centered on a winter battle where Russian and Austrian forces team up to try and stop the French advance. Napoleon stages a trap for them and it’s quite glorious. The scenes featured hundreds (a thousand?) extras on horseback (“Kingdom of Heaven” vibes) and almost entirely in-camera visual effects (lots of on-the-ground explosions). There were at least three or four individual shots that anyone in the room will still remember weeks from now, which obviously a very good thing. The only concern is Scott has allowed all the actors to speak in their native accents which in this case means Napoleon sounds American. Scott got away with it on his last film, “The Last Duel,” but we’re a bit concerned it won’t work in this particular historical context.
“Gran Turismo”
The last co-production with Playstation Productions, it’s a smart way to turn the classic racing simulator video game into a movie. The Neill Blomkamp-directed feature centers on a young Gran Turismo player who is recruited to a Nissan-sponsored competition to become a real race car driver. Bloom plays an exec with the Nissan team while Harbour is a skeptical instructor at the GT Academy charged with teaching a class of gamers how to drive real cars. Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe) is the real-life driver who made it onto the circuit. The preview wants the movie to look a little “Fast and Furious” meets “Days of Thunder” but sprinkled with the tone of Dexter Flexter’s “Eddie the Eagle” or Stephen Merchant’s WWE flick “Fighting With My Family.” It will probably do much better at the box office overseas than in the U.S.
“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
This new 14-minute tease finds Gwen Stacy (Steinfeld) surprising a grounded Wilson Morales (Moore) after not seeing each other for years. Stacy explains to a jealous Morales of the elite team of Spider-people from different dimensions she’s now a member of. They trek across New York City as Wilson tries to verbalize his affection for her and Stacy brings up that in no dimension do Spider-Man and Gwen Stacy work out very well. The footage was absolutely stunning showcased by a brilliant, quiet scene featuring both characters sitting cross-legged upside down and sticking to a perch with a unique view of the Manhattan skyline. Book the Animated Oscar nomination now.
“Equalizer 3”
Washington is once again everyone’s favorite reluctant vigilante, Robert McCall. He thinks he’s really retired this time, to Italy of all places, but the local mob has other ideas. Fanning shows up in a scene at the end. Based on the preview she could be in the movie for literally five minutes. Same old, same old, but it played to the theater owners.
“No Hard Feelings”
The trailer is incredible, the footage was funny, but not as laugh-out-loud as you might think. We’re not saying the movie-making looks a little rough, but we’re not not saying it looked a little rough. Lawrence and newcomer Andrew Barth Feldman have genuine chemistry, however. Likely still a nice summer hit for Sony, but we’re not sure it’s a $100 million player in the U.S. Happy to be proven wrong.
“Anyone But You”
Somewhat hard to completely decipher this as it was mostly a footage reel spliced together (the stars said they had just returned from filming in Australia), but Sweeny and Powell are a couple who have something of a love/hate relationship. It’s supposed to be a modern take on Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing,” but you’d never get that from what we saw. Both actors show a lot of skin though (not complaining) and it gave very Matthew McConaughey/Kate Hudson early ’00s rom-com vibes (again, not complaining if they can pull it off). There is no official release date yet, but it screams Valentine’s Day window 2024.
The studio also teased the new “Bad Boys” installment (Will Smith and Martin Lawrence sent a video greeting from set), the new “Ghostbusters” chapter (Jason Reitman and new director Gil Kane mentioning numerous times this one is set in New York City) and a preview for “Insidious: The Red Door” with Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne back in the fold as the franchise appears to take a bloody “Stranger Things” turn.
Rothman and Sony decidedly did not make any announcements about new films being greenlit or going into production. It’s unclear if this was due to the threat of a potential Writer’s Guild strike or just a strategic decision overall.