 |  |
 | |
MOVIES:
Buy the Solo: A Star Wars Story movie poster here.
Buy the Solo: A Star Wars Story soundtrack CD here.
Buy the Solo: A Star Wars Story official guide book here.
Buy the Solo: A Star Wars Story official art book here.
The Movie Report wants to attend and cover all your film press junkets! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
Personally, I wouldn't go that far, and a large reason for that is the smoothly professional style of the studio's regular presentation host, Dave Hollis, Disney's President of Theatrical Distribution. As mentioned in the previous article, Hollis is set to depart his post at the end of next month, and the studio deviated from its usual laser focus on business to pay him special homage. No less than Alan Horn, Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios, was first up on stage to not only trumpet the studio's industry-leading box office success of the past year as shown in the customary introductory sizzle reel before his entrance, but to also offer words of tribute for Hollis. Upon taking over the podium, however, the ever-unflappable Hollis quickly redirected the attention to recapping the company's year of successes before a brief and classy thank you to the studio and the exhibitor community for "the three happiest years ever." He signed off on behalf of Disney for the final time by introducing the presentation proper's first film preview footage.
Ant-Man and the Wasp (July 6): Horn briefly returned to the stage to introduce to the crowd Hollis's imminent successor, Cathleen Taff, who wasted no time in continuing the Marvel Studios theme with the premiere of the newest trailer for the second starring vehicle for Paul Rudd's size-shifting hero. This time he's paired with Evangeline Lilly suiting up, as suggested in the previous film's conclusion, as the other title insect, and since this film takes place roughly before the seemingly cataclysmic events of Infinity War, the trailer shows Rudd (who also co-wrote) and returning director Peyton Reed continuing the jovial tone--reinforced by the use of a remix of Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock's classic "It Takes Two" as score throughout--even as Ant-Man and the Wasp due battle with a mysterious adversary in a white suit. While the trailer ends with a brief appearance of new co-star Laurence Fishburne, there is still no sign of the new co-star fans really want to see, Michelle Pfeiffer as Janet Van Dyne, the original Wasp. I guess we'll have to wait for trailer #3.
Captain Marvel (March 8, 2019): It was back to the PowerPoint for the look--nay, glance--at Marvel's first female-(co-)directed film (by Anna Fleck, with regular partner Ryan Boden), and first female-headlined one, by outer space adventurer Carol Danvers, who was originally known in the comics as Ms. Marvel before going through numerous name changes until finally landing at Captain Marvel. Only some concept art, including renderings of star Brie Larson in the Captain Marvel costume, was shown. Nothing in these vague glimpses convinces this longtime comic geek that the B-List-at-best character of Carol Danvers--who has gone through many overhauls over the decades to find an identity that somewhat caught on only in the last five years--is worthy of a lavish big screen solo showcase treatment, all due respect to the talented creatives involved.
The Nutcracker and the Four Realms (November): The latest feature adaptation of the perennial holiday season ballet also got the EPK-style behind the scenes featurette treatment, with special focus on the film's featured performance by American Ballet Theatre's mainstream-popular principal dancer Misty Copeland. There was nothing too unusual from the norm about the rest of the featurette, nor the world premiere trailer, which teases a Narnia-esque tale of a young girl who enters a magical realm featuring various signposts inspired by the ballet, such as a nutcracker soldier come to life--with one huge, glaring, exception: the glaring absence of a director. Things are obviously still in flux with this film, for the original director Lasse Hallström was recently replaced in post-production by Joe Johnston, who is also at the helm of what are reported to be some extensive reshoots. Neither Hallström nor Johnston were physically present in the behind-the-scenes feature, but one passing verbal reference to a "Lasse" in one of the crew interview segments did slip through. No matter whose vision is ultimately the winner, the final product looks to be a visual stunner, and names in the cast such as Keira Knightley, Morgan Freeman, and Eugenio Derbez look to be having fun in the elaborately designed proceedings.
Mary Poppins Returns (Christmas): Perhaps the most eagerly awaited film on the Disney release slate post-Infinity War continues to be given the tease treatment. Instead of a behind the scenes featurette or even a new official trailer, all that was shown to promote the Rob Marshall-directed, Emily Blunt- and Lin-Manuel Miranda-starring musical sequel was a wordless montage of short snippets set to Marc Shaiman's original instrumental score. No actual plot or story could be gleaned from the brief reel, but the one intriguing moment has Blunt and Miranda interacting with old fashioned, classic 2D hand-drawn animated birds, which is a nice nod to the beloved original 1964 film. Blunt also still looks very much the part stepping into Julie Andrews's formidable footsteps. We shall see if the rest of the film measures up come the holiday season.
Dumbo (March 20, 2019): Oddly enough, more extensive looks were offered at two big live action projects given their very first preview ever. Another EPK-style behind the scenes featurette offered the initial taste of Tim Burton's take on the 1941 flying elephant classic, revealing an elaborately designed circus setting that looks distinctly Burton-esque, with wild costumes and makeup to match on Burton veterans Michael Keaton, Danny DeVito, and Eva Green. What wasn't revealed, however, was the title character itself, with only some vague production sketches shown that lived up to the term "teaser." With Burton at the helm, I imagine the final CGI elephant design will be impressive, and I hope some of his signature quirk is able to cut through the commercial cash-in motivation of the project, much like it did in his Alice in Wonderland.
Aladdin (May 2019): Even more surprising was the amount of production footage shown for next year's other animated classic adaptation, that of the 1992 blockbuster of the same name. While the jury is still out on if the headscratching choice of Guy Ritchie as director is the right one (I remain wildly curious as to how he will handle the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman/Tim Rice musical numbers), other aspects look right. Mena Messoud and Naomi Scott look very much the part as Aladdin and Princess Jasmine, respectively, and the costuming is on point if, in these early glimpses, a bit on the theme park character side; ditto the sets, which would very much look at home as a virtual Agrabah in any Magic Kingdom around the world. The big question mark going in, of course, is Will Smith as the Genie, and while the footage of him shown was clearly during the "Prince Ali" sequence--that is, his Genie was in human form/disguise and skin tone--one does indeed get a sense that much like how the legendary Robin Williams imprinted so much of his distinct persona onto the role, so does Smith, infusing some amiably goofball swag into the role in the place of his predecessor's zany hyperactivity. Whether or not that's a good or bad thing remains to be seen, but I do believe it being a different thing is a step in the right direction toward justifying this project's existence.
The Lion King (July 2019): The surprise grand finale for the presentation was a very early and exclusive look at 2019's third animated classic redo, Jon Favreau's take on the 1994 box office phenomenon. Technically what was shown was not actual footage from the film, but it nonetheless should be an accurate representation of Favreau's vision, for the screened proof of concept reel was quite spectacular: a shot-by-shot recreation of the iconic opening "Circle of Life" number (using Carmen Twillie's original recording), but this time staged with the remarkably photorealistic CGI animals that populated his terrific 2016 update of The Jungle Book. That description is both spot-on yet insufficient in conveying just how spectacular the reel looked, and even then in only "rough" proof of concept form, and how it made a film and score that never left the pop culture consciousness after premiering 24 years ago feel new and unexpected. Never mind the fourth Avengers film--I think this is the 2019 summer blockbuster that will reign over all at the box office.
Stay tuned here and on my Twitter and Instagram all week for ongoing coverage of all the goings-on at CinemaCon 2018!
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski, Corey Barger, and the entire team at Rogers & Cowan for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew)
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
