Welcome to CinemaCon! The convention you’ve never heard of, that you can’t go to, and the one that you can’t see, mostly anything that was shown off. Today, we had Warner Bros. panel that showed off their movie slate for the coming year.
We’ll be updating this as the panel goes on with information.
The panel started off with WB executives coming out in pink suits to Aqua’s “Barbie Girl”. They talked about how successful Evil Dead Rise has been and kicked into a sizzle reel featuring footage (that you can’t see) of Furiosa, Dune Part 2, and featured title mockups for Superman: Legacy, Beetlejuice 2, and more.
Next, David Zaslav came on stage to talk about WB’s upcoming year and introduced Peter Safran and James Gunn to talk more about their 10-year plan for DC Films.
Zaslav continued talking about how they don’t want to release films that go directly to streaming in the future. They have 16 movies planned for this upcoming year and want to get over 20 in the future.
The upcoming fourth ‘CONJURING‘ movie is titled ‘THE CONJURING: LAST RITES‘.
David Zaslav also called The Flash “the best superhero movie he’s ever seen.”
Oprah Winfrey entered the stage to talk about The Color Purple. She called the original 1985 film “the biggest thing to ever happen to her.” Then they showed the trailer for the film, which you can’t watch yet. The cast and crew came on stage for a Q/A. Our reporter on the ground said, “it looks like a movie my mom would like.” It stars Taraji P. Henson, Corey Hawkins, Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Halle Bailey, Colman Domingo, and H.E.R.
Oprah had this to say about the film. “This is a sisterhood film. We’re bringing the sisters to the theater with their sisters and their sister’s sisters.”
More From The Panel At CinemaCon 2023
WB announced that a sixth Final Destination film was in the works.
Warner Bros. confirms Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein are directing ‘FINAL DESTINATION 6’. Jon Watts is producing and writing the story treatment.
After that we have Barbie!
Greta Gerwig says she and Noah Baumbach got emotional writing the ‘BARBIE’ script together. He almost wanted to direct it by the end but Greta joked, saying “step aside.”
Ryan Gosling says “I doubted my Kenergy, I didn’t see it” when he got asked to join ‘BARBIE’.
Greta Gerwig says she cried when stepping onto the ‘BARBIE’ set and seeing all of the houses built to size for the first time.
Greta Gerwig says ‘BARBIE’ was inspired by ‘THE WIZARD OF OZ’ and disco music.
Here are some highlights of the new footage shown at CinemaCon from Barbie.
- Margot Robbie’s Barbie wakes up in a heart-shaped bed.
- Ryan Gosling’s Ken busts out choreography
- Barbie is horrified by developing flat feet instead of her perfectly-arched heels
- Barbie visits “weird Barbie” (Kate McKinnon)
- John Cena also appears as a mermaid.
Even More From The Panel At CinemaCon 2023
Wonka starring Timothy Chalamet is up next. An extended trailer was shown. Our reporter on the ground had this to say about it: “Wow. Wonka was perfect. Started with a nod to Pure Imagination. Felt very much like a proper prequel to the Gene Wilder movie”
Hugh Grant plays an Oompa-Loompa in the film. Timothy Chalamet swam in chocolate for the film.
Up next is The Meg 2: The Trench.
The new trailer includes the return of Jason Statham as well as a T-Rex being eaten by a Meg. There are now also multiple Megs!
The Nun II is up next for footage. It releases in theaters this September. This could be the scariest film out of the ‘Conjuring’ universe yet.
Dune Part II is finally here!
Denis Villeneuve calls Dune 2 an “action-packed, epic, war movie. It is much more dense. We went to all-new locations.” 100% of the movie was shot in IMAX vs. 40% for the first one.
Timothée Chalamet’s Paul rides a sandworm in ‘DUNE 2’.
Part one is an appetizer and part two is the “main course.” It’s all new, new sets, and it’s an epic war movie.
Timothee Chalamet on Paul Atreides in ‘DUNE: PART TWO’ “We really see Paul become a leader here… a redeemer.”
Denis Villeneuve calls Austin Butler’ Feyd Rautha a “psychotic serial killer” in ‘DUNE: PART2’
The Flash Is The Main Event For Warner Bros.
DC is ending the showcase, James Gunn and Peter Safran are there digitally and physically.
You can actually watch The Flash trailer from the event!
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is the next up with some words from Safran about the remaining three DC films from the old regime. They do have plans for these characters going forward.
Aquaman and Orm have to team up to defeat Black Manta in ‘AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM’. Here’s our description of the trailer shown.
Manta has the Black Trident. Seems like a MUCH more formidable foe this time around. Multiple big ocean war scenes. Scale is much bigger. Aquaman (Jason) is basically the same as the first film. Amber Heard is still in the film and was shown in the trailer.
Now we’ve got Blue Beetle!
Blue Beetle director Angel Manuel Soto says they wanted to focus on Jaime’s family’s involvement in ‘BLUE BEETLE’ and give them their own heroic arcs. “Good luck keeping a secret from a Latino mother!”
Xolo Mariduena believes Blue Beetle to be unique due to the fact he doesn’t want to be a hero “I think he’s the only person ever to get superpowers and not want them.”
More from The Flash.
Peter Safran had this to say about the character.
“This is a superhero so powerful that he can change the destiny of other superheroes,”
Director Andrés Muschietti on star Ezra Miller: “I discovered that they are an incredible comedian…they wanted to do all the stunts, and I let them.”
They built an entire Batcave for Michael Keaton’s Batman, something the original films didn’t even do. The Flash is set 30 years after Batman Returns.
That’s it for the panel! The Flash is being shown later today at CinemaCon.
Barbie
Director: Greta Gerwig
Release Date: July 21, 2023
Meg 2: The Trench
Director: Ben Wheatley
Release Date: August 4, 2023
Blue Beetle
Director: Angel Manuel Soto
Release Date: August 18, 2023
Dune: Part II
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Release Date: Dune: Part II
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Director: James Wan
Release Date: December 20, 2023
The Color Purple
Director: Blitz Bazawule
Release Date: December 25, 2023
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