CinemaCon 2021 Distributor Round-Up
As CinemaCon 2021 got underway on Monday 23rd August, there was a clear message from the distributor camp: The Big Screen is Back.
While most of the Showtime Analytics team were unable to attend in person this year, our man on the ground Larry McCourt kept us updated on the highlights from the major presentations. After a sentiment of teamwork and collaboration emerged from both John Fithian, NATO President and CEO, and Charles Rivkin, Head of the Motion Picture Association, whose Box Office Pro Podcast interview that went out on Monday morning, we continued to hear positive feedback from all the studio presentations.
Sony
To the delight of fans across the globe Sony Pictures’ opening night reel included the long awaited Spider-Man No Way Home trailer, which also premiered online shortly after. Within only 12 hours of release it had already hit over 260 million views and was trending at number 2 on YouTube. By Weds it had broken the global record for the most watched movie trailer in 24 hours ever, reaching 355 million views and leaving Avengers Endgame long behind with their former record of 289 million views. You don’t need to be a data analytics company to tell you No Way Home is arguably the most anticipated superhero movie of all time.
Josh Greenstein, President of the Sony Motion Picture Group took to the stage and delivered a resounding message of support to the exhibitor community, confirming their commitment to protecting and preserving the theatrical window.
On Tuesday, we saw MGM return to CinemaCon after a 20 year absence with Michael De Luca, MGM Motion Picture Group Chairman telling theatre owners :
They gave us a first look at Joe Wright’s period musical Cyrano starring Peter Dinklage and Haley Bennett, as well as a trailer for the February 2022 release of the Channing Tatum buddy-dog movie Dog.
The session closed with new footage from No Time to Die, Daniel Craig's fifth and final outing as the iconic 007. Originally slated to be released in April 2020, the film was one of the first to be delayed because of the Covid-19 pandemic. MGM hoped to release the James Bond film later that year before delaying it to April 2021, but have now issued a revised release date of October 8th, which they are determined there will be no further delays to release
Warner Bros
Under a deal made public earlier this month Warner Bros will resume giving films an exclusive theatrical window next year, with its 2022 slate going into theaters for 45 days. Jeff Goldstein, President of Domestic Distribution, and Andrew Cripps, President of International theatrical distribution, appeared in a pre-taped video for the presentation at CinemaCon.
Goldstein praised theatre owners for keeping audiences coming during their 13 new films they brought out during the pandemic, though after the studio opted to release all of it’s 2021 titles simultaneously on HBO Max whether this will this be enough to make amends with the exhibitor community remains to be seen.
Included in the introduction to the studio’s upcoming films was the fourth Matrix movie, officially announced as The Matrix: Resurrections with a release date of Dec 22nd (I think we at Showtime know what this year’s staff Christmas cinema trip will be - we are all Neos in Thomas Anderson’s body). Unlike Sony’s No Way Home, it was not released online.
Other titles Warner included in their sizzle reel were The Batman, which will release exclusively to cinemas in March 2022, and Dune, scheduled for release on October 22nd.
Universal
Universal’s show reel on day 3 was perhaps the most notable for the exhibitors in the Caesar’s Palace crowd, with their presentation paying a mark of respect to exhibition workers who they lauded as responsible for bringing the big screen back during the pandemic.
Including a nod from the talent of the productions to their own favourite cinemas, they also had an employee from said cinema introducing each title which included Sing 2, Halloween Kills, The Black Phone, Marry Me and Ambulance, which saw Matthew McConaughey name the Austin Alamo Drafthouse, Jamie Lee Cutis the Magic Lantern in Ketchum, Ethan Hawke the Princeton Garden Theatre, Jennifer Lopez the Concourse Plaza in the Bronx, and Jake Gyllenhaal the AMC Village 7. Something tells us these exhibitors are about to reach maximum capacity!
Of course Universal’s reel wouldn’t be complete without a sneak peek of some images from their summer 2022 blockbuster release Jurassic World: Dominion, and coupled with old footage of the Jurassic Park 1993 set showing Steven Spielberg and the infamous amber topped cane, we couldn’t have agreed more with Chris Pratt when he said :
Paramount
Chris Aronson, President, Domestic Distribution at Paramount Pictures marked his arrival on stage wearing a cape, hat and goggles, after footage of him being strapped to a rocket by Jackass Forever star Johnny Knoxville outside Casesar’s Palace and shot up into the air was shown to the live audience.
He went on to show their slate which included two upcoming Tom Cruise releases, including 13 minutes of footage of Top Gun: Maverick which earned an applause when its title took the screen.
While most distributors were focused on showcasing their films set for release prior to April 2022, Paramount made sure to treat the audience to a snippet of what to expect from Mission: Impossible 7, which isn’t set for release until May 27th. Tom Cruise sends a video from the set proclaiming:
Other highlights of Paramount’s presentation were Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in on the set of The Lost City, sending a greeting to theater owners, and a screening of the soon to be released Clifford The Big Red Dog, though the film’s previously scheduled date of Sept 17th has been pushed due to the Delta variant.
Lionsgate
Closing the CinemaCon show was Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group Chairman Joe Drake.
During the pandemic, Lionsgate greenlit and completed 14 films, and Drake proclaimed that Movies in theatres are here to stay.
By far the biggest treat in the studio’s CinemaCon reel is the upcoming April 22, 2022 Nicolas Cage self-satire The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, which sees him play himself alongside Neil Patrick Harris (Matrix Resurrections) and Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian), and which had the entire Colosseum roaring with laughter. Similar to other studios, Lionsgate kept its trailers for all films coming out between now and the spring and included teasers for American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story (slated for a Christmas Day release), The Unbreakable Boy, The Jesus Music and Moonfall.
While this year’s CinemaCon was watched from afar by many of us due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, there is no denying the sentiment from both the distributor and exhibitor communities. Every presentation reinforced the importance of seeing movies in a theatre. We as an industry will not only survive, we will come back stronger, and we’ll do it together.
Universal Domestic Distribution president Jim Orr perhaps said it best with his emotional quote:
Thanks to our industry friends at Boxofficepro.com, Celluloid Junkie Deadline.com,Hollywoodreporter.com and Screenrant.com, for keeping us updated online from the event as it unfolded.