20th Century Fox is showing off a new poster for the upcoming action-adventure film, Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Directed by Matthew Vaughn, the Kingsman: The Secret Service sequel was written by Vaughn and Jane Goldman. Colin Firth leads a cast that includes Julianne Moore, Taron Egerton, Mark Strong, Halle Berry, Sir Elton John, Channing Tatum, and Jeff Bridges. Fox has set a September 29, 2017 theatrical release date.
The Plot:Kingsman: The Secret Service introduced the world to Kingsman – an independent, international intelligence agency operating at the highest level of discretion, whose ultimate goal is to keep the world safe. In Kingsman: The Golden Circle, our heroes face a new challenge. When their headquarters are destroyed and the world is held hostage, their journey leads them to the discovery of an allied spy organization in the US called Statesman, dating back to the day they were both founded. In a new adventure that tests their agents’ strength and wits to the limit, these two elite secret organizations band together to defeat a ruthless common enemy, in order to save the world, something that’s becoming a bit of a habit for Eggsy…
Warner Bros. Television has unveiled the first photo from The CW’s new dramatic pilot, Black Lightning, based on the DC Comics character. Filming’s currently underway in Atlanta on the pilot with Cress Williams (Hart of Dixie) starring as Jefferson Pierce/Black Lightning. The pilot is executive produced by Greg Berlanti, Salim Akil, Mara Brock Akil, and Sarah Schechter, with Akil writing and directing.
“I knew way too much about the world as a young boy growing up in Richmond, California. I was no stranger to violence, death, hopelessness or the feeling that no one cared about what was happening in my life,” said Akil. “Comics were a great way for me to escape. I was about 13 when Black Lightning was created, and finally there was a Black Super Hero that gave a damn about our neighborhood and our lives.”
Akil added, “Resurrecting him at a time in our society when a sense of hope is lacking…Black Lightning will be that hope. And in updating the suit, it will signal to a new generation that it’s time to harness and release our power, and become our own Super Heroes.”
Black Lightning’s costume was designed by Laura Jean Shannon, an Costume Designers Guild award nominee for her work on Iron Man. Shannon’s credits also include Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, The Jungle Book, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Blade: Trinity, and Good Girls Revolt.
The Plot: The first African-American DC Super Hero to have his own stand-alone comic title, Black Lightning is based on the character created by Tony Isabella with Trevor Von Eeden in 1977. Jefferson Pierce made his choice: he hung up the suit and his secret identity years ago, but with one daughter hell-bent on justice and the other a star student being recruited by a local gang, he’ll be pulled back into the fight as the wanted vigilante and DC legend – Black Lightning.
Warner Bros Pictures’ presentation at the 2017 CinemaCon began with a video greeting from Going in Style stars Alan Arkin, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine. And while that threesome were part of the presentation via video, Warner Bros brought quite the collection of stars to the stage at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. Filmmaker Christopher Nolan was up first to discuss Dunkirk. Denise Di Novi, Rosario Dawson and Katherine Heigl introduced Unforgettable, and Ed Helms joined director Larry Sher to joke around about Bastards. Charlie Hunnam promised a very different King Arthur when King Arthur: Legend of the Sword arrives in May. And Blade Runner 2049 brought Jared Leto, Ana de Armas, and director Denis Villeneuve to the Vegas gathering of National Association of Theatre Owners members.
Writer/director/producer Christopher Nolan will likely be busy come awards season with the World War II film, Dunkirk. Before introducing a short film which he describes as a prologue, Nolan said Dunkirk is at its heart a survival story and one of the greatest stories in history. Nolan’s goal was to make the film in the most visceral way possible, putting the audience on the beach and in the cockpit with the characters. Nolan shot the film in large format celluloid and he used the IMAX cameras to their full effect. He also said that Dunkirk is a film that deserves to be seen on the big screen when it arrives on July 21st.
Blade Runner 2049 star Jared Leto revealed there are very few films that have struck him as deep as the original Blade Runner. Leto said the new Blade Runner has an incredible cast and crew, and he considers it to be one of the great honors of his life to be a part of this production. Villeneuve added, “To see Harrison Ford back in his iconic character, Rick Deckard, was mind-blowing.” After the introduction, a lengthy behind-the-scenes video was shown featuring footage from the set and interview clips with the cast, including Harrison Ford.
Charlie Hunnam helped build the hype on King Arthur: Legend of the Sword by declaring it’s a little bit different from the King Arthur we all expect. Hunnam said we’re used to seeing a noble man who goes on a noble quest to become a noble king. “We’ve decided to do pretty much the exact opposite. Where you meet Arthur in the story is he’s from the back alleys of London where he’s surviving with his cunning and his fists,” explained Hunnam. “He doesn’t even know that he’s born to be a king and when he finds out, he doesn’t want it.” Hunnam said viewers should expect the unexpected, calling it cheeky, naughty, and fun.
The DC universe was represented by Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Jason Momoa, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Chris Pine, and directors Patty Jenkins and Zack Snyder. Warner Bros. wisely scheduled the DC segment to close out their presentation, and Jason Momoa was met with enthusiastic applause as the first member of the Justice League squad to be introduced. Momoa was on stage first to promote the solo Aquaman movie which won’t be entering theaters until December 21, 2018, teasing that he’s seen Justice League and it’s greatest movie in the world. Momoa revealed he’s off to Australia after leaving the CinemaCon stage to begin filming Aquaman for director James Wan. Because production hasn’t yet begun, there was nothing to show from the film. However, Wan did put together concept art and model footage which he narrated in a short video. Wan, who was getting ready to begin production and couldn’t make the trip to Vegas, said Aquaman is a badass and Momoa is the complete embodiment of the character.
Gal Gadot was, unfortunately, unable to attend so it was up to Wonder Woman‘s director Patty Jenkins and Gadot’s co-star Chris Pine to take the stage to show off about 10 minutes of footage from the superhero film. The love story in the film was highlighted in the footage screened at CinemaCon, and Pine described the film as having a Casabalanca theme unlike anything we’ve previously seen in a superhero film. That said, the footage also included plenty of shots of Wonder Woman taking out her adversaries while, at one point, protecting Pine’s character, Steve Trevor.
The Warner Bros Pictures presentation ended with members of the Justice League – Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Ezra Miller, Jason Momoa, and Ray Fisher – joining director Zack Snyder on stage. Snyder did all the talking for the Justice League team, saying it all began with a phone call. For Snyder, helming a Justice League film has been a seven year journey that started with producers Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan asking how he felt about Superman. Snyder said he’s a huge fan of these characters and it’s a dream come true to have them all together in one film.
During the presentation, trailers and video clips were also shown from Bastards, The House, Annabelle: Creation (previously titled Annabelle 2), It, Geostorm, The LEGO Ninjago Movie, and Everything, Everything.
New Line Cinema’s just released the official teaser trailer for It, the horror/thriller based on the bestselling book by Stephen King. Andrés Muschietti (Mama) directs from a script by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga, and Gary Dauberman. Jon Silk, Doug Davison, and Marty P. Ewing executive produce, and Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Seth Grahame-Smith, David Katzenberg, and Barbara Muschietti produced the big screen adaptation of King’s popular horror novel.
The It cast includes Bill Skarsgård (Hemlock Grove) as Pennywise the clown, Jaeden Lieberher (Midnight Special), Jeremy Ray Taylor (Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip), Sophia Lillis (37), Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things), Wyatt Oleff (Guardians of the Galaxy), Chosen Jacobs (Cops and Robbers), Jack Dylan Grazer (Tales of Halloween) and Nicholas Hamilton (Captain Fantastic). It opens in theaters on September 8, 2017.
The Plot: When children begin to disappear in the town of Derry, Maine, a group of young kids are faced with their biggest fears when they square off against an evil clown named Pennywise, whose history of murder and violence dates back for centuries.
The CW’s Reign season four episode six found Queen Mary admitting she’s in love with Lord Darnley following an unsuccessful attempt on his life. The episode also featured Queen Elizabeth hiring the most respected doctor in the land (who turned out to be a big fraud) to try and cure Gideon’s daughter, and Leith discovered he’s incapable of sharing Claude with Luc so he allowed Narcisse to buy him off. Also, Leesa figured out Narcisse and Catherine have been tricking her and that King Charles is actually missing.
Up next, season four episode seven titled ‘Hanging Swords’ and airing on March 31, 2017. ‘Hanging Swords’ was directed by Lee Rose from a script by Chris Atwood and Kamran Pasha. The season four cast includes Adelaide Kane as Queen Mary, Rachel Skarsten as Queen Elizabeth, Megan Fellows as Queen Catherine, Dan Jeannotte as James, and Will Kemp as Lord Darnley. Ben Geurens, Celina Sinden, Jonathan Goad, Craig Parker, Spencer MacPherson, and Rose Williams also star in Reign‘s fourth and final season.
The ‘Hanging Swords’ Plot: MARY LEARNS OF ELIZABETH’S ATTEMPT TO STOP HER MARRIAGE — When Darnley (Kemp) gets a surprise visitor, his marriage to Mary (Kane) hangs in the balance. Elizabeth (Skarsten) learns her attempt to stop Mary backfired. Meanwhile, Catherine (Follows) and Narcisse (Parker) find King Charles (MacPherson) and must convince him to return to the castle.
“Don’t we deserve one win after everything that we’ve done?” asks Barry Allen (Grant Gustin). “Life doesn’t keep score, Barry,” replies Iris (Candice Patton) as they argue about accepting Abra Kadabra’s offer to reveal the identity of Savitar in season three episode 18 of The CW’s The Flash.
As the episode begins, Abra Kadabra (David Dastmalchian) surprises two guards at Stagg Industries and steals a piece of mysterious tech. Using what seems to be magic, he traps them in a Houdini-like case and makes it start to fill with water.
Over at S.T.A.R. Labs, Cisco (Carlos Valdes) vibes and sees the same future with Savitar killing Iris. Caitlin (Danielle Panabaker) suggests they go over what they know and Cisco says the problem is they don’t really know much except for Savitar’s prophecy with its two headline titles: “Killer Frost Still at Large” and “Joe West Honored.”
Barry, Joe (Jesse L. Martin), and Julian (Tom Felton) receive a message about a break-in and murder at Stagg Industries. As they head out to their day jobs, Caitlin calls out to Julian telling him he received a package from the Opera House. Julian tells her he got those tickets a while ago when she told him she’d never been to the opera. Caitlin starts to smile until Julian tells her to take whoever she wants and walks away. Cisco tries to comfort Caitlin, giving her moral support and telling her to give Julian some time to get over feeling betrayed after she finally revealed she kept a piece of the Philosopher’s Stone. Caitlin doesn’t think Julian will ever get over it.
Barry, Joe, and Julian are investigating the crime at Stagg Industries when Barry gets a message from Cisco that Kord Industries is being robbed. Barry races off to catch the thief. The Flash sees Abra Kadabra as he’s trying to leave with another mysterious piece of tech. Kadabra says he didn’t think The Flash would be so young and calls him by his real name, Barry Allen. Barry asks how he knows who he is and Kadabra says he knows all about him, his lady love Iris and her upcoming death, and his fight with Savitar. Barry tries to capture him but only gets a prosthetic arm instead after Kadabra uses his magic again. Gypsy (Jessica Camacho) appears, coming through a breach and hitting Kadabra with an energy blast. Kadabra manages to get up and uses a steady stream of playing cards as a shield to make his escape.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, Gypsy brings Team Flash up to speed on Abra Kadabra who it turns out is a criminal from the 64th century and whose nanotechnology makes it appear as if he’s doing real magic. Gypsy reveals he’s on her top 10 collector’s list for the crime spree he pulled off on Earth-19 and all the people he killed. Cisco tries to flirt with Gypsy who doesn’t seem interested this time and only wants to bring Kadabra back to Earth-19 to pay for what he’s done. Barry tells Joe and Iris that Kadabra knows about Savitar and Iris’ death, so maybe he’s the key to them stopping Savitar from killing Iris.
In his work bay, Cisco tries vibing but can’t seem to get a lock on Kadabra so he sets up the satellite to search for anyone vibrating at a different frequency. Gypsy and Cisco talk…mostly Cisco…about the kiss they shared last time she was there and she downplays it. Sensing her coldness, Cisco asks if he’s misread her and she says she’s been busy. Just then an alarm goes off. “Great timing!” yells Cisco and he sees that Mercury Labs has an intruder. Barry, Cisco, Gypsy, and Wally (Keiynan Lonsdale) race off to stop the intruder. When they arrive, they discover he’s really a hologram. It’s a diversion!
At S.T.A.R. Labs, Julian, Caitlin, and Joe are going over some evidence when Abra Kadabra appears looking for something. Joe pulls his gun and points it at Kadabra who uses his tech to make water come out of it. Joe, Julian, and Caitlin race to the storage area of the facility, and Joe grabs the special meta-rifle, but Kadabra stops that too with his magic. Just as he’s about to attack Caitlin and Julian, Barry races in and places the power-reducing cuffs on Kadabra. Seems Caitlin was able to quickly send Barry a message from her phone about Kadabra being at S.T.A.R. Labs. Kadabra tells Barry if he lets him go, he’ll tell him who Savitar is. Gypsy shows up to take him away and Barry knocks Kadabra out.
Team Flash puts Kadabra in the pipeline and again he offers to do a trade. If they let him go free, he’ll tell them who Savitar is. Joe and Iris try ordering him to tell the truth but to no avail. Gypsy says she can’t wait to watch him die and storms off. Cisco goes after her to find out why she hates him so much.
In the medical bay, Caitlin tends to Julian’s flesh wound and apologizes again. She admits she was so focused on not hurting him as Killer Frost, she forgot she could hurt him as herself. She understands if he doesn’t trust her anymore but asks if he could find it in his heart to forgive her. Looking uncomfortable, Julian shakes his head no slightly and Caitlin leaves, telling him he’s good to go. (C’mon, how many times does Caitlin have to apologize?! Get over it already, Julian.)
Barry and Iris debate whether to accept Kadabra’s offer, with Barry thinking maybe it’s the only move they have left and Iris telling him that he will save her from Savitar, not Kadabra. She doesn’t want to let a murderer go free on the chance it might save her life.
Back in the pipeline, Joe talks to Kadabra and tells him he’ll take the deal because it’s his daughter’s life. After a few tense moments, Joe opens the door to the pipeline and pointing the meta-human rifle at him, orders Kadabra to tell him the name. Just as Kadabra is about to say it, Gypsy bursts in asking what Joe is doing. Kadabra once again slips by them.
Kadabra heads to the time vault and steals a glowing orb before catching the elevator. Joe tries to shoot him but fails and just as Caitlin and Julian arrive, Kadabra throws an explosive which knocks them off their feet and across the room. Joe is okay and so is Julian but when he checks on Caitlin, he sees she has been impaled by a pole.
Team Flash rush Caitlin to the medical bay with Iris saying they should take her to a hospital, but Cisco says they can’t because they would discover she’s a meta. Joe reminds everyone they still have a police file on a cold woman who hurt Julian. Cisco suggests they remove Caitlin’s power-controlling necklace so that her cold powers will heal her, but Caitlin says no and that she would rather die than do that. Caitlin tells Julian that she’ll guide him through her surgery to remove the shrapnel which is dangerously close to her liver. Caitlin reminds a very nervous Julian that he was a medic in the Army, but he says he never operated on anyone. Caitlin tells him she trusts him with her life.
Gypsy yells at Joe who’s left the room feeling guilty. She calls into question just what kind of cop he is, which gets him angry and leads to the two exchanging more harsh words. Cisco asks Gypsy why she hates Kadabra so much and she finally admits he killed her partner, both professional and romantic, three years ago.
Julian operates on a wide-awake Caitlin who guides him along as he removes the pieces of shrapnel all while Caitlin is in immense pain. A very concerned Barry and Cisco watch from further back in the room while Iris assists Julian. (Wait! Since when does being a journalist qualify Iris to assist in a major surgery? Shouldn’t Barry be assisting since he’s a CSI and has medical training? What were the writers thinking here?) After the last piece of deadly shrapnel is removed, Caitlin asks Julian, “Can you stitch me up because I need to pass out?”
While Caitlin recovers and Julian watches over her, Team Flash start to brainstorm on how to catch Kadabra. Gypsy tells them she’s figured out what he’s stealing all the tech devices for – he’s building a time machine. “He’s trying to get back to the future,” says Barry. They realize when Kadabra opens a wormhole to time travel in his machine that’s their chance to stop him because it will appear on their monitors. When it appears, Barry, Wally, Cisco, and Gypsy head out to capture him. In a frantic race around Central City, The Flash and Kid Flash chase Kadabra in his hovering time machine while Cisco and Gypsy try to use their powers to stop him from entering the wormhole. Finally, The Flash phases himself through the machine, grabbing Kadabra and making him crash out onto the street as his machine disappears into the wormhole.
Back at S.T.A.R. Labs, everyone is feeling down because Gypsy is taking Kadabra back with her and they can’t talk her out of it. As she walks her prisoner in to get ready to open a breach, Barry tells Kadabra he has nothing to offer him and he needs to pay for the horrible crimes he’s committed. Barry appeals to the man he might once have been and asks him to help him out by revealing Savitar’s identity. Kadabra tells Barry that Savitar is by far the worst enemy he’s ever faced and he broke him when he killed Iris. He names a few other major enemies and mentions a name Barry and the others don’t recognize, but says he’s happy because in a way it’s like he had a hand in breaking Barry too.
Back in the medical bay, Caitlin wakes up with Julian by her side and holding her hand. He goes on and on about how strong and brave she was and she tells him he did the hard part. “Are you going soft on me?” asks Caitlin and Julian says yes as he bends forward, kisses her softly, touching her wound and making her wince. He apologizes and Caitlin smiles.
Later that night, Iris and Joe are at his house and Joe confesses he feels helpless to save her and it’s killing him. He talks about being scared she would die in her sleep when she was a baby so he would stay up and watch over her. Barry enters telling them he knows how to save Iris. He says he’s going to travel into the future to learn what they need to know to stop it from happening. (Oh yeah, great idea! Because traveling to the past and the future has worked out so well for Team Flash so far…sigh.)
The last scene finds Cisco bringing Caitlin some green jello and she asks where the strawberry jello is. He admits to eating all of it. H.R. (Tom Cavanagh) shows up asking why Caitlin is in bed and she tells him it’s a long story. Cisco gives H.R. grief about disappearing for two days and advises him to tell someone next time. H.R. laughs as he leaves and Caitlin says to Cisco that he was worried about him. Cisco asks her never to tell H.R. that and she begins to say, “Cross my heart and ho…” but never finishes her sentence as she passes out.
Caitlin begins seizing and Cisco yells for help. Julian and H.R. rush in, asking what happened. They all start working on her with Cisco giving her oxygen because she has stopped breathing and Julian doing chest compressions. Caitlin’s vitals tank and she flatlines. Julian tells H.R. to charge the defibrillator and shocks her but nothing happens. Julian instructs H.R. to turn it up all the way and tries again. Still no change. The three men keep trying but Caitlin’s status remains the same. “C’mon, Caitlin!” pleads H.R. as Cisco begins to cry. Finally, Cisco, Julian, and H.R. realize nothing is working. “She’s gone,” says an upset H.R., with Cisco devastated and crying and Julian looking like he’s in shock. Refusing to lose her, Julian rips off her power-controlling necklace while Cisco yells, “No! She didn’t want that!” “I don’t care. I’m not going to stand here and watch her die,” answers Julian who bends down and holds her hand, telling her to come back to them.
Suddenly, Caitlin’s vitals return and quickly grow very strong as her wound disappears. She lets out a cold breath and opens her eyes which are now crystal blue. Cisco says her name and a blast of frost knocks them off their feet and across the room. Cisco looks up and as the cloud of cold frost parts, he sees Caitlin – now changed into Killer Frost – standing up and walking over to them.
The Flash Season 3 Episode 18 Review:
Suspenseful, heartbreaking, and ultimately tragic, season three episode 18 titled “Abra Kadabra” brings the worst prophecy of Savitar’s to fruition by the shocking and emotional death of Caitlin Snow and her rebirth as the evil Killer Frost. It’s clear now that Caitlin is the one Savitar was talking about when he said, “One shall suffer a fate worse than death,” because Caitlin warned Cisco, Julian, and Barry she would rather die than take off her necklace and become Killer Frost.
The stand-out performances in this episode belong to Danielle Panabaker and Carlos Valdes as Caitlin and Cisco. Danielle’s performance as Caitlin while she’s being operated on is incredible, capturing perfectly the unimaginable pain and fear her character is feeling as she guides Julian through the surgery. Carlos displays such heartfelt emotion in the last scene as he’s struggling to save his best friend’s life. The look of loss and devastation on his face is so powerful. (It had this critic teary-eyed.)
With Caitlin’s worst fear coming true and Savitar’s identity still unknown, it’s not looking good for Team Flash’s chances of stopping Savitar from killing Iris. Even worse, it seems that the heart and soul of the team, Caitlin, is gone for good…or is she?!
STXfilms just released the new, epic trailer for the sci-fi film, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. Written and directed by Luc Besson, Valerian is based on the Valerian and Laureline comic books from Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières. The cast of the action-adventure includes Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna, Ethan Hawke, Herbie Hancock, Kris Wu, and Rutger Hauer. STXfilms has set a July 21, 2017 theatrical release date.
A thousand worlds. One mission to save them all.
The Plot:Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is the visually spectacular new adventure film from Luc Besson, the legendary director of The Professional, The Fifth Element and Lucy, based on the ground-breaking comic book series which inspired a generation of artists, writers and filmmakers.
In the 28th century, Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) are a team of special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha-an ever-expanding metropolis where species from all over the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence and cultures with each other. There is a mystery at the center of Alpha, a dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
Timothy Olyphant and Drew Barrymore in ‘Santa Clarita Diet’ (Photo by Saeed Adyani / Netflix)
Netflix just announced the comedy series Santa Clarita Diet has been renewed for season two. According to Netflix, the series will start shooting the second season episodes sometime this summer. Season two, which will premiere in 2018, stars Drew Barrymore as Sheila Hammond, Timothy Olyphant as Joel Hammond, Liv Hewson as Abby Hammond, and Skylar Gisondo as Eric Bemis.
Season one premiered on February 3, 2017, with all 10 episodes currently streaming to subscribers.
The Plot: In Santa Clarita Diet, Joel (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) and Sheila (Drew Barrymore, Blended) are husband and wife realtors leading vaguely discontented lives in the L.A. suburb of Santa Clarita with their teenaged daughter Abby (Liv Hewson), until Sheila goes through a dramatic change sending their lives down a road of death and destruction…but in a good way.
The Baywatch gang introduced a “Fuchsia” trailer, Johnny Knoxville starred in a teaser video he was knocked unconscious filming, and both George Clooney and Julianne Moore poked fun at Matt Damon during Paramount Pictures’ presentation at the 2017 CinemaCon. Paramount’s jam-packed panel took place on day two of the gathering of National Association of Theatre Owners members, with attendees treated to the first footage from films including Suburbicon, Annihilation starring Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac, Downsizing, and Amusement Park, as well as 15 minutes of Transformers: The Last Knight. Release dates were also confirmed for the new Cloverfield film (Oct 27) and Daddy’s Home 2 (Nov 10) which will add the granddads to the mix.
The presentation kicked off with “lifeguards” parading through the audience before posing on stage as Baywatch star Dwayne Johnson, obviously enjoying being the ringmaster, introduced his co-stars. Johnson worked the crowd and dubbed Baywatch the craziest, sexiest, funniest R-rated movie of the summer season. He also called Team Baywatch – Zac Efron, Jon Bass, Alexandra Daddario, Priyanka Chopra, and Kelly Rohrbach – the Avengers of the Beach. After Efron explained Baywatch is an attitude of being the best at everything, the gang unveiled a new “Fuchsia” – F*cking Unbelievable for pervasive hotness, comedy and action – trailer which was met with enthusiastic applause.
Paramount’s winning the star-power battle thus far at CinemaCon, bringing director George Clooney, Matt Damon, and Julianne Moore on stage to talk about Suburbicon. Clooney and Damon joked about knocking over casinos in Vegas, commenting on how one was just robbed this week. “They used guns and hoods. All we needed was Brad Pitt,” said Damon. Clooney and Damon also laughed about the film’s release date, saying going up against the new Thor film on November 3, 2017 is no big deal. Clooney explained Thor has a swarthy, good-looking man in the lead and he has…Matt. Continuing the “pick on Matt” theme, Clooney asked Julianne Moore who was a better co-star: Oscar Isaac or Matt Damon? Moore laughed and said she’s lucky to get to work with those two, and then described Oscar Isaac as talented and handsome, while only complimenting Matt Damon on being 5’10” tall.
Clooney asked Damon what it was like to be directed by Batman, and Matt laughed and said he almost forgot George played the part. After Damon poked fun at his nippled Batsuit, Clooney joked, “I wore that thing with rubber nipples and I still have a career. I’m a superhero!” Following their witty banter, Clooney introduced the first footage from Suburbicon which he describes as a movie about good people making bad choices.
President of Paramount’s Motion Picture Group Marc Evans confirmed Mission Impossible 6 will begin production this month and is expected to shoot in India, Paris, and New Zealand. It will also be the first of the MI films in IMAX 3D. Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, and Alec Baldwin will be joined by Vanessa Kirby, Sian Brooke, and Henry Cavill. Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation director Christopher McQuarrie is directing and Paramount has set a July 27, 2018 theatrical release date.
Matt Damon pulled double duty during Paramount’s presentation, representing Suburbicon and Downsizing. Prior to screening 10 minutes of incredibly entertaining footage, Damon introduced director Alexander Payne who’s making his third film with Paramount. Payne says he’s knee-deep in editing Downsizing which involves Norwegian scientists discovering a way to shrink humans down to mere inches as a means to combat over-population. Matt Damon and Kristen Wiig play a married couple who decide to take the leap and go small. Expect to see Downsizing in theaters on December 22, 2017.
The presentation ended with director Michael Bay and a few of his Transformers: The Last Knight stars – Anthony Hopkins, Mark Wahlberg, Laura Haddock, Isabela Moner, and Jerrod Carmichael – taking the stage. Bay reiterated that he firmly believes in 3D and in films being seen on the big screen as they’re intended. Hopkins revealed he nicknamed Bay Speedy Gonzalez and said his fast style didn’t leave much time to talk. Hopkins also said Bay’s the best and he had a great time on the set.
VP Al Gore with former Mayor of Tacloban City Alfred Romualdez and Typhoon Haiyan survivor Demi Raya, in the Raya family home; Tacloban City, Philippines, March 12, 2016 (Photo credit: Jensen Walker)
Al Gore made the trip to CinemaCon in Las Vegas to introduce the first trailer for his An Inconvenient Truth sequel, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power, during Paramount Pictures’ presentation. Speaking to members of the National Association of Theatre Owners, Gore thanked them for their support and said 10 years ago An Inconvenient Truth proved movie theaters can be powerful engines for change. Gore hopes the sequel will be a tool for galvanizing action, saying the climate crisis is not a partisan issue.
An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth To Power was directed by Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk and is set to open in theaters on July 28, 2017.
The Plot: A decade after An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change into the heart of popular culture, comes the riveting and rousing follow-up that shows just how close we are to a real energy revolution. Vice President Al Gore continues his tireless fight traveling around the world training an army of climate champions and influencing international climate policy. Cameras follow him behind the scenes – in moments both private and public, funny and poignant — as he pursues the inspirational idea that while the stakes have never been higher, the perils of climate change can be overcome with human ingenuity and passion.
