Sony Skipping CinemaCon, Fox Weighing Out Options
CinemaCon is an event where film companies promote their big slates of films to theaters to drum up excitement for all of their upcoming releases. However, in an unexpected move, Sony Pictures has just revealed that they will not be attending the event this year, while 20th Century Fox appear to be on the fence about how they’re going to present in the face of their ongoing acquisition by Disney.
At CinemaCon, all six of the major studios (and some minor studios) present information about their slate of films in presentations that typically last over an hour, but a prominent studio is skipping out on the event this year. Per Variety, Sony is opting out of attending CinemaCon in spite of having a year of full of big event films, including Men In Black International, Spider-Man: Far From Home, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Charlie’s Angels, and a third film in the Jumanji series. The company did not reveal their reasoning for this decision.
Meanwhile, Fox are in an unusual situation in that they are in the midst of being bought out by Disney in a massive corporate merger that’s set to change the movie, television, and streaming worlds forever. Under normal circumstances, Fox and Disney would hold separate presentations, but with the merger between the two companies potentially finalizing before the April (or shortly after CinemaCon), the two massive studios are considering having a combined presentation looking at both of their slates throughout the year. Such a presentation would likely be shorter than two individual presentations, but significantly longer than a single one.
In spite of the unexpected loss of a major film company bringing their content to the show, CinemaCon’s managing director Mitch Neuhauser remained optimistic, and expressed excitement about what Disney, Fox, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros. all have planned:
“We can be disappointed by Sony’s decision but we can’t be upset. There’s been an outpouring of support from the other studios about it. The upcoming show will be one of the best we’ve ever had.”
CinemaCon 2019 will be held in Las Vegas starting on April 1 and ending on April 4.
Grant Davis is a freelance writer who has covered entertainment news for more than seven years. His articles have frequently appeared in Star Wars News Net as well as as other entertainment-related websites. As someone who grew up on Star Wars and comic book movies, he’s completely thrilled with the current era of genre entertainment.
