Universal Pictures Brings Much-Needed Variety to CinemaCon
Universal Pictures’ panel injected variety into a franchise-heavy CinemaCon.
While this CinemaCon has been absolutely stacked so far, with strong showings from both Warner Bros. and Disney, plus some interesting updates by Sony, it was lacking diversity. In a post-pandemic scenario, medium-sized releases should be honored as well — smaller horror and action flicks helped cinemas stay afloat during the harshest of times — and Universal did exactly that last night.
Of course, the main course everyone was waiting for was Jurassic World: Dominion, but the studio left no one behind. And we’re here to give you a straight-to-the-point summary of everything that went down during an impressive presentation.
Jurassic World: Dominion
Jeff Goldblum and Bryce Dallas Howard stopped by CinemaCon to briefly discuss the conclusion of the Jurassic World trilogy (and Jurassic Park saga). The most personal moment came from Goldblum, who revealed that his two sons have yet to see a movie in a theater, and he is going to make this their first moviegoing experience. Meanwhile, Bryce Dallas Howard revealed that when she first saw Jurassic Park as a child, she developed a crush on Jeff Goldblum as Ian Malcolm. A new trailer — which, we’re hearing from close sources, should drop online any second now — expanded on the end of the “Jurassic era” and delivered more dino-sized chaos. It reportedly garnered a bigger applause than the first look at Avatar 2, so expectations are through the roof. The film opens on June 10th.
Minions: The Rise of Gru
After the dinosaurs stomp on theaters worldwide, Minions will very likely keep the clash flowing towards Universal on July 1st. Steve Carrell gave his theater representative a “Gru voice lesson” before introducing new footage. Another trailer should be dropping very soon, but below you can watch the first trailer, released back in March:
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Another film that spearheaded Universal’s presentation was Jordan Peele’s newest, which is being billed by the studio as “a new pop nightmare” and “expansive horror epic,” whatever that means. Get Out and Us were really strong, so we’re excited to see what he’s cooked up — the first trailer was all about the mystery. Peele explained he loves the communal aspect of moviegoing, saying that it’s more fun to see a movie with an audience than it is to watch one alone. He’s not wrong. Find out what the hell this is all about on July 22nd.
Halloween Ends
After last year’s largely disappointing Halloween Kills, David Gordon Green and his team are giving the rebooted-canon horror saga a conclusion on October 14th. A time jump after the terrible events of Kills was teased months ago, and last night Jamie Lee Curtis referred to her journey as Laurie Strode as “the ride of her life.” It took her years to understand why the character and horror films were so popular, sharing that Laurie has become a role model for women “with their own version of a boogeyman.” She then introduced a first look that focused on Laurie’s journey and her relationship with Michael Myers before teasing their final confrontation.
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The newest animated featured from Universal and DreamWorks is set to make some serious green on the 21st of December, just in time for Christmas and against the Shazam! sequel, which has finally chosen to evade Avatar: The Way of Water. Harvey Guillén was on hand to introduce a new trailer that included shots which weren’t finalized yet. Most folks were expecting a quick cash grab from this one, but the first trailer, which you can watch below, is actually quite good and sports a striking visual style.
Other Universal films that wowed and brought variation to the event are listed below. It was great to see a major studio spending so much time at CinemaCon promoting small and mid-sized projects, and we hope most of these find their spot at the box office.
- Easter Sunday (August 5th) stars comedian Jo Koy, who said the film came about when he got a call from Steven Spielberg, who saw his Netflix comedy special Comin’ In Hot and wanted to work with him. It’s a film about a Filipino family’s most important day of the year. Koy, also exec producer on the project, describes it as a culturally specific “day of chaos” movie.
- Beast (August 19th) debuted a trailer without an introduction. The plot finds Idris Elba and his kids being hunted by a rogue lion. Sounds cool enough.
- Bros (September 30th) is the first same-sex romantic comedy from a major studio to hit the big screen. Billy Eichner stars in it, and all of the actors cast in the film identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, even if the characters they play are straight. Part of Eichner’s vision was to create opportunities for actors who often get overlooked, and he promised a unique comedy before debuting a trailer.
- She Said (November 18th) deals with the journalists who exposed the rampant sexual harassment in Hollywood, with Harvey Weinstein at the center of their investigation. Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan, who star in the film, debuted a first trailer. This one could very well be a strong Oscars contender if the reception is positive and the Academy isn’t afraid of looking at the ugliest side of the movie business.
- Violent Night (December 2nd) promises a bloody Christmas action flick, which is something we don’t see every year. David Harbour appears to play… Santa Claus, depicting a side of him we’ve never seen before. Directed by Tommy Wirkola (Dead Snow), the film finds Saint Nicholas going ballistic on a band of criminals, led by John Leguizamo, who have taken a family hostage. We’re sure this one won’t leave anyone indifferent.
CinemaCon 2022 isn’t done yet, as we’re expecting more information and previews later today, especially from Paramount’s presentation. Stay tuned as we navigate this flood of exciting movie news.
Francisco J. Ruiz is that guy who has watched Jurassic Park a thousand times and loves Star Wars. His hunger for movies is only matched by his love for video games. He graduated in English Studies from the University of Malaga, in Spain. As he keeps writing about what he enjoys (and doesn’t) for websites all over, he’s continuing his studies.
