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The presentation started with what’s in the works. Children of Blood and Bone, Heart of the Beast, and an Untitled Trey Parker/Matt Stone/Kendrick Lamar film set for next March. And from their big franchises: Sonic 4 and Scream 7.
Coming November, writer/director Edgar Wright goes back to the Richard Bachman/Stephen King source material for The Running Man. He along with stars Glenn Powell, Colman Domingo, and Josh Brolin previewed the sneak peek which suggests a wild, funny actioner as Ben Richards (Powell) evades killers as he goes on the run to win a prize while America watches.
Under the Paramount Animation banner, the studio has Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender, and Seth Rogen’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles get another installment. In the trailer shown, the Smurfs have to rescue Papa Smurf in the real world where he was taken by Gargamel and his brother. Out on July 18. Coming December 19 in 3-D animation, The SpongeBob Movie: Search for Squarepants sees SpongeBob follows the Flying Dutchman (voiced by Mark Hamill) into underworld in the hopes of being a big guy.
Out August 1, The Naked Gun stars Liam Neeson as Frank Derbin’s son. The first look showing Liam breaking up a bank robbery looks wonderfully ridiculous. Seemingly ridiculous if it wasn’t based on a true story, Roofman stars Channing Tatum as Jeffrey Manchester who robbed 16 McDonald’s. To avoid police, he hides out in a Toys “R” Us, and falls in love with an employee (Kirsten Dunst). In theaters this fall.
Closing out the presentation with Mission:Impossible – The Final Reckoning, Tom Cruise asked for a moment of silence for the recently deceased Val Kilmer. Cruise praised Christopher McQuarrie, who is receiving the CinemaCon Director of the Year. They met and worked on Valkyrie. Mission:Impossible was first movie that Cruise produced and McQ was brought in to work on the script of Ghost Protocol, and remained with the franchise as both screenwriter and director. The trailer shown seemed more franchise celebration rather than solely promoting the new film.
