Convention - Cinemacon 2022: what to take away from the presentation by Universal Pictures and Focus features

By Mulder, 27 april 2022

CinemaCon attracts more than 6,000 film professionals from all facets of the industry, from exhibition and distribution to equipment and concessions, all in attendance to celebrate the film experience and the film industry.  The International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA) and the National Association of Dealers (NAC) are CinemaCon's exhibit partners. CinemaCon is also pleased to have The Coca-Cola Company, one of the film industry's largest and most respected partners, as an official sponsor.

The Universal Pictures and Focus features presentation lasted almost two hours and showed the richness of the line-up of these studios focusing on mainstream films of all genres but also a willingness to highlight independent cinema. The studios continued the presentation format they used at CinemaCon 2021, inviting local theater directors on stage to present footage alongside the stars and directors of their films. 

Fans of horror films were in for a treat as footage was shown from Jordan Peele's Nope (July 22 in the U.S.), David Gordon Green's Halloween Ends (October 14 in the U.S.) and Blumhouse's evil robot thriller M3gan (January 13, 2023 in the U.S.). It was Jamie Lee Curtis who opened the Universal Pictures presentation by greeting the crowd energetically before talking about the next film in the horrific saga Halloween Ends, which will be released on October 14, 2022 in the U.S. and October 19, 2022 in France. "It's been the adventure of a lifetime playing Laurie Strode since 1978...Trust me, it's going to fuck you up" she told the audience before presenting the very first images of Halloween Ends. Afterwards, comedian Allison Williams took the stage to give the audience a sneak peek at the upcoming horror film M3GAN. It is a science fiction horror film directed by Gerard Johnstone from a script by Akela Cooper and a story by James Wan. The cast includes Allison Williams and Ronny Chieng, as well as Violet McGraw, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Arlo Green, Jen Van Epps, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Michael Saccente and Kimberley Crossman in secondary roles.we also note that an excerpt of the horrific film The last voyage of the Demeter by André Øvredal with Corey Hawkins, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham was presented. This film will be released in the United States on January 27, 2023 and in France on March 8, 2023.

We will also note that an excerpt of the film Beast was presented. This is the next American thriller film directed by Baltasar Kormákur from a script by Ryan Engle, based on a story by Jaime Primak Sullivan, and starring Idris Elba. The film will be released on August 19, 2022 in the United States.

Highlights of the Universal Pictures presentation include clips from the comedies Easter Sunday (August 5) in the U.S., Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1 in the U.S.), and Bros (September 30). The hilarious Jo Koy took the stage and told the story of how his family inspired his new film Easter Sunday. He took the opportunity to throw Easter presents into the crowd. Steve Carell took the stage and declared his love for the exhibitors in the audience. He gave a tutorial on how to do Gru's accent before presenting an exclusive first look at Minions: The Rise of Gru from Illumination Studios. Billy Eichner then took the stage to talk about his upcoming romantic comedy Bros, the first gay romantic comedy ever made by a major studio, and the first major studio film with an all LGBTQ cast. Also of note was an excerpt from Ol Parker's Ticket to Paradise, which marks the big screen reunion between George Clooney and Julia Roberts.

Concerning Dreamworks Pictures, we note that actor Harvey Guillén took the stage and insisted that his character Perro is the *real* star of Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and revealed to the audience a first glimpse of the new trailer.

Universal's presentation ended with Jeff Goldblum and Bryce Dallas Howard showing off never-before-seen footage from the latest installment of the Jurassic Park franchise, Jurassic World: Dominion.

On the Focus features side, Lisa Bunnell presented clips from several upcoming titles. Focus will present a diverse lineup in U.S. theaters in 2022 with films like Downton Abbey: A New Era (May 18) and Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (July 15), genre films like the action-comedy Violent Night (December 2), and dramas like James Gray's Armageddon Time.  Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan took the stage to preview the film She Said, based on true events, which will be released on November 18. Focus Features also announced the upcoming films Vengeance, Spoiler Alert and Champions. Another CinemaCon exclusive is a special preview of Tár starring Kate Blanchett, coming October 7 in the U.S. Comedian David Harbour took the stage to present a preview of his Christmas action film Violent Night.