The filmmaker has always been a passionate defender and advocate for movie theatres, and Oppenheimer will be no different, with 70mm IMAX, 35mm, Dolby Vision and other premium large-format screen versions available around the world.
Nolan also said he could neither confirm nor deny that a full-length trailer will play in front of Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3, which opens May 5.
The Universal team, including filmed entertainment group chairman Donna Langley, assembled in Las Vegas for the annual conference just days after news broke that Jeff Shell, the chief executive of NBCUniversal and one of the media industry’s renowned executives, was leaving the company after an investigation into inappropriate conduct.
Shell oversaw a vast portfolio of assets including the motion picture company. Previously he was chairman of NBCUniversal Film and Entertainment. As of Wednesday, parent company Comcast had not yet named a successor.
The film studio team has been basking in the recent box office success of Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros Movie, which has already made over US$900 million at the global box office. It will be the first movie to pass US$1 billion in 2023, a landmark it will hit this coming week, Langley said.
Mario also came on the heels of hits like Cocaine Bear and M3GAN, which Universal’s domestic distribution chief Jim Orr noted also dominated cultural conversation from memes to late night fodder.
“We bet on audiences,” Orr said. “We believe the best days are in front of us not behind us.”
In their 2023 slate, Orr said, “The comedy is crazier, the horror more terrifying, the drama more powerful. And Fast X is faster and more furious than anything you’ve seen before. “
Will Ferrell walked out on stage carrying a dog named Sophie to talk about his very R-rated comedy Strays (Jun 9), in which he and Jamie Foxx play foul mouth pups. Sophie, Ferrell said, plays his character Reggie in the film.
“She’s not that cute, you don’t have to keep cutting to her,” Ferrell said. “Hey camera operator, let’s try to keep it even. One shot of her, one shot of me.”
“I have three Emmys and a Mark Twain Prize and you regularly (expletive) on the sidewalk,” he added.
Ferrell later apologised to Sophie. The bit had the crowd in stitches.
Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick also brought energy to the room to talk about Trolls Band Together, which is coming on Nov 17.
“Hey A-Ken. Ak-Attack,” Timberlake said. “I’m high.”
A moment later he clarified he wasn’t. Kendrick said in this film their characters have moved out of “the friend zone”.
“Get ready to rock and trooooollll,” Kendrick shouted, quipping to her straight-man counterpart that “joy is a choice”.
DreamWorks Animation teased Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken, due on Jun 30, about a part Kraken trying to survive high school who is voiced by Lana Condor.
“We feel it has the potential to become the girl power movie of the summer,” said Margie Cohn, the president of DreamWorks Animation.
Jason Blum and David Gordon Green, who partnered on the Halloween revivals, also showed a first look at the new, modern day Exorcist movie, The Exorcist Believer, in which two children become possessed. It’s the first in a planned trilogy, that brings back Ellen Burstyn and opens in theaters on Oct 13.
