The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, Moonfall & more: CinemaCon

Our own Chris Bumbray is at CinemaCon in Las Vegas and Lionsgate’s presentation included a look at one film I think a lot of us are looking forward to – Nicolas Cage’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent.

Nicolas Cage stars as a fictionalized version of himself who is depressed at the state of his career and considering calling it quits. In need of money, Cage accepts an offer of $1 million to attend the birthday of a dangerous superfan and notorious drug lord played by Pedro Pascal who even has a museum full of Cage memorabilia. Tiffany Haddish plays a government agent who recruits Cage to go undercover and kill Pascal’s character, but she’s clearly not a fan of the actor. The trailer screened at CinemaCon was red-band all the way and featured plenty of hilarious and violent moments, including one in which Cage steals his golden guns from Face/Off to kill Pascal, but can’t bring himself to do it as they’ve become best bros. The trailer also offered a look at a younger version of Nicolas Cage, who is apparently upset that his present-day self isn’t a major star anymore. I really hope they release this trailer soon. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent also stars Sharon Horgan, Alessandra Mastronardi, Jacob Scipio, Lily Sheen, and Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Cage’s agent. The film is set to hit theaters on April 22, 2022.

The opening scene of Moonfall, Roland Emmerich’s next helping of disaster porn, was also screened at CinemaCon. Moonfall revolves around the moon being knocked from its orbit by some mysterious force that sends it on a collision course for Earth. That’s a problem. The footage featured Patrick Wilson and Halle Berry as a pair of astronauts conducting a repair mission in space, all while singing along to Toto’s Africa. They’re best friends and obviously very committed to their work as Berry’s character actually bailed on her own honeymoon to take part in the mission. Before they can get much further, a massive wave of debris from a storm on the moon sweeps through the area, badly injuring Berry’s character and leaving her unconscious. Stranded in space, Wilson’s character swears that he’ll get them both home. The remainder of the teaser was full of plenty of Emmerich’s customary action and spectacle as the two astronauts have to figure out what the hell is going on with the moon.

A trailer for The Devil’s Light was also screened, a stylish and terrifying horror flick based on a true story that revolves around a nun who prepares to perform an exorcism, only to come face to face with a demonic force with mystery ties to her past. The film stars Jacqueline Byers and Virginia Madsen, as well as the late Ben Cross in what will be his final film role.

There was also a sizzle reel that revolved around films that are currently in production, including Borderlands, Shotgun Wedding, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, White Bird: A Wonder Story, and John Wick: Chapter 4. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much to report from John Wick 4, but we did see glimpses of all those films, with Borderlands looking particularly dazzling and colourful as Cate Blanchett got into a little action.

Lionsgate also showed off a series of projects from The Kingdom, a faith-based production company. There was The Jesus Music, a documentary about the rise of contemporary Christian music, as well as two films starring Zachary Levi. The Unbreakable Boy is a drama in the vein of Wonder revolving around a boy with a rare brittle bone disease and autism, and American Underdog is a football drama in which Levi plays NFL athlete Kurt Warner.

Check out all of our CinemaCon coverage here!