CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, is happening right now in Las Vegas, and the JoBlo Network's own Paul Shirey and Sean Wist are in attendance to get a glimpse at all the cool footage the studios will be showing off at the convention.
Things started off with a presentation by Sony yesterday, and a couple of the films that were featured during that presentation were of particular interest to us here on Arrow in the Head – director Nikolaj Arcel's Stephen King adaptation THE DARK TOWER, and Denis Villeneuve's BLADE RUNNER 2049 (pictured above), the long-awaited sequel to Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER.
Here's how Shirey described the footage they were shown from these movies:
THE DARK TOWER – We've already seen tons of images for this one, but nothing by way of moving pictures and Sony debuted a slightly unfinished version of the trailer and, even in that state, it still looked sharp as hell. Idris Elba as Roland Deschain is every bit "The Gunslinger" in this, showing off some badass shooting skills, particularly in his tactical reloads (complete with a belt stocked with cylinders, ready to be loaded). The imagery itself is very much in a fantasy realm, but with a kind of INCEPTION feel to it as well. It definitely feels like it's jumping worlds and this is coming from someone who has never read the books, so I have no real insight into what it "should" look like or if it wholly succeeds as it is. I do know this: There's no question that I'll be seeing it.
Matthew McConaughey is menacing as hell as The Man in Black and has a number of deliciously evil lines throughout the trailer and he really seems to be having fun here. At some point both he and Roland will face off and there's a scene where they trade bullets for telekinetic powers in a heated battle that shows some real promise. Overall, this looks like a really fun flick and, if nothing else, a terrific badass-in-the-making role for Elba, who is long overdue for something like this.
BLADE RUNNER 2049 – Ah, now this was absolutely the most cool and promising-looking of the bunch. Denis Villeneuve's sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 sci-fi classic has already teased us with an early teaser, but tonight we got a look at the upcoming full second trailer and it's every bit as mysterious, kinetic, and visually exotic. If you know Villeneuve's style then you know what he's capable of and it's on full display here. We see a bit more Harrison Ford (but not much) and it really feels like this is all about Ryan Gosling's character more than anything else with the same kind of allusions to him being a replicant, but done in a manner to make us question it. We also see Jared Leto's character for the first time, who is some kind of replicant "creator" who "welcomes" a newly born one (who comes sliding out of a bag in a lab) and wishes it happy birthday. He's got a great air of creepiness, which should be fun. We also see Robin Wright as the straight-laced boss of Gosling's character, as well as Dave Bautista's character rocking some old man glasses. What I loved more than anything was that the trailer filled me with questions and has me even more intrigued than before. It really feels like they've nailed the look and atmosphere of Ridley's film, while adding a whole new level (and new characters) into the mix. One of my most-anticipated of the year by far.
For Shirey's thoughts on the rest of the Sony presentation, which included previews of Edgar Wright's BABY DRIVER and SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING, among others (there are quick mentions of the FLATLINERS remake and the horror film CADAVER), head over to his article in the JoBlo Movie News section. Shirey and Wist also made a reaction video that can be seen below.
THE DARK TOWER reaches theatres on July 28, 2017, with BLADE RUNNER 2049 following on October 6.