CinemaCon 2021 is officially underway! Do you know what that means? How about surprises for those in attendance? What kind of surprises, you ask? Oh, I don’t know, just a surprise screening of Ghostbusters: Afterlife! Are you jealous? Yeah, I am too. The film doesn’t hit theaters until Veteran’s Day, November 11, and a select audience of journos are enjoying it right now. Unbelievable! Plus, there was footage of Bullet Train, Brad Pitt’s epic new all-star action flick!
Ah, but the day didn’t start there, no sir. After an afternoon of getting settled and greeting people from a distance, it was time to gather at Caesar’s Palace for Sony Pictures’ opening presentation.
The show began with the President of Sony Pictures, Josh Greenstein, addressing the crowd in person. In so many words, he spoke openly about Sony’s release strategy and its commitment to preserving theatrical distribution. Releasing films simultaneously in theaters and on select streaming services hasn’t paid out the way studios were hoping, and so theaters and studios must continue to work together to forge a new path.
After Greenstein’s opening remarks, Sony dimmed the lights and kicked things off with footage from David Leitch’s Bullet Train. The brief clip featured Brad Pitt in, well, let’s just call it Hippie Mode – kind of like how he appeared in Tony Scott’s True Romance. According to our own Chris Bumbray, the footage for Bullet Train was just a short clip. That clip then turned into a sizzle reel that served to tease the hotly-anticipated film. The big “sizzle” moment showed brief footage of a fight between Pitt and rapper Bad Bunny using edged weapons. It looks like Pitt is getting the full John Wick treatment from director David Leitch. As per previous report, Pitt plays one of several “assassins who find themselves on a fast-moving bullet train from Tokyo to Morioka with only a few stops in between. Strangely, they discover their missions are not unrelated to each other.” Sandra Bullock, Michael Shannon, Joey King (The Kissing Booth), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (The King’s Man), Brian Tyree Henry (Eternals), Andrew Koji (Warrior), Zazie Beetz (Joker), Masi Oka (Heroes), Michael Shannon (Knives Out), Logan Lerman (Hunters), Hiroyuki Sanada and Lady Gaga (A Star is Born) round out the cast. In the presentation, only Pitt, Bad Bunny and Sanada were featured.
I’ve got a feeling that this is but a taste of tantalizing things to come from this year’s CinemaCon. Like Doctor Strange looking into the future, I see myself working a few late nights this week as news, reveals, and surprises continue to explode out of this year’s show. Be sure to stick close by as we continue our coverage throughout the event.