Warner Bros. CinemaCon presentation 2023

The second day of CinemaCon, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, brought the Warner Bros. presentation, which kicked off with a sizzle reel that included quick glimpses of footage from Wonka, The Flash, Barbie, Aquaman 2, Dune: Part Two, The Color Purple, Mickey 17, Meg 2: The Trench, The Nun 2, Furiosa, and Joker: Folie à Deux.

Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, and Greta Gerwig were all on hand to talk about the Barbie movie, which reaches theatres on July 21st. Gerwig wrote the movie with Noah Baumbach, and she noted that Robbie, who also produced, was the one who brought her into the film. Gerwig knew she had to direct it because when they were writing it Baumbach realized the script was so good he might want to direct, and she said, “Step aside, Noah,” and knew she had to direct.

Gosling said he doubted his inner “Kenergy,” but Gerwig and Robbie “conjured” something from within, and all of a sudden, he was bleaching his hair, shaving his legs, and rollerblading down Venice Beach. It came on like a fever. America Ferrera wasn’t a Barbie girl growing up, but couldn’t help but be drawn in by Gerwig and Robbie being involved and said that after she finished the script, she was a Barbie girl.

Apparently, much of the Barbieland was practical. Gerwig noted that the people who made the cars had just done the Batmobile and couldn’t wait to get out the pink paint and make some cars.

Robbie said, “You’ve never seen so many grown men find a reason to come to set, including the cast of Fast X. Being on the set was like a dopamine hit – it just made you happy.”

Gosling added, “I can’t believe I’m saying this but I think I finally understood how Dorothy felt.”

Attendees were then shown a new trailer that did a good job selling the fact that there’s a lot of music and dancing involved, which is fitting as Gerwig said “disco” was a big influence. It starts with a funny clip of Barbie having a party and ruining it by asking if anyone has ever thought about dying. She starts having cold showers, and her arches collapse, leaving her with the dreaded “flat feet,” and she’s sent to talk to “Weird Barbie,” played by Kate McKinnon. We also get more of a look at Barbie’s visit to the real world, but it looks like most of the movie is set in Barbie’s world and will be filled with cameos, including one as a “Merman” that I won’t spoil here. It also looks like Gosling mercilessly steals the movie.

Warner Bros. also shared a new trailer for Wonka, which showed that Timothee Chalamet’s Wonka was clearly inspired by Gene Wilder’s version of the character. And Chalamet looks like he’s having a blast. The movie looks like Harry Potter meets Paddington, Willy Wonka, and the Chocolate Factory. Chalamet is doing a dead-on Wilder impersonation. Many people will like this movie, but it’s very unrelated to the Tim Burton version. Hugh Grant plays the main Oompa Loompa! As Chalamet says, he’s playing the optimistic version of the cyclical character Gene Wilder plays in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. So Wonka, which reaches theatres on December 15th, is literally a prequel to that movie.

WB then freaked people out by flooding the theater with people dressed as The Nun. Attendees saw a teaser reveal of the character and the movie’s title. Then they saw a clip featuring a young girl in Romania who’s sent to clean a church and is being bullied by many other girls, who try to spook her by forcing her to stare at a stained glass window. They then leave her in the darkness, alone as, yes, The Nun emerges behind her. She runs away but it locked in the church by the mean girls, leaving her alone to face The Nun! It then leads into the film trailer, which is about a wave of killings taking place across Heaven. The Vatican knows The Nun is responsible and sends Taissa Farmiga, who is no longer a novice but a full-fledged nun, to deal with her as she’s the only one with any experience dealing with her. Looks very stylish, and seems like WB put a lot more money into this than in the original, with some big set pieces and really nice location photography. They seem to have big plans for it as far as carrying on the Conjuring Universe goes.

Taissa Farmiga and Storm Reid were in attendance, and Farmiga discussed her character’s sense of duty. Reid is new to the franchise and isn’t a scary movie person. They shot the movie in a real abandoned church in France. Farmiga says she gets scared very easily. The Nun 2 is scheduled for a September 8th release, so the trailer should be available soon.

Oprah Winfrey and director Blitz Bazawule were on hand to present some footage of the musical version of The Color Purple. It was a full circle moment for Winfrey, who won an Oscar for her role in Spielberg’s original, and it was her first movie role to boot. This take includes hints of magic realism, which is a different take than the original, which was more straightforward. It has an all-star cast led by Fantasia as Celie Harris, played by Whoopi Goldberg in the original, with Colman Domingo as “Mister”, Celie’s abusive husband. Warner Bros. screened a first-look trailer that promises a very different take, that’s for sure. It looks gorgeously shot and mounted, although it’ll be interesting to see how this is received as it looks like a more empowering “feel-good” version of the story, whereas the Spielberg version was grittier. They also are selling it as “not your mama’s Color Purple”, so expect something very different. While some may roll their eyes at this, it’s not a straight-ahead remake, and Spielberg himself is a producer. The Color Purple reaches theatres on December 25th.