CinemaCon highlights: The Rock becomes a superhero and 'Elvis' returns to Vegas
The major movie teasers and trailers to be released at the Warner Bros cinema event so far
Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson topped a superhero-packed bill as Warner Bros presented its upcoming slate of blockbusters at CinemaCon on Tuesday, while Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis graced the Las Vegas casino stage at the movie industry summit.
Johnson, Hollywood’s top-grossing actor, appeared unannounced to promote his upcoming DC film Black Adam at the annual gathering, where Warner bosses also confirmed a sequel to Robert Pattinson’s The Batman is on the way.
Further superhero sequels Shazam! Fury of the Gods and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, as well as new standalone film The Flash, were also presented to movie theatre executives and managers, who gather each year at Caesars Palace casino to be courted by Hollywood’s top studios and A-listers.
Johnson described his character in Black Adam as “the Dirty Harry of the superhero world,” with ambiguous morals.
“Heroes don’t kill people,” says one villain in never-before-seen footage, to which Black Adam replies: “Well I do.”
Warner and Johnson are banking on Black Adam, out in October, becoming a major draw for their DC superhero film universe, which has grossed billions without reaching the heights of the rival and record-breaking Marvel films such as Avengers: Endgame.
Johnson surprised attendees by pretending to speak from Hawaii via video, before suddenly appearing in the Caesars Palace ballroom.
Beyond the superhero fare, which dominates modern megaplexes, Baz Luhrmann took the stage to discuss Elvis.
Luhrmann called the film, out in June, starring Austin Butler as Elvis Presley and Tom Hanks as his domineering manager, as less a biopic and more the tale of “America in the 1950s, 60s and 70s.
“At the centre of culture, for the good, the bad and the ugly, is the figure Elvis Presley,” said Luhrmann, describing the music icon as “the original superhero.”
“What this movie is about is America in those three epochs: Elvis the rebel, Elvis the highest paid actor in Hollywood and Elvis the living legend, the icon, trapped in that hotel not 10 minutes from here,” he told the Las Vegas crowd.
Comments
Post a Comment