LAS VEGAS (AP) ā Paramount Pictures, still riding high on the nearly $1.5 billion in worldwide ticket sales, brought a slew of stars from Rihanna to Martin Scorsese to CinemaCon for its presentation to theater owners Thursday.
Paramount has fewer releases than the other big studios, but they have several big, IP-driven titles like āTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem,ā (Aug. 4) āTransformers: Rise of the Beastsā (June 9) and āPaw Patrol: The Mighty Movieā (Sept. 29). It is also handling the theatrical release of Martin Scorseseās āKillers of the Flower Moon,ā which next month and opens in theaters on Oct. 6. And, of course, Paramount has āMission: Impossible.ā
The studio showed an extended clip of a comedic and exciting chase sequence with Tom Cruise and Hayley Atwell from the seventh installment in the series, āDead Reckoning Part I." The film will now open in theaters two days earlier than planned, now on Wednesday, July 12. Cruise did not attend.
The studio announced, for 2025, āThe Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepantsā and āThe Smurf Movie,ā starring Rihanna as Smurfette. She also produced.
āI tried to get the Papa Smurf part but it didnāt work out,ā Rihanna said. āGetting to do animation is a fun journey for me. In this I got to play a part where I got to just imagine, I got to be, I got to show up in my pajamas in my third trimester and play a little blue (expletive).ā
She added: āI hope this gives me a little bit of cool points with my kids one day.ā
The star-power even had āTransformersā director Steven Caple Jr. a little flustered: āI just met Rihanna backstage,ā he exclaimed.
On stage, āTransformersā star Dominique Fishback gave a shoutout to Regal owners. She used to work at one in New York when she was younger, she said, and just dreamed of being up the screen.
Scorsese got a long ovation from the theater owners when he came out to talk about āKillers of the Flower Moon,ā an Apple Original Films production that is getting a major theatrical release.
āThis is a picture that I designed to be projected on a big screen,ā Scorsese said. āIt doesnāt mean films canāt be appreciated on small screens but this is a big screen movie, as youāll see.ā
The director showed the first trailer for the film, about a series of murders in Osage County, Oklahoma, in the early 1920s. There were plenty of gunshots, tears and even some laughs with Jesse Plemonsā detective who arrives to āsee about these murders.ā
āThis is my sixth picture with Leonardo DiCaprio. Itās my 10th with Robert De Niro. And itās my first with both of them together,ā he said.
Later, the director was given an inaugural icon award that will be known as the Scorsese award in the future. He made a plea to get independent films back in the major multiplexes before DiCaprio moderated a conversation with Scorsese as exhibitors ate lunch.
āTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtlesā producer Seth Rogen had the crowd laughing noting that it seems āunfair to make studio executives hold a stage meant for the biggest stars in the world.ā The studio presentations at the trade convention are held in the 4,100-seat Colosseum theater in the Caesars Palace hotel.
āThey built this for Adele!ā Rogen joked.
CinemaCon, he said, is āPerfect if you want to have an hour-long drunken conversation with a guy who owns two screens in Wilmington. Thatās why we come!ā
Rogen introduced a funny extended clip of the animated āTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,ā which opens Aug. 4
āIf you show this to your children, youāre not a terrible parent,ā he promised.
John Krasinski showed a clip from the āA Quiet Placeā prequel āDay One,ā directed by Michael Sarnoski and starring Lupita Nyongāo. It chronicles that first day of the invasion form her perspective in New York. It opens in theaters March 8.
Krasinski gave the āQuiet Placeā spinoff to another director so he could focus on his movie āIf,ā also due in 2024. He said he wanted to make because he wanted to give his kids a movie they could see before they were 40. āIfā stars Ryan Reynolds and is about imaginary friends. Reynolds said it was like a ālive-action Pixar movie.ā
Paramount also unveiled the voice cast for an animated āTransformersā movie, due in 2024, āTransformers Oneā including Chris Hemsworth as āyoung Optimums Prime,ā Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Laurence Fishburne, Keegan Michael-Key and Jon Hamm.
Ziggy Marley made an appearance too for the just-wrapped film about his father Bob Marley, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch as Bob and Rita Marley. It was directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and arrives next year.
Paramount president and CEO Brian Robbins echoed a common refrain this week, that āwe need theatrical to make streaming work.ā
āThe evidence is really clear,ā Robbins said, noting that Paramount+ is the fastest growing streaming service.
Chris Aronson, president of domestic theatrical distribution, challenged the audience of theater owners to change the status quo when it comes to movie ticket prices.
āPre-COVID, admissions were going down and ticket prices were going up,ā Aronson said. āWe should be experimenting with variable pricing, like we did with '80 for Brady,ā and we need to amplify those efforts. Letās work together to get it right.ā
Tickets for screenings of ā80 for Bradyā at AMC, Cinemark and Regal were sold for matinee prices (which vary depending on location) for all showings. The movie made nearly $40 million ultimately.
Lindsey Bahr, The Associated Press
