The CinemaCon audience thought they were being stiffed on all things 007 when, instead of Daniel Craig, it was Sony Pictures' chairman Tom Rothman who walked out to the Bond theme at the end of their upcoming slate presentation. However, Rothman had one or two surprises up his sleeve. As well as announcing Lord and Miller’s animated Spider-Man film, he also introduced a message video from director Sam Mendes, who shared the very first clip from Spectre with the gathered crowd.
Now, the footage seen was surprisingly plot- (and spoiler) heavy, so Mendes (and various knuckle-cracking security types) asked us not to reveal too much. What we can say, however, is that it was a scene in Bond’s apartment. The doorbell rings and it’s Naomie Harris’s Moneypenny. “Have you just moved in?” she asks, cocking an eyebrow at the Spartan décor. “I like what you’ve done with the place.” She mentions something Bond did in Mexico and that everyone at MI6 is talking about it. Then Bond shows her a very surprising message and that leads us into the stuff we’re not allowed to give away. Suffice it to say it’s a great scene and one that will likely land like a bombshell when it plays during the film. After that a few brief sizzle moments saw Bond and Monica Belucci’s Lucia, a plane crashing in the snow and a suitably Bond-esque car chase. It all looked incredibly exciting and we can’t wait to see more.
Bond wasn’t the only thing on display, however. Robert Zemeckis introduced an extended trailer for The Walk, which featured Joseph Gordon Levitt being trés Français as high-wire artist Philippe Petit. The footage mainly featured Petit and his accomplices setting up how they were going to break in to perform the stunt and definitely had a convivial heisty feel to it. The final shots were of Petit setting foot on (and later lying down on) the wire between the twin towers, with some spectacularly vertiginous downward shots.
Chris Columbus introduced the Pixels** trailer, describing the film as “a big summer movie that doesn’t have anyone in spandex and is not a board game.” Ang Lee remotely introduced Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, which sees Joe Alwynn as a 19-year-old soldier about to be shipped back for another tour in Iraq. It’s also the first film ever to be shot in 120 frames per second – Hobbit eat your heart out. “In making this 3D movie we’re not only adding a dimension but also a highter frame rate,” said Lee. “I think the future is really exciting and I hope you come along with us in this new theatrical experience, this new way of dreaming.”
Genndy Tartakovsky was on hand to introduce animated follow-up Hotel Transylvania 2, while producer Neal Moritz and director Rob Letterman showed some new footage from Goosebumps, featuring an assortment of R.L. Stein’s monsters in action, from the abominable snowman to a werewolf, a giant mantis and a gaggle of killer gnomes.
Cameron Crowe’s Aloha got a trailer, as did and mother-and-daughter Streep film** Ricki And The Flash**. Meanwhile Jonathan Levine’s previously untitled Seth Rogan, Gordon Levitt and Anthony Mackie comedy was revealed to now be called X-Mas. A buddy comedy about three guys who have always spend Christmas Eve together and band up for one final festive blowout before one of their number (Rogen) has a child.
Peter Landesman’s NFL drama, Concussion, about player head injuries saw a much older-looking, heavily accented Will Smith take centre stage as Dr. Bennet Omalu and looks like a very interesting role for the actor. The Jodie Foster-directed Money Monster showcased Jack O’Connell once again (there’s just no stopping him) as a victim of the financial crisis who takes TV personality Lee Gates (George Clooney) hostage on live television after a bad stock tip and threatens to blow him to smithereens in front of viewers if his demands, and stock portfolio, aren’t addressed.
A few brief, blink-and-you’ll-miss-them moments flashed by for Ron Howard’s Inferno, Angry Birds and The Smurfs, while we only got title cards for Ghostbusters, Pride And Prejudice And Zombies, Antoine Fuqua’s The Magnificent Seven, Uncharted, The Equalizer 2 and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.