Warner Bros rolled out the stars to celebrate its CinemaCon presentation on the occasion of its 100th anniversary, with an A-list roster that included Oprah Winfrey making her show debut, as well as Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and Timothee Chalamet, and Zendaya.
Warner Bros co-heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy hosted Tuesday’s session, which included an address by Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, and comments by international and domestic distribution heads Andrew Cripps and Jeff Goldstein, both of whom wore pink in the spirit of Barbie.
Denis Villeneuve appeared on stage with Chalamet and Zendaya to cue up stunning footage from Legendary’s Dune: Part Two (November 3), sequel to the first instalment which opened in 2021 and grossed more than $400m at the height of the pandemic.
Villeneuve noted that the story shot entirely in Imax (the first film shot around 40% in Imax) with new sets. Chalamet and Zendaya spoke of how the film will go deeper in Paul Atreides’ journey into Fremen culture, alongside cast additions Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Lea Seydoux, and Christopher Walken.
Footage showing Atreides diving into sand dunes to harness a sandworm drew enthusiastic applause from the audience in the Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace.
There was more footage to come.
Winfrey sat down with director Blitz Bazawule, Taraji P. Henson and key cast and cued up a clip from the upcoming magical realist musical adaptation of The Color Purple, out on December 25. Winfrey, a friend of Zaslav, starred in Steven Spielberg’s 1985 original and serves as producer on the new version.
Barbie star and producer Robbie and Gosling took to the stage with writer-director Greta Gerwig (who co-adapted the screenplay with her partner Noah Baumbach) and co-star America Ferrera to promote the tentpole, which opens on July 21.
“Until this point I only knew Ken from afar,” Gosling, waring a pink casual jacket, said of his character as Barbie’s friend, “but I didn’t know Ken from within. I doubted my ‘Ken-ergy’ but Margot and Great conjured this out of me somehow.”
“It was like a dopamine hit, everyone was so happy on set,” noted Robbie, adding that crew from nearby shots like Fast X would come over to the set to experience the atmosphere.
Gerwig said key references were disco, musicals and Technicolor were key visual and tonal inspirations for the feature before cuing up footage. Safe to say, the Colosseum crowd of exhibitors was enthused.
De Luca and Abdy were joined on stage by Wonka stars Chalamet and Calah Lane after showing lively extended footage from the Charlie And The Chocolate Factory origins story. The first time Hugh Grant was seen as an Oompa-Loompa was a highlight. Taissa farmiga and Storm Reid were on hand to whet the appetites. “Audiences can expect to get mentally tortured,” Farmiga said, adding the film goes deeper into the
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