First footage from Ridley Scott’s Napoleon from Apple Original Films and a 14-minute sequence from Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse were among the highlights of Sony’s CinemaCon presentation on Monday evening.
Sony Pictures Entertainment chair Tom Rothman teed up the first-look from Napoleon starring Joaquin Phoenix at the climax of a brisk session at the Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace.
Attendees got to see a fierce, large-scale action sequence believed to be from the 1805 Battle of Austerlitz as Napoleon’s army engaged Russian and Austrian forces on the snowy steppes of the Holy Roman Empire in Europe.
“Old school, big screen,” purred Rothman, a proudly devout pro-theatrical executive who said Sony will give Napoleon a “robust” exclusive theatrical release over Thanksgiving (November 22) before it drops on Apple TV+.
At time of writing Screen understood the film will not receive a world premiere festival berth.
Earlier Rothman had dismissed the notion that movie stars no longer matter before he brought on Antoine Fuqua to present Denzel Washington with the CinemaCon Lifetime Achievement Award. They were joined on stage by Dakota Fanning and teed up footage from September 1 release The Equalizer 3.
Midway through the session Sony Pictures Animation president Kristine Belson brought on co-director Kemp Powers to introduce an unfinished 14-minute sequence from Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse. Powers was joined by leads Shameik Moore (Miles Morales), Hailee Steinfeld (Gwen Stacy) and Issa Rae (Jessica Drew, “another Spider-Woman”).
The film opens on June 2 and is one of the summer’s anticipated highlights after 2018 original Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse grossed more than $384m worldwide.
The Sony session boasted its share of star power. Jennifer Lawrence took to the stage with director Gene Stupnitsky to cue footage from R-rated comedy No Hard Feelings (June 23) in which she plays a woman who answers an ad from helicopter parents to deflower their son before he leaves for college.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson sent a taped message and introduced footage from J.C. Chandor’s Kraven The Hunter, elegantly confirming the October 6 tentpole will be the first Sony/Marvel film to be rated R when he declared, “Fuck yes it’s going to be rated R!” Gran Turismo stars Orlando Bloom and David Harbour talked up the PlayStation Productions adaptation from Neill Blomkamp and introduced a first-look ahead of the August 11 opening.
Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell – who co-starred in 2022 CinemaCon smash Top Gun: Maverick – jetted in from Australia where they have finished filming Will Gluck’s rom-com Anyone But You. On the Ghostbusters front, director and co-writer Gil Kenan and co-writer and series godfather Jason Reitman, Paul Rudd and the lead cast sent a video recording in which they said the live-action reboot sequel will be set in New York. The Green Harris
