Welcome back stinkers! Yesterday Universal had their own CinemaCon presentation. That same day we also got the Lionsgate presentation, and the day before we got the Warner Bros presentation. Universal talked about Illumination, Dreamworks, Blumhouse, and other Universal originals.
Illumination Updates
Part of the Universal presentation included just a little bit of Illumination. Illumination’s Chris Meledandri himself was on stage, and he confirmed that a Mario movie sequel is still set for the year 2026. Meledandri then left with some Despicable Me 4 footage. People that were able to attend CinemaCon said that the footage included a sequence where Gru has to pull off a heist only using items from his diaper bag. The few minions he now has screwed up and misspaced his equipment. Attendees even got more of a taste of the villain of the movie, voiced by none other than Will Ferrel. From what I am taking away from these, is that Despicable Me 4 is going to be the same Minions type humor.
Blumhouse Sequels
During the presentation Jason Blum confirmed the sequels for both Five Nights at Freddy’s, and M3GAN. The other day we got a first picture from the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop of someone working on a model animatronic for the upcoming movie. Fans think that the animatronic being worked on is Mangle. We also got the confirmation that Blumhouse is making a sequeal to M3GAN. A movie that was successful because of Tiktokers making the M3GAN dance a trend. Which worked out for Universal, that’s why Blumhouse made it PG-13. I would only assume that this sequel will go along with the PG-13 rating.
Dreamworks: The Wild Robot
Following the financial success of Kung Fu Panda 4, Dreamworks released their first trailer for the film adaptation of The Wild Robot. During CinemaCon, the director, Chris Sandlers, and some other cast members showed off an extended trailer for movie. The trailer was shown exclusive to the event, and it revealed more of the story. Roz, the wild robot, is stranded on an island inhabited by animals and other wildlife. Roz is programmed to do task after task, so there is a lot of interesting tasks a robot would do on a stranded island. Roz comes upon this duck egg, and once it hatches, Roz has made it her mission to take care of this duck, now that it thinks she’s, its mother. Throughout the movie Roz has to learn the ways of the island, and she is able to learn and adapt with all the other animals.
Universal: Twisters
Twisters is a legacy sequel to the original movie, Twister. Twisters stars up and comer, Glen Powell, who I believe is one of the next Hollywood superstars. The director of the film specifically said that this is one of the movies, that was significantly affected by the Hollywood strikes. The director goes on to say how they worked with actual weather scientists, and they employed real-life storm chasers to record real-life footage. The film was described as a chapter of the original movie, told in today’s time. Twisters follows a gang of tornado wranglers, and it’s a different blockbuster that includes things never really seen before. Elaborating on my thoughts, I think this is going to be a dumb summer blockbuster, that is going to bring a good time to the theatres.
New Blumhouse Features
Alongside confirming the sequels for FNAF, and M3GAN, Blumhouse showed off some more titles. One of those movies’ trailer was released to the public, and one is set to come out next year. Speak No Evil is a movie where this family becomes friends with this other family, but the family they meet might not be all that friendly. Speak No Evil is an American adaptation of a foreign film, which had been known to be creepy, and a great scary movie. This movie is looking to do the same, but the only negative that people (including me) have is that the trailer might have given a little too much away. When watching this trailer, there was just this certain eeriness that gave me chills throughout the trailer. Another movie that was shown at CinemaCon was the upcoming Wolf Man. This universal monsters movie is being directed by the same person behind the recent Invisible Man, which seemed to have done really well for itself. The movie follows a dad and his family, where they have been getting stocked by a dangerous predator. He reassures his daughter that they’re not going to die, but little does the family know, the father finds a bite on his arm, hinting at the fact that he will turn into a werewolf.
Universal: Wicked
The cast and director started by praising the number of practical effects of the movie. The cast includes Ariana Grande as Glinda, Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba, Jeff Goldblum as the Wizard of Ozz, and so much more. The movie is shown to be the lives of Glenda and Elphaba as best friends, and then the movie is to show a destruction of their friendship. The two are at a university, until Elphaba is summoned to meet the Wizard of Oz. I would like to also mention how this is a crazy full circle for the director of the movie. Jon M. Chu, was a part of the original table read of the stage production, and now he gets to create his own movie.
Thank you for reading my recap for Universal’s CinemaCon presentation. Again, make sure you check out my Lionsgate recap, along with my Warner Bros recap.