An acrobatic dance troupe, a dance-themed remix of the Peanuts theme – Fox’s CinemaCon presentation certainly didn’t skimp on the spectacle. But while all the cabaret was appreciated, it was the arid wastes of Ridley Scott’s Mars that drew the most oohs and aahs. Matt Damon appeared via the miracle of video message to introduce the first (unfinished) trailer for The Martian, which showed the evacuation of the Martian research team in a violent storm. Damon’s Mark Watney, however, is struck by flying debris, knocked out and wakes up alone and abandoned on the red planet. We see Jeff Daniels reporting his unfortunate death to a press gaggle and cut to Watney recounting his misfortune in a video log. Help, he says, is four years away and he’s in a module designed to last a month. “I’m left with only one option: I’m going to have to science the shit out of this!” It’s a great trailer, emotionally charged and fast-paced, paralleling Watney’s survival efforts with the rescue attempt staged by his former crew (against NASA’s wishes). It ends with the film’s tagline: help is only 140 million miles away.
Second only to the Martian footage was a first look at Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant. Shot entirely using natural light by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, the film looks absolutely stunning, with the harsh Canadian wilderness used to full effect to create some truly spectacular icy visuals. Leonardo Dicaprio’s Hugh Glass is seen in skins and bushy beard but even he paled by comparison to shots like the rising sun filtering through a rocky outcrop or sunset’s fingers reaching through the snowy treeline. This will be one to see on the biggest screen possible.
Also making its debut was some early footage from The Peanuts Movie, which covers all the familiar beats you’d expect from Charles Schultz’s creations. They’ve done a great job with the animation, which manages to keep the 2D, hand-drawn feel of the strips while still using three-dimensional characters.
Paul Feig’s Spy, which screened at CinemaCon on Tuesday night, was up next with 50 Cent swaggering out onto the stage. “Hello, I’m Melissa McCarthy,” he said. “The coolest thing about being a spy is the disguises I get to wear, like this 50 Cent costume.” Cue much hilarity before McCarthy (or 50 Cent in a McCarthy costume) appeared on screen and stars Rose Byrne, Jude Law and The Stath walked out to keep the skit going. Some footage followed, which showcased one of the highlights of the film: Jason Statham’s surprising comic talents.
Poltergeist, Hitman: Agent 47 and The Maze Runner: Scorch Trials all threw trailers up, as well as Paper Towns, based on the book by The Fault In Our Stars author John Green. Paul McGuigan’s Victor Frankenstein was also unveiled with a sequence that showed the monster (or the corpse that will become the monster) hauled above a pit on chains and suspended between the machine’s pylons as electricity courses into it. James McAvoy looked on with maniacal glee while Daniel Radcliffe’s Igor entreated him to stop. We then saw the monster walk up to Victor and roar as he tried to placate it. Thrilling stuff.
Josh Trank was sadly not here for Fantastic Four but the quartet of cast members were on hand to big up the new trailer, while lip service was paid to the raft of other comic book movies on Fox’s slate, including X-Men: Apocalypse, Gambit, Deadpool and the third Wolverine movie. David O Russell’s matriarchal dynastiy tale, Joy, was given the teaser treatment, with a montage of shots set against the cacophony of church bells. This left Kung Fu Panda 3 and Alvin And The Chipmunks: The Road Chip, in which the trio broke all the laws of nature and decency by singing Phil Collins to a captive audience.
from Empire News
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