CinemaCon Walt Disney Studios: A Sprint Through The Upcoming Slate

The Walt Disney Studios slate at CinemaCon was brisk, to say the least. The truth is, this presentation was always going to be a little chaotic because there was only so much time to present so much before they had to start the screening for The Boogeyman. However, regarding what they showed everyone here, it seemed like a relatively restrained panel considering what we have seen from the studio in previous years. They even pointed out that this is the first time since 2019 that all of their major production departments have a movie coming out, yet it didn’t feel as momentous as it should have. This is Disney’s 100th year, and it felt like they didn’t bother to show up to CinemaCon this year.

Disney Brings Very Little Marvel To The Table

If you’re a Marvel fan hoping for something special from CinemaCon this year, you were in for a big disappointment. We had a feeling that the studio wouldn’t bring much considering that San Diego Comic-Con is right around the corner, but they brought even more than we expected. The exclusive footage for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 was an extended clip that they released the other day, and they just screened the trailer for The Marvels on the big screen without adding anything else to it. There was also an extended trailer for Guardians, but that was all from Marvel.

Disney Animation came out a little better because, as we thought, they decided it was time to push Wish a bit more. A Disney Animated feature released around Thanksgiving is becoming a significant part of the studio’s branding. Encanto was a bit of a box office flop and didn’t find its fanbase until it jumped to streaming, but maybe this one will have a better chance. We got one casting announcement, and we got to hear one of the songs. The watercolor style animation is very pretty, but the entire concept of the movie is Lightyear level of strange, and people not understanding that movie utterly killed it at the box office. Disney will want to avoid that happening with Wish. 

Poor Unfortunate Souls And Two Different Types Of Hauntings

From Disney Animation, we jumped to the two Disney live-action movies we’ll be seeing this year. The internet is already talking about the creatures in The Little Mermaid and how weird they look in pictures. They don’t look much better in motion as the studio showed off the “Poor Unfortunate Souls” scene for the audience. It’s not bad looking, but much like a lot of these Disney live-action movies, you have to wonder if this is really a thing that needs to exist.

Haunted Mansion looks a lot more promising. It seems like Disney is throwing this one under the bus by releasing it in July to a very packed schedule, but the footage they showed off here and back at the D23 Expo was promising. The ride has always been a mix of humor and some genuine scares, and this movie seems to understand that. Some of the ghosts look genuinely terrifying, but the human characters keep things pretty light. Of this year’s Disney live-action movies, this one seems like the more promising of the two. We also got to see 20 minutes of Elemental from Pixar, but it was the same footage we saw at the early press day, which we spoke about already.

Searchlight always comes out with some fun movies, but this one took people by surprise. It’s the new comedy from Taika Waititi called Next Goal Wins. They screened the first trailer for the audience, and it seems to have a lot of potential. According to the description, “The film follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around in this heartfelt underdog comedy.” We also got to see the first teaser for A Haunting in Venice, but they released that for everyone to see.

A Surprise From 20th Century And Disney Closing Out With Indiana Jones

What surprised everyone was the first footage for Gareth Edwards’s new film called The Creator. A movie or two always seems to come out of nowhere, and you want it in front of your eyes immediately. This looks like that film for this CinemaCon. In the press release put out by Disney about the presentation, the film  is described as having “ambitious scope” and “cinematic visuals,” and “the epic sci-fi action thriller directed by Gareth Edwards (“Rogue One,” “Godzilla”) starring John David Washington (“Tenet”) and Gemma Chan (“Eternals”) opens in theaters September 29.” We don’t know much about it, but it focuses on AI, and we hear a conversation between a child and Washington’s character where he asks if Washington is going to Heaven. He says he isn’t, and the kid says, “So you aren’t going to Heaven because you’re a bad person, and I’m not going because I’m not human.” We find out then that the child is an android of some sort. I’m the easiest lay in the world for high concept and original science fiction, so “yes” and “please” for this one.

Disney closed out the panel before The Boogeyman screening, that is, with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. We got a quick thank you video from Harrison Ford and then moved into an extended clip. It was a nice, old-school chase through Tangiers. The best part of the entire thing was someone calling Indiana Jones a grave robber to his face, which I appreciated. It looks like a great return to form and appears to be very well shot. We know that James Mangold can direct car scenes from Ford v Ferarri [if you haven’t watched that movie, go fix that]. It seemed like an excellent return to form that fans and non-fans of Indiana Jones will enjoy, and we know that theater owners are crossing their fingers that this one hits big.