Cinema Con 2011

Cinema Con 2011 March 28-31, 2011

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Exclusively by Wild About Movies publisher Tim Nasson

CinemaCon Official Website

CinemaCon 2011
Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas



March 31, 2011: Today, we saw the movie WARRIOR, six months before its theatrical release. And while I am not one who particularly likes boxing movies, this movie, starring the sickeningly beautiful Tom Hardy and equally as gorgeous Joel Edgerton, is sure to win the September 2011 movie box office race, and just may earn a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination for Nick Nolte, who plays father to both. (More about the movie soon).

Also, I had the chance to take a look at reels of footage from more than one dozen upcoming Warner Bros. movies, including Clint Eastwood's (third Best Director Oscar?) J. Edgar, starring Leonardo DiCaprio (who will win his first Best Actor Oscar?), as well as The Green Lantern (horrible). Harry Potter 7: Part 2 (predictable). The Hangover 2 (trashy, but hilarious). Horrible Bosses (the jury is still out). Crazy Stupid Love (yummy, if only for the fact that we see Ryan Gosling naked throughout much of the movie). Extremely Loud And Incredibly Close (Oscar worthy). A Very Harold And Kumar Chrismas (genius, if only for the scene in which a baby girl in a car seat in the back seat of a car gets high off the fumes of Kumar's pot). Contagion, which, from what we saw, about 3 minutes, looks like a potential Oscar contender. Sherlock Holmes 2 (promising). New Year's Eve, the sequel to the guilty pleasure Valentine's Day (another guilty pleasure in the making). Happy Feet 2 (one too many).

I also interviewed the great documentary director Morgan Spurlock for his upcoming movie The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. (Check back in mid April for our interview).

Also, check back later this summer for our interviews with Chris Hemsworth, Tyler Perry, Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, JJ Abrams, David Yates, Jason Segel, Amy Adams, Jason Bateman and Jeffrey Katzenberg, all of whom I interviewed at CinemaCon for their respective 2011 big screen releases.

March 30, 2011: Columbia Pictures debuted The Zookeeper, which isn't in theaters until July, at CinemaCon today, (for which WAM friend Kirk Petrucelli production designer... brilliantly), but the biggest star of the show - the studio brought in a real zoo to the theater lobby, replete with lions and alligator - was a bear cub that peed on President of Sony Pictures worldwide distribution, Rory Bruer, when he introduced the movie to everyone in the 'house that Celine built,' the Colosseum at Caesar's Palace. Thank god he had a spare suit in his hotel suite. God knows what types would be attracted to him as he walked around Caesar's Palace with bear piss dripping off of him.

Also, Drew Barrymore introduced her good friend - and 'sister' - Cameron Diaz, who received the Female CinemaCon 2011 Female Star of the Year Award.

James Cameron, George Lucas and Jeffrey Katzenberg headlined a luncheon where digital cinema was on the menu.

And finally, EXCLUSIVE... FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS movie posters.

March 29, 2011: Disney announces title of Monsters, Inc sequel; Monters University. The movie hits theaters in late 2012.

While we predicted last night that JJ Abrams' Super 8 will become one of the 5 highest grossing movies of Summer 2011, we're predicting the opposite of Cars 2. After the dreadful reaction it received at CinemaCon - 30 minutes of footage was shown - it will surely open huge, based on its branded name, but its legs will not be long. Perhaps Larry The Cable Guy, the voice of Mater in both Cars movies, knew something - and has ESP. He introduced the movie, saying, "If the movie doesn't make money, since it is about cars, theater owners can petition the government for a bailout."

It's not that Cars 2 is a bad movie, it's just too adult, i.e., James Bondesque, and there is no across the board humor. Kids are not going to get, adults, including the 3000 watching the footage today, (not one kid was in attendance), were bored to almost death. Many walked out. A lot were looking at their watches, waiting impatiently for the footage to end.

On another note, the 10 minutes or less that was shown of Winnie The Pooh, also in theaters this summer, from Disney, elicited bucketloads of laughs and thunderous applause. It quite possible could become one of the Top 10 grossing movies of 2011. While it is not a Pixar/Disney joint venture, nor is it in 3D, the movie has that old animated Disney style, genius writing and pitch perfect delivery by all of the voice talent.

Disney also showed footage from The Muppets, introduced by Amy Adams and the film's writer and co-star, Jason Segel. In theaters November 2011, The Muppets could become one of the holiday season's biggest family films.

The obligatory summer film, the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean, was given about 25 minutes of big screen time. Not a fan of any of the Pirates movies, it will undoubtedly make a pirate's sunken ship full of treasure chests full of money for Disney.

And, finally, Disney showed some images of their 2012 movies The Avengers, (which they bought from Paramount), and the 13th Pixar/Disney picture, Brave, originally entitled The Bear And The Bow.

March 28, 2011: The innagural CinemaCon got underway with JJ Abrams debuting 25 minutes of Super 8. And after seeing just 25 minutes of the movie it is easy to predict that it will become one of the Top 5 grossing movies of Summer 2011, if not 2011 overall. It's a throwback to 80s movies like Stand By Me and Back To The Future, with some aliens thrown in.

JJ Abrams explained that, at eight years of age, he began making movies, Super 8MM movies. When he became a teen he and his co-director and friend, Matt Reeves (director of Cloverfield), began entering their short films into film festivals. Somehow, Steven Spielberg's eyes got wind of their movies. And he came a callin'. To get the teen duo to restore his own teen Super 8 movies. The pair didn't meet again for about 8 years. But Spielberg remembered Abrams. A great friendship was born. Flash forward a few years. Abrams has an idea to make a movie that takes place in the 80s, the era in which he grew up, about a pair of teens who make Super 8 movies. He throws the idea Steven Spielberg's way. Spielberg was all for it. But Abrams got a little stuck on the screeplay. Flash forward a couple of more years. Abrams has the bright idea of combining an alien invasion type of story into the film he had envisioned about teens making Super 8 movies. Voila. Super 8. Steven Spielberg, whose name was Steve Spielberg - his name on those old 8MM movies, (which Matt Reeves wanted to take a frame of, for a souvenier, but JJ Abrams vehimently talked him out of), is executive producer of Super 8. Watch the Super 8 trailer. And make sure you put it on your Top 5 Must See of Summer 2011 Movies.

Footage of Captain America, Puss In Boots, The Adventures of Tin Tin was also shown, with Puss In Boots footage being shown in 3D and eliciting many laughs, the most from a scene that takes place in a cat bar, (think old western bar), where the drink of choice is milk and instead of two-stepping their is cat dancing. Brilliant.

Vin Diesel CinemaCon Action Star of 2011 Award

Chris Hemsworth CinemaCon Male Star of Tomorrow 2011 Award

Rose Huntington-Whitely CinemaCon Female Star of Tomorrow 2011 Award

Blake Lively CinemaCon Breakthrough Performer of 2011 Award

Cameron Diaz CinemaCom Female Star of 2011 Award

Ryan Reynolds CinemaCon Male Star of 2011 Award

Helen Mirren CinemaCon Career Achievement Award

Jason Momoa CinemaCon Male Rising Star of 2011 Award

Russell Brand CinemaCon Comedy Star of the Year Award

Julianna Hough CinemaCon Female Rising Star of 2011 Award

Tyler Perry CinemaCon Visionary of 2011 Award

Morgan Spurlock CinemaCon Documentary Filmmaker of 2011 Award