Warner Bros isn\u2019t resting on its \u201cBarbie\u201d laurels: The 100-year studio has its sights on a record-breaking 2024 as well, with a release slate that includes a new Mad Max film, \u201d Furiosa\u201d, Kevin Costner\u2019s two-part Western epic, \u201cHorizon: An American Saga\u201d, the \u201cBeetlejuice\u201d sequel, and \u201cJoker: Folie \u00e0 Deux,\u201d which brings Lady Gaga to Gotham City. The studio was first up Tuesday night to dazzle theatre owners who are gathered this week in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon convention and trade show. They came armed with stars, including the likes of Kevin Costner, Michael Keaton, Robert Pattinson, Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, as well as footage and trailers to show.<\/p>\n
\u201cJoker\u201d director Todd Phillips showed the audience a trailer for \u201cJoker: Folie a Deux\u201d, out October 4, which brings Joaquin Phoenix back as the violent and mentally ill Arthur Fleck and introduces Gaga\u2019s Harley Quinn. Phillips thanked the exhibitors in the room for helping the first movie become such a big success. Addressing rumours that the sequel is a musical, Phillips said that he hasn\u2019t referred to it as such. \u201cIt\u2019s a movie where music is an essential element,\u201d Phillips said. \u201cTo me, that doesn\u2019t veer very far from the first film.\u201d Before its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival next month and theatrical release on May 24, \u201cFuriosa\u201d director George Miller, stars Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth, spoke a bit about the prequel and showed some explosive new footage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just finished last week,\u201d said the 79-year-old filmmaker, whose first Mad Max film came out 45 years ago. This new film is focused on a young Furiosa, who was played by Charlize Theron in \u201cMad Max: Fury Road,\u201d the 2015 blockbuster that made over USD 300 million at the box office and won four Oscars. \u201cThis is the story of one woman\u2019s relentless commitment to impossible hope,\u201d Taylor-Joy said. \u201cWe see her go through everything.\u201d Hemsworth plays a warlord named \u201cDementus.\u201d The audience was especially excited to hear from Kevin Costner, who will be back in theatres this summer with a two-part Western, \u201cHorizon: An American Saga\u201d, which he directed, co-wrote and stars in. Set during the Civil War, Costner wanted to look at the idea of the promise of America.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was the promise that if you could come west, if you could survive it, you could make a home at the expense of a lot of things,\u201d Costner said. \u201cTo me, that\u2019s drama.\u201d The film is getting an unconventional release, with \u201cPart 1\u201d hitting theatres on June 28 followed by \u201cPart 2\u201d on Augus 16. The ensemble includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Danny Huston and \u201cStranger Things\u201d breakout Jamie Campbell Bower. \u201cA lot of people like plot movies,\u201d Costner said. \u201cI have a tendency to like journey movies.\u201d \u201cHorizon: An American Saga\u201d will premiere at Cannes next month as well.<\/p>\n
Tim Burton was also on hand to hype \u201cBeetlejuice Beetlejuice\u201d, the sequel to his 1988 hit, which brings back Keaton, Winona Ryder and Catherine O\u2019Hara to reprise their roles, and introduces new characters played by Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe and Justin Theroux. It opens in theatres on September 5. Burton said he always related to Lydia Deetz and wanted to know what happened to the Deetz women over the years and was happy that Ryder, O\u2019Hara and Keaton were on board too. \u201cIt was like a weird family reunion,\u201d Burton said.<\/p>\n
Keaton said they had discussed the possibility many times over the years and they finally got it right. \u201cIt\u2019s good. It\u2019s really, really good,\u201d Keaton said. \u201cIn fact, it\u2019s great.\u201d Oscar-winning director Bong Joon-ho showed a trailer for his new film, \u201cMickey 17\u201d, starring Robert Pattinson, which will be in theatres in January 2025. \u201cIt\u2019s about a simple man who ultimately ends up saving the world,\u201d the \u201cParasite\u201d director said through a translator. \u201cIt\u2019s a very strange type of hero\u2019s journey.\u201d Pattinson called the story unusual, funny and bizarre. \u201cI was told, you\u2019re going to love the script, but the part is impossible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Warner Bros is also at work rebooting its DC superhero universe, under the supervision of Peter Safran and James Gunn, who is currently filming the new \u201cSuperman\u201d in Atlanta for a summer 2025 release. Before that, the studio is releasing a documentary about the first cinematic Superman, Christopher Reeve, which they acquired out of Sundance. \u201cSuper\/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story\u201d will be in theatres in September. Three years after the studio\u2019s former leaders made the decision to release all of their films day-and-date in theatres and on its streaming service, Warner Bros has reestablished itself as a vital part of the movie theatre ecosystem.<\/p>\n
In December, they made the unconventional move to release three major films in short order: \u201cWonka\u201d, \u201cAquaman and the Lost Kingdom\u201d and \u201cThe Color Purple.\u201d It was done in agreement with theatre owners who said that they needed more films. Those movies, domestic distribution president Jeff Goldstein said, cumulatively made over USD 1 billion globally, and the studio was responsible for approximately 50 per cent of the box office at Christmas. This year has gotten off to a strong start too, propelled by \u201cWonka\u201d and leading into \u201cDune: Part Two\u201d (both have made over USD 600 million globally) and \u201cGodzilla x Kong\u201d which has surpassed USD 300 million at the box office. \u201cStorytelling is our business,\u201d Goldstein said. \u201cWe are committed to making big, crowd-pleasing, event movies.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Warner Bros isn\u2019t resting on its \u201cBarbie\u201d laurels: The 100-year studio has its sights on a record-breaking 2024 as well,\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":39127,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[11498,12733,12731,12494,2684,8586,12732,582],"class_list":["post-39126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-beetlejuice-2","tag-cinemacon","tag-furiosa","tag-joker-folie-a-deux","tag-las-vegas","tag-reboot","tag-superhero-universe","tag-warner-bros"],"reading_time":"5 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}