LAS VEGAS (AP) — When Ariana Grande,Cynthia Erivo and director Jon M. Chu took the stage in Las Vegas final April to tease “Wicked” months earlier than its theatrical launch, there was a cautious optimism that the long-anticipated movie could be a success.
However when the pair hit the identical stage on the annual CinemaCon conference Wednesday to advertise “Wicked: For Good,” it felt like a form of victory lap following the primary film’s essential acclaim and field workplace success.
“This is the third year that ‘Wicked’ has closed Universal’s CinemaCon presentation,” Chu stated. “Thank God it worked out.”
“Wicked: For Good” hits theaters in November and completes the variation of the long-running Broadway musical impressed by “The Wizard of Oz.” It stars Erivo because the green-skinned Elphaba Thropp, who turned the Depraved Witch of the West, and Grande as Galinda, the longer term Good Witch of the South.
“We already have our tissues packed,” Grande teased, referring to the pair’s sentimental viral press tour that always resulted in a single or each of its stars in tears.
“I promise less waterworks this time,” Erivo added, earlier than they debuted a brief montage of footage from the movie.
The “Wicked” crew closed out a formidable — and aptly theatrical — presentation of the upcoming slate from Common Photos.
Hollywood’s Oscar season brings an annual likelihood for actors and filmmakers to swap kudos for his or her artistry. After it annually comes the CinemaCon conference and commerce present, the place studios and film theaters take their flip to offer pep talks and pats on the again.
Common demonstrated that any pep discuss is made higher with music — significantly anthemic or nostalgic songs from movies previous and new, like “Psycho,” “Jurassic Park” and, after all, “Wicked.” The studio took benefit of those and different acquainted themes with a stay orchestra because it made its pitch about their docket of movies on the primary stage at Caesars Palace.
They pulled out the stops for “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” one in every of Common’s different largest movies of the yr hitting theaters in July, with assist from its stars, Mahershala Ali and Scarlett Johansson, together with director Gareth Edwards, who walked out because the orchestra performed its iconic theme.
“It has been a lifelong dream to be in a ‘Jurassic’ movie. For the last 15 years, each time I heard that they were making a movie, I reached out and would say, ’I’m available,” Johansson stated.
The presentation adopted a preview screening of “How to Train Your Dragon,” a live-action adaptation of the animated franchise, earlier within the day. The movie, which stars Gerard Butler and Mason Thames, might be launched in June.
The orchestra was helmed by Emmy-winning composer Rickey Minor, the previous bandleader on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.”
However the stunts didn’t cease at stay music. When teasing his myriad horror movies on the horizon, producer Jason Blum walked out dressed as antagonist Freddy Fazbear to tease “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” which might be launched theatrically in December.
To prime off the Blumhouse Productions slate, 30 actors dressed as M3GAN, the artificially clever and typically hyper-violent topic of the movie of the identical title, danced to a rendition of “Oops!…I Did It Again.” “M3GAN 2.0” hits theaters in June.
