CinemaCon 2024 is heading into full swing with Warner Bros. Pictures giving one of the first major presentations of the week. The official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), CinemaCon has become one of the top news events for moviegoers since it debuted in 2011. Every year, studios, distributors, exhibitors, industry professionals, and more unite at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to celebrate the communal theatrical experience and discuss what’s coming in the future. This year, Lionsgate, Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, Focus Features, and Paramount Pictures are presenting their upcoming slate of theatrical releases to theater owners at CinemaCon 2024, and Warner Bros. is up first.
CinemaCon 2024 is not open to the public, but fear not because DiscussingFilm is on the ground this year reporting the biggest announcements and reveals. From Warner Bros. Pictures, fans can expect news related to upcoming releases like Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, Joker: Folie à Deux, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Beetlejuice 2 to make it simple), and maybe even a little tease from James Gunn’s Superman and chapter one of DCU. An update from the Conjuring Universe is likely as well. Last Year, Warner Bros. gave CinemaCon attendees exclusive looks at Barbie, Dune: Part Two, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Meg 2: The Trench, and more. The studio is known to always give a jam-packed CinemaCon presentation, so who knows what surprises Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav could have in store for 2024.
Exclusive footage and first-look reveals from CinemaCon are never released to the public, so that’s where we come in. Aside from listing huge updates, we’ll also describe all exclusive footage shown to CinemaCon 2024 attendees. Stay tuned as we cover all the announcements and reveals from the Warner Bros. Pictures CinemaCon 2023 presentation, and make sure to stay tuned as we report the presentations from Lionsgate, Walt Disney Studios, Universal Pictures, and Paramount Pictures in the upcoming days.
Warner Bros. Updates from CinemaCon 2024
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Release Date: May 24, 2024.
Directed by George Miller.
Written by George Miller & Nico Lathouris.
Based on characters by George Miller & Byron Kennedy.
Produced by Doug Mitchell & George Miller.
Main Cast: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Lachy Hulme, Nathan Jones, John Howard, Angus Sampson, Charlee Fraser, Quaden Bayles & Daniel Webber.
Exclusive Footage Description from CinemaCon 2024:
Warner Bros. took the stage at CinemaCon 2024 to present an extended sneak peek at Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. The new footage was broken up into 3 parts with different title cards.
1. Her Odyssey Begins
Furiosa is a young child with her resilient mother. They seem to be making their way back home until Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus finds the young Furiosa and captures her. He wants to find out where she’s from. Her mother steals Furiosa back, then heeds a warning to protect their sanctuary called “The Green Place” and gives her a large seed to protect with her life. Then, her mother single-handedly defends herself against Dementus’ crew until they recapture Furiosa, take her life, and then take the child to the wasteland.
2. The Warrior Awakens
An older Furiosa, now played by Anya Taylor Joy with long brown hair and a greased-up face. says, “I remember your face and your memory.” Flashback to Dementis traveling across the wasteland with young Furiosa in a cage. Dementus is teased to be a cult-like leader who wants to unite the other leaders of the wasteland, including a young Immortan Joe from Fury Road. Dementus gives a teenage Furiosa to Immortan as a sign of peace, but she eventually escapes and seeks revenge on him. She meets a fellow survivor (Tom Burke) who becomes her mentor and love interest, wanting wants to help her find the green place again.
3. Ride Into Revenge
Furiosa is on her plight to get revenge on Dementus, while at the same time escaping the other zealots and crazed leaders of the wasteland. After she shaves her head and eventually captures Dementus, it’s implied that she can’t end his life right away because she also has to worry about Immortan Joe now.
Joker: Folie à Deux
The first official teaser trailer for Joker: Folie à Deux made its debut at CinemaCon 2024.
Release Date: October 4, 2024.
Directed by Todd Phillips.
Written by Todd Phillips & Scott Silver.
Based on characters from DC.
Produced by Todd Phillips.
Main Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Zazie Beetz, Steve Coogan, Brendan Gleeson, Catherine Keener, Jacob Lofland, Ken Leung, Harry Lawtey, Leigh Gill, & Sharon Washington.
Exclusive Footage Description from CinemaCon 2024:
TBA
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Release Date: September 6, 2024.
Directed by Tim Burton.
Screenplay by Alfred Gough & Miles Millar.
Story by Alfred Gough, Miles Millar, & Seth Grahame-Smith.
Based on characters by Michael McDowell & Larry Wilson.
Produced by Marc Toberoff, Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Tommy Harper, & Tim Burton.
Main Cast: Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Jenna Ortega, Catherine O’Hara, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Burn Gorman, Arthur Conti, & Filipe Cates.
Exclusive Footage Description from CinemaCon 2024:
A new extended trailer for Beetlejuice BeetleJuice was shown at CinemaCon 2024. It begins the same way as the initial trailer that’s already been released with Jenna Ortega riding on a bike into town. Cut to Jenna Ortega finding an ad paper promoting Beetlejuice. Winona Ryder, dressed in black, says, “I can’t believe I’m doing this Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” then cutting to a montage which teases new information on the plot. Lydia, “The living and the dead, can they coexist? Thats what we’re gonna find out.” She is seen in Beetlejuice’s office in a plaid dress with her mouth stitched up. Some claymation is shown, including the iconic sandworm. Jenna Ortega is seen in a white dress and heading to the place of the dead.
From what’s implied, it seems like Winona Ryder’s Lydia Deetz is left with no choice but to summon Beetlejuice in order to retrieve her daughter from the land of the dead. Willem Dafoe, who play some kind of undead overseer with a metal plate in his head, looks after Beetlejuice and isn’t happy to see him back in the land of the living. The rest of the footage showcased the various imaginative practical effects used in this legacy sequel, like puppetry and animatronics. As previously said, the movie does bring back stop-motion claymation like the original and is filled with Easter eggs and callbacks.
The Watchers
Release Date: June 14, 2024.
Directed by Ishana Night Shyamalan
Written by Ishana Night Shyamalan
Based on The Watchers by A.M. Shine.
Produced by M. Night Shyamalan, Ashwin Rajan, & Nimitt Mankad.
Man Cast: Dakota Fanning, Georgina Campbell, Oliver Finnegan, & Olwen Fouéré.
Exclusive Footage Description from CinemaCon 2024:
Warner Bros. debuted an exclusive sneak peek at the next trailer for The Watchers, which finally gives more details on what this horror story is really about. Dakota Fanning plays a shady young woman who gets stuck in a remote Irish forest while on a road trip. She discovers that there is an ancient dark force at play, mysterious monsters who keep unknowing people trapped in the forest and play mind tricks on them. No one has seen what they look like, but what we do see from their almost witch-like designs draws from Keltic folklore. There are three other people who are stuck in the forest with Dakota’s character, each having been trapped for different amounts of time. All four main characters are tested in various ways by the terrifying monsters, who are teased to have been playing these twisted games for centuries.
Trap
Release Date: August 2, 2024.
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan.
Exclusive Footage Description from CinemaCon 2024:
CinemaCon 2024 got the very first teaser trailer for M. Night Shayamaln’s new horror/thriller Trap, a suspense tale set mainly inside a pop concert taking place at a huge stadium. Josh Hartnett played a father who takes his daughter to see a singer named Lady Raven. They have floor seats, which is basically his daughter’s dream come true to see one of her favorite artists so close.
Josh Hartnett leaves his daughter to go to the bathroom and notices lots of police outside of the venue. He asks someone working at a merch booth why there are a bunch of cops posted everywhere. The worker creepily tells him about a killer known as “The Butcher” who’s known to kidnap and chop up fans. It’s revealed that this whole concert is a trap to finally capture him and bring him to justice. Josh Hartnett, with a creepy knowing smile, looks at the camera, implying that he himself is the actual Butcher killer who is now devising a plan to escape the concert with this information. In true Shyamalan fashion, it’s a massive twist within a twist.
Mickey 17
Release Date: January 31, 2025.
Directed by Bong Joon-ho.
Exclusive Footage Description from CinemaCon 2024:
The very first trailer of Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 was revealed at CinemaCon 2024. The director describes his sci-fi film as a “simple man’s story.” Robert Pattinson plays a common man named Mickey with a nerdy American accent who signs up to be an “expendable” in the future. He travels to distant planets and space stations doing handy work, but the caveat is that he’s expected to die doing these difficult missions. Each time he dies, a new clone is made and then given a new assignment. The title of the movie draws from this, as he dies 17 times in the plot. Everything goes well, with Mickey getting eaten and chopped up into different pieces across space. Things take a turn when two clones get made at the same time, Mickey 17 and Mickey 18.
Across the trailer, we are introduced to the supporting cast, like Steven Yeun as a fellow worker who’s interested in Mickey’s life of constantly dying and being reborn as a clone. Mark Ruffalo plays a futuristic, crazed dictator-like character who’s married to an equally unhinged first lady played by Toni Collette. Ruffalo’s character is hellbent on getting rid of both Mickeys, since state policy requires that all duplicate clones be eradicated and for the person’s contract to be terminated, meaning death for good. Two Mickey clones, played by Robert Pattinson, get spun on a galactic adventure to survive.
