CinemaCon counts off its winners, losers
LAS VEGAS — The schmoozing, the boozing and the studio showcasing has come to end for CinemaCon 2018, the national convention of theater owners. With each major movie studio showing off its wares for the year ahead, which dog came out on top and who’s in the doghouse?
WINNER: A Star Is Born
Bradley Cooper fired a direct hit at the CinemaCon heart with footage from his directorial debut and just might have found a way to harness the immense and untapped movie potential of Lady Gaga. She looks achingly vulnerable in the footage shown, and we haven’t even seen the Star stuff we know she can do.
Cooper isn’t looking too shabby, either, in a musical showcase where he sings and plays guitar in front of real, cheering crowds.
The prospects for movie tears, swooning and even awards went off the charts.
WINNER: Tom Cruise
Cruise accepted our mission to prove he was back in true Tom Terrific form after suffering an ankle injury while shooting a stunt for Mission: Impossible — Fallout. He wowed with in-the-air footage of his perilous high-altitude jump stunt — which he performed 106 times at 25,000 feet. No one does that better.
Cruise was feted as Pioneer of the Year at the convention’s awards dinner, where he dazzled with that killer smile. Mission accomplished.
LOSER: Paramount Studios
Paramount Studios is rebuilding — we get it. And it showed off winners like Mission and the promising Book Club. Bumblebee footage was decent.
But there was way too much filler (a Rachel Platten song) in the overlong presentation, while gifts from movie gods were glossed over. Two more Star Trek movies are being made? That bomb was dropped with zero fanfare.
Major box office coupe A Quiet Place earned only a mention for its planned sequel. Cruise is on the stage and there’s only a passing reference to Top Gun 2? We’d like to know more about that. Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America sequel? Nothing. These should be victory dances, signs of boldly exploring winning worlds.
LOSER: Solo: A Star Wars Story
The Han Solo offshoot needed a big showcase before arriving in theaters May 25 to wipe out the stink of past troubles. Disney didn’t bring out any stars or director Ron Howard. Strike. And the unseen footage from the pivotal scene where Han meets Lando (Alden Ehrenreich and Donald Glover, respectively) didn’t make up for that. Glover showed again he has the Lando sizzle, but the talented Ehrenreich still hasn’t proven he’s cut from the Harrison Ford cloth, and Emilia Clarke’s Qi’Ra remains a big question mark.
WINNER: Tiffany Haddish
The Girls Trip star was everywhere at CinemaCon, promoting three comedies ( Uncle Drew, Night School and a justcompleted, as-yet-untitled Tyler Perry film) and picking up the Female Star of Tomorrow award. She cracked the folks up every time she was handed a mike, including propositioning Henry Cavill from the stage. Send back that award — she’s the Female Star of Right Now.