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[CinemaCon 2019] STX Entertainment Swings for the Fences in 2019 [Recap]

Published Wed, 03 Apr 2019 07:45:39 -0500

CinemaCon was off to the races early this morning with the State of the Industry talk and the STX Entertainment panel. Despite the fact that everyone seems to think the theater industry is burning down and Netflix is bringing the end times that is not the case. Not even a little bit. The box office posted record sales last year with a $41.1 billion. You would think an event about the theater industry would be snarling at anything that had anything to do with streaming services but that is not the case at all. Motion Picture Association of America Chairman and CEO Charles Rivkin talked about the ever-evolving industry and how Netflix joined the MPAA.

Recently, that evolution featured Netflix joining the MPAA, adding to our roster of leading global content creators. Here is what I know. We are all stronger advocates for creativity and the entertainment business when we are working together… all of us. The E&Y study that NATO released last year showed that people who attend movies in theatres more frequently also tend to consume streaming content more frequently. That is encouraging – but not surprising. Audiences love great stories well told…period.

There is no great fight between streaming and theaters. As one evolves the other does as well and there is nothing wrong with that. Streaming will help get more stories out there for people to see while streaming forces theaters to make sure they are delivering the best possible experience for their customers.

After the State of the Industry, including a scary moment when longtime Motion Picture Association of America executive Joan Graves, who is retiring this year, fell down the stairs from the stage after accepting an award [she needed stitches for a head wound but is recovering], it was time to move onto STX Entertainment.

STX is an interesting player in the game right now. While most studios are focused on tentpole blockbusters STX is looking to keep the mid-tier movie alive and well. That is by means a good thing since there needs to be some middle ground for directors, producers, and actors to cut their teeth on between microbudget indies and $100+ blockbusters. We have seen too many times that not all directors can make that jump work and with Disney consolidating the way they are it's good that STX is still around.

They showed off a lot of fun looking material. Best of Enenmies comes out this weekend and we got a featurette that shows the making of the movie. It looks a little like Oscar bait being released in April which might not be a good sign. Then again The Upside also looks a little like awards bait but that came out in January and did very well.

Next, we got a look at Poms which was one of the surprising movies of the presentation. A movie that this writer didn't know anything about STX showed us a trailer and the movie looks very cute. Star Diane Keaton came out to promote the production. This movie looks really cute and the kind of movie that could do really well with older audiences.

Next we got a first look at 21 Bridges. The movie stars Chadwick Boseman, who is also producing, is a cop whose father is killed as a kid. There is a cop massacre, eight dead when he is an adult and they decide to shut the entire city of Manhatten down to try and find the murderers and what happened. The director is Brian Kirk who has done some work on TV shows likle Penny Dreadful and Game of Thrones. It looks to be a bit generic trailer wise but Boseman is a compelling presence that could make for a great movie.

We're going back to classics like Kindegarden Cop and The Pacifier with My Spy. Only this time it's Dave Bautista as the big tough guy role. A CIA operative is basically blackmailed into giving a 9-year-old girl some training. They showed off some footage and it looks like it's going to be one of those movies that are going to live or die by the performances and how well everyone lands the jokes. The footage seems promising but it's hard to tell with comedies since the trailers don't show the entire movie. There could be a few jokes that we see in the trailer that are good but the rest aren't. Bautista had nothing but good things to say about his young co-star Chloe Coleman who apparently made bank on set [plus another $5 right there on stage] with a swear jar.

Time for some indie horror. 2016 movie The Boy is getting a sequel with Brahms: The Boy II. It stars Katie Holmes and we got a brief trailer where her son has suffered some sort of trauma and isn't speaking. They travel for a change in scenery and the young man finds The Boy in question. Holmes came out and described the movie as something all parents can relate to; the idea that something evil is trying to influence your child and trying to stop it.

Time for the new Guy Ritchie movie The Gentleman which looks exactly like you expect from a Ritchie movie. It has an extremely impressive cast of Charlie Hunnam, Matthew McConaughey, Colin Farrell, Michelle Dockery, Hugh Grant, and Henry Golding. Like most Ritchie movies it can be hard to get an exact handle on what we can expect tone wise but it looks very much like a Ritchie movie for all of the good and bad.

There were a bunch of announcements in the last part. We got some early footage from a new adaptation of The Secret Garden with Colin Firth and Julie Walters. A spin-off from the Bad Mom's series called Bad Mom' Mom and a couple of other productions with some big names attached.

The big thing the show ended with is Uglydolls. They are betting the entire farm on this movie with a TV show and a huge toy deal with a couple of different partners. They are swinging for the fences when it comes to this series and it's either going to work or it's going to sink the entire studio. There is no room for error when it comes to a series like this. They showed off three songs from the movie and they seem fine. STX closed out the presentation with Kelly Clarkson singing one of the songs live.

STX has an interesting slate planned for this year with several that could make or break the studio. Some big misses though and we might lose our on one of the few people still doing mid-tier productions.

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