Posted in: Focus Features, Movies, Universal | Tagged: cinemacon, Focus Features, Universal Pictures

CinemaCon 2023: Universal Pictures and Focus Features Liveblog

Universal Pictures and Focus Features are having their joint presentation at CinemaCon, so come join us for a liveblog of all the new information released.

Published Wed, 26 Apr 2023 17:52:11 -0500

by Kaitlyn Booth

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The movie industry has descended on Las Vegas for another CinemaCon this week. The annual event brings theater owners and studios to look toward the rest of this year and beyond on the big screen. Seeing the event evolve in a pre and post-pandemic world has been interesting. In 2019, no one at the event was even a little concerned about streaming or same-day streaming releases. By the time the event was able to return in August 2021, the tone had changed drastically, and things have only continued to change. The industry needs to evolve to keep up with the changing times, and it's always interesting to see who is embracing change and who is fighting against it. Almost all of the major studios showed up this year, though some players are missing. This afternoon, we have the double trouble of Universal Pictures and Focus Features coming in to play.

Universal will likely spend a large portion of this panel giving themselves a pat on the back for having a fantastic year. At the same time, there have been some misfires like Renfield, the success of films like M3GAN and The Super Mario Bros. Movie more than makeup for it. They are still one of the biggest movies coming out this year with Fast X, which is all over the convention floor. We're sure we'll see more of this one in some capacity. These movies practically print money at the box office, so you know theater owners will be excited about this one.

Universal also has some big movies coming out in the form of Oppenheimer, which is their first major collaboration with Christopher Nolan, and everyone is very excited to see another film from him. Trolls Band Together is here, which is surprising considering that Trolls World Tour was the movie that kicked off the pandemic hybrid way of releasing films. Maybe they want theater owners to forget that. Universal could also show off more horror movies like The Last Voyage of the Demeter, Five Nights at Freddy's, and the next Exorcist movie.

As for Focus, they sent out a press release saying that the films they will spotlight will be Asteroid City, Drive-Away Dolls, My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3, and The Holdovers. Focus always picks up such interesting films to distribute and greenlight. With NEON staying away from CinemaCon this year and Searchlight getting .5 seconds of time at the Disney panel, this is all we are seeing from smaller productions. Come join us for the liveblog!