Posted in: Movies, Sony | Tagged: cinemacon, ghostbusters, kraven the hunter, marvel, sony, sony pictures, spider-man: across the spider-verse

Sony Pictures CinemaCon Presentation: Spider-Verse And R-Ratings

Sony Pictures had its CinemaCon 2023 presentation, which included footage from movies like Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Gran Turismo, and more.

While it was a little late to start, Sony Pictures did eventually kick off their CinemaCon 2023 presentation. The studio likes to be the first one out of the gate, and usually, that comes with a lot of new stuff. As they said in the panel, the studio is releasing twenty-three movies this year alone. So after the studio patted itself on the back for not giving into pressure during COVID and going to hybrid releases, and an introduction from the set of Bad Boys 4, we were off to the races with Dumb Money. This one will focus on the Gamestop stock market insanity from a couple of years ago. The cast is pretty sweet, and we got to see a brief clip where everyone starts to react to the price in stock surging.

From there, we got another look at Insidious: The Red Door, for which they recently released a trailer. We also got a look at The Machine, which is coming out this Memorial Day, and that one looks like it's going to be something. It's a movie adaptation of a Bert Kreischer comedy routine which is based on Kreischer's brief time as a student in Russia. He's playing himself in the movie, and that is either going to work really well, or it's not because the ability to do standup and the ability to act are not one and the same.

Spider-Verse And Kraven Make Sony Pictures' Marvel Movies Different

Then it was time for Sony Animation to take the stage and present more of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. A lot is riding on this movie, and if they mess this up, it could end very badly. Last year we got a chance to see some very rough footage, but this year we got to see about fourteen minutes of footage that was mostly done. It featured Gwen Stacy jumping to Miles's universe and her explaining how she has that ability. We see the two of them being absolutely adorable as they go around the city, and we also get to see a great scene with Miles and his mom. We didn't get a lot of scenes with her in the first movie, but they seem to be making up for that in this movie. During the presentation, Miles's story was described as "in the last movie he learned anyone can wear the mask, in this one, he learns how to wear the mask." Gwen also has her own story, and don't expect Jessica Drew to play any of that secret identity stuff. We got to hear some of the new music, and honestly? It all looks just as incredible as the first one. Sign me up, I want to see this now.

Time to make the jump to Marvel live-action. We didn't see anything from Madame Web or learn anything about El Muerto, but we finally got to see some footage from Kraven the Hunter and confirmation that the movie will be R-rated. The first trailer dropped, and the footage was indeed very R-rated. Kraven ripped a guy's face off with his teeth, threw a spear through a guy that was in a helicopter, and shot an arrow that impaled another guy on a wall. He ran on four legs at one point, and we saw some of the classic costume. Star Aaron Taylor-Johnson's arms look insane. This one is a giant question mark, but the fact that Sony was willing to make it R-rated shows that they are willing to do that for a character that doesn't start with "v" and end with "enom."

Gran Turismo And Ridley Scott's Next Epic

Another R-rating, and this time it's for a comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence called No Hard Feelings. It's about two helicopter parents that hire a woman to date their son so he doesn't graduate college a virgin. Comedies can be subjective, but Lawrence seems to have pretty good timing, so we'll see. Playstation took the stage from there, and it was time to talk Gran Turismo. It was good to hear from David Harbour that he also wondered what the hell a movie based on a racing sim could be about. However, the game is more of a plot point than an adaptation. We got to see some footage, and Neill Blomkamp looks like he can shoot some decent racing scenes. Is this movie going to be good? It could be, but this writer is always cheering for Blomkamp to get another win.

Another comedy, this time called Anyone But You, and it's another romantic comedy that looks like it could be leaning into another R-rating. Sony Pictures specifically said they are into genres that "people" say are dead, like R-rated comedies. We got a brief video from the set of the new Ghostbusters, but we didn't learn much about the film and they didn't give us a release date, instead using the word "soon." We'll see if that one makes its late 2023 target. The trailer for The Equalizer 3 dropped, but we'll all see that soon enough, and Denzel Washington got a lovely lifetime achievement award, as he should.

Sony Pictures closed out its presentation by announcing that they have picked up theatrical distribution rights to AppleTV and Ridley Scott's new movie, Napoleon starring Joaquin Phoenix. We got to see a battle scene from the film, and let's just say that Scott is one of the best when it comes to large-scale battles like this. It makes sense that they are giving this movie a theatrical release because it honestly deserves it and looks like something that should be seen on a big screen — they also want that Oscar gold. Look for that one to drop this Thanksgiving.

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