Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson made a surprise appearance at CinemaCon during Warner Bros.’s presentation on Tuesday night, working the crowd and wooing some of the exhibition heavyweights like AMC Theatres’ Adam Aron and Cinemark’s Sean Gamble, all as he hyped up “Black Adam” and “DC League of Super Pets,” each with new trailers.
At first, it looked like The Rock would be phoning it in with a taped appearance, but it turned out he was sitting in front of a backdrop of a Hawaii horizon and instead walked through the crowd and then out on stage. Johnson truly played the part of the biggest movie star in the world and made his pitch about how his Seven Bucks production shingle is working to bring people back to theaters with both of his DC films.
He even told a story about his mom visiting Cinemark locations hoping to speak with the manager and asking to bring home the promotional stand-ups from some of Johnson’s movies. “I got the call from Bob Iger… Your mom is stealing the signs,” he told the crowd to laughs.
Johnson first dropped a new look at “Super-Pets,” in which Johnson voices a lovable dog named Krypto who foils Superman’s attempt to go on a date with Lois Lane. The film opens in theaters on July 29.
As for “Black Adam,” Johnson said that he’s been discussing the idea of “Black Adam” for the last 10 years. He described the Black Adam character as “Dirty Harry” of the superhero world. In the first trailer for the film, Black Adam responds to a comment from another character saying, “Heroes don’t kill people,” by replying, “Well, I do.” The trailer shows Johnson enduring waves of machine gun fire and catching a rocket in mid-air with a wave of explosions to boot.
“I was a slave until I died. Then I was reborn a God. I kneel before no one,” he says in the brief trailer.
Johnson produces and stars in “Black Adam,” which is his live-action entry into the DC universe and reunites him with “Jungle Cruise” director Jaume Collet-Serra. He co-stars with Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell and Pierce Brosnan.
Warner Bros. and DC are now releasing the film in theaters on October 21, 2022.
