CinemaCon is usually a place where studios use their presentations to theater owners as a box office victory lap, and the distribution team at Warner Bros. took a big one on Tuesday as it thanked exhibitors for helping make “Barbie” into the biggest hit in studio history.
“I think it’s fair to say that we’ve had a busy and exciting 12 months,” studio domestic distribution chief Jeff Goldstein said. “You helped bring pink fever to the world. Not everybody believed in ‘Barbie,’ but you did. With your co-marketing efforts and social media engagement, you helped make a cultural moment we’ve never seen before.”
Turning to the future, the studio showed how it plans to keep its hot momentum going, showcasing the lineup of top directors who have been assembled by studio heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, including George Miller, Tim Burton, M. Night Shyamalan and Bong Joon-ho.
“The entire Warner Bros. Discovery team … knows our entire business hinges on great storytelling, and we are so fortunate to partner with so many filmmakers working at the top of their craft,” Abdy said.
That lineup was assembled amidst a rollercoaster year for Warner, filled with cultural hits and studio records alongside big-budget flops and public backlash.
On one hand, the DC Extended Universe came to an ignominious end with films like “Shazam!: Fury of the Gods” and “The Flash” turning into high-profile flops. CEO David Zaslav became one of the big public enemies of Hollywood’s creative workforce during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, particularly after the studio’s decision to cancel any release of films like “Batgirl” and “Coyote vs. Acme,” the latter of which, as TheWrap exclusively reported, failed to find a new distributor after potential bidders balked at Warner’s high asking price.
At the same time, Warner Bros. has taken much of the box office on its back over the past nine months. Since “Barbie” became the highest grossing film of the year with a stellar $1.43 billion global total, six of the seven highest grossing films released in the past nine months have been Warner titles, with Universal’s “Oppenheimer” being the only exception. Two of those Warner releases starring Timothée Chalamet – “Wonka” and “Dune: Part Two” – have become the only two Hollywood films released since the end of last summer to gross more than $500 million worldwide.
Now the studio is turning to more big-name filmmakers to keep up the momentum that Greta Gerwig and Denis Villeneuve got started.
Warner Bros. showed off previews of a 2024 slate that it hopes will keep its recent momentum going, highlighted by the first trailer for Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie a Deux.” Unlike last year’s DC films and James Gunn’s upcoming “Superman,” it is a sequel that carries no attachment to other films save for its 2019 direct predecessor, which became the first R-rated film to gross $1 billion before inflation adjustment.
Now, Phillips and his lead stars Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga are taking a radical departure from the first “Joker.” Rather than being influenced by Martin Scorsese films like “Taxi Driver” and “King of Comedy,” “Folie a Deux,” as seen in its trailer, is offering a dark twist on classic film musicals like Fred Astaire’s “The Band Wagon.” Whether fans of Phoenix’s Joker and of Lady Gaga are willing to follow him on this left turn will decide whether it will enjoy anywhere near the success of its predecessor.
George Miller was also on hand to show off clips of his upcoming “Mad Max: Fury Road” prequel, “Furiosa,” starring Anya Taylor-Joy. While it won six Oscars and became one of the most acclaimed action films of the 21st century, “Fury Road” was only a modest box office hit for Warner with $379 million grossed against a $150 million budget in 2015. With Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth replacing “Fury Road” stars Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy, the hope for Warner is that the promise of more explosive mayhem will be enough to bring fans back.
Goldstein and his international distribution counterpart Andrew Cripps kicked off the show dressed up as Beetlejuice, and they were later joined by Tim Burton and the film’s cast to show off “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” a sequel that hopes to not only capitalize on Gen X nostalgia but also bring in younger moviegoers via Jenna Ortega, who was a major player in the revitalization of the “Scream” series at Paramount.
Other films featured by the studio included “Trap” and “The Watchers,” a pair of horror films made respectively by M. Night Shyamalan and his daughter, Ishana. Kevin Costner also appeared to rousing applause to showcase his two-part passion project “Horizon,” a western epic that follows the stories of multiple people that sought a new life in the American West.
“Parasite” director Bong Joon-ho also showed up with Robert Pattinson to present the darkly humorous sci-fi “Mickey 17,” a movie that Warner Bros. has placed in early 2025 in the hopes of building word-of-mouth at a time when the wide release slate is less populated.
But the most emotional moment came when DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran presented a trailer for “Super/Man,” a documentary about the life and achievements of Christopher Reeve that Warner Bros. paid $15 million to acquire after its Sundance premiere. The film focuses on Reeves’ career of activist work after a horse-riding accident left him completely paralyzed, and how the love of his family inspired him to become a voice for the disabled community.
