Sony Motion Picture Boss Tom Rothman At CinemaCon: “Cost And Windows Can Work For Us Or Against Us”
Leave it to Tom Rothman to tee up CinemaCon, ever the philosopher, with the ultimate sermon that waves the flag for moviegoing.
Acknowledging the elephant in the room at this year’s confab — windows — Rothman told the Caesars Palace full of exhibs, “Cost and windows can work for us or against us. Theatrical needs to be smart about them both. I will let you know that Sony will work with you on both.” That got great applause.
He also encouraged exhibition to lower prices, but not in an arrogant fashion, pointing out how Tuesdays — the discount day of the week for exhibitors — is robust. Rothman encouraged: What if Monday, Wednesday, etc. were all Tuesday?
While Q1 2025 is in a big slump behind 11% from 2024 at the domestic box office, Rothman reminded the room that they’ve been through the darkest day before, that being Covid.
“If theaters and studios manage for the long terms, and do the rights things, the future will be grand,” he said.
He continued, “The health of the movies are the movies in the movie theaters. Fortunately, there are more great ones coming.”
Rothman summed before the start of the Sony presentation, “Great filmmakers make great films. That is an absolute. Pretty simple if you’re lucky enough to have them make it with you.”
On the slate tonight in Las Vegas is the previewing of such projects as the Anaconda remake with Paul Rudd and Jack Black; the forthcoming Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, which just received a release date; as well as the Darren Aronofsky-helmed Caught Stealing starring Austin Butler.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione, Jill Goldsmith
‘Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse’ Back On The Release Date Calendar, This Time In 2027 – CinemaCon
Sony Marvel’s Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, the third in their animation trilogy, is finally returning to the release date schedule. Audiences can expect the film to bow in theaters June 4, 2027.
The movie, which originally had a theatrical release date of March 29, 2024, was pushed back in July 2023 due to the strikes. This was due to a number of voiceovers being unavailable. Also, it takes a lot of work to make these stylistic, groundbreaking animated titles work. We were told at the Spider-Man: Across the Universe premiere back in June 2023 that the print on screen was literally wet having been locked just days prior.
The animated movies are massively successful: The 2018 first chapter, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse received an Animated Feature Oscar and the 2023 sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse also garnered a nod. Together, both movies have grossed $1.08 billion.
Beyond the Spider-Verse is directed by Bob Persichetti and Justin K. Thompson and written by David Callam, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. Lord and Miller produce with Amy Pascal, Avi Arad and Jinko Gotoh.
The filmmakers appearing on stage teased that Miles Morales is on the run and his friends like Gwen might not be able to save him. As fans may recall at the end of Across the Spider-Verse, Miles discovered that a parallel version of him had transformed into the villainous Prowler in an iteration of Earth that lacks a Spider-Man and features a lawless New York City.
“Everyone keeps telling me how my story is supposed to go,” Miles says in the first look revealed to attendees at CinemaCon.
In sum, an exciting wrap up to the trilogy. They’re also prepping the movie for large format screens in what is a first for a Sony animated film.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro
Zach Cregger Teases What His ‘Resident Evil’ Will Be Like At CinemaCon
Nothing has been shot yet, but Zach Cregger stopped by the Las Vegas-hosted CinemaCon to get exhibitors excited about his rendition of Resident Evil, teasing that his version is “unlike any of the previous films” and a “wild ride.”
“There’s a moment that comes in every moment of every Resident Evil game where you find yourself standing in the mouth of a dark passageway. One shot in the gun is left,” he set up.
“You know that something horrible is waiting for you in that darkness, that awful moment where you have to will yourself. That’s something that every Resident Evil game has perfected and has kept me and millions of other players returning to the series for decades.”
“My movie will be built in the spirit of those games and follows one central protagonist from point A to point B, as they descend deeper into hell.”
Constantin’s Resident Evil was on the block, being shopped around, but Sony made sure the $1.2 billion grossing franchise stayed at the Culver City lot. Constantin’s Robert Kulzer, Vertigo Entertainment’s Roy Lee (Barbarian, Minecraft) and Miri Yoon (Woman of the Hour, Weapons) and PlayStation Productions are also producing. Nicole Brown will be overseeing the latest iteration of Resident Evil for Sony’s Columbia Pictures.
We told you first about the package with Cregger. Justin Kroll reported that Austin Abrams is starring. Abrams and Cregger already have strong ties as the actor recently wrapped production on Cregger’s highly-anticipated thriller Weapons, which bows later this summer.
Resident Evil comes out on Sept. 18, 2026.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro
‘28 Years Later’ New Trailer Shown Off At CinemaCon
Sony showed off the second trailer for its highly anticipated horror sequel 28 Years Later at CinemaCon today — a tense few minutes that focus largely on Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s character, who leaves a pristine island to head to a zombie-infested mainland.
“Once you walk onto the mainland, there’s no rescues,” we hear as zombies are hunted and attack.
The first trailer had featured Taylor-Johnson’s paternal figure guarding the green fields of England with a bow and arrow, accompanied by the unsettling sound of a Taylor Holmes recording of Rudyard Kipling’s war poem “Boots.” That dropped back in December and is now the third most-watched horror trailer ever with 60.2 million views in its first 24 hours. That prompted Sony to re-release the original 2002 Danny Boyle-directed zombie movie, 28 Days Later on digital Dec. 18 for purchase and rental.
Sony won the revamped Boyle-directed franchise in an auction, reteaming with scribe Alex Garland and starring Cillian Murphy, Jodie Comer, Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes and Jack O’Connell. The budget for the new movies are in the range of $75 million. In addition to Boyle and
Garland, producers on 28 Years include Andrew Macdonald and Peter Rice, the former head of Fox Searchlight Pictures.
Garland is penning each installment in the new franchise.
“Mark Twain famously said when he was 14 he couldn’t believe how stupid his father was and by the time he got to 21, he was astounded how much his father had learned in the intervening years. I mention that because [28 Days Later] is quite a long time ago and I appear to have learned nothing … I still love killing zombies and I still love blowing shit up,” said Boyle taking the stage.
“Age is no indication of maturity, I’m just saying,” he quipped.
On the backstory, he said that “Alex and I set out to make three films that are linked together through casting.” He mentioned Taylor-Johnson (“who may or may not be the next Bond”), Comer and Fiennes, adding Murphy though “like all good things in life you may have to wait a while for him to make his appearance.”
Boyle said he doesn’t have finance for the third movie and urged exhibition to “support the continuing apocalypse” so he “might get to come back here with the third film.”
Also appearing was Nia Dacosta who directed 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple who thanked Boyle and Garland for giving her the “freedom to make the film my own” and “let my freak flag fly.”
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione, Jill Goldsmith
Jennifer Love Hewitt Has One Question In First Look Of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ At CinemaCon
A sexy high-gloss sizzle reel for the new I Know What You Did Last Summer movie turned up the heat during Sony’s CinemaCon show in Las Vegas this evening. The follow-up to the 1997 hit features returning cast members as well as new players. Jennifer Love Hewitt is back alongside former co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. while Chase Sui Wonders, Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers and Jonah Haur-King have joined the franchise.
Reel opens with Cline and her hot brunette hunk in a posh home. She goes to take a bath, but is that rose tint in the water? No! It’s blood! She puts on her headphones listening to a peaceful meditation. Meantime, the hunk gets stabbed with a metal arrow that pulls him. It’s the original hook killer before the Scream guy. Amid hooking and blood, and the realization that it’s not the first time that there’s been violence in Southport and Wonders exclaiming “something is coming after us,” there’s a shot of Hewitt who exclaims, “I have one question for you: Do you know what you did last summer?” Mic drop.
The logline: When five friends inadvertently cause a deadly car accident, they cover up their involvement and make a pact to keep it a secret rather than face the consequences. A year later, their past comes back to haunt them and they’re forced to confront a horrifying truth: someone knows what they did last summer…and is hell-bent on revenge. As one by one the friends are stalked by a killer, they discover this has happened before, and they turn to two survivors of the legendary Southport Massacre of 1997 for help.
IKWYDLS also stars Billy Campbell, Gabbriette Bechtel, Austin Nichols, Lola Tung and Nicholas Alexander Chavez.
The horror pic is directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson from a story by Leah McKendrick & Robinson, a screenplay by McKendrick and Sam Lansky & Jennifer Kaytin Robinson. It’s produced by Neal H. Moritz.
Sony releases domestically on July 18.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione, Jill Goldsmith
New ‘Spider-Man’ With Tom Holland Gets Title – CinemaCon
Destin Daniel Cretton made his first appearance at CinemaCon. He shared stories about his toddler’s first words being ‘Spider-Man‘ and how he lost some money at roulette.
But what the Shang-Chi filmmaker and upcoming Spider-Man movie director was here to chat up was the new title.
“Everyday right now, I’m exploring the next stage of this amazing character with a team of incredible artists of the world. How to swing, how to create an emotional story and a ride we haven’t seen before,” said Cretton.
“They tell me it’s tradition to tell you something about the film, that no one knows. We do have a trailer even though we didn’t share anything,” joked Cretton. He tossed it to Tom Holland on the screen.
“I know we left you with a massive cliffhanger,” said Holland thanking exhibitors.
Then the Peter Parker actor made it slip: Spider-Man: Brand New Day would be the new title of the forthcoming installment, coming out July 31, 2026.
As mentioned, Spider-Man: No Way Home — a wild success as the seventh highest-grossing movie of all time at the global box office with $1.95 billion — ended with a seismic shift for the webslinger, with Holland’s Parker relinquishing his identity to save the world (with the help of previous iterations Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield).
For the fourthquel, Amy Pascal and Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige are back as producers, with star Zendaya also returning. However, despite the switchup following the No Way Home press cycle — which attempted to keep the former spidey heros’ return under wraps — Garfield said he would not revisit the franchise this time around.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro
Sam Mendes’ ‘The Beatles’ Movies, All Four Of ‘Em, Are Coming Out In April 2028; Cast Confirmed – CinemaCon
Sam Mendes showed up toward the end of Sony‘s CinemaCon presentation Monday to reveal details of how his four Beatles movies will go down. All four will be released in theaters in April 2028 in what is the first “bingeable moment in cinema,” said Mendes (Sony Motion Pictures bcoss Tom Rothman’s words). Mendes also confirmed the cast, which we all know: Joseph Quinn is George Harrison, Paul Mescal is Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan is Ringo Starr and Harris Dickinson is John Lennon.
Mendes wouldn’t confirm which order the movies would roll out. He also mentioned it would take him more than year to shoot all four movies. “I’m getting Avatar flashbacks” Rothman jokingly cried.
Said Mendes, the Beatles “redefined the culture and stayed with you for a lifetime,” calling them perhaps “the most significant band of all time.”
“I had been trying to do a film for years, but I finally gave up” because he felt the “story was too big for one film” and a TV series didn’t seem quite right. “There had to be a way to tell the epic story for a new generation … I can assure you there is still plenty left to explore and I think we found a way to do that.”
The actors then quoted the Beatles’ “Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” song, saying “It’s wonderful to be here, it’s certainly a thrill, you’re such a lovely audience, we’d like to take you home with us.”
Deadline was first to report on the quartet of castings over a year ago, noting that Mendes conceived the grand vision of interconnected stories, one from each band member’s point of view.
The official logline for The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event is: “Each man has his own story, but together they are legendary.” Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street will produce along with Alexandra Derbyshire in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Anthony D'Alessandro, Nancy Tartaglione
‘Karate Kid: Legends’ Gets Extended Look At CinemaCon
Ben Wang and Ralph Macchio took the stage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Monday with an extended look at Karate Kid: Legends from Sony Pictures, out May 30.
The film features young Wang with the legendary Jackie Chan and Macchio, the original Karate Kid.
After a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong (Wang) is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. Li struggles to let go of his past as he tries to fit in with his new classmates, and although he doesn’t want to fight, trouble seems to find him everywhere. When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition – but his skills alone aren’t enough. Li’s kung fu teacher Mr. Han (Chan) enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso (Macchio) for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown.
In the three scenes: Mr. Han pays Li a surprise visit to keep him on his toes; then, Chan is in California, convincing a reluctant Sensei LaRusso to come to New York and help. In a third scene, they’re both in New York working with Li. “Two branches, one tree” says Wang.
The official trailer dropped in December after a first look at New York Comic Con.
Sony’s Columbia Pictures film is helmed by Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F***ing World), with a script by Rob Lieber. Producing is Karen Rosenfelt, with executive producers Jenny Hinkey and Macchio.
In addition to Wang, Chan and Macchio, the cast includes Joshua Jackson, Sadie Stanley, Ming-Na Wen and Aramis Knight.
The film marks the sixth installment within the franchise, following 2010’s The Karate Kid with Jaden Smith as the titular child. The events of the forthcoming Legends flick will take place three years following the conclusion of TV drama Cobra Kai featuring Macchio.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Jill Goldsmith, Nancy Tartaglione, Anthony D'Alessandro
Sony Shows Off First Look At Margot Robbie & Colin Farrell In ‘A Big Bold Beautiful Journey’ – CinemaCon
CinemaCon attendees got a first look at a trailer for the Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell-starring event pic A Big Bold Beautiful Journey during Sony’s presentation on Monday evening here in Las Vegas. The romance drama is billed as an original tale of two strangers and the extraordinary emotional journey that connects them.
The footage shown in Vegas was introduced by director Kogonada (After Yang) who said, “This is the kind of film I would want to watch in a packed theater … At its heart, it is two people reconciling with their past to find love in the present.”
The trailer begins as Robbie’s Sarah and Farrell’s David meet at what appears to be a wedding, then, thanks to the prodding of a virtual assistant, set off on a journey infused with magical realism. The pair walks through a forest and encounters doorways that transport them to their pasts. “Every door unlocks a memory,” we read on the screen as the duo visits his high school, then her mother years before. Says Farrell’s David, “I want to go back to when I thought everything would work out for me.” Change your future, a title card reads.
This is Robbie’s first acting role since 2023’s blockbuster Barbie, while Farrell is coming off of his multi-award winning turn in The Penguin. The supporting cast for A Big Bold Beautiful Journey includes Lily Rabe, Jodie Turner-Smith, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Hamish Linklater.
From Imperative Entertainment and 30West, A Big Bold Beautiful Journey is written by Seth Reiss (The Menu). 30West is financing, with Sony Pictures releasing in theaters globally. Domestic release is set for Sept. 19. Producers are Bradley Thomas, Ryan Friedkin, Seth Reiss and Youree Henley. Executive producers are Kogonada, Ilene Feldman and Ori Eisen.
Source: Deadline, March 31st 2025, Nancy Tartaglione, Jill Goldsmith, Anthony D'Alessandro