Day Three of Cinemacon 2019 Saw Two Powerhouse Studios' Presentations

The day started with Cinemark CEO Mark Zoradi introducing Movio Founder William Palmer who discussed how theaters can increase Box office revenue.  He then turned over the presentation to Universal Studios' President of Domestic Distribution, Jim Orr.  Who, after touting Universals 2018 successes. Introduced Donna Langley, Chairman of Universals' Filmed Entertainment group.  She reiterated Orr's statements and then began talking about Illumination Studios.   After speaking about The Secret Life of Pets 2, Night School's Tiffany Haddish and Kevin Hart walked on stage carrying adorable animals just like the ones they portray in the film.  Of course with these two comedic icons hit the stage hilarity ensues.

Next, another pet made its way onstage as Dennis Quaid (The Day After Tomorrow) brought a dog onstage to promote his latest film, A Dog's Journey.  Jason Blum then graced the stage to talk about 2018 and introduced Octavia Spencer (The Help) and Director Tate Taylor (The Help) who spoke about their new film, Ma Before the audience saw a clip.  Then producer Will Packer introduced the cast and Director of Little, the movie that was pitched to studio executives by a ten-year-old Marsai Martin (Black-ish). 

Director Danny Boyle (127 hours) spoke about his latest work, Yesterday, before introducing Himesh Patel who gave a stunning performance of the title song.  Then the cast and producers of Good Boys showed us a hilarious clip before the presentation moved on to Dreamworks' Abominable. The audience then felt the excitement when the Downton Abbey film was previewed followed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor), Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), and Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) giving us a funny presentation of their movie Last Christmas.  Then Dwayne Johnson (Rampage) and Jason Statham (The Meg) electrified the building with their sneak peek of the highly anticipated Hobbs and Shaw.  The show ended with an inside look at Cats, which promises to be magical, and an incredible performance by Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls).

The afternoon paved the way to Disney's presentation.  They began smartly by acknowledging the elephant in the room in the form of Twentieth Century Fox.  While sweet and sentimental, it still left a heavy air in the Colosseum as so many wondered what will truly become of the newest addition to the Disney family.  President Kathleen Taff talked about so many of Disney's upcoming films before introducing Vice Chairman of Twentieth Century Fox, Emma Watts.  She spoke about the last of the X-Men movies - Dark Phoenix, the buddy comedy Stuber, and the intense drama, Ford Vs. Ferrari starring Matt Damon (The Martian) and Christian Bale (The Dark Knight).

Next up was the live adaptations of Aladdin and The Lion King.  The first offered all the pageantry of a Broadway show while the latter displayed the majesty of the African plains.  Of course, they had to offer something from Marvel's Avengers: Endgame so they showed a two-minute scene. Disney finished up the hour-long presentation with a behind-the-scenes look at Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and finally the first seventeen minutes of Toy Story 4.

While Universal always offers a spectacular presentation with tons of actors and an amazing final performance, Disney is more subdued and low-key.  Two of the biggest studios presented some really great content but overall the day was a little lackluster and underwhelming.

Be sure to follow FlickDirect's Twitter feed tomorrow for live coverage of the final day of Cinemacon 2019.