CinemaCon 2022, Day 3 Excitement -- Doctor Strange, Lightyear, Jurassic World Dominion, and Avatar

April 27, 2022, Las Vegas - As day three of Cinemacon 2022 draws to a close, all of Vegas is buzzing about…the NFL Draft that starts tomorrow. I'm joking (sort of). However, the CinemaCon studio presentations today did have NATO members and CinemaCon attending talking. After all the covid production delays and theater closings, the mantra everyone seems to have adopted is, "We Are Back" and today's presentations echoed that sentiment in a big way.

Starting off the day was the Disney/Disney Animation/Marvel/Searchlight/20th Century Studios presentation and as with everything Disney they went big. Since the film is being released next week, Disney started the show with over twenty minutes of footage from Marvel Studios' Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Admittedly, I wasn't too excited for this latest Marvel movie but, after today's sneak peek, I am fully on board with the Multiverse of Madness. It has action, an interesting plot, and some incredible graphics. CinemaCon attendees are hoping Doctor Strange will be a huge box office draw but I think it is going to exceed expectations just from the part of it I saw.

Up next was Disney animation with another twenty-minute-long look at the highly anticipated feature, Lightyear. Utilizing the vocal talents of Chris Evans, Keke Palmer, and Peter Sohn. While this was another film I was unsure about, it too surprised me and exceeded my expectations. The story isn't the same old recycled plot and, of course, the animation was incredible. Even a rough cut of the movie looks great.I think every member of the family will enjoy this one.

For those who are big fans of the animated television series Bob's Burgers, it's almost time to get your buns in theaters for The Bob's Burgers Movie, coming to theaters on May 27, 2022. The one-hundred-minute movie is set as a musical, only in the way that Bob's Burgers can. Finally, the audience was told to put on their 3-D glasses to watch some footage of Avatar, Way of Water. All I can say is the visuals are amazing. The 3-D aspects pop right off the screen and the CGI is incredible, even when watching a rough cut of the movie. As always, Disney, once again, did not disappoint.

The evening presentation from Universal Pictures/Focus Features offered quite a bit of content spread out over two-plus hours. Universal also continued their new concept of bringing a celebrity on stage to discuss their movie joined by a member of the NATO community…movie theater general managers, part-time employees, etc. who seemed obviously thrilled to be sharing Cesar's Coliseum stage with someone famous.

Footage was shown of Jordan Peele's Nope, Halloween Ends, introduced by Jamie Lee Curtis, and the upcoming horror film, Megan. Jo Key Next up, Focus Features reviewed their offerings including Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Armageddon Time starring Anthony Hopkins, and Tàr. Stranger Things' David Harbour took the stage to introduce his action movie, Violent Night, followed by the animated film, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish. To finish out the show, Bryce Dallas Howard and the legendary Jeff Goldblum talked about Jurassic World Dominion before footage of the third movie was shown.

CinemaCon Day three started off with a band and ended with an explosion. Convention attendees seemed genuinely excited about the slate of movies headed to their theaters before the end of 2022. All in all, it was a great day with lots of incredible footage.

Tomorrow…the Top Gun Maverick screening after the Paramount Presentation then Lionsgate and finally the 2022 Big Screen Achievement Awards.