Jason Bourne, Warcraft and more were highlighted today during the Universal CinemaCon presentation
Today’s Universal CinemaCon presentation launched with the announcement that, rather than taking a look at the studio’s entire upcoming slate, special concentration would be given to four specific 2016 releases before the podium would be turned over to Illumination Entertainment‘s Chris Meledandri for a look what’s to come from the animation studio. You can click here to see what the Illumination segment revealed and read on for looks at Duncan Jones‘ Warcraft, Tate Taylor’s The Girl on the Train, Paul Greengrass’ Jason Bourne and the Kevin Hart standup documentary What Now?.
Duncan Jones himself introduced the Warcraft segment of the Universal CinemaCon presentation. He reminded the crowd that he’s a devoted fan of the hugely successful video game franchise and then showed off an extended trailer that detailed the central divide between the humans and the orcs. While the June 10 release maintains a high level of fantasy spectacle, it looks like one of Jones’ aims with the project is to develop some relatable characters on both sides of the conflict with visual effects delivering photo-real orc characters. The footage showcased during the Universal CinemaCon presentation appeared to be more polished than anything shown at previous events, such as last year’s Comic-Con presentation.
Written by Charles Leavitt and Jones, Warcraft stars Travis Fimmel, Paula Patton, Ben Foster, Dominic Cooper, Toby Kebbell, Ben Schnetzer, Rob Kazinsky and Daniel Wu. Look for it in theaters June 10.
Director Tate Taylor then came on stage to introduce his big-screen adaptation of Paula Hawkins‘s The Girl on the Train, explaining that he had seen the cover of the book in so many people’s hands that he just had to check it out. When he did, he instantly knew that he wanted to turn it into a feature film.
“What Emily [Blunt] has done with the this role is nothing short of breathtaking,” he said, introducing the first ever trailer for the mystery thriller.
“A teacher once told me that I was the mistress of self reinvention,” Blunt’s Rachel Watson says at the head of the trailer.
“One week ago,” titles read, “A woman disappeared.”
The storyline follows Blunt as a woman who becomes connected to the missing persons case having grown too familiar with her from a distance, watching the woman — and the man with her — every morning during her commute. As she begins to investigate for herself, however, questions regarding her own state of mind begin to surface.
“Why are you here?” someone asks her at the end of the trailer.
“Because I’m afraid of myself,” Rachel sobs.
Also starring Rebecca Ferguson, Justin Theroux, Haley Bennett, Lisa Kudrow and Luke Evans, The Girl on the Train hits theaters on October 7.
The Universal CinemaCon presentation then turned the floor over to producer Frank Marshall, who was pleased to reveal an extended look at star Matt Damon’s long-awaited return to the Bourne franchise. Jason Bourne also marks the return of The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum director Paul Greengrass with the fifth film in the Robert Ludlum-inspired series set to hit the big screen July 29, 2016.
“I know who I am,” says Damon’s Bourne as the extended trailer begins. “I remember everything.”
While the trailer covered a lot of the same ground as the previously-released Super Bowl spot, this trailer showed off few extra bits, including Bourne using the cover of a protest to escape from his pursuers.
“I volunteered because of a lie!” he screams at one point.
Like the Super Bowl trailer, the trailer ended with a shirtless Bourne knocking out his opponent with one punch.
Wrestling announcer Michael Buffer then introduced star Kevin Hart who, in turn, explained the origins of What Now?. The documentary aspect of the film was shot at his record-breaking 50,000 person performance last year at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. The film intersperses Hart’s live act with scenes from an action movie spoof, a scene from which seemed to be hit with the CinemaCon crowd. In it, Hart enters a high stakes poker game with Halle Berry on his arm. Don Cheadle is sitting at the poker table alongside a sinister looking man who says something in Russian and is shocked when Hart responds.
“You speak Russian?” says the man.
“No,” says Hart, “But I can read subtitles.”
“Wait,” says the man. “Why do you have subtitles now? You’re speaking English!”
Hart taunts the Russian guy, saying that he can have subtitles if he wants and he better watch out because he’ll upgrade his own subtitles with a bouncing ball. Of course, just as he says that, such a bouncing ball appears below him. As the scene plays out, he also pokes fun at Cheadle.
“Aw,” Hart mocks, “My name is Don Cheadle and I’m sad because I’m not Iron Man. I’m the black Iron Man.”
There’s a fight scene, too, between Hart and the Russian with Hart ultimately stabbing the man in the neck, generating a remarkable amount of arterial spray that lands all over Hart.
“Wait,” says Hart, turning to Berry. “Why didn’t you get messed up?”
“Kevin,” she glares, “I’m Halle Berry. I don’t get messed up.”
“That’s some Halle bullsh*t,” Hart mutters.
Look for What Now? to hit the big screen October 14, 2016.