In the wake of Inside Out 2’s massive $295M worldwide debut last weekend, Disney Head of Global Theatrical Distribution Tony Chambers kicked off the studio’s CineEurope presentation this evening thanking exhibitors in attendance for their part in the historic start — and was met in kind by enthusiastic and clearly appreciative applause. He noted too that midweek numbers have been “nothing short of phenomenal” with the global total now $380M through Tuesday.
Continued Chambers, “Everyone doubled down on their efforts to make this an out-and-out hit and every single market, every single exhibitor, and every single partner across the globe delivered this weekend.”
This was ahead of a jam-packed session that included looks at such anticipated titles as Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine, Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*; 20th Century’s Alien: Romulus; and Disney Animation’s Moana 2.
Digging right in with Deadpool & Wolverine, Head of Marketing for EMEA, Lee Jury, noted we are 34 days away from the 34th Marvel release, calling it “a kick-ass feel-good movie.”
Star Ryan Reynolds appeared as Deadpool in a typically irreverent video to introduce the 12 minutes of footage which went down a treat with the audience in Barcelona just as it had at April’s CinemaCon.
Up next was new footage from Marvel’s return to the political thriller genre, Captain America: Brave New World, starring Anthony Mackie and Harrison Ford, and set for a February 2025 release. We also saw a first behind-the-scenes look at Thunderbolts*. The story centers on a group of misfit villains of the MCU who are given a chance to redeem themselves. It just wrapped production this week.
An extended scene from Alien: Romulus was introduced by director Fede Alvarez. From the stage, the filmmaker recalled staring at a blank page three years ago “faced with the terrifying and thrilling task to bring back to life one of the best sci-fi franchises ever created.” He also noted he had taken some advice from previous Alien directors Ridley Scott and James Cameron.
The resulting film goes “places where this franchise has never gone.” Alien: Romulus releases mid-August.
Searchlight Head of International and Business Operations Rebecca Kearey was up next to celebrate the success of Yorgos Lanthimos’ Oscar-winning Poor Things, and to talk about new projects coming in 2025.
Among those is Rental Family, which recently wrapped in Japan. Brendan Fraser plays an actor living in Tokyo who is employed by a Japanese rental family agency to be their token “American guy.”
Fraser appeared in a video filmed on location telling CineEurope that making the film “moved me a great deal.” Also on deck for Searchlight is The Roses from director Jay Roach with Olivia Coleman and Benedict Cumberbatch. Production just started last week.
Disney then showed off a look at holiday release Mufasa: The Lion King, and behind-the-scenes footage of its live action take on Snow White starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, which releases in March 2025.
The studio closed out its program with a scene from Moana 2 featuring the sequel’s opening song, before a troupe of Polynesian dancers took the stage.