Shailene Woodley ‘Adrift’ And Melissa McCarthy’s Hard-R Sexcapade With Puppets Highlight STX Presentation – CinemaCon

Shailene Woodley ‘Adrift’ And Melissa McCarthy’s Hard-R Sexcapade With Puppets Highlight STX Presentation – CinemaCon

In a refreshing change from the very choreographed presentations of the major studios who dominate the conversation at CinemaCon , STX Entertainment tonight showed off the kind of innovative and exciting slate the majors now shy away from.

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Instead of the predictable retreads, STX’s lineup had not a single sequel, remake, reboot or anything we would be instantly familiar with. Instead it was full of new ideas and potential new franchises revealed by Chairman Adam Fogelson in a breezy one hour show he promised would be “efficient”. Indeed, that it was.

STX,in its three years,has prided itself on looking for the kind of mid-budget , star-driven movies the major studios have abandoned. They

hit the mother lode with Bad Moms, miseed with some others. It is a crap shoot as they say in Vegas. Now , as Fogelson said, they are in

the second phase of their business plan where they exclusively put “big stars in signature roles”. Fogelson pointed to 2017 success stories like The Foreigner which teamed with its backers from China and stars Pierce Brosnan and Jackie Chan to collect $144 million globally. He also pointed to the Bad Moms sequel which at $130 million worldwide became the highest grossing R-Rated sequel since 2014. Molly’s Game, franchise starter Den Of Thieves , and last weekend’s Amy Schumer opener I Feel Pretty were also mentioned before going on to their impressive-looking 2018 slate which he said was built for the studio’s mid-budget priority.

The diverse lineup includes Shailene Woodley and Sam Claflin in Adrift, in a true story in which a couple becomes stuck in the open sea in their sailboat, forced to face huge waves and deadly conditions in order to survive. Director Baltasar Kormakur shot for five weeks in natural conditions on the open water, an incredibly challenging situation. At the Mr. Chows after party at Caesars Palace he even revealed he swam personally with sharks on his day off there in Fiji where they shot the water scenes.”No , I didn’t tell the producers,” he said knowing the insurance carriers would never have allowed the director of their new film to do such a thing. For the really big wave scenes he did admit to using effects naturally, but mostly it was shot right there in normal conditions on the high seas. During the onstage presentation Woodley revealed the very personal project came to her attention from friends in Hawaii and she fought tooth and nail to get it into production until STX came along. It opens June 1 and also comes from Lakeshore Entertainment as does the Jennifer Garner action project Peppermint in which a young mother’s child is brutally shot down as collateral damage on her birthday. This turns Garner’s character into a “Death Wish- style” vigilante on the hunt for her child’s killers. As Fogelson says it is a return to her action roots in J.J. Abrams’ Alias. Telling the CinemaCon audience she clicked with the role because it was a “smart script about a mom doing something in memory of her child”, Garner worked diligently to prepare physically for the role. “To avenge your child’s death there is no greater reason to get yourself in shape and go kill people, ” Garner said.

Another Jennifer, as in Lopez, was in New York City for the Time 100 awards but left a video message with an impassioned message of support for her new comedy, Second Act, in which a fabricated Facebook page leads to a whole new life and career for Lopez’s character even though she didn’t create those lies. Co-written by Lopez’s production partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas it played to great reaction from the exhibitors. Fogelson then verbally reeled through a number of projects starring Eddie Murphy and Adam Sandler he said are moving along including the animated Ugly Dolls which is set for May , 2019 and had snagged Pitbull to do a voice and the song score. He also announced tie-ins with Hasbro and the just signed Walmart making a rare retail deal for an untried property.

Returning after announcing the as yet unfilmed Miles 22 last year at the STX slot , Mark Wahlberg and director Pete Berg made good on their promise and have delivered an action

franchise-starter that is described as in the tradition of Jason Bourne. Wahlberg flew in from another location in Atlanta to be there in Vegas in time for the show and said that after three serious movies with Berg (Lone Survivor, Patriots Day, Deepwater Horizon) it was time to do something fun , although still steeped in the reality of the CIA and its Ground Branch ultra secret division. Wahlberg and Berg tried out a drunk act on the CinemaCon crowd but it only went so far before they “sobered” up to sell the flick.

Finally there was a plug for the most outrageous film of all, Melissa McCarthy’s The Happytime Murders from the Jim Henson company in which a group of depressed and downtrodden puppets are the center of attention in a noirish murder investigation. Think of it as a very , very hard R-rated verson of Who Framed Roger Rabbit or as the film’s early ad line says, “No Sesame. All Street”. Some Silly String (standing in for sperm) figures into the outrageously funny and raunchy sexual last images we were left with as STX’s show ended. Figure it out. It is about as blue as humor can get. You just can’t say McCarthy is not afraid to take stuff to the limit. This will get people talking in advance of its August release.

At the Mr. Chow’s after-party I caught up with Robert Simonds who founded STX and told me the company is well on its way to not only doing movies but also creating franchise opportunities across the board including plans for Mile 44 that include a TV series and a VR showcase. “You just have to make the right bet,” he says. Appearing here for the third year in a row his company appears to be making a lot of right bets and is seemingly a keeper in a tough business. STX actually presented a slate that was more diverse and original than any yet seen this week.