by Gill Pringle at CinemaCon, Las Vegas
Australian and Kiwi talent were in the spotlight at this year’s annual gathering of North American cinema operators known as CinemaCon and operated by Cinema United.
Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman and Supergirl herself Milly Alcock all took to the iconic Colosseum stage at Caesar’s Palace showcasing their upcoming films.
The House of the Dragon actress made her heroic CinemaCon debut where she introduced an extended sequence showing her Supergirl on an intergalactic space shuttle as Kara Zor-El, aka the Girl of Steel – Superman’s cousin.
In the new footage revealed by DC Studios, she clearly demonstrated how she lives up to her super moniker as we witness her battle a band of fearsome pirates who eject her into deep space – only to find out they messed with the wrong super-powered hero.
The entire film is set on other planets resulting in enough crazy alien characters to fill a Star Wars cantina.
“It was so much fun,” Alcock enthused, turning serious as she told the crowd, “This journey’s been incredibly transformative for me, not only personally but professionally.”
Australian-born Craig Gillespie directed the film, praising Alcock for her commitment to the role, noting how she trained for five months in order to pull off the film’s elaborate stunts.
Furthermore, she learned five (comic book) languages to play the role; the footage shows Supergirl communicating with one creature in a series of clicking noises.
If many of those language gags are played for laughs then the I, Tonya and Cruella director was particularly impressed that Alcock was able to pull off the more dramatic scenes with her parents while speaking Kryptonian.
“This is really an anti-hero story,” says the filmmaker. “She’s got a lot of demons, a lot of baggage coming into this, which is very different from where Superman is in his life.”
The story follows Supergirl as she travels through the cosmos with her trusty pup, Krypto the Superdog, to make a name for herself away from her heroic relative, Alcock revealing how there was no canine actor for Krypto. “It’s movie magic, guys,” she revealed.
With David Corenswet reprising his role as Superman, the film – slated for a June release – also features Jason Momoa as Lobo and David Krumholtz (!!) as Zor-El.
Later on in the Warner Bros presentation, the audience screamed its applause as Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock took to the stage to present footage from their sequel, Practical Magic 2.
The duo exchanged jokes while reminiscing over their original 1998 romantic fantasy and a tease of what fans can expect from the upcoming sequel.
You can expect “midnight margaritas, jumping off the roof and also have our past catching up with us,” said Kidman. “We have our destinies, and the family. I think it’s going to be really, really fun.”
We rebuilt the original house on the cliff,” added Bullock. “We filled that house with many old and new characters that you’ll love and brought Alice Hoffman’s Book of Magic to life.”
“Home is what this is,” Kidman agreed, “and getting to return to these characters that have been so loved and so shared, it really has been magical. And being back together, it just clicked.”
Reintroducing sisters Gillian Owens (Kidman) and Sally (Bullock), they once again are part of a multi-generational family of witches, cursed to be loveless for centuries, as they attempt to break a spell by confronting dark secrets.
Directed by Susanne Bier, the film also welcomes returning cast Dianne Wiest and Stockard Channing, alongside Maisie Williams and Solly McLeod.
Meanwhile, Hugh Jackman took to the stage during the Amazon Studios presentation to promote his latest film, The Sheep Detectives.
“There’s been a crime but don’t worry because we have the world’s greatest detectives on the case. Now, fair warning, they can be a little rambunctious at times … and there’s no-one I trust more to catch a killer on the lamb,” he punned while taking to the stage alongside his co-star, Succession’s Nicholas Braun, their dialogue punctuated by sheep baas.
Directed by Kyle Balda and written by Craig Mazan, the family-friendly comedy also stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bella Ramsey, Hong Chau and Emma Thompson, alongside a stellar voice cast including Rhys Darby, Bryan Cranston and Julia Louis Dreyfus.
“It’s the kind of story, honestly, that surprises you not just with how funny it is, but how much it moves you,” promised The Greatest Showman star.
“So, yes, it is a movie about sheep but underneath all the fluff, it’s actually a warm deeply human story about finding your place in the world and the people – or sheep – who help you get there.
“The Sheep Detectives is the kind of film we don’t see enough of in theatres right now. It’s big-hearted, it’s wildly entertaining, it’s filled with characters you truly root for,” he added.
In the footage premiered at CinemaCon, Jackman reads a mystery novel to his sheep, and they get upset when he doesn’t finish. He says that he’ll finish the next day, but he is found murdered. The sheep have theories on who the killer is, and they take it upon themselves to solve the mystery.
Also at Amazon Studios, we caught a glimpse of Russell Crowe in the teaser trailer for the latest incarnation of Highlander.
Crowe’s Ramirez plays mentor to Henry Cavill’s immortal warrior Connor MacLeod, with a cast that also includes Siobhán Cullen, Marisa Abela, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou and Dave Bautista.
One of our favourite teases, however, has to be the footage we saw for Everybody Wants to F*ck Me, the latest release from Margot Robbie’s LuckyChap productions, which she shares with husband Tom Ackerley.
Starring Taron Egerton, Everybody Wants to F*ck Me, is a genre-bending dark comedy thriller set in the world of modern dating. Production recently wrapped and it is coming to cinemas in 2027.
In the footage, we saw how Egerton has “mastered the disguise of being the perfect man” and has a lot of people starring at him, but we soon find out that he’s actually being stalked by possessed women, literally throwing themselves at him in a very disturbing way.
Another thrilling moment was when Danny Boyle introduced footage from his latest film Ink, a true story about the launch of the British tabloid The Sun, starring Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch.
Sony Pictures also brightened CinemaCon with a first look at Taika Waititi’s Klara and the Sun starring Wednesday’s Jenna Ortega as Klara, a solar-powered robot whose purpose is to assist the lives of the humans around her.
A feature adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian sci-fi novel, the film is set for release in October.
“This is a hopeful story about friendship and connection at a time when technology makes us feel so alone,” TriStar Pictures president Nicole Brown told the crowd.
Later, we witnessed a hilarious trailer for Australian shot Mortal Kombat II where everyone’s favourite kiwi, Karl Urban, brought the fight.
There have already been several teasers showing Urban as the iconic Johnny Cage, although Warner Bros revealed the best one yet, showing footage of Cage in a fight with Baraka. In the clip, Liu Kang challenges the very toothy Baraka, who declines to fight him. But when Urban’s Cage starts talking trash, Baraka changes his mind to accept a fighting challenge. But he doesn’t want to fight Liu. He wants to fight Cage instead, because he finds him annoying and wishes to kill him. Cage says that he cannot fight because he is just an actor, but Sonya and Jax say he has to do it, even though he will probably die. Cage actually does pretty good at evading injuries from Baraka and asks for a weapon, which he doesn’t get. Baraka tosses arm blade spikes at him, but Cage goes into Baraka’s hut house and hides, a plan that immediately fails when kids reveal his location.
It’s clear that Urban is having shameless fun with the role – and audiences are going to love it too.
Main image: Nicole Kidman by DAVID JON @DAVIDJONPHOTOGRAPHY
