Much as he dominated Paramounts CinemaCon presentation in April, Mission: Impossible – Fallout star Tom Cruise loomed large over the studios CineEurope show today.
When Mary Daily, Paramount President of International Theatrical Marketing, went to toss off to President of International Theatrical Distribution Mark Viane early on, there appeared to be a missed cue. After a few uncomfortable seconds, Lalo Schifrins music started and Cruise appeared on screen, saying he had Viane with him to grill him “on our release dates.”
In the video, Cruise then addressed the audience: “Weve done everything we possibly can to make this the best Mission yet. Weve worked harder than ever before to make sure this film represents the ultimate in-movie entertainment and gets people excited to go to your theaters and have the most authentic experience possible.”
Talk about authentic: Cruise again goes big with death-defying stunts including the HALO jump, whose making-of was shown today. There were also extended clips of the action audiences can expect, including a multiple-mode-of-transport chase through Paris.
When Cruise signed off, Viane was lowered down to the stage on a cable from the ceiling, dressed all in black à la Cruises Ethan Hunt in the first Mission movies vault-heist scene. Viane quipped to the industry insiders, “Wow, thats the biggest dive Ive taken since Monster Trucks!”
Before Viane and Daily got into the upcoming films, studio Chairman and CEO Jim Gianopulos came to the CineEurope stage for the second time since he joined Paramount. Last year, he made few comments, having only recently stepped into the job. This year, he said he “couldnt have imagined how far we have come” since then.
He added, “Its no secret that weve had some difficult years at the box office, but to advance our adventure to the next stage, we have been diligently laying the foundation for a return to the great success that the studio enjoyed for so many years in the not so distant past. We have made tremendous changes to our development and production capabilities across our three main production divisions — Paramount Players, Paramount Animation and Paramount Pictures Group — in order to deliver you films aimed at every possible audience, for years to come.”
Par is currently riding a high with A Quiet Place, which has grossed over $325M on a reported $17M budget — a sequel is coming shortly, as weve previously reported. The studio has also got some big properties up its sleeve this summer.
Chief among them is the next Mission: Impossible, which starts its offshore rollout July 26, and Bumblebee at Christmas.
European exhibitors were given an extended look at Bumblebee, the first Transformers spinoff. Par released the trailer last week, which offers a hint of a nostalgic, emotional story.
In the wake of the success of A Quiet Place, other horror titles to come from Par include Overlord from JJ Abrams Bad Robot, which releases in time for Halloween, as well as 2019s Pet Sematary, based on the Stephen King classic, and Eli from Ciaran Foy. Footage was shown for both Overlord and Eli today.
Other upcoming films Par noted include Will Smith starrer Gemini Man from Ang Lee; Elton John biopic Rocketman, which is in early pre-production (star Taron Egertons pipes were shown off in a video presented by producer Matthew Vaughn); and comedy Instant Family with Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne for February.
Animated pics on the roster include 2019s Dora the Explorer in her big screen debut; Sonic the Hedgehog; and The SpongeBob Movie: Its A Wonderful Sponge for summer 2020.
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