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Universal trotted out a dog, some “possessed” girls and a Wicked light show, during its CineEurope presentation here in Barcelona, while also celebrating the studio’s force in the animated space and touting next month’s Oppenheimer from Christopher Nolan. All this followed a reel of filmmakers heralding the cinema experience which it had previously shown at CinemaCon in April.
Commented Niels Swinkels, EVP & MD, International Distribution, Universal Pictures, “How lucky we are at Universal to be working with such brilliant filmmakers who make compelling movies to fill your theaters all year round, and this is the year we had all been waiting for.” He added, “Not only did we survive the past few years, we’re absolutely thriving,” referring to Hollywood and exhibition in general.
Continued Swinkels, “We’re note stopping there. Over the next 12 months our priority is to underscore that strength, Universal Pictures International will be distributing more than 40 movies across our main slate, Focus Features and local acquisitions.”
Uni currently boasts the biggest grosser of 2023 in Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros Movie ($1.327B worldwide), and had great runs in the past year with Ilumination’s Minions: The Rise of Gru ($939.6M) and the Oscar-nominated Puss in Boots: The Last Wish ($481M).
With regard to next month’s release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Julien Noble, President of International Marketing, said, “This is a blockbuster drama that is all too rare in modern times. Chris has constructed an event film that is absolutely meant to be experienced on the biggest screen possible in order to feel the true impact of his breathtaking vision.”
Nolan appeared in a pre-taped message to tubthump the importance of theatrical and this film’s unique and important story. A special piece of footage was shown that introduced the ensemble characters and the world of the story. The Cillian Murphy-led film of the creation of the atomic bomb begins rollout next month.
Also highlighted in the presentation was extended footage of Migration, the next from hitmaker Illumination and introduced by CEO and founder Chris Meledandri via video.
Staying in the animation arena, Uni has DreamWorks Animation’s Trolls Band Together and Kung Fu Panda 4 on deck – both got a spotlight here.
For Strays, which releases in August domestically, a little terrier scooted across the Barcelona stage today, while, on the scarier side, Blumhouse’s Five Nights at Freddy’s got a shoutout, and a clip was shown for next year’s Matthew Vaughn-directed Argylle.
Focusing on Focus Features, it’s notable that Robert Eggers’ Nosferatu is currently filming in Czech Republic; and a nod was made to Back to Black, the Studiocanal-produced story of late musician Amy Winehouse.
Meanwhile, some very scary ladies were out for “the body and the blood” when they appeared on stage to hype The Exorcist: Believer, David Gordon Green’s sequel to iconic original.
Answering a question of why every seat was adorned with a flower, Uni then lit up those tulips to celebrate its feature adaptation of Broadway hit Wicked and segued to a behind-the-scenes look. To recreate Emerald City in the film, as we have previously reported, nine million non-CGI tulips were planted to fill the lush fields.