LAS VEGAS – Walt Disney Studios probably didn’t plan on making any news at their first CinemaCon presentation since acquiring 20th Century Fox, but it happened anyway. No, the studio didn’t show any footage from “Star Wars: Episode IX,” “Frozen 2” or James Cameron’s long-awaited “Avatar” sequels. They didn’t date any new Marvel Studios films or explain how the X-Men would be incorporated into the MCU. This wasn’t Comic-Con. Theater owners were likely curious about those topics, but what they really wanted to know didn’t get answered anyway.
In his opening remarks, Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, made it clear that the theatrical experience was a priority for the company. That was a slight concern to theater owners considering all the media reports of the upcoming Disney Plus streaming service. Horn also put on a very positive spin on the 20th Century Fox acquisition. He gushed over a sizzle reel celebrating Fox Searchlight’s 25th Anniversary and gave a shout out to that division’s chairmen, Nancy Utley and Stephen Gilula, in the audience. What he didn’t reveal is how many releases “Big Fox” will produce from here on out.
Before the acquisition, 20th was distributing between eight and 12 titles a year (not including Searchlight titles which are basically their own thing). Theater owners counted on that product to help bring people into theaters. There have been rumors 20th will make just three to four films a year in the Disney era, but Horn wasn’t ready to confirm or deny that strategy. Other studios will likely pick up the slack of 20th diminishes it’s output. The problem is that rarely happens quickly and theater owners are already on edge after a less lucrative first quarter than 2018.
What Horn did reveal is something that was a bit of a given. He noted there would be “more Deadpool” movies to come after displaying Ryan Reynold‘s very funny “First day of ‘Pool” tweet after the merger finally went through. Again, considering “Deadpool 2” earned almost $800 million globally in 2018 that wasn’t exactly surprising news. What was unexpected wasn’t exactly verbalized by any of the Disney or 20th Century Fox execs on stage.
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During a portion of the panel where Disney’s head of distribution laid out the 2019 release schedule, 20th Century Fox’s upcoming films were added to a timeline that already included Disney’s titles. This created a loud round of laughter from the audience because of how busy it looked. But, if you looked closely, one film was floating in August that many thought wouldn’t be included, “The New Mutants.”
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The Josh Boone directed thriller began production in July 2017 and saw its release date move from early 2018 to Feb. 2019 to Aug. 2, 2019, following reshoots in 2018. To say the production has been “troubled” is something of an understatement. Things were so bad that late last year rumors began flying that 20th Century Fox or Disney would “sell” the film to Hulu, a streaming service Disney now has a controlling interest in. That currently doesn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps Disney and Fox executives believe the film has a better chance at recouping its production budget theatrically. Perhaps Hulu didn’t want to be a dumping ground for the picture. However it played out, “New Mutants” looks like its heading to your local multiplex this August.
The rest of the presentation included sneak peeks of “Avengers: Endgame,” “The Lion King,” “Aladdin” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil.”
