Las Vegas – Ariana Grande, Cynthia Eribo and director John M. Chu took the stage in Las Vegas last April and teased “Evil” months before the play’s release, there was a careful optimism that the much-anticipated film would become a hit.
However, when the pair reached the same stage to promote “Wicked: For Good” at the annual Cinemacon convention, it felt like a kind of victory lap, following the critics and box office success of the first film.
“This is the third year that the ‘Evil’s’ closed its presentations for Universal’s Cinemacon,” Chu said. “Thank God that it worked.”
“Wicked: For Good” raids theatres in November and completes a long-standing Broadway musical adaptation inspired by “The Wizard of Oz.” Eribo stars as the green-skinned Elfaba Slop, who became the evil witch of the West, and as Grande as Garinda, the good witch of the South.
“We’re already stuffing the organization,” Grande teased, referring to the pair’s sentimental viral press tour, often with one or both of the stars in tears.
“I promise there’s less water this time,” Eribo added before debuting a short montage from the film.
The “Evil” crew has closed the impressive and appropriately theatrical presentation of Universal Pictures’ upcoming slate.
Hollywood’s Oscar season offers an annual opportunity for actors and filmmakers to exchange praise for their artistry. Every year, a Cinema Con Convention and Trade Show appears. Studios and cinemas take turns putting Pep talk and putt behind them.
Universal has demonstrated that he is getting better with music, especially anthemic or nostalgic songs from old and new films, such as “Psycho,” “Jurassic Park,” and of course “Wicked.” The studio used these familiar themes in these live orchestras as they made the pitch for the film’s dockets on the main stage of Caesars Palace.
They pulled out a stop for one of Universal’s biggest films, Jurassic World: Regeneration, with the help of director Gareth Edwards Mahershala Ali and Scarlett Johansson, who left when the orchestra played the iconic themes.
“It was a lifelong dream to be part of a Jurassic film. Every time I hear they’re making a movie for the past 15 years, I reach out and say, “I’m available.”
The presentation followed a preview screening of How to Train Your Dragon, a live-action adaptation of the animation franchise earlier in the day. The film, starring Gerard Butler and Mason Thames, will be released in June.
The orchestra was helmed by Ricky Minor, former bandleader of “Tonight’s Show with Jay Leno,” Emmy Award-winning composer Ricky Minor.
However, the stunts didn’t stop with live music. Teasing his countless horror films on the horizon, producer Jason Blum walked out dressed in his antagonist Freddie Fazvia to tease his theatrical release of “Five Nights in Freddie 2” in December.
To close the slate of Blumhouse Productions, the 30 actors who dressed up to M3Gan, as well as the artificially intelligent and sometimes lively subjects of a film of the same name, danced to the direction of “OOPS!…I Did It.” “M3GAN 2.0” will be appearing in theaters in June.
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