Sony Reveals Spider-Man Animated Film Coming From Lego Movie Directors
By Rebecca Ford
Sony came out swinging — in more ways that one — during its CinemaCon presentation Wednesday in Las Vegas, with Tom Rothman sharing exciting news about the studio’s Spider-Man films.
The Lego Movie directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller are creating an animated Spider-Man film that will be released on July 20, 2018.
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Plus, the new Marvel and Sony live-action film has been dated for July 28, 2017.
The new chairman took the stage Wednesday night to present footage and news from its slate, and brought to the stage several of its high-profile directors, including Chris Columbus and Robert Zemeckis.
“There were a few stories written about Sony last year,” said Rory Bruer, worldwide distribution president, as he took the stage. After a tumultuous past few months due to The Interview hack scandal and the ousting of Amy Pascal, Sony focused its presentation on the latest news about its studio, including the hiring of Tom Rothman at the chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Motion Picture Group and the deal that brought Studio 8 onto the lot.
“Tom’s mission is to identify, develop and produce the next wave of iconic films for audiences worldwide,” said Bruer.
Rothman was the surprise guest who took the stage near the end of the panel. He came out onstage to the James Bond theme song, and spoke at length about how the studio will move forward after its tumultuous past few months.
“Together we have been through as challenging a time as any modern company has faced,” he said. “We have more than survived, we have thrived.”
Rothman also said a special thanks to Pascal. “Amy is a tremendous talent and responsible for so much tht you snow. Now I’m thrilled and lucky that she’s one of our producers.
"It’s a new day at the studio and there are mighty things ahead,” he said. “I believe in big ass movies for big worldwide audiences. I also believe in diverse slates.”
“We’re not retrenching and we’re not retreating because we believe, so please believe along with us,” he added.
Sony showed a comprehensive reel that included never-before-seen footage of The 5th Wave, Money Monster (starring George Clooney), Inferno, and Ricky and the Flash. The presentation ended with new footage from James Bond film SPECTRE, starring Daniel Craig.
Zemeckis, the director of The Walk, took to the stage early on in the presentation to tell the crowd of theaters owners that he “prefers to see movies on a really big screen.” The director, who showed a trailer for the drama starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, said he’d been working on the project for 10 years: “I was really looking for a project that should be presented in a theatrical venue.”
Ang Lee, who is shooting in Georgia, was featured in a special video message about his film Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk. He announced that it will be the first film ever shot entirely in the high frame rate of 120 frames per second. It will feature a cast including Kristen Stewart, Vin Diesel, and Garrett Hedlund.
Chris Columbus, helmer of Pixels, also took the stage to talk about the Adam Sandler-starring film. He debuted never-before-seen footage from the comedy about giant video game characters that are sent by aliens to attack Earth.
“Why did I fall in love with it? It’s a big summer movie that’s not a sequel, doesn’t have anybody in spandex and is not a board game,” he said of the project.
Goosebumps producer Neal Moritz and director Rob Letterman introduced the new project, saying they hoped it was the beginning of a new franchise. Jack Black stars as author R.L. Stine.
“It’s funny, it’s scary, it’s thrilling and it’s filled with all of R.L. Stine’s monsters,” said Letterman before a new clip was shown.
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