Pratt, Ice Cube, more debut new footage
By Lindsey Bahr, Film Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) --Chris Pratt left the CinemaCon crowd in stitches with his irreverent, high-energy and slightly racy comments at the annual conference of theater owners Thursday. The actor, there to promote "Jurassic World" along with director Colin Trevorrow, introduced a sizzle reel of new footage from the dinosaur epic.
In the extended reel, audiences got a glimpse at the hyper-intelligent female dinosaur who throws the amusement park into chaos. She kills people and her fellow dinosaurs without hesitation and dinosaur handler Owen (Pratt) must figure out a way to stop her.
Seth MacFarlane, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre and Amy Schumer were also among the slew of surprise guests at the Universal Pictures presentation. The studio debuted unseen footage from many of their upcoming films, including "Everest," ''Crimson Peak" and "Straight Outta Compton" to the audience on the closing day of the conference.
Ice Cube, on hand to promote the N.W.A. origin story "Straight Outta Compton," praised Universal and its chairwoman, Donna Langley, for having the courage to make the film.
"We made it possible for artists to be themselves. That's why we're called the world's most dangerous group," said Ice Cube.
Raunchy clips were also shown from "Ted 2," and "Sisters," starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler.
"'Ted 2' is a movie you can take the whole family to … if your whole family is over 18 and addicted to drugs," said MacFarlane.
"Everest," meanwhile, focused heavily on the harrowing danger facing the climbers, like Jason Clarke, and the effect on their worried and distant families, including a tearful Keira Knightley.
Guillermo del Toro also showed some frightening footage from his gothic romance "Crimson Peak," starring Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston and Mia Wasikowska.
"I wanted a theatrical, operatic spectacle that could be perhaps closer to a fairy tale in terms of how exquisitely designed it would be," he said before showing the audience the trailer, which features a bathtub spout that pours blood.
The studio furthermore announced official release dates for the "Fifty Shades of Grey" sequel: "Fifty Shades Darker" will be released on Feb. 10, 2017, and "Fifty Shades Freed" on Feb. 9, 2018.
Vin Diesel was also in attendance to announce that the eighth installment in the "Fast & Furious" series will be released on April 14, 2017.
"This was a very personal movie and the stakes are very personal. We really love each other, we really are a family. We felt that in the movie," he said, after a highlight reel of the "Fast & Furious" movies.
"It's hard for me to even watch that clip and come out here without being emotional. But most importantly, I mean it from the bottom of my heart, that you guys, you help us make this special."
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More