CinemaCon: Walt Disney Studios Presentation Recap

On Tuesday morning, Disney opened the day at CinemaCon in Caesar's Palace's Coloseum with a presentation showcasing their upcoming films. Following a sizzle reel of recent and upcoming films, Disney chairman Alan Horn took the stage.

He begins the presentation by thanking the theater owners in attendance for being in his corner for his 45-year career before introducing Disney President of Distribution Dave Hollis to the stage. Hollis begins highlighting previous successes in theaters with The Avengers, then Frozen, followed by Finding Dory, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Beauty and the Beast, and Black Panther. He goes on to Avengers: Age of Ultron, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and Zootopia.

Hollis shifts to Marvel Studios. "2018 marks the tenth anniversary of the Marvel Cinematic Universe," Hollis said. "Now, look where we are at: 10 years in the making, there's never been anything like it. They have released 18 films to a total of $14.8 billion at the worldwide box office." Hollis is excited for Avengers: Infinity War and introduces a clip from the film.

Scene description:

Peter Quill flies his ship belting some jams. He tosses to Drax but he's asleep. Rocket questions why they're heading to a distress signal. Gamora is more noble as Peter is happy to get some "cheddar cheese" for their efforts. Drax chimes in, saying if they don't pay up they will "take his ship." Groot is playing a video game as they arrive. Groot gives some attitude back. The ship slows down and sees bodies floating through space. Suddenly, Thor lands on their windshield. His eye opens before he is brought inside.

Quill questions how "this dude" is still alive. Drax corrects him: this is "a man." Rocket tells Peter he is one sandwich away from being fat. Mantis reads Thor, catching "tremendous loss and guilt"'from him. Gamora admires Thor's musces. Peter is frustrated but orders Mantis to wake Thor. She does and Thor leaps from the table. He turns, wearing his eyepatch, to say, "ho the hell are you guys?"

Later, Gamora explains Thanos only has one goal. "He used to kill people planet by planet, massacre by massacre. If he gets the infinity stones, he can do it with the snap of his fingers." Drax reveals Thor that Gamora is Thanos' daughter. Peter claims Gamora hates Thanos just as much and has to interject in the conversation about losing family members. He adds that he came out of it with both of his eyes. Thor turns his attention to Rocket's pod. Peter deepens his voice and tells him he will not take their pod. The Guardians call him out for imitating Thor. Peter starts copying Thor. Gamora orders everyone to focus on Thanos, prompting Thor to reveal Thanos is headed to Knowhere. He is going there to get the Reality Stone from the Collector.

"Thanos already has the Power Stone because he stole it last week, when he decimated Xandar," Thor tells them. The other stone, the Space Stone, was taken from him when Thanos decimated half of his people. Thor points out that no one knows where the Soul Stone is and Gamora is caught off guard. She dishes out orders to head to Knowhere. Thor needs to head to meet Eitri the Dwarf to make himself a new hammer. Rocket volunteers to go with Thor. Peter Quill wants everyone to have Thor's "Thanos-killing-kind" of weapon but Thor insists they are too weak. Rocket and Groot will go with Thor while the rest go will go to Knowhere.

Tiffany Taff takes the stage to continue the presentation. She is sticking with Marvel. "The first Ant-Man made over $500 million at the worldwide box office," she said. "Our fantastic cast returns, including of course, our star Paul Rudd as Ant-Man, and my personal favorite Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne."

A trailer for Ant-Man and The Wasp plays. Description below:

Cassie asks Scott how long he's been Ant-Man again. He is giant, riding on the back of truck, riding next to Walton Goggins. He flicks them to the side but seems to mess things up. The Wasp appears in the truck, says, "Hi," and beats them up. Cassie suggests Scott have a sidekick. Luis talks to Hank, claiming he opened the Quantum-realm to a villain by the name of the Ghost. Now, Pym needs Luis' group's help, which is funny because they robbed him. Action sequences cut by, emphasizing the wasps abilities. An ant plays the drums. The Wasp and Ant-Man debate their joint fighting tactics. Luis is shrunken with the group in a van and he's scared they're going to die. The Wasp is driving, confidently. Scott reveals his record in size was 65 feet, topping Laurence Fishburne' character's 21 feet. The Wasp is done hearing them compare sizes.

Now, it's Captain Marvel. There is no footage just yet as it began production a month ago.

Next is Christopher Robin. A behind-the-scenes featurette plays before attention is turned to The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. Atrailer plays, featuring narration by Morgan Freeman to start, and hears from the rest of the cast throughout. A Mary Poppins Returns trailer takes the screen.

Taff turns her attention to 2019, leading with a Dumbo featurette.

"We've expanded the story, taking that as a jumping off point for Dumbo's newest story," Taff said before unveiling a peak at the film. In it, Danny DeVito rallies people at a circus, getting them excited about Dumbo, "the amazing flying elephant." Colin Firth explains this is a whole new story. "The original ends with the elephant flying," DeVito said. "This one begin with that and goes even further." DeVito's haracter scolds employees for not doing their job and degraded the elephant. His character is struggling as the traveling circus business is dying. Firth explains Dumo brings his character closer to his kids.

Attention turns to Aladdin. "Comedy, adventure, music, romance, and jaw-dropping visuals," Taff said. Alan Menken will compose is, with Benj Pasek and Justin Paul writing original songs. A behind-the-scenes look begins to play.

"You want to stay true to the original but you also want to do some original," Mena Massoud said. Guy Ritchie was sold on the opportunity to add "hot" action sequences as Will Smith put it. They really built Agrabah, a colorful and vibrant city, with intense stunts taking place here. "Jasmine is strong and knows her own mind," Naomi Scott said. "She says I'm not gonna go speechless anymore." Several clips see Will Smith dancing in his colorful Genie costume.

Next, the presentation reveal the opening scenes from The Incredibles 2.

Wreck-It Ralph 2 is next. The cast are returning as their characters discover a much larger world with their arcade being connected to the Internet. The same scene from Disney's D23 Expo plays, introducing all of the Disney princesses to the film.

Finally, they turn to Lucasfilm projects. Taff highlights The Force Awakens shattering records in 2015. "This is very much the beginning of a new era of films for Star Wars," Taff said. "You know how Han's story ended, but how did it begin?...That's the focus of Solo: A Star Wars Story."

She calls Glover's Lando "smooth and savvy" and promises the beginning of his "rivarly" with Han will be revealed. They show a clip.

Qi'Ra and Han go look for a ship. Han is tired of hearing about his accolades. Qi'Ra says the man she's leading hiim to will never part with his ship. When they come to the table, Lando is leading the conversation amongaliens, and making everyone laugh. Han says "Let me at 'em," because he wants to get on the table. He steps forward, blaster attached to his leg. "This seat taken?" he asks.

"Nobody's in the seat, then it ain't taken my friend," Lando says.

Han asks about Sabbac, pronouncing it wrong. Lando has been winning all day, and intentionally mispronounces Han's na,e, going on to promise him, "Everything you've heard about me is true." He once won a moon in he subtropical belt. Han says he would never gamble his own ship and lies about having a nice ship. Qi'Ra looks on, impressed. The game goes on and Han wins little by little. The aliens playing with them grow frustrated as they lose. Han catches a six-eyed creature peeping his cards and shuts him down. Another creature enters with a red light attached to the front of its mask and scans the room. The game continues. Lando raises big time. Han goes alll in. Lando suggests he quit while he's ahead. He calls, using his ship against Han's ship. Han lays down his cards, the clip ends.

The presentation concludes with a clip from The Lion King. It is a shot for shot recreation of the opening scene from the animated film in impressive live-action.

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