Jim Gianopulos - Getty - H 2016
Getty ImagesJust three months after he was named CEO of Paramount Pictures, former 20th Century Fox head Jim Gianopulos was welcomed to the CineEurope stage in Barcelona on Tuesday to open the studio’s presentation on the third day of the trade show.
Landing just a day before the studio’s biggest title this year is released wide, Transformers: The Last Knight — also Michael Bay’s last Transformers film as director — was served up to the audience, with a screening of an extended clip, plus a trailer and a brief mention of the first spinoff title, Bumblebee.
On a rather different cinematic tip, Al Gore arrived via an exclusive video message to discuss his An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power documentary.
But Paramount’s biggest batch of titles came from its upcoming animated slate, with footage from its Gnomeo and Juliet sequel, Sherlock Gnomes, a special look at Amusement Park — featuring an all-star list of voice talents — and an exclusive clip from Tadeo Jones 2: The Secret of King Midas, the follow-up to Spain’s biggest animated film of all time.
A sizzle reel helped introduce Johnny Knoxville’s return to stunt mayhem with Action Point, which has just started filming and is due out in March 2018, followed by the big-screen debut of the international trailer for Daddy’s Home 2, set to hit theaters in November and with Mel Gibson and John Lithgow playing Mark Wahlberg’s and Will Ferrell’s respective fathers.
Mission: Impossible 6, being shot entirely in Imax 3D, Cloverfield 2017 and Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! were all given major shout-outs, while exclusive footage was shown of Alex Garland’s upcoming sci-fi thriller Annihilation. The film — starring Natalie Portman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson and Oscar Isaac — isn’t due out until 2018.
The Paramount presentation closed with an extended exclusive screening of footage from Downsizing, Alexander Payne’s sci-fi comedy starring Matt Damon, Kristen Wiig and Christoph Waltz, set for release Dec. 22.
