First look at Viola Davis in The Woman King (2022), dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood
“Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis has transformed into a legendary military commander in the first look at the upcoming film ‘The Woman King.’ The TriStar Pictures feature hails from director Gina Prince-Bythewood and is based on the untold story of The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Davis stars as Nanisca, the general of an all-female military unit who fights enemies who threaten her kingdom. The film, which also stars Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Sheila Atim, Adrienne Warren, Jayme Lawson and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin. 'The Woman King’ is slated to be released in theaters on Sept. 16, 2022.” [x]
New Image of Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, and Sheila Atim in The Women King (2022).
A historical epic inspired by the true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
First look at Viola Davis in The Woman King (2022), dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood
“Oscar-winning actress Viola Davis has transformed into a legendary military commander in the first look at the upcoming film ‘The Woman King.’ The TriStar Pictures feature hails from director Gina Prince-Bythewood and is based on the untold story of The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Davis stars as Nanisca, the general of an all-female military unit who fights enemies who threaten her kingdom. The film, which also stars Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Sheila Atim, Adrienne Warren, Jayme Lawson and Hero Fiennes-Tiffin. 'The Woman King’ is slated to be released in theaters on Sept.16, 2022.” [x]
Today kicked of CinemaCon - the national convention of theater owners. The event gives participating studios the chance to trot out their new wares for the same theater owners the studios are scr*wing over by reducing the theatrical window so greatly in order to drive up subscriptions to the studios’ streaming platforms.
Day One: A very interesting panel called “The French Reset”. The topic at hand is how the government and the film industry has reached an agreement to shrink the window for a film’s release to cable and streaming. What is so significant about this France’s 36 month window from theater to streaming/cable was the reason Netflix has battled to have their films shown at Cannes. When Netflix was first allowed to screen at Cannes, the film fest’s president was nearly ousted for letting it happen because their rule was that films shown have to agree to the wait out period and as Netflix’s model is direct streaming they would not agree with movie theater owners on the wait-out period. The new window is a year to 1 ½ years but this is still significantly less than before.
Later in the day will be an International Panel with Denis Villeneuve as one of the panelists, albeit virtually as he is doing pre-production on DUNE 2.
The first studio up is Sony (which doesn’t have a streamer so their films, over the next five years, will go directly to Netflix and then to Disney+/Hulu when that deals ends).
After showing a montage of their hit movies (even including MORBIUS which is the epitome of participation prize), patted itself on the back for SPIDER-MAN : NO WAY HOME racking in 1.9 billion dollars at box office they launched in to the panel.
What did the panel consist of?
-a 20-minutes of footage of David Leitch’s all-star BULLET TRAIN starring Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Brian Tyree Henry, Aaron Taylor-Johnson and more.
-Video intro from producer Reese Witherspoon for WHERE THE CRAWDAD SING starring Daisy Edgar-Jones (FRESH) and Harris Dickinson (THE KING’S MAN).
-Footage of Sony’s sure-to-be Oscar bait Viola Davis film THE WOMAN KING, directed by Gina Prince-Blythewood (THE OLD GUARD).
-Announcement that Sony is developing another Spider-Man standalone; this one of anti-hero EL MUERTO starring Bad Bunny. The film is slated for a January 12, 2024 release.
-(Phil)Lord and (Chris) Miller showed a rough cut of the first 15 minutes of SPIDER-MAN: ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE (the threequel being SPIDER-MAN: BEYOND THE SPIDER-VERSE, to be released in 2024). They revealed that the film has 240 characters and the production employed a record making 1,000 people.
-Sizzle reel that contained footage from the Dakota Johnson fronted MADAME WEB, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s KRAVEN THE HUNTER
and mentions of the sequels to GHOSTBUSTERS: AFTERLIFE and another VENOM.
New Image of Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, and Sheila Atim in The Women King (2022).
A historical epic inspired by the true events that happened in The Kingdom of Dahomey, one of the most powerful states of Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
