An early start to Day 3 of CinemaCon was the Universal Pictures presentation. Hosted by Natalie Morales from the Today show, the presentation kicked off with Illumination’s slate for 2017. The animation studio behind the 2016 hits, The Secret Life of Pets, and Sing offer up their third installment in the Despicable Me franchise. This new chapter introduces us to Gru’s twin brother Dru, a fellow super villain who tries to persuade Gru to give up his non-erroneous lifestyle and join him in the life of crime. Steve Carell came out to talk about the difficulties of voicing both brothers in the film and gave us a peek into his voice acting process. His original Gru voice was determined by how his kids reacted to various voices and history was made. Along with Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig reprising their roles, Trey Parker plays an antagonizing super villain and of course, the minions bring their iconic comedy to this family friendly film.
Up next Universal presented their retelling of the classic monster movie, The Mummy. This version, starring Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella, centers around a female mummy uncovered who awakes to rise to power and destroy the world. We were treated to some exclusive footage of the mummy’s wrath and an epic plane crash.
The presentation turns things to a lighter note and introduced us to Girls Trip, a comedy about 4 women rekindling their friendship in the spicy city of Miami. The stars of the film, Regina Hall, Queen Latifah, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Tiffany Haddish all came out on stage to talk about what is was like filming such a fun story. Â This look into their wild adventures shows that friendship between women is a lasting bond.
Universal and Focus Films have joined up to bring us Atomic Blonde starring Charlize Theron. This film, adapted from a graphic novel by Oni Press, is about an MI6 agent during the Cold War who is sent to Berlin to investigate the murder of another agent and recover lost information. Personally, this film looks to be one of the highlights of 2017 as the trailer showed gritty action and suspense. Co-starring James McAvoy and Sofia Boutella, this is a must see for July.
Last on Universal presentation slate was the Fate of the Furious, the eighth installment in the Fast and Furious franchise. Vin Diesel and the cast of the film came out to present it and talked about the difficulties of shooting the film and how this pays homage to Paul Walker’s legacy. Charlize Theron again came out on stage to reveal that she is the villain of the film and instead of giving us a trailer or extended footage, Vin Diesel announced that we would be screening the full film immediately to prove that is was one of the best in the franchise.
Universal Pictures has a unique line-up slated for 2017-2018 with some highly anticipated action adventures and family films.
Laurel Way is a writer for film, television, websites, and blogs. She is based in Phoenix, Arizona in the U.S., and has two fat cats and a loving husband. Laurel is a geek to her core and loves all things within horror, sci-fi/fantasy, and more. When she is not writing films, she is watching them, and her go-to movie snack is popcorn and Milkduds.
