On Day two of CinemaCon, Paramount Pictures rolled out the big guns and showed exclusive footage to some of their upcoming films. With an introduction by the Terminator himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paramount showed some never before seen footage from Terminator Genysis, the next installment in the franchise. Arnold kicked things off with a bang and showed 12 minutes of the film that is slated for July 1st, throwing us into a world where Skynet and Judgement Day hinge on the actions of Sarah Connor and the reformed Terminator. The footage starts out with a montage of events that lead to Judgement Day narrated by John Connor (Jason Clarke). What follows is the introduction of John Connor and his army battling the robots in a final offensive to save the human race. During the battle the robots send a T-800 back in time to change the course of history by preventing the birth of John Connor. John makes a decision to send someone back in time to stop the Terminator. Kyle Reese (Jai Courtney) volunteers to go back in time to stop the T-800. This footage feels like a remake of the beginning of the original Terminator movie. But when Kyle Reese reaches our time, he is confronted by a T-1000 that appears to know he was coming. After a chase, Sarah Connor rescues him from the T-1000 fully knowing who he is and what his mission is. Kyle is confused and reacts to seeing an aged T-800 sitting in the back of the vehicle by trying to take it out unsuccessfully so. When Kyle comes to, they come to the decision that they have to destroy Skynet in our time to change the future. The footage then cuts to them confronting John Connor who apparently traveled back in time. This was a ruse though when the Terminator shoots John Connor to the surprise of the group. John appears to be dead but regenerates as a new Terminator model. The rest of the footage shows John trying to stop the group from destroying Skynet apparently under the control of Skynet. This film is posed to be one of the biggest hits of the summer and just judging from the exclusive footage, its one not to miss.
Paramount is launching a campaign back into the horror genre with upcoming releases of Paranormal Activity – The Ghost Dimension, The Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, and the highly anticipated Rings, the third of the Ring horror series. No footage was shown though the announcements were exciting.
Paramount is also diving into comedy with team up from Will Ferrell and Mark Walhberg in Daddy’s Home. This film about a step father (played by Ferrell) struggling to deal with the ex-husbands (played by Wahlberg) return is sure to be a comedy classic. Trailer footage is shown with Wahlberg’s character returning home to wreak havoc on his ex-wife’s new husband (Ferrell) played. Slated for release in November the comedy duo was dynamic in the trailer screened.
Some upcoming action and sci-fi films for Paramount include The Big Short, Star Trek 3 (with a word from producer J.J. Abrams and new director Justin Lin) , and the reimagining of Ben-Hur. But along with new films comes more sequels for the giant company including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2, Zoolander 2 (with a comedic introduction from Derek Zoolander himself), and the next film in one of the top-selling franchises of all times: Mission Impossible.
Paramount went out with a bang introducing to the stage Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, and Simon Pegg to kick off the exclusive footage of the newest film, Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation set to release in July. They screened over 15 minutes of footage including two action packed scenes that left us wanting more. The first footage shows Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt being tied up in a dungeon like room. Rebecca Ferguson’s character enters the room with bottles of solution apparently to be used in interrogating Hunt. Then enters the antagonist of the movie played by Sean Harris with a host of his men. He starts pummeling Hunt believing it’s the best way to get information from Hunt. Ferguson’s character seems to not be keen to this tactic and after some flirtation from Hunt, she seems to be smitten with him and helps him escape. After an intense action sequence, we cut to Hunt in a car chasing down Ferguson’s character who is on motorcycle. Simon Pegg’s character Benji joins Hunt in the car as they give chase through the streets of Morocco. We also see Jeremy Renner and Ving Rhames in a comedic moment during the chase. The footage ends after Hunt takes down a gang of motorcyclists in an well choreographed scene. After the exclusive footage, an extended trailer for the film is shown where there is a shot of Tom Cruise on the outside of a plane as it takes off the runway. Tom Cruise explained how they actually created the stunt. The footage you see is real. Tom strapped himself to the side of plane for 8 takes as they flew the plane off the runway in a steep incline. This combined with the footage shown makes this film at the top of my list of must see for 2015.
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.
