Lionsgate touts a live performance from The Weeknd, Sony Pictures unveils a light-yet-ambitious production slate, and Leonardo DiCaprio debuts explosive footage from Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another. Our man in Las Vegas Matt Belloni reports on the big bets that are being placed by studios at CinemaCon ‘25. Plus, as part of this week’s heaping helping of banter, Beloni and Kim Masters are unpacking the possibilities of what led to the ousting of Amazon MGM Studios chief Jen Salke.
Save it for later? Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman arrived at this year’s CinemaCon to tout a couple of massively anticipated projects: Beyond the Spider-Verse, scheduled for 2027, and the studio’s ambitious four-film Beatles project set for 2028… But the nearer term slate seems a bit light. “Tom Rothman loves to talk about how he is the big savior of the theatrical experience,” Belloni explains. “But then they showed the slate, and they're talking about movies in 2027 when it comes to Spiderverse, or 2028 when it comes to these Beatles movies that they're doing.”
More bang for their buck? Warner Bros. debuted explosive footage from Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. With its reported budget of $150 million, it’s no wonder the studio is pulling out all the promotional stops ahead of the film’s September, 2025 release. “I will say the footage they showed was larger than what they have had out there in the trailer so far,” Belloni notes. “That doesn't mean it's going to make $300 million in theaters, which is what it needs to make to break even. They've already started advertising this movie on March Madness, even though it doesn't open for six months. It's coming in September, so they're clearly trying to eventize this movie. We'll see if they can get there.”
Scrutiny in Seattle? After years of big spending, frequent reorganizations, and a lack of consistent hits — Jen Salke’s tenure as Amazon MGM studios chief has ended. What led to the decision from the higher ups in Seattle? “Above all, the thing that I think really was a huge shot to her was this James Bond situation,” Masters says, “in which Barbara Broccoli, as I reported back in that original story, really was not taken with Jen Salke, and kind of was shutting down any idea of doing anything with Bond.”