Jamie Foxx had a clear message for the nation’s theater owners Thursday: his upcoming “Robin Hood” movie is plenty serious.
“There are no tights,” he asserted to the crowd at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. “This is grown-man business.”
“Robin Hood” was the final movie footage to be shown at the four-day CinemaCon as the final title of the 11th studio presentation. The trailer showed Taron Egerton as Robin Hood, a war-hardened crusader, and Foxx portraying Little John, a Moorish commander mounting an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown — along with stealing from the rich to give to the poor.
Eve Hewson stars as Maid Marian. “Fifty Shades of Grey” star Jamie Dornan will portray Will Scarlett, the half-brother of Robin Hood, and Ben Mendelsohn portrays the Sheriff of Nottingham.
Egerton called Mendelsohn “everyone’s favorite villain,” adding that this particular portrayal is “reptilian.”
“Robin Hood” is opening in the prime pre-Thanksgiving release date of Nov. 21 release against Disney’s “Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-it Ralph 2,” STX’s Jennifer Lopez comedy “Second Act,” and MGM’s boxing drama “Creed 2.”
Otto Bathurst is directing “Robin Hood” from a script by Ben Chandler and David James Kelly. Producers are Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson, Basil Iwanyk, Tory Tunnell, and Joby Harold. Production companies are DiCaprio’s Appian Way, Safehouse Pictures, and Iwanyk’s Thunder Road Pictures.
Joe Drake, Lionsgate’s co-chair of its motion picture group, launched the presentation and touted “The Kingkiller Chronicle” as the studio’s next major franchise. He noted that the project is based on the contemporary fantasy book series that’s sold over 10 million copies so far with Sam Raimi directing and Lin Manuel Miranda producing.
“We’ll have more to share with you later about this epic film, which will be truly something special,” Drake said. “We’re building for 2019 with a slate that is diverse, spanning all genres, loaded with stars and deep in areas of proven strength.”
He also said Lionsgate was “particularly excited” about its upcoming comedy “Uncle Drew,” starring Lil Rel Howery and due out June 29. Kyrie Irving, Tiffany Haddish, Shaquille O’Neal, Nick Kroll and Reggie Miller.
Howery emceed the rest of the presentation, which included Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs reading a poem to promote their Oakland-based comedy-drama “Blindspotting.” Lionsgate is releasing the film on July 20
Kate McKinnon and Mila Kunis appeared to tout their action comedy “The Spy Who Dumped Me,” which opens Aug. 3. They said that one of the Cinemacon attendees had a bad night at the tables, which led to the duo owning 12 Regal Cinemas in western Ohio.
Director Paul Feig joined Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick to offer instruction on how to make a martini to promote the thriller “A Simple Favor,” which opens Sept. 14 with Lively portraying a mysterious woman. Feig drank the beverage that Lively prepared, then appeared to pass out a few moments later.
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