Main Image: An image from Avatar: The Way of Water. Photo credit: 20th Century Studios.
Avatar 2 footage impresses theater owners at CinemaCon; an Olivia Wilde situation at CinemaCon is far less impressive; Barry Levinson shares Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker. All in today’s Movie News Rundown.
ICYMI: Yesterday’s newsletter was pretty great but you may not have received it because our e-mailing service was not on its best behavior. You can sign up to receive the newsletter — almost every day — right here.
What Was the Main Thing Yesterday? Our brand-new list of 15 Submission-Worthy Screenwriting Festivals includes a few festivals with deadlines coming up very soon: Humanitas is April 30, Cinestory is May 1, and Academy Nicholl is May 2. Good luck!
Advice from Barry Levinson: The director of Diner, Rain Man, Bugsy and the new HBO film The Survivor is so low key and naturalistic that it’s easy to forget he’s one of the all-time greats. Check out his wisdom in our latest Things I’ve Learned as a Moviemaker.
More About The Survivor: The film stars the always good Ben Foster as Harry Haft, a boxer forced to fight in Auschwitz, who later went on to box professionally in America. Levinson tells Margeaux Sippell in this story that he was inspired to make the film in part by memories of his great uncle waking up with night terrors, haunted by his memories of living in a concentration camp.
Whatever Happened to Security? You might think that after The Slap, other film-centric events would institute the tightest possible security. Nope. Olivia Wilde was served with legal papers onstage yesterday in the middle of a CinemaCon panel in Las Vegas , where she was promoting her upcoming film Don’t Worry, Darling. The papers involved a child custody matter with her ex, Jason Sudeikis. An unnamed source told Variety that Sudeikis had no idea the papers would be served “in such an inappropriate manner.”
CinemaCon’s Response: “To protect the integrity of our studio partners and the talent, we will reevaluate our security protocols,” Mitch Neuhauser, head of CinemaCon, told Variety. “We will act accordingly because it’s the right thing to do. We want to do the safe, proper thing.”
‘An Experience They Can’t Get Anywhere Else’: I know none of us love reading about footage shown to theater owners at CinemaCon that the rest of us can’t see yet. Still, I’m intrigued by this Hollywood Reporter dispatch on the very positive reaction to James Cameron’s 3D sequel Avatar: The Way of Water. What interests me is producer Jon Landau noting that in order for theaters to lure audiences, they need to offer them “an experience they can’t get anywhere else.” This has to appeal to theater owners trying to bounce back from the existential threat created by pandemic closures.
More Avatar 2: Fortunately, we don’t need to wait long for the Way of Water trailer. It will be released next week before screenings of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. The film will be out Dec. 16, and three additional sequels are planned.
If You Just Can’t Wait: You can read THR‘s description of the Avatar 2 trailer here.
Watching the First Avatar in a Theater: I remember a little kid seated near me being so immersed in the film’s preposterously good 3D that he had motion sickness and barfed in his popcorn — an experience I couldn’t get anywhere else.
The Survivor Trailer: Here.
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