Dwayne Johnson initially faked out the room at Caesars Palace on Tuesday at CinemaCon, hinting that he had pre-taped his appearance at the exhibition industry conference.
After thanking theater owners in what appeared to be a clip, he said, “Something doesn’t feel right” — at which point the camera onscreen followed the star out as he walked onstage to an enormous response at the Colosseum.
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Johnson began by giving a shout-out to the big circuit bosses in the room, i.e., AMC’s Adam Aron, Cineplex’s Jacob Ellis and Cinemark’s Sean Gamble. In thanking Gamble, Johnson shared a story about his mother going into a Cinemark Miami multiplex and asking the staff for Moana standees. “I hear Mooky brought 500 of his managers,” said Johnson to great cheers, referring to Cineworld boss Mooky Greidinger.
“I feel like we’re finding our rhythm and our groove back,” Johnson told the room about theatrical getting back on track after it was shut down during the height of the pandemic.
The action star showed up to introduce footage of his upcoming DC animated title DC League of Super-Pets, opening on July 29, and Black Adam, on October 21.
Johnson plays Superman’s dog, Krypto, in Super-Pets. He rouses the Man of Steel out of bed and gets him flying in the morning. A small, cutesy creature whose voice can’t be heard by humans comes to Earth and depowers Superman with Kryptonite. It’s up to Krypto and his pet friends to set the world right.
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Johnson spoke about being in development on Black Adam for a decade.
“This truly is a dream of mine,” he said. “As I said before, in my fake Hawaii, Black Adam is one of those things that gets me out of bed.” Johnson mentioned that Dirty Harry was their North Star in regards to inspiration for the film, with director Jaume Collet-Serra initially making that suggestion to the Rock.
“We are positioned nicely to create something different,” the actor said. “The hierarchy of power in the DC universe is about to change.”
“We will do our job well from a marketing standpoint,” he continued. “The world is going to be ready.”
Johnson then called Quintessa Swindell and Noah Centineo onstage. Swindell says her Maxine is related to Red Tornado. Centineo is Atom Smasher, a superhero recruit.
“In the movie, we need a lot of sound, there’s a lot of people yelling. We want to capture that here tonight,” said Johnson about recording audio for a battle scene featured in Black Adam at the Colosseum. Guys with mics took the stage. All of the Colosseum screamed, with Johnson requesting another take. “F*ck it, we’re in Vegas — let’s do it again.”
The Black Adam trailer opens on a spaceship flying against a snowy mountain landscape. Pierce Brosnan’s Dr. Fate says: “Black Adam, what are the powers that have been given to you? Loving but heartache?”
Black Adam says that he was born a slave, “then I was reborn a god.” Black Adam can be the savior of the world, or its enemy. We see him destroying helicopters and coming in contact with what looks to be mercenaries. They’re scared as he catches a rocket. Aldis Hodge’s Hawkman shows up to face Black Adam, telling him “There are heroes and villains; heroes don’t kill people.”
“Well, I do,” says Black Adam.
“Let’s have a great spring, summer and fall at the box office, let’s end this year on an uptick,” beamed Johnson at the end of Warner Bros’ very packed CinemaCon session.
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