LAS VEGAS – Walt Disney wasn’t big on star power (there were no stars in attendance) when the studio unveiling its slate Tuesday at CinemaCon…
LAS VEGAS – Walt Disney wasn’t big on star power (there were no stars in attendance) when the studio unveiling its slate Tuesday at CinemaCon 2018.
But the studio gave a peek at two hotly anticipated films, Solo: A Star Wars Story (in theaters May 25) and Incredibles 2 (June 15).
Here’s what we learned during Disney’s presentation at the national convention of theater owners.
Finally. Disney put some effort into highlighting Solo, the second standalone Star Wars film, this one directed by Ron Howard, which flies into theaters Memorial Day weekend.
Cathleen Taff, Disney’s head of distribution, teed up an entire Solo scene that shows the budding rivalry between a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) and Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover).
Han meets the already-legendary Lando during a high-stakes card game in a low-down cantina, much like the one from the original Star Wars. Han convinces Q’Ra (Emilia Clarke) to stake him in the game, despite Lando cleaning up.
Han and Lando play mind games with each other while bantering about their respective chips — Lando owns the Millennium Falcon, which Han wants. As Han racks up the chips with winning hands (“Beginner’s luck,” he says with a smile), Lando has no choice but to stake his Millennium Falcon against Han’s entirely respectable ship.
Also: The new young Han Solo trailer is here!
The scene ends before the final cards are laid on the table. But the result is known to Star Wars fans, especially after seeing The Empire Strikes Back.
While acknowledging that Disney has had to keep much of Solo “under wraps,” Taff did promise the film is “going to be a great ride.”
Disney surprised the convention by showing the entire opening scene from Pixar’s Incredibles 2 (June 15), which picks up directly where the superhero Parr family left off in 2004’s Incredibles
Mr. Incredible (voiced by Craig T. Nelson), Elastigirl (Helen Hunt) and their superhero children got right back to crime-fighting at the end of the original, dealing with the emergence of a new underground villain, The Underminer.
In the new film, this Underminer fight continues where it left off, including help from superfriend Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson). The Underminer fight is very public, despite superheroics being against the law.
“For all of you wondering where the new movie picks up, wonder no further,” Jackson said in a videotaped introduction.
Incredibles 2 will feature Elastigirl stepping into “prominence” on the hero front, Taff said, while Mr. Incredible stays at home with the parenting duties.
