Las Vegas Showbiz Latest News and Updates

LAS VEGAS – Universal Pictures has some potential big hits on its upcoming release slate. There’s “The Fall Guy” with Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

Adan Canto’s character has made its final appearance on “The Cleaning Lady.” The actor died in January of this year, after receiving treatment for appendiceal cancer. Canto decided to keep his diagnosis private, with his wife sharing the news of his passing on social media. He was 42 years old.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter There’s a very specific way to dance to “Cotton Eyed Joe.” At least, if you’re the demented doctor played by James McAvoy in “Speak No Evil.” McAvoy plays a dad with a dark side in Blumhouse’s remake of the 2022 Danish horror film, a pitch-black comedy of manners about a family that invites two friends to vacation at their idyllic, remote home in the countryside. It turns into a trip from hell when things take an unimaginably sinister turn.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter “Wicked” stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo traveled (by bubble, we assume) to Las Vegas for CinemaCon, the annual convention for movie theater owners. Dressed in their character’s signature pink and green aesthetic, the Grammy-nominated artists graced the stage at Caesars Palace to hype up “Wicked,” the sweeping movie musical that’s due in theaters around Thanksgiving. “We both felt such a tremendous responsibility to honor these women and to pour our hearts, our souls, our tears — so many different pairs of lashes,” said Grande, who requested to hold hands with her co-star on stage.

Margot Robbie will produce a “blockbuster” live-action feature film based on the board game Monopoly, it was announced today (April 10).The project was announced today’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where the actor’s production company, LuckyChap, was confirmed to be working with toy company Hasbro on the film. Lionsgate will develop the film.Monopoly is one of the most popular board games in the world and has sold over half a billion copies since its creation in the early 1900s.While details of the plot have not yet been shared, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chairman Adam Fogelson said LuckyChap have a “clear point of view” with the direction they want to take the film.“I could not imagine a better production team for this beloved and iconic brand than LuckyChap,” Fogelsen said.

Following the global success of Five Nights at Freddy’s last fall, Universal and Blumhouse are headed back to the pizzeria.

CinemaCon attendees got an extended clip from Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 at Universal’s presentation Wednesday in Las Vegas.

The official trailer for the upcoming Blumhouse thriller Speak No Evil just debuted!

Brent Lang Executive Editor Gru, the recovering supervillain turned huggable and lovable dad, is back in action. Universal premiered a new sequence from “Despicable Me 4,” the latest installment in the studio and its partner Illumination’s long-running animated franchise, at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Wednesday. It featured an aspiring villainess (Joey King) as well as a new addition to the Gru family — Gru Jr., who bears a strong resemblance to his beak-nosed namesake — as they attempted a “Mission: Impossible” style heist of a heavily fortified castle.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Get ready for more Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. “Five Nights at Freddy’s,” a horror-thriller set a haunted Chuck E. Cheese-esque establishment, is getting a sequel in the fall of 2025.

Carolyn Giardina Belgian cinema tech developer Barco launched its anticipated HDR By Barco theater projector at CinemaCon in Las Vegas with specially graded trailers from movies such as Parmount’s “Top Gun: Maverick,” video testimonials from “Maverick” producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joe Kosinski, and the launch of the projectors’ pilot program with exhibitors including AMC and Regal. Barco is set to announce on Wednesday that the new HDR laser projectors — what Barco’s Gerwin Damberg called “a premium experience that we want to bring to the mainstream” — will be installed at select AMC Theatres, B&B Theatres and Regal Cinemas in the U.S., as part of a commercial pilot program aimed at bringing its imagery to moviegoers in time for 2024 holiday season.

LAS VEGAS – First, for those who care, CinemaCon has witnessed the first sneak of Antoine Fuqua‘s Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” and if you’re a hardcore fan, you will be quite happy with the results so far. Jaafar Jackson is at his best on stage playing his uncle and, truth be told, his dance moves are uncanny.

CinemaCon 2024 is in full swing in Las Vegas, and some exciting news came from Lionsgate’s film panel, including info on two upcoming Henry Cavill movies with the studio. The first tidbit is that Cavill’s previously untitled action film directed by Guy Ritchie (“The Gentlemen”) is going to be titled “In The Grey,” which also stars Jake Gyllenhaal (“The Covenant”) and Eiza González (“Ambulance”) in lead roles.

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Kevin Costner said he would “like to be able” to return for the final season of “Yellowstone” — but a lot would have to go right in order to make that a reality.“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to,” Costner told “Entertainment Tonight” in an interview to discuss his new movie, “Horizon: An American Saga,” while at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas.“I thought I was going to make seven [seasons of ‘Yellowstone’] but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — and I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on,” he said.

upcoming “Beetlejuice” sequel.The Canadian acting icon, 70, appeared at CinemaCon in Las Vegas where she and the cast unveiled a new look at “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.”The “Home Alone” star headed down to Sin City alongside director Tim Burton and stars Michael Keaton, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci and Willem Dafoe.The forthcoming flick is the follow-up to the 1988 comedy-horror movie that chronicled the mishaps of a deceased couple, whose spirits are being annoyed by the Deetz family that has moved into their home.“It’s truly very personal and emotional and special,” Burton, 65, gushed to the audience about the project, which is set to debut Sept. 6.“It’s like a weird big home movie for me,” he continued, according to Entertainment Weekly.O’Hara then chimed in, adding that the sequel will be both funny and a bit scary for viewers.

Following their collaboration on horror pic Imaginary, Lionsgate and Blumhouse are partnering again, this time to develop and produce a brand new take on The Blair Witch Project. This will be the first film in a multi-picture pact with Blumhouse reimagining horror classics from the Lionsgate library. The announcement was made by Adam Fogelson, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse during Lionsgate’s CinemaCon presentation this morning.

Lionsgate and Hasbro have entered into a deal with Barbie producer LuckyChap to shepherd development and produce Monopoly, a feature based on the classic board game. The project is currently in development and Hasbro Entertainment will also produce. The news landed during Lionsgate’s presentation at CinemaCon this morning in Las Vegas.

Angel Studios, the outfit behind Sound of Freedom, has dated three more theatrical releases rounding out its slate at a presentation Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Yesterday, Warner Bros. kicked off CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas with the first big studio panel, igniting a wave of excitement among fans of the “Mad Max” franchise. Visionary filmmaker George Miller’s ‘Furisoa: A Mad Max Saga’ was a highlight of the event as the film’s backstory of our wasteland heroine unfolds over 20 years.

The follow-up to the billion-dollar global hit that earned Joaquin Phoenix the Best Actor Oscar statue back in 2020, Warner Bros. spent yesterday promoting the mature comic book sequel “Joker: Folie à Deux” at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas and unveiled a new trailer. And that trailer has raised all sorts of questions, including how much of a musical the film is and how different it will be from the original “Joker” film.

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Think the market for adult-focused specialty films is dead? Peter Kujawski, chairman of Focus Features, explains why you’re wrong on the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” As the film biz gathers in Las Vegas this week for CinemaCon, Kujawski, an industry veteran who has headed NBCUniversal’s Focus Features unit since 2016, discusses the state of moviemaking and exhibition and he walks through the key lessons learned from the strike-challenged 2023 box office. Takeaway No.

Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, and Tim Burton are together again!

LAS VEGAS – Warner Bros. made some very smart decisions for its 2024 CinemaCon presentation.

Robert Pattinson is stepping out for his first official appearance as a new dad!

Anya Taylor-Joy wears a Mad Max inspired look while stepping out for the Warner Bros presentation at 2024 CinemaCon held at Caesars Palace on Tuesday (April 9) in Las Vegas.

The first Joker: Folie à Deux teaser trailer just dropped!

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Many in show business share a feeling that “Furiosa” will be big — but at Warner Bros.’ presentation to global movie theater owners on Tuesday, attendees got a taste of just how colossal the “Mad Max” entry might be. Director George Miller and his stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth made the trek to Las Vegas’ CinemaCon to show an extended look at the new film.

Rebecca Rubin Senior Film and Media Reporter Allow Robert Pattinson to introduce himself again… and again and again. He plays more than a dozen versions of the same character, Mickey Barnes, in director Bong Joon Ho‘s upcoming sci-fi thriller “Mickey 17.” Bong, the Oscar-winning director of “Parasite,” brought a wacky, thrilling first look at the film to CinemaCon, the annual exhibition trade show that’s currently unfolding in Las Vegas.

Warner Bros‘ first big splash at its 2024 CinemaCon presentation today was George Miller‘s Furiosa.