CinemaCon 2016: Warner Bros. Betting On Comedy, Animation and Connected Universes

Over the last few days Hollywood took a trip to Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon event. It was there exhibitors from all around the country came to see what movies are going to be burning up their screens through the rest of the year and beyond. This is a studio-by-studio recap of the biggest news to come out of the week-long event.

Here are Warner Bros’s. top takeaways:

DC Takeover

Perhaps most interesting is that while many reporters surmised Warner Bros. may take a step back from its DC heavy line-up, the studio actually did the opposite. The Time Warner TWX owned company just recently added two new DC-centric films and as announced at CinemaCon, one is expected to be the long-rumored solo film featuring Ben Affleck as Batman.

While that film doesn’t have a concrete date the big emphasis is on this summer’s “Suicide Squad.” Warners brought out the cast to help promote the movie that is going to a long way in predicting the health of the brand.

Even though the studio heavily emphasized the gargantuan take of “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice,” exhibitors understand that could be the exception and not the norm. While the feeling among those in attendance was said to be of excitement, investors won’t be able to fully exhale until audiences have their say in August.

Comedy Focus

Audiences love to laugh during the summer for no other reason than they get tired of the big loud actioners. Warner Bros. has really doubled down on that trend this season with three laughers that got a strong reaction from exhibitors.

The biggest of the group is “Central Intelligence,” which flexed its power earlier this month when its stars (Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson) hosted the MTV Movie Awards and saw a ratings increase.

In addition there’s the Russell Crowe/Ryan Gosling headlined “The Nice Guys” and Jonah Hill/Miles Teller dark comedy “War Dogs” which is even getting Oscar buzz.

Animation Domination

One aspect that hit a little under the radar at Warner Bros’ CinemaCon presentation was its animated movie news. The studio talked up both this year’s “Storks” and next year’s “Smallfoot,” which will each get buzz, but lost in the mix was the importance of 2018’s “S.C.O.O.B.”

Yes, the focus should be on this year for the moment, but now that Warners has a taste of what a connected universe can do for its business it looks like they want to expand it to their vast animation realm.

The company, which boasts the rich Hanna-Barbera vault, is expected to kick off the proceedings with the Scooby Doo based “S.C.O.O.B.” which could pave the way for others that are all inter-connected.