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Vegas dripping with celebs this week for CinemaCon

Movies don’t just sell themselves. Even to the people who own the theaters.

That’s why this week has seen Hollywood descend on Caesars Palace to the point that you can’t even order an overpriced slice of pizza in the food court without hearing tourists lose their collective minds over having seen Ben Affleck walk across the casino floor.

He was there as a part of CinemaCon, the annual four-day convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, to confirm Warner Bros.’ plans for a stand-alone Batman movie.

After all the soul-numbing noise of “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” proof that The Dark Knight will go back to his loner roots just may be the week’s best news yet.

The unfortunately monikered NATO certainly knows how to inject some star wattage into what is essentially a trade show where the 5,000 assembled theater owners and managers can purchase everything from projectors to popcorn makers. Studios use the gathering to promote the year’s big releases by trotting out big-name talent, including Jennifer Lawrence, Will Smith, Matthew McConaughey, Kevin Hart and Chris Pratt.

You’re probably wondering, do theater owners really need to be convinced to book movies such as the “Ghostbusters” reboot? Well, no. But co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones answered the call anyway and took to the Colosseum stage to present new footage.

In addition to peddling their wares, Hollywood studios use CinemaCon to stroke the egos of those theater owners, who are always finding their long-standing business model under attack. This year, that assault is coming from The Screening Room, a new venture from Napster co-founder Sean Parker that would allow in-home rentals of movies — even the big, blockbuster tentpoles that are the popcorn and butter of movie exhibitors — the same day they hit theaters.

Note to actors: Some variation on “see movies in theaters” is the cheapest applause you can ever earn.

With CinemaCon wrapping up with Thursday’s Big Screen Achievement Awards, which bestow honors such as Ensemble of the Universe Award — yes, really — to the cast of “Independence Day: Resurgence,” here’s a look at some of the highlights (and a few of the lowlights) so far:

• Frank Marshall, who’s produced everything from “Raiders of the Lost Ark” to “Jurassic World,” debuted footage from “Jason Bourne” that included a SWAT van crashing through the front doors of the Riviera and a dozen-car pileup in front of Bellagio. Marshall said the six weeks of local filming earlier this year generated “what I think is the best ‘Bourne’ chase ever.”

• “The Hangover’s” Bradley Cooper and director Todd Phillips returned to Caesars, the scene of their cinematic crimes, to support the arms-dealing comedy “War Dogs.”

• News also trickled out that Warren Beatty’s long-gestating, as-yet-untitled Howard Hughes biopic will be released this fall.

• Jennifer Lawrence and Chris Pratt adorably stumbled through an introduction of footage from their sci-fi drama “Passengers” that was so awkward, at one point Pratt attempted a mic drop only to have that mic land painfully on Lawrence’s foot. If they display half the chemistry onscreen as they did on the Colosseum stage, the December release should be one for the ages.

• Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and the rest of the “Suicide Squad” cast helped drum up enthusiasm for their “Dirty Dozen”-style supervillain saga that finally seems like it could be a DC Comics movie worthy of the hype.

 

• Disney left some of its biggest stars on the screen by showing the first 27 minutes of the Pixar sequel “Finding Dory” and the entirety of “Captain America: Civil War” just hours after its Hollywood premiere. I’m contractually forbidden to comment on those screenings, so let’s just say you won’t be disappointed.

• Be on the lookout for “Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk.” Directed by Ang Lee, the November release could be a major player come Oscar season.

• Universal offered the world premiere of the trailer for “The Girl on the Train,” based on the publishing sensation. It has a pretty low bar to clear to be better than “Fifty Shades of Grey,” the studio’s most recent movie based on a publishing sensation.

• You could practically hear the ka-ching-ing of cash registers during an extended look at the “Harry Potter” spinoff, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.”

• Russell Crowe charmed audience members with a rowdy intro for “The Nice Guys,” his ’70s buddy action flick from ’80s buddy action flick master Shane Black (“Lethal Weapon”).

• Among the many genre pictures previewed, a couple stood out. “The Shallows” strands a bikini-clad Blake Lively on a rock surrounded by sharks, while “Don’t Breathe” follows three friends who try to rob a blind man (“Avatar’s” Stephen Lang) only to be trapped in his house of horrors.

• Sure, Benedict Cumberbatch will do a fine job voicing that green hoodwinker of Whoville. But does the world really need another animated version of “The Grinch”?

• “The Emoji Movie” isn’t due out until August 2017, so there’s still time for everyone involved to come to their senses.

• Sony flew Tom Holland, the new webslinger the studio is sharing with Marvel for “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” on a private jet straight from Tuesday’s “Captain America: Civil War” premiere, just so he could introduce some of that movie’s footage — even though Disney showed the whole thing the next morning.

• In the latest effort to copy Marvel’s success by establishing “cinematic universes,” “S.C.O.O.B.,” an animated Scooby-Doo reboot, will lay the groundwork for a shared Hanna-Barbera universe.

• And Sony really is moving forward with its rumored “Men in Black”-“Jump Street” crossover, tentatively titled “MiB 23.” If they have any of those mind-erasing neuralyzers left over from the original, now would be a good time to use them.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch

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