The lights on the CinemaCon 2024 stage have officially darkened. Pero, hot damn they leave a helluva lot of hope for Latinas on the big screen in the coming months.
CinemaCon is when Hollywood hits the Vegas strip to give theater owners a look at what is heading to their screens in the coming year. It’s a lot of trailers, a few first looks, and some serious star power. Drop-ins this year included Anya Taylor-Joy, Ariana Greenblatt, and Lupita Nyong’o.
Anya Taylor-Joy in Furiosa
“This is the story of one woman’s relentless commitment to impossible hope and we see her go through everything and that hope is not quashed,” Anya Taylor-Joy said to the Caesars Palace audience. “I fell in love with her.”
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is a standalone action feature that goes back to the origins of the character made even more popular by Oscar-winner Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road back in 2015.
“There were so many moments that I would step out of myself and think, ‘this is happening’ and ‘this is my job’ and ‘I get to do this.’ This is incredible!” said Taylor-Joy.
Furiosa is coming in hot – in IMAX we might add – on May 24.
Ariana Greenblatt in Borderlands
Borderlands may sound like a provocative drama on immigration that takes place along the U.S/Mexico border. Let me tell you, it’s not. On the contrary, it’s the latest film to migrate to the big screen from the land of video games. It stars rising Latina star Ariana Greenblatt (Barbie) alongside an all-star cast of misfits who (movie announcer voice here) are in charge of saving a girl with unlimited power.
Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Hart, and fellow Latino Edgar Ramírez (Dr. Death) all star in the film. For her part, Greenblatt was just 13 years old when she shot Borderlands. Now, three years later the young actress is basking in the glow of the 2024 CinemaCon Rising Star Award, telling audiences, “[Making Borderlands] blew my mind every single day. To this day, I see the poster and I am like, ‘Wow, wow, wow…’ It was the most functional, dysfunctional family.”
Greenblatt was also announced as joining the cast of Now You See Me 3 which is currently in pre-production. Borderlands is out in theaters on August 9.
Jenna Ortega in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
Just a few years older than Greenblatt, Jenna Ortega already boasts a resume that is the envy of lots of young Hollywood. The 21-year-old Emmy-winning actress is next starring in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, playing Astrid, the daughter of Lydia Deetz (Winona Ryder) in the highly anticipated sequel.
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is out in theaters on September 6.
Lupita Nyong’o in A Quiet Place: Day One and The Wild Robot
Where Ortega is starring in a sequel, Lupita Nyong’o is leading a prequel and making us proud as another Latina taking on a successful franchise. Nyong’o will lead A Quiet Place: Day One, which follows Sam (Nyong’o) as she navigates the loudest city in the country on the day it is forced to go silent. “The story is at a scale more compelling and horrifying than ever,” Nyong’o says from the Las Vegas stage where hours later she would be receiving CinemaCon’s Star of the Year award.
But that’s not her only project coming to theaters in 2024. Nope, she too has two films on the schedule. The Oscar-winning actress also delighted crowds with The Wild Robot, a project that is less scary and more spirited. It’s an animated film that has Nyong’o voicing Roz, a robot who is stranded in a place that is too harsh for people but not animals. Roz is soon forced to care for an orphaned bird and the adventures are plentiful.
The Wild Robot is coming to theaters on September 20 and Nyong’o’s A Quiet Place prequel is out June 28.
Ana de Armas in Ballerina
Ana de Armas is dancing into a franchise of her own with Ballerina. The film features de Armas as Eve, a female assassin who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family.
Sound familiar?
It should, it’s a spinoff of the hugely popular John Wick franchise. Ballerina is due out in theaters next summer. And is just one of the films at CinemaCon 2024 starring Latinas!
