By Anthony D'Alessandro

https://deadline.com/2024/01/sony-cinemacon-2024-1235800431/

EXCLUSIVE: Sony, which kicked off CinemaCon last year, is skipping this year’s exhibitor-studio conference in Las Vegas that runs April 8-11 at Caesars Palace.

This happens from time to time when a major studio will sit out, and it’s not a diss to theater owners. The last time Sony didn’t attend CinemaCon was in 2019. Quite often this is a cost-savings thing for studios when they skip CinemaCon. To get ready for the April confab, there’s a big rush to ready a year’s worth of trailers and clips, solidify VFX and sound effects, and plan stars’ travel within the next three months. Complicating all of that, however, is the impact of the dual strikes’ on Q3 and Q4 theatrical releases which caused a delay in production, and thus an ultimate post-production logjam. Sony, I understand, is focusing on getting back to max theatrical feature outpost now that the strikes are over.

Footage from Sony’s Marvel title Kraven the Hunter (August 30) was shown at last year’s CinemaCon.

The Culver City lot has plenty of titles opening after CinemaCon, i.e., Horrorscope (May 10), The Garfield Move (May 24), Bad Boys 4 (June 14), Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us (June 21), Apple Original Films’ untitled Greg Berlanti-directed space race movie with Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum (July 12), Harold and the Purple Crayon (August 2), The Forge (August 23), Apple’s Wolfs (September 20), Venom 3 (November 8), and Karate Kid (December 13).

First title out of the gate for Sony this year is Marvel’s Madame Web on February 14, followed by Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire on March 22.