Zendaya is the common denominator with three major releases at CinemaCon

Zendaya was at CinemaCon last night with the Warner Bros presentation and Dune 3 but she was already at CinemaCon in a way the night before when it was Sony’s turn because one of the biggest titles for Sony this year, if not THE biggest title, is Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

Tom Holland sent a video message and Z wasn’t there in person but she definitely had a presence – including in one of the new posters that was revealed.

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I love the tone they’ve captured here. It’s nostalgic, there’s so much longing, it’s emotional, and she’s the one bringing the emotion since Peter’s under the mask. But we already know that they’ve forgotten him, and part of the story will be how Peter reconnects with the people he loves the most.

Yesterday, as mentioned, Zendaya showed up in person with Warner Bros. We’ll come back to that in a minute. Today, however, it’s Universal and the most anticipated movie on their slate this summer is Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, and Zendaya is also part of that cast, led by Matt Damon and Tom Holland, plus Anne Hathaway, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, and so many more. We’ll find out tonight if Z stayed in Vegas to join Universal’s party and what that presentation will look like. But the point is, that’s three major studios with three major releases this year and Zendaya is the common denominator. Again, there’s no one else in her league right now.

Dune 3 is likely the last project she’ll be promoting this year, opening on December 18 for the holiday box office. The first seven minutes of the film were shown at CinemaCon last night and by all accounts, the clip was spectacular, eliciting an overwhelming positive response from the audience. Denis Villeneuve has described his third and final installment as “more action-packed, faster paced, and more emotional”. Timothée Chalamet, meanwhile, who of course was there as the film’s lead, said that his character Paul Atreides, 17 years after the events of the second movie, has become his own “worst nightmare”. Which is intriguing because if Paul is indeed, at least for part of the movie, a “nightmare”, it will be the second year in a row where we’re going to see Timmy in a movie during the holidays when he’s playing someone extremely unlikeable… to go along with how unlikeable offscreen he’s become to the public. Truly in his villain era then.

The Timmy villain era is apparently also the lazy dressing era. There was a time when he was known for serving on the red carpet and at special events. Wasn’t much of that during the Marty Supreme award season. And, evidently, still not now as he moves in the Dune 3 run. Or maybe it’s just that when Zendaya is around, why bother? She is wearing Schiaparelli here, and as usual it works with the visual and textured language of Dune.

This isn’t the prettiest or the most popular choice – probably a polarising look, considering the shape of the jacket and the intentionally bulging pockets. But it’s undeniable the sophistication in the design that we’re seeing here. How the sleeves look like skin, like papier-mâché only not fragile but rather durable. And the effect is a little off-putting, strange, either unnatural or maybe too natural because when she turns around, you can see the lacing looks like a spine. It’s the kind of creative vision that almost borders on the grotesque and it would turn off so many people from wearing it for that reason. And that’s why Zendaya is Zendaya.