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‘Top Gun: Maverick’ to launch AIMC

Tom Cruise plays Capt. Pete "Maverick" Mitchell in 'Top Gun: Maverick' from Paramount Pictures, Skydance and Jerry Bruckheimer Films.

Paramount Pictures’ Top Gun: Maverick will be one of the first films presented to exhibitors at next month’s Australian International Movie Convention (AIMC).

Top Gun: Maverick just played CinemaCon in the US, with journalists in attendance having described it as “the perfect blockbuster”, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer discussing how the sequel was designed for the big screen.

Directed by Joseph Kosinski and due in Australian cinemas May 26, the film sees Tom Cruise reprise his role as Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, who after more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators is pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

When he finds himself training a detachment of TOPGUN graduates for a specialised, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend, Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”

Hosted by the National Association of Cinema Operators-Australasia (NACO), AIMC will see cinema operators, distributors, producers and technology specialists gather under one roof for the first time since October 2019.

The Top Gun: Maverick screening will take place on day one after registration opens, during Paramount’s presentation. This will be followed by a “welcome back” reception.

‘How To Please A Woman’ (Photo: David Dare Parker)

Later that evening Screen Australia will host the opening night screening of Madman Entertainment’s How To Please a Woman, from director Renée Webster.

Described as a “liberation story for women who have been afraid to ask for what they want – at home, at work and in the bedroom”, the Western Australia-shot comedy drama stars Sally Phillips as Gina, a 50-something woman who has a business idea to launch an all-male house-cleaning service.

However, when her business grows out of control, Gina must acknowledge her own appetite if she is to make a new life for herself.

The cast includes Erik Thomson, Alexander England, Caroline Brazier, Tasma Walton, Roz Hammond, Cameron Daddo and New Zealander Josh Thomson. 

On the morning of day one, before registration officially opens, the Australian Independent Distributors Association (AIDA) will screen three films simultaneously for delegates at Dendy Newtown. These include Call Jane, from Maslow and Umbrella; Madman’s Sundance-opener The Princess; and Rialto’s Benediction.

On day two, Universal Pictures will present in partnership with eOne and Focus Features Mrs. Harris Goes To Paris, starring Lesley Manville as a seemingly ordinary British housekeeper whose dream to own a couture Christian Dior gown takes her on an extraordinary adventure to Paris.

‘The Black Phone’.

Later that evening Universal will also present to AIMC Ethan Hawke horror The Black Phone, from filmmaker Scott Derrickson, the writer-director of SinisterThe Exorcism of Emily Rose and Marvel’s Doctor Strange.

A Blumhouse film, it follows Finney Shaw, a shy but clever 13-year-old boy who is abducted by a sadistic killer and trapped in a soundproof basement where screaming is of little use. When a disconnected phone on the wall begins to ring, Finney discovers that he can hear the voices of the killer’s previous victims.

Starring alongside Manville are Jason Isaacs, Lambert Wilson, Alba Baptista, Lucas Bravo, Rose Williams, Anna Chancellor and Isabelle Huppert.

More program details will follow.

AIMC will be held at Sydney’s State Theatre May 9-11, followed by the Australian Feature Film Summit on May 12 at Event Cinemas George Street.

Program here.