Ben Affleck and his team from The Accountant 2 brought new footage for their action-packed sequel to CinemaCon.
Affleck was joined by director Gavin O’Connor and other members of the cast to promote the follow-up to the 2016 original. The sequel from Amazon MGM Studios hits theaters April 25.
“It does feel great to continue the story of The Accountant,” Affleck told the crowd from the stage. “I’m thrilled to be playing this part again with this great cast. In some ways, I feel like this character never left me.”
Co-star Daniella Pineda teased that her character could hold her own with Affleck’s Christian Wolff. “I do have some pretty brutal fight scenes that will look awesome on your screens,” she said.
Jon Bernthal, who plays Wolff’s younger brother, Braxton, told the audience that Wolff needs his sibling, but Affleck wasn’t so sure. “I don’t know that Christian needs Brax so much,” Affleck quipped. “It’s not necessary. It’s useful.” Bernthal noted, “A wolf has to have his pack.”
O’Connor, Pineda, Addai-Robinson, Bernthal and Affleck onstage.
(Photo by Jerod Harris/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
The trailer shows Affleck’s character reconnecting with Bernthal after the corpse of J. K. Simmons’ character is shown at the morgue. “So it’s been a minute, yeah?” Bernthal tells Affleck in the footage.
Later, the pair finds an unusual way of bonding when they end up in a bar fight with other patrons. “My brother wasn’t having a good time tonight, but now he will,” Affleck says in assessing the scuffle.
Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Allison Robertson round out the cast for director O’Connor.
This panel marked the Amazon MGM Studios’ first CinemaCon presentation since the merger and in the wake of gaining creative control of the James Bond franchise. The studio’s team teased their plan to release at least 12 theatrical films in a calendar.
Affleck and Matt Damon are producing via Artists Equity, along with 51 Entertainment’s Lynette Howell Taylor, and Mark Williams. Executive producers include Artists Equity’s Dani Bernfeld, Kevin Halloran, Michael Joe and Alison Winter. Scott Lastaiti and Jamie Patricof will also serve as executive producers.
Warners Bros.’ 2016 film collected $86 million at the domestic box office and $155 million globally. It centered on Christian Wolff (Affleck), a certified public accountant on the autism spectrum who has worked for criminal organizations and uses his past as an assassin to protect himself when the Treasury Department closes in on him.
O’Connor and Affleck previously reunited for the Warner Bros. basketball drama The Way Back, released in March 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
CinemaCon is the annual event for exhibitors and Hollywood studios that runs this year from March 31 to April 3. It is presented by Cinema United (formerly the National Association of Theatre Owners).
Bernthal and Affleck onstage.
(Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
