Easter Sunday Footage Reaction: Jo Koy Brings His Family's Holiday Chaos To Life [CinemaCon 2022]
Plenty of new footage is arriving from CinemaCon today, including a first look at Universal and DreamWorks' "Easter Sunday." The comedy by "Super Troopers" director Jay Chandrasekhar will star comedian Jo Koy (seen above in "Mr. Iglesias") in a story that's inspired in part by Koy's own life.
The film will take place over the course of the titular holiday, and includes a fantastic slate of comedic actors, including stand-up comedian and "Silicon Valley" actor Jimmy O. Yang, "Wayne's World" actress Tia Carrere, and "The Afterparty" star Tiffany Haddish.
The movie is written by Ken Cheng, and the full cast list also includes Brandon Wardell, Eva Noblezada, Lydia Gaston, Asif Ali, Rodney To, Eugene Cordero, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Chandrasekhar himself. Originally slated for a more holiday-centric release, "Easter Sunday" is now due for an August launch. Here's what the /Film team saw at CinemaCon.
Here's our first reaction
It's no surprise that the catalyst for Jo Koy's "Easter Sunday" was one of his standup specials. According to Koy's announcement at CinemaCon, Steven Spielberg saw his special "Coming In Hot" and wanted to know more about Koy's family life and upbringing. From there, "Easter Sunday” was born.
However, it's not a straight telling of Koy's family life. As Koy explained on stage, one of his favorite movies growing up was "Friday," and he was especially inspired by how that movie captured the chaos of one specific day, and as Koy explained it, "Our day, for Filipinos, is Easter."
Hence the plot of the movie, which revolves around one chaotic and also incredibly important day in the fictionalized version of Koy's family. After throwing some "Easter Sunday" themed swag into the crowd and being the charismatic and funny person he is, it was finally time to roll some footage, and from what we saw, "Easter Sunday" definitely seemed to pack in the jokes.
The trailer rolls from funny moment to funny moment, including barbs from Koy's mom on how he should have been a lawyer instead of auditioning to be a lawyer on TV. There's also some delightful discomfort from Tiffany Haddish (seen above in "The Afterparty"), who plays a cop that says, "You know me and your dad used to be real intimate back in the day," during a pullover. Another moment revealed everyone in the family has the same debit card pin number, which just happens to be boxer Manny Pacquiao's birthday.
Despite drawing his inspiration from his own family life, Koy went out of his way to say during the presentation that "Easter Sunday" captured a relatable family chaos thta everyone will recognize. Koy said, "When you leave the movie you're going to be like, 'Holy f***k, we're all the same.'"
Amblin, which is producing alongside DreamWorks, offers this official synopsis for the film:
"Stand-up comedy sensation Jo Koy (Jo Koy: In His Elements, Jo Koy: Comin' in Hot) stars as a man returning home for an Easter celebration with his riotous, bickering, eating, drinking, laughing, loving family, in this love letter to his Filipino-American community.
"Easter Sunday" is set for theatrical release on August 5, 2022.