Which Studio Will Take the Biggest Victory Lap at This Year’s CinemaCon?

For those who only know CinemaCon from “The Studio,” just know that the experience of actually being in Las Vegas for a convention of theater owners isn’t entirely as it appears in Seth Rogen’s hit show. But it’s also not not like that (for one thing: we know we’ll see Matt Belloni in Caesar’s Palace somewhere).

It’s not just dry presentations. At minimum, studio distributors will go all out with costumes and dancers to spice up the most basic block of time. One time, Tom Cruise sent in a video message from atop the plane that appeared at the end of the latest “Mission: Impossible.” So while the event may boast a litany of movie trailers that won’t be online for months, it’s still fun to see what movies studio execs are actually excited about as part of their canned hype presentations.

This year, IndieWire will roundup the best from each studio presentation and try and highlight things that don’t always get the attention they deserve when they’re firing off one trailer after another. But before we arrive on the Strip, we had a few burning questions about what we might expect this year.

Can Warner Bros. Deliver the Goods a Second Year in a Row?

This time last year, Warner Bros. was teasing some original films that exhibitors didn’t know what to make of, including “One Battle After Another,” “Sinners,” “Weapons,” and “The Bride!” They all looked like ambitious swings, and almost all of them hit it big (in hindsight, we hyped “The Bride!” more than we should have).

Now with a boatload of Oscar wins in tow, WB is poised to take a victory lap in front of theater owners, but do they have the same impressive slate this year as last year? Movies like “The Bride!” and “Mortal Kombat II” were already pushed back into this year. There’s a few more sequels on the docket as well, like “Practical Magic 2,” “Evil Dead Burn,” and eventually “Minecraft 2.” But the studio also has the Tom Cruise film “Digger,” “The End of Oak Street,” and new films from JJ Abrams, M. Night Shyamalan, and Sam Esmail.

Will Universal Look Like Heroes for Their Windowing Pivot?

As we noted in our recent survey of theater owners about how to address challenges that ail theaters, Universal came up a lot because of the studio’s commitment to shift to longer theatrical windows of eventually 45 days before films go to PVOD. That’s exactly the window Cinema United head Michael O’Leary called for in his State of the Union last year, and we’re sure that other theater owners will let Universal know how much they appreciate them.

But it’s also been three straight years that the studio closed its presentation with “Wicked” footage, so without that, the studio will be leaning on footage from Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day,” Georgia Oakley’s “Sense and Sensibility” from Focus Features, and of course Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” Nothing wrong with that as a finale.

What’s Going to Be the Vibe Around Paramount?

Cinema United is currently lobbying to prevent Paramount from merging with Warner Bros., saying it will be bad for theaters long term because of the historical evidence that shows fewer movies are produced when after a merger, most notably when Disney absorbed Fox. Paramount has said that, between the two studios, it will release 30 movies a year, something that it says it is already at if you look at Paramount’s slate and WB’s combined slates for 2026.

Will any of that matter? Paramount already had a solid hit this year with “Scream 7,” and it has a variety of franchise movies on the slate, including “Scary Movie,” “Jackass 5,” “Street Fighter,” “The Angry Birds Movie 3,” and not to mention a concert film directed by Billie Eilish and James Cameron in 3-D. Get those 3-D glasses ready.

What Else Ya Got, Amazon MGM?

The first look anyone had at “Project Hail Mary” came at CinemaCon a year ago, and it was the crown jewel of what would be a robust Amazon MGM theatrical slate in 2026. Even they didn’t predict the film would be as big as it turned out to be, so they will be taking all the pats on the back they deserve. But it had a couple of letdowns early in the year between “Mercy,” “Crime 101,” and “Melania,” and the studio last year already teased films like “Masters of the Universe,” “Is God Is,” and “Verity.”

So what else might we get a look at? Nicolas Cage as John Madden in “Madden” is a good bet, and most likely Peter Farrelly’s “I Play Rocky” and “Spaceballs 2.” But the biggest flex might be trotting out newly-minted Oscar winner Michael B. Jordan to hype up his “The Thomas Crown Affair,” which is currently slotted for the same “Project Hail Mary” slot in 2027.

What Does That Indie Showcase Look Like?

New this year to CinemaCon to effectively open the convention is what they’re calling the CinemaCon Showcase, featuring indie distributors Angel Studios, Studiocanal, and Sony Pictures Classics, which doesn’t usually get a place at CinemaCon even though Sony Pictures is typically a fixture on opening night.

Angel has become a recent mainstay at CinemaCon, but always in an early-morning breakfast presentation, not on the main stage. And this inaugural showcase already took a hit when Row K, the fledgling and now troubled new distributor, pulled out of its planned presentation.

The question then is if there are the same big announcements or Vegas spectacles that usually grace the Colosseum stage or if it will be as well-attended as the other presentations as some theater owners still are arriving. But more opportunities to showcase a wider array of films is always welcome.

Where’s Lionsgate?

In something of a surprise, Lionsgate will not be among the presenters this year at CinemaCon. The studio won’t be completely MIA, as it’s hosting a reception mid-week, but after a down year in 2025, the studio has a pretty impressive 2026 slate that includes its Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” and a new “Hunger Games” prequel/sequel, not to mention it’s also currently filming the follow-up to “The Passion of the Christ” and a new “Rambo” movie. Maybe it will make a big statement in 2027.

What Surprises Will We See?

Sure, there’s excitement to get the first full looks at big blockbusters like “Avengers: Doomsday,” DC films like “Clayface,” and Sony’s “Spider-Man” movies “Brand New Day” and “Beyond the Spider-Verse.” But what other surprises or announcements could be in store?

Sony formally announced its cast and release dates for the four Beatles biopics last spring at CinemaCon, so with the movie already filming, could we get some sort of in-progress tease? The much-anticipated next film from the Daniels had a blow when it lost star Ryan Gosling, but could we get a new star announcement or even a modicum of details? We wouldn’t be surprised if Warner Bros. talked about its new “Lord of the Rings” film “The Hunt for Gollum,” not to mention the new one that Stephen Colbert was announced to be co-writing.

And we’re going to leave this little nugget here: Cineverse is doing a basketball event featuring none other than the new Air Bud, so if that’s not the winner of the week, we don’t know what is.