CinemaCon 2024: Celebrating the Movie-Going Experience
It was another incredible year for Cinema as ‘CinemaCon’ took place recently in Las Vegas and major film companies showcased more movies we should be expecting in our theaters between 2024 and 2026. When it comes to Dune: Part Two, Barbie, or Kung Fu Panda 4, everyone got a bit of everything to enjoy from all genres this and last year. Now, fans around the world have so many more and different movies to look forward to between the rest of this year and beyond. Whether you are a fan of Action in Ballerina, Drama in Flightrisk, Horror in A Quiet Place: Day One or Comedy in the reboot for The Naked Gun, 2024 and beyond is sure to give us plenty of more movies to look forward in watching at our nearest cinemas. Let’s take a look at what companies such as Warner Bros, Universal, Lionsgate, Focus Features, Paramount and Disney all provided for us during CinemaCon 2024…
The week began with a panel by Warner Bro’s, and trust me, they did NOT disappoint as attendees received an extended new trailer for ‘Furiosa’, starring Anya Taylor-Joy and Chris Hemsworth, releasing May 24th, 2024. The director of the psychological thriller ‘The Watchers’, Ishana Shyamalan, introduced a new look at her next film that is releasing June 14th, 2024. James Gunn joined us via video from Atlanta while filming Superman (releasing July 11th, 2025) to give us the very first look at the film ‘Super/Man: A Christopher Reeves Story’. A story of the life and career of Christopher Reevs releasing later this year. Kevin Costner walked on stage to introduce the first trailer for ‘Horizon: An American Saga’ with Part One releasing on June 28th and Part Two on August 16th.
Robert Pattinson and Bong Joon-Ho introduced the first trailer for ‘Mickey 17’, which is described as a Sci-Fi Comedy film, starring Robert Pattinson, Mark Ruffalo and Steven Yeun, releasing January 31st 2025. M. Night Shyamalan gave us the first teaser trailer for ‘Trap’, which is a story told from the perspective of a serial killer, releasing August 9th, 2024. Half of the cast for ‘BeetleJuice BeetleJuice’, including Michael Keaton and Willem Dafoe, showed the attendees a Behind-the Scenes look at the film along with the trailer, releasing September 5th, 2024. Finally, to end the night on a strong note, the director for ‘Joker 2’, Todd Phillips, came out to show the crowd the first teaser trailer for the film, releasing October 4th, 2024.
Day 3 for CinemaCon was a handful as we got 3 companies in Lionsgate, Universal and Focus Features all showcasing their upcoming slate of films, so get your popcorn ready, because we are going to be eating good… The day began with Lionsgate first announcing their upcoming slate of films and they immediately came out swinging by announcing a new ‘Highlander’ reboot starring Henry Cavill, releasing in 2026 as they look to begin filming in 2024. It has been announced that Destin Daniel Cretton (director of Shang Chi) will be directing a live-action version of ‘Naruto’ film, a third ‘Now You See Me’ film with the original cast all returning and a new ‘Blair Witch’ project in development. A ‘Monopoly’ film will Margot Robbie as producer has been announced, so now Margot Robbie is producing an upcoming Monopoly and The Sims live-action adaptation. Attendees were gifted the first ever trailer for Guy Ritchie’s ‘In the Grey’ film, starring Henry Cavill, Jake Gyllenhaal, Eiza Gonzalez and Rosamund Pike, releasing in 2025. Ariana Greenblatt, our CinemaCon’s “Rising Star of the Year”, gave attendees a new extended look at the live-action ‘Borderlands’ film, releasing August 9th, 2024.
Halle Berry gave attendees the first ever teaser trailer for her new horror film ‘Never Let Go’, releasing September 27th, 2024. Now to completely switch genre’s, this Christmas we are getting a new film called ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever?’, releasing November 8th, 2024. Mark Wahlberg joined us via video to give us the first ever trailer for his next film called ‘Flightrisk’, coming soon. A new action film called ‘The Killers Game’ starring Dave Bautista, Sofia Boutella, Pom Klementief and Ben Kingsley is coming soon with an unknown release date. Aziz Onsari, who stars in a new comedy film with 'Keanu Reeves and Seth Rogen called ‘Good Fortune’ is coming soon as well with an unknown date. Attendees were shown the first trailer for ‘Ballerina’, a spin-off from the John Wick franchise, starring Ana De Armas, releasing now on June 6th, 2025. To end this jam-packed morning, the audience were the very first to ever see the first trailer for the ‘Michael’ (Jackson) biopic that will feature more than 30 songs, releasing April 18th, 2025.
The day ended with panels from both Universal and Focus Features, and trust me when I say that these announcements just might make this and next year the best one’s yet for both…. Universal began the evening by displaying a 5-minute clip from Illumination’s upcoming ‘Despicable Me 4’ film, starring Steve Carell, releasing July 3rd, 2024. A new ‘Super Mario Bros’ film has been announced for a 2026 release and Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos and Kiernan Shipka showed the crowd a new look at ‘Twisters’, releasing July 19th, 2024. The sequel to ‘Five Night’s at Freddy’s’ has also been announced for the Fall of 2025. Blumhouse was next and announced two new horror films, one being a teaser for ‘Wolfman’, releasing on January 17th, 2025 and one being ‘Speak No Evil’ starring James McAvoy releasing on September 13th, 2024. Now, Focus Features began their panel by playing four trailers in a row. the first one being ‘Back to Black’, releasing May 17th 2024, the next being ‘The Bikeriders’ starring Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Norman Reedus, releasing June 21st, 2024, the third being ‘Conclave’ starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, releasing November 8th, 2024 and the fourth one being ‘NOSFERATU’ starring Bill Skarsgard, Nicholas Hoult, Willem Dafoe and Lily-Rose Depp, releasing December 25th, 2024.
Lupita Nyong’o came on stage next to introduce the first trailer for dreamworks’ ‘The Wild Robot’ releasing September 20th, 2024. The night ended in the most beautiful way possible… Attendees were given a light-up rose and a light-up lanyard that would both glow simultaneously as the cast of ‘Wicked’ walked out on stage, where Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, who play Glinda and Elphaba, soon followed up, to introduce a new extended trailer for ‘Wicked: Part 1’ that is releasing November 27th, 2024. The final day of CinemaCon was a jam-packed one with so many new announcements from Paramount and Disney. Paramount began the panel by having John Krasinski join the room via video to introduce a new trailer for one of his movies he’s producing called ‘IF’, starring Ryan Reynolds, John Krasinski, Emily Blunt, Blake Lively, Steve Carell, Cailey Fleming and so many more, releasing May 17th, 2024. We received news of an upcoming film being directed by Damien Chazelle with an unknown release date in 2025, a new ‘Star Trek’ film has been announced for 2025 as well as a new ‘Transformers x G.I Joe’ crossover movie coming soon. A new film by Edgar Wright called ‘The Running Man’, starring Glen Powell has been announced with an unknown release date as well.
It was announced that a new ‘Bee Gees’ biopic is coming soon with Ridley Scott to direct, a new rated R live-action TMNT film called ’The Last Ronin’ will be starting development soon, as well as the reboot for ‘The Naked Gun’, starring Liam Neeson to be released next year. A new movie in the Scary Movie franchise is aiming for a 2025 release. The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker are collaborating with Kendrick Lamar on a musical that is aiming to release in July 2025. Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry and Scarlett Johansson showed the attendees a 10-minute clip from their new Transformers animated movie called ‘Transformers One’, releasing September 13th, 2024. A small teaser for ‘Sonic 3’ featuring the reveal of Shadow has been shown, coming December 20th, 2024, followed by the first trailer for ‘Smile 2’, starring Naomi Scott that will be releasing October 18th, 2024. The cast of the upcoming sequel for Gladiator joined the room via video to give the first look for ‘Gladiator 2’, starring Joseph Quinn, Pedro Pascal, Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan and Connie Nielson, releasing November 2024. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn both walked on stage together to introduce a new look at their next film ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’, releasing June 28th, 2024. A new animated Avatar film called ‘Aang: The Last Airbender’ has been announced with Dave Bautista as the villain, a huge star-studded cast has been announced for the new upcoming ‘Smurfs’ animated movie to be released on Valentine’s Day in 2025 and then Paramount’s panel concludes by announcing a new Spongebob film being in the works called ‘Spongebob: Search for Squarepants’ coming December 19th, 2025
The week ends with Disney, and they made sure to end CinemaCon off on a strong note. They first began by showing 13 minutes of footage from ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’, releasing on May 10th, 2024, followed by a trailer for a movie that’s based on a true story called ‘Young Women and the Sea’, starring Daisy Ridley that’s releasing May 31st, 2024. Amy Poehler, who stars in the upcoming sequel for ‘Inside Out 2’, showed attendees the first thirty five (35) minutes of the film, releasing June 14th, 2024. Kevin Feige, the president of Marvel Studios, walked on stage next to showcase 4 upcoming films coming up between this and next year. The first being ‘Fantastic 4’, starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, releasing July 25th, 2025. Next being ‘Thunderbolts*’, that’s releasing May 2nd, 2025. Kevin then brought out Anthony Mackie to give attendees the very first look at ‘Captain America: Brave New World’, starring Anthony Mackie, Harrison Ford, Carl Lumbly and Danny Ramirez, releasing February 14th, 2025. Afterwards, the director for ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, Shawn Levy, walked out and showed the crowd a 9-minute clip along with the trailer from his next upcoming film titled ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, releasing July 26th, 2024.
After Marvel has finished with their panel, the crowd was given two small clips along with a small trailer from the next upcoming film in the Aliens franchise, titled ‘Aien: Romulus’, releasing August 16th, 2024. A movie based on the book for ‘Nightbitch’ has been announced with an unknown date, followed by a movie by James L. Brooks called ‘Ella McKay’, releasing in 2025 by 20th Century Studios. A new teaser was released for ‘The Amateur’, starring Rami Malek, releasing in 2025 and the night ended with the first trailer for ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’, an origin story releasing December 20th, 2024 and will feature all new songs and then Dwayne Johnson came on stage to perform a Hawaiian dance before talking about and releasing a clip followed by a small trailer for ‘Moana 2’, starring himself and Auliʻi Cravalho as Moana, releasing November 27th, 2024.
This week, despite Sony not presenting this year, fans still received a plethora of films to look forward to from 2024 all the way to 2026. Whether you are looking for Action, Drama, Horror, Suspense or Comedy, there are plenty of movies in each category to leave you entertained for years to come. CinemaCon has developed and expanded into the premier event for the global film exhibition industry. Featuring exclusive presentations of upcoming Hollywood releases, premier screenings of highly anticipated films, and appearances by top stars, producers, and directors, CinemaCon ignites anticipation and excitement for the upcoming holiday season and beyond in theaters worldwide. Now, go get your popcorn, kick back and i’ll see you at the movies!