CinemaCon, the largest panel trade show, where all the major Hollywood studios come together to display their upcoming library of movies to theater owners and distributors, will begin its third day with a panel from Universal Studios!
Last year, Universal Studios wowed CinemaCon with its lineup of How To Train Your Dragon's live-action remake, Wicked's sequel Wicked For Good, and the highly successful Jurassic World Rebirth.
This year, Universal Studios has a similarly stacked library of movies! The biggest of which might be the Michael biopic, starring Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson himself! The movie follows the life of the biggest pop star of all time, Michael Jackson, as he begins his solo career. Michael is already receiving great reviews from those who have seen it early.
Christopher Nolan's next movie, The Odyssey, will almost certainly have a large presence at the event. Nolan has become the golden boy of cinephiles, drawing large crowds and big box office numbers from his name alone. Theater owners will be very excited to see a more in-depth look at his latest film, which stars Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and more A-list stars.
Other movies Universal Studios will likely bring to the CinemaCon stage are the new Minions movie, Minions & Monsters, Steven Spielberg's next alien sci-fi flick, Disclosure Day, and a possible announcement of Universal's next Nintendo movie (Donkey Kong?).
Every Announcement From Universal Studios CinemaCon 2026 Panel
Snoop Dogg Biopic
Universal Studios' CinemaCon panel has just kicked off with none other than Snoop Dogg performing "Drop It Like It's Hot" on stage.
He does this while announcing a Snoop Dogg biopic, Snoop. "It's finally time to tell my own story," he says to the CinemaCon show floor. Snoop compared this opportunity to his own Straight Outta Compton.
Snoop revealed that Jonathan Davis will be playing a younger version of himself. Davis' recent breakout role was on Netflix's Outer Banks.
The film will be directed by Craig Brewer and produced by Brian Grazer and Snoop Dogg.
The Odyssey
The Odyssey's time on the CinemaCon stage begins with a celebratory montage of Christopher Nolan's past works. His most recent, Oppenheimer, won numerous Oscars, including Best Picture.
Christopher Nolan takes the stage and begins by talking about the public's fascination with The Odyssey's story for over 3000 years. “Why The Odyssey? The Odyssey is a story that has fascinated generation after generation for centuries. It is not a story. It is THE story.” Nolan exclaims.
Nolan, a big proponent of the IMAX format, talks about how he pushed IMAX engineers to make the entirety of The Odyssey for IMAX. Nolan says he wants to film intimate scenes the same way that he has been doing action scenes for years, all in IMAX.
Matt Damon's Odysseus, Tom Holland's Telemachus, and Anne Hathaway's Penelope are at the "core" of The Odyssey, says Nolan.
The director then went on to joke about The Odyssey's large and star-studded cast, saying, "It would be quicker for me to tell you the actors that aren't in The Odyssey."
The film has been an absolute nightmare to film... but in all the right ways
Nolan then goes on to show more footage from The Odyssey, starting with a shot of Matt Damon's Odysseus washing up on a beach after a ship wreck. "How long have I been here, Calypso?" Damon's Odysseys says.
The footage confirms that Charlize Theron will be playing Calypso.
In another scene Tom Holland's Telemachus and Jon Bernthal's King Menelaus are talking with each other. "Did you ever hear the story of the horse from the inside?", referring to the Trojan horse story, which will happen in the movie.
Flashbacks to the Trojan Horse scene are shown, much of which has already appeared in the publicly available trailer. The scene is described as "intense" and "epic" by CinemaCon attendees.
The Odyssey footage ends with a new shot of a cyclops grabbing a soldier.
Nintendo
Jack Black, who plays Bowser in Illumination's Super Mario Bros. franchise, takes the CinemaCon stage with a Mario Galaxy movie logo behind him.
Black introduces Illumination Studio's founder and CEO, Chris Meledandri. They thank movie goers for the recent success of the Super Mario Galaxy movie, which, as of writing, has just passed $600M at the global box office.
Minions & Monsters
Illumination's CEO remains on stage to show off the next movie in the highly successful Minions franchise, Minions & Monsters.
It's a movie that celebrates the birth of cinema.
Minions footage is shown off on the CinemaCon stage. The Minions, known for their antics, pile into a wagon as they mow down cowboys and steal their horses. Each of the horses is overfilled with Minions.
The Minions are trying to catch up with a wild west bank robber to make him their new leader, while the police are hot on their tail. The Minions are trying to shake the police while also saving the bank robber.
The Minions later drive a derailed train through city streets. They are frantically avoiding pedestrians as they maneuver this train through the crowded city.
The Minions finally catch up with the bank robber as the train comes to a screeching halt in an alleyway. It's then revealed that all of this is happening on a movie set.
Jeff Bridges plays the in-movie film director. Jesse Eisenberg, Trey Parker, Zoey Deutch, Allison Janney, and Bobby Moynihan also star in the movie.
The Minions are "massive movie stars" in this movie.
One Night Only
A trailer for an upcoming Romantic Comedy movie starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, One Night Only, was unveiled.
Callum plays a pizza shop owner and is discussing his favorite parts of sex.
The trailer then shows the separate dating journeys of Callum and Monica's characters. The montage ends with the two characters finally meeting.
"You're cute when you are nervous," Callum's character says to Monica's. "I'm not nervous," Monica says, to which Callum cheekily responds by saying, "So you're just cute."
Violent Night 2
A sequel to 2022's Violent Night, Violent Night 2, then took the stage. The film is a raunchy and action-packed Christmas film with David Harbor as Santa Claus.
"Big Nick Energy" is the tagline for Violent Night 2.
The premise of the movie is that Harbor's Santa finds himself on the naughty list for forgetting the meaning of Christmas. He is then banished to the real world, where he doesn't have his Santa powers.
A fight scene is shown where Santa is struggling to fight some goons without his powers on a giant electric piano.
Kristen Bell joins the cast in the sequel, and her character is briefly showed off helping Santa in the fight as Mrs. Claus.
Focker In-Law
Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro then went on stage to discuss the next Meet The Fockers movie, Focker In-Law.
The duo talks about the newcomer to the movie, Ariana Grande, who will play Olivia Jones, the newcomer to the family. Stiller's Greg Focker is suspicious of Grande's Olivia Jones due to her emotionally puppeteering people in her past.
Greg's son Henry Focker (now played by Superman's Skyler Gisondo) is trying to propose to Olivia Jones. While everyone else in the family loves Olivia, Stiller's character remains suspicious.
The Focker In-Law trailer was also released to the public, and can be seen below:
Werwulf
Robert Eggers' next horror film, Werwolf, was briefly shown off.
This movie is set in medieval Britain, where a werewolf stalks the members of a local village. The movie stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Willem Dafoe and Lily-Rose Depp.
The CinemaCon footage showed glimpses of the werewolf's "terrifying" transformation before it hunts a group of "disturbing-looking" villagers.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates!
Jack McBryan is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at The Direct. He joined co-founder Brian Grodzki at The Direct in 2019. Jack plays a vital role in driving the success of The Direct through his expertise in software development, search engine optimization, and content strategy.
