UPDATE: Universal Studios' CinemaCon panel has concluded. Read the article below with the biggest updates from the panel.
CinemaCon, the largest panel trade show where all the major Hollywood studios come together to showcase their upcoming movie libraries 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 king of pop, 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 as well. Nolan has become the golden boy of cinephiles, drawing large crowds and big box office numbers from his name alone. Theater owners will be 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 Daviss will be playing a younger version of himself. Daviss' 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 discussing the public's fascination with The Odyssey's story for over 3,000 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 joked about The Odyssey's large, 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 speaking. "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. The movie hits theaters on July 17.
Mario & Universal
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 $600 million at the global box office.
Minions & Monsters
Illumination's CEO remains on stage to showcase the next movie in the highly successful Minions franchise, Minions & Monsters, saying the film "celebrates the birth of cinema."
Minions footage is shown off on the CinemaCon stage, with the full movie slated to hit theaters on July 1. The Minions, known for their antics, pile into a wagon as they mow down cowboys and steal their horses. Each horse 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 trail. 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 the upcoming romantic comedy One Night Only, starring Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner, 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, action-packed Christmas movie starring 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 no longer has his Santa powers.
A fight scene shows Santa struggling to fight some goons on a giant electric piano without his powers.
Kristen Bell joins the cast in the sequel, and her character is briefly shown helping Santa fight as Mrs. Claus.
Focker-In-Law
Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro then went on stage to discuss the next Meet the Parents/Fockers movie, Focker-In-Law.
Stiller jokes that he is the same age now as De Niro was when they made the first movie, Meet the Parents:
"When we made the first one, Robert DeNiro was 57 years old. Today, I am approximately 57 years old."
The duo talks about Ariana Grande, the newcomer to the movie who will play Olivia Jones. De Niro complimented Grande by calling her "the single most talented screen partner I’ve been lucky enough to share the screen with."
Stiller's Greg Focker is suspicious of Grande's Olivia Jones because of her past of emotionally puppeteering people.
Greg's son Henry Focker (now played by Superman's Skyler Gisondo) is trying to propose to Olivia. 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. The film releases on November 25:
Werwulf
Robert Eggers' next horror film, Werwulf, was briefly shown off.
This movie is set in medieval Britain, where a werewolf stalks the villagers. 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.
Disclosure Day
Steven Spielberg made his first CinemaCon appearance as Colman Domingo presented him with the MPA American250 award. He then received a standing ovation from the CinemaCon audience.
Spielberg then goes on to mention that he has never made a western movie, yet:
"I haven’t made a Western yet. But that’s next. Hopefully."
Spielberg then went on to congratulate Universal Studios on its commitment to a 45-day theatrical exclusivity window and called for an increase to 60-day and 120-day windows.
Colman and Spielberg then talked about their mutual fascination with UFOs, aliens, and everything else out of this world.
Spielberg then affirms the importance of studios making original IPs, saying, "We're running out of gas" with our current IPs.
Now, on Disclosure Day, Spielberg hypes the intrigue surrounding the sci-fi thriller, claiming his new movie will "cause you to ask a lot of questions."
He promised not to spoil anything from the third act of Disclosure Day, while throwing some shade at other Hollywood movies that ruin their own trailers:
"This movie is an experience... It's something that needs to be experienced, and all you need to get from the beginning to the end, is a seatbelt."
New footage from Disclosure Day was then revealed at CinemaCon. It starts with Emily Blunt and Wyatt Russell looking at a red cardinal, during which Blunt's character seems to disassociate.
The trailer transitions to a newsroom, where Blunt's character is shown reading the weather. During which, Blunt's character starts speaking in an alien language, to the shock of everyone except Josh O'Connor's character.
O'Connor's character can understand the alien language, claiming that it's "math." Emily's character then warns Josh's character that the government has found him, as an army of cars arrives at his location.
The footage then briefly shows an alien's hand, which was not shown in the movie's first trailer. It's speculated based on the footage that Emily and Josh's characters might have been abducted by these aliens as children.
An intense action scene closes out the footage, as a car is dragged by a train while Blunt's character is on top of it, and O'Connor tries to get her onto the train with him.
The footage finishes with a shot of a stereotypical-looking green Marian alien face. Disclosure Day releases on June 12.
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.
