6 days Ago By JeffreyHarris
CinemaCon continued Day 2 with new previews for Neon, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., and more, so it’s time to dive in. The State of the Industry panel first showed some previews for upcoming Neon releases.
Tom Hiddleston stars and leads an all-star cast in the forthcoming film, The Life of Chuck , based on the Stephen King short story. Mike Flanagan writes and directs an all-star cast that also includes Mark Hamill, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Karen Gillan, and Jacob Tremblay. It looks interesting.
The film hits US theaters on June 6. Also from Neon, Dave Franco and Alison Brie introduced their new Michael Shanks horror film, Together . It appears a codependent couple is being forced to physically fuse together by some type of outside force [possibly alien?].
This looks like creepy, insane body horror. Together arrives in theaters on August 1. The Lionsgate presentation starts off with an extended fight sequence of Ballerina .
The footage shows Ana de Armas’ character fighting an assassin in a restaurant owned by the Continental. The action is fast, very few cuts, tight, and brutal. Eve Macarro (De Armas) eventually gets the better of her attacker.
She then engages in a fight with the waitress. In a humorous moment, they start banging plates over each other. Eve manages to stuff her into the meat locker.
Another sizzle reel is shown with more footage of the film. It reveals that Eve will engage in a fight with John Wick at some point, who is brought in to stop Eve’s vendetta. Norman Reedus also appears in the footage.
The action looks good and fun. Hopefully, this will be a decent extension of the franchise. From the World of John Wick: Ballerina arrives on June 6.
Director Francis Lawrence and Lionsgate executive Adam Fogelson announced the next installment of The Hunger Games franchise. The new prequel, Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping , arrives on November 20, 2026. The studio debuted an animated logo teaser, with some voice-over by Woody Harrelson’s Haymitch Abernathy.
It’s based on Suzanne Collins’ book of the same name. Francis Lawrence stuck around to preview his next film, The Long Walk . David Jonsson and Mark Hamill were also in attendance as the stars of the film.
Jonsson portrays Peter McVries, while Hamill portrays the lead villain, The Major. Nice to see Hamill has a few big roles coming up. Hamill was wearing sunglasses onstage.
He joked that he’s not pulling a Jack Nicholson, he’s simply paying homage to his character, The Major. Based on Stephen King’s novel, The Long Walk follows a group of kids in a dystopian version of America, where they go on a long cross-country walk across the United States. Any person who falls below three miles an hour of their pace gets a warning.
If they stop or fall behind, they are brutally shot. The last person still walking is the winner of the game and receives a lucrative cash prize. Hamill is the villainous Major in charge of the race.
It looks incredibly dark and bleak. The film looks a bit like a mix of Stand By Me meets The Hunger Games, and Battle Royale . Next up were some new announcements of John Wick .
The studio confirmed a new animated prequel about John Wick’s Impossible Task. I’m glad this story is finally being depicted. Donnie Yen will direct a new spinoff featuring his character, Caine, from John Wick: Chapter 4 , and John Wick 5 was also confirmed.
So, it looks like the theme of this year’s Lionsgate presentation was to forget about and move on from a rough 2024 and double down on John Wick and Hunger Games . Keanu Reeves really will be doing this until he’s 90! Also shown during the Lionsgate presentation were new previews of Good Fortune and Power Ballad . Good Fortune stars Aziz Ansari, Keanu Reeves, and Seth Rogen.
Reeves, as a literal guardian angel from heaven, has Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen’s characters switch lives, and high jinks ensue. Reeves doing comedy again is interesting. The film finally hits theaters on October 17.
Power Ballad is a new dramedy featuring Paul Rudd as a struggling musician and wedding singer. One night, he meets a popular boy band star, portrayed by Nick Jonas. Jonas hears one of Rudd’s songs and basically plagiarizes it, making it a huge hit.
Rudd recognizes it as a song he created and seeks justice against Jonas’ character, who was having his own struggle producing hits for his label. Director Ruben Fleischer previewed the next installment of the Now You See franchise with Now You See Me, Now You Don’t . A new preview is shown.
The main legacy cast was back, plus a group of new young magicians, including Ariana Greenblatt and Justice Smith. Morgan Freeman is also back. It looks like the Four Horsemen team up with the new magic recruits to stop an international criminal, portrayed by Rosamund Pike, and they come up with a heist to steal her legendary Heart Diamond.
The film hits theaters on November 14. After that was The Housemaid , based on Freida McFadden’s novel of the same name. Paul Feig, Amanda Seyfried, and Brandon Skelnar were all in attendance to talk about the new films.
Feig spoke about how much he enjoys thrillers. Sweeney shared a cute clip from the set, showing her singing a song from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again . They introduced the first trailer.
Sweeney stars as Millie, who goes to work for the affluent Winchester family at their mansion as their new housemaid. A twisted thriller follows. It looks creepy, twisty, and intriguing.
It arrives in theaters on December 25. This was followed by director Trey Edward Shults and Jenna Ortega to preview the new thriller, Hurry Up Tomorrow . Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, stars as a fictionalized version of himself.
The trailer was confusing, and it was hard to comprehend what was going on. It looks like Tesfaye’s character is a pop star who starts a romance with Ortega’s character, who may or may not be psychotic. It looks like she abducts him and attempts to torture him and possibly burn him alive.
It looks to be a psychological thriller. It’s not clear if Ortega’s character is real, or if this is all happening in Tesfaye’s head. Tesfaye also performed two of his songs live during the presentation, including “Blinding Light.
” Hurry Up Tomorrow arrives on May 16. We returned to the Colosseum as Caesars Palace later in the day for the CinemaCon 2025 Warner Bros. Pictures presentation, featuring new footage of F1 , Superman , and much more.
Interestingly, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-chairs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy both took the stage despite recent rumors of David Zaslav seeking to replace them, so it was business as usual for them. Director Ryan Coogler appeared in a brief, pre-recorded video message about his new film, Sinners .
He noted that the film is an homage to blues music, along with his Uncle James and his late maternal grandfather. No new footage, but the film is out April 18. Next up was the next film from Paul Thomas Anderson, One Battle After Another .
Leonardo DiCaprio, Regina Hall, and Teyana Taylor were all there live to talk about the film. DiCaprio’s character is an ex-revolutionary who reunites with his old friend, Benicio del Toro, to save his missing daughter. It looks like it will have Anderson’s unique blend of humor and weirdness.
The film arrives on September 26. Director Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jessie Buckley were next out to talk about their new take on Frankenstein with The Bride! Buckley stars as the eponymous Bride of Frankenstein. Christian Bale portrays Frankenstein’s Monster.
This is a pulpy new, American-based take on the Mary Shelley tale. It’s set in the 1930s. It looks a bit like an Americanized, Bonnie & Clyde take on Frankenstein .
The pair are both monsters who commit monstrous acts, but they are also the story’s heroes. The Bride! arrives on March 6, 2026. The WB presentation shifted to New Line Cinema with studio head Richard Brenner out to tease upcoming features, such as Weapons , Mortal Kombat 2 , Final Destination: Bloodlines , and The Conjuring: Last Rites .
A whole scene was shown from Bloodlines . Two friends attempt to fool Death’s Plan by making one of them flatline using his peanut allergy. They attempt the act in a room with an MRI machine and accidentally turn it on.
Of course, Death causes the machine to move to deadly research levels, and it turns south incredibly fast. Fans of the franchise will likely enjoy the blood and carnage here. The sequel is due out on May 16.
Zach Cregger appeared live to preview his new film, Weapons . He said his new horror film would also be twisty and turny, much like Barbarian was. The new preview showed a group of children who mysteriously leave their homes in the middle of the night and vanish.
The children are all from the same class as the school teacher, portrayed by Julia Garner. The children do eventually return, but they look to have been altered and become something terrifying. The new film arrives on August 8.
Next up was F1 , the Apple Films release that’s being distributed by Warner Bros. The first 10 minutes were shown. The opening sequence shows Brad Pitt’s Sonny Hayes competing in 24 Hours of Daytona, helping to win the race for his team.
It looks like Sonny is a freelance racer type, who goes from job to job and race to race. He’s recruited back into the F1 circuit by his old friend, Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem), to help save his racing team. I’m a huge fan of Days of Thunder , and this looks like the spiritual successor to that film.
It looks like an authentic motorsports movie experience. F1 races into cinemas on June 27. Next up, it was Superman time.
Writer-director James Gunn and stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, and Nicholas Hoult all appeared live to talk about the new film. They released the whole footage reel of what was shown during the presentation. I liked the clip, Krypto, and the Kryptonian robots.
James Gunn spoke at length about how Krypto is inspired by the dog he rescued, Ozu, a wild and unruly dog who he can’t control. I liked the Krypto footage, but I didn’t feel like the scenes gave us a good sense of Superman/Clark Kent’s personality aside from Krypto, or what was actually happening with the plot of the film. I liked the Kryptonian robots and how the Fortress of Solitude was depicted.
The robots are humorous and kind of sassy. One fan-girls about working for Superman. One seems hilariously blunt.
I enjoy Gunn incorporating his trademark humor. Warner Bros. is putting relentless pressure on this film to succeed, so I hope it can live up to the hype.
Superman flies into theaters on July 11. I’ll soon be continuing with more of my CinemaCon coverage, including recaps of Universal Pictures, Amazon, MGM Studios, Disney, and more!.
