On day three, Universal brought it, as in a 43-piece orchestra conducted by Ricky Minor. Mike Knobloch, President of Music & Publishing, introduced them as they first played along to the big screen, which brought out the Universal logo across the Earth, as we’ve seen many times before their films. To set the tone, the orchestra played to a montage of classic movies such as Back To The Future, Jurassic Park, Psycho, Jaws, and franchise hits Fast and the Furious, Despicable Me, Shrek, How To Train Your Dragon and even their awards films, Conclave and Oscar winner Oppenheimer, to finally end on a high note with E.T. and Wicked.
Chairman of Entertainment and Studios, Donna Langley, then let the other studios know that since 2022, they’ve had the most theatrical releases in sixty-five. Pete Levinsohn, Chairman of Global Distribution, followed to introduce Jurassic World: Rebirth, and stars Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and director Gareth Edwards came to the stage and had a fun time discussing this next chapter of the franchise before introducing the trailer. The opening sequence seemed like a page right out of Rogue One, and played more scary than the last set of movies mixed with a little bit of Indiana Jones adventure..
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The presentation next went into more family fare, with Margie Cohn, President of DreamWorks Animation, discussing their live-action animated hybrid Gabby’s Dollhouse along with the trailer. Bad Guys 2, with an August 1st release, had voice cast members Craig Robinson and Awkwafina introduce their new trailer for the sequel.
Earlier in the morning, CinemaCon attendees got a world premiere viewing of the live-action animated hybrid for How To Train Your Dragon, which was introduced by stars Gerard Butler, Nico Parker, and director Dean DeBlois. They returned to announce a sequel, How To Train Your Dragon 2, with a June 11th, 2027 release date followed by the orchestra playing a live score from the franchise.
Actors Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers then discussed the latest from Jordan Peele and Monkeypaw Productions, HIM. Set for a September 19th release date, the duo first joked around with each other before the trailer drop, which initially seemed like a normal sports-themed film, and then added the Jordan Peele twist and went eerie and horror, much like his previous films.
The trailer for Nobody 2 was shown, and this time, Bob Odenkirk is just trying to go on a family vacation but then runs into the wrong town full of corruption and a woman, Sharon Stone. The same fun action style and humor played great for the audience.
Focus Features Peter Kujawski introduced projects from their slate, starting with Wes Anderson’s latest The Phoenician Scheme, with a May 30th release date plus a trailer drop. A teaser for Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale with a September 12th release date will conclude the series. Finally, Bugonia, the latest from Yorgos Lanthimos and once again starring his muse Emma Stone, will be coming on November 7th.
Producer Jason Blum got into the action by first dressing up in costume as Freddy Fazbear to announce all the latest from Blumhouse, 3 sequels, starting with Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and a teaser clip, slated for December. Actress Madeleine McGraw joined him for her sequel Black Phone 2 and a very scary trailer reminiscent of director Scott Derrickson’s Sinister with an October 17th release date.
Violet McGraw the younger sister to Madeleine also came out to show the latest trailer to her sequel M3GAN 2.0 before that happened a set of 30 dancers dressed as the title character came out and danced to “Oops I Did It Again” by Britney Spears. According to the marketing, the sequel will be slaying in theaters on June 27th. James Wan also joined Blum to show a trailer for their latest collaboration, Soulm8te, for January 2026.
President of Theatrical Distribution Jim Orr released a glimpse of a future 2026 slate: Super Mario Bros 2 for April, Minions 3 for July, and for Christmas, Shrek 5. For summer, a film directed by Steven Spielberg in June and director Christopher Nolan’s adaption of The Odyssey for July.
Finally, to finish off the presentation, producer Marc Platt, director Jon M. Chu, and actresses Cyntia Erivo and Ariana Grande showed the trailer for Wicked For Good, the 2nd part of the smash hit, which will be released on November 21st.
If Lionsgate had a strong finale presentation with The Weeknd performing, Universal might have had the best overall presentation, with the orchestra playing in the beginning, middle, and end.
