Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio came to CinemaCon, but what’s the most exciting news?
LAS VEGAS, USA – Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio, Ana de Armas, Glen Powell, Ryan Gosling, Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, and many more stars appeared on the CinemaCon 2025 stage.
But what was the announcement that got many excited?
In this recent convention where the major studios trotted out their releases for this year and beyond, it was when Oscar- and Golden Globe-winning director Sam Mendes came onstage and announced that he will make not one but four Beatles films, and that they will all come out in April 2028.
The reaction of the audience inside The Colosseum at Caesars Palace went wilder when the English filmmaker revealed who will play the music icons. These guys, currently some of the most swooned over actors, walked onstage — Paul Mescal (Paul McCartney); Harris Dickinson (John Lennon), Dolly de Leon’s costar in Triangle of Sadness; Barry Keoghan (Ringo Starr); and Joseph Quinn (George Harrison).
Amid the hoopla, Sam said his four Beatles movies will be a “bingeable theatrical experience” — sweet music to the ears of Cinema United, formerly named the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), which holds this annual convention and is looking for ways to mitigate the declining film ticket sales.
Sam also said that the four movies will be shown “in proximity” to each other in April 2028.
The director, noted for 1917, the James Bond film Skyfall, and American Beauty, said each film will spotlight a different member of arguably the best band ever and the biggest-selling band in history.
He explained, “Each one is told from the particular perspective of just one of the guys. They intersect in different ways — sometimes overlapping, sometimes not.”
“They are four very different human beings. Perhaps this is a chance to understand them a little more deeply. But together, all four films will tell the story of the greatest band in history.”
He added, “I just felt the story of the band was too huge to fit into a single movie and that turning it into a TV mini-series just somehow did not feel right.”
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sam made the big news announcement as part of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s presentation. In this world’s largest gathering of the movie theater industry that draws attendees from many countries, each major studio presents its slate of coming releases and brings out the stars of these films.
Sony showed a first look at Caught Stealing, director Darren Aronofsky’s latest collaboration with Filipino-American cinematographer Matthew Libatique. This 11th feature of Darren and Matty together, a crime drama thriller set in the 1990s and based on Charlie Huston’s book, stars Austin Butler, Regina King, Liev Schreiber, and Vincent D’Onofrio.
Sony also teased updates on the animated Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse and Tom Holland’s live-action Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
Ralph Macchio and Ben Wong emerged following a martial arts demonstration, complete with a drum performance (you gotta have a gimmick to make an impression in this convention), to tout their Karate Kid: Legends.
Universal Pictures and Focus Features
Speaking of gimmicks, Universal Pictures had the best and classiest one. Its presentation opened with a grand 43-piece orchestra, who came all the way from Los Angeles, playing the studio’s memorable scores, from Jaws, Psycho, Back to the Future, E.T., Jurassic Park to the recent Conclave and Wicked.
Just hearing that full orchestra, led by Emmy-winning music director Rickey Minor, performing live all those unforgettable theme songs was a moving experience.
Universal’s biggest announcement was its return to Oz, with no less than Wicked director Jon M. Chu, stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, gracing the stage to hype their sequel, Wicked: For Good.
“This movie takes us past the point where the girl (Dorothy Gale) in the blue gingham dress from Kansas drops in,” Jon said of his sequel. And with that, he and his two stars screened the first footage of their Part 2, which will be released on November 22 this year.
The sneak peek of the film, adapting the second act of the hit Broadway musical, offered snippets of some of the show’s favorite songs like “No Good Deed” and “For Good.”
The first trailer of The Phoenician Scheme of filmmaker Wes Anderson, beloved for his wry and whimsical perspective, tackles a strained father-daughter relationship in a family business, with espionage thrown in.
Wes’ perennial star, Bill Murray, is joined this time by Scarlett Johansson (who appeared onstage to hype Jurassic World: Rebirth), Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Benicio Del Toro, among many others.
Many were hoping for a first look at Christopher Nolan’s hotly anticipated Odyssey, but no such luck. Maybe at next year’s CinemaCon, since the filmmaker’s take on the Homer classic will not be released until June 2026.
The announcement of Mega Minions, the third installment featuring those lovable yellow creatures, got fans hoping that they will speak again in “Minionese,” a made-up language but sprinkled with Tagalog and Spanish words. Okay, ikot na lang, Minions!
Leave it to Blumhouse producer Jason Blum to come out in a huge animatronic bear costume as Freddy Fazbear to trumpet his next horror movies, including Five Nights at Freddy’s Two, The Black Phone 2, HIM, and M3GAN 2.0.
The latter was promoted with 30 M3GAN “dolls” dancing to Britney Spears’ Oops!…I Did It Again. Even by Las Vegas standards, it was a creepy sight.
The trailer of the sequel, set two years since the original hit, shows M3GAN ominously saying, “Hold on to your vaginas.”
Paramount Pictures
Tom Cruise headlined Paramount’s presentation which was introduced by a thrilling live motorcycle stunt show right on the stage.
The superstar began by asking for a moment of silence to honor Val Kilmer, his Top Gun costar, who recently died at 65. It was an emotional, unusual moment at the convention which is known for its loud, visual razzmatazz.
Tom paid tribute to Val with these heartfelt, spontaneous words: “I’d like to honor a dear friend of mine, Val Kilmer. I really can’t tell you how much I admired his work, how much I thought of him as a human, and how grateful and honored I was when he joined the first Top Gun and came back for Top Gun: Maverick. He gave a lot to all of us with his performances.”
The actor ended his tribute with “Thank you, Val. I wish you well on your next journey.”
Then Tom, reading from index cards instead of the teleprompter, delivered a long, personal tribute to Christopher McQuarrie, the man behind his Top Gun: Maverick and Mission: Impossible movies, before presenting him with CinemaCon’s Director of the Year award.
The star and filmmaker shared the trailer of their eagerly awaited, supposedly last MI installment, Mission Impossible – The Final Reckoning.
Paramount also plugged Channing Tatum’s Roofman and Glen Powell’s The Running Man, Edgar Wright’s adaptation of Stephen King’s novel. Both actors showed up on stage.
Warner Bros. Studios
Brad Pitt didn’t show up to promote F1, his racing drama. But producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Joseph Kosinski came out to share the thrilling first 10 minutes of their film, shot at the Daytona International Speedway in which Brad actually drove.
Leonardo DiCaprio added to CinemaCon’s star wattage when he presented One Battle After Another, his Paul Thomas Anderson drama about an ex-revolutionary and addict trying to rescue his lost daughter.
Maggie Gyllenhaal also presentied her second directing feature, The Bride. It’s the actress’ daring take on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, but she set the Gothic novel in 1930s Chicago.
The gripping trailer offered a first look at Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s Monster and Jessie Buckley as The Bride.
Peter Sarsgaard, who said some time ago that he was excited for his wife Maggie’s approach to this oft-told tale, is also in the cast along with her brother, Jake Gyllenhaal, Penelope Cruz, and Annette Bening.
The Colosseum audience also had a first glimpse of David Corenswet as the new Superman being rescued by Krypto. David, who was Fil-Am Darren Criss’ costar in Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood miniseries, was eloquent even in his brief onstage banter with costars Rachel Brosnahan (Lois Lane) and Nicholas Hoult (Lex Luthor).
Nicholas bared that he tried out for the Superman and Batman roles which eventually went to David and Robert Pattinson, respectively. Instead, director James Gunn offered him the Luthor role.
Lionsgate
While many though Lionsgate would blare Michael, its Antoine Fuqua-directed drama on the King of Pop. But there was only a brief mention of the film starring Jaafar Jackson, the Gloved One’s nephew, that was earlier buzzed as an awards contender to be released late this year.
What’s happening? Several factors may delay the release to next year, including reported reshoots and script revisions due to the Jackson estate’s insistence that allegations of molestation charges against the icon should not be in the film and that at near four-hour initial cut so far, there are plans to release Michael into two films.
Michael also stars Colman Domingo (Joe Jackson), Kat Graham (Diana Ross), Nia Long (Katherine Jackson), and Miles Teller (John Branca, Michael’s lawyer).
What looked interesting in Lionsgate’s presentation was a footage of The Long Walk, yet another adaptation of a Stephen King novel. This tale, the first novel he wrote, is Francis Lawrence’s cinematic take of how 100 teenage boys join a competition where they must walk at a certain speed or risk being shot.
Mark Hamill, who made his first ever appearance at CinemaCon, looks menacing in the footage as a villainous character who barks the warning — contestants who are eliminated get killed.
The Star Wars legend, who appeared onstage with Francis and lead David Jonsson, quipped, “None of the actors wanted to meet me…The premise alone is nightmare-inducing but it’s good to get out of your comfort zone.”
Ana de Armas goes from Marilyn Monroe to a kick-ass action star in an extended look at Len Wiseman’s Ballerina, a spinoff from the John Wick franchise of Keanu Reeves, who also stars in this caper. Speaking of John Wick, a fifth installment was confirmed with Keanu and Chad Stahelski directing.
Lionsgate’s segment ended on a high note with a two-song set by The Weeknd, led by the band’s Abel Tesfaye who earlier showed up with Jenna Ortega to promote their thriller, Hurry Up Tomorrow.
Walt Disney Studios
James Cameron was still doing post-production work on Avatar: Fire and Ash in New Zealand but the footage he sent mesmerized and brought the audience back to the visually stunning 3D world of the Na’vi tribes.
Another movie meant to be watched with 3D glasses was the intergalactic majesty of Pixar’s cosmic space misadventure, Elio.
Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong, who play Bruce Springsteen and Jon Landau (the Boss’ manager and record producer), respectively, took the stage to support their Deliver Me From Nowhere. Made with Bruce’s blessing, the film, directed by Scott Cooper and based on Waren Zanes’ book of the same name, focuses on the making of the rock icon’s Nebraska album.
The footage ends with a peek at Jeremy, capturing the essence of the legendary rocker from New Jersey as he sings Bruce’s famous song, Born to Run.
Of course, a Disney presentation must have a Marvel segment and the studio obliged with the Thunderbolts cast showing up in person – Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Valentina), David Harbour (Alexei), Florence Pugh (Yelena), Wyatt Russell (John Walker), and Hannah John-Kamen (Ava Starr).
The studio also showcased a footage of Fantastic Four: First Steps but without the cast.
MGM Amazon Studios
In its first time on the CinemaCon stage, MGM Amazon Studios stressed that it will be active in its theatrical releases. The studio found its perfect anchor in Ryan Gosling, who, in touting Project Hail Mary, his Phil Lord and Christopher Miller space sci-fi, displayed his charm and humor.
Ryan, in his intro of the film about a school teacher who reluctantly becomes an astronaut, quipped that the CinemaCon folks are the first to see the footage “who aren’t my mom.” He added that the film is “an insanely ambitious story, massive in scope,” so big that “we tried to put it on a TV once, it wouldn’t fit.”
MGM Amazon Studios, which now owns the James Bond franchise, announced that David Heyman and Amy Pascal will produce the next 007 film and have started preparing for that production.
Big Screen Achievement Awards
Following tradition, CinemaCon climaxed with its Big Screen Achievement Awards.
Star of the Year Award recipient Glen Powell, in his acceptance speech, shared a moving tribute to veteran Cheech Marin, who was in the audience to receive a Career Achievement in Comedy with Tommy Chong, as part of the duo, Cheech and Chong.
The Twisters and Anyone But You star addressed Cheech as he shared an anecdote about working with the comedian on the set of Spy Kids 3: Game Over.
“I was 12 years old, and you and Danny Trejo invited me to sit with you at lunch on my first day. I was the new kid at school, and that was the coolest lunch table. And I’ll never forget that gesture.”
Ana de Armas, the first woman recipient of the Action Star Award, in dedicating her prize to Keanu Reeves, gave an amusing story about meeting the actor for the first time when they shot Knock Knock in Chile:
“We were sitting across from each other on the table and I was really nervous as you are when you’re in front of Keanu Reeves. I couldn’t talk to him much because I was so self-conscious about my English.”
“I was really struggling and really trying hard to follow the conversation. They were talking about his career, they were talking about The Matrix. And he looked up at me and asked me if I had seen it and I was like, ‘The Matrix? No.’ ”
The Cuban-born actress recounted that “everyone at the table was shocked. Someone came to me and told me in Spanish, ‘You haven’t seen La Matrix (pronounced in Spanish as Mah-trix)?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, La Matrix (as pronounced in Spanish)? Yeah, I have seen that one.’ That will never not be embarrassing.”
The actress added, “Here I am 10 years later, receiving the Action Star of the Year award for Ballerina but there wouldn’t be Ballerina without John Wick, and for sure, there wouldn’t be John Wick without Keanu Reeves.”
“He has, through this character, and what he’s done with this franchise, given me the opportunity to be a part of this world. I am so honored and grateful so I want to dedicate this to him. I’m just so happy that life brought us back together in such meaningful ways, especially after that first meeting.”
Mark Hamill, who received the Cinema Icon Award, jokingly summed up the star-studded gathering: “It’s exhilarating being around so many creative people. And I’m still a fan. I look over there and Channing Tatum is over there and there’s Tom Cruise. I think, oh my God, it’s like that old Neil Simon line, ‘I’m the only one here I’ve never heard of.’ ” – Rappler.com