Warner Bros. Takes Victory Lap on a Huge 2025 Box Office, Brushes Off Looming Merger at CinemaCon

A year ago, Warner Bros. made its CinemaCon presentation amidst media rumors that film chiefs Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy would be on the hot seat. The films they would show at the Las Vegas trade show — “Sinners,” “Superman,” and “Weapons,” to name a few — would go on to kill and bury those rumors.

On Tuesday evening, Warner Bros. took a victory lap on that historic 2025, which included nine No. 1 films and seven straight $40 million-plus opening weekends, but this time they did so amidst the possibility that this might be the studio’s final CinemaCon presentation before it is acquired by Paramount Skydance in a $110 billion deal.

Hours before the presentation, Cinema United CEO Michael O’Leary acknowledged that merger without mentioning Paramount Skydance, reiterating the trade organization’s opposition to any acquisition of the studio and vowing to continue lobbying to lawmakers and regulators.

As for Warner themselves, the studio largely took the same strategy as last year: Ignore the headlines and the uncertainty and focus on the films. In a passionate speech, De Luca and Abdy pledged to keep last year’s momentum going by announcing a brand new specialty label, Clockwork, which would launch with “Ti Amo!,” director Sean Baker’s follow-up to his Best Picture winner “Anora.”

De Luca also pledged to ramp up the number of films Warner would release every year to 18 films, while Abdy talked about the importance of stoking Gen Z’s rising interest in moviegoing thanks to films like Warner’s highest grossing film, “A Minecraft Movie.”

“We are at a crucial, critical moment in time with this audience, we won’t surrender and shrink back from the challenge of creating great new films for them just because it’s riskier than leaving them at home to just sit and scroll. We will instead rise to fulfill their desires and curiosity and bring them out to your theaters,” Abdy said.

And, at the end of the show, the two chiefs put up on the screen the full list of films they have slated for 2027 and beyond and brought up their chief executive team. While De Luca and Abdy had their contracts renewed after last year’s box office success, many of the executives onstage may be among the thousands of layoffs that are expected to come with a Paramount merger.

But again, De Luca and Abdy urged exhibitors to see the slate not just as a list “but as a promise in our continued commitment to excellence in every frame and in our belief in the power of great stories to shape culture and bring audiences together.”

And De Luca and Abdy were profuse in their gratitude to theaters for helping lead Warner Bros. to their best box office year since 2018 with $4.4 billion grossed worldwide.

Global distribution chief Jeff Goldstein continued his tradition of wearing an outrageous costume, coming out in a gold suit to celebrate Warner Bros.’ big night at the Oscars with 11 Academy Awards for its films.

Then it was on to the upcoming previews, which included a visit from director Denis Villeneuve to present a sneak peek of the final chapter of his “Dune” trilogy. CinemaCon’s favorite movie star, Tom Cruise, also showed up to present a movie far removed from the “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” sequels he has shown in recent years.

This time, he was around to show off “Digger,” a dark comedy from “Birdman” director Alejandro Iñárritu. It was the first time that details on the film were revealed since last year’s cryptic teaser, revealing a story about an egotistical, delusional oil magnate whose Arctic well explodes, triggering an apocalyptic chain reaction.

James Gunn was back after the solid relaunch of the DC Universe last year with “Superman” to present the next big steps in his campaign to build a new cinematic saga. He presented a sneak peek of Milly Alcock in this summer’s “Supergirl” as she races to save the breakout star of “Superman,” Krypto. He also showed a teaser of the “Batman” villain horror film “Clayface,” as DC is departing from Marvel by delving into different genres and lower budget levels.

The crowd cringed in horror as people got impaled, burned and eviscerated in a trailer for “Evil Dead Burn,” and then got some relief when they were gifting Thing wigs for the upcoming animated adaptation of Dr. Seuss’ “The Cat in the Hat.” The film marks the return of Warner Bros. Animation to the studio’s theatrical slate, with movies like “Bad Fairies” and “Margie Claus” coming in 2027.

And towards the end of the show, Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman appeared to a raucous ovation for the sequel to the ’90s fantasy film “Practical Magic,” where Kidman quoted her infamous AMC line to cheering theater owners: “We come to this place for magic!”

Warner Bros. will look to these films to help the studio bounce back from a recent end to their hot streak, as the genre films “The Bride!” and “They Will Kill You” flamed out fast at the box office over the past month. But as Abdy said at CinemaCon, that’s part of the business.

“Not all of the films are going to work,” she said. “But not all of the films worked in 1927, or 1977, or 1997.”

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