By George & Josh Bate
The United States’ oldest movie studio graced CinemaCon 2026 with an ambitious presentation bolstering upcoming films from some of the best filmmaker working today, including Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and Robert Eggers.
With continuations of the Fast & Furious, Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Miami Vice, and The Exorcist franchises on the way in 2027 and beyond, Universal Pictures showed confidence in this year’s slate by exclusively highlighting movies that will hit theaters in 2026.
Keep reading for a comprehensive breakdown of every reveal, announcement, preview, and first look during Universal Pictures and Focus Features’ presentation at CinemaCon 2026.
Snoop
No one could have predicted that Snoop Dogg would be the one to kick off Universal’s CinemaCon presentation, but that was exactly what happened.
Introduced by DJ Green Lantern, the Long Beach native strolled on stage with his trademark gait to perform his hit song “Drop It Like It’s Hot.”
Snoop announced that a biopic about his life is in development from Hustle & Flow and Song Sung Blue director Craig Brewer. Interspersing his announcement with performances of “Gin and Juice,” “Nuthin’ but a G’ Thang,” and other hit songs, Snoop disclosed a bit about the movie, namely that it will have a rating fitting to his life story. “My movie’s gonna be rated R. Believe that,” he said.
Snoop then introduced emerging talent Jonathan Davis on-stage, who will be playing Snoop in the biopic.
Chairwoman of Universal Pictures Donna Langley described Snoop as a spiritual cousin of Straight Outta Compton.
Filming begins this summer in Los Angeles.
Snoop does not currently have an official release date.
The Odyssey
Academy Award winner Christopher Nolan was then welcomed on stage at The Dolby Colosseum following a video compilation splicing together footage of his impressive filmography.
“I’m really glad I’m not following Steven Spielberg,” the ever-humble filmmaker said as he began talking to the CinemaCon crowd.
Nolan revealed exactly why he wanted to make The Odyssey during the presentation. “The Odyssey is a story that has fascinated generation after generation for centuries,” he described. “It is not a story. It is the story.”
Nolan went on to recount early days watching IMAX movies in Chicago at the Science and Industry Museum and in Gurnee at Six Flags Great America as influencing him to want to shoot an entire film on IMAX, a feat previously unachieved by any filmmaker in cinema history.
Approaching IMAX engineers with a daunting task, Nolan pushed to make a movie filmed entirely in IMAX, with dialogue filmed on set, and no changing of aspect ratios. With incredible work and innovation behind the scenes, the technical team was able to achieve this impressive feat.
Beyond the technical novelty of The Odyssey, Nolan’s newest film bolsters a “story about family…about homecoming.” Nolan remarked regarding this central theme, “At the heart is Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Tom Holland.”
Reteaming after his collaboration on Interstellar and Oppenheimer, Matt Damon stars as Odysseus in The Odyssey. Nolan described the film as “an absolute nightmare” for Damon to film “in the best possible ways.” He elaborated that the difficult production paralleled Odysseus’ difficult journey in the film.
“You’ll be pleased to see how difficult it was to make, because it should be,” Nolan said.
Nolan then introduced exclusive footage of The Odyssey to the CinemaCon crowd.
Backed to a decidedly different score than anything we’ve heard from Ludwig Göransson before, the footage begins as Damon’s Odysseus washes up on the island of Ogygia occupied by Calypso, the nymph played by Charlize Theron. Odysseus implores with Calypso about his difficulty remembering anything before the Trojan War.
The footage then cuts to a dimly lit banquet hall. At the head of the event is Jon Bernthal’s King Menelaus. Tom Holland’s Telemachus, Odysseus’ son, trepidatiously enters the hall and makes his way slowly to Menelaus. Bernthal’s character stoically tells Telemachus to sit. A person nearby hears Menelaus’ command and mistakes it as being directed toward him. Menelaus is quick to dismiss the man and clarify that he wishes Telemachus to sit next to him.
Menelaus then goes to tell an anxious Telemachus about his father’s efforts in the Trojan War, of which Menelaus played a key role.
This triggers an extended flashback to the Trojan War. The iconic Trojan Horse rests in a body of water as the soldiers of Troy circulate around on nearby sand. Inside the horse, Odysseus, Menelaus, and numerous other soldiers are cramped tightly in. The framing inside the horror harkens back to similar imagery from Nolan’s 2017 war film Dunkirk.
The soldiers of Troy wrap ropes around the massive horse and slowly pull it into the heart of their city. There, one soldier jumps on top of the horse and thrusts a sword through. Inside, the sword pierces the back of one of Odysseus’ men. Before he can howl in pain, the Achaeans put their hands over his mouth to muffle his cries.
Night then falls. Odysseus kicks out the bottom of the horse and silently drops down. He swiftly approaches a soldier of Troy from behind and puts him in a chokehold. At the same time, other soldiers, including Menelaus, descend from the horse and start to stealthily eliminate enemies. At this point, the score has ramped up considerably in volume and pacing, imbuing the scene with an almost unbearable intensity akin to the prologue of Tenet.
Odysseus makes his way up a tower and looks over a wall to see many of his soldiers waiting. At this point, the soldiers of Troy become aware of the enemy’s presence and start to attack. Odysseus finds a bow and starts shooting arrows at soldiers running at them. Menelaus and others follow suit.
While this is going on, Odysseus oversees the opening of the city gates. Just as it seems the soldiers of Troy will emerge victorious, Odysseus’ men manage to crack the gate open. From there, Achaean soldiers flood into the interior of the city. Amongst the men is an ominous dark figure covered in Darth Vader-esque black armor. This is Agamemnon, the brother of Menelaus and king of Mycenae played by Benny Safdie.
The scene then concluded and transitioned back to Menelaus and Telemachus’ conversation at the banquet hall.
Then, a briskly paced compilation of moments from the movie ensued. We catch a glimpse of Robert Pattinson throwing something in anger. The footage concludes in the dark as we hear the low growling of the Cyclops, followed by a look at his massive hand emerging from the blackness of his cave.
The footage was meticulously engineered and endlessly epic, to say the least. Not enough people talk about how masterful Nolan is at cultivating tension and choreographing action. He flexes these muscles intensely in the footage shown at CinemaCon, previewing a game-changing cinematic experience arriving this summer.
The Odyssey is in theaters July 17, 2026.
Minions & Monsters
Universal then switched gears to animation by initially welcoming The Super Mario Galaxy star Jack Black and then Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri.
Meledandri was at CinemaCon to talk about Minions & Monsters, the studio’s newest release hitting theaters this July.
Minions & Monsters takes place in the 1920s and follows the Minions as they aim to make their own monster movie.
Two scenes from Minions & Monsters were presented to the CinemaCon crowd.
The first scene showed the Minions comically and relentlessly chase a thief across a barren desert in the 1920s. Their chase takes them on top of a train, after which they hijack the train and proceed to drive it through a busy city. Still in pursuit of the thief, a group of Minions eventually corner the thief, while others just barely avoid crushing everyone with the train. The scene ends to reveal that everything we just saw is the scene of a movie that the Minions are filming. The director (voiced by Christoph Waltz) laments the Minions for ruining the production and kicks all of them off the set.
The second scene showed the Minions enter a studio lot after the head of the studio (voiced by Jeff Bridges) loved what he saw from their work on the cowboy movie. The Minions, in particular one Minion named James, are in awe as they see various movies filmed around them.
Waltz’s director leads the Minions onto a set of a medieval movie, tasking the Minions to fight a group of knights. The Minions take the fictional fight too seriously and end up beating up all the human actors quite brutally. Waltz happens to love what he sees and promises to make the Minions the world’s most popular stars.
Minions & Monsters is in theaters July 1, 2026.
One Night Only
The first trailer for the new romantic comedy One Night Only was presented exclusively to the CInemaCon crowd, after a collage of previous romantic comedies was showcased and lamented the lack of romantic comedies on the big screen nowadays.
From director Will Gluck (Easy A, Anyone But You), One Night Only puts a romantic comedy spin on The Purge. In this world, pre-marital sex is only legal for one night each year. Monica Barbaro plays a single woman who wants to hook up with a guy that night, while Callum Turner plays a single man who owns a pizza shop.
The trailer begins as Barbaro knocks on the door of Turner’s pizza shop. They exchange playful banter before Turner lets her in and they eat pizza together.
Text on screen then tells us that we’re flashing back 10 hours prior. Barbaro is out with a friend at a bar trying to find a man. The friend tells Barbaro that she is going to take her time finding someone, only to hone in on a man just moments later while waiting in the bathroom.
As her friend departs with a suitor, Barbaro exits the bar and navigates the city, eventually running into Turner. The two playfully insult one another – Turner pointing out that Barbaro’s nose is too small for her face and Barbaro pointing out that Turner’s ears look like wings.
The footage concludes with glimpses of their night together as they seemingly grow close and get into a bit of trouble.
One Night Only is in theaters August 7, 2026.
Other Mommy
A new horror movie from Blumhouse was showcased next at CinemaCon.
From director Rob Savage, Other Mommy is about a paranormal enttiy who looks just like the mother of a family and starts plaguing the family. Jessica Chastain stars as both the actual mother and ‘other mommy.’
A trailer of the film was shown exclusively to the CinemaCon crowd. The footage was slightly unsettling, namely as everything was told from the perspective of an innocent young girl. The concept of a demonic entity looking and sounding just like your mom is pretty clever and rather terrifying. Jessica Chastain has starred in horror movies before, but she’s flexing different acting muscles here as she plays both the loving mother and unhinged other mommy.
Other Mommy is in theaters October 9, 2026.
Violent Night 2
This Christmas, David Harbour will return as one of cinema’s most violent Santa Clauses in Violent Night 2.
A trailer of the film was shown exclusively at CinemaCon. Harbour’s Santa finds himself down on his luck and working as a Santa at a mall. One of his elves is played by The Suicide Squad actress Daniela Melchior.
Santa tracks down a bad guy played by Jared Harris, who proceeds to take revenge against Santa by launching a full-scale attack on the mall.
The footage shows Santa fend off tons of bad guys, before being joined by Kristen Bell as Mrs. Claus. Together, the husband and wife duo kick all kinds of ass.
Violent Night 2 is in theaters December 4, 2026.
Focker In-Law
Ben Stiller then walked on stage to preview Focker In-Law, the fourth installment of the Fockers film series.
Stiller joked that having 15 years between the third and fourth films of the franchise was always planned. He eventually concluded the presentation by saying that he’ll back at CinemaCon in 15 years to talk about the fifth film in the franchise – Project Hail Focker.
After remarking that he is the Robert DeNiro of the new movie (given that Stiller is now playing the overprotective father figure), DeNiro himself walked on stage to tell him that his comment was offensive. DeNiro and Stiller exchanged some scripted banter, although the biggest laugh came when DeNiro went off-script and said, “I didn’t write any of this.”
Stiller spoke about franchise newcomer Ariana Grade as “the new Ben Stiller,” as the Academy Award nominated actress is playing the girlfriend of Stiller’s character’s son in the movie.
Stiller and DeNiro then presented a world exclusive first trailer of the movie to the CinemaCon crowd. Check it out below.
Focker In-Law is in theaters on November 25, 2026.
Sense and Sensibility
A first trailer for Georgia Oakley’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s classic novel was shown exclusively at CinemaCon.
It seems like Oakley is sticked closer to the source material, at least tonally, than Emerald Fennell did with her recent adaptation of Wuthering Heights.
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles play Elinor and Marianne Dashwood respectively. Frank Dillane plays John Willoughby and George MacKay plays Edward Ferrars.
Sense and Sensibility is in theaters September 25, 2026.
Werwulf
Robert Eggers’ highly anticipated follow-up to Nosferatu was also showcased at CinemaCon 2026.
A first trailer for the film was shown exclusively to the crowd. Right off the bat, the film is unmistakably a product of Eggers’ singular mind. The tight aspect ratio, period-accurate dialogue and accents, and dark tone are all trademarks of the filmmaker at this point.
Perhaps most surprising in the trailer is that the horrors seem to be far more than just the titular creature. There are all manner of disfigured people in the footage. They may be victims of the werewolf or something more supernatural.
Eggers reunites with Nosferatu actors Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Ralph Ineson in the film.
The trailer concludes with a brief glimpse of Taylor-Johnson transforming into a werewolf before the title card appears.
Werwulf is in theaters December 25, 2026.
Disclosure Day
Colman Domingo then walked on stage to introduce Steven Spielberg and their upcoming movie Disclosure Day.
Spielberg was honored with the MPA America250 Award during the presentation, a one-time honor recognizing his profound and enduring impact on American storytelling. In his acceptance speech, Spielberg thanked exhibitors and urged studios to extend theatrical windows. He also said, “I haven’t made a Western yet. But that’s next. Hopefully.”
After accepting the award, Spielberg sat down for an interview with Colman Domingo, who stars alongside Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor in the filmmaker’s latest movie.
Spielberg discussed his long-awaited return to the sci-fi genre and his enduring curiosity with life beyond Earth. “I’ve been curious ever since I was a little kid about what’s happening in the night sky. What’s happening in the day sky,” the legendary filmmaker remarked. “As I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, all these reports [about UFOs] were coming out….There was an American fascination with the UFO phenomenon…Hollywood jumped on the bandwagon, without really believing anything was really happening….Back then [with Close Encounters of the Third Kind], I didn’t know if it was true….to me, it was sci-speculation. Not science fiction. Back then, I made the movie because it was a really good story to tell. Now, I made Disclosure Day with a lot more certainty [of life beyond Earth].”
Spielberg also spoke about the importance of studios taking risks on original films amidst a deluge of franchise fare and established IP. “If all we make is known, branded IP, we’re going to run out of gas and run out of gas very quickly,” Spielberg said. “There’s nothing more important than giving audiences original stories.”
Universal and Spielberg have a strong relationship dating back decades. Presumably, the strength of this relationship allowed Spielberg to make certain demands of the PR team behind Disclosure Day. “I told Universal we can’t give away the third act in the trailers,” Spielberg said. “All I can say, it is an experience, this movie. This movie is something that needs to be experienced. All you need to get from the beginning to the end is a seatbelt.”
Before presenting footage from the film, Spielberg made some rather poignant remarks that increased our already sky-high remarks for the film. “I believe this movie is going to answer questions and is going to ask a lot of questions.”
Exclusive footage in the form of an extended 5+ minute trailer was then presented to the CinemaCon crowd at Caesar’s Palace. The trailer revealed a whole lot more about the movie than we previously knew.
The trailer begins in almost identical fashion to the publicly released trailer. Emily Blunt’s weather person begins to make odd clicking sounds on a live broadcast, leading to concerns from her colleagues.
Josh O’Connor, meanwhile, speaks to his partner, played by Eve Hewson, that he has stolen information from the government revealing the discovery of extraterrestrial life. O’Connor shows Hewson grainy black-and-white footage of men in hazmat suits in a morgue pulling bodies out. Hewsen asks if the bodies are children. O’Connor tells her no.
Elsewhere, Colin Firth’s big government baddie is alarmed at Blunt’s outburst on television and attempts to cover it up. It is later revealed that he is in possession of technology that allows him to take over the body of other humans. He uses this tech to take over Hewson’s body.
O’Connor speaks with Hewson about how he understands the clicking noises that Blunt made on TV. He shows her math equations and says that they are what he is hearing from her speech.
Blunt and her husband played by Wyatt Russell are frantically driving in a car when Blunt calls O’Connor, despite not knowing who he is. Clearly, she has been informed by someone that the government is after O’Connor, a fact that she discloses to him just in the nick of time.
O’Connor makes his way to a house and rescues Hewson as an army of black cars chase after him. He drives the car through the house and into a massive field.
Colman Domingo appears in the trailer several times, seemingly as a key figure of the narrative. Domingo is playing some kind of professor or scientist in the movie. Domingo converses with Firth’s character, who relays that they have to keep what they know about aliens a secret. Domingo is going behind Firth’s back, however, by consulting with Blunt.
O’Connor is then shown captured and strapped to a chair as Blunt approahces him. The two know each other, although neither is able to describe how they do. Flashbacks reveal that the two knew each other as children and were seemingly experimented on by little gray aliens. We catch quick glimpses of the aliens, who look just like the stereotypical aliens from the 1950s and 1960s sci-fi movies Spielberg grew up on.
After being somewhat underwhelmed by the first trailer, the CinemaCon footage propelled our hype for Disclosure Day to new heights. The story seems interesting and it’s great to see Spielberg tackle sci-fi again. Imagine an extended episode of The X-Files directed by Spielberg and that’s what Disclosure Day looks like.
Disclosure Day is in theaters on June 12, 2026.