By George & Josh Bate
CinemaCon 2026 has officially concluded. During the world’s biggest celebration of moviegoing, attendees were presented with exclusive footage from and reveals about over 140 upcoming movies from the world’s biggest movie studios. Out of everything we saw at CinemaCon this year, we are breaking down our highlights of the event movie-by-movie (in no particular order).
These are the 10 best things we saw at CinemaCon 2026….
Godzilla Minus Zero
Godzilla stomped into Caesar’s Palace to kick off CinemaCon 2026 with a bang.
Academy Award winning filmmaker Takashi Yamazaki took the stage in The Dolby Colosseum to talk about Godzilla Minus Zero, the highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed Godzilla Minus One from 2023.
Godzilla Minus Zero will be the first Japanese film in history to be filmed and presented in IMAX.
Regarding the story, Yamazaki confirmed that the film is a “direct sequel” to Godzilla Minus One and will continue to follow the Shikishima family. Given the emotional attachment to the family that Yamazaki fostered so strongly in the first film, the fact that we get to see the continuation of their journey has us both excited and concerned (for their well-being, that is).
Yamazakipresented behind-the-scenes footage from the film, which showcased the incredible practical sets. The director can be seen using a Godzilla action figure as a reference while on set. IMAX cameras and IMAX camera operators can also be spotted in the footage.
Brief footage from Godzilla Minus Zero followed the behind-the-scenes reel. The footage confirmed that the movie takes place in 1949. The final moment of the footage showed Godzilla slowly and ominously walking past the Statue of Liberty, a shot that elicited huge cheers from the CinemaCon crowd.
Watch the footage of Godzilla Minus Zero below.
Godzilla Minus Zero is in theaters on November 6, 2026.
Dune: Part Three
Denis Villeneuve seems like he’s on his way to making one of the greatest trilogies of all time, based on what he saw of Dune: Part Three at CinemaCon 2026.
Director Dennis Villeneuve was present at CinemaCon to discuss the film, alongside stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, and Jason Momoa.
In describing the film, Villeneuve made it known that he did not want to make a film that repeated the beats of its two predecessors. “I didn’t want to walk into my own footsteps,” the filmmaker remarked. “[The first movie] was more meditative, more contemplative. Part Two was a war movie. This one is a thriller, more action packed, faster paced, more intense, and more emotional.”
Villeneuve later said that he made Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two for himself, but that Dune: Part Three is for the fans. After initially wishing to tackle the project later down the line, Villeneuve felt compelled to complete this story due to fan demand for it.
Villeneuve was quick to label Part Three as “more of a redemption story, but still the heartbeat of the film is the love story between [Zendaya’s] Chani and Paul.
Villeneuve presented the first seven minutes of Dune: Part Three exclusively to the CinemaCon crowd. Read a detailed description of the footage here.
Even though we saw the footage on just day two of CinemaCon, it was clear that Dune: Part Three would be by far and away one of the best films showcased all week. Villeneuve directs an action set-piece with jaw-dropping scale and scope. The opening seven minute feels like a sci-fi Saving Private Ryan, such is their intensity and ferocity. The thunderous sound design and mammoth visuals create such an epic atmosphere. During the panel, Chalamet compared the Dune trilogy to The Lord of the Rings. When all is said and done, Villeneuve may just have crafted a sci-fi trilogy that ranks alongside Peter Jackson’s films as one of the best trilogies of all time.
Dune: Part Three is in theaters December 18, 2026.
The Thomas Crown Affair
Amazon MGM Studios’ presentation kicked off with an unexpected bang in the form of Michael B. Jordan’s The Thomas Crown Affair.
Jordan, a recent Academy Award winner for his role in Sinners, is directing, producing, starring in, and (according to co-star Adria Arjona) even writing some of the remake of the iconic heist movie.
A world exclusive trailer for the film was presented to the CinemaCon crowd and previewed a movie that looks sleek, sexy, sophisticated, and superb. The tension, action, cinematography, and score all feel like they’re straight out of a Christopher Nolan movie. Jordan has definitely drawn inspiration from films like Tenet in crafting this film.
The footage showed plenty of steamy sexual tension between Jordan and Arjona’s characters. For those unfamiliar with the story, Jordan will play Thomas Crown, a billionaire who undertakes a daring art heist. Arjona will play an insurance investigator who begins to fall in love with Crown.
The trailer concludes with a brilliant, Nolan-esque moment of an immaculately dressed Jordan using a rope to sprint up the exterior of a building. As he makes his way from the wall of the building to the roof, the camera re-orients and he leaps up, giving way to the film’s logo.
The Thomas Crown Affair may be our biggest surprise out of CinemaCon 2026. This was not a film we had on our radar whatsoever, despite believing Jordan did a serviceable job helming his directorial debut Creed III. The Academy Award winner seems to take things to another level here by bringing the classic Steve McQueen film to the 21st century. There’s flairs of Bond, Nolan, Coogler, and something unique we haven’t quite seen before here.
The Thomas Crown Affair is in theaters March 5, 2027.
The Mandalorian and Grogu
After headlining this year’s Creative Community Luncheon at CinemaCon 2026, Jon Favreau appeared during Disney’s presentation to discuss his upcoming The Mandalorian and Grogu.
A brand new trailer for The Mandalorian and Grogu was then screened at CinemaCon and released concurrently online. Check it out below.
The first 18 minutes ofThe Mandalorian and Grogu were also screened exclusively to the CinemaCon crowd, providing the audience at The Dolby Colosseum a world exclusive first look at the movie. Click here for a detailed description of the first 18 minutes of The Mandalorian and Grogu.
As massive Star Wars eagerly waiting for Din Djarin and Grogu to hit the big screen, we found ourselves enamored by the opening of Favreau’s film. The filmmaker has clearly taken strides to make the movie feel like an actual movie, and not just another episode of The Mandalorian. The action is more elaborate, the sets are bigger, and the visual effects are stronger. We also finally have a sense of what the movie is about here, which intrigues us as we are unsure if there’s hidden depths to the mystery of Imperial warlord Coyne.
If our anticipation was already sky-high for The Mandalorian and Grogu, this new footage amplified our hype to new heights.
The Mandalorian and Grogu is in theaters May 22, 2026.
The Odyssey
Academy Award winner Christopher Nolan appeared during Universal’s presentation to discuss his upcoming epic The Odyssey. was then welcomed on stage at The Dolby Colosseum following a video compilation splicing together footage of his impressive filmography.
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.
Nolan then introduced exclusive footage of The Odyssey to the CinemaCon crowd. Read a detailed description of The Odyssey footage here.
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.
Resident Evil
Fresh off the mammoth success of last year’s horror epic Weapons, acclaimed filmmaker Zach Cregger made an appearance at The Dolby Colosseum for CinemaCon 2026 to discuss his newest terrifying cinematic endeavor – Resident Evil.
Cregger voiced his longstanding adoration for the Resident Evil games, admitting that he’s “put an embarrassing number of hours” into them over the years. Cregger went on to say, “I love the atmosphere. I love the pacing, the resource management, the dread. It’s so naturally cinematic.”
Cregger’s adaptation of what he brands “the gold standard of survival horror” will not feature the “narrative acrobatics” that defined his previous efforts in the horror genre. Instead, “you’re going to be locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey from Point A to Point B as everything is trying to destroy them.”
An exclusive first trailer for Cregger’s “big scary ride” was presented at CinemaCon. Read a detailed description of the footage here.
Unlike Johannes Roberts’ misguided franchise reboot Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, Cregger’s film tells an original story set in the zombie-infested universe of the video games. Although the story is entirely new, the trailer feels uncannily familiar as it evokes the terror and dread of the games. If we had to describe the trailer, it feels like Barbarian meets Silent Hill meets Mad Max: Fury Road. Although we’re admittedly sad to hear that the film won’t feature Cregger’s trademark “narrative acrobatics,” what we saw of Resident Evil has us thinking this could be one of the best ever video game adaptations.
Resident Evil is in theaters on September 18, 2026.
Digger
Tom Cruise and Alejandro G. Iñárritu were welcomed to CinemaCon with resounding cheers and applause from The Dolby Colosseum crowd as they discussed their new film Digger, described as a comedy of catastrophic proportions.
We definitely can’t wait to see Digger, especially after having an extended trailer for the film. Click here for a detailed description of the footage from Digger.
Needless to say, Digger looks insane. You’ve never seen Tom Cruise like this before. This is a five-minute trailer better than most movies. It feels like Iñárritu and Cruise have created this century’s Dr. Strangelove. We sense an Oscar nom for Cruise is on the horizon.
Digger is in theaters October 2, 2026.
Avengers: Doomsday
Disney concluded their whopping CinemaCon presentation with a showcase of arguably the most highly anticipated film of the entire conference – Avengers: Doomsday.
Feige revealed that the upcoming MCU movie will “pick up right where Avengers: Endgame left off.” He elaborated that it will also pick up where the X-Men movies left off. In this sense, Feige’s comments dispel a misconception that watching a movie like Avengers: Doomsday requires extensive homework. According to the MCU big boss, all you need to do is watch Endgame and be familiar with the old X-Men movies and you should be fine. This is an interesting approach to an Avengers movie and we’re interested to see how the film both honors all the projects that succeeded Endgame while serving as a direct sequel to Endgame.
The Russo Brothers, meanwhile, described Doctor Doom as “the greatest Marvel villain of all time. He’s even better than Thanos. Victor Von Doom is one of the most complex villains. He’s always three moves ahead, which makes him virtually unbeatable.” That description alone gives us hope that the creative team behind Doomsday really understand why Victor Von Doom is such a compelling villain. He doesn’t just have a cool suit of armor and destroy stuff – he’s clever, meticulous, methodical, and the last person you want to cross.
The first full trailer of Avengers: Doomsday, which included a first look at Downey’s Doctor Doom in his mask, was presented to the CinemaCon crowd. Click here for a detailed description of the trailer.
The trailer was so mind-blowing that the CinemaCon crowd demanded that it be played again. But before that, Chris Evans was welcomed on stage, wearing a green jacket. Despite brandishing Doom colors, Evans was not having Doom. He jokingly spoke about how he likes Downey, but that he doesn’t like Doom whatsoever. Feige and the Russos playfully broke Evans and Downey apart as they confronted one another. Someone remarked, “Not this again,” a reference to the two coming head-to-head in Captain America: Civil War. Feige then said, “Leave it for set.”
Simply put, the footage was impressive. Marvel Studios gave themselves a difficult task to follow Avengers: Endgame with a movie that has even greater stakes and an even greater threat, but they seem to have accomplished that difficult feat.
If there’s one word to describe the trailer, it is ‘ominous.’ Downey seemingly doesn’t go showy or too heighted as Victor Von Doom, instead playing him with a more menacing and calculated thoughtfulness. Thor’s speech to the Fantastic Four and Avengers similarly implies the high stakes of the situation. Thor has come up against a number of enemies before, but we haven’t seen him quite as scared or rattled at this. He recognizes the threat of Doom and is eager to let the other heroes know about it.
Everything we saw from Doom looked incredible in the trailer. The armor is gorgeously designed. It looks so much like the Doom armor from the 2015 Secret Wars run in which Doom became God Emperor Doom. However, he is not wearing a white cloak. Instead, he has his trademark dark green one.
Visually, it seems as if the Avengers movies have upgraded massively in bringing on Newton Thomas Sigel as cinematographer. Sigel was the cinematographer on the original two X-Men movies and previously collaborated with the Russos on Cherry. The color grading, establishing shots, and framing all look gorgeous.
Avengers: Doomsday is in theaters December 18, 2026.
Highlander
Although only halfway through production currently, Chad Stahelski’s remake of Highlander also featured during Amazon MGM’s presentation.
A battle-worn and dirt-covered Henry Cavill appeared in a pre-recorded video to talk about his excitement for the film and to preview a special early look.
The footage spliced together moments from the movie and behind the scenes interviews and footage. If it wasn’t abundantly clear already, Chad Stahelski and Highlander seem like a match made in heaven. The movie is drenched in unique lighting and a mood/tone reminiscent of the John Wick movies. Cavill seems like he was born to step into this franchise, while we hear Russell Crowe’s accent as Ramirez. Industry star Marisa Abela also appears in the footage, kicking tons of ass, and is interviewed about how demanding and rewarding the role was. Dave Bautista, meanwhile, appears with a distinctive wig in the footage as he takes on the role of The Kurgan.
We were incredibly impressed by the footage shown from Highlander, to say the least. Even as movie fans without particular reverence or nostalgia for the original movie, the CinemaCon reel propelled Stahelski’s upcoming film to among our most anticipated of next year.
Highlander does not currently have an official release date.
Disclosure Day
After accepting the MPA America250 Award, Steven Spielberg sat down for an interview with Colman Domingo to discuss their latest film Disclosure Day.
Even before any footage of the film was shown, Spielberg’s comments about his evolving beliefs on extraterrestrial life left us intrigued. “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].”
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.” The fact that all the amazing footage we saw was only from acts 1 and 2 raises our anticipation for Disclosure Day even higher.
Exclusive footage in the form of an extended 5+ minute trailer was presented to the CinemaCon crowd at Caesar’s Palace. Click here for a detailed description of the Disclosure Day footage.
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.