While Universal Pictures (along with Focus Features) showcased several of their upcoming films at CinemaCon on Wednesday, it was more noteworthy which titles on their slate they opted not to promote to theater executives and the press.
In the past, Universal would unveil first look footage of movies in production or break news about their biggest franchises. This year, the studio merely name-checked some of their most eagerly anticipated 2026 titles: Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, Super Mario Bros. Movie 2, Shrek 5, Steven Spielberg’s untitled sci-fi film, or Jordan Peele’s next directorial effort.
Notably, Fast and Furious 11 wasn’t even mentioned.
Instead, Universal’s presentation mostly consisted of playing new trailers for their 2025 films, kicking things off with Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and director Gareth Edwards debuting the next trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth.
Johansson joked that she pitched herself to executive producer Steven Spielberg “and said I’d play any role, even if I was eaten in the first five minutes.”
While Johansson clearly doesn’t die in the opening moments of Jurassic World Rebirth, one of the highlights of the new trailer was a high seas chase sequence where the heroes are in a boat pursuing a Mosasaurus and Johansson ends up hanging on for dear life.
New trailers were also shown for The Bad Guys 2, Nobody 2, Him (produced by Jordan Peele), and Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. Ditto Blumhouse titles M3GAN 2.0, SOULM8TE, Black Phone 2, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2. Focus Features showed trailers for three upcoming prestige films: The Phoenician Scheme, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, and Bugonia.
Gerard Butler, Nico Parker and director Dean DeBlois made an appearance to promote the live-action remake of How to Train Your Dragon, which screened in its entirety earlier in the day at the convention. The biggest news from this section was that there will be a live-action How to Train Your Dragon 2 and that it will be released in theaters on June 11, 2027.
Universal closed their CinemaCon 2025 presentation with Wicked: For Good, where stars Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo and director Jon M. Chu and producer Marc Platt took the stage to reveal the new trailer for the sequel, which hits theaters on November 21st.
The trailer leans into the tragic falling out between Elphaba and Glinda. “You’re the only friend I’ve ever had,” Elphaba tells Glinda. “And I’ve had so many friends,” Glinda replies. “But you’re the only one that mattered.”
The footage also revealed performances of the musical’s songs “For Good” and “No Good Deed,” and provided more glimpses of the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum) including his meeting with Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion.
For more CinemaCon coverage, find out what we learned about Superman, Mortal Kombat II, Resident Evil, Spider-Man: Brave New Day, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, John Wick 5, Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, and The Beatles.
