Disney unleashed the power of their franchises in a high-octane CinemaCon studio finale on Thursday afternoon and showed the Avengers: Doomsday trailer and the opening scene from The Mandalorian And Grogu.
Jon Favreau opened the presentation at Dolby Colosseum in Caesar’s Palace by treating exhibitors at Dolby Colosseum to the footage from Disney/Lucasfilm’s first Star Wars film in seven years, which stars Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver and opens on May 22.
The filmmaker has used a wide array of tools to craft the sci-fi adventure, including stop-motion animation, digital animation through ILM, and motion capture. Disney executives were quick to remind that after a long wait since Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker opened in 2019, they are fixed on giving fans plenty to enjoy: Star Wars: Starfighter starring Ryan Gosling arrives in May 28, 2027.
Not to be outdone, Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige and directors Anthony and Joe Russo summoned their lead Robert Downey Jr., who strutted on stage to the strains of Sympathy For The Devil dressed in a slick green suit reflecting the colour motif of Doctor Doom/Victor von Doom.
Joe Russo described Doom as the most layered and brilliant of villains and the group was joined by Chris Evans. The trailer showed Thor assembling a superhero crew that encompassed X-Men, Fantastic Four and others from the Marvel Cinematic Universe including Evans’s Steve Rogers, who catches Thor’s hammer.
Such was the response to the trailer that Feige showed it a second time.
Prior to the segment, international theatrical distribution president Andrew Cripps unveiled Infinity Vision, a new certification for premium large format (PLF) cinemas that will debut with the re-release in September of Avengers: Endgame.
Tom Hanks (Woody) and Tim Allen (Buzz Lightyear) came on to tee up footage from June 19 release Toy Story 5 directed by McKenna Harris and Andrew Stanton directed the latest instalment in Pixar’s 31-year franchise.
CinemaCon regular Dwyane Johnson came on to show a sneak peak from the July 10 live-action release Moana and spoke of how his late grandfather inspired Maui, his character from the 10-year franchise. The female empowerment story is led by CinemaCon Rising Star Of 2026 award recipient Catherine Laga’aia “We should as men champion our women,” Johnson said. “To me, that’s what real masculinity looks like.”
Executives showed a trailer from The Devil Wears Prada 2 (May 1) with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt.
A 20th Century Studios segment showed a trailer from Ridley Scott’s dystopian sci-fi The Dog Stars (August 28) adapted from Peter Heller’s novel and starring Jacob Elodri, Josh Brolin, and Guy Pearce; and a rousing trailer from Brian Duffield’s underwater thriller Whalefall (October 16), adapted from Daniel Knaus’s novel about a scuba diver who gets swallowed by a whale.
The Dolby Colosseum crowd also saw footage from Martin McDonagh’s upcoming dark comedy Wild Horse Nine (November 6) at Searchlight Pictures starring Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, Parkey Posey, and Steve Buscmemi. The Searchlight slate includes Super Troopers 3 (August 9), as well as two proejcts in post: Tony Gilroy’s drama Behemoth! starring Will Arnett and Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde and drama The Sweetsick starring Cate Blanchett.
Hailee Steinfeld and Rashida Jones were announced as the leads voice cast in the animation Hexed ahead of the November 25 release. Queen Latifah, Denis Leary, and Ray Romano came on stage to show a sneak preview of Ice Age: Boiling Point, the sixth entry in the franchise that opens on February 5, 2027.
The Ice Age tentpole is one of two titles from Disney’s 2027 animation slate, alongside Pixar’s Gatto on March 5.
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