Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution at Disney, had a clear message for exhibitors attending the CineEurope convention this week. Disney has a longer exclusive theatrical window than any other studio: an average of around 60 days, and more than 90 days in the case of Avatar: Fire And Ash. “Cinemas matter,” said Cripps.
And the commitment to theatrical has been measured at the worldwide box office, added Cripps, with Disney the top-grossing studio in 2025 – a feat it has achieved for nine of the past 10 years.
The reliably slick Disney CineEurope presentation was well-paced, did not overstay its welcome, covered all seven Disney studio brands, and saw a quartet of Cripps’ fellow studio executives – led by Lee Jury, head of studio marketing, EMEA, and Nick Rush, head of theatrical distribution, EMEA – introducing the footage.
CineEurope’s 2026 edition has been notable for the various studios’ emphasis on their animation slates. Given Disney’s heritage in this area, it was no surprise to see animation front and centre of its studio presentation, which began with Toy Story 5’s Woody and Jessie onstage alongside Cripps.
Jury and Rush then presented extensive footage for 20th Century Studios’ Ice Age: Boiling Point, Disney Animation’s Hexed and Pixar’s Gatto, while also showing title cards for Untitled Bluey Movie, Untitled Simpsons Movie, Frozen 3 and Incredibles 3.
Ice Age: Boiling Point revives a franchise that might be said to have dipped creatively with 2016’s Ice Age: Collision Course, which under-performed in North America ($60.1m), but nevertheless managed to gross a solid $409m worldwide.
The new film – which sees the animals this time navigating soaring temperatures and a volcanic explosion – is directed by John C Donkin (whose producing credits include Robots, Rio and Rio 2). Donkin also directed 2022 spinoff film The Ice Age Adventures Of Buck Wild for Disney+. This time squirrel Scrat is now a parent, and is joined by an infant Scrat.
Hexed and Gatto were showcased this week at Annecy International Animation Festival, and Screen’s coverage is here.
Jury and Rush segued into a pair of live-action adaptations of Disney animations – Moana and Tangled – presenting footage for the former. Moana director Thomas Kail is best known for directing off-Broadway and Broadway stage productions of In The Heights and Hamilton, winning a Tony in 2016 for the latter.
Documentary Oasis was awarded a significant spotlight in the slate presentation, with Jury joined onstage by directors Steven Knight, Dylan Southern and Will Lovelace. The pitch: this is not just a concert film, and not just a music documentary, but also a story of family and reconciliation. Also a love letter to the fans – the ones who were there at the 2025 reunion concerts, and the ones who could not be there.
Disney has another documentary, this one not yet dated: Everest: The Other Side, directed by Free Solo Oscar winners Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi.
20th Century Studios titles
Some past Disney CineEurope presentations have been relatively light on 20th Century Studios productions, but this was not the case this year. In addition to the new Ice Age film, Disney showcased footage from both Whalefall and The Dog Stars.
Both are adapted from books. Directed by Brian Duffield, Whalefall is based on Daniel Kraus’ 2023 novel, and tells the story of a scuba diver (Austin Abrams) who, while searching for the remains of his father, gets swallowed by a whale and attempts to escape. Disney showed the intense swallowing scene.
Abrams also stars in Sony’s Resident Evil, directed by Zach Cregger. The footage for both Abrams films was well-received at CineEurope, and the actor (who played the homeless drug addict in Cregger’s Weapons) looks set to experience a career high.
Directed by Ridley Scott, The Dog Stars is adapted from Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, which is set in a world whose population has been ravaged by a pandemic. Jacob Elordi stars as a former civilian pilot who has long survived alongside a hardened former Marine (Josh Brolin) – but then flies away in search of the possibility of a better life. Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney and Benedict Wong also star.
The Dog Stars will be presented in premium formats such as HDR by Barco, Imax and Dolby – signalling that Disney sees this as a priority title worthy of cinemas’ biggest and best screens.
Rebecca Kearey, head of international at Searchlight Pictures, introduced two new titles – Alice Birch’s Sweetsick and Alexander Payne’s Somewhere Out There – before presenting footage for Martin McDonagh’s Wild Horse Nine and Tony Gilroy’s Behemoth!.
Kearey showed a Wild Horse Nine sequence where CIA agents played by Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich, who in 1973 have been sent to destabilise democracy in Chile, hilariously interact with two local women while awaiting a flight to Easter Island. An awards season push looks likely for this November release.
Behemoth! stars Pedro Pascal as a cello player who returns to his native Los Angeles, and features music from nine composers including James Newton Howard and Alan Silvestri. The cast is rounded out by Will Arnett, Olivia Wilde, Eva Victor and Matthew Lillard.
Marvel and Star Wars
The Lucasfilm segment saw Jury marched back onto the stage by a quartet of Stormtroopers, while for Marvel, presenting duties were handed to Jeff Forman, head of international theatrical sales.
Disney will rerelease Star Wars next February, before unleashing stand-alone story Star Wars: Starfighter next May, on the 50th anniversary of the original film. Directed by Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine), Star Wars: Starfighter stars Ryan Gosling as a man tasked with accompanying a teenage boy (Irish actor Flynn Gray) from one side of the galaxy to the other.
For Marvel’s Avengers Doomsday, Disney has introduced Infinity Vision – not a new cinema technology but a certification standard, for which cinemas must apply. The release of the film is preceded by that of Avengers Endgame Encore, which returns the 2019 blockbuster to cinemas, this time with extra footage.
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