Warner Bros pulled out the stops in a sensory assault of a CinemaCon presentation on Tuesday afternoon that saw on-stage appearances from Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman – separately – as well as Zendaya, Sandra Bullock, Timothée Chalamet, Jason Momoa and two of the greatest living directors and culminated with the first seven minutes from Dune: Part Three.
When motion picture group co-heads Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy assembled their key executives and brought up the house lights to applaud exhibitors after two-and-a-half hours at Dolby Colosseum, they were acknowledging a Goliath year at the box office and awards season that will resonate with two Davids who were not in attendance.
To Messrs. Zaslav and Ellison, the session all but screamed the accomplishments of a remarkable union of creatives and executives and promised what can come next. The message will not have been lost on the outgoing WBD CEO and incumbent Paramount CEO – whose proposed $110bn merger has so many in Hollywood fearing for their jobs and has come under fire from the convention hosts Cinema United.
Dune: Part Three; Tom Cruise returns
Denis Villeneuve capped the presentation by showing first footage from Dune: Part Three after a grand entrance flanked by a couple of dozen extras. Standing alongside stars Chalamet, Zendaya, and Jason Momoa, the French-Canadian filmmaker described the film as a thriller finale to his $1.2bn Dune sci-fi franchise, adding that he had planned to wait a few years but made it ”for the fans”.
Chalamet said of Villeneuve: “He’s really The One. He’s on another level.” Last week, Imax 70mm tickets for the December 18 release sold out within minutes.
Earlier in the first superstar appearance of the presentation, convention favourite Cruise and his Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu walked on stage at Caesars Palace to talk up Digger, the October 2 release that looks a safe bet for a world premiere berth in Venice.
The pair cued up Kubrickian footage of Cruise in heavy make-up as Digger Rockwell, an ageing, cat-loving oil baron who hollers at underlings in a thick Southern drawl after he makes “the worst decision in the world” as Iñárritu put it, triggering an environmental catastrophe. Cue Oscar prognostication.
Iñárritu is still working on Digger and said the idea came to him nine years ago and he approached Cruise seven years ago when the latter was filming Top Gun: Maverick. “I needed a fearless collaborator and I knew that only Tom could do it,” he said, adding: “This film is about all of us. It’s about humanity, human folly. When we know that we will fail, it’s funny.”
Cruise called Iñárritu an “amazing human being, amazing artist, amazing filmmaker” and said: “This kind of film is why I wanted to make movies. It took 40 years of movies to be able to put on the boots of Digger Rockwell. There are many, many layers … The movie’s wild, funny.” The cast includes John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Huller, and Jesse Plemons.
Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock brought a trailer and talked up their reunion as sisters in Practical Magic 2, the follow-up to the 1998 original that comes out on September 11 and is directed by Susanne Bier. JJ Abrams promoted his original feature The Great Beyond, an original sci-fi that lands on November 13 and stars Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey, and Samuel Jackson.
DC Studios
The DC Studios segment hosted by co-chairman and co-CEO Peter Safran heard from Supergirl star Milly Alcock, director Craig Gillespie, and Momoa, who glided on stage on his character Lobo’s souped-up motorbike. The group showed extended footage from the tentpole, which takes place mostly off-Earth and arrives on June 26.
Despite the $618m global box office success of last year’s Superman, a considerable amount is riding on Supergirl. Safran and DC Studios co-head James Gunn need every ounce of evidence to support their thesis that their young DC stable can sustain a run of films that will give Marvel Studios a run for its money.
The second DC film of 2026, Clayface directed by James Watkins, opens on October 23 and will be a further test. Gunn, Superman star David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor sent a recorded message as production is about to begin next week on 2027 release Man Of Tomorrow.
The session managed to find time to promote several other features and was emceed by Patton Oswalt, with occasional appearances by global distribution president Jeffrey Goldstein bedecked in a gold suit in homage to the Oscar success of One Battle After Another, Sinners, and Weapons.
Attendees saw trailers to David Robert Mitchell’s August 14 sci-fi tentpole The End Of Oak Street starring Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor; Simon McQuoid’s Mortal Kombat II on May 8; Sebastien Vanicek’s Evil Dead Burn on July 10; and The Cat In The Hat on November 6, marking the first release from Warner Bros Pictures Animation.
2027/2028 line-ups
De Luca and Abdy plan to release 14 films this year and 18 in 2027 after they opened 11 in 2025 and six when they assumed their roles in 2022. One year after the executives took to the stage amid rumours of their supposedly imminent departure following a slow start at last year’s box office, the pair were eager to share a victory lap with their fellow executives, collaborators, and exhibitors.
As Goldstein said, the studio’s releases grossed more than $4.4bn at the global box office and enjoyed a string of nine number one debuts in North America. At the Oscars, the studio’s One Battle After Another as its first best picture win since Argo in 2013, while Sinners earned a record 16 Academy Award nominations.
“That is what committing to originality can get you,” Abdy said. “We have no intention of slowing down – in fact we’re accelerating,” De Luca said.
The executives announced the name of the specialty division led by former Neon marketing head Christian Parkes – Warner Bros Clockwork – and said the first release will be Sean Baker’s Ti Amo! in 2027.
Returning to the main slate, among the features being lined up for 2027 are: Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part II starring Robert Pattinson; A Minecraft Movie sequel with Jack Black; Ocean’s Prequel with Bradley Cooper confirmed as director and starring with Margot Robbie (June 25); Santiago Menghini’s The Revenge Of La Llorona produced by James Wan (April 9); M Night Shyamalan ghost story Remain; Keanu Reeves in sci-fi thriller Shiver that is currently shooting in Dominican Republic; Lord Of The Rings: The Hunt For Gollum (December 17); and a Nancy Meyers December release.
2028 brings Weapons director Zach Cregger’s thriller The Flood (August 11) – and Cregger’s prequel Gladys (September 8) inspired by Amy Madigan’s Oscar-winning Aunt Gladys that De Luca said might start a franchise; Francis Galluppi’s Evil Dead Wrath (April 7); Final Destination 7 (May 12); and Baz Luhrmann’s Joan Of Arc film starring Isla Johnston (November 22).
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