‘Wicked: For Good’ footage finds its 1st audience, James Gunn declares a ‘Summer of Superman’: What we saw behind the scenes at CinemaCon

LAS VEGAS — Each year, members of the theater owner trade organization Cinema United host a convention at which major studios present footage to get them excited about their upcoming slates.

CinemaCon is a celebration of the joy of moviegoing, which means that each studio presentation typically involves exclusive sneak previews, glitzy celebrity appearances and announcements to get fans excited. It generates a lot of hype for new releases, and with the exception of Disney’s presentation, people aren’t allowed to share their own photos and videos.

Here are 11 of the most surprising and exciting things we saw behind the scenes at CinemaCon.

The Beatles are coming … eventually

I thought that the pyrotechnics and martial arts that Sony put on display ahead of showing three scenes from Karate Kid: Legends might have been the most exciting moment of the first night of CinemaCon, but then the Beatles arrived on stage.

That is, Paul Mescal, Joseph Quinn, Harris Dickinson and Barry Keoghan — who will be playing Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John Lennon and Ringo Starr, respectively. The casting had been rumored for months, but Sony finally confirmed it. The studio also confirmed that each of the Beatles will be getting their own movie and that all of those movies will be coming in April 2028.

Director Sam Mendes called it “the first binge-able theatrical experience.” On stage, the actors quoted the infamous lyric from “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” saying, “You’re such a lovely audience, we’d like to take you home with us.” They then bowed in the same way the Beatles would have.

The Weeknd gave a truly surprising (and extremely loud) performance

One of the biggest recording artists in the world also co-wrote and starred in a movie Hurry Up Tomorrow, a fictionalized narrative of his own life, which opens in theaters on May 16. He might be billed as Abel Tesfaye for the film, but at CinemaCon, he took the stage as the Weeknd, performing his new song “Cry For You” and his biggest-ever hit “Blinding Lights” to close out Lionsgate’s presentation.

The audience wasn’t sure what to do at first, sitting quietly as the Weeknd’s incredibly loud and flashy (there was an epilepsy warning beforehand) set rang so loud through the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, but he encouraged people to get on their feet.

“I can’t believe I’m looking at Mark Hamill right now,” the Weeknd said to the actor, who was seated in the audience after presenting a clip of his forthcoming film The Long Walk a few minutes earlier. “The force is with you, brother.”

The ‘Summer of Superman’ starts early — and a little awkwardly

CinemaCon attendees were abuzz about what footage of 2025’s Superman reboot we’d get to see, and as it turned out, it wasn’t too exclusive. Director James Gunn posted the same footage online shortly after the Warner Bros. presentation.

He declared 2025 the “Summer of Superman” and explained how he’d been trying to crack the story of the superhero for years. He realized that Superman’s goodness needed to be on display.

Stars Rachel Brosnahan and David Corenswet, aka Lois Lane and Superman, also spoke on stage, but they were both a little stiff. Maybe that’s a sign of their innocence — or that they’re not quite prepared for the overwhelming sense of anticipation that this movie has inspired. Fortunately, Nicholas Hoult, who plays Lex Luthor, dialed up the charm to cover for the awkward moments.

The movie hits theaters on July 11.

Warner Bros. presented about 10 minutes from the latest Final Destination movie, which was exceedingly gory. The film franchise, which is about the inevitability of death, is notorious for creating fear about everyday objects. This time, it’s vending machines and nose rings.

It’ll be a treat for horror fans, but for the press corps in attendance, it was violent enough to cause at least one person to leave the theater. New Line Cinema president Richard Brener got a lot of laughs for his deadpan comment: “See you at the Oscars.” You can see the film in theaters starting May 16.

Universal’s post-Wicked presentation pulls out all the stops

It’s true, CinemaCon audiences got to see the first-ever footage of Wicked: For Good. It looks a lot like the first one — fun, emotional and, in my opinion, better lit. It’s out Nov. 21.

From what I’ve heard, the Wicked of it all was less impressive this year than it was last year, but one thing was clear: Universal had a generous budget for their presentation. A live orchestra was on stage the entire time, playing favorite pieces from Jurassic Park, Psycho, Despicable Me, E.T. and Wicked, among others.

The celebrities who presented films also appeared to have more charisma (and a funnier script) than most. Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali and director Gareth Edwards riffed before presenting a new, scarier trailer for Jurassic World Rebirth, which premieres July 2. Johansson said that she’d been angling to be in the franchise for the last 15 years, and Edwards joked that she only hadn’t heard back until now because “she’s too expensive.”

Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, director Jon M. Chu and producer Marc Platt introduced the Wicked: For Good footage. “We already have our tissues packed,” Grande joked, referencing the emotional press tour from the previous film.

Blumhouse and Focus Features play the fan game

Though new franchise installments are typically the safest bet at the box office, Universal didn’t neglect their prestige films at its presentation. Focus Features chairman Peter Kujawski praised the vaping Catholic cardinals of Conclave and the filmmakers whose work “builds uniquely strong audience bonds.” We also got a first look at Wes Anderson’s stylish The Phoenician Scheme (May 30), a brief clip of Emma Stone getting her head shaved in Yorgos Lanthimos’s mysterious Bugonia (Nov. 7), and a clip of Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale (Sept. 12). Sadly, we don’t know much about Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t!, Ronan Day-Lewis’ Anemone or Chloé Zhao’s Hamnet, though they’re allegedly coming soon.

Blumhouse CEO Jason Blum took things in a more chaotic direction, showing up in a Freddy Fazbear costume to announce the sequel to Five Nights at Freddy’s. About 30 people dressed as the murderous robot M3gan took the stage to dance, somersault and crawl around to Britney Spears’s “Oops I Did It Again” before the trailer of M3gan 2.0 (in theaters June 27) was shown.

On a less flashy but still fascinating note, Jim Orr, Universal’s president of theatrical distribution, touted the “Gentleminions” trend from 2022 in which people showed up to see Minions: The Rise of Gru wearing suits and sometimes wreaking havoc. It’s likely that some theater owners weren’t thrilled, but it certainly sold tickets.

Amazon MGM makes its highly original CinemaCon debut

The studio’s first time at the convention came late at night (well, 8:15 p.m.) after attendees were invited to a party at a nightclub, but it was so worth it. They introduced new and highly-anticipated films that were largely part of brand-new franchises, utilizing celebrities to give a first look at footage.

Ryan Gosling was on his silliest behavior to talk about the sci-fi epic Project Hail Mary (March 20, 2026), Ayo Edibiri and Andrew Garfield turned up the charm for the academic drama After the Hunt (Oct. 10), Chris Pratt embraces his goofiness for the unconventional thriller Mercy (Jan. 23, 2026), Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry drummed up excitement for the dark adventure flick Crime 101 (2026) and Vivica A. Fox, Malorie Johnson and Kara Young introduced the “Greek tragedy, Afropunk, spaghetti western” Is God Is (no date yet.) It was an embarrassment of riches for cinephiles excited to see the streaming giant investing in the theatrical experience — but only After the Hunt will for sure be released in 2025.

He wasn’t a the convention in person, but everyone was talking about Nicholas Galitzine’s beefed-up appearance in Masters of the Universe (June 5, 2026), which we saw behind-the-scenes footage of.

Many of the Amazon MGM presenters participated in an onstage selfie at the end of the night.

Three Bags Full confuses audiences

Maybe it was the fact it followed a serious of apparently prestigious film presentations, an abrupt video message from star Hugh Jackman, the tagline — ”a sheep detective movie” — but the press section was seriously confused about whether or not we were seeing footage of a real movie or an extended bit with Three Bags Full.

It didn’t help when we saw a recorded video message from co-star Emma Thompson in which she had to repeatedly keep pausing because a woman was dragging a suitcase across rocky terrain behind her.

Regardless, the mystery thriller appears to be real enough to be slated for release on Feb 20, 2026.

Tom Cruise gets the biggest applause of the convention

Before presenting stunt-heavy footage for Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, star Tom Cruise took the stage to raucous applause — even more than what followed several minutes of on-stage motorbike stunts at the beginning of Paramount’s presentation. The movie is in theaters May 23.

Audience members yelled “thank you” to Cruise on stage before he opened his speech with a moment of silence for his friend and former co-star Val Kilmer.

Earlier that day, CinemaCon’s Star of the Year Glen Powell joked that his mentor Cruise gave him advice about doing his own stunts, which was why his body was “thrashed and smashed” while filming The Running Man. That’s hitting theaters Nov. 7.

In addition to earning the most enthusiastic cheers, Paramount’s presentation also gets an honorable mention for bringing out the person in the coolest outfit (Colman Domingo for The Running Man) and the trailer with the biggest laughs (The Naked Gun, out Aug. 1 — specifically that O.J. Simpson joke).

Deliver Me From Nowhere is finally going somewhere

Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong mumbled through a presentation of the first trailer for Bruce Springsteen biopic Deliver Me from Nowhere, which isn’t an insult! Both highly acclaimed actors were clearly emotionally connected to the footage, which follows Springsteen’s reckoning with fame and family ahead of recording his album, Nebraska.

Strong, who plays Springsteen’s manager Jon Landau in the movie, said, “I see Jon as the Lewis to Bruce’s Clark” — a characteristically idealistic quip from an actor known from being very serious about his art.

We still don’t have a release date, but it’ll most likely be around awards season.

Disney had plenty of Marvel movies to talk about during its presentation, but few updates. What transfixed fans the most was an exclusive look at The Fantastic Four: First Steps, which featured Julia Garner as Silver Surfer and revealed that Vanessa Kirby’s Sue Storm is pregnant. It was the only time I heard people literally gasp in the theater! It’ll be in your theater starting July 25.