Wicked: For Good and Jurassic World Rebirth Dominate Universal's CinemaCon
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
‘Meet the Parents 4' Reveals Oscar-Nominee Is Joining Cast
Ariana Grande's movie career is already, ahem, Defying Gravity. The Wicked star has already started prepping for a new hit film, Meet the Parents 4, alongside none other than Hollywood legends Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro. The movie is set to hit the big screen on Nov. 25, 2026, only four days after Grande's second Wicked film arrives in theaters. Meet the Parents 4 will be the newest installment in Universal's classic comedy films. The first in the series, which came out in 2000, featured Ben Stiller as a nurse who faced hilarious mayhem while visiting his girlfriend's parents (Robert De Niro and Blythe Danner). Teri Polo stars as Stiller's girlfriend in the film, and Owen Wilson stars as her ex-boyfriend. The flick was an immediate hit and two follow-up movies were promptly rolled out in 2004 and 2010. Polo and Danner are expected to return alongside Stiller and De Niro, but the deals have yet to close, reported The Hollywood Reporter. In the upcoming installment, the son of Stiller and Polo gets engaged to an aggressive and dominating woman who isn't a great match. Grande allegedly plays this fiancée. Grande, who largely kicked off her career on Nickelodeon sitcom Victorious before excelling as a pop star, recently forayed back into acting in this year's record-breaking musical remake of Wicked. She earned an Oscar nomination for her role, along with Golden Globe, SAG, and BAFTA nominations for best support actress. The movie earned almost $800 million worldwide. Although casting directors have been tripping over each other to book her, she's declined several projects from Universal, Sony and Warner Bros., including one that would have given her the ability to pick her co-star. But Meet the Parents 4 finally caught her eye. When Meet the Parents first came out, it grossed over $330 million in the global box office, a number that would today be much higher. It also gave rise to another line of comedy sensations: Meet the Fockers with Dustin Hoffman and Barbara Streisand, and Little Fockers, which culminated in a total franchise gross of $1.13 billion globally. John Hamburg, who wrote all three existing films, will also write the screenplay for the new movie. It will be produced through Jane Rosenthal and De Niro's Tribeca Productions and through Jay Roach's Delirious Media. Roach directed the first three films. Stiller will also produce with John Lester via Red Hour Films and Hamburg will produce through Particular Pictures. The project will be overseen by Jacqueline Garell and Matt Reilly.
17 hours ago
Ariana Grande to star in new 'Meet the Parents' film
Ariana Grande is slated to star in the next installment of the " Meet the Parents" franchise. Universal Pictures confirmed to "Good Morning America" on Friday that the Academy Award and Golden Globe-nominated " Wicked" actress will star alongside Robert De Niro and Ben Stiller in the new film, which is expected to arrive next year. Grande shared the news on her Instagram story, writing, "very thrilled to be joining (meeting) the family !!!!!!!" Details about the film's plot and Grande's character have not been released. John Hamburg, the screenwriter for the previous three "Meet the Parents" films, wrote the screenplay for the fourth movie and is set to direct. De Niro will co-produce with Jane Rosenthal through Tribeca Productions. Stiller is also a producer on the project with John Lesher through Red Hour Films. According to Deadline, which first reported the news, original cast members Teri Polo and Blythe Danner will also return for the new film. The first "Meet the Parents" film was released in 2000. It followed Stiller's dealings with his girlfriend's parents, particularly her overprotective father. The film brought in $330,425,040 in worldwide box office, according to the Numbers, and spawned two successful sequels, "Meet the Fockers," which premiered in 2004, and "Little Fockers," which hit theaters in 2010. The new film will arrive in theaters Nov. 25, 2026.
Gizmodo
17 hours ago
- Gizmodo
Dean DeBlois Is Hopeful Cate Blanchett Will Return for ‘How to Train Your Dragon 2'
io9 recently sat down with How to Train Your Dragon filmmaker Dean DeBlois to chat about being the steward of DreamWorks and Universal Pictures' dragon franchise. In our conversation, when discussing how awesome it was to see Gerard Butler reprise his role as Hiccup's dad Stoic, we brought up other actors we'd like to see reprise roles or cameo in live-action, including original stars Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, and Cate Blanchett. DeBlois revealed to io9 that he hopes Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett will reprise her role as Valka in the announced upcoming live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon 2. 'We are keeping our fingers crossed,' he said, 'But yeah, I don't know… it's a little early to tell because I'm just writing the script.' Fans of the animated film know how big of a deal it would be to see Blanchett return to the franchise in the pivotal role. It's an early reveal in the sequel that Hiccup's mom Valka, who is mentioned a few times in the live-action film, is alive. And it's a twist that propels the stakes in the animated sequel which picks up five years after the events of the first film. Like Butler, Blanchett could easily slip back into the role and give us another undisputed fantasy genre queen performance to follow The Lord of the Rings' Galadriel and Thor: Ragnarok's Hela. However, we will note that Blanchett has recently talked about wanting to retire, telling the Radio Times last month she has stopped referring to herself as an actress: 'It's because I'm giving up… My family roll their eyes every time I say it, but I mean it. I am serious about giving up acting. [There are] a lot of things I want to do with my life.' As far as the original Hiccup and Astrid—Jay Baruchel and America Ferrera—coming back, that would have to be more of a cameo situation. They're older than the characters they played, and Hiccup and Astrid were re-cast with Mason Thames and Nico Parker for the live-action movie. 'We'll see what happens. Jay and America have been really supportive; in fact they weighed in on the casting when I was down to my top three Astrids and Hiccups. I shared them [with Jay and America], just to hear what they had to say, so they've been super supportive,' DeBlois said. 'But I think for their schedules it just wouldn't work out for this movie, but maybe in the future.' How to Train Your Dragon opens June 13.
