Disney closed out the major studios presentations at this year’s CinemaCon and they had a ton of stuff to show off. Check out my recap to learn about everything shown!
Disney kicked off their presentation with a fun sizzle reel which featured the new live-action version of Stitch bouncing around between the different films on display. Notably, the sizzle reel included a first look at the new Predator in Predator: Bad Lands as well as some TRON: Ares footage.
Andrew Cripps, head of Disney Theatrical Distribution, came out and served as our guide throughout the presentation as he discussed titles from the various studios under Disney’s banner. He discussed Disney’s 2024 and how impressive it was, before diving into what 2025 had to offer…and pretty much only 2025.
While some of the other studios made mention of projects coming up in 2026 and beyond, Disney remained laser-focused on this year’s slate. It makes sense, but as a diehard Star Wars fan, I was a little bummed Lucasfilm didn’t get a mention. Alas, there’s always next year and there were TONS of great stuff to see regardless.
Disney Studios
Cripps started off by taking a look at three of Disney’s main upcoming, live-action films. To start, we got a fun new clip from Lilo & Stitch (May 23rd), showing off a recreation of when Nani has to bring her sister Lilo, and their new “dog” to her work. It’s not a one-for-one recreation, but does a fantastic job putting Stitch’s mischievous nature on full display.
Next up, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis hopped on stage to talk about Freakier Friday (August 8th) and how excited they were to finally get a chance to make this sequel finally happen. Having just released a trailer for the film, Disney instead showed off a clip from the film featuring the, already swapped, Anna and Tess trying to navigate an encounter with an old flame.
Funny enough, as the clip came to an end, myself and other journos in attendance noticed a whole bunch of smoke filling up the Colosseum. The mystery was soon resolved when a quick little laser-light show played out over the audience, laying out a distinctive grid we all recognized from the iconic world of TRON.
Jared Leto and none other than Jeff Bridges (Flynn!) took the stage to discuss TRON: Ares (October 10th). Leto plays Ares, a “highly sophisticated Program, who is sent from the digital world into the real world on a dangerous mission.” We then got to take a look at the first trailer.
It was stunning. Within the first few seconds we see the iconic lightcycles within the real—our—world being chased by the cops. One of the riders then initiates the laser/light wall and splits the police car straight down the middle. The rest of the trailer almost plays out like an alien invasion disaster flick, with some dazzling action that feels insanely epic. While I have a love/hate relationship with the previous film, TRON: Legacy, Ares looks to have the goods.
20th Century Studios
Cripps then shifted gears to talk about 20th Century Studios, and brought out actress Elle Fanning to talk about Danny Trachtenberg’s Predator: Badlands (November 7th). Badlands asks the question, “what if the Predator was the good guy?” The film puts a Predator alien in the protagonist role this time around as a young outcast on a remote planet teams up with Thia (Fanning) in search of the “ultimate adversary.” Presumably this is in order to prove himself and potentially get himself out of exile.
The trailer ruled. Predator has long been one of my favorite franchises, and my love of Prey is pretty well documented. As such, I was thrilled to see how different Badlands looks to be. Prey worked because it took familiar aspects and changed how we engaged with them. So it’s nice to see Badlands isn’t trying to be complacent.
Badlands looks to go all in on the Sci-Fi elements, as we see the outcast Predator traversing this hostile alien planet. We also get some quick glimpses of other Predators in different attire and clearly from differing clans, and even some sleek new weaponry. Definitely feels like we’re going to see some interesting expansion into overall Predator lore.
There are some other humans running about as well, which brings to mind a whole bunch of questions, before ending with the lead character calling up some massive beast. Here we get a great shot of his face (spoiler alert, he’s one ugly mother fucker). It’s a great parting shot that shows a lot of attention to detail on the face/design that also makes it clear we’ll be seeing a lot more expressions from the creature.
Following that, Jeremy Allen White and Jeremy Strong arrived to introduce the first trailer for the Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere. The film, based on a novel of the same name, chronicles Springsteen’s making of the 1982 album “Nebraska.” The trailer itself looks like your typical musical biopic, and with A Complete Unknown still so fresh on the brain, it’s hard to not draw comparisons. It looks…fine, but nothing immediately seems to jump out that will make it different from what we normally expect in these flicks.
Jamie Lee Curtis then returned to the stage, alongside Emma Mackey, who both star in James L. Brooks’ upcoming film, Ella McCay (September 19th). The duo presented Brooks with the CinemaCon Cinema Vérité Award. In his acceptance speech, Brooks talked about the importance of movie theaters, hammering home the necessity of previews, and the perils of strictly following “data.”
Of course, they also discussed the Ella McCay film, which is about “the complicated politics that arise when a young woman’s stressful career clashes with her chaotic family life.” The early trailer shown displayed the wit/charm Brooks is known for in his films. I’m sure it’ll be a solid flick, but this type of dramedy can be hard to convey in a trailer.
Searchlight Pictures
Even though Cripps mentioned Searchlight Pictures has plenty of projects in the works, the only thing shown from the studio was a trailer for The Roses (August 29th). Based on The War of the Roses (both a novel and previous film), The Roses stars Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch as a married couple who fall out of love and wind up with a messy divorce/fight over the house.
Frankly, it looks pretty hilarious. This is a dramatically different approach to the darker source material in the novel, and even how the previous film handled things. I’m definitely digging how it looks though, and with a stacked cast, I could see this becoming a sleeper hit.
Marvel Studios
The presentation then shifted over to Marvel Studios as Cripps, eventually, brought out much of the cast (Florence Pugh, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah John-Kamen and Wyatt Russell) of Thunderbolts* (May 2nd) to the stage. It was a funny moment as the cast seemingly dragged in a “drunk” Wyatt Russell into the Colosseum. It’s neat to see how much fun they genuinely seem to have working with one another. It was even more endearing as Pugh stumbled over her words while introducing a new clip from the film.
The clip itself is interesting as the team (minus Taskmaster) storms the former Avengers tower, now owned by Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. They mention being there to “take her in” and I’m curious to see how they end up opposite of one another. Before they can do anything, however, Valentina mentions she isn’t alone and the ominous boots of Sentry can be seen.
Following that, a special video from Kevin Feige, from the set of Avengers: Doomsday (which is only “days away” from principal photography) where he introduced a brand new trailer for Fantastic Four (July 25th).
There’s a WHOLE LOT to love in this trailer. Some narration at the beginning makes it clear this version of the Fantastic Four have been around and protecting the world for quite some time. The story in the film seems to pick up when Sue Storm becomes pregnant, which shifts their dynamic a bit.
That’s when the Silver Surfer, Shalla-Bal, shows up and warns of the planet’s imminent destruction at the hands of Galactus. There are a number of quick scenes here, but what struck me most was how well it all conveys the gravity of the situation. At one point, a person in a crowd (like in a news conference) asks Reed Richards if they’re safe, to which Reed replies, “I don’t know.”
The simple line reading from Pedro Pascal instantly raises the stakes and tension. Combined with everything else, it really feels like Marvel has something special cooked up with this one.
Disney Animation
Zoe Saldaña arrived to introduce an extend look from Pixar’s Elio, which we were able to watch in Dolby 3D. It’s a cute look at the film and does a way better job of conveying the story and action than the first trailer gave us. Still, something about this Pixar film just feels…off. I should be over the moon. I love Pixar, I love aliens/Sci-Fi, but nothing about Elio is really hooking me.
Ke Huy Quan then hopped on stage to talk about Zootopia 2 (November 26th), in which he plays Gary De’Snake, who sets the stage for the new mystery for Judy and Nick to solve. Problem is, they’re having some trouble of their own. The first clip we got showed them having to take a sort of therapy in order to work better together as partners.
The second clip we saw showed Judy and Nick in an all new part of Zootopia as they try and track down Gary. The animation looks ridiculously impressive and, as someone who loved the first film, it was great to see these characters back in action. It is kinda weird, however, that Disney hasn’t put together an actual trailer for this one.
Avatar: Fire and Ash
Lastly, Disney closed out the presentation with the highly anticipated film, Avatar: Fire and Ash (December 19th). James Cameron appeared in a pre-recorded message (where he’s in New Zealand still working on the film) before bringing Zoe Saldaña back onto the stage, who then revealed some first look footage at the film.
I thought my eyeballs were going to melt from the glory I beheld. As Cameron told is, Fire and Ash will put the Sully family “through the ringer” and we’ll meet two new Na’vi tribes. The Air Traders, traverse the sky in giant air ships that look something like living hot air balloons. The clip we see shows Jake and his family riding along with the Traders before they’re attacked by Ash Raiders.
The Ash People are former Na’Vi, who have completely forsaken Eywa. Based on the footage it looks like Stephen Lang’s villainous Quaritch aligns himself with this new tribe, who seem hellbent on making Jake’s life miserable. Filled with stunning visual effects (I don’t know how they keep getting better) and some impressive looking action, Avatar Fire and Ash somehow looks even bigger/more epic in scale than the previous films.
Even without a look ahead to some of their bigger films on the horizon (like Star Wars), Disney came packing the heat at CinemaCon and it easily provided some of the most exciting footage I’ve seen all week. Definitely a fantastic way to close out the show.
