Don’t let the seemingly fan-friendly name fool you: CinemaCon is a place for insiders. Since its founding in 2011, the Las Vegas-based trade show is where major film studios present their upcoming projects to theater owners, specifically, the theater trade organization known as Cinema United. For those interested in blockbusters, this is the Super Bowl. Anything can happen.

If you don’t believe me, just ask actor-director Olivia Wilde, who stood in front of this crowd a few years ago presenting “Don’t Worry Darling” (2022). Mid-presentation, Wilde was served with papers related to her ongoing divorce settlement with actor Jason Sudeikis. It was a surreal moment that became, if only for a moment, the talk of Hollywood.

Though no papers were served this time, this year’s convention hosted a fascinating week of presentations that revealed a whole lot about the year ahead, so here’s what to know about the biggest moments from the first three days of CinemaCon.

Sony Pictures

This presentation was an effective summer preview for Sony, which is all-in on legacy sequels for 2025 — led by “Karate Kid: Legends,” “28 Years Later” — a follow up to “28 Days Later” (2002) — and the remake-slash-sequel “I Know What You Did Last Summer.” My first-ever column was all about the box-office volatility of legacy sequels, so it’s a bit concerning to see Sony’s aggressive focus on them.

But the most pressing news did not concern 2025. Much-needed updates on Spider-Man were promising — the Tom Holland sequel for summer 2026 is now titled “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and the animated “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse” has finally received a new release window: June 4, 2027. 

Even more intriguing was the declaration that Sam Mendes’ previously announced Beatles biopic series — one movie for each band member — would be released consecutively in April 2028. This is a risky bet that I wouldn’t make, but if Sony can make The Beatles into a box-office event for a month straight, 60 years after the release of “Hey Jude,” it will become a definitive studio achievement.

Lionsgate

For Lionsgate, CinemaCon was a tale of two franchises: “John Wick” and “The Hunger Games.” In addition to this summer’s spin-off film “Ballerina,”  Lionsgate unveiled a John Wick animated prequel, another spin-off focused on Donnie Yen’s character, Caine — and the big one: a fifth mainline “John Wick” film, with titular star Keanu Reeves and director Chad Stahelski returning, literally bringing Reeves’s character back from the dead.

As for “The Hunger Games,” another prequel, subtitled “Sunrise on the Reaping,” is set for 2026 and will film this summer — based on a novel that came out just over two weeks ago. 

Sticking only to Mr. Wick and the Games doesn’t seem like a sustainable strategy, though, so Lionsgate is hedging their bets on the magician heist franchise “Now You See Me,” with a third film — titled “Now You See Me: Now You Don’t” set for November and a fourth film announced at CinemaCon. It’s a strange pick, seeing as the films have never cracked more than $351 million worldwide at the box office.

Warner Bros.

Reports have been swirling this week that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been meeting with candidates to replace studio heads Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy after a rough patch at the box office. It made their presentation this week all the more important as they delivered an auteur-driven slate.

The duo previewed original projects like Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” “Barbarian” (2022) director Zach Cregger’s “Weapons” and Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Bride!” All three could certainly be good movies, but their box-office viability is questionable, especially by the standards of a major studio.

But the studio also brought more traditional fare, discussing the horror sequel “Final Destination: Bloodlines” and the Brad Pitt-led racing flick “F1” — based on the Formula One racing circuit itself and led by “Top Gun: Maverick” (2022) director Joseph Kosinski.

Then it was time to discuss the most pivotal blockbuster for 2025: “Superman,” the start of WB’s ambitious attempt at relaunching their DC brand under writer-director James Gunn, who is also the co-CEO of the new-look DC Studios. Even if that film performs well, it might not be enough for De Luca and Abdy to stick around.

Universal Pictures

It was a busy Wednesday for Universal, kicking off with a screening that morning of the forthcoming “How to Train Your Dragon” live-action remake, which was generally praised. The studio is so confident in the film’s performance that later that afternoon, the studio announced a sequel set for June 2027 as part of its broader presentation.

Paired with the franchise’s inclusion at the forthcoming Epic Universe park in Orlando, this is a big-budget bet that these “Dragon” movies can remain a flagship — we’ll just have to see if it all clicks.

Universal had something for everyone, including the roaring reboot “Jurassic World Rebirth,” the animated romp “Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie,” anticipated horror sequels like “M3GAN 2.0” and “Five Nights at Freddy’s 2,” and even some projects from indie imprint Focus Features, like a new “Downton Abbey” film and the next Wes Anderson project, “The Phoenician Scheme.”

If that weren’t enough, Universal also showed off “Wicked: For Good” and talked up Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” If I were to be any studio head in Hollywood right now, I’d probably opt to be Universal’s Donna Langley — life is pretty good over at Universal.

Amazon MGM Studios 

Just days after parting ways with studio head Jennifer Salke, Amazon MGM Studios debuted at CinemaCon with a bizarre but intriguing slate of original projects. The headliner was undoubtedly “Project Hail Mary,” an adaptation of “The Martian” novelist Andy Weir’s novel of the same name. The film, set for March 2026, stars Ryan Gosling and is directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, whose work spans from “21 Jump Street” to the Spider-Verse films.

Without much intellectual property to stand on, it was all about stars for Amazon MGM. Films with the likes of Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson and Chris Pratt were all teased. The big blockbuster IP swing seems to be next summer’s “Masters of the Universe,” an adaptation of the Mattel toy line. Other than that, it seems like the goal is to make a lot of smaller-budget successes until “James Bond” returns.

Sammy Bovitz is a sophomore writing about the business of film. His column, “Boardrooms & Blockbusters,” runs every other Friday. He is also a magazine editor at the Daily Trojan.