NBC Universal brought a show-stopping spectacle and a wide array of titles to CinemaCon 2026. With special guests like Snoop Dog, Christopher Nolan, and Stephen Spielberg’s first-ever CinemaCon appearance, NBC Universal did not come to play games.
Universal Pictures Chair Donna Langley opened the presentation, making a commitment to a firm 45-day theatrical window and celebrating the studio’s recent box office success with The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is on track to become the first billion-dollar film of 2026. What followed was a wild ride of upcoming titles guaranteed to attract moviegoers in all genres. From Illumination’s Minions to Focus Features’ Sense and Sensibility to Spielberg’s extraterrestrial thriller Disclosure Day, Universal’s 2026 and early 2027 slate is as deep, varied, and made for the cinematic experience.
Here is the complete breakdown.
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
SNOOP (WORKING TITLE)
This Craig Brewer-directed biopic will star Jonathan Daviss, from Outer Banks, as Snoop Dogg. Few details were shared about this biography of Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr. ‘s journey from Long Beach, Calif., by way of Mississippi, to one of the most iconic Rap and Hip-Hop icons of all time. In this, it’s almost a spiritual successor to 2015’s Straight Outta Compton.
As DJ Green Lantern kicked off the presentation, Snoop took the stage to thunderous applause and cheers from the Cinemacon audience. After announcing his upcoming biography, he introduced Daviss to the crowd to display the uncanny casting. Filming begins in Los Angeles in the summer of 2026.
Snoop (Working Title) is planned for a 2027 release.
DISCLOSURE DAY
Steven Spielberg’s upcoming sci-fi drama thriller stars Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Colman Domingo. Domingo brought Spielberg on stage and welcomed him to his first-ever CinemaCon. As Spielberg took the stage, he was greeted with a standing ovation. Imagine being in the same room as the man whose films sparked your love of cinema. Before discussing Spielberg’s career during an intimate, on-stage conversation between him and Domingo, the Motion Picture Association awarded him an oddly inserted MPA America 250 Award, a one-time honor tied to the upcoming 250th Anniversary of the U.S.
During the conversation with Domingo, Spielberg praised the 45-day theatrical window commitment but challenged the audience by asking, “Do I hear 60?” He also introduced expanded footage at CinemaCon to give the audience a look at his film. Spielberg waited 60 years since Close Encounters of the Third Kind to respond to contact with the alien world. The trailer starts with Blunt as a desk anchor for the news. She starts speaking, but the words are in an alien language. What followed left the audience vibrating with an anxious, excited energy, ready to get this film in their theaters.
Disclosure Day will be in theaters on June 12, 2026.
MINIONS & MONSTERS
This Illumination animated comedy is directed by Pierre Coffin and is set during the birth of the film industry in 1920s Hollywood. It features an all-star voice cast, Coffin as the Minions, Trey Parker, Jesse Eisenberg, Zoey Deutch, Allison Janney, Bobby Moynihan, Phil LaMarr, Christoph Waltz, and Jeff Bridges.
Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri took the stage to introduce trailers for the film and said Minions & Monsters is a movie that celebrates the birth of cinema. In the chaotic footage shown at Cinemcon, the Minions are wreaking havoc on the studio set, and the audience ate it up. This crowd wanted to know there were animated, family movies on the upcoming slate.
Minions & Monsters will be in theaters on July 1, 2026.
THE ODYSSEY
This retelling of Homer’s Odyssey is directed by Christopher Nolan. The star-studded cast includes Matt Damon as Odysseus, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Robert Pattinson as Antinous, Benny Safdie as Agamemnon, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, Zendaya as Athena, Jon Bernthal as Menelaus, John Leguizamo as Eumaeus, Himesh Patel as Eurylochus, Mia Goth as Melantho, and Charlize Theron as Calypso. Nolon later joked, “It would be easier for me to tell you who isn’t in the film.”
After a film retrospective reel of Nolan’s career, he took the stage to talk about the journey to make this film and his passion behind the story. The audience leaned on every word. Before introducing footage to the exhibitors, Nolan described this story as being about family. “This is a story about a father’s desperate journey to return home, not just to reclaim his kingdom, but to save his wife, the queen, who’s been managing this kingdom for 20 years, in his absence, who’s fighting to save her son from an increasingly hostile world.”
The extended footage shown at CinemaCon depicted the siege of Troy, starting with the citizens bringing the infamous horse through the city gates and ending with the Greeks laying waste to the Trojan army. The audience responded with excited anticipation for the release.
The Odyssey storms theaters July 17, 2026.
ONE NIGHT ONLY
This Will Gluck-directed film stars Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner.
Concept: A romantic comedy set in a world where premarital sex is legally permitted only one night per year
After a plea to the audience to support love stories, the studio screened exclusive footage of this upcoming romantic comedy to the CinemaCon audience. In the story, two strangers meet on the one night per year when premarital sex is legally required. Oddly, fewer people reacted to that bleak version of reality. The audience immediately reacted to the chemistry between Barbaro and Turner.
One Night Only is scheduled for a 2026 release.
OTHER MOMMY
This Rob Savage-directed horror is produced by James Wan’s Atomic Monster and stars Jessica Chastain, Jay Duplass, Dichen Lachman, Sean Kaufman, and Karen Allen.
In the psychological thriller, a family is harassed by an identical double of the mother, one loving and the other terrifying. The footage shown at CinemaCon was an unhinged gut punch designed to keep the viewer confused as Chastain played a double role. Are you my real mommy? The audience cannot be sure.
Other Mommy will be available in theaters on Oct. 9, 2026.
FORGOTTEN ISLAND
This DreamWorks Animation film, inspired by Filipino mythology, is an original story directed by Joel Crawford & Januel Mercado. This film represents the studio’s commitment to expanding the cultural and visual vocabulary of American animation.
While the film is still a work in progress, a complete version was screened at CinemaCon, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive. The animated feature explores the concepts of found family and the power of shared memories through a character-driven story mostly set in a land of Filipino legend.
Forgotten Island is expected to be released in theaters on Sept. 25, 2026.
FOCKER IN-LAW
This American comedy is directed and written by John Hamburg. Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, and Blythe Danner return to the popular franchise, joined by Focker-to-be Ariana Grande.
Stiller and De Niro took the CinemaCon stage to introduce footage to the audience, but first, Stiller could not resist saying he was the one actor not cast in The Odyssey. After a
In the story, Stiller’s character, Greg Focker, has become the thing he feared. He’s the judgey, impossible patriarch, the father-in-law-to-be to Ariana Grande, who is marrying Focker’s son. The gag. She is a version of De Niro’s character, with a simple premise, but still hilarious. De Niro described Grande as one of the funniest scene partners he has ever worked with.
Focker In-Law is scheduled for theatrical release on Nov. 25, 2026.
VIOLENT NIGHT 2
This Tommy Wirkola-directed film stars David Harbour, Kristen Bell, Daniela Melchior, Jared Harris, Joe Pantoliano, Maxwell Friedman, and Andrew Bachelor. In this film, Santa Claus is on the naughty list. While trying to find himself as a mall Santa in New Jersey, he will have to dole out a little holiday justice.
The footage shown at CinemaCon opened with Harbour’s Santa doing a mall appearance. When assassins arrive, everything gets out of control until Mrs. Claus, played by Bell, enters in full Xena mode. The audience exploded.
Violent Night 2 is scheduled for a theatrical release on Dec. 4, 2026.
FOCUS FEATURES
SENSE & SENSIBILITY
This Georgia Oakley-directed regency drama is based on a novel by Jane Austen and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood, Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne Dashwood, alongside Caitríona Balfe, Frank Dillane, Herbert Nordrum, George MacKay, and Fiona Shaw.
The first trailer screened at CinemaCon indicated a faithful adaptation with novel-based dialogue with cinematography depicting rolling green English hills and grand estates, and a romantic period aesthetic. The audience seemed delighted and interested in this prestigious experience, sure to be mentioned during awards season.
Sense & Sensibility is scheduled for a theatrical release on Oct. 16, 2026.
WERWULF
Robert Eggers is back with another horrifying take on a Universal classic creature, the werewolf. The film stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe, and Ralph Ineson.
This Focus Features film is set in medieval England, where a young man feels the call of the wild. Dafoe-narrated footage shown at Cineman was a grimy, period-correct depiction of unwashed, torch-wielding villagers existing in terror, cut with scenes of Taylor-Johnson spasming in the moonlight. The audience was captivated and a little shaken.
Werwulf is scheduled for a theatrical release on Dec. 25, 2026.
NBCUniversal’s upcoming slate combines scale, diverse storytelling, and innovation to reinforce its support of the cinematic experience. The studio is operating on the belief that movies aren’t just watched, they are experienced. Large-scale epics like Odyssey and Disclosure Day, franchise IP and nostalgia like Minions and Focker In-Law, as well as independent and prestige pieces like Sense and Sensibility and Werwulf, all come together as a promise to the exhibitors. Universal will keep making films that demand a theatrical viewing.