CinemaCon 2025 is the first time that the newly-formed Amazon MGM Studios will be presenting to exhibitioners, meaning that the pressure couldn’t be higher. Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures have all provided jam-packed presentations so far, and studios like Disney and Paramount are still to come tomorrow. The official convention of Cinema United — previously known as the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) — CinemaCon has become one of the top news events for eager moviegoers. The annual event sees theater owners, distributors, exhibitors, industry professionals, journalists, and more unite at the Caesars Palace in Las Vegas to celebrate the communal theatrical experience and discuss what’s coming in the future.
Amazon MGM Studios must make an impression at CinemaCon 2025 if they want to be taken seriously among the Hollywood competition. Moviegoers can expect new updates on their current slate, which includes the live-action He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Project Hail Mary, Crime 101, Mercy, and Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt. Press and CinemaCon 2025 attendees might also get updates on the James Bond 007 franchise now that Amazon MGM has full control over the IP. While it’s unlikely that the studio is ready to give any concrete information on the next Bond flick, or who will even play the titular spy, it’s hard to imagine that they wouldn’t brag about the franchise at CinemaCon.
CinemaCon is not open to the public, which means no releases of exclusive footage and first-look reveals from the highly anticipated event. But look no further, as we at DiscussingFilm will be listing below every major news update and exclusive footage description LIVE from the Amazon MGM CinemaCon 2025 studio presentation. Stay tuned as we continue to cover this year’s CinemaCon throughout the week, with presentations from Walt Disney Studios and Paramount Pictures still to come.
Live Universal Updates from CinemaCon 2025
Masters of the Universe (Live-Action)
Release Date: June 5, 2026.
Directed by Travis Knight.
Screenplay by Chris Butler.
Produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch, & Robbie Brenner.
Main Cast: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Jared Leto, Alison Brie, Idris Elba, Morena Baccarin, & Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson.
Exclusive Footage Description: Director Travis Knight, Nicholas Galitizine, and Camila Mendes introduced a sizzle reel first look at Masters of the Universe. Though there wasn’t a lot of footage of the film itself, we were shown a look at Nicholas Galitzine as He-Man reaching for his iconic sword. Knight expressed that his intention for this movie was to be as faithful to the cartoon and toy line as possible, but also capture a high fantasy aesthetic in live-action. We were given concept art and set photos of multiple characters in costume, including Morena Baccarin as The Sorceress, Idris Elba as Man-At-Arms, Jared Leto as Skeletor, and Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn, all of whom have incredibly ’80s accurate costumes.
Amazon MGM promises Masters of the Universe to be one of the biggest films they have slated for 2026, putting a large emphasis on showing off time lapses of the physical set elements and costumes being designed. Masters of the Universe is still filming, so there isn’t much to glean from the plot, but hopefully, the work shown here pays off into something immersive. What we can say is that there is an emphasis on practicality and accuracy, without it looking too ridiculous or uncanny in live-action. He-Man fans will definitely be happy with these designs.
Project Hail Mary
Release Date: March 20, 2026.
Directed by Phil Lord & Christopher Miller.
Screenplay by Drew Goddard.
Based on Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.
Produced by Phil Lord, Christopher Miller, Rachel O’Connor, Ryan Gosling, Aditya Sood, Amy Pascal, & Andy Weir.
Main Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Milana Vayntrub, & James Ortiz.
Exclusive Footage Description: CinemaCon 2025 attendees were treated to the first trailer from Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary. The trailer opens with Ryan Gosling as a quirky schoolteacher who is approached by a scientist played by Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) who needs his help. Why? The Earth’s Sun is dying and needs to be reignited. Ryan Gosling’s character, who is messy, nerdy, and a little clumsy, clashes with the environment around him, hinting at hilarious dynamics as Sandra Hüller tells Gosling’s character in no uncertain words that this mission is a “Hail Mary.” As Gosling asks who will do the mission, everyone looks at him.
After some banter about not being the right person to go into space (“I put the not in astronaut”), we cut to Gosling on his long space journey, where he is seen with a beard of various lengths. The trailer closes by pulling the curtain back on the real concept. Gosling encounters a strange creation of light that resembles a spaceship that shoots out an iron-like object that he can’t determine the origin of. He realizes it’s a message. He then boards a large granite-like ship and finds a small friendly alien named Rocky, but we only see his small gross hand with three fingers.
Ryan Gosling jokes, “So I met an alien today, but he isn’t growing inside me, which was a real concern at first.” The short amount of footage that follows indicates the two are working together. The trailer is a mix of somber, epic, and comedic, with some highly ambitious visuals of space via The Batman and Dune cinematographer Greg Fraiser.
Verity
Release Date: May 15, 2026.
Directed by Michael Showalter.
Screenplay by Nick Antosca.
Based on Verity by Colleen Hoover.
Produced by Nick Antosca, Alex Hedlund, Michael Showalter, Jordana Mollick, Anne Hathaway, Colleen Hoover, & Stacey Sher.
Main Cast: Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett, & Dakota Johnson.
Exclusive Footage Description: Amazon MGM brought CinemaCon attendees a first look teaser of Verity, an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling thriller novel directed by Michael Showalter and boosted by a star-studded cast. The trailer opens with a meet-cute between Josh Hartnett’s character, Jeremy, and Anne Hathway’s Verity, a famous crime novelist, at a bar. After the studio logos, there is a time skip to Dakota Johnson’s Lowen entering the now-married couple’s home. We find out that Verity has recently been through an accident and has been rendered mute due to her condition, so Jeremy has called Lowen to ghostwrite a novel Verity is now unable to finish.
Lowen takes on the job and becomes intimately involved in the lives of her employers, and quickly things reveal themselves to be much more complicated than they seem on the surface in this couple’s privileged life. The trailer’s tone switches to a crime thriller tone, Verity follows Lowen throughout the house, Lowen is shown covered in blood, and we are shown a scene where Jeremy has an affair with Lowen. Lowen is startled as she imagines Verity in Jeremy’s place during a kiss. The trailer ends with Verity staring at Lowen through the window, solidifying the movie’s scandalous and mysterious tone.
After the Hunt
Release Date: October 17, 2025.
Directed by Luca Guadagnino.
Written by Nora Garrett.
Produced by Jen Brody, Brian Glazer, Luca Guadagnino, & Allan Mandebaum.
Main Cast: Julia Roberts, Andrew Garfield, Ayo Edebiri, Chloë Sevigny, & Michael Stuhlbarg
Exclusive Footage Description: The first trailer for Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt was shown to eager audiences at CinemaCon 2025. The trailer starts with academic Harry (Andrew Garfield) talking about the newer generation’s fear of saying the wrong thing. Despite his brash nature, he’s obviously entertaining to a young student/teacher’s assistant, played by Ayo Edebiri. We then get some background on the protagonist, a friend of Harry’s played by Julia Roberts, whom Edebiri works with. Her and Harry’s friendship is well established, until Ayo Edebiri’s character comes up to Julia Roberts telling her that Harry sexually assaulted her.
Harry vociferously denies the allegations, going on a rant to Julia Roberts about cancel culture and calls Ayo a “fucking bitch.” Roberts replies, “Never say that to anyone else… but me”. The trailer then descends into full-on chaos as Ayo’s allegations become much bigger, with a racial component taking shape in the case, debate among the college, and Julia Roberts somehow caught in the middle of this storm. We finally see Ayo encountering Julia and saying, “I’m not comfortable having this conversation anymore.” Julia replies with, “Not everything’s supposed to make you comfortable.” It’s a fitting line to end a trailer that puts its audience on pins and needles..
Mercy
Release Date: January 23, 2026.
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov.
Written by Marco van Belle.
Produced by Charles Roven, Robert Amidon, Timur Bekmambetov, & Majd Nassif.
Main Cast: Chris Pratt, Rebecca Ferguson, Annabelle Wallis, & Kali Reis.
Exclusive Footage Description: At Amazon-MGM Studio’s CinemaCon panel, attendees were shown a special extended trailer for Mercy, a sci-fi thriller in which a detective played by Chris Pratt is accused of murdering his wife. We see him strapped to a chair in an empty room and given a 90-minute time limit with an AI program portrayed by Rebecca Ferguson.
Mercy seems like a fusion of a traditional narrative with a desktop perspective, as most of the film’s action and information is shared through the program’s user interface, looking into his child’s personal life and history to find proof of his own innocence. As Pratt continuously unwinds the core mystery of the film, Pratt’s innocence level lowers. Mercy is a wacky yet original high-concept genre film with a diegetic race against time.
Crime 101
Release Date: 2025 TBA.
Directed by Bart Layton.
Screenplay by Bart Layton & Peter Straughan.
Based on Cime 101 by Don Winslow,
Produced by Tim Bevin, Dimitri Doganis, Eric Fellner, Benjamin Grayson, Chris Hemsworth, Bart Layton & Derwin Schlesinger.
Main Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Monica Barbaro, Barry Keoghan, Mark Ruffalo, Halle Berry, & Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Exclusive Footage Description: Attendees at CinemaCon 2025 were treated to a first look at Bart Layton’s newest film, Crime 101. The footage opens on the individual perspectives of four different people across Los Angeles: a jewel thief (Chris Hemsworth), a detective (Mark Ruffalo), a broker (Halle Berry), and a rebellious teenager with a love for motorcyles (Barry Keoghan). 11 million dollars are on the line as Hemsworth and Berry team up together on a heist — but Ruffalo’s commitment to his case and Keoghan’s chaos complicates their plans.
Alliances between these characters are formed and tested. In a key scene, Ruffalo is picked up by a driver who turns out to be Hemsworth behind the wheel. As they chatter and the two men slowly reveal their motivations, the tension of the trailer reaches a climax. Crime 101 is a throwback to an older kind of ensemble crime thriller boosted by a star-studded cast. Moreover, the footage presented by Amazon MGM left enough room for the audience to imagine how this high-stakes story could possibly play out, given its unpredictability.
Is God Is
Exclusive Footage Description: CinemaCon 2025 audiences were treated to the very first trailer for the film adaptation of the play Is God Is. Two twins (Kara Young and Mallory Johnson) go to their mother (Vivica A. Fox), whom they call “God” for making them, on her deathbed. God tells them they need to kill their father, the man responsible for a fire that has left all three with severe visible burns. The film was described as a mix of “Greek tragedy, afro punk, and classic spaghetti western”.
The trailer absolutely sells this notion. There’s a sense of excitement, comedy, grindhouse-style aesthetic, horror, and naturally the classic thriller. The banter between Kara Young and Mallory Johnson is a lot of fun, and the series of supporting characters shown in the trailer all have serious personalities. The most intriguing is the unseen father of the two, who we only hear speak, yet Sterling K. Brown is so good in the role that he already makes an impression off-screen. This Amazon MGM adaptation has bold originality all over it, even though it’s based on a play.
Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Movie
Release Date: February 20, 2026.
Directed by Kyle Balda.
Screenplay by Craig Mazin.
Based on Three Bags Full by Leonie Swann.
Produced by Lindsay Doran, Tim Bevan, & Eric Fellner.
Main Cast: Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, Molly Gordon, Hong Chau, Tosin Cole, & Kobna Holdbrook-Smith.
Exclusive Footage Description: Now, where do we even start with this one? Audiences at CinemaCon 2025 were treated to a big surprise with the first footage from Three Bags Full: A Sheep Detective Story. The family-friendly whodunit movie stars Hugh Jackman as a sheep herder who is murdered, only for his beloved sheep to go and solve his murder. The behind-the-scenes footage we saw promises a fun-for-the-whole-family vibe, with cast members like Molly Gordon, Emma Thompson, Nicholas Braun, Nicholas Galitzine, and Hong Chau showing a lot of star power. How exactly this movie will fulfill the “whodunit” genre has yet to be seen, but at the very least, the actors are excited.
