Paramount‘s first big CinemaCon since merging with Skydance and the news that it would acquire Warner Bros. Discovery came with some big promises to the theatrical community and trotted out stars like Johnny Depp, Billie Eilish, and James Cameron for its presentation.
In these Daily Dispatches from CinemaCon, we’re sharing the highlights of what we saw, what was announced, what we didn’t, and what was the overall vibe.
The BEST Thing We Saw
“Children of Blood and Bone,” Gina Prince-Bythewood’s follow-up to the epic “The Woman King,” is another film set in an African kingdom, but this one is a fantasy story of magic and good and evil all based on the novel by Tomi Adeyemi, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Prince-Bythewood. It has a stacked cast of Thuso Mbedu, Damson Idris, Amandla Stenberg, Tosin Cole, Cynthia Erivo, Lashana Lynch, Zackary Momoh, Richard Mofe-Damijo, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Regina King, Idris Elba, and Viola Davis, and it opens January 15, 2027.
Paramount brought out some African drummers, dancers, and warriors, as well as Ejiofor, King, Stenberg, Idris, and Mbedu each giving their reasons why they wanted to be part of this film. “Black girls deserve to see themselves in roles of wonder, power, and imagination,” King said. “I want to go to the movies to be awed, swept away,” Prince-Bythewood said, calling it “magical, action packed, and fun as hell.” The film shows warriors riding in on tigers, some romance, lots of dancing and fighting, exotic locales, and the lead summoning a massive monster made of sticks and brush to fight her enemies.
The BIG News in the Room
Paramount’s film chiefs Dana Goldberg and Josh Greenstein confirmed that a third “Top Gun” film with Tom Cruise returning is officially in development, and the script is being written.
Johnny Depp is back. His “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol” is his first major studio film since being fired from the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise by Warner Bros. (soon to be owned by Paramount!), and he took the stage along to tout the Dickens adaptation. The very soft spoken Depp seemed humbled to be welcomed from some audience members calling out to him. Depp said “there’s no one who can do it as good as Alastair Sim did…but that’s no reason not to do it.” It’s a classic Depp performance and familiar take on “A Christmas Carol.” A lot of Humbug’s are shouted. “Ebenezer” also stars Rupert Grint, Andrea Riseborough, Sam Claflin, Daisy Ridley, Arthur Conti, Ellie Bamber, Charlie Murphy, Tramell Tillman, and Ian McKellen, and it opens in theaters November 13, 2026.
Though it was reported that Taylor Sheridan will eventually make his way over to Universal, he’s still Paramount’s biggest star, and the studio announced a release date for his tentpole “Call of Duty” movie based on the video game franchise very far in advance: June 30, 2028. Peter Berg is directing and co-writing and producing the movie with Sheridan, and they gave CinemaCon a brief tease of the film:
We didn’t get David Corenswet here for “Superman 2,” nor did we get Nicolas Cage here for “Madden,” but we got a dose of football for “Mr. Irrelevant: The John Tuggle Story.” The film is the true story of John Tuggle, the last pick in the 1983 NFL Draft by the New York Giants who fought tooth and nail to make the team, the first final draft pick to do so, and would go on to win Special Teams Player of the Year. Giants QB Phil Simms, Super Bowl XXI MVP, thanked the audience “for that lukewarm applause” and said it reminded him of his playing days as Giants fans waited for him to retire. He also joked that under coach Bill Parcells his name was “Effing Simms.” Michael Shannon as Parcells looks like a standout, and Corenswet looks to give an optimistic, underdog turn. The film opens Christmas.
What We EXPECTED to See But Didn’t
Something about Damien Chazelle’s next film. We know it stars Cillian Murphy, Daniel Craig, and Michelle Williams, and it supposedly is a period film set inside a prison and following an abusive relationship and power dynamics, not unlike Chazelle’s breakout “Whiplash.” The film doesn’t even have a release date, let alone a title, and we were hoping for a little something in between a lot of the franchise films.
Chazelle is however executive producing “Heart of the Beast,” the new film from David Ayer about a former Army Special Forces Soldier and his retired combat dog surviving in the Alaskan wilderness after a plane crash, and we did get a first look at that film, with Brad Pitt sharing the screen with a German Shepard, one who has silver teeth and a missing leg. We seem him fighting wolves, staring down a grizzly bear, and battling raging rapids.
What We LEARNED
Everyone wanted to know more about the merger and just how the room would react to Paramount brass, many of whom are making their first appearance as part of this new regime at Paramount since Skydance moved in. The studio made a big effort to honor the legacy of the studio, staging a splashy sizzle on the Paramount lot as narrated by Tom Cruise (who ended the video naturally sitting on top of the Paramount water tower), featuring cameos of Timothée Chalamet, James Cameron, Will Smith, and of course Sonic the Hedgehog, and even some dance sequences, fake movie set pieces, and more, and as directed by Jon M. Chu.
Paramount-Skydance chief David Ellison, who did not appear in front of Congress due to a death in the family, did lead off the presentation and received a warm reception from the crowd. He sheepishly acknowledged the start of his career with “Fly Boys” and how Variety called it one of the biggest bombs of 2006, but he led into his assurances for the combined Paramount-Warner Bros.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and say that when we combine Paramount and Warner Bros., we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually, across both studios,” Ellison said. He also promised a minimum 45-day theatrical window starting today while also saying they will go to SVOD in 90 days. Cinema United has publicly said that if it cannot block the merger, believing there will be fewer films, it wants guarantees of the 45-day window and the quantity of films, not just something that could be scaled back in a matter of years. Cinema United has also suggested it would like to see the window to SVOD be even longer than 90 days, potentially as long as 120 days, even if the PVOD window is just 45.
Other Bullets
- The new “Jackass” film is titled “jackass best and last.” The first trailer had a stunt launching a porta potty into the air, it had the crew participating in “The Escape Room From Hell,” and performed the first robot prostate exam.
- The “Street Fighter” trailer debuted earlier this morning ahead of the Paramount presentation. Watch it here.
- Paramount confirmed the news of a new “Longlegs” film from Oz Perkins.
- Paramount shouted out other projects in the works, including “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow” from Sian Heder, a new “World War Z,” a new “Star Trek,” “A Quiet Place Part III,” and much more.
- James Cameron said they used new 3-D tech not used on the “Avatar” films to shoot “Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour,” and he even had to use AI to fill in some backgrounds.
