Fresh off of a costly and controversial flop with “Snow White,” Disney took the stage at CinemaCon 2025 to share their upcoming slate with the exhibitors in the crowd. Executives celebrated Disney’s impact on the global box office, bringing audiences into theaters consistently. Disney Entertainment’s co-chairman Alan Bergman celebrated their enormous box office success, including being the number one studio at the box office eight out of the last nine years. Disney’s brand-new Distribution Chief, Andrew Cripps, noted they are the only studio to have crossed the $5 billion mark since Covid. He also proudly noted that Disney’s theatrical window is the shortest out of any of its competitors. The Cinema United crowd appreciated that acknowledgment before Disney dove into their 2025 films.
Opening with a montage of moments from Disney’s recent and upcoming films, Stitch, from “Lilo & Stitch,” burst into the films where he didn’t belong. He rode on an alien ship with Elio, fought alongside the Thunderbolts, glided through “Tron: Ares,” and more. This was a very cute throwback to the original “Lilo & Stitch” marketing campaign and set a fun tone for the presentation. Later, they showed an extended look at the live-action remake, in which Lilo brings Stitch to Nani’s work but has difficulty controlling him. It’s tough to match the heightened nature of the animated version, but the clip looked charming.
Next up, Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis came out to tease “Freakier Friday,” the long-awaited sequel to “Freaky Friday.” It looks like the pair are having a blast back together again. They introduce a clip in which Tess (Lohan), but with someone else’s mind, perhaps her daughter’s, has to try and win over Jake (Chad Michael Murray) again. It’s a silly clip, though it could’ve used a bit more context to how the body swap works in this new film.
In other news, for sequels decades in the making, a laser show erupted throughout the Colosseum to tease “Tron: Ares.” Jared Leto and Jeff Bridges arrived on screen to talk about the third “Tron” film. Bridges praised the stunning visuals of the movie, as well as the music from Nine Inch Nails. We saw the first trailer, where a rogue program, Ares, crosses over into the real world. Tron bikes wreaked havoc on a real city, which appears to be invaded by a ship floating in the sky. Greta Lee’s character appears to be leading the charge to defeat the invaders.
After dumping Dan Trachtenberg’s “Prey” straight to Hulu, a fact conveniently not discussed in front of these theater owners, Disney brings a new entry into the franchise. Elle Fanning came on stage for “Predator: Badlands” and teased that this story is a brand new twist on the series. “What if Predator was the hero of the film?” The trailer finds the Predator crash-landing on a violent alien planet and fighting to survive. He teams up with Elle Fanning’s character along the way to make it out alive. Like “Prey,” this is an unexpected spin on a well-worn franchise that seems to be working. The visuals were stunning, and the trailer showcased plenty of brutal action that will be well-suited to the big screen.
Disney celebrated the awards success of Searchlight’s “A Complete Unknown” earlier in the presentation before veering back into similar territory with Scott Cooper’s “Deliver Me From Nowhere.” Jeremy Allen White stars as Bruce Springsteen alongside Jeremy Strong’s Jon Landau. The pair took to the stage to introduce the first trailer. White looks like the real deal. The tone of the trailer was gentle, mostly slow-moving, letting us sink into the headspace of Springsteen as he sets out to craft his most personal album yet, “Nebraska.” The trailer ends with White performing “Born To Run” on stage in the film in a pretty spectacular sequence. With White already an awards darling on television, this trailer solidified its status as an early contender for next year’s Academy Awards.
Compared to all the other studios, who routinely brought out the directors of their films, only one director appeared on stage throughout the entirety of Disney’s 2025 presentation, and perhaps it’s because he was receiving an award from CinemaCon. James L. Brooks received the Cinema Verite Award, presented by Emma Mackey and Jamie Lee Curtis, the stars of Brooks’ new film “Ella McCay.” Brooks also called for the studios to agree to Cinema United President Michael O’Leary’s 45-day minimum theatrical window agreement. “Ella McCay” will hit theaters in September, and the trailer looked like classic Brooks. A light dramedy with a political edge, the film follows a young woman who becomes the interim governor of her state while also balancing struggles in her personal life. The film didn’t look groundbreaking, but a return to form for Brooks would be welcome.
Disney only highlighted one film from Searchlight Pictures: Jay Roach’s “The Roses,” based on the novel “The War of the Roses.” Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch play a married couple whose relationship is falling apart, devolving in comedic fashion. The pair seem to be eating up these rich characters with an enormously funny trailer. It’s more of a commercial play than awards fare, which is likely why they skipped over any other upcoming Searchlight releases.
Kevin Feige sent in a video for the CinemaCon crowd from the set of Avengers: Doomsday, which is days away from beginning pre-production. He didn’t share any new information or tease future projects but gave us a look at the two Marvel Studios films arriving this year. Ahead of the upcoming “Thunderbolts,” Florence Pugh, Wyatt Russell, Julia Louis Dreyfus, David Harbour, and Hannah John-Kamen came in from the casino and stumbled up to the stage. They showcased a new look at the film, in which the team stormed Avengers Tower and beat up generic henchmen before being called up to meet with Dreyfus. Next, we saw a new look at “The Fantastic Four: First Steps,” including our first glimpse of Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer.
In the animated space, Ke Huy Quan arrived to tell us more about “Zootopia 2.” In the film, Quan plays Gary, the first-ever snake to arrive in Zootopia. As a result, the animals freak out, thinking the snake is dangerous, sending him on the run. Nick and Judy have to go on a hunt to find Gary and figure out what’s going on. The two scenes we saw showcased new characters played by Quinta Brunson and Fortune Feimster with animation that looks like a clear step up from the last film.
Zoe Saldaña, fresh off her Oscar win, came out twice throughout the presentation to tease her upcoming Disney projects. First came Pixar’s “Elio,” in which she plays Elio’s aunt. Saldaña introduced an extended 3D sequence in which Elio is abducted by aliens and taken to the “Communiverse,” a place where aliens from all over come to share information and technology. It was a charming sequence, with expectedly gorgeous animation and unique world-building.
Saldaña’s second appearance came after a video message from director James Cameron, the only other director to get face time during Disney’s presentation for “Avatar: Fire and Ash.” Cameron explained that in this new film, the Sully family faces off against the human invaders as well as the new Ash people. Saldaña explained that this film introduces us to the villainous ash people and the peaceful wind traders. In an extended look at the film, also in 3D high frame rate, we see the Sully family joining the wind traders on their expansive ships, drawn by giant blue creatures. They get attacked in a canyon by the ash people, Na’Vi, who wield fire. Unsurprisingly, the immersive footage looked stunning and brought us right back into Pandora.
Disney kept their presentation fairly simple this year, with minimal celebration of their box office successes. They didn’t even celebrate “Inside Out 2” being crowned as the highest-grossing animated film of all time until it was unseated earlier this year by “Ne Zha 2.” Still, they focused on the big movies hitting the exhibitors’ screens later this year. It’s strange to call a presentation featuring stars like Saldaña, Pugh, Quan, and the Na’Vi “low-key,” but that’s how it felt. Perhaps some looking ahead can generate more excitement at next year’s CinemaCon.
What was your favorite announcement from Walt Disney Pictures’s presentation at this year’s CinemaCon? Which of their films are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below or over on our Twitter account.
