Before the first major studio takes to the stage to officially kick off CinemaCon 2026, Cinema United’s convention for movie theater exhibitors, a new event was launched as a showcase for small distributors. Angel Studios, Studiocanal, and Sony Pictures Classics (a last-minute replacement for Row K after their bout of bad press) all took time on the main stage in the Colosseum here at Caesar’s Palace to highlight their upcoming releases. While the big studios still dominate the box office, specialty releases play a vital role in the theater ecosystem, creating counter-programming that boosts theater revenue. These three studios unveiled their 2026 and beyond slates to encourage exhibitors to keep investing in small pictures.
Exhibitor Tori Baker emceed the presentation, opening with an impassioned call to continue distributing smaller films, arguing that they build movie-theater habits. “There are no genres untouched by the specialty world,” she declared, describing how smaller releases fill screens every week of the year, a necessary boost for the theater owners in the crowd. That diversity proved true, at least according to the diverse slates that Angel, SPC, and Studiocanal showcased at CinemaCon.
For the past few years, Angel Studios has held a breakfast to highlight its upcoming releases, but as the faith-based distributor moved to the main stage, they still brought some questionable promises for their 2026 slate. At a previous Angel Studios presentation, Executive Vice President Brandon Purdie declared that the animated musical “David” would be “the most successful animated film of all time.” Last winter, the film grossed $85 million, only a bit more than a billion dollars shy of their goal. Purdie took the stage yet again to hype the studio’s 2026 films, but couldn’t help himself from declaring their intention to make “Young Washington,” the studio’s biopic of George Washington’s early days, the number one movie in America on July 4th. They brought out star William Franklyn-Miller, a founding father name if I’ve ever heard one, to talk about the movie’s grand scope and how he embodied Washington’s leadership in the process.
Angel Studios also touted a somewhat star-studded lineup for the rest of 2026. Their first true action-thriller, “Runner,” starring Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson, will hit theaters September 11th. It follows Ritchson’s character as he delivers a liver to a little girl who needs a transplant, but faces attack after attack along the way. Zachary Levi, Tommy Lee Jones, and Neal McDonough will star in “Angel and the Badman,” a remake of the John Wayne western from 1947, and will land in theaters in October. “The Brink of War” stars Jeff Daniels and Jared Harris as Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, respectively, and documents their tense nuclear negotiations in 1986. After Angel Studios landed on multiple Oscar shortlists this year, perhaps they hope that this could be an even bigger awards contender when it comes out on August 14th. While none of their releases have reached the heights of their breakout hit “Sound of Freedom,” Angel Studios still generates decent box-office returns, which is why they continue to make their plea to exhibitors at CinemaCon each year.
Next up was Sony Pictures Classics (SPC), who opened their presentation with a sizzle reel of their stunning films from over the years, including “Blue Moon,” “The Wife,” “Call Me By Your Name,” and “Whiplash,” all while touting 166 total Oscar nominations. SPC’s new VP of Sales, John Z. Shahinian, delivered a straight-to-the-point presentation, moving quickly from clip to clip with little fanfare. Still, their upcoming slate contains some exciting films. Sundance pickups “Bedford Park,” “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” “Ha-Chan Shake Your Booty,” and “Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass,” all promise truly unique offerings for theatergoers all year round. Shahinian also showcased the trailer for Pedro Almodovar’s “Bitter Christmas,” which will premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival next month. Finally, he unveiled the gritty, dark trailer for Haifaa al-Mansour’s Saudi thriller “Unidentified,” in which a woman resolves to solve the murder of the unidentified teenage girl who was found outside a small town. It was a straightforward presentation from Sony Pictures Classics, but a solid slate nonetheless.
Closing out the show with a great many more announcements was Studiocanal, which hyped itself as the number one distributor in Europe. While Studiocanal doesn’t distribute directly to theaters in America, CEO Anna Marsh highlighted its partnerships with U.S. distributors such as Universal, Sony, and A24, which bring its films to the States. Before even getting to the studio’s 2026 slate, Marsh announced a host of new projects in the works. The beloved “Paddington” franchise will continue with “Paddington 4,” now in development, as well as an animated film, also underway. New films based on the “Pippi Longstocking” series, “Mr. Man” books, John Carpenter’s “Escape From New York,” and Joe Dante’s “The Howling” are all in the works from Studiocanal.
Turning to their 2026 slate, we got a look at the third film in the “Shaun the Sheep” franchise, titled “Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom,” releasing September 18th. The work-in-progress clip showed Shaun and the rest of the animals witnessing a spooky creature, covered in hair from head to toe, heading straight for their farm, forcing them to take shelter. It had some solid laugh-out-loud moments that livened up the CinemaCon crowd. The laughs continued as Studiocanal announced “Everybody Wants to Fuck Me,” which they noted is a working title. The trailer for this horror comedy follows Taron Egerton as a man who discovers that every woman in the world is stalking him, and trying to, well, you know. It looks hilarious. We also got the gripping trailer for Elsinore, the British drama starring Andrew Scott as actor Ian Charleston, grappling with his AIDS diagnosis as he prepares to play Hamlet.
Finally, Studiocanal brought out Danny Boyle for an early look at his newest film, “Ink.” Jack O’Connell and Guy Pearce star as Larry Lamb and Rupert Murdoch, respectively. Though this brief look just showcased one of the earliest conversations between the media moguls, it was as stylish as you would expect from Boyle. In a modern world swirling with disinformation and the non-stop scroll, Murdoch and Lamb certainly poisoned the landscape as much as two men could. It should be a fascinating watch when it lands in 2027.
At the inaugural CinemaCon Film Showcase, these three distributors certainly made the most of the opportunity. While the major studios will bring flashier stars and enormous budgets, the theater owners in the crowd rely on these specialty releases to keep their theaters drawing moviegoers between the blockbusters. This is exactly why CinemaCon exists: to help connect exhibitors to the films that will shape their venues over the next year, not just to hype up new releases. It was a quiet start to CinemaCon 2026, but an important new event that I expect will continue for years to come.
What was your favorite announcement from the 2026 CinemaCon Film Showcase? Which of their films are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments below or over on our X account.
