CinemaCon 2025 Day 4 Recap: Paramount Pictures, Disney, Marvel Studios, The Fantastic Four, Mission: Impossible, Predator, and Avatar: Fire and Ash

CinemaCon 2025 continued for Day 4 with a keynote presentation for Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Studios, featuring new footage and previews for Thunderbolts*, The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Predator: Badlands, the latest from Pixar, and more.

Paramount Pictures Studio Showcase

Paramount Pictures President of Distribution Chris Aronson is known for his elaborate showmanship and entrances for Paramount’s showcases at CinemaCon. However, this year, he came out claiming he was going to play things straight. Nope, just kidding. It was a bait and switch. Instead, Aronson introduces a Mission: Impossible motorcycle stunt show. You gotta give the people what they want!

Paramount executive Brian Robbins was next. He riffed on Sony’s recent announcement on The Beatles movies, with four movies for each member of the band, joking that Paramount will be releasing a series of four Paw Patrol movies, one for each pup. Robbins did tease some of Paramount’s upcoming slate, with Children of Blood and Bone, which is due out January 15, 2027, Heart of the Beast with Brad Pitt, and the currently untitled comedy from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who are collaborating with hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar. There weren’t any big reveals or footage for these films. It was more to promote that these upcoming films are on the way to their exhibition partners.

On the animation side, Robbins teased Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie, The Last Airbender: The Legend of Aang, and the next installment of Seth Rogen’s animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I’m looking forward to The Legend of Aang and the Mutant Mayhem sequel. The Legend of Aang arrives on January 30, 2026.

The first major showcase of the day was Edgar Wright’s The Running Man. Wright spoke about the original book, written by Stephen King under the pen name of Richard Bachman. The book was an old favorite of Wright’s, and wanting to bring that version to the screen. Wright introduced star Glen Powell, who was live in attendance for the sizzle reel. Powell spoke about all the punishment Wright put him through for the action and stunt scenes in the film. Powell also introduced co-stars Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin. Brolin portrays the executive producer of the fictional in-universe TV show of The Running Man, and Domingo portrays the charismatic host of the show, Bobby Thompson. During his introduction, Wright noted how prescient the original book was with the future setting of 2025, which is the year the reboot is being released.

The footage had a lot of energy and looked like wild fun. Wright appears to be upholding the promise of adapting King’s original novel, but he’s infused it with his unique energy and style. Powell portrays an average Joe who competes on the world’s most dangerous game show to get his wife and infant child out of the slums. It looks violent and also satirical, commenting on today’s media culture and socio-political environment. In one of the funnier moments, Michael Cera’s character takes out a group of soldiers hunting Powell’s Ben Richards. He traps them on electrified floor panels and starts pumping a super soaker-type water gun. He sprays the water gun, which fries the soldiers. That’s to give an idea of the film’s sense of humor.

Elsewhere, the film looks fast-paced and action-packed. It appears there will be other runners throughout the film, with one portrayed by Katy O’Brian. I did see William H. Macy setting a trap for some other hunters in the footage. He forces them off a staircase with a built-in barricade. It looks much bleaker and more dystopian than the original Arnold Schwarzenegger version. It looks like the comedy will be more darkly satirical. The Running Man gives chase on November 7.

The Smurfs return to theaters with the new animated movie, Smurfs, later this summer. Rihanna stars as Smurfette. In the new reboot, the Smurfs must travel to the real world to save Papa Smurf (John Goodman) and get help from Papa Smurf’s brother…Ken (Nick Offerman). A new villain for the feature is Razamel, Gargamel’s equally evil brother. So far, I wasn’t very impressed with the footage. The humor came off as trying way too hard to be hip, and it came off as cringe-inducing. That said, I’m not a big fan of the IP. Smurfs will smurf into theaters on July 18.

Tom Kenny, the longtime voice of SpongeBob SquarePants, took the stage to preview The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants. He also introduced Mark Hamill, who took the stage at The Colosseum once again. It’s nice to see Hamill having so many movies coming out and previewing multiple films this year at CinemaCon. He’s also the recipient of the Cinema Icon Award for this year. Hamill voices the film’s new villain, the ghostly pirate and villainous Flying Dutchman.

In Search for SquarePants, SpongeBob wants to prove that he’s a “big guy,” so he follows the Flying Dutchman on a trip to the underworld. The first look featured the film’s mix of animation and live-action footage. Clancy Brown (Mr. Krabs) also appears in the movie in the live-action footage as a pirate narrator. The new feature looks to be mostly CG-animation, though it looks to still be relatively faithful to the overall look and style of the animated series. It looks like it will be wild and irreverent fun. The Search for SquarePants sails into theaters on December 19.

Chris Aronson took the stage again to preview the long-gestating reboot of The Naked Gun with a Leslie Nielsen-style detective narrative interlude and a live sax player. My favorite line was, “The music is expensive but in Vegas, you have to pay for good sax.” I always enjoy a good pun joke.

I enjoy a good comedic spoof, so I’m cautiously optimistic about The Naked Gun. Liam Neeson stars as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., with Paul Walter Hauser portraying Ed Hocken’s (George Kennedy) son. I appreciate that the trailer threw in the Nordberg (O.J. Simpson) gag because it was so shocking. The audience reaction was equally hilarious because many people took a pause, not sure if they should laugh or not.

Neeson looks to be having fun and riffing on his past tough guy roles in Taken and other action films. I will keep an open mind and give it a look. The Naked Gun reboot arrives on August 1.

Mission: Impossible, Tom Cruise himself took the stage next. First, he provided a wonderful, heartfelt, and compassionate eulogy for Val Kilmer, who sadly passed away earlier in the week. It was a wonderful tribute by Cruise for his Top Gun co-star, asking for a moment of silence for the late actor, stating, “Thank you, Val, and I wish you well in your next journey.”

Cruise also shared a comprehensive tribute for his longtime collaborator, Christopher McQuarrie, who accepted the Director of the Year award for this year’s convention. The superstar detailed how Cruise brought McQuarrie onto Ghost Protocol to do some uncredited writing work on the set. Cruise revealed that McQuarrie quickly came up with the lines for the sticky gloves, stating, “Blue is glue, red is dead.” McQuarrie later took the stage to accept his award, speaking about his first meeting with Cruise and their work over the years.

The presentation culminated in a first look at a new trailer for Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning.

My issues with Dead Reckoning aside, the film looks good. The trailer does imbue a feeling of this being the last stand of Ethan Hunt and the IMF. It appears Ethan turns himself in at some point, and he will directly interface with The Entity. The Entity was my biggest issue with the last film. As a threat and antagonist, it was highly derivative and poorly defined. Hopefully, it comes off better for the sequel, and McQuarrie constructs a more organic plot. That said, I appreciate all the callbacks to the previous adventures. I’m not sure if these are meant to be minor flashbacks reviewing Ethan’s past exploits, or if they are all tied together with the Entity threat.

It also appears that Ethan Hunt turns himself in or goes into custody in an attempt to bargain with the U.S. intelligence community to stop Gabriel and The Entity. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning chooses to accept its mission on May 23.

There was little in the way of updates on the big features Paramount announced last year, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin, the GI Joe/Transformers crossover, and the Star Trek: Origins project. Obviously, there have been some roadblocks in Paramount’s planned merger with Skydance. As a result, I suspect a lot of projects are in flux or up in the air until the merger resumes. Even then, Paramount might walk back certain projects or go in a different direction.

Paramount’s presentation wasn’t as strong as it has been in years past, but there were some interesting projects and footage shown. The main star of the Paramount presentation was easily The Running Man.

Disney Studio Showcase

Walt Disney Studios closed things out with the last major studio showcase at CinemaCon 2025. The showcase opened with a sizzle reel featuring new footage of Thunderbolts*, the live-action Lilo & Stitch, Elio, and more.

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis came out to introduce their preview of Freakier Friday, the sequel to their 2003 hit film. Crazy to think it’s been over 20 years since the previous film. The new scene they previewed is after Tess and Anna Coleman have switched bodies again. Anna has her mother, Tess, in her body, flirt with a boy she likes in a record store, and of course, high jinks ensue. I wasn’t particularly a huge fan of the 2000s reboot, but it looks like harmless family fun. Freakier Friday swaps into theaters on August 8.

Jeff Bridges and Jared Leto were out next to preview TRON: Ares, the next chapter of the TRON series. It’s nice to see Bridges back as Kevin Flynn in some capacity. Leto states that his character, Ares, is a highly advanced program that is seeking to uphold his main directive. The newly revealed trailer showed vehicles and forces from the Grid entering the real world. It was neat seeing Light Cycles tearing apart cars on the freeway, and a Recognizer flying through a modern city skyline.

I’m at least intrigued by the trailer. At the same time, I’m disappointed Disney waffled for so many years on making a sequel to TRON: Legacy. It got kicked around for years and then died, and then Disney revived TRON once again. However, the only legacy character who appears to have returned is Bridges as Flynn, who isn’t in the trailer, but we hear his voice. What about Quorra, and what about Sam Flynn? Now, it’s possible they might appear in some capacity, and they are being downplayed for the marketing campaign. The footage of Grid forces fighting the military and the premise look interesting, so we’ll see what happens. TRON: Ares uploads into theaters on October 10.

Elle Fanning took the stage to introduce Predator: Badlands, the next installment of the iconic Predator franchise. Prey filmmaker Dan Trachtenberg is back for the sequel, and it looks awesome. This is actually the most excited I’ve been about a Predator movie in about 15 years. Badlands turns the franchise on its head as it presents a scenario where the Predator is the good guy for once. Badlands features a story where a Predator Hunter has been exiled by his tribe on a hostile alien planet, so he must now fight to the top of a deadly food chain.

It looks like Fanning will reluctantly align with the main Predator at some point. The story is set in the future, with deadly flora and fauna on an alien planet. It also looks like there’s a rival Predator tribal chief or clan. This looks like a Predator Darkhorse comic come to life on screen. It looks like dark futuristic sci-fi. Fanning’s character appears to have cybernetic enhancements, or she might possibly be a cyborg/android of some sort.

Prey was a nice surprise, and I’m glad to see Trachtenberg take the story into a different direction instead of further exploration of Predator Hunters throughout different historic periods. The Yautja design here looked to be of a similar species to the Jungle Hunter and the City Hunter, but his mask and equipment looked very different. Predator: Badlands begins the hunt on November 7.

Emmy winner Jeremy Allen White was out next to introduce the new Bruce Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere. The new biopic explores Springsteen, with Jeremy Strong as his manager Jon Landau, and Springsteen’s tumultuous relationship with his abusive father (Stephen Graham). The film is due out later this year.

Next up was the Marvel Studios portion! The cast of Thunderbolts* arrived late to the stage because Wyatt Russell went broke on the casino floor. The group walked down the aisles to the stage of The Colosseum with Wyatt looking unkempt and rough, being escorted by Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Hannah Mark-Kamen, Florence Pugh, and David Harbour. It was a fun little clip before they previewed the film.

The new footage showed the Thunderbolts members driving in a delivery truck to go to the former Avengers Tower to confront Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Louis Dreyfus). U.S. Agent (Russell) is in the cargo space with Ghost (Mark-Kamen) and Yelena Belova (Pugh). The trio are bantering about their gear, meanwhile Red Guardian (Harbour) asks Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan) what their plan is. It’s clear that Bucky Barnes hasn’t fought it through. So he drives the truck straight into the lobby!

After the truck crashes, the Thunderbolts spring into action, taking down the guards. One thing I noticed is that all the cars on the street and the passerbys didn’t seem to be reacting at all. The cars continued moving, and no commotion was caused by the chaos. Maybe New Yorkers have simply adjusted to events like this, and it’s just another day for them? Valentina’s voice booms over an intercom, inviting the Thunderbolts up to the top floor to meet them.

They ascend to the top of the tower in what was once Tony Stark’s abode. So, this scene appears at the point where it appears Valentina has already attempted to kill the Thunderbolts, and they’ve aligned together to fight Valentina. Valentina trashes all the Thunderbolts members, making fun of Bucky lasting less than half a term as a U.S. Congressman. She makes fun of John Walker, calling him “J.V. Captain America,” and says Yelena looks awful. Winter Soldier proclaims they plan to turn her in to the authorities, and he reaches to grab her. However, he’s stopped by an unseen force. A figure is walking down some stairs, likely The Sentry/Void (Lewis Pullman), before the footage cuts off.

The clip was followed by a new sizzle reel. Notably, Taskmaster didn’t appear in any of the footage that was shown, suggesting she gets taken out of commission earlier in the film. The footage looked okay. I’m still a bit skittish about using Sentry/Void for a story such as this. It does appear to be a rehash of Suicide Squad. I think a better use of Thunderbolts would’ve been a storyline using Zemo as Citizen V to get revenge. Oh well. Thunderbolts* teams up for a May 2 theatrical release.

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige appeared in a video from the set of Avengers: Doomsday to introduce a new trailer for The Fantastic Four: The First Steps. Overall, the trailer looked promising, revealing the first look at Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer, where she proclaims, “Your planet has been marked for death.” There was also footage of Mark Gatiss portraying a TV host of the in-universe Ted Gilbert Show, recounting the Fantastic Four’s exploits.

The new trailer also reveals that Sue Storm (Vanessa Kirby) and her husband Reed Richards (Pedro Pascal) are expecting a child. There are a few more glimpses of Galactus, but they are comparable to what we saw in the first trailer. No full-on reveal of Galactus just yet. The footage sold the premise of the Fantastic Four being the world’s greatest heroes, but they are now facing an insurmountable threat. Reed proclaims they will save the world, but he appears uncertain they can stop Galactus and his herald. It kind of had an apocalyptic, end-of-the-world feeling. The Fantastic Four: The First Steps blasts off on July 25.

It was time to don our 3D glasses we were supplied before the showcase, to preview Avatar: Fire and Ash. The third chapter of the franchise is almost here. Zoe Saldaña took the stage to talk about the upcoming sequel. Fire and Ash reveals two new tribes on Pandora. First is the nomadic air tribe, who travel in majestic airships. There’s also the volcanic Ash tribe, a group of Na’vi who have forsaken Eywa.

The new footage started with a clip of the Sullys traveling with the air tribe. Their airships certainly looked impressive. They are flown through the air by a floating creature resembling a manta ray. They are promptly attacked before the footage begins a sizzle reel. The montage makes it look like the Ash tribe allies with the forces from Earth and Quaritch (Stephen Lang), who is wreaking havoc yet again.

The oceanic Metkayina Clan is back from the second film, and it appears Spider will be in danger multiple times. I believe fans of Avatar will be pleased and entertained by the new sequel. The visuals looked impressive, but it sometimes had the same issues as the second film, where the framerates looked inconsistent at points. Avatar: Fire and Ash returns to Pandora on December 19.

The presentation shifted to Pixar’s latest animated feature, Elio, which is looking good so far. The footage showed young Elio being transported into space by aliens. He’s introduced to a liquid computer who helps translate Elio’s language, and he’s introduced to the “Communi-verse,” which is a community of peaceful alien ambassadors who meet and represent their respective races. It looks like Elio is being inducted into the program.

In another scene, Elio appears to get flushed down an alien toilet, where he encounters a scary-looking, but very friendly, silk-worm type alien named Glordon (Remy Edgerly). The sizzle reel for the film reveals a villainous armored alien, Lord Grigon (Brad Garrett), who attacks the Communi-verse, and it’s up to the unlikely Elio to save the day. The film hits theaters on June 20.

I’m looking forward to Elio. Pixar had a bit of a slump recently, but Elemental was a highly underrated and overlooked film, which eventually climbed to close to half a billion dollars at the worldwide box office despite a low opening weekend. Inside Out 2 was also fantastic. If this can hit the right notes, this can be a huge hit family film.

Oscar winner Ke Huy Quan came out next to preview some new scenes from Zootopia 2. Quan voices a new character in the sequel, a snake named Gary. The first scene shows Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) going to group therapy on the orders of Chief Bogo. The therapist leading the session, Dr. Fuzzby, deconstructs Judy’s comments, and Nick seems annoyed by the whole event.

Another scene shows Judy and Nick searching for Gary in a bayou-like section of Zootopia. They go to a beaver for help, and she converses with a walrus named Bubba. Notably, Bubba ate a fish. I think it’s interesting we’re seeing that reptiles have evolved in the world of Zootopia, but fish have not. I was wondering about that after the first film. So fish have not become highly intelligent sentient beings like the other animal species. I wonder what the case is for primates and avian species, which we never saw in the first film either.

Disney Studios also showcased the new live-action Lilo & Stitch. The new scene featured Nani bringing Lilo and Stitch to her work, and her placing the annoyed Stitch in a high chair. Stitch quickly leaves the high chair and plays with a soda gun. Cue a spaghetti western standoff between Stitch and Lilo, and Stitch blasts her with water.

I’ve definitely been lukewarm about Disney’s live-action remakes of their animated classics, but this one at least looks like it will be decent. Chris Sanders is back as the voice of Stitch, and Dean Fleischer Camp is a talented director. Lilo & Stitch arrives in theaters on May 23.

Thus ends our studio showcase for CinemaCon 2025. Overall, Disney had a solid showing this year. They kept things focused on this year, which is fine. Most of the clips and trailers that were shown looked good for the most part. Truthfully, the film I’m most excited about coming out of Disney Studios is Predator: Badlands.

I do think not showing anything Star Wars, specifically The Mandalorian and Grogu, was a mistake. The film is out next year, and it’s already finished shooting. It could be a matter of waiting to show material at Star Wars Celebration Tokyo later this month. That said, I think Disney and Lucasfilm could’ve prepared some sort of piece for CinemaCon, but that’s just my humble opinion.

Based on what was shown this year, I also wanted to round out CinemaCon 2025, with my Top 10 films that were showcased:

CinemaCon 2025 Top 10 Previews

1. Masters of the Universe – Amazon MGM Studios, June 5, 2026
2. Project Hail Mary – Amazon MGM Studios, March 20, 2026
3. Predator: Badlands – 20th Century Studios/Disney, November 7
4. The Fantastic Four: The First Steps – Marvel Studios/Disney, July 25
5. The Running Man – Paramount Pictures, November 7
6. Elio – Pixar/Disney, June 20
7. Weapons – New Line Cinema/Warner Bros. Pictures, August 8
8. F1 – Apple Studios/Warner Bros. Pictures, June 27 (U.S.)/June 25 (Worldwide)
9. Jurassic World Rebirth – Universal Pictures, July 2
10. Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning – Paramount Pictures, May 23

Honorable Mentions: [In no particular order] Zootopia 2, Wicked: For Good, Superman, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, Caught Stealing, The Bad Guys 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, and The Long Walk.

Final Thoughts

Overall, it was a good showing this year for CinemaCon. Amazon MGM Studios came out banging and had an impressive slate ahead. I hope the pandemic years are behind the studios, and they can move forward with some strong theatrical releases. Truthfully, I think the 45-day window that was pushed forth at the convention is too short. It really should be an eight-week window. 45 days is too short, and I think the cannibalization of premium products is part of what hurt studios and theaters. However, Amazon MGM looks to have a renewed focus on the theatrical experience, which appeared promising.

Looking forward to hopefully attending next year’s show.