Wicked: For Good, Jurassic World: Rebirth, M3gan 2.0 And More At CinemaCon 2025’s Universal Pictures And Focus Features Panel - Live Blog

The panel is about to begin! Earlier today, we caught an exclusive CinemaCon screening of the live-action How To Train Your Dragon. Check out the early reactions, which are calling the film "breathtaking."

In a first for this week, the first folks on the stage made up a full orchestra. From Los Angeles, they are musicians who worked on the scores of "many of the films that we love," and we were told they'd be present throughout the evening. First, a video montage of some Universal classics, set to their live scores from iconic soundtracks, both new and old. That means Psycho, Jurassic Park, Back To The Future, E.T., Shrek, Conclave, Oppenheimer, Wicked and much, much more. If we're in store for more live orchestra, this panel will be incredible.

Donna Langley of Universal Pictures has taken the stage. First, a little boasting, as she states that Universal's films not only have a higher box office take than any other studio, but they have higher overall Rotten Tomatoes scores, thus proving their dedication to delivering quality films that people will show up to see in theaters.

That is, of course, until someone says that "life finds a way," and as the iconic soundtrack from Jurassic Park swells up, played by this incredible live orchestra, some major players take the stage.

Scarlett Johansson, Mahershala Ali, and director Gareth Edwards have taken the stage. Johansson reiterates that she's been attempting to join the cast of a Jurassic film, and Edwards claims to suffer from a rare condition where he "has to watch Jurassic Park at least ten times per year." After some scripted (but still rather funny) banter, we're told that we're going to be the first people in the world (other than Mahershala Ali, ha ha), to see the trailer they're about to screen.

We got an exclusive look at Jurassic World: Rebirth. The new footage featured: a brutal death scene, a cute dinosaur in a little girl's backpack, and of course, a massive, mutated predator creature that we have never seen before. The crowd was undoubtedly impressed, and I think this could be the best installment in the franchise since the 1993 original.

Awkwafina and Craig Robinson are here to talk about The Bad Guys 2. More scripted banter that is surprisingly funny, as they talk smack on their costars Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron and Anthony Ramos for being too busy to show up. The two of them promise us “Interspecies snogging, rocket hijackings, and nervous farts in the upper atmosphere" before throwing to an exclusive sneak peak...

The trailer is hilarious, very much in the same vein as the first film. It's nothing groundbreaking but if my niece is free, I'll gladly take her to see it.

Gerard Butler and Nico Parker, stars of the live-action How To Train Your Dragon, graced the stage to announce that a sequel is already in development! That's right, the first-ever screening was this morning, but they're already so confident in the project's success that they're going to keep on trucking. A beautiful overture of the film's soundtrack played by the live orchestra ended the segment.

Marlon Wayans and Tyriq Withers are on stage introducing the Jordan Peele-produced Him. After Marlon Wayans joked about being the "only Wayans brother in the room for once," and Withers promised we've "never seen Marlon Wayans like this," we got an early look at the film.

We certainly haven't seen Wayans like this. The film looks like a sports movie set in the Jordan Peele universe, and I dig it.

We got an early look at the trailer for Nobody 2 starring Bob Odenkirk, and dare I say, it looks better than the first. Odenkirk is on vacation with his family, and Lindsey Buckingham's Holiday Road sets the pace for the whimsical violence as Odenkirk's Hutch fails at controlling his temper. His son is starting to have similar issues with the way he handles conflict, and the whole thing seems incredibly silly and incredibly fun.

Now we're on to Focus Features, who showed us three trailers in rapid succession.

Yorgos Lanthinos’ Begonia gave us a quick teaser that didn't reveal much other than some bizarre imagery involving Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons, which is what we've come to expect from the man.

Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale is sure to be a tear-jerker.

But the real show-stealer was the trailer for Wes Anderson's The Phoenician Scheme. Benicio Del Toro and Michael Cera are hilarious in the footage. The tone and size of the cast in general remind me of The Grand Budapest Hotel, which I believe to be Anderson’s best film in a long time. It also seems to be sticking to a single, linear three-act story, and not going the way of The French Dispatch. The trailer is truly great.

Freddy Fazbear from Five Nights At Freddy's has taken the stage! Only, the head was removed to reveal that it was Jason Blum himself! He began by boasting that Five Nights At Freddy's was Blumhouse's biggest box office success of all time. Who'd have thought?

He then promised that the sequel would be released exclusively in theaters, and showed a quick teaser that is sure to get fans pumped. You know, because of the screaming, blood, and animatronics.

They've now thrown to a teaser for Black Phone 2! It featured Ethan Hawke's The Grabber stating, "Vengeance will be mine," and teased a solid, horrifying sequel that feels much bigger than the original in scope.

How would you like to see a trailer for M3gan 2.0 introduced? Hopefully your answer is "30 M3gans dancing to Brit Brit's Oops I Did It Again," because that's what we got. Shockingly, the live orchestra did not play this one.

The trailer reveals that, in the sequel, M3gan becomes something of a super spy anti-hero after being previously imprisoned in a small computerized stuffed animal. Does this sound like a joke? It's not. And the crowd loved it. This film is going to be ridiculous, perhaps in the best of ways.

Following the M3gan 2.0 trailer, James Wan came out to introduce the trailer for Soulm8te, which seems to take place in the same universe. A 30-somethings man gets his own robot girlfriend, but things get complicated... and violent. The film comes our way in January of 2026.

Starting to close out the panel, they hyped the release of Shrek 5 starring Zendaya, which comes our way in December of 2026, an upcoming Universal release from Steven Spielberg, and Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which Jim Orr says is so good it would have the approval "of Homer himself."

But wait, one more thing. The live orchestra has started a tribute to the music from Wicked...

It's time for Wicked: For Good! The orchestra is playing music from that iconic soundtrack, and the audience can't wait to hear who they will be introducing to the stage...

Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are in the building! They're both in black, looking elegant as hell, and take time to thank the conductor by name before introducing Jon M. Chu to take the stage with them. Chu exclaims that this is the third year in a row they have closed this panel, and "thank God it worked out!"

We found out that after the success of the film, Wicked has become the hottest show on Broadway, again, and the highest-grossing Broadway musical of all time. John M. Chu jokingly complains about not receiving any back end, and says he must "get the hell back to LA to finish the film." However, they can't leave without showing us something new...

We just saw "the first look anywhere in the world" at Wicked: For Good! It opens on Elphaba visiting Glinda discretely on her balcony, with the good witch saying, "Elphaba Thropp, just come in before the monkeys spot you."

Largely set to the track For Good, the trailer featured Prince Fiyero hunting Elphaba, but also an intimate moment between them where he spoke of how much he'd changed. He also turns his gun on The Wizard, and throws Elphaba her broom in support. I got goosebumps, the crowd cheered... what else can I say? Wicked: For Good will be released on November 21 of this year.

As the panel ends, the orchestra begins breaking down their set up and congratulating one another on the show. It really was one for the books. Stay tuned for more live coverage from CinemaCon 2025, and tune in later this evening for a special presentation from Amazon MGM!