Preview:
- Walt Disney Studios made its presentation to the 2026 CinemaCon crowd.
- Among the movies promoted were ‘The Mandalorian & Grogu’ and ‘The Dog Stars’.
- And, of course, ‘Avengers: Doomsday’.
Once the all-conquering ruler of the box office, Disney has seen its fortunes take a tumble in the last couple of years, with the likes of Marvel and Pixar movies suffering issues at the box office.
Still, the Mouse House still has quite the line up, with the likes of ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ as big hope points.
aulDnGXPFkuVgP2q8dOyT6Pixar, meanwhile, has a new ‘Toy Story’ offering, and ‘Star Wars’ is back on the big screen. Plus ‘Moana’ is getting the live-action treatment. Let’s see what the company chooses to spotlight…
Before the lights went down, attendees were given a ‘Mandalorian & Grogu’ popcorn bag and a ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’-branded diet coke.
Related Article: First ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ Tease Sees Chris Evans’ Back as Steve Rogers
The typical studio sizzle reel kicked things off, with plenty of Disney highlights and wrapping with riffs on ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ –– the countdown clock that has been part of the promos so far counting down to zero and the caption “Disney will return to CinemaCon.”
There is, of course, a little boasting to de done about last year’s success stories, including a joke about renaming ‘Zootopia 2’ to “Zootopia $1.9 billion”.
‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’?
With the comedy sequel just a couple of weeks away from release, there wasn’t too much on it, just a quick video message from Anne Hathaway: “20 years later, we are back!” She also thanked theater owners for their support.
But did also cue up some new footage from the movie. Three words: Miranda. Priestly. Zingers.
RBFyfei3N96MClhiTxPqI6‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu’
Surely one of the biggest titles (outside of the MCU) to be showcased here is the return of ‘Star Wars’ to the big screen.
Writer/director Jon Favreau arrived on stage to remark how the opening shot of the original ‘Star Wars’ changed the path of his life, and how there will be plenty of IMAX footage in the new movie. Not to mention a fresh score from composer Ludwig Göransson.
Favreau announced the final trailer for the movie (which you can see above) and also showed the opening sequence, which includes an AT-AT in the snow before we watch Mando (Pedro Pascal) get his next bounty hunting gig.
If you’re wondering whether ‘Star Wars: Starfighter’ got a mention, the answer is yes –– but only in picture form, and nothing we haven’t seen before.
‘Toy Story 5’
We went from the galaxy far, far away to the Pixar universe, via some ‘Toy Story 5’ footage. This time around, Woody (who has been off helping rescue other toys) and Buzz, along with their friends, must confront a new toy in Bonnie’s life –– a tech gadget called Lily Pad (voiced by Greta Lee).
Tim Allen (Buzz) and Tom Hanks (Woody) strode on stage to talk about their latest animated effort. The pair exchanged light banter, made fun of working off of a teleprompter and gave plenty of love to the Pixar team. They also introduced a new clip from the movie, featuring their characters reuniting.
6soIJRSMSLuWxYKRw3gHY5‘Moana’
Next up is Disney’s ongoing effort to convert all of their animated output to live-action movies. ‘Moana’, which was a huge success in cartoon form back in 2016, is back with a mostly new cast, though retained Dwayne Johnson as Maui.
He was on stage to discuss the film and gush about how much Maui means to him and how his performance was inspired by his grandfather. Johnson was joined by Catherine Laga’aia, who plays Moana, and she revealed that she’d done her very first interview for the movie today.
And, as is standard, we got some new footage from the movie.
BCm3cnMl8HXZvmnyJ2l2j1‘The Dog Stars’
Next up from the House of Mouse, an original – Ridley Scott‘s latest, ‘The Dog Stars’ Sir Rid himself appeared (on screen) to introduce the post-apocalyptic story, which stars Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin.
It’s set after the world’s population has been ravaged by a pandemic, and follows Elordi’s Hig, who lives a lonesome existence in a Colorado airplane hangar with his dog and a dour gunman (Brolin) he has befriended. When a mysterious transmission comes through on the radio while he’s flying his old Cessna, it sparks a hunt for the provenance of the sound.
Scott brought the audience first new trailer for the movie, which you can find above, and an early scene.
‘Whalefall’
We’re clearly in the “originals” section (okay, both ‘The Dog Stars’ and this are adapted from novels), as ‘Whalefall’ was next.
The movie follows a scuba diver in search of his deceased father’s remains gets swallowed by an 80-foot, 60-ton sperm whale and has only one hour to escape before his oxygen runs out. After giving up on life, the young man is surprised to find a reason to live in the most dangerous and unlikely of places. Oh, and like Ridley Scott’s movie, this also features Josh Brolin.
‘Whalefall’ comes from director Brian Duffield, who previously brought us ‘No One Will Save You’. And the first look at the movie finds the main character, played by Austin Abrams, getting drawn into the mouth of the whale.
1xHhIxLbiS86KU2OKBtVy6After a quick look at ‘Wild Horse Nine’ (the latest film from ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’s Martin McDonagh –– and no jokes about having to have seen the first eight ‘Wild Horses’, please), we moved on to…
‘Hexed’
The latest from Disney’s own animation studio sees what happens when an awkward teenage girl and her Type-A mom discover that what makes her unusual might be magical powers that will turn their lives and a secret world of magic upside down.
There was a quick look at footage from the movie, which features the voices of Hailee Steinfeld and Rashida Jones.
vEstNAOry1x5lsrkM66KX7Still on the animation front, Pixar’s 2027 feline-focused effort ‘Gatto’ got a quick shoutout before the studio rolled on to…
‘Ice Age: Boiling Point’
Some of the voice cast, including Ray Romano (Manny), Denis Leary (Diego), and Queen Latifah (Ellie) took the stage to introduce the first look at the sixth (count ’em) main movie in the franchise.
We got a look at footage from the beginning of the movie, which features an adorable baby Scratch (the squirrel, in case you forgot).
xcAlAWFiIU9SsqJ7xo63jTime for the big finale!
‘Avengers: Doomsday’
Of course Marvel was going to wrap things up with what Disney is hoping will be one of, if not the biggest film of the year. No pressure, then…
Marvel boss Kevin Feige arrived on stage to discuss ‘Doomsday’ and introduce something called ‘Infinity Vision’ which will enhance the viewing experience (read more about that here). He also mentioned that ‘Avengers: Endgame’ will be back in theaters ahead of the new movie.
Feige was joined by directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who talked about how Doctor Doom (played in the new movie, of course, by Robert Downey Jr.) is the best Marvel villain because he’s always three steps ahead.
And then it was the turn of the man himself (RDJ, not Doom), on stage to announce he wants to give away all the spoilers, but isn’t permitted (and anyway, that’s Tom Holland‘s job).
A first proper trailer for ‘Doomsday’ played (lots of X-Men) action, and Chris Evans appeared on stage to admit he was only going to return to the MCU for a good reason (no jokes about dump trucks full of money, please). There was a mock argument between RDJ and Evans about their characters.
The trailer played a second time, and let’s just say this… there was screaming in the audience.
aulDnGXPFkuVgP2q8dOyT6And with that, Disney’s out! Which also marks the end of the studio presentations. Hope you enjoyed our coverage!
The ongoing writers’ strike (and potential action from other guilds such as the actors’ union) is having a major impact on studio output. And 
