Dinosaurs, Dragons, and Dolls: What to Expect From Universal’s CinemaCon Panel

Expect “thrillifying” news out Universal’s CinemaCon presentation. With the third day of the theater owners confab currently underway in Las Vegas, Universal Pictures and Focus Features will take over the stage at Caesars Palace’s Colosseum theater on Wednesday (from 3:45 p.m. PT to 5:30 p.m.) to preview a 2025 slate that includes anticipated sequels like Wicked: For Good and Jurassic World Rebirth; Blumhouse’s M3GAN 2.0, The Black Phone 2, and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2; and DreamWorks’ live-action How to Train Your Dragon remake, which screened in full exclusively for attendees ahead of a June premiere in theaters.

To recap: Universal and Focus follow Sony’s blockbuster showcase, which kicked off the four-day CinemaCon on Monday with the newly titled Spider-Man: Brand New Day and newly dated Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse, plus the reveal of the Fab Four actors set to play the Beatles in four Sam Mendes-directed biopics.

RELATED: How to Train Your Dragon: First Reactions to Live-Action Remake Out of CinemaCon

Tuesday saw Lionsgate announce a slew of sequels, including the Keanu Reeves-fronted John Wick: Chapter 5, a spinoff centered on Donnie Yen’s Caine, and an animated Wick prequel movie, plus a new Hunger Games prequel movie and not one but two Now You See Me sequels. Warner Bros. underwhelmed with a “Big Picture” presentation with new footage from James Gunn’s Superman and Warner Bros. Animation’s The Cat in the Hat reboot, but little in the way of announcements beyond animated Tom & Jerry, Flintstones, and Looney Tunes movies.

“At Universal, we don’t buy franchises; we build them from the ground up, working with the most innovative, bold and kinetic filmmakers and actors in the industry,” said Jim Orr, President, Domestic Theatrical Distribution, Universal Pictures. “Our 2025 slate stands as a testament to our commitment to cinema that shatters the mold and to movies that invite audiences into your theaters… and then to places they never imagined.”

Following the release of the Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes thriller Drop (April 11), about a widowed single mom (The White Lotus‘ Meghann Fahy) who is terrorized by anonymous messages dropped to her phone, Universal will bring the live-action reimagining of How to Train Your Dragon (June 13) to theaters with HTTYD trilogy director Dean DeBlois.

After the first M3GAN 2.0 teaser trailer danced online during the Grammys in February, Universal will deliver an update on Blumhouse and Atomic Monster’s A.I. mean girl (June 27). Another franchise roaring back to life is Jurassic World Rebirth (July 2), from director Gareth Edwards (Godzilla, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) and writer David Koepp (the original Jurassic Park). The action-packed new chapter sees an extraction team — played by Scarlett Johansson (the Avengers movies), Jonathan Bailey (Wicked), and Mahershala Ali (Marvel’s Blade reboot) — race to the most dangerous place on Earth: an abandoned island research facility inhabited by the most lethal creatures in history.

DreamWorks Animation’s The Bad Guys 2 (August 11) — featuring the voices of Sam Rockwell, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, and Craig Robinson, who are joined by Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, and Natasha Lyonne as The Bad Girls — will steal a segment of the showcase, followed by DreamWorks’ Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie (Sept. 26).

Also hitting theaters later this summer is 87North’s Nobody 2 (Aug. 15), which again stars Bob Odenkirk (Better Call Saul) as everyman and former assassin Hutch Mansell. From Blumhouse, Ethan Hawke and Mason Thames will once again answer the call for Black Phone 2 (Oct. 17), and Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (Dec. 5) will unleash another level of animatronic terror with director Emma Tammi (2023’s FNAF movie) based on Scott Cawthon’s video game series.

Finally, Universal will return to the Land of Oz for Wicked 2. The followup to last year’s musical blockbuster, Wicked: For Good (Nov. 21) again stars Oscar nominees Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Glinda, a.k.a. the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for the latest CinemaCon news and updates as they happen.