Stay tuned here and on my Instagram, TikTok, Spill (user name: @twotrey23 ), and Twitter all week for ongoing coverage of all the goings-on at CinemaCon 2025!
(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski and the CinemaCon PR team for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew and Harry Medved and the Cinema United team)
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The afternoon saw the beginning of the general convention program with the first in this year's seminar series, called "Refreshing the Future of Cinema," sponsored by CinemaCon's longtime presenting sponsor, Coca-Cola. One could be cynical and describe this session as being not only a commercial, but a commercial for a commercial, for the back half of the hour centered on the finalists of the annual Refreshing Films competition, where student filmmakers compete to have their original Coca-Cola-themed short films play in theatres nationwide. To add to this twisted knot of commercialism, this particular session also had an additional outside sponsor/partner: Before the Movie and Mobile Moviegoing, which provides both pre-show programming and website solutions for cinemas. Founder and CEO of the company, Corey Tocchini, introduced both a video detailing the company's services and those on his team who were in attendance for the convention.
The host for the afternoon's program was Eric Blumenthal, the Coca-Cola Company's vice president of consumer value, and his position served him right for the first half of the program, where he and the company's vice president of strategic insights, Emily Rogers, related a number of well researched statistics about movie consumers -- namely those of Gen Z. The deep dive into their moviegoing and general movie-related habits then led to some ideas on how exhibitors can adapt and build on their practice to further grow the young demographic's attendance.
Interspersed throughout that first half were showings of the four finalists films in this year's Refreshing Films competition, but before the teams behind them got their moment on stage, one of the long-running program's successful alumni received a spotlight: Tracy Oliver, best known for writing the hit 2017 big screen comedy Girls Trip and creating the also-successful Amazon Prime Video series Harlem. She discussed her career and experience participating in the contest, highlighting how it gives young filmmakers valuable experience on set with a budget and a professional crew. The four filmmaker duos of this year's finalist shorts -- director/co-writer Aiko Lozar and producer/co-writer Lexi Berganio of Chapman University (Ticket to Everywhere), producer K.L. Sanon and director/writer Grace Tompkins of the University of Central Florida (Screening Love), producer Minnie Wangkietkajon and director Madelyn Domnick of Savannah College of Art & Design (Jump!), director/writer Amirah Adem and producer Biola Olateru-Olagbegi of USC (A Cinema's Groove) -- joined Oliver to tell their stories and experiences and receive some valuable career advice from Oliver. The winners of this year's competition will be announced at the Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony on Thursday night.
Stay tuned here and on my Instagram, TikTok, Spill (user name: @twotrey23 ), and Twitter all week for ongoing coverage of all the goings-on at CinemaCon 2025!
(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski and the CinemaCon PR team for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew and Harry Medved and the Cinema United team)
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
Please help support this site through a generous donation
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20th Century Studios will bring Ella McCay exclusively to theatres on September 19, 2025. Written and directed by Brooks, Ella McCay is a new comedy about the complicated politics that arise when a young woman’s stressful career clashes with her chaotic family life. The film features an all-star cast including Emma Mackey, Woody Harrelson, Kumail Nanjiani, Spike Fearn, Ayo Edebiri, Rebecca Hall, Julie Kavner, Jack Lowden, Becky Ann Baker, and Joey Brooks, with Albert Brooks, and Jamie Lee Curtis. It is produced by James L. Brooks, Richard Sakai, Julie Ansell, and Jennifer Simchowitz.
Three-time Academy Award winner and twenty-two-time Emmy Award winning director, producer, and screenwriter James L. Brooks started his career at CBS as an usher, before writing for the network’s news broadcast. His first major successes came on television where he created such iconic series as Room 222, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Lou Grant, and Taxi. His film debut came with Starting Over and led to his work on films such as Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, and As Good as It Gets. Brooks won the Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Terms of Endearment, and received Best Director nominations for Broadcast News and As Good as It Gets. Other notable films he produced include Big, Say Anything..., The War of the Roses, Bottle Rocket, Spanglish, The Simpsons Movie, How Do You Know, The Edge of Seventeen, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret, and Icebox. In 1984 he founded Gracie Films, producing the Emmy Award winning The Tracey Ullman Show and launching The Simpsons.
With a legacy spanning over six decades, James L. Brooks remains one of the most influential figures in entertainment, celebrated for his unparalleled contributions to both television and film. His recent induction as a Disney Legend in 2024 underscores his significant impact on the world of storytelling and entertainment. His list of accolades also includes two Peabody Awards and Writers Guild Laurel Awards for his work in both Motion Pictures and Television.
In addition to his personal successes, James is also known for his mentorship of emerging talent, especially when it comes to working with first-time writers, producers and directors. His reputation and commitment to help to bring new voices into the entertainment industry is evident in his work with Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket), Cameron Crowe (Say Anything...), and Kelly Fremon Craig (The Edge of Seventeen), among many others.
Founded in 1948, Cinema United is the largest exhibition trade organization in the world, representing more than 31,000 movie screens in all 50 states, and more than 30,000 screens in 80 countries worldwide. Its membership includes theatres of all sizes, from the largest cinema chains to one-screen theatres in cities and towns around the world. For additional information, please visit cinemaunited.org.
CinemaCon attracts upwards of six thousand motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry -- from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas -- all on hand to celebrate the moviegoing experience and the cinema industry. CinemaCon works with the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA) and National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) as its trade show partners. The Coca-Cola Company –- one of the industry’s most highly regarded and respected partners in the world of the movies -– is its official presenting sponsor.
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
Please help support this site through a generous donation
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While the 2025 edition of CinemaCon did kick off, as usual, with a morning and afternoon devoted to the international motion picture exhibition industry, this was no typical CinemaCon International Day. In keeping with the National Association of Theatre Owners, a.k.a. NATO, changing its name to Cinema United less than two weeks ago, so go the adjustments to their official annual convention. Instead of holding a breakfast event where one award was given out to go along with a pair of addresses, and then a big lunch with more awards and a filmmaker tribute, the two meals were consolidated into a single early morning function, with what had always been one of the more notable awards of the week, International Filmmaker of the Year, apparently discontinued.
After a half hour or so where attendees could eat their self-serve breakfast items at open seating tables (thankfully, every year after 2022 has not been a continental "breakfast"), the morning's moderator, Laura Houlgatte, CEO, International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), got the proceedings officially rolling with the customary sponsor remarks. First up was Dolby, represented by Michael Archer, vice president of cinema sales and partner management. He trumpeted both the cutting edge technological advances and continued widespread adoption of their Atmos audio, Vision HDR projection, and the deluxe Dolby Cinema platform (featuring custom designed auditoriums showing films in combined Dolby Vision + Atmos) worldwide. With the last product, beyond mere technology adoption growth, he also noted the growth in worldwide film titles being released to be shown for Dolby Cinema auditoriums, with studios around the globe releasing an average of 55 total annual releases in the format. This growth has yielded dividends at the box office, with all 50 of the top worldwide grossers of the last 5 years having been released in Dolby Vision + Atmos.
Michael Archer, vice president of
cinema sales and partner management, Dolby
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
The morning's second sponsor, Comscore, was less about self-promotion and more about offering more objective information, courtesy of senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian, who related a number of statistics about the ongoing box office recovery. International recovery continues to outpace domestic, but with seven of the top ten films of 2024 having been released from June to December, growth remains steady across the board.
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst, Comscore
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Dergarabedian was then appropriately tasked to give out the morning's first award, one usually given during the day's lunch event, for International Box Office Achievement. With blockbusters such as Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, and Moana 2, it should come as no surprise that this award went to TThe Walt Disney Studios, accepted by senior vice president of international film distribution, Jeffrey Forman. In the year 2024, Disney grossed $5.46 billion at the global box office, with $3 billion of that from international markets, becoming the first studio to cross that overseas benchmark since 2019.
Jeffrey Forman, senior vice president,
international film distribution, The Walt Disney Studios,
International Box Office Achievement honoree
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of distribution for last year's winner of that award, Universal Pictures International, presented the morning's second award, Global Achievement in Exhibition. This went to Tim Richards, founder and CEO of United Kingdom- and Ireland-based chain Vue International, who was able to thrive amid the twin crises of the pandemic and the labor strikes by investing in innovation in technology and amenities at his cinemas. Despite serving in the exhibition industry from long before he even founded Vue in 1999, Richards emphasized that this was not a retirement award, and he is "just getting warmed up."
Veronika Kwan Vandenberg, president of distribution, Universal Pictures International;
Tim Richards, founder & CEO, Vue International,
Global Achievement in Exhibition honoree
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Handling the exhibition keynote this year was Valmir Fernandes, president of Cinemark International. He led off continuing a point made earlier by Dergarabedian: international box office recovery is outpacing domestic, with Latin America leading the way. He sees the way to continue the recovery is through the combination of specific efforts from both the studio and exhibitor sides. For the former's part, a supply of diverse wide releases, marketing campaigns tailored to regions, and a significant theatrical window can help the latter, who then can create compelling moviegoing experiences via seating, technology, and food offerings; and enhance their own marketing and theatre loyalty programs.
Valmir Fernandes, president, Cinemark International
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Stephen Basil-Jones, executive vice president and head of international marketing for Sony Pictures, delivered the exhibition keynote address. He related a number of observations about the motion exhibition market in its current state: (1) big films have been performing bigger, and mid-tier films have been performing smaller; (2) audiences want a "guaranteed" good time; (3) moviegoing is a social experience; (4) the movies need to feel fresh and unique; (5) young audiences drive the biggest hits; (6) older audiences have not been as quick to return to cinemas; and (7) movies need to feel like an event. To these points, he advised these next steps: (1) more variety in the types of films being released theatrically; (2) better marketing tactics, including localized ones taken by individual theatres for the specific communities they serve; and (2) widespread improvements in cinema technologies and amenities.
Stephen Basil-Jones, executive vice president and
head of international marketing, Sony Pictures
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
With another of International Day's usual lunchtime awards, the Passepartout award, which honors to an industry executive who demonstrates dedication and commitment to the international marketplace being skipped this year along with the aforementioned International Filmmaker of the Year, the final award for the 2025 International Day was the Award of Excellence in Cinema. Joe Chang, president and CEO of the Taiwan-based Ambassador Theatres, received the award from one of the honorees earlier in the morning, Disney's Jeffrey Forman. A tribute video to Chang featuring filmmakers Ang Lee and John Woo as well as distribution execs from Sony Pictures, Disney, Paramount, Universal, and Warner Bros. preceded Chang's spirited speech where he reminisced about the impact of watching -- and, most importantly, hearing -- the 1974 disaster film Earthquake, and he coined a phrase that Cinema United should adopt as a slogan: "Enjoy movie, enjoy life."
Jeffrey Forman, senior vice president,
international film distribution, The Walt Disney Studios;
Joe Chang, president & CEO, Ambassador Theatres,
Award of Excellence in Cinema honoree
(photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Stay tuned here and on my Instagram, TikTok, Spill (user name: @twotrey23 ), and Twitter all week for ongoing coverage of all the goings-on at CinemaCon 2025!
(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski and the CinemaCon PR team for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew and Harry Medved and the Cinema United team)
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
Please help support this site through a generous donation
via Buy a Me a Coffee!
Being the first edition of its official convention that the organization formerly known as the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) is holding under its recently announced (and, frankly, long overdue) updated name, Cinema United, the prevailing air one sees and feels initially stepping into the Caesars Palace Las Vegas conference center for CinemaCon 2025 is one looking forward and headlong into the future. For me, however, perhaps owing to the fact that 30th anniversary of my launching The Movie Report publication (and, ultimately, "brand") as a teenager is less than two weeks away (on April 10), I go into this year's four-day event with just as much of an eye trained to the past. After all, I first was afforded the privilege to attend and cover this event, back when it was still called ShoWest, all the way back in 2001. Needless to say, the global motion picture exhibition industry has radically changed and evolved (or devolved?) in the ensuing near-quarter-century; also dramatically different is how industry insider events such as as these are covered by the media. (Chances are most of those who now have any familiarity with the name "CinemaCon" -- especially in the last few years -- have erroneously been led to believe that this is like the movie fan equivalent of Comic-Con as opposed to the largely inside-baseball industry professional conference it actually has always been and will always continue to be.) Thus, this year, it is with a certain 360-degree, decades-burnished focus on and sensitivity to history and context, if you will -- and more than a little sense of nostalgia -- that I made the trip up the familiar set of escalators leading to the convention's customary main hub of activity.
Riding up the CinemaCon escalators
to the main floor
(time lapse animated photo by Michael Dequina)
As it has been at every convention since the pandemic, those escalators were devoid of any film advertising, and at this point, it's safe to conclude that this is officially the new normal. Also a new normal, but in a far more positive way, is the large Cinema United logo sculpture that greets patrons even before the traditional CinemaCon archway, which, new organization name and logo aside, remained unchanged from its shape and static, no-frills form since 2022. I must say, though, that I prefer -- and miss -- the more flashy LED video screen archway first used in 2015 and last seen in 2019.
In fact, the new Cinema United branding is receiving as much of a push in the lobby poster lightboxes as any other film, film studio, or company, with a variety of different designs and display sizes turning up in the hallways. Actually, the organization has one of the largest lightbox displays -- four panels -- in the hallway.
Aside from the new organization name and logo, everything in the main lobby is as it has typically been. Signs denote main registration booths and the press room, and the Christie-sponsored looping movie trailer screen that sits diagonally opposite the archway remains the same size. Receiving the prime studio advertising spot, the floor of the main escalator landing, this year is Danny Boyle's virus/zombie sequel 28 Years Later, set for release on June 20 from Sony Pictures.
One of the things I used to always look forward to in the early years of CinemaCon and most especially during the years under its former ShoWest moniker was not only seeing official movie posters making the debut in these hallways before anywhere else, but also seeing preliminary mock-ups the studios would throw together for some titles (sometimes very preliminary, as in this example I photographed at the 2002 convention). This practice has gone virtually extinct in the last few years, even going back before the pandemic. In what I hope is the beginning of a new trend, this year sees both of these tactics back in substantial practice. Leading the way is Universal, offering the first official promotional looks at the Jordan Peele-produced sports horror Him (September 19) and two polar opposite sequels, violent actioner Nobody 2 (August 15) and family-friendly musical fantasy Wicked: For Good (November 21); and posting two early, logo-only promotions for a pair of Blumhouse horror offerings, sequel Black Phone 2 (October 17) and M3GAN-but-as-a-sexbot tale Soulm8te (January 2, 2026). Their specialty division, Focus Features, also continued its regular practice of having a basic list of upcoming releases in a lightbox display.
Sony Pictures has gotten into the game with the premieres of teasers for the horror franchise revival I Know What You Did Last Summer (July 18) and the Steph Curry-produced animated feature GOAT (2026).
While not having a proper presentation during the convention as they have in a number of previous years, NEON has a hallway presence for two big film festival acquisions: the key art debut for Toronto International Film Festival Audience Award-winning Stephen King adaptation The Life of Chuck (June) and a first teaser for Sundance body horror buzz item Together (August).
The Life of Chuck lightbox display
(photo by Michael Dequina)
Faith-centered Angel Studios, the one distributor who had been keeping the practice alive the most the past couple of conventions, continues with mock-ups for forthcoming releases Sketch (August 6), Truth and Treason (October 17), and Zero A.D. (December 19). Based on the release dates listed on these posters, and those of a couple of their releases earlier this year, it appears the studio is abandoning the "only on holiday weekends" release pattern it followed in 2024.
Selfie-ready standees remain the way to generate buzz for big ticket big studio titles, including Paramount's Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning (May 23), Disney's live action Lilo & Stitch adaptation (also May 23), Universal/DreamWorks's live action How to Train Your Dragon adaptation (June 13), Disney/Pixar's Elio (June 20), and Universal's Jurassic World Rebirth (July 2). The big winner in the creativity department is Disney/Marvel Studios, with the giant Wheaties cereal box-style standee for Thunderbolts* (May 2), complete with witty "nutrition" labeling.
Mission: Impossible -- The Final Reckoning standee
(photo by Michael Dequina)
Even among a lot of big displays for a lot of big releases, a number of indies caught the eye in the hallway, most notably a multi-panel lightbox display for the 50 Cent-starring, apparently social media-themed Skillhouse (July); and the next releases in the new indie trend of public domain exploitation horror, Pinocchio: Unstrung, starring horror icon Robert Englund; and -- yes -- Bambi: The Reckoning (July 25).
Pinocchio: Unstrung lightbox display
(photo by Michael Dequina)
Bambi: The Reckoning lightbox display
(photo by Michael Dequina)
Speaking of trends, new this year in the hallways were display cases of what has become the big movie tie-in merchandise item, souvenir popcorn buckets.
Movie tie-in popcorn bucket display
(photo by Michael Dequina)
Movie tie-in popcorn bucket display
(photo by Michael Dequina)
The Movie Report is not the only presence at this year's CinemaCon marking a milestone anniversary this year. Bookending my 30 years are ticketing services Moviefone (35 years) and Fandango (25 years). The difference in size in their respective lightbox displays is reflective of how the once-dominant (most especially during its phone-dial-in-only "777-FILM" heyday) former is now in the massive shadow of the latter.
After taking last year's convention off, Sony Pictures will return to the main stage for the first studio presentation of the week tonight, but they did not return to the corner of the hallway where they usually put up a large and high tech display, such as 2023's Gran Turismo video game tournament and 2022's interactive Spider-Verse installation. Instead, that space served as added real estate for Variety, the Children's Charity's annual silent auction of autographed items and memorabilia items.
Display case of autographed items up for auction
(photo by Michael Dequina)
One of the big hits of the CinemaCon 2024 hallway,
the Twisters wind booth, is now up for auction
(photo by Michael Dequina)
One of the more cheeky -- in more ways than one -- displays up is not anywhere in the hallways but in the main lobby of Caesars Palace, where a number of the nude statues were given a couple of accessories by Paramount to promote their upcoming reboot of the zany comedy franchise The Naked Gun (August 1), with Liam Neeson taking the place of the late, great Leslie Nielsen.
Now join me for a virtual walkthrough of all the main hallways of posters and displays at CinemaCon in the video below.
Stay tuned here and on my Instagram, TikTok, Spill (user name: @twotrey23 ), and Twitter all week for ongoing coverage of all the goings-on at CinemaCon 2025!
(Very special thanks to Heather Lewandoski and the CinemaCon PR team for all their helpful and generous assistance at the convention, as well as Mitch Neuhauser and the CinemaCon crew and Harry Medved and the Cinema United team)
The Movie Report wants to attend all your film special events! Please send any and all invitations to this address. Thanks!
Please help support this site through a generous donation
via Buy a Me a Coffee!
