CinemaCon 2026: Amazon MGM Studios Bets Big on Theatrical, Reveals Spaceballs Sequel Title

Amazon MGM Studios made a bold statement on the CinemaCon stage Wednesday night, opening with a live piano performance from Jon Batiste, who is composing the score for The Thomas Crown Affair. Amazon MGM Studios head Mike Hopkins announced that the studio has already surpassed $525 million worldwide with Project Hail Mary and reaffirmed its commitment to releasing at least 15 films annually in theaters. Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Ryan Gosling joined Hopkins on stage to thank exhibitors for the film's historic run, with Lord and Miller passing out a single thank-you card and a bouquet of flowers meant to be shared across the entire audience (as a joke). Amazon also announced an extension of Project Hail Mary's exclusive theatrical window.

Head of Film Courtenay Valenti briefly noted that Denis Villeneuve will direct the next James Bond film, with Amy Pascal and David Heyman producing and Stephen Knight writing — though no casting news was shared. Here's everything else shown, in order of release.

The Sheep Detectives — May 8, 2026 

Hugh Jackman and Nicholas Braun arrived on stage to "report a crime," playing up their detective characters with a barrage of sheep puns. Directed by Kyle Balda (Minions: The Rise of Gru, Despicable Me 3) and written by Craig Mazin (Chernobyl, The Last of Us), the film is a talking-animal murder mystery described as a big-hearted family film with a genuine emotional core. The live-action and voice cast also includes Emma Thompson, Molly Gordon, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Regina Hall, and Brian Cranston. An extended trailer was screened.

Masters of the Universe — June 5, 2026 

Director Travis Knight joined stars Nicholas Galitzine and Camila Mendes on stage, with the audience receiving foam swords on the way in. The crowd responded to Galitzine's "By the power of Grayskull!" with a thunderous "I have the power!" A clip showed Adam in the back of a police cruiser when a beast attacks — he fumbles with his sword until Teela saves him — before cutting to a sizzle of his return to Eternia to face Skeletor as He-Man.

How to Rob a Bank — September 2, 2026 

Stunt performers in animal masks swarmed the stage tossing cash before director David Leitch and Pete Davidson introduced the 87 North action-comedy. Davidson described it as being about "a crew of masked bank robbers who carry out daring heists and stream them live on social media." Nicholas Hoult, Anna Sawai, Rhenzy Feliz, Zoë Kravitz, and John C. Reilly also star. The footage had the punk energy of Deadpool crossed with The Fall Guy.

Your Mother, Your Mother, Your Mother — Fall 2026 

Director Bassam Tariq and Mahershala Ali presented a first look at this Orion Pictures thriller. Ali plays Latif, a widowed Muslim man who sells oils and perfumes out of his van in Houston while secretly working as a hitman to support his family. Ali called it "a visceral and morally complex thriller that's brutally intimate, where Houston's sweltering streets become a battlefield for a father's soul." No specific release date was announced beyond “fall.”

Verity — October 2, 2026 

A trailer was shown for this psychological thriller based on the Colleen Hoover novel, with copies of the book given to attendees on the way out. Anne Hathaway, Dakota Johnson, and Josh Hartnett star. Dakota Johnson's character takes a ghost-writing gig that requires living in acclaimed author Verity Crawford's home, only to become dangerously consumed by Verity's world.

I Play Rocky — November 13, 2026 

Director Peter Farrelly brought stars Anthony Ippolito (as Sylvester Stallone), Stephan James (Carl Weathers), AnnaSophia Robb (Sasha Czack), and Kiki Seto (Talia Shire) to the stage for this true story behind the making of Rocky, timed to the film's 50th anniversary. The trailer presents it as a gritty underdog story about Stallone's fight to get his own script made on his own terms.

The Beekeeper 2 — January 15, 2027 

Jason Statham sent a video message — deliberately overfilling a teacup with honey — before a clip screened. The sequence opened with a CyberTruck speeding onto a compound, only for security to discover the driver is bound and gagged. It's a decoy for Adam Clay to confront the former CIA director. A sizzle reel teased the President of the United States being kidnapped and Clay treating his injuries by entering a chamber of bees.

The Chosen: Crucifixion — March 2027 

The five-season biblical drama The Chosen concludes its run with a standalone theatrical film. A first-look trailer focused on Jonathan Roumie as Jesus during the crucifixion.

The Thomas Crown Affair — March 2027 

Michael B. Jordan — who directs, produces, and stars — opened the show alongside co-star Adria Arjona. Jordan recounted seeing the Pierce Brosnan version at 12 and later discovering Steve McQueen's 1968 original, calling it a dream project built for IMAX.

Spaceballs: The New One — April 23, 2027 

The full cast assembled on stage: director Josh Greenbaum, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Josh Gad, Lewis Pullman (Bill's real-life son), and Rick Moranis. A mock Q&A devolved into a running gag of everyone answering for Moranis before a video interruption from Mel Brooks himself revealed the title. First-look footage included a clunky square droid, a comically over-engineered multi-bladed "Schwartz" hilt, and a urinal scene in which Dark Helmet encounters a Na'vi and tells it "I see you" in Na'vi after checking out his schwartz.

A Colt Is My Passport — 2027, date TBA 

Gareth Evans directs this noir reimagining of the 1967 Nikkatsu yakuza thriller, relocated to 1978 Detroit. Shōhei Shiozaki, Jack Lowden, Lucy Boynton, and Tim Roth star. A moody trailer was shown; no specific release date was announced.

Highlander — 2027 or 2028, TBA 

Head of International Distribution Helen Moss closed the main portion of the show with a first-look sneak peek at Chad Stahelski's reimagining, currently in production in the UK. Henry Cavill sent a video message from set, accompanied by brief work-in-progress footage. Russell Crowe and Dave Bautista also star. Cavill noted the production still has shoots planned in the Scottish Highlands, Poland, and Hong Kong before it wraps.

The evening ended with a sizzle reel weaving the upcoming slate together with a century of MGM classics — a reminder that the studio behind Rocky, The Silence of the Lambs, and the Bond franchise is betting heavily on its theatrical future. With Project Hail Mary already proving that original films can become genuine cultural events, Amazon MGM Studios is clearly building toward something larger than a release schedule. Whether the ambition matches the execution will start becoming clear when The Sheep Detectives opens in just a few weeks.

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