5 Movies That Impressed Me The Most At CinemaCon 2026

CinemaCon was held last week in Las Vegas, Nevada, with all the major movie studios giving theater exhibitors and press new looks at their upcoming slates. The event began with Sony, who showed a new extended look at Spider-Man: Brand New Day, before moving on to Warner Bros., Universal, Disney, and more.

The studio that arguably had the biggest reception to their preview was Disney, as they focused on their 2026 and 2027 releases, showcasing The Mandalorian and Grogu and the highly anticipated Avengers: Doomsday. The first 18 minutes of the next Star Wars movie were shown exclusively to audiences at the event, and a new exclusive trailer was shown for Doomsday.

Despite Disney’s success, other studios still managed to make waves at the event. Warner Bros. showed the first seven minutes of Dune: Part Three, which was packed with action and set on a battlefield on an unknown planet. Universal highlighted Christopher Nolan’s next film, The Odyssey, which gave new looks at Tom Holland, Matt Damon, and the rest of the A-list cast.

Out of these films, five stand out above the rest and demonstrate the kind of entertainment and thrills audiences can get from movie theaters this year. Some may be expected, while others may dive into deeper territory and highlight films other than the household names that have been discussed in the days since the event.

Avengers: Doomsday

Credit: MovieStillsDB

Avengers: Doomsday received the biggest reaction at CinemaCon. The crowd went wild when the footage was shown, with new looks at Doctor Doom, Thor, the Fantastic Four, and, of course, Steve Rogers. In fact, the crowd’s reaction was so strong that the trailer was played for a second time, the only time this happened at the event.

Disney’s Doomsday footage succeeds in almost every area. For viewers who have lost interest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, this new trailer is likely to suck them back in. It captures the heart and soul of both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame, showing what the MCU can be at its very best.

Crucially, the footage shown at CinemaCon also brings back the stakes of Infinity War, Endgame, and other major films in the Infinity Saga (MCU Phases 1-3), which makes Doomsday feel incredibly important for the MCU moving forward. There’s no doubt that universe-altering events will happen in Doomsday, and the footage screened at CinemaCon gave audiences a tiny yet amazing glimpse at that.

The Mandalorian and Grogu

The Mandalorian and Grogu is the closest film to debut on this list, with the Jon Favreau-directed feature set to debut in theaters on May 22. As stated, the first 18 minutes of The Mandalorian and Grogu were shown to the crowd, who got to see Din Djarin and Grogu take down an Imperial warlord on the ice planet Hoth. The footage looked crisp, grand, and full of heart, three features present in The Mandalorian show when it was at its best.

Questions still remain about this film, particularly as it relates to the justification of its existence. Some fans appear to have disregarded The Mandalorian and Grogu entirely, labeling it as just an extended episode of the TV show, but this footage pushes back against that narrative by showing why it’s a perfect film for the theater.

It remains to be seen how much the buzz from the footage shown at CinemaCon will convince audiences to come to the theater for the first Star Wars film in over six years. Box office tracking looks mixed as of right now, but it feels likely based on the footage shown at this event that The Mandalorian and Grogu will have a positive word of mouth overall, which may help its chances.

Dune: Part Three

Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures

As stated, the first seven minutes of Dune: Part Three were shown. The opening shows Javier Bardem’s character, Stilgar, as he leads his troops into a deadly battle. Soldiers are clearly scared, and many of them look scarred by what they’ve seen in the war. It’s a harrowing glimpse into what Paul Atreides has done in the 17 years since the second Dune film.

The footage shown at CinemaCon also proved that some of the very best elements of the first two Dune films are carrying over into the third. Visually, Part Three looks truly stunning, despite the absence of cinematographer Greig Fraser, who worked on parts one and two. The scale looks bigger than ever before, making this new movie feel like the epic conclusion it’s being advertised as.

The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan is following up Oppenheimer, for which he won the awards for Best Director and Best Picture at the Academy Awards, with The Odyssey, an adaption of the Homer epic poem written in the 8th century BC. The film is packed with an all-star cast, many of whom were highlighted in the footage shown. Matt Damon’s Odysseus is seen breaking into a city and raiding it in the footage, alongside Jon Bernthal.

The footage shown of The Odyssey demonstrates all the best qualities of Nolan as a director. It’s incredibly intense, with the characters sneaking into the city at night and secretly taking down guards. It’s also incredibly grand in terms of size and scale, with what appears to be an entire ancient city built for this sequence in the film. It’s big, bold, and feels exactly like a Christopher Nolan movie.

Resident Evil

Zach Cregger is following up his critically acclaimed film Weapons with a new chapter in the Resident Evil franchise. Cregger has clarified that the film will not feature any characters from other movies, and is instead a brand-new story set within the Resident Evil world. This distinctness was clear in the Resident Evil footage shown at CinemaCon, which truly stood out among the rest of the panels.

Cregger seems to have recaptured his classic intensity and nail-biting thrills from Barbarian and Weapons, all while telling a story that is faithful to the Resident Evil world. After some hit-and-miss movies in the franchise, Cregger taking the reins is a great omen for the series moving forward, especially after seeing this new footage.