As we gear up for Licensing Show in Vegas in May, another convention has been taking place there this week - CinemaCon. As the largest gathering for the worldwide motion picture theater industry, the 3 day event sees exclusive presentations from some of the biggest film studios, debuting a slate of upcoming films, must-see premiere feature screenings as well as the biggest stars, producers and directors.
So what exciting news for the licensing industry has emerged this week? Here’s our quick round up of what you need to know.
Sony confirmed that the long promised live-action Legend of Zelda movie will finally hit theaters on March 26, 2027. Plot details and casting are being kept firmly under wraps for the moment but that hasn’t stopped the internet casting the big roles themselves for years. After the success of Super Mario Bros. and coming the year after the brand’s 40th anniversary expectations will be at fever pitch.
One of the buzziest news tidbits is the reveal that the fourth Tom Holland Spider-Man movie will be called Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and will be released on July 31st 2026. It will be a busy promotional summer for Tom Holland as that’s just one week after Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, also starring Holland.
Sticking with our favourite neighbourhood Spider-Man and it was announced Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse will be swinging in on June 4th, 2027. This long awaited third entry will pick up from that cliffhanger at the end of the second film.
The Beatles biopic will be a four film cinematic event with huge names playing the fab four. Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr. Each film will center on a different member of the group and all four movies are slated to come out during April 2028. Director Sam Mendes has assembled probably one of the most ‘on fire’ male casts in recent memory.
Lionsgate announced that The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping has been in pre-production for some time already, and is on something of a fast-track arriving on September 20th, 2026.
It's an adaptation of the latest Hunger Games prequel book released in the last few weeks, which follows Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson in the original films) as a 16-year-old and his time in the Hunger Games.
Warner Bros. teased a new Superman trailer to come at the front of the Minecraft movie releasing this week. But disappointingly there were no updates on Dune: Messiah, The Hunt for Gollum, Supergirl or The Batman sequel.
They did show more of and date some of their other films coming out this year though Final Destination: Bloodlines May 2025, The Conjuring: Last Rites September 2025, and Mortal Kombat II October 2025.
Universal announced that Kristen Wiig and Gloria Estefan have joined the cast of live-action/animated adventure comedy Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie. Given how well the brand has done with kids so far it will be interesting how much of a boost a theatrical film will have.
Although the first film doesn’t come out until June this year Universal announced that a live-action adaptation of How to Train Your Dragon 2 is currently already in the works. The movie will soar to theaters on June 11, 2027.
Universal also formally dated their big releases for 2026 with the sequel in April, Spielberg's still-mysterious sci-fi movie in June, Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey and Minions 3 in July and Shrek 5 in December.
After the news of it taking full creative control of the James Bond franchise, Amazon MGM is planning the next iteration of 007 to be fresh and exotic. It's being helmed by Amy Pascal and David Heyman, who have already started work in London.
"We are committed to honoring the legacy of this iconic character while bringing a fresh, exotic new chapter to audiences around the world," head of theatrical and streaming film at Prime Video and Amazon Studios Courtenay Valenti said.
Disappointment from the Disney presentation where there were no Star Wars updates at all. Hopefully with May 4th in just a few weeks time we will soon see a first look at The Mandalorian And Grogu and hear if there is a new strategy in place for the big screen outings for this massive franchise.
Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige confirmed what we all thought - that the long-ass Avengers Doomsday cast reveal the other day didn't reveal all the cast that would be part of the movie. Whether this is strategic or down to contract negotiations we won’t likely find out for some time.
What was revealed though was that Sue Storm will be pregnant in the Fantastic Four movie opening up the way for the introduction of Franklin Richards, one of the most powerful beings in the comics.
Moving on to Predator: Badlands and the Predator will apparently be the good guy in this movie, working together with Elle Fanning's character for survival. The Predator will be hunting across a number of planets, and their goal is to take down something even deadlier.
Tron: Ares will bring back Jeff Bridges and has added Jared Leot, Greta Lee and Gillian Anderson. It will also feature music from Nine Inch Nails, and has David Fincher's cinematographer shooting it, so we’ll see how this heady combination turns out.
Avatar: Fire and Ash got some new footage. The long gaps between films seems to have robbed the Avatar franchise of its momentum a little bit. It will be interesting to see how this third movie performs and if it becomes a ‘must see in theatres’ experience.
From a Disney animation point of view the new footage being shown from Zootopia 2 and Elio apparently looks like a mash up of Super Mario Galaxy and Pixar with crisp 3D and vibrant colours.
In terms of live action remakes it seems that Tangled has been put on hold, at least for now, given the performance of Snow White. Which is a shame given that Tangled is a fantastic movie. Rather than just halting Disney should be focused on how to bring the budgets down on their live action remakes and making sure they offer something not only different but that audiences want.
Paramount confirmed what we already knew, that a TNMT: Mutant Mayhem sequel and the new animated Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel movie are coming in 2026. The latter gets an official name, too: The Legend of Aang The Last Airbender
They also confirmed Sonic 4, Scream 7, and a new comedy from South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker plus Kendrick Lamar are now all in production.
Paramount also confirmed the next SpongeBob movie due in December this year will be titled - The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.
So CinemaCon brought us lots of new news but also a lot has been held back - expect more updates as we go through San Diego ComicCon, D23 and May 4th in the coming months.
Remember you can keep up with all the big release dates in the Negsoh release calendar.
Which movies are you most excited about and which do you think will be big for the licensing industry in the years ahead?