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| Author | Mia Blakeney |
CineEurope, the European convention and trade show for cinema professionals, took place last week from Monday 16 to Thursday 19 June in Barcelona. This annual event brings together film distributors, exhibitors and key players from across the industry, to engage in various discussions and enjoy the latest update from studios.
The main outcome? There is a lot to be excited about in the world of the cinema!
Here are some of our top highlights and key talking points from this year’s event.
The Power of the Theatrical Window Remains
Disney showcased its upcoming theatrical slate, including big titles Tron: Ares, The Fantastic Four: First Steps, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Zootropolis 2, all while emphasising its commitment to length theatrical windows.
Andrew Cripps, Disney’s Head of Theatrical Distribution, emphasised how they release films “exclusively on the big screen, longer than any of our competitors”, and would like other studios to join them in this scale of support for the theatrical release.
The Importance of Attention
On the first day of CineEurope, Adam Cunningham, Chief Strategy Officer at Allied Global Marketing, gave a keynote presentation on the importance of attention in today’s media landscape.
Cunningham argued that media platforms aren’t fighting against each other for attention, but are fighting to maintain the attention of their viewers and audiences. “(Cinema) is not competing with Netflix. Netflix has the same problems…. (they are) competing with: the scroll, the loop, the reflex”.
He spoke about how cinema still drives emotion, synchrony, co-presence, in a way that no other platform can replicate, but the medium itself needs to be widely promoted as the unique and powerful medium it is.
DCM’s award-winning ‘Centre of Attention’ research piece, created in partnership with industry-leading specialists Lumen, demonstrates how cinema delivers the ultimate viewing experience, with incomparable attention levels. Find out more here.
Upcoming Releases to get Excited About
Disney showed clips from for Pixar’s new release Hoppers, scheduled for spring next year, and summer 2026’s Toy Story 5. A sizzle was also shown for The Mandalorian and Grogu, set to hit cinemas in May next year, as well as clips from Tron: Ares and Zootropolis 2.
Audiences also received a recorded video message from James Cameron, director of the Avatar films, promising “a side of Pandora you didn’t know existed” in this winter’s Avatar: Fire and Ash.
During Lionsgate’s presentation, audiences were treated to a first look at The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandon Sklenar, and of action thriller Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Morgan Freeman.
They also revealed that Glenn Close and Billy Porter have joined the cast of The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, and that filming of Day Drinker, starring Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz, has completed filming.
Paramount previewed an exclusive look at the upcoming The Naked Gun, and extended footage from The Running Man and Smurfs.
The studio also announced that they will co-produce the new Meet The Parents 4 film with Universal, in which Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, Teri Polo and Blythe Danner will return in their previous roles.
In their presentation, Sony emphasised their success in 2024 with female-targeted films such as Anyone But You and It Ends With Us, and introduced upcoming titles Materialists, Eleanor The Great, and A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, all continuing to target this audience demographic.
Looking further ahead, Sony revealed plans for a video-game adaptation of The Legend Of Zelda (May 2027); the final Spider-Verse film, Spider-Man: Beyond The Spider-Verse (June 2027); and The Beatles (April 2028).
The studio also showed the first 28 minutes of 28 Years Later, two days ahead of the film’s world premiere in London.
Universal revealed exclusive clips from the upcoming Jurassic World Rebirth, an extended exclusive look at The Bad Guys 2, and a behind the scenes look at Wicked: For Good, introduced by director Jon M. Chu.
The studio also revealed that a new, currently untitled, Steven Spielberg film has wrapped filming, and that Christopher Nolan’s new epic The Odyssey is currently in the filming process, being shot entirely with Imax cameras.
Warner Bros. treated audiences to an exclusive 30 minutes of this summer’s upcoming Superman movie, introduced by a video message from DC Co-CEOs Peter Safran and James Gunn. Exclusive looks at Weapons, The Conjuring: Last Rites and Mortal Kombat II were also shown.
Footage was shown from Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo Di Caprio, as well as a behind-the-scenes reel for Emerald Fennel’s Wuthering Heights, which stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
Get in touch with your DCM rep to find out more about these exciting upcoming releases.