Taking the third spot at CinemaCon this year, Warner Bros. is in the middle of some issues, including the fact that their latest slate, betting big on largely indie directors handed giant budgets has yet to truly pay off –– witness ‘Mickey 17’s less-than-stellar box office.

But the studio will be trying to drum up enthusiasm for its upcoming slate, which still features some heavy hitters, including the latest take on ‘Superman’ (the company will be hoping that DC Studios boss James Gunn’s sprawling new superhero universe will fly out of the gate) and Ryan Coogler’s  'Sinners’ (part of the directors-given-big-budgets experiment).

With the ‘Superman’ music playing even as the presentation starts, it’s not hard to spot what the studios’ big focus is likely to be.

Here we go…

As with Disney’s bulging portfolio of labels, Warner Bros. has the likes of WB Animation, New Line, DC Studios and the main Warners movie studio under its umbrella. We heard about projects from all of them today.

Jeff Goldstein, president of global distribution at the studio, took the stage to kick things off with a sizzle reel of the movies the studio has not written off for tax reasons.

That was followed by current WB film bosses Mike De Luca and Pamela Abdy, who arrived on stage to start the hype in person.

First up…

Introduced by director Ryan Coogler (who also wrote the script) via a video, the new movie features Michael B. Jordan playing twin brothers who return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back.

Coogler called it his most personal movie yet. Which makes us wonder how many supernatural creatures he’s battled in his life.

‘Sinners’ will be haunting theaters on April 18th.

That’s followed by…

A key tentpole in the film team’s tactic of giving respected filmmakers big budget, this is the new Paul Thomas Anderson movie featuring Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead, playing a member of a group of ex-revolutionaries that reunites to rescue his daughter.

DiCaprio walked on stage alongside co-stars Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor to talk up the movie, which DiCaprio described as “incredibly epic.”

And according to him, it was an “honor” working with “master filmmaker” PTA, with whom he’s wanted to collaborate for 20 years.

The stars introduced an extended trailer for the new movie, full of more of the wacky action to be found within.

‘One Battle After Another’ storms onto screens on September 26th and seems likely to be making an awards play.

Onwards to…

Maggie Gyllenhaal’s latest directorial job is a new, slightly skewed take on ‘The Bride of Frankenstein’ as the doctor’s creation asks Dr. Euphronius to help create a companion. They give life to a murdered woman as the Bride, sparking romance, police interest, and radical social change.

Gyllenhaal and Jessie Buckley (the latter plays the title character) strode on stage to discuss the movie, which was shot in IMAX.

The director admitted that after ‘The Last Daughter’ she was looking for something popular and big, but also radical and she wasn’t sure what until she was at a party and saw someone with a bride tattoo.

Here’s what she said about the movie:

“I’m really interested in monsters. We all have something a little monstrous in us, which is why I think we love monsters.”

Buckley, meanwhile, said she felt like the script, written by Gyllenhaal, had an electrical current running through it. And that Frankenstein’s monster’s (Christian Bale) relationship with the Bride is the punkest ever.

This take on the creature is a movie lover. We find him in a theater watching movies and his best friend is a Hollywood actor. Gyllenhaal, likewise, though she admitted she had seen exactly two IMAX movies before making one.

An extended trailer played for the movie to wrap up this portion.

‘The Bride!’ is lumbering towards theaters on March 6th, 2026.

Following a sizzle reel of New Line’s future offerings, we dived headlong into that section of the presentation as Richard Brener, president and CCO of the studio arm took the stage.

The ‘Mortal Kombat’ sequel, which features Karl Urban playing Johnny Cage, has been shot, and will be in theaters on October 24th.

Announced as the final main ‘Conjuring’ movie featuring Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga as the Warrens, has scared up a September 5th release date.

After a catchup on the legacy of the franchise, a clip was shown from the latest in series, which sees a college student, plagued by a recurring violent nightmare, returning home to find the one person who can break the cycle and save her family from the horrific fate that inevitably awaits them.

Naturally the scene, which sees two men get pulled into, and horribly killed by, an MRI machine is full of the

And yes, the late Tony Todd appears in this one

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ will head to theaters on May 16th.

And now…

Writer/director Zach Cregger (who was already in Las Vegas because he’s also working on the new ‘Resident Evil’ movie for Sony) was brought out to tout his new horror pic.

He described ‘Weapons’ as “twisty and turny” and had a teaser to show that may never be made public.

In it, kids wake up at 2:17am and wreak havoc on a small town. The footage is narrated by a five-year old’s voice. Mobs of parents are losing their minds in a school meeting. Josh Brolin’s character demands and yells for answers.

Julia Garner, a concerned parent is distressed and wake up with night sweats over the stress. She walks into a classroom in the middle of the night to find spooky kids at desk.

But there are blood curdling images; blood exploding from a head, a red-haired kid popping up in the forest while a teenager worries he’s in the wrong place…

The movie will be out on August 8th.

And we shifted to the main studio’s portion of the presentation with a biggie…

Director Joseph Kosinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer took the stage to promote their new collaboration –– their first together since ‘Top Gun: Maverick.’

While it’s an Apple production, Warners has the distribution rights and will be hoping for big things from the Brad Pitt-starring movie, which finds him as a Formula One who driver comes out of retirement to mentor and team with a younger driver.

It’s full of racing action (including Pitt, who drove cars himself at 185 miles an hour at actual race tracks) and Bruckheimer (no stranger to hype) said he believes it’ll be the cinematic event of the summer.

10 minutes of the movie were screened, and it races into theaters on June 27th.

From there, we sped on to Warner Bros. Animation.

A sizzle reel showed the likes of ‘Meet the Flintstones’ and the new animated ‘Cat in the Hat’ adaptation, plus ‘Margie Claus,’ ‘Bad Fairies,’ ‘The Lunar Chronicles,’ ‘Batman’ spin-off ‘Dynamic Duo,’ a second Dr. Seuss adaptation via ‘Oh, the Places You’ll Go!’ and ‘Emily The Strange.’

The major title to get a boost was this Seussian comedy, with Bill Hader taking the stage and showing his “audition reel” –– actually his ‘Saturday Night Live’ skit playing the Cat.

Hader claimed his daughter wanted Ryan Gosling to voice the cat instead of him!

But the actual screening was a work-in-progress trailer for the movie, which features the Things.

‘The Cat in the Hat’ will be in theaters on February 27th, 2026.

From there, it was time to fly to DC Studios…

A behind-the-scenes featurette on ‘Superman’ featured writer/director (and DC Studios co-chief) James Gunn making the movie and talking it up.

Gunn and Safran arrived on stage to fill the crowd in on their plans for this year and beyond, with Safran declaring 2025 “the summer of ‘Superman.’ ”

Stars David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan and Nicholas Hoult (AKA Suprman, Lois Lane and Lex Luthor) joined the DC bosses on stage to promote the movie, with Corenswet and Brosnahan telling the assembled crowd it was their first CinemaCon.

Gunn, meanwhile, said he was offered the chance to direct a Superman movie in 2018, but chose an “easier path” –– ‘The Suicide Squad.’ However, the concept stuck with him.

So, how will he adapt a well-used story for a modern audience?

“It just hit me. It has all the fantastic moments we haven’t seen before in this universe.”

Corenswet, for his part remembered his screen test with Nick, who stepped out of a shadows like something from a comic book page and it was terrifying. He also recalled his very long screen test with Rachel.

Hoult shared that seeing David flying onto the set made him feel he was witnessing the magic of cinema in first person and he had this little grin on his face. He turned around and everyone else did as well. But he still found time for some Luthorian posturing: “as an icon, it’s nice to finally play an icon.”

And despite the pressure, Corenswet revealed that it’s a great honor to play a role that so exists in the public consciousness that even if you’ve never read a comic, you know who these symbols and characters are.

For Brosnahan, it was like theater:

“I feel these stories endure because there is someone for everyone. We get to stand on the shoulders of giants and find our way into their heads through a great script.”

A big element of this Supes is his faithful –– though not always obedient –– hound Krypto, which Gunn based on his own dog, Ozu.

The actors also discussed Gunn’s big vision for DC –– and how unique he is, loving every aspect of the process.

Gunn explained that the movie is about people and human connections.

And for a fun part of the presentation, the actors were asked which character they would play other than their own. Corenswet chose Batman, Rachel wanted to be Lex and Hoult, candidly,

“I’ve interviewed for Superman and Batman and I didn’t get either, so I think I was meant to play Lex!”

The team then introduced a sneaky new look at the movie, in a funny scene where Krypto rescues our hero. That was followed by First look at Fortress of Solitude, Superman’s robots and then an extended trailer with a few new shots including Lois interviewing Superman.

‘Superman’ heads faster than a speeding bullet to screens on July 11th.

And with that, the Warner Bros. panel was wrapped. Seemed surprising not to have more from DC Studios, but perhaps next year?