Universal Pictures lit up Las Vegas green and pink as they took the stage to showcase what is to come for the 2024 slate.

Cinemacon goers were greeted with light-up Wicked lanyards as the actual Wicked costumes featuring Glinda’s pink dress and Elphaba’s witchy ensemble lined up the main entrance. Placed at every seat was a light-up tulip told to leave until the presentation’s finale. Wicked had left its mark way before the show started and was sprinkled through as Universal went through its most genre-diverse slate in the studio’s history.

Fresh off of a Best Picture win and six other Academy Awards for Oppenheimer, Universal came in confident that their 2024 slate would be even bigger than the records they broke in 2023. In 2023, Universal held two of the top three slots for the highest-grossing film of the year with Oppenheimer and Super Mario Bros.

Universal President of Domestic Theatrical Distribution gave a major shoutout to everyone behind the scenes who gave their time and art to craft these films, especially with Oppenheimer performing well in major crafts categories during the 2023-2024 award season. Universal hopes to continue their massive success of last year and defy gravity at the cinema. On the international side, President of Distribution Internal, Veronica Kwan Bandenberg said that Oppenheimer now ranks as Christopher Nolan’s biggest film internationally.

Newly knighted Christopher Nolan joined via video to thank audiences for the incredible response to Oppenheimer with his expectations for the film exceeded. Noting last year how the Oppenheimer journey started at last year’s CinemaConw when he took the stage to share details on the three-hour historical epic.

Animation has proven to be a strong point for the studio with 8 of the top 12 Hollywood titles since the pandemic have been released by Universal. Universal houses two powerhouse animation studios Illumination and Dreamworks which are both bringing original and continued stories to screens this year. A sequel to the box office hit Super Mario Bros. is currently in development and is planning to hit theaters in April 2025. Illumination’s most successful franchise, Despicable Me is back with a fourth installment with the original cast returning and new voices such as Stephen Colbert, Sofia Vergara, and Will Ferrell. The film is described as “joyous, surprising, and filled with characters we love.” A sneak peek was shown of Gru and the minions with the new character Poppy embarking on a heist that ensues major chaos. Not to mention expect another earworm like Happy to flood the radio as Pharell Williams is back to create new music for the feature.

Dreamworks President Margie Cohn praised the studio’s major success with the recent Kung Fu Panda 4 making a lot of money at the box office and receiving positive reviews for everyone’s favorite animated panda. The animated studio behind many classics like Shrek is coming up on its 30th anniversary and its newest film is the perfect celebratory of all they have achieved. The Wild Robot is deemed to be a classic in the making following Roz voiced by Lupita Nyong’o in a tale of love and loss with an animation style described as if Monet painted a Mizyazaki forest. Cohn said the film was heavily inspired by the classic Disney animated animals and Miyazaki. From the new footage, the film looks like a breathtaking adventure of existentialism and survival full of world-building, unlike anything they have done before.

Switching gears into Tornado Valley, Lee Isaac Chung and his Twisters cast including Daisy Edgar Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos. The Minari director, known for indie movies, said jumping to a big summer blockbuster tentpole like Twisters felt like “facing a giant tornado.” Chung grew up in Oklahoma with the original Twister being a big part of his childhood making this film very important to him. Chung wanted to make Twisters as real as possible so they used storm chaser footage to incorporate into the film. Even though Twisters deals with natural disasters and can spark discussion on the pessimism of our planet, Chung says that Twisters is meant to be a fun ride about the natural world. To emphasize all the real conditions of shooting onset including 120-degree heat, being dragged by wires, and ice storms, Ramos and Powell demonstrated for the audience what shooting was like by bringing up wind machines to the stage to drop debris and a flying cow on the. New footage was shown depicting the terror of the Twisters and showing more of the polar dynamic between Daisy Edgar Jones and Glen Powell in this hugely entertaining welcome back to the Twisters universe.

One thing Universal has been consistent about over the last few years is horror, thanks to their partnership with Blumhouse. They have found success in original horror like M3GAN which will have a sequel coming to existing IP like Five Nights of Freddy’s coming back with a sequel in 2025. Julia Garner’s screeches could be heard for miles in the short footage of the upcoming Wolf Man starring Christopher Abbott, slated for January 2025. A dreadful trailer of Speak No Evil, a remake of the Danish film that only came out two years ago, was shown giving away too much of the plot that it is strongly advised to skip the trailer.

Run This Town was appropriately played as Chairperson of Universal Pictures, Donna Langley, took the stage to highlight all the accomplishments the studio has made and that there is so much more to come. Specifically, the two-part musical Wicked, Langley said is proof our future is unlimited before handing the audience over to meet the Wizard himself. The lights went out with a sea of tulips lighting up pink and green as Defying Gravity loudly played sparking instant chills as Oz took over the screen of CinemaCon with a special message. The icon Jeff Goldblum, who has played opposite aliens and dinosaurs, said that he has never been a part of this type of magic playing on the actual sets with the props and costumes to create Oz.

The two masterminds behind bringing this beloved Broadway play to life were welcomed to the stage to discuss their journeys with Wicked. Marc Platt has been there since the start and always intended it to be a movie even before a play. Director Jon M. Chu, known for Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights, has his tie back to the musical by being a part of the Wicked workshop in 2003. Chu and Platt dreamed very big for Wicked to honor the source material while creating a new world that will astonish with performances that will both lift your spirit and break your heart. Joining the stage was Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh who confirmed she would be signing in the movie and Johnathan Bailey who called Fiyero great fun to play. More emphasis from the ensemble on how everything felt real while filming from the costumes to gorgeous set pieces.

Already an incredible presentation, Chu moved to tears as he talked about his two leading ladies that make Wicked what it is. The casting of Glinda and Elphaba is integral to the plot as they both carry the film and with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo together they are the ideal pairing. Speaking publicly about the movie for the first time, Grande and Erivo came onstage fully dressed in their Glinda and Elphaba color palettes overwhelmed with the love in the room as they held hands. Both women felt the responsibility of embodying these characters, pouring out their hearts to get it right. Chu said that their performances will be cherished for decades as the two are now bonded for life through this experience.

The lights once again go out as Ariana’s vocals are heard asking “Are people born wicked, or do they have wickedness thrust upon them” immediately breaking into her rendition of Popular. An extended look into the world of Oz graced the screen with better looks at Michelle Yeoh, Jonathan Bailey, Bowen Yang, and Jeff Goldblum in their delicious roles. The new footage emphasizes the frenemies nature of both girls highlighting their distaste for one another with Glinda giving Elphaba her witch’s hat to Elphaba begging Glinda to join her on the train to meet the Wizard. Elphaba’s powers are heavily explored more with everyone seeking her out to use them for their gain until they eventually turn her into a monster with propaganda. Elphaba is ultimately fearless with Cynthia Erivo’s version of Defying Gravity heard in the magical, gleaming world of Oz. There’s no place more magical than Oz.

Universal is changing the theatrical experience for good with its commitment to taking bold swings across many genres from musicals to horror with a major emphasis on supporting filmmakers and original ideas. Expect a lot of animation and horror to come with the theatrical experience treated as a cinematic event transporting audiences into different realms.