CinemaCon day four kicked off with a presentation from Paramount. Paramount’s Distribution Chief Chris Aronson is known for his grand entrances at CinemaCon. Last year, he came in on a chariot to promote Gladiator II as the centerpiece of their slate last year. This year, Aronson came out just in a regular suit and tie like any other executive, he was met with complete silence. It didn’t last long before a motorbike appeared behind him and a team of bikers performed stunts to the Mission: Impossible theme. Aronson took time to directly address the relationship between Paramount and exhibitors, encouraging theaters to take risks to better the overall audience experience. He discussed “giving audiences a premium experience, not just charging them a premium.” With fewer trailers, no ads, longer-lasting matinee pricing, and discount days, Aronson pushed theater owners to try new things to bring in wider audiences. “Now is the time to turn your business upside-down.” He highlighted specific chains that already have moved into adapting new business practices to bring in new audiences before moving on to give us a taste of what’s coming in 2026.

To really kick things off, the let’s say prince of cinema, Glen Powell, was brought out alongside Edgar Wright to introduce the world premiere of footage for their recently wrapped, The Running Man. Their reimagining will be more focused as an adaptation of the novel versus the original film. Wright reminded the CinemaCon audiences that the original story was set in 2025. He’s wanted to adapt the film for most of his career and Paramount feels confident it will be the ‘running hit of November.’ Academy Award Nominee Colman Domingo and Josh Brolin were on hand to introduce the visceral, bloody footage of the film with Powell as an action star thrown into the trenches. The Running Man hits theaters on November 7^th. 

Their 2026 slate is off to a huge start with Gina Prince-Bythewood’s Children of Blood and Bone, Scream 7, and the Untitled Trey Parker Matt Stone And Kendrick Lamar Film, but didn’t offer new information on any of those films since they’re in production now. President Ramsey Ann Naito came out to briefly discuss their 2026 animation slate. She announced the official title of the new Airbender” animated film, The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender.  She also confirmed Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie is coming next year, along with a sequel to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, with both Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen still involved. Additionally in the animated realm of Paramount, Rihanna sent in a video message to introduce the trailer for Smurfs, where she is Smurfette. The film will provide new music from the global pop icon. Tom Kenny, the voice actor of Spongebob, came out to introduce Mark Hamill as the voice of the Flying Dutchman in the upcoming The Spongebob Movie: Search for Squarepants. 

Another Colleen Hoover adaptation was presented for CinemaCon but this time from Paramount with Regretting You, which is expected to hit theaters October 24^th starring Willa Fitzgerald, Dave Franco and Allison Williams. Footage wasn’t presented but a video from the cast and some of the crew was sent in reading some steamy lines from the book. Up next was Channing Tatum on hand to introduce a first look at the trailer for Roofman from director Derek Cianfrance. The film, billed as a true story as told by a liar, follows a thief (Tatum) who flees from the police and hides for an extended period of time in a Toys ‘R’ Us, where he eventually develops romantic feelings for an employee, Kirsten Dunst. Roofman hits theaters October 3, 2025.

Akia Schaffer’s The Naked Gun reboot trailer had already dropped online, starring Liam Neeson, but the trailer at CinemaCon was still met with wild laughter before the Paramount presentation shifted to the big moment of their presentation. Tom Cruise and Christopher McQuarrie entirely took over the last 30 minutes of the Paramount presentation with a goodbye to the Mission: Impossible franchise of almost 30 years. 

First, Cruise came out alone and took a moment to acknowledge recent passing of his co-star and friend, Val Kilmer. It was a really emotional moment and truly sincere, vulnerable moment for Cruise. Next, he went on to honoring another one of his closest colleagues and friends, Christopher McQuarrie, who was receiving CinemaCon’s 2025 Director of the Year award. Cruise described the director as “a modern-day Irving Thalberg.” He credited him not just for his effect on Cruise’s career and life but on the film industry as a whole. The two then went onto thank theater owners for supporting their franchise and went on to thank all the Paramount executives and previous Mission: Impossible directors. The footage shown showcased all of the previous films leading up to an emotional goodbye from Cruise and the gang to Ethan Hunt and Co with Mission: Impossible – The Last Reckoning in theaters on May 23, 2025. 

Follow us along on Twitter for live coverage throughout the CinemaCon presentations the rest of the week, both at @kenzvanunu and @offscrncentral.