The second day of this year’s annual CinemaCon saw Warner Bros. and DC Studios take to the stage for movie exhibitors, but by far the biggest publicly released reveal came from Japan’s Toho, who dropped the first footage from Godzilla Minus Zero.
The sequel to 2023’s acclaimed Godzilla Minus One, Minus Zero will pick up two years later, in 1949, and see director Takashi Yamazaki‘s cruel version of the legendary monster head to New York City. The film, which marks the first Japanese production shot in IMAX, will be released on November 6. Returning cast members include Ryunosuke Kamiki as former kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima, Minami Hamabe as his love interest Noriko Oishi, Munetaka Aoki as aircraft mechanic Sōsaku Tachibana, and Hidetaka Yoshioka as engineer Kenji Noda.
Speaking of heading to the US, Yamazaki also announced at CinemaCon that he will make his English-language movie debut with Grandgear at Sony. While plot details weren’t provided, footage shown at the event revealed two giant robots duking it out in city. Written by Yamazaki, and produced by J.J. Abrams, Grandgear will be released on February 28, 2028.
As for Warner Bros. (whose next Godzilla film, Godzilla x Kong: Supernova, will arrive on March 26, 2027), DC Studios took to the stage to debut footage from Batman body horror spin-off Clayface, revealing Tom Rhys Harries as the disfigured title character. The preview ends with a striking shot of Clayface accidentally wiping his own facial features off. The film, directed by James Watkins from a script by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, will be released on October 23.
New footage from Supergirl (out June 26), Mortal Kombat II (May 8), and Dune: Part Three (December 18) were also shown, among others. Supergirl director Craig Gillespie and stars Milly Alcock and Jason Momoa appeared to discuss their movie, and confirmed the film will feature six different planets, which Alcock had to learn five separate languages for. James Gunn, David Corenswet and Nicholas Hoult also appeared in a sizzle reel for 2027’s releases to hype up Man of Tomorrow, which will begin filming next week.
Additionally, the cast for Lord of the Rings midquel The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum was revealed. The film, which will take place during the first act of The Fellowship of the Ring, will see Jamie Dornan (50 Shades of Grey) take over from Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn/Strider, and Kate Winslet and Leo Woodall (The White Lotus) as new characters Marigol and Halvar. Director Andy Serkis will reprise the role of Gollum, while Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, and Lee Pace will return as Frodo, Gandalf, and Thranduil. The film will be released on December 17, 2027.
Conspicuously absent from the event was any discussion of Warner Bros.’s impending sale to Paramount Skydance. The deal, which will presumably be approved during a shareholder meeting on Thursday, April 23, has been opposed by over 1000 leading names in an open letter (some of whom were at CinemaCon), including Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Florence Pugh, Pedro Pascal, Mark Ruffalo, David Fincher, and Denis Villeneuve.
For more from Warner Bros.’s presentation, head to IGN, the Associated Press, Deadline, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter.
