Universal Swoops Into CineEurope With Fresh ‘Jurassic World Rebirth' & ‘Wicked: For Good' Clips; Touts Steven Spielberg & Christopher Nolan Projects
Hot off the nearly $200M global opening of its live-action How to Train Your Dragon, Universal kicked off its CineEurope presentation here in Barcelona today with a different sort of soaring beasts — showing exclusive clips from its upcoming Scarlett Johansson-starrer Jurassic World Rebirth. The Gareth Edwards-directed sci-fi adventure entry in the $6B+ grossing franchise starts rollout on July 2.
And, of course, there was plenty of attention paid to Wicked: For Good, the sequel to Jon M. Chu's 2024 $750M global grossing fantasy musical. This included an illuminated green balloon descending from the rafters into the auditorium and an exclusive behind-the-scenes look that was introduced by Chu.
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As is typical, Universal came to Barcelona with a packed slate. Veronica Kwan Vandenberg, President of International Distribution, Universal Pictures International, introduced the show, saying, 'We believe in celebrating the power of cinema and the unparalleled theatrical experience for all types of films, ranging from emotional dramas, to animated event films, daring action blockbusters, inventive horror films and charming romantic comedies.'
Citing the upcoming slate from Universal, Illumination, DreamWorks Animation and Focus Features, Kwan Vandenberg said, 'In the next two years, we will deliver you the biggest and most diverse slate of films of any studio with 27 wide releases this year, and our most exciting lineup yet for 2026, which will include films from two of the greatest directors of our time Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan, and three blockbuster animations.'
Of the latter, DreamWorks Animation's August release, The Bad Guys 2 zoomed in with an extended exclusive look.
Niels Swinkels, EVP & MD, Universal Pictures International noted that Spielberg has wrapped his untitled event film, and that Nolan is hard at work on his epic The Odyssey which is being entirely shot with Imax cameras.
Swinkels and Julien Noble, President of International Marketing, Universal Pictures International later had some fun introducing live-action/animated adventure comedy Gabby's Dollhouse: The Movie, the big-screen version of Netflix's immensely popular kids series. They showed off an extended trailer. It releases domestically on September 26.
Other key titles touted were Bob Odenkirk sequel Nobody 2 and Blumhouse's Five Nights at Freddy's 2, the sequel to 2023's horror hit — which got a new teaser and starts offshore rollout on December 3; M3GAN 2.0, Soulm8te and Black Phone 2 footage was also screened.
From Focus, CineEurope got an exclusive look at Yorgos Lanthimos' fall release, Bugonia starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone; and a new exclusive trailer for Focus threequel Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, whose first trailer dropped earlier this month and has more views than the combined total of the 2nd film's teaser and trailer. The U.S. and UK open on September 12.
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