Universal Studios CinemaCon Presentation: Jason Bourne, Warcraft, & More

Universal Studios kicked off the CinemaCon presentation with a sizzle reel of their very successful films from the past years including Furious 7, Minions, Straight Outta Compton, and Jurassic World.

Nick Carpou, President of Domestic Distribution at niversal, takes the stage and starts by thanking the theater owners for their help in a historic year. After rattling off credits to the higher ups at Universal, Carpou hands it over to Donna Langley, Chairman at Universal Pictures. After highlighting several upcoming films, she introduces Warcraft director Duncan Jones.

Jones relays some information about Warcraft, crediting it for having over a million players, himself being one of them. He introduces some new footage.

A man flies over a snowy mountain on a griffin. Orcs do battle in the snow. There is one orc who may help humans, but the humans are skeptical. He'll fight with them to end. King Llane Wrynn wants to unite but others disagree. The visuals are pretty stunning, including majestic skylines, battles shrouded in lightning, and castles on and inside mountains. A giant wolf eat a person riding a horse and a young man with glowing eyes fends him off. Wrynn wants to attack with full force. Lightning reigns down from a mountain as a battle ensues. Hordes of orcs and an army of humans collide on a battle field. Spells are cast and magic runs from different people's hands.

The Girl On The Train director Tate Taylor takes the stage to talk about his film, which he describes as being all the reasons we go to the movies. He compliments Emily Blunt's performance. The trailer, accompanied by a slowed version of Kanye West's "Heartless" has an intimately dark tone as Blunt's character tries to uncover the mystery of a missing woman. Things intensify and even get violent. It has a lot of shades of Gone Girl.

Frank Marshall, producer of Jason Bourne, takes the stage to talk about the upcoming film. "We found a great new story that is contemporary," Marshall says about the new film. He goes on to claim the film features, "the best Bourne chase ever," which took place on the Las Vegas strip. He introduces the first trailer.

Bourne lays in a bed. "I know who I am," he says, with flashbacks to previous films. "I remember everything," he says. Nicky (Julia Stiles) finds him and tells him that doesn't mean he knows everything. The agency finds him on facial recognition. Bourne uses a demonstration in front of the Greek parliament building for cover, realizing he's been tracked. Action sequences follow as he is hunted down, eventually falling from a roof, having used a man as a human shield. Robert Dewey (Tommy Lee Jones) finds him and tells him people are safer because of what he did, having killed 31 people. The chase on the Las Vegas strip looks truly epic. In a fighting ring in the desert, Jason Bourne knocks out a man bigger than him with one punch.

Kevin Hart takes the stage, escorted by Vegas showgirls, to discuss What Now?. Following a hilarious, overly enthusiastic speech and genuine thanks to theater owners in attendance, a trailer for his new comedy special plays and it features Halle Berry, Don Cheadle, and a joke about Cheadle being angry that he can't be Iron Man.

Donna Langley takes the stage to turn the attention to animated films from Illumination. The Secret Life of Pets and Sing will arrive in 2016 and Chris Meledandri is given the podium to discuss the upcoming films. Meledandri reflects on the massive success of Despicable Me and how it took Illumination Entertainment from two people in a borrowed office to a company of 800 "insanely talented" people. Meledandri announces, Mower Minions, a short film which will be attached to Pets.

Following a screening of the short film, Meledandri shows off the first 10 minutes of Secret Life of Pets.

Meledandri begins to talk about Despicable Me 3, which will be released on June 30, 2017, in which Gru will find his long lost twin brother, Dru. The only difference is that he has a full head of blonde hair. Steve Carrell will voice not only Gru, but Dru, as well. The two characters are polar opposites. A new villain, Balthazar Brat, a man who is a derranged former 1980's star, promises to be hilarious. South Park's Trey Parker will voice him. It's his first role outside of South Park. Balthazar plots world domination and revenge against everyone who mocked him when his TV series was cancelled as a child star.

After revealing early tests of the new villain, Meledandri turns to The Grinch of 2017. He explains the importance of finding a voice for the Grinch before revealing it to be Benedict Cumberbatch. Screen tests show the animated pessimist running around before the screen turns to Sing. Sing features the voices of its cast and music ranging from Sinatra to Drake.

To conclude the presentation, Meledandri introduces the first twenty minutes of Sing.