A week or so prior to CinemaCon the presence of Amazon MGM Studios on the schedule was being hailed as the first time the studio was appearing at the conference to present its slate on the big Colosseum stage. Technically speaking that’s a bit of a stretch since, (1) Amazon MGM Studios is only three years old with the e-commerce giant having only officially acquired the century-old studio back in 2022 and (2) Amazon Studios showed up at CinemaCon prior to the pandemic to tout its own releases before acquiring MGM. Their most memorable moment may have come in 2018 when they showed some blood curdling footage of Luca Guadagnino’s horror remake of “Suspiria” during a lunchtime presentation.

Still, after Amazon MGM studio brass announced at SXSW in March that the company would be aiming to “financially and philosophically” commit to releasing over a dozen titles to movie theatres in 2026, delegates were eager to see what the company would bring to CinemaCon. In fact, Robert Bagby, the CEO of B&B Theatres and Chair of Cinema United (formerly the National Association of Theatre Owners – NATO) put it best when he said of Amazon MGM, “I hope they can be the next Fox. We’ve said over and over that we need more films, and to have another studio putting out a full wide release slate is fantastic for all of us.”

Of course, Amazon has a history of sending mixed messages when it comes to its theatrical film releases. One of the films Amazon MGM premiered at SXSW was director Paul Feig’s “Another Simple Favor,” a sequel to his hit 2018 theatrical film which is headed straight to streaming on Prime. As well, Jen Salke, one of the senior executives who made the announcement of Amazon MGM’s theatrical intentions, departed the company just a few days before CinemaCon.

Instead, Mike Hopkins, Head of Prime Video & Amazon MGM, began the studio’s presentation, stating, “It’s still early days for us and we have a ton of work to do. As we’ve said, we are working to deliver 15 big, bold, cinematic films annually into your theaters by 2027 – and we’re ahead of schedule with 14 titles already lined up for 2026.”

Realizing there may be a few doubters at CinemaCon who have witnessed Amazon’s previous false starts in theatrical distribution, Hopkins added, “We are committed to doing this for the long term and when Amazon commits to something, we tend to do it big. Tonight, our job is to convince you that commitment is real, and to prove how bullish we are on theatrical – both here in the United States and overseas.” To their credit, Amazon has been putting an international theatrical distribution and marketing team together over the past few months.

Courtney Valenti, who has been named Head of Film, Streaming and Theatrical for Amazon MGM Studios, arrived to proclaim, “We’re building a bold and diverse slate with theatrical in mind. Whether we’re tapping into beloved IP or launching original concepts, our goal is the same – to deliver unforgettable, four-quadrant experiences that deserve the theatrical moment.”

If that is Amazon MGM’s goal, they may be positioning themselves quite well to achieve it. They began their slate presentation with an extended look at “Project Hail Mary,” a science fiction drama starring Ryan Gosling, based on the novel by Andy Weir (author of “The Martian”). Gosling plays an astronaut who wakes up on a space station with no memory of how he got there, and that’s just the setup. Amy Pascal is producing the film which is being directed by Chris Lord and Phil Miller.

The rest of the studio’s lineup was also impressive, including the upcoming “The Accountant 2” and Aleshea Harris’s “Is God Is” starring Janelle Monáe. Michael B. Jordan is directing a remake of “The Thomas Crown Affair,” Anne Hathaway, Josh Hartnett and Dakota Johnson are starring in an adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s “Verity” and Luca Guadagnino is helming the dramatic thriller “After The Hunt” starring Julia Roberts and Andrew Garfield.

With labels like Orion Pictures and United Artists folded into Amazon MGM Studios, the company may truly live up to those industry hopes that they can replace some of the 15-25 titles that disappeared from the annual release schedule when Twentieth Century Fox was acquired by Disney. Despite an impressive presentation, the general feeling among many CinemaCon attendees about Amazon’s future was, “trust but verify.”