CineEurope: Universal Previews 'Cats,' 'Minions: The Rise of Gru,' 'Last Christmas' and 'Downton Abbey'

Animated films ‘The Addams Family,’ 'The Croods 2' and ‘Trolls: World Tour’ were also presented in Barcelona, while ‘Bond 25’ and ‘Fast & Furious 9’ were talked up.

Universal Pictures International took the stage on the second day of CineEurope (June 17-20) to share its slate of films for the upcoming year.

The company offered exclusive trailers and first looks on a handful of sequels in successful franchises, starting with an introduction to Minions: The Rise of Gru, the latest in the successful Despicable Me franchise.

UPI also teased a first look at its Dreamworks collaborations Trolls: The World Tour, scheduled for an Easter 2020 release with returning cast as well as new characters played by Kelly Clarkson and Ozzy Osbourne, and Abominable, scheduled for a Sept. 2019 international release, with Pearl Studio releasing the film in China. The studio also touted but didn’t show footage of The Croods 2, in production for a Christmas release.

The CineEurope crowd was also treated to an exclusive extended preview of Paul Feig’s romance Last Christmas (out Nov. 15), starring Emilia Clarke and Henry Golding; scenes from the upcoming Downton Abbey film; and unfinished behind-the-scenes footage from Tom Hooper’s star-studded Cats, scheduled for release before the Christmas holiday.

Through its international partnership with MGM, UPI shared unfinished footage from The Addams Family, premiering October 2019 with voice stars including Bette Midler, Charlize Theron and more, and talked up the as-yet-untitled and shrouded-in-secrecy Bond 25, showing an extensive reel of Daniel Craig’s Bond films to date.

UPI showed an early work-in-progress trailer for Blumhouse Productions’ action thriller The Hunt about people hunting other people for sport, also premiering in October. It also touted May 2020 sequel Fast & Furious 9, and offered an exclusive trailer to the latter franchise’s stand-alone vehicle Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw, starring Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham, set for an August release.

On top of its product presentation, UPI is hosting two screenings of features today at CineEurope: Danny Boyle’s Beatles-themed romantic comedy Yesterday and R-rated middle school comedy Good Boys.