{"id":447847,"date":"2026-02-04T04:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T04:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447847\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T04:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T04:18:08","slug":"apple-shows-off-2026-film-tv-slate-at-tightly-curated-la-press-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447847\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple Shows Off 2026 Film & TV Slate At Tightly Curated LA Press Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWho does a press day at an airport hangar instead of a theater? Why, Apple<\/a> does, and it was not until witnessing the tech giant\u2019s setup at the Santa Monica Barker Hangar on Tuesday morning that the reason for the odd venue selection became clear.<\/p>\n

\n\tApple fashioned a 120-degree surround screen inside the space \u2014 which has been home to many entertainment events from the Critics Choice Awards to the MTV Movie Awards, and even the LA Food & Wine Festival \u2014\u00a0helping to amp its trailers to Cinerama Dome levels for both reporters and influencers in attendance to hear more about the company\u2019s upcoming slate of films and series.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe morning kicked off with the first teaser for Season 2 of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters<\/a>, complete with a monster tail whipping across half the room.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe action-packed trailer (unreleased as of yet, sorry folks) for Season 2 of the Colin Farrell-led Sugar<\/a> shook some seats thanks to the surround sound, and one of the last panels of the day, Pluribus<\/a>, got quite a few cheers as soon as the unsettling intro music echoed through the room. And yes, the infamous petri-dish smiley faces were plastered around the entire surround-screen as creator Vince Gilligan chatted with stars Rhea Seehorn, Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga and Samba Schutte (who also moderated). <\/p>\n

\n\tBut, Apple has also appeared to go the way of most media companies in recent years by severely limiting press\u2019 ability to actually take anything substantial away from the event. Designed to replace the twice yearly Television Critics Association press days of yesteryear, the networks and streamers have tightened their grip on the types of stories that might come out of these events now that they\u2019ve got full control over the run of show. <\/p>\n

\n\tPress were not allowed to record the panels, though Apple did give permission to take videos of talent\u2019s entrance to the stage. Audience questions were accepted only via QR codes sitting at everyone\u2019s work stations, no doubt vetted by Apple staff before being directed to the moderators (who were pretty much exclusively talent, showrunners, authors or others directly from the title being promoted).<\/p>\n

\n\tThat\u2019s not to say people didn\u2019t enjoy themselves. A sea of phones lit up the room, and the audience sat up a little straighter when Jonah Hill, Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, and Matt Bomer walked on stage to tease their upcoming movie Outcome<\/a>. The same moment, though, illustrates just how curated the day was. The powerhouse quartet were on stage for all but a minute or two so they could rib each other playfully with jokes read off a teleprompter before throwing to a trailer and exiting. They did a shtick about how great the\u00a0Moneyball\u00a0actor Hill was; and Reeves quipped that Point Break\u00a0and\u00a0Speed 2\u00a0would\u2019ve been better \u201cif you (Jonah) were in it instead of me.\u201d Bomer called Hill \u201cJacob Elordi tall.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTruthfully, attendees were buzzing before the panels even began, thanks to a swanky breakfast that welcomed guests with a set of new Airpods Pro to experience the latest iteration of the wireless headphones\u2019 live translation technology. After walking through a dimly lit corridor into the hangar, rows of tables were neatly set with a hardcover notebook, a pen, a mug (all branded, of course), and a face sheet with portraits of every famous face expected throughout the eight-hour day to showcase Apple\u2019s 2026 offerings. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe audience was met with creatives and talent from Cape Fear, The Dink, Imperfect Women<\/a>, The Last Thing He Told Me<\/a>, Lucky, Margo\u2019s Got Money Troubles, Matchbox The Movie, Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed, Mayday<\/a>, Pluribus, Shrinking, The Studio, Sugar, Way of the Warrior Kid, Widow\u2019s Bay and Your Friends and Neighbors. Apple\u2019s SVP of Services Eddy Cue and Formula 1 CEO Stefano Domenicali were also on hand to tout that partnership (and no, there was no confirmation <\/a>on a sequel or any other scripted projects in development).<\/p>\n

\n\tFor a taste of the hard-hitting questions talent was confronted with during their sessions, here\u2019s one straight from the Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed panel (moderated by one of its stars, Charlie Hall): \u201cIn your own words, what is a camboy?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI mean, I\u2019m an actor. That\u2019s kind of a camboy by definition,\u201d actor Brandon Flynn joked before jumping into a more eloquent answer about the research that went into playing a sex worker in the series. Or, at least that\u2019s the assumption since details on Flynn\u2019s actual character are still under wraps. Apple did screen a trailer in the room but so far have not released it, only publicly announcing a premiere date on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Your Friends & Neighbors session offered some interesting albeit equally vague details about Season 2. James Marsden discussed his character Owen Ash, Westmont Village\u2019s newest resident, describing him as \u201cGatsby-esque, flashy, larger than life,\u201d and \u201calways running 100 miles an hour.\u201d Hamm called Marsden\u2019s character a \u201cchaos agent,\u201d and the star narrator teased that the rules of game have been set up in Season 1, allowing cast and creators to \u201cplay at higher level\u201d in Season 2.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat does that mean? You\u2019ll have to wait and see, because spoilers of any kind were a major no-go. When it came time for audience questions, showrunner Jonathan Tropper gleefully selected the one that allowed him to remind the audience that the show got another early renewal<\/a>. From the Lucky panel, Tropper, who is an executive producer, creator, and co-showrunner and moderated once again, had another riveting query, asking Emmy-nominated actors Anya Taylor-Joy (who plays the titular character, by the way) and Timothy Olyphant to share a moment that made them \u201cfeel lucky\u201d to work with co-star Annette Bening. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe plus side is the general sterility made it easy to stand out, which a few titles did manage to do. Margo\u2019s Got Money Troubles\u00a0author Rufi Thorpe moderated the panel about the upcoming adaptation of her novel with stars Elle Fanning, Nick Offerman, Michelle Pfeiffer and Thaddea Graham and series creator David E. Kelley. That one got quite a few laughs<\/a>, as did Jennifer Garner and The Last Thing He Told Me Season 2 gang, who came ready with a clip of Garner kicking some butt in a home invasion sequence. Garner delighted attendees with a story about working with the same performer previously and biting off a piece of his ear while filming Peter Berg\u2019s 2007 The Kingdom, which really set the stage for this meeting on The Last Thing He Told Me.<\/p>\n

\n\tNo one had any complaints about the Shrinking panel, which welcomed Harrison Ford to the hangar to discuss working with Michael J. Fox as Gerry, a Parkinson\u2019s patient who meets Ford\u2019s Paul at their shared doctor\u2019s office. Co-creators Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein and Jason Segel were MIA. Not much news out of that one, but to be fair the series did just get renewed for Season 4<\/a> ahead of the Season 3 premiere last week.<\/p>\n

\n\tSpeaking of this crew, nothing on Tuesday from one of Apple\u2019s biggest shows, Ted Lasso<\/a>, even though that\u2019s slated to return with Season 4 this summer<\/a>. Severance didn\u2019t have a presence either, but that makes sense given Season 3 hasn\u2019t even gone into production yet<\/a>. Same goes for The Morning Show\u2018s Season 5<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tSeveral projects \u2014 specifically TV shows like\u00a0Lucky, Imperfect Women and Margo\u2019s Got Money Troubles \u2014 made a point to acknowledge that they were shot in Los Angeles, bringing production back to the city in the year after the Palisades and Altadena wildfires. Lots of claps all around, as production in the area is still down significantly over five-year averages<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tFilm had less of a presence than TV, but Apple made sure to show off Matchbox the Movie<\/a>. If there\u2019s any movie on the magnitude of Apple\u2019s hit last year,\u00a0F1<\/a>, it\u2019s the Skydance Media co-production of the Mattel toy. But, it\u2019s not hitting theaters, and was never destined to despite the Skydance Media connection and a string of successes from other toy- and game-related offers like Barbie and A Minecraft Movie. It\u2019s not clear, at least from today\u2019s press day, when the streamer will return to the big screen, even though we\u2019ve heard they\u2019re not abandoning it.<\/p>\n

\n\tSkydance and Apple are also teaming for the action-adventure tentpole Mayday. Stars Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh opted not to make an appearance in person for that one, but they sent in a short video message instead. Another biggie movie, the 1980s Cold War action movie follows a U.S. pilot who crash-lands in the USSR, only to be nurtured back by a local woodsman, who is a fan of the U.S. From the trailer, the Skydance Media pic looks to be akin to Spies Like Us with a dose of Top Gun. The trailer <\/a>played to surround sound in the hangar, but it will stream on Apple TV<\/a> on September 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHere\u2019s the full slate for 2026. Click the links for more details on some of the buzziest offerings.<\/p>\n

\n\tFEBRUARY<\/p>\n

\n\tEternity \u2013 Streaming Feb. 13 (after theatrical release last year) (Film)
The Last Thing He Told Me, Season 2 \u2013 Feb. 20 (TV Series)
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season 2 \u2013 Feb. 27 (TV Series)<\/p>\n

\n\tMARCH<\/p>\n

\n\tImperfect Women<\/a> \u2013 March 18 (TV Series)
For All Mankind, Season 5 \u2013 March 27<\/p>\n

\n\tAPRIL<\/p>\n

\n\tYour Friends And Neighbors<\/a>, Season 2 \u2013 April 3 (TV Series)
Outcome \u2013 April 10 (Film)
Margo\u2019s Got Money Troubles <\/a>\u2013 April 15 (TV Series)
Criminal Record, Season 2 \u2013 April 22 (TV Series)
Widow\u2019s Bay \u2013 April 29 (TV Series)<\/p>\n

\n\tMAY<\/p>\n

\n\tMaximum Pleasure Guaranteed<\/a> \u2013 May 20 (TV Series)<\/p>\n

\n\tJUNE<\/p>\n

\n\tCape Fear<\/a> \u2013 June 5 (TV Series)
Sugar, Season 2 \u2013 June 19 (TV Series)<\/p>\n

\n\tJULY<\/p>\n

\n\tLucky<\/a> \u2013 July 15 (TV Series)
The Dink<\/a> \u2013 July 24 (Film)<\/p>\n

\n\tCOMING SUMMER 2026<\/p>\n

\n\tTed Lasso, Season 4 (TV Series)<\/p>\n

\n\tSEPTEMBER<\/p>\n

\n\tMayday<\/a> \u2013 September 4 (Film)<\/p>\n

\n\tOCTOBER<\/p>\n

\n\tMatchbox: The Movie<\/a> \u2013 Oct. 9 (Film)<\/p>\n

\n\tNOVEMBER<\/p>\n

\n\tWay of the Warrior Kid <\/a>\u2013 Nov. 20<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who does a press day at an airport hangar instead of a theater? Why, Apple does, and it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[517,36020,5896,88,1707,177088,103905,100700,151714,206,57704,13201,13022,210363],"class_list":["post-447847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-apple","tag-apple-original-films","tag-apple-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-f1","tag-imperfect-women","tag-margos-got-money-troubles","tag-mayday","tag-monarch-legacy-of-monsters","tag-movies","tag-pluribus","tag-sugar","tag-ted-lasso","tag-the-last-thing-he-told-me"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}