Snoop Dogg doesn’t do anything small. So when Universal Pictures handed the legendary Long Beach rapper the opening slot at CinemaCon 2026 — the film industry’s most important annual theatrical showcase, held in Las Vegas — he showed up and turned it into a concert, a boardroom announcement, and a coronation all at once.

The superstar rapper surprised the audience by kicking off Universal’s presentation with performances of “Drop It Like It’s Hot” and “Gin and Juice,” then brought out actor Jonathan Daviss for a brief appearance — introducing the Outer Banks star as the man who will portray him in the planned feature biopic. The crowd was caught off guard. The industry wasn’t — because anybody paying attention has known this movie was inevitable.

Snoop revealed that the biopic is set to hit theaters “next year,” during Universal’s CinemaCon presentation on April 15. He also disclosed the start date for filming and his intention to return to the Las Vegas convention next year to present the initial trailer footage.

When asked about details, Snoop said “I wish I could give you more details” — but confirmed the film starts shooting in Los Angeles this summer. A 2027 theatrical window puts the biopic directly in the zone of peak awards season eligibility, a strategic positioning that’s unlikely to be accidental given Universal’s track record with prestige hip-hop cinema.

The title being circulated in multiple outlets is simply Snoop, though as of press time, Universal has not officially confirmed a final title.

The Film: Long Beach to Legend

The film traces Snoop Dogg’s rise from Long Beach to worldwide superstardom, covering his emergence alongside Dr. Dre in the early 1990s through his decades-long evolution into one of the most recognizable figures in music, television, and business.

Directing is Craig Brewer, whose résumé is tailor-made for this assignment. Brewer (Hustle & Flow, Dolemite Is My Name) will direct from a screenplay he revised from an original script penned by Joe Robert Cole, a writer whose credits include Black Panther. Brewer is a filmmaker with a documented ability to render Black musical culture with texture, specificity, and commercial appeal — the trifecta a Snoop Dogg biopic absolutely requires.

Producing alongside Snoop is veteran Hollywood power broker Brian Grazer, who has been here before — Grazer is notably known for producing 8 Mile, the Eminem-based feature. Rounding out the producing team is Sara Ramaker, president of Death Row Pictures. Donna Langley, chair of NBCUniversal Entertainment, stepped onstage to join Snoop and called the movie “the spiritual cousin of Straight Outta Compton.”

The Business Story Nobody Is Talking About: Death Row’s NBCUniversal Deal

Here’s what matters beyond the casting and the concert moments. This will be the first project through Death Row Pictures’ overall deal with NBCUniversal Entertainment & Studios. That’s not a footnote — that’s the lead.

Snoop signed a first-look agreement with Universal via his Death Row Pictures in April 2025, with this biopic being the inaugural project from that arrangement. Death Row Records — the imprint that launched Snoop, Dr. Dre, Tupac, and the entire West Coast rap empire in the early 1990s — is now functioning as an active content production vehicle under a major studio umbrella. The biopic is the proof of concept. If it performs, expect the Death Row/NBCUniversal pipeline to accelerate rapidly.

This is how the most sophisticated artists in hip-hop are building lasting enterprise value in 2026: not through one-off licensing deals or streaming exclusives, but through institutional studio partnerships that convert cultural legacy into repeatable IP. Snoop Dogg is not just making a movie about his life — he is using his life story as the commercial engine to launch a broader content business.

Jonathan Daviss, best known for his role in Netflix’s Outer Banks, will star as Snoop Dogg. Casting Daviss, 24, represents a significant bet on a young actor whose profile has grown steadily but who has not yet carried a major theatrical release. The role demands a performer capable of embodying Snoop’s signature laid-back charisma across multiple decades.

It’s a high-risk, high-reward casting choice — and exactly the kind of move that, when it works, defines a career. Think Chadwick Boseman in 42, or the entire ensemble of Straight Outta Compton, most of whom were relatively unknown before F. Gary Gray put them on screen.

Universal’s previous hip-hop biopic Straight Outta Compton (2015) was Oscar-nominated and surpassed $200 million at the global box office, featuring LaKeith Stanfield as Snoop. That’s the business benchmark Brewer and Universal are chasing — and given Snoop’s global brand recognition, arguably the floor, not the ceiling.

Snoop on His Legacy — and His Movie

Never one to undersell himself, Snoop made his intentions perfectly clear at CinemaCon. Referencing the N.W.A film, he told the crowd: “After my brothers got to tell their story with Straight Outta Compton, now it’s my turn.” He added, “If we gonna do a Snoop Dogg movie, I gotta get gangster with it,” before performing excerpts from “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and “Deep Cover.”

On the rating, he was unambiguous: “My movie is going to be rated R, I guarantee that. So get your parents’ permission.” The R rating isn’t just a joke — it’s a signal that this film will not sanitize the Death Row years, the legal battles, the street-level origins, or the contradictions that make Snoop’s story genuinely compelling cinema.

Snoop was also wearing a Universal necklace at the presentation and introduced Universal film boss Donna Langley by declaring “All hail the queen,” presenting her with a matching necklace of her own. Theater owners in the room got the message: this is a partnership, not just a distribution arrangement.

The timing is calculated. The Michael Jackson biopic from Lionsgate drops in theaters this month. Sony has four Beatles films slated for 2028. Music biopics are back as a theatrical genre with serious commercial weight. Universal is positioning the Snoop biopic to ride that wave — and unlike some of the other music films in the pipeline, this one has its subject actively in the building, producing the film himself, and using it as the anchor for a broader content empire.

Snoop Dogg’s story — from Long Beach streets to Death Row Records, from a 1993 murder charge acquittal to a 2024 Olympic broadcast partnership with NBC — is one of the most layered, improbable, and quintessentially American narratives in entertainment history. Done right, this film doesn’t just gross $200 million. It becomes the definitive commercial and cultural statement on what West Coast hip-hop built — and what Snoop Dogg means to the world that came after it.