2026 looks like a battleground year for cinema. The blockbusters are back in force, armed with familiar titles, inflated budgets, and the creeping fear that we’ve been here before. Franchise fatigue is real, and nostalgia has become Hollywood’s most reliable special effect. Still, there’s a cautious optimism in the air that some of these big swings might actually justify their scale, using the past as a foundation rather than a crutch.
Meanwhile, the indie side of the spectrum is buzzing with the kind of energy that reminds you why movies matter in the first place: riskier ideas, sharper voices, and filmmakers more interested in pushing cinema forward than recycling it.
Together, these films — from corporate behemoths to scrappy passion projects — offer a snapshot of where the medium might be headed. If 2026 gets it right, it won’t just be a year of spectacle or callbacks, but one where cinema proves it can still surprise us. The future of film looks bleak, and this will be one of its most defining years. The bubble is about to pop, changing the landscape forever, and hopefully, these last days are at least entertaining.
These are Sailor Monsoon’s Most Anticipated Movies of 2026.
1. The Odyssey
Few films feel as inevitable as The Odyssey. Homer’s epic has been adapted, reinterpreted, and plundered for parts for over a century, but it’s rarely been treated as what it truly is: a strange, brutal, hallucinatory road movie about survival, identity, and the cost of getting home in an age of Gods and monsters.
Since most of his movies are heady sci-fi films or intense dramas, Nolan is about the last director I’d expect to do a fantasy epic, which is why I am excited. His last couple of films haven’t done anything for me, and I’m starting to get that “what have you done for me lately” attitude, but with that cast and the strength of his previous work, I’m going in with high hopes that he’ll deliver something spectacular. I just hope it doesn’t shy away from the more fantastical elements of the story.
2. Resident Evil
Resident Evil feels like it could finally be the course-correction this terrible franchise has been begging for. After years of increasingly over-the-top action excess and myth-building that drifted far from the series’ survival-horror roots, this new take promises a reset—one that leans back into what made Resident Evil resonate in the first place: claustrophobia, vulnerability, and the creeping dread of being trapped somewhere very wrong with very limited options.
Despite loving the video game franchise, I hate every adaptation (live action movies, animated movies, and that forgettable TV show) made so far. If it wasn’t for Zach Cregger, I would write this one off as well. But since he’s made two of the best horror films this decade, there’s almost nothing I’m anticipating more.
3. Avengers: Doomsday
After years of sprawling multiverse storytelling, Doomsday is yet again another excuse to shove in every character they have into one movie. It’s going to be the cinematic equivalent of a child playing with all their action figures at once. There will be no other movie released this year that will have more movie in it, which should turn me off of the whole affair (I truly don’t care about the MCU anymore), but the child in me really wants to see characters he loves punch each other in the face. Giant team-up movies will be the only thing the MCU will make from now on (the standalone origin story is deader than Dillinger), which makes me not want to support the final nail in the coffin for this franchise, but the goddamn nostalgia is too strong.
4. The Adventures of Cliff Booth
The Adventures of Cliff Booth is exciting because it promises a rare thing in modern cinema: a filmmaker revisiting a beloved character not to expand a “universe,” but because he loves him and wants to see where he is now. Cliff Booth was already the secret sauce of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood—a laconic, morally shaky stuntman who felt like he’d wandered in from a grimmer, stranger movie. A film centered on him opens the door to a looser, pulpier kind of storytelling, where episodic adventures, hard-earned violence, and offhand character details matter more than plot mechanics. Tarantino and Fincher collaborating on a film is already exciting enough; it being about one of Tarantino’s best creations is icing on the cake.
5. Dune: Part Three
Dune: Part Three has the potential to be the most daring chapter of the saga yet because the story finally moves beyond prophecy and into consequence. Where the first two films chart Paul Atreides’ rise, this next chapter is poised to confront the cost of that ascension. That shift (from destiny fulfilled to destiny reckoned with) opens the door to a darker, more unsettling kind of epic. Instead of asking whether the hero will win, Part Three asks whether the victory was a mistake in the first place.
The first movie felt like an overlong trailer for the second, and the second was the build-up to this, and if it succeeds, it won’t just conclude a trilogy; it will stand as a reminder that science fiction blockbusters can challenge their audiences as much as they emotionally overwhelm them. Denis Villeneuve was the first director to finally get me to care about this shit, so hopefully he sticks the landing.
6. Supergirl
Unlike Superman, whose mythology is often weighed down by symbolism and expectation, Supergirl arrives with built-in tension. She’s a hero defined by displacement—strong enough to move planets, yet emotionally out of step with the world she’s meant to protect. That imbalance gives the film an immediate dramatic hook, one that’s less about saving the day and more about finding a place to belong.
Based on what we’ve seen so far from the trailer, it looks to be going for a Guardians of the Galaxy feel, which is perfect since the film is based on the comic Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which is very similar in tone to that film. They both balance the comedic with genuine pathos, while also delivering an emotionally satisfying story. If the film is half as good as that comic, this will easily be the best superhero film of the year.
7. Werwulf
Werewolf stories work best when they’re rooted in dread and inevitability, and Werwulf seems poised to lean hard into that tradition. Instead of framing lycanthropy as a power fantasy, the film has the opportunity to present it as a curse—one tied to guilt, loss of control, and the slow erosion of identity. That approach aligns perfectly with the current appetite for horror that’s atmospheric, somber, and psychologically heavy.
Robert Eggers excels at ambiance and tone, as well as period-specific details. Few directors working today are as good at creating a time and place that feels tactile and real. Watching his films in a 4D theater would be a sensory nightmare; the smells alone would kill you. He makes ugly, oppressive fables designed to get under your skin, which makes him perfect for Werwulf since it’s about a monster that transforms by shedding theirs.
8. Terrifier 4
The Terrifier series represents a rare modern horror success that has grown louder, meaner, and more uncompromising with each entry instead of sanding itself down. Art the Clown has become an underground icon by rejecting polish and restraint, and a fourth film has the chance to push that ethos even further. The appeal isn’t just the extremity—it’s the commitment.
Terrifier operates in its own grindhouse lane, where cruelty is cartoonish, endurance is the point, and the audience is dared to keep watching. Few franchises are this honest about what they are.
Love him or hate him, Art is singlehandedly keeping slashers alive, and if they do come back finally, we have him to thank. If this one succeeds, it won’t just be another sequel—it’ll be a reminder that there’s still room in mainstream theaters for horror that’s vicious, unapologetic, and gleefully unhinged.
9. Ray Gunn
If Ray Gunn were directed by anyone else, I would bet good money that it would be the biggest disaster of the year. Or at least, the biggest disappointment. The longer a director works on a passion project, the worse they seem to be, but since this is directed by Brad Bird, I think this one will be the exception to the rule.
Set in the sprawling, retro-futuristic metropolis of Metropia, the story follows Raymond Gunn, the last human private detective in a world filled with aliens and robots. It seems to be a mixture of Chandler and Heavy Metal, which are two very appealing elements. Movies like this are why I will never trash Netflix. Detractors can say it’s killing theaters all they want, but as long as they keep funding impossible dream projects like this, I will always defend them.
10. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
After just two films, Jane Schoenbrun has proven to be one of the most exciting directors working today. They use the horror genre as window dressing to confront multiple topics such as identity, depression, loneliness, and gender. But they’re never preachy soap boxes telling you what to think or feel. They’re designed to be mood pieces that take you on an unpredictable ride. Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is their take on a slasher, and I can’t wait to see how they reinterpret those ’80s cliches.
The title alone signals a gleefully bloody throwback, evoking the lurid VHS-era promise of summer-camp carnage, sweaty hormones, and bad decisions punished with extreme prejudice. But nostalgia only works if it’s paired with craft, and this project has the opportunity to use modern filmmaking tools to sharpen that old-school formula rather than sand it down. In an era of elevated metaphors and franchise IP, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma promises something refreshingly new. If it commits to its sleaze, its suspense, and its sense of fun, it could be the kind of cult-ready critical darling that only pops up on the best films of the year lists from the cool kids.
11. Godzilla Minus Zero
Godzilla Minus One reminded audiences that the titular monster works best not as a superhero or spectacle engine, but as an embodiment of national trauma and helplessness. A follow-up has the opportunity to deepen that approach rather than dilute it—exploring what it means to survive catastrophe, rebuild, and then face the possibility that annihilation isn’t finished with you yet. That’s fertile ground for a sequel that’s heavier, angrier, and even more intimate.
Fans are also excited by the title, which could be a subtle clue that King Ghidorah will make an appearance since he was introduced as Monster Zero in Invasion of Astro-Monster. Whether this sequel decides to focus on escalation instead of excess (instead of going “bigger” in the usual franchise sense, it can go darker—examining lingering fear, guilt, and instability in a world already brought to its knees) or whether it decides to go even bigger with an even worse threat, my ass will be there opening night.
12. Flowervale Street
Like all Bad Robot productions, Flowervale Street is being treated like those mystery boxes J.J. Abrams loves so much. No official plot synopsis has been revealed, and all we know so far is that the main cast consists of Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor. If Abrams himself were directing this, I wouldn’t care. I would be mildly curious to see how or if it tied into Cloverfield (he’s obsessed with that universe for some reason), but that would be the extent of my curiosity. But since it’s directed by David Robert Mitchell, whose previous film It Follows is one of my favorite horror movies, it’s an immediate day one watch. I don’t even need to know what it’s about, I’m in. But please don’t be a secret Cloverfield sequel.
13. Obsession
Unless you spend countless hours scrolling through Facebook feeds or YouTube shorts, chances are, you’ve never heard of Curry Barker or Cooper Tomlinson. They’re two comedians who make bite-sized content whose punchlines often involve awkward interactions or insidious implications. Curry is often confused by something Cooper said (the number of times he’s been confused by the word “come” cannot be understated), or Cooper is creeped out by Curry being a weirdo.
And weirdo is an understatement. Oftentimes, Curry is serial killer levels of creepy, which makes sense why he decided to make a horror movie. His debut, Milk and Serial, was made for $800, and it’s easily better than 90% of the shit Blumhouse has produced, which is probably why they picked up Obsession. If you can’t beat ’em, hire ’em.
The official plot synopsis reads, “After a hopeless romantic uses a mysterious ‘One Wish Willow’ to make his crush love him, he gets exactly what he asked for — but with terrifying consequences.” Sounds like fertile ground for comedy and horror. I can’t wait to see what Barker has in store.
14. Project Hail Mary
Thanks to a near-perfect alignment of source material and talent, Project Hail Mary is shaping up to be one of the most exciting sci-fi releases of 2026. Adapted from Andy Weir’s bestselling novel, the story offers the same problem-solving thrill that made The Martian a modern classic, but with even higher cosmic stakes. Adding to the anticipation are directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, whose inventive, genre-bending style (The Lego Movie, Into the Spider-Verse) suggests a smart, energetic take on big-idea science fiction. With Ryan Gosling leading the film, the project also gains a star that’ll guarantee my ass buys a ticket. Project Hail Mary feels like a rare sci-fi event—one that could easily become a defining blockbuster of 2026.
15. Digger
What makes Digger so tantalizing is the promise of a wild collision of two unlikely creators. You’ve got Alejandro G. Iñárritu, an auteur who makes trauma porn disguised as high art, and Tom Cruise, Hollywood’s favorite running man. On paper, it’s already fascinating because it shouldn’t exist, but in practice, it could end up being this year’s Birdman.
Watching Tom Cruise save the world over and over again is fun and all, but cinephiles miss when he used to actually act. Digger looks to throw the megastar inside the filmmaker’s pressure cooker to see what will happen. If it lands, Digger could be that rare studio film that’s big, strange, confrontational, and deeply uncomfortable. In other words, exactly the kind of cinematic gamble we should be excited about.
16. Wuthering Heights
Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights is getting another go-round, but this time it’s being filtered through the horny, candy-colored menace of Emerald Fennell, which immediately makes it one of this year’s most intriguing wild cards. Fennell (Promising Young Woman, Saltburn) is a director who understands obsession (even the ugly kind), which makes her an inspired and slightly unhinged match for literature’s most toxic love story. Add Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi to the mix, two actors who both excel at weaponizing beauty and charm, and suddenly this isn’t just another prestige costume drama. This has the potential to be Wuthering Heights as a gothic psychodrama: sweaty, cruel, seductive, and unapologetically messy. The kind of adaptation that might actually scandalize people again, which cinema needs desperately.
17. The Backrooms
Directed by an up-and-coming 17-year horror filmmaker, The Backrooms is based on a popular creepypasta and centers around a group of friends who stumble upon a hidden doorway that transports them into a parallel reality called the Backrooms. This alternate dimension is composed of seemingly endless yellow-tinted rooms, devoid of any logical structure or purpose. As they struggle to find their way out, the characters encounter eerie entities and face terrifying threats that add a sense of danger and suspense to the narrative.
One of the strengths of the horror short is its atmosphere. The production design effectively creates a visually unsettling space, with its dimly lit rooms, peeling wallpaper, and claustrophobic corridors. Combined with the cinematography, the film captures a sense of desolation and dread, constantly keeping the audience on edge. It’s easily one of the best horror shorts of all time, and I can’t wait to see it adapted into a feature-length film.
18. I Love Boosters
A crew of shoplifters decides to take on the fashion world, aiming their sticky fingers at a ruthless style mogul. Keke Palmer leads the charge with her usual magnetic chaos energy, while Demi Moore, hot off her career resurgence, plays the icy cold target of their plan. The cast and premise alone are enough to get my attention, but with Boots Riley as director, it immediately has me excited. Sorry to Bother You and I Am a Virgo are satirical masterpieces that blend social and political commentary with insane ideas that are so wildly original, there are literally no other movies like them. I Love Boosters looks poised to be another gleefully chaotic dispatch from his very specific corner of pop-political madness.
19. Evil Dead Burn
Evil Dead Burn is set to set things on fire (spiritually, emotionally, and probably literally) under the direction of Sébastien Vaniček, the filmmaker who delivered one of the best animal attack movies of the last couple of years with Infested. Giving him the keys to this franchise feels less like a gamble and more like a controlled detonation. He’s about to reinvent the franchise by blowing it up and doing something completely new, which is exactly what it needs to stay fresh.
Burn promises a fresh, standalone descent into deadite chaos, trading cabin-in-the-woods nostalgia for something meaner, sweatier, and more modern. Details are being kept locked tighter than the Book of the Dead itself, but the word from the production is clear: this one wants to hurt you a little. The Evil Dead franchise has literally never missed, so I have high hopes that this will live up to its legacy.
20. Hokum
Directed by Damian McCarthy, who proved with Caveat and Oddity that he knows exactly how to crawl under your skin with terrifying images that stay with you long after the credits roll, is back with what looks to be his biggest movie yet.
The hook is deceptively simple: Adam Scott stars as a withdrawn writer who retreats to a remote Irish inn to scatter his parents’ ashes. Naturally, the place comes with a local legend about a witch, because horror movies thrive on bad lodging choices. From there, McCarthy reportedly lets unease do the heavy lifting. Eerie visions, creeping paranoia, and the sense that grief itself might be the real haunting.
What makes Hokum exciting is the promise of atmosphere and psychological dread, anchored by an underrated actor who rarely gets to star in films like this. Adam Scott is very good at looking like he’s slowly realizing he made a catastrophic mistake, and I can’t wait to see just how big a mistake he’s unintentionally stepped in.
21. The Mandalorian and Grogu
Disney has seemingly done the impossible. They got me interested in not one but two Star Wars movies. It’s like they figured out the easiest way to get my attention was either by putting Ryan Gosling or Baby Yoda in it. I love Baby Yoda. I love him so much, and I will never refer to him as Grogu. A Mandalorian movie was inevitable, but thankfully, this one looks like it could recapture some of that old-school, no-budget charm of the original Star Wars. I’m also intrigued by the casting of Jeremy Allen White as a Hutt. I preferred when The Mandalorian wasn’t directly tied to the Skywalker Saga (before it became nothing more than a cameo generator), and the less of that there is in this, the better.
22. Clayface
The fact that there are comic book fans who are actively rooting against James Gunn is insane to me. He is making all the right decisions. Creature Commandos kick-started his universe with fun new characters we’ve never seen before, Superman is about as close to perfect a reboot of that character we are ever going to get, Peacemaker Season 2 introduced interesting potential future storylines, he recast Jason Momoa as Lobo (the role he was born to play), and is doing a stand alone Clayface movie that’s a body horror that was originally developed by Mike Flanagan. The man is clearly interested in telling unique stories instead of going after the easy money makers based on what he’s greenlighting, and that gets me excited. This could be DC’s answer to The Substance.
23. The Super Mario Bros Galaxy Movie
The first Super Mario Bros. Movie was a pleasant surprise. I had zero faith in Illumination. If I were to rank the major animation studios from best to worst, Illumination would be close to the bottom. They make brain rot for dumb children and every white woman over forty. Your aunt loves the Minions, and her posts on Facebook make you cringe. That’s Illumination: trash your aunt who has terrible taste in film likes. But somehow, against all odds, they actually made a really entertaining Mario movie. I even enjoyed Pratt as Mario. Good job, Illumination, you finally did it. And based on the trailers for the follow-up, it looks like you did it again. This one is based on the Galaxy games (the best ones) and has Benny Safdie as Bowser Jr. Sign me up.
24. Onslaught
Onslaught is Adam Wingard’s return to grittier action, and that alone is enough to get me excited. I’m glad he got to go play in the Godzilla sandbox for a bit, but I think he’s at his best when he goes violent. The Guest and You’re Next are mini masterpieces, and nothing he’s made since has come close to touching them. But since A24 is backing this one, I have hope that it’s a return to his roots.
The film is about a mother living in a trailer park who must use her own past skills to protect her loved ones from a terrifying escaped threat from a secret military base while mercenaries try to contain it. The cast includes Adria Arjona (from Andor), Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Alex Pereira, Drew Starkey, Michael Biehn, and Reginald VelJohnson. An eclectic cast, an interesting premise, and the stamp of A24 on it? Onslaught has the potential to be a winner.
25. Moonglow
Gigantic IP monsters are going to dominate 2026. There are so many huge sequels coming out that there’s a strong possibility that this will be the most successful year in Hollywood history. While I’m glad this buys theaters a couple more years of life, most of them do not interest me in the slightest. It seems like the best films released lately are the ones made the furthest away from Hollywood, and that’s why Moonglow has my attention.
The official synopsis sounds incredible: “A jaded female police detective, who unbeknownst to her colleagues is the mastermind behind a successful heist, is paired up with an obsessively truth-seeking detective partner to crack the very crime that she orchestrated.” Isabel Sandoval — the filmmaker behind Lingua Franca and other festival-darlings — has garnered enough buzz within the indie community that Moonglow is considered a fairly big deal. Hopefully, the buzz pays off.
Those are the movies coming out in 2026 that have my attention. What are some of your most anticipated movies?
