Watchlist for 2026

Upcoming films to look out for in the new year

Introduction

Last week I discussed many of the films that I watched throughout 2025, good and bad. There were a lot of great movies that came out last year, and it was nice to have the opportunity to see more of them in theaters than I’ve been able to in the past. I’m excited to keep that streak going in 2026. To that end, I figured I’d take a look ahead and go over some of the movies coming out this year that I’m particularly excited to see. In the process, maybe I’ll end up letting you know about some movies to look out for in the coming months.

At the time that I am beginning to write this article, I’ve only seen one movie that was released to theaters in 2026 so far. That film was Primate, a creature feature about a pet chimpanzee that contracts rabies and begins to violently attack its family and their visiting friends. It was a pretty typical January release, meaning that it wasn’t particularly good, but was visceral and intense enough to keep the attention of the people who went to see it. Needless to say, I don’t think it will be making my top ten list for this year, unless this ends up being a really, really, really bad year for cinema.

As for the rest of the year, I can only look forward to movies that I know about in some capacity, whether that means I’ve seen trailers or am familiar with the property or filmmakers involved. There will probably be a number of really good films that come out this year that I just don’t have any knowledge of at this time. I’m pretty much limited to perusing Letterboxd for films that will be released this year and looking up the ones that catch my eye for further details. This also means that it’s entirely likely that some of the films I’m looking forward to will end up not being very good. So don’t be surprised if this article becomes really dated.

There’s also the distinct possibility that films scheduled to release in 2026 will be delayed into 2027 or beyond for various reasons. This particularly applies to films scheduled for release later in the year, but also for smaller productions that may have been announced but not yet shot. After all, Robert Eggers was supposed to make his remake of Nosferatu as his second feature film and announced it in 2015. As you might know, it ended up being his fourth film and didn’t come out until December of 2024. Clearly, things can always change. With that housekeeping out of the way, it’s time to go over my most anticipated films of 2026.

Let’s get into it.

28 Years Later - The Bone Temple - January 16th

Given that I’m writing this article on the day that this film comes out, it’s very likely that by the time this is published, I will already have seen 28 Years Later - The Bone Temple. But given that this is the first film of the year that I am excited to see, I figured that I had to put it on the list. 28 Years Later was one of the more interesting entries in the horror genre to come out last year. A decades later sequel to the film that arguably restarted the zombie craze back in the 2000’s (yes, I’m aware that the infected in 28 Days Later are not technically zombies, but colloquially they absolutely are), the film eschewed typical post-apocalyptic conventions to tell a somber coming of age story that explored the implications of its world in pretty interesting ways. The one real knock I had against it was how blatantly it set up its own sequels, but overall it was a really compelling movie and an interesting place to take the series.

Less than a year later, we’ve got that first sequel. Sure, it has a title that’s guaranteed to generate snickers amongst middle schoolers, but it also seems to promise an even stranger movie than its predecessor, with a greater focus on the eccentric but compassionate Dr. Kelson, played by Ralph Fiennes, and the bizarre gang/cult that shows up at the end of the first movie with appearances apparently inspired by the infamous former television host Jimmy Savile, with all the loaded implications that allusion carries. That certainly all sounds like something that will make for an interesting film. The reviews so far are quite positive, with some even saying that this installment is even better than last year’s. I guess I’ll find out this weekend!

Return to Silent Hill - January 23rd

Out of all the films that I’m looking forward to in 2026, this is probably the one that is least likely to be a good movie. I hope I’m wrong about that, but given that it’s a horror video game adaptation releasing in January. The deck isn’t exactly stacked in its favor. That being said, I’m still very interested in the movie given that it’s an adaptation of one of the most beloved horror games ever made, Silent Hill 2.

I don’t have the most extensive personal experience with the Silent Hill franchise, but that’s mainly due to circumstance rather than level of interest. The original games just aren’t easily available to play nowadays and the series has only just begun to make something of a comeback in the last few years. I did play the Silent Hill 2 Remake back when it came out and really enjoyed it, and I’ve been fascinated by the series’ approach to surreal and psychological horror storytelling and game design for a long time. While I doubt that a film adaptation could capture the tragic horror of the story and characters as effectively as the two versions of the game do, the simple hook of the game’s premise easily provides a solid foundation to build an interesting film off of. There’s certainly a way that adapting this story to a new medium can work.

So while I’m not expecting this new film to be a masterpiece, I am intrigued to see how it adapts the game’s story and if it’s able to translate the incredible atmosphere and dread of the series to film in a meaningful way. I haven’t seen the original 2006 Silent Hill film, which shares the same writer and director as this one, but I’ve heard some positive things about it and will probably want to check it out before I see this upcoming film. Again, I’m going into this one with fairly low expectations, but I would be delighted if it turns out better than I expect.

Send Help - January 30th

The premise of this one is simple enough. A woman is stranded on a deserted island with her shitty boss after a plane crash and might be taking their shifted power dynamic a little too far. One can easily imagine a solid thriller based on that premise alone, but what makes me even more excited to see it is that it’s the latest directorial effort from Sam Raimi. Whether the film ends up being good or bad, one can certainly expect the director of the Evil Dead trilogy, Drag Me to Hell, A Simple Plan, and the original Spider-Man trilogy, among many others, to make an interesting and entertaining movie.

Wuthering Heights - February 13th

My interest in this is based solely on the marketing material, which offered a compelling combination of vintage VistaVision cinematography (that’s recently come back into fashion with films like The Brutalist and One Battle After Another), erotic period romance, and a modern soundtrack produced by Charli XCX. The striking fusion between those elements caught my attention when the trailers for this were first airing. I’m not familiar with the book, though this is allegedly a pretty loose adaptation, but I’m curious to how this film turns out.

The Bride! - March 6th

If I had to pick the film that I was most excited to see this year, at least based off of existing promotional material, then I would probably choose The Bride! A very loose re-imagining of the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein, the film stars Jessie Buckley (who will presumably have been nominated for Best Actress by the Oscars by the time this comes out) as a murdered woman brought back to life by Frankenstein’s Monster and “Dr. Euphronius,” who sparks a madcap romance, police chase, and societal change across 1930’s Chicago. A pretty ludicrous idea for a movie and not the place you’d expect a take on the Frankenstein story to go, but all that just makes me more intrigued.

The teaser trailer for this movie played constantly over the past several months, but I never got tired of seeing it. I just found it very compelling for whatever reason, both as an interpretation of these classic horror characters, but also as a movie in its own right. It seems like something that wouldn’t work, and very well could be something that doesn’t work, but it’s such an out-there take that I have to assume there’s something of merit there. In any case, I’m really looking forward to this one.

Hoppers - March 6th

This is the first Pixar movie in a few years that’s really grabbed my attention. I can’t quite put my finger on why, it just seems like a fun concept with a more unique comedic direction than we’ve had from the studio in a while. Part of that is likely due to the director, Daniel Chong, who created the Cartoon Network series We Bare Bears, a show I find very charming, even if I’ve only seen a handful of episodes. The other thing I find compelling about this movie is that it strikes me as something like Pixar’s take on a premise that you’d typically see from DreamWorks. It’s a unique energy that seems promising. In any case, I do want to catch more animated movies in theaters when I can, and this seems like one of the better options this year.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie - April 3rd

Speaking of animated films, we have The Super Mario Galaxy Movie. I found the original film to be a pretty fun time at the theater, though I can’t say I’ve ever had a strong desire to revisit it since then. It was an impressive visual adaptation of the games world and an admirable effort at working the barebones plot and characters of those quintessential games into a three act narrative structure. That said, it just didn’t have enough beneath the surface level appeal to really make as much of an impact on me as I would have wanted. I imagine that if I rewatched the film today, I’d still have a good time with it, but it would likely still leave something to be desired.

Now that we have a sequel, my hope is that the filmmakers have found something to do with these characters beyond “reenact set pieces and iconography from the games, but on a larger scale this time.” The fact that this is primarily based on the Super Mario Galaxy games is encouraging, as those are probably my favorite in the series, but we’ll have to wait and see if this ends up being super enjoyable on any level other than an audio/visual one. Regardless, I am looking forward to checking this out.

The Mandalorian and Grogu - May 22nd

I wouldn’t say that I’m extremely excited for this film compared to some of the others on this list, but I would be lying if I wasn’t interested in seeing the first theatrical Star Wars release since Rise of Skywalker back in 2019. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Star Wars fan. It’s my favorite film series, without a doubt, and I’ve found plenty to enjoy about the last decade of movies and shows in this franchise. But I also can’t deny that I’m a bit wary of this movie. I enjoyed the first couple seasons of The Mandalorian, but I really didn’t care for season three, and outside of Andor, I haven’t been too fond of the Disney Plus shows as of late. I’ve just been a little burned out on the franchise for a while.

In that regard, the trailer hasn’t really sold me on anything, it just looks like the show on a larger screen. That could work out just fine, but I would prefer this to be something more than an extra-long episode. Given that we basically know nothing about the story from the trailer, it could very well be more than meets the eye, but the track record with Star Wars lately doesn’t make me feel extremely optimistic. Still, I will almost certainly see this in theaters, and if it turns out to be good, it will probably end up as one of my favorite films of the year. Fingers crossed.

Disclosure Day - June 12th

It’s a new Steven Spielberg film. Do you really need me to tell you anything else?

Supergirl - June 26th

I’m not sure how I feel about the next film in the DCU after last year’s Superman basically being a direct spinoff of that movie. You’d think they would be better off building a new film around a character not connected to that specific brand. Still, the trailer did make this look distinct enough from last year’s movie, and Milly Alcock’s interpretation of Supergirl looks pretty promising so far. Despite really liking Superman, I’ve been more wary of how the DCU’s been shaping up since being pretty disappointed by the second season of Peacemaker, but this is the first installment in the franchise so far that’s not being written by James Gunn, so I imagine it will be a breath of fresh air in that regard. In any case, I am looking forward to this and hoping for the best.

The Odyssey - July 17th

The idea of Christopher Nolan directing a big budget adaptation of The Odyssey probably speaks for itself, doesn’t it. Sure, it’s not guaranteed to be good, but it sure seems like it will be an interesting film, if nothing else. Nolan’s never really made anything with explicit fantasy elements, so the idea of him taking on Greek mythology is really compelling. The trailer looks pretty much exactly like what you’d expect “The Odyssey, directed by Christopher Nolan” to look like, with only a brief glimpse at the supernatural aspects of the story, but this is a pretty easy sell for me. If Nolan can keep up the hot streak from Oppenheimer, we could be in for something really special.

Evil Dead Burn - July 24th

There’s good timing and then there’s a new Evil Dead film coming out on my birthday. While nothing in the series since 2013 has ever quite lived up to the heights of the original trilogy, the remake, Ash vs. Evil Dead, and Evil Dead Rise were all quality horror projects in their own right and all of them felt pretty distinct from each other. So the prospect of getting another entry not too long after Rise is pretty exciting. Given that the series has always played things pretty loose with its continuity and mythology, and the fact that the driving premise is so simple and ripe for creative ideas, I’m fully on board with the idea of getting new and different installments every so often.

We don’t really know much about this upcoming film, other than the main cast and the fact that it’s being directed by French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček. His prior film, Infested, was about a neighborhood becoming severely infested by a swarm of lethal spiders, so it seems like he has the right energy for this franchise. While I don’t expect this to match the lightning in a bottle energy of The Evil Dead or the pitch perfect blend of horror and comedy from Evil Dead 2, I’m pretty confident that I’ll have a good time with this. As long as I’m sufficiently grossed out and laugh at things that I probably shouldn’t laugh at, I’ll be satisfied.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day - July 31st

Okay, my thoughts on the prospect of a new Tom Holland Spider-Man film could likely be a full-length article of its own, so I’ll try to keep this concise. I am both genuinely excited to see this movie and a little apprehensive about it. I still broadly enjoy the “Home Trilogy” of Spidey films that have come out over the past decade, but their largely shared flaws have bothered me more and more as time goes on. But with how No Way Home’s ending “cleaned the slate” for this interaction of the character, I think there’s plenty of potential for Brand New Day to be different from the previous trilogy and develop Peter’s character in ways that the other films lacked.

It helps that there’s a new director for the film. I enjoyed Jon Watts’ work on Homecoming, but I think his direction became more constricting for this trilogy as it went on. It remains to be seen how Destin Daniel Cretton (who directed Just Mercy and Shang-Chi) will handle the movie since we don’t have a trailer, but the prospect of a different look and feel is very appealing to me. The film does share the same screenwriters as the previous three movies, but given the much longer development this has had compared to that trilogy, five years instead of an average of two, I would hope that they’ve been able to hammer out a really strong story and script.

Without a trailer, we don’t have much to go on for the story, but supposedly this is supposed to be much more of a “street-level” Spider-Man movie than the character’s previous appearances, with Jon Bernthal as the Punisher making an appearance alongside Mark Ruffalo returning as Bruce Banner/Hulk. I’m not sure how I feel about Hulk being in this movie, I think it depends on how the character is utilized, but I really like the idea of this version of Spider-Man having to interact with Jon Bernthal’s Punisher. Not just because I like seeing Jon Bernthal in things, but because those characters will likely have a much different dynamic than the various “mentor” relationships Peter kept falling into in the previous films.

We also have Sadie Sink (having just wrapped up Stranger Things) joining the film in an unknown role. I could go through a list of red-headed Marvel characters to speculate on who she is, but since she obviously isn’t going to be Mary-Jane Watson, I really don’t have much of a guess. Similarly, Liza Colón-Zayas of The Bear is going to be in the film as well, we also don’t know who she’ll be playing. Still, I’m happy that they’re both here.

I’m not thrilled about Zendaya and Jacob Batalon returning as MJ and Ned for this one. I always figured they would be back in the story at some point, but I was really hoping that the consequences of No Way Home’s ending would last for at least the entirety of one movie, and with them back that doesn’t seem like things are going to play out that way. Obviously it remains to be seen how their inclusion will actually be worked into the story, but it feels like more of a regression to the status-quo of the previous films than a way to push the character forward in the way that No Way Home indicated.

Alright, clearly I am still very passionate about Spider-Man and have plenty of thoughts about this new film. I’ll wrap this up for now, but I’m sure I will be talking about this movie and other Spider-Man stuff again soon. Needless to say, I’m looking forward to this movie and cautiously optimistic that this will be something fresh for this interaction of the character and a satisfying superhero movie in its own right. But, even if it’s disappointing in some way, all that really matters is that we still have Beyond the Spider-Verse (hopefully) coming out next year.

Coyote vs. Acme - August 28th

One of my favorite movies last year was Looney Tunes: The Day the Earth Blew Up, a fully 2D-animated parody of science-fiction B-movies starring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. So, it’s not surprising that I’m looking forward to Coyote vs. Acme, a blend of live-action and animation about Wile E. Coyote suing the Acme corporation for having sold him faulty products that always backfired on him in the classic Road Runner shorts. That’s a great premise that could make for a really fun comedy and industry insiders who’ve seen the film have sung its praises.

That initially didn’t stop Warner Bros. from trying to shelve the film for a tax write-off in the same manner that killed the Batgirl movie and Scoob! sequel. Thankfully, the potential loss of this film generated enough outcry that Warner ended up selling the distribution rights to Ketchup Entertainment, who had previously salvaged The Day the Earth Blew Up. So, I’m excited to see this not just because it sounds like a fun movie, but because I want to support the fact that the film was able to be released in the first place. Either way, I’ll be happy.

Resident Evil - September 18th

Unlike my relatively limited experience with the Silent Hill games, I’ve actually played most of the mainline entries in the Resident Evil series. They’re some of my favorite games, but I’ve never had a super strong desire to engage with the film side of the franchise, as I’ve never heard anything very encouraging about their quality. It seems that the original Paul W.S. Anderson films have some level of cult appeal, but aren’t very satisfying as adaptations of the games’ story or style of horror. Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, the attempted reboot of the franchise that claimed to be more accurate to the games was apparently even worse.

So the prospect of a second reboot of the film franchise doesn’t necessarily sound appealing on its own. The thing is, this new film is being written and directed by Zach Cregger, who just came off of Weapons, one of the biggest and most interesting horror releases of 2025. I’d have my eye on any film that he was making after that, but the fact that it’s an adaptation of one of my favorite game series is even more compelling. It’s supposedly going to be an original story, but will take inspiration from the second, third, and fourth video games. We’ll see how that plays out and a trailer will probably give a good indication of what to expect, but for now this is something I’m very interested in seeing.

Godzilla Minus Zero - November 6th (US)

Takashi Yamazaki is bringing us another Godzilla movie after knocking it out of the park with 2023’s Godzilla Minus One. This is purportedly going to be a sequel to that film, though any other details about the story, cast, or even when it actually takes place is unclear from what I can tell. Given the title of Minus Zero, I wouldn’t be shocked if this took place sometime around 1954, the year the original Godzilla film was released, but it could also be a few years before if we’re meant to take the original Godzilla film as “Plus One” according to the naming scheme. Either way, I’m excited to see this take on the King of the Monsters on the big screen again.

Dune: Part Three - December 18th

My favorite film of 2024 was Dune: Part Two, so obviously I’m looking forward to seeing the concluding chapter of Denis Villeneuve’s planned trilogy. I’m also very curious about how this film will approach its source material. Dune Messiah is certainly an important part of the overall story, arguably being the main reason people view the narrative of the original Dune novel as a deconstruction of the hero’s journey and warning against messiah figures, given that the first book doesn’t do a whole lot to subvert the tropes on its own. That being said, it also strikes me as a difficult book to try and adapt, especially when you want to follow up the epic scale of the first two films.

Messiah is much more of a “palace intrigue” story without much in the way of grand battles and set pieces that make the first book (and its film adaptations) so exciting. It also takes place over a decade after Dune, with the “holy war” that the book and films spend so much time building up to basically being over by the time the story starts. That’s not even getting into Chani’s storyline, which would probably need some alterations to work in a modern context even if Part Two didn’t end in a radically different place for her character. All in all, an adaptation that strove to be as accurate as possible to the text of Messiah would probably disappoint plenty of audiences who loved the previous two films. So I have to imagine that significant changes are going to have to be made when translating the story to screen.

What those changes are certainly remains to be seen, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the time skip was shortened to some extent. Not only would that avoid the issue of having to artificially age up the actors by a decade, it would also allow Paul’s holy war and conquest of the universe to be an ongoing part of the story rather than something that happens entirely offscreen. That way we could actually have more of the epic scale of the previous films and have some of the giant science-fiction battles that people are paying to see. Supposedly Villeneuve has stated that the film will begin with the “initiation” of the holy war, but I’d have to guess that said initiation would be more of a prologue. If the story of the book is going to be authentically adapted in any respect, a time skip of some kind is almost certainly necessary.

Still, Dune: Part Two was so successful at turning a relatively underdeveloped section of the original novel into an immensely satisfying movie of its own that I’m pretty confident that the filmmakers are going to make smart choices when it comes to adapting the second novel. Whatever changes they make, I think that they’ll be in service of the story and delivering a strong cinematic experience. Either way, I’m very excited to see how they wrap things up for Paul’s journey and close out the trilogy.

Werwulf - December 25th

Any movie directed by Robert Eggers was guaranteed to appear on my list of most anticipated films. The fact that it’s a werewolf movie is just icing on the cake. Eggers has become one of my absolute favorite directors of the past decade, with his signature depictions of period settings and authentic folklore, alongside his excellent horror chops, making for some of the most fascinating movies of the last ten years. The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman, and his remake of Nosferatu are all excellent movies and I’m always eager to see what he does next.

While we know basically nothing about this other than that it’s a werewolf movie set in thirteenth century England, Egger’s has reportedly claimed that his script for the movie (co-written with Sjón, who also worked with Eggers on The Northman) is his darkest yet. Given the things that happen in The Witch, that’s a pretty bold claim. Nosferatu’s Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Lily-Rose Depp are playing the leads, with longtime Eggers collaborators Ralph Ineson and Willem Dafoe joining the cast as well. Not much to go on as far as information goes, but it’s certainly enough for me where Eggers is concerned.

I don’t have much more to say about this one, except that if you haven’t seen any of Eggers previous films I highly recommend them. Nosferatu is probably the most accessible, being yet another version of the Dracula story that we’re all familiar with, but all of them are worth watching. Given how fascinating historical werewolf folklore can be, I’m expecting Eggers to turn in something really cool. I’m very excited to see this in the theater, though I’m admittedly just as excited to get it on blu-ray so I can watch with subtitles and understand more than sixty percent of what the characters are saying in their heavy accents and period dialect. But that’s part of what’s so engaging about his films. Here’s hoping that this ends up being a great way to finish off 2026.

Conclusion

With that, it’s time to wrap things up. Overall, I’m pretty excited for what’s to come this year. While it remains to be seen whether this will end up being one of the best years we’ve ever had for film or just another cycle of movies, I think there’s a lot of promising stuff on the horizon. There’s definitely plenty of films that I’m looking forward to watching, but I have to imagine there will also be plenty of movies that catch me by surprise. With this list, I’m limited to the films that I’m already aware of, made by filmmakers I’m already familiar with. I’m hoping that there will be plenty for me to discover as the year goes on.

In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye on the trailers and get myself to the theater as often as I can. I’m looking forward to writing more articles about interesting films that I see, as well as other topics regarding movies, TV, and animation that I end up wanting to talk about. I’m also looking forward to having a job that pays me money at some point, but that’s another story. Hopefully, I’ve given you some movies to look out for this year. Here’s to 2026. Let’s hope it’s a good one.

See you next time!

-R