10 Most Anticipated Movies Of The Rest Of 2026

The halfway mark of 2026 has recently passed and, so far, the year has treated moviegoers with a host of original, powerful, and exciting movies.

A year that will likely amount to be the highest grossing year at the global box office post-pandemic, 2026 has thus far featured new installments in the Star Wars, DC, Toy Story, Super Mario Bros., Minions, 28 Years Later, Masters of the Universe, and Moana franchises and breakout original films like Obsession, Backrooms, and Send Help.

With Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey hitting theaters this week and commemorating the halfway point of 2026 in fittingly epic fashion, now is the perfect time to look at the months to come and pinpoint the movies to look for from now until the end of the year

Jeremy Strong's Mark Zuckerberg looking angrily while standing up in The Social Reckoning

A pseudo-sequel to David Fincher’s acclaimed 2010 film, The Social Reckoning looks to continue the compelling true story of FaceBook and Mark Zuckerberg by recounting more recent events.

Aaron Sorkin remains one of the best writers of razor-sharp dialogue in the industry, but his directing efforts so far haven’t quite matched the quality of his screenplays.

Based on promotional material, it appears as if Sorkin may have a real gem on his hands here. The Social Reckoning will seemingly shine a spotlight on FaceBook’s controversial role in spreading misinformation and contributing to violence by positioning Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) as the protagonist.

With a star-studded cast that also includes Jeremy Strong and Jeremy Allen White, there’s much to look forward to from this sequel.

9

Wild Horse Nine

Martin McDonagh has established a reputation for engineering some of the best black comedies in recent years, and it seems as if the Irish filmmaker has another one in the bag for this fall.

Wild Horse Nine takes place before the 1973 Chilean coup and stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA officers Chris and Lee respectively.

Footage shown exclusively at CinemaCon previewed plenty of brilliant comedic banter and back-and-forth between Malkovich and Rockwell, two of the great comedic actors working today. But, as is always the case with McDonagh, expect a powerful emotional through-line to accompany the humor.

8

Werwulf

Robert Eggers directing a werewolf movie sounds like a match made in heaven. The director of Nosferatu, The Lighthouse, and The Witch is back with another effort that feels distinctly of his singularly Gothic, gritty, and shadow-shrouded mind. Set in 13th-century England, the film follows a farmer (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) who becomes afflicted by a terrifying curse that turns him into a werewolf.

Eggers reunites with much of his Nosferatu cast here, including Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe for a film that appears to have the same relentless commitment to period-accurate detail his works have become known for. With big budget sci-fi epics like Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday arriving this holiday season, Werwulf is shaping up to be the perfect, pitch black palette cleanser horror fans are going to fall in love with.

7

Primetime

Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen with his face appearing on four different TVs in Primetime

For years now, videos of so-called predator hunters trapping and admonishing alleged child predators have circulated on social media and amassed millions of views. Surprisingly, the perplexing interest in these controversial sting operations has yet to be the focus of a narrative feature, until now that is.

Primetime stars Robert Pattinson as Chris Hansen, the television news program host of the popular series To Catch a Predator. The A24 psychological crime-drama will seemingly center on Hansen’s predator hunting exploits over the years and interrogate the blurry lines dividing journalism, justice, and entertainment.

Pattinson is one of the most mesmerizing and in-demand actors working today, making any project he is attached to instantly worth a watch. The fact that he is playing such a well-known and controversial figure as Chris Hansen makes his work in Primetime all the more intriguing.

6

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Tom Holland swings back into the Marvel Cinematic Universe after a five-year absence with the highly anticipated follow-up to Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Based on the wealth of promotional material available to date, the new Spidey flick feels poised to live up to its title by offering a different kind of adventure for Tom Holland’s Marvel hero. Street-level and seemingly devoid of the multiversal madness that has received divisive reactions among fans in recent years, Destin Daniel Cretton’s film certainly looks interesting as an exploration of an older, more mature Peter Parker navigating the difficult aftermath of No Way Home.

Making Brand New Day all the more exciting is the fact that Parker is joined by Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher, Mark Ruffalo’s The Hulk, and a mysterious character played by Stranger Things alum Sadie Sink, heavily rumored to be Jean Grey. How all of these pieces, in addition to The Hand from the Netflix Daredevil series, gel together is currently unclear, but everything Holland and company have said about the film indicates the team has taken plenty of time and care in ensuring this fourth Holland-led Spider-Man movie is a worthy addition to the MCU.

5

Resident Evil

Austin Abrams covered in blood as Bryan in Resident Evil

With just two solo feature directorial efforts under his belt to date, Zach Cregger has remarkably cemented his status as a horror filmmaker whose every film demands viewing. After the unexpected hit that was Barbarian and the meticulously engineered horror epic that was Weapons, Cregger returns with an interesting third film – yet another movie adaptation of the long-running Resident Evil video game franchise.

While the previous Resident Evil films erred both as movies and as recreations of beloved source material, Cregger’s film appears to be a far more faithful take on the dread and doom of the Capcom games. Every interview Cregger has given about the film demonstrates his clear reverence for the games and desire to replicate the feeling of playing one of them in cinematic form.

The first trailer, which shows a medical courier played by Austin Abrams engage in a non-stop race for survival over the course of one fateful, horrible night, teases a spooky and intense big-screen experience that deftly blends horror and action.

4

Godzilla Minus Zero

Godzilla is raising from the ashes in Godzilla Minus Zero

Acclaimed filmmaker and visual effects artist Takashi Yamazaki is back with a sequel to the superb Godzilla Minus One from 2023. Godzilla Minus Zero continues the heartfelt story of the Shikishima family as, two years after the events of the previous film, they come in contact with Godzilla once again.

Footage shown at CinemaCon 2026 previewed a film of immense scale, even more so than Godzilla Minus One. A shot of Godzilla walked past and dwarfing the Statue of Liberty in New York City was arguably the most memorable visual of the entire four-day cinema expo.

If Godzilla Minus Zero comes even remotely close to Godzilla Minus One in evoking powerful emotions and terrifying with cinema’s scariest portrayal of Godzilla to date, then moviegoers are in for a real treat this November.

3

Digger

Shrouded in much secrecy until recently, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s big-budget satirical comedy Digger is one of the more unusual and intriguing entries on this list. Tom Cruise finally seems to be stepping away from the action genre and back to more prestige fare with a film that sees him undergo quite the physical transformation.

In the film, Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon and one of the wealthiest men on the planet, who tries to save humanity from an environmental disaster he created. The film bolsters an ensemble supporting cast, which includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, and Emma D’Arcy.

While the gray pallor of the visuals in the recently released trailer appear to give the movie a rather drab look, Digger nonetheless appears to be a fascinating, original cinematic experience heading to theaters this October. Iñárritu is a superb filmmaker, known for his visceral style and non-linear storytelling. Combining this talent behind the camera with a talent in front of the camera as immense as Cruise means Digger had to make this list.

2

Dune: Part Three

Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) looking serious in Dune: Part Three

Denis Villeneuve directs, produces, and co-writes the third and reportedly final installment in Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Entertainment’s Dune franchise. A recent Global IMAX Fan Event, which showcased the first 10 minutes of the movie and a brand-new trailer, previewed stunning footage akin to a sci-fi take on Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.

Linus Sandgren’s cinematography appears to match, and potentially even exceed, the extraordinary work done by his predecessor Greig Fraser in Dune: Part One and Dune: Part Two.

Meanwhile, everything Villeneuve and company have said about Dune: Part Three only makes high expectations even greater. The Canadian filmmaker has made it clear that he does not want to merely repeat the same beats that made the past two Dune movies so successful. Rather, he appears to be embracing the weird elements of Frank Herbert’s Dune: Messiah to craft a film that exists more in the thriller genre than the previous two films did.

1

Avengers: Doomsday

Much is riding on Avengers: Doomsday. The massive MCU team-up movie comes at a time in which superhero movies have struggled at the box office and conversations about superhero fatigue grow louder by the minute. That being said, there is plenty to be excited for about Doomsday.

How the film will handle Robert Downey Jr.’s shift from Iron Man to Doctor Doom remains shrouded in mystery and has fans clamoring to know how the Academy Award-winning actor will navigate playing Marvel’s main bad guy after so excellently playing Marvel’s main good guy for so many years.

The Russo Brothers have had some stumbles since departing the MCU following Avengers: Endgame, but they have never missed when it comes to grand, expansive, crowd-pleasing Marvel movies. The duo clearly have a love and appreciation for both iterations of the “Secret Wars” comics, which, to this day, are still some of the best superhero comics ever written and illustrated.

The sheer number of characters and huge stars appearing in Avengers: Doomsday further makes the film an interesting prospect as it is difficult to wrap one’s head around how exactly the Russo Brothers and company will juggle so many different elements in a coherently told and compelling film.

The jury is certainly still out on whether Avengers: Doomsday will revive the ailing superhero genre the way it is intended, but there is simply too much at stake, both off-screen and on-screen for our beloved heroes, for the upcoming MCU movie to not sit at the top of this list.