Movies That Will Blow You Away In 2026

2024 isn't even over, and movie fans are already anxious to buy tickets to several films currently slated for release in 2026. There are already plenty of movies guaranteed to blow you away in 2025, but with every update from the studios and industry trade publications, 2026 is looking to rival it as one of the biggest years in cinematic history. Since many of these films are only just now entering production, fans will unfortunately have to do a lot of waiting before seeing these highly-anticipated flicks. It's never too early to start getting excited, though, so we've compiled a list of the films we're simply dying to see hit the big screen in 2026.

Some of these 2026 movies will cater to movie fans of all kinds, whether you're a long-time devotee of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, an aficionado of horror movies, or a connossieur of comedy. From blockbusters that are surely going to disrupt the box office to the return of beloved indie directors, these are the films you should keep your eye on as they inch closer and closer to their premiere date.

"M3GAN" raked in over $180 million at the box office after debuting in theaters at the end of 2022. The Blumhouse-produced film followed a psychotic A.I. doll who goes to great lengths to protect a young girl, despite the increasing worries of her aunt, played by Allison Williams. It helped that the film's marketing was accompanied by a viral TikTok dance, an "SNL" parody, and a trailer set to a Taylor Swift song, which all turned the killer doll horror flick into one of the biggest surprise hits of 2023. 

It's no surprise that the "M3GAN" universe is set to expand with two follow-ups: "M3GAN 2.0" in the summer of 2025, and "SOULM8TE," which will hit theaters in 2026. In a clever twist of the "M3GAN" premise, "SOULM8TE" will center on a man's ownership of an A.I. android following the loss of his wife, with consequences that will likely resemble or rival the most disturbing moments in "M3GAN." Kate Dolan, who previously helmed the horror film "You Are Not My Mother," will direct, telling Deadline, "Despite technological advances, there are enduring human truths we cannot escape, and I am looking forward to delving into those depths." Lily Sullivan, David Rysdahl, and Claudia Doumit are currently set to star. 

Speaking of surprise horror hits, writer-director Zach Cregger's "Barbarian" blew theatergoers away in 2022. Cregger got his start with the sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids U' Know, and had previously made his directorial debut with the critically-panned comedy "Miss March" in 2009. However, "Barbarian" found a strong audience through word-of-mouth marketing and ended up taking home over $45 million at the box office, even after Cregger struggled to get the film made in the first place. 

Naturally, Cregger will have a much easier time with his second flick, which was the subject of a bidding war between studios before landing at New Line Cinema for a full theatrical release. Currently titled "Weapons," Cregger's follow-up is set to arrive in theaters in 2026 and features an all-star cast including Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Benedict Wong, and Amy Madigan. It nearly starred Pedro Pascal and Renate Reinsve, who sadly had to drop out, but there's still a lot to be excited about with a cast this stacked. Little is known about the plot thus far, other than the fact that it will involve the disappearance of high school teenagers and has been compared to "Magnolia."

It's been quite a few eventful years for fans of "Avatar: The Last Airbender." Although the original Nickelodeon series only aired for three seasons in the mid-to-late 2000s, it has seen numerous spin-offs, reboots, and adaptations. Of course, there have been re-interpretations of the series fans would rather forget, like M. Night Shyamalan's 2010 live-action film, or the recent Netflix series which featured changes that upset fans. However, 2026 will see a much more highly-anticipated installment in the "Avatar" timeline. 

It was announced all the way back in 2021 that "Avatar: The Last Airbender" would be getting a proper animated sequel, coming to theaters on January 30, 2026. Although little is known about its story, it's been given the working title of "Aang: The Last Airbender," which suggests that it will continue to explore the adventures of the beloved airbending character from the iconic animated series. 

Eric Nam will make his debut as the voice of Aang, while Dave Bautista is joining the franchise as a yet-to-be-revealed antagonist. After many hit-or-miss projects from the "Avatar" franchise since the end of the original series, this feature film will surely have a lot of eyeballs on it as fans await a sequel that lives up to those three fantastic seasons.

2026 won't be the first time that Dr. Seuss's most iconic character has made it onto the big screen. In 2003, Mike Myers starred in "The Cat in the Hat," which notably resulted in Seuss' widow, Audrey Geisel, putting a stop to all live-action adaptations of her husband's work. The film has its cult following today, but thankfully the Seuss enterprise will have a second chance at putting the Cat on the big screen in a new animated film. This follows years of development hell at Illumination Entertainment, despite the company's success in producing animated features of "The Lorax" and "The Grinch."

A new "The Cat in the Hat" film created by Warner Bros. Pictures Animation will head to theaters in March 2026, starring Bill Hader, another "Saturday Night Live" alum, as the title character. Funnily enough, Hader has already portrayed the character in an "SNL" sketch, back when he was a first-time host of "SNL," and he won't be alone, as the sketch show's veterans Bowen Yang and Paula Pell also round out the voice cast, along with Quinta Brunson, Xochitl Gomez, and Matt Berry. Alessandro Carloni, who co-directed "Kung Fu Panda 3" for DreamWorks Animation, is directing alongside Erica Rivinoja, and hopefully they're able to do the children's book justice. 

Ryan Gosling has been the belle of the ball in the film world for the past few years. The actor earned an Oscar nomination for 2023's "Barbie," and in 2024 "The Fall Guy" proved to be one of the year's best action movies despite underperforming financially. However, 2026 might feature Gosling's next home run in "Project Hail Mary," based on the 2021 sci-fi novel from Andy Weir and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the filmmakers behind proven hits like "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse," "21 Jump Street," and "The LEGO Movie."

"Project Hail Mary" will star Gosling as Ryland Grace, an amnesiac astronaut uncovering the mystery of why he's the last man standing in a crew searching the galaxy for an end to Earth's near-demise. Gosling will be joined by fellow Oscar nominee Sandra Hüller, who wowed audiences in 2023 with back-to-back performances in "Anatomy of a Fall" and "The Zone of Interest." There's sure to be a lot of buzz in the science fiction community over this adaptation of the 2022 Hugo Award finalist, but given it's one of the few non-franchise films scheduled for release in 2026 so far, it might also be a sleeper hit for mainstream audiences. 

There was rightfully a lot of trepidation leading up to the release of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie." Video game adaptations have a well-documented history of disappointing fans in movie theaters, and the "Super Mario" franchise already had one failed attempt in the '90s. Despite online criticisms of the cast (which included Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, and Jack Black), "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" blew everyone away the box office by grossing over $1 billion, and was praised for being a flawed but worthy adaptation of the iconic Nintendo franchise.

Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and "Mario" creator Shigeru Miyamoto finally confirmed that a sequel would be coming with a tentative release date of April 2026, reuniting directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic with screenwriter Matthew Fogel. Judging by the post-credits scene of "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," the character Yoshi could make a proper debut on the big screen, while actors like Charlie Day and Seth Rogen have also expressed interest in exploring their own characters. The only question that remains is whether or not Nintendo is going to satisfy fan expectations and cast Danny DeVito to play Wario, but if they do, this may become the most anticipated film of 2026. 

Perhaps the biggest bombshell from this year's San Diego Comic-Con was at the Marvel Studios panel, where Kevin Feige not only confirmed that directors Anthony and Joe Russo would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to helm the next two "Avengers" movies, but that the Multiverse Saga would be pivoting from Kang the Conqueror to one of the biggest baddies in Marvel Comics: Victor von Doom. To the shock of everyone at Hall H and online, "Avengers: Doomsday" is coming up fast in 2026, and Robert Downey Jr. will play Doctor Doom — which has some fans rightfully worried. 

While the decision to recast Robert Downey Jr. after the actor's triumphant curtain call as Iron Man in "Avengers: Endgame" may have gone over poorly with some fans of the MCU, one thing is certain: people will be flooding into theaters to see this performance. Plus, RDJ just won an Oscar for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss in best picture winner "Oppenheimer," so getting to see the iconic Marvel star take on the role of one of the comics' most complicated villains will be, above all else, a spectacle. Let's just hope fans aren't let down by an on-screen Doctor Doom for a third time. 

It's actually surprising that there hasn't been a "Star Wars" feature film since "Star Wars: Episode IX — The Rise of Skywalker" in 2019. Still, the franchise has been busy on Disney+ with plenty of streaming series, the most popular being "The Mandalorian," which follows the adventures of the titular bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) after discovering a Jedi child named Grogu who's a target of Imperial factions. The ending of "The Mandalorian" Season 3 felt like it was a long time coming for "Star Wars" fans, as the Mandalorian army led by Bo-Katan (Katee Sackhoff) have begun retaking Mandalore from the forces of Moff Gideon, setting the stage for "The Mandalorian and Grogu" to premiere in theaters in 2026.

There's a lot to be excited about with this new chapter of the "Star Wars" saga, which has only just begun shooting. Given the broad scale of the Disney+ series, one can only imagine how big things are going to get in a feature film starring Din Djarin and his fellow characters, including some new faces. Sigourney Weaver has already confirmed that she's appearing in the movie, which will certainly draw in all kinds of sci-fi fanatics, though it's sad that Carl Weathers won't be reprising his role as Greef Karga after passing away earlier this year.

It's almost hard to believe that a live-action "Masters of the Universe" film is actually scheduled to be released in 2026. The iconic Mattel series, "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe," originally aired in the mid-1980s, and actually had a live-action film adaptation released back in 1987, starring Dolph Lungdren as the iconic shirtless hero. The history of a failed "Masters of the Universe" reboot movie goes back as far as 2007, but it's only recently that actual movement has been made on the project, with a current theatrical release date of June 5, 2026. Travis Knight, who made his live-action directorial debut with 2018's "Bumblebee," is set to direct it for Amazon MGM Studios. 

Perhaps the film owes its forward motion to Mattel's success in 2023 with "Barbie," which also went through development hell before becoming a surprise best picture nominee. It's also possible that there's renewed interest in the franchise thanks to Netflix's "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power," which ran for five seasons on the streaming service. For now, there's at least hope in the fact that the film's early casting looks promising, with "The Idea of You" star Nicholas Galitzine cast as He-Man, and Camila Mendes of "Riverdale" fame playing Teela. 

The next few years will be very exciting for DC Comics fans who have been let down by the lack of direction in its cinematic universe. That's all set to change in 2025, now that James Gunn is CEO of DC Studios and putting his energy into directing "Superman," starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Isabela Merced, and Nathan Fillion. It's going to be a huge reinvention of the DC universe on the big screen, and in 2026 it'll be followed up by "Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow," starring Milly Alcock, who will debut as Clark Kent's cousin in next year's film. 

Of course, Alcock will have big boots to fill after the beloved portrayal of the character by Melissa Benoist in The CW's "Supergirl," but leave it to James Gunn to find new ground to break. Currently, the film is set for release on June 26, 2026, with directing duties performed by Craig Gillespie, whose past work includes female-driven films like "Cruella" and the Oscar-nominated "I, Tonya." Little else is known about the film, other than the fact that it will primarily be an adaptation of the 2022 comic of the same name by Tom King. Given Supergirl's insane history in the comics, it should be a superhero movie worth seeing in theaters. 

It had been a quiet few years on the "Shrek" front after 2010's "Shrek Forever After" and 2011's "Puss in Boots," potentially indicating that the once-tremendously successful animated franchise might have lost its fairy tale dazzle. In the time since, the titular ogre even became somewhat of a cult meme icon on the Internet, though maybe not for the right reasons. But the series was finally revived in 2022 with "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish," with Antonio Banderas reprising his role as the conniving feline crusader. The film earned an Oscar nomination for best animated feature and surpassed expectations at the box office. 

The ending of "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" even set the stage for a future "Shrek" film, with Puss and Kitty Softpaws venturing back to the land of Far, Far Away. "Shrek 5" was confirmed to be happening later in 2023, with Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, and Cameron Diaz all returning. "Shrek" franchise veteran Walt Dohrn has been tasked with directorial duties, with the film slated for release in July 2026. Hopefully, the new "Shrek" film takes a page out of "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" by integrating a much more elegant, fairy tale-inspired art style. 

DC's naysayers were rightfully put in their place when "The Batman" was released in 2022, starring Robert Pattinson as perhaps the best on-screen portrayal of Bruce Wayne to date. The film, which was written and directed by Matt Reeves, was a tremendous box office success and reignited mainstream interest in a standalone, gritty "Batman" film series, even as James Gunn detailed his own plans for a shared universe of characters. While Colin Farrell will reprise his Penguin in HBO's upcoming series, a proper sequel for Pattinson's Dark Knight is scheduled to arrive on October 2, 2026. 

The sequel, currently titled "The Batman – Part II," has ignited lots of speculation about where the franchise will go. Although it's not confirmed, Barry Keoghan's cameo as The Joker in the film's ending (and in a deleted scene) definitely sets up the Irish actor to reprise the role in the future. Robert Pattinson has also specifically mentioned the Court of Owls as something he'd like to see in a sequel, which definitely feels aligned with Reeves' interpretation of Gotham. 

As expected, there's a lot of mystery surrounding what Jordan Peele is up to. The sketch comedian cemented himself as one of film's most influential modern directors with "Get Out," and has kept up the trend by creating outstanding horror films with Black leads in "Us" and "Nope." Even his production company, Monkeypaw, has been behind creative projects like "Monkey Man" and "Candyman."  Peele's next film as a director has a confirmed theatrical release date of October 23, 2026, just in time for Halloween. 

It might be hard to get excited about a movie that has no other information available, not even a rumored cast, but given Peele's track record so far, it'll always be worthwhile to see what this auteur comes up with. Maybe this will finally be the film in which Peele casts former comedy partner Keegan Michael-Key, which would certainly draw even more attention from moviegoers. 

"The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" was a reminder of how huge Suzanne Collins' book franchise was when it hit the big screen. Featuring an all-star cast including Rachel Zegler, Peter Dinklage, and Hunter Schafer, the film's box office performance alone was proof that audiences were hungry for more stories set in Panem. One is already slated for release on November 20, 2026, centering on another familiar character from the original book trilogy.

"The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping" centers on the 50th Hunger Games, notably won by Haymitch Abernathy, the character portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the original films. The book it's based on is set for release in early 2025, while a film adaptation was confirmed in June 2024. Current rumors suggest that Harrelson's character will be portrayed by "Challengers" star Mike Faist, which will be good news for all "Hunger Games" fans — but especially Zegler, who is one of his biggest admirers after working together in "West Side Story."