I’ve noted that the 2026 movie year is off to a great start, and I’m just as excited by the number of promising titles still to come. I’m especially heartened to see the number of large-scale blockbusters by big-name directors on the horizon — it gives me hope that box office receipts, sagging since COVID, will finally bounce back.

Following are 25 movies I’m looking forward to this year. Note that most of these are sequels and/or high-profile, star-driven projects — that’s because those titles grab release dates early for marketing purposes. Certainly many more worthy films, including indie and foreign releases, are bubbling up under the surface. So what follows is just the tip of an encouraging cinematic iceberg.

First, some honorable mentions before I count down my ten most-anticipated films of 2026.

Sequels I’m looking forward to include Avengers: Doomsday, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Godzilla Minus Zero, Jackass 5, Jumanji 4, and Toy Story 5. None of these are necessary, exactly, but all of the properties have been good to great in the past and could be again.

In the category of “classic book being adapted again” we have Sense and Sensibility, this time directed by Georgia Oakley and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones.

The latest addition to the Star Wars Cinematic Universe is Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu, which could be a fun adventure flick in the spirit of the original trilogy. Meanwhile, producer James Gunn’s latest entries in the DC Cinematic Universe are Supergirl and Clayface. He didn’t direct either, but I like the tone he brought to last year’s Superman and I hope these films follow suit.

I don’t know much about these five films, but they are all original scripts delivered by interesting directors: The Dog Stars (Ridley Scott), The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli), The End of Oak Street (David Robert Mitchell), The Great Beyond (J.J. Abrams), and Hexed (Josie Trinidad and Jason Hand, delivering the first non-sequel from Disney Animation since 2023).

And my ten most-anticipated movies of 2026:

#10. Resident Evil
I don’t know anything about the source video game, and I haven’t seen any of the franchise’s seven films prior to this reboot. But this movie is written and directed by Zach Cregger, whose Barbarian and Weapons were first-class horror gems, so I’m on board for whatever he does next.

#9. The Odyssey
I’m lukewarm on Christopher Nolan generally but I can’t help but be excited about this epic adaptation of Homer’s classic tale, especially given the star-studded cast.

#8. Werwulf
Writer-director Robert Eggers reunites the majority of his Nosferatu cast (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Lily-Rose Depp, and Willem Dafoe) for his latest period horror film. It promises to be a gorgeous, authentically old-fashioned, bloody good time.

#7. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
The first five films in this franchise are all quite good, thanks to Suzanne Collins’ literary world-building and assured direction by Francis Lawrence (who helmed all but the first film). I like how the newest stories are fleshing out time periods alluded to in the original movies — this one chronicles Haymitch Abernathy’s stint in the games before he grew up to become Woody Harrelson.

#6. Dune: Part Three
I’m not a massive Dune fan, but I’ve been very impressed by the vision and execution of director Denis Villeneuve in bringing this difficult text to the screen. That plus the incredible cast of new and returning actors has me excited to see how the trilogy ends.

#5. Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Even as much of Marvel’s output has lost its luster in recent years, the Spider-Man franchise rarely disappoints. Tom Holland is the first actor to lead four films in this role and has a chance to cement himself as the greatest onscreen incarnation of the webslinger.

#4. The Adventures of Cliff Booth
Quentin Tarantino has devolved into a tiresome internet troll who used to make good movies, but I suspect he can still write a crackling screenplay. This one, a prequel to 2019’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, will be helmed by the great David Fincher. It should make for a fascinating mix of styles.

#3. Digger
I have no idea what this film is about, and director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu can be hit or miss, but Digger is the first film in nearly a decade where Tom Cruise is doing more than glorified stunt work. Can this be the movie that finally lands the man an Oscar?

#2. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew
I wish writer/director Greta Gerwig was making another personal film like Lady Bird rather than a big-budget adaptation of a Chronicles of Narnia book. But this is the woman who turned a Barbie movie into a funny, moving phenomenon, so I trust her to make this movie great. Her projects will always be near the very top of my must-see list.

#1. Disclosure Day
In fact, the only person who could top her this year is Steven Spielberg, who is returning to sci-fi for the first time since 2005’s War of the Worlds. The 2020s is already a brilliant decade for Spielberg (West Side Story and The Fabelmans are arguably among his ten best) and I have high hopes that Disclosure Day will keep that streak alive.