Happy New Year! I’m so pleased that we’ve survived another treacherous year as film fans and we’re here and ready for whatever 2026 has to offer. 2026 has a ton of fascinating films coming out, and I like to keep this list to ten, so let me just clarify a few things before we begin:

• Lists that comprise anticipated films tend to focus on tentpoles and blockbusters because…well, they are the films that we have seen photos and posters and trailers and firm proof that they’ll likely drop in 2026. Some of the smaller surprises just haven’t had the coverage necessary to excite me. That’s just the way it is. If you have a longer production schedule, you’re more likely to make an impact.
• These films are MOST ANTICIPATED films, not the ones I think will end up on my Top Ten of the year next January. Oftentimes, I’ve not even heard of the films that make my list by this time. In fact, not a single film from my Most Anticipated of 2025 ended up on my Top Ten, though a few were pretty close. My favorite movie of last year (The Long Walk) was such a blip at the time that it didn’t make my list, mostly because I forgot it was coming out, even though it was based on one of my favorite novels.

NOTE: This is not a countdown. It’s just a list of the films by relatively tentative release date.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple

• Hey, I’m just as surprised as anyone else. I’d never found the original 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later to be all that enticing, but I was blown away by 28 Years Later and its unique coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of an apocalyptic event. One of my main takeaways was Ralph Fiennes’s Dr. Kelson, and learning that he would be a more focal point of this sequel has me enthralled. His was a small but very impactful role in 28 Years Later, so spending more time with him is a definite win, and seeing the return of Alfie Williams as Spike (an awards-worthy performance) only adds to my excitement. Though it seems that some viewers of the previous film did not like the abrupt tonal shift at the end, I was more curious than frustrated, and I’d like to see where it goes in The Bone Temple. The fact that this has already received praise from its early screenings makes me so excited to see it on Monday night, and I can’t wait to share my thoughts with you.

The Drama

• I don’t have a lot of knowledge on the plot of The Drama, but director Kristoffer Borgli delivered my favorite films of the year in 2023 with Dream Scenario, so that alone has me very interested, as does the cast, with Zendaya and Robert Pattinson as an engaged couple who has an unexpected complication to their wedding week. That’s about all I know, and that’s frankly all I need to know to be interested. Borgli did a terrific job examining every aspect of Dream Scenario’s concept to its furthest degree, so The Drama has me on that alone.

The Mummy

• Coming off the wonderful reception of The Invisible Man and the more lukewarm reception of The Wolf Man, Blumhouse and Atomic Monster are dipping their toes once again into the world of the Universal Monsters, and this new film follows a journalist who has her missing daughter returned eight years after she disappears, only to have the reunion becoming a nightmare for the family. Based on this small amount, I’m curious to see how this connects to a Mummy mythos, and director Lee Cronin really delighted horror fans with Evil Dead Rise in 2023, so this pairing has me interested on where the story could go.

Hokum

• Director Damian McCarthy (known for helming Oddity a few years back) returns with Hokum, about a horror novelist (Adam Scott) who finds himself at a remote Irish inn rumored to be haunted by a witch. McCarthy has an excellent knack for folk horror, and Oddity has become endlessly watchable for me since it came out. He crafts simple stories with uniquely dark elements at play and lets them play out like a fable. Pairing with Adam Scott excites me, especially with Scott’s underrated pedigree in the horror genre, and I want to see what they come up with. Making solid folk horror gets harder and harder as our society embraces technology, but Damian McCarthy has shown he has the skill for dragging us back to the unknown of the past.

Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu

• Too much Star Wars has ended up on the small screen. This is a franchise made for the cinema, and The Mandalorian became a huge hit on streaming. While I’m not sure how the box office will fare for a follow-up to a three-season streaming series, I’ve mostly enjoyed the tales of Din Djarin and the child, Grogu. It seems like Jon Favreau has the thing that the recent Star Wars films have missed, which is a cohesive plan. It’s what made the sequel trilogy struggle, but there is a sense that it’s all been leading to this, and I believe that Favreau and Kathleen Kennedy can pull off a hell of an adventure for our heroes. Honestly, I just can’t wait for the excitement of a new Star Wars movie in the theater; there really is nothing like it.

Coyote vs. Acme

• Wait, is this really happening? Seems to be. Yes, after initially being pulled as a tax write-off, it seems that Coyote vs. Acme is finally releasing in 2026. The premise, in which Wile E. Coyote brings a lawsuit against the Acme Corporation for all of their defective products that have failed in helping him catch the Road Runner, is so brilliantly subversive, but in its simplicity, it’s a wonder it hasn’t been a film yet. Hearing about the rave reviews from its test screenings brings a level of excitement, and I’m hoping that the buildup of anticipation is worth it. Really, though, the film’s release is an amazing achievement for artists everywhere, as it proves that these works are not just studio products but labors of love, slaved over by passionate storytellers, worthy of being seen.

Narnia

• I grew up reading the Narnia books, first hearing them in my mother’s words as she read them to me before bedtime, and then learning to read with them myself, and adaptations of C.S. Lewis’s series have been wildly all over the place. From television adaptations to a smattering of big-budget theatrical fare of three books, I’ve been wanting a proper take on all seven of these novels, and I find it interesting that Greta Gerwig chose this as her follow-up to Barbie and also that she is seemingly adapting The Magician’s Nephew first, as it is the first story chronologically but also never before brought to the screen. The Magician’s Nephew has a lot going on, but Gerwig has shown she can adapt and manipulate source material effectively for the big screen, but my excitement and curiosity is only matched by the childlike wonder that the younger me would’ve had for this upcoming film. I’m hoping this will be the beginning of the complete story I’ve always wanted to see.

Avengers: Doomsday

• It’s hard not to be stoked for another Avengers film, even if the MCU has struggled over the past few years. With any excitement, I’m far more curious to see how this will all come into play, as the last few Avengers films felt built up to with a notable path, Doomsday has been a bit of a left-turn from the previously announced Kang Dynasty, and the inclusion of Robert Downey Jr. as the big baddie, Dr. Doom, has raised many eyebrows. They’ve stated many times that he isn’t playing a variant of Tony Stark, but I still kind of believe that he is. Either way, it’s a bold move that I need to see play out, if only to see if it works, whatever their play is. I’m also excited to see Shang-Chi return, as Marvel has really fumbled by not including Simu Liu in every property since his debut.

Dune: Part Three

• Opening on the same freaking day! I have to assume one of these will move, as I don’t think Avengers: Dunesday will have the same impact of Barbenheimer. All that is to say, between the two, I’m more excited for Dune: Part Three, as the first two films have had a rewatch factor close to that of The Lord of the Rings in my home. Part Three, based on Dune: Messiah, is likely going to be the most difficult to adapt of the trilogy, as the novel its based on takes some stranger turns from my understanding (to be fair, it’s been on my To-Read Shelf for several months), but I fully trust Denis Villeneuve to put his stamp on it and ensure that the adaptation is more than just a translation of the novel, something that will, at the very least, provide enough spectacle and closure and remain a talking point. WB and Disney must both be pretty proud of their respective films if neither one wants to budge here.

Werwulf

• Finally, we land on Robert Eggers, who is following up his Christmas hit Nosferatu with Werwulf, a classic horror tale of lycanthropy with that Eggers touch. I’ve been a fan of this filmmaker since The VVitch (and yes, we will always type it that way), and I think Nosferatu might be his masterpiece, and that’s partly what fuels my interest in Werwulf, but more than that, it’s apparently really hard to make good werewolf movies, as there are so few films that capture the public interest on the subject, compared to the much more popular vampire tale. Maybe it’s the more limited scope making it harder to find a unique angle, but Eggers seems like the perfect director for this story, though not much is known outside of the 13th century setting and that it features a mysterious creature stalking local English villagers and a heavy emphasis on folklore and historical context. Well, that’s all I need to know, so throw a few regular Eggers collaborators in there and you’ve got a stew cooking. Too bad we have to wait for Christmas.

So there you have it. These are the 10 films that I’m currently most looking forward to in 2026. As stated above, I have no knowledge on the quality of these films, but I have confidence. Now, share yours in the comments below. Did I miss something? Let me know. Happy 2026, and we’ll see you on opening night.

-Kyle A. Goethe