As we reflect on what 2025 was with all the big and great movies it gave us, its time to get excited for what 2026 has to offer. Some might say that we’ve been in a box office slump for the last year or so (even with huge hits like Zootopia 2, A Minecraft Movie or F1), but 2026 is poised to be a box office resurgence that hasn’t been seen since before the pandemic. With that said, it’s time to look at the movies in 2026 that I’m the most excited for. That’s not to say that these will be the best movies of the year but these are the ten movies that I would see in a heartbeat, if given the chance. Let’s begin!
#10 SEND HELP
I said in my review for 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple that January has become a better time to release high quality movies. You’ll still get your typical subpar films here and there, but the tide is definitely changing its course. Well, Sam Raimi has his first original R-rated horror movie hitting theaters this month and I could not be more excited. Described as Misery meets Cast Away, Send Help takes two colleagues in Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien who are stranded on an island after a terrible plane crash. As it looks in the trailer, tension arises and it seems to be a battle for survival and with each other. The trailer for this movie is great and it’s definitely one I’m gonna rush to see next weekend.
#9 LEE CRONIN’S THE MUMMY
Evil Dead Rise was such a great Evil Dead movie and the one thing I always wanted to know is what was gonna be Lee Cronin’s next movie? We do have another Evil Dead movie hitting theaters this summer with Evil Dead Burn and while I am very excited to see another Evil Dead movie, I can’t wait to see what Cronin is going to do with The Mummy. To be fair, we have gotten a number of Mummy variants whether it was the colossal misfire with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy and the recent announcement with another Mummy movie with Brendan Fraser coming back. But looking at the direction and tone that I think Lee Cronin is going to take with his movie, I think we could be in for something really speical.
#8 SCREAM 7
The is the last horror movie on this list I swear (but I make no promises). I simply had to put Scream 7 on this for a thousand reasons but maybe the biggest reason is that the Scream franchise is my all time favorite horror series. It’s really what made me fall in love with horror and the fact that it’s still going is ridiculously impressive. I’m also the person that didn’t necessarily ignore the controversy surrounding the firing of Melissa Barrera, but at the same time I wasn’t going to let my love for the franchise dictate a business decision that I had no part of. There is a lot in Scream 7 that has be concerned but if this is the last one that I’ll be there with bells on.
#7 READY OR NOT 2: HERE I COME
Okay I lied. This should be the last horror movie on this list.
Depending on who you ask, Ready or Not was one of 2019’s most delightful surprises and I’m so glad that a sequel got made because the possibilities with this franchise is endless. What gives me even more confidence with Ready or Not 2: Here I Come is that they moved it up to March instead of April. If they had pushed it later that probably would have given me more pause, but pulling that strategy tells me that Searchlight Pictures must have extreme belief in this movie. The only thing that bums me out a little is that Brian Tyler is composing the music for it. Then again, you’ve got Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett coming back to direct and Samara Weaving is also returning. So I think we’re good.
#6 MICHAEL
Michael Jackson is, without a shadow of doubt, one of the biggest musicians of all time. No can deny the talent he had as an entertainer. However, I’ve always been extremely hesitant on the very notion of Hollywood doing a biopic about Michael Jackson simply because of the controversy that surrounded him. You can either paint him in one way or the other and it’s still going to alienate people. Plus, the movie faced production delays and legal issues, primarily related to depicting past abuse allegations, which then led to them reshooting the film. All that being said, the teaser for Michael gave me emotional chills the second I heard “Billie Jean” being played. I also think that Antoine Fuqua is a fantastic director so him doing does give me more hope.
#5 WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Emerald Fennell’s Promising Young Woman was the best movie I saw in 2020, which doesn’t really help when you consider the fact that theaters didn’t exist because of the pandemic. Nevertheless, I’ve always wanted to see what Emerald Fennell was going to direct next. While Saltburn was no Promising Young Woman, it was still a solid companion piece to that movie. We’ve definitely had some great adaptations of Emily Brontë’s novel but after seeing Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein, I think any great literary classic is always due for a fresh new take. This version of Wuthering Heights looks absolutely stunning from a production standpoint and based on the talent involved with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
#4 PROJECT HAIL MARY
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have not directed a movie in 12 years. The last movie they directed was 22 Jump Street and ever since then they’ve been producing the animate Spider-Verse movies, Cocaine Bear, The Mitchells vs. the Machines and getting fired for making the Han Solo Star Wars spinoff. Whatever the case maybe, it’s exciting to see Lord and Miller making a movie together that’s based on a very poplar novel and being led by one of the best actors in the business with Ryan Gosling. It’s unfortunate that Ryan Gosling’s star power couldn’t warrant a bigger hit when he had The Fall Guy a few years ago and there’s a possibility that the box office of Project Hail Mary could be another reflection of that. That said, the buzz and hype circling this movie is there and I think it’s going to deliver.
#3 DISCLOSURE DAY
When Steven Spielberg has a movie coming out, it’s an automatic must see for me. Spielberg has practically every genre that you could possibly think of but knowing that Disclosure Day looks like he’s returning to a genre that he’s succeeded on is incredibly exciting. Whether or not this is an alien movie or not, the mystery that this movie offers simply based on the poster and trailer that dropped for it a month ago is fascinating. Maybe if this wasn’t a Steven Spielberg movie there probably wouldn’t any excitement. But it is and that alone sells me.
#2 THE ODYSSEY
I think a lot of die hard cinephiles would have Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey as their most anticipated movie of 2026 and no one would fault them for that. I don’t think I’ve been this excited for a Christopher Nolan movie since Interstellar. Not only is this maybe the best ensemble of actors that he’s ever worked with, he’s tackling a genre that he’s never done and it’s one that hasn’t had a a huge revival in a very long time. There hasn’t been a big and popular swords and sandals movie since Zack Snyder’s 300 and even in the 2010s there was Pompeii (2014), Hercules (2014), and the aforementioned King Arthur and Ben-Hur remake, but none made a huge splash. But the very notion of getting the most bankable director in Hollywood to do a movie about Homer’s The Odyssey should be amazing.
#1 WEREWULF
Okay so remember how I said I lied about having another horror movie mentioned on this list? Well you’re in for another surprise because my most anticipated movie of 2026 is yet another horror movie but for one special reason: Robert Eggers. Robert Eggers is maybe my favorite director that’s still very young in their career and every time he has a movie coming out I instantly get excited. His last film Nosferatu was my favorite movie of 2024 and it was a project that I was waiting for YEARS to see and it did not disappoint. One thing I’m a complete sucker for are movies that deal with classic monsters. Basically, any movie that deals with vampires, witches, werewolves, Frankenstein’s monster or anything else like that I will be there opening night. Eggers crushed it The Witch, Nosferatu was a wonderful remake and now he’s doing an original werewolf horror period piece. We don’t even have a official poster or any still image of what this movie is going to look like and when that dam comes it’s going to amp up my excitement even more.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 