Hello again! Time once more to come together to anticipate what I hope will be another very good year for films, well, time for me to write down what I’m anticipating and for you to read it. There are many films to look forward to in the year 2026, with a couple of really huge films coming out near the end. I have listed the films in release date order here this time (Trying something new). I have linked to the IMDb pages for the films and added links to trailers if they are available. Also, please be aware that the release dates may not be completely accurate. I have taken a best guess using IMDB.
Director: Josh
Safdie
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Gwyneth Paltrow, Odessa A’zion
& Fran Drescher
Release Date: 1st January
I’ve heard really good things about this film, and Timothée
Chalamet is always bringing something interesting into his performances. The film
follows Chalamet’s Marty Mauser, a 1950’s table tennis prodigy with ambitions fuelled
by what seems to be a lot of narcissism.
Director: Hikari
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Takehiro Hira, Shannon
Mahina Gorman & Akira Emoto
Release Date: 8th January
This looks like a wonderful film; It’s the first
project Brendan Fraser picked after winning his Academy Award, and follows his
character Phillip Vanderploeg, an American actor living in Japan who is offered
a gig playing family members to a variety of lonely people around Tokyo. So, a
look at human connection with a lovely leading man.
Director: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams & Erin Kellyman
Release Date: 15th January
Last
year’s 28 Years Later was a great film and almost made my Top 21 of the year. In
this Nia DaCosta directed sequel, we will follow both Spike, who we left having
just met a Jimmy Saville inspired gang of lunatics and Ralph Fiennes’ Doctor Kelson, who was the best thing in the last film.
Director: Joe Carnahan
Starring: Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Steven
Yeun, Catalina Sandino Moreno
Release Date: 16th January
Joe Carnahan is an interesting director; his early
works could be seen as Tarantino wannabes, but a couple of years ago, he produced
two films, Boss Level and Copshop, that I loved, so I’m looking forward to this
film, with this good cast, that once again reunites Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.
Director: Maggie
Gyllenhaal
Starring: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale,
Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening
Release Date: 5th March
This is a retelling of the Bride of Frankenstein
directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Jessie Buckley as the eponymous
Bride and Christian Bale as Frankenstein’s monster. Set in the 1930’s, the
trailer gives me serious Bonnie and Clyde vibes, styled in a mixture of German
expressionist cinema and punk rock.
Director: Gore Verbinski
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Michael Peña, Zazie
Beetz & Juno Temple
Release Date: 12th March
I’m a huge Sam Rockwell fan; he is usually the best
thing in any film he appears in and can deliver a wide variety of different performances.
This film looks bonkers, and I can’t wait to see what he brings to it.
Director: Phil Lord &
Christopher Miller
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, Ken
Leung & Milana Vayntrub
Release Date: 19th March
This is based on a great book by Andy Weir, the author of The Martian, which I really enjoyed when I read it and am looking forward to seeing what Phil Lord & Christopher Miller do with the material
on the big screen. Ryan Gosling also has charm and humour enough to carry out
the film alone when it is required.
Director: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler
Gillett
Starring: Samara Weaving,
Kathryn Newton, Sarah Michelle Gellar, & Elijah Wood
Release Date: 9th April
The first film was a fantastic horror comedy about a
bride marrying into a wealthy family, who must play a game of Hide and Seek on
her wedding night and is hunted to the death by her in-laws, to satisfy
an ancient pact. The sequel seems to be the same, but with higher stakes. Samara
Weaving returns as the bride.
Director: Simon McQuoid
Starring: Karl Urban, Hiroyuki Sanada,
Tadanobu Asano, Ludi Lin & Lewis Tan
Release Date: 1st May
Apart from the awesome fight scenes, the first film was
pretty rubbish. It followed a new and pretty dull point of view character, and
didn’t even have the tournament. The only reason I have any desire to see this
film is to see Karl Urban portray my favourite Mortal Kombat character, Johnny Cage
and bring his wry humour to the character.
Remarkably Bright Creatures [imdb]
Director: Olivia Newman
Starring: Sally Field, Lewis Pullman, Colm
Meaney & Joan Chen
Release Date: 7th May
Based on another book that I love. I don’t want to
spoil any of it.
Director: Kyle Balda
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Emma Thompson, Julia
Louis-Dreyfus & Patrick Stewart
Release Date: 7th May
I read about this film being made a couple of years
ago and found the premise fascinating. A group of sheep who are read mystery
novels by their kindly shepherd (Jackman) each night, must solve the murder of the same said shepherd using the skills they have picked up from the books. A great
cast both voice and live action.
Director: Jon Favreau
Starring: Pedro Pascal, Sigourney Weaver,
Jeremy Allen White & Jonny Coyne
Release Date: 21st May
I know this is very predictable, but I don’t care. I
like the TV series.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin
Firth, Eve Hewson & Wyatt Russell
Release Date: 11th June
Steven Spielberg returning to the Science Fiction
First contact genre, that’s good enough for me.
Director: Craig Gillespie
Starring: Milly Alcock, Eve Ridley, Jason
Momoa, & Matthias Schoenaerts
Release Date: 25th June
I am looking forward to this follow-up to last year’s Superman
in the new DCU. Supergirl has recently been portrayed as a much more nuanced and
tragic character than her golden age beginnings, and this was really obvious in
the excellent 2021 comic book series Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, which this
film is based on.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne
Hathaway, Zendaya & Charlize Theron
Release Date: 16th July
This film is probably the one I am most looking
forward to this year. I love the Odyssey as a story and was surprised by the
fact that there has never been an English-language film depicting the entire story.
The closest being a 1997 TV miniseries. It’s Christopher Nolan, with his great eye
for storytelling and visuals, as well as a stacked cast.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day [imdb]
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Starring: Tom Holland,
Zendaya, Jon Bernthal, Mark Ruffalo & Sadie Sink
Release Date: 30th July
Another predictable film, what I’m most looking
forward to is seeing how this film works after the events of the last one, where
everyone has forgotten Peter Parker, and how it fits in after Season two of Daredevil:
Born Again and Wilson Fisk’s mayorship of New York. Also, I am really intrigued
by the mystery of who Sadie Sink is playing.
Clayface [imdb]
Director: James Watkins
Starring: Tom Rhys Harries, Naomi Ackie, Max
Minghella & Eddie Marsan
Release Date: 10th September
When I heard that this was going to be the third film
in the DCU, I was surprised. I mean, the DCU doesn’t even have a Batman yet. Batman
does have the best rogue’s gallery in all of comics (in my opinion), and some
with very tragic backstories, Clayface being one of them. This is supposed to
be a body horror, so I am fascinated to see what it is.
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring: Tom Cruise, Sandra Hüller, John
Goodman, & Jesse Plemons
Release Date: 1st October
It’s a black comedy from the brilliant director Alejandro
G. Iñárritu, starring Tom Cruise, who, no matter what you think of him, is a great
actor. With this summary posted, “The most powerful man in the world embarks on
a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's
unleashed destroys everything”, I’m intrigued.
Violent Night 2 [imdb]
Director: Tommy Wirkola
Starring: David Harbour, Kristen Bell, Daniela
Melchior & Jared Harris
Release Date: 3rd December
A sequel to one of my favourite new Christmas films.
The last one was a take on Die Hard/Die Hard 2 with a disillusioned Santa Claus
(played by David Harbour) fighting off thieves/mercenaries in a mansion, to
save a good little girl. I’m excited to see if they do the same thing again or
go with a completely different take in the sequel.
Untitled Jumanji: The Next Level sequel [imdb]
Director: Jake Kasdan
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Karen Gillan, Jack
Black, Kevin Hart & Nick Jonas
Release Date: 10th December
I love all the Jumanji films (I’m including Zathura: A
Space Adventure in this statement); the original will always be my favourite
(R.I.P Robin Williams), but the sequels have both been fun, charming and
different enough for me to enjoy. I’m guessing this time, the characters of Dr
Bravestone and Ruby Roundhouse will be in the real world.
Director: Anthony Russo & Joe Russo
Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Patrick Stewart,
Anthony Mackie & Vanessa Kirby
Release Date: 17th December
Yes, again, this is predictable, but I won’t apologise
for it. Marvel is pretty much bringing everyone back for this, including the
original X-Men (in proper comic book costumes, it seems) and putting them up
against probably the greatest villain in Marvel Comic Doctor Victor von Doom.
Dune: Part Three [imdb]
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence
Pugh & Rebecca Ferguson
Release Date: 17th December
I have a confession to make: I am not a huge fan of
Dune, the novel, so have never read the sequel novel, Dune Messiah, that this
film is based on. I did enjoy the first two Dune films by Denis Villeneuve, so
am looking forward to seeing what happens to the characters next, before he
moves onto James Bond.
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