So the other day I posted my Top 10 most anticipated films of 2025, and thought it’d be cool to do the same now for 2026, only this time I’m doing a Top 12 instead, as I couldn’t figure out how to narrow it down any further than that. Mind you, only a few of these films are actually in production right now, so it’s possible some of these might get delayed (or even outright canceled). Just going off the info we have right now…
Honorable Mention: Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of time
Not officially confirmed for 2026 yet, but looking likely. I enjoyed the first film quite a bit, but I’m not really sure where you can go with a sequel (even with time travel as a factor), hence why this is only an honorable mention.
12.Avengers: The Kang Dynasty
Like most audience members these days, I’m not really sold on the whole “multiverse saga” thing, and Kang as a villain has been hit and miss so far. It’ll be interesting to see who they replace now-disgraced actor Johnathan Majors with, though. Supposedly there will also be like sixty different heroes in this flick, too. The notion of that alone is so ridiculous that I can’t help but be interested, even if it’s for all the wrong reasons. EDIT: Just saw the announcement that this movie is now called Avengers: Doomsday and that Dr. Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr., of all people) is the new villain instead of Kang… Had I known all that before, this woulda ranked much higher on here. Too late now, though…
11.MCU Spider-Man 4
I didn’t love No Way Home, but I liked it fine enough. I wonder if this movie really will be “street level,” as the ending of the previous one implied. It’ll also be interesting to see how they handle the whole “nobody remembers Peter Parker” thing. Like with Shang-Chi and the Wreckage of Time, this isn’t 100% confirmed for 2026 yet, but looking likely.
10.Shrek 5
Cameron Diaz is coming out of retirement for this one. Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
9.The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2
As per usual with me, I liked the first film but didn’t love it. It was “dumb fun,” and I’d be okay with a sequel that does basically more of the same.
8.Toy Story 5
Loved the first three and liked the fourth one fine enough. I was just a year old when the first one came out, so I grew up with those first two movies, and happened to be just a couple of years away from graduating high school when the third one came out (which is ironic, considering how that film was all about Andy going off to college). Therefore, I’ll always be at least somewhat interested in what this franchise does next (didn’t bother with Lightyear, though).
7.The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum
When I first heard that they were gonna be making new Lord of the Rings movies, I groaned. That said, this premise in particular could be interesting, as it’s basically what sets The Fellowship of the Ring into motion. The original “Hunt for Gollum” story is actually part of the appendices that were added to the back of The Return of the King, and takes place during the 17-year gap in Fellowship (that gap wasn’t in the film adaptation, though, so I guess they’ll have to work around that somehow). Andy Serkis is back as Gollum, and the original writers and director are back as well. Aragorn and Gandalf are also in this story, so I assume they’ll need to be recast. There was actually a fan film version of this made a decade and a half ago. Check that out for free on YouTube, if you’re curious.
6.Aang: The Last Airbender
Believe it or not, I didn’t watch the original Avatar: The Last Airbender show when I was a kid, despite being just the right age for it (10-13) back when it was originally released. My family and I had moved away to a different country just as it was starting, and then we moved back to the states just as it was ending, so I completely missed that window. That said, I finally watched the whole series a few years ago, and it immediately became one of my favorite shows of all time. Thankfully, this theatrical animated film is being made by the original creators, and will focus on Aang and friends in their mid-twenties or so.
5.The Batman: Part II
You’d think this would be higher, since The Batman is one of my favorite movies of all time now, but 2026 is just that stacked. Also, despite how much I loved The Batman, I’m not really sure how a sequel to it would even work. I feel like part of what made that movie so great was how “standalone” it felt.
4.Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow
I honestly don’t know much about Supergirl as a character, but I heard that this new reboot is adapting a specific story from the comics that showcases her traveling across the entire galaxy. Most of you probably know by now that I’m a sucker for space opera, so this is a no-brainer for me. Plus, the new actress for Supergirl (Millie Alcock from House of the Dragon) seems cool, and she’ll be introduced in James Gunn’s Superman, before getting her own movie here.
3.Dune: Messiah
Just like what I mentioned with The Batman above, Dune and Dune: Part Two are now two of my favorite films of all time. That said, while I never read the books, I have seen the TV movie adaptation of Messiah that got lumped in with Children of Dune many years ago, and it was… Weird. I feel like this new version will either be amazing, or terrible, depending on how it’s executed. I’m still leaning on the side of optimism, though.
2.Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
My closest friends can tell you that I’ve had an up-and-down, love/hate type of relationship with Star Wars over the last few years in particular. That said, if there’s anything all these so-so shows have taught me, it’s that Star Wars really, really needs to be a movie again. Movie-pacing just works much, much better for that world (same with Marvel). This will be the first theatrically-released Star Wars film since The Rise of Skywalker. Season 3 of the Mandalorian show has lowered my excitement for this a little bit, admittedly, but the franchise itself is still important enough to me that I’m still leaning on the side of optimism here, too.
1.The other Star Wars film
The Mandalorian and Grogu is scheduled for May, and Lucasfilm has already planted another Star Wars flag for December, but haven’t specified yet exactly which movie that’ll be. Up until very recently, most people were speculating it would be the new Rey-centric film that’ll supposedly take place 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. However, Dune: Messiah recently set its release date for the exact same day, and it’s highly unlikely that the two big “space chosen ones” of recent times, Rey and Paul Atreides, would wanna eat into each other’s audiences. If I had to guess, this slot is gonna go to Lando now, as I heard that script is progressing well, now that Donald Glover and his brother are writing it themselves, and Lando as a character doesn’t necessarily “overlap” with Paul Atreides the way that Rey does. Either way, I (very obviously) hold Star Wars to high esteem, and I care about Lando and Rey more than I care about Mando and Grogu. Therefore, this movie (whatever it ends up being) ranks at #1 for me by default.
So there you have it! Believe it or not, there are other big films currently scheduled for 2026 that didn’t even make the cut for me (Project Hail Mary, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem II, etc.). Even if some of these get delayed/canceled, this should be an interesting movie year…
Peace!
Related: List Repository
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