The 45 Most Anticipated Movies of 2026

In recent years, there’s one word you hear again and again from movie distributors and pundits: event. Making a great movie is nice. But creating a culture-shaking event is what’s required in the current boom-bust film landscape. It’s something everyone has known for a long time, but in 2026 it seems as if studios are really beginning to grasp what it actually means. From Tom Cruise in an auteur-driven comedy to the sequels to The Devil Wears Prada and The Social Network to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Greta Gerwig’s Narnia (Narnyssey?), this year’s slate is jam-packed with big, splashy cinema sure to get people talking. I’m excited for many of those projects, but there are a bunch of small indies (Maddie’s Secret, $Positions, Blue Heron, The Scout) that have me equally, if not more, pumped. The entire film business may be crumbling, but I feel pretty confident that in 2026 the great movies will keep on coming.