10 blockbuster films you can’t miss in 2026

From a Christopher Nolan epic to the return of the Avengers, 2026 is going to be a massive year for blockbuster cinema

A selection of blockbuster movie stills
(Image credit: Future)

For those who love nothing more than hunkering down in the corner of a multiplex, with the biggest box of popcorn imaginable, and watching Hollywood’s biggest adventures on the biggest screen imaginable... 2025’s fare has been a mixed bag.

There have been some real highs. Brad Pitt’s explosive adrenaline rush F1, Ryan Coogler’s one-of-a-kind horror spectacular Sinners, and Paul Thomas Anderson’s off-the-wall caper One Battle After Another all wowed, while expensively assembled sagas like Tron: Ares and Mickey 17 sank without trace. Not a bad year all in all, but not one for the ages.

2026’s roster, we have to say, looks a step up. Any year with a new Christopher Nolan epic, a new Stephen Spielberg (where he returns to sci-fi) and Star Wars back again in cinemas, is one to look forward to. Here are the 10 biggest blockbusters coming in 2026.

Dune 2 early reactions are in - this is what the critics are saying

1. Dune: Part Three

Before he heads off to oversee the next phase of 007, Denis Villeneuve will complete his Dune trilogy. The movie, which is based on Frank Herbert’s sequel, Dune: Messiah, sees Timothée Chalamet’s Paul now installed as the emperor of most of the known universe, battling with the consequences of a Galaxy-wide holy war.

Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Jason Momoa, Josh Brolin, Rebecca Ferguson and Anya Taylor-Joy all reprise their roles from the previous films, with Robert Pattinson joining the cast as villain, Scytale.

Expect a truly epic finale to see off Villeneuve’s universally acclaimed trilogy.

  • Release date: Expected December 18th, 2026
Avengers: Doomsday | Cast Announce - YouTube Avengers: Doomsday | Cast Announce - YouTube
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2. Avengers: Doomsday

Phase Six (for that’s where we are now) of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is already looking like a vast upgrade on Phase Five, where, for the first time, the continued existence of the MCU had been called into question. Long-running properties like Ant-Man and Captain America faltered at the box office, and while everyone who saw Thunderbolts* seems to have had a great time, it failed to make bank.

Phase Six has started well with the strong performance of the rebooted Fantastic Four, and, in 2026, a new Tom Holland-powered Spider-Man will also come, as well as a new Avengers, with the Russo Brothers back in their directors’ chairs.

Set 14 months after the events of Thunderbolts* (2025), the Avengers, Wakandans, Fantastic Four, New Avengers, and the "original" X-Men team up to face Doctor Doom, now played, of course, by Robert Downey Jnr. The cast list is lengthy and insane and the budget for this and its sequel Secret Wars is reportedly over a billion dollars.

If you’ve lost the thread of the MCU, you’ve got until December to catch up.

  • Release date: Expected December 18th, 2026

The cast of Jumanji 3

(Image credit: Sony Pictures)

3. Jumanji 3

When it was finally confirmed in 2017 that Sony had rebooted classic adventure Jumanji with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, there was a collective groan. But the accompanying remake, powered by a skilfully cast Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart and Karen Gillan, turned out to be rather good fun, as did its 2019 sequel The Next Level.

In 2026, we’ll get the third and final instalment of that new trilogy, with all the big players back. Plot details are pretty scant, but an early still has revealed that elements from the Jumanji game have spilt into the real world, setting us up for all kinds of carnage…

  • Release date: Expected December 11th, 2026

Matt Damon in The Odyssey.

(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

4. The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan could shoot an intimate two-hander set entirely inside a tea shop in the Yorkshire Dales, and it would still be worthy of blockbuster status, but, in 2026, he will deliver something truly worthy of the word ‘epic’.

For those who haven’t read Homer’s text from cover to cover, The Odyssey follows Odysseus, the Greek king of Ithaca, and we will watch his long and extremely perilous journey home after the Trojan War, as he attempts to reunite with his wife, Penelope. Along the way, he will have to face down a Cyclops, a group of vengeful Sirens, and the witch-goddess Circe.

The cast list is insane. Damon plays Odysseus, with Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Jon Bernthal just some of the supporting cast. The film, which has cost a whopping $250 million, was shot everywhere from Morocco to Scotland, and went through over two million feet of IMAX 70 mm film in production.

We cannot wait.

  • Release date: Expected July 17th, 2026
The Mandalorian and Grogu | Official Trailer | In Theaters May 22, 2026 - YouTube The Mandalorian and Grogu | Official Trailer | In Theaters May 22, 2026 - YouTube
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5. The Mandalorian and Grogu

After three much-loved seasons on Disney+, everyone’s favourite intergalactic bounty hunter gets a trip to the big screen, with Jon Favreau directing. The movie picks up at the end of the show’s third season, with the New Republic enlisting Din Djarin and his apprentice Grogu to help bring peace following the fall of the Galactic Empire.

Pedro Pascal is back to star in the titular role, with Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White and Jonny Coyney supporting him in key roles.

  • Release date: Expected May 22nd, 2026
Disclosure Day | Official Teaser (Universal Pictures) – HD - YouTube Disclosure Day | Official Teaser (Universal Pictures) – HD - YouTube
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6. Disclosure Day

After taking on his own family history with The Fablemans and classic musical West Side Story, Stephen Spielberg is going back to his roots in 2026 with a new science fiction adventure, Disclosure Day.

The cast is fantastic, with Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo and Wyatt Russell all onboard. David Koepp, who worked with Spielberg on Jurassic Park and War Of The Worlds, is in on script duties, and it has a score from John Williams.

Other than the above teaser trailer it's all been very cryptic so far — it’s apparently UFO-related, and bizarrely... there’s an extended wrestling sequence? Who does this guy think he is? Expect the secrets of the universe to be exposed...

  • Release date: Expected June 12th, 2026
Project Hail Mary | Official Trailer 2 - YouTube Project Hail Mary | Official Trailer 2 - YouTube
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7. Project Hail Mary

Author Andy Weir, the man behind the much-loved, hugely successful and highly decorated sci-fi thriller, The Martian, gets another big-budget adaptation in 2026 in Project Hail Mary.

We’re off to the great beyond once again, with Ryan Gosling starring as Ryland Grace, an astronaut who wakes up on a spacecraft with no memory of himself or his mission.

Grace, once a middle school teacher and infamous former molecular biologist, slowly deduces he is the sole survivor of a crew sent to the Tau Ceti solar system in search of a solution to a catastrophic event on Earth and now has a critical mission.

Gosling is supported by Sandra Hüller, Lionel Boyce, Ken Leung and Milana Vayntrub, with Drew Goddard, who adapted Weir’s novel for The Martian, on script duties once again.

  • Release date: Expected March 20th, 2026

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - DECEMBER 10: Ridley Scott speaks onstage during a Gladiator II; conversation with Director Ridley Scott and Director Christopher Nolan in Los Angeles at the DGA Theater Complex on December 10, 2024, in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Vivien Killilea/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)

(Image credit: Vivien Killilea via Getty Images)

8. The Dog Stars

Ridley Scott doesn’t do anything by half, and, fresh from the gigantic and batshit Gladiator 2, he’s now gone post-apocalyptic for a new blockbuster adaptation of Peter Heller’s 2012 novel. To do it, he’s assembled Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin and Guy Pearce along with a budget of more than $100 million.

The movie is set in the aftermath of a catastrophic flu virus that has nearly wiped-out humanity, where Elordi’s Hig lives in an abandoned airport with his loyal dog, Jasper, and Brolin's Bangley, a grumpy ex-marine. The trio’s pedestrian life is interrupted one day by a mysterious transmission, which Hig feels obligated to explore, leading to one hell of a journey…

For Scott’s next trick? A Bee Gees biopic, of course.

  • Release date: Expected March 27th, 2026
"Wuthering Heights" | Official Trailer - YouTube
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9. Wuthering Heights

After her 2023 eat-the-rich turbocharged drama Saltburn set the internet on fire, Emerald Fennell takes on the most sacred of texts with her take on Emily Brontë's 1847 novel.

The film stars Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, respectively, alongside Hong Chau, Shazad Latif, Alison Oliver, Martin Clunes, and Ewan Mitchell in supporting roles, while Fennell has persuaded Charli XCX to deliver her follow-up to Brat as an album of original songs for the film.

The trailers are hugely impressive, it is stark, stylish, and the chemistry between Robbie and Elordi looks electric. An absolute must-see.

  • Release date: Expected February 13th, 2026
Toy Story 5 | Teaser Trailer | In Theaters June 19 - YouTube Toy Story 5 | Teaser Trailer | In Theaters June 19 - YouTube
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10. Toy Story 5

We thought the story was over, but, seven years after Toy Story 4, we get a fifth instalment of the all-conquering Pixar franchise.

All the big players are back, with Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, Blake Clark and John Ratzenberger on voice duty and Ernie Hudson replacing the late, great Carl Weathers.

The story is taking on the existential question for every parent and carer on the planet. With Woody and the gang now in the care of Bonnie after being gifted the toys by Andy, their new lives are turned upside down by the arrival of a frog-like tablet named Lilypad. Will the screen win out?

  • Release date: Expected June 19th, 2026


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