62 Movies I'm Looking Forward to in 2026- ACT II

 

• There are sequels we never wanted, sequels we didn't ask for, but aren't mad they exist, and then there are sequels that we never saw coming.  Aaron Sorkin's upcoming quasi-sequel to 2010's, The Social Network, flutters somewhere between the final two, centering on Fraces Haugen, the Facebook engineer turned whistleblower responsible for the document leak that revealed the company was fully aware of the negative impacts that the platform was having on teenagers and how the contribution of Facebook activity and the site's flagrant circulation of misinformation were linked to violence, most specifically the events of the January 6th insurrection.  David Fincher did not return to the director's seat for this film, but that's okay; Sorkin has proven he's quite capable at calling shots from behind the camera, and his direction of his actors has been able to coax out some pretty remarkable performances.  And speaking of actors, this one also has quite the ensemble, with recent Oscar winner, Mikey Madison, headlining the talented roster as Frances Haugen.  Very few screenwriters today are able to speak about current subjects with the intelligence, wit, poise, and humanity that Sorkin does, and although the subject of his latest is sure to push some buttons, I'm confident he'll be able to articulate it in ways that are deeply profound, insightful, and intellectually challenging.

Release: October 9.

• Perhaps it's apropos to follow up The Social Reckoning with another film coming out this year concerning one of the currently reigning tech giants.  The upcoming Artificial, directed by Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino from a screenplay by famed SNL writer Simon Rich, follows the controversial firing and rehiring of Open Ai CEO, Sam Altman.  Rich is a talented writer whose pieces have been featured in prominent publications like The Yorker and NPR, and I imagine his script is just as wittily funny about its subject as it is sharp and incisive.  From a conceptual standpoint, this is certainly new territory for Guadagnino, whose coming off a slight misfire with his last film (After the Hunt), but if he can make the dialogue and drama sizzle and pop like he did in Challengers, then this will be a winner!

Release: TBA

• One of the most singular voices of all time in cinema, Werner Herzog's legacy as a filmmaker is something that is near legendary.  His body of work, from Aguirrre, the Wrath of God to Nosferatu the Vampyre to Fitzcarraldo, is so impressive, we can even forgive him for the small handful of duds he churned out during the last decade (sure, we'll even include Queen of the Desert.)  The German auteur hasn't released a film since Family Romance, LLC debuted at Cannes in 2019, but it looks like that is about to change this year.  Bucking Fastard follows two sisters, Jean and Joan (played by real-life sisters Rooney and Kate Mara), who are so close they speak in unison, love the same man, and dream the same dreams, and at one point in the film, allegedly dig through a literal mountain range in search of an imaginary land.  Herzog made a reference to the movie in his 2022 memoir during a chapter where he discussed unrealized projects from early in his career, saying he was inspired by real-life twin sisters, Freda and Greta Chaplin.  It sounds interesting and delightfully madcap (in other words, classic Werner Herzog), and I'm excited to see Rooney and Kate act opposite each other in the sisters' first project together.

RELEASE: TBA

• Cristian Mungiu is one of the most incendiary voices in modern European cinema today.  The Palm d'or-winning director behind 4 Months, 3 Weeks and Two Days  is a masterclass act in blistering, slow burn dramas.  His next film, which has already been picked up by Neon, marks his first ever to be set outside of his native homeland of Romania and is also led by Sebastian Stan and Renate Reinsve, making it his most recognizable cast to date.  Tipped for a Competition slot at this year's edition of Cannes, strong buzz has already begun to circulate about Mungiu's latest (could the director finally pick up his second Palm since winning nearly 20 years ago?), which is inspired by real events and follows a Romanian immigrant family living in Norway who becomes subject to an investigation that snowballs into a clash with the local judicial system, making them the center of public and international scrutiny. 

RELEASE: TBA

• Coming off one helluva year following the release of Weapons (which only recently picked up an Oscar for Amy Madigan's dementedly iconic turn as Aunt Gladys), Zach Cregger had barely two months to bask in the glory of his smash hit horror film before cameras started rolling in October for his next big project.  That "big project"- a post-apocalyptic horror film based on the popular series of videogames, Resident Evil- sparked a major bidding war after the film rights holder (Constantin Film) selected Cregger to helm the production company's new reboot of the material, with Sony Pictures (who had also previously released the former live-action film series starring Milla Jovovich under their Screen Gems label) ultimately beating out Warner Bros and Netflix for distribution.  According to Cregger, his take on the material will deviate from the games significantly, telling an original story that's set in the same universe but features none of the game's original characters, which I personally find refreshing, and the tone of his films is said to be in the vein of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead 2 (hell fucking yeeesss!).  In an age where familiarity and formulaic convention have turned into a kind codependent crutch, and adaptations have become almost too faithful to a fault that it borders more on mimicry than interpretation, it's nice to see creatives taking bold swings and being unafraid to explore original stories and ideas, especially within popular IP.

RELEASE: September 18.

• If Michael Sarnoski's debut, Pig, was proof that he was a talented up-and-coming director to watch for, then his follow-up film, A Quiet Place: Day one, showed he was capable of working within the studio system to deliver a film with mainstream appeal and a large budget while at same time telling a great story effectively and avoiding the formulaic conventions that often go hand on hand with those movies (on top of that, I would also argue that Sarnoski's film is the best one in that trilogy of movies).  That's why I'm confident that his upcoming reimagining of the classic Robin Hood legend, which promises a darker and grittier take on the character's story, will be something genuinely fresh that we haven't seen before.  Taking much of its inspiration from the 17th century ballad, Robin Hood's Death (which is also one of the oldest existing tales of Robin Hood), Sarnoski's film is said to focus on more of an antihero angle, exploring the character (a grizzled and contemptable-looking Hugh Jackman) as an aged and battered renegade grappling with his past life of crime and murder and searching for some path towards salvation.  It definitely sounds like a new dimension to this story that hasn't really been portrayed before on film, and I'm excited to see how Sarnoski and Jackman interpret it.  The 35mm cinematography also looks stunning!

Release: June 19.

• Allegedly the project that gave Greta Gerwig "nightmares" in the months leading up to the commencement of production, to say there is a lot riding on Netflix's adaptation of C.S. Lewis' classic is an understatement.  With a $200 million budget and a guaranteed 4-week rollout in IMAX theaters (a key concession that Gerwig demanded in her contract before signing on), not to mention satisfying the book's broad international fanbase, Narnia is easily one of the most massive and ambitious undertakings of both the studio and its director.  After publicly expressing her ambition to be less of an auteur and more of a director-for-hire within the studio system following the success of Barbie, Greta Gerwig inked the deal with Netflix, agreeing to direct two Narnia movies for the streaming behemoth.  I'm so curious to see how this all pans out.  There have been many adaptations of C.S. Lewis' series of fantasy books, but this will mark the first time The Magician's Nephew has been adapted for the screen.  Although the sixth book in the series, the events of The Magician's Nephew actually take place chronologically first in the series before the events of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Will that fact be enough to make this endeavor feel like a fresh, new take on the material, or will this ultimately feel more "been there, done that?"  Gerwig made movie magic with her adaptation of Little Women- another classic that's been adapted multiple times- so I believe she possess the creative juice to make the familiar feel new again.  Of course, Little Women also wasn't riding on a $200 million budget either, so there was less margin for error.  However, if Barbie was proof that Gerwig was capable of handling a bid-budget studio blockbuster while staying true to the integrity of her aesthetic and vision as a filmmaker, then perhaps her Narnia is in much better hands than we think.

Release: November 26

• After showcasing how deft he was able to balance uncomfortably hilarious comedy with poignantly touching drama in A Real Pain, I'm quite excited about the idea of Jesse Eisenberg directing a musical comedy that takes place in the world of local American theater, especially when that movie is headlined by Julianne Moore and Paul Gimatti.  The story centers on a shy woman (Moore) who finds herself unexpectedly cast in a local production of an original musical and begins losing herself in the role, getting swept up by the manic, high-stakes energy of community theater made all the more heightened by the show's strong-willed, enigmatic director (Giamatti).  Test reactions to the A24 film have been very positive, with special notices for Moore and Giamatti's performances.  I'm expecting this one to be a dark horse disruptor during awards season next year.

RELEASE: TBA

Director: Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse)

Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Hüller, James Ortiz, and Lionel Boyce.

• One of the hottest filmmaking duos in Hollywood right now, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's trajectory- which has ultimately led them to directing the biggest film of their careers with Project Hail Mary- has been nothing if not interesting.  Although the pair reject the "auteur" label, their filmmaking style nevertheless possess a unique and singular aesthetic, with an emphasis on bold, sensationalist visuals, extensive detail, sporadic improvisation, and a metamodernist approach.  And although those signature flourishes vary in different degrees between their animated fare (like The Lego Movie) and live-action films (like 21 Jump Street), their fingerprints bear an uncanny trademark that is entirely their own.  Even when they're not working within the capacity of "director"- like with their dazzling, awe-inspiring Spider-Verse films (on which they are writer/producers, and which I would argue are more their creations then the actual directors credited)- their passion and artistry shine through every frame.  But it's quite fascinating that the film they're probably most known for is one that was never released (at least not the way they intended), that being their Infamous Han Solo movie which was notoriously scrapped midway through production by Disney due to the studio's irreconcilable creative differences with the director's approach.  The two have come a long way since then, and now they're on the verge of a major critical and box office success with their latest film- an adaptation Peter Weir's best-selling science-fiction novel about a science professor (Ryan Gosling) sent into space on a mission to investigate the circumstances behind the Earth's sun failing and save the planet.  There are already credible talks about Oscar potential, and the strong buzz that's been orbiting the film promises an epic and enthralling sci-fi adventure for the ages. 

RELEASE: March 20.

Director: David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, Under the Silver Lake)

Cast: Anne Hathaway, Ewan McGregor, Maisy Stella, and Christian Convery

• Idiosyncratic director, David Robert Mitchell, marches to the beat of his own drum.  His films operate on a unique wavelength that's somewhere between Lynchian surrealism and American indie mumblecore with flourishes of 80s retro genre films.  Perhaps that's why it was so strange that Warner Bros got behind his auteur sensibilities to produce his upcoming film, formerly titled Flowervale Street.  If you want answers about the plot though, you're going to have to wait until a trailer drops, as the studio has been keeping the secrets of Mitchell's mysterious film under lock and key.  What we do know is that the suburban set story has a very Twilight Zone vibe that gradually morphs into action-adventure thrill ride a la Jurassic Park.  There are supposedly dinosaurs (hence the Jurassic Park comparison), time travel, and Anne Hathaway chewing up the scenery as a suburban mom just trying to figure out what in the fuck is going on in the neighborhood.  It sounds different.  It sounds fun.  And I honestly can't wait for it!

RELEASE: August 14