As 2025 draws to a close and Avatar: Fire and Ash closes out the year in cinemas, it’s time to look ahead to the exciting films to come.
2026 is already shaping up to be a busy year for movies, with films like Project Hail Mary, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Scream 7 set to land in cinemas. There are new superhero movies like Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Clayface, and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow for comic book fans, while those looking for something else will be able to enjoy films like The Social Reckoning or The Bride!
It’s also going to be a busy year for big-name directors, with filmmakers such as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Emerald Fennell, David Lowery, and Denis Villeneuve all preparing to unleash new pictures into cinemas over the coming 365 days.
Yahoo UK has looked at the films set to be released and can reveal the 10 most exciting films of the year to come. Here’s what you need to know.
Wuthering Heights
Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie star in Emerald Fennell’s bold new take on Wuthering Heights. (Warner Bros./LMK)
Probably the film with the most buzz heading into 2026 is Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as Cathy and Heathcliff. Based on Emily Brontë’s novel, the film will chart the push and pull between childhood friends as they transition into adulthood, and the obsessive love that develops between them when society dictates they can’t be together.
From the looks of the trailer, the film will be as erotically charged as Fennell’s controversial film Saltburn, and will likely stir up just as much debate.
Wuthering Heights premieres in cinemas on 13 February.
The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan is back after his Oscar-winning film Oppenheimer with a movie that promises to be a true epic in every sense of the word. The filmmaker is taking the Greek myth of Odysseus, the King of Ithaca, ‘s long journey home after the end of the Trojan War.
It promises to be an action-packed story full of battles, mythical monsters like cyclops and nymphs and showstopping performances. It will also be interesting to see how the filmmaker will tackle such a story, as he is known for his love of using practical, in-camera effects.
Reflecting Nolan’s standing in Hollywood, the epic’s cast list reads like a who’s who of A-list stars and includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Benny Safdie, Mia Goth, and many more. No sign of Nolan’s talisman Michael Caine, though… yet.
The Odyssey premieres in cinemas on 17 July.
Mother Mary
Anne Hathaway stars as a pop star in Mother Mary. (A24)
Between The Odyssey, The Devil Wears Prada 2, and Mother Mary, Anne Hathaway is going to have a busy 2026. While we’re buzzing for all of these movies, it’s the latter that’s the most mysterious and intriguing.
Promising to be a stylish horror, Mother Mary sees Hathaway play a pop star who reunites with her old best friend, and former costume designer, Sam Anselm (Micaela Coel), on the eve of her comeback concert. Old wounds rise to the surface as the women are forced to confront what happened between them, and the supernatural elements that push and pull them along the way.
The stylish filmmaker David Lowery, known for A Ghost Story and The Green Knight, is behind this new musical psycho-pop drama, and he has described the movie as “one of the most extraordinary, transformative experiences I have ever had”, adding that it’s “a weird, weird film”.
You had our curiosity, now you have our attention.
Mother Mary premieres in April 2026.
The Mandalorian and Grogu
The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) and Grogu embark on a new adventure. (Lucasfilm)
The Star Wars franchise returns to the big screen for the first time since the ill-fated 2019 film The Rise of Skywalker. This time, The Mandalorian and Grogu gives bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) the chance to shine away from his Disney+ series alongside his charge.
Very little has been revealed about the film other than the pair is embarking on a new adventure together. Pascal will be joined in the cast by Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White, among others. Written by Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni, and directed by the former, there’s a lot riding on this movie for Disney and Lucasfilm, as it’s been six years since the last Star Wars movie, and a question mark remains over the future of the franchise as a theatrical force.
The Mandalorian and Grogu premieres on 22 May.
Disclosure Day
Emily Blunt in Disclosure Day, directed by Steven Spielberg. (Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
Steven Spielberg is back with his first movie in four years, and it’s a mysterious sci-fi thriller named Disclosure Day. The first trailer revealed very little, beyond the themes of alien life on Earth and the promise — or threat — of an imminent invasion. Emily Blunt leads the cast that also includes Colin Firth, Josh O’Connor, and Eve Hewson.
While details of the plot are being kept under wraps, Disclosure Day has the makings of an alien invasion movie as the tagline is: “If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?”
Details for Disclosure Day have been kept very firmly locked away, leading to speculation that the movie might actually be a stealth sequel to Spielberg’s 1977 masterpiece Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Even if it’s not, Spielberg’s return to his science-fiction roots is always a cause for celebration.
Disclosure Day premieres in June 2026.
Toy Story 5
Woody and Buzz have a new foe in Toy Story 5. (Pixar)
Pixar is back with Toy Story 5, the latest instalment of the iconic film franchise that follows a group of toys on their adventures, without the knowledge of their owners. The fifth movie has a strong premise at its heart: What happens when kids stop playing with toys and instead focus only on screens?
iPad kids are a real phenomenon; they’re children who have had excessive screen time since infancy. So it will be interesting to see how Woody and the gang face their new foe.
Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, and Joan Cusack will be joined by Conan O’Brien and Greta Lee for the fifth Toy Story film, which is being brought to cinemas under the direction of Andrew Stanton and Kenna Harris.
Toy Story 5 premieres on 19 June.
Digger
Tom Cruise is in his prestige picture era once again, and this time it’s a “comedy of catastrophic proportions” directed by Oscar-winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The film is said to be about the most powerful man on Earth as he tries to prove he’s humanity’s saviour before disaster strikes.
Cruise plays the titular Digger Rockwell, and he is joined in the cast by Riz Ahmed, Emma D’Arcy and John Goodman, among others. The first trailer for the film was rather cryptic, but it has positioned itself as being a weird and wonderful turn for the action star.
The last non-franchise movie that Cruise made was 2017’s underappreciated American Made, and it has been decades since his last tilt at Oscar glory in Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 drama, Magnolia. Could Digger mark a new era in the decades-long career of Thomas Cruise Mapother IV?
Digger premieres on 2 October.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Joseph Zada and McKenna Grace in Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. (Lionsgate)
Hunger Games fans, rejoice! It’s time to venture into Panem once more, and this time we’re getting a glimpse into Haymitch Abernathy’s past in Sunrise on the Reaping. The mentor of Katniss Everdeen is also a victor of the games, of course, and now it’s time to learn how.
Based on Suzanne Collins’ book of the same name, the novel follows 18-year-old Haymitch as he is thrust into the deadly competition during the 50th Hunger Games, where double the number of tributes are sent into the arena. The cast is, frankly, incredible for a prequel, and fans are already beside themselves with excitement to see Haymitch’s story come to life.
Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping premieres on 20 November.
Avengers: Doomsday
Avengers: Doomsday is coming to cinemas in 2026. (Marvel Studios)
Marvel is hoping for a big comeback with Avengers: Doomsday, the newest event movie in the franchise, which marks the return of Robert Downey Jr. and Chris Evans. Downey Jr is back as the multiverse’s new big bad Victor Von Doom, and Evans’ Steve Rogers will play a part in the upcoming movie, having recently been revealed in the first teaser for the movie that played in front of Avatar: Fire and Ash.
The pair aren’t even the only returning characters; there’s also Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart back as Magneto and Professor X, as well as several X-Men and some of Marvel’s new heroes like Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) and the Fantastic Four.
Doomsday will also mark the return to Marvel directors Anthony and Joe Russo, who steered the ship during the box-office-busting era of Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, and will also bring Avengers: Secret Wars to cinemas in 2027.
Let’s hope that a team up like that will, indeed, save Marvel.
Avengers: Doomsday premieres in cinemas on 18 December.
Dune: Part 3
Timothee Chalamet in Dune, the third film lands in 2026. (Warner Bros.)
Denis Villeneuve is rounding out his adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune novels with a third film in the franchise, based on Dune: Messiah. The narrative follows Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) in the aftermath of his victory and the way it has twisted his mind.
What happens to a person when they are made into a god? Dune: Messiah will certainly explore that question in interesting ways. Chalamet will be joined by Florence Pugh, Zendaya, Anya Taylor-Joy, and newcomer to the franchise, Robert Pattinson.
The series has won six Academy Awards, earning over $1 billion at the box office to date; therefore, expectations are sky-high for part three. One group of people who will also be watching Dune Part Three’s progress closely are James Bond fans, as Villeneuve will take on 007 next once the Dune threequel is completed.
Dune: Part Three lands in cinemas on 18 December.