Killer dolls, caped crusaders, and a return to Panem. We're not even through with 2024, but these movies set for 2026 already have us ready to buy our tickets.
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00:00Killer dolls, caped crusaders, and a return to Panem. We're not even through with 2024,
00:05but these movies set for 2026 already have us ready to buy our tickets.
00:10Do you want to hang out?"
00:12Megan raked in over $180 million at the box office after debuting in theaters at the end
00:17of 2022. The Blumhouse-produced film followed a psychotic A.I. doll who goes to great lengths
00:22to protect a young girl, despite the increasing worries of her aunt, played by Alison Williams.
00:27It's no surprise that the Megan universe is set to expand with two follow-ups, Megan 2.0
00:32in the summer of 2025 and Soulmate, which will hit theaters in 2026. In a clever twist to the
00:37Megan premise, Soulmate will center on a man's ownership of an A.I. android following the loss
00:42of his wife. Cade Dolan, who previously helmed the horror film You Are Not My Mother, will direct,
00:46while Lily Sullivan, David Riesdahl, and Claudia Dumit are currently set to star.
00:51Speaking of surprise horror hits, writer-director Zach Craig as Barbarian blew theatergoers away
00:56in 2022. Craig got his start with the sketch comedy troupe The Whitest Kids You Know,
01:01and had previously made his directorial debut with the critically panned comedy
01:05Miss March in 2009. However, Barbarian found a strong audience through word-of-mouth marketing,
01:10and ended up taking home over $45 million at the box office, even after Craig struggled to get the
01:16film made in the first place. Naturally, Craig had a much easier time funding this flick, which
01:20was the subject of a bidding war between studios before landing at New Line Cinema for a full
01:25theatrical release. Currently titled Weapons, Craig's follow-up is set to arrive in theaters
01:30in 2026, and features an all-star cast, including Josh Brolin and Julia Garner.
01:35Little is known about the plot thus far, other than the fact that it will involve the disappearance
01:39of high school teenagers and has been compared to Magnolia.
01:42It's been quite a few eventful years for fans of Avatar the Last Airbender. Although the original
01:47Nickelodeon series only aired for three seasons in the mid-to-late 2000s, it has seen numerous
01:52spinoffs, reboots, and adaptations. Of course, there have been reinterpretations of the series
01:57fans would rather forget, like M. Night Shyamalan's 2010 live-action film. However,
02:012026 will see a much more highly anticipated installment in the Avatar timeline. It was
02:06announced all the way back in 2021 that Avatar the Last Airbender would be getting a proper
02:11animated sequel, coming to theaters on January 30th, 2026. Although little is known about its
02:16story, it's been given the working title of Aang the Last Airbender, which suggests that it will
02:21continue to explore the adventures of the beloved airbending character from the iconic animated
02:25series. Eric Nam will make his debut as the voice of Aang, while Dave Bautista is joining the
02:30franchise as a yet-to-be-revealed antagonist.
02:32In 2003, Mike Myers starred in The Cat in the Hat, which notably resulted in Dr. Seuss' widow
02:38Audrey Geisel putting a stop to all live-action adaptations of her husband's work. The film has
02:43its cult following today, but thankfully, the Seuss enterprise will have a second chance at
02:47putting the cat on the big screen in a new animated film. Created by Warner Bros. Pictures
02:51Animation, the new Cat in the Hat film will head to theaters in March 2026, starring Bill
02:56Hader as the title character. Hader actually portrayed the character in an SNL sketch,
03:00though in this iteration, the cat had previously dated the women of the children he plays with.
03:04"...I can juggle with this, I can juggle with a fish, I can juggle this dish, I can…"
03:10"...Cut me out of this picture."
03:12Alessandro Carloni, who co-directed Kung Fu Panda 3 for DreamWorks Animation,
03:16is directing alongside Erika Rivenoia, and hopefully they're able to do the children's
03:20book justice. Ryan Gosling has been the belle of the ball in the film world for the past few years,
03:25and 2026 might feature Gosling's next home run. Project Hail Mary, based on the 2021 sci-fi
03:32novel from Andy Weir and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, will star Gosling as
03:36Ryland Grace, an amnesiac astronaut uncovering the mystery of why he's the last man standing
03:41in a crew searching the galaxy for an end to Earth's near-demise. Gosling will be joined
03:46by fellow Oscar nominee Sandra Hula, who wowed audiences in 2023 with back-to-back performances
03:52in Anatomy of a Fall and The Zone of Interest. There's sure to be a lot of buzz in the science
03:56fiction community over this adaptation of the 2022 Hugo Award finalist, but given it's one of the few
04:02non-franchise films scheduled for release in 2026 so far, it might also be a sleeper hit for
04:07mainstream audiences. There was rightfully a lot of trepidation leading up to the release of the
04:12Super Mario Bros. movie. Video game adaptations have a well-documented history of disappointing
04:16fans in movie theaters, and the Super Mario franchise already had one failed attempt in the
04:2190s. Despite online criticisms of the cast, the Super Mario Bros. movie grossed over $1 billion
04:26and was praised for being a flawed but worthy adaptation of the iconic Nintendo franchise.
04:31Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri and Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto finally confirmed
04:36that a sequel would be coming with a tentative release date of April 2026,
04:40reuniting directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenik with screenwriter Matthew Fogel.
04:45Judging by the post-credits scenes of the Super Mario Bros. movie, the character Yoshi could make
04:50a proper debut on the big screen, while actors like Charlie Day and Seth Rogen have also expressed
04:54interest in exploring their own characters. Perhaps the biggest bombshell from this year's
04:59San Diego Comic-Con was at the Marvel Studios panel, where Kevin Feige not only confirmed
05:03that directors Anthony and Joe Russo would return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to helm
05:08the next two Avengers movies, but that the multiverse saga would be pivoting from Kang
05:11the Conqueror to one of the biggest baddies in Marvel Comics, Victor Von Doom.
05:15To the shock of everyone at Hall H and online, Avengers Doomsday is not only coming up fast in
05:202026, but Robert Downey Jr. will be returning to the Avengers universe as Dr. Doom. While the
05:26decision to recast Downey Jr. after the actor's triumphant curtain call as Iron Man in Avengers
05:30Endgame may have gone over poorly with some fans of the MCU, one thing is certain — people
05:35will be flooding into theaters to see this performance.
05:38It's actually surprising that there hasn't been a Star Wars feature film since 2019.
05:42Still, the franchise has been busy on Disney Plus with plenty of streaming series,
05:46the most popular being The Mandalorian, which follows the adventures of the titular bounty
05:49hunter after discovering a Jedi child named Grogu who's a target of Imperial factions.
05:54I would like to see the baby."
05:57There's a lot to be excited about with this new chapter of the Star Wars saga,
06:00which has only just begun shooting. Given the broad scale of the Disney Plus series,
06:04one can only imagine how big things are going to get in a feature film starring Din Djarin
06:08and his fellow characters, including some new faces. Sigourney Weaver has already confirmed
06:12that she's appearing in the movie, which will certainly draw in all kinds of sci-fi fanatics.
06:17I have the power!"
06:21A Masters of the Universe reboot movie has been in the works for over a decade now,
06:25but it's only recently that actual movement has been made on the project,
06:28with a current theatrical release date of June 5th, 2026.
06:32Travis Knight, who made his live-action directorial debut with 2018's Bumblebee,
06:36is set to direct it for Amazon MGM Studios. Perhaps the film owes its forward motion to
06:40Mattel's success in 2023 with Barbie, which also went through development hell before becoming a
06:45surprise Best Picture nominee. It's also possible that there's renewed interest in the franchise
06:50thanks to Netflix's She-Ra and the Princess of Power, which ran for five seasons on the
06:54streaming service. For now, there's at least hope in the fact that the film's early casting
06:58looks promising, with the idea of U star Nicholas Galatzin cast as He-Man and Camilla
07:02Mendes of Riverdale fame playing Teela. The next few years will be very exciting
07:06for DC Comics fans who have been let down by the lack of direction in its cinematic universe.
07:11So as many of you know, DC has been disconnected in film and television for a long time."
07:16That's all set to change in 2025, now that James Gunn is CEO of DC Studios and putting
07:22his energy into directing Superman. It's going to be a huge reinvention of the DC universe on
07:26the big screen, and in 2026, it'll be followed up by Supergirl Woman of Tomorrow, starring Millie
07:31Alcock, who will debut as Clark Kent's cousin in next year's film. Of course, Alcock will have
07:36big boots to fill after the beloved portrayal of the character by Melissa Benoist in The CW's
07:40Supergirl, but leave it to James Gunn to find new grounds to break. Currently, the film is set to
07:45release on June 26, 2026, with directing duties performed by Craig Gillespie, whose past work
07:50includes female-driven films like Cruella and the Oscar-nominated I, Tonya.
07:55It's been quite a few years on the Shrek front after 2010's Shrek Forever After,
07:59and 2011's Puss in Boots potentially indicated that the once-tremendously successful animated
08:04franchise may have lost its fairytale dazzle. But the series was finally revived in 2022 with
08:10Puss in Boots The Last Wish, with the film earning an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature and
08:14surpassing its expectations at the box office. The ending of Puss in Boots The Last Wish even
08:19set the stage for a future Shrek film, with Puss and Kitty Softpaws venturing back to the
08:23land far, far away. Shrek 5 was confirmed to be happening later in 2023, with Eddie Murphy,
08:29Mike Myers, and Cameron Diaz all returning. Shrek franchise veteran Walter Dorn has been
08:33tasked with directorial duties, with the film slated for release in July 2026.
08:38DC's naysayers were rightfully put in their place when The Batman was released in 2022,
08:43starring Robert Pattinson as one of the best on-screen portrayals of Bruce Wayne to date.
08:47The film, which was written and directed by Matt Reeves, was a tremendous box office success,
08:51and reignited mainstream interest in a standalone, gritty Batman film series.
08:55While Colin Farrell has reprised his Penguin in HBO's series, a proper sequel for Pattinson's
09:00Dark Knight is scheduled to arrive on October 2nd, 2026. The sequel, currently titled The
09:05Batman Part II, has ignited lots of speculation about where the franchise will go.
09:10I don't care what happens to me. That's all I'm afraid of."
09:13Although it's not confirmed, Barry Keoghan's cameo as the Joker in the film's ending
09:17definitely sets up the Irish actor to reprise the role in the future. Robert Pattinson has
09:21also specifically mentioned The Court of Owls as something he'd like to see in a sequel,
09:25which definitely feels aligned with Reeves' interpretation of Gotham.
09:29As expected, there's a lot of mystery surrounding what Jordan Peele is up to.
09:33The sketch comedian cemented himself as one of film's most influential modern directors with
09:37Get Out, and has kept up the trend by creating outstanding horror films with Black leads in Us
09:42and Nope. Even his production company, Monkeyball, has been behind creative projects like Monkeyman
09:47and Candyman. Peele's next film was a director at a confirmed theatrical release date of October
09:5223rd, 2026, just in time for Halloween. It might be hard to get excited about a movie that has no
09:57other information available, but given Peele's track record so far, it'll always be worthwhile
10:01to see what this auteur comes up with. The Hunger Games, a ballad of songbirds and snakes,
10:06was a reminder of how huge Suzanne Collins' book franchise was when it hit the big screen.
10:10Featuring an all-star cast, the film's box office performance alone was proof that audiences were
10:15hungry for more stories set in Panem. One is already slated for release on November 20th,
10:202026, centering on another familiar character from the original book trilogy. The Hunger Games'
10:25sunrise on the reaping centers on the 50th Hunger Games, notably won by Hamish Abernathy,
10:29the character portrayed by Woody Harrelson in the original films. The book it's based on is
10:33set for release in early 2025, while a film adaptation was confirmed in June 2024.