The most anticipated movies of summer 2026
Since time immemorial – or at least 1975 or so – summertime has always been the biggest season for movies. That remains true even in the streaming era, and 2026 is shaping up to be one of the more gargantuan summers of the last few years. At least two potential big-event films are on the calendar: Steven Spielberg’s return to sci-fi, Disclosure Day, and Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, starring literally every current movie star you’ve ever heard of. That’s not to mention the returns of Spider-Man, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the Scary Movie franchise and the Minions, plus several smaller flicks that could end up having a major impact. Here are the 20 summer releases we’re most looking forward to.
One to see… if you’re terminally online
Backrooms
The YouTube-to-auteur pipeline continues to produce as 20-year-old Kane Parsons upgrades his viral creepypasta series into prestige A24 horror. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve are sucked into an interdimensional labyrinth of endless empty office spaces made up of blank walls, beige carpeting and sickly fluorescent lights. What’s so scary about that? Just watch.
In cinemas worldwide May 29
One to see… if you grew up in the ’80s
Masters of the Universe
A He-Man movie? In 2025? Then again, the 1980s Masters of the Universe movie is mythically terrible, so perhaps it deserves a do-over. Travis Knight, co-founder of Laika animation studio, is helming the reboot, with Nicholas Galitzine (The Idea of You) as intergalactic warrior hero Prince Adam. Sadly, Mr Box Office Poison himself, Jared Leto, plays his bony arch nemesis, Skeletor, which might just doom this from the start.
In cinemas worldwide June 5
Scary Movie
Horror movies: ever heard of ’em? Well, the Wayans brothers have, and after a 13-year layoff, they’re back to lampoon them all. It would seem like society has moved past the need for genre-specific spoofs, let alone a sixth freakin’ Scary Movie movie, but then, both Final Destination and The Naked Gun came back strong last year, so maybe folks’ weird nostalgia for this franchise will hold up in the end. Where else are we going to get the ‘Short Legs’ parody we’ve all been craving, anyway?
In cinemas worldwide June 5
One to see… if you believe the truth is out there
Disclosure Day
Name a more iconic duo than Steven Spielberg and aliens. Although his last few films haven’t quite qualified as major events, Spielberg doing sci-fi is always unmissable – and with the recent government revelations about UAPs and such, this one looks quite timely as well. Many of the details are being kept under wraps, but it seems to involve yet another close encounter of some kind, with Emily Blunt as a weatherwoman making inhuman noises on-air and Josh O’Connor as a paranoid whistleblower.
In cinemas worldwide June 12
One to see… if you’re worried about your kids having too much screen time:
Toy Story 5
College kids aren’t the only ones feeling anxious about the tech-dominated job market of the future. In the fifth instalment of Pixar’s flagship franchise, Woody, Buzz et al face digital displacement in the form of a talking tablet named Lilypad. Emotionally, the Toy Story series probably maxed out with the third movie, but spending more time with our favourite analog playthings is always welcome — and who can’t relate to feeling a bit obsolete these days?
In cinemas worldwide June 19
One to see… if you prefer your superheroes cynical: Supergirl
James Gunn’s Superman successfully relaunched the DCU in 2025, but what really matters is the followthrough. The second movie in the franchise centres on a fellow Kryptonian seemingly intent on challenging that whole ‘kindness is the new punk rock’ idea: Kal-El’s cousin, Kara Zor-El, best known as Supergirl, whose experience with seeing her home planet destroyed has left her just a wee bit surly and jaded. Craig Gillespie (I, Tonya) directs, with House of the Dragon’s Milly Alcock slipping into the spandex.
In cinemas worldwide June 26
One to see… if you’re on a date with your spouse: The Invite
Director Olivia Wilde and Seth Rogen are a San Francisco couple whose stale relationship receives a jolt of awkward excitement via an impromptu dinner party with the eccentric couple next door, played by Edward Norton and Penelope Cruz. Is the invitation in question for an orgy or partner swap or some other sort of sexual misadventure? That would be the implication, but the fact the trailer doesn’t just come out and say it suggests it might be more complicated than that. In any case, word out of Sundance is that it’s a wild and funny-as-hell adult comedy – the kind of thing we need much more of.
In cinemas worldwide June 26
One to see… if you just really need to get your kid out of the house for a while: Minions and Monsters
Yep, more Minions. But the third movie in the inexplicably popular cartoon franchise has an oddly compelling concept. Set in the Golden Age of Hollywood, it follows the nattering anthropomorphic Twinkies as they look to make a monster movie… featuring actual monsters. What could go wrong? As annoying as those little guys can be if you’re an adult, the previous 1970s-set sequel had a weird retro charm, and taking them all the way back to the ’20s really doesn’t sound like the worst thing a parent might have to endure.
In cinemas worldwide July 1
One to see… if your kids won’t stop singing ‘You’re Welcome’: Moana
Groan all you want, but Disney’s live-action remakes make bazillions of dollars, so the studio is just going to keep making them. Next up, the barely 10-year-old Moana, a true jewel of the company’s latter-day animated musicals. Newcomer Catherine Laga’aia stars as the titular Polynesian princess called to save her island home, while Dwayne Johnson tosses on a bad-looking wig to reprise his role as the wisecracking demigod Maui.
In cinemas worldwide July 10
One to see… if you’re into the classics: The Odyssey
It’s the biggest movie of the year, with the biggest cast, from the biggest big-budget director working. Christopher Nolan turns the ancient Greek epic into a mega-ambitious, widescreen event of the sort rarely seen since Hollywood’s Golden Age. (IMAX tickets went on sale a whole year in advance.) Matt Damon stars as Odysseus, the king of Ithaca, making the grueling journey home at the end of the Trojan War, alongside nearly every current A-list star you can name. We’ve seen the trailers and endured the banal culture-war debates. Bring on the damn movie already.
In cinemas worldwide July 17
One to see… if you want to laugh in a room full of strangers again: Cut Off
Are studio comedies… back? Maybe let’s not jump the gun, but it’s a genre Jonah Hill knows something about. In his second directorial feature of the year – after the widely panned Outcome – the actor stars alongside Kristen Wiig as middle-aged siblings from a wealthy family who are finally forced to fend for themselves after their parents, played by Bette Midler and Nathan Lane, decide to stop funding their louche lifestyles. That’s the sort of cast that can elevate a pretty-good premise to greatness.
In cinemas worldwide July 17
One to see… if you still believe in the MCU: Spider-Man: Brand New Day
The MCU’s final tee-up before Avengers Doomsday is yet another adventure from your friendly neighborhood arachnid. If you recall, the last Spider-Man movie ended with Dr Strange hitting reset on the world’s memory of our web-slinging hero, allowing Tom Holland’s Peter Parker to resume life as a college student and low-level crimefighter… but we’re guessing the tranquility won’t last long. Mac Gargan, aka Scorpion and portrayed by Better Call Saul’s Michael Mando, looks to be the big bad, while John Bernthal’s Punisher shows up, too.
In cinemas worldwide July 31
One to see… if you like your movies a little horny: I Want Your Sex
Indie iconoclast Gregg Araki (The Doom Generation) returns with his first movie in 12 years, a comedy-thriller starring Cooper Hoffman as the ‘sexual muse’ for a boundary-pushing artist, played by Olivia Wilde. Described as the director’s most accessible movie yet, it needles Gen Z’s prudish nature and has a great time doing so.
In cinemas worldwide July 31
One to see… if you like your movies hornier: One Night Only
A major studio sex comedy? Are those still legal? In a world where premarital sex is outlawed, Monica Barbaro and Callum Turner are singles looking to mingle on the one night of the year when no-strings fucking is allowed – call it The Horny Purge. Just pray it never becomes prescient, because God knows it’s not unfathomable in our current reality.
In cinemas worldwide Aug 7
One to see… if you like your movies really horny: Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma
After the David Lynch-meets-Buffy the Vampire Slayer psychedelic horror of 2024’s I Saw the TV Glow, director Jane Schoenbrun levels up yet again for their third film, a queer-themed fantasia starring Hacks’ Hannah Einbinder as a filmmaker hired to reboot a cult-classic slasher flick with the original movie’s reclusive final girl, played by Gillian Anderson. It’s a psychosexual satire that lives up to its killer trailer and invigorated an otherwise ho-hum Cannes.
In cinemas worldwide Aug 7
One to see… if you’re into The Twilight Zone: The End of Oak Street
David Robert Mitchell’s first film since 2018’s Under the Silver Lake has been shrouded in mystery for at least a year, with a vague logline promising an ’80s setting and ‘bizarre happenings’ in a suburban neighborhood, and Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor set to star. Unconfirmed rumors now suggest it involves time travel and dinosaurs. Whatever, man: between Silver Lake and the new horror classic It Follows, every new Mitchell project deserves anticipation.
In cinemas worldwide Aug 14
The one to see… if you have shares in Acme: Coyote vs Acme
A social media cause celebre after it was permanently shelved by Warner Brothers, this literal live-action Looney Tunes will finally see the light at the end of the painted tunnel thanks to Ketchup Entertainment, distributors of last year’s delightful The Day the Earth Blew Up. In an ingenious premise derived from a satirical New Yorker article, the beleaguered Wile E Coyote finally sues the Acme Corporation for the years of bodily harm they’ve caused him, with the never-not-funny Will Forte as his lawyer.
In cinemas worldwide Aug 28
One to see… if you can’t get enough of dystopian epics: The Dog Stars
Ridley Scott goes post-apocalyptic with an adaptation of Peter Heller’s 2012 novel, set in a world ravaged by a flu-like virus. Jacob Elordi stars as a pilot hunkered down in Colorado alongside an ex-marine played by Josh Brolin. Sure, there’s been a lot of visions of dystopia in recent years, but you can’t argue with Scott directing, nor a cast that also includes Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce.
In cinemas worldwide Aug 28
