Cinematically speaking, 2025 was a terrific year. And by the looks of things, 2026 is shaping up to be another big one for cinema.
The release slate is jam-packed full of horror sequels; reimagined classics; epic sci-fi; stellar documentaries; a lot of Zendaya, Tom Holland and Timothée Chalamet; and new films from the likes of Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan and Park Chan-wook. And that’s just the first seven months.
Further down the line, we’ve got Denis Villeneuve’s final Dune film, Aaron Sorkin’s Facebook follow-up The Social Reckoning, a new Avengers film, Tom Cruise teaming up with Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and some period horror with Werwulf.
It’s looking extremely compelling but very crowded, so we here at Euronews Culture are making it a little easier for you by selecting the 20 films that should be on your radar between January and July. Release dates vary throughout Europe, so we’ve gone chronologically as best we can.
These are the movies you won’t want to miss.
JANUARY
Father Mother Sister Brother
Jim Jarmusch’s anthology film finally hits European screens after winning the Golden Lion in Venice this year. Featuring one hell of a cast, including Tom Waits, Cate Blanchett, Vicky Krieps, Charlotte Rampling and Adam Driver, Father Mother Sister Brother follows three estranged family relationships in the US, Dublin and Paris. From the looks of the trailer, it promises to be wryly funny and deceptively poignant. Plus, Jarmusch has proven with Coffee And Cigarettes that the anthology format suits him perfectly, allowing him to draw out the extraordinary in seemingly banal situations.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
This year’s 28 Years Later was not only one of our favourite films of the year but also proved that legacy sequels can work when done properly. It moved the 28 franchise forward while honouring the previous films. Danny Boyle leaves the director’s chair to Nia DaCosta for the follow-up, and considering Ralph Fiennes get centre stage this time around (and we’ll finally get to see what that delirious ending at the end of Years was all about), this is one sequel that can’t get here quick enough.
Marty Supreme
Released this year in the US and the UK, most European territories have to wait until 2026 to see Josh Safdie’s first solo outing behind the camera. Loosely inspired by the life and career of US ping-pong player Marty Reisman, played by Timothée Chalamet, this coming-of-age film about scheming and whatever-it-takes determination in the face of adversity is already getting a lot of awards buzz. Reviews have praised Chalamet’s performance, saying that it’s a career-best turn from the 30-year-old. Time will tell whether this is the movie that will secure him an Oscar.
Hamnet
Another film which European audiences have had to be patient for… Oscar-winning director Chloé Zhao (Nomadland, Eternals) adapts Maggie O’Farrell’s novel to tell the story of the marriage between Agnes Hathaway (Jessie Buckley) and William Shakespeare (Paul Mescal), and the impact of the death of their 11-year-old son, Hamnet. The historical drama, which has already been released in the US and UK to rave reviews, reportedly features two stellar central performances and promises to punish your tearducts.
Sound of Falling
Selected as the German entry for the upcoming Oscars, Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling wowed audiences in Cannes this year, where it premiered in competition. It follows four generations of girls who are connected by a farm in the Altmark region. The film takes place over four historical periods (pre-World War I; post-WWII; East Germany in the 80s and 21st century) and since we’ve already seen it, we can confirm that it’s an incredibly ambitious and masterful portrait of womanhood and unspoken trauma. Brace yourselves – this one hits very hard.
Dead Man’s Wire
Gus Van Sant’s first feature film in seven years is a crime thriller based on the 1977 Indianapolis hostage standoff involving American kidnapper Tony Kiritsis. Starring Bill Skarsgård, Colman Domingo, Myha’la, Al Pacino (whose presence should lead to inevitable comparisons with Dog Day Afternoon) and Dacre Montgomery (of Stranger Things fame), Dead Man’s Wire seems like it’s going to be both a nail-biter and a timely commentary on how capitalism inevitably drives us all a little bit nuts. Not that we’re advocating for hostage taking. Yet.
FEBRUARY
The Mastermind
Josh O’Connor never fails to impress, having blown us away these last few years with La Chimera, Challengers, The History of Sound and most recently in Wake Up Dead Man. Let’s see if he continues his winning streak with Kelly Reichardt’s heist drama. Set in the 70s, The Mastermind follows a family man who plots to steal art from a suburban museum. Considering the leading man and how Reichardt also rarely puts a foot wrong (see: Certain Women, First Cow, Showing Up – to mention but a few in a nearly flawless filmography), we’re giddy about the prospect of these two combining their considerable talents.
No Other Choice
Park Chan-wook, the celebrated South Korean director of the Vengeance trilogy, Stoker, The Handmaiden and Decision To Leave, signs a satirical black comedy full of a rage. This is another one we’ve already had the pleasure of seeing, and it’s a depressingly timely and mordantly funny adaptation of Donald Westlake’s “The Ax” that is certain to be one of our favourites of 2026. It follows how a middle-aged manager (played here by Lee Byung-hun, who most will recognise from Squid Game) is laid off after drastic cost cutting measures. He then proceeds to hunt down and kill the men who could stand between him and his future employment prospects. We’ve all been there. Right? Riiight??
Wuthering Heights
This film already promises to be one of the most polarising releases of 2026. Following Promising Young Woman and Saltburn, director Emerald Fennell adapts Emily Brontë’s Gothic masterpiece and casts Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi as doomed lovers Catherine and Heathcliff. Featuring new original music from Charli XCX, the trailer has already divided the internet, with many calling it out for being too irreverent, too sexually charged and not up to snuff for classic literature purists. Granted, the mood conjured by that first look does seem to suggest a try-hard (and very thirsty) zeitgeist-nabbing bid, but the conversation around Wuthering Heights promises to be both fascinating and exhausting. People will either hate it or make it their personality for the first half of 2026. The best we can hope for? That it’ll get a new generation reading some Brontë.
Orwell 2+2=5
Raoul Peck is a genius. There, we said it. The Haitian filmmaker’s documentaries, like Haiti – Silence of the Dogs, I Am Not Your Negro and Ernest Cole: Lost And Found, are some of the most masterful and thoughtful around. European audiences will soon get the chance to marvel at his latest, which follows the career of George Orwell – with particular focus on “Nineteen Eighty-Four” and how the author’s work is still alarmingly relevant today. Like some of the films on this list, we’ve already had the pleasure of seeing it, and the way Peck interweaves archival material, newsreels and notorious speeches to comment on present-day authoritarianism is both deeply troubling and completely engrossing. Don’t miss out.
Scream 7
More slasher goodness from the franchise that refuses to die – despite calls for boycott over the dismissal / drop out of the previous instalment’s cast members. Helmed by Kevin Williamson, who wrote some of the series’ best instalments (Scream and Scream 2, in particular), the seventh Scream film brings back original scream queen Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott. She’ll find herself and her daughter (Isabel May) confronted with a new Ghostface, who promises to burn it all down. Only one question remains: How are David Arquette and Matthew Lillard back? For the love of slicing and dicing, let’s hope it isn’t in ghost / apparition form like they did with Skeet Ulrich in the last two films.
MARCH
The Bride!
This year, we had Guillermo del Toro’s stunning (if perhaps too overly faithful) take on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein”. Next year, we get a second version, this time courtesy of Maggie Gyllenhaal – who’s behind the camera for the second time after acing it with her directorial debut, The Lost Daughter. In The Bride!, Frankenstein’s monster (Christian Bale) gets some company, as a murdered woman (Jessie Buckley) is brought back to life as the titular Bride. Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Gyllenhaal has already described her film as a “punk, monstrous love story” with “big dance numbers”. Say less. We’re here for it.
Project Hail Mary
When the trailer for Project Hail Mary was released in June, it broke viewing records for an original movie – racking up more than 400 million views in the space of a few days. We’ll soon find out whether that excitement translates to bums on seats and positive reviews. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie), the film is based on the best-selling 2021 novel of the same name by Andy Weir (author of “The Martian”) and stars Gosling as Ryland Grace, a man who wakes up on a space station. Snag is he’s not an astronaut. He slowly learns that he was sent into outer space to reverse the impact of a phenomena causing the sun to die out – something which recalls one of Danny Boyle’s best films, Sunshine. The most eagerly anticipated sci-fi film of 2026? Probably. Until Dune: Part Three hits screens in December.
APRIL
The Drama
Robert Pattinson and Zendaya play Charlie and Emma, who are about to get married. However, their relationship takes “an unexpected – and dramatic – turn” just before the big day. Not much is known about The Drama – and thankfully so, as keeping the unsettling truths that bubble to the surface a secret will be key to enjoying Kristoffer Borgli’s romantic comedy-drama. Will it lean more towards the ridiculous or embrace bleakness? Considering it’s an A24 joint and Ari Aster signed on as a producer, we’re betting it’ll be a strange mishmash of both. We can’t wait.
Michael
Every year needs a (usually disappointing) music biopic, and 2026 will tackle the King of Pop himself. Antoine Fuqua directs the story of Michael Jackson, from his Jackson 5 days to his global ascendency as the chart-topping icon. The singer’s real-life nephew, Jaafar Jackson, will play the titular role. While eagerly anticipated, this is one biopic that will spill a lot of ink: Can such an ambitious project manage to do justice to Jackson’s artistic achievements, and if so, will it whitewash the more controversial aspects of the artist’s tumultuous life?
MAY
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Coming out 20 years after the original, this fashionably late sequel sees David Frankel return to the fashion world, with Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci also returning for more unforgiving fashion industry shenanigans. However, this time the power dynamics have shifted, and both Miranda and Andy will face a new enemy: digital media. Only bum note so far: Since this is based on the 2013 sequel novel, why couldn’t they call it “Revenge Wears Prada”? Far better title, if you ask us.
JUNE
Toy Story 5
The Toy Story films should have ended in 2010, with the perfect trilogy capper. However, Pixar had other ideas for its flagship franchise, and we got the lackluster fourth instalment nine years later. And soon, Woody, Buzz, Jessie and the gang will be back for a fifth adventure, which hopefully will capture some of the early magic. The premise sounds tantalising enough, as the toys facing a formidable threat: technology. At a time when new technologies and AI threaten both playtime and our sanity, it’s a savvy narrative move. And don’t even begin to pretend you’ve aged out of this series, dear reader. We know we’ll see you in line come opening weekend.
Disclosure Day
Praise be! The Beard is back! After the bit-too-shmaltzy self-inspired autofiction The Fabelmans, Steven Spielberg’s returning to his alien roots. Marketing began for the UFO film in December, and we’ve already had a teaser trailer, which tells us little but introduces us to what seems to be extraterrestrial contact through some alien possession – as well as a stellar cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Wyatt Russell. Disclosure Day promises to be one of the most talked-about releases of 2026. Let’s hope it sits pretty alongside other quintessential Spielbergian sci-fi like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T..
JULY
The Odyssey
What with Disclosure Day, Toy Story 5, Supergirl and Spider-Man: Brand New Day, 2026’s summer blockbuster season looks stacked. However, those titles will all go up against Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. And if you thought the filmmaker was going to slow things down in terms of scale after his Oscar-winning Oppenheimer, think again. He’s gone bigger by adapting the Homer’s epic poem, with an all-star cast featuring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron… Look, the list goes on, so we’ll stop there. Sorry Jon Bernthal, Mia Goth and the wooden horse. We love you. Oh, and lest we forget: The Odyssey is the first film shot entirely on IMAX cameras. This mega-movie is going to require a mega-screen.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Marvel are desperately seeking a comeback, after a string of disappointing adventures which have shown that the once-box office behemoth has fallen foul to superhero fatigue. Could 2026 be a turnaround year for the MCU? Seems like that’s what they’re going for, with a new Spider-Man film (following the $1.9bn box office success of Spider-Man: No Way Home) and the upcoming team-up film Avengers: Doomsday (which hits cinemas in December). And yes, this means that alongside The Odyssey, Tom Holland will be 2026’s Pedro Pascal by being on all your screens. There are worst things.
There we have it for the first half of the year. And yes, it’s going to be a busy one.
What movies are you most looking forward to? Let us know – and check out our ranking of the Best Movies of 2025. In case you missed some of those, we recommend you tick some of those off your list before a jam-packed 2026 starts.
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