The first half of the year had some great films. Some became instant classics, while others were sleeper hits.
The second half of 2026 is stacked in a way that feels slightly unfair, but I’m not getting my hopes up just yet. If this year has taught me anything, it’s that some of the best-looking movies can also turn out to be some of the biggest disappointments. I’m still excited to book my Dunesday double-feature tickets, and I can’t wait to watch Spider-Man swing back into theatres. Here are the 10 movies I can’t wait to watch.
10. Focker-In-Law
Comedy sequels are always a gamble, especially when they return to well-worn family chaos. But Focker-In-Law has built up enough goodwill over the years that I’m cautiously optimistic. If it leans back into awkward tension, generational conflict, and pure embarrassment humour, it could easily find its rhythm again.
I’m excited to see what Ariana Grande brings to her role, and I’m just happy that we’re getting another Ben Stiller comedy. What I’m really hoping for is that it remembers what made the original films work: the discomfort. Not big spectacle, not reinvention, just painfully relatable family situations pushed to absurd extremes.
9. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
The Hunger Games universe has proven that it still has stories worth telling when it focuses on the human cost of the system rather than just the spectacle of the arena. This prequel is interesting because it expands the mythology while, hopefully, grounding it in character tragedy.
There’s always a danger with franchise expansions becoming too lore-heavy for the sake of it, but this one feels like it has the potential to deepen Panem rather than simply repeat it. The cast looks amazing, and to be honest, I haven’t watched the trailer because I want to savour the movie when it comes out.
8. Street Fighter
This looks like it might be one of the weirdest movies of the year, and I’m here for it. Video game adaptations are finally in a place where they can be fun instead of frustrating, and Street Fighter feels like a test of whether that momentum is real. The key here is simple: don’t overthink it.
If it embraces the ridiculous energy of its source material, leans into stylised fights, and doesn’t try to turn it into something overly serious, it could actually work in a way past adaptations haven’t. I love some of the casting choices, while others are making me scratch my head. Either way, I’m excited.
7. Digger
This is one of those titles I’m going into almost completely blind, which honestly makes it even more interesting. Digger has that grounded, slightly mysterious energy that suggests a character-driven story rather than a spectacle-heavy one. They say it’s a dark comedy, and I really hope it is.
I trust Tom Cruise as a film star, so I know this movie will at least feature a great performance from him. All we know is that the story follows the most powerful man in the world as he races to prove he is humanity’s saviour before the disaster he unleashed destroys everything. It sounds interesting enough, and hopefully Alejandro G. Iñárritu gives us a compelling story.
6. How to Rob a Bank
Nicholas Hoult is one of my favourite actors, and I can literally watch him in anything. David Leitch is one of the best action directors working today, so seeing them team up is a dream come true. I love a good heist movie, and this film’s title alone does a lot of heavy lifting.
Any film centred around a heist immediately pulls me in, but this one feels like it’s leaning more into planning, execution, and interpersonal breakdown than just action set pieces. The best heist films aren’t really about the robbery itself. They’re about what happens when control starts slipping. That’s what I’m hoping this delivers.
5. The End of Oak Street
I love dinosaurs, and it’s been a while since we last had a really good dinosaur movie. This film looks like it’ll make dinosaurs scary again, and that’s exactly what I’m hoping for. There’s no way humans and dinosaurs can coexist peacefully. We’re supposed to be dinosaur food.
The trailer hooked me, and I love Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor, so I’m sold on the cast as well. This film might be emotional, it might be pure horror, but either way, I’m getting my tickets. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that we won’t be disappointed.
4. The Odyssey
I’ve written and spoken about this movie a lot. Everyone knows I’m a Christopher Nolan fan, and I love a great IMAX experience. That said, I do have some reservations, but I’m still excited to watch it. Nolan hasn’t disappointed me before, so I doubt he will this time.
Big mythological adaptations live and die by scale and conviction, and The Odyssey has both ambition and pressure attached to it. This is one of those stories that demands to feel ancient, dangerous, and emotionally grounded all at once. If it works, it could become one of the defining epic films of the decade. If it doesn’t, it’ll at least be interesting to watch the attempt. Either way, I’ll be there on day one.
3. Dune: Part Three
At this point, Dune isn’t just adapting books. It’s building one of the most visually consistent sci-fi trilogies in modern cinema. Dune: Part Two was my favourite movie of the year when it came out, so Part Three has the weight of expectation on it.
What excites me most is seeing how far this story is willing to push its characters into facing the consequences of their choices. This isn’t a universe that rewards comfort, and I hope the final chapter fully embraces that. The fact that this releases alongside Avengers: Doomsday is a blessing in disguise, because one of those two movies has to be awesome.
2. Avengers: Doomsday
I love the MCU. It’s one of the reasons I started reviewing movies, but lately it’s been very hit-or-miss when it comes to the quality of its projects. Marvel needs a reset moment, and Doomsday feels like it’s being positioned as exactly that. A crossover on this scale only works if it remembers to focus on character first and spectacle second.
If they get that balance right, this could be the film that redefines where the MCU goes next. If not, it becomes noise. There’s no middle ground with something this big. I also hope they don’t rely too heavily on nostalgia, but that the Russo brothers actually have a story worth telling.
1. Spider-Man: Brand New Day
This is the one I’m most excited for. No question.
Peter Parker starting over again is both risky and necessary at this point. Stripping things back to a more grounded Spider-Man story is exactly what the character needs after all the multiversal chaos and giant crossover events.
What makes this so exciting is the potential reset. A new status quo, a new emotional direction, and hopefully a return to a more intimate Spider-Man story where the stakes aren’t always the fate of the entire universe, but simply Peter trying to survive his own life.
