With the New Year upon us, it’s time for our annual tradition of looking at the cinematic horizon. Having highlighted the films we guarantee are worth seeing in 2026 and those we hope get U.S. distribution, we now venture into the unknown. We dug deep to chart the 100 films we’re most looking forward to, from debuts to documentaries to the return of some of our most-beloved auteurs, along with a small batch of studio films worth giving attention.
Though the majority lack a set release––let alone a confirmed festival premiere––most have wrapped production and will likely debut at some point in 2026. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter for updates over the next twelve months (and beyond).
100. Digger (Alejandro González Iñárritu; Oct. 2)
Iñarritu’s first highly anticipated film since The Revenant (sorry, Bardo)––described as a “brutal comedy” that follows the world’s most powerful man trying to save humanity from his disastrous creation––is a godsend on paper for cinephiles who have long mourned the loss of Tom Cruise to relatively director-less action pictures (even if they’re pretty damn good most of the time). Sure, Cruise has taken action stardom to the next level in the 21st century, and that’s neat. But before that, he cemented himself as one of the greatest actors of all-time by stretching himself in disparate roles under the best directors. From 1985-2006, he worked with Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, PTA, Ridley Scott, Tony Scott, Michael Mann, Cameron Crowe, De Palma, Oliver Stone, Ron Howard, Barry Levinson, the late Rob Reiner, and Kubrick, among others. Arriving in October 2026, Digger might finally herald his return to thought-provoking cinema. – Luke H.
99. Ghostwriter (J.J. Abrams)
You’ll forgive J.J. Abrams for taking a little bit of time to get back into the director’s chair. His most recent effort, 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, was a critical debacle that more or less led to a complete overhaul of that galaxy far, far away. So where does his latest take him? Well, for the first time since 2011’s Super 8, Abrams departs from the world of franchises for an original story—in fact, this is, to date, his only one as a director apart from that underrated picture. Unsurprisingly, plot details on Ghostwriter (more than likely a working title) are completely under wraps, but he’s assembled an impressive quartet of actors in the feature’s primary roles: Glen Powell, Jenna Ortega, Emma Mackey, and Samuel L. Jackson are all part of the cast. – Mitchell B.
98. Over Your Dead Body (Jorma Taccone)
With only one solo directing credit to his name––the under-appreciated feature parody MacGruber––and one other feature-directing credit shared with fellow Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer for Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Jorma Taccone isn’t the director one would peg for a romantic thriller. Yet the comedy titan is embarking on a new phase of his career. With touches of The One I Love emanating from its premise, Over Your Dead Body follows a troubled couple that escapes to a secluded cabin to work things out—in other words, secretly plot to kill each other. Juliette Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Segel, and Samara Weaving sit atop the starry billing. – Luke H.
97. Here Comes the Flood (Fernando Meirelles)
A Netflix collaboration between the writer of many an underwhelming X-Men sequel (Simon Kinberg), and a director who never made good on the promise of his international breakout (Fernando Meirelles) wouldn’t typically attract our attention. However, Here Comes the Flood has two crucial ingredients: Denzel Washington and Robert Pattinson, likely facing off against each other in a heist plot where the vague logline already teases multiple double-crosses. We doubt it’ll reinvent the genre, but it does sound like it could be a lot of fun regardless. – Alistair R.
96. Roma Elastica (Bertrand Mandico)
After his fascinating, singular worlds of queer fantasia, will Bertrand Mandico be reaching for a wider scope in his next feature? Featuring a cast including Marion Cotillard, Isabella Ferrari, Noémie Merlant, and Franco Nero, his latest feature follows an actress circa the 1980s who’s embarking on shooting her last film. For reportedly serving an homage to Italian masters and shooting at the legendary Cinecittà Studios, we’re curious to see how Mandico expands his style. – Jordan R.
95. Sweetsick (Alice Birch)
After writing Lady Macbeth, which served as Florence Pugh’s breakout role, celebrated playwright Alice Birch will finally be making her directorial debut with Sweetsick. Produced by and starring Cate Blanchett, the film is said to follow “a mercurial woman with a strange and piercing gift––the ability to see what others most intimately need, often at great personal cost––who sets out on a journey home.” With Searchlight Pictures distributing, we’re expecting this to show up next fall. – Jordan R.
94. Cut Off and Outcome (Jonah Hill; July 17 and TBD)
Jonah Hill as writer-director-star has two titles slated for 2026. Cut Off follows Hill and Kristen Wiig as siblings forced to reckon with the real world after being cut off financially by their rich parents. With a summer release date from Warner Bros. and some ridiculous outfits promised, Cut Off appears to be a broader, more mainstream comedy than Hill’s previous directorial outings: mid90s and Stutz—its logline has ’90s Sandler or Farley written all over it. Also on deck for Hill is Outcome, an Apple TV title which features cinematography from Harmony Korine and Gaspar Noé collaborator Benoît Debie. The black comedy follows a sober Keanu Reeves who’s blackmailed into making amends for past mistakes made while decidedly not sober. Hill played a hippie AA counselor in Gus Van Sant’s Don’t Worry He Won’t Get Far on Foot, and this seems to follow in similar 12-steps-adjacent territory. – Caleb H.
93. Coyote vs. Acme (Dave Green; Aug. 28)
This was originally planned for 2023, and attempts to save this live-action-animated comedy were proving as fruitless as Wile E. Coyote’s perpetual quest to catch the Road Runner. Warner Bros. preferred to shelve it for a tax write-off. After vocal fan demand, bids were made, and Ketchup Entertainment nabbed it at $50 million for a 2026 release. Based on the 1990 New Yorker satirical article of the same name, Coyote vs. Acme imagines a courtroom drama that sees the hapless Wile E. bring a case against the Acme Corporation for the many injuries that their products have caused him. Hilarity (en)sues. – Blake S.
92. Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Bassam Tariq)
After helming the acclaimed documentary These Birds Walk and Riz Ahmed-led drama Mogul Mowgli, Bassam Tariq returns this forthcoming year with the action film Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. While not much is known about the plot, perhaps the most intriguing development is that its director and star (Mahershala Ali) were once attached to the Blade film. To see what they’ve cooked up here—thankfully not under the artistically authoritarian and anodyne environment of Marvel—has us intrigued. John Cho, Giancarlo Esposito, Abubakr Ali, Tramell Tillman, Tiffany Boone, and Laith Nakli round out the cast. – Jordan R.
91. I’ll Forget Your Name (Yann Gonzalez)
Earning cult acclaim for You and the Night and Knife+Heart, Yann Gonzalez returns with the gothic drama I’ll Forget Your Name. Featuring music from his younger brother, M83 frontman Anthony Gonzalez, and 35mm cinematography from Simon Beaufils (Anatomy of a Fall), the film stars Vanessa Paradis as an instructor in a small village whose nightly cruising encounters take a darker turn when she falls for a young man who soon vanishes, sending her down a mysterious, nightmarish path. Expect a Cannes premiere. – Jordan R.
90. A Place in Hell (Chloe Domont)
After making a mark with her biting directorial debut Fair Play, Chloe Domont is following it up with another thriller. Led by Michelle Williams, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Andrew Scott, and Danny Huston, the story follows two women at a high-profile criminal law firm. With NEON picking up U.S. rights, we’d expect a major festival premiere is in the works. – Jordan R.
89. Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass (David Wain)
David Wain, the director of the funniest film of the previous decade (They Came Together) is once again returning to Sundance. His latest follows a bride (Zoey Deutch) who, after discovering her soon-to-be-husband used his celebrity hall pass, goes on an adventure to do the same. With a cast also including Jon Hamm, John Slattery, Joe Lo Truglio, Ken Marino, John Slattery, Fred Melamed, and more, there’s little doubt Wain will set the comedy standard for 2026. – Jordan R.
88. Ray Gunn (Brad Bird)
In development long before The Iron Giant, and repeatedly turned down by Pixar when he made the studio his home, Brad Bird’s neo-noir passion project will finally see the light of day in 2026. Only unofficial concept art for the genre-hybrid, which features the vocal talents of Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson, has been released to date—likely from an earlier, fully hand-drawn iteration of the movie—with little else known beyond a logline focusing on the “last human private detective” in a world overrun by robots. Bird turned down the chance to direct The Incredibles 3 to finalize production here, which is a bold gamble in itself for a director whose last original film (Tomorrowland) was a costly bomb. We’re optimistic this’ll be a return to form after his underwhelming Incredibles sequel. – Alistair R.
87. Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew (Greta Gerwig; Nov. 26)
It’s hard to know whether Gerwig’s transition from indie darling actress-screenwriter-director to massive blockbuster filmmaker is for better or worse. Of course we’ll miss her charm onscreen and the potential for another indie great on the level of Lady Bird. But Barbie was an absolute homerun on all fronts and a testament to the notion that jumping from indie to blockbuster director doesn’t necessitate relinquishing creative control to an artless studio exec approach, as time has otherwise proven true. Her take on Narnia will be the next big test of that concept. Was Barbie a singularity? Or is Gerwig genuinely one of her generation’s best filmmakers, capable of turning any project on any budget into pure cinema magic? It doesn’t hurt to have Carey Mulligan, Daniel Craig, and Meryl Streep on board. – Luke H.
86. Tony (Matt Johnson)
Anthony Bourdain will be given the biopic treatment by Canadian writer-director Matt Johnson in Tony, with The Holdovers’ Dominic Sessa playing the famed chef and traveler. Johnson follows up Blackberry and Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie with a film likely to skew more dramatic than past features, though one, we imagine, that skirts standard biopic cliches. Joining Sessa are Emilia Jones, Antonio Banderas, and Leo Woodall, while A24 produces the commercial step-up for Johnson and Sessa. – Michael F.
85. Mother Mary (David Lowery; April 26)
Described by the director as “a weird, weird movie,” David Lowery’s Mother Mary suggests the acclaimed auteur working in a more openly campy fashion. Following Anne Hathaway’s pop star Mother Mary and her relationship to Michaela Coel’s fashion designer, it also features original pop songs by Jack Antonoff and Charli XCX. Lowery has always been a shapeshifting writer-director who’s oscillated between bigger-budget films and indie-level productions. While Peter Pan & Wendy might’ve been a miss, Lowery’s often compelling, and Mother Mary suggests his biggest swing yet. – Christian G.
84. Histoires De La Nuit (Léa Mysius)
Along with co-writing scripts for Claire Denis, Céline Sciamma, Arnaud Desplechin, and Jacques Audiard, Léa Mysius has carved out an impressive directorial career with Ava and The Five Devils. The French filmmaker returns with an adaptation of Laurent Mauvignier’s novel, following a family in a small town over a single night while dealing with an intrusion. Bastien Bouillon, Hafsia Herzi, Monica Bellucci, Twaba El Gharchy, Benoît Magimel, Paul Hamy, and Alane Delhaye lead the psychological thriller. – Jordan R.
83. Rosebush Pruning (Karim Aïnouz)
Brazilian director Karim Aïnouz returns to English-language filmmaking with quite the intriguing project. A remake of Marco Bellocchio’s debut feature Fists in the Pocket scripted by Yorgo Lanthimos’ frequent collaborator Efthimis Filippou, it features a varied cast: Riley Keough, Callum Turner, Elle Fanning, Jamie Bell, Tracy Letts, and Pamela Anderson. With filming wrapping early this year, we expect a big festival bow in 2026. – Jordan R.
82. Behemoth! (Tony Gilroy)
Fresh off the success and astonishment of Andor—and 14 years since his last feature—Tony Gilroy steps back into cinema with Behemoth!, a film with limited information thus far. Described as “a love letter to the music of the movies and the people who make it,” the drama will star Pedro Pascal and Olivia Wilde, while David Harbour, Matthew Lillard, and Eva Victor round out the cast. – Michael F.
81. Chasing Summer (Josephine Decker)
While The Sky Is Everywhere and Shirley haven’t quite lived up to the promise of her earlier features, here’s hoping Josephine Decker finds success with her forthcoming Sundance premiere. Chasing Summer, which teams Decker with writer and star Iliza Shlesinger, follows a woman retreating to her Texas hometown after losing her job and boyfriend, reconnecting with friends and flings. – Jordan R.
80. Enemies (Henry Dunham)
Henry Dunham’s been quiet since the release of his intense 2018 thriller The Standoff at Sparrow Creek, but the writer-director is back with guns blazing in the upcoming Enemies. Backed by A24, the crime thriller follows a detective on the hunt for an infamous hitman in Chicago. Austin Butler and Jeremy Allen White have signed on, though no word on who will play cat and who will play mouse in the picture, which also stars Anna Sawai (Shōgun) and Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car). With producer Ari Aster also on board, Enemies sounds like a bloody good time at the movies. Dunham is also penning the script for Hiro Muirai’s samurai action/thriller Bushido, again produced by A24. – Kent M. W.
79. Death of a Salesman (Chinonye Chukwu; Nov. 27)
Chinonye Chukwu (Till, Clemency) returns with Death of a Salesman from Focus Features. Co-writing with Tony Kushner, Chukwu will adapt the stage play with Jeffrey Wright and Octavia Spencer starring as Willy and Linda Loman, respectively. Chukwu’s films have been looking at the prospect of the American legal and penal system, and Death of a Salesman should push her views further into the depths of national society. – Michael F.
78. At the Sea (Kornél Mundruczó)
Since Jupiter’s Moon, Mandruczó’s movies have confounded and divided critics perhaps because they are elusive in exactly what they’re getting at. The filmmaker’s distinctive style, the meandering floating camerawork, decentralized focus, and faux one-shot sequences can be irritating in their stylistic aggression that swallows up everything else, but that’s what makes him fascinating. His upcoming Amy Adams-led feature At the Sea is another Hollywood production after his Vanessa Kirby-starrer Pieces of a Woman. The film follows a woman returning from rehab to her family’s beach home and struggles to move on from a career she once had. The film is written by Mandruczo and his frequent writing partner Kata Wéber. – Soham G.
77. Dao (Alain Gomis)
Perhaps the least-known filmmaker on this entire list, experimental French writer, director, producer, and editor Alain Gomis is an absolute force to be reckoned with and far from a newcomer. With five features to his name dating as far back as 2001, he approaches his career more like Jonathan Glazer, unpredictably delivering masterpieces few and far between that no one could’ve envisioned until he dreamt them up. His latest, Rewind & Play, applied a host of aural and visual avant-garde techniques to unseen documentary footage to bring a gutting and eye-opening perspective to jazz legend Thelonius Monk’s dehumanizing visit to a French TV studio in 1969. With only one unknown cast member listed (Béatrice Mendy) and a cryptic plot revolving around a mother reminiscing on her father just before her daughter’s wedding, it’s bound to be distinctive, and perhaps a hidden gem. – Luke H.
76. The Drama (Kristoffer Borgli; April 3)
Norwegian writer-director Kristoffer Borgli had found success in the surreal. With Sick of Myself, he explored fame, art, and narcissism. With Dream Scenario, he looked again at notoriety through the subconscious and a normal person not seeking it. His newest will be The Drama, a romance starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, in collaboration again with A24. The logline reads, “A couple, in the days leading up to their wedding, faces a crisis when unexpected revelations derail what one of them thought they knew about the other.” It sounds twisty, odd, likely once again about a level of narcissism. Which is to say it sounds like a Borgli movie. – Michael F.
75. A. Rimbaud (Patrick Wang)
Shot in autumn of 2024 and still missing in action, this biographical drama from Patrick Wang has been a subject of much cinephile curiosity. Wang is often forced to take the self-distribution route, and I can’t help but look at the descriptions and shake my head, remarking that he doesn’t make it easy for himself: it’s a piece for one on-screen character, carried by a little-known actor, and shot in Winnipeg. Yet tackling the iconic symbolist French poet, who authored A Season in Hell at 18, quit writing completely at 20, and ended his life as an explorer in Africa, should bring out the best in Wang’s literate yet focused style. – David K.
74. Project Hail Mary (Phil Lord and Chris Miller; March 20)
The first adaptation of an Andy Weir novel resulted in 2015’s The Martian, a space survival tale with a heavy dose of black humor. And while Ridley Scott isn’t helming this one, Phil Lord and Chris Miller are excellent stewards of the action comedy, as is Ryan Gosling. With a cast that also includes Sandra Hüller, Ken Leung, and The Bear’s Lionel Boyce––as well as a plot involving amnesia and a race to save the sun––there’s bound to be at least a few solid laughs along with scientifically-accurate (within reason) thrills. – Devan S.
73. Faces of Death (Daniel Goldhaber)
Curiously still without a distributor (despite glowing test-screening reactions), Daniel Goldhaber’s bold meta-reimagining of the notorious video nasty sounds like it has crossover potential. Taking the Blair Witch II: Book of Shadows route, it stars Euphoria’s Barbie Ferreira as an online content moderator who stumbles upon videos appearing to reenact the most infamous deaths from the Faces of Death franchise. It suggests a deadlier spiritual companion piece to Goldhaber’s excellent Cam, and with a buzzy supporting cast (including Stranger Things’ Dacre Montgomery and Charli XCX) Faces of Death sounds irresistible. Someone snap the rights up, please. – Alistair R.
72. Cliffhanger (Jaume Collet-Serra; Aug. 28)
Jaume Collet-Serra never seems to stop working, making lean, fun films (at least when he’s not linked up with Dwayne Johnson), and 2026’s Cliffhanger should be no different. Starring Lily James, Franz Rogowski, and Pierce Brosnan, his reboot of the 1993 film follows sisters visiting their father in a Dolomites chalet, only to be attacked by a gang of kidnappers. It’s planned to be part of a series and will get a late-summer release, perhaps perfectly suited to Collet-Serra’s capacity for B-movie thrills. – Michael F.
71. Artificial (Luca Guadagnino)
In the near-empty camp that found Luca Guadagnino’s After the Hunt to be his most entertaining work since Call Me By Your Name, consider me at least intrigued by how he’ll handle the nightmarescape of A.I. we find ourselves trapped within. In capturing the saga of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman (a returning Andrew Garfield), one imagines the script for An American Pickle writer Simon Rich is approaching the story with a humorous lens, a sentiment that seems confirmed with the casting of Ike Barinholtz as Elon Musk. Monica Barbaro, Yura Borisov, Cooper Hoffman, Jason Schwartzman, Billie Lourd, Zosia Mamet, Chris O’Dowd, and Mark Rylance round out the cast. – Jordan R.
70. A Woman Builds (Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka)
Across three films—Egg and Stone, The Foolish Bird, and the acclaimed Stonewalling—directors (and real-life couple) Huang Ji and Ryuji Otsuka charted the growth of Lynn (an entrancing Yao Hong Gui), a woman from a generation of “left-behind” children in rural China hustling to make a life for herself. I feared their collaboration would end after the trilogy, but was delighted to learn a new film, A Woman Builds, is on the horizon. Focusing on Lynn’s estrangement from her husband and daughter, the possibilities offered by a love affair, and her desire to build a home despite bureaucratic roadblocks in her way, it promises to be their most complex feature yet, which is certain to be elevated by their languid pacing, painterly mise-en-scène, and Yao’s ongoing performance of a generation’s resilience. – Alistair R.
69. Raccoon (Michael Basta)
Directed by Eephus co-writer Michael Basta in his feature directorial debut, Omnes Film collective’s latest stars Tim Heidecker as a suburban man whose life spirals out of control while at a dental convention in New England. Featuring cinematography from Eephus writer-director Carson Lund, Lund teases something akin to After Hours in “scenario and tone” but notes that while shooting in New England, it became “something unexpected and totally itself.” Reviewing some early sizzle material, what stood out to me was its ambitious scale, with a host of locations and oddball characters, alongside some rocking picture cars. Lund’s cinematography carries a surreal, voyeuristic quality that drew to mind The Chair Company and Rick Alverson’s Entertainment. Production wrapped just before Thanksgiving, so we’ll see if the comedy will be ready in time to potentially join fellow Omnes titles Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point and Eephus in premiering in the Director’s Fortnight category at Cannes. – Caleb H.
68. I Love Boosters (Boots Riley; May 22)
Writer-director Boots Riley exploded out of the cinematic gates in 2018 with the incisive, hilarious, wildly imaginative Sorry to Bother You. Then… he disappeared (outside of a single season of relatively unseen TV). Eight years later, he’s back with his sophomore feature, I Love Boosters, which wears all the signs of another visionary takedown of capitalist America, this time in the shape of shoplifters targeting a “cutthroat fashion maven.” The impressive cast for the SXSW opener includes KeKe Palmer, a returning LaKeith Stanfield, Naomi Ackie, Demi Moore, Taylour Paige, Eiza González, and Will Poulter. – Luke H.
67. The Land of Nod (Kyle Edward Ball)
Kyle Edward Ball exploded onto the scene a few years ago with his revolutionary horror film Skinamarink, and it’s only natural a major studio like A24 would grab him up for a follow-up feature. Josh Safdie (along with Elijah Wood, Eli Bush, and Ronald Bronstein) will produce Ball’s next feature, Land of Nod, with A24 distributing. Plot details are being kept a secret, but the title is a reference to the place where Cain was exiled by God in the Book of Genesis, and perhaps the classic children’s poem by Robert Louis Stevenson about “the place we go when we fall asleep.” This already seems in line with Ball’s interests, following a debut feature titled after a famous children’s song. – Soham G.
66. Send Help (Sam Raimi; Jan. 30)
Sam Raimi hasn’t made a movie since 2009. “But what about Oz: The Great and Powerful and Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness,” you might say. Those don’t count. His last true feature before descending into the depths of CGI hell was the wonderfully insane Drag Me to Hell. Here, he hopefully returns to that realm with a two-hander that suggests a B-movie spin on Cast Away. Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien, respectively, play a worker and boss who become stranded on an island. No one is better at playing smug and entitled than O’Brien, who is just enough of the worst boss in the world to make McAdams lose it. With a January release date, and the promise of a return to the more unhinged side of Raimi’s filmography, this horror-thriller might just break out from the frozen Dumpuary. – Christian G.
65. The Entertainment System Is Down (Ruben Östlund)
Ruben Östlund already broke through the Hollywood atmosphere with his last two Palme d’Or winners, Triangle of Sadness and The Square. But this newest marks his emergence as a global titan, with names like Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Samantha Morton, Nicholas Braun, Lindsay Duncan, and Tobias Menzies—on top of international icons Julie Delpy, Daniel Brühl, and Vincent Lindon—rounding out the cast. In a seeming iteration on his cruise-centric, bourgeoisie-shaming Triangle of Sadness, The Entertainment System Is Down examines the gnawing boredom that unfolds over the course of a long luxury flight when, well, the entertainment system literally goes down. If his last is any indication, it should be a riot. – Luke H.
64. Hope (Na Hong-jin)
Ten years after his go-for-broke supernatural horror The Wailing, Na Hong-jin’s long-awaited follow-up remains shrouded in secrecy despite wrapping production all the way back in 2024. The breadcrumbs that have been teased out so far sound like another ambitious, genre-defying tale: a police procedural set in a remote village near the DMZ, where a tiger sighting plunges everything into chaos––oh, and aliens turn up, played by Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander. Rumored to be the most expensive Korean film of all time, with further speculation that it’ll be split into two parts, the summer 2026 release window suggests we might finally find out all of its secrets at a Cannes premiere. – Alistair R.
63. The Dog Stars (Ridley Scott; March 27)
What hasn’t Ridley Scott done? He’s directed war movies, historical epics, feminist classics, flowery literary fantasies, dystopian sci-fis, serial killer stories, space films, survival films, fashion films, horrors, comedies, thrillers, dramas, action pictures, any angle on crime, Apple commercials, and damn near everything in between. But, believe it or not, he’s never directed an explicitly post-apocalyptic movie. 38 years and 30 features deep, the British firebrand is still finding new territory to explore. Led by the white-hot Jacob Elordi and Margaret Qualley—and filled out by Josh Brolin, Guy Pearce, and sci-fi staple Benedict Wong—The Dog Stars, an adaptation of the hit 2012 novel, envisions a world nearly erased by a virus, with the few survivors facing a whole host of strange sci-fi problems. – Luke H.
62. Wildwood (Travis Knight)
Adapted from the sprawling fantasy novel by Decemberists lead singer Colin Meloy, Wildwood has been in the works at Laika since Coraline was the only movie the Portland studio had to its name. Boasting an expansive voice cast, this dark fairytale of two Portland tweens who disappear into a haunted forest while trying to save a kidnapped baby has already been described by Travis Knight as Laika’s most ambitious effort to date. The fact it still doesn’t have a distributor despite being an adaptation of a New York Times bestseller suggests another uncompromisingly gothic tale that will give children nightmares––in other words, Laika back at the peak of their powers. – Alistair R.
61. Her Private Hell (Nicolas Winding Refn)
Little is known about Nicolas Winding Refn’s first feature in ten years, an interim that saw him rejuvenated by the deliciously irresponsible Too Old to Die Young while biding time (somewhat) productively with Copenhagen Cowboy. Whether Winding Refn’s remade an obscure 1968 film of the same name or struck entirely new ground, his bozo-who-kind-of-owns style—aesthetically precise and putrid, doom-laden while incapable of taking anything seriously, completely hateful but also woke(?)—has only been vindicated by the world at large. High hopes, too, for the collaborations with Charles Melton and Sophie Thatcher, who Winding Refn might’ve had to invent if she didn’t already exist. – Nick N.
60. zi (Kogonada)
Immediately following up his Hollywood flop A Big Bold Beautiful Journey, Kogonada returns to Sundance with zi, a smaller film set in a contained space. The program tells us: “In Hong Kong, a young woman haunted by visions of her future self meets a stranger who changes the course of her night—and possibly her life.” Kogonada also reunites with Haley Lu Richardson, who starred in both Columbus and After Yang. This is an interesting visual stylist who works best when less is more. zi feels primed as a return to form. – Dan M.
59. 13 Alfinetes (João Pedro Rodrigues and João Rui Guerra da Mata)
João Pedro Rodrigues is one of this century’s more underrated European directors, his formally daring and unabashedly queer work always turning heads at festivals (though theatrical distribution has been more sporadic). 13 Alfinetes, co-directed with his partner João Rui Guerra da Mata, is a “story of love, revenge and blood,” investigating Saint Anthony of Lisbon and the possibility of miracles in the contemporary world, set across medieval and present-day Lisbon, as well as 18th-century Madrid. – David K.
58. It Will Happen Tonight (Nanni Moretti)
While certainly not earning the kind of acclaim from his early features, I still find a lovable whimsy in Nanni Moretti’s work. Following A Brighter Tomorrow, the Italian director––who endured a major heart attack last year––will return with a new feature starring Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca shot across Italy and Spain. Plot details aren’t known, but it’s said to be a modern romance based on Eshkol Nevo’s short story collection Hungry Heart. – Jordan R.
57. Fuxi (Qiu Jiongjiong)
Qiu Jiongjiong’s A New Old Play was his Platform––an extraordinary, three-hour chronicle of Chinese history and politics bolstered by meditative temporality, wry humor, and gorgeously misty Brechtian staging. Fuxi looks to expand that opus further. Divided into four parts, each section representing both a festivity and specific state between life and death, Fuxi uses food as a through line to explore myth and mortality. Lee Kang-sheng, Lee Hong-chi, and Annie Chen star. – Blake S.
56. Resident Evil (Zach Cregger; Sept. 18)
Though his winter has been filled with award nominations and press obligations, Zach Cregger has also dedicated his time to Resident Evil. After writing and directing the wholly original Weapons to widespread acclaim and box-office success, his next project will be adapting the video game into a film nearly a quarter-century after Paul W.S. Anderson first made his own version. Cregger’s focus will be on a deliveryman caught in the middle of the outbreak, with Weapons star Austin Abrams joining Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Kali Reis. Cregger’s budgets keep getting bigger, hopefully for the better. – Michael F.
55. Frogs (Robin Schavoir and Matthew Schroeder)
Eight years since The Plagiarists, Robin Schavoir returns with a day-in-the-life comedy skewering myopias and obsessions plaguing the frightening land of Brooklyn, New York. Nothing’s been unveiled thus far (the above still of Matthew Danger Lippman and Carmen Borla is our first look) so you’re more than forgiven for not knowing the deal. But I’ve spent a few days around the set of Frogs, and everything I read and saw of Schavoir’s script proved gut-busting, buttressed with strong work from leads and supporting alike. As photographed by co-director Matthew Schroeder, Frogs should pose a dynamic riposte to exhausting social mores. – Nick N.
54. Queen at Sea (Lance Hammer)
After filming began in early 2023, 2026 finally looks to be the year Lance Hammer’s Queen at Sea will be unveiled. Nearly two decades after his last feature Ballast, the director returns with Juliette Binoche, Tom Courtenay, Anna Calder-Marshall, and Florence Hunt on the story of a woman who moves back to London with her teenage daughter amid concern for her aging mother. We’ve heard strong early word and will be just as fascinated to learn Hammer’s road to finally making another feature. – Jordan R.
53. Ink (Danny Boyle)
English director Danny Boyle’s Ink, adapted from James Graham’s stage play of the same name, follows the story of Fox News titan Rupert Murdoch. After crafting one of 2025’s best films with 28 Years Later, Boyle moves back into biographical filmmaking with, one hopes, a similar verve. And with a cast that includes Guy Pearce as Rupert Murdoch and Jack O’Connell as Larry Lamb, it seems Boyle could be back in awards play. – Michael F.
52. Alpha Gang (David Zellner and Nathan Zellner)
A Zellner Brothers movie in which Cate Blanchett plays the leader of an alien gang sent to conquer Earth? Consider us seated. Their last film, Sasquatch Sunset, came and went with little fanfare, despite grossing more at the box office then their previous pictures Damsel and Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter. This duo is truly idiosyncratic in their observations on human behavior. Their films look great and stay weird. The more Zellner Brothers movies, the better. – Dan M.
51. Let Love In (Felix van Groeningen)
Coming off his gorgeous drama The Eight Mountains, Felix van Groeningen is poised to return with Let Love In, a Belgium-set drama featuring a reunion with Luca Marinelli. Described as “one couple’s emotional journey as they question everything they once took for granted when a long-kept affair is confessed,” it sounds like smaller-scale fare compared to the vast landscapes of his previous feature, but one no less emotionally impactful. With production kicking off earlier this fall, here’s hoping it’s ready for Cannes. – Jordan R.
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