Which 2026 Movies Will Make $1 Billion?

Which 2026 Movies Will Make $1 Billion?

2026 is officially here! Here are the movies that I think will likely make $1 billion in the year. Let’s get started!

HONORABLE MENTIONS: These honorable mentions aren’t one that I can easily see missing this milestone. I’m including them on the list because I think it’s possible but I think the top 5 have a better chance of not being surprised if those movies make $1 billion. I’d be more surprised if these honorable mentions make it in. 

• Michael (April 24th, 2026): This is one that I’ve seen people discuss as being a possible $1 billion. At first I didn’t think it would happen simply because no biopic has ever made $1 billion. Now over the last several years, Bohemian Rhapsody and Oppenheimer both made $900 million so they were within $100 million. But considering how many biographies we’ve gotten, the fact that none have made $1 billion means that Michael’s chances are fairly slim. But the response to the trailer was very positive and broke all sorts of trailer viewing records. I think there’s a chance it makes $1 billion. In my personal life, I’ve heard people talking about it that don’t normally talk about movies. Plus, Michael Jackson is one of the biggest names in music. If this movie is a crowd pleaser and gets good reviews then I think it’s a lock for one of the biggest films of the year. 

• Moana (July 10th, 2026): The next Disney live action remake and I’m still confused as to why we’re remaking Moana just 10 years after the original film came out and just 2 years after the animated sequel came out. Regardless, these Disney live action remakes tend to do very well at the box office. If I had to put one of these three movies at #6, it would be Moana. I think the box office for this film is going to dramatically depend on its reviews. If this movie is another Snow White and a total disaster then it might be one of the biggest bombs. If this is another Lilo and Stitch, and gets good reviews and regarded as one of the better live action remakes then it could easily make $1 billion. The other thing to consider is that Moana from 2016 is one of the most watched films on streaming for the past several years. Little girls are going to be really excited for this film and are going to want to go see it. I strongly debated putting this movie in my top 5. But I think it’s more 50/50 with this one, so that's why it’s not on here. 

• The Odyssey (July 17th, 2026): This is one that I put on here simply because there’s been a lot of online chatter about this movie possibly making $1 billion. It’s sort of gotten into my head that maybe The Odyssey is going to make $1 billion. It’s in the back of my head, I don’t think it’s very likely. But it is Christopher Nolan coming off of Oppenheimer, his Best Picture winner. If he was able to make a historical drama filled with science and senate hearings a near $1 billion film, then imagine what he can do with The Odyssey, a much more cinematic adventure with big action set pieces. I debated not putting this movie on there, but it felt wrong to not at least mention it. There’s been a weird conversation surrounding this movie where when the trailer dropped a couple weeks back so many people thought that this was based on a true story or that Nolan came up with this idea. That’s weird to me and I don’t know how much of that conversation is going to hurt the film’s chances of $1 billion but it’s certainly on the table. 

5. Minions 3 (July 1st, 2026): Yes, we’re getting a third Minions movie this year. I sort of forgot about that because I’ve aged out of the appropriate age range for this franchise. This is one of the strangest franchises out there because there’s not really a lot of online excitement about these films. But they come out and make a ton of money at the box office. The lowest grossing film in the franchise is the original 2010 film, Despicable Me which made $544 million. The average box office for the franchise is $936 million, that means that the average box office is almost $1 billion. Whenever there’s a new Minions or Despicable Me movie coming out you have to at least have it in the conversation of a film to make $1 billion. Now I wanted to have this movie higher up on the list. But the last two films in this franchise, Minions: The Rise of Gru and Despicable Me 4 both made over $900 million but didn’t crack that $1 billion club. So I think this movie is easily going to make over $900 million, so that’s why it’s not higher up. But hey, it’s a Minions movie it’ll be foolish not to include it on the list. 

 

4. Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31st, 2026): The next MCU movie to come out and it’s kind of surprising having to wait over a year between The Fantastic 4: First Steps and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. But at the same time, I’m glad that Marvel seems to be focusing on quality over quantity which is good. Anyways, Spider-Man is probably the most popular superhero of all time. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is the one that people point to at the bomb or the one that underperformed, but it still made $700 million. A Spider-Man movie “bombing” is still better than the highest grossing Superman movie. Right there, we know that this movie is going to make a lot of money. Also, both of Tom Holland’s previous films made over $1 billion. No Way Home almost made $2 billion. Once again, you have to have Brand New Day in the conversation as a film that could make $1 billion. Both films were helped because of the excitement surrounding them. Far From Home was the first MCU movie post-Endgame. So there was a lot of excitement about what the future of the MCU would be like. Of course, No Way Home had Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield coming out back which made people rush to the theater. Brand New Day doesn’t have that immediate rush to go see it like Far From Home and No Way Home do. But if they can cut a good trailer and get people excited for this film then it’s making $1 billion. It’s also the final film before Avengers: Doomsday and that could cause people to rush out and see this film. 

3. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie (April 3rd, 2026): The sequel to the 2nd highest grossing film of 2023 behind Barbie. Of course, this movie has to be in the conversation as a film to make $1 billion. I was a bit surprised that The Super Mario Bros Movie made $1 billion. It was nobody’s favorite or most anticipated film of 2023 but they got the tone and vibe right that it was a great crowd pleaser. People forgave Chris Pratt as Mario because they got the most important things right. The target audience for these movies are kids and kids don’t care about who is voicing Mario. We’ve only gotten one trailer for this movie and based on that the movie just seems to be capturing the right energy and vibe that worked so well about the original. If this movie can capture the same energy and esthetic as the original then it’s 100% making $1 billion. It also helps that there’s not much competition in April so this is sort of like the only family movie coming out for a while. They’re throwing the galaxy video games into the mix which are very popular video games which could make more people show up. 

2. Toy Story 5 (June 19th, 2026): I know that people are tired of Disney and Pixar making sequels, but their sequels knock it out of the park at the box office. Zootopia 2 is currently killing it at the box office. It surpassed Frozen II to be Disney Animation’s highest grossing film. Inside Out 2 was the highest grossing animated film of all time for a little while. Moana 2 didn’t get great reviews but it still made $1 billion. Because of that, you have to have Toy Story 5 in the conversation of making $1 billion. Beyond that, both Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4 made $1 billion. People pick on Toy Story 4 for being a big step down but people love these characters. The average Rotten Tomatoes score for these films is 98.5%. This movie’s Rotten Tomatoes score is very likely to be in the high 90s. If this movie can be on the same level of quality as those films then yah it’s easily making $1 billion. It’s a weird snake eating its own tail situation where people don’t want sequels but yet when one is made it makes $1 billion. It’s a never ending loop that will stop once people stop buying tickets to these movies. 

1. Avengers: Doomsday (December 18th, 2026): If I was to predict it right now it’s that Avengers: Doomsday will be the highest grossing film of 2026. I know there’s a lot of MCU fatigue and 2025 wasn’t a great year for MCU films at the box office. It was the first time since 2011 that no MCU film made it into the top 10 highest grossing films of the year. But this is an Avengers movie and that brand is insanely popular. People will get tickets to see a new Avengers movie on the big screen. It’s the first Avengers movie in seven years. There’s this itch that fans want to be scratched with the Avengers. This is another example of a movie being nostalgia bait because you have multiple big returning faces coming back. Where of course Robert Downey Jr is coming back, he’s playing Doctor Doom. I know that people aren’t the biggest fans of that casting but he’s going to put butts in seats. It’s now confirmed that Chris Evans is coming back, he’ll also put butts in seats. We got the original X-Men coming back with Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, James Marsden, and more. There’s so many reasons as to why this movie is very likely to make $1 billion and be the highest grossing film of 2026. With that said, I think this movie will make about what Age of Ultron made which was about $1.45 billion. Unless this movie gets fantastic reviews that get everybody talking I don’t think it makes $2 billion. But between what the 2012 film made and Age of Ultron seems doable for this film.