Top 10 Most Anticipated Fall 2026 Movies

Top 10 Most Anticipated Fall 2026 Movies

I cannot believe it, but August is almost over. School has started back up again for everybody which means it is time to look at the rest of the year. So today I am giving you my 10 most anticipated for the fall 2026 (or the rest of 2026 because some of these release in the winter). So here we go!

10. Whalefall (October 16th, 2026): This is one that wasn’t really on my radar until the first trailer dropped a few months back, and since then we’ve gotten another trailer and it sort of just solidified that this is a movie that I’m very excited for. If you do not know what this movie is, it is about this scuba diver who gets swallowed by a sperm whale and has an hour to survive. Watching the trailers for the movie, it seems like a movie that is worthy of being seen on the big screen. Even watching the trailer, it made me scared in all the right ways. You feel the claustrophobic nature of being trapped inside of a whale, you have that sense of fear that comes from drowning, and the ick factor of being trapped inside of a whale with all his guts in there too. From there, you have Austin Abrams as the lead of the film who was in Weapons, my favorite movie of 2025 and he was a standout. I love that he is getting to star in more movies, we will talk about another one of his movies later. You also have Josh Brolin in here, and I love Brolin as an actor. I am curious if this movie can keep that urgency and danger that the trailers promise for 90 minutes, if it is then I think this could be one of 2026’s best movies. 

9. Resident Evil (September 18th, 2026): This is the other film from Austin Abrams this year, it does not only star an actor from Weapons, but it is directed by Zach Cregger, the director of Weapons. Weapons was my favorite movie of last year; I have seen it multiple times and I love it every single time. Naturally, I was just excited for whatever Cregger was going to do next. For disclosure, I have not played a single Resident Evil video game or seen a single Resident Evil movie. My excitement for this movie is based on the director and the trailers. Both of which are why this movie is on the list. As somebody who has no exposure or knowledge of the world of mythology, I am just excited to watch this movie and dive into this world and learn more about it. One of the things I loved about Weapons was the directions from Zach Cregger and creating this creepy environment and setting and based on the trailers, it looks like he is doing that again with this movie. What I love about the trailers is I do not really know what this movie is about or the order of things. That is when you know you have a great trailer, when it is building excitement and dread but not really knowing what the film is about. 

8. Forgotten Island (September 25th, 2026): I am not the target audience for this movie, but the closer we get to the film the more I am looking forward to it. The reason for that is because this is a movie that Dreamworks seems to have a lot of faith in. The reason that is because they have already started screening this movie. They screened this movie at CinemaCon back in April, which is about five months out. You do not screen your movie five months out if you do not have a lot of faith in your movie. Beyond that if you look at the tweets that came out of CinemaCon, all of them are extremely positive. Some of the language used in the reviews have me very curious to check it out. There was one tweet from Jonathan Sim describing the film as The Hangover for families. I do not really know what that means, but that is intriguing and I am excited to see what that means. A lot of the reviews even said this is a front runner for the best animated feature at the Oscars. Beyond that, Dreamworks has been doing a lot of great and interesting animated movies, The Wild Robot was my favorite movie of 2024. We will see if this movie lives up to that movie or the praise by it seems like this could be another standout of the year.

7. Ray Gunn (December 25th, 2026): This is the only movie on the list that we do not have a trailer for. Once we get a trailer for this movie, it could move up or down on this list. If you do not know what this movie is, this is the latest animated film from Brad Bird. He chose to do this movie over directing Incredibles 3, he turned down directing a film that could make a $1 billion, to make a more personal film that he is passionate about. I love Brad Bird; I have not seen Tomorrowland but all the other movies I think are fantastic. The Incredibles is my favorite animated movie of all time so the fact he is doing another animated movie; that is an original movie has me excited for this movie. Beyond that, it stars Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson, so we are getting an Iron Man 2 reunion with this movie. It is described as this futuristic noir mystery film, so with this being directed by Brad Bird with two actors that I like, this is easily one of my most anticipated movies of 2026. 

6. Wild Horse Nine (November 6th, 2026): Another film that has Sam Rockwell in it, and there’s multiple actors having multiple movies coming out this year. This is from director Martin McDonagh who did The Banshees of Inisherin a few years back, and that was one of my favorite movies of that year. I am just excited to see his next movie, and it seems different from The Banshees of Inisherin. From there, we have a great set of actors in this movie. Sam Rockwell, John Malkovich, and Steve Buscemi, those are fun actors and you give them a crazy and wild script, and they are going to deliver with it. Beyond that, McDonagh’s last couple of films, with The Banshees of Inisherin and Three Billboard Outside Ebbing, Missouri have been major awards contenders. I am just inherently curious if this film will be another awards contender, the tone of this film feels a bit more fun and comedic and sometimes those films do not always play well with the Oscars voters. But he does do high-quality films, so I hope Wild Horse Nine is another great film from him. 

5. Primetime (September 25th, 2026): Robert Pattinson is another one of these actors that is having quite the year with appearing in multiple films (we will talk about another one of them later). Primetime seems like such a fascinating movie and tells a story that I am not familiar with. I did not know who Chris Hansen was until I saw the first trailer. I of course heard about Dateline; my mom is actually a big fan of that show. Seeing a movie that is about the origins of that is interesting to me. You have this movie about Hansen to exploit sexual predators but is exploiting them for entertainment a good thing. There are just all these interesting questions that the trailers are asking, and I am excited to see how this all plays out in the film. Also, Robert Pattinson is continuing to show that he is one of the best actors working today. He is balancing his career well where he is doing the big Christopher Nolan blockbusters, The Batman, and Dune: Part III, but he is also doing smaller stuff like this. The trailers have absolutely worked for me, I am excited to check this movie out and I hope that Robert Pattinson can get an Oscar nomination out of it. 

4. Dune: Part III (December 18th, 2026): Another film that has Robert Pattinson in it, but this time he is playing our villain. I have not been as crazy about the Dune movies as a lot of people are, they are still good movies, but I am not in love with them as many other people are. With that said, my excitement going into Dune: Part III, is the highest it has been for a Dune movie. I think the reason for that is that I liked Dune: Part II a good bit more than Dune (2021), I was still excited for Dune: Part II, but since every film thus far has gotten better and better, I have faith that Dune: Part III could be better than the previous two films. Also, this film is the concluding chapter in the Dune trilogy, so there is a lot of excitement and curiosity on my end wondering how exactly this story is going to end and if Denis Villeneuve can land the ship and provide a satisfying ending. Beyond that, WB has already done a few in-house test screenings of the film and all the buzz coming out of it has been incredibly positive and people are loving it. Besides, just being a part of a DUNESday is going to be a lot of fun and I am looking forward to being a part of an event like that. 

 3. Clayface (October 23rd, 2026): When they first announced this film, I was very skeptical about the idea. I found it weird that we are doing a Clayface move in the DCU before Batman is even introduced. I still find that to be weird, but both trailers we have gotten for this movie have been fantastic and a lot of concerns and skepticism about the film are almost gone. I love that Clayface is pulling inspiration from body horror films like The Substance, and so this film doesn’t at all feel like a typical comic book movie. I like it when these movies pull in inspiration from outside genres and that is what they are doing with Clayface. DC was able to make a great Joker movie that felt like Taxi Driver, and I thought that was a great movie, I loved it. If they can capture some of the magic of Joker and bring another great Batman villain to the big screen but do something different with it, then this movie could be cool and another great comic book movie. I believe this will be the first full blown comic book horror movie, and I love that it is Clayface, a great Batman villain. 

2. Digger (October 2nd, 2026): As soon as I saw the first official trailer they released, I thought to myself and even Tweeted Digger is going to be one of the more polarizing films of the year. I do not have any evidence to back that up, that could be false. I think the reason for that is because it’s a film that WB gave Alejandro G. Iñárritu has $125 million to do whatever he wants, and I love that WB is giving directors that much freedom in an era where so many movies feel corporate. Beyond that, I love that Tom Cruise is starring in it. I do not know what my excitement level for this movie would be if Cruise was not starring in it. I know people do not really like Tom Cruise because of Scientology and that is fair, but he is a great actor. It’s easy for people to forget that he is a great actor because he’s spent the last 10 years doing either Mission Impossible or Top Gun movies, and while those movies are great inherently, they’re movies that aren’t designed to showcase Tom’s full acting range you watch Digger and it’s the sort of movie that reminds you that he’s a great actor and very versatile. Beyond that, you have some great actors with John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, and Jesse Plemons in here too. I dug the trailer for this movie, I do not think it is going to be for everybody, and that is ok, I am just excited to see it. 

1. Avengers: Doomsday (December 18th, 2026): Like most people, I have been skeptical and nervous about the film because it was a course correction movie and felt like a desperate move to bring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and the X-Men back. The first couple of trailers they have released have not been great, but the latest trailer we got at D23 that fully won me over. The reason for that is because that trailer sold us more on Doctor Doom’s threat and exactly what he is doing. It might be simple as he lost his family, and he sees The Avengers have families and he wants to take them from him. Right there, we understand Doom’s motivation and we get why all these different characters and universes must come together. Even some of the dialogue with Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, showing a history with him. From there, the nostalgic angle on the film is working for me and getting exciting. I love that we are getting the X-Men in their classic costumes, especially James Marsden and I hope this movie redeems Cyclops. Seeing our MCU trinity of Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, and Chris Hemsworth all return in this movie has the MCU fanboy inside of me excited. I already have my tickets to see this movie opening night with my dad, it is a tradition of ours to see the Avengers on the big screen. I hope this movie is great and it is something special that is going to be this cultural event, maybe not on the same level as Infinity War or Endgame, but another great theatrical experience.