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These Are The Best Movies Of 2026 So Far
These Are The Best Movies Of 2026 So Far
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From space rock buddies to haunted Irish
0:03
hotels, 2026 has something for every
0:05
kind of movie lover, even the
0:07
crime-solving sheep kind.
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It isn't just one of the year's best
0:11
movies, it's one of its biggest box
0:13
office successes. We're talking about
0:15
Ryan Gosling's majestic space movie,
0:18
Project [music] Hail Mary, directed by
0:20
Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. It
0:22
marks the second studio adaptation of
0:24
sci-fi author Andy Weir's work after The
0:27
Martian in 2015, and introduces us to
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Gosling's mild-mannered and quietly
0:32
brilliant science teacher Dr. Ryland
0:34
Grace as he wakes up alone on a massive
0:37
spacecraft. Using a non-linear story,
0:40
Lord, Miller, and screenwriter Drew
0:42
Goddard slowly tell us how Ryland got
0:44
there and what he's trying to do.
0:45
>> [music]
0:46
>> And put simply, he's trying to save the
0:48
universe.
0:49
>> I'm not an astronaut.
0:51
>> If you don't go, you die.
0:54
With the rest of us.
0:55
>> After scientists discover that the sun
0:56
is in danger of being blocked by a
0:58
strange substance they dub [music]
0:59
astrophage, Ryland and a small crew head
1:02
out to faraway Tau Ceti, the only star
1:05
unaffected by the substance, to find a
1:07
solution. When Ryland wakes up though,
1:09
he discovers the bodies of that small
1:11
crew, and while trying to find his way
1:13
home, he instead encounters a small
1:15
boulder-like alien he names Rocky. Who's
1:18
part of a race known as the Eridians. As
1:20
Ryland and Rocky work together to figure
1:22
out how to fix the astrophage issue,
1:24
they form a truly beautiful friendship,
1:27
and take it from us, even if you're not
1:29
a big sci-fi fan, you'll find yourself
1:31
crying over a little rock alien before
1:33
you know it.
1:35
In an industry that's been dominated by
1:36
big budget spin-offs, sequels, and
1:38
reboots, who would have guessed that a
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$10 million horror movie helmed by a
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20-year-old would absolutely dominate at
1:44
the box office? But that's exactly what
1:47
happened with Kane Parsons' [music]
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Backrooms. Based on Parsons' popular web
1:51
series, the film follows Chiwetel
1:53
Ejiofor's Clark, an unhappy furniture
1:55
store owner who discovers an entryway in
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the store's basement into a series of
2:00
back rooms. Liminal spaces that get more
2:02
surreal and terrifying the further he
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[music] goes. When he disappears,
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Clark's therapist, Renata Rheinweiser's
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Mary, goes looking for him only to
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discover horrors of her own. Backrooms
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relies more on making its viewer feel
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uneasy than on the cheap jump scares and
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gore that's been a horror's signature
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for decades. It's part of a more recent
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shift in the genre as a whole, away from
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basic shock value and toward more
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interesting storytelling [music]
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and unsettling imagery. And it's proven
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to be successful. Backrooms brought in
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$81 million
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in its opening weekend, making it the
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biggest debut ever for A24. It also goes
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to show that there's a real audience for
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original storytelling and it doesn't
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require a bloated budget and the same
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five actors in Hollywood to [music] do
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it.
2:46
28 Years Later wowed audiences in 2025
2:50
and its immediate sequel, 28 Years
2:52
Later: The Bone Temple, shocked those
2:54
same audiences by being even better.
2:57
With Alex Garland penning the script and
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Nia DaCosta at the helm, The Bone Temple
3:02
picks up right where we left off with
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Spike, who runs afoul of a bizarre group
3:06
called The Jimmys in this
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post-apocalyptic zombie-filled [music]
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world. Surprising even himself, Spike
3:12
gets a blonde wig and joins The Jimmys
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as they travel across the countryside,
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all the while planting seeds of doubt
3:18
about whether or not Lee Jimmy, Sir Lord
3:21
[music] Jimmy Crystal, is actually the
3:23
son of Satan like he claims. Add in a
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plot line where Doug Ditty and Kelsum,
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played by the great Ralph Fiennes, tames
3:29
an infected man he's named Samson and
3:31
sings a little number of the Beast
3:32
[music] to impress The Jimmys and you've
3:34
got a great movie. Dropping in Mayden
3:36
makes this movie awesome by itself and
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we're not even factoring in the huge
3:40
surprise cameo at the very end.
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Grotesque horror king Sam Raimi does it
3:44
again with Send Help. [music] Even if
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you're not great with gore, you'll
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absolutely want to check out this
3:50
absurd, hysterical, and jaw-dropping
3:52
movie. We first meet Rachel McAdams'
3:54
Linda Little at a corporate strategy
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[music] job, a job where she turns off
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her coworkers by eating tuna fish
4:00
sandwiches in an open-air office.
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>> Linda, Prego, forgot to mention I've
4:04
received a few complaints about you.
4:06
>> Complaints?
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>> Not sure it's orders.
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>> She's devastated when she's passed over
4:12
for a promotion by her boss, Dylan
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O'Brien's [music] Bradley Preston, who
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inherited the company from his father.
4:17
Still, Linda gets included on a business
4:19
trip, [music] and while Bradley and
4:21
other men from the company laugh at her
4:23
audition tape for the next Survivor, the
4:25
private plane they're on crashes, and
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Bradley and Linda land on a seemingly
4:29
remote island as the only survivors.
4:32
Linda, and surprisingly is perfectly
4:34
capable of surviving in the wilderness,
4:36
while Bradley is not. [music] And
4:38
everything that follows the pair's
4:39
unexpected marooning is horrifying,
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weirdly exhilarating, and wholly
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shocking.
4:45
Based on Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol's
4:47
web series turned TV series, Nirvana the
4:49
Band, the show The Movie is without
4:51
question one of 2026's funniest and most
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unique films.
4:56
Johnson and McCarrol star as fictional
4:58
versions of themselves who front an
4:59
unsuccessful group called Nirvana the
5:02
Band. After almost two decades of
5:04
[music] flailing, Matt and Jay are
5:06
trying to book a gig at Toronto's
5:07
incredibly famous Rivoli venue. But as
5:10
they plan increasingly hairbrained
5:12
schemes to make that happen, they
5:14
accidentally turn their RV into a time
5:16
travel device and are sent back to 2008.
5:20
Nirvana the Band the show The Movie is
5:22
uproariously funny, gloriously stupid,
5:25
and yet another excellent comedic entry
5:27
into the well-trodden time travel genre.
5:30
Even if you're totally unfamiliar with
5:32
Johnson and McCarrol's work, you'll
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absolutely love the abject silliness of
5:36
this.
5:37
Kristoffer Borgli's 2026 follow-up to
5:40
his indie hit [music] Dream Scenario
5:41
gives audiences one of the biggest and
5:43
weirdest twists of the entire year. And
5:46
it's also without question one of the
5:48
best movies released this year. As
5:50
Boston couple Emma and Charlie prepare
5:52
for their wedding, they enjoy a late
5:54
night tasting with their friends Rachel
5:56
and her husband [music] Mike and start
5:58
spilling secrets casually over wine.
6:00
Asked about the worst thing any of them
6:02
have done, Mike, [music] Rachel, and
6:04
Charlie all giggle over some pretty
6:06
nasty wrongdoings.
6:08
>> [music]
6:08
>> But when Emma confesses her secret,
6:10
everyone, including Charlie, views her
6:12
[music] differently. We won't spoil
6:14
Emma's secret in the drama here, though
6:16
it's all over the internet, but trust us
6:18
when we say that it isn't so much a
6:20
proper twist [music] as it is a twisted
6:22
inciting incident that sets up a number
6:24
of totally different twists.
6:26
Despite how dark it gets, the drama is
6:29
perversely funny. Centered by truly
6:31
astounding performances from modern
6:33
treasures Zendaya and Robert Pattinson,
6:35
[music]
6:36
and might even get you to shout at the
6:37
screen once or twice as the characters
6:39
make absolutely deranged [music]
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decisions.
6:42
Anne Hathaway appears in a whopping five
6:45
movies in 2026, and at least one of them
6:48
is one of the year's best. Her
6:49
psychosexual pop star drama Mother Mary,
6:51
[music] directed by David Lowery, who's
6:54
best known for the avant-garde fantasy
6:56
drama The Green Knight, Mother Mary
6:58
centers around a pop star looking to put
7:00
together a comeback show. Having
7:01
survived a terrifying on-stage accident
7:03
at her last public performance, Mary
7:05
wants to reinvent herself. And when she
7:07
loses it over the dress she's supposed
7:09
to wear, she flees to a remote estate in
7:11
the English countryside and seeks help
7:13
from her estranged friend and fashion
7:15
designer Sam Andsellam, played by
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[music] Michaela Coel.
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>> A day without your music.
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>> Why?
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>> Because I don't want to hear it.
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>> We definitely don't want to spoil the
7:25
major beats of Mother Mary here, but
7:28
let's just say that the movie focuses on
7:30
artistic integrity and expression, where
7:32
artists find inspiration, or in Mary's
7:35
case, what happens when they seem to
7:37
lose their vision, and the price that
7:38
some will pay to achieve true
7:40
perfection. Come for the surreal, the
7:42
supernatural, and the unbelievable
7:43
[music]
7:44
on-screen fashion, but stay for the
7:46
simmering tension between the film's two
7:48
incredible lead performers.
7:50
Like Cain Vazquez, Corey Barker is an
7:52
up-and-coming [music] filmmaker who got
7:54
his start via YouTube. The 26-year-old
7:56
makes his feature film debut with
7:58
Obsession, which he wrote, [music]
7:59
directed, and edited. The horror flick
8:02
stars Michael Johnston as Bear, a
8:04
younger man with feelings for his friend
8:06
Nikki, played by Indie Navarrete. When
8:08
Bear gets his hands on a novelty toy
8:10
that promises to grant a single [music]
8:12
wish, he uses it to wish for Nikki's
8:14
love. He gets it, and of course, things
8:16
go horribly wrong from there. At its
8:18
very basic core, the premise of
8:20
Obsession probably sounds like something
8:22
you've seen before, but thanks to an
8:24
absolutely outstanding performance by
8:26
Navarrete as a completely [music]
8:27
unhinged Nikki and Barker's fresh
8:29
direction, what starts as a simple idea
8:32
gets turned up to 11 before going
8:34
totally off the rails. Obsession is
8:36
proof that with the right cast and crew,
8:38
anything can be turned [music] into
8:39
nightmare fuel, even a game of Jenga.
8:42
Ever since Damian Mc Carthy's 2024 indie
8:45
horror movie Oddities scared the
8:47
audiences [music] out of their seats,
8:48
they've been waiting to see the Irish
8:50
filmmaker's next project, and they won't
8:52
be disappointed by Hocus.
8:54
This scary movie stars Adam Scott as
8:57
cantankerous American author Ohm
8:59
Bowerman, [music] who's headed to a
9:00
rural lodging in Ireland called the
9:02
Bilberry Woods Hotel to finish a super
9:04
popular conquistador trilogy.
9:06
>> [music]
9:07
>> He also, and this is important, chooses
9:09
the Bilberry because it's where his
9:10
parents spent their honeymoon decades
9:12
prior. After brushing off most of the
9:14
staff at the hotel, Ohm settles in to
9:16
write, but before long, he [music]
9:18
starts noticing some pretty spooky
9:21
happenings.
9:25
As with many other picks on this [music]
9:26
list, you should go into Hocus blind if
9:29
you can. But just be warned that if
9:31
you're easily spooked, this particular
9:33
horror flick might not be a great fit
9:35
for you.
9:36
If you're actively seeking a movie that
9:37
will have your hair standing on end
9:39
though, get your tickets now. McCarthy
9:42
has a particularly frightening brand of
9:44
horror, but it's Scott's lead
9:46
performance that's truly phenomenal
9:47
here.
9:48
Over the past several years, Pixar has
9:51
been leaning on legacy sequels a bit
9:52
more often, but they still make plenty
9:55
of great original projects, and Hoppers
9:57
is the latest entry into that canon.
9:59
This extraordinarily fun and smart movie
10:01
is led by Piper Curda as Mabel, a
10:04
college student has been passionate
10:06
about animals and the environment since
10:08
she was very young. After her beloved
10:10
grandmother passes away, Mabel is
10:12
horrified to hear that her Oregon town
10:14
of Beaverton, led by Mayor Jerry,
10:15
[music] is prepared to bulldoze a nearby
10:17
glade to build a freeway.
10:19
Shortly thereafter though, she finds out
10:21
that her favorite professor, Dr.
10:23
Samantha Sam Fairfax, is creating a
10:25
technology that allows a human to hop
10:28
into an animal's body and experience
10:30
their life.
10:31
>> Guys, this is like Avatar.
10:33
>> This is nothing like Avatar.
10:35
>> Mabel, as a result, hops [music] into
10:37
the animatronic body of a beaver,
10:39
befriends some actual critters,
10:41
including King George, a beaver monarch
10:43
known as the mammal king, and tries to
10:45
convince her fellow humans to spare the
10:47
glade. With an ensemble cast that
10:49
includes Jon Hamm, Cathy Najimy, and
10:51
Bobby Moynihan, this is an animated
10:53
adventure made for both kids and adults.
10:56
Definitely check out Hoppers if you
10:57
haven't already. It'll give you a lot to
11:00
chew on.
11:01
Sorry.
11:02
If you're not familiar with super niche
11:04
internet sketch comedy from the 2000s,
11:06
and uh more specifically one group
11:08
called Britanick, you'll love Pizza
11:10
Movie. If not, you'll still probably
11:12
love Pizza Movie. Written and directed
11:14
by Brian McElhaney and Nick Kocher,
11:15
[music] the duo known as Britanick,
11:18
Pizza Movie stars Stranger Things alum
11:20
Gaten Matarazzo as college student Jack,
11:22
who spends most of his time with his
11:24
best friend Montgomery, played by Shawn
11:26
Janbroni. Yes, [music] that's the kid
11:28
from The Goldbergs. I know you were
11:30
wondering, wait, is that Yes, he Anyway,
11:33
both are bullied and struggling with the
11:34
social aspect of college when one night
11:37
they decide to indulge in some
11:38
mind-altering drugs known only as mints.
11:41
[music]
11:42
And when the effects hit THEM EXTREMELY
11:44
HARD,
11:46
>> [screaming]
11:52
>> THE DUO CHASES DOWN A PIZZA delivery
11:54
robot to get food as quickly as
11:56
possible.
11:57
Pizza Movie charts all the distinct
11:58
phases of Jack and Montgomery's brains
12:01
on mints. [music]
12:01
So, we should say here that if stoner
12:03
comedies aren't your jam, you might want
12:06
to sit this one out. Still, for our
12:07
money, Pizza Movie is fun, stupid in a
12:10
distinctly great way, [music]
12:11
and an absolutely delightful use of 97
12:13
minutes. Why not pair it with your
12:15
favorite pie?
12:16
Call it the Paddington effect because
12:18
this cozy British movie that's
12:20
ostensibly meant for children took the
12:22
world by storm when it premiered in
12:23
2026. [music]
12:25
The Sheep Detectives from Kyle Balda and
12:27
Craig Mazin is based on Leonie Swann's
12:30
novel Three Bags Full. The film
12:32
introduces audiences to Hugh Jackman's
12:34
George Hardy, a friendly shepherd living
12:36
near the small English town of [music]
12:37
Denbrook, who corrals a flock of sheep
12:40
and reads them lurid murder mysteries
12:42
every single day. When George himself
12:44
turns up dead, the sheep, including
12:46
their de facto leader and murder mystery
12:48
expert Lilly, spring into action and
12:51
decide [music] it's up to them to solve
12:52
the crime using all of the tools George
12:55
gave them during their reading sessions.
12:57
On paper, The Sheep Detectives looks and
12:59
sounds like an absurd or even flat-out
13:02
dumb premise. [music]
13:03
In practice, The Sheep Detectives is
13:05
shockingly charming, witty, and warm.
13:08
And you'll be absolutely thrilled
13:09
watching [music] this intrepid flock of
13:11
sheep avenge the man who showed them
13:13
kindness and love throughout his life.
13:15
The Sheep Detectives is fun for the
13:16
whole family, but even the most cynical
13:18
adults will find something to love here.
13:20
Just make sure you don't get the wool
13:22
pulled over your eyes.
13:25
I am so sorry.
