Some summers feel like the movies are just filling screens until something better comes along. This is not one of those summers.
The 2026 summer movie season is genuinely stacked in a way that hasn't happened in a while. You've got Pixar making a comeback with a story that hits closer to home than any of us want to admit. A new DC hero stepping out from Superman's shadow. Christopher Nolan doing Christopher Nolan things—this time with Homer and a $250 million budget. And Tom Holland back as the Spider-Man people have been waiting for since No Way Home left him adrift. Oh, and Star Wars is finally back in theaters.
Whether you're a superhero devotee, an animation loyalist, or the kind of person who schedules their whole summer around a Nolan drop, there's something here that deserves your full attention and a dark room. Let's break it down.
The Mandalorian & Grogu (May 22)
The summer technically starts with Memorial Day weekend, and Disney has chosen to spend it wisely. The Mandalorian & Grogu marks the first time the duo has made the leap from Disney+ to the big screen, and it's the franchise's first theatrical Star Wars release since Solo took the same holiday slot back in 2018.
Pedro Pascal returns as Din Djarin, the stoic bounty hunter with a complicated relationship to both his Mandalorian code and the small green creature he can't stop protecting. The plot involves a mission for the fledgling New Republic—rescuing Rotta the Hutt in a galaxy still adjusting to life after the Empire's fall. Jon Favreau directs, which matters. He built this world, he understands its rhythms, and he knows exactly what the audience wants from it.
What makes this interesting beyond nostalgia is the cast. Sigourney Weaver and Jeremy Allen White are both joining, which suggests the story is reaching for something bigger than the TV show's episodic format allowed. Translating a streaming series to a cinematic experience is tricky—The Mandalorian's strength was always its quiet, methodical pacing, which doesn't always survive the multiplex—but if anyone can thread that needle, it's Favreau.
This is the perfect opening act for a summer full of familiar faces in new formats.
Toy Story 5 (June 19)
Here's the honest admission: a lot of people rolled their eyes when this was announced. Toy Story 3 was already a perfect ending. Toy Story 4 was fine but felt like an epilogue that went on too long. Why go back again?
Because the premise this time is actually good—and surprisingly timely.
Bonnie, now 8 years old, is more interested in her smart tablet than using her imagination to play with old-fashioned toys. Woody, Buzz, and the gang are suddenly facing something more existential than any villain has threatened before: irrelevance. Greta Lee voices Lilypad, the tablet that threatens the need for physical toys in the franchise's fifth installment, and that framing—physical, tactile play versus screens—lands differently when you're a parent watching a kid scroll past a perfectly good toy chest.
The film is directed by Pixar veteran Andrew Stanton (WALL-E, Finding Nemo), and much of the core voice cast, including Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, return. New additions include Conan O'Brien as Smarty Pants and Craig Robinson as Atlas.
There's a version of this film that could be mawkish and manipulative. There's another version that could genuinely wreck you in the theater—in the best way—the same way Toy Story 3 did when Andy drove away to college. Stanton has the track record to pull off the latter. The early box office signs are good: previews rang up $17.5 million, the best in the franchise's history and the second best ever for an animated film. Audiences clearly still care.
This one's worth seeing with the family, yes—but also worth seeing as an adult who grew up with these movies and maybe understands the metaphor more than their kids do.
Supergirl (June 26)
DC's post-Superman momentum continues with Supergirl, and the approach here is noticeably different from what you'd expect.
Milly Alcock stars as Kara Zor-El, cousin of David Corenswet's Superman, on a quest for vengeance and truth across distant worlds. The film pushes DC into a harsher, more cosmic frontier as Kara steps out of her cousin's shadow and into a galaxy shaped by loss, violence, and the search for justice. Director Craig Gillespie—whose credits include I, Tonya and Cruella—is an interesting choice for a superhero film, and deliberately so. He doesn't come from the action genre; he comes from character work, and that's clearly the bet DC is making here.
Alcock has already made a strong impression on audiences through House of the Dragon, where she played a young Rhaenyra Targaryen with a particular kind of coiled intensity. That same quality could serve Kara well—a character who, in the comics, carries tremendous grief alongside her power.
What's refreshing about this entry in DC's new chapter is its ambition to be its own thing rather than another entry on a shared universe checklist. Whether that ambition translates to a great film is something we'll know when it opens, but the ingredients are genuinely interesting. Don't go in expecting Superman—tonally, this is heading somewhere colder and stranger, which might be exactly what DC needs.
The Odyssey (July 17)
This is the one. If there's a single film this summer that's going to define what cinema can still be when someone swings big with full creative control and the budget to match, it's Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's epic.
Billed by Universal as a "mythic action epic," The Odyssey is Nolan's first film since Oppenheimer and the first movie ever shot completely with new IMAX film technology. That's not marketing language—it means the visual experience in a proper IMAX theater will be unlike anything released this summer, or arguably in recent years.
Matt Damon leads as Odysseus, king of Ithaca, with Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Tom Holland as Telemachus, Zendaya as Athena, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, and Lupita Nyong'o rounding out an extraordinary ensemble. Nolan's longtime cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema shoots it, and Ludwig Göransson—who won an Oscar for Oppenheimer—handles the score.
Shooting locations included Sicily, Greece, Italy, the UK, Iceland, Morocco, Scotland, and Ireland, so when it's described as a global production, that's not an exaggeration.
The Odyssey as source material is almost perfectly designed for what Nolan does. It's a story about a man trying to get home, haunted by war, tested by gods, separated from the people he loves—with time, memory, and perception all functioning unreliably. Sound familiar? The non-linear, labyrinthine quality of Homer's epic maps surprisingly well onto how Nolan tells stories.
IMAX 70mm opening-weekend tickets went on sale a full year ahead of release and sold out within hours. That's a level of anticipation that hasn't been seen since Oppenheimer. If you have any interest in seeing this one on the biggest screen possible, figure out your ticket situation now—not later.
One practical note: because The Odyssey is locking down IMAX screens for a four-week run, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is shut out of the format entirely when it opens two weeks later—which tells you everything about the confidence (and leverage) Nolan brings to a release.
Moana (July 10)
Between The Odyssey and Spider-Man, it's easy to let Moana slip under the radar. That would be a mistake.
Disney's live-action Moana brings the oceanic odyssey into the real world with sweeping vistas and a renewed sense of cultural reverence. Catherine Laga'aia plays the eponymous princess, anchoring the film with a grounded, luminous presence. Dwayne Johnson returns as Maui, the shapeshifting demigod whose swagger still hides a tender heart.
The original Moana (2016) was quietly one of Disney's best animated films of the past decade—visually stunning, emotionally grounded, and less burdened by franchise obligations than most of the studio's output. The live-action version has the challenge every Disney remake faces: justifying its own existence when the original is still so beloved and easily streamable.
What's notable here is the casting of Laga'aia, a Pacific Islander actress who brings authenticity and fresh energy to a role that could easily feel like a paint-by-numbers nostalgia exercise. Director Thomas Kail infuses the journey with lush theatricality, shaping a story about courage, lineage, and the pull of the horizon. Kail comes from the theater—he directed the original Hamilton production—and if that sensibility bleeds into the musical sequences, this could be one of the more distinctive entries in Disney's ongoing live-action project.
It's a good summer afternoon movie: warm, generous, and probably more emotionally effective than you'll expect.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31)
Tom Holland's Peter Parker has been waiting in the shadows since No Way Home, and the wait is about to end.
Four years have passed since the events of No Way Home. Peter is now an adult living entirely alone, having voluntarily erased himself from the lives and memories of those he loves. He's fighting crime full-time as Spider-Man in a New York that no longer knows his name—a full-time Spider-Man—but as the demands on him intensify, the pressure sparks a surprising physical evolution that threatens his existence.
That setup is genuinely compelling. The previous trilogy was about a teenager learning to be Spider-Man. This is about a grown man who has given up everything to be Spider-Man—and what that costs. Directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, the film also stars Zendaya, Sadie Sink, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Jon Bernthal as Frank Castle/Punisher, Michael Mando as Scorpion, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk.
The Punisher's presence is interesting—Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle adds a moral dimension to the story that feels intentional. Peter existing in a world where he's anonymous, operating in the same spaces as someone like Castle, raises questions about vigilantism and identity that the MCU hasn't seriously explored with Spidey before.
It was previously meant to appear between the two upcoming Avengers films, but the timing shifted. Pascal has said the film will be the start of a new trilogy for Peter. So think of this less as a conclusion and more as a reinvention—which, if Cretton pulls it off, is exactly what the character needs.
The IMAX situation (blocked out by Nolan, as mentioned) is genuinely unfortunate for what should be a visually spectacular film. But the story sounds strong enough that format won't determine whether it lands.
A Few More Worth Noting
The headliners get all the attention, but a couple of other films deserve space on your radar.
Scary Movie 6 (June 12) brings the horror parody franchise back with Regina Hall, Anna Faris, and Marlon Wayans—original cast members who know exactly what this series is supposed to do. It's not going to win any awards, but summer needs its comedies, and the franchise still has genuine affection from people who grew up with it.
Minions & Monsters (July 1) gives families another animated option if Toy Story 5 has already been seen twice. The Minions franchise has coasted on its own silliness for a while, but the monster-movie mashup premise at least suggests they're trying something different.
How to Approach a Crowded Summer
A stacked calendar is a blessing and a scheduling headache. Here's a practical way to think about it.
If you only have time for two or three films this summer, make The Odyssey one of them—specifically in IMAX if you can manage it. That's the kind of cinematic experience that doesn't translate to a home screen the same way. Then pick based on what matters to you personally: Toy Story 5 if you have kids or if the franchise means something to you, Spider-Man if you've been following Holland's arc, Supergirl if you want to see where DC goes next.
The Mandalorian film is a genuine event for Star Wars fans but probably lower priority for everyone else—it'll hit Disney+ eventually, and its TV-series DNA might actually serve it better in that format.
And don't overlook Moana in the middle of the July chaos. Mid-summer is when theaters are packed with tentpoles fighting for the same weekend, and a well-made family film that doesn't demand maximum spectacle can be exactly the right kind of breath between blockbusters.
The Bigger Picture
What's striking about this particular summer is that it doesn't feel like a lineup built around franchise maintenance or IP extraction. The films with the most buzz—The Odyssey, Supergirl, Spider-Man: Brand New Day—all have real creative identities. They're taking genuine swings, not just filling release dates.
That matters, because audiences can feel the difference. When a studio is cashing in on a known quantity versus actually trying to make something, it shows up on screen. The best version of summer 2026 is one where audiences reward the ambition—not just the brand recognition.
Go see the ones that excite you. Bring someone to share the popcorn. And if The Odyssey is half as good as it looks on paper, try not to spoil it for anyone still waiting in line.