The back half of 2026 might be the most absurd six months of movie releases ever scheduled. I'm not warming up to a point, that is the point: between now and New Year's, the calendar as announced holds a new Spider-Man, Christopher Nolan's Odyssey, an Avengers movie, the third Dune, Shrek's return after sixteen years, a new Hunger Games, Greta Gerwig's Narnia, and Aaron Sorkin going back to Facebook. Any one of those anchors a normal year. They're all in the same six months.
So here's the slate from midsummer through December, what each film is, why it matters, and my honest read on which ones justify the babysitter. One disclaimer worn proudly: release dates are Hollywood's favorite moving furniture, several of these have shuffled once or twice already, December's pileup in particular has the look of a date-change standoff waiting to resolve, so verify showtimes near your dates and don't blame the messenger.
July: The Month Already in Progress
Moana, the live-action one, arrives July 10, with newcomer Catherine Laga'aia in the title role and Dwayne Johnson doing in flesh what he previously did in pixels as Maui. The animated original is one of Disney's most beloved modern films; the remake bets that affection transfers. The songs, at least, are pre-tested.
The Odyssey, July 17, is the event of the summer for anyone who cares about cinema as spectacle. Nolan, straight off Oppenheimer's Oscar sweep, adapting Homer with Matt Damon as Odysseus and a cast list that reads like an awards-season group photo: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Lupita Nyong'o. Shot for IMAX, budgeted like a small space program, and carrying the most interesting question of the year, can a three-thousand-year-old poem open like a superhero movie? I think it can, and I'll be in the biggest-format seat I can find on opening weekend.
Evil Dead Burn, July 24, keeps horror's most reliable franchise fed, and one week later, July 31, the big one: Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Tom Holland's fourth solo swing, this time with Destin Daniel Cretton directing and a street-level reset following No Way Home's memory-wipe ending. Sadie Sink joins, and Jon Bernthal's Punisher looms over proceedings, a pairing that promises a rougher texture than the multiverse spectacles. After three years without Spidey, expect August to belong to him.
Autumn: The Interesting Season
September brings a genuinely intriguing swing: Resident Evil, September 18, rebooted by Zach Cregger, whose horror pedigree has fans of the games daring to hope this adaptation finally lands. Video game movies are no longer a punchline, the last few years killed that joke, and this is the next big test.
October stacks three very different bets. An untitled Alejandro González Iñárritu film starring Tom Cruise, October 2, which is one of the strangest and most exciting sentences in this article, the Birdman and Revenant director aiming his chaos at the world's most committed movie star, reportedly as a comedy of sorts. The Social Reckoning, October 9, Aaron Sorkin returning to the Facebook story fifteen years after The Social Network, this time centered on the whistleblower era, with the original film's reputation as maybe the defining movie of its decade setting an unfair, irresistible bar. And Street Fighter, October 16, swinging for the video-game-movie money with a stacked, cheerfully unhinged cast.
November belongs to franchises with devoted readerships. The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, November 20, adapts the Haymitch-centered prequel novel that sold enormously, and this franchise's track record with prequels is quietly excellent. Then Greta Gerwig's The Magician's Nephew, her Narnia film, arrives for Thanksgiving, November 26, with an unusual twist: it's a Netflix production getting a real IMAX theatrical window before streaming, a distribution experiment the whole industry will be watching as closely as the film itself. Gerwig after Barbie has earned unlimited benefit of the doubt.
December: The Pileup
And then December, which as currently scheduled is simply not plausible, and I mean that with affection.
Avengers: Doomsday, December 18, the Russo brothers returning to Marvel with Robert Downey Jr. back in the fold, playing Doctor Doom this time, a casting move that remains the most audacious thing a studio has done in years. The film that's supposed to make Marvel feel like an event again, positioned exactly where Endgame's momentum once lived.
Dune: Part Three, also slated for December as of the last official word, Denis Villeneuve concluding the story with Messiah's material, which readers know is where the saga turns strange and tragic and great. Two of the biggest films of the decade currently share a launch window, which is precisely why I keep repeating the check-the-dates disclaimer, one of them, history suggests, will blink.
And Shrek 5, December 23, sixteen years after the last mainline film, with the original voice cast returning and a generation that grew up on the memes now old enough to buy their own tickets. Counter-programming an Avengers-Dune December with an ogre is either madness or genius, and with Shrek the two have never been far apart.
The Honest Priority List
Since nobody sees everything: The Odyssey and Dune: Part Three are the two I'd protect with my life, both built for the biggest screens on earth and both from directors at full power. Avengers: Doomsday and Spider-Man are the crowd events, see them opening weekend or mute half your internet. Sunrise on the Reaping and Narnia are the safest quality bets of the autumn, franchises in demonstrably good hands. The Sorkin and the Iñárritu-Cruise film are the wild cards where the ceiling is "instant classic." And the remakes and game adaptations, Moana, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, are word-of-mouth waiters, let the first weekend report back.
The Bottom Line
The remaining 2026 slate, as scheduled: Moana (July 10), The Odyssey (July 17), Evil Dead Burn (July 24), Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31), Resident Evil (September 18), the Iñárritu-Cruise film (October 2), The Social Reckoning (October 9), Street Fighter (October 16), Sunrise on the Reaping (November 20), Gerwig's Narnia (November 26), Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three (December 18 as announced, watch this space), and Shrek 5 (December 23).
Six months, a decade's worth of headliners, and at least one December date that mathematically has to move. Book the babysitters early, verify the dates late, and enjoy what is shaping up, on paper, as the biggest second half in Hollywood's modern history.
FAQs: 2026 Hollywood Releases
What are the biggest movies still coming in 2026?
The heavyweights ahead: Spider-Man: Brand New Day (July 31), Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey (July 17), Avengers: Doomsday and Dune: Part Three (both currently slated for December 18), Shrek 5 (December 23), The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping (November 20), and Greta Gerwig's Narnia film (November 26). Dates shift often in Hollywood, so confirm near release.
Are Avengers: Doomsday and Dune 3 really opening on the same day?
That's the schedule as last officially announced, December 18, 2026, and almost nobody in the industry expects it to survive; a head-to-head between films this size serves neither studio, and one moving is the historical pattern. Treat both as "December 2026" and check closer to the season for the final arrangement.
What is Avengers: Doomsday about?
Marvel has kept the plot guarded, but the confirmed pillars are the Russo brothers returning to direct and Robert Downey Jr. returning to the franchise as Doctor Doom rather than Iron Man, with the film positioned as the launch of the next Avengers-scale storyline, concluding in a follow-up already dated for 2027.
Is Shrek 5 really coming out in 2026?
Yes, currently set for December 23, 2026, sixteen years after Shrek Forever After, with Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz all returning. The date moved once already, from mid-2026 to the holidays, so pencil rather than pen.
Which 2026 movie should I see in IMAX?
The Odyssey, unambiguously, Nolan shot it with IMAX cameras for exactly that presentation, with Dune: Part Three as the December equivalent. Gerwig's Narnia is the curiosity: a Netflix film taking a genuine IMAX theatrical window before streaming, making it the rare "see it big or see it at home" choice where the big version is a limited event.
What was the biggest movie of 2026 so far?
The first half's headliners included Toy Story 5, the return of Star Wars to theaters with The Mandalorian and Grogu, Supergirl, the live-action Moana arriving mid-July, and the Minions sequel, with Toy Story 5 and the Star Wars film drawing the biggest event-level attention. Full-year rankings will be rewritten entirely by the December slate, which is where 2026's biggest film almost certainly still waits.