As cinema moves into 2026, the industry is marked by a slate of intriguing productions that revisit familiar stories through new lenses. Ranging from adaptations of classic literature to sequels of cult franchises, and from contemporary auteur-driven works to large-scale studio productions, this diversity outlines the defining contours of cinema in 2026. New films by directors such as Emerald Fennell, Christopher Nolan, Denis Villeneuve, Robert Eggers, Greta Gerwig, and Steven Spielberg stand out on the year’s cinematic calendar.
Bringing together actors from different generations, these productions feature names such as Jacob Elordi, Margot Robbie, Zendaya, Timothée Chalamet, Robert Pattinson, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, and Sandra Bullock. This selection brings together some of the most anticipated titles of the 2026 cinema calendar, spanning from Wuthering Heights to Odyssey, from a contemporary reimagining of the Frankenstein myth to the latest chapter in the Dune universe.
1. Wuthering Heights
The first film in our selection is Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of Wuthering Heights, which brings Emily Brontë’s novel to the screen as an intuitive and atmospheric re-reading. Scheduled for release on Valentine’s Day, the film stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie as Heathcliff and Catherine—two of the most devastating lovers in literary history. The cast also includes Alison Oliver and Hong Chau.
The release of the film’s first trailer, set to a song by Charli xcx, sparked an intense wave of debate on social media. While the collision of Brontë’s Gothic universe with pop culture references was embraced by some viewers as a bold and exciting gesture, others criticised it as an overly intrusive intervention into the spirit of the original text. This very polarisation, however, already guarantees Wuthering Heights a place among the most talked-about literary adaptations of 2026. First published in 1847, the novel remains one of the harshest works in English literature, defined by its dark atmosphere shaped around passion, class conflict, and destructive love. How Fennell will translate this dense emotional texture into a contemporary aesthetic remains the film’s central point of curiosity.
2. Michael
Directed by Antoine Fuqua and scheduled for release on 24 April 2026, Michael traces Michael Jackson’s journey from his childhood beginnings to his transformation into a global pop icon. The film stars Jaafar Jackson, the artist’s nephew, in the lead role, alongside Nia Long and Colman Domingo.
One of the most influential figures in popular music history, Michael Jackson remains a name that continues to provoke discussion—not only through his musical legacy and stage performances, but also through the controversies that surrounded him. While creative peaks ranging from Thriller to Bad turned him into a cross-generational phenomenon, allegations concerning his private life and his troubled relationship with the media have consistently prevented this legacy from settling into a seamless narrative. Fuqua’s approach is therefore already a subject of curiosity, particularly in terms of whether the film will resist reducing Jackson’s life to a polished icon story or engage with its more complex and contested dimensions.
3. The Bride!
Maggie Gyllenhaal returns to one of cinema history’s strangest and loneliest figures: Bride of Frankenstein. Scheduled for release on 6 March 2026, The Bride! reimagines a narrative rooted in the 1935 classic Bride of Frankenstein (1935), this time relocating it to the fog-laden atmosphere of 1930s Chicago.
Portrayed by Jessie Buckley, who recently drew attention for her role in the adaptation of Hamnet, the Bride appears here not merely as a figure of horror, but as a character who gradually learns the cost of existence itself. Christian Bale’s Creature stands as her inevitable counterpart within this re-envisioned myth.
Having explored the contradictions, vulnerabilities, and repressed desires of female experience in films such as The Lost Daughter and Secretary, Gyllenhaal employs the language of Gothic horror to shift the focus away from the myth itself and toward the accumulating emotions surrounding it—loneliness, desire, and exclusion.
4. The Drama
As the 2026 cinema calendar prepares to feature Robert Pattinson and Zendaya side by side in more than one project, one of the most intriguing stops of this pairing is The Drama, directed by Kristoffer Borgli. Scheduled for release on 3 April 2026, the A24 production centres on a couple on the brink of marriage, examining their relationship through a single moment of rupture. Deliberately destabilising the conventions of the romantic comedy, the film shifts toward a more unsettling, disquieting terrain.
5. The Devil Wears Prada 2
First released in 2006, The Devil Wears Prada etched itself into popular memory through its portrayal of the ruthless hierarchies of the fashion world and the hidden mechanics of the media industry, embodied by the character of Miranda Priestly. Nearly two decades later, The Devil Wears Prada 2, directed once again by David Frankel, is set to return to cinemas on 1 May 2026.
Reuniting Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci, the sequel reshapes its narrative within a media landscape transformed by digital publishing, the influencer economy, and rapidly shifting power structures. In a world where algorithms replace print magazines and editorial authority gives way to visibility wars, the central question becomes how Miranda Priestly and her circle will adapt to this new order.
6. Disclosure Day
Directed by Steven Spielberg, Disclosure Day is set for release on 12 June 2026 and reworks the director’s long-established epic storytelling mode within a contemporary science fiction framework. The film centres on a UFO incident that has sparked global repercussions, with Emily Blunt portraying a meteorologist, alongside Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo in key roles surrounding the unfolding mystery.
Blending Spielberg’s distinctive cinematic language with timeless themes of humanity, truth, and state secrecy, Disclosure Day invites audiences into an experience shaped equally by suspense and wonder.
