15 Best Movies Of 2026 (So Far)

Believe it or not, we're halfway through 2026! Time sure does fly when the entire world is on fire, huh? Since we've reached this midpoint in the year, we decided it was time to start looking back at the films that have been released so far. Some folks will frequently complain that certain years lack good movies, but I maintain that every year is a good movie year if you know where to look. So allow us to round up what we consider to be the best movies of 2026 (so far). 

Post-apocalyptic horror never seems to go out of style. Maybe it's our collective modern yearning for a simpler life, where the drudgery of going to work and paying bills is gone and we can wander through empty, overgrown cities scavenging for useful tools and leftover tins of food. Or maybe it's just fun to watch zombies chase people and rip off their heads. Who can say.

Somewhere around the year 2020, though, a sense of post-apocalypse fatigue did start to set in. Fortunately, Danny Boyle's "28 Years Later" managed to pivot in the perfect way: The film proved to be a surprisingly tender and thoughtful meditation on death and how we deal with it. Nia DaCosta's "The Bone Temple" seamlessly picks up that baton and continues to race down the path of subverting expectations. Yes, there's a maniacal cult leader who dresses like Jimmy Savile and likes to skin people alive. But the heart of the story is the beautiful friendship that blossoms between a gentle-hearted local doctor and the big hairy zombie that he does drugs with.

The real world can often seem like it's stuck in a doom spiral that we are helpless to stop. "28 Years Later: The Bone Temple" proposes that, as the world becomes a crueler and more frightening place, it's all the more important for us to stay kind — and to hold on to our humanity. (Hannah Shaw-Williams)

We love to talk about how filmmakers should be granted carte blanche to realize their wildest visions, but we're never truly ready when they are. So it is with actor turned writer/director Maggie Gyllenhaal's "The Bride!" (exclamation mark and all), a movie as far removed from her feature helming debut on the restrained, deeply psychological "The Lost Daughter" as one can get.

To be sure, everything about Gyllenhaal's "Bride of Frankenstein" re-imagining is ratched up to 11, starting with the leading turns from Oscar-winners Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale (who more or less play to the nosebleed section). The film also chucks elements of both a lovers-on-the-run crime/romance period drama (albeit, with one-half of the duo being a proper wife-guy) and a gonzo, stylized metatextual horror/musical flick designed to allow Mary Shelley to reclaim her legacy as the creator of all things "Frankenstein" (in a very literal way) into a blender, only to leave the lid off the top, splashing its contents all about. That's another way of saying "The Bride!" is a twistedly messy delight where being "too much" is entirely the point.

Your guess is as good as mine as to how history will ultimately remember Gyllenhaal's pricey box office flop, including whether it evolves from a cult oddity into a full-fledged classic. But just as "Lisa Frankenstein" was already a great time before becoming a cult horror hit two years ago, "The Bride!" deserves to be celebrated here and now. (Sandy Schaefer)

The shock confession at the center of Kristoffer Borgli's "The Drama" isn't just an off-handed twist. It is the source of the uncomfortable nightmare engulfing the lives of Emma (Zendaya) and Charlie (Robert Pattinson), who are days away from tying the knot. Borgli's knack for stewing provocative stories in absurdist back comedy can be traced back to "Sick of Myself" and "Dream Scenario," and his latest offering is similarly messy in the best of ways. Although the gradual disintegration of Emma and Charlie's relationship is centered around a sensitive issue, "The Drama" is more occupied with the concept of emotional transparency with a loved one. Do we truly know the people we love? And can one disturbing revelation put a seemingly perfect relationship under scrutiny?

"The Drama" doesn't offer any straightforward answers. Instead, it relishes in Zendaya and Pattinson's intense chemistry, which lends to the squirm-inducing anxiety that keeps on building. While Emma's transgressions raise questions about change and accountability, Charlie's paranoia-fueled spiral lays bare the ugliness inherent within us. We're all capable of giving in to our worst impulses while being embroiled in our dramas, which are always connected to moral quandaries. At times, you'll be torn between silent shock and nervous laughter, which goes to show that "The Drama" wields its edginess with remarkable skill. Few movies have the gall to do what Borgli's film does. (Debopriyaa Dutta)

"Forbidden Fruits" is destined to be a cult classic, but we want it on the record now that we were here at the very beginning. Meredith Alloway transforms a fluorescent mall nightmare into something deliriously funny, yet vicious enough to ensure audiences never doubt the capacity for cruelty even in the prettiest packages. Set inside a hyper-curated boutique staffed by image-obsessed young women, the film spikes the exhausting choreography of performative female friendship. Faux affirmations, covert competitions, and the desperate hunger to appear effortlessly cool to stay a part of the "in-group" are rightfully skewered.

With killer performances from Lili Reinhart, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, Lola Tung, and Emma Chamberlain, and costume designs to die for, "Forbidden Fruits" is a candy-colored, maniacal satire with a healthy sprinkle of witchcraft for good measure. Yet beneath the razor-wire jokes and hyperfeminine occult imagery, there's a genuine affection for these characters and the impossible standards they've put upon themselves, attempting to swallow them whole. Once the movie surrenders to full-tilt chaos, "Forbidden Fruits" ascends to its rightful place as one of the best films of the year. (BJ Colangelo)

A non-stop fight-fest, Kenji Tanigaki's "The Furious" is already generating plenty of hype via the festival circuit. I'm pleased to say the hype is warranted — this is one of the best action movies I've ever seen, one that takes the form and genre to dizzy levels. It builds, and builds, and builds, with each fight sequence more intense than the last. This is the type of international action pic that puts Hollywood action movies to shame.

After his daughter is kidnapped by human traffickers, mute ass-kicker Wang (Mo Tse) embarks on a bloody journey to rescue her. Along the way, he teams up with Navin (Joe Taslim), a cop whose wife vanished while she was investigating the same human traffickers that snatched Wang's daughter. The duo move from one location to the next, engaging in blood-drenched fights that will have you bouncing in your seat like a kid on a sugar high. "The Furious" is the type of bone-crunching experience that reminds you of the power of movies, especially when they're full of scenes of dudes beating the hell out of each other. (Chris Evangelista) 

Damian McCarthy's utterly terrifying horror movie "Hokum" feels like the best possible adaptation of a long-lost tale of terror published in 1873. That's not to say it's a throwback or old-fashioned, but rather that it feels warped into our reality from a different age. For a movie so deliberately about feeling isolated and alone with something primal that means you harm, it's perfect. This is folk horror that smells like a campfire on a cold night.

Adam Scott, increasingly one of the MVPs of modern genre cinema, does that always impressive magic trick of playing a character so stupendously awful that you're as surprised as anyone when you end up rooting for him in the end. His journey to a haunted hotel in the Irish wilderness, first for more personal reasons and then for a more sinister mission, is the perfect kind of slow burn, the same kind of pacing that made McCarthy's previous film, "Oddity," such a creepy pleasure. Things are normal until they're not, and the supernatural terror serves as more of a setting than the driving point of it all. Rarely has a haunted hotel functioned so well, and it works wonders here not as the focus of the plot, but as the setting for a very different kind of story.

Rich in atmosphere and filled with scares that land like lightning strikes, "Hokum" proves McCarthy deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Jordan Peele and Zach Cregger when it comes to modern horror masters. (Jacob Hall)

What if you take the basic premise of James Cameron's "Avatar," as well as its environmental message, but wrap it in the most unhinged animated slapstick comedy movie of the last decade? You'd get Pixar's "Hoppers," one of the best movies of 2026 and the best thing the studio has done in years. This is a movie where an actual murder is played for laughs (because it's hilarious), openly jokes about how similar it is to "Avatar," and seems to confirm the wild unified Pixar theory.

A big reason why "Hoppers" works is due to the creative genius behind it — Daniel Chong. Best known for creating "We Bare Bears," a similarly chaotic and hilarious cartoon, Chong lets his wildest ideas take life in "Hoppers." This includes some truly messed up body horror sure to traumatize kids — the way every proper animated movie should. Most importantly, however, Chong mixes outrageously funny slapstick comedy with a rather nuanced and emotional tale of fighting for what you believe in, and managing some serious anger issues. This is an unapologetically angry movie, but not one devoid of hope. Some adults may scoff at the overly hopeful tone of the film's ending, but Chong is a sentimental at heart, and he makes sure "Hoppers" strikes the right balance of reminding us of the horrors and cruelties of our reality without fully bumming the audience out. The result will make you laugh, cry, scream in anger, then cry laughing again. (Rafael Motamayor)

Putting Olivia Wilde, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton, and Penélope Cruz in a movie together sounds like a game of Hollywood Mad Libs, but this quartet has delivered not only one of the funniest and best movies of 2026 but also four of the best performances of the year.

"The Invite" follows bickering San Francisco couple Joe (Rogen) and Angela (Wilde, who also directs) as they prepare to host a dinner with their neighbors Hawk (Norton) and Pina (Cruz). While Angela is keen to impress, Joe has been frustrated with the, shall we say, nighttime sounds of immense pleasure penetrating their walls each week from Hawk and Pina's upstairs apartment. Angela sees Hawk and Pina as the epitome of cool, but Joe doesn't even want to have the dinner at all, and he's planning on using this opportunity to finally complain about the noise.

The movie unfolds like a stage play with just these four characters interacting throughout, with a script by Rashida Jones & Will McCormack and Cesc Gay that packs every scene with overlapping dialogue that vacillates between being downright hilarious to blisteringly awkward and even painful. In fact, sometimes that all happens within just the span of a few minutes.

The actors are all operating at the top of their game, navigating a social situation that ebbs and flows with relationship woes, marital barbs, and just plain funny repartee. It's riotously hilarious, perfectly acted, meticulously written, and you couldn't ask for a better comedy. (Ethan Anderton)

David Lowery makes movies that feel like they're casting a spell on the audience, and his pop star opus, "Mother Mary," might be the most effective yet. The script, partially inspired by gothic literature, is full of sharp observations about friendship, betrayal, and sacrifice. It dips into the metaphysical, but in a way that keeps the viewer engaged and curious about the symbolism on display; you can read this movie a million different ways, and that purposeful ambiguity is one of its greatest assets.

"Mother Mary" is a small-scale production with a large-scale ambition that doesn't feel stymied by its limited budget. It seems like Lowery and his team found the most impressive way to stretch every dollar they had, especially when it comes to creating Mother Mary's stadium concert performances. One of the most creative workarounds in the film comes during a montage in which we see a silhouetted Mary ascending a set of stairs to the stage, and then immediately descending another set with an implied concert having taken place in the moments in between. But most scenes take place in a big, mostly empty barn, featuring only Anne Hathaway and Michaela Cole's characters talking to each other, and their spectacular performances are as responsible for maintaining the film's trance as its shadowy, eerie setting. (Ben Pearson)

It's high praise when a movie spinning out of a TV series can still keep source material virgins hooked. The best case of that this year is Matt Johnson's "Nirvanna The Band the Show the Movie," the latest chapter of two Canadian musicians' (Johnson and his friend Jay McCarrol playing themselves) absurd schemes to try and book a gig at Toronto's Rivoli club. How absurd? In this movie, they accidentally invent time travel — and one of the best "Back to the Future" parodies you'll ever see.

I have never seen the original "Nirvanna the Band the Show," and my only past experience with Johnson was his (much) more realistic biopic "Blackberry." But "Nirvanna" will win you over with its madcap energy just like the way the movie's Matt keeps convincing Jay to partake in his crazy plans. One of those plans? Skydiving off of Toronto's CN Tower. The Mayor of Toronto herself, Olivia Chow, is on record as loving "Nirvanna The Band the Show the Movie" so much she can overlook any and all city bylaws Johnson's guerilla filmmaking crew may have broken.

For all the singular parts of "Nirvanna," it's still a buddy movie with a familiar emotional center: Two friends whose hard times only make them see how much they need each other. Even if this is your first time meeting Matt and Jay, they'll play your heartstrings. (Devin Meenan)

"Obsession" is the latest horror film from a filmmaker best known for their comedic fare, and it's an unsettling, gnarly nightmare of a movie that feels like a twisted, adult "Goosebumps" book.

Curry Barker, of sketch comedy duo That's a Bad Idea, tells a deceptively simple story about hopeless romantic sad boy Bear (Michael Johnston), who has a secret crush on his beautiful, lovely co-worker Nikki (Inde Navarrette). Unable to bring himself to actually tell Nikki about his feelings, he instead makes a hasty decision to put his romantic prospects in the hands of a "One Wish Willow," a novelty gift that supposedly grants just one wish.

Surprisingly, Bear immediately gets his wish, but as countless tales like this have illustrated before, Bear should have been careful what he wished for. Asking for Nikki to love him more than anyone in the world, that's exactly what the "One Wish Willow" grants in the most extreme way.

Very quickly it becomes clear that whatever has driven Nikki to suddenly fall in love with Bear is not natural. Nikki's love becomes downright scary, and Navarrette delivers a stunning, terrifying performance unleashing unsettling outbursts of anger and pain and unnerving stares of longing and affection. Johnston also makes for the perfect loser, one who you never feel sorry for either, which is a very important distinction in this cautionary tale.

"Obsession" isn't just one of the best horror movies of 2026, it's one of the best movies of the year. (Ethan Anderton)

Movies in which a couple's affection turns to violent, even murderous anger have been made before; quite recently, in fact. What's so special about "Over Your Dead Body" isn't its "battle of the sexes" premise of a married couple planning each other's murder. Nor is it the twist on that premise, in which Dan (Jason Segel) and Lisa (Samara Weaving) must unexpectedly contend with a trio of home invading escaped convicts, thereby forcing the embittered duo to rely on each other for survival. It's the sharp satiric edge of director Jorma Taccone (yes, of The Lonely Island fame) and writers Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney who, along with the fabulous cast, bring such unique, hilarious, violent, subversive life to such material.

There's a surprising amount of nuance in "Over Your Dead Body," as it's not every movie that can deftly keep the tension high while throwing in some extremely dark (or even extremely goofy) humor. It helps that amongst all the gore gags (and just plain gags) there's a lot of tangible honesty in the film, right down to Segel roasting Weaving's real-life accent. Taccone's remake of "The Trip" ultimately functions as a Trojan horse of a movie, as it's perversely one of the most genuinely romantic films to come along this year. Its unfolding from relationship drama to home invasion horror to sly media satire proves that films, like people, can keep surprising you. (Bill Bria)

It's easy to be hyperbolic when describing a good movie. That said, "Project Hail Mary" is the rare movie that truly earns every bit of praise that it has garnered. It's about as good as cinematic science fiction gets. Ambitious, touching, thrilling, and visually stunning, it's one of those movies that reminds us just how f*****g great movies can truly be. Yes, it's that good.

Based on author Andy Weir's beloved novel of the same name, it centers on a science teacher named Ryland Grace (Ryan Gosling) who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, light years from home. As his memory returns, he realizes he's on a mission to stop a mysterious substance killing the Earth's sun.

Phil Lord and Chris Miller may not have had any idea how to make a movie when they made "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." Rest assured, they sure as hell know how to make one now. This movie is nothing shy of a miracle. From the sky-high stakes that pull the viewer in almost immediately to making one of the most lovable aliens in the history of aliens on screen (Rocky forever!), they nailed it.

Ryan Gosling delivers arguably a career-best performance. Lord and Miller have outdone themselves. Rewatchable and deeply satisfying, it's going to go down as one of the best movies of the year. (Ryan Scott)

If you're going to be stranded on a deserted island with a boss you can't stand, may you be lucky enough to have director Sam Raimi guiding your every step. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" reminded blockbuster audiences that the "Spider-Man" filmmaker still has the juice to make superheroes bold and imaginative again, but "Send Help" is emphatic proof that the man behind "Evil Dead" and "Drag Me to Hell" still can take us back to school. His latest effort has a little bit of everything: cornball humor (which some may mistake as "corny"), abrupt jump scares, and a disturbing amount of psychological mind games to keep us on our toes, to boot.

All this adds up to one of the year's most unique and unforgettable moviegoing experiences. "Send Help" is nothing short of a late-summer thrill ride masquerading as a January movie — one that allows the uber-talented Rachel McAdams to turn in a genuinely unhinged performance (complimentary), provides room for moments of subtle poignancy and heart, and even adds a much-needed twist on the typical "Eat the rich" storytelling mode currently dominating our entertainment. Oh, and we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that the visceral plane crash early on includes a nasty sight gag for the ages.

In lesser hands, this could've been little more than a "Lord of the Flies" or "Castaway" knockoff. Instead, nobody but Sam Raimi could've made a movie as gnarly as this. Thank goodness he did. (Jeremy Mathai)

Writer/director Emerald Fennell is one of the few mainstream provocateurs operating in Hollywood these days, and even though an argument could be made that her version of "Wuthering Heights" wasn't provocative enough, I'm still glad she's out there doing her thing. Much was made about this movie's accuracy (or lack thereof) to the Emily Bronte novel on which it's based, but Fennell's approach — to recreate the version of this story she remembers from reading as a teenager instead of making a slavish adaptation of the text — resulted in one of 2026's most visually beautiful films, and I wish more filmmakers would be similarly fast and loose with their adaptations.

The costumes, cinematography, and production design are all colorful, lush, and dazzling (remember that fireplace that has so many sculpted hands pouring out of it that it almost appears to be in motion?), and of course it doesn't hurt that two of the most attractive people in the world, Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, are heaving their way across the movie and frequently pawing at each other. Despite being marketed as an epic romance, I don't think the film is actually all that romantic (Catherine and Heathcliff are awful to each other), but it's certainly memorable, and audiences ate it up either way. (Ben Pearson)