As the best performances of 2025 collect golden statuettes, the upcoming calendar year promises an equal (if not greater) embarrassment of riches. With major Hollywood blockbusters, international indies, and everything in between, 2026 is shaping up to be a must-watch for great cinematic achievements and the performances that carry them.
Our list of 10 highly anticipated movies come from stalwart filmmakers, each of whom have directed acclaimed performances in the past, and who have cast equally masterful actors in their next leading roles, making the year to come especially exciting for big-screen entertainment.
“Disclosure Day” (June 12)
Performance to watch: Emily Blunt
Steven Spielberg, Hollywood’s greatest purveyor of sentimental blockbusters, returns to UFO territory with “Disclosure Day,” a tale of humanity discovering extraterrestrial life in ways that dislodge our spirituality and sense of being. The legendary John Williams composed the score, the great Janusz Kamiński—Spielberg’s go-to cinematographer since “Schindler’s List” in 1993—is on DP duties, and the cast is led by Oscar nominee Emily Blunt, whose Kansas City TV meteorologist becomes an unwitting antenna for the arriving alien species. Forced to speak in tongues (or rather, in unfamiliar clicks) on air, she’s both an observer and participant in the Earth-shaking spectacle, making for a thrilling acting challenge.
“The Odyssey” (July 17)
Performance to watch: Matt Damon
A director synonymous with large-scale cinema, Christopher Nolan’s obsession with full-frame Imax film reaches its zenith in “The Odyssey,” the first feature shot entirely in the format. Nolan’s work, often revolving around men powering through dire circumstances to make their way home, has taken various forms across the decades. But that theme is likely to be simplified (and concentrated) in his adaptation of Homer’s great Greek poem, which stars Matt Damon in the harrowed role of Odysseus, an epic hero trying to keep his promise to his wife (Anne Hathaway) and son (Tom Holland)—even if it means battling mythical beasts on his perilous journey back to his family.
“Digger” (Oct. 2)
Performance to watch: Tom Cruise
Little is known about the plot of “Digger,” other than it centers on the self-proclaimed “most powerful man in the world” causing a disaster and trying to subsequently save humanity. From unique stylist Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the black comedy casts Hollywood A-lister Tom Cruise in the title role of Digger Rockwell, a performance that seems—from the movie’s lone trailer thus far—to involve both exaggerated movements and old-man makeup. As Cruise’s first nonaction role since the 2012 musical “Rock of Ages,” the project will serve as an intriguing look at the elder statesman’s post–“Mission: Impossible” career.
“The Social Reckoning” (Oct. 9)
Performance to watch: Jeremy Strong
The long-awaited follow-up to David Fincher’s “The Social Network”—a modern classic—sees original screenwriter Aaron Sorkin assume the director’s chair for a story about the 2021 whistleblower leak that revealed Facebook’s complicity in political atrocities. Less of a sequel and more of a companion piece, the film features “Succession” alum Jeremy Strong in the role of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the part that once earned Jesse Eisenberg his first Oscar nomination. Strong has long been known to swing for the fences with his psychological commitment and off-the-wall decisions, making his appearance as the tech billionaire one of the year’s most exciting biopic parts.
Jeremy Strong and Aaron Sorkin Credit: lev radin/Shutterstock
“Dune: Part Three” (Dec. 18)
Performance to watch: Timothée Chalamet
After his two-part adaptation of Frank Herbert’s first “Dune” book, sci-fi maestro Denis Villeneuve turns his attention to the author’s “Dune Messiah,” a tale of ancestral memory. With brutalist designs and enrapturing soundscapes, Villeneuve has carved out space for unique atmospheres in a Hollywood increasingly averse to artistry, which will no doubt apply to his trilogy-capper. Most alluring of all, however, is that the series will still be led by Timothée Chalamet, whose prophesied hero assumed the role of a twisted, genocidal emperor at the end of “Dune: Part Two”—the consequences of which will likely be front and center in Villeneuve’s latest space opera.
“Dune Part Two” Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
“Avengers: Doomsday” (Dec. 18)
Performance to watch: Robert Downey Jr.
For the waning Marvel universe, a return to formula may not be the worst thing. Directors Joe and Anthony Russo have proved themselves within this sandbox, and their return in “Avengers: Doomsday” brings not only familiar faces from this and other beloved franchises—among them, 20th Century Fox’s X-Men—but they’ve also cast “Iron Man” actor Robert Downey Jr. in the villainous role of Doctor Doom, one of Marvel comics’ greatest characters. Coming off his Oscar win for “Oppenheimer,” the role of Doom is likely to provide Downey Jr. with fun and operatic material, as worlds collide en route to Marvel’s next big entry the following year, “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
“Werwulf” (Dec. 25)
Performance to watch: Lily-Rose Depp
After his resplendent remake of the 1922 vampire classic “Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror,” horror-drama specialist Robert Eggers digs even deeper into folklore with the 13th century–set “Werwulf,” a film reportedly steeped in period-accurate language and designs. At its center is Lily-Rose Depp, an actor who proved herself in 2024’s “Nosferatu” with a shockingly rapturous performance, making the duo’s continued partnership all the more exhilarating. Little is known about Depp’s part at this time, but if the set photos are anything to go by, her transformation might be just as much of a selling point as that of any onscreen lycan.
Lily-Rose Depp in “Nosferatu” Credit: Aidan Monaghan/Focus Features
“Fjord” (TBD)
Performances to watch: Renate Reinsve and Sebastian Stan
The latest film from master Romanian dramatist Cristian Mungiu, the festival-bound “Fjord” sees Marvel mainstay Sebastian Stan re-team with his “A Different Man” co-star Renate Reinsve. The tale of a Romanian father and Norwegian mother who become engulfed by a social maelstrom when accused of disturbing behavior toward their children, “Fjord” promises to unfold in the same vein as Mungiu’s previous movie “R.M.N.,” in which immigrant newcomers to a small town upset its social fabric. Coming off acclaimed roles in films like “The Apprentice” (2024) and “Sentimental Value” (2025), Stan and Reinsve play Mihai and Lisbet Gheorghiu, who relocate their family from Romania to the tiny Norwegian village where Lisbet was born, perhaps at their own peril.
Credit: lev radin/Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock
“King” (TBD)
Performance to watch: Shah Rukh Khan
For decades, melodramatic megastar Shah Rukh Khan was the Bollywood industry’s greatest romantic lead, but his turn to action in recent years—at the age of 60, no less—has proven especially explosive. His latest, “King,” is said to be inspired by Luc Besson’s “Léon: The Professional,” in which a weathered assassin takes a young girl under his wing (a role set to be played by Khan’s own daughter, Suhana Khan). At the movie’s helm is director Siddharth Anand, Khan’s collaborator on the 2023 espionage action bonanza “Pathaan,” which brought the actor out of semi-retirement after several years, and proved he could still set the screen ablaze with his effortless charisma, while aging like fine wine.
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” (TBD)
Performances to watch: Gillian Anderson and Hannah Einbinder
After self-reflexive genre experiments “We’re All Going to the World’s Fair” (2021) and “I Saw the TV Glow” (2024), director Jane Schoenbrun continues their horror-adjacent descent down the rabbit hole of media and millennial memory with this meta tale of a horror remake. “Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma” sees “Hacks” Emmy winner Hannah Einbinder as a queer filmmaker tasked with relaunching a long-running slasher franchise, only to find herself psychosexually fixated with the middle-aged star who played its original final girl, played by none other than “The X-Files” mainstay Gillian Anderson. Described as an ode to sleepover classics, Schoenbrun’s latest is sure to delight and surprise by digging into unexpected psychological corners.
Credit: Fred Duval/Featureflash Photo Agency/Shutterstock