As we enter the new year, almost all movie- and television-related content is focused on looking back at 2025. The best of this, the worst of that, awards predictions, box office tallies, and so on. We’re no different, as we have a few features revolving around 2025 still to come, including The Bitesize Awards.

With that understanding, like we do every year, it’s time to look ahead. What are the big titles coming in 2026 that we are most excited for, be it purely for fun escapist entertainment or an early awards frontrunner? As you can see below, we all have our certain tastes… from known IP tentpoles to director-driven original stories, from sci-fi to action to horror. We even included television shows. We run the gamut.

The rules are the same as last year. We’re only focusing on the first half of 2026, so to be eligible, the entry must have a confirmed release date between January 1st and June 30th, 2026. The reason for this is that there are several films and series expected to release in the coming year, but as we’ve seen in the past, we can never really know when something will actually drop. Having this rule makes for more accurate selections while also avoiding repetitive lists in the future. Also, let’s face it, October is far away. You aren’t likely to remember a recommendation for a movie coming out in 10 months, so we’ll wait and do a “Most Anticipated 2026 Films (Second Half)” in July.

So, here is what we are looking forward to over the next six months, in order of release date. Are any of these on your list? What are you excited about?

…and if you were wondering: Yes, this intro is almost identical to the intro for our last few Most Anticipated articles. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.