30. “The Uprising”
Working at a quick clip and immediately following up, “The Lost Bus,” Paul Greengrass directs “The Uprising,” a historical action drama set in the 1381 Peasants’ Revolt and led by Andrew Garfield, Thomasin McKenzie, Katherine Waterston, Jamie Bell, Cosmo Jarvis, Jonny Lee Miller, Woody Norman, Stephen Dillane, and Tom Hollander. The film follows the revolt’s rapid rise and violent suppression, charting the moment when a nation’s grievances ignited into full-scale resistance. Produced by Blumhouse, Electric Shadow Company, and Focus Features, it merges Greengrass’s ground-level immediacy with the brutal volatility of medieval England.
Release Date: 2026 via Focus Features.
29. “Sense and Sensibility”
Georgia Oakley, known for the arful, BAFTA-nominated “Blue Jean,” makes her studio debut with this new adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” written by Diana Reid and produced by Focus Features. The cast includes Daisy Edgar-Jones as Elinor Dashwood, Esmé Creed-Miles as Marianne, Caitríona Balfe as Mrs. Dashwood, Frank Dillane as John Willoughby, plus Herbert Nordrum, Bodhi Rae Breathnach, George MacKay and Fiona Shaw. Shot across the U.K., the film revisits Austen’s story of family upheaval, romantic expectation, and social constraint through Oakley’s intimate, character-driven sensibility.
Release Date: September 11 (U.S.) and September 25 (U.K.) via Focus Features.
28. “Bucking Fastard”
Werner Herzog directs “Bucking Fastard,” a drama starring Kate Mara and Rooney Mara as twin sisters Jean and Joan Holbrooke, joined by Orlando Bloom and Domhnall Gleeson. Written by Herzog, the film follows the twins’ quixotic quest for an imagined land of true love, which leads them to start tunneling through a mountain range. Long-time collaborator Peter Zeitlinger serves as cinematographer, with music by Ernst Reijseger. The project marks Herzog’s return to narrative features, blending his fascination with obsession and human folly with a stark, physical premise.
Release Date: 2026 (distributor TBA).
27. “Mother Mary”
Eclectic filmmaker David Lowery, director of “The Green Knight,” “A Ghost Story,” and Disney’s “Peter and Wendy,” returns with “Mother Mary.” Lowery is nothing if not ambitious, and this one is a melodrama about the relationship between a fictional musician and a famous fashion designer. Anne Hathaway is the pop star, and Michaela Coel plays the designer. “Euphoria” actor Hunter Schafer also appears, along with Sian Clifford, FKA Twigs, Atheena Frizzell, Kaia Gerber, Jessica Brown Findlay, Isaura Barbé-Brown, and Alba Baptista. The film will feature music from Taylor Swift producerJack Antonoff and Charli XCX.
Release Date: April, via A24.
26. “Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol”
A collaboration no one saw coming: Ti West, architect of the “X” trilogy, resurrects Dickens with Johnny Depp as Ebenezer Scrooge in a horror-inflected reimagining of “A Christmas Carol.” The film, set in the 1890s and steeped in supernatural dread, surrounds Depp with an impressive ensemble —including Andrea Riseborough, Tramell Tillman, and Ian McKellen. West’s shift from slasher maximalism to period Gothic suggests a more atmospheric nightmare: haunted mansions, candlelit corridors, and the ghosts of Christmas as literal monsters. With production underway and the pairing of West and Depp already sparking intense curiosity, this one sits high on the 2026 watchlist, even as a potential trainwreck of curiosity.
Release Date: November 13, via Paramount.
25. “At The Sea”
Following Cannes-favorite “White Dog,” Hungarian filmmaker Kornél Mundruczó broke out with 2019’s acclaimed “Pieces of a Woman,” earning Vanessa Kirby her first Best Actress Oscar nomination. Starring Amy Adams, Mundruczó’s latest is a post-rehab drama in which a woman returns to her family’s beach house and attempts to figure out her identity as she navigates the next steps in life. Murray Bartlett, Brett Goldstein, Chloe East, Dan Levy, Jenny Slate, and Rainn Wilson co-star.
Release Date: TBD, but some place like TIFF could be a good bet.
24. “The Entertainment System Is Down”
Two-time Palme d’Or-winning Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund, known for his social satires, follows up “Triangle Of Sadness” with a comedy about a modern-day horror: an entertainment system that fails during a long transatlantic flight and the passengers are forced to face the terror of being bored without screens or devices (oh, the horror!). The starry cast features Keanu Reeves, Kirsten Dunst, Joel Edgerton, Daniel Brühl, Nicholas Braun, Samantha Morton, Woody Harrelson and Vincent Lindon. Cannes premiere presumably?
Release Date: TBD, but A24 is distributing.
23. “Whitney Springs”
After more than twenty years away from live-action, Trey Parker returns with “Whitney Springs,” a daring musical comedy co-produced by Kendrick Lamar and Dave Free alongside Parker and longtime collaborator Matt Stone. Written by Vernon Chatman, the film reportedly follows a young Black man interning as a slave reenactor who learns that his white girlfriend’s ancestors once owned his—a premise brimming with the volatile humor and social provocation that define Parker’s work. The reported cast includes Kendrick Lamar, Chloe East, Celeste Octavia, Preston Galli, Koa Cohen, and Gee Alexander. Two decades after “Team America: World Police,” Parker’s return promises a fearless mix of satire, musical absurdity, and cultural reckoning, and a recent report suggests that Paramount will release the controversial picture through “gritted teeth.”
Release Date: While a March 20 release, via Paramount, was recently slated, it has apparently been pulled, and the film needs more time for refinement.
22. “Resident Evil”
Zach Cregger writes and directs “Resident Evil,” a fresh big-screen take set within Capcom’s universe but telling an original story rather than adapting a specific game. The ensemble includes Austin Abrams and Paul Walter Hauser, with Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson among the supporting cast. Co-written by Cregger and Shay Hatten, the reboot follows new characters caught in corporate corruption and bio-terror, aiming for nerve-jangling horror with a streak of dark wit. Produced by Sony Pictures in collaboration with Capcom, it’s positioned as a clean break from prior film continuities while keeping the series’ survival-horror DNA intact.
Release Date: September 18, via Sony Pictures.
21. “Bitter Christmas”
Pedro Almodóvar returns to Spanish-language filmmaking with “Bitter Christmas,” a tragicomic holiday drama steeped in grief, memory, and creative rebirth. Starring Bárbara Lennie, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Victoria Luengo, Patrick Criado, Milena Smit, and Quim Gutiérrez, the film follows an advertising director who, reeling from her mother’s death over a long December weekend, suffers a breakdown that sends her spiraling into a hallucinatory confrontation with her past. The film unfolds between Madrid and Lanzarote, promising Almodóvar’s signature blend of melodrama, sensuality, and emotional candor. A meditation on the fictions we construct to survive loss, “Bitter Christmas” looks to be another dazzling entry in the maestro’s ongoing conversation with art, identity, and the ache of remembrance.
Release Date: TBD, but the film already has a March 20 release date in Spain.
