Spielberg’s Sci-Fi Comeback with Zendaya & Pattinson in ‘The Odyssey’ – Top 13 Anticipated 2026 Films!

The year 2026 is shaping up to be a thrilling one for blockbusters and auteur films alike, featuring the return of some major names in directing. The AlloCiné cinema editorial team, consisting of four journalists, offers a glimpse into their personal anticipations, covering drama, sci-fi, animation, and both European and American cinema, showcasing the diversity of the months ahead.

Laëtitia Forhan (Head of Cinema Section):

1 – Disclosure Day (In theaters June 10, 2026)

Three years after The Fabelmans, his love letter to cinema, the legendary Steven Spielberg is back with Disclosure Day, a sci-fi film as eagerly awaited as it is mysterious. Spielberg has made his mark on the genre like no other with classics such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, War of the Worlds, and Ready Player One, showcasing a grandeur and sense of spectacle that are rare today.

Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, and Eve Hewson, the project also intrigues with the mystery that surrounds it. The first images and the synopsis released do not reveal much, but with Spielberg, you know it will be a masterpiece!

2 – Toy Story 5 (In theaters June 17, 2026)

The end of Toy Story 3 was perfect. Yet, Woody and Buzz found a way to return ten years later with a fourth installment, at the end of which the two friends went their separate ways… However, seven years later, Pixar plans to reunite them again for Toy Story 5.

Admittedly, curiosity is a flaw I dive into headfirst! I can’t wait to see what Pixar has in store for this new adventure.

The plot is straightforward: young Bonnie receives a tablet named LilyPad. The saga’s heroes must now confront their worst nightmare: abandonment. How will Buzz, Woody, and their friends cope with these new technologies that captivate children’s attention? The answer—which will interest many parents—hits theaters on June 17!

3 – Evil Dead: Burn (In theaters July 22, 2026)

He had us screaming in front of Vermines in 2023. This year, French director Sébastien Vaniček returns with Evil Dead: Burn, a new installment in Sam Raimi’s horror franchise.

Impressed by his spider film, the legendary American director contacted the young French prodigy to helm a new chapter of his saga that began in 1981. Sébastien Vaniček thus flew to New Zealand, accompanied by his co-screenwriter Florent Bernard and part of his French team.

Led by Souheila Yacoub, Hunter Doohan, and Luciane Buchanan, Evil Dead: Burn remains shrouded in mystery, but given the quality of Vermines—his debut feature—the horror fan in me is already delighted!

Not to forget: The Entertainment System is Down by Ruben Östlund, The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, Guru by Yann Gozlan.

Brigitte Baronnet (Cinema Journalist):

1 – The Unknown (Coming soon)

A French fantasy film! Director Arthur Harari, brother of graphic novelist Lucas Harari, directs an adaptation of the graphic novel The Case of David Zimmerman. A mysterious plot with a nocturnal atmosphere and body-swapping. The Unknown stars Léa Seydoux and Niels Schneider in a promising and original proposition.

2 – Night Stories (Coming soon)

Following Ava and The Five Devils, Léa Mysius returns with her 3rd feature film, an adaptation of Night Stories, a novel by Laurent Mauvignier, published in 2020. This novel won the 2025 Goncourt Prize for his latest work, The Empty House. The film will be a thriller: the story starts at a birthday party, strangers are lurking… It features a great cast: Hafsia Herzi, Bastien Bouillon, Monica Bellucci, and Benoit Magimel.

3 – Garance (Coming soon)

Following I Will Always See Your Faces, Jeanne Herry reunites with Adèle Exarchopoulos for Garance. The film follows a segment of life of Garance, an actress, not a star, who experiences highs and lows, “an intimate, friendly, and sexual revolution”. The plot will also discuss alcoholism.

Not to forget: Milo by Nicole Garcia, Unknown Woman by Marc Fitoussi, Man Skin by Léa Domenach, My Love Forever by Anaïs Volpé, A Girl’s Memory by Judith Godrèche.

Maximilien Pierrette (Cinema Journalist):

1 – The Odyssey (July 15)

Depicting a long journey home is something Christopher Nolan has done before (in Inception, Interstellar, or Dunkirk), but it was unexpected to see him tackle a peplum and a classic of The Odyssey’s magnitude. What intrigues us as the first epic images and the stellar cast, including Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, Lupita Nyong’o, and Benny Safdie, hype us up immensely.

Seeing what he achieved with Oppenheimer, we are extremely eager to discover how Christopher Nolan will blend his favorite themes with the story of Ulysses’ return after the Trojan War. And particularly, how this lover of practical effects will handle the fantastical elements of the epic tale. Truly, an event, a real, a big one. In IMAX.

2 – Digger (September 30)

No offense to the excellent filmmakers Doug Liman, Christopher McQuarrie, or Joseph Kosinski, but we had been despairing of seeing Tom Cruise with great auteurs capable of pushing him out of his comfort zone and breaking his image. Then Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu came along with this “comedy of catastrophic proportions” (according to the poster), which has everything to be the Birdman for the star of Mission: Impossible.

This story of the most powerful man in the world launched on a frenzied mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he triggered destroys everything seems even to have been written for him, and the first images suggest a Tom Cruise like we’ve never seen before, both physically and in his on-screen energy. We’re counting the days.

3 – Wedding with a Taste of Orange (no date)

When Christophe Honoré draws from his life experiences, it results in high-quality works like The High School Student or the play “Under the Sky of Nantes”. Knowing he’s going back to this with Wedding with a Taste of Orange, set during a wedding that turns into a tragedy in the 1970s, can only excite us. And the cast, mixing familiar faces (Vincent Lacoste, Paul Kircher) and newcomers (Adèle Exarchopoulos, Alban Lenoir, Noée Abita, Nadia Tereskiewicz, Malou Khebizi, Ji-min Park), promises to delight us.

4 – Resident Evil (September 16)

Maybe? The new marvel of American horror cinema, Zach Cregger (Barbarian, Vanished), will endeavor to prove that the Resident Evil universe, steeped in B and Z movie aesthetics, can be successfully adapted to film. With a movie that won’t be an adaptation of a specific game (so no Jill Valentine or Leon S. Kennedy on the roster) but will recreate its atmosphere in an original story full of zombies and other mutant creatures. Paradoxically, we’re drooling in anticipation!

Not to forget: Flowervale Street, Jumpers, No Other Choice, The Bride!, Avengers Doomsday, Clayface, Gilles United, Supergirl…

Thomas Desroches (Cinema Journalist):

1 – Coward (Coming soon)

Four years after Close—Grand Prize at the Cannes Film Festival—Belgian director Lukas Dhont returns in 2026 with Coward. Very little is known about this new feature, except that it’s expected to follow a young soldier during World War I in 1916. No doubt we will find all the strength and sensitivity that characterize the queer cinema of the director revealed by Girl in 2018.

2 – The Drama (April 8)

Before Dune – Part Three and The Odyssey, Zendaya and Robert Pattinson will be seen in The Drama, a new film by the biting Kristoffer Borgli. The two stars will portray a couple of soon-to-be-weds faced with a secret that will upheave their life plans. There’s the curiosity of seeing Zendaya in a very different role, but also the promise of a “twist” that is said to be very disturbing.

3 – Disclosure Day (June 10)

At a time when art is more threatened than ever by AI, the presence of an ever-inspiring Steven Spielberg reassures and raises hopes. Each of his new films is an event. Clearly, Disclosure Day stands out as one of my biggest anticipations, especially since it marks his return to sci-fi—alien invasion style. And all with Josh O’Connor. What more could you ask for?

Not to forget: The Bride! by Maggie Gyllenhaal, Noose Around the Neck by Gus Van Sant, I Want Your Sex by Gregg Araki, Wuthering Heights by Emerald Fennell…