From the blockbuster Odyssey with Matt Damon to the sequel to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood with Brad Pitt, a thoughtful guide to the best upcoming titles from great authors, long-awaited sagas and returns capable of filling theaters
Now that Checco Zalone with Buen Camino has made the 2025 box office extraordinary, surpassing his previous record of 65 million grossed in 2016 by Quo vago?, for the public whose desire to go to the cinema finally seems to have returned, as also demonstrated by the success of Avatar 3 and Zootropolis 2, a 2026 promises to be filled with unmissable visions, spectacular films and magnificent authors. In the category of great classics we must include Wuthering Heights, an adaptation of the novel by Emily Brontë, which will be released on 12 February directed by Emerald Fennell: the wait is justified not only for the fact that it is one of the most popular romantic tragedies ever, with its interweaving of love, jealousy, revenge, death, but above all because the beautiful Margot Robbie, already perfect in Barbie, and the new idol of little girls, Jacob Elordi.
There is even more expectation for another adaptation, this time from Homer, arriving on July 16: Christopher Nolan, director of Oppenheimer, Inception and The Dark Knight, raises the bar and tells the journey of Ulysses (Matt Damon) to return home to his Penelope (Anne Hathaway) after the Trojan War in an Odyssey that promises to be spectacular and dramatic, with its breathtaking views (Favignana represented Ithaca) and adventures between mermaids, nymphs, Cyclops and the sorceress Circe (Charlize Theron).
The masters will not be long in coming and 2026 will mark Steven Spielberg’s return to his beloved science fiction with Disclosure Day (June 11). The plot is very secret, but once again aliens are involved and no, they are not as good as ET The Extra-Terrestrial: the film revolves around a man (Josh O’Connor) who wants to reveal their presence to the world, while the American government intervenes to hide the evidence and an announcer (Emily Blunt) suddenly finds herself speaking to the nation on TV in a strange, indecipherable language.
Digger by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant) will arrive on October 1st, a black comedy on which total silence reigns, but which marks Tom Cruise’s return to a role outside the acrobatic and adrenaline-filled cinema in which he is more at ease. The Social Reckoning is also highly anticipated, scheduled for October 9th, if only because it is written and directed by one of the best screenwriters in Hollywood, Aaron Sorkin, who had already given us The Social Network, and focuses here on the American government’s investigation into all the wrongdoings of Facebook that took place in 2021, with Jeremy Strong ready to play Mark Zuckerberg.
The release dates are not yet defined, but the Italians are certainly not watching and are ready to fire new cartridges. There is a lot of curiosity about the new biopic by Marco Bellocchio, arriving after the TV series on Enzo Tortora Portobello, on HBO Max from February 20th: it is Falcon which the director of Fists in the Pocket will dedicate to the intertwining of capitalism and politics represented by the figure of Sergio Marchionne.
And no less awaited is certainly It will happen tonight with which Nanni Moretti will probably return to Cannes, with the story of love at first sight between Louis Garrel and Jasmine Trinca, while Pupi Avati in Nel tepore del ballet will put Massimo Ghini in the role of a successful TV presenter overwhelmed by a judicial scandal, and Gabriele Salvatores is ready to adapt with Toni Servillo The Lüneburg Variant, a novel by Paolo Maurensig, about a chess master and a student, and a secret that has its roots in the Nazi concentration camps.
Two films should arrive in spring by directors who have always hit the box office in recent years: Pierfrancesco Diliberto aka Pif adapts his novel Che dio pardon a tutti into a comedy, with the story of Arturo, a real estate agent who falls in love with the pastry chef’s daughter, even if their relationship will soon be put to the test by her rigid religiosity.
Paolo Genovese attempts to repeat the exploit of Perfect Strangers with The Sound of New Things, with Stefano Accorsi, Emanuela Fanelli, Claudio Santamaria and a new story that revolves around the unspoken secrets within the couple.
The lion’s share of the almost guaranteed grossing Stars and Stripes blockbusters will be the big films from Marvel, which continues to churn out comic book films despite the genre being in a bit of a crisis. The most anticipated on December 18th, just to cheer up Hollywood executives, is Avengers Doomsday in which the superheroes belonging to the various chapters of the Avengers, Fantastic Four, Thunderbolts and Black Panther are unleashed against Doctor Doom: an orgy of Hollywood actors mixed with the special effects that teenagers love so much.
Spider-Man will also be back in July in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, with a still dark plot and Tom Holland returning for the fourth time to wear the tights of the superhero with great powers and great responsibilities. For cartoon lovers, the unmissable Toy Story 5 will be on June 17th, with traditional toys Woody and Buzz forced to compete for the attention of little Bonnie from the new electronic gift, a tablet.
Among the most interesting proposals of American independent cinema we bet on The Bride, arriving on March 5, in which director Maggie Gyllenhaal creates a remake of the film Bride of Frankenstein, set in 1930s Chicago, where the monster couple is played by Christian Bale and the recent Golden Globe winner Jessie Buckley, and on The Adventures of Cliff Booth, which will be released within the year on Netflix but also in cinemas, and focuses on the stuntman who was already the protagonist of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood played by Brad Pitt, although this time the director will not be Quentin Tarantino, who has long announced that he will make one last film before retiring and here he writes the screenplay, but David Fincher, director of Seven and Fight Club.
