The most anticipated films of summer 2026
Spanning blockbuster cinema and independent film, summer 2026’s defining releases, including The Odyssey, Rosebush Pruning and The Invite, reflect a season driven as much by risk as it is by scale.
After several years of industry recalibration, summer 2026 marks a return to movies as cultural events worth leaving the house for. The defining feature isn’t scale alone, but the range it spans, from blockbuster spectacle to deliberately disruptive indie cinema. It’s a summer of contrast. From The Odyssey’s IMAX ambition to the hotly tipped Rosebush Pruning and Olivia Wilde’s The Invite, which pushes at the edges of taste and tone, everything feels more unpredictable, and more exciting for it.
Below are eight films to have on your radar.
Rosebush Pruning
Release date: 10 July 2026 (UK)
Directed by Karim Aïnouz and written by frequent Efthimis Filippou collaborator Yorgos Lanthimos, this Berlinale-premiering satire turns a sharply observed lens on wealth, dysfunction and excess. Set within a privileged American family relocated to Spain, it spirals into something far stranger than your standard “eat-the-rich” narrative — absurd, unsettling and deliberately divisive. With a star-studded cast including Jamie Bell, Callum Turner, Elle Fanning, Riley Keough and Pamela Anderson, it’s poised to become one of the summer’s most talked-about films.
The Invite
Release date: 26 June 2026 (US, limited)
Olivia Wilde’s Sundance breakout arrives with serious buzz and an even more provocative premise. Following a couple drawn into their neighbours’ increasingly transgressive world, the film walks a fine line between satire and psychosexual drama. Starring Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, it sits squarely in that A24-adjacent space: glossy, star-led and unafraid to make audiences uncomfortable. Expect debate.
The Odyssey
Release date: 17 July 2026
Christopher Nolan’s long-gestating epic is, quite simply, the defining blockbuster of the summer. With a reported $250 million budget and shot entirely on IMAX 70mm film, this retelling of Homer’s ancient Greek myth follows Odysseus’ perilous journey home after the Trojan War. Starring Matt Damon alongside an all-star cast including Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Lupito Nyong’o and Elliot Paige, it’s both a technical spectacle and a return to storytelling at its most primal, exploring myth, endurance and identity on the largest possible scale.
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Release date: 1 May 2026
Nearly two decades after the original became a cultural touchstone, The Devil Wears Prada 2 sees Miranda Priestly return. With Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt reprising their roles, the sequel lands at a moment when the fashion and media landscapes have fundamentally shifted. Even before release, it has become one of the summer’s most visible titles, driven by an aggressive, fashion-led PR campaign spanning teaser films, magazine covers and viral moments that have already divided opinion. For some, it feels like a perfectly calibrated return; for others, a risk of overexposure before it even hits cinemas. The question isn’t just whether it can recapture the original’s magic, but whether it can say something new about power, relevance and reinvention in 2026.
Disclosure Day
Release date: 12 June 2026
Steven Spielberg returns to the territory he arguably defined: extraterrestrial storytelling. Little is known about this UFO-centred thriller, beyond a cast that includes Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor and Colman Domingo, and a premise rooted in first contact. But Spielberg’s track record in this space is enough, meaning we are expecting this to be one of the summer’s most quietly powerful releases, blending spectacle with emotional depth.
The Death of Robin Hood
Release date: TBC 2026
A darker, more introspective take on the English folk legend, The Death of Robin Hood reimagines the outlaw not as a swashbuckling hero but as a figure reckoning with legacy, ageing and myth-making itself. Directed by Michael Sarnoski and starring Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer and Bill Skarsgård, the film is expected to lean into a more grounded, character-driven tone; expect less spectacle and more psychological weight. In a summer defined by scale, this could offer a compelling counterpoint.
Chasing Summer
Release date: TBC (festival circuit 2026)
For something quieter, English-American filmmaker Josephine Decker’s Sundance-premiering comedy-drama offers a more introspective counterpoint to the season’s excess. Adapted from a screenplay by Iliza Shlesinger, it follows a woman returning to her hometown after personal upheaval, where old relationships and unresolved dynamics begin to quietly resurface. Leaning into emotional messiness over spectacle, this bright and breezy indie comedy is a gentle reminder that, even in blockbuster season, there’s still space for smaller, character-led storytelling.
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Release date: 31 July 2026
Closing out the summer is Marvel Studios’ latest Spider-Man instalment, with Tom Holland returning as Peter Parker and Zendaya reprising her role as MJ. The film also marks Sadie Sink’s much-anticipated debut in the Marvel universe, a casting that has already sparked speculation about how she will be folded into the franchise’s expanding mythology.
Details remain tightly under wraps, but expectations are high following the emotional reset of the previous film, which left Peter Parker in a noticeably more isolated position. Sink’s arrival is expected to signal a tonal and narrative shift, even if Marvel is, as ever, keeping its cards close.
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