Emma Llamas l Writer
January 11, 2026
2025 was a great year for movies. With the release of Sinners, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, Weapons, and One Battle After Another, creative and unique narratives appear to be coming back into mainstream cinema. These movies have explored themes of love, hardship and even faith in ways that mainstream media has only recently seen. Even different and nuanced perspectives, both throughout history and time, have been embraced with these new movies.
The development of these themes and perspectives, and the creative ways in which they are told will be carried into the new year, but through new and anticipated movie releases.
Among these releases are dramas like The Social Reckoning, a biographical companion to the 2010 movie Social Network. The movie follows whistleblower Frances Haugen and her exposing of Facebook’s misinformation and harmful effects on mental health. It is not a direct sequel to the Social Network, but hopefully will follow up with much of the same inventiveness which director Aaron Sorkin contributed to the first movie through his screenplay.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, a page to screen adaptation, is set to come out in late November. After Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, the movie is similarly expected to have many powerful characters and themes.
Kayumi Loch, SCHS senior, said that she is “looking forward to seeing the social commentary-aspect of the movie because Suzanne Collins’ books often reflect the sociopolitical landscape of the real world–especially considering how the last few years have been.” She, like many, is eager for this movie’s release.
Another widely anticipated adaptation is The Odyssey. Directed by Christopher Nolan, and with a star-filled cast, the movie will follow Odysseus, played by Matt Damon, and his journey to return home after the Trojan War. The story itself has a rich atmosphere made by the exploration of themes like leadership, social hierarchy, migration, and culture. Even now, the story stays timeless in its critiques, and insight on human nature.
As well as these adaptations, the year will be filled with many unique contributions to the horror genre. Among them are The Bride!, Ready or Not 2: Here I Come, Clayface, Hokum and Werwulf. All deal with supernatural and/or fantastical elements, in their own imaginative and individual ways. The Bride! and Werwulf, are period horror movies–The Bride! is set in the 1930s, and Werwulf is set in 13th-century England–both are exciting reinventions of the characters of Frankenstein’s bride and folkloric werewolves.
Talani Camacho, SCHS senior, said “[he is] excited to see Robert Eggers take on classic characters with additional horror aspects.” He is generally anticipating the eerie and stunning atmosphere which is often associated with Eggers’ movies (The Witch, the Lighthouse, Nosferatu, etc).
This year will also be filled with many stand-outs. Among them are I Love Boosters, The Moment, Disclosure Day, and The Drama. I Love Boosters and Disclosure Day are science fiction. While the former is also a comedy, and the latter is also a drama, they both share thrilling premises and talented casts.
The Moment and The Drama on the other hand are realistic fiction movies by A24 which navigate challenges of identity, relationships, and even people’s connections with the natural world. Though their premises are different–The Moment is about a pop star, and The Drama is about a happily engaged couple–they both offer themselves to the realistic struggles of everyday life.
The movies coming out in the upcoming year are worth the anticipation and the wait. The landscape for creativity, in recent mainstream media, seems to grow more absurd and unique to creators and especially to audiences. This surge of unfiltered artistry and scope is exciting and is prompting every-day viewers to seek what excites them. The world of movies somehow becomes wider, and so does the eagerness to watch them.
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