The 14 films that will save cinema (and perhaps the world) in 2026

As Colin Firth said in the second Kingsmanthe news about the death of the hall was greatly magnified. If there is one thing that History (yes, the one with a capital S) has taught us, it is that in the worst moments humanity has always needed a place to gather together. And I’m not talking about the subway stations during the drone attacks (yes, unfortunately there too), but about those magical places – the ultra-rhetorical moment begins, attention – in which a beam of light illuminates a screen and the magic begins. After having paid homage to Peppuccio Tornatore, you know, the one who makes holy cards at prices that aren’t exactly on sale, let’s move on to serious things. 2025 wasn’t so bad. There is a report on the performance of the American box office which says that the number of tickets sold is higher, although not by much, than the previous year, but unfortunately we are still far from pre-pandemic levels.

In Italy the 2025 Cinetel report will be presented on January 8, but the month of December should have revived the fortunes of the year (in two words: Checco Zalone). Numbers aside, what matters are the films and the desire to go and see them in the only designated place. So the problem, in most cases, is not the hassle of getting dressed, leaving the house, taking a means of transport, perhaps finding parking, going to the cinema, spending the money for the ticket, perhaps getting a drink and popcorn. And how much should it cost me to see a film? Surprise: it still costs you less than an aperitif on the Navigli, because you know that after the first spritz the disgust starts. The discriminating factor, I was saying, is not physical, mental or economic effort. It’s just the quality of the product. And this year, by the looks of it, we’ll have few excuses not to get our ass off the dining room chair.

Here I propose 14 very good reasons to go to the cinema in the coming months, and there will certainly be many others that will come from festivals, from Sundance to Berlin, and then Cannes, and Venice. The choices are dictated by scientific criteria, as Peppe er Pantera would have said. The beauty of the film. The money he can mop up, because cinema, and the world, can be saved this way. If you prefer the series about Fabrizio Corona, in that case I can’t help you. Nobody can.

The film – signed Josh Safdie, solo as his brother Benny The Smashing Machine – which will probably deliver yet another terrible disappointment at the Oscars to Timothée Chalamet, in the role of a ping pong champion all genius and recklessness in the United States of the fifties. The real news is Gwyneth’s return to the screen. We didn’t miss it, but after seeing it we realized the opposite.

Nominated for everything, winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, those very cool people who know about cinema would say that it is a 2025 title, already old. But it’s coming out in Italy now, and it’s one of the best films of the year. Joachim Trier, after The worst person in the worldmanages to do even better, taming the immense but wild talent of Renate Reinsve, a theater actress with a conflictual relationship with her film director father (Stellan Skarsgård) who wants her for his latest film. Simply not to be missed.

They give it as a big favorite at the Oscars, with Jessie Buckley in particular already appearing to wield the statuette as William Shakespeare’s wife. It is the film adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, the story of the Bard’s son who died at a very young age. And that would have inspired the character of the Prince of Denmark. One of the many films we will see Paul Mescal in over the next twelve months. Chloé Zhao, already an Oscar winner for, directs Nomadland (yes, he did too Ethernalsbut is trying to make the whole world forget it).

On paper it should make a splash of money. The most heartbreaking love story in the history of literature, perhaps even more than that starring the two Venetian minors, in an ultra-romantic Harmony-style version with Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, beautiful, beautiful, absurdly beautiful. All staged by the British Greta Gerwig, Emerald Fennell, already the owner of an Oscar for the screenplay of A promising woman and with a perversion for bathtubs (see Saltburn). It comes out on Valentine’s Day, when democracy in choosing which film to go to see is temporarily suspended.

A true act of love towards cinema by Richard Linklater, a film that celebrates the creation of the work that changed the very language of the big screen: Out of breathMeaning what Until my last breath. The patient director par excellence, the one who takes twenty years to do something, sought and found the doppelgängers of Godard, Truffaut, Belmondo & Co. to go back in time. If you love cinema, absolutely unmissable.

By the looks of it, the most punk film of the year, a “couple on the run with gun” reinterpretation of the Wife of Frankensteinhorror classic. Jessie Buckley, after introducing herself as a woodland creature in Hamnetshe is killed and resurrected to keep the Creature Christian Bale company. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs, who also recruited her brother Jake for this iconoclastic madness that we already love sight unseen.

The biopic on Michael Jackson, produced by Graham King, the same one who reinvented Freddie Mercury’s life in Bohemian Rhapsody. His nephew, Jaafar, son of Jermaine, Michael’s brother, has stepped into the shoes of the king of pop, which has something biblical about it. And on the other hand this wants to be the film directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day): an almost mystical celebration of the artist first and foremost, from his origins to Bad.

Does it make sense to make a sequel to a film that, in its genre, is practically perfect? Maybe not, in fact, to be honest: there really wasn’t a need. Until they announced it. And to tell the truth, finding Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) and Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) after #MeToo, in a completely different world (including editorial) could be a very pleasant surprise, as long as the level of writing is equal to the original. It could be the disappointment of the year. Or the big hit.

The new film by David Lowery, the director of Story of a ghost e Sir Gawain e il Cavaliere Verdeall titles that you have seen, very guiltily, in five, maybe seven. Anne Hathaway, sexy as ever, is a pop star who has to prepare her return to the scene. But she can’t do it without the right dress, which only her former best friend (the Michaela Coel of I May Destroy You – Trauma e rinascita) can package. Between horror, mysticism and eroticism, frankly I can’t wait. And you too.

The last movie in the universe Star Wars dates back to 2017. In the meantime only television series, inaugurated by The Mandalorianwho on paper is played by Pedro Pascal, but under that helmet there might as well be one of Daft Punk. The fact is that the saga of the shining cowboy of the galaxy and Baby Yoda arrives on the big screen for the grand finale, which in some way will be connected to the general timeline of Star Wars. A good reason to go to the cinema? There’s Sigourney Weaver. How do you say? Sold? And look…

Steven Spielberg’s new science fiction film, which remained top secret until a few days ago, when the trailer revealed the title and plot. In a nutshell: aliens have been among us, forever, and they have decided that the time has come to come out into the open. It is clear that this is a docu-fiction, based on information that Spielberg decided to share only now. Starring Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor.

We’ve been talking about it for a year, it has the most incredible cast of the last thousand thousand years, from Matt Damon to Charlize Theron, passing through Tom Holland, Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth and Anne Hathaway (I don’t know if you’ve understood that it’s her year…). Practically a classic epic Marvel movie. Christopher Nolan’s film already boasts countless (successful) leak attempts and aims to repeat the glories of Oppenheimer. Without Barbie between the balls, though.

Speaking of people saving the world and cinema, Tom Cruise is an expert on the subject. But at a certain point he too needs a little relaxation. Nothing better, therefore, than a good film with an undemanding director like Alejandro González Iñárritu. What is he talking about? Of a man with a spade. Or at least that’s what we know for now.

You again. And you. And you. But shouldn’t we see each other again? But here they are again, and they’re all here, including Captain America who had decided to grow old by going back in time (huh?). But there are parallel dimensions and alternative worlds: even one where Robert Downey Jr. has found a way to replenish his bank account by transforming himself into the baddest villain of all, Doctor Doom. The approach to this epochal event provides a new Spider-Man (subtitle: Brand New Day) on July 29, with sure links to what will happen in this first film of the new diptych of the Russo Brothers, who have rushed back to Marvel after having spent brazen amounts of money making bad films and series for the platforms.