This year has been a great year for movies. From horror stunners like Obsession to nerdy favorites like The Mandalorian and Grogu, 2026 has covered a wide scope of genres—and it’s only halfway over! At Nerdist, we hold movies near and very dear, and so we have compiled a list of our favorites, in no particular order. Here are the best movies of 2026 so far.
Project Hail Mary
Project Hail Mary kicked off the year with a feel-good space drama. It offered a little bit of everything. The deep emotions of an astronaut lost alone in deep space, complemented by star Ryan Gosling’s quippy humor and—who could forget—a lovable alien creature, Rocky.
This movie knew when to be serious, and it definitely knew when to be funny. It was heartwarming, too, exploring complex relationships between humans as well as humans and aliens, and the meaning and significance of sacrifice.
Hokum
Switching gears entirely, supernatural horror film Hokum will have you chilled to your core. Adam Scott of Severance and Parks and Rec stars as Ohm Bauman, an author who decides to spread his parents’ ashes where they took their honeymoon. He finds himself in a haunted hotel in Ireland where he must face the evil trapped there.
Hokum was created by Damian McCarthy, an Irish filmmaker. He drew inspiration from Gaelic myth, where he got the cailleach concept. In mythology, a cailleach is a mythical “hag” with power over the landscape. While not an inherently evil being in myth, she certainly felt evil in this movie. Bauman faces the witch herself alongside visions from the past.
Is God Is
Is God Is was an emotionally moving tale of twin sisters on a journey to kill their abusive father. Aleshea Harris’ directorial debut, based on her off-Broadway stage play of the same name, is a thriller, a dark comedy, and a revenge film rolled into one. It also explores the tensions within a cycle of abuse.
The two girls suffered life-changing first-degree burns at their father’s hands when they were children. Despite its characters’ traumatic backstory, the movie manages to be darkly comedic.
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Picking up where the first installment of Andy’s story left off 20 years ago, The Devil Wears Prada 2 was a glorious return to Runway magazine. Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, and, of course, Anne Hathaway graced our theater screens once again. Despite two decades passing, we could be convinced the second movie had been filmed the day after the first—the stars appeared almost identical to their 2006 counterparts.
The story follows Andy and Miranda, both down on their luck. It deals with the realistic struggles of print magazines in moving to digital, clickbait-heavy formats. It also discusses the looming threat of A.I. taking over the journalism field (gulp). Amidst these heavier issues, the characters navigate the complex reality of their careers, their relationships with each other, and their own personal flaws.
Backrooms
After his YouTube series The Backrooms gained immense traction, a creator known as Kane Pixels found himself directing a feature-length psychological horror based on the story he had been developing for years.
He created his YouTube series in a found-footage style, exploring a liminal, empty mass of endless hallways. The landscape resembles an abandoned department store, with fluorescent ceiling lights to boot. Parsons’ first episode was a “short film” published in 2022, and the story developed from there as he continued making videos for three years. You can read more about the internet “creepypasta” that inspired his work here.
The movie is set in the same location as his shorts and follows researchers as they investigate the realm of “the backrooms.” Getting lost in the hallways is scary enough, but when it turns out some sort of entity is there with them, the scientists have to fight for their lives.
Obsession
2026 truly is a year of good horror, with Obsession being another box office smash. It has also had its moment on the internet, with stills of star Inde Navarrette’s intense frown going viral, alongside her other facially uncanny moments.
More is disturbing about this movie than just the “be careful what you wish for” trope. In some ways, it is about the world of romance we live in today, the idealization of being in a relationship or being loved. Having a partner who has no personality outside of loving you may, in fact, be more terrifying than the natural character flaws that being an individual, an independent person, would bring.
The underlying messages of the movie are what take it from scary to horror.
The Mandalorian and Grogu
For the Star Wars nerds out there, your favorite world has never stopped expanding. The Mandalorian show has been wildly popular in the years since it began its run. And now the creators have taken a more cinematic direction with The Mandalorian and Grogu.
The two-hour long feature film actually replaced the show’s fourth season. Director Jon Favreau mentioned that writing for season four was underway in 2023 but, in a statement to SFX Magazine, said they trashed those scripts entirely to write the feature film.
The episodes would have been aiming to continue where season 3 had left off and set up the Ahsoka show. However, the movie took a different direction, something that would be appealing to the audience whether they had watched the previous content or not.
“As long as you understand the archetypes of this hardened warrior with their vulnerable young apprentice, you’ll know these characters well, even if you’ve never seen the show,” Favreau said. “But there’s still a lot of Star Wars in there.”
Masters of the Universe
Based on the 1980s animated show, He-Man and The Masters of The Universe, this nostalgic movie did the series justice. He-Man, played by Nicholas Galitzine, is your average Joe working in an office cubicle and yearning for the day he can return to Eternia. Luckily, he does—it would have been boring otherwise—and along the way encounters Skeletor, the classic villain, along with other characters from the series.
This is the second time He-Man has been adapted in live-action. In 1987, the first adaptation was made, featuring an oddly shiny blonde man and a tacky skeleton mask. On the surface, not much changed, but this film is a step up.
Toy Story 5
If you thought Toy Story 4 was the end, you’ve officially been proven wrong. Despite what seem to be repeated conclusive finales to the series, fans love Toy Story enough to bring it back to the theaters a fifth time. Nostalgic characters accumulated over the first four movies return and grapple with their place in the age of the internet.
1990s toys meet electronics, and parents face criticism in this new story. A review from Indiewire points out the blatant complacency with which many parents now operate, surrendering their children to the teachings of mindless internet use. This movie calls that out and emphasizes the importance of imaginative play in childhood, and this makes it one of the best movies of 2026.
Originally published on June 22, 2026 with additional reporting by Ella R. Dunn.