Photograph by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Photos for Netflix
Right here we’re solely a pair weeks into 2026 – Netflix movies from final yr are profitable at award exhibits in a number of classes (shoutout to Frankenstein, Prepare Desires, & KPop Demon Hunters particularly), and so they’ve already launched a well-liked rom-com in Individuals We Meet on Trip and are set to launch a criminal offense movie with Ben Affleck & Matt Damon. Even with the entire hullabaloo about merger & acquisition offers, Netflix appears to have its foot on the gasoline pedal as soon as once more this yr.
Whereas the streamer has launched its annual sizzle reel stuffed with tantalizing tasks and a press launch for dozens of authentic movies, we warning you that every one launch dates and home windows are topic to vary. However allow us to throw warning to the wind and cross each finger we now have as we dive into my High 5 Most Anticipated Netflix Movies of 2026.
Honorable Mentions: Narnia, Saturn Return, Attainable Love, Good Intercourse, Don’t Say Good Luck
5
The Whisper Man
Directed by James Ashcroft
Solid: Robert De Niro, Michelle Monaghan, Adam Scott, Michael Keaton
PLAINFIELD, NJ – APRIL 04: Ambiance on the set of “The Whisper Man” on April 4, 2025 in Plainfield, New Jersey. (Photograph by Bobby Financial institution/GC Photos)
If my checklist has a standard theme, I’d say it’s betting on big-time, confirmed expertise enjoying in genres that I can’t resist – and this movie’s solid has a couple of legends that you simply simply can’t ignore.
Primarily based on the New York Time bestselling novel from Alex North, The Whisper Man delivers a multi-generational psychological thriller set in a city with a disturbingly darkish previous. When his 8-year-old son is kidnapped, a widowed crime author appears to his estranged father, a retired former police detective, for assist, solely to find a reference to the decades-old case of a convicted serial killer often called “The Whisper Man.”
Produced by the Russo Brothers, helmed by The Rule of Jenny Pen director James Ashcroft, & written by creators who penned the likes of The First Omen and 2017’s IT, the movie is loaded with expertise in entrance of and behind the digicam. The solid is led by one of many best actors of all time in 2-time Oscar Winner Robert De Niro, Emmy-nominated actor Adam Scott because the beforehand talked about crime author, Mission: Unimaginable franchise standout Michelle Monaghan as one of many detectives assigned to the case, “Midnight Mass” lead Hamish Linklater, & Batman himself Michael Keaton.
Whereas a few of the roles haven’t been explicitly assigned outdoors of Scott & Monaghan, it’s in all probability protected to say {that a} face-to-face dialog between a grizzled former detective in De Niro and a convicted serial killer in Keaton is on the desk for this one and I, for one, need entrance row seats to that.
4
Right here Comes The Flood
Directed by Fernando Meirelles
Solid: Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, Daisy Edgar-Jones
Image by: Jose Perez / SplashNews.com
Persevering with the theme of big-time expertise working in genres I really like, how about ANOTHER legendary 2 time Oscar profitable actor doing a heist film directed by an Oscar-nominated director?
Written by Simon Kinburg (Sherlock Holmes, Mr. & Mrs. Smith), this crime thriller has mysteriously few particulars presently, however the principle plot appears to encompass a financial institution guard, a teller, & a grasp thief as they interact in a lethal sport of cons & double crosses.
The gathering of expertise is staggering. Directed by Fernando Meirelles (Metropolis of God, The Fixed Gardener, The Two Popes), the movie stars top-of-the-line actors on the planet in Denzel Washington, some of the versatile abilities in Robert Pattinson, and supporting performances from Daisy Edgar-Jones (Twisters), Danai Gurira (“Strolling Lifeless” franchise), & Sean Harris (Mission: Unimaginable franchise).
With a uncommon alternative to have Denzel on Netflix alone, this one is a can’t miss movie of 2026.
3
Ray Gunn
Directed by Brad Chicken
Netflix is presently on a significant roll with their animation tasks over the previous a number of years: Klaus & I Misplaced My Physique nominated for Finest Animated Characteristic on the Oscars in 2019, Over The Moon & Shaun The Sheep: Farmageddon nominated in 2020, The Mitchells vs the Machines in 2021, Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio profitable in 2022 together with a nomination for The Sea Beast, Nimona nominated in 2023, Wallace and Gromit: A Vengeance Most Fowl nominated in 2024, and what looks as if a surefire nomination for KPop Demon Hunters at this upcoming Oscar Sunday.
How can they high all this and look to compete once more in 2026? You rent one of many absolute legends of animation in Brad Chicken, that’s how. A two-time Oscar winner with a protracted profession as a senior inventive workforce member at Pixar, Chicken has made a few of the most indelible characters in animated movie historical past: The Iron Large, The Incredibles Household, and naturally Remy the Rat. Each time Brad Chicken has written & directed an animated characteristic, it turns into an all-time traditional.
Co-written by frequent Guillermo del Toro collaborator & *Batteries Not Included director Matthew Robbins, Chicken’s latest enterprise might be Ray Gunn, a narrative set in a futuristic world cohabited by aliens and people, the place the final human personal eye is employed to analyze the constancy of a well known pop star.
2
Animals
Directed by Ben Affleck
Solid: Ben Affleck, Gillian Anderson, Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun
BACKGRID UK 9 APRIL 2025
Whereas seeing Ben Affleck & finest buddy Matt Damon reunite in The RIP could also be sufficient in your 2026, could I current ANOTHER crime thriller starring Affleck, however this time directed by him as effectively! Why is that vital? Effectively, as a result of Affleck as a director has an unbelievable success fee. 4 of the 5 movies he has helmed have been nominated in numerous classes at main award exhibits; 3 of them have been Oscar-nominated, with one in all them profitable Finest Image in 2012’s Argo.
Written by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Billy Ray (Captain Phillips, Richard Jewell), together with Connor McIntyre & Affleck himself, Animals additionally offers with a baby abduction case, this time with the kidnapping of a political determine’s son. When the son of a Los Angeles mayoral candidate is taken, he (Affleck) and his spouse have a couple of hours to provide you with the ransom cost. With most of their cash spent on his political marketing campaign, they must get their arms soiled and expose a aspect of their lives they by no means supposed to see the sunshine of day.
Alongside Affleck, the movie stars Gillian Anderson (X-Information, The Crown), Kerry Washington (Wake Up Lifeless Man), Steven Yuen (Beef, The Strolling Lifeless), Ray Fisher (Justice League, The Piano Lesson), & Adriana Paz (Emilia Perez, Chupa).
With an all-star solid, Affleck masking each side of the movie, & a style Netflix produces very effectively, the expectations for this film can’t get a lot greater.
1
The Adventures of Cliff Sales space
Directed by David Fincher
Solid: Brad Pitt, Timothy Olyphant, Elizabeth Debicki, Scott Caan, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Carla Gugino
BACKGRID UK 23 SEPTEMBER 2025
Whereas this can be wish-casting because it’s not on the official press launch of movies coming for 2026 & it’s wrapping up filming this month, The Adventures of Cliff Sales space HAS to be within the #1 spot.
The entire idea looks as if a fever dream for cinephiles of their 40s like myself. A sequel to an distinctive movie from a gifted auteur in Quentin Tarantino, directed by one of many uncommon administrators who’s on the identical degree of expertise as Tarantino in David Fincher, a script written by Tarantino, & a returning lead efficiency from one of many all-time nice film stars in Brad Pitt.
Because the identify implies, the movie follows former stuntman Cliff Sales space eight years after the occasions of 2019’s As soon as Upon A Time … in Hollywood as he navigates the studio system in his new position as a fixer.
Past Pitt reprising his position as Sales space, the solid is extremely deep, that includes one other return efficiency from Timothy Olyphant as Jim Stacy & supporting gamers Scott Caan (Ocean’s Eleven), Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet), Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (US, Surprise Man), and Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill Home).
If this movie will get confirmed for later this yr, it could not solely be the #1 for this checklist, but additionally one in all my most anticipated for the whole slate of movies for 2026.
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