We’re only two months into 2026 and the year is already shaping up to be a great one for movies. Blockbusters like “Project Hail Mary” and Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” may have already caught your eye, but there are dozens of smaller projects that might not have found their way to your feed yet. Here are four movies to keep on your radar as the year progresses.
Digger, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu – Oct. 2
“Digger” is an upcoming black comedy directed by four-time Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Accompanied by the logline “a comedy of catastrophic proportions,” the movie stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, the most powerful man in the world who “embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything,” according to the movie’s IMDb description.
Iñárritu previously won back-to-back Oscars for Best Director in 2015 and 2016 with “Birdman” and “The Revenant,” but since then his career has been quieter. He’s only released one movie since 2022’s “Bardo,” which received mixed reviews and only one nomination at the Oscars for its cinematography.
However, “Digger” looks like it might be Iñárritu’s return to form. The movie boasts an impressive $125 million budget and is being produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, who are coming off the backs of two major successes in “Sinners” and “One Battle After Another.” The supporting cast surrounding Cruise will include Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sophie Wilde and Riz Ahmed.
When Iñárritu’s newest film hits theatres in IMAX on Oct. 2, it will be up for the audience to decide whether he has another hit on his hands, or if he’s dug himself into a deeper hole.
Wildwood, directed by Travis Knight – Oct. 23
“Wildwood” is an upcoming stop-motion animated fantasy film produced by Laika Studios, the studio behind other stop-motion movies like “Coraline,” “ParaNorman” and “Kubo and the Two Strings.” Based on the 2011 children’s novel of the same name, “Wildwood” follows Prue McKeel, who goes to a magical forest near Portland, Oregon to save her infant brother Mac.
“Wildwood” will be Laika’s sixth film and their first since 2019’s “The Missing Link.” The seven-year gap marks the longest time between releases for the studio, and based on what director Travis Knight has said, it’s not hard to see why. In a 2024 interview with Empire Magazine, Knight said that the film was “incredibly ambitious” and “the hardest thing we have ever done,” describing epic battles and aerial sequences.
The movie stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee as McKeel, alongside a voice cast that includes Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Angela Bassett and Jacob Tremblay.
As soon as Laika released “Coraline” in 2009, they became a staple of stop-motion animation in the industry. All five of their previous films were nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, though the studio has never produced a winner in that category. “Wildwood” could be the movie to finally bring the trophy home for the studio.
Clayface, directed by James Watkins – Oct. 23
“Clayface” is an upcoming body horror film and the third movie to be released as a part of James Gunn’s DC Universe, following “Superman” and “Supergirl.” Based on the DC Comics villain of the same name, the moviefollows Matt Hagen, an actor who, after his face gets disfigured, turns to a scientist who transforms his body into clay.
Releasing “Clayface” as the third movie in the rebooted DCU is undeniably an interesting choice. The character has much less notoriety than many other DC characters, and Clayface’s primary adversary, Batman, hasn’t even appeared in any DCU projects yet.
On top of that, the movie isn’t being marketed as a superhero film, but instead as a body horror film. “Clayface” was written by Hossein Amini and Mike Flanagan, the man behind the Netflix horror series “The Haunting of Hill House” and “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and is directed by James Watkins, known for his horror movies “Eden Lake” and “Speak No Evil.”
Gunn must have a lot of faith in “Clayface” to be putting a body horror film led by a lesser-known character so early on the DCU’s slate. With an October release, the movie will be a great horror flick to get you into the Halloween spirit and to give you a taste as to what the DCU has in store for its audience.
Wild Horse Nine, directed by Martin McDonagh – Nov. 6
“Wild Horse Nine” is an upcoming thriller film directed by Martin McDonagh. The film stars John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell as CIA agents who are sent on a mission to Chile in 1973, with Steve Buscemi and Parker Posey in supporting roles. Not much is known about the film at the moment; Malkovich and Rockwell’s characters will face a “trust-testing” journey from Santiago to Easter Island, according to an article from Deadline, but that’s about all the information that’s available at the moment.
Even with such little known about it, any movie from McDonagh is one to look out for. He got his start as a playwright, before winning an Oscar in 2004 for his short film “Six Shooter.” Since then, he’s directed five feature length films, including “In Bruges” and “The Banshees of Inisherin,” earned himself six more Oscar nominations and has become known for his absurdist dark humor.
With an early November release date, McDonagh is likely positioning the film to make a big presence at the Oscars next year, so keep your eyes and ears peeled for more information about “Wild Horse Nine,” and mark your calendars for Nov. 6.