I think that the fall of 2026 could be one of the most competitive periods coming up at thebox office. While the actual fall season technically begins in mid-September and ends in mid-December annually, in Hollywood terms, the fall movie season generally runs from the beginning of October through Christmas (which kicks off the winter movie season). While many awards season releases come during this time, major blockbusters have also taken advantage of the Thanksgiving holiday period, including quite a few of theHarry Pottermovies, all of theHunger Gamesmovies, and four of the fiveTwilightmovies.
I was distracted at first by the prospects of the summer of 2026. The summer movie season of any year is typically jam-packed with blockbusters, taking advantage of the fact that most schools have breaks over the summer. 2026 is no different, as it will see the releases of new installments from huge franchises, includingMinions 3,Toy Story 5,Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and the live-actionMoanaremake, in addition to Christopher Nolan’sThe Odysseyand an untitledSteven Spielberg movie. However,the fall of 2026 is looking to have an even more robust slateof box office performers.
Avengers: Doomsday Is Landing Among A Huge Roster Of Blockbusters
It Was Just Moved From May To December
What first brought the fall of 2026 to my attention was the fact that theupcomingAvengers: Doomsdaywas moved to June 15, 2025 from its original release date of July 31, 2025.Doomsdayis the fifth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe’sAvengerssubfranchise. The crossover superhero movies form just a small part of the overarching franchise, which will include 39 theatrical releases at the time whenDoomsdaypremieres, butthe four previousAvengerstitles have collectively grossed more than $7.5 billion worldwide.
While I feel confident thatAvengers: Doomsdaycould become the biggest hit of the year, given the precedent set by the previous installments,it lands among a wide field of promising titlesthat also includes the dystopian prequelThe Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, aChronicles of Narniaadaptation from director Greta Gerwig (who most recently helmed the $1.447 billion 2025 movieBarbie), and long-awaited sequels from two major animated franchises. Below, see a breakdown of the most promising blockbusters that are currently scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2026:
Shrek 5
July 09, 2025
It seems entirely possible that therelease date ofDune: Messiah, which is the third installment in Denis Villeneuve’s franchise adapting the works of Frank Herbert, will be rescheduled now thatAvengers: Doomsdayhas landed on the same weekend. I think that Warner Bros. may not want the movie to have such major competition, especially because it’s a riskier prospect, adapting the less generally well-regarded sequel to beloved 1965 novelDune. However, for the time being,December 18 in particular is packed with major franchise releases, all of which could set the box office alight in the lead-up to Christmas.
Fall 2026 Could Have Multiple Billion-Dollar Movies
Avengers: Doomsday Is Just One Of The Potential Smash Hits
Considering the fact that all of theAvengersmovieshave grossed more than $1 billion,Doomsdayseems set to be a billion-dollar release. However,I don’t think it will be the only one to pass that coveted milestone. This will almost certainly not be the case for Greta Gerwig’sChronicles of Narniamovie, which is a Netflix release that is only getting a limited run in theaters.Dune,Jumanji, andThe Hunger Games, are also part of franchises that historically do well, but haven’t recently come close to topping $1 billion.
However,Shrek 5andIce Agecould harness nostalgia and the many years they have spent out of theaters to push past the peaks of their earlier installments(which include the $886.7 millionIce Age: Dawn of the Dinosaursand the $933.8 millionShrek 2).
TheAvengersmovies range from the $1.395 billion earned by 2015’sAge of Ultronto the $2.717 billion earned by 2019’sEndgame, which makes it the second highest-grossing movie of all time worldwide.
On top of a few potential billion-dollar franchise blockbusters, the fall of 2026 could also see quite a few movies becomebox officehits outside of its impending IP-related titles. The upcoming roster includes an untitled collaboration between Tom Cruise andThe Revenantdirector Alejandro G. Iñárritu, a new DreamWorks movie calledForgotten Island, and Jordan Peele’s fourth directorial outing,any of which could forge a strong connection with audiences.
