The most-talked-about movies this year
The world of film has been revived this year with new indie hits and highly anticipated blockbusters. Movie theatres have struggled in the past few years, with box offices losing huge amounts of revenue and streams from home hitting an all-time high. But in 2026, from indie hit Iron Lung to the imminent Avengers: Doomsday, audiences of all ages have flocked to theatres.
After the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, movie theatres across the world struggled to stay open, and thousands of people lost their jobs due to a lack of ticket sales. Data gathered by Comscore, a third-party company dedicated to transparency in media and marketing, reports that despite recent upward growth post-COVID-19, Canadian theatres still lack approximately 60 to 70 per cent of their audience levels pre-COVID-19. With heavy restrictions, high expenses, and increased at-home entertainment, it almost seemed that the billion-dollar industry was dying. However, this past summer of film has ticket sale revenue nearly back up to its former glory in 2019!
The biggest, most anticipated blockbusters of the year so far include Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling. Theatres this summer were bustling with audiences lined up for these hits. Spider-Man: Brand New Day made history by dethroning Star Wars: The Force Awakens as the top American film according to box office revenue. As a well-known and loved franchise, Spider-Manbrought in a diverse audience and grossed over US$2.4 billion worldwide. The film stars Tom Holland, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal. The Odyssey also includes these actors in its main cast, generating talk on social media.
Directed by Academy award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey is an epic fantasy with a star-studded cast and a budget of around US$250 million. The film generated discussion because it is the first movie to be filmed solely with IMAX film cameras. IMAX, or Image Maximum, uses high-resolution and extra-large screens to enhance the look of the film. Canada is actually the birthplace of IMAX theatres, with nine out of 41 IMAX theatres in the world, including Scotiabank Theatre in Halifax.
The third big movie of the summer, Project Hail Mary, was released in March 2026 and grossed US$685 million worldwide, receiving raving reviews. The science-fiction outer space movie featured Canadian superstar Ryan Gosling and even received positive feedback from a real-life Canadian astronaut, Jeremy Hansen. Project Hail Mary was based on the science-fiction novel by Andy Weir and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller.
It is not just these movies that rocked the summer of 2026. Audiences waited on sequel films like The Devil Wears Prada 2 and other book adaptations like The Sheep Detective. Indie horror film Obsession hit huge numbers after its theatrical release in May. Meanwhile, Niu Lai, a low-budget Chinese animated film grossed around US$9 million as a sleeper hit.
If you missed the summer movie craze, there are plenty more to come for the rest of the year. Famous franchises are releasing highly anticipated films such as The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Avengers: Doomsday, Jumanji: Open World and Dune: Part Three. 2026 has brought and continues to bring forth a wide variety of movies, and for the first time since COVID-19, larger audiences are going back to theatres to enjoy the experience.