Ep. 55: Most Anticipated Films of 2026

Alex and Lee preview 2026 in cinema and discuss their top 10 most anticipated films of the year.

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Transcript

Lee Pugsley
Happy New Year. And welcome back to another episode of The Dark Room, where two blind cinephiles illuminate the sighted. I'm Lee Pugsley.

Alex Howard
I'm Alex Howard.

Lee Pugsley
And this is a podcast hosted by two legally blind guys for film lovers of all abilities. We are so excited to be back with you for a new, fresh year. We are in 2026, and it's going to be a great year. We hope you all had a very happy holiday season, however you chose to spend the holidays. And Alex, why don't you kick us off with what we're going to do today?

Alex Howard
Today is one of our favorite episodes that we do every year. It's our most anticipated movies of 2026. This episode is all about potential and what we think could be good and what we think couldn't be good. Obviously, throughout the year, there are always surprises. I find that usually my top 10 most anticipated. Most of those do not end up on my top 10 favorite films of the year, but it's so exciting to talk about potential and what exciting movies are coming out this year.

Lee Pugsley
Absolutely agree. And looking at the film slate of movies we have this year, it looks very exciting. There's a lot of promise as there is every year. And it's always interesting to see how things shape up. And as we go into our top 10 list, just keep in mind that these are the films that we are most excited for. That doesn't necessarily mean that we're predicting which films are going to be in the best picture lineup for the Oscars or which ones are going to be the most prestigious. But these are ones that just really build anticipation for us for whatever reason that may be.

Alex Howard
Yeah. So these are our personal most anticipated list. We would love to hear yours if you want to email us. Our email is DarkRoomFilmCast@gmail.com. That is DarkRoomFilmCast@gmail.com.

Lee Pugsley
Definitely. I do want to reiterate that we love hearing from our community, so please share your list with us as well. And Alex, to kick us off, I know that we usually start with some honorable mentions. So do you have any honorable mentions for most anticipated of 2026?

Alex Howard
So I know with our top 10s, honorable mentions are cheating a little bit, I guess, but I do have six honorable mentions. We're just going to run through them really fast. This is in no particular order. Supergirl is an honorable mention for obvious reasons. David Fincher's Once Upon in Time in Hollywood spinoff that Tarantino wrote and David Fincher's directing is in my honorable mentions. Jumanji 3 is a guilty pleasure that is in my honorable mentions. I love the first two. Zach Cregger's Resident Evil, which I've never seen a Resident Evil movie, but it's Zach Cregger and what he did with Weapons. I am very excited to see what he does with that franchise. Michael is in my honorable mentions, which I will get into why that's an honorable mention. I'm sure it's in Lee's top 10. Spider-man: Brand New Day is in my Honorable Mentions because this year is so stacked. Somehow, a Spider-Man movie is only in my Honorable Mentions. And my last Honorable Mention is The Social Reckoning, which is a sequel to The Social Network.

Lee Pugsley
Awesome. All of those movies are really solid choices. Some of them I was debating, putting into my top 10 or Honorable Mentions and almost made the cut. But there are a few of those that will appear in my top 10 list, so I will reserve my comments on those. But going into my Honorable Mentions, one of the movies that we do have in common is The Adventures of Cliff Booth, the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood sequel or spin-off or whatever you want to call it. I really love Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, loved Quintin Tarantino's direction, and also loved Brad Pitt's character. So I'm really excited that we get a spinoff of Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. I'm really looking forward to seeing what this team is going to do with it and where they're going to take this story. Other honorable mentions that made my list were in no particular order, once again, Scandalous, a movie directed by Colman Domingo, starring Sydney Sweeney and David Johnson from The Long Walk, about Sammy Davis Jr, the singer from the 1950s and '60s, and his love affair with film star Kim Novak. 

Next movie is Artificial, directed by Luca Guadagnino. It's supposedly a comedy film that takes place in 2023, around the time of OpenAI, when CEO Sam Altman got fired and rehired in three days. And it has a great cast. It's Cooper Hoffmann, Andrew Garfield, Cooper Koch from the Menendez Brothers. He played Erik Menendez. I just really like that cast, and I'm excited to see what Luca is going to do with the comedy. Then I have Werewolf, directed by Robert Eggers, starring Lily Depp and Aaron Taylor Johnson. It's always fun to have a really good werewolf story, and I like what Robert Eggers has done with all of his other movies, and usually, they've made my top 10 list, so we'll see if this one can move from Honorable Mention status into top 10. Rounding on my Honorable Mention is the movie Madden, directed by David O. Russell. We haven't seen anything from him in a while. It's about John Madden, the NBA coach who left the NBA and started the Madden football video games. And it stars Nicolas Cage and Christian Bale. So I'm very excited to see what he's going to do with that.

Alex Howard
So as always, another reason I love doing this episode is that Lee always brings movies to the table that I didn't even know were coming out. So all of those sound awesome. I would have definitely put those in my honorable mentions if I had known about them. Werewolf is one that I totally forgot about, that I knew was coming, that would have been in there. And Madden, I think also, neither of us are big football people. I think he's also a prominent announcer in the NFL. But I think they just released the first image from that, and it looks great. Nicolas Cage looks great as John Madden.

Lee Pugsley
100%.

Alex Howard
So Lee, before we get into our top 10, we like to play this little game. How many do you think we will have in common in our top 10?

Lee Pugsley
This one is going to be interesting. I wavered back and forth on it, but I think that we will have four movies in common this year. What's your guess?

Alex Howard
I think we're going to have five.

Lee Pugsley
Okay. I think that's very possible. I was going back and forth between four or five. So let's give it a go and see what we got. Why don't you kick us off with your number 10?

Alex Howard
So my number 10 is Scream 7. So I know Scream 7 has a lot of controversy around it. It comes out in February. They fired Melissa Barrera. Jenna Ortega quit, so they had to rewrite the whole thing. And they got Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original Scream. He's writing this one and directing it. So that gives me hope. And also, Matthew Lillard is back. They seem to bring back a lot of the original cast. But at the same time, since it was a rewrite and they had to reorganize all their thoughts, it makes me a little nervous, which is why it's number 10. But at the same time, it's a Scream movie, and I love the Scream franchise. So this can't not be in my top 10 most anticipated of the year.

Lee Pugsley
I always have a lot of fun with the Scream movies. I know they're a little cheesy, arguably, but there's just something that's very, I don't know, endearing or enjoyable about them. And I do like the fact that Kevin Williamson is coming back and Matthew Lillard is coming back, similar to you. I always pause a bit when they say that there's rewrites that were being done. So jury's out on this one, but I will definitely be watching this in theater, probably opening weekend.

Alex Howard
That's awesome. And I'm actually going to change my number. I think we're going to have six in common, so we'll see what happens. What is your number 10, though?

Lee Pugsley
My number 10 is a movie directed by Martin McDonagh called Wild Horse Nine, and it stars Sam Rockwell and John Malkovich, which is a very stacked cast right there. It takes place in Santiago, Chile, in 1973, and it centers on the relationship between two CEI operatives and testing their trust. What I really like about Martin McDonagh Films is I think that he's a very good script writer based on In Bruges, Banshees of Inisherin, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, and everything that I've seen from him, as well as his theater credits, too. I think he does characters and relationships really well. It's always very interesting to see the dynamics that he brings to the table and the way that he builds those relationships. So I'm always here for a good Martin McDonagh film.

Alex Howard
That's so crazy. I didn't even know that one was coming out once again. So that's very exciting. I love In Bruges. That's probably my favorite of his. But But any one of his films is very dialogue-driven. His movies are always really great.

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, they really are. And obviously, there's some that I prefer over others. But once again, he just knows how to write characters very well. So moving on, what's your number nine?

Alex Howard
My number nine is Toy Story 5. So I know every time there's a Toy Story movie, people are like, Oh, they're going to ruin it. And they haven't ruined it yet. So I feel like, obviously, one is a classic, two is one of the highest rated movies on Rotten Tomatoes. Three is a lot of people's favorite Pixar movie. I know Lee can go against that, but we will get to that later. Three is one of my favorite Pixar movies. Four was good. I liked four. I didn't love four, but it was good. And five, I'm very excited for it because the villain is a tablet, and I think it's very relevant. It's really cool that they're tackling the screen versus toys thing. And so I'm very excited to see what they do with Toy Story 5.

Lee Pugsley
I I figured that this movie was going to make your list, and I totally support that. As we've talked previously, I do have issues with Toy Story 3 and Toy Story 4, which we'll say for a Hot Takes episode, and we can dive more into that at some point in time. But I am curious to see what they're going to do with the villain being a tablet and how they're going to approach that. I do think it plays to modern-day sensibilities. While this isn't my most anticipated by any stretch of the imagination, I will be intrigued, and I will probably see it in theaters because you got to be part of those cultural conversations.

Alex Howard
What is your number nine?

Lee Pugsley
My number nine is a movie called Tony, which is directed by Blackberry director Matt Johnson, which I feel like you would appreciate since I know that you were a huge fan of that movie. It stars Dominic Sessa, who played the teenage kid in The Holdovers. I've been a big fan of him ever since I saw him in that movie. And this is an Anthony Bourdain biopic that takes place in the 1970s when Anthony Bourdain is young. Really curious to see what Matt Johnson does with this and to see if he carries any of the sensibilities over from what he did with Blackberry.

Alex Howard
And see, this would have been in my top 10, or at least in my Honorable Mentions, if I had known about it. That sounds super interesting, especially Anthony Bourdain, the director of Blackberry, I am so sold on this movie.

Lee Pugsley
Nice. I figured that you would really appreciate this one. I was so excited to share this with you because I was like, "Alex probably doesn't know about this movie," but I know how much you loved Blackberry and were championing that movie the whole season when it came out.

Alex Howard
Yeah. And I know that's interesting that he has that movie coming out because I know he also has one that if my brother's listening to this, he would kill me that I can't remember the title. It's like a band. It's like, oh, it's like, Nirvana, the Band, the Movie or something. I think that's the title. And Matt Johnson also had a part in that movie, and that comes out in February. So it's interesting. He has two movies coming out.

Lee Pugsley
Oh, I just heard about that movie, and it looks fascinating. I'm so intrigued by that movie.

Alex Howard
Yeah. These movies that we're talking about are ideally big enough that they should get audio description. We are 90% sure that these movies will get AD. But some of these smaller ones, depending on the distributor, they may not. But fingers crossed that all the movies we discussed today will have audio description.

Lee Pugsley
Yes, indeed. And what's your number eight?

Alex Howard
So my number eight is called Flowervale Street. Now, Flowervale Street is directed by David Robert Mitchell, who directed It Follows, which is one of my favorite all-time horror movies. Not much is known about this. The only reason I know about this is because I was reading online about some people that saw a test screening of it, and It sounds like it's right at my alley. I am not going to watch the trailer when it comes out. I'm trying to avoid most details, but from what I hear, it's sci-fi. David Robert Mitchell, I am totally in on this.

Lee Pugsley
That movie was so close to making my honorable mentions, and at one point in time was in my top 10 most anticipated. I went back and forth on it. I am really excited to see this movie as well. And I do love the fact that they haven't given us a whole lot of information. Also a really good cast as well.

Alex Howard
It does have a great cast. I think Anne Hathaway and Ewen McGregor are starring in this.

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, and those are actors that if they're in a movie, I'm most likely going to see it regardless of what it is just because their names sell me. I like both of those actors a lot.

Alex Howard
Anne Hathaway is going to a huge year. I have a feeling two more of her movies are going to be in your top 10, and one more of hers is going to be in mine. So what is your number eight?

Lee Pugsley
My number eight is one that I can guarantee is on your top 10 list, and it's Project Hail Mary. I'm really excited for this movie. I know that it's based on a book from the same author as The Martian. I really liked The Martian, and I love the fact that this is Ryan Gosling and Lord & Miller, so I don't really see how this movie can go wrong. I say that with my fingers crossed because as we know, there have been movies that we've had high anticipation for that don't deliver. But this one has everything on paper that it needs to succeed and to really be a banger.

Alex Howard
Do you want me to go into this now? Or do you want me to wait?

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, go for it.

Alex Howard
So Project Hail Mary is my number one. I read the book. I'm obsessed with the book. The book is one of my favorite books of all time. It's so good. And Ryan Gosling's perfect casting. I'm especially excited for the little creature that will be in the movie as well. He melts my heart in the book, and they announced a Lego set of this movie that I'm so excited for. I hope they do a popcorn bucket. I don't know if they will because it's not big enough. But I am so excited for this movie. So yes, and Project Hail Mary is my number one most anticipated of the year.

Lee Pugsley
That's awesome. And I knew that it was going to be high on your list. You're actually the one that turned me on to this movie and put it on my radar, because I remember last year when you were reading the book, just how much you loved it and your excitement has only continued to grow since then. So for your sake, and also for the sake of the movie-going audiences out there, I really hope that it doesn't disappoint and that it's everything that you imagined it to be when you were reading the book.

Alex Howard
Yeah. And I I encourage, you guys have until March. So it's a quick read because it's an intense book, so you'll fly through. It's a page turner for sure. But I highly encourage anyone listening if you're interested to read Project Hail Mary before the movie, especially if you're blind. The audiobook is, I mean, for anyone. But the audiobook is great. There's a character that communicates with music and tones. And so the audiobook plays the music that it's saying, as opposed to just reading the musical notes.

Lee Pugsley
I love that so much, and I will definitely be checking out this book before March. So moving on then, what's your number seven?

Alex Howard
So my number seven is another requirement. It's The Mandalorian and Grogu. I love The Mandalorian, not so much season three. But I love season one and two of The Mandalorian, and I love Star Wars. So if there's a Star Wars movie coming out, it's going to be in my top 10. And I think it says something about how packed the year is that The Mandalorian and Grogu is only number seven on my list.

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, for sure. It's interesting because I'll be honest, the trailer for this movie hasn't sold me on it. It looks more like an extended TV episode, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I just need to see a little bit more to really be sold on it. Obviously, I am going to see it, and I'm very interested. I do like Mandalorian and Grogu, the characters. And yeah, all I can say is I'm curious, but I need a little bit more to really wet my appetite and get me excited about it. I figured this would make your list, though, knowing what a big Star Wars fan you are.

Alex Howard
Yeah, if it's an extended TV episode, I'm actually totally fine with that because some of my favorite episodes of The Mandalorian are very isolated. It's like a space adventure doing this, and it doesn't have an impact on the overall plot, but it's just like, you know, they go to a snow planet and get into trouble, and I love those things. So if the movie can do that, I'm totally cool with that. Also, when I saw Avatar and they had the little Grogu, he puts on the 3D glasses. I was like, "Oh, my God, this is so cute." And so I'm like, right when that happened, I was like, "I think I'm in for this movie."

Lee Pugsley
Totally makes sense. And I do think the production design is going to be really well done. I'm excited to hear the score. So there's definitely parts of this movie that I am anticipating.

Alex Howard
So what is your number seven, Lee?

Lee Pugsley
My number seven is one that was on your honorable mentions list, and that's The Social Reckoning. I mean, I'm always a sucker for Aaron Sorkin direction and dialog. I know that some people feel like his dialog is a little heightened and not as believable in the way that people talk. Fully a valid criticism, but his dialog works so well for me, and just the banter back and forth, the boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. It just flows so for me every time, and I can always be on board for an Aaron Sorkin script. Also, it has such a good cast, Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen-White, and Jeremy Strong. And I'm just really curious to see what they're going to do with this next chapter with Mark Zuckerberg.

Alex Howard
Yeah, this was right on the cusp. This was in my top 10 for a bit, and then I put Scream 7 in there. But yeah, I'm very excited for this. Unlike you, I'm not a big fan of Aaron Sorkin's direction. There's some of his writing that I like, like The Social Network and some other ones. But for me, sometimes his dialog comes off like people are going through the conversation for the second time, like they're anticipating what the next person is saying. It's not very believable for me, but I know it is like a heightened art form. I'm glad it works for you. I'm hoping it's the speed of Social Network and not so much Trial of the Chicago 7 or something. But as a great cast, I love Jeremy Strong, I love Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen-White. So yeah, I'm also very excited for this movie.

Lee Pugsley
I I totally understand where you're coming from about the dialog, and probably due to my theatrical background, that's why that dialog works for me, because oftentimes on stage, dialog can be heightened a little bit as well. So maybe I'm just used to that. But totally understand where you're coming from makes a lot of sense and validate that for sure. Yeah, so what's your number six?

Alex Howard
My number six is Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day. They just released the trailer for this. The title wasn't even known until last week or two weeks ago. So for a while, I had in this Untitled Steven Spielberg UFO movie. But yes, it is called Disclosure Day. It stars Emily Blunt. And it's just Steven Spielberg returning to Sci-Fi, returning to aliens. How can you not have it in your top 10?

Lee Pugsley
I couldn't agree more. Disclosure Day is actually, spoiler, my number five. For all the same reasons that you mentioned, Emily Blunt and Josh O'Connor, that's a great cast right there. The trailer looks intriguing, and I love the fact that it didn't really tell us much about it. Steven Spielberg is always best when he's doing that blockbuster-y thing, which I feel like this movie is going to be more of. You know, Minority Report, E.T., he does sci-fi so well. So like you said, back to form, I think, is a great way to describe it. Really looking forward to this movie.

Alex Howard
So that's two we have in comments so far. So what's your number six?

Lee Pugsley
My number six is Wuthering Heights, which is based on a novel by Emily Brontë. There have been several adaptations of this already. I want to say this is the fourth film adaptation of the story. I have never read the book, but I like period romance movies. I like Emerald Fennel based on Promising Young Woman and Saltburn. I think that she really knows how to create very engaging films. And I love the cast, Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie. So anytime she does a movie, it's always going to on my list. Really curious to see what this is going to be. And I know that in the past, there's been criticisms over adaptations not being able to fully tell the story in the way they think it should be done. So I think if anyone can do it, Emerald Fennel is the one to really deliver on this.

Alex Howard
Funny enough, when I'm making these lists, there are certain directors I look up to see if they have a movie coming out next year. And Emerald Fennel was one that I looked up and I saw that she's doing Wuthering Heights. And I'm like, "Okay, it's not in my top 10. It's not my most anticipated, but I love her as a director." Because Promising Young Woman was my favorite movie the year that came out. I am also very curious and very excited to see how this movie turns out. I have not read the book. I don't know much about the story, which is why it's not in my top 10, but I'm also excited to check it out.

Lee Pugsley
And moving on then, what's your number five?

Alex Howard
So my number five, these top five are all super excited. They're very close to one another. My number five is Clayface. I mean, the DC universe, and it's a horror movie. Not only that, it's a body horror movie written by Mike Flanagan. You can't get any more my brand than that. I'm so excited to see what they do with Clayface, to see the horror elements, and to see what Mike Flanagan's script can bring into the DCU. I love that James Gunn is letting other genres be a part of the DCU rather than just an action movie.

Lee Pugsley
That's awesome. And I knew this was going to be on your list based on the DCU and also on Mike Flanagan, because I know you're such a big fan of Mike Flanagan, which because of you, I think that my affection for him has grown as well.

Alex Howard
And also the body horror element. I've waxed poetic about The Substance, but we could get a real juicy audio description script with Clayface, depending on how far they go with the body horror.

Lee Pugsley
I'm super excited for the audio description track for this, and I hope that they just go for it, too.

Alex Howard
Definitely. So what's your number five, Lee?

Lee Pugsley
My number five is Disclosure Day, which we've already talked about. So I'll throw it back to you. What's your number four?

Alex Howard
So I feel like these four we're going to have in common, I'm assuming. My number four is The Odyssey, which does seem low. I know it's on a lot of film fans, number one, most anticipated. Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer, I thought it was... It was good. It wasn't my favorite of the year. Same with Dunkirk. So Christopher Nolan, he's always great, but he's hit or miss on whether it's my favorite film of the year, top 10 or whatever. The Odyssey I'm very excited for. Obviously, it's a classic novel, and I love that Christopher Nolan is tackling something he hasn't done before, which is like a medieval period piece. It's like polar opposite of Oppenheimer and Batman and all that. So I'm very interested to see how he tackles this genre, this classic source material. I'm sure it's going to be epic beyond epic. This is, I mean, the only movie on my list that the tickets have already gone on sale, which is crazy. I think another reason why it's only number 4 is 70mm is going to be a big selling point for this movie. It was shot, this is the first movie ever shot, entirely in IMAX, but 70mm, it does not have AD. So, I mean, Lee and I, I can't speak for Lee, but I will at least be going on digital with audio description, probably in Dolby. But yeah, so The Odyssey is my number four.

Lee Pugsley
I will also be going digital for this movie because I feel like this one seems like a movie that's going to have a lot of action or non-dialog parts, and I think the audio description is going to be key for it. I really wish that 70mm did have AD, and hopefully we'll get there at some point in time. That being said, a full disclosure, The Odyssey is my number one most anticipated film of the year. I'm super excited for this movie. Everything that I've seen from it, the short glimpses and sneak peeks that we've been getting, have only excited me more. I read The Odyssey and The Iliad in high school, was a big fan of both of them, just love the epic nature of the stories and the themes that it conveys. If anyone can do justice to the story, it's Christopher Nolan. I think that he's proven himself to be a master filmmaker. Obviously, there's some films that I like more than others, as you can reference our Christopher Nolan podcast episode. But yeah, I don't know, it just has all the elements of a big blockbuster film, but also a film that's going to be very high quality and not cheaply done. So I'm here for it. I'll be there opening day or preview day. I haven't bought my tickets yet. Because a year in advance was just a little too soon for me to do that. But I will definitely be going to the first showing in digital that I'm able to get to.

Alex Howard
And I think the only tickets that have gone on sale are the film 70mm shows. But this is also one of the other movies that Anne Hathaway is in.

Lee Pugsley
That is very true. And I didn't even think about that when I was putting this on my list. But Anne Hathaway is always an added bonus that's going to up any movie for me in my excitement to see it.

Alex Howard
Tom Holland is also going to have a massive month because he has The Odyssey, and then two weeks later, Spider-Man comes out.

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, he's going to be a billion-dollar star at that point in time. And I do predict that this movie is going to make over a billion dollars, The Odyssey. And I would also predict that for Spider-Man: Brand New Day as well.

Alex Howard
Oh, that's so interesting. Yeah, because I think Oppenheimer got to like 900 something, and that wasn't based on... It was based on a book, but not a book like The Odyssey. I read The Iliad in high school. I don't remember if I read The Odyssey or not, but definitely, I mean, you couldn't pick a more perfect novel for Christopher Nolan to adapt.

Lee Pugsley
Absolutely.

Alex Howard
So that is three in common for us so far. What is your number four, Lee?

Lee Pugsley
My number four was a movie that was your honorable mentions list, which is Michael. Obviously, Michael Jackson can be controversial in his personal life. However, anyone feels about that, I fully respect that. I'm just really curious, though, to see what they're going to do with this story. I know that it was supposed to come out last year, then they had to do a bunch of reshoots. That does make me a little nervous because I know they had to change a lot of things. But Michael Jackson is the king of pop for a reason. His music, his dances, what he's given us has influenced our culture in so many ways, musically and even within choreography. I've been anticipating this movie for so long. I believe it was actually on my top 10 most anticipated list of 2025. So now it's moved to top 10, Most Anticipated List of 2025. Now it's moved to top 10 Most Anticipated of 2026. I can't wait for this movie. I'm super excited.

Alex Howard
That's awesome. I'm very excited as well. It wasn't my top 10 Most Anticipated of 2025. But then with all the reshoots, I bumped it down to Honorable Mentions. I think the thing that makes me nervous about this is, so basically they shot a huge movie, and then they were going to split it into two movies. And then for some reason, no one read the court documents that said they can't address the lawsuit in any future Michael Jackson biopics. And that was the crux of the plot of, supposedly the rumor is, the crux of the plot, the second movie, was the lawsuits. So they had to completely retool what they're doing and rearrange things. And so it didn't seem like it was going to affect the first movie, but clearly it did because they pushed it a year. So I'm curious to see if they can still stick the landing having to rewrite the ending, pretty much.

Lee Pugsley
And they had to significantly change a lot of things. So I'm optimistic that they were able to do it, but I'm also prepared to be a little disappointed. I'm I'm also very curious to see the performance of Michael Jackson's nephew and to see how he embodies Michael from the trailer that we had. I think he's going to do a really good job.

Alex Howard
Oh, for sure. And I mean, Antoine Fuqua is directing, so that's a big thing too. And I think they said that if this one does well, they will finish the reshoots for the second movie. I don't know how true that is. That's the rumor. But yeah, I'm very curious and excited to see how this one turns out as well, because it's so hard to imitate Michael Jackson. And so, like you said, I'm very curious to see how his nephew pulls it off and makes it believable.

Lee Pugsley
And if they decide not to do part two, I hope that they've wrapped up part one enough that it feels like a complete movie. It's not just like a big cliffhanger, and we're like, "Okay, well, we're not getting anything more. So that movie seems pointless now."

Alex Howard
Oh, definitely. Yeah.

Lee Pugsley
All right. Moving on. What is your number three?

Alex Howard
So my number three is Avengers: Doomsday. I know the MCU has not been firing on all cylinders lately, but it's pretty hard to mess up an Avengers movie, and especially when you bring back to Russo Brothers, who have a flawless track record with Marvel. Without Marvel is a different story. But with Marvel, they did Winter Soldier, they did Civil War, they did both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame. They're bringing back Chris Evans. They're bringing back Downey Jr. As Dr. Doom. They're bringing back Chris Hemsworth. I mean, it's going to be epic. They've already released two trailers so far. Supposedly, there's going to be another X-Men trailer, and then they're going to do their main trailer for the fourth week of Avatar. But I am so excited for this. I mean, I'm a sucker for the MCU, so I will be there day one to watch Avengers: Doomsday.

Lee Pugsley
I knew this was going to be on your top 10 list. I knew it was probably going to be in the top three, and that makes a lot of sense. I wish I was more excited for this movie right now. I think just over the years since Endgame, Marvel's taken a little bit of a dip. I will give Marvel credit where it's due last year when we got Fantastic Four and Thunderbolts, I thought both of those movies were headed in the right direction and gave me hope for the future. But I don't know. I feel like this movie may not be as big and epic as Avengers: Infinity War, Endgame, which might be unfair to put that expectation on it. Maybe I just need to see another trailer or something to really get on board with it. I'm interested, but I can't necessarily say that I've reached the level of hype yet.

Alex Howard
Yeah, I think, I mean, considering they're bringing in the X-Men from the Fox universe, it's going to be so epic. The epic-ness and the cast is great, but can they stick the story is the question.

Lee Pugsley
Exactly. To be clear, I want it to be good. I want it to succeed. I want to be able to be fully on board with this. At the end of the year, when we're talking about our top 10 films of 2026, I want to be like, "Yeah, that was awesome, and that totally stuck the landing, and I can't believe that it was that good." That's what I'm hoping for, but it also will temper my expectations until we see more.

Alex Howard
Yeah. And it's also coming out at this point, coming out the same day as another huge movie, which I'm sure we will talk about in just a minute. So, yeah, what is your number three, Lee?

Lee Pugsley
My number is one that maybe you weren't anticipating being on my list, but it's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping. I just read this book in 2025, and I loved it. It's probably my favorite Hunger Games book out of any of the books that have been written so far. So when I saw the trailer in November, I was super excited for it. It was a really good teaser and really wet my appetite for what's to come. I want this movie to be good. I really loved Ballad of Songbird and Snake. And so I think this movie has potential to be really good because it's Francis Lawrence again, who did Catching Fire. And in my opinion, that's the best directed Hunger Games film. So, based on my love of the source material, I guess, it really sprung up in my list of most anticipated films.

Alex Howard
So yeah, I think I also heard that Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are coming back, which is huge for the franchise because I never thought Jennifer Lawrence was going to come back.

Lee Pugsley
Are they? I did not know that was going to happen. And I guess I can see where they would fit into the story. But that makes me even more excited for this movie.

Alex Howard
I read The Hunger Games. I read part of Catching Fire, and then I got really annoyed with Katniss, so it stopped. But I do need to watch the Hunger Games movies, the four original ones, and probably rewatch the last one as well before this one. I need to catch up on all that. But that's great that you're so excited.

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, I I didn't expect to be as excited about this movie as I am now, but it just, like I said, snuck up on me a little bit. So what is your number two? Actually, I think I have a guess.

Alex Howard
Okay, I think we have the same number two.

Lee Pugsley
I think you're right. I would say Dune: Part 3, correct?

Alex Howard
Yes, Dune: Part 3 is definitely my number two.

Lee Pugsley
Also my number two. So we can just openly dialog about this now.

Alex Howard
Denis Villeneuve obviously took two movies to direct the first Dune book, which I have not read. I know Lee has read. The second one was amazing. The first one was also good, but the second one blew my mind. It's one of the best, I think, sci-fi movies of all time. I absolutely love it. I love the popcorn bucket, too. But the movie itself is amazing. And the way it ended was so against all tropes and just everything that you typically get from a hero's journey, just flipped the script, complete opposite. So I'm very, very intrigued to see what they're going to do with the third one, if they're going to stay the course with this character and keep him on this path that he's on. We are trying to be vague in case you haven't seen Dune: Part 2. But I really hope they just go all in on the path that he's on because I love that they went the opposite of the hero's journey.

Lee Pugsley
Also, if you haven't seen Dune: Part 2, you should watch it, like, right now. Stop listening to this podcast. Go put it on and then you can come back and finish this.

Alex Howard
With the audio description, because the audio description is amazing for Dune: Part 2.

Lee Pugsley
So good. And to comment on what you were saying, I am also very curious to see where they're going to take this journey in Dune: Part 3. I know it's based on the book Dune Messiah, which I haven't read yet, but I will read it before the movie comes out. I know that there's a time jump, and that's really all I know about it, but I heard that it gets a little weird, which, for you, Alex, that might work really well. I'm not sure what I'm going to think of it, but I'll reserve judgment until I read the book and watch the movie.

Alex Howard
I'm actually fairly confident that he's going to keep it not too weird, because I think... I haven't read the first Dune, but I know he did change some things in the first Dune book in these two movies. So I feel like Denis will keep the weird stuff that people don't like in the book out of it. I mean, like I said, I don't know, but just guessing, I think he'll keep it a little grounded.

Lee Pugsley
It's likely because he did do a very good job of adapting the first book, and the things that he changed, I was okay with, and I understood why he made those changes. Also, Denis and Timothée Chalamet and everyone that's on the Dune team has earned my trust, so I have absolutely no reason to doubt that they're not going to deliver.

Alex Howard
Oh, yeah. God, I remember watching Dune: Part 2 in the theater and the epic-ness and the score and it's letting it wash over you. I'm so excited to do that again for Dune: Part 3. I really hope he can... Because this is uncharted territory. I mean, David Lynch did the first Dune adaptation, but he did not do Dune Messiah. So this is the first screen adaptation of that, and I'm super excited to see what he does with it.

Lee Pugsley
And talking about all this Dune stuff makes me want to go watch both of the movies again.

Alex Howard
Oh, for sure. Yeah. Me too. But yeah, so that's our number two. And obviously, my number one is Project Hail Mary. And remind the people, what was your number one?

Lee Pugsley
My number one is The Odyssey.

Alex Howard
Awesome. This is going to be such a great year in film. I think it'll be equally a great year in audio description because a lot of these movies have potential to have fantastic audio description tracks.

Lee Pugsley
Definitely. It's always so funny, too, because every year I'm like, are there actually going to be enough films for me to fill out a top 10 most anticipated list? And once I really dive into it, I realize there's a bunch of choices, and it's always hard to narrow it down at the end.

Alex Howard
Yeah. And like we mentioned before, Dune and Avengers, at this point of this recording, are coming out the same day. So... And it's weird because that's the same audience. For Barbenheimer, Barbie and Oppenheimer, those are two completely different audiences. And people jumped on the train and the wives wanted to see Barbie, the husbands wanted to see Oppenheimer. And they just went together and saw both, and it worked out. But Avengers and Dune, I think they're going to eat each other's audience. And by the end of the year, I think Dune is going to move. I think Dune is going to move up, or I really hope they don't get pushed to 2027, but I think they are going to move up rather than forward.

Lee Pugsley
It will be really interesting to see what happens with that because Warner was pretty firm that they weren't changing their date as of now. I think that if both movies stay on the same date, I think that's doing both of them a disservice in their box office.

Alex Howard
Yeah, I think people will see both, but opening weekend will be lower for one or the other. If you do them head to head, I think Avengers will come out on top just because it's more wide appeal than Dune. It's less dense. But yeah, I really think Dune should move maybe to Thanksgiving or something.

Lee Pugsley
Yeah, I'm curious to see what's going to happen with that. I mean, if I had to choose, I would probably go see Dune first. I'm sure that you would probably see Doomsday.

Alex Howard
I'm more interested in Dune, obviously, because it's higher, but I'd be afraid of Doomsday spoilers, so I would probably see Doomsday first.

Lee Pugsley
I think the other thing that's going to be challenging is, let's say you're someone, not a cinephile like us who sees everything all the time, but you're trying to decide you have a free weekend and you have time to see one movie. I feel like both of these movies are going to be three hours or close to it. It's not like people are going to have time to just go watch two movies back to back and spend six hours of time plus trailers in a theater on a Saturday. So it really will force the average audience member to choose.

Alex Howard
Yeah. No, I totally agree. They're going to be long movies. But it looks to be very exciting in 2026. They say next year, Disney could have the most successful year since 2019. I think in 2019, they had four or five billion dollar movies because they had Toy Story 4, they had Star Wars, they had Avengers. So yeah, they say that this coming year, 2026, could be just as big for Disney as that year between The Mandalorian, Toy Story, Avengers, all that stuff.

Lee Pugsley
I could see that. And I think there's going to be a lot of potential for very big hits from a lot of different studios this year, based on even talking through the list that we were just talking through.

Alex Howard
Yeah. But like we said, we would love to hear your most anticipated. And the most anticipated movies, most anticipated audio description tracks, all that. You can send us an email. Our email is DarkRoomFilmCast@gmail.com. That is DarkRoomFilmCast@gmail.com.

Lee Pugsley
And you can also follow us on Instagram @DarkRoomFilmCast, and like and subscribe to our YouTube channel @DarkRoomFilmCast as well.

Alex Howard
And we'd like to thank BlindCAN for helping us out with editing, and Matt Lauterbach at All Senses Go for helping out with transcripts of this episode so that we can make our podcast more accessible to our friends on the Deaf community.

Lee Pugsley
And thank you guys so much for listening. As always, it's a pleasure to be on this journey with you. We're looking forward to an exciting 2026 with you. And with that, we will see you here next time on The Dark Room.

Alex Howard
Yeah. Happy New Year, guys.

Lee Pugsley
Happy New Year.