What to watch this summer: The biggest movies of 2026 | The Excerpt

0:04 Summer movie season is when Hollywood turns the volume up.

0:08 Bigger stars, bigger swings,

0:10 and a packed slate that tries [music] to hit every kind of audience.

0:14 USA Today's entertainment team is a new preview out now highlighting 15

0:19 of the biggest releases heading into theaters between now [music] and Labor Day.

0:24 And one early signal stands out.

0:27 The headline movie of the summer might not revolve around a superhero at all.

0:32 It might be the Odyssey.

0:34 Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt.

0:36 I'm Dana Taylor.

0:37 Here to talk about the movies you shouldn't miss.

0:40 I'm now joined by USA Today movie critic Brian Truit.

0:44 It's great to have you here, Brian.

0:46 Great to be here.

0:46 Thanks for having me.

0:47 Your preview opens with The Odyssey,

0:50 a Christopher Nolan movie, stacked cast, not a traditional franchise.

0:55 Why does that feel like such a defining movie this summer?

0:59 Well, it's interesting because, you know, could we look back to Oppenheimer,

1:02 you know, the Barbenheimer summer of a few

1:04 years ago and they outperformed everybody.

1:06 They outperformed, you know, the animated movies.

1:09 They perfor outperformed, you know, the other superhero stuff.

1:14 Um, and I think this might happen again too with the Odyssey.

1:16 I mean, I think there's so much buzz because

1:19 it's Christopher Nolan's first movie after Oppenheimer and you know,

1:23 this cast is stacked.

1:24 You know, there's Matt Damon is Odysius.

1:27 John Bernthal's in it.

1:28 Tom Han's in it.

1:29 Robert Patson's in it.

1:30 Zenaia is in it.

1:31 Everybody knows who Odysius is.

1:33 So, I feel like, you know, it could do really well.

1:36 And, you know, I feel like it could do

1:37 a lot better than some of the other things coming.

1:39 At the same time, we still have a very

1:42 franchiseheavy lineup on the way from Star Wars,

1:45 The Mandalorian, and Grou to Spider-Man: Brand New Day.

1:49 When you look at what's coming,

1:51 does this feel like a superhero summer or something more mixed?

1:56 It does feel a little bit more mixed and I and I wonder if

1:58 this summer is going to be like a make it or break it for, you know,

2:02 franchi certain franchises.

2:04 I think the magic's still there in terms of people love Tom Holland,

2:07 people love his version of Spider-Man, but you know,

2:10 four movies in and heading to Doomsday.

2:13 Are they more looking towards, you know, Avengers Doomsday than this Spider-Man?

2:17 because there hasn't been a lot of marketing for it.

2:19 Then you have something like, you know, The Mandalorian and Grou.

2:22 Uh it's the first Star Wars movie since 2019.

2:25 But even that, you know, the interest isn't as much into that as it should be

2:29 for a Star Wars movie coming out on a big screen.

2:32 Some of these other franchise,

2:33 it'll be interesting to see how they perform this summer

2:35 because I don't think franchises are going to go away,

2:38 but I think there's other things that could take its place among,

2:42 you know, top contenders.

2:43 Like we said, the Odyssey, I think Supergirl is going to do really well.

2:46 We haven't seen Supergirl on a big screen since Helen Slater in the 80s.

2:51 So, I I think that's kind of new and people are looking forward.

2:53 Masters of the Universe, you know, I grew up and played with He-Man toys.

2:56 I think that's going to be interesting because it

2:58 brings that kind of campy newness to a new

3:01 generation of film fans that the parents grew up

3:03 with and are introducing it now to their kids.

3:05 So, I feel like there's a lot of opportunities for new faces

3:09 and new heroes and new characters to kind of make a make a dent.

3:13 One thing your list really emphasizes is range.

3:16 There's big budget action.

3:18 We have horror spoofs, animated films.

3:21 Is that intentional this year?

3:23 Are studios trying to cast a wider net after some uneven box office results?

3:28 I think both.

3:29 I think theaters just need a lot of stuff um to play,

3:32 you know, especially, you know, in summer.

3:35 You know, I think that I think the theater

3:36 business is still trying to come back after the pandemic.

3:39 And you know, you have horror movies like Talk to Me

3:42 came out a few years ago and made a lot of money.

3:45 So that that bodess well for something like

3:47 Passenger or Obsession that comes out in May.

3:50 Studios just want to make money and they want to get movies out to people.

3:54 With summer, you don't have like a huge

3:56 blockbuster anymore that everybody's just kind of afraid of.

3:59 Like again, Mandalorian Grou is coming out.

4:02 Used to be if you put a Star Wars movie out in the summer,

4:04 everybody wanted to stay away from it.

4:06 I don't think that's true anymore as as much as it was.

4:09 And I think it's true a little bit of the Marvel movies that have taken

4:12 a little bit of a hit in the last few years in terms of, you know,

4:15 box office and interest.

4:17 Um, so I think I think the field is kind of wider open for things.

4:21 You highlight 15 movies in this preview.

4:24 When you're building a list like this, Brian,

4:26 what makes something a mustsee for you?

4:29 Is it scale?

4:30 Is it talent?

4:32 The early buzz?

4:33 Or just whether it feels like a true theater experience?

4:37 A little bit of everything.

4:37 You look at franchises still, but you look at talent.

4:40 You look at something like, you know, Disclosure Day,

4:43 Stephen Spielberg movie, Aliens, boom, block, you know,

4:46 that's got that's got blockbuster written all over because,

4:48 you know, you look back on his in his filmography.

4:51 He does pretty well with sci-fi and aliens, you know,

4:54 and you look at the cast, it's got Emily Blunt, kind of A-lister,

4:58 Colin FTH, kind of beloved British actor, Joshua Connor, upand cominging guy,

5:02 Coleman Domingo, kind of everybody, you know, Oscar Oscar nominee.

5:05 So you look at the formula for it and it's

5:07 got a lot of stuff that's working for it.

5:08 But then you look at something like Powerbound which is a smaller

5:11 kind of comedy drama with like Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas

5:15 and it's about music and songs and what happens when you

5:19 know somebody steals your idea and makes a hit out of it.

5:21 That's going to appeal to certain adults especially you know during the summer

5:25 and you know maybe they don't want to see Master of the Universe that day.

5:29 Let's go see Power Ballad.

5:30 So I look at I look at the counterprogramming.

5:32 I look at um the franchises, you know, and I look at talent, too.

5:36 You've got not only major stars across the slate,

5:39 but bigname directors like Nolan who are driving projects.

5:43 How does much does a filmmaker's reputation still

5:47 move audiences compared to some of these well-known brands?

5:51 I think for certain it certain move, you know, movies and directors, it does.

5:55 Chris Reno, it's going to be big.

5:57 Spielberg probably going to be big at this point.

6:00 Um, you know, I think you can you can hang your hat on a lot of directors now.

6:04 Um, but Spielberg doesn't do a lot of movies.

6:07 Nolan doesn't do a lot of movies.

6:09 So, now we're kind of waiting for that next, you know,

6:11 rung of directors to kind of step up

6:13 and become kind of the A-listers that, you know, you all come out for.

6:17 Um, you know, you have Supergirl.

6:19 You know, I think last year, last year when James Gunn put out Superman,

6:23 everybody knew who James Gun was because, you know,

6:25 everybody loved the Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

6:27 you know, he was running he's now running DC.

6:30 You know, he's not quite Spielberg or Nolan maybe,

6:32 but like people really love his stuff.

6:34 Now, he's not doing Supergirl.

6:36 Craig Gillespie is directing Supergirl,

6:38 but that's that is a moment for people to know

6:42 who Craig Gillespie is that may not know him.

6:44 So I feel like that's kind of a cool thing about about you know summer

6:48 too is you know connecting kind of like a bigger franchise thing with a director

6:53 that you know has done a lot of good work but may not be on the level

6:57 of a Spielberg and knowing and you

6:59 know and audiences get introduced to their work

7:02 for family summer can be a regular moviegoing season.

7:06 What does the family and animation side of this lineup look like this year?

7:11 And what tends to bring families into theaters right now?

7:15 Tried and true, I feel like, has worked for families.

7:18 Super Mario Galaxy movie made a lot of money just like the, you know,

7:21 the Super Mario movie did, you know, a few years ago.

7:24 Pixar movies do really well.

7:26 Toy Story is probably, you know, the gem of the Pixar universe.

7:31 It's bringing back all the characters everybody loves again for a fifth time.

7:35 you have Minions and Monsters.

7:36 People love, you know, the Despicable Me universe and everything.

7:40 So, I think studios aren't willing to bet on on newer stuff.

7:44 Although, Hoppers came out a few months ago and like, you know,

7:48 that's Pixar's been doing that where they put out their original films

7:51 kind of like in a non-summer month maybe to kind of figure out,

7:55 okay, well, is anybody going to see this?

7:56 And they leave like, you know, kind of their sequels or prequels,

8:00 you know, kind of whatever their franchise big franchise stuff in the summer.

8:03 We've seen some big budget films struggle at the box office recently.

8:07 Is there anything here that feels like

8:10 a real gamble where expectations are high, but the outcome isn't guaranteed?

8:16 I think Star Wars is, you know, it's it's funny because I'm 50.

8:21 You know, I go back to the original I went

8:24 to Return of the Jedi five times in a movie theater.

8:27 I you know, we had to wait in line.

8:29 It was like on a Wednesday or Tuesday.

8:30 You know, my mom pulled me out of school early so we could like,

8:33 you know, stand in line outside the mall.

8:36 That used to be Star Wars.

8:37 That used to be like, "Oh,

8:38 you have to go to a Star Wars film because that is where everybody that is

8:43 where everybody everybody's going to be that opening

8:45 weekend." You do not have that anymore, you know?

8:48 And I feel like that's I don't know why that is.

8:50 I think the you know, the the sequel trilogy that ended kind of with a you know,

8:55 kind of a whimper with The Rise of Skywalker,

8:58 I think that turned off some people.

9:00 the fact that, you know, so much of Star Wars is now on Disney Plus.

9:04 I think Star Wars is kind of turned into a television

9:06 franchise more so than not now and, you know,

9:09 Mandalorian Grou is essentially the next season of The Mandalorian.

9:14 So, I I will be really interested to see a if Mandalorian Grou is good,

9:18 but also kind of the reception.

9:20 Are people going to come out?

9:22 Even though Baby Yoda is adorable, we we'll probably be inundated with Baby Yoda

9:26 stuff in the next three weeks or so.

9:28 Well, I'm I'm going to be one of those people, Brian.

9:34 Same.

9:33 Every summer has a movie that outperforms what has sleeper potential

9:39 that could surprise people once it actually hits theaters this summer.

9:43 I think Masters of the Universe um I think there's

9:46 a lot of heavy hitters going on and you know,

9:48 even though there's a lot of different kind of programming,

9:50 there's a lot of different things kind of going on this summer.

9:53 Master Universe is something that, you know,

9:55 there's been one Masters Universe film with Dolph

9:57 Lundram back in the day and it was terrible.

10:00 We haven't had like five or six He-Man movies

10:03 that maybe some have gone well, some have not.

10:06 We haven't seen this franchise for a long time.

10:09 So, I feel like nostalgia could boost it in a big way.

10:14 And I think when kids see it,

10:16 they might like the fact of like a guy with a sword calling

10:20 down the power of Greyco and like turning into a buff guy who like,

10:23 you know, beats up on skeletonfaced dudes.

10:26 But what worked for it 50 years ago may work for it

10:30 again because we've seen weird stuff happen like that all the time.

10:33 I don't know if it's going to be a blockbuster,

10:35 but I think it kind of has a chance

10:36 to really overperform more than people expected to.

10:40 Okay.

10:40 If you had to pick the opening weekend monster blockbuster, um,

10:45 the critics pick that surprises people or the movie

10:50 everyone ends up talking about all summer.

10:53 What are you watching, Brian?

10:54 Kind of want to say Masters just because of of nostalgia factor.

10:58 It's something that hasn't been done well on on a movie screen and, you know,

11:03 it's something and my my my I have a 13-year-old daughter.

11:06 She doesn't she doesn't really go to movies,

11:07 but I think something like that I think could

11:11 really bring together kids and parents just because of just

11:15 how like kind of weird and how [music] how campy and how kind of cool it can be.

11:20 I'm looking forward to that just just from my own nostalgia

11:23 fix and you know what the the potential that it could be.

11:28 I hope she's game.

11:29 Brian Truit is USA Today's movie critic.

11:32 Brian, it [music] was great to have you on.

11:34 Thank you.

11:35 Thanks for watching.

11:36 I'm Dana Taylor.

11:37 I'll see you next time.

11:40 [music]