Disney Confirms Its 5 Biggest Movies Releasing In 2026

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After a challenging year, Disney is focusing on its five biggest movie releases planned for 2026. While Lilo & Stitch was a bright spot – becoming one of Disney’s best live-action remakes and earning over $1 billion – Marvel films like Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps didn’t perform well. The live-action remake of Snow White also struggled to attract audiences. Now, Disney is hoping for a much stronger year in 2026 with several key franchise releases.

During Disney’s fourth-quarter 2025 earnings call, CEO Bob Iger discussed the company’s 2026 film and television plans. He highlighted several eagerly awaited projects, specifically naming five as their most important upcoming releases.

As a huge Disney fan, seeing Bob Iger highlight those five movies for 2026 really felt like he’s confident they’re going to be massive. It definitely gave me the impression Disney’s planning for some big things next year, but it also made me realize there’s probably a lot more exciting stuff they haven’t shown us yet!

Disney’s 5 Biggest Movies Releasing in 2026 (Confirmed)

The Devil Wears Prada 2 (May 1, 2026)

Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, and Emily Blunt – all acclaimed actors with Oscar wins or nominations – are coming back together in May for a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. The new film will once again be set in the world of Runway Magazine.

In this new story, Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) faces a struggling magazine world and finds herself competing with her old assistant, Emily Charlton (Emily Blunt), for much-needed advertising dollars.

Disney’s 20th Century Studios has two upcoming releases: a sequel to The Devil Wears Prada and the survival horror film Send Help, which comes out January 30th. Also, Searchlight Pictures will release Ready or Not 2: Here I Come on April 10th, continuing the story from their popular 2019 film.

The Mandalorian & Grogu (May 22, 2026)

It’s been nearly seven years since a Star Wars movie hit theaters – the last one was The Rise of Skywalker. In the meantime, Disney+ has kept fans engaged with shows like The Mandalorian. Now, instead of a fourth season on Disney+, The Mandalorian is getting a theatrical movie sequel. If this movie does well in May, it could potentially launch a whole new Star Wars trilogy.

Pedro Pascal returns as Din Djarin in a new movie with Grogu, affectionately known as Baby Yoda. This Disney+ favorite will now hit the big screen, introducing Sigourney Weaver as a New Republic colonel and surprisingly, Jeremy Allen White as the son of Jabba the Hutt.

Okay, so the new Star Wars film hitting screens this summer isn’t a one-off – Disney is clearly planning a big comeback for the franchise. And get this: they’ve already set a release date for another one! May 28, 2027, will bring us Starfighter, and the casting is pretty exciting. Ryan Gosling, fresh off the Barbie success, is taking the lead, and Shawn Levy, who’s directing the upcoming Deadpool & Wolverine, is at the helm. It sounds like we’re in for a real treat, and a sustained return to the galaxy far, far away.

Toy Story 5 (June 19, 2026)

As a huge movie fan, I’m so excited to hear that Toy Story 5 is coming out in June 2026! It’s been seven years since the last Toy Story movie made over a billion dollars, and I can’t wait to see Woody and Buzz back on the big screen, with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen reprising their roles. Apparently, this time the story will really focus on Jessie, played by Joan Cusack, and they’re facing a brand new villain – a tablet called Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee, who sounds like their biggest challenge yet!

Early reviews suggest the newest Toy Story film is deeply emotional. The story follows Bonnie’s toys as they grapple with being replaced by modern technology, potentially offering a thought-provoking look at how children play today.

While Toy Story 5 is expected to be a major release for Pixar next year, Hoppers will actually come out first, premiering on March 6th. Hoppers is a unique story set in a world where people can transfer their consciousness into realistic robotic animal bodies. Pixar is likely hoping Hoppers will be a big hit and help turn things around after some recent films haven’t performed as well at the box office.

Moana (July 10, 2026)

Although Disney recently cancelled six live-action remakes, suggesting they’ll be making fewer movies overall, the live-action Moana is still scheduled to come out on July 10th, finishing a packed summer of 2026 for Disney.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is returning to play the lively demigod Maui in a live-action version of the popular 2016 film. Newcomer Catherine Laga’aia, 18, will take on the main role, replacing Auli’i Cravalho.

The live-action version of Moana will mostly retell the original story, featuring music by Lin-Manuel Miranda, but it will have a new ending.

Avengers: Doomsday (December 18, 2026)

Disney plans to release what’s expected to be its biggest film of 2026: Avengers: Doomsday. This sequel to one of the highest-grossing movies ever made has been highly anticipated by fans for nearly seven years. Doomsday will kick off a two-part story arc that concludes with Secret Wars on December 17, 2027.

Sources say Marvel Studios is bringing together a huge cast of 61 actors from across the Marvel Cinematic Universe for a new project called Doomsday. The movie will feature heroes from the Avengers, X-Men, and Fantastic Four teaming up to face threats from different universes, and will star Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom.

While Avengers: Doomsday is a big release for the MCU in 2026, Spider-Man: Brand New Day is also expected to be a major success, hitting theaters on July 31st. However, Spider-Man films are distributed by Sony Pictures, not Disney, though Marvel Studios does co-produce them. This explains why they weren’t included in Bob Iger’s presentation.

According to Bob Iger, Disney has a lot of exciting movies and shows planned for 2026, including sequels like ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ from 20th Century Studios, ‘Toy Story 5’ from Pixar, and ‘Moana’ as a live-action film. Plus, fans can look forward to new installments of ‘The Mandalorian and Grogu’ from Lucasfilm and ‘Avengers: Doomsday’ from Marvel Studios.

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2025-12-13 08:37