Only 4 Upcoming 2026 Movies Can Cross the Billion-Dollar Mark

Image via Warner Bros. Published Aug 20, 2026, 7:21 AM EDT David is a Senior Editor at Collider focused primarily on Lists. His professional journey began in the mid-2010s as a Marketing specialist before embarking on his writing career in the 2020s. At Collider, David started as a Senior Writer in late 2022 and has been a Senior Editor since mid-2023. He is in charge of ideating compelling and engaging List articles by working closely with writers, both Senior and Junior, as well as other editors. Occasionally, David also reviews movies and TV shows and writes episode recaps. Currently, David is also writing his second novel, a psychological horror satire that will, hopefully, be picked up for publication sometime next year. Sign in to your Collider account 2026 has been one of the best years for the box office post-pandemic. Cultural phenomena like Obsession, beloved fan favorites like Project Hail Mary, and even sleeper hits like The Sheep Detectives have all contributed to making 2026 a major sensation, now on track to become the highest-grossing year since the record-breaking event that was 2019. Of course, a lot of that success comes from the five billion-dollar movies that we've had so far: Michael, The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, Toy Story 5, The Odyssey, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. These movies have captured the hearts of audiences, many of whom rushed to the theater to watch them twice. Five movies in the billion-dollar club is already impressive, but it's interesting to ponder which movies still to come can join them. The answer is "not as many as you'd think," but there are at least four major movie events still to come that could reasonably reach the milestone, although just one is a sure bet. 'The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping' - November 20 Image via Lionsgate Against all odds, The Hunger Games franchise is still going strong(ish) in 2026, the last survivor of the YA invasion of the 2010s and the only one that truly made an enduring mark on pop culture. This year, it returns with Sunrise on the Reaping, a prequel centering on Haymitch Abernathy's time at the 50th Hunger Games, the second Quarter Quell, where each district must send twice the number of tributes. The ensemble cast is genuinely impressive, including an assortment of Oscar nominees and winners, including Ralph Fiennes, Glenn Close, Kieran Culkin, Elle Fanning, and Jesse Plemons. No film in the Hunger Games franchise has ever crossed a billion dollars, or even come close, for that matter; the highest-grossing entry remains The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, which grossed $865 million over a decade ago. However, the franchise overall is currently at $3.3 billion, and the ensemble cast alone is bound to make the film a true cultural event. Haymitch is one of the best-known and beloved characters in the series, and November doesn't have a ton of competition (notably, it lacks a major Disney release; sorry, Hexed). Lastly, Jennifer Lawrence and Josh Hutcherson are expected to reprise their iconic roles as Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, yet another selling point. The verdict for this one is "really unlikely, but not impossible." 'Dune: Part Three' - December 18 Image via Warner Bros. Pictures Dune will probably go down in history as the defining blockbuster saga of the 2020s. Denis Villeneuve's big-screen adaptation of Frank Herbert's seminal novel, once thought to be unadaptable, has become a true cultural landmark, uniting cinephiles and mainstream audiences in their love for this ruthless, war-torn universe. Dune: Part Three, ostensibly the last entry into the saga, will see Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), now the Padishah Emperor, as he deals with a new threat and the reemergence of old allies. Like The Hunger Games, neither of the two previous Dune movies has come close to the billion-dollar mark. However, the franchise is on the rise, with 2021's Dune grossing $410 million (mid-pandemic, no less) and Dune: Part Two grossing $714 million three years later. Dune: Part Three is coming out at the perfect time, with the franchise at the peak of its cultural relevance and with many of its stars experiencing career heights, from Chalamet to Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, and Anya Taylor-Joy. Of course, it's also coming out alongside another major blockbuster, and the possibility of both movies cannibalizing each other is significant. Still, many are expecting this to be another Barbenheimer situation, which is possible. Dune has a ton of goodwill from audiences, plus the promise of a thrilling, artistically stunning conclusion to a riveting, demanding tale of ambition, betrayal, and misguided faith. The verdict for this one is "we're hopeful, but we make no promises." Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Survival Quiz Which Sci-Fi World Would You Survive? The Matrix · Mad Max · Blade Runner · Dune · Star Wars Five universes. Five completely different ways the future went wrong — or sideways, or up in flames. Only one of them is the world your instincts were built for. Eight questions will figure out which dystopia, galaxy, or desert wasteland you'd actually make it out of alive. 💊The Matrix 🔥Mad Max 🌧️Blade Runner 🏜️Dune 🚀Star Wars TEST YOUR SURVIVAL → 01 You sense something is deeply wrong with the world around you. What do you do? The first instinct is often the truest one. APull on every thread until I understand the system — then figure out how to break it. BStop asking questions and start stockpiling — food, fuel, weapons. Questions don't keep you alive. CKeep my head down, observe carefully, and trust no one until I know who's pulling the strings. DStudy the patterns. Every system has a rhythm — learn it, and you learn how to survive it. EFind the people fighting back and join them. You can't fix a broken galaxy alone. NEXT QUESTION → 02 In a world of scarcity, what resource do you guard most fiercely? What we protect reveals what we believe survival actually requires. AKnowledge. If you understand the system, you don't need resources — you can generate them. BFuel. Everything else — movement, power, escape — runs on it. CTrust. In a world of fakes and informants, a truly reliable ally is rarer than any commodity. DWater. And after water, information — the two things empires are truly built on. EShips and credits. The galaxy is big — you survive it by being able to move through it freely. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What kind of threat keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of. AThat reality itself is a lie — that everything I experience has been constructed to keep me compliant. BA raid. No warning, no mercy — just the roar of engines and then nothing left. CBeing identified. Once someone with power decides you're a problem, you're already out of time. DBeing outmanoeuvred — losing a political game I didn't even know I was playing. EThe Empire tightening its grip until there's nowhere left to run. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you deal with authority you don't trust? Every dystopia has a power structure. Your approach to it determines everything. ASubvert it from the inside — learn its rules well enough to weaponise them against it. BIgnore it and stay out of its reach. The further from any power structure, the better. CAppear to comply while doing exactly what I need to do. Visibility is the enemy. DManoeuvre within it carefully. You can't beat a system you refuse to understand. EResist openly when I have to. Some things are worth the risk of being seen. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Which environment could you actually endure long-term? Survival isn't just tactical — it's physical, psychological, and very much about where you are. AUnderground bunkers and server rooms — cramped, artificial, but with access to everything that matters. BOpen wasteland — brutal sun, no shelter, constant movement. At least the threat is honest. CA dense, rain-soaked city where you can disappear into the crowd and nobody asks questions. DMerciless desert — extreme heat, no water, and something enormous living beneath the sand. EThe fringe — backwater planets and busy spaceports where the Empire's attention rarely reaches. NEXT QUESTION → 06 Who do you want in your corner when things fall apart? The company you keep is the clearest signal of who you actually are. AA tight crew of believers who've seen behind the curtain and have nothing left to lose. BOne or two people I'd trust with my life. Any more than that and someone talks. CNobody, ideally. Alliances are liabilities. I work alone unless I have no choice. DA community bound by shared hardship and mutual survival — people who need each other to last. EA ragtag team with wildly different skills and total commitment when it counts. NEXT QUESTION → 07 Where do you draw the line — if you draw one at all? Every survivor eventually faces a moment that tests what they're actually made of. AI won't harm the innocent — even the ones who'd report me without hesitation. BI do what I have to to protect the people I've chosen. Everything else is negotiable. CThe line shifts depending on who's asking and what's at stake. DI draw a long-term line — nothing that compromises my people's future, even if it'd help now. ESome lines, once crossed, can't be uncrossed. I know which ones they are. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What would actually make survival worth it? Staying alive is one thing. Having a reason to is another. AWaking others up — dismantling the illusion so no one else has to live inside it. BFinding somewhere — or someone — worth protecting. A reason to keep moving. CAnswers. Understanding what I am, what any of this means, before time runs out. DLegacy — shaping the future in a way that outlasts me by generations. EFreedom — for myself, for others, for every world still living under someone else's boot. REVEAL MY WORLD → Your Fate Has Been Calculated You'd Survive In…Your answers point to the world your instincts were built for. This is the universe your temperament, your survival instincts, and your particular brand of stubbornness were made for. The MatrixYou took the red pill a long time ago — probably before anyone offered it to you. You're a systems thinker who can't help but notice the seams in things. You're drawn to understanding how the system works before figuring out how to break it. You'd find the Resistance, or it would find you — your instinct for spotting constructed realities is the machines' worst nightmare. You function best when you have access to information and the freedom to act on it. The Matrix built an airtight prison. You'd be the one probing the walls for the door. Mad MaxThe wasteland doesn't reward the clever or the well-connected — it rewards those who are hard to kill and harder to break. That's you. You don't need comfort, community, or a cause larger than the next horizon. You need a vehicle, a clear threat, and enough fuel to outrun it — and you're good at all three. You are unsentimental enough to survive that world, and decent enough — just barely — to be something more than another raider. In the wasteland, that distinction is everything. Blade RunnerYou'd survive here because you know how to exist in moral grey areas without losing yourself completely. You read people accurately, keep your circle small, and ask the questions others prefer not to answer. In a city where humanity is a legal designation rather than a feeling, you hold onto something that keeps you functional. You're not a hero. But you're not lost, either. In Blade Runner's world, that distinction is everything. DuneArrakis is the most hostile environment in the known universe — and you are precisely the kind of person it rewards. Patience, discipline, and political awareness are your core strengths — and on Arrakis, they're survival tools. You understand that the long game matters more than any single victory. Others come to Dune and are consumed by it. You'd learn its logic and earn its respect. In time, you wouldn't just survive Arrakis — you'd begin to reshape it. Star WarsThe galaxy far, far away is vast, loud, and in a constant state of violent political upheaval — and you wouldn't have it any other way. You find meaning in being part of something larger than yourself — a cause, a crew, a rebellion. You'd gravitate toward the Rebellion, or the fringes, or whatever pocket of the galaxy still believes the Empire's grip can be broken. You fight — not because you have to, but because standing aside isn't something you're capable of. In Star Wars, that willingness is what makes all the difference. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 'Avengers: Doomsday' - December 18 The other part of the would-be Dunesday cinematic event is, of course, Avengers: Doomsday. The long-awaited fifth Avengers movie will see countless Marvel superheroes, including Thor, Ant-Man, the Fantastic Four, the New Avengers, the Avengers, and even the X-Men, facing Doctor Doom, somehow played by Robert Downey Jr. Details of the plot remain vague, but fans can expect the film to adapt elements of the Marvel Comics storyline Time Runs Out, which leads directly into Secret Wars. So far, the film seems like a collection of new and old characters brought together through sheer ambition and a fair share of nostalgia. The cynical part of the fandom will say there's really no reason for these people to be together in a movie other than "money." However, there's always the chance that the Russo Brothers manage to recapture the magic of Avengers: Infinity War, assuming 2027's Avengers: Secret Wars will be the equivalent of Avengers: Endgame. Quality aside, Doomsday is the closest thing we have to a billion-dollar sure bet. Brand New Day has proven that there's really no such thing as superhero fatigue and that interest in the Marvel IPs remains as strong as ever; if anything, Tom Holland's fourth solo Spidey movie has only made people more excited for what's to come in the MCU. The only way Doomsday doesn't cross the billion-dollar mark is if it's somehow awful, which probably won't be the case. The verdict for this one is "a billion in the bag, two billion seems promising." 'Jumanji: Open World' - December 25 Image via Columbia Pictures Jumanji is really the franchise that should've never happened but somehow did. This new trilogy, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, and Karen Gillan, has defied all odds, receiving solid reviews from critics and audiences and defying the box office gods to become a certified hit. Jumanji: Open World will bring the action to the real world, much like the original 1995 movie that inspired it all. Now, before you laugh or roll your eyes, I'd like to remind you that the two previous Jumanji movies were incredibly successful at the box office. Welcome to the Jungle grossed $962 million, and The Next Level finished at $801 million. Sure, that suggests waning audience interest, and this fourth movie is coming out a whopping seven years after the last one. The release date is also puzzling, considering it will come out merely a week after Dunesday, and the cast isn't exactly the box-office magnets they were in the late 2010s. Indeed, many things are working against Open World, and yet no one can deny there is still interest in this unexpected IP. It's also coming out in the middle of the Christmas break, when people have time to kill and are still riding that holiday high before New Year's. In that situation, who doesn't want to watch a good, old-fashioned, family-friendly blockbuster? Maybe this one will reach a billion—probably not, all things considered, but stranger things have happened. The verdict for this one is "difficult, but not as much as you'd think." Jumanji: Open World Release Date December 25, 2026 Director Jake Kasdan Writers Jake Kasdan, Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg, Chris Van Allsburg Cast Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Karen Gillan, Awkwafina, Alex Wolff, Morgan Turner, Madison Iseman, Brittany O'Grady, Burn Gorman, Ser'Darius Blain