Credit: NetflixWe’re at the halfway point of 2026, making it a great time to look back at what Netflix has released so far while also looking ahead to the rest of the year. Personally, my two favorite Netflix movies from earlier this year are The Rip and War Machine. As for what’s in store for the rest of the year, it’s a mix of horror, animation, crime, and drama.
Three of the six movies on this list have release dates. The horror movie arrives next month, while the other two have Oscar aspirations with December release dates. The other three are expected to come out in 2026, but they remain undated. I’m hoping that the heist movie with Denzel Washington streams sooner rather than later. All six movies will be available in the U.S.
The Last House
Stay inside or face an uncertain future
You might think that The Last House would be a haunted house movie. Instead, it’s a sci-fi thriller where a family must remain inside, not outside, the house to ensure their survival. Greta Lee and Wagner Moura star as Ann and Jason, a married couple trapped inside a house with their two children. They try to escape, but to no avail.
Quiz
Name that Netflix sci-fi movie
Trivia challenge
From clones to comets — how well do you know Netflix’s biggest sci-fi films?
Sci-FiNetflixMoviesCharactersPlot Twists
Characters
In The Adam Project, who does time-traveling pilot Adam Reed team up with to save
the future?
12-year-old self in this 2022 time-travel adventure. The dynamic between the two versions of Adam is the
emotional core of the film.
Adam who travels back in time and ends up partnering with his 12-year-old self, played by Walker
Scobell, to fix a fractured timeline.
Plot
In Don’t Look Up, what is the central threat that astronomers Kate Dibiasky and
Randall Mindy discover?
Earth in roughly six months. The 2021 film uses this premise as a sharp satire of media sensationalism
and political inaction.
satire follows two astronomers who struggle to get anyone to take seriously the very literal end of the
world heading straight for Earth.
Cast
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein, currently in production for Netflix, stars which
actor in the role of the creature?
Frankenstein’s creature in del Toro’s long-awaited adaptation. Oscar Isaac is also attached to the
project, playing Victor Frankenstein.
Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, making it one of the most anticipated Netflix productions from
visionary director Guillermo del Toro.
Setting
In They Cloned Tyrone, in what fictional community does most of the story take
place?
neighborhood where Fontaine, Slick Charles, and Yo-Yo uncover a sinister government conspiracy operating
right beneath their streets.
real American inner-city neighborhoods. The location is integral to the film’s themes about systemic
racism and government exploitation of Black communities.
Plot
In Spiderhead, what do the drugs administered by Jeff Abnesti primarily affect in
the prisoners who volunteer for testing?
emotions and behavior — from inducing intense love to uncontrollable laughter to fear. The 2022 film is
based on George Saunders’ short story Escape from Spiderhead.
what happens when human feelings can be chemically switched on and off, raising dark ethical questions
about free will and consent in a near-future prison facility.
Sci-Fi Lore
The Cloverfield Paradox serves as a prequel of sorts to the Cloverfield franchise.
What does the Shepherd space station attempt to do that triggers the film’s chaos?
Earth’s catastrophic energy shortage, accidentally ripping a hole in spacetime and unleashing
interdimensional horrors. The 2018 film was famously dropped on Netflix right after the Super Bowl.
accelerator. When the experiment goes wrong, it tears open dimensions and sets the events of the entire
Cloverfield universe in motion — at a very steep cost.
Director
Rebel Moon was directed by Zack Snyder and drew heavy comparisons to which classic
sci-fi film franchise?
reason — Snyder originally pitched the concept as a Star Wars story before developing it independently
with Netflix. It features a ragtag group of warriors defending a peaceful colony from a tyrannical
empire.
actually conceived Rebel Moon as a potential Star Wars project years before it became a standalone
Netflix film, which explains the many familiar beats and archetypes.
Cast
In Atlas, Jennifer Lopez plays a data analyst named Atlas Shepherd who is hunting a
rogue AI. What is the name of that villainous AI?
android who escapes Earth and plans to wipe out humanity. The 2024 Netflix film follows Atlas as she
reluctantly partners with a mech suit AI to take him down.
rogue AI who was once created to help humanity but turned against it, forcing Atlas Shepherd on a
dangerous mission across the galaxy to stop his genocidal plan.
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Over three years later, the family remains inside, but they start to learn about an impending threat that exists outside. Is it a mythical force, an extraterrestrial creature, or a combination of both? Netflix cut an excellent trailer that builds up the supernatural suspense and impending dread. These are the thrillers that Netflix should continue making in the future.
The Last House streams on August 7.
The Last House
Release Date
August 7, 2026
Cast
-
Greta Lee -
Wagner Moura
La Bola Negra (The Black Ball)
Netflix has found its prestige play for awards season
Credit: Carla Oset/NetflixIt’s no secret that Netflix wants to win Oscars. Every year, Netflix picks about two to three movies to invest heavily in the awards race in hopes of cracking the Best Picture category at the Oscars. La Bola Negra (The Black Ball) is the likely candidate that the studio will back during awards season.
Directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, La Bola Negra explores the lives of three interconnected men across Spanish history in the 20th and 21st centuries. The cast includes Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Milo Quifes, Lola Dueñas, Julio Torres, Penélope Cruz, and Glenn Close. The queer epic film competed at Cannes for the Palme d’Or and won Best Director. For cinephiles in the U.S., pay attention to La Bola Negra because it will certainly get a huge push from Netflix for Best Picture and Best International Feature Film.
La Bola Negra streams on December 4.
Ray Gunn
An Oscar-winning filmmaker’s next movie premieres on streaming
Credit: Skydance Animation/NetflixBrad Bird is one of the most innovative directors in animation. The Iron Giant, Ratatouille, and both Incredibles movies set high benchmarks for what an animated movie could do and what kinds of stories it can tell. His newest film, Ray Gunn, might be the most ambitious project of his career.
Described as The Maltese Falcon meets Buck Rogers, Ray Gunn is a sci-fi crime caper, with Sam Rockwell voicing private investigator Raymond Gunn. In a futuristic world inhabited by people and aliens, Ray is the last human private eye, and his next case involves supernatural creatures, crime, and multimedia star Venus Nova (Scarlett Johansson). Can Bird go five-for-five with his animated movies?
Ray Gunn streams on December 18.
Ray Gunn
Release Date
December 18, 2026
Director
Brad Bird
Writers
Brad Bird, Matthew Robbins
Animals
Ben Affleck hops back into the director’s chair
Credit: Getty Images for NetflixBen Affleck is quickly becoming one of Netflix’s most valuable stars. He starred alongside Matt Damon in The Rip, one of Netflix’s best movies this year. Netflix then acquired Affleck’s AI startup company, InterPositive, for $587 million. Later this year, Affleck co-writes, directs, and stars in the crime thriller Animals.
Affleck plays Los Angeles mayoral candidate Milo Bradford, whose son is kidnapped and held for ransom. With the help of his wife (Gillian Anderson), Milo races to pay the ransom through whatever means necessary. In other words, some of that money has likely been obtained through nefarious methods. I fully support Affleck and his decision to make B-movie-style thrillers like The Rip and Animals.
Animals is scheduled to be released in 2026.
Apple TV 4K
Operating System
tvOS
Resolution
4K
The Mosquito Bowl
Peter Berg’s return to football movies
Credit: Kane Skennar/NetflixFilmmaker Peter Berg knows his football. He directed 2004’s Friday Night Lights, an excellent high school football movie. Berg then developed that movie into the Friday Night Lights series, which some believe is the greatest show of all time. In 2026, Berg’s next football movie heads back to the 1940s in The Mosquito Bowl, based on Buzz Bissinger’s nonfiction book The Mosquito Bowl: A Game of Life and Death in World War II.
In WWII, some of the Marines preparing for the Battle of Okinawa played college football at the highest level. On Christmas Eve in 1944, the Marines held a football game featuring four top American college football stars. The film stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgård, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis. Considering many of the players in the game would die in battle months later, expect The Mosquito Bowl to be an emotional tribute to these fallen heroes.
The Mosquito Bowl is scheduled to be released in 2026.
The Mosquito Bowl
Director
Peter Berg
Cast
-
Nicholas Galitzine -
Bill Skarsgård
Here Comes the Flood
Denzel in a heist movie—need I say more?
Credit: Apple TVOf all the movies on this list, Here Comes the Flood is the one I have circled and highlighted. Here’s the logline via Netflix: “An unconventional heist movie about a bank guard, a teller, and a master thief in a deadly game of cons and double crosses.” If that doesn’t get your blood racing, this cast might.
Here Comes the Flood stars Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Danai Gurira, Sean Harris, Moisés Arias, and Justin Kirk. So you’re telling me Denzel and two young stars are teaming up in a heist thriller? Sign me up. The movie is rumored to premiere at the Venice Film Festival later this summer. If that happens, I’d expect an October or November release on Netflix.
Here Comes the Flood is scheduled to be released in 2026.
What else can you watch on Netflix?
You’ll have to wait a while to watch several of these movies. In the meantime, check out what else Netflix has to offer, including exciting thrillers like Memento and 28 Days Later. Plus, make sure to watch some award-winning movies, including Apollo 13 and Gone Girl.
Subscription with ads
Yes, $8/month
Simultaneous streams
Two or four
