Summer 2026 movies and series: the top 10 to watch in theaters and streaming
Summer 2026 promises a rich season for film lovers. In theaters, an outsized epic signed Christopher Nolan meets two Cannes-awarded films and a handful of demanding auteur works. On streaming, platforms compete with event productions, from the prison thriller led by Tahar Rahim to Anya Taylor-Joy’s limited series. Here are the ten summer 2026 movies and series the Movie in the Air team has selected, each with its context, angle and trailer, so you can build a summer program that is both popular and discerning.
This selection deliberately blends big screen and small screen, blockbusters and auteur cinema. Every title is dated, located on its platform or in theaters, and paired with our critical take. Dates apply to mainland France and may vary by territory.
1. The Odyssey, by Christopher Nolan: the blockbuster of the summer
The most anticipated film of the season bears the signature of Christopher Nolan. An adaptation of Homer’s poem shot entirely in Imax 70mm around the world, The Odyssey follows Ulysses’ perilous journey home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. Matt Damon plays the Greek king, surrounded by a dizzying cast: Tom Holland as Telemachus, Anne Hathaway as Penelope, Zendaya as Athena, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron and Lupita Nyong’o. The hero’s path crosses the cyclops Polyphemus, the Sirens and the sorceress Circe, up to the reunion with his wife.
The release context is worth noting. Universal made an unusual choice by reserving early screenings for the specialist press rather than content creators, a gesture of confidence in a film conceived for the theater. In France, only the Pathé Odysseum in Montpellier screens the film in Imax 70mm, a format for which pre-sales have broken records. The Grand Rex is holding a midnight screening on the night of July 14 to 15. Nolan’s first film shot entirely with this technology, with a budget estimated at 250 million dollars, The Odyssey arrives carried by immense expectation, not without controversy around its casting. In our view, the event is best experienced in a theater, in the largest format possible.
In theaters July 15.
2. Comète, by Élie Wajeman: the Parisian ensemble film
Chosen as film of the month by Maison Dulac Cinéma, Comète fully earns its place in this ranking. A comet crosses the Paris sky and brings several destinies into contact. Two friends take stock of their lives. A young woman reunites with a father she no longer expected. Another sells drugs for her brother. Elsewhere, two people haunted by death meet, while a theater troupe rehearses Chekhov’s Three Sisters, echoing these lives.
The film springs from a singular bet. Élie Wajeman wrote for the eighteen actors of the Cinemasterclass workshop and shot in four weeks, with a budget under a hundred thousand euros, mostly in the eleventh arrondissement. Vincent Macaigne, Sandor Funtek, Alexia Chardard, Lou Lampros and Sarah Le Picard carry this fresco shot on a shoestring, in a feverish energy the filmmaker claims as Cassavetes-like. After the taut thriller Médecin de nuit, Wajeman embraces the ensemble film here, a genre sometimes deemed dated that he defends by citing Nashville and Certain Women. The result blends drama, film noir and comedy, in a sensitive portrait of a big city beneath the cosmic sky. Screened at the Cabourg Festival, Comète confirms a distinctive French voice.
In theaters July 15.
3. Vaiana, la légende du bout du monde: the family adventure of the summer
Disney adapts its 2016 animated classic into live action. Catherine Laga’aia takes on the role of the young wayfinder, alongside Dwayne Johnson as the demigod Maui, whom he already voiced in the original version. Directed by Thomas Kail, celebrated for Hamilton, the film follows Vaiana on her first voyage beyond the reef of her island of Motunui, in search of a way to restore her people’s prosperity.
Carried by a mostly New Zealand cast and by the visual power of live action, this reimagining targets the summer family audience. It is the mainstream title par excellence of our selection, ideal for an intergenerational outing. The question, as with all these Disney reworkings, remains whether the live action adds anything to the magic of the original animation. The answer awaits in theaters.
In theaters July 8.
4. Le Passage, by Brandt Andersen: the drama of exile
Amira works in a large hospital in Chicago. On her birthday, a message revives a traumatic memory. Years earlier, on the evening of her fortieth birthday, a bomb pulverized her apartment in Aleppo. Amira then had only one reflex, to grab her daughter and flee. Le Passage weaves five destinies bound by exile, a doctor, a soldier, a smuggler, a poet and a coast guard captain, across four countries.
Yasmine Al Massri plays Amira, Omar Sy plays Marwan, Yahya Mahayni plays Mustafa. Directed by Brandt Andersen, this choral tale of contemporary migration traveled through festivals before its French release, collecting the Amnesty International Peace Prize at the Deauville Festival, as well as the Best International Film Prize at the San Diego Festival. The film embraces a realist register, harrowing at times, and asks what it means to keep living when everything collapses. A powerful proposition that extends Omar Sy’s eclectic filmography, from Intouchables to Samba.
In theaters July 8.
5. L’Aventure rêvée, by Valeska Grisebach: the feminist western awarded at Cannes
Jury Prize at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, L’Aventure rêvée settles in Svilengrad, a small Bulgarian town on the edge of a neglected Europe, near the Turkish and Greek borders. The film starts like a road movie in which a solitary man, Said, roams country roads under a scorching sun. Everything shifts when his car is stolen and he crosses paths with Veska, a childhood friend and archaeologist. In trying to help him, Veska slips into the heart of a criminal society that rules the town.
The fourth feature by German director Valeska Grisebach, after the acclaimed Western presented in Un Certain Regard in 2017, this naturalist crime drama delivers a commanding film with a powerful feminist thrust. Yana Radeva, a non-professional actress, plays a heroine who rises up, in her gentle and quiet way, against a world made by and for men. The director paints an uncompromising picture of post-communist Bulgaria, economically suffocated, ruled by social Darwinism, yet crossed by moments of hope where sisterhood becomes a weapon. One caveat, however: the demanding runtime of two hours and forty-four minutes may deter viewers in a hurry. For lovers of auteur cinema, it is one of the summits of the summer.
In theaters July 15.
6. Fjord, by Cristian Mungiu: the 2026 Palme d’Or
Palme d’Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, Fjord marks Cristian Mungiu’s second top award, nineteen years after 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. The Romanian filmmaker thus joins the very small club of ten twice-Palmed directors, alongside Francis Ford Coppola, Ken Loach and Michael Haneke. For the first time, he shoots outside Romania, in the spectacular landscapes of Norway.
The Gheorghius, a very pious Romanian-Norwegian couple, settle with their five children in a village at the end of a fjord, where they befriend their neighbors. Their daily life is upended when a teacher discovers bruises on the body of Elia, the eldest. The community then questions their strict upbringing, allergic to smartphones, and their faith. Sebastian Stan, named Best Actor by several critics, and Renate Reinsve carry this courtroom drama of great finesse. Mungiu makes no secret of having wanted a polemical film, one that sets conservative and progressive extremes against each other, and that raises the question of living together without giving all the answers. A film that divides, sparks debate and questions, exactly what one expects from a Palme d’Or. Awarded the Maison Dulac Aime label, it opens at the Reflet Médicis on August 19.
In theaters August 19.
7. Lucky, on Apple TV+: the return of Anya Taylor-Joy to series
Anya Taylor-Joy returns to the small screen, five years after The Queen’s Gambit, in this limited series adapted from the bestselling novel by Marissa Stapley, a Reese Witherspoon book club pick. A multi-million-dollar heist goes wrong, forcing Lucky Armstrong to flee. Raised in crime by her father John, she finds herself hunted by both the FBI and a ruthless mob boss determined to recover her son and her money.
Timothy Olyphant plays the father, Annette Bening the crime boss Priscilla, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor the agent Billie Rand who tracks Lucky. Created by Jonathan Tropper and produced by Reese Witherspoon, the series promises high-speed chases, flipped cars and a heroine grappling with a long series of bad decisions. Seven episodes, the first two available at launch, then a weekly release through August 19. An elegant summer thriller, carried by an actress at her peak.
Available July 15, one episode every Wednesday through August 19.
8. Prisoner, on Canal+: Tahar Rahim in action mode
Tahar Rahim returns to Anglo-Saxon fiction in this taut action thriller, the first original creation born from the partnership between the Canal group and British broadcaster Sky. Amber Todd, a young prison transport officer, returns to work after her maternity leave. Her first mission is to escort Tibor Stone to court, a former elite killer turned key witness against his old crime syndicate. When the convoy is attacked on an isolated road, Amber handcuffs herself to Tibor to prevent his escape. The sole survivors of the ambush, they must move forward together, hunted by the criminal network and compromised authorities.
Izuka Hoyle plays opposite Tahar Rahim, surrounded by Eddie Marsan, Catherine McCormack and Finn Bennett. Created by Matt Charman, the Oscar-winning writer of Bridge of Spies, and directed by Otto Bathurst, known for episodes of Peaky Blinders, the series plays the card of the moving huis clos and the moral dilemma. Six episodes, one every Monday. A second season has already been confirmed. Efficient, tense, carried by a Tahar Rahim who has nothing left to prove.
Available July 13, one episode every Monday.
9. Gomorra: The Origins: the prequel to the cult saga
The long-awaited prequel to the Sky saga dives into the Naples of 1977, where a very young Pietro Savastano, future godfather of Secondigliano, is still only a child from the poorest neighborhoods. Against the backdrop of a city in full transformation, marked by cigarette smuggling and the arrival of heroin, the series traces the loss of innocence of the future boss, alongside his brothers and friends, his ambitions and his first great love, mad and passionate as adolescence demands.
Drawn from Roberto Saviano’s novel, produced by Sky Studios and Cattleya, the series is carried by Marco D’Amore, the unforgettable Ciro of the mother series, who also directs the first four episodes and serves as artistic supervisor. This return to the roots of Pietro’s power captures an era that defined the face of modern crime. One caveat, however: the series already premiered in Italy in January 2026, its French date being later. For fans of the original series broadcast in more than a hundred and ninety territories, it is an unmissable late-summer rendezvous.
Available August 24 in France.
10. Please Like Me, on Arte: the cult sitcom to (re)discover
Arte devotes its series of the summer to the first creation of Australian comedian Josh Thomas. Dumped by his girlfriend, Josh, twenty-one, realizes he is gay before moving back in, reluctantly, with his bipolar mother. Between family crises and heartache, surrounded by loyal friends themselves poorly equipped for adult life, he searches for his place, with self-deprecation as his only ally.
Written and performed by Josh Thomas, also known for Everything’s Gonna Be Okay, this sitcom follows over four seasons the tribulations of a delightfully eccentric hero, between colorful comedy and flashes of gravity. The title sounds like a prayer, and behind the goofy humor, the series tackles serious subjects with offbeat frankness, such as mental illness or homophobia. Thirty-two short episodes, available in full, for a gem of lucid hedonism carried by a particularly successful fourth season. The free streaming pick of the summer.
Available from July 31, 2026 to July 1, 2027 on arte.tv.
Where and when to watch the summer 2026 movies and series
To build your program, here is the recap of dates and platforms. In theaters, the season opens July 8 with Vaiana, la légende du bout du monde and Le Passage, continues July 15 with The Odyssey, Comète and L’Aventure rêvée, and closes August 19 with the Palme d’Or Fjord. On streaming, Prisoner arrives July 13 on Canal+, Lucky July 15 on Apple TV+, Please Like Me July 31 on Arte, and Gomorra: The Origins on August 24. Enough to alternate between the theater and the couch all summer long.
Frequently asked questions about the summer 2026 releases
What is the most anticipated film of summer 2026?
The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan dominates the expectations of summer 2026. An adaptation of Homer’s poem shot in Imax 70mm with Matt Damon, Tom Holland and Zendaya, the film is released July 15 and is already breaking pre-sale records in theaters equipped for the large format.
Which Cannes 2026 award-winning films come out this summer?
Two films awarded at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival are released during the summer. Fjord by Cristian Mungiu, Palme d’Or, arrives August 19. L’Aventure rêvée by Valeska Grisebach, Jury Prize, is released July 15.
Which series to watch on streaming in July 2026?
Three creations stand out in July 2026. Prisoner with Tahar Rahim on Canal+ from July 13, Lucky with Anya Taylor-Joy on Apple TV+ from July 15, and the sitcom Please Like Me on Arte from July 31.
Are there family films this summer 2026?
Vaiana, la légende du bout du monde, the Disney live action directed by Thomas Kail, is the ideal family outing of the summer. The film arrives in theaters July 8.
A summer of cinema, between spectacle and auteur vision
This selection of summer 2026 movies and series spans every genre and every format. Outsized epic signed by Nolan, Parisian ensemble film, Disney family adventure, drama of exile, feminist western and demanding Palme d’Or on the theater side. Action thriller, elegant limited series, criminal prequel and cult sitcom on the streaming side. The richness of the season lies in this coexistence between spectacle and cinema of research, between blockbusters and more intimate discoveries. It is up to each viewer to build their program, in the dark theater as in front of the small screen, for a summer where cinema and series come in the plural.
And also : Festival d’avant-premières
