The Watchlist
What’s about to pop off in cinema culture in 2026 and why your brand can’t afford to miss it.
Cinema has cemented itself as a shared, multi-generational experience where families come together to spend quality time.
With family admissions forecast to grow by +25% year-on-year, and school holiday periods consistently delivering peak attendance, these titles offer unmissable opportunities for brands to connect with moviegoers.
Perfect for these brand categories:
Automotive
Retail & QSR
Financial services
FMCG
Check out this year’s family slate
Horror is coming off a record-breaking year and will continue to command attention in 2026.
Horror is a powerful platform for brands to connect with youth audiences, as the cinema experience amplifies adrenaline through every collective gasp and jump scare.
year for the genre in 2025.
YOY uplift in Australian horror admissions from 2024 to 2025.
of horror cinema-goers are aged 14-39.
Sources: Audigent, past 180 days ('Fandom > Genre > Horror' & 'Fandom > Horror’, CineTAM 2025, Fandom Inside Horror Research 2025Perfect for these brand categories:
Energy drinks
Automotive
Gaming & tech
SVOD
Legacy franchises are making a major mark in 2026, with a diverse mix of worlds and IPs tapping into nostalgia. Audiences are drawn to familiar stories with modern relevance, turning opening weekends into true cultural events.
Scream 7
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Masters of the Universe
Scary Movie 6
Practical Magic 2
Focker In-Law
Perfect for these brand categories:
Automotive
Alcohol
Financial services
Tech & telcos
Book-to-film adaptations are a key driver in 2026, led by female audiences who crave rich world-building and stories they can invest in beyond a single screening.
Emotionally invested, detail-oriented and fandom-driven, these audiences turn cinema releases into cultural moments that live on well after opening weekend.
Releasing Sep 10
Practical Magic 2
Verity
Releasing Oct 1
Sense and Sensibility
Releasing Oct 15
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
Releasing Nov 19
Perfect for these brand categories:
Lifestyle
Education
Travel
Tech
Gothic cinema is emerging as the dark horse genre of 2026, driven by aesthetic-led storytelling and Gen Z’s fascination with dark romanticism, shaped by fashion and TikTok culture.
For expressive, identity-driven audiences, cinema becomes a runway and mood board at scale, where striking visuals and atmosphere matter just as much as the story itself.
Perfect for these brand categories:
Beauty & fashion
Alcohol
Lifestyle
Luxury
2026 will be defined by serious star power, with a trio of actors set to dominate the year across multiple major releases, even crossing paths in one of the biggest cinematic spectacles on the slate.
As actors increasingly operate as brands, audiences are following talent as much as IP, drawn to personal style, values and authenticity. Cinema remains the ultimate stage, where star power still delivers prestige and impact.
Anne Hathaway
Will be starring in…
The Devil Wears Prada 2
The Odyssey
Flowervale Street
Verity
Robert Pattinson
Will be starring in…
The Drama
The Odyssey
Dune: Part Three
Zendaya
Will be starring in…
The Drama
The Odyssey
Spider-Man: Brand New Day
Dune: Part Three
Popcorn will be trending in 2026 as audiences consume it in new and unexpected ways, extending far beyond the cinema seat.
We’ve captured that buttery goodness in digital form with our poppin’ newsletter, serving up snackable insights and culture-led moments worth subscribing to.
