(Image: Shutterstock/Fer Gregory)

2026 has been a pretty good year for cinema.

Not a bad turnaround for an industry plenty of people were writing off after Covid.

UK and Ireland box-office revenue reached £902.8m by the end of August – 23% ahead of 2025 and now running ahead of 2019’s pace.

August alone was up 67% year on year, helping make this the highest-grossing summer on record.

With that in mind, I consulted the respected source of my Letterboxd reviews for my top five releases of 2026 so far:

1. The Odyssey – 5★
2. Obsession – 5★
3. Project Hail Mary / Marty Supreme – 4.5★
4. The Invite / Tuner – 4★
5. Spider-Man: Brand New Day – 4★

And firmly at the other end:

The End of Oak Street – 1★

A record-breaking year already for cinema – can’t wait for the second half to fully kick in.

Credit: Jonny Owen, Media Account Manager