From Wuthering Heights to The Bride: Films we’re most excited for in 2026

0:01Hi, I'm Charlie Duffield and welcome back to The Standard Podcast. If you're new here, hit follow and give us a rating. For all the latest news, head to standard.co.uk. Coming up later in the show... Lights, camera, action and popcorn. Will this year's film releases be enough to tempt audiences away from streaming services and back to their local cinema? But first... It's a new year and we're easing into 2026 gently with a look ahead at what this year has in store in the world of cinema Whilst we're only just entering Oscars season and debating the merits of Sinners vs One Battle After Another or Wicked For Good vs Marty Supreme, a brand new slate of films will be hitting the big screen From Charlie XCX's mockumentary, The Moment, to Christopher Nolan's epic, The Odyssey, there's something for everyone at the cinema.

1:07The Standard's Head of Culture, Martin Robinson, is here to talk about what to get excited about. Martin, I wanted to start by talking about a couple of literary adaptations, which are coming in 2026. Tell me more. So Wuthering Heights is kind of the one that's probably got the most attention. And there's Hamnet as well, which is the Paul Escal drama based on a book by Maggie O 'Farrell. And it's got Jesse Buckley in it as well. Kind of a big hit at the festivals over the summer. It's massively acclaimed. Is it true you know everything about a person by touching them here? Not everything.

1:50He's got more inside of him than any man I've ever met. Who are you looking for? William Shakespeare. It's sort of looking at Shakespeare and the idea that he might have had a child called Hamnet, who I don't want to give away any spoilers, but doesn't do too well in life. And then that sort of feeds into sort of obviously what he does in his plays, but it's very much about his wife rather than him. But he's apparently a serious, serious weeper. You haven't seen it yet, but there's a lot of Oscar buzz around that one. And then, yeah, Wuthering Hides is the follow-up to Soulburn by Emerald Fennell.

2:24And it's obviously an adaptation of the Emily Bronte novel. It's got Margot Robbie as Kathy and Jacob Elordi as Heathcliff, which has caused a lot of controversy already, just by the fact that Margot Robbie is kind of blonde and 35 and Kathy in the books is like a teen, dark-haired teen. but more importantly perhaps Heathcliff in the book is sort of described as sort of a dark-skinned gypsy. Jacob the Lord is obviously not that. He's a big strapping sort of white guy beyond the sort of casting controversies it's been billed as sort of the greatest love story ever written and obviously a lot of fans of the book are sort of talking about how actually it's a really really dark and disturbing book to say the least.

3:08It's not really a traditional rom-com There's a lot of attention around it. Emerald fennel you know after salt burn is like huge news it looks incredibly stylish and beautiful like charlie xcx has done the soundtracks there's a big sort of pop culture moment so everyone is going to be talking about it i'm sure it'd be incredibly divisive mr lincoln asked me to marry him heathcliff is gone you must accept it

3:49Katharine. Heathcliff.

4:03why did you leave me why did you betray your own heart

4:15i'm very excited i just as one of those talking point films it's going to be interesting also So just the really heightened way she seems to have done it. Charging up the stylishness and eroticism of the whole thing looks like she's not held back. So it's out on Valentine's Day and yeah, that's going to be exciting. I mean, those are two great films to kick us off. What are some of the other big movies coming out this year? There's a few sort of major blockbusters. Supergirl coming in June, which is the follow on from last year's Superman, which I really hated. Supergirl kind of made an appearance at the end of that film.

4:49She was kind of like this messy, kind of like half-drunk sister of Superman. And she gets her own movie now. And I don't know. It looks like she's kind of like, it's almost like Charlie XCX in costume, really. She's like a bit of a drinker, but apparently gets into the trauma of her leaving Krypton and all this stuff. And it's a bit more of a dark and moody sort of story. But we shall see. I'll reserve judgment. I'm not going to assassinate it before I've actually seen it. But let's hope it's better than the other one. okay this does not look like this is gonna end well for you guys

5:30so there's that and then there's the odyssey as well which is christopher nolan's take on homer's famous tale with matt damon as odysseus this has got to be amazing i mean everyone's very excited there's all sorts of classes that includes like zendaya and robert pattinson Charlize Theron it's all been filmed in IMAX it's like mega budget thing after years of war

6:00no one could stand between my men

6:07and home

6:14Not even me.

6:20obviously anything Christopher Nolan touches is of huge interest and he's got that balance between making a lot of money with his films and also you know is incredibly incredibly acclaimed artistically so this looks like the kind of epic that will really deliver so that's coming out in July there's been a new trailer release about the new Avengers film which is out next Christmas that's you know it's a question of whether marvel can come back really they've had a few struggles they had fantastic pour out this year which did okay but generally speaking they've been on a bit of a slide so this will be a big test to see if they can sort of come back and continue to dominate things as they did sort of a few years ago a child a life untouched weatherstorm lend me the strength of the All Fathers

7:13so that I may fight once more, defeat one more enemy and return home to her and not as a warrior. I don't know why I'm being on Brat Charlie XCX all the time, but she's got a film coming out as well called The Moment. Are you having a brat summer? I'm sorry, what is it again? We agree to brat summer forever. Don't you just think the whole, like, keep having a brat summer thing is a bit cringe. It's all cringe. Good to go again? It's sort of like following her on tour during the brat days. Alexander Skarsgård is sort of playing opposite her as some sort of industry director who's sort of taken her off in weird directions.

7:49It looks quite mad and interesting. Not very good, in my opinion. I'm a middle-aged man, so it's not really my sort of deal. Other things are 28 years later, the Bone Temple, which looks pretty exciting. and there's been a lot of talk around The Bride as well, which is like Maggie Gyllenhaal's new film, which got Jesse Buckley in it again. It's a musical sort of about The Bride of Frankenstein, basically. Was I just the same before the accident?

8:20There wasn't any accident.

8:26Everything we did.

8:30Made that in on purpose. It's nothing to do with the recent Guillermo del Toro film, but it looks pretty mad and interesting. And then there's the new Peaky Blinders film, The Immortal Man as well, which I'm sure will get a lot of attention. So how do you think The Bride will do, considering that we've already had a Frankenstein film recently? Yeah, I mean, it looks like a very different proposition. Obviously, that was very, very dark and moody. This one, it's set in Chicago in the 1930s. A bit more like the Rocky Horror Show, rather than anything too sort of serious. It could be hit or miss, couldn't it, really, that one.

9:03With it being Maggie Gyllenhaal, you know, it's going to be very stylish and have a good sort of thrust to it. I can see that doing quite well, actually. Christian Bale plays the monster, by the way.

9:15Let's go to an ad break. Coming up, what will the standout film of 2026 be? We'll see you back here in just a moment.

9:28Welcome back. So, Martin, another film which caught my attention was one starring Amanda Seyfried. What's that about? The Testament of Anne Lee. Yeah, this was another sort of big hit on the festival circuit. She's the founder of the Shaker movement, isn't she? That's kind of what this is. So she heads to America saying that she's the second coming of Christ and all this stuff. But apparently it's just an astonishing performance by her. The time is near at hand. I know it Do not be frightened

10:08I mean it's quite interesting times really There's huge blockbusters Which are going to be sucking up all the audiences But there's loads of really strange little films being made as well A man of seafood who's like a top actress But the story about the founder of the Shaker movement Isn't obvious box office success but looks like a really intriguing, weird little film and has been sort of acclaimed already. So it's quite interesting that there's all these different types of films being made. I think it's pretty good times for audiences, really. I know that they're not obviously making money, particularly because a lot of them are going straight into streaming.

10:41But, you know, in terms of the sheer expressions going, I think it's pretty, pretty interesting times. I love an arthouse film. Are there any others to watch out for this year? The other one that's quite interesting is the drama, which stars Zendaya and Robert Pattinson, who are both in The Odyssey as well. And it's an A24 film who are obviously the big indie sort of cool guys on the block. We don't really know too much about it, but it looks like it's kind of a rom-com, but a little bit of a weird one. Let's do a little warm up so we're feeling revved up and comfortable for your wedding day. Yeah?

11:12All right, let's try it. Let's do a little warm up. Up on our feet. All right, Charlie, move a little closer to your bride-to-be. Here we go. don't forget to smile okay just smile naturally yeah totally just a completely natural smile just like how you would smile in life they've released sort of early marketing campaigns they did like a fake engagement announcement for them published it in a paper in the states yeah it's the kind of little quirky drama a bit of a sort of low-key oscar buzz film and do you have any predictions on what will be the big hit of 2026? It's hard to look past The Odyssey.

11:54I think that's just going to dominate everything in terms of awards and audiences. People just still can't resist an epic. In fact, it's in IMAX and it's got the clout of Christopher Nolan just means it's just everyone is going to be wanting to see that. And I think everyone will want to see it at the cinema as well, which is the key thing that obviously the industry wants everyone to do. It's going to be it's going to be there. Finally, do you have anything else to add about what this year in film has in store? With the streamers now taking place, it's the question of whether all these films that are being made, whether they can actually bring audiences back to the cinema for the real experiences or whether they just stay on streaming and just sort of fill holes, essentially.

12:32It looks exciting enough to get people out about again.

12:40and that's the standard for all the latest news head to standard.co.uk if you'd like to get in touch please do drop us a line at podcasts at standard.co.uk we'll be back here on Monday morning we'll see you then