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4d ago

Year-End Lists Lift 'One Battle After Another' and 'Sinners' as Horror Sets Up a Big 2026

Critics coalesce around Sinners, One Battle After Another, plus Weapons, signaling support for standout originals despite franchise dominance.

Matthieu Penchinat as Raoul Coutard, Guillaume Marbeck as Jean-Luc Godard and Aubry Dullin as Jean-Paul Belmondo in “Nouvelle Vague.”
Rose Byrne in “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.”
Josh O'Connor in DISCLOSURE DAY, directed by Steven Spielberg. Credit: Universal Studios
A triple split image. On the left, a blonde woman looks scared and is wearing a wedding dress soaked in blood. In the middle is a person in a large red unicorn costume carrying an axe and seemingly has an eyeball popping out of the suit. On the right is a bald, shirtless man with his back arched and arms stretched out, he is screaming at the sky and appears to have black teeth.

Overview

  • SFGATE’s top 10 names Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another as the year’s best, highlighting broad critical enthusiasm.
  • Ryan Coogler’s Sinners draws praise as a bold period horror entry and stands out as the only non‑IP title among the year’s top 10 box-office hits, per SFGATE.
  • Spain’s Sirat features prominently on lists with a Cannes Jury Prize cited as a key marker of its festival acclaim.
  • Film Festival Today ranks Zach Cregger’s Weapons at No. 1, while SFGATE cites it as an honorable mention, underscoring its recurring presence across roundups.
  • Dexerto previews a stacked 2026 horror slate, citing sequels and returns such as 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, Evil Dead Burn, Insidious 6, Return to Silent Hill, and Scream 7, as coverage notes that 23 of the top 25 box-office titles in 2025 were IP-based.