No matter what you thought of last year’s movies, Hollywood has a new mantra for the New Year: You ain’t seen nothing yet!

Bigger and better? Of course!

Certainly it’s a starry 2026 at the movies.

Leading any list would have to be cinema’s hottest and most prestigious auteur: Christopher Nolan, who somehow made a history of the atomic bomb a global, Oscar winning box-office smash.

At 55 Nolan goes back, way, way back in fact, with “The Odyssey,” an adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem with Matt Damon as Odysseus, the Ithacan king who must battle the Cyclops and Circe to return home to his faithful Queen (Anne Hathaway).

Like his previous movies Nolan films “Odyssey” with IMAX cameras. And like his previous films, he’s supported by a stellar cast that includes Tom Holland and Zendaya who have other entries this year.

Nolan is hardly alone in generating high anticipation. Steven Spielberg follows “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” and “War of the Worlds” with a new UFO movie: “Disclosure Day” starring Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor.

Tom Cruise returns following the collapse of his costly “Mission: Impossible” franchise to try something new: A black comedy, the English language “Digger” from Mexico’s Oscar-winning Alejandro G. Iñárritu (“The Revenant).

Brad Pitt returns to one of his most iconic roles in “The Adventures of Cliff Booth,” a sequel to Quentin Tarantino’s ‘60s-set “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” Only this outing is directed by cinema’s Prince of Darkness David Fincher in this reunion with his “Fight Club” and “Seven” star who is reprising his only Oscar-winning role.

Unlike Tarantino, Denis Villeneuve has no trouble returning to his critically praised and extremely faithful takes on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi “space opera” with “Dune: Part Three.” Leading a large ensemble once again is Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya.

Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday,” a follow-up to the second highest grossing movie in film history, has built-in appeal – and a new villain in Robert Downey, Jr., in a serious twist on his Iron Man Marvel bonafides.

Among the virtual fleet of ’26 sequels,  “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” the next chapter in the hit zombie franchise, is first to arrive, in January.

“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” swings in after a lengthy break, again with Tom Holland and Zendaya, Hollywood’s most romantic real-life duo, co-starring.

“Pixar’s Toy Story 5” joins several other newly constructed Disney continuations like the live action adaptation “Moana” and Pedro Pascal starring in a “Star Wars” entry, “The Mandalorian & Grogu.”

Before year’s end there will be “The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping” a prequel which somehow will feature Jennifer Lawrence.

Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Meryl Streep return in high heels and hopeful hilarity with “The Devil Wears Prada 2.”

Buzz Lightyear (voiced by Tim Allen) and Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks) in Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 5.” (Photo courtesy of Disney/Pixar.)
Robert Downey Jr. in Marvel’s “Avengers: Doomsday.” (Photo Marvel Studios)