3 Sci-Fi Movies That Can Start New Franchises In 2026

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Science fiction is a great setting for long-lasting series, and 2026 promises exciting new releases from some of the biggest franchises. With movies like The Mandalorian & Grogu, Dune Part 3, and Avengers: Doomsday all scheduled to come out, 2026 is looking like a huge year for fans of established series.

This year boasts a promising lineup of new science fiction films. While each is highly anticipated, a few stand out as potential blockbusters that could launch entire movie universes. Considering their unique concepts, commercial appeal, and the talent behind them, these three upcoming sci-fi movies are the most likely to generate sequels and spin-off films.

3. Disclosure Day

Steven Spielberg generally prefers to create original stories rather than sequels. While he didn’t direct the sequels to Jaws, he did return to direct The Lost World: Jurassic Park and all of the Indiana Jones films through The Dial of Destiny. Most of his movies are one-time projects, and though his upcoming film Disclosure Day (scheduled for 2026) will likely be the same, it’s a story that could easily be expanded into a series of films.

The story’s details are still secret, but it seems to be about the moment humanity discovers alien life. Whether there will be a sequel depends on what happens on “Disclosure Day.” That follow-up could explore what happens after the discovery – perhaps a lasting relationship with the aliens, humanity rejecting the truth, or humans taking advantage of them.

It’s almost certain that Disclosure Day will do well, considering the talent working on it. The bigger question is whether Steven Spielberg would want to make a sequel, and if not, whether he’d be comfortable letting someone else direct Disclosure Week.

2. Masters Of The Universe

The upcoming 2026 sci-fi movie Masters of the Universe is clearly intended to launch a major film series, putting a lot of pressure on its star. While the Masters of the Universe franchise began as a popular toy line in the 1980s and later thrived in comics and animated series, it hasn’t yet found success with live-action films. The 1987 movie starring Dolph Lundgren, though now a cult favorite, didn’t achieve widespread success.

As a huge movie fan, I’m really hoping the 2026 Masters of the Universe reboot gets the tone just right. It needs to be fun without going too over-the-top with camp, but also avoid being so serious it loses all the joy. If they can pull that off, though, I think this movie could be amazing. They’ve assembled a surprisingly strong cast – Kristen Wiig, Jared Leto, Morena Baccarin, Alison Brie, and Idris Elba, just to name a few – which definitely hints at potential for sequels and even spinoffs down the line.

The movie boasts a fantastic cast, but it risks feeling more like a family sitcom than an epic adventure if the story isn’t well-executed. If the film is a box office success, though, fans can anticipate many more He-Man adventures in the future.

1. Mercy

Though a TV series once continued the story of Minority Report, Chris Pratt’s new show, Mercy, explores a similar idea with a fresh approach. In Mercy, Pratt plays a detective in a future heavily reliant on artificial intelligence. The show centers around a system where people accused of crimes have just 90 minutes to prove their innocence to a computer. Things get complicated when Pratt’s character finds himself wrongly accused and starts to doubt the fairness of the system.

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Although the main story of Mercy is focused, it could expand in interesting ways – much like The Purge started as a single home invasion thriller and grew into a much larger, dystopian world. The creator, Pratt, is open to continuing the story, and Mercy definitely has the potential to become a story about humans versus artificial intelligence in the future.

Like the upcoming sci-fi film Masters of the Universe, financial success will be a major factor for Mercy. If the movie does very well, a sequel is likely.

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2026-01-16 20:29