Movie Preview: February 2026

We’ve zoomed out and have taken a look at the entire year as a whole. Now it’s time to zoom back in and do a deep dive into the month of February! If you missed my recent two posts, feel free to go check them out! I revealed my top 10 favorite movies of 2025 and previewed over 80 titles that are coming up in 2026, with brief thoughts on each. If I’m being transparent, working on those two posts is what caused this one to be a bit delayed. But with that accomplished, we’re micro-focused on the year 2026, so let’s get going with the month of love!

In my January preview I briefly discussed the box office picture in general, in regards to how much of the month is dominated by holiday holdovers and awards films. It’s not the most optimal time of the year to release a new movie for a variety of reasons, thus the movies that do get a release are often movies studios have slightly less confidence about. Or they’re horror films, which can do well during any month of the year, especially given the smaller budgets. That describes four of the major releases in January that got decent traction (“Primate,” “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” “Send Help,” “Iron Lung”). To a certain degree, February is often a continuation of this. Buzz has died down on the holiday holdovers and awards films, but they still exist in the market. And studios still save their higher profile releases for other months, which means the year’s overall momentum always starts a bit slow.

That said, February has proven in the past that huge blockbuster releases *can* do very well, given the proper level of marketing and excitement. “Black Panther” and “Deadpool” were both February releases that shattered records. And we do have two holidays in Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day. So the door for success is opened a bit more than January. And even though there’s no big Marvel movie scheduled this month, there are a few notable titles that should open higher than January’s biggest opener, which was “Send Help” with $19.1 million. Regardless, these smaller months are still fun for me to dive into. Last month no movie opened above $20 million, and only five opened above $10 million (“Mercy” was the fifth along with the four previously mentioned horror films), but I still covered over 20 new movies and many of those actually got positive reviews, despite being ignored at the box office. So if you’re searching hard enough, there’s still things to find worth value. Big or small, let’s take a look at what’s there!

As always, release date information for this post is courtesy of the-numbers.com and boxofficepro.com. The movies listed are the ones currently scheduled for a wide release in the United States and Canada and are always subject to change.

February 6 – 8

Angel Studios' "Solo Mio"

Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks for winning Super Bowl LX this past weekend. Not to make this a sports post, of course, but the Super Bowl quite often has a big impact on the box office because people are watching the game, not going out to the movies. Thus when you essentially have a two-day weekend, studios try to avoid putting anything major there. According to Nielsen, 124.9 million people in the U.S. watched the game, making it the second-most watched program in history, behind only last year’s game. Bad Bunny’s halftime show peaked at a record-setting 137.8 million views. So when I say people aren’t going to the movies on Super Bowl Sunday, that’s what I mean. As a result, the No. 1 movie at the box office was “Send Help,” repeating at top with just over $9 million. There was a handful of smaller entries, so let’s check in on those real quick!

In regards to the top new opening of the weekend, Angel Studios claimed that spot with their new romance film Solo Mia, which clocked in at just over $7 million on the weekend. Speaking of the month of love, this one started the month off with a bit of heartbreak, as Kevin James stars as a man who gets left at the alter during a destination wedding in Italy. Trying to process what happened, he stays on the planned honeymoon tour by himself, meeting some fellow travelers along the way, as well as a local café owner who helps him explore the city in a more personal way. Based on reaction, it appears that the focus of the movie is less on being a traditional Hallmark romantic comedy, and more on the idea of learning how to move forward and see life in a more broad sense. In regards to Angel Studios, they’ve been a regular stay in these monthly previews. Outside a few outliers, which last year were a pair of Biblical animated movies, they’ve generally been in the $3-5 million range for their openings, so “Solo Mia” hitting $7 million is on the upper end of what they’ve released. Of the critics who did watch and review the movie, it landed with a solid 80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and an even better 96 percent from the audience, so it appears to have satisfied its target audience.

Next up in the movie realm – I’ll get to why I word it that way in a bit – there were a pair of horror films that found some audience in a wide release, the first being the latest adaptation of Dracula, this one coming via Luc Besson, director of movies such as “The Fifth Element,” “Lucy,” and “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.” As Besson told Deadline, production on this film didn’t necessarily start with him wanting to do “Dracula,” but rather his fascination with actor Caleb Landry Jones, who he worked with in his 2023 film “Dogman.” Besson brainstormed roles that he could see Jones doing and landed on Dracula, so that’s who the star of this adaptation is and how it came about. The movie opened in fifth place with $4.4 million from 2,050 theaters, a serviceable total. Considering its budget of $52 million, some may have wanted a bit more, but that opening weekend was the biggest for indie distributor Vertical Entertainment, besting their previous high, which was last month’s “We Bury the Dead” at $2.5 million. Fun fact: Dracula as a character has appeared in well over 200 films and TV shows over the years, making him one of the most adapted literary characters alongside Sherlock Holmes. Exact numbers vary depending on how you count, but in regards to the number of adaptations of the novel, Bram Stoker does have 176 writing credits on IMDb, most of those being “based on the novel by” credits.

Touching on the other major horror film of the weekend, the recent trilogy of “Strangers” films was completed with the release of The Strangers: Chapter 3. Credit to the filmmakers on this one for committing to a new trilogy of films and releasing them all, despite what critics and fans ultimately thought of them. If you’re less familiar, “The Strangers” began in 2008 with a simple home invasion thriller premise. It didn’t break any records or make a huge mark on the horror realm, but it’s decently well liked film by its fans. It had a sequel in 2018, “The Strangers: Prey at Night,” that was not given the same reaction. So a few years back, they decided to reboot it with a newly planned trilogy, with a new chapter coming out each of the last three years… to diminishing returns. “Chapter 1” had a respectable opening of $11.8 million. Last Fall, “Chapter 2” could only manage half of that with $5.8 million for its opening. And now “Chapter 3” concludes fairly quietly with an opening of $3.5 million, down in seventh place. What explains the diminishing returns are the reviews. “Chapter 1” on Rotten Tomatoes earned a 21 percent score. “Chapter 2” got a 14 percent score. And now “Chapter 3” has an 18 percent score. I haven’t done the research, but I’m sure that would contend for one of the worst reviewed trilogies ever made. And it makes the original 2008 film’s 50 percent score look like a masterpiece.

Before diving into these two horror films, I said “next up in the movie realm” because in between these movies was not your traditional movie, but the concert film Stray Kids: The DominATE Experience. Released by Fandango as a theatrical event, this is the concert film for the K-Pop group Stray Kids, focused on their recent sold-out SoFi Stadium performances, while also adding in a bit of behind-the-scenes footage. The concert experience would not have been on my radar leading into the weekend, but wound up in 1,724 theaters, earning $5.7 million, good enough for fourth place.

Below the main group of films this weekend, IFC and Shudder released the horror film Whistle in 1,200 theaters. It’s about a group of students who find an Aztec Death Whistle that summons their future deaths when they decide to blow it. Despite the moderate release, it opened to just $705,080, meaning it will likely be heading to the Shudder streaming service before too long. Faring even worse was the animated film Buffalo Kids. It also had a moderate release in 750 theaters, but could only manage an estimated $150,000, meaning it opened lower than three limited releases - Bendito Corazón ($469,000 from 23 theaters), Pillion ($241,759 from 4 theaters), and Aída y vuelta ($240,000 from 27 theaters). That opening for “Pillion” amounted to a per theater average of $60,442 in each of those four theaters, the second best per theater average of the year, behind the Charli XCX film, “The Moment,” which opened to $427,960 in the final weekend of January in 4 theaters (a per theater average of $106,990). “Pillion” is a very strongly reviewed film from critics, currently still at a 100 percent score from 128 critics. It’s described as an erotic romantic comedy starring Alexander Skarsgard and Harry Melling, and has even been cut down from its much raunchier festival release at Cannes last year. It’ll be expanding as we move forward through February and March.

February 13 – 16

Warner Bros.' "Wuthering Heights"

With the Super Bowl concluded and a double holiday weekend coming up (Valentine’s Day on Saturday and Presidents Day on Monday), this weekend should bring a spark of life to the box office, led by Emerald Fennell’s adaptation of “Wuthering Heights.” The title of this movie is officially stylized with quotation marks, which is a little awkward considering I typically use AP Style when I write these posts, and that means putting every movie title in quotation marks. The reason I bring this up is because Fennell stated that she intentionally did this to signify that this is her version of the story as opposed to a direct and faithful adaptation of the original novel. Fans of the novel should expect this to be a loose adaptation, not a direct retelling of the story. “Wuthering Heights” the novel was written way back in 1847 by Emily Brontë, and is a romance novel that showcases the story of Heathcliff and Catherine and their very turbulent relationship. It’s considered one of the best novels ever written, but has also been controversial over the years for its depictions of mental and physical cruelty, as well as its challenges to Victorian morality. It has been adapted many times over the years, but this recent adaptation stars Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie as Heathcliff and Catherine. It’s expected to open to at least $30 million, but some publications suggest it could break out and open as high as $50 million. Considering the holiday and two of Hollywood’s current biggest stars, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did hit close to that mark.

With date night crowds satisfied over the holiday weekend, family audiences will also get treated with the Steph Curry animated basketball movie GOAT. The movie is directed by Tyree Dillihay and Adam Rosette, and comes from Sony Pictures Animation, but Steph Curry has been all over the advertising on this one. And it makes sense. He’s the name young basketball fans will recognize and thus push their parents to let them go see. He is a producer on the film and one of the many voice actors included. If you weren’t aware of sports terminology, “GOAT” is an acronym that stands for “Greatest of All Time.” But also, the main character in this movie is an anthropomorphic goat, so we have a double entendre going here. Will is a young goat who has dreams of becoming a GOAT. Or at least a professional “roarball” player, because technically this is roarball and not basketball. Watching the trailers, I’m not sure what the difference is outside it being anthropomorphic animals on the teams. But the story seems to be that Will gets his chance to be on a team and compete. Caleb McLaughlin from “Stranger Things” voices Will, while the rest of the cast is a unique combination of traditional actors, singers, and lots of NBA basketball players. The movie seems to be aiming for the $20 million realm, although I’ve seen that continue to go up as it’s gotten closer. And I’m sure it will do very well on Monday as kids are out of school for Presidents Day.

This weekend seems to have a “big three” in regards to new releases, at least when it comes to theater count, with two moderate releases also joining the count. But “Wuthering Heights,” “GOAT,” and this next entry, Crime 101, are all getting released in over 3,000 theaters. And they are all targeting different demographics, which is a positive equation for a production. Take a date to the romance film. Take the family to “GOAT.” Or go off with the boys to see the crime thriller, as is aptly titled. This is a heist film starring Chris Hemsworth as an expert jewel thief who has eluded police in committing many heists across U.S. Route 101. Seeing the score of a lifetime, and possibly a final heist, he’s roped in Halle Berry, playing a disillusioned insurance broker facing her own crossroads. Together they’re being chased by the relentless detective played by Mark Ruffalo. So yeah, we have Hulk hunting down Thor and Storm, if we’re putting this in Marvel terms. It’s a movie that might rely more on word of mouth than the other two, as you could call it the “lesser” of the three major releases. But so far the buzz seems to be positive, some noting parallels to the 1995 crime thriller “Heat.” It’s aiming for the $10-15 million range, which should put it on the box office podium for the weekend.

Buzzing very strongly below these three, albeit opening in half as many theaters, is the new Gore Verbinski film Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die. Known primarily for the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films, as well as smaller films like “Mousehunt, “The Weather Man,” and “Rango,” Verbinski has actually not directed a film since “A Cure for Wellness” in 2016. So his return after a decade of being gone has sparked some excitement in some film circles. The movie also has the advantage of being released at Fantastic Fest back in September, so it’s had some initial early buzz out of that. The buzz has been mostly positive, currently sitting at 85 percent from critics on Rotten Tomatoes after 100 reviews. The movie is an action comedy starring Sam Rockwell as a man who claims to be coming from the future and recruits a group of strangers from a local diner that he ends up in to come with him to help fight an upcoming global catastrophe that’s tied to a rogue artificial intelligence. The official theater count here is 1,610 and the distributor is Briarcliff. Their highest grossing film is the 2022 movie “Blacklight,” which opened to $3.5 million. They’ve also released a number of films in the last few years that have opened in that $2-3 million range, so that seems to be the pattern here.

Pulling up in the caboose, at least in terms of official theater count, is the Liam Neesen horror comedy Cold Storage. This is a movie about parasitic fungus that got buried and forgotten about beneath an old US military base that is now a self-storage company. Two young employees of the storage company, played by Joe Keery and Georgina Campbell, have themselves quite the adventurous night shift when the fungus escapes, resulting them being joined by a former government operative played by Liam Neesen. Together the trio has to stop the fungus before it becomes a much bigger problem. The movie is directed by Jonny Campbell, but perhaps the bigger story is that it is written by David Koepp, frequent collaborator with Steven Spielberg, who wrote the screenplay for “Jurassic Park.” Koepp also wrote “Spider-Man” screenplays for “Spider-Man” and “Mission: Impossible.” Not only did Koepp write the screenplay for “Cold Storage,” but he adapted it from his own book that he wrote back in 2019. The theater count is barely over 1,000, which doesn’t bode well for the weekend as a whole, especially with it being fairly crowded, but the movie has had a decent reaction so far, with an 81 percent critics score on Rotten Tomatoes.

February 20 – 22

Lionsgate's "I Can Only Imagine 2"

Super Bowl weekend recap covered. Double holiday weekend reported on. Now we coast for a bit in the final two weekends. Four new titles, but three of them from smaller studios. The one that’s poised to open in the most theaters is I Can Only Imagine 2, the sequel to the 2018 original that was a breakout faith-based hit. That movie told the story of Bart Millard, the lead singer of the Christian band MercyMe, who is most famous for the song “I Can Only Imagine,” which is the best-selling Christian single of all time. The movie told the story of the events in Bart’s life that led up to him writing that song and the impact it made in his life. Normally faith-based films like this don’t get sequels, but I suppose there’s more story that they decided needs to be told. It appears that this movie tells the story of what happens next. Life after becoming famous and the continued search for what’s next. Perhaps the search for the next hit. To this day, MercyMe continues to be a huge Christian band, but they’ve never had a song even close to as popular as “I Can Only Imagine.” And just because you overcame one hurdle in life, doesn’t mean all your future problems are immediately solved as well. The first movie had an opening weekend of $17.1 million, which this sequel will aim to match. What spot that equals on the weekend box office chart will be determined by how big of a hit “Wuthering Heights” ends up actually being.

As mentioned, the other three releases this weekend are looking to be smaller releases, but this is the realm where you can often find the diamond in the rough if you put in the effort. A24 as an indie studio has continued to build their brand over the years and this weekend they have the buzzy title How to Make a Killing. This is a movie that’s loosely inspired by the 1949 British film “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” which itself is loosely based on the 1907 novel “Israel Rank: The Autobiography of a Criminal,” by Roy Horniman. It’s about a man who was disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family and aims to fight his way back to reclaiming his inheritance, regardless of how many family members stand in his way. The screenplay for this movie dates back as early as 2014 when it appeared on the Black List that year, an annual survey of the most popular screenplays that have not yet been produced. After years of not being in production, John Patton Ford, who wrote the screenplay, eventually decided to direct the movie himself. The movie stars Glen Powell and Margaret Qualley, two of the most popular up-and-coming actors today. Box Office Pro, in their latest long range forecast, has this projected to open in the $8-12 million range.

Projected to open in around 1,000 theaters this weekend is the crime thriller/horror film Psycho Killer. The movie stars Georgina Campbell, who is also one of the leads in “Cold Storage” the previous weekend. In this movie, she plays a highway patrol officer who witnesses the brutal murder of her husband. On a revenge mission to track the person down, she comes to realize the man responsible is a sadistic serial killer. 20th Century Studios describes that the depth of his mental depravity and his sinister agenda is more twisted than anyone could have imagined. Enter the mind of a psycho killer, the trailer invites. Box Office Pro hasn’t given this one a projection on their long range forecast, but the theater count suggests a limited ceiling in the single digits. Serial killer horror films have done well in the past. “Longlegs” opened to $22.4 million back in 2024. But that came in nearly three times as many theaters.

The final movie of the weekend, projected to open in about 750 theaters, is the drama Midwinter Break. This is a movie that comes from Focus Features and is based on the novel of the same name by Bernard MacLaverty. The story is about a retired couple, played by Lesley Manville and Ciarán Hinds, who go on a four-day trip to Amsterdam where their long-unspoken marital issues surface, exploring themes of aging, faith, love, and loneliness through the couple’s differing perspectives. A drama aimed at an older audience won’t often attract large crowds opening weekend. Different generations of different viewing habits. But if this connects with its audience, it has the potential to hang around for a while.

February 27 – 29

Paramount's "Scream 7"

The final frame of February is likely to finish the month on a bang. Only one major title, and two smaller ones, but that major title is the release of Scream 7. Scream has been a very consistent horror franchise across the years. Beginning in 1996, the initial trilogy was quite popular and successful, bringing life into the slasher horror genre with its meta commentary and effective execution. Ghostface has become well ingrained into pop culture as a horror icon. After a commercially less successful fourth entry in 2011 – that has since been re-evaluated, especially with it being Wes Craven’s final film – the franchise was successfully revived in 2022 with a legacy sequel, that was then followed the next year by “Scream VI,” which enjoyed the franchise’s best opening weekend yet. And now we’ve arrived at “Scream 7.” Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega from those recent two are gone, due to some behind the camera turbulence. In an attempt to make up for it, “Scream 7” has brought back Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott and has set up a premise where the new Ghostface is hunting her daughter Tatum, played by Isabel May. That’s not the only fan favorite that the franchise has brought back, though. Matthew Lillard will return in this one as Stu Macher. Although his official role has been kept under wraps, many assume he’s back as Ghostface to get revenge against Sidney after getting a TV dropped on his face in the first movie. This idea was actually the initial idea for “Scream 3” before the Columbine shooting directly impacted that whole production. Kevin Williamson, the writer of the first four movies, is directing this seventh movie and people believe he’s brought back that original idea of his for this upcoming movie.

In regards to box office potential the recent two movies provide the easiest baseline for comparison. That 2022 legacy sequel, simply titled “Scream,” opened to $30 million, which was then followed by a $44.4 million opening for “Scream VI” just a year later. “Scream VI” finished its domestic run with $108.4 million. It’s possible that the absence of Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega may have alienated some fans, but that could be counteracted by longtime fans being excited about the return of Neve Campbell and Matthew Lillard. So there’s certainly a range of potential outcomes that makes exact predictions tough to nail down. Plus there’s natural franchise fatigue that often comes with long-running franchises. Box Office Pro currently has it projected it to open in the $25-35 million range.

While “Scream 7” is certainly the event film of the week, there’s two smaller films joining the ranks. The first of those is the Anderson .Paak directed film K-POPS! This is a movie that initially premiered way back in 2024 at the Toronto International Film Festival that year and is just now making its way to mainstream audiences. It’s about a father from Los Angeles who, in hopes of reviving his music career, moves to South Korea, joins a K-pop band, and competes in a televised music contest. Only then does he discover that his long-lost son is poised to become a K-pop superstar. This is the first time in the director’s chair for singer/rapper Anderson .Paak, in regards to a feature-length film, that is. He’s directed a few of his own music videos, but not a movie. He also wrote, produced, and stars in the film. And it’s had positive reaction so far, mostly from the festival audience. In regards to the mainstream success, K-pop as a genre has been popular for quite some time, but said popularity certainly got launched into the stratosphere with the success of “KPop Demon Hunters. The festival debut proceeded that movie’s Netflix premier, but now it has the chance to ride the coattails of that success. And we’ve already seen that once this month with the Stray Kids concert film doing quite well.

Finishing the month will be the rather unique experience that is Baz Luhrmann’s EpiC: Elvis Presley in Concert. If Baz Luhrmann and Elvis sounds familiar, it’s because Luhrmann directed the 2022 biopic “Elvis,” which went on to be nominated for 8 Oscars, including best picture as well as Austin Butler for best actor. When Luhrmann was originally hunting down footage of Elvis to help him with the 2022 film, he came across 68 boxes of both 35 mm and 8 mm footage in the Warner Bros. film archives, which included footage from Elvis’ 1970 documentary “Elvis: That’s the Way It Is” and the 1972 concert film “Elvis on Tour,” as well as the golden jacket performance from Hawaii in 1957. Challenge is, the footage came without sound. So Luhrmann’s team, in addition to making the “Elvis” film, spent the next two years restoring the footage and syncing it to existing audio. They also found a 45-minute audio recording of Elvis talking about his life story. The final compilation of this project is this film that Luhrmann has described as neither fully a documentary, nor a concert film, but something new in the Elvis canon. It will be released strictly in IMAX theaters on February 20 and everywhere else this weekend.