Netflix’s 2026 Slate Includes Greta Gerwig, Ben Affleck, Robert Zemeckis and Brad Bird — While Fincher Remains Unannounced

In terms of Oscar contenders, 2025 was a decent year for Netflix, but not an exceptional one—the days of the streamer throwing boatloads of cash at any auteur willing to work with them are long gone.

They acquired “Train Dreams” at Sundance, and that film could—maybe—sneak into a Best Picture nomination. Their main “original” push has been Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” which is very much a Best Picture contender. Meanwhile, Noah Baumbach’s “Jay Kelly” has underperformed, but on the strength of sheer industry goodwill, it’s still clinging to its fading Oscar hopes.

Otherwise, the streamer’s other prestige-leaning titles failed to hit the Oscar sweet spot. “A House of Dynamite” and “Ballad of a Small Player” never really ignited.

The prime catalyst may have been the arrival of the streaming service’s new chief of content, Dan Lin, who has stated that the focus going forward will be to greenlight films that are “more about audience, and less about auteurs.”

So, after years of funding passion projects from the likes of Scorsese, Coen, Lee, Cuarón, Iñárritu, Campion, Cooper, Soderbergh, and Bong, among many others, the streaming giant has seemingly decided to stick to producing the kind of brainless crap that routinely invades its weekly Top 10 films (here’s looking at you, “Back in Action”).

With that said, 2026 is looking… okay for the streamer, which announced its 2026 film slate this morning. The main titles to keep an eye on this year are Brad Bird’s “Ray Gunn,” Greta Gerwig’s “Narnia,” Ben Affleck’s “Animals,” and Lee Chang-dong’s “Possible Love.”

Notably absent from the announcement was any mention of David Fincher’s “The Adventures of Cliff Booth.” In fact, Netflix has never officially acknowledged—let alone announced—that this film exists at all. Will it hit its rumored summer 2026 release date? I have my doubts. Apparently, the film is still in production.

There was also no word on Robert Zemeckis’ “The Last Mrs. Parrish,” starring Jennifer Lopez, which surely must be coming out this year, given that it wrapped production back in October.

Of course, for Netflix, this will be the year of ‘Narnia’—its $200 million investment in a Greta Gerwig–directed reboot that will hit IMAX theaters in November before arriving on the platform in December. It has been hyped ad nauseam, and it marks Gerwig’s follow-up to “Barbie.” Per her contract, she is expected to direct another instalment — although I’ve been hearing whispers that she’s already been shooting scenes for the second instalment.

This morning’s announcement also confirmed that Brad Bird’s Ray Gunn is indeed coming out this year—a project Bird has been trying to make for well over a decade. At one point last decade, it was intended to be hand-drawn, but he ultimately settled on CGI animation, which is disappointing. Still, the film has been saved by Netflix.

I’ve compiled a quick list of the most interesting Netflix films set for 2026 release, including the Fincher and Zemeckis projects. As you can see, we’re getting a handful of promising titles this year—but not at the level of years past, exactly as Lin put it: “more about audience, and less about auteurs.”

Narnia (Greta Gerwig)
The Adventures of Cliff Booth (David Fincher)
Ray Gunn (Brad Bird)
Possible Love (Lee Chang Dong)
Animals (Ben Affleck)
Here Comes the Flood (Fernando Mereilles)
The Last Mrs. Parrish (Robert Zemeckis)
The Mosquito Bowl (Peter Berg)
Good Sex (Lena Dunham)
Saturn Return (Greg Kwedar)
11817 (Louis Letterier)
The RIP (Joe Carnahan)
Peaky Blinders: The Immortal Man (Tom Harper)
Apex (Baltasar Kormákur)