2026 has been a year with a number of solid movie releases – though that hasn’t stopped the year from also having plenty of films be received more divisively, whether they had strong stories or not. The matter of whether a movie proves divisive or not hinges on a lot of differing factors, which often delve into far more than simply if a film is bad or not.
Though having a story that audiences don’t enjoy is one way to potentially be a divisive film, it’s also a prime way to simply become a film that slips the public by entirely. Instead, many of the most divisive movies in any given year need something that splits viewers on specific fronts, be that because of the subject matter in question, or because of how said release interacts with the wider landscape of the film world.
Indeed, many of the 2026 films that got the most divided reception are also some of its most successful movies, be that in terms of review scores, box office reception, or both. With that said, 2026’s movie roster – and the films that generated the most mixed reactions thus far – are prime examples of why theaters provide so many different kinds of films, since even viewers with generally similar tastes can have wildly different reactions to the same movie.
9
Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die
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The truly larger-than-life and intentionally parody-esque and surrealist story and stylings of Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die made it an early polarizing entry in 2026’s rundown.
While Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die has largely good reviews – with a 82% critic score and 84% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes – the subject matter and how it’s approached means that there’s a real spectrum of perspectives on the film, as those who enjoy it oftentimes praise it highly, and those who don’t like it or didn’t mesh with it oftentimes also consider it to be a release with little substance or value.
With that said, this divided landscape is in some ways a success for the film, as Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die‘s time loop story and the way in which it uses its narrative to be a satire about the state of modern technology and our relationships with it means that it in some ways would have been a failure of sorts if it hadn’t provoked a lot of differing reactions from audiences.
8
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
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Unlike many of the other movies mentioned on this list, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple divided audiences not in terms of their perspectives on its quality, but rather on the matter of where The Bone Temple sat in the wider franchise.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple‘s lower box office gross can be at least partially attributed to confusion around the film and whether it was a largely unrelated spinoff that wasn’t necessary viewing for those who just wanted to watch the main movie lineup, or a central chapter in the horror movie franchise.
As such, this division meant that plenty of people who would have theoretically gone to see The Bone Temple – since it does directly follow on from the ending of 28 Years Later, and acts as crucial connective tissue that will be integral for 28 Years Later 3 – didn’t see the film, having perceived it in a very different way to others.
7
The Dog Stars
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Ridley Scott’s return to the world of film following 2024’s Gladiators II was the subject of a not inconsiderable amount of excitement and hype, particularly since The Dog Stars promised to be a post-apocalyptic action story that intrigued many who’d become fans of the subgenre through the likes of The Last of Us or the Mad Max series.
However, this is also what presented challenges for The Dog Stars itself. Rather than being an action-packed story throughout, The Dog Stars sticks to being more thoughtful and slow-paced story – with the exception of its middle act – alienating viewers who’d hoped for a high-octane experience through and through, but capturing those who connected with its more steady pace.
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While the original Moana was received decidedly well, the 2026 live-action remake of the film saw a more mixed overall reception, owing to both a general sense of negativity around live-action remakes of films that perhaps don’t need it, and the issues that adapting the subject matter into live-action presented for the film and its viewers.
Though 2026’s Moana wasn’t a universally despised movie, the lack of change made between the original movie and the live-action film raised divisions in Disney’s audience, as many who otherwise enjoy Disney films found themselves unsure of what the purpose was behind simply creating the same film again in live-action format, especially given how elements like the larger-than-life characters within the story translated somewhat clunkily at points within the story.
5
Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu
As what is essentially a feature-length episode of The Mandalorian show, it’s perhaps no surprise that Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu divided audiences. Plenty were keen to simply get a longer version of the episodes they’d come to love over the course of the live-action series’ release, whereas others were hoping for something different, and perhaps more in line with the franchise’s prior, older movies.
Combine this with a heist plotline that doesn’t provide as much in the way of the geopoliticial galactic space opera concept that plenty love Star Wars for, and it’s easy to see how The Mandalorian & Grogu became one of the series’ more divisive film entries overall, even if it’s still likely not the most divisive movie in the franchise.
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Michael
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Biographical movies are often controversial fare, as adapting the events of someone’s life into a condensed film format is often inevitably bound to skirt over some aspects of the focal figure’s experiences.
Though Michael is one of the highest-grossing movies of 2026, its release came with some controversy around this matter, since the film avoids getting into the more complex subject matter around Michael Jackson’s life, with references to Michael Jackson’s child sexual abuse allegations having been reportedly removed from the film after being in previous drafts of the script (as per The Guardian).
Given this, criticisms arose that the movie didn’t reflect a genuine examination of Jackson’s life or story, and ignored the tumultuous matter of these allegations and the legal cases around them despite them being a major part of the musician’s life.
3
The Drama
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Given 2025’s Weapons opened up a dialogue and debate about the topic of school shootings despite not having a story that delved into this subject matter, The Drama‘s narrative and the sensitive subject matter it explores means it was arguably destined for a more divided reception from viewers and those who learned about its story.
The Drama centers around an impending wedding between editor Emma and museum curator Charlie, with their plans for the event being brought into chaos as a result of Emma revealing to Charlie and friends that she’d previously planned a school shooting in her teen years, before seeing the error of her ways and refocusing her energy into gun control advocacy instead.
Charlie’s emotional reaction to learning this news – and the duo’s efforts to keep this information from spreading as the wedding comes ever closer – leans into the uncomfortable and emotionally distressing topic, which makes it one that’s in some ways made to galvanize contrasting reactions from people based on their own personal perspectives and experiences.
2
Avengers: Endgame Encore
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While the concept of re-releasing a beloved blockbuster hit with new scenes is a novel one that intrigued audiences enough that the increased box office result of Avengers: Endgame Encore was able to reinstate Avengers: Endgame as the highest grossing movie of all time, it’s one that had a decidedly divisive reception with audiences.
Given Avengers: Endgame Encore only adds a few relatively short scenes to the film – and not every viewing had all of the scenes – the concept of watching the film again, and paying to see it once more in cinemas, wasn’t one that sat universally well with the general public, splitting the MCU fanbase as well over the matter of whether Encore was a fun move or not.
1
Digger
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Digger is at its very core intended to be a movie that people have split reactions to, both based upon what they understand the film to be about, and given how they think this relates to them personally.
On a surface level, Digger is a film about climate change, being set in a post-apocalyptic world wherein a series of catastrophic world events – kicked off by Tom Cruise’s titular Digger – have rendered the world far less hospitable. The chain of misfortune that led to this point is brought to us on-screen by the scenes we see from an in-universe play named Fossil Fools, which adapts this timeline.
However, this adds another layer to the events, in that this setup allows Digger to metatextually explore the place of film in the world, the way in which history is told in its aftermath, and how art that makes us feel things can also be used to mollify us into inaction at the same time.
This means Digger is a movie that isn’t afraid to take potshots at itself, those who make movies, and its own audience, with the way it encourages viewers to turn their insight to the systems around them and to their own lives being meant to provoke discussion and debate. Ultimately, this also means the still ongoing dialogues dissecting the 2026 movie and reflecting on different viewpoints about it do appear to show that the film is being received as intended in this regard.
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