We Asked Readers For The Best New Movie Of 2026, And There's A Clear Winner

Towards the end of March 2026, we asked our readers to select their favorite movie from 2026 (so far), and more than 2500 people responded. While we’re staring down a barrage of highly-anticipated summer blockbusters (“The Odyssey,” “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow” and “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” to name but a few), we figured now was as good a time as any to see what our readers have loved watching most so far this year.

Just like how we asked for your input as part of the inaugural Tom’s Guide Movie Awards last month, we recently launched a poll asking readers to choose their favorite major release they’ve enjoyed seeing on the big screen. They had to pick from flicks like “Send Help,” “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple,” and Disney and Pixar’s latest family adventure, “Hoppers,” but another film quickly emerged as the clear winner.

That film was “Project Hail Mary,” Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s new take on Andy Weir’s novel of the same name. This phenomenal sci-fi adventure received 38% of the thousands of votes cast.

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Granted, it’s no shock to see it come out on top; within two weeks of its theatrical release, “Project Hail Mary” has overtaken “Hoppers” as the second-biggest movie of the year at the worldwide box office (behind Chinese sports comedy “Pegasus 3”). It landed rave reviews from critics and fellow moviegoers alike — and if you’ve seen it, you’ll know why.

That delightful intergalactic adventure is absolutely my film of the year so far, too, and judging by the comments on our original article, our readers agree! User John Szetela said, “I read the book and then saw ‘Project Hail Mary’. It’s one of the best Science Fiction movies ever made! Don’t miss it!”

Nia DaCosta’s visceral horror sequel “28 Years Later: The Bone Temple” carved out a small lead as our second-place winner, earning 11% of the votes. Of the film, Seth Roth said: “I really enjoyed ‘Bone Temple’, it’s a shame it didn’t seem to set things on fire because I’ve been enjoying their weird new take on zombies and a kind of oddball storytelling.”

After that, it was a tightly contested competition for third place, with the remaining eight films each earning between 5-8% of the remaining votes. The Chris Hemsworth-led crime thriller “Crime 101” (8% of votes) claimed the last spot on the podium at the last second, fewer than 10 votes ahead of Sam Raimi’s darkly funny survival thriller “Send Help” (8% of votes).

“Hoppers” came in fifth, just ahead of Emerald Fennell’s divisive “Wuthering Heights” (both earning 6% of votes), with “Goat” and “Reminders of Him” (also both earning 6% of votes) coming in seventh and eighth place.

Down at the bottom of the list, “Scream 7” just edged ahead of Mark “Markiplier” Fischbach’s independent sci-fi/horror feature, “Iron Lung.” Both earned 5% of the vote, but the latest Ghostface flick grabbed 139 votes to “Iron Lung’s” 134, meaning the latter flick rounded out our list in 10th place.

We loved seeing your responses, and hope you enjoyed weighing in — even if your top movie didn’t quite come out on top. At the very least, you might have uncovered a recommendation or two to catch up on before blockbuster season is upon us.

We’ll be running more polls and “Have Your Say” articles in the future (in fact, we’ve just published one asking What was your first-ever Apple device?), so stay tuned for our next reader vote!