In today’s cinematic landscape, a familiar complaint lingers each year: “Hollywood has run out of ideas.” This is often blamed on the endless sea of sequels, the predictable franchises, and the lack of star-driven mid-budget dramas. But there is an uncomfortable truth for 2026: Hollywood hasn’t stopped making great, original movies. It just seems many have stopped finding them.
2026 saw algorithm-driven streaming platforms dumping prestige titles into the digital void on a Friday night. It also saw studios panic-shifting theatrical release calendars, scrambling for big opening weekend numbers. Whether they were multi-million dollar studio swings that audiences let pass them by, or critical darlings buried by a rushed release schedule, some of the best films of 2025-2026 went unjustly under the radar. So, here are the 5 most criminally underrated movies of 2025 and 2026 that deserve a second shot.
5. The Surfer (2025)
Nicolas Cage has long been a perplexing figure in Hollywood. As an Oscar-winning actor, his skillset is undeniable. However, he is known for his duds as well as his hits. After making a critically acclaimed comeback with The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent in 2022, his quirky arthouse indie flicks have been garnering a lot of attention. Yet, The Surfer was one that slipped by the wayside.
Although it opened with an 86% score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it certified fresh, audiences didn’t flock to go and see it. The ones that did – many of them left feeling confused. Although the plot is basic – focusing on a feud between a father and a gang of surfers, it is delivered in a fever dream style narrative that is a battering of the senses. For those that got on board with the film’s disorientating aura, it went down a treat. But its biggest failure was its very limited theatrical release, only pulling in $1.3 million domestically. It has since accrued a second wind on streaming, but this sun-drenched, toxic-masculinity grindhouse flick still deserves way more attention.
4. Fight or Flight (2025)
Fight or Flight in another movie that was led by an actor on a comeback trail, led by Josh Hartnett after his acclaimed roles in Oppenheimer and Trap. Hartnett plays a mercenary protecting a high-value asset on an international flight trapped with a plane full of assassins. The action is thick, fast, over-the-top, but self aware. Initially labelled as a John Wick rip off, it actually stands on its own two feet thanks to its infusion of wacky comedy amongst the violence.
Distributed by Vertical Entertainment, it pulled in a meagre $3.2M at the domestic box office before quietly transitioning to Paramount+. While some critics dismissed it as thin, it features an absolutely electric, gonzo rendition from Hartnett in his resurgence that has become known as the “Hartnaissance”. While it was never going to win any awards or smash at the box office, it does what it says on the tin as the perfect Friday night popcorn movie.
3. The Lost Bus (2025)
On paper, The Lost Bus reads like a movie that should have cemented itself as a future classic in the disaster genre. It has the scale, intensity, and star power of a classic 1990s Hollywood drama, and was directed by one of the most respected filmmakers of the last few decades – Paul Greengrass. This hard-hitting vehicle follows a school bus driver navigating the terrifying, real-life 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California. And when Greengrass is at the helm, you know it’s going to be authentic.
The problem was, this film reminded us that moviegoers typically want to watch a movie of this scale in the theaters. Although the critical consensus was strong, this white-knuckle survival thriller was given a blink-and-you-miss-it limited theatrical release in September 2025 before being dumped onto Apple TV+ on October 3. Despite widespread praise for Greengrass’s “you-are-there” intensity and Matthew McConaughey‘s powerful lead performance, it barely made a dent in the mainstream cultural zeitgeist.
2. Mickey 17 (2025)
Mickey 17 was Academy Award-winner Bong Joon Ho’s first film since Parasite, a movie that swept up at the 2020 Oscars, including Best Motion Picture of the Year. This mega budget sci-fi movie felt like true event cinema when it landed, however, people didn’t show up for the event. Blending comedy, sci-fi, adventure, and satire, the plot follows Mickey 17 (Robert Pattinson), a so-called “expendable” employee who is sent to explore an ice planet during a human expedition to colonize space.
Warner Bros. spent a whopping $118 million to produce this bizarre flick, plus another $80 million to market it. It was met with strong critical acclaim, leading to a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes, and many hailed it as Pattinson’s finest performance to date. However, general audiences found its pitch-black satire and conventional second half a tough sell, leading to a brutal $75 million loss for the studio. But there’s no denying this is a truly unique sci-fi movie. It’s a rare, unapologetic, high-concept swing that could easily go down as a cult classic if enough people give it a second chance.
1. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (2026)
Sony Pictures took a giant gamble by releasing 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple – the fourth installment in the franchise and the second part of a planned trilogy continuation – just six months after Danny Boyle’s massive box office hit 28 Years Later. While critics raved, netting the sequel a sizzling 92% Rotten Tomatoes score, audiences largely skipped it. The film grossed a muted $58.5 million worldwide, heavily penalized by its predecessor’s controversial finale.
Boyle’s epic return to the world of the undead started as a masterpiece of dread but took a jarring, sudden tonal shift in its final act. When Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) showed up to save Spike, the movie abruptly veered from terrifying horror into campy action, glistened with 90s nostalgia and a hard-to-stomach Jimmy Saville reference. This bizarre swerve left audiences deeply fractured and hesitant to return to theaters half a year later. However, if people gave it a chance, they would have witnessed how visionary director Nia DaCosta completely rights the ship with her gritty and brutal movie. The Bone Temple abandons the camp, returning the series to its roots as a gruelling, atmospheric horror masterpiece that stands as one of the best – and certainly most ignored – films of 2026.
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