January is no longer a quiet month for movie releases. Studios are kicking off 2026 with a packed lineup that includes sequels, horror franchises, star-led thrillers and major streaming premieres, signaling a clear push to draw audiences back to theaters and platforms early in the year.

The year begins on 2 January with Soulm8te, a science-fiction horror film from Blumhouse. Starring Lily Sullivan and David Rysdahl, the film centers on an AI-powered companion created to combat loneliness, only for the technology to develop unsettling emotional behavior. 

Big-budget spectacle arrives on 9 January with Greenland 2: Migration. Gerard Butler reprises his role alongside Morena Baccarin in the sequel to the 2020 disaster hit. The story follows survivors emerging from underground shelters to navigate a devastated planet in search of a livable future, expanding the global survival narrative that drove the original film’s success.

Mid-month brings one of January’s most anticipated releases. 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple premieres on 16 January, continuing the long-running post-apocalyptic horror franchise. Set decades after the original outbreak, the film explores a world permanently altered by infection, with humanity drawn toward a mysterious stronghold known as the Bone Temple.

That same day marks a high-profile streaming debut. The Rip, a crime thriller starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, launches on Netflix. The film follows law-enforcement officers whose discovery of a massive drug cache entangles them in corruption and moral compromise, with the on-screen reunion of the two actors generating significant attention.

The latter half of the month continues the momentum. On 23 January, Mercy arrives in theaters, starring Chris Pratt and Rebecca Ferguson. Set in a near-future society built around predictive justice, the film follows a detective forced to question the system when a case challenges the idea of punishing crimes before they occur.

January wraps up on the 30th with two very different films. Send Help, directed by Sam Raimi, is a survival thriller about two strangers who must depend on each other after a plane crash, combining tense drama with Raimi’s distinctive style. At the same time, The Moment offers a lighter, character-driven mockumentary, using humor and staged interviews to examine how cultural stories are shaped.