2026 has already been a wonderful year for sci-fi, with the best of the bunch being the Phil Lord and Christopher Miller-directed masterpiece Project Hail Mary. Starring Ryan Gosling in one of his best roles yet, this expansive, detailed adaptation of the 2021 novel by Andy Weir earned an enormous $682 million worldwide during its box office run and earned rave reviews from critics, including Collider’s Ross Bonaime, who dubbed it “the first great film of 2026” in his 9/10 review.
But Project Hail Mary seems unlikely to end 2026 as the year’s best sci-fi movie, with many predicting that crown to be handed over in just under 100 days, on December 18. Released on the same date as Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Part Three will cap off Denis Villeneuve‘s acclaimed trilogy adapting Frank Herbert‘s Dune novels, with the first two installments becoming enormous commercial and critical triumphs. Penned by Brian K. Vaughan, the threequel will see four-time Oscar nominee Timothée Chalamet return as Paul Atreides, ready to face the consequences of his power, two decades after seizing control of the Imperium.
The cast for the film is stacked with talent, including Zendaya as Chani, Javier Bardem as Stilgar, Rebecca Ferguson as Lady Jessica, Anya Taylor-Joy as Alia Atreides, Florence Pugh as Princess Irulan, Jason Momoa as Hayt, and many more. Dune: Part Three is expected to follow in the footsteps of the previous two installments by scoring a big box office haul, despite the competition from Doomsday, and also make its mark at next year’s Academy Awards.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
‘Dune: Part Three’ Is Already Breaking a Franchise Record
100 days out from its theatrical arrival, Dune: Part Three is already breaking a franchise record. With it reported that the film has generated $10 million in advance sales already, the expectation is that Dune: Part Three will become the trilogy’s first installment to gross more than $100 million in its first weekend, following an $82 million opening haul for Dune: Part Two. So excited are Dune fans for this final installment that select IMAX 70mm tickets sold out within minutes of going on sale.
Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday will both debut in theaters on December 18. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
