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10 Predictions That Will Shape Entertainment and Pop Culture in 2026
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From streaming consolidation and reality TV shakeups to awards contenders, creator pipelines, and the evolution of TikTok. Here’s what 2026 is most likely to bring.
We are gearing up for another pivotal year across film, television, streaming, and creator-driven entertainment, one defined by consolidation, format shifts, and a new wave of cultural power players.
From awards-season shakeups and changes across the streaming landscape to the evolution of TikTok, and more, the industry is entering a year of recalibration. These predictions are grounded in fundamental shifts already visible across 2025, trends that are now accelerating and reshaping how Hollywood tells stories, builds platforms, and competes for audiences in 2026.
Here are our top 10 entertainment and pop culture predictions for 2026.
Ryan Coogler’s Sinners will stun awards season and emerges as a multi-Oscar winner.
Sinners is already one of the strongest award contenders heading into the 98th Academy Awards on March 15, 2026. The film leads the early Oscar shortlists with eight mentions across major technical and craft categories — including Casting, Score, Song, Visual Effects, and Sound — and industry momentum suggests it could convert that early traction into a heavy nomination haul once final nominees are announced in January. Some analysts expect Sinners to land 11 or more nominations, with a few even predicting it could flirt with record territory. With Ryan Coogler sitting back in the writer-director’s chair and the film generating meaningful conversation across both audiences and voters, Sinners feels positioned to secure multiple wins on Oscar night.
Courtesy of Eli Adé / Warner Bros.
Streaming platforms will pivot to fewer releases to contain the streaming wars.
2026 will mark a shift away from the constant content churn that has defined the streaming wars over the past decade. Instead of competing through volume, major platforms will likely scale back output and focus on fewer, bigger, and more strategically positioned releases. At the same time, streamers will continue acquiring licensing rights to classic films and beloved TV series with proven rewatch power, using nostalgia-driven catalog titles to anchor engagement between new drops. The goal is to reduce subscriber fatigue, stabilize spending, and rebuild cultural impact around marquee projects, while relying on familiar, high-retention library content to keep viewers inside their ecosystems.
TikTok will expand into new services as it becomes more of a discovery engine.
I predict TikTok will push beyond short-form video and deepen its role as a full discovery and conversion platform. The app is already a primary driver of music discovery and viral consumption, and its next wave of growth will likely center on tighter integrations across music streaming, ticketing, and content distribution. That shift positions TikTok not just as a place where trends start, but as the infrastructure that connects artists, creators, and audiences to the next step in the funnel. That could be accomplished via a song stream, a concert purchase, or a longer-form viewing experience. As platforms compete for cultural influence, TikTok’s evolution into a broader ecosystem of services will further solidify its status as one of the most powerful discovery engines in entertainment.
Taylor Frankie Paul’s season of The Bachelorette will shatter viewership records and bring legacy fans back to the franchise.
Taylor Frankie Paul’s casting will undoubtedly mark one of the biggest ratings resets for The Bachelorette in years. Her season has the potential to pull in both longtime loyal viewers and a new wave of social-native audiences who already follow her storyline online and in Hulu’s The Secret Lives of Mormon Wivesseries. The franchise has been searching for a cultural jolt, and this season is positioned to deliver it — not just through drama or casting headlines, but through broader curiosity around how her public persona translates into the show’s traditional format. With renewed fan engagement and the potential for major live-viewing spikes, 2026 could mark The Bachelorette’s most significant audience comeback in the streaming era of reality TV.
Major studios will pour record investment into vertical video storytelling as short-form creators become the next big IP pipeline.
In 2026, major studios will start to treat vertical video as more than a marketing channel and begin investing in it as a legitimate development pipeline. Short-form creators with built-in audiences, serialized storytelling formats, and proven engagement will increasingly be courted for adaptation deals, brand partnerships, and long-form expansion. Rather than viewing social platforms as separate ecosystems, studios are likely to treat them as early testing grounds for characters, concepts, and audience momentum. That shift positions creator-led storytelling as one of the most valuable sources of emerging IP, and signals a broader rethinking of where new franchises and future on-camera talent are discovered.
Netflix will close a landmark acquisition deal for HBO Max, reshaping the streaming landscape.
Netflix’s planned acquisition of Warner Bros.’ film, TV, and streaming assets — including HBO Max — is poised to be one of the most consequential media deals of the decade. In December 2025, the company announced an $82.7 billion agreement to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studios and HBO Max, with the transaction expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 after regulatory approvals and the spin-off of WBD’s linear networks division. I’m predicting the deal will close on schedule, or possibly even ahead of it, despite Paramount’s hostile bid attempt.
If completed, the deal will put an enormous catalogue of beloved franchises and library titles under one roof, including HBO series, Warner Bros. films, and major IPs like the DC Universe and Game of Thrones. It further accelerates the shift toward consolidation in a streaming market that has long been defined by fragmentation, and will redefine competitive positioning for platforms worldwide — from content strategy to advertising, distribution, and global licensing.
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Anne Hathaway will dominate 2026 as the most spotlighted actress in Hollywood.
Anne Hathaway is set to have one of the busiest and most visible acting years of her career in 2026, with a release calendar spanning multiple genres and major studio projects. Her slate includes Mother Mary in April, The Devil Wears Prada 2 on May 1, The Odyssey on July 17, Flowervale Street on August 14, and Verity on October 2, with additional buzz around potential filming for The Princess Diaries 3 during the year. That level of output is rare for an established A-list performer, and it positions Hathaway at the center of the industry’s cultural and box office conversation across the entire year.
2026 is the year of the limited series.
If 2025 proved anything in TV, it’s that limited series are where audiences are paying the most attention. In 2026, studios and streamers will lean even further into the momentum of limited series, as audiences gravitate toward contained storytelling over long-running franchises. For streamers and networks, shorter-run projects are easier to market, easier to budget, and better positioned to create concentrated cultural buzz without the pressure of multi-season renewals.
Studios will adopt AI-usage disclosure policies of some sort, making creative transparency a new industry standard.
As generative AI becomes more deeply integrated into filmmaking, post-production, and marketing workflows, 2026 is likely to be the year studios start formalizing disclosure practices around how the technology is used. Rather than leaving AI involvement ambiguous, expect clearer policies across credits, awards submissions, and promotional materials. These shifts won’t eliminate debate around authorship or creative boundaries, but they will signal a broader industry move toward transparency, accountability, and clearer labeling of AI-assisted creative work.
A major platform will debut a multi-service bundle that reshapes how viewers pay for TV.
2026 is the year streaming platforms take a bigger step toward a true Cable 2.0 model. Instead of competing as standalone services, at least one major platform, like Roku, is expected to roll out a bundled subscription that brings multiple streaming services under a single payment and a unified viewing hub. The move reflects rising consumer fatigue around fragmented logins, overlapping plans, and steadily increasing monthly costs. This also marks a shift toward packaging that looks and feels closer to the traditional cable model. This kind of bundle would signal that consolidation is no longer just a corporate or content strategy conversation, but a fundamental change in how viewers pay for and access streaming itself.
