2026 Video Game Movies: Release Dates for Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat II and More

2026 has a full slate of video game movies. Per PC Gamer’s tracker, Return to Silent Hill opened January 23, Iron Lung on January 30 and The Mortuary Assistant on February 13.

A Super Mario sequel followed in April. Mortal Kombat II was dated for May 8 after moving from its original October 2025 date, and Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil was set for September 18.

Street Fighter, directed by Kitao Sakurai, was dated for October 16 after moving from March, per MeinMMO. The last film on the list is The Angry Birds Movie 3 from director John Rice on December 23.

Looking ahead, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is set for March 2027, and PC Gamer reports a Sea of Thieves film is also in the works. Dates for these films have shifted before, so check local listings.

The Horror Wave at the Start of the Year

The calendar opened with three horror titles that rely on atmosphere more than spectacle. Return to Silent Hill comes from Christophe Gans, who directed the 2006 original, and adapts the story of Silent Hill 2, in which James Sunderland returns to the foggy town after receiving a letter connected to the woman he lost. Jeremy Irvine and Hannah Emily Anderson lead the cast, with Evie Templeton, who played Laura in the game remake, reprising the role.

Iron Lung is unusual because it comes from a small indie game rather than a major franchise. Online creator Mark Edward Fischbach, known as Markiplier, directed it. The Mortuary Assistant, directed by Jeremiah Kipp, follows a recent mortuary science graduate who takes a night shift at a funeral home and runs into something supernatural. It runs about 91 minutes.

Family Animation and Fighting Games

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is the follow-up to the 2023 hit from Nintendo and Illumination, which earned about $1.3 billion worldwide. Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic direct again, and Chris Pratt, Charlie Day and Donald Glover return as Mario, Luigi and Yoshi. The sequel moves the characters into space, drawing on the game that inspired its title.

Two fighting-game adaptations arrived in the second half of the year. Mortal Kombat II, directed by Simon McQuoid, follows the 2021 reboot and finally brings the tournament to the screen, with Karl Urban playing washed-up actor Johnny Cage, who is pulled into a cross-realm competition. Street Fighter takes a different path. Set in 1993, the year of Super Street Fighter II, it sends the franchise’s characters into battle while a deadly conspiracy unfolds, and it leans toward traditional action rather than the heavy fantasy imagery of its rival.

Resident Evil Becomes the Franchise’s Biggest Hit

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has been the year’s standout among the horror entries at the box office. The Sony release opened in mid-September to roughly $60 million domestically, well ahead of expectations, and it passed $100 million in North America in its second weekend. It was the first film in the long-running franchise to reach that figure. The result is notable because none of the earlier Resident Evil films had reached that level in North America, which makes it a clear high point for a franchise that has been adapted for the screen many times.

Why Studios Keep Turning to Games

The size of the 2026 slate shows how far game adaptations have come. Studios once treated them as risky, but a run of successful releases has changed that view. Game franchises arrive with built-in awareness, large and active fan communities, and stories that suit genres audiences already buy tickets for, such as horror, action and family animation. The mix on this list, from a creator-led indie project to a billion-dollar animated sequel, shows that the category now covers many budgets and tones. It also gives audiences a choice that did not exist a decade ago, since a viewer who dislikes jump scares can pick a family comedy, while a fan of martial arts can choose between two different fighting franchises in the same year.

What Comes Next

The pipeline continues into 2027 with Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and a long list of projects in development, including a film based on Sea of Thieves. Release dates in this category move often, as the changes to Mortal Kombat II and Street Fighter showed this year, so fans should confirm showtimes closer to each opening.