The Complete 2025–26 Movies Fantasy League Draft Guide

Welcome back, friends and fools, to year FIVE of the Vulture Movies Fantasy League! We’re headed into a fall movie season packed with box-office behemoths, visionary auteurs making their awards-season push, and a lot of big questions—like whether a vampire movie about race in America can really play the long game all the way to Oscar gold.

If you’ve played the Movies Fantasy League before, the game’s core remains the same. If you’re new here, welcome to the circus! You can find the complete rules over on our MFL hub, but here’s a quick summary:

– **You draft a roster of exactly eight films within a budget of $100 (imaginary dollars).**
– **Once the scoring phase begins, the films you’ve chosen rack up points for hitting box-office milestones, nabbing precursor awards/nominations, winning critical acclaim, and more.**
– **The most potentially successful movies cost more, so you’ll need to manage your budget wisely.**

To help you draft smart, we’ve built this comprehensive draft guide. Below, you’ll find a listing of every movie currently eligible for box-office points based on its release date, sorted by category. Let’s get to it!

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## Box-Office Potential

**$5 Picks**
– Anaconda 🍿
– Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie 🍿
– Now You See Me: Now You Don’t 🍿
– The Housemaid 🍿
– Zero A. D. 🍿

**$3 Picks**
– Dust Bunny 🍿
– Regretting You 🍿
– Sisu 2 🍿
– Soul on Fire 🍿

**$2 Picks**
– Eternity 🍿
– Good Fortune 🍿
– Trap House 🍿

—

## Horror Movies That Could Draw an Audience

**$5 Picks**
– Black Phone 2 🍿
– Keeper 🍿
– The Strangers Chapter 2 🍿

**$2 Picks**
– Bone Lake 🍿
– Shelby Oaks 🍿

**$1 Pick**
– Silent Night, Deadly Night 🍿

—

## Oscar Contenders If Things Go Well

**$5 Picks**
– Anemone 🍿
– A Private Life 🍿
– Eleanor the Great 🍿
– Father, Mother, Sister, Brother 🍿
– Hedda 🍿
– No Other Choice 🍿
– Peter Hujar’s Day 🍿
– The Lost Bus
– The Mastermind 🍿
– The Secret Agent 🍿
– The Testament of Ann Lee 🍿
– Christy 🍿

—

## Could Show Up at Indie Awards

**$5 Picks**
– A Big Bold Beautiful Journey
– Black Bag
– Eddington
– Highest 2 Lowest
– Materialists
– Nouvelle Vague 🍿
– Pillion 🍿
– The History of Sound
– The Life of Chuck

**$3 Picks**
– Caught Stealing
– Friendship
– Misericordia
– Sorry, Baby
– Steve 🍿
– Dead Man’s Wire 🍿

**$2 Picks**
– Cloud
– Eephus
– Pavements
– Splitsville

**$1 Picks**
– On Swift Horses
– Preparation for the Next Life
– Sacramento
– The Friend

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## Notable Movies From the First Half of the Year

– Captain America: Brave New World $3
– The Monkey $3
– Honey Don’t! $3
– One of Them Days $2
– The Naked Gun $3
– The Phoenician Scheme $3
– Weapons $3
– Drop $2
– Presence $2
– The Old Guard 2 $2

—

## Gunning for Craft-Category Noms at Best

**$5 Picks**
– 28 Years Later
– A Minecraft Movie
– Him
– How to Train Your Dragon
– Lilo & Stitch
– Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning
– Superman

**$3 Picks**
– Mickey 17
– Warfare
– Thunderbolts
– The Fantastic Four: First Steps
– Jurassic World Rebirth
– The Long Walk

**$2 Picks**
– 100 Nights of Hero 🍿

—

## Documentaries That Could Contend

**$5 Pick**
– Predators

**$3 Picks**
– Come See Me in the Good Light 🍿
– Sally

**$2 Picks**
– Cover-Up 🍿
– 2000 Meters to Andriivka
– Diane Warren: Relentless
– Prime Minister
– Selena Y Los Dinos
– The Alabama Solution 🍿
– The Perfect Neighbor 🍿

**$1 Picks**
– Apocalypse in the Tropics
– Deaf President Now!
– Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
– Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5 🍿
– The Voice of Hind Rajab 🍿
– Zodiac Killer Project 🍿
– Architecton 🍿

—

## Animated Features

**$5 Picks**
– Elio
– The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants 🍿

**$3 Picks**
– Arco 🍿
– Ne Zha II
– Scarlet 🍿

**$2 Picks**
– A Magnificent Life 🍿
– Dog Man
– In Your Dreams 🍿
– Smurfs
– The Bad Guys 2
– The Twits 🍿

**$1 Pick**
– Pets on a Train 🍿

—

## International Features That Could Contend

**$3 Picks**
– Caught by the Tides
– Sound of Falling 🍿
– Sirāt 🍿

**$2 Picks**
– Parthenope
– On Becoming a Guinea Fowl
– The President’s Cake 🍿
– Left-Handed Girl 🍿

—

## Smaller Festival Stuff

**$2 Picks**
– Couture 🍿
– In the Hand of Dante 🍿
– Last Days 🍿
– Late Fame 🍿
– Rebuilding 🍿

**$1 Picks**
– Atropia 🍿
– Love Me
– Lurker
– Plainclothes
– Poetic License 🍿
– Relay 🍿
– Rose of Nevada 🍿
– Sacrifice 🍿
– The Captive 🍿
– The Christophers 🍿
– The Thing With Feathers 🍿
– Tuner 🍿

—

## Pure Wild Cards

**$3 Picks**
– Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale
– Nirvana the Band the Show the Movie
– The Ballad of Wallis Island
– The Man With the Bag 🍿
– The Roses

**$2 Picks**
– Ballerina
– Hurry Up Tomorrow
– Snow White
– The Accountant 2
– The Legend of Ochi
– The Wedding Banquet

**$1 Picks**
– Alto Knights
– Bring Her Back
– Companion
– Death of a Unicorn
– Echo Valley
– Fountain of Youth
– Freakier Friday
– Havoc
– I Know What You Did Last Summer
– I Wish You All The Best 🍿
– Magic Farm
– M3GAN 2.0
– Nobody 2
– Novocaine
– Opus
– Sarah’s Oil 🍿
– Spinal Tap II: The End Continues 🍿
– Straw
– The Assessment
– The Conjuring: Last Rites
– The Electric State
– The Surfer
– The Thursday Murder Club
– Wolf Man
– The Woman in the Yard
– Streaming Long Shots