Wuthering Heights, Michael Jackson and the ‘Trump Effect’ – will 2026 see the end of the blockbuster ‘Woke’? | film

IIt’s fair to say that Hollywood is in crisis, or at least in transition. Studios are being taken over, culture wars are everywhere, and the AI ​​generation is rearing its head. The last thing they need is an interventionist president determined to wage war on the entertainment industry, let alone extract whatever value he can. As we know, Donald Trump is very interested in the film industry: in his pre-political days, he appeared in dozens of films, as well as on television. It seems very likely that he is eyeing a place at the top table in Hollywood after he leaves office (assuming he does).

Perhaps that’s what prompted his most dramatic recent intervention: demanding a fourth Rush Hour film from the new owners of Paramount Pictures, a studio recently acquired by David Ellison, the son of Larry, a key Trump ally. Coincidentally, Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was one of the financiers of Paramount’s subsequent attempt to block Netflix’s acquisition of Warner Bros., with Trump himself suggesting he might influence US corporate regulators to prevent the Netflix deal from going ahead. Of course, in the background, there is Trump’s threat to impose unspecified “tariffs” on the film industry, ostensibly aimed at keeping film production within the United States. But it could also be a way to keep Hollywood’s top executives stressed and flexible.

So how far did you go? Can we trace any actual impact of Trump on the films we might see in 2026? Is the “woke” blockbuster on the decline? Unless it’s put on a bullet train, it’s unlikely we’ll see Rush Hour 4 this year (but it’s been in the works since 2009, so you never know). Normally in Trump world, if it goes ahead, it would be a Hollywood comeback for controversial director Brett Ratner, who has not directed a film since a series of sexual assault and harassment complaints were filed against him in 2017. (Ratner denied all the allegations and settled the case with one of his accusers, Melanie Koehler, after suing her for defamation.) However, there is one movie we’ll be getting from Ratner this year, and it’s a documentary about Melania. Trump.

Next year we’ll also get a Michael Jackson biopic. He was acquitted of child molestation in his lifetime, but allegations of abuse continued to surface after his death, particularly through the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland. Jackson’s daughter described the new film as “sugar-coated” and said it “targets a very specific section of my father’s fan base that still lives in fantasy.” “Wuthering Heights,” the new adaptation of Emerald Fennell’s Emily Brontë novel, has generated the kind of controversy so far in the kind of social media firestorm over Heathcliff’s ethnicity that would have tainted her in a pre-Trump world.

All of this brings us to the most serious issue, which is the constant intimidation of mainstream films about including anything deemed “woke.” Given the slow pace at which big studio production is progressing, it’s unlikely that any of the supposed blockbusters of 2026 will have been influenced primarily by fear of Trump’s wrath, but DC is no doubt relieved that this year sees the release of films about relatively low-profile characters like Supergirl and Clayface, after sticking Superman in 2025 for his supposed reverence for immigrants. After the sadness of Snow White and the internal conflict over the content, it will be interesting to see if Disney has succeeded in this. The 2026 lineup — which includes a cartoon of a robot beaver called Hoppers, a fifth Toy Story film and a new live-action version of Moana — could easily hit the ground running at the studio, as can the Marvel and Star Wars-branded films it has taken care of: Avengers: Doomsday, Star Wars: The Mandalorian, and Grogu, respectively.

Will there be any decline? A film called Young Washington, about the early years of its premiere, may be promising, until you see it from Angel Studios, the “faith-based films” specialists who previously brought us the QAnonish thriller Sound of Freedom. The Bride of Frankenstein remake (simply called The Bride!) directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal says it will offer “romance, police interest and radical social change.” You might expect The Devil Wears Prada 2 to level some barbs in Trump’s direction, even if his chief goddess, Anna Wintour, is sharing bread with the man himself.

But as usual, all eyes will be on the team behind South Park to stick with Maga in 2026, as they did in 2025. Their new film Whitney Springs is about a black slave actor who discovers that his white girlfriend’s family once owned his ancestors. It just seems like some kind of bad taste satire to stir the pot. We can only hope.