Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is here for the first ever post of 2026 and today, we are kicking this off with a list of my most anticipated animated movies of 2026 (that you might never have heard of)!
With 2026 looking set to be a treasure trove of some of the biggest animated movies of the year, it is easy to miss out on some of the other animated movies of the year that should be on your radar real soon. From some of the most creative minds in today’s animation scene, to up and coming animated movies from new places and territories, there are just too many animated movies to focus on, and that is why I wanted to shine a spotlight on 12 of the upcoming animated movies of 2026 to look out for! Don’t worry, I am still crafting my least to most favourite animated movies of 2025, so stay tuned for that!
I have arranged them in order of movies that a good number of animated moviegoers have heard of, to some of the most unknown animated movies that have a level of potential that are worth seeing. If any of those movies have been released or have their release dates confirmed, I will also add their release dates. There are certain animated movies I have talked about in some of my previous blog posts, but they are worth revisiting to recap them.
Ok, with that said, let’s get into what 2026 animated movies to look out for!
(Oh, and before you ask, I am only covering the non-mainstream animated movies of 2026 I am looking out for, just because the big mainstream animated movies have gotten so much promotion and attention, I feel it is worth promoting the smaller players)
Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog
- Director: Benjamin Mousquet
- Animation Studio: nWave Studios
- Country of Origin: Belgium and France
- Release Date: 24 October 2025 (in Belgium)
To be honest, starting things off with a sequel to one of the best family-friendly foreign CG animated movies of all time might not be well-advised, especially with the number of times I posted about how I am excited to cover Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog ever since its debut at the Annecy Film Festival last year. However, now that it has been released in a few European countries (and South Africa) since September 2025, let’s just say there is more to it.
First off, its box office success, especially in Europe, is worth looking at. We are talking about a sequel to a popular animated movie, but I did not expect it to not just storm the box office (especially in its native home of Belgium and its French-speaking neighbours, especially France). Most importantly, however, is that there were high ratings for this movie, more so than for the typical family-friendly foreign CG animated movie. Most of these movies don’t tend to have high ratings, but Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog has received a lot of praise from certain critics and moviegoers alike.
One of those reviewers is my friend Bruno Vega, who saw that movie during his trip to last year’ Annecy Film Festival. He, too, is a huge fan of nWave Studios’ work, but he was just as satisfied with the overall result, to the point he was recommending his friends (me included) to see it for themselves, saying that this sequel explored certain topics that are more relevant and deeper than the first movie.
If this is what people are talking about this movie in general, that just makes me want to see this movie even more (especially since it has not gotten an Asian release even though nWave’s movies have been successful in Asia in the past). Hopefully, the hype is justified when I get to see it in some form this year!
I Am Frankelda
- Director: Arturo Ambriz and Roy Ambriz
- Animation Studio: Cinema Fatasma
- Country of Origin: Mexico
- Release Date: 23 October 2025 (in Mexico)
From one Annecy Film Festival 2025 movie from the “low quality” Annecy Presents that received a lot of praise to another, I Am Frankelda had received a lot of attention, not just because it is a stop-motion animated movie from one of the weakest regions in the world when it comes to theatrical animation that is the Central and South America, not just because it was endorsed by the legendary Mexican auteur Guillermo del Toro, but it was because people were blown away by how groundbreaking this movie felt given the current situation.
For a long time, Mexican animation has become not so good compared to its neighbours of the United States and America, and with the country facing a brain drain in its animation industry (two words to summarise its woes: Anima Estudios), this is a worrying sign for the future of Mexican animation, or what has been left of it. However, if Germany and India have proven with Grand Prix of Europe and Mahavatar Narsimha respectively, even the worst animation industries in the world can produce a few gems here and there, and that was exactly what I Am Frankelda felt to a lot of Mexicans who are proud of this movie.
Honestly, the hype behind this stop-motion masterpiece is just too irresistible for me to ignore, so yeah, I cannot wait to cover this rare Mexican gem!
Mononoke the Movie: The Curse of the Serpent
- Director: Kenji Nakamura
- Animation Studios: EOTA, Twin Engine
- Country of Origin: Japan
- Expected Release Date: 29 May 2026 (in Japan)
Having covered two of the movies in the Mononoke movie trilogy based on the popular anime series, with The Phantom in the Rain leaving a deep first impression and The Ashes of Rage doing one better, it is to no one’s surprise that the third and final movie, The Curse of the Serpent, is going to be an exciting finish for me.
We do not know what Mononoke the Medicine Seller is facing in the third one, but one thing is for certain: once the truth, form and reason for this trilogy has been revealed, especially when Netflix releases it on their platform as do the other two Mononoke movies, I am certain the moviegoers will not only have their jaws dropped, but it will probably attract them to the original Mononoke anime series that goes as hard as the movies themselves. Watch this space!
Decorado
- Director: Alberto Vazquez
- Animation Studio: Uniko, Abano Producions
- Country of Origin: Spain
- Release Date: 24 October 2025 (in Spain)
Before I talk about the next upcoming masterpiece by Spanish animator Alberto Vazquez, it is important to provide some context on where this movie (and a few others on this list) comes from. You see, there is an annual European animated movie pitching festival called Cartoon Movie that is held every March in Bordeaux, France. There, many animation studios come together to pitch their animated movie concepts to potential buyers, financiers and distributors to further fund their animated movies. This (along with four others) are from the festival, and of the five, four came from the 2023 edition, which goes to show how stacked the Cartoon Movie 2023 lineup was (although to be fair, Butterfly Tale, one of my least favourite animated movies of 2024, was also a Cartoon Movie 2023 project, so not every movie in that edition is a masterpiece of sorts).
Decorado (aka Scenery) is a satire about a mouse in a mid-life crisis as he comforts to the fake reality in his search for what is authentic. If you had seen Vazquez’s two previous movies in Birdboy: The Forgotten Children and Unicorn Wars, Vazquez is a unique surrealist specialist that has a wild imagination and a twisted mind when it comes to crafting his own movies, but even by his standards, he might have slayed a bit too much with Decorado.
From its festival screenings so far, the moviegoers who got to see Decorado early felt a shock of their lives with how dark and sadistic this movie could go, even more so than Unicorn Wars, which is an achievement to say the least. This is because when I covered Unicorn Wars back in 2023, I thought this movie was extremely insane, but it seems Decorado made Unicorn Wars feel like child’s play. If that were the first impressions of Decorado, I wanted more of Vazquez’s madness because sign me up!
Julian
- Director: Louise Bagnall
- Animation Studios: Cartoon Saloon, Folvari and Melusine Productions
- Country of Origin: Ireland, UK, Canada, Luxembourg, Denmark
Speaking of Cartoon Movie 2023 movies, here is another one, and it is the next animated movie from Irish animation giant Cartoon Saloon, one of the biggest bastions of 2D hand-drawn animated movies in the world. With that said, Cartoon Saloon has been having a slight dip in quality as of late with their two previous animated movies of My Father’s Dragon, and Puffin Rock and the New Friends, not being as very top-tier as their Irish Folklore Trilogy movies and The Breadwinner despite both being very solid animated movies in their own right.
However, it seems Cartoon Saloon is coming back on track with its movie adaptation about a boy in New York City who dreams of becoming a mermaid as he explores his identity, gender expression and his family’s hidden heritage. We are getting more animated movie that embraces gender identity and LGBTQ+ themes, such as Nimona in 2023 and Lesbian Space Princess last year. This was an animated movie that I had been very looking forward to seeing, and it is not just because it is a Cartoon Saloon movie.
This (plus one other animated movie we are covering on this list) showcases the expansive world of gender identity in today’s divisive world, and I cannot wait to cover it when Cartoon Saloon announces its release date.
Dandelion’s Odyssey
- Director: Momoko Seto
- Animation Studio: Miyu Productions
- Country of Origin: Belgium and France
- Expected Release Date: 11 March 2026 (in France)
Yet another movie I talked about from last year’s Annecy Film Festival, so I will keep it brief. With that said, however, I recently got to see the first trailer to Dandelion’s Odyssey, and I knew this would be my type of animated movie.
We are getting more non-dialogue animated movies that utilises the moviegoer’s senses to join along for the ride, kind of like how Flow managed to tug our heartstrings all the way to its historic Oscar win. Sure, you might ask, “Hang on, is this another Flow?”, but before Flow, the two Minuscule movies exist, and they are sensory, atmospheric adventures with no dialogue whatsoever. Dandelion’s Odyssey is fulfilling the same purpose, except we are literally flying to different worlds, where different dangers and adventures await.
Honestly, all I can say is that I am looking forward to covering it when I get the chance. At the very least, Dandelion’s Odyssey is worth taking a peek into.
The Violinist
- Directors: Erwin Han and Raul Garcia
- Animation Studio: Robot Playground Media
- Country of Origin: Singapore, Spain and Italy
- Expected Release Date: 6 August 2026 (in Singapore)
Now, we are getting into more obscure territory, because I am certain most of the viewers would have never heard the second half of this list, and that makes the second half even more interesting we get to very unknown stuff worth putting onto your watchlist.
I had already talked about The Violinist when I covered the movies I am looking forward from last year’s Annecy Film Festival, but since then, not only did the team at Robot Playground (probably the most prominent animation studio in Singapore) had announced its release date a few days before National Day 2026, but it is also one that is well-needed, given apart from Tatsumi, there has not been a Singapore animated movie worth talking about (and no, before you ask, I am not including Zodiac: The Race Begins in the conversation)… Until now.
The Violinist is an extension of a Robot Playground short, The Violin, and is another proof of the rise of Southeast Asia animation. We already saw the success of Out of the Nest in Thailand, Dongeng Sang Kancil in Malaysia, The Missing in The Philippines and Jumbo recently last year from Indonesia, all proving that Southeast Asia is finally on board with their theatrical animation.
As someone not just from this home region, but from Singapore as well, it honestly felt exciting that we are getting something that is full of passion and pride, and I seriously cannot wait to cover an animated movie from my country that is worth sharing! My country of Singapore has some great animation talent, but most of them have been restricted to animated shorts or outsourcing their work to other countries without much support from the government, a common issue in today’s arts scene here. It is such a shame that there are so many passionate animators from my country, yet there is a lack of demand for such talent here. As such, this movie felt very, very important to my country whether The Violinist will result in the flourishing of Singapore’s animation industry.
I wish nothing but the very best for Robot Playground in this movie, and I cannot wait to cover this movie!
The Treasure of Barracuda
- Director: Adria Gracia
- Animation Studios: Inicia Films and Hampa Animation Studio
- Country of Origin: Belgium, Spain
- Release Date: 26 September 2025 (in Spain)
There are some animated movies that have only been released to a few countries so far or, in the case of The Treasure of Barracuda, only released in its native home of Spain. However, the reviews and reactions from its Spanish crowd are worth looking into.
The Treasure of Barracuda is a 2D hand-drawn animated movie about a pirate crew in search of the most valuable treasure in the Caribbean. While the premise sounds simple, the animation is quite vibrant and exciting, based on the trailer of this movie. There are two sides of Spanish animation: the inferior 3D CG side of Spain, and its more exciting non-CG side of animation. It is true that most of their successful movies came from movies that do not heavily use 3D CG animation, such as Klaus, Unicorn Wars and the aforementioned Decorado.
I am already excited to cover this movie given what it was bringing to the table, so hopefully, The Treasure of Barracuda is yet another Spanish classic!
Les Legendaries
- Director: Guillaume Ivernel
- Animation Studios: Pan Europeenne, 2 Minutes, Belvision and Maybe Movies
- Country of Origin: France
- Expected Release Date: 28 January 2026 (in France)
I will have to admit, I specialise a lot in covering the family-friendly foreign CG animated movies and to be honest, I am starting to move away from most of them because after seeing a whole lot of them, I came to the conclusion that most are just disposable and of low-quality and are hence not worth covering. With that said, there are a few such movies that at least have something to look forward to, and Les Legendaries is one of them.
If you have never heard of director Guillaume Ivernel, you might have heard of one of his movies, Spycies. That was a French-Chinese animated movie that felt very ballsy and experimental compared to those family-friendly foreign CG animated movies, being a gritty action flick with a rare industrial hyper realistic style of CG animation that is unlike any foreign CG animated movie I had covered before then. Sure, not everything lands in that movie, but I love that movie due to its high-risk approach.
As such, when it was announced it will be released in France in January this year, I knew I had to keep this on the radar, especially given this is from a director of a rather underrated animated movie. Then, I saw the first trailer, and I knew this would be a fantasy adventure that looked like a faithful adaptation of the comic series of the same name. The trailer felt very epic in scale, which is well needed for a fantasy-based animated movie.
All in all, this looks like a movie that would be as great or even better than Spycies, and as long as it managed to reach those high expectations of mine, I am sold by what it promises to me. Sign me up!
Brave Cat
- Director: Gabriel Osorio
- Animation Studio: Punkrobot
- Country of Origin: Chile
As I mentioned, we are seeing a new age of family-friendly animated movies that are way more than just silly comedies or simple family-friendly fare, but also movies that tells its own stories with heart and great quality animation that are far and beyond the typical family-friendly animated movie formula. Well, Brave Cat might be another example.
From the creator of the award-winning short Bear Story comes an animated movie about a teenage cat searching for her missing mother and, joined by two other companions, go on an adventure to search and reunite with their families. This was a movie with an underlying context about the kidnappings and mass disappearances of political refugees during Chile’s Pinochet dictatorship, which is prevalent if you had seen Bear Story.
I had been looking forward to seeing this, not just because this looks like a movie that has a deep message and story that could surprise its audience, but this could potentially be the first ever South American animated movie that I like. For a very long time, I had been underwhelmed by the mediocre South American animated movies that I had been covering for so long, so seeing something that has the potential to convince me otherwise would be a paradigm shift that is well needed in today’s beleaguered South American animation scene. Hopefully.
Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer
- Directors: Marco Nguyen and Nicolas Athane
- Animation Studio: Bobbypills
- Country of Origin: France
- Expected Release Date: 17 June 2026 (In France)
Ok, we are done with the family-friendly stuff for now. How about more hilarious adult comedies with a proud LGBTQ+ messaging?
Jim Queen and the Quest for Chloroqueer (or Jim Queen as what I would call the movie from now on because of how long the movie title is) is another Cartoon Movie 2023 project, and it is about a popular gay gym rat who one day realised he is becoming straight due to a virus, and with the help of his twink follower, must venture on a quest to find a mysterious cure that could not only save him from the virus, but the entire LGBTQ+ community from extinction.
We are now seeing animated movies that embrace more of the LGBTQ+ coded stories, like Julian earlier on this list and last year’s Lesbian Space Princess. This was a movie slated for release this year, with an announced voice cast and a Kickstarter campaign to put it across the finish line. In fact, this would be their second Kickstarter campaign after they failed to reach the goal set out in their first Kickstarter… Which was why I decided it would be apt to give it a push by donating to it.
Hearing the premise and its animation for myself, Jim Queen looks set to be another proud and shameless animated movie that celebrates its pride identity, and we need more stories that embrace positive ideologies of different kinds. These are the types of stories people need to hear more if they are curious about pride and LGBTQ+ in general. Hopefully, Jim Queen’s second fundraising campaign is a success, because I really wanted more animated movies like this!
Iggy the Eagle
- Director: Bartek Kedzierski
- Animation Studios: Horus Movie Animation, Orangeanimation
- Country of Origin: Poland
- Expected Release Date: 6 February 2026 (in Poland)
Well, I clearly saved my best-kept secret for the last, didn’t I? I honestly don’t know if anyone else is hyped about this movie as much as me, and I am very certain that virtually everyone who is reading this list have never heard of this movie. Honestly, I am just excited to share my potential hidden gem with you guys!
Iggy the Eagle is a 2D hybrid animated movie about a young eagle in a technologically advanced society where the birds are so civilized that they have forgotten how to fly. Inspired by an ancient book, his imaginary brother and a new classmate, he makes the opportunity in his attempt to take flight. This is a movie that was about 10 years in the making, utilises live action backgrounds and combines it with 2D hand-drawn elements to make this unique hybrid animated movie a reality, and one that even by family-friendly animated movie standards felt mature for its concept about daring to dream the impossible.
I don’t know why no one else is talking about this movie, because this felt like a very cool and ambitious concept and felt like a further evolution of the typical family-friendly animated movie formula. I love it when an animated movie tries to be different and stand out from other animated movies with similar concepts. This movie already premiered at a local film festival, it has a release date in its native home of Poland, and with a sales agent already picking up this movie in the form of Film Mode Entertainment (who appeared at last year’s American Film Market), it is very likely we are getting an international release of it during the year.
Hopefully, by the time we see this movie, I really hope Iggy the Eagle lives up to its small hype from me, because it really felt like something that is about to be very special indeed.
Conclusion
Overall, these are 12 of the upcoming animated movies I am looking forward to seeing and honestly, it is a very diverse line-up of stories and animation styles, and all 12 have the potential to be among some of my most favourite animated movies of 2026. We can wait only until the end of the year to find out whether this holds true.
Thank you for joining me on my list of some animated movies I am looking forward to. However, before we begin our 2026 adventure, it is time we look back as I rank my least to most favourite animated movies of 2025. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
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