Taking a Look at Anne Hathaway’s Generational 2026 Run
From the minute she stepped on screen, she was a star.
25 years ago, one of the top 20 highest-grossing films of the year starred an unknown teen actress who only had one screen acting credit to her name - a Fox sitcom called Get Real that lasted for only one season. But it was clear to audiences who saw her breakthrough role in Disney’s The Princess Diaries that Anne Hathaway was destined for greatness. But I don’t know if anybody could have predicted the sheer resilience of her career in one of the toughest industries in the world. Somehow, a quarter of a century since her debut, Anne Hathaway had one of the biggest years of her career in 2026.
Hathaway isn’t the only major star in Hollywood with a major 2026 - Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, and Jon Bernthal all share the screen in some of the biggest, buzziest releases this year - but Hathaway is a unique case because nearly all of the films she stars in (with one notable exception) have been sold to audiences as Anne Hathaway-starring vehicles. Distributors and marketers know the power of Anne Hathaway’s star presence, especially when tied to properties that audiences already feel fondness towards, and each of the five films she appeared in this year gave us an impressive showcase of her talents.
Take a look at our thoughts on each of the films she starred in below, as well as our ratings of her performance in each film!
Mother Mary (released 4/17)
Hathaway’s first released film of the year hit theaters shortly before the summer blockbuster The Devil Wears Prada 2, yet it ended up becoming arguably the most artistically daring of all her films this year. Writer/director David Lowery (The Green Knight, A Ghost Story) casts Hathaway as a Lady Gaga-esque pop star who reunites with her old friend and costume designer Sam Anselm (Michaela Coel) to design a new, fresh look for her following a mental breakdown and extended hiatus.
That’s the basic rundown of the first half of the film, but there’s a supernatural angle to the story revealed midway through - something that connects the two women together more than they even realize. It’s an ambitious work, but despite a few truly arresting sequences, Lowery doesn’t quite make the two halves of the film mesh together in a satisfying manner. Most of the film occurs in Sam’s warehouse studio, and Hathaway and Coel mostly stay in one register for a majority of the runtime (Hathaway teary-eyed and haunted, Coel cynical and hurt).
That said, both actresses make the material work for them, creating a three-dimensionality to their characters that might not have been there in the hands of lesser performers. The only real downside to their work here is that Hathaway is so good as a global pop star phenomenon (especially when given some great original songs written by the likes of Charli XCX and Jack Antonoff), audiences will wish they could get a whole movie of her in Mother Mary mode.
Film Rating: 6/10 | Anne Hatha-rating: 7.5/10
The Devil Wears Prada 2 (released 5/1)
If Mother Mary seemed a little too outre for mainstream audiences, you needn’t worry because Anne Hathaway was back on the big screen a mere two weeks later in one of the most anticipated movies of the summer, The Devil Wears Prada 2. In the film, Hathaway’s character from the original film, Andy Sachs, is a successful journalist who nonetheless is fired via text message due to a round of layoffs at her outlet. Unexpectedly, she finds herself back at Runway, working under Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep) again, to bolster the magazine’s credibility following a slew of recent controversies.
In true legacy sequel fashion, most of the major main characters from the original film are back, whether they make sense in the current story (Stanley Tucci) or if they feel more shoehorned in (Emily Blunt for a majority of the runtime), but fans of the original will likely feel they got their money’s worth thanks to a biting, entertaining script, the ensemble cast’s winning chemistry, and a sense of style and fashion that proves big-budget filmmaking doesn’t always need acres of CGI or action to impress us.
Much like last year’s sequel Freakier Friday, the film creates a few too many subplots to feel as effortlessly entertaining as the original, but the film still has a great lead in Hathaway. When her characters are written to be delightful and charismatic, like her roles in the original film, The Princess Diaries, or Ella Enchanted (2004), she has this preternatural ability to get the audience on her side. And as fun as it is to see Miranda Priestly give harsh dressing-downs to her employees, this film would not work without Andy’s enthusiasm, intelligence, and determination. Most importantly, given the dark subject matter of a number of her other roles this year, DWP2 gives Hathaway the chance to do something she didn’t get a lot of in 2026: Have fun!
Movie Rating: 7/10 | Anne Hatha-rating: 8/10
The Odyssey (released 7/17)
Christopher Nolan’s instant classic adaptation of Homer’s epic The Odyssey took theaters by storm this summer on a level that few in Hollywood really anticipated, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time by a wide margin, and only the 11th highest-grossing film of all time overall. Therefore, it’s likely anybody reading this doesn’t need a plot summary, but in case you forgot amidst all the cyclops-fighting and suitor-slashing action, Anne Hathaway plays Odysseus’s wife Penelope, waiting over 20 years for her king to return home and rule over Ithaca again. In the meantime, she has to put up with the unwanted attention from dozens of aggressive suitors who have taken over her castle for feasting and merriment, as well as the protests from her young son Telemachus (Tom Holland) who swears he’s ready to take his father’s place as king.
Hathaway intentionally keeps her guard up throughout the film, often hiding behind a curtain separating her from the hall full of suitors. But somehow, despite constantly feeling like the most powerful one in a room full of ultra-masculine men, she’s also able to convey a world of vulnerability and doubt that her husband will ever return. In every scene, you can see the pain on her face without ever appearing weak in front of any number of men who would much rather see her crumble so they can comfort her and win her heart. In The Odyssey, she’s able to play both the brokenhearted and the powerful with such ease that she’s a true stand-out in a massive ensemble cast turning in some of the greatest performances of the year.
Movie Rating: 10/10 | Anne Hatha-rating: 9/10
The End of Oak Street (released 8/14)
Less than a month after The Odyssey had taken movie theaters by storm, Anne Hathaway returned in a relatively smaller summer blockbuster, The End of Oak Street. “Smaller” in comparison to The Odyssey, that is, because Oak Street still contains rampaging dinosaurs, impressive CGI effects placing an 80s suburban neighborhood in prehistoric times, and some of the most intense chase sequences of any movie this year. In the film, Anne Hathaway and Ewan McGregor star as Denise and Greg Platt, a mother and father to two teenage children, who are going through a tough time in their marriage when a wormhole somehow places their entire neighborhood somewhere in the past. It’s never fully explained what happens (because it wouldn’t be realistic for the characters to know), but what’s important is that now dinosaurs are roaming the blocks looking for food, and the Platts need to find a way to stay safe before becoming dino food.
The movie was helmed by indie director David Robert Mitchell (It Follows, Under the Silver Lake), and he brings a stylized, inventive direction to this modern Twilight Zone-esque story of dinosaurs invading a normal, quaint suburbia. In the film, much of the suspense is drawn out by where Mitchell places the camera, how he moves it, and what he chooses to focus on within the frame. And if that wasn’t enough to recommend the film, Hathaway gives her best performance of the year, tackling each facet of her character with aplomb: The disappointed wife, the protective mother, and the dino-slaying badass. Even before the dinosaurs take over, early scenes with her neighbors give her character a lot of dimensionality - whether it’s by confronting a neighbor who’s subtly threatening their family dog, or having a conversation about writing with her kindly elderly friend.
The story feels relatively small-stakes for a blockbuster of this scale, but for those who enjoy this kind of high-concept sci-fi action film, End of Oak Street is a highly entertaining thrill ride.
Movie Rating: 8.5/10 | Anne Hatha-rating: 10/10
Verity (released 10/2)
If I may paraphrase The Simpsons: In the new erotic thriller Verity (now playing in theaters), whenever Verity isn’t on screen, all the other characters should be asking, “Where’s Verity?”
Anne Hathaway dominates Michael Showalter’s new adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel, Verity, but on first viewing, it almost feels like she has the least amount of screen time of the three main characters. In the film, author Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson) is hired by her publisher to ghost-write the final novel in a series of twisty thrillers by writer Verity Crawford (Hathaway). She’s even asked by Verity’s husband Jeremy (Josh Hartnett) to come to their lakeside Vermont house to immerse herself in the work Verity has left behind, but once there, Lowen discovers that Verity is catatonic following a car accident the year before. Then when she discovers an unfinished manuscript for a memoir written by Verity prior to her accident, the confessions and reveals start coming fast…
I don’t want to give away any of the major twists in Verity, but it’s not spoiling much to say that Hathaway’s lack of screen time in the film is a little disappointing. Johnson and Hartnett work well with the material, but it’s Hathaway who seems to be having the most fun, relishing in all the evil her character does in flashbacks, and dominating Johnson’s interior thoughts with a great, pulpy narration that runs through the whole film. Verity Crawford is such an interesting character, someone who is able to be charming and coy with talk show interviews we see throughout (like in-universe appearances on Hot Ones or Call Her Daddy), but also carries a sinister aura that convinces the viewer that she really could be capable of some of the horrifying things that she writes about. The final moments of the film are ambiguous as to who her character really is, but no matter which version of Verity you choose to believe is real, Anne Hathaway really does a great job playing her. So great that the movie really could have used more of her.
Movie Rating: 6/10 | Anne Hatha-rating: 8.5/10
What did you think of Anne Hathaway’s banner year? Do you agree or disagree with any of our ratings? Sound off on our social channels!