This past month has been incredibly mixed, both in terms of quality and genre. We've had Sherlock-esque sheep, galaxy exploring mercenaries, and obsessively possessed crushes, all on different ends of the quality spectrum. Where do they all land, what will be remembered, and what will be left in the past? Here's what to avoid at all costs and what to rush to, released in May 2026.
Best
The Sheep Detectives
Kyle Balda blew us all away after his previous track record. To go from various Minions movies and shorts to a genuine tearjerker such as The Sheep Detectives is really something to behold. This star-studded cast - including the likes of Brian Cranston, Chris O'Dowd, Regina Hall, Sir Patrick Stewart, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, just to name a few - all bring their A-game to voice a flock of sheep, bringing this movie's budget into question.
This follows a flock of sheep after they come to find their shepherd - played by Hugh Jackman - dead. They quickly come to realise the one man investigating this convoluted whodunnit is a bumbling idiot, leaving only these sheep and their extensive murder mystery knowledge to solve it themselves.
This includes a brilliantly eccentric cast of characters and a surprisingly interesting, even if somewhat childish, mystery. This movie is heavily underrated and hardly spoken about, so if you have the time, I'd definitely suggest taking a trip to the cinema to enjoy this flick.
Runtime - 109 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $90 million
Finding Emily
Finding Emily takes us back to the generic high school romcoms of the '90s and early '00s, in the best possible way. We know almost exactly how this will turn out very early on, even possibly from the trailers, yet that doesn't matter. Our journey isn't with seeing if Owen (Spike Fearn) will find 'Emily', but with seeing him ruin his life in the process of trying.
This movie follows Owen, a hopeless romantic and new sound engineer at a local club. Owen has a wonderful night with a woman whom he then believes is the love of his life. There's one problem, however, Owen only knows this woman's name, Emily. We follow Owen as he tries to find this woman at all costs, ultimately ruining his own life in the process, before he realises his true path.
If you're a fan of romcoms such as 10 Things I Hate About You, or of movies that feel incredibly British to their core, I'm sure you'll have a great time with this. Finding Emily is now entering its third week in cinemas, and is struggling to find its audience, so now is the perfect time to take a trip to your local cinema to support this movie.
Read our full review here: Angourie Rice's Comeback? - Finding Emily Review
Runtime - 111 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $411,000
Backrooms
This is the newest movie to be added to this list, still being on its opening weekend, but that makes it no less deserving of its place. Backrooms expands the lore of Kane Parsons' original 2022 horror short film. Rather than simply seeing the horrors of the Backrooms, this movie explores them, allowing us to see the ins and outs of this mysterious liminal space.
Backrooms follows Clark (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a narcissistic drunk who refuses to accept the responsibility for his own, constantly falling apart, life. Clark suddenly discovers a false wall in his furniture store, taking him to the Backrooms. He comes to realise that this may be his own personal paradise, in which he never has to face consequences for his actions, and his therapist (Renate Reinsve) takes it upon herself to help him out of this psychosis.
This movie uses the uncanny valley and liminality to give the audience a feeling of unease, in which they feel as if something may be around every corner. Kane Parsons is able to evolve his original short film in so many ways, while still feeling true to the source material, as well as his own vision. As this is still in its opening weekend, I'd suggest watching this as soon as possible, in order to avoid spoilers.
Read our full review here: Kane Parsons' Polarising Vision - Backrooms Review
Runtime - 110 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $38 million
Tuner
Tuner is also quite a new movie, once again being on its opening weekend. At first, this seemed like it would essentially be 'Baby Driver without the pizazz' and while it does draw a lot of similarities to Edgar Wright's movie, it's definitely not a step down. This does hit a lot of the Baby Driver notes, yet it also flips the concept and adds a classical twist.
A man with a special talent that can be easily manipulated for the wrong reasons ends up falling into a life of crime in the pursuit of a better life for those he loves. Along the way, he finds a woman who, at some point, gets swept up in it all, is threatened, and is ultimately the reason he keeps going. That description can be used for either Baby Driver or Tuner. However, in this, Niki (Leo Woodall) has an aversion to sound, as well as a deep love for it. This all ends in such an interesting finale; everything has built up to this frantic sequence accompanied by a beautiful classical music piece, all creating this beautiful harmony of chaos and order.
While this does draw a lot of similarities to Baby Driver, it never feels like a 'rip-off' or as if it's blatantly stealing those ideas. By using the backdrop of classical music, they're able to change this story into something very beautiful. If you enjoy Baby Driver, I'm sure you'll have a great time with this.
Runtime - 107 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $1.1 million
Power Ballad
Hollywood must have saved the best until last because Power Ballad is also in its opening weekend, currently. This movie shows Nick Jonas' acting chops - and even Paul Rudd's, for some - in a way that many people may never have seen before. They both play in very dramatic, yet comedic roles, while still playing to each other's strengths.
Power Ballad follows Rick Power (Paul Rudd), a washed-up former boyband member turned wedding singer. Rick's wedding band plays for a wedding attended by Danny Wilson (Nick Jonas), another former boyband member, attempting to break out on his own. These two bond over their mutual love for music and have a 'jam session' together. After Wilson steals Power's song that he showed him in that session, and it becomes a hit, Rick pursues him in search of any kind of acknowledgement. In this endless obsession, Rick pushes away the people he loves due to the possibility of riches beyond their wildest dreams.
This movie is incredibly funny, intense, and absurd, all in the best ways. Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas have so much chemistry together, there's such a rivalry yet mutual respect for one another, between their characters, which is helped in no small part by John Carney's writing and directing.
Runtime - 98 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $78,000
Obsession
I left Obsession until the end because this is not only my favourite movie of this month, but also of the entire year. For Curry Barker to go from making comedy skits on social media to a horror movie like this is really something to behold, and I am incredibly excited to see what comes next from him.
Obsession follows Bear (Michael Johnston), who has a crush on his coworker, Nikki (Inde Navarette), but is too scared to tell her how he feels due to the worry that she may not reciprocate. Enter the 'One Wish Willow', a willow tree branch that you can use to wish for anything you desire. Bear decides to wish that Nikki loves him more than anything in the entire world, at which point she becomes madly obsessed with him to the point of isolation and threat towards anything that she believes could come between them. There are only two ways out of Bear's problem: either he dies, or Nikki dies.
There is no way I can describe this movie or convince you to watch it that would do it justice; the only way to see the horrors of Curry Barker's creation is to experience the movie yourself. Inde Navarrette gives an undeniable Oscar-winning performance that I can only hope gets the recognition it deserves.
Read our full review here: The Comedy To Horror Pipeline - Obsession Review
Runtime - 108 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $114 million
Worst
Mortal Kombat II
Mortal Kombat II is a great disappointment, yet not a surprise. I had one main concern about this movie after seeing the trailers. That was what Karl Urban's Johnny Cage, 'everyman' character would turn into, simply making fun of the source material. We see this in a lot of adaptations of many different forms of media; however, it's most apparent in video game or book adaptations. The worst thing you can do as an adaptation is think you're better than the source material, because you're simply not. Unfortunately, many adaptations do end up doing this a lot, acting as if the original is lesser. Luckily, this didn't persist throughout the entire movie; it's most prominent in the first act, when Cage is being introduced to other fighters.
This movie follows Johnny Cage, a washed-up action star from the '90s, who's chosen to fight for the fate of his world in 'Mortal Kombat', alongside Earth's greatest champions. They're chosen to fight against the dark rule of the unstoppable Shao Khan, who threatens the very existence of their world.
As you may be able to tell from the quite short synopsis, this film is quite shallow. I'm sure some Mortal Kombat fans enjoyed some of the fight scenes, but this didn't include much story, so it is unworthy of your time and money.
Runtime - 116 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $126 million
Passenger
Passenger takes the statistic that 130 million people go on road trips every year, with 15,400 of them going missing - which is likely a completely made-up statistic - and imagines something more sinister behind this, like a demonic force.
In this movie, road-trippers are told never to drive at night, and if they do, they'll have 'the Passenger' latch onto them. This Passenger plays with these people, scaring them here and there, until he is satisfied and kills them. We follow Maddie (Lou Llobell) and Tyler (Jacob Scipio), a couple who have recently begun 'van life'. They weren't aware of these rules and stopped after seeing a man crash his car - the Passenger's last victim. After this point, the passenger follows them around and jumps out at random times to scare them. To get away without dying, they must kill this demonic force. The only way to do so is to take it to Saint Christopher's - the patron saint of travellers - church.
This movie simply has no momentum. Our main characters will be living their lives, and the Passenger will periodically jump out to scare them, usually relying completely on jump scares. Due to this, Passenger is once again not worth any of your time and money.
Runtime - 94 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $19 million
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu
For their first cinema outing of the 2020s, after many disappointing Disney+ shows, The Mandalorian and Grogu is an incredible disappointment. While this may not be the worst that Star Wars has to offer, it really isn't far off. This feels like it was meant to originally be a season, or a multiple-episode arc, of the original The Mandalorian Disney+ show, which was changed to a movie way too late.
This follows The Mandalorian on a mission to find one of the final imperial warlords around the galaxy. Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) is forced to work with the Hutts for information, but first they ask him to return their nephew, Rotta the Hutt (Jeremy Allen White), from imprisonment on another planet. After finding out what the Hutts were really planning on doing with Rotta, and who this warlord really is, Mando decides to find him himself.
While there isn't exactly any 'cardinal sins' within this movie, it simply feels too safe. They never take any big swings, like you'd hope they would with their first movie in 7 years, even when there was a swing that they easily could've taken, and was set out on a silver platter for them. Ultimately, this is a passable addition to the Star Wars franchise, even if that bar is now quite low.
Read our full review here: This Isn't the Way: Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu (2026) Review
Runtime - 132 minutes
Current Worldwide Box Office - $196 million
No AI was used in writing this article.