These 5 movies from 2026 stand out for how often moviegoers called them overhyped, and none of them is a flop. An analysis of 44,539 IMDb user reviews found that Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” and “Project Hail Mary” drew the highest share of hype-and-disappointment language, followed by “Backrooms,” “Hokum” and “Send Help.” The ranking, published Aug. 16, measures how people talk about expectations, not how well the films did.
How the Overhyped Ranking Was Built
The study was run by Revid AI, a company whose founder and CEO is Thibault Louis-Lucas, and it was reported by the Daily Republic of Fairfield, California. It covered 40 of the most-rated 2026 films and counted the share of reviews that used negative language about hype or disappointment. The article printed percentages for the top five only, so the full 40-film ranking is not public.
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The Odyssey and Project Hail Mary Lead the List
“The Odyssey” ranked first with 2.54% of its reviews using overrated language. Nolan’s film opened in the United States and the United Kingdom on July 17, 2026, with a cast that includes Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya and Charlize Theron, according to its Wikipedia entry. The page lists $1.684 billion in worldwide box office as of Sept. 13 on a $250 million budget and describes the reception as critical acclaim, though some critics faulted its changes to the source material and its writing.
“Project Hail Mary” came second at 2.49%. Directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and starring Ryan Gosling, it reached U.S. theaters on March 20, 2026, and had earned $683.5 million worldwide by June 29, according to its Wikipedia page. Rotten Tomatoes lists it at 94% positive from 415 reviews, and Metacritic gives it 77 out of 100. Big expectations are nothing new in film, and 10 beloved 1990s movies that have aged terribly shows that reputations can shift over time.
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Backrooms, Hokum and Send Help Complete the Five
“Backrooms” took third place at 1.67%. Kane Parsons made his feature directing debut with the A24 film, which stars Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve and Mark Duplass and opened in the U.S. on May 29, 2026. The Wikipedia entry for “Backrooms” says it grossed over $400 million worldwide on a budget of $10 million or less, opening to $81.5 million domestically, the biggest opening in A24 history. Rotten Tomatoes lists 86% positive reviews, and audiences gave it a CinemaScore of B-.
“Hokum” ranked fourth at 1.65%. Directed by Damian McCarthy and starring Adam Scott, it premiered at SXSW on March 14 and reached U.S. theaters through Neon on May 1, according to its entry. It earned $24.1 million worldwide on a $5 million budget, holds 90% on Rotten Tomatoes from 193 reviews and earned a B CinemaScore.
“Send Help” closed the list at 1.32%. Sam Raimi directed Rachel McAdams and Dylan O’Brien in the film, which premiered Jan. 21 and opened in U.S. theaters on Jan. 30 as the No. 1 movie with $19.1 million, per its page. It grossed about $94 million worldwide on a $40 million budget and holds 92% on Rotten Tomatoes from 299 critics.
What “Overhyped” Means in a Review Count
The percentages are small. Even the top film had fewer than 3 in every 100 reviews using overrated language, so the ranking reflects a vocal minority, not a verdict. The review pool is also limited to IMDb users, who are not a random sample of moviegoers, and the data was collected before the article’s Aug. 16 publication, so later reviews are not included.
The pattern is consistent with a familiar rule of thumb: the more a film is anticipated, the more room it has to disappoint someone. A film with a $250 million budget and a director with a large following draws bigger expectations than a $5 million release, which may help explain the review language. All five titles also hold strong critic scores, where the pages report them, so the list shows disagreement between expectations and experience rather than a failure of the movies themselves.
For an earlier point of comparison, The Independent’s staff published a ranked list of 25 overrated films in August 2025 that leads with “Joker” and “The Shawshank Redemption,” a reminder that the label often lands on acclaimed films.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: Sammyjankis888 – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons
