Can we give it up for The Year of Anne Hathaway? The 43-year-old actress just had an all-time great run of 2026 movies. She was not only in five of them, but they made a combined total of over $2.6 billion at the worldwide box office (so far). As a fan of Hathaway since she got her start in The Princess Diaries, I turned up for every single one. I really wasn’t expecting one performance to be my favorite, but here we are.
Anne Hathaway’s Best Movie Wasn’t Her Best IMO
Now, let’s get this out of the way. Obviously, the best movie Anne Hathaway was in this year was Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. I think most of us can agree on that, but The Odyssey is also an ensemble piece. If there’s any performance I’m going to point out, it’s Matt Damon or Zendaya. I thought Anne Hathaway was an excellent Penelope, but it’s not really her movie. And she's sort of forgettable in it.
So, what’s left? Her first movie that came out this year was Mother Mary. It’s the least talked about and watched of the bunch. And while I liked it and thought Hathaway brought a great performance to his spooky two-hander, I get why it fell through the cracks. It’s a bit too heady and weird.
Then, there’s The Devil Wears Prada 2. I really liked this one too, a lot more than Mother Mary, but it hasn’t totally stuck with me either. I’m so happy there was a sequel for the classic 2000s-era movie, but nostalgia can only carry one so far. It couldn’t quite get out of the original's shadow for me, and, honestly, why would it want to?
Hathaway’s latest and final of 2026 films is Verity, which I thought might turn out to be my favorite. Turns out, the CinemaBlend staff and I have a lot of feelings about Verity, but not one of them is that the thriller is her peak role of the year. It was another solid performance, but the end left me with more confusion about what actually happened at the end rather than getting chills. It was also just OK.
My Unexpected Pick For 2026’s Top Hathaway Performance
So, that’s how my favorite oddly ended up being The End of Oak Street. The late-summer release may have been a commercial flop, but Hathaway’s performance surprised and delighted me most. Part of that is because I had no expectations, but another part is how much I enjoyed her taking on the role of a family matriarch in a sci-fi horror movie. I needed that.
The J.J. Abrams-produced movie oddly feels like the biggest swing Hathaway took this year. It's also a film that feels hers completely more than any of the others. Let's not forget it received sneaky good reviews from both critics and audiences. I think The End Of Oak Street stands out to me as well because it’s a wholly original idea that I hadn’t seen before. Even though its script wasn’t technically better than The Odyssey or The Devil Wears Prada 2, I appreciated going on the wild ride of the dinosaur movie and doing so with her character at the forefront. Hathaway’s character really subverted other mom characters within the genre with her performance.
I know, I surprised myself with my pick too, but I stand by it! All in all, Hathaway had an incredible year of diverse performances, and I don't think there's a real stinker in the bunch.
