Back in 2012, very loud trolls launched a “Hatha-hate” backlash campaign against Anne Hathaway for starring in two of the year’s biggest movies and winning an Oscar for one of them. Yet in 2026, far fewer or at least far quieter people are crying “overexposure” or worse over Hathaway being in a whopping five movies this year, with her second in “The Devil Wears Prada 2” and her third in “The Odyssey” poised to be among the biggest movies this summer.
It certainly appears 2026 is a “come full circle” year, in terms of more of us appreciating seeing Hathaway over and over in big films this time around. But if this is indeed Hathaway’s most prolific year since 2012, will it be rewarded with awards attention at the end like 2012 was?
Hathaway’s two blockbusters in 2012 were instant awards bait, since “The Dark Knight Rises” was the sequel to what was then the biggest and most decorated superhero movie ever, and “Les Misérables” was destined to be showered with Oscar buzz no matter how the reviews turned out. In contrast, out of Hathaway’s five movies in 2026, only one has any Oscar-level hype so far in “The Odyssey.”
“Mother Mary” received massive raves for Hathaway and Michaela Coel this past weekend, but otherwise had limited box office and limited raves for the movie itself. “The Devil Wears Prada 2” will be a much bigger box-office smash this coming week. Yet, since the original only garnered Oscar recognition for Meryl Streep, it is hard to imagine the sequel doing much better by those standards. Then, after “The Odyssey,” Hathaway’s last two 2026 movies are more modest box office plays that still have sleeper hit potential, with the sci-fi suburban fantasy “The End of Oak Street” from David Robert Mitchell in mid-August, and the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s “Verity” with Dakota Johnson and director Michael Showalter in early October.
Warner Bros. turned a twisty August genre film from an auteur director into a box-office and awards hit last year with “Weapons,” so that might boost hopes for “The End of Oak Street” as well. And while “Verity” will be released against preseason Oscar favorites like “Digger” and “The Social Reckoning,” it could still rack up long box office legs in the vein of “The Housemaid” – last year’s surprise hit based on a BookTok favorite that paired a star of “Les Misérables” and a star of “Madame Web,” and was helmed by a director who started in comedies.
2026 could be the year Hathaway has two giant summer hits, along with two other surprise hits that aren’t based on a past movie or one of the oldest fables of all time. Sometimes when an actor has that kind of massive collective success in a given year, they can be collectively rewarded with awards recognition – both for one specific movie and for all the other movies they were recently in.
Many already believe that will happen for Sandra Huller this year, after starring in “Project Hail Mary” and having films like “Fatherland,” “Digger,” and “Rose” still on the way by year’s end. But could Hathaway have that kind of year as well, assuming the rest of her 2026 films hit as big as everyone thinks or hopes?
If any Hathaway film this year gets a lot of Oscar attention, it is widely expected to be “The Odyssey,” especially since it is Christopher Nolan’s first film after his Oscar wins for “Oppenheimer.” Ironically enough, Hathaway is starring in both a musical film this year in “Mother Mary,” and a Nolan film trying to live up to the shadows of his last smash hit – just like with “Les Misérables” and “The Dark Knight Rises.”
Even with Hathaway’s Catwoman cited as a standout in “The Dark Knight Rises,” that film never matched the very high box office, critical, and fan standards of “The Dark Knight.” In that same vein, it might be rather hard for “The Odyssey” to match the very high box office, critical, and Oscar standards of “Oppenheimer.” As such, even if it does make enough money and get enough raves to crack a 10-film Best Picture field, maybe it will be powered by technical nominations like Nolan’s “Inception” and “Dunkirk” were, rather than having long enough coattails for its actors, too.
Since Hathaway is playing Penelope, the famously left behind wife of Matt Damon’s Odysseus, it might be hard to imagine her having enough material for Best Supporting Actress consideration – especially with Nolan’s sketchy history of writing for female characters. However, Hathaway’s own “The Devil Wears Prada” co-star Emily Blunt was nominated for “Oppenheimer” in a similar “left behind wife” role. In that regard, it wouldn’t be unprecedented and would actually be ironic for Hathaway to do the same in Nolan’s follow-up film.
In that case, however, “Oppenheimer” was enough of an Oscar juggernaut for Blunt to ride its coattails, and gave her at least one big third-act quasi-courtroom scene to sell her case. And since Blunt had never been Oscar-nominated, despite almost two decades of success dating back to “The Devil Wears Prada,” she was considered “overdue” enough to finally break through. Given that Hathaway is a two-time Oscar nominee, an Oscar winner, and even a past Oscar host, she doesn’t have the same kind of “overdue” card to play here.
Yet it has been 14 years since Hathaway’s Oscar win and her last nomination, so she certainly has a “comeback” narrative to play, at least when it comes to the Oscars. After a 2025 season where Amy Madigan won an Oscar over 40 years after her previous nomination, where Kate Hudson got her first nomination in 25 years, and where Benicio del Toro got his first nomination in 22 years, Hathaway coming back for the first time in 14 years doesn’t seem so outlandish.
If “The Odyssey” is somewhat close to “Oppenheimer” level box office and creative success, and if Hathaway at least gets one big scene to leave a mark as Blunt did, that could be enough to keep her in the Best Supporting Actress conversation going into fall. By then, if “The End of Oak Street” and “Verity” do end up boosting Hathaway’s 2026 resume instead of weighing it down, and if “The Devil Wears Prada 2” doesn’t go down as a huge step backward from the original, the argument could be made that Hathaway’s 2026 was as big a year as anyone’s. As such, a collective Oscar nomination at the end of it, as well as a “welcome back” to the Oscars after over a decade, wouldn’t be out of the question.
By the end of Hathaway’s last Oscar season, those who wouldn’t shut up about being sick of her dragged her perception and career down for the next several years. Yet 2026 may go down as the year that closes this toxic cycle for good, as way fewer people feel sick about the prospect of five Hathaway movies this year, let alone two.
Of course, “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” “The Odyssey,” “The End of Oak Street,” and “Verity” still have to actually be seen, and meet their box office fates, before Hathaway’s 2026 resume can be judged. If her two seemingly sure-fire summer blockbusters are actually disappointing and can’t live up to their predecessors, and if her two somewhat more original follow-ups don’t make any waves, Hathaway’s 2026 could still turn out to be a massive letdown, whether she herself has any fault in that or not. At the least, it wouldn’t be as massive a career milestone year as 2012, regardless of its aftermath.
Nonetheless, 2012 was the culmination of a multi-year stretch where Hathaway was no longer seen as a Disney princess/rom-com actress, revealed her full dramatic chops in films like “Rachel Getting Married,” and topped it all off with action and musical high notes twice in one year. Likewise, 2026 is the culmination of a multi-year stretch where she and her fans have finally quieted the “Hatha-haters,” where projects like “Ocean’s Eight,” “The Idea of You,” and now “Mother Mary” have refreshed everyone on her full star power, and where possibly four more films this year could boost it to another level – perhaps enough for the Academy to notice her again for at least one of them.
Have you seen “Mother Mary” yet? If so, what did you think of it? Are you planning to see “The Devil Wears Prada 2” this weekend? Do you think Anne Hathaway will be an Oscar nominee again this year? Please let us know in the comments section below and on Next Best Picture’s X account.
You can follow Robert and hear more of his thoughts on the Oscars & Film on X @Robertdoc1984
