Upcoming Queer Cinema in 2026

By Cami

Heartstopper Cast

If you’re a BIG cinema fan like me, you’ve been having a ball with the movies coming out in the recent months. I recently saw Backrooms which was a psychological mystery/masterpiece. Other movies on my watch list include the horror movie Obsession, a crime comedy I Love Boosters, starring Keke Palmer, and Southern gothic thriller Is God Is.

Besides these great works, two movies have been released that are beautifully here and queer, exploring gay and lesbian love in two completely different genres.

If you’re a horror buff who also loves when a movie touches into the religious and spiritual, this next movie is for you. Leviticus is a horror movie released on June 19th! By the time this article is published, the movie will already be out, so I hope everyone took the chance to watch it!

Leviticus is an Australian queer horror about two teenage boys who are tormented by a supernatural entity that was summoned by their homophobic religious community, and it takes the form of the person they desire most: each other.

I have a good feeling about what this film has to offer, especially to fans who have some negative experience with their respective religious past/present.

Another queer film hitting theaters this summer is based on the iconic lesbian love song by Hayley Kiyoko, Girls Like Girls. ALSO came out on June 19th. Best friday for gay people, for real.

This movie has been anticipated for a year or so by fans of the memorable song released 11 years ago and has 164 million views on Youtube. It warmed the hearts of millions and is still a queer musical classic to this day.

The two movies releasing at the same time reminds of the Barbenheimer phenomenon during the summer of 2023 when both the movies Barbie and Oppenheimer released on the same weekend. Two hilariously contrasting movies being released in theaters at the same time is happening again this summer!

One sweet yet angsty film about young, queer love, and another a cinematic metaphor for how religious trauma negatively affects a romantic relationship. It’s like you can cry for one movie first and then walk into another theater to get that warm, fuzzy feeling of hope.

But when you don’t have time to sit down and watch a full hour and a half film, you instead watch a show where the episodes are half an hour long!

Also releasing this summer is the final season of the beloved queer romance show Heartstopper, created by Alice Oseman. I’ve talked about Heartstopper before and how there was much controversy between the fans and the actors, but regardless, it’s a fan favorite. It’s especially memorable for the young tweens and teens who don’t have accurate awkward representations of young relationships.

More films are bound to release later in 2026 as they’re still in production, but from what I’m seeing being released now, I’m very hopeful for what’s to come. While I like that more movies with queer main characters are being released with big promotions, I do wish more movies had casual queer representation.

Where the MC just happens to have a partner of the same gender or happens to be gender on- conforming. I find it refreshing when the point of the film/show isn’t that the characters are queer, it’s just a fact that doesn’t add to the plot.

As an aspiring filmmaker, this is something I’m taking into consideration once I gather resources to begin shooting my own films. It’s also a topic I’ve discussed with fellow filmmakers and cinema students. I’ve seen queer characters have their moment in the limelight despite not being the main characters.

An example would be a friend of the MC having two moms’, implying they’re a lesbian couple. This is probably the most expected by audiences when a queer character is mentioned. There’s a lot of discourse, believe it or not, on this idea in terms of representation in the media.

We are usually ourselves as viewers “Would I rather these guys blend into the screen, or do I want them to be pointed out?”

Different audiences have different ideas of how character portrayal takes place in film, some care more than others and have heavier opinions than others. That’s true for every aspect of every film.

I believe truly bad portrayal is anything that perpetuates harmful stereotypes solely for the purpose of making people think queer people are comical or something to make fun of.

I’d like to know your opinion, as a reader of this article and as a movie enjoyer, what you think about these movies/shows that are coming out this summer. Think of this as putting your review on Letterboxd. What did you love about the movie, or what did you not love? Who was your favorite character and why? What did you wish was done differently and how would you have done it?

Films are a great place to have discussions and learn from new and alternating perspectives. I’ve talked about movies with people and would end up watching them in a whole new light because of how they saw it. I am highly looking forward to how audiences perceive Leviticus and Girls Like Girls.

In the end, it brings me much joy and hope to see queer movies become mainstream and to see large groups of people be excited to enjoy new media that accurately represents their stories and experiences.

About the Author

Cami is a sophomore in college from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. She’s an art student focused on photography and filmmaking, using it to capture both social issues and cultural experiences. In her free time, she enjoys hunting for trinkets, watching movies, and writing. Writing and reading from small journalists helped her find “Matthew’s Place,” where she could raise awareness to issues that intersect between the Latine community and LGBTQ community, advocating for people like her.