Thursday is one of the most anticipated days for lovers of the seventh art, as it marks the arrival of the week’s premieres in cinemas. This July 16th, several releases promise to move the big screen with stories capable of holding attention from beginning to end. The program seeks to please the most diverse audience profiles and offers good opportunities for those who want to enjoy a cinema session.

Below, check out 4 unmissable films hitting theaters this Thursday, July 16, 2026!

1. The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan decided to tell one of the oldest stories in Western literature, directing and writing the script. The poem attributed to Homer follows Odysseus (Matt Damon), the legendary king of Ithaca, on the long and dangerous return home after the Guerra of Troy. Along the way, he faces mythical creatures and gods — such as the Cyclops Polyphemus, the mermaids and the sorceress Circe (Samantha Morton) — while his wife Penelope (Anne Hathaway) holds the line and fends off a bunch of suitors.

Tom Holland plays Telemachus, the son determined to find his father, and Robert Pattinson plays Antinous, one of the men who surround the queen. Completing the team is Zendaya, as the goddess Athena, Charlize Theron, as Calypso, Lupita Nyong’o, in a double role (Helena of Troy and Clytemnestra), as well as Jon Bernthal, John Leguizamo, Mia Goth, Elliot Page and rapper Travis Scott, cast as a bard to remember that the story was told by word of mouth.

2. Xica da Silva

Fifty years later, Carlos Diegues’ film returns to theaters in a re-release. The plot takes place in the second half of the 18th century and shows Xica da Silva (Zezé Motta), a slave who seduces the millionaire João Fernandes (Walmor Chagas) and becomes a society lady in Diamantina. From then on, she promoted luxurious parties and banquets, some with European theater groups, and her fame reached the Portuguese court. Altair Lima and Elke Maravilha complete the cast. The script, written by Antonio Callado alongside the director himself, is based on the novel “Memórias do Distrito de Diamantina”, by João Felício dos Santos.

3. The Night of Alaíde

From the Rio suburbs to the streets of Rio’s south zone in the 1960s: this is how Alaíde Costa’s journey begins in this documentary directed by Liliane Mutti. Singer, pianist and composer, she shared space with João Gilberto, Tom Jobim and Vinicius de Moraes, becoming a partner in the golden triad of Bossa Nova.

Even at his peak, as a voice feminine black and essential to the movement, was left aside by record companies. Along with Johnny Alf, another black pioneer of the genre, she ended up being banned from the legendary performance at Carnegie Hall, in New York. At 90 years old, Alaíde crosses America behind the stage that is rightfully hers.

4. A Divina Sarah Bernhardt

Paris, 1896. The year was eventful: a counterweight from one of the chandeliers at the Opera Garnier fell onto the audience — an episode that later inspired the famous chandelier scene in “The Phantom of the Opera” (1910), by Gaston Leroux —, “Salome”, by Oscar Wilde, premiered, and the Belle Époque was experiencing its best moment. Right at that time, Sarah Bernhardt (Sandrine Kiberlain) shone as a great actress, the face of Art Nouveau and one of the pioneers of cinema.

Many people consider her the first superstar in history. Directed by Guillaume Nicloux, from “The Valley of Love”, with a script by Nathalie Leuthreau, the drama romantic delves into the artist’s life and reveals a new side of one of the forerunners of world theater. Laurent Lafitte, Amira Casar and Pauline Etienne share the scene. The film is only available in some cinemas.