The new year will soon be upon us, and 2026 marks a bumper year for film anniversaries. Some incredible films celebrate milestone birthdays in 2026.

With that in mind, here are just a few classic films to buy, rent, or stream now, starting with one released 100 years ago next year.

100 years old in 2026:

1. The General

Buster Keaton’s comedy was poorly received by critics on release, but its legacy is very different.

When Johnnie Grey tries to enlist for the Confederate army, he is initially turned away but finds himself embroiled in the conflict when his beloved steam train, The General, is stolen by Unionist spies.

Grey sets off in pursuit, unaware that his love interest, Annabelle, is also on board. Soon, the pursuer becomes the pursued.

With its short run time (around 80 minutes depending on the version), numerous stunts performed on moving trains, and a climactic scene on a burning bridge, this much-loved comedy is also a precursor to the modern-day action movie.

75 years old in 2026:

2. A Streetcar Named Desire

Elia Kazan directed Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh in this striking adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s play. A hit with critics and audiences alike, the film picked up multiple Academy Awards.

Blanche DuBois, a “Southern belle” from Mississippi, seeks refuge with her sister Stella in New Orleans. In the dilapidated apartment building, she’ll also meet her brother-in-law Stanley (Brando).

Williams worked on the screenplay, while Kazan reprised his role as director, having also directed the Broadway version of the play.

3. The African Queen

John Huston directs Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn in a film that earned the former his only Oscar.

When Rose Sayer’s (Hepburn) missionary brother is killed in German East Africa, the captain of the African Queen – a steamer used to deliver mail and supplies – helps to bury him. The captain, Charlie Allnut (Bogart), offers Rose safe passage, but she encourages him to help her destroy a German gunboat.

Adventure, bickering, and possibly even love ensue in this classic adventure story.

4. Strangers on a Train

Hitchcock’s suspense thriller is based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith, with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler.

Two men – Guy Haines and Bruno Antony – meet on a train. The former is looking to divorce his wife, while the latter is a psychopath who reveals his scheme for the perfect murder. If two strangers “swap murders”, neither will have a clear motive, and both will be beyond suspicion.

When Bruno strangles Guy’s wife at an amusement park, he insists that Guy must now follow through on his end of the bargain.

50 years old in 2026:

5. Taxi Driver

Martin Scorsese’s Palme d’Or-winning masterpiece is as groundbreaking and influential as it is occasionally hard to watch. Robert De Niro delivers an iconic performance as disillusioned Vietnam veteran turned taxi driver Travis Bickle, whose friendship with a child prostitute (Jodie Foster) ultimately leads to bloodshed.

Scorsese’s claustrophobic direction grants the viewer an unsettling window into Bickle’s psyche. De Niro, meanwhile, delivers some of cinema’s most quotable lines as he embodies a complex anti-hero who audiences are still revisiting half a century later.

6. Rocky

Sylvester Stallone is said to have written the script for Rocky in just three days and then refused to allow the film to be made unless he was cast in the lead role.

Any trepidation from the studio was put to bed when the film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture, and the sports drama went on to achieve classic status. It was also the highest-grossing film of 1976.

Talia Shire co-stars as love interest Adrian, with Carl Weathers as Apollo Creed. The film has so far spawned eight sequels and spin-offs.

7. Network

Director Sidney Lumet followed up the huge critical successes of Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon with Network, a highly regarded satire about the television news industry.

Peter Finch won the Academy Award for Best Actor, and his co-star, Faye Dunaway, won Best Actress. The film won a total of four Oscars.

25 years old in 2026:

8. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

2001 saw the release of the first film in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, which went on to win 17 Oscars (11 for the final part, The Return of the King, alone).

Starring a huge ensemble cast including Sir Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, Elijah Wood, and Hugo Weaving, the opening film sees the hobbit, Frodo, entrusted with the One Ring. Even escaping the Shire is fraught with danger for Frodo and his friends.

When they arrive at Rivendell, the Fellowship is forged, and the journey to Mount Doom can truly begin.

9. Donnie Darko

Richard Kelly’s directorial debut (he also wrote the film) became an instant cult classic upon release.

Set in 1988, Jake Gyllenhaal stars as the titular troubled teen, who meets a dark figure called Frank (who wears a rabbit suit) while sleepwalking. Frank tells Donnie the world will end in 28 days. When the latter returns home – having woken up on a golf course – he discovers that a jet engine has fallen through the roof of his house and into his bedroom. Had he not been sleepwalking, he would have been killed.

The film’s co-stars include Jake’s real-life sister Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, and Patrick Swayze.

10. Spirited Away

While it wasn’t released in the UK until 2003, the original Japanese release of Studio Ghibli’s Spirited Away was in July 2001. The film became the first hand-drawn, non-English-language animated film to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

On the way to their new house, Chihiro and her parents venture through an ominous tunnel and find a deserted resort town. While Chihiro meets a young boy who warns her to leave, her parents eat from a seemingly abandoned restaurant and are promptly turned into pigs. When night falls, the town becomes inhabited by spirits on their way to the town’s bathhouse.

Chihiro must gain employment at the bathhouse as she tries to lift the curse on her parents and work hard to remember her own name, stolen from her by the evil witch – and bathhouse owner – Yubaba.

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This article is for general information only and does not imply or express endorsement by St. James’s Place. The information is aimed at retail clients only.

SJP Approved 22/12/2025