Toronto film fest unveils Rocky biopic and 63 more titles
TIFF’s 2026 Gala and Special Presentations slate includes world premieres from Peter Farrelly, Chris Rock, Anton Corbijn and John Madden.
By Bianca Rossi · Entertainment Editor
3 min read
The Toronto International Film Festival has put 64 films on its first major 2026 slate, with Peter Farrelly’s Sylvester Stallone biopic I Play Rocky among the splashiest world premieres headed to the city.
TIFF announced the films for its Gala and Special Presentations programs for the festival’s 51st edition, which runs Sept. 10 to 20. The lineup includes 30 premieres across the two sections, according to the festival announcement.
I Play Rocky, from Amazon MGM Studios, is set for a world premiere in Special Presentations before its Nov. 6 opening. The film marks Farrelly’s return to Toronto after Green Book played the festival in 2018, won the People’s Choice Award and later took three Oscars, including best picture.
Chris Rock is also bringing a world premiere to TIFF with Misty Green. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya, Anna Kendrick, Adam Driver and Topher Grace in a story about a gifted actress whose career comeback is complicated by personal vices and a director from her past who has a role for her, according to the festival details.
Anton Corbijn’s A Talent for Murder will premiere in the Gala lineup. The thriller stars Helen Mirren as Ripley author Patricia Highsmith, with Olivia Cooke, Alden Ehrenreich and Juliet Stevenson also in the cast. Its plot follows a young man from a New York publishing house sent to Switzerland to persuade Highsmith to write one more Ripley book.
John Madden’s Onwards and Sideways is another Gala world premiere. TIFF lists Laura Linney, Rhys Ifans and Rory Kinnear in the cast for the drama about a man and woman dealing with Parkinson’s.
Big names behind and in front of the camera
The Gala lineup also includes Courteney Cox’s second feature as a director, Evil Genius, starring Patricia Arquette, and Rebel Wilson’s comedy Girl Group, with Jennifer Coolidge and Randall Park. Tim Blake Nelson’s prison thriller The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd, starring Amanda Seyfried and Scott McNairy, is also set for a world premiere.
Lauren Miller Rogen’s Babies will premiere as a Gala title, with Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick, Dan Stevens, Ed Helms, David Strathairn, Issa Rae, Ashley Park and Sharon Stone among the cast named by the festival.
Other notable selections are arriving in Toronto after, or alongside, other festival stops. Jesse Eisenberg’s community theater dramedy The Debut, starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti, will have its international premiere. Mike Leigh’s Tender Loving Care, starring Kate O’Flynn, Marion Bailey and Paul Jesson, is set for a Canadian premiere.
Florian Zeller’s thriller Bunker, with Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz, Stephen Graham, Paul Dano and Patrick Schwarzenegger, will receive a North American premiere. Danny Boyle’s Ink, already announced as the Venice opener, will have its Canadian premiere at TIFF.
Several Cannes titles are also in the mix, including Palme d’Or winner Fjord, plus La Bola Negra, All of a Sudden, Bitter Christmas, Club Kid, Coward and Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love.
The festival’s closing night film is Yan Lanouette Turgeon’s Villeneuve: The Rise of a Legend, a sports drama about the early years of Canadian racing driver Gilles Villeneuve.
TIFF also said its first TIFF: The Market will run Sept. 10 to 16 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre during the festival’s opening week.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.