Big Dumb Summer Movies Are Back in 2026 - But Which Will be the Dumbest?
The 2026 movie summer has so far been dominated by two low-budget horror movies that’ve taken Star Wars to the cleaners. In July, the narrative will shift to a movie based on one of the most famous books ever written.
Between all this “elevated” stuff, however, is a selection of gloriously dumb looking movies that will wear their silliness as a badge of honour and likely make a good chunk of change in the process—including a fair few bucks from yours truly.
In honour of this unusually strong slate of Big Dumb Summer Movies (BDSMs?), I’ve decided to do something equally dumb by ranking them by how dumb I expect them to be. In the list below, you’ll find the seventh, sixth and fifth entries in three of the silliest long-running franchises, as well as a new creature feature from the UK, a drag disaster movie and a live-action reboot of an ‘80s animated show.
Read on to learn a bit more about each of them and use the guide to find them on services like Apple TV, Netflix, Prime Video and elsewhere.
With four appearances in the Despicable Me franchise and two standalone movies already under their belts, the Minions have taken an adorably dumb but genuinely historic cinematic tradition (clowning around with no dialogue really does go back to the silent era) and reimagined it for the age of 3D animation with delightful results.
Now, the little yellow dudes are about to travel back to that time with Minions & Monsters, a Hollywood-set adventure that will see our heroes attempt to make their own monster movie. Expect plenty of dumb stuff to happen, but also expect some clever references to movie history.
Dumb rating: Adorably idiotic.
This one has been a little more difficult to work out, as some of the Masters of the Universe trailers have played it pretty straight. But given everything we know, a space adventure that’s as close to the dumb fun of Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves and Thor: Ragnarök as it is to the original He-Man TV series looks very much on the cards.
The director is Travis Knight—a filmmaker who’s yet to put a foot wrong at either Laika Animation Studios, where he worked on Boxtrolls and ParaNorman, or with his excellent live-action debut, Bumblebee.
Dumb rating: Kenergy-coded, himbo-level dumb.
Since breaking out on MTV in the early ‘00s (long before the YouTube boom and short-form video sites), the Jackass boys (and occasional gal) have made it their mission to turn dumb behaviour into one of the great American art forms.
This is something I think they’ve managed to achieve, especially in the last two movies, which is why Jackass: Best and Last is one of the most anticipated dumb movies this summer. So far, it is being promoted as the final instalment in the series, so expect a bit of genuine emotion thrown in with all the usual shenanigans.
Dumb rating: Dumb enough that you gotta be tough.
If you’re responsible for directing the 2007 version of Hairspray, you obviously know that dumb is one of the best things a comedy can be and should be strived for. That man is Adam Shankman, who returns this summer with Stop! That! Train!, a disaster movie that I fully expect to live up to the silliness of its own title—allegations of AI-use withstanding.
Set on a train called the Glamazonian Express, it’s being produced by RuPaul’s World of Wonder and even features the Drag Race star alongside fellow queens like Ginger Minj and Jujubee. There are also cameos from the likes of Chris Parnell and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Dumb rating: Run(a)way dumb.
When a movie features a killer hippo and is directed by the guy who did the third (and yes, there is a third) Green Street movie, you know you’re in for a pretty dumb and pretty fun time.
Set in the swamps of Louisiana but actually shot in Malta (movie magic, baby), Hungry looks like the kind of story that could be elevator-pitched as “Anaconda, but with a hippo”, which is probably all you need to know.
Dumb rating: Hungry, hungry dummies.
If you consider that the promotion for Scary Movie 6 has already involved the cast hot boxing a glass viewing room in the middle of Times Square, this one might have higher (ahem) ambitions than simply being the dumbest movie of this summer.
The sixth instalment in the long-running spoof franchise releases later this week, and if the trailers are anything to go by, the Wayans and their regular crew will be looking to once again poke some fun and push some buttons in the dumbest ways possible.
If you’ve been enjoying the last ten years of horror movies (from Get Out to Sinners and all the A24 stuff in between), this one looks like essential viewing. Is it too much to hope they squeeze a last-minute Backrooms gag in there, as they did in the latest trailer? If not, they can always save it for the next one.
Dumb rating: Gloriously, unapologetically, offensively dumb.
