Ben Shapiro's 2026 Movie Trailers Reviews & Rankings

Five Trailers, One Very Specific Ranking System

In a recent video, Ben Shapiro vs. 2026 Movie Trailers, Ben Shapiro sat down with five of the bigger 2026 movie trailers and did what he does with most things: assigned them a number and explained why. The films in question are the new Spider-Man, Toy Story 5, the Michael Jackson biopic, Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day,' and Dune Part 3. The scores run from 2 to 5, and the reasoning behind each one is more interesting than the numbers themselves. You can see the full ranked breakdown of Shapiro's 2026 movie trailer ratings for a direct comparison, but the arguments he makes along the way are where the real substance lives.

Spider-Man's Trailer Has a Stakes Problem

Shapiro opens with Spider-Man and immediately signals where this is going. He acknowledges that Tom Holland's version is arguably more faithful to the comic book source material, but faithfulness and emotional investment are not the same thing. The trailer, in his read, does not present anything that feels genuinely at risk. He compares Holland's run unfavorably to Tobey Maguire's films, which carried a different kind of dramatic weight even when they were campy. The score lands at 3 out of 5, which in this context is basically a polite way of saying he'll probably watch it on a plane.

Toy Story 5 Has No Business Being This Relevant

Nobody asked for Toy Story 5. That is more or less what Shapiro admits before giving it a 4 out of 5. The reason for the higher score is that the trailer appears to build its central conflict around children being consumed by screens and devices, with the toys themselves pushed to the margins by technology. For a franchise that has already delivered three emotionally complete films and one unnecessary sequel, leaning into a critique of modern parenting is an unexpectedly sharp move. It is the kind of premise that either lands as genuinely thoughtful or collapses into a after-school special, and Shapiro seems cautiously optimistic it will land.

The Michael Jackson Biopic Does Exactly What You Expect

The Jackson biopic gets the lowest score, and Shapiro's critique is twofold. First, the structural problem: the trailer looks like every other music biopic ever made, following the familiar arc of rise, internal collapse, and redemption that has become the genre's default setting. Second, the content problem: portraying Michael Jackson as a straightforward heroic figure without engaging with the serious allegations that have followed his legacy is not a neutral creative choice, it is a deliberate one. Shapiro rates it 2 out of 5, making it the only film on his list he seems unlikely to watch at all. The biopic format has a long history of smoothing out the edges of complicated people, but Jackson's case makes that smoothing feel especially loaded.

Spielberg's Alien Thriller Is Doing Something Different

Shapiro's enthusiasm picks up sharply when he reaches 'Disclosure Day.' The premise blends classified government data with alien encounter territory, which is a combination that has been bubbling through the cultural conversation for a while now, particularly after a string of congressional hearings and whistleblower claims that made the subject feel less like fringe content. For anyone tracking that thread, the growing seriousness around UFO testimony and Pentagon-adjacent claims gives a film like this more context than it would have had five years ago. Shapiro rates 'Disclosure Day' 4.5 out of 5, driven almost entirely by the weight Spielberg's name carries. The director has earned the benefit of the doubt in this genre, and Shapiro seems willing to extend it fully.

Dune Part 3 Is the Only Perfect Score on the Board

Denis Villeneuve's continuation of the Dune saga gets a 5 out of 5, which Shapiro frames around two things: his familiarity with Frank Herbert's source material and his confidence in Villeneuve as a director. He briefly flags screenwriter David Koepp as a variable, noting an uneven track record across his filmography, but treats it as a minor concern next to everything else working in the film's favor. The previous two Dune films built an unusually disciplined adaptation, and the expectation is that the third will carry that discipline forward. It is the rare case where the anticipation is built less on the trailer itself and more on a cumulative trust in the people making it.

What the Rankings Actually Tell You

Laid out in order, Shapiro's list goes Dune Part 3, Disclosure Day, Toy Story 5, Spider-Man, and the Michael Jackson biopic at the bottom. What the ranking reflects is a preference for films where either the source material or the director gives you a concrete reason to believe the final product will be worth the runtime. Franchise films that coast on IP recognition without raising the stakes get middling scores. Biopics that flatten their subjects get the lowest. The pattern is consistent enough that it functions less as movie criticism and more as a general argument about what makes a trailer actually worth getting excited about in 2026.