SXSW has always been a launchpad for bold, unpredictable filmmaking. Every year the festival brings together premieres from rising indie directors, breakout genre films, and the occasional surprise project that ends up dominating the film conversation for months after Austin clears out. Before the screenings begin, though, the first glimpse audiences usually get is through the trailers.

The trailers arriving for SXSW Films 2026 offer an early look at the tone, style, and ambition of this year’s lineup. Some tease slow burning dramas and character driven stories, while others lean into wild genre swings that feel perfectly suited for the late night festival crowd. A few already have the kind of buzz that makes you wonder if they will be the next breakout film everyone talks about after the festival.

We rounded up some of the most exciting trailers from films premiering at SXSW 2026, giving you a preview of the movies generating the most curiosity heading into the festival. Whether you are planning to attend screenings in Austin or just keeping an eye on the next wave of indie cinema, these trailers offer a first look at what filmmakers are bringing to the screen this year.

Margo’s Got Money Troubles

March 12, 9:00 pm | Paramount Theatre

Starring Elle Fanning as a struggling writer and new mother drowning in bills, this family drama balances humor with real emotional weight. Michelle Pfeiffer and Nick Offerman play her complicated parents, with a stacked supporting cast including Nicole Kidman, Greg Kinnear, and Marcia Gay Harden. This feels like a Paramount Theatre crowd pleaser that sneaks up on you emotionally.

Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

March 14, 11:00 am | Paramount Theatre

Picking up moments after the original, Grace finds herself pulled into a far deadlier game with global stakes and rival families hunting her for power. The sequel leans into escalation, expanding the mythology while keeping the twisted humor intact. Expect loud reactions and a very awake morning audience.

MIKE & NICK & NICK & ALICE

Mar 14, 9:00pm | Paramount Theatre

Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice” is a hilarious, stylized, R-rated action-comedy about two gangsters and the woman they love trying to survive the most dangerous night of their lives. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s one wild ingredient added to the mix: a time machine. The film, which will premiere March 27, 2026, exclusively on Hulu, stars Vince Vaughn, James Marsden, Eiza González, Keith David, and Stephen Root.

Pretty Lethal

March 13, 9:00 pm | Paramount Theatre

Five elite ballerinas become stranded in a remote forest and seek refuge at a deeply unsettling roadside inn run by Uma Thurman. The cast includes Maddie Ziegler, Lana Condor, Iris Apatow, Avantika, and Millicent Simmonds. Ballet discipline becomes survival strategy in a thriller that is equal parts tense, funny, and physical.

Normal

March 15, 5:45 pm to 7:15 pm | Paramount Theatre
Screening on 35mm

Shot on 35mm and premiering at the Paramount, Normal pairs Bob Odenkirk with director Ben Wheatley for a kinetic neo-Western that starts quiet and escalates fast. Odenkirk plays an unassuming substitute sheriff whose response to a small town bank robbery exposes something far more dangerous beneath the surface. Co-created with John Wick architect Derek Kolstad and Nobody producer Marc Provissiero, this one feels engineered to hit hard in a packed theater.

Forbidden Fruits

March 16, 5:30 pm | Paramount Theatre

Set inside a mall store hiding a secret witch cult, this genre mashup stars Lili Reinhart, Lola Tung, Victoria Pedretti, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Chamberlain, and Gabrielle Union. Retail horror meets cult satire in a way that feels perfectly unhinged.

Over Your Dead Body

March 16, 11:30 am | ZACH Theatre

A couple retreats to a remote cabin to reconnect, except both secretly plan to kill each other. Samara Weaving, Jason Segel, Timothy Olyphant, and Juliette Lewis headline a thriller that takes relationship metaphors very literally.

The Comeback Season 3

March 15, 2:15p – 3:15p | Paramount Theatre

20 years after the first season debuted in 2005, and 10 years after season two, the HBO original comedy series The Comeback, from Michael Patrick King and Lisa Kudrow, will return again for a third and final season.

They Will Kill You

March 17, 9:30PM | Paramount Theatre

A horror action comedy where surviving the night means escaping a demonic cult’s death trap. Starring Zazie Beetz, Myha’la, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, and Patricia Arquette. This one is built for a loud room.

I LOVE BOOSTERS

MARCH 12, 5:00PM | PARAMOUNT THEATRE

A high-octane horror-action-comedy in which a woman must survive the night at the Virgil, a demonic cult’s mysterious, twisted death-trap, before becoming their next offering in a uniquely brazen battle of epic kills and wickedly dark humor. Cast: Zazie Beetz, Myha’La, Paterson Joseph, Tom Felton, Heather Graham, Patricia Arquette. (World Premiere)

Sender

After receiving a series of unwanted packages containing unnervingly targeted items, a woman tumbles down a paranoid rabbit hole to find her mysterious sender. Cast: Britt Lower, Rhea Seehorn, Jamie Lee Curtis, Anna Baryshnikov, David Dastmalchian, Utkarsh Ambudkar.

He Bled Neon

After discovering his brother’s death by overdose may have actually been a murder, Ethan returns to a world he left behind, the underbelly of Las Vegas, uncovering a web of corruption and his own appetite for violence.