High Tech - Barco: From Scream 7 to Masters of the Universe, 2026 Marks a Turning Point for Theatrical HDR

By Mulder, 18 december 2025

On December 18, 2025, Barco (the laser-cinema projection heavyweight headquartered in Kortrijk, Belgium) put a very specific marker in the sand: HDR by Barco isn’t just a tech demo anymore, it’s being treated like a real release lane, with a first-half 2026 movie calendar that spans horror, sci-fi, superheroes, videogame mayhem, and big four-quadrant studio bets. I’ve been in enough projection presentations over the years to know how these announcements usually go, lots of pretty words, not always backed by must-see titles, but what stands out here is the commitment pattern: multiple studios, multiple genres, and dates that are meant to be calendar-anchoring, not filler. And it lands right as HDR by Barco continues to add venues in Europe, including a headline-grabbing first in the Netherland site at Vue Amsterdam, which Barco itself flagged as opening late December 2025, giving the whole slate a very practical here’s where you’ll actually watch it vibe instead of pure wishful thinking.

The slate itself reads like a deliberately mixed playlist designed to prove HDR can serve more than just glossy VFX spectacle. The first half of 2026 HDR by Barco titles Barco named are: 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony Pictures) on January 16, 2026; Mercy (Amazon MGM Studios) on January 23, 2026; Goat (Sony Pictures) and Wuthering Heights (Warner Bros. Pictures) both on February 13, 2026; Scream 7 (Paramount/Spyglass) on February 27, 2026; The Bride! (Warner Bros. Pictures) on March 6, 2026; Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM Studios) on March 20, 2026; Lee Cronin’s The Mummy (Warner Bros. Pictures) on April 17, 2026; Michael (Lionsgate) on April 24, 2026; Mortal Kombat II (New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Pictures) on May 8, 2026; Animal Friends (Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures) and Masters of the Universe (Amazon MGM Studios) both on June 5, 2026; and Supergirl (DC Studios and Warner Bros. Pictures) on June 26, 2026. A couple of those dates are also backed up elsewhere Scream 7’s official site locks February 27, 2026, and Mortal Kombat II’s official trailer messaging points to May 8, 2026, while Masters of the Universe is reiterated as June 5, 2026 by Amazon’s own studio news post. Barco also notes more titles will be added through next year, which (reading between the lines) usually means the pipeline is open for late confirmations once studios finalize masters, premium-format plans, and screen availability.

If you’ve ever watched a filmmaker or colorist lean in when someone says HDR, you know the pitch isn’t simply brighter. Barco’s HDR by Barco approach is built around its patented Lightsteering tech—strategically redistributing light on screen to create highlights it claims are over six times brighter than traditional projection, while keeping dark detail intact for depth and clarity, plus a wide color gamut for high-contrast images. The reason that matters (beyond brochure language) is that cinema projection historically forces compromises: you can have punchy highlights that wash out the blacks, or you can keep the blacks but lose that sparkle in specular detail. HDR, when done right, feels less like wow, that’s bright and more like I can finally see separation in the shadows and a convincing pop in the highlights, which is exactly why horror (Scream 7, The Mummy) and darker sci-fi (Project Hail Mary) are smart picks here—those genres live and die on readable darkness and controlled contrast, not just fireworks.

The other part of this story is geography and rollout strategy, because premium formats only become real when normal people can buy a ticket without traveling like it’s a pilgrimage. Barco frames the slate as arriving amid continued HDR by Barco expansion—new sites in the U.K., Italy, and Germany, plus the Netherlands debut at Vue Amsterdam. That Amsterdam opening isn’t just a pin on a map either: coverage around Vue’s flagship Amsterdam cinema (opening December 16, 2025 in Houthavens) leans hard into technology innovation, and HDR by Barco appears in the broader narrative of how exhibitors are trying to make going out to the movies feel meaningfully different again. Vue’s partnership with Barco also has scale baked in—Boxoffice Pro reported a plan for a minimum of 11 EPIC screens across the U.K., Italy, and the Netherlands in 2025, plus an additional minimum of 50 EPIC screens across Vue’s European estate by the end of 2027, which is the kind of footprint that can turn a premium format from nice into habit.

Finally, Barco is clearly trying to make HDR by Barco feel consumer-facing (not just an exhibitor spec sheet), which is why it’s pushing the redesigned HDRbyBarco.com site as a find locations / showtimes / tickets hub during the holiday season. That matters because premium formats often fail at the last meter: audiences don’t always know what they’re buying, and exhibitors don’t always explain it well. If Barco can make HDR by Barco legible—this screen, this showtime, this experience—then a slate like this becomes less of a press-release flex and more of a genuine appointment calendar, especially with tentpoles like Masters of the Universe and Supergirl sitting in June as the kind of titles people plan weekends around. For context on the company behind the push, Barco says it closed 2024 with €947 million in sales and counts over 3,000 employees (visioneers), which helps explain how it can keep investing in a premium ecosystem that spans hardware, partners, and marketing rather than just shipping projectors and calling it a day.

(Source : press release)