Hollywood’s 2026 films take a harder look at Big Tech

Several films released or screening in 2026 portray Silicon Valley leaders and companies more critically than earlier Hollywood stories about tech founders, according to The Verge’s Charles Pulliam-Moore. The films include Aaron Sorkin’s The Social Reckoning, Alex Gibney’s documentary Musk, Luca Guadagnino’s dark comedy Artificial, and Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary You Can See Everything.

The Social Reckoning draws on whistleblower Frances Haugen’s allegations and depicts Facebook / Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg as an executive whose focus on growth threatens democracy. Its scenes address Instagram’s effects on teens’ mental health and Facebook’s algorithm and misinformation. The Verge contrasts this portrayal with David Fincher’s 2010 film The Social Network, which presented Zuckerberg as a complicated, misunderstood figure.

Gibney’s documentary examines Elon Musk’s past and his influence in governments. X blocked the film’s ads, and Musk threatened legal action against Gibney, calling the movie a “hit piece,” the article reports. YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram initially did not carry the ads but later reversed their decisions; TikTok continued to block them. The film is screening in select theaters.

Amazon withdrew from distributing Artificial in June, months after announcing a $50 billion investment in OpenAI. The film is scheduled for a wide release on December 25. You Can See Everything follows Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes after her sentence of more than 11 years in prison; the source says Fielder was invited to live with Holmes and her partner for a month before she was due to begin serving it.