Several 2026 films are pushing the boundaries of long continuous shots, from full-length single-take action movies to indie dramas built around carefully choreographed oners. The most ambitious of the bunch is One Last Shot, the third entry in Scott Adkins’ “One Shot” franchise, which presents its entire runtime as one unbroken continuous take using hidden edits. But the trend extends well beyond action cinema — at Sundance 2026 alone, films like Josephine, Chasing Summer, and Luger all featured striking long-take sequences that critics singled out as essential to their storytelling.
The appetite for continuous shots has arguably never been higher. Netflix’s Adolescence, the British crime drama that filmed all four episodes as genuine single takes with no hidden stitches, pulled 96.7 million views in its first three weeks after its March 2025 debut and went on to win nine of its thirteen Emmy nominations. That kind of mainstream success has opened the door for more filmmakers to attempt what was once considered a niche technical stunt. This article breaks down every major 2026 film using long continuous shots, examines how each one approaches the technique differently, and considers what the oner boom means for the future of cinema.
Table of Contents
- Which 2026 Movies Feature Long Continuous Shots Worth Watching?
- How Sundance 2026 Became a Showcase for the Long Take
- The Technical Reality Behind Single-Take Filmmaking
- One-Take Action vs. One-Take Drama — Different Goals, Different Results
- Why Not Every Film Should Attempt the Long Take
- The Influence of Adolescence on the 2026 Long-Take Wave
- Where the Long Take Goes From Here
- Conclusion
- Frequently Asked Questions
Which 2026 Movies Feature Long Continuous Shots Worth Watching?
The headline entry is One Last Shot, directed by James Nunn and starring Scott Adkins alongside Dolph Lundgren, Hannah Ware, and Kane Kosugi. This is the conclusion of the franchise that started with One Shot in 2021 and continued with One More Shot in 2024 — all three films designed to look like a single unbroken take from start to finish. Filming wrapped in London in november 2025, with Sony handling U.S. distribution and Sky covering the UK and Ireland. For fans of the series, the question is whether a third film can sustain the illusion without the format feeling like a gimmick.
The answer depends entirely on how well the choreography and production design evolve, something the first two entries improved on significantly between installments. On the independent side, Josephine stands out as the most critically celebrated 2026 film to use a continuous shot as a foundational storytelling device. Written and directed by Beth de Araújo, the film stars Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum and opens with a prolonged first-person POV oner where the camera becomes the eyes of an eight-year-old girl. Cinematographer Greta Zozula’s work on that sequence drew immediate attention at Sundance, where the film premiered on January 23, 2026. Josephine went on to win both the Grand Jury Prize for Drama and the Audience Award for Drama — a rare double that signals both critical and crowd appeal.
How Sundance 2026 Became a Showcase for the Long Take
Sundance has always been a launchpad for formal experimentation, but the 2026 festival was unusually loaded with films that leaned on the continuous shot. Beyond Josephine, Chasing summer — directed by Josephine Decker and starring comedian Iliza Shlesinger — premiered on January 26 and drew comparisons to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch-Drunk Love for its fluid, searching camerawork. Cinematographer Eric Branco, ASC, shot in widescreen and built the film around several demanding oners. The opening Steadicam shot took between ten and eleven takes to land, partly because the crew was working in 110-degree St. Louis heat.
A second oner during the house party love-interest scene became another talking point among reviewers. Then there was Luger, which used a single long-take sequence in a very different register. Rather than spectacle, its continuous shot tracked the camera moving around a table during a three-character dialogue scene, letting the unbroken movement build tension that conventional shot-reverse-shot coverage would have diffused. It is a reminder that oners do not have to be physically elaborate to be effective. However, if a filmmaker deploys a long take purely as a flex — without a clear dramatic reason for avoiding the cut — audiences tend to notice. The technique calls attention to itself by nature, so it needs to justify that attention with purpose, whether that purpose is immersion, tension, claustrophobia, or momentum.
The Technical Reality Behind Single-Take Filmmaking
Shooting a genuine continuous take and shooting a film that appears to be a single take are two very different undertakings, and the 2026 crop illustrates both approaches. One Last Shot uses hidden edits, meaning the production stitches together multiple longer takes at points where the camera passes through a dark doorway, whips past a wall, or lands on a shadow. The result looks seamless but allows the crew to reset between sequences. This is the same approach used by Birdman, 1917, and the first two One Shot films. It is a practical necessity for a production with action choreography, set changes, and stunt work — no one is doing that in a true single take.
Adolescence, by contrast, filmed each of its four episodes as a real, unbroken continuous take. Director Philip Barantini and his team rehearsed extensively, choreographing not just the actors but every camera operator, boom mic, and lighting rig to move in concert for the full duration of each episode. That level of coordination is grueling. A single blown line or bumped dolly track in minute eighteen means starting over from minute one. The payoff is a texture that hidden-edit films cannot quite replicate — there is a palpable liveness to genuine single takes, a sense that what you are watching could fall apart at any moment, that makes the performances feel raw and unrepeatable.
One-Take Action vs. One-Take Drama — Different Goals, Different Results
The distinction between how One Last Shot and a film like Josephine use the long take comes down to function. In the action context, the continuous shot serves momentum and spatial clarity. When you can follow Scott Adkins through a corridor, up a stairwell, and into a firefight without a single cut, you understand the geography of the fight. There is no disorienting quick-cut editing to hide weak choreography. You see every hit, every reload, every transition from one threat to the next. The tradeoff is that the pacing is locked in — there is no room to tighten a sequence in the edit bay, so if a section drags during the shoot, it drags in the finished film.
In a dramatic context, the continuous shot works differently. Josephine’s opening POV oner forces the viewer into a child’s perspective with no escape. You cannot cut away, which means you cannot look away. That is the point — the unbroken take creates a kind of entrapment that mirrors the character’s experience. Chasing Summer uses its oners for a looser, more romantic purpose, letting the camera drift alongside Shlesinger’s character as she moves through crowded social spaces. Same technique, completely different emotional register. For viewers trying to decide which of these films to prioritize, the question is less about the technique itself and more about what kind of sustained attention you are in the mood for — visceral action, psychological intensity, or kinetic romance.
Why Not Every Film Should Attempt the Long Take
The current enthusiasm for oners carries a real risk of oversaturation. When every festival film and prestige TV show attempts a signature long take, the technique loses its power to surprise. There is already a weariness in some critical circles — the phrase “impressive but unnecessary” has appeared in more than a few Sundance 2026 reviews. A long take that does not serve the story is just a very expensive way to show off, and audiences can feel the difference.
There are also practical limitations that filmmakers working with smaller budgets need to consider carefully. The Steadicam work on Chasing Summer required multiple operators and an extensive rehearsal period, resources that ate into a budget that might have been spent elsewhere. Adolescence benefited from a seasoned television infrastructure and a director in Philip Barantini who had already made Boiling Point as a single-take feature. For a first-time director with a limited crew and no Steadicam experience, attempting a complex oner is more likely to produce a shaky, meandering mess than a transcendent piece of filmmaking. The honest advice from most working cinematographers is to attempt oners only when you have a specific dramatic reason and the production support to execute them cleanly.
The Influence of Adolescence on the 2026 Long-Take Wave
It is difficult to overstate how much Adolescence shifted the conversation around long takes on television and, by extension, film. The series debuted on Netflix on March 13, 2025, and within three weeks had been viewed 96.7 million times. It then swept the 77th Primetime Emmys, winning Outstanding Limited Series along with awards for directing and writing.
That combination of massive viewership and critical validation sent a clear signal to the industry: audiences will not just tolerate the single-take format, they will actively seek it out. Seth Rogen’s The Studio even devoted its second episode — titled “The Oner” — to satirizing the industry’s obsession with the technique, a meta-commentary that only makes sense because the obsession is so widespread. As of early 2026, there is no confirmed sequel to Adolescence. Director Philip Barantini stated in December 2025 that “there is no sequel to this,” though star Stephen Graham hinted at the 2026 Golden Globes that something might materialize “in three or four years.” Whether or not a second season happens, the show’s influence on the 2026 film slate is already visible.
Where the Long Take Goes From Here
The next phase of continuous-shot filmmaking will likely be shaped by two forces: advances in camera stabilization technology and the growing comfort of A-list talent with the format. Channing Tatum starring in Josephine and Dolph Lundgren joining One Last Shot are signs that the long take is no longer the province of micro-budget experimentation. As more name actors sign on, productions get larger budgets, which in turn allow for more ambitious choreography and more reliable execution. The more interesting question is whether filmmakers will find new narrative reasons for the unbroken take, or whether the technique will settle into a predictable set of applications — the action corridor, the party sequence, the argument scene.
The films of 2026 suggest there is still room for invention. Josephine’s child-POV oner is genuinely novel. Luger’s table-circling dialogue shot proves the technique works at a whisper, not just a shout. If the next wave of filmmakers can keep finding fresh dramatic justifications, the long take will remain vital. If they cannot, it will become the lens flare of the late 2020s — technically impressive, everywhere, and ultimately meaningless.
Conclusion
The 2026 film landscape offers a surprisingly rich variety of long continuous shots, spanning the full-length single-take illusion of One Last Shot, the first-person POV immersion of Josephine, the heat-soaked Steadicam work of Chasing Summer, and the understated tension-building of Luger. Each film demonstrates a different use case for the technique, and together they make a strong argument that the long take is not a fad but a legitimate storytelling tool with broad applications. The success of Adolescence in 2025, both commercially and at the Emmys, has given the format a level of mainstream credibility it never had before.
For film enthusiasts tracking this trend, One Last Shot is the one to watch for pure adrenaline, Josephine is the essential viewing for anyone interested in how form can serve difficult subject matter, and Chasing Summer is the wildcard that could break out if it secures U.S. distribution. Keep an eye on festival circuits through the rest of 2026 — if the Sundance lineup is any indication, filmmakers are only getting more ambitious with what they can accomplish in a single, unbroken shot.
Frequently Asked Questions
What 2026 movies are filmed to look like one continuous shot?
One Last Shot, starring Scott Adkins and Dolph Lundgren, is the most prominent 2026 film designed to appear as a single unbroken take from start to finish. It uses hidden edits to create the illusion, following the same approach as its predecessors One Shot (2021) and One More Shot (2024).
Did any 2026 Sundance films use long takes?
Yes, several. Josephine featured a prolonged first-person POV oner in its opening and won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Chasing Summer built key scenes around demanding Steadicam oners. Luger used a continuous shot around a table during a dialogue scene to build tension.
Is there a sequel to Adolescence on Netflix?
As of early 2026, no sequel has been confirmed. Director Philip Barantini said in December 2025 that “there is no sequel to this,” though Stephen Graham suggested at the 2026 Golden Globes that something could happen in three or four years.
What is the difference between a true single take and a hidden-edit long take?
A true single take, like each episode of Adolescence, is filmed without stopping the camera at all. A hidden-edit long take, like One Last Shot or 1917, stitches together multiple longer takes at transition points — dark doorways, camera whips, shadows — to create the illusion of one unbroken shot.
How successful was the single-take format for Adolescence?
Extremely successful. The series drew 96.7 million views in its first three weeks on Netflix and won nine of its thirteen Emmy nominations at the 77th Primetime Emmys, including Outstanding Limited Series, Directing, and Writing.
Where can I watch One Last Shot when it releases in 2026?
Sony will distribute One Last Shot in the United States. In the UK and Ireland, it will be available through Sky. An exact release date has not been announced as of early 2026.
