The Newport Beach Film Festival’s October 15–22, 2026, run will bring more than 100 features and 250 shorts from 21 countries to the city, according to the Los Angeles Times. The announcement puts this year’s program on the calendar while one of the festival’s named venues, Regal Edwards Big Newport, faces an approved redevelopment.
This year’s screenings and a venue’s deadline
Big Newport is scheduled to close no later than June 30, 2027. Newport Beach has approved replacing the theater with two 22-story residential towers containing 150 units at 210 and 300 Newport Center Drive; the City Council denied an appeal on April 28, the Orange County Business Journal reported. The festival’s October 2026 dates come before that closure deadline. The announcement identifies Big Newport as a key venue, but does not say what venue arrangements the festival may make after the theater closes.
Other Newport Beach cinemas offer different kinds of context, not a confirmed replacement plan. The City of Newport Beach’s historic-resource inventory records the Lido Theater’s Art Deco architecture and continued use as a motion-picture theater. THE LOT at Fashion Island, a seven-auditorium cinema, hosted festival events in 2018, according to the Los Angeles Times.
A separate local example shows that theater transitions can take another form: OC Weekly reported that Santa Ana’s Yost Theater planned a temporary closure until fall 2017 as it shifted to new management and concert and comedy programming. That planned transition differs from Big Newport’s approved demolition for housing and does not indicate what will happen to the festival’s future venue mix.
A broad program, with some selections still to come
The announced slate includes the West Coast premiere of Jimmy as the October 17 centerpiece, alongside films including Ink and Paper Tiger. International selections include A Bit of Light and Sisa; the program also features the documentary Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff. These titles are among the lineup details reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Tickets are on sale, but organizers have not yet announced the opening- and closing-night screenings, according to the Los Angeles Times. The lineup confirms the scale of this year’s event; it does not settle how the festival will adjust when Big Newport reaches its scheduled closing date.
