For the 20th year in a row, I’m going to attempt to watch 100 films in a year.

Except, as regular readers will know, it’s a bit more complicated than that nowadays. Just watching any old 100 films each year became a matter of course — the “challenge” aspect died off entirely when I was regularly reaching 200+ films for a few years. So, a few years ago, I reimagined it into what is, effectively, a series of smaller, more specific film-watching challenges, which altogether add up to 100 films in a year.

(Alongside this, I also aim to watch ten new films a month, for a total of 120 a year. My lifestyle and habits have changed in the past few years, so that’s also more of a challenge than it once would have been. Indeed, I failed to do it last year. And I’m about 90% sure I’m going to immediately fail it for 2026 by not getting there in January. At least it’ll take any pressure off for the rest of the year.)

This is the fifth iteration of my new-style Challenge, and each year so far I’ve made some changes — removed and added categories; modified the qualification rules within a category; etc. That was part of my conception of this new version: that it wouldn’t stand still; it wouldn’t become something I could learn ‘how’ to do and repeat ad infinitum. However, I’ve settled on a category lineup that I’m so happy with I don’t want to change it… so I’m not going to. That said, there are certain categories (three of the nine, to be precise) that change their theme or makeup every year anyway, meaning an element of changeability does persist.

So, let’s see what that the 100 Films in a Year Challenge involves for its 20th edition…

First, the one rule that applies across all categories: a film can only count once. That might sound obvious, but the categories are not mutually exclusive: I could rewatch a film from a series I’m halfway through that’s in this year’s genre, and thus it could qualify in three categories — but it can only be counted in one of them.

New Films

x12. Any film with a general release date (i.e. not festival screenings, etc) in the UK (i.e. not in the US, nor any other country) between 1st January 2025 and 31st December 2025. Maximum one per month (but rolls over if I fail to watch one).

Rewatches

x12. Any film I’ve seen before (unless it’s already been counted in 2026’s Challenge). Maximum one per month (with rollovers, as above).

Blindspot

x12. Twelve films, specifically chosen and named in advance, that I should have already seen. Meant to be watched one per month, but I typically fail at that and have to play catch up. This year’s twelve will be revealed in a dedicated post tomorrow.

What Do You Mean You Haven’t Seen…?

x12. Similar to Blindspot, these are twelve specifically chosen films meant to be watched one per month, but here my selections are based around a theme. This year’s theme, and the twelve films selected, will be revealed in a dedicated post tomorrow.

Failures

x12. Every month, I list my “failures”: brand-new releases, additions to streamers, and disc purchases that I failed to watch in the previous month. Sometimes I catch up on some of them the next month; often I don’t. Making them a Challenge category helps with this. A maximum of one per month counts. If I miss one, I catch up on that specific month later.

50 Unseen

x10. Any unwatched film from one of my year-end ’50 Unseen’ lists. It’s likely to be dominated by films from 2025’s list as I catch up on what I missed last year, but anything from the previous 19 years is eligible. (If you’re interested, there’s a complete list of candidates here.)

Genre

x10. Any films from within a specified genre — or, arguably, a sub-genre: I’m not focusing on anything broad like “Action” or “Comedy” here, but something relatively specific. Previous choices have included film noir, gialli, poliziotteschi, and martial arts movies. This year, it’s classic 3D — by which I mean, any film originally released in 3D before the current Avatar-initiated era. (Okay, it’s not really a “genre”, but then neither is film noir if you want to get picky about it.)

Series Progression

x10. Any instalment of a film series I’m already watching. If I start a new series, the first film can’t count but any further films can. (If you’re curious, there’s a list of film series I’m in the middle of here. At time of writing, there’s 36.)

Wildcards

x10. Any film that can’t have qualified in another category at any point. For example, I couldn’t watch two brand-new releases in January and count the second one here, or watch ten classic 3D films and then count an eleventh here.

As the year goes on, you can follow my progress on the Challenge Tracker page, and also via my monthly reviews; or there’s always my Letterboxd for the guaranteed most up-to-date status of my film logging.