2023 was a great year for movies, but we’ve spent enough time talking about 2023. We’re done with her. It’s time to think about 2024 and all the new movies we can’t wait to see.
The new year is an opportunity to wipe the slate clean. For cinephiles, it’s a brief period of optimism; a chance to really mean it when we say we’ll keep up with new movie releases. And I do mean it, just like I mean it every year. Following the WGA and SAG strikes of 2023, the trades are predicting fewer new movie releases, which may very well be true. But there are still plenty of new movies hitting theaters this year for us to get worked up over—even if the year looks a little front-loaded at the moment.
Mean Girls (January 12)
Despite not being marketed as such, Mean Girls is indeed a musical. Based on the Broadway production, which in turn is based on the 2003 comedy (which was based on a book!), Mean Girls features Renee Rapp reprising her stage role as Regina George alongside returning star and screenwriter Tina Fey. The new ensemble also includes Angourie Rice, Avantika Vandanapu, Bebe Wood, and Ashley Park. –Britt Hayes
The Book of Clarence (January 12)
LaKeith Stanfield actually has two movies hitting theaters on January 12: action-thriller The Beekeeper, co-starring Jason Statham, and The Book of Clarence. We’re a little more stoked for the latter, a biblical-era dramedy and the second film from Jeymes Samuel (a.k.a. British singer-songwriter The Bullitts). Stanfield plays the titular role, a man struggling to make ends meet for his family when he decides to follow in Jesus’ footsteps—at first as a scheme, but we know how these things turn out. –BH
The Kitchen (January 19)
We all want to know what a Barney movie directed by Daniel Kaluuya will look like, and The Kitchen might give us something of an idea. Kaluuya makes his feature directing debut alongside Kibwe Tavares with this dystopian sci-fi set in a version of London where social housing is eliminated. Starring Jedaiah Bannerman, Kano, and Hope Ikpoku, The Kitchen looks like a real conversation starter. –BH
Miller’s Girl (January 26)
Another one sure to get people talking is Miller’s Girl, an indie thriller that evokes the erotic thrillers and dramas of the ‘90s. Jenna Ortega stars as a college student who becomes intimately involved with her professor (Martin Freeman) during a creative writing assignment. After last year’s Fair Play, we’re eager to see another movie that navigates the complexities of gendered power dynamics. This one comes to us from first-time feature filmmaker Jade Bartlett, and gives Ortega a chance to explore her range. –BH
Argylle (February 2)
What is Argylle? No one knows. We’ve seen trailers for it. Maybe. We know it stars Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dua Lipa. And also there’s a cat? Matthew Vaughn’s latest is, according the synopsis, about a novelist (Howard) whose books about a dashing spy (Cavill) begin resembling the actual doings of a real spy organization. It sounds a little like Le Magnifique, the wacky 1973 French film starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. –BH
Lisa Frankenstein (February 9)
It’s written by Diablo Cody. It’s the feature directorial debut of Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin). It stars Kathryn Newton and Cole Sprouse. It’s a Frankenstein riff set in the ‘80s. It’s called LISA FRANKENSTEIN for crying out loud. What more could you possibly need here? –BH
Madame Web (February 14)
We’ll finally get to see what happened when he was in the Amazon with her mom when she was researching spiders, right before she died! Madame Web is Sony’s latest attempt to expand its Spider-Man universe, this time with actual Spidey-people instead of villains and antiheroes people may or may not care about. (That said, I am so down for Venom 3 and the return of The Brock Report.) Starring Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, and Isabela Merced, Madame Web is a Valentine’s Day movie, apparently, because girls? –BH
Drive-Away Dolls (February 23)
The first solo effort from Ethan Coen (of the Coen Brothers), Drive-Away Dolls is an exciting film for a number of reasons. One, we’re getting Pedro Pascal in a Coen movie, but we’re also seeing a female-centric story from the filmmaker. Centered on Jamie (Margaret Qualley) as she goes through a break-up and her friend Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan), who’s helping her through it, the trailers make Drive-Away Dolls look like a return to the Coen antics we’ve come to love over the years. Getting to see Ethan Coen shine on his own (as Joel Coen has already done) is exciting! –Rachel Leishman
Dune: Part Two (March 1)
While I was tempted to mount a Jan. 6 on Warner Bros. to liberate Dune: Part Two from the vault (no jury would convict me), I’m glad I decided to remain a free woman so that I can see Denis Villeneuve’s epic sequel in a movie the-a-ter. Timothée Chalamet, fresh off Wonka, returns as ostensible chosen one Paul Atreides, leading the Fremen (including love interest Chani, played by Zendaya) in a revolt against the corrupt forces of the galaxy. –BH
Love Lies Bleeding (March 8)
Rose Glass’ follow-up to the haunting Saint Maud is Love Lies Bleeding, a romantic thriller starring Kristen Stewart as Lou, a gym owner who gets it bad for bodybuilder Jackie (Katy M. O’Brian). Come for the lesbian crime thriller that’s giving off Bound vibes, stay for scary Ed Harris with a skullet. –BH
Imaginary (March 8)
Last January, Blumhouse introduced us to M3GAN, who briefly became the Mariah Carey of horror. This year, Blumhouse seems to be hitting the same sweet spot (or trying to) with Imaginary. DeWanda Wise plays a woman who returns to her childhood home to discover that her imaginary friend is so pissed at her for moving away and growing up that it possesses the body of a teddy bear to get revenge. Sounds wild, let’s go. –BH
The American Society of Magical Negroes (March 22)
Actor and comedian Kobi Libii makes his directing debut with The American Society of Magical Negroes, which imagines a world in which the tired racist trope is crucial to the functioning of society. Justice Smith stars as a young man recruited by the eponymous society, comprised of Black people with magical abilities, each assigned to help a white person navigate life. Co-starring David Alan Grier, Aisha Hinds, Rupert Friend, and Nicole Byer, The American Society of Magical Negroes looks hilarious and maybe a little sweet, too? –BH
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (March 29)
Legendary’s MonsterVerse gets a little bigger with Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which brings back director Adam Wingard for the ultimate showdown. Two titans enter the ring (which is our planet, btw) and duke it out for … actually, I don’t really know why they’re fighting. This seems like an intersectional situation where they need to realize that people have been pitting them against each other and that they should just team up and kill us already. –BH
Civil War (April 12)
Alex Garland is best known for dark, genre-bending sci-fi (Annihilation, Ex Machina) and horror (28 Days Later, Men), which makes his latest film something of a curiosity. Civil War is set in an imminent future in which the United States has dissolved into warring political factions, and follows the journalists (led by Kirsten Dunst) covering the conflict. Civil War might be Garland’s most ambitious film in more than one aspect; his work, while relatively grounded, doesn’t typically deal in current events. It also reunites the filmmaker with Devs stars Nick Offerman, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson, and co-stars Wagner Moura and Jesse Plemons. –BH
Challengers (April 26)
The minute we learned what Challengers is about, we were hooked. A movie in which Zendaya is married to Mike Faist but also sort of being in a throuple with Josh O’Connor? We’re in. Yes, there is tennis involved, but okay, whatever. The new Luca Guadagnino film was written by Justin Kuritzkes, the partner of Celine Song (who wrote and directed Past Lives, leading plenty of people to make comparisons to their relationship). There are just a lot of things going on with Challengers that make it exciting, and we’ve been hyped about it since last summer! –RL
The Fall Guy (May 3)
What is better than Ryan Gosling behind the wheel of a car? Ryan Gosling as a stuntman—yes, again, but this time it’s funny. The Fall Guy is giving “What if Drive was sort of light-hearted and maybe a bit like The Nice Guys?” and I’m not exactly mad about it. Starring Gosling and Emily Blunt, we can just pretend like this is another Barbenheimer right? Written by Drew Pearce (Iron Man 3, Hotel Artemis), directed by David Leitch (John Wick, Atomic Blonde), and sort of based on the TV series of the same name, The Fall Guy has me stoked to see Ryan Gosling in a car again. –RL
Back to Black (May 10)
Amy Winehouse was a once-in-a-lifetime talent, with a soulful voice and indelible songwriting to match. Her life and her career were far too brief, cut short by painful struggles with addiction and an eating disorder, which exacerbated the pressures of fame and the demands of her work. Some of this was explored in the documentary Amy, which drew the ire of the late singer’s father, Mitch Winehouse, who felt he was unfairly represented. Directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Back to Black stars Industry‘s Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, whose estate cooperated with the production. While that means we’ll get to hear Winehouse’s music in the film, there’s a chance it might not dig as deep as some of her fans would like. All the same, Abela is fiercely talented and definitely looks the part, Taylor-Johnson is a fine director, and as a Winehouse fan, I’m eager to see how Back to Black shakes out. –BH
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24)
George Miller’s long-developing Fury Road follow-up is finally upon us. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (that title couldn’t be more studio-mandated if it tried) features Anya Taylor-Joy in the title role and explores her life before Max—when a younger Furiosa was taken from the Green Place of Many Mothers by the sinister Dementus (Chris Hemsworth) to the Citadel, where she begins plotting her liberation. As far as I’m concerned, George Miller can do whatever the hell he wants. If Furiosa is half as good as Fury Road, we should count ourselves lucky. –BH
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 24)
In the tradition of the classic Planet of the Apes films, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes centers on a new main character, Noa (Owen Teague), a chimpanzee disillusioned by the apes’ corrupt leader, Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand) and his oppression of other apes. Set 300 years after the events in Rise, Dawn, and War for the Planet of the Apes, Kingdom is directed by Wes Ball (the Maze Runner series), and seems to be good enough to land him a gig directing the live-action Legend of Zelda movie for Nintendo. –BH
Ballerina (June 7)
I’m absolutely torn on Ballerina. On the one hand, John Wick is an incredible franchise and Ana de Armas is inarguably talented and fun to watch. On the other hand, Ballerina—potentially the first in a series of John Wick spinoff movies—was directed by Len Wiseman, a guy with an underwhelming track record (Underworld, Live Free or Die Hard, Total Recall remake) that does not gel with the dynamic action of the Wick movies. THAT SAID: the ballerina assassin lore teased in the third Wick movie was like catnip to me, and if this thing is good, we might have a solid substitute for the Black Widow movie we should’ve gotten. –BH
The Watchers (June 7)
We’re getting two Shyamalan movies this year. Ishana Shyamalan, daughter of M. Night, is making her feature directing debut with The Watchers, based on the novel by A.M. Shine. Starring Dakota Fanning and Georgina Campbell, the horror film centers on an artist who gets stuck in a cabin in an Irish forest with three strangers and must contend with the mysterious creatures that stalk them each night. –BH
Inside Out 2 (June 14)
Remember when a bunch of adults cried in a movie theater over Inside Out? Well, now we can do that again with Inside Out 2! Pixar is back with Riley and all the emotions in her head and this time, she’s got a new one: Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke)! As someone who very much wishes I had Inside Out when I was growing up, I can’t wait to see what the sequel has in store for Riley and how I will embarrass myself again in a theater, sobbing over a movie for children. –RL
Twisters (July 19)
What’s better than the 1996 film Twister? A sequel with Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos. The original film starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as part of a crew of scientists and storm chasers working together to launch Dorothy (a data-gathering device). What we’re getting with Twisters is a direct sequel to the film, and look, great. I don’t care what happens, it’s a sequel to Twister. We’re so in. –RL
Deadpool 3 (July 26)
Logan (Hugh Jackman) dealing with Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) is how our love of Reynolds as Deadpool began, so we are very excited for Deadpool 3. Any time there is a new Deadpool movie, we’re gifted with whatever nonsense Ryan Reynolds is up to, and we’ve been getting a whole bunch of treats because he is truly on one with this movie. Still, it’s just fun to know that Wade and Logan are back in action, and we can’t wait to see what director Shawn Levy and Co. have in store for us, especially now that Deadpool belongs to Disney. –RL
Trap (August 2)
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest co-stars his other daughter, Saleka Shyamalan, alongside Josh Hartnett and Hayley Mills (yes, of The Parent Trap fame). We know pretty much nothing about Trap, which isn’t likely to change until we see a trailer in the next few months. Speaking with NME, Shyamalan described it as “very unusual and very new compared to what I’ve been trying to do (recently).” The filmmaker has been on one heck of a run since returning with The Visit, and I can’t wait to see whatever the hell he’s up to with Trap. –BH
Alien: Romulus (August 16)
The latest installment in the Alien franchise comes from Fede Álvarez, the filmmaker behind Evil Dead (2013) and Don’t Breathe, and stars Cailee Spaeny and Isabela Merced. Spaeny recently revealed that Alien: Romulus is set between Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Will Álvarez’s film bridge the differences between the two, sort of like Doctor Sleep did with the Stephen King and Stanley Kubrick versions of The Shining? That’s my only hope. Well, that, and more practical xenomorphs. –BH
Kraven the Hunter (August 30)
Am I the one person in this world determined to love and support Kraven the Hunter no matter what? Yes. That’s okay. Directed by J.C. Chandor (Triple Frontier), Kraven promises to bring to life one of Spider-Man’s greatest foes: Sergei Kravinoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). Famously, Kraven loves animals but also is a hunter (hence the name). How that is going to work without Spider-Man will be interesting, but I am just so excited to see my boy in live action that I don’t even care! Kraven is coming! –RL
Beetlejuice 2 (September 6)
We don’t need to relitigate the ups and downs of Tim Burton’s career, but suffice it to say, the visionary director has a little something to prove with Beetlejuice 2. But with Michael Keaton back as the ghost with the most and Winona Ryder reprising her role as Lydia Deetz (every goth girl’s platonic ideal) alongside Jenna Ortega, I’m optimistic for what this sequel could be. –BH
Saw XI (September 27)
It’s wild that it took seven films for the Saw franchise to figure out how to course-correct the grievous error of killing off its main antagonist in the third film. Saw X was such a damn good time that I am fully back on the Saw hype train. Saw XI was almost immediately greenlit, and I can’t wait to see what silly prequel-sidequel-inbetweenquel nonsense is in store. –BH
Joker: Folie à Deux (October 4)
If you told us that we’d be excited about Joker: Folie à Deux after so many of us didn’t like the first Joker movie, I wouldn’t believe you. And yet I truly cannot wait to see Joker: Folie à Deux. I’m going to blame the Harley Quinn-and-Joker of it all. Todd Phillips’ sequel to Joker features Lady Gaga as Harley and is said to be a musical—all elements that make me increasingly more excited about this. –RL
Venom 3 (November 8)
I have but one request for Venom 3: Bring back The Brock Report. We need to see Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock back in VICE reporter mode, maybe with a little help from his sidekick and number one tater tot fan Venom. Venom 2 was a surprising success that managed to overcome the clownery of the first film’s post-credits teaser and deliver a superior sequel. With Venom 2 screenwriter Kelly Marcel back on board and also sitting in the director’s chair, we’re sure to get a little more of that goofy, gloopy magic. –BH
Gladiator 2 (November 22)
Ridley Scott is on a roll. The 86-year-old filmmaker is following up 2023’s Napoleon with another historical epic—a sequel to his own Gladiator, released in 2000. This time, Scott’s courting the fan girls with Paul Mescal, Pedro Pascal, Joseph Quinn, Denzel Washington, and Fred Hechinger. Just make a wall calendar, why don’t you! –BH
Wicked Part One (November 27)
Wicked is being split into two parts, which means Part One will (probably) end with Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) singing “Defying Gravity” and leaving us gooped. So why are we excited? Because it is Wicked. For the record, Wicked does rule even if I do think it is an overrated musical. But with Jon M. Chu at the helm and a cast that includes Ariana Grande, Michelle Yeoh, and Bowen Yang, I can’t help but look forward to this one. –RL
Nosferatu (December 25)
The big holiday treat this year is Nosferatu, a new iteration of F.W. Murnau’s silent horror classic from Robert Eggers, the filmmaker behind The Witch and The Northman. Eggers’ retelling is set in 19th-century Germany and follows a young woman tormented by the ghastly vampire who is obsessed with her (relatable). Nosferatu stars Lily-Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe (but of course), Nicholas Hoult, Emma Corrin, and Bill Skarsgard as—who else?—the vampire Count Orlok. –BH
Mickey 17 (TBD)
Three years after sweeping the Oscars with Parasite, Bong Joon-ho is finally back, and this time he’s returning to the science fiction genre. Based on a novel by Edward Ashton, Mickey 17 is set in the future, and stars Robert Pattinson as a worker clone sent on a mission to help colonize the ice world Niflheim. Not that you should need more reasons to watch after that description, but Director Bong’s latest co-stars Mark Ruffalo, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, and Steven Yeun.
Warner Bros. previously had Mickey 17 scheduled for March 29, but pulled it from the calendar and replaced it with Godzilla x Kong. Hopefully we’ll get to see it before the end of the year. –BH
This post has been updated.
(featured image: TriStar Pictures / Warner Bros. / Focus Features / A24)
