The year has just one Marvel Studios release (‘Deadpool 3’) and one DC film (‘Joker: Folie à Deux’), but there are new horror entries (‘Saw XI’) and epics (‘Dune 2’ and ‘Gladiator 2’).
‘Dune 2,’ ‘Madame Web’ and ‘Inside Out 2’
Niko Tavernise/Warner Bros; Sony Pictures; Disney/Pixar
The dual actors and writers strikes of 2023 have wreaked havoc on the theatrical landscape, with some projects delayed so long that they will no longer be hitting in 2024, making the year more barren than theater owners and movie studios would like.
Still, there are plenty of projects that are on track and expected to be big, from long-gestating sequels (Gladiator 2, Beetlejuice 2) to R-rated comic book offerings (Deadpool 3, Joker: Folie à Deux).
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Mean Girls (Jan. 12)
Image Credit: Jojo Whilden/Paramount Paramount’s movie musical adapts the Broadway musical adaptation of the 2004 movie. Tina Fey is back for this iteration, a Gen Z take on the high school movie classic starring original Broadway star Renee Rapp, Angourie Rice and Jon Hamm.
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Book of Clarence (Jan. 12)
Image Credit: Legendary Entertainment Filmmaker Jeymes Samuels’ follow-up to his Black western The Harder They Fall follows a man living in Biblical times who takes his cues from the new Messiah and starts his own faithful following, which puts him in conflict with the ruling Roman empire. LaKeith Stanfield leads a cast that includes RJ Cyler, Alfre Woodard and James McAvoy.
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Argylle (Feb. 2)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Apple TV+ Matthew Vaughn returns to the espionage genre with the meta film that follows a spy novelist (Bryce Dallas Howard) who, unbeknownst to her, is writing real-life events into her beloved books series. Sam Rockwell, Henry Cavill and Bryan Cranston also star, alongside pop star Dua Lipa. The Apple film is getting a global theatrical release via Universal.
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Lisa Frankenstein (Feb. 9)
Image Credit: Michele K. Short/Focus Features The campy, young adult take on the Mary Shelley classic sees a high schooler reanimate a corpse who turns out to be a love interest. The movie is the feature debut from Zelda Williams and features a screenplay from Jennifer’s Body scribe Diablo Cody.
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Madame Web (Feb. 14)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Sony Pictures Dakota Johnson leads the Spider-Man spinoff as a clairvoyant who becomes entangled with multiple superheroes known as Spider-Woman. Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced and Tahar Rahim also star in the film, which upon the release of its first trailer, spawned the instantly memable line, “He was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died.” S.J. Clarkson directs for Sony and Columbia.
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Bob Marley: One Love (Feb. 14)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Chiabella James/Paramount Pictures The biopic of Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley comes from King Richard director Reinaldo Marcus Green and stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as Marley. It follows the singer’s rise, as well as his personal and political journey.
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Dune: Part Two (March 1)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures The follow-up to Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune was set for release in 2023 but was pushed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. The film, from Warner Bros. and Legendary, will pick up where the last left off with Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) looking to avenge his family line with the help of the Fremen. Florence Pugh, Austin Butler and Christopher Walken join the cast that is also led by Zendaya.
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Road House (March 21)
The 1989 camp action flick starring Patrick Swayze is getting a 2024 re-do thanks to director Doug Liman. Jake Gyllenhaal is taking over the starring role as an ex-UFC fighter turned bouncer extraordinaire in the Florida Keys, with a supporting cast that includes Lukas Gage and real UFC fighter Conor McGregor. The film will be streaming via Amazon.
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The American Society of Magical Negroes (March 22)
Image Credit: Tobin Yelland / Focus Features Set for a Sundance 2024 debut, the feature from comedian and satirist Kobi Libii follows a young man who gets recruited into a secret society of Black people who are meant to make white people’s lives easier. Justice Smith leads the Focus Features project.
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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (March 29)
Image Credit: Sony Pictures After revitalizing the franchise with 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, stars Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace and Paul Rudd return to team up with original Ghostbusters stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton as they attempt to save New York. Afterlife co-writer Gil Kenan steps into the director’s chair for this installment, after co-writer Jason Reitman helmed the previous film.
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Mickey 17 (March 29)
The new film from director Bong Joon-ho, his first since his Oscar-winning Parasite, stars Robert Pattinson as a “expendable” employee sent to colonize a foreign world, who, when he dies on dangerous missions, is simply replaced with a clone who shares his memories. It’s an adaptation of the science-fiction book of the same name by Edward Ashton, and also stars Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo and Toni Collette.
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Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 12)
Image Credit: Warner Bros./Legendary Entertainment Godzilla vs. Kong filmmaker Adam Wingard returns for the latest MonsterVerse film, with Godzilla and Kong teaming up to face off against monstrous Titans who have remained hidden until now. Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry and Dan Stevens are among the human stars of the film.
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Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver (April 19)
Image Credit: Clay Enos/Netflix Zack Snyder’s big-budget Rebel Moon franchise returns just months after the first installment, with Sofia Boutella starring as Kora, who leads a rag-tag team against the forces of Admiral Noble (Ed Skrein).
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Challengers (April 26)
Image Credit: Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures Another holdover from 2023 that was pushed due to the actors strike, the movie from Luca Guadagnino stars Zendaya as a tennis star turned coach in a love triangle with competing champions, played by Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist.
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Civil War (April 26)
Image Credit: Murray Close The Alex Garland movie is set after the United States has fallen into a state of civil war, and follows reporters as they try to traverse the fractured and increasingly dangerous country. Kirsten Dunst stars along with Jesse Plemons and Nick Offerman.
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Idea of You (May 2)
The beloved romance novel is turned into a romantic comedy. Michael Showalter directs and Anne Hathaway stars as a single mom who goes to a concert with her daughter where she begins a relationship with the lead singer of a beloved boy band (think Harry Styles). Nicholas Galitzine stars as the love interest in the feature, which will stream on Amazon.
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Fall Guy (May 3)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Universal Pictures The feature film version of the 1980s TV series follows a Hollywood stuntman who gets embroiled in a real-life crime plot that will require him to use his skills to save the day and the movie he is working on, which happens to be directed by his ex. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star in the Universal feature from director David Leitch.
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Back to Black (May 10)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Dean Rogers/Focus Features Marisa Abela stars as late Grammy winner Amy Winehouse in the biopic from Sam Taylor-Johnson. Focus Features will distribute the film in the U.S.
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IF (May 17)
Image Credit: Paramount John Krasinski directs and acts in the feature centering on a young girl (Cailey Fleming) who can see imaginary friends (also known as IFs) and must help IFs who have been abandoned by their kids. Ryan Reynolds leads the Paramount feature that voice stars Steve Carell as an IF named Blue.
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Furiosa (May 24)
Nearly a decade after George Miller’s Fury Road was heralded as one of the greatest action films of all time, the filmmaker returns with a prequel centered on the early days of Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy in this installment. Chris Hemsworth also stars.
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Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 24)
Image Credit: Courtsey of 20th Century Set 300 years after the Andy Serkis-starring trilogy of Apes films, this new installment from director Wes Bal stars Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Peter Macon, Eka Darville, Kevin Durand, William H. Macy and Dichen Lachman. Like the classic 1968 Planet of the Apes, it is set in a time in which apes have taken over Earth and humans are subjugated.
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Garfield (May 24)
Image Credit: Sony Pictures Chris Pratt voice stars as the classic comic strip cat, who goes on a heist with his feline father (Samuel L. Jackson) and canine pal Odie (Harvey Guillén). Nicholas Hoult voices Garfield and Odie’s owner, Jon, while Chicken Little filmmaker Mark Dindal directs.
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Ballerina (June 7)
John Wick is bigger than ever thanks to 2023’s Chapter 4, which grossed a series-best $440.1 million and has Lionsgate talking about a fifth installment. Ballerina will be a new test of the franchise’s strength, as it is the first feature spinoff movie. Ana De Armas stars as a ballet dancer/assassin named Rooney, with Keanu Reeves making an appearance as well.
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Inside Out 2 (June 14)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Disney/Pixar The gang is back together in this animated follow-up to the beloved Pixar movie that follows the anthropomorphized emotions of a young girl led by Amy Poehler’s Joy. Joining for this round is Anxiety, voiced by Maya Hawke.
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Bad Boys 4 (June 14)
Image Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainmet In many ways, Bad Boys 4 is a much-needed palette cleanser for those involved. It marks Will Smith’s return to the summer blockbusters following his infamous Oscars slap in March 2022. And filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah moved on to the project after their previous feature, Batgirl, was unceremoniously shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav a few months after that. Bad Boys 4, starring Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami cops and best friends, is a follow-up to Bad Boys for Life, which stands as the highest grossing film of 2020 (it was one of the few blockbusters to bow before the pandemic shut things down). It arrives nearly 30 years after the 1995 original, directed by Michael Bay.
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The Bikeriders (June 21)
Image Credit: 20th Century Studios / Courtesy Everett Collection After Disney-owned 20th Century Studios opted not to release The Bikeriders amid the SAG-AFTRA strike, the New Regency film landed at Focus Features, which set a 2024 date for the Jeff Nichols-directed movie. It focuses on the culture of the 1960s Midwestern motorcycle club, and stars Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer and Austin Butler.
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A Quiet Place: Day One (June 28)
Six years after John Krasinski launched a new franchise for Paramount, the studio is releasing its first spinoff. Set in New York City on the first day of an alien invasion, the feature originated from an idea Krasinski. Pig’s Michael Sarnoski directs a cast that incudes Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou and Denis O’Hare.
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Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 (June 28)
Image Credit: Warner Bros. Kevin Costner’s multi-film western saga has been in the works since 1988, with the star-filmmaker putting at least $20 million of his money into the projects. Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone and Abbey Lee are among the cast. Horizon has been closely watched, because it has been part of a dispute with his hit streaming Western, Yellowstone. The Yellowstone team has said Costner was less available for filming the final season due to his commitments on Horizon, while Costner’s camp has blamed script delays. Regardless, Horizon is one of the more intriguing gambles of the year. Should they be successful, two more parts are also in the works.
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Mufasa: The Lion King (July 5)
After Jon Favreau’s The Lion King remake made more than $1 billion at the box office in 2019, Disney was keen to return to the world with a prequel focusing on Mufasa. This time, Barry Jenkins directs with Aaron Pierre voicing Mufasa, a role made famous by James Earl Jones in the 1994 animated feature.
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Untitled Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum Rom-Com (July 12)
This rom-com starring Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum was once called Project Artemis (but will get a new title). TV megaproducer Greg Berlanti directs the film, set amid the backdrop of the 1960s space race, with Columbia Pictures releasing the project.
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Twisters (July 19)
The new take on the ‘90s movie Twister stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos. Minari’s Lee Isaac Chung directs. The original followed storm-chasers in Oklahoma and was known for its inventive special effects that brought tornadoes to the big screen.
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Deadpool 3 (July 26)
For the first time in 12 years (not counting 2020, when the pandemic shuttered movie theaters), there will be just one Marvel Studios movie in 2024. It stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who is coming out of retirement as Wolverine. It is expected to be an R-rated, multiverse-spanning action comedy with Shawn Levy directing.
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Alien: Romulus (Aug. 14)
Don’t Breathe filmmaker Fede Álvarez is breathing new life into the classic franchise, with his installment said to take place between the events of Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979) and James Cameron’s Aliens (1986). Cailee Spaeny stars in the 20th Century Studios feature.
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Borderlands (Aug. 9)
Image Credit: Courtesy of Gearbox Software Based on the popular videogame, Eli Roth directs the Lionsgate feature that has a cast that includes Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Haley Bennett and Édgar Ramirez. The games take place in a post-apocalyptic world full of mutants and guns, and Roth is aiming to capture that aesthetic.
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Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 2 (Aug. 16)
Kevin Costner and Warner Bros. test the appetite for releasing its two-part western just months apart.
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Kraven the Hunter (Aug. 30)
Image Credit: Sony Pictures The Spider-Man spinoff starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson arrives after a lengthy delay due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Ariana DeBose, Alessandro Nivola and Russell Crowe also star in the feature, centering on the classic comic book villain who takes on big game poachers in the film.
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Beetlejuice 2 (Sept. 6)
Nearly 40 years after the cult classic Beetlejuice, filmmaker Tim Burton and star Michael Keaton are back with a next chapter in the otherworldly adventures of the bio-exorcist. Winona Ryder returns as Lydia Deetz, with Jenna Ortega playing her daughter. The cast also includes Catherine O’Hara and Willem Dafoe, with a script from Ortega’s Wednesday showrunners, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar.
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Transformers One (Sept. 13)
After finding success with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, Paramount is hoping to recapture the magic with its Transformers animated movie, featuring a voice cast that includes Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm and Laurence Fishburne.
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Saw XI (Sept. 27)
A year after Saw X became the franchise’s first to get positive reviews, Lionsgate is hoping to keep the momentum going with this new installment of the series about people being forced into elaborate traps with only one (painful) way to escape.
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Joker: Folie à Deux (Oct. 4)
The first Joker stunned Hollywood by becoming a $1 billion hit despite being R-rated and having a (relatively) modest budget for a comic book movie. The sequel comes at a challenging time for the comic book genre, but can Joker 2 have the last laugh? Joaquin Phoenix reprises his Oscar-winning role as Arthur Fleck, with Lady Gaga joining as co-lead in this musical in filmmaker Todd Phillips’ feature.
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Smile 2 (Oct. 18)
Speaking of surprises, the Paramount horror feature Smile came seemingly out of nowhere to become one of the most profitable movies of 2022. Parker Finn returns to direct the sequel, which will star Naomi Scott and once again dive into a world in which a victim is haunted by an entity who manifests to make people they see smile a creepy smile.
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Venom 3 (Nov. 8)
Sony returns to complete a trilogy of films starring Tom Hardy as the Spider-Man villain. Frequent Hardy writing partner Kelly Marcel directs the feature.
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Red One (Nov. 15)
Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans team up for this Christmas action comedy from Johnson’s Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle director Jake Kasdan. Amazon MGM Studios is behind project, which will get a traditional theatrical release as well. Little is known about the movie, but Johnson has hyped it this way, writing in a December 2022 Instagram post: “Our movie is a big, fun, action packed and fresh new take on Christmas Lore … Think JUMANJI meets MIRACLE ON 34TH ST meets HOBBS & SHAW with a dash of HARRY POTTER and sprinkled on top with my all time favorite Christmas movie, ITS A WONDERFUL LIFE… let all that sink in.”
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Gladiator 2 (Nov. 22)
Twenty-four years after best picture winner Gladiator left audiences entertained, Ridley Scott returns with a long-gestating sequel. With Russell Crowe’s Maximus dead, the feature will star Paul Mescal, who is playing Lucius, the son of Lucilla (Connie Nielsen, who also returns). Other castmembers in the historical epic include Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal.
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Wicked (Nov. 27)
After years in development, Wicked is finally bringing its take on the iconic Wizard of Oz characters from the Great White Way to the big screen. Jon M. Chu’s adaptation of the beloved Tony-winning musical stars Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba and Ariana Grande as Galinda in the Wicked Witch of the West’s origin story set prior to Dorothy’s arrival. Chu directs the first installment in the two-part film from a screenplay by Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz, who were behind the stage version, and the second movie is set to hit theaters in November 2025.
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Untitled Karate Kid Movie (Dec. 13)
Welcome to the Karate Kid Cinematic Universe. This new installment will team original star Ralph Machio with Jackie Chan, who played the mentor role in a 2010 reboot opposite Jaden Smith. In late 2023, both men announced a worldwide casting search for the actor to play the next Karate Kid.
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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (Dec. 20)
Image Credit: Paramount Pictures and Sega of America Jeff Fowler returns to direct the third film in the franchise that adapts the popular video game character. He helmed the first two movies, including 2022’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba reprise their voice roles as Sonic and Knuckles, respectively, while James Marsden is also back as the sheriff who befriends the titular blue speedster.
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Nosferatu (Dec. 25)
The second remake of the classic 1922 silent film of the same name, Robert Eggers’ horror title centers on a vampire-obsessed with a young woman. The cast includes Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe.
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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (Dec. 13)
The animated feature from New Line is set hundreds of years before The Lord of the Rings and explores the story behind the fortress of Helm’s Deep. Blade Runner: Black Lotus filmmaker Kenji Kamiyama is directing the film, which takes place in the blood-soaked era of Helm Hammerhand, the mighty king of Rohan.