2023 WAS A strange year for Hollywood – the actors and writers strikes delayed production on films and TV shows for months, leading to some films being pushed back for a year or more.
Thankfully, a deal was reached which meant the strikes could end – and we do have a stellar line-up of big-budget films due out next year. Here are the main ones to look out for.
Mean Girls
The classic 2000s film gets a reboot by its original writer Tina Fey – with a twist. This is in fact an adaptation of the stage musical Mean Girls which – you guessed it – was an adaptation of the film.
New girl Cady Heron is played by Angourie Rice, while Reneé Rapp is the main mean girl, Regina George. Expect plenty of cameos and cutting jokes which are bang up to date.
Memory
Jessica Chastain stars as a social worker whose life is upended when she’s followed home from a high school reunion by classmate Saul. He can’t remember anything – except her.
Madame Web
Directed by SJ Clarkson, this latest installment in the Spider-Man Movie Franchise stars Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Tahar Rahim, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott, and Zosia Mamet.
Johnson plays Cassandra Webb, a New York paramedic who gains clairvoyant powers and must use them to protect three young women from a mysterious adversary.
Argylle
Fans of Matthew Vaughn’s Kingsman films will enjoy delving back into his cheeky chappie spy world. Bryce Dallas Howard plays a novelist – Elly Conway – who writes spy novels that inadvertently get a little too close to the real-life actions of a crime syndicate.
An undercover spy (played by Sam Rockwell) turns up to rescue her and her cat, and things start getting intense. Also stars Henry Cavill, John Cena, Dua Lipa, Bryan Cranston and Samuel L Jackson.
Dune: Part Two
Prepare for another intense evening at the cinema with the return of Denis Villeneuve and his follow-up to Dune, concluding his interpretation of the cult Frank Herbert novel.
Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin and Stellan Skarsgård return – where they will be joined by the likes of Florence Pugh, Léa Seydoux, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken.
Mickey 17
Bonghive rise up! Bong Joon-ho returns to the big screen with his follow-up to the Oscar-winning Parasite, and brings Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo, and Steven Yeun along for good measure.
This is another adaptation of a novel, Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, about an employee (played by Robert Pattinson) working on a mission to colonise an ice world. Every time he dies, his body is regenerated – and his memories stay intact.
Challengers
Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) directs Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist in this film about a tennis prodigy and her relationships with two men: her husband (Faist) and his former best friend (O’Connor), who she’s known since she was a teenager.
The Fall Guy
David Leitch directs Ryan Gosling as a stuntman working with his ex – a director played by Emily Blunt – who’s tasked with finding a missing film star. Looks gas.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Who didn’t love the brilliant previous Mad Max movie? Now comes a new one from George Miller, starring Anya Taylor-Joy as a younger version of Imperator Furiosa. Her co-stars include Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke as we learn about the story of her kidnapping and her rise through Immortan Joe’s ranks.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
This is the fourth installment in the reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise, and takes place a number of generations after the events of War for the Planet of the Apes (2017). By this time, ape civilizations have emerged from the oasis, while humans have regressed into a feral state.
IF
John Krasinski directs this film (which was developed by him and pal Ryan Reynolds) about a young girl who has the ability to see imaginary friends who have been abandoned. The voice cast includes Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Awkwafina.
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
On a hot summer’s day, a mysterious storm arrives in New York and people start getting frozen to death. It’s up to the Ghostbusters to figure out what’s going on. This stars Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, McKenna Grace, Finn Wolfhard, Kumail Nanjiani and Patton Oswalt
The Bikeriders
Head back to 1960s America in this Jeff Nichols-directed film about a Chicago motorcycle club, based on a short story. Stars Austin Butler, Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon as members of the club, Jodie Comer (with another fab accent) as Butler’s wife and Mike Faist (big year for him) as the filmmaker she tells her story to.
A Quiet Place: Day One
If you can’t get enough of the Quiet Place franchise, this latest one looks a treat. It brings us right back to the emergence of the alien attack that led to the incidents in the first film, before people knew what was happening. Stars in this include Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou. The director this time is Michael Sarnoski.
Ballerina
Another new member of the John Wick franchise – Ana de Armas returns for this story about how she became a female assassin trained by the criminals at Ruska Roma. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, Lance Reddick, Norman Reedus, Anjelica Huston and Gabriel Byrne also appear in this spin-off.
Inside Out 2
The delightful Pixar film Inside Out gets a sequel (with the voice talents of Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, and Lewis Black amongst others). In this, we visit Riley who is in college and dealing with lots of new emotions as she navigates fresh changes.
Bad Boys 4
Sure who wouldn’t want another Bad Boys film, for the craic. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence return as detectives Mike Lowery (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence). Surely we can expect plenty of action and excitement in this.
Twisters
If you loved the 1996 action classic Twister, you’ll be stoked for this ‘new chapter’, which is directed by Lee Isaac Chung (Minari). It even stars Daisy Edgar-Jones alongside Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea and Maura Tierney. We don’t have a lot of information on this, but we can expect epic twisters anyway. Sign us up.
Deadpool 3
Ryan Reynolds’ wisecracking Deadpool character returns, and alongside him will be Hugh Jackman, and Leslie Uggams. What can we expect? We don’t know a lot – just that we’ll get plenty of adult humour, and we’ll also hopefully find out why Wolverine is back on screen after Logan…
Borderlands
This space movie is directed by Eli Roth and based on a video game series – notably, this was also written by Craig Mazin, who was behind the TV adaptation of The Last of Us. Stars are in the big leagues, and include Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Beetlejuice 2
Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice… Tim Burton directs and much of the original cast - Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, Catherine O’Hara – return alongside Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Belluci and Willem Dafoe for this sequel.
Joker: Folie à Deux
Joker as directed by Todd Phillips was quite a movie phenomenon, garnering plenty of discourse and big audiences – as well as an Oscar for Joaquin Phoenix. The big draw here is that he’s going to be joined by Lady Gaga (as Harley Quinn) and none other than Brendan Gleeson for this sequel. Intriguing.
Gladiator 2
Paul Mescal has been spending a lot of time in the gym getting ready for Ridley Scott’s sequel to Gladiator, where he will be sharing the screen alongside actors like Denzel Washington and Djimon Hounsou. Mescal plays Lucius, who is emperor, while Connie Nielsen returns to play Lucilla. Surely to be epic.
Wicked Part 1
Fans of the musical will be excited to see Cynthia Erivo (as Ephaba), Ariana Grande (as Glinda), and Jonathan Bailey reach the big screen to tell the story of the Wicked Witch of the West. The story is so epic that it will take two films to tell it. Directed by Jon M Chu, who was behind Crazy Rich Asians and In the Heights.
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
Brian Cox and Mirando Otto are among the confirmed stars in this latest Lord of the Rings film, which is directed by Kenji Kamiyama. This is animated, and centres on legendary king of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand. Brian Cox voices the main character, and Otto reprises her role as Eowyn.
Mufasa: The Lion King
Disney has been making new live-action movies of its classic films, and has already made a ‘live’ version of Lion King. This prequel is directed by Barry Jenkins and tells Mufasa’s back story (Mufasa being Simba’s father). Aaron Pierre will voice Mufasa (rather than James Earl Jones), and Kelvin Harrison Jr will play Scar.
Nosferatu
Get ready for a dark and intense cinema experience when Robert Eggers brings us his version of Nosferatu. He has Bill Skarsgård, Lily-Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Emma Corrin and Willem Dafoe on board for this follow up to the epic The Northman. Lily-Rose Depp plays the young woman with whom a vampire (Bill Skarsgård) is infatuated.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say