All told, despite the fact that the industry was on strike for half of the year, 2023 was a pretty good year to go to the movies. The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Fast X, Barbenheimer—all of them were big hits at the box office.
Problem is, the real pain of the long Hollywood strikes won’t be felt until 2024 or later. The movies that rolled out in 2023 were made before writers and actors hit the picket lines. Going forward, there are bound to be gaps. Movies that didn’t film during the strikes were supposed to come out next year; now they’re delayed.
On the flip side, a lot of movies set to be released in 2023 got delayed. That means we’re getting Dune: Part Two in March. There are plenty of other treats on the way, too, including another film that, like the Dune sequel, prominently features Zendaya. The list below is short on Marvel Cinematic Universe features but full of weirdness. These are WIRED’s picks for the movies you should plan to see this year.
The cast for Madame Web almost sounds like the setup for a joke: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott, and Zosia freaking Mamet walk into a (very loosely) spider-verse movie … Yet, despite the memes, it’s no joke. Based on one of Marvel’s more, uh, out-there characters, Madame Web follows a New York paramedic (Johnson), who realizes she’s a clairvoyant. Less multiverse, more street-level than a lot of Marvel stuff lately, Madame Web might seem like a slow burn, but it’s likely to set up big things.
US release date: February 14
This one was actually on our list for the most anticipated movies of 2023, but its US release date got pushed from November to March of 2024 amidst the Hollywood labor strikes. Well, we’re still anticipating it, and what we said last year still stands: When he released Dune in 2021, director Denis Villeneuve accomplished what neither Alejandro Jodorowsky nor David Lynch could do—make a successful adaptation of Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi series. Dune: Part Two is the completion of that story. You know, the one about the young hero who goes far out into the cosmos and discovers he’s destined for greatness. No, not that one, but you’re close.
US release date: March 1
To say we’re anticipating this movie might be a stretch. To date, none of the movies in the Ghostbusters franchise have lived up to the 1984 original, not even its sequel, Ghostbusters II. Still, if there’s ghosts getting busted, we’re going to show up. Also, this one’s got appearances from original cast members Annie Potts, Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, and Dan Aykroyd, so why not?
US release date: March 29
Bong Joon Ho is back! Coming off the wild, Oscar-winning success of Parasite, the South Korean filmmaker returns with Mickey 17, an adaptation of Edward Ashton’s novel, Mickey 7, about a clone who refuses to relinquish his gig when his replacement shows up. Needless to say, having Bong dig into some heavy cerebral sci-fi is about the best idea on this list. (Update: In January, Warner Bros. took Mickey 17 off of its 2024 lineup.)
US release date: March 29
The latest monster movie on the Warner Bros./Legendary slate comes from horror mastermind Adam Wingard (Death Note). Little is known about the plot other than the world is facing some kind of threat and the two iconic monsters from the title will probably duke it out. But really, do you need to know any more?
US release date: April 12
Sexy intrigue in the world of tennis. That’s the premise of the new movie from director Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name). Ostensibly, it’s about three tennis players—Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist), and Patrick (Josh O’Connor)—who meet as teenagers and then find themselves facing off, years later, while trying to win Grand Slam titles. Seeing as this is a Guadagnino picture, it’s likely to be much more messy than that.
US release date: April 26
Ryan Gosling plays a stuntman trying to win over his director, played by Emily Blunt. Their chemistry is evident right there in the trailer, and this comes from David Leitch, the former stuntman who helped launch John Wick and also helmed the Charlize Theron vehicle Atomic Blonde and Bullet Train. Seems like a good time.
US release date: May 3
Speaking of Atomic Blonde, this Mad Max: Fury Road prequel goes back to the early days of a different iconic Charlize Theron character. This time around, Furiosa is played by Anya Taylor-Joy, but the movie is still from the brilliant mind of George Miller. The expectations couldn’t be higher. Also, Chris Hemsworth will allegedly be in this movie somehow, so that’s exciting.
US release date: May 24
There have now been three Apes movies since director Rupert Wyatt’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes (and more in the franchise before that), and frankly, they’re all good, but none have really stood out. But this one is being directed by Wes Ball, who started out in visual effects, so chances are it’ll look cool as hell—as evidenced by the trailer above. (If Ball’s name sounds familiar, it’s because he’s also working on the forthcoming Legend of Zelda movie, so if you want to see how he handles kingdoms, see Kingdom.)
US release date: May 24
Remember those dancers who showed up for like five minutes in John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum? Now they’re getting their own movie, starring Ana de Armas as an assassin seeking revenge (aren’t they always?) against the people who killed her family. Part Black Widow, part Red Sparrow, all John Wick lore—hopefully with the requisite bisexual lighting.
US release date: June 7
It may not seem like it at first, but the 1996 disaster movie Twister is a cult classic. Helen Hunt in a series of distressed white tank tops. Bill Paxton playing a guy with an unnecessarily beloved truck. A truly delightful performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman. A soundtrack that has Tori Amos, k.d. lang, and Van Halen. It truly has everything. Now, it’s getting an “update” from director Lee Isaac Chung. Generally, we’d say it doesn’t need to be updated, but Chung made Minari, which was brilliant, so it’s in the queue.
US release date: July 19
Now that Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts have both moved to 2025, the Marvel Cinematic Universe slate is a little thin. Still, it has the third Deadpool movie, which also happens to be the first Deadpool movie to actually be an MCU movie, since it’s the first one to come since Disney completed its acquisition of Fox, which previously held the rights to the Merc with a Mouth. If you’re worried that being made under the Mouse House banner means the movie will lack the, uh, edginess of previous Deadpool installments, fear not. A few months ago, director Shawn Levy assured us that his film will still very much be an R-rated affair. He also didn’t deny there would be a Taylor Swift cameo, so keep an eye out for that too.
US release date: July 26
Filmmaker Eli Roth’s latest is an adaptation of the long-running Borderlands video game series starring—deep breath—Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gina Gershon, Bobby Lee, Edgar Ramirez, and a host of others all looking for a relic on Pandora. No doubt this one will get weird.
US release date: August 9
If you ask us, and you didn’t, Alien movies without Sigourney Weaver just aren’t as good. But this Alien movie is being made by Fede Alvarez, who, as the director behind the Evil Dead remake, knows how to take on a well-established franchise. Considering Alvarez’s pedigree in horror, this one might be more scary and less cerebral than the more recent films in the franchise.
US release date: August 16
Did this movie need a sequel? No. Will we watch it anyway? Yes.
US release date: September 6
Speaking of franchises that don’t need any more installments: Transformers. You know what, though? This one sounds really impressive for no other reason than its stacked voice cast, which includes Chris Hemsworth (Optimus Prime), Keegan-Michael Key (Bumblebee), Jon Hamm (Sentinel Prime), and Brian Tyree Henry (Megatron).
US release date: September 13
Look, people really liked Joker. It’s one of the biggest R-rated movies of all time. Its sequel is being billed as a musical and will feature Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. Seems legit.
US release date: October 4
Details on this one are real murky, but apparently Tom Hardy is back as Eddie Brock, and he also cowrote the script. Be ready for something weird.
US release date: November 8
How often do dudes talk about the Roman Empire? Probably a lot more come November, when Ridley Scott releases the sequel to his fan-beloved Gladiator, this time starring Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal. Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here? (Sorry. Had to.)
US release date: November 22
New Lord of the Rings! OK, so this one is animated and not made by Peter Jackson, but still—new Lord of the Rings!
US release date: December 13
Pardon the pun, but this one is a bit of a dark horse. Directed by Robert Eggers (The Witch), it’s the second remake of F. W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film of same name. (The first one was Werner Herzog’s Nosferatu the Vampyre.) A twist on Bram Stoker’s Dracula, it looks all haunting and foreboding and black-and-white, like Eggers’ The Lighthouse, but there were some very vague rumors earlier this year that it didn’t go over well at a test screening. Whatever. Eggers knows horror, and taking on a classic seems like just the right thing for him to do.
US release date: December 25
This one might not actually hit theaters in 2024, but considering how epic Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse was, can you blame us for anticipating its release?
US release date: TBD
