As we bid 2023 a fond farewell, we have much to look forward to in regard to new cinema in 2024. Vulturehas done us a solid by providing a rundown of many of the upcoming films we should be seeing in theaters throughout the year while offering highlights of thirty-two of them. This listing features the musical version of "Mean Girls"; the highly anticipated continuation of "Dune"; "Furiosa", George Miller’s prequel to his "Mad Max: Fury Road"; "Twisters" which is a not a sequel to the 1996 film but a "new chapter"; Joaquin Phoenix returns as the criminally insane title character in "Joker: Folie à Deux" with Lady Gaga also on board; and the first part of the Broadway musical that fans have been long awaiting to see on the big screen, "Wicked".
Some of these features had been delayed from last year due to the strikes and because of these labor disputes, there will unavoidably be fewer films released over this year. And this slate also appears to be even more sequel heavy than the previous year with follow-ups that include "Deadpool", "Venom", "Inside Out", "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Despicable Me", "Ghostbusters", "Kung Fu Panda", "Bad Boys", "Planet of the Apes", "Gladiator" and after thirty-six years, "Beetlejuice".
This past year in movies found people were returning to theaters with the global box-office reaching twenty-six billion dollars in revenue, a 27% gain over 2021. And while that is quite impressive and encouraging, there is still a ways to go before there is full recovery to previous numbers before the pandemic. The question still remains, however, if that will ever be possible. One glaring problem that hindered getting a wider audience to return was the lack of product finding it's way into theaters last year, with wide gaps between release dates of new movies which was particularly noticeable over the holidays.
With this new year, studios are promising that they resolved the issue with releases and we should see a steady stream of new films throughout 2023.
Vulture has put a spotlight on twenty-eight films that should be released this year; ranging from the much buzzed about "M3gan" about an AI assistance doll-turned-killer (due in theaters today) to "Cocaine Bear" which is a fact-based story about a bear that goes berserk after consuming a large amount of the drug to a film finally being made based on the Judy Blume classic, coming-of-age book, "Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret" to the latest Wes Anderson fantasia, "Asteroid City" set in a 1955 Junior Space Cadet convention to the eighty year old Harrison Ford returning as his popular action hero in "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" to Greta Gerwig's live-action, colorful take on the sixty-three year old fashion doll, "Barbie" to the conclusion of Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi epic, "Dune: Part Two". There is also a listing of the rest of the movies scheduled to reach theaters by release date and some anticipated films that could (or should or might) come out in 2023.
I realize that we are only in the middle of summer but I have some seen some fascinating trailers for films being released later this fall and over the holidays that I can't wait to share:
For a while, it didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon but 007 is finally back. Daniel Craig returns in this teaser for "Skyfall" which is his third time in the role and the twenty-third film in the long-running series. This film (which marks fifty years since the first James Bond cinematic adventure, "Dr. No" appeared in 1962) is directed by Sam Mendes and features an impressive cast including Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, Albert Finney and Judi Dench who makes her seventh appearance in the series as "M".
"Skyfall" is due in the U.S. on November 9, 2012
"Django Unchained" is a revisionist western set in the deep South during the nineteenth century from the mind of America's version of an auteur, Quentin Tarantino. Django (Jamie Foxx), a slave who will be set free if he helps a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) track down a gang of killers and in exchange, help Django rescue his wife being held by a ruthless slave owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). I don't know how audiences are going to respond to this sure-to-be-controversial film, (most especially after all the uproar over Chris Rock's Twitter joke about slavery on July 4th) but I'm sure with it coming Mr. Tarantino, it will most certainly be very entertaining.
"Django Unchained" is due in US theaters on December 25, 2012
Baz Luhrmann, the visual mastermind behind "Moulin Rouge" and "William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet", has returned with a stunning new vision for F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, "The Great Gatsby. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Jay Gatsby, Carey Mulligan plays Daisy and returning after a long-absence from the screen, Tobey Maguire is Nick, the narrator of this tale. Although this story has been filmed many times over the years but there's not been a commercially successful version to date, perhaps this "Gatsby" could be the one. This film appears to be another grand spectacle by Mr. Luhrmann (and in 3D) so, it looks like this should be something to see.
"The Great Gatsby" is scheduled to be in US theaters on December 25. 2012:
UPDATE: "The Great Gatsby" has been pushed back until summer of 2013
This simple but moving teaser for the musical, "Les Miserables" features a stunning rendition by Anne Hathaway of the signature song, "I Dreamed A Dream". Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe also sing in this classic story based on the French novel by Victor Hugo. Tom Hooper, who won the Oscar for his work on "The King's Speech", directs.
"Les Miserables" should be in US theaters on December 14, 2012:
UPDATE: "Les Miserables" will now be released on December 25, 2012
