All in all, and despite the film world being on strike for most of the year, 2023 was still a pretty good year to go to the cinema. The Super Mario Bros. movie, the stunning Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Oppenheimer and, of course, most of all, Barbie—all were big box office hits. The real pain of the long Hollywood strikes will only be felt this year. Although there are bound to be gaps in the future, there are some 2023 films that have been postponed. From The Dune sequel to Deadpool 3, we’ve rounded up 10 movies we’re really, really looking forward to this year.
Which is why we’re getting Dune: Part Two in March. In 2021, we discovered that the fantastic Denis Villeneuve had done what neither Alejandro Jodorowsky nor David Lynch could do—he made a successful adaptation of Frank Herbert’s legendary sci-fi series. The second part of this story concludes with the latest generation of actors, Zendaya and Timothée Chalemet.
And for those who haven’t had enough of the Euphoria heroine, you can catch her next month in the new film from Luca Guadagnino, director of Call Me By Your Name. Challengers promises to be a sexy mash-up of the tennis world, about three tennis players – Tashi (Zendaya), Art (Mike Faist) and Patrick (Josh O’Connor) – who meet as teenagers and years later find themselves pitted against each other as they compete for Grand Slam titles.
Ryan Gosling, who stars in Barbie, plays a stuntman in The Fall Guy who tries to win over his director, played by Emily Blunt. The chemistry between the two is evident from the trailer, and former stuntman David Leitch, who has worked on films such as John Wick and Atomic Blonde, has been cast as director.
Speaking of which, the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel film, Furiosa, dates back to the early days of another iconic Charlize Theron character. Furiosa is played this time by Anya Taylor-Joy, but the film still comes from the brilliant mind of George Miller, so our expectations couldn’t be higher.
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence reunite in the fourth installment of the Bad Boys franchise. The production will serve as a sequel to Bad Boys for Life, which grossed $426.5 million at the worldwide box office. Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah will return for the fourth film, with Chris Bremner writing the script.
Now that Captain America and Thor have both moved to 2025, Marvel’s palette this year is a little weak. What could be a big hit, though, is the third Deadpool movie, which could actually be called the first Deadpool movie, as it’s the first to be made since Disney completed its acquisition of Fox, which previously held the rights to the loudmouthed superhero. Although the production is being made under the Disney banner, director Shawn Levy has assured fans in advance that his film will remain strictly R-rated.
Can an Alien movie work without Sigourney Weaver? The question is likely to divide sci-fi horror fans. One thing is for sure, Alien: Romulus, which hits cinemas at the end of the summer, is being made by Fede Alvarez, who, as the director of the Evil Dead remake, knows how to take a well-established franchise and make it work. Given Alvarez’s experience in horror, we can be optimistic that we’ll get something scary and fresh.
Not only audiences, but critics loved Joker, which was one of the highest R-rated films of all time and a huge hit at the box office. The sequel, Joker: Folie á Deux, is being billed as a madcap musical and will star Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. It should be interesting!
The Roman Empire takes centre stage again in November! That’s when Ridley Scott will present the sequel to the fan-favourite Gladiator, this time starring Denzel Washington, Paul Mescal, and Pedro Pascal. Scott also recently revealed who Denzel Washington will play in Gladiator 2. He’s supposed to be a character similar to Proximo, who deals in all sorts of things and then gets into the gladiator business.
And we saved the best for last! Yes, we’re talking about Nosferatu. Robert Eggers (The Witch) directed a new remake of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 silent film of the same name (the first was Werner Herzog’s). The film is based on Bram Stoker’s Dracula and looks as spooky, foreboding and black and white as Eggers’ The Lighthouse. Eggers certainly knows horror, and the world of Dracula seems to him the perfect setting.