We’re a week into the new year and instead of reminiscing all the good movies we got in 2023, it’s time to look ahead for the movies we’ve got in store for 2024. While I’m sure we’ll get all the Oscar buzz later on the fall, it seems to be a year full of more sequels and reboots/remakes. There’s obviously nothing wrong with that because I’m sure we’ll get a great taste of original content in theaters or on streaming services. Nevertheless, it’s time to look at the ten movies that I’m looking forward to the most. I’m not necessarily suggesting that these will be the best movies of the year but in general terms these will be the ten most anticipated movies based on my level excitement. Let’s begin!
#10 The Beekeeper (January 12th, 2024)
For those that know me, you know how much I love Jason Statham. The best way to describe a Jason Statham movie is a “beer and pizza movie.” You know what you’re probably going to get and no one should be expecting some form of awards potential from it. That being said, it’s quite satisfying when Jason Statham is beating the snot out of people. He performs his own stunts and he always delivers competent choreography, even if the movie as a whole can’t live up to the sums of his parts. The Beekeeper looks to be a promising action film and a revenge story. What’s even more exciting is the notion of David Ayer directing the film. Suicide Squad and Bright not withstanding, David Ayer is a talented director and as a writer. He can be lean and mean with violence but also deliver some great emotion. The Beekeeper doesn’t look like it’s set to be his best movie ever but as long as it delivers on the primary goal of Jason Statham kicking some ass then I think we’re in for a treat.
#9 Inside Out 2 (June 14th, 2024)
One of Pixar’s best animated features in the first Inside Out. It was their first original film in several years after a sequels for Toy Story, Cars and a prequel for Monsters, Inc. Not only that, before the release of Inside Out, the buzz and hype for the movie was stemming from how confident Disney was in the film. Inside Out was a critical darling and a box-office smash, considering that it opened the week after Jurassic World, which was dominating the box-office as well. Normally, money talks in Hollywood and when a movie makes that much dough talks of a sequel are inevitable. It’s been almost 10 years since the first film and now we get to revisit with the same characters we fell in love with before but also an addition of brand new emotions in the mind of Riley. Hopefully Inside Out 2 can recapture that magic and ponder on more deep and existential questions about the ideas of growing up.
#8 Civil War (April 26th, 2024)
I wasn’t all that particularly in love with Alex Garland’s most recent film Men, but he always be a saving grace with making Ex Machina, Annihilation and for writing Dredd. While the last number of years have been divided by the polarization of U.S. politics, I can’t help but wonder if Civil War might have something to say about our current political status. Obviously, any movie’s primary goal should be to entertain its audiences but a great movie that has the ability to entertain you and say something is something really special. A24 must have a lot of faith in Garland’s vision because the report going around Civil War is that it’s their most expensive movie to date. While the trailer looks promising and the cast is solid, I have this funny feeling that we’re in for maybe the years most controversial film and that alone makes me even more pumped to see this thing.
#7 Bob Marley: One Love (February 14th, 2024)
I’m not going to sit here and pretend that I know everything about the life of Bob Marley and his music. However, I’ve certainly been exposed to his music over the course of my life so to see him getting a proper biopic is quite exciting. The one problem that all biopics centered around a famous musician are usually structured the same. It’s not a fault to the genre and it doesn’t makes the movie worse, it’s a glaring nit-pick that those movies have. I will say though that despite the grievances that I have with the genre, the life of Bob Marley does fascinate me. Not only did he write great music, he was a global icon in all of pop culture. He was often very spiritual with how he wrote and approached his level of creativity when making music. It should be worth nothing that the family of Bob Marley serve as the films producers so hopefully that can give some encouragement for seeing the life of Bob Marley on the big screen.
#6 Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 12th, 2024)
Godzilla has been on a complete resurgence with Monarch on Apple TV+ and the spectacular Godzilla Minus One and to be back in the MonsterVerse is an exciting to be a fan of Godzilla. I’m not saying that Godzilla vs. Kong was the best movie of 2021 or deserved to be in the conversation for Best Picture, but I’d be lying to you if I told you I didn’t have an absolute blast with it because I did. Godzilla vs. Kong’s primary goal was to deliver an epic brawl between two of the most iconic movie monsters in cinematic history and it delivered it in spades. The human focus was the films biggest weakness but it was saved by the incredible fight that Godzilla and King Kong had. Not only does the trailer for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire promise more kaiju action and more of Godzilla and King Kong teaming up, it looks as if we’re getting an expansion of the mythology, a threatening force with Skas King and hopefully a lot of drums from the music of Junkie XL.
#5 Furiosa (May 24th, 2024)
Generally speaking, the idea of doing prequels is the least interesting thing to do. There’s usually no stakes because even if our main character is in peril well we know he/she is going to make it out of it because we already know what happens. Prequels take away any mystery you had because sometimes we don’t need to know everything about a character because sometimes unanswered questions are the best answers. By doing a prequel to the character of Furiosa, who was played tremendously by Charlize Theron in Mad Max Fury Road, just the simple thought of an origin story wasn’t a desire I desperately needed to know. That started to changed we found out that Anya Taylor-Joy was cast as a young Furiosa and George Miller was set to direct. But then that first trailer dropped and it immediately drew me back in to how much I love the world of Mad Max. While it does look a little heavier on VFX, Furiosa looks to bring us back to this world in a crazy fashion.
#4 Gladiator 2 (November 22nd, 2024)
Maybe some people have been turned off by the last number of projects from Ridley Scott, but even then he’s still regarded as one of the world best directors in the industry and for a lot of people, some might say that Gladiator is his best movie. It’s definitely one of Scott’s most successful films and its only Best Picture winner for his career. Talks of a sequel for Gladiator have been circling for ages and for a good portion of time it seemed that it was never going to see the light of day. It wasn’t until 2018 that it was finally green-lit and the pre-production had begun. Granted, there’s still some apprehensions with this project but the saving grace is that Ridley Scott is still a fantastic filmmaker, the cast includes Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Connie Nelson and Pedro Pascal and its placed itself at a perfect time of release for this Thanksgiving. Whether or not it lives up to the quality of the first Gladiator films, we’ll have to wait and see.
#3 Dune 2 (March 1st, 2024)
It’s a shame Dune 2 had to face a delay due to actors strike that happened last year not only because we have to wait longer to see it but because Dune 2 naturally feels like a winter release. It’s a big and epic science fiction movie but the first film gracefully had a place to be released in the fall to be poised as one of the last true event films of the year. Nowadays, each movie season is getting more and more crowded but beyond all else, the excitement for Dune 2 is almost too high to comprehend. You’ve essentially got the same cast from the first movie returning but you’ve also got the additions of Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux. Denis Villeneuve returns to direct, Zimmer is back to compose the films score and you’ve even got Greig Fraser returning as the films cinematographer. I mean what else is there not to be excited about?
#2 Deadpool 3 (July 26th, 2024)
Not only is the comic-book movie genre, the MCU is in a bit of a pickle with the lack of quality, lack of direction and the lack of identity of the recent phases of the franchise. It’s something that was probably almost unlikely set to happen because of how consistent and exciting the MCU used to be prior to Avengers: Endgame and that’s to say they haven’t had any wins post Endgame but the consistent level of quality is simply not there anymore. Now that Disney acquired properties of Fox, we’re finally going to see Merc with the Mouth join the MCU with Ryan Reynolds and his whole shebang. Deadpool 3 was almost a guarantee thing but it was when the announcement that Hugh Jackman was going to reprise his role as Wolverine for one final time. The fact that we’re going to see Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman on screen together has been a life long dream comic-book movie fans have been clamoring for and not only does this have a chance to bring some quality control to the MCU, I think it has the chance to make people excited for comic-book movies again.
#1 Nosferatu (December 25th, 2024)
2024 is finally bringing us a movie that I have been dying to see ever since it was announced in 2015 that a remake of Nosferatu was in development with Robert Eggers to direct. There’s a debate the 1922 silent film Nosferatu is one of the most iconic and legendary pieces of horror ever made and I would argue that its one classic horror movie that should be revisited and remade for a newer and fresh horror audience. Most people today probably don’t even know what Nosferatu is and it’s been a whole century since the original film came out. When you also couple it with the recent track record of Robert Eggers, a man who came out of nowhere with his horror film The Witch, The Lighthouse and his epic viking tale The Northman, Eggers is one of the best working directors in the business. We have to wait until the end of the year to see but until then we can salivate and anticipate what is my most eagerly anticipated movie of 2024.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 