What Movies Come Out in 2023?

What Movies Come Out in 2023?

 

When I looked ahead at the slate of films set to be released in the coming year, I was much more pleasantly surprised than when I went through the same process last year. 2022 didn’t have that many films coming out that I was particularly excited about, but it was also still a very uncertain year as to what movies we would actually end up getting. In the wake of two years of pandemic restrictions and constant delays and cancellations, the early 2022 release dates were all tentative ones, but in the end most movies came out as intended last year…and were disappointments.

2023 looks like it will be different. There are far more movies set for release this coming year that show promise, and even though a large portion of them are unnecessary sequels, many of them are original films from some great directors and writers, and as always, there will be movies that come out that weren’t on my radar that end up being great. In fact, many of my favourite movies of the past few years have been ones I had no idea were coming.

The internet likes to break down the years for cinema into four groupings of months (I guess loosely representing the four seasons of the year, or four quarters) so that’s how I’ll break it down for you, and we’ll comb through some of the releases I’m intrigued by, some of the ones that are sure to be the biggest blockbusters, and some that I can’t even believe are coming out.

 

 

January to March

 

Ah, yes, January horror movies: oh how they do suck—except when they don’t, like last year when we got a new Scream movie and it was actually a hit with critics and many fans. I still haven’t gotten around to seeing it, but I don’t think one surprisingly-not-terrible January horror release means we should get too excited for the ones coming in early 2023. M3GAN (January 6) is being produced by James Wan, and it looks like it could almost be as wacky as his previous directorial effort, Malignant, but M3GAN isn’t directed by him, so I’m not expecting much from what looks like a mix of Terminator and Child’s Play, with an evil AI doll as the villain. Another horror flick coming out early in the year is Knock at the Cabin (February 3) which is the newest film from M. Night Shyamalan. I know nothing about it, but after the mystifying experience that was his last film, Old, I’m at least intrigued.

February has an eclectic mix of films, but there is only one that I am confidently looking forward to. Magic Mike’s Last Dance (February 10) is the third Magic Mike film starring Channing Tatum and directed by Steven Soderbergh, and I can’t say I’m looking forward to it, since I haven’t seen either of the previous Magic Mike films, but the trailer seems to be selling a worthwhile threequel, and I expect it will be a hit just like the previous two. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (February 15) had a lot of buzz on the internet when it was announced because it is a horror take on the traditionally lovable honey-devouring bear. I mean, the concept alone is genius. The first trailer didn’t impress me that much, though—I’m unsure if the campy style and mix of humour and horror will work, and the effects look cheap, but maybe it will live up to its potential.

Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania (February 17) is the next installment in the never-ending MCU, and the trailer makes it look like the entire thing was shot on green screen sets. I know that’s true of pretty much all MCU films these days, but this one looks painfully obvious, and I can’t say I’m all that excited about a third Ant-Man adventure (his first post-Endgame solo outing) after the repeated disappointments of Marvel’s efforts last year. Finally in February there’s Cocaine Bear (February 24) which is the February release I’m most sold on. It’s based on a true story of a black bear that consumed a massive amount of cocaine someone lost in the woods and then went on a rampage. Beyond just the concept, I’m fascinated by the choice of director: Elizabeth Banks, primarily known for acting, who has directed Pitch Perfect 2 and the Charlies Angels reboot—films not exactly similar in content to a coked-out bear going berserk. It also has a stacked cast, so I don’t know if this is a project that we’re supposed to take seriously or not, but I am all in. I haven’t even watched the trailer, I just want to see it and be wowed.

March is more stacked than I remember it being in years. We have the previously-delayed Creed III (March 3) which is a huge movie for lead actor Michael B. Jordan to make his directorial debut with, but his connection to the fictional boxer is very much like Sylvester Stallone’s own, so seeing him step behind the camera is exciting, especially with the film having been shot with IMAX in mind. It is disappointing that Stallone isn’t involved at all this time, but hopefully the story of Adonis Creed is concluded in this third film so we can have a neat trilogy instead of ending up with another Rocky V situation.

Speaking of Scream last year, they fast-tracked another sequel, Scream VI (March 10) which I guess means they’re naming them like Star Wars movies now, but at least they gave it a number and didn’t just call it Scream for a third time. On the same day, an original film is being released, called Inside (March 10) which I am much more intrigued by. The trailer shows Willem Dafoe as an art thief who gets trapped in a high-tech apartment and has to survive with few provisions and a dwindling grasp on his sanity. I think it could get him his long-deserved Oscar for Best Actor and be an intense psychological thriller.  

Two notable action sequels in March are Shazam! Fury of the Gods (March 17) and John Wick: Chapter 4 (March 24). I thought the first Shazam was decent, especially for a DC movie, but I’m not all that interested in seeing another adventure with that superhero crew. The John Wick series has been surprisingly consistent, so I would at least be willing to check out the new installment, but based on my enjoyment of Chapter 2 and 3, I don’t think any of these sequels will ever quite match up to the original.

Finally that month we’re getting Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (March 31), which I’m not particularly excited about, since I’m not a huge fantasy nerd and I’ve never played D&D, but the trailer does make it look like it could be a fun adventure filled with quipping characters, weird monsters, exciting action, and decent CGI. It has to at least be better than the Dungeons & Dragons movie from 2000, right?

 

April to June

 

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 7) is the first time the video game character has been in a movie since 1994, and that previous live-action adaptation of the game (the first of its kind) was an abysmal failure, which is why Nintendo hasn’t allowed another Mario movie to be made until now. Jack Black as Bowser is a great voice casting choice, but Chris Pratt, who has been in too many movies at this point, has been made fun of every bit as much as he deserves to be for voicing the Italian plumber. The trailer actually showed off some charming animation and hints of fun adventure, but I doubt it will be the new best videogame film yet made. The other two big April releases on my radar I’m also doubtful of. Renfield (April 14) is based on the character from Dracula to some unknown capacity, but I don’t know anything else about it yet. Evil Dead Rise (April 21) I know more about: it’s a reboot/continuation of the Evil Dead franchise, without much involvement from writer/director Sam Raimi or star Bruce Campbell, so I’m leery on it. However, Campbell has spoken positively about it so far, and it’s said to be going back to the horror roots much like the 2013 remake did, though I wonder how it could go much harder than that version or the superb series Ash vs. Evil Dead which probably should have been where the franchise ended.

The month of May is typically when summer blockbuster season begins, but it seems there are more blockbusters spread throughout the year with every year that passes. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (May 5) is the MCU movie I’ve been looking forward to the most since Spider-Man: No Way Home. Writer/director James Gunn returns to conclude his trilogy, probably in thrilling, hilarious, and depressing fashion based on the first trailer and the rumors that this will be the final outing for this particular lineup of Guardians. Also in May we’re getting the tenth Fast & Furious movie, Fast X (May 19) which completely blew the opportunity to call it FasTen Your Seatbelts, but whatever. I don’t think I even saw the last two anyway. The controversial live-action remake of The Little Mermaid (May 26) will probably be a disappointment given the track record of live-action Disney remakes as of late, but maybe it will be a bit more original than The Lion King (2019) or Pinocchio (2021).

In June we finally get the delayed Spidey sequel Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (June 2), which no longer bears the title of Part One, so I suspect it will be a more complete film than it was originally pitched as, and hopefully the follow-up doesn’t get delayed. Another big sequel that month is Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 9), which looks closer in vision and tone to the previous Transformers film (Bumblebee) than the Michael Bay films, and it’s from the director of Creed II, so hopefully it’s a fun movie, but the transformer beasts or whatever they’re called look a little dumb and I think it might muddy the world-building and continuity even more than Bumblebee did.

The middle of June has three films slated for release that I’m interested in. 65 (June 16) looks like it’s basically a remake of Planet of Dinosaurs starring Adam Driver, so obviously sign me up for that. Asteroid City (June 16) is the newest film from Wes Anderson, and I’m excited just because it’s from him and it supposedly has one of the biggest ensemble casts he’s put together yet, so I don’t need to know more than that at this point. The Flash (June 16) has been one of the most delayed DC movies ever and overshadowed by controversy surrounding its lead, so who knows how it will be received, but I’m intrigued by the multiverse and time travel elements being teased. It might be an expensive couple of days for me at the Cineplex that weekend.

Finally, right at the end of June, we have another big, long-awaited sequel, which has been teased since Lucasfilm was acquired by Disney over a decade ago. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (June 30) brings back Harrison Ford as the aging (Aged? Ancient?) archaeologist/adventurer for one last outing, but I am not excited about it. The thing about the Indiana Jones trilogy (Raiders, Temple, and Crusade) was the series still felt serialized at that point, like the old adventure serials they were paying tribute to, and it should have stopped there, but then Kingdom of the Crystal Skull brought Indy back as an old guy who looked like he had been wearing the same outfit for thirty years and tried to sort-of replace him with Shia Labeouf, but it wasn’t what most fans were hoping for, and it seemed director Steven Spielberg had lost his youthful directorial spirit, ingenuity, and craft.  Spielberg isn’t directing Dial of Destiny, it’s from James Mangold, who aced it with Ford v Ferrari and Logan in past years, but this new “final adventure” seems poised to tell a worthless story and go down the same path as Disney’s Star Wars sequel trilogy as an exercise in collecting money rather than telling a worthwhile narrative.

 

July to September

 

In the summer month of July there are a number of big blockbusters set for release, and three of them are sequels. Insidious: Fear the Dark (July 7) is the fifth Insidious film, but original creators Leigh Whannell and James Wan have left the franchise behind, so guess who is directing this new one? Well, it sure surprised me to see that lead actor Patrick Wilson has stepped behind the camera, making his directorial debut. Honestly, I think that’s kind of cool that he’s passionate enough about the series to make that move. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One (July 14) already has me sold thanks to the same director returning, as well as Tom Cruise and most of the cast from Fallout, and the little preview of a certain stunt shown in IMAX before Avatar: The Way of Water reminded me of just how crazy Cruise is when it comes to the action scenes in these movies.

Oppenheimer (July 21) is the story of the creator of the nuclear bomb, and the newest from director Christopher Nolan. It looks significantly better than his last movie that was supposed to “save” cinemas in the first summer of the pandemic, Tenet (which I didn’t like, by the way). Hopefully Oppenheimer is more in line with his other historical World War II-set drama, Dunkirk, and with one of the most impressive casts he’s ever assembled for one of his movies, including the reliably-excellent Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, I think it might be the best original film of the summer—but then again, it is competing with Barbie (July 21) which is the first live-action adaptation of the popular doll line, starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. I’m actually excited to see both.

The Marvels (July 28) is the second solo film for Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, and guess what? I don’t care. I’d rather see Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (August 4), which I’m pretty sure is the third or fourth film reboot of the heroes-in-the-half-shell. It’s another computer-animated feature, but with Seth Rogen behind it I think it might be a fun, different take on the characters. An August sequel that I am looking forward to is Meg 2: The Trench (August 4). I thought the first Meg was decent, but the second novel was better than the first novel which the first movie was more closely based on, so the second movie could follow suit. I haven’t heard anything about it, though, so I think there’s a chance it will be delayed, possibly into next year. The first movie was in development hell for two decades, so I’ve learned not to get my hopes up.  

Mario isn’t the only big video game adaptation coming in 2023. Gran Turismo (August 11) will hopefully be a better action flick than the similar racing-game-turned-movie starring Aaron Paul, Need for Speed, and I want to say it has a chance because good actors like David Harbour, Djimon Hounsou, and Orlando Bloom are in it, but Need for Speed had a good cast too, so it’s not a safe bet. It’s not even a safe bet pointing out the director, Neill Blomkamp, who hasn’t made a good feature film since Elysium, and even that one was nowhere near as good as his debut, District 9. The DC film Blue Beetle (August 18) I know similarly little about. I know even less about the Blue Beetle superhero character than I do about the Gran Turismo videogames, but I’m sure it will be at least a moderate hit.

September doesn’t usually have much to offer, and it’s the same deal this year, but I have to mention the strangest trilogy of sequels that are all coming out that month. There’s The Equalizer 3 (September 1), which I could care less about, but I am surprised it’s being made, especially since it’s been five years since the last one, then there’s The Nun 2 (September 8) which I will definitely be avoiding, because I heard enough about how bad the first one was and I am sick of mediocre Conjuring spinoffs and main series films, and then there’s The Expendables 4 (September 22)…seriously? The Expendables 3 downgraded the series to PG-13 and was a total waste of talent and time, but that was way back in 2014. Why bother now? I guess those aging action stars are hurting for another paycheck. And to top it all off, the title is being stylized as Expend4bles. Hollywood, please stop letting things like this happen.

 

October to December

 

In past years there have been some major releases saved for the last quarter of the year, but 2023 doesn’t have anything that big that I’m excited for, with one exception. Kraven the Hunter (October 6) is the newest installment in the highly questionable live-action Spider-Man cinematic universe, which turned into a certified meme last year with Morbius. Will Kraven be the new “It’s Morbin’ Time” or will lead actor Aaron Taylor-Johnson escape the roasting of fans that Jared Leto deservedly received? There hasn’t been much released about the movie yet, so only time will tell. Just to be clear, Kraven the Hunter is not the one exception for what I’m excited for in this quarter…

I’m also not excited for the currently untitled Exorcist reboot (October 13), which has a few illusions to make it seem like something that might be promising, even beyond that Friday the 13^th release date. Original Exorcist star Ellen Burstyn is back as Chris MacNeil, and it is being written and directed by David Gordon Green, who just concluded his reboot trilogy of the Halloween franchise. Poor ninety-year-old Ellen Burstyn is being dragged back out to reprise one of her greatest film roles by desperate studio execs after she had wisely declined to return to the franchise for almost fifty years, and David Gordon Green’s last two Halloween movies were terrible-yet-still-successful sequels. I don’t anticipate yet another Exorcist movie will be worthwhile, let alone achieve the impossible and be anywhere close to as good as the original or The Exorcist III, or be a worthy successor to the award-winning classic. Another horror franchise that should’ve remained dead but is somehow back yet again is Saw X (October 27)—yes, that’s the tenth Saw movie. I thought they had already past ten movies by this point.

Finally, in one of my least-favourite months of the year, there’s a cinematic bright spot: Dune: Part Two (November 3) is coming out! This will be the conclusion to the first half of Dune released in October 2021, and I sincerely hope it’s a satisfyingly-epic second part. It was touch and go for a short time there as to whether or not we would even get Part Two, but luckily the cast and crew returned and we can finally determine if Part One really was good or not with the full story being told. The rest of the movies in 2023 don’t interest me, but I’ll mention the big ones, anyway.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (November 17) is based on the prequel novel by original Hunger Games writer Suzanne Collins, which I’m sure will be another huge YA hit, then there’s Wonka (December 15) which is only interesting because Timothée Chalamet will be playing a younger version of the character, but that’s where my interest in it ends. An untitled fourth Ghostbusters (December 20) is set for release at the end of the year, and despite some positive reviews for the previous Ghostbusters: Afterlife, I don’t think it’s my nostalgic-cash-grab kind of thing at this point, and I’m even less interested in yet another unnecessary sequel. Finally, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (December 25) brings back Jason Momoa as the King of Atlantis (and Amber Heard as Mera, apparently, despite all the controversy), once again directed by James Wan, who directed 2018’s Aquaman. I didn’t think Aquaman was all that bad, but it also wasn’t all that good, so I think I’ll pass on the sequel.

That wraps up my preview of 2023 movies! Hopefully it will help you to know what to look forward to in the coming year and which movies will be worth going out to the theater for. Stayed tuned throughout the year for reviews, recommendations, and lots more!