My Most Anticipated Films of 2023
Looking ahead at this year’s calendar puts a magnificently HUGE smile on my face. Several of my favorite filmmakers and my favorite on-screen performers are showing up this year, not to mention, many are teaming up and I am beaming. By the looks of it, this year is going to be legendary *fingers crossed*.
Infinity Pool (Jan 27)
Find out what kind of a creature you really are.While staying at an isolated island resort, James and Em are enjoying a perfect vacation of pristine beaches, exceptional staff, and soaking up the sun. But guided by the seductive and mysterious Gabi, they venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a culture filled with violence, hedonism, and untold horror.
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Cast: Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth, Cleopatra Coleman
Knock at the Cabin (February 3)
Save your family or save humanity. Make the choice. While vacationing at a remote cabin, a young girl and her parents are taken hostage by four armed strangers who demand that the family make an unthinkable choice to avert the apocalypse. With limited access to the outside world, the family must decide what they believe before all is lost.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Kristen Cui, Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn
Magic Mike’s Last Dance (February 10)
The final tease. Mike Lane takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse… and an agenda all her own. With everything on the line, once Mike discovers what she truly has in mind, will he — and the roster of hot new dancers he’ll have to whip into shape — be able to pull it off?
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: Channing Tatum, Selma Hayek, Ayub Khan-Din
A Good Person (March 24)
Sometimes we find hope where we least expect it. Allison’s life falls apart following her involvement in a fatal accident. The unlikely relationship she forms with her would-be father-in-law helps her live a life worth living.
Director: Zach Braff
Cast: Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, Molly Shannon, Celeste O’Connor
Scream VI (March 10)
New York, new killer. Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter in New York City.
Directors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett
Cast: Courteney Cox, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Hayden Panettiere, Dermot Mulroney, Samara Weaving
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 7)
A plumber named Mario travels through an underground labyrinth with his brother, Luigi, trying to save a captured princess.
Director: Michael Jelenic, Aaron Horvath
Cast: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Charlie Day, Jack Black, Keegan-Michael Key, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen
Beau Is Afraid (April 21)
From his darkest fears comes the greatest adventure. Described as a ‘zonky nightmare comedy’.
Director: Ari Aster
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Ryan, Nathan Lane, Denis Ménochet, Kylie Rogers
Asteroid City (June 16)
In an American desert town circa 1955, the itinerary of a Junior Stargazer/Space Cadet convention is spectacularly disrupted by world-changing events.
Director: Wes Anderson
Cast: Margot Robbie, Tom Hanks, Rupert Friend, Maya Hawke, Jeffrey Wright, Scarlett Johansson, Liev Schreiber, Tilda Swinton, Jeff Goldblum, Bryan Cranston, Jason Schwartzman, Willem Dafoe, Steve Carell, Adrien Brody, Edward Norton, Hong Chau, and more.
Elemental (June 16)
Opposites react. In a city where fire, water, land, & air residents live together, a fiery young woman & a go-with-the-flow guy will discover something elemental: How much they have in common.
Director: Peter Sohn
Cast: Mamoudou Athie, Leah Lewis
Extraction 2 (June 16)
After barely surviving his grievous wounds from his mission in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Tyler Rake is back, and his team is ready to take on their next mission. Tasked with extracting a family who is at the mercy of a Georgian gangster, Tyler infiltrates one of the world’s deadliest prisons in order to save them. But when the extraction gets hot, and the gangster dies in the heat of battle, his equally ruthless brother tracks down Rake and his team to Sydney, in order to get revenge.
Director: Sam Hargrave
Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Rudhraksh Jaiswal, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa, Justin Howell, Tinatin Dalakishvili
No Hard Feelings (June 23)
A Long Island ne’er-do-well is hired by a wealthy couple to socialize with their introverted son before he heads to college.
Director: Gene Stupnitsky
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, Matthew Broderick, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Hasan Minhaj, Kyle Mooney, Alysia Joy Powell, Natalie Morales
Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One (July 14)
We all share the same fate.
Director: Christopher McQuarrie
Cast: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Henry Czerny, Cary Elwes, Shea Whigham, Indira Varma, Angela Bassett
Oppenheimer (July 21)
The world forever changes. The story of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II.
Director: Christopher Nolan
Cast: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Matt Damon, Dane DeHaan, Kenneth Branagh, Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie, Gary Oldman, Robert Downey Jr., Matthew Modine, Rami Malek, Alden Ehrenreich, Alex Wolff, Casey Affleck, Jack Quaid, Emma Dumont, Dylan Arnold, Matthias Schweighöfer, Josh Peck, and more.
Barbie (July 21)
A doll living in Barbieland is expelled for not being perfect enough and sets off on an adventure in the real world.
Director: Greta Gerwig (!!!!! ❤)
Cast: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Scott Evans, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Emerald Fennell, Connor Swindells, Ncuti Gatwa, Rhea Perlman, Sharon Rooney, Ana Kayne
Challengers (August 11)
Tashi, a tennis player-turned-coach, has taken her husband, Art, and transformed him from a mediocre player into a world-famous Grand Slam champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a “Challenger” event — close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour — where he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick: his former best friend and Tashi’s former boyfriend.
Director: Luca Guadagnino
Cast: Zendaya, Mike Faist, Josh O’Connor, A.J. Lister
Last Voyage of the Demeter (August 11)
The merchant ship Demeter is chartered to carry fifty unmarked wooden crates from Carpathia to London, only for its doomed crew to find themselves stalked each night by a shadowy presence onboard.
Director: André Øvredal
Cast: David Dastmalchian, Javier Botet, Aisling Franciosi, Liam Cunningham, Corey Hawkins, Nikolai Nikolaeff, Stefan Kapičić, Jon Jon Briones, Nicolo Pasetti, Adam Shaw
Cuckoo (September 29, according to IMDB)
Hide. Chased by a mysterious woman, 17-year-old Gretchen, who just moved with her family to an alpine resort after her mother’s death, must uncover a conspiracy to save herself and her sister.
Director: Tilman Singer
Cast: Hunter Schafer, Dan Stevens, Jessica Henwick, Marton Csokas, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Greta Fernández, Proschat Madani, Kalin Morrow, Jan Bluthardt, Lesley Jennifer Higl, Zita Hanrot
The Exorcist (October 13)
The father of a possessed child seeks out the aid of Chris MacNeil, whose daughter Regan survived a similar possession in the 1970s.
Director: David Gordon Green
Cast: Leslie Odom Jr., Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd, Nedim Jahić
Dune: Part Two (November 3)
Follow the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family. Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, Paul endeavors to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, Austin Butler, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Léa Seydoux, Charlotte Rampling, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Souheila Yacoub, Ana Cilas, Tim Blake Nelson
The Killer (November 10)
After a fateful near-miss, an assassin battles his employers and himself on an international manhunt he insists isn’t personal.
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Monika Gossmann, Kellan Rhude
Wish (November 22)
Asha and a little ball of boundless energy called Star prove that when the will of one courageous human connects with the magic of the stars, wondrous things can happen.
Directors: Chris Buck, Fawn Veerasunthorn
Cast: Ariana DeBose Alan Tudyk
The Hunger Games: Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes (November 17)
Years before he would become the tyrannical President of Panem, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is the last hope for his fading lineage, a once-proud family that has fallen from grace in a post-war Capitol. With the 10th annual Hunger Games fast approaching, the young Snow is alarmed when he is assigned to mentor Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12. But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favor. Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy Gray’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.
Director: Francis Lawrence
Cast: Tom Blyth, Rachel Zegler, Josh Andrés Rivera, Hunter Schafer, Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, Fionnula Flanagan, Isobel Jesper Jones, Jason Schwartzman, and many more.
Wonka (December 15)
A young Willy Wonka embarks on a mission to spread joy through his chocolate, which quickly becomes a phenomenon.
Directo: Paul King
Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Sally Hawkins, Olivia Colman, Rowan Atkinson, Keegan-Michael Key
Rebel Moon (December 22)
When a peaceful colony on the edge of the galaxy finds itself threatened by the armies of the tyrannical Regent Balisarius, they dispatch Kora, a young woman with a mysterious past, to seek out warriors from neighboring planets to help them take a stand.
Director: Zach Snyder
Cast: Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Ray Fisher, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Cary Elwes, Jena Malone
TBD 2023:
Several of this year’s highly anticipated films haven’t yet been slated with a release date. We’re all hoping for the best, so here are the following hopefuls for me.
Killers of the Flower Moon (TBD)
Based on David Grann’s broadly lauded best-selling book, “Killers of the Flower Moon” is set in 1920s Oklahoma and depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Jesse Plemons, Lily Gladstone, Brendan Fraser, Tantoo Cardinal
Poor Things (TBD)
Upon drowning herself to escape her abusive husband, a woman has her brain replaced with the brain of her unborn child with the help of an eccentric scientist named Godwin Baxter.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Willem Dafoe, Mark Ruffalo, Margaret Qualley, Christopher Abbott, Jerrod Carmichael, Ramy Youssef
AND (TBD)
No plot information has been announced (which is totally fine by me, the only information I need is listed below).
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
Cast: Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, Margaret Qualley, Hong Chau, Joe Alwyn
Ghosted (TBD)
Meeting that special someone can be a real adventure. Described as a high-concept romantic action adventure in the vein of “Romancing the Stone” (1984).
Director: Dexter Fletcher
Cast: Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Tim Blake Nelson, Amy Sedaris, Tate Donovan, Lizze Broadway, Mike Moh
Blitz (TBD)
Follows the stories of a group of Londoners during the aerial bombing of the British capital during the war.
Director: Steve McQueen
Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, Erin Kellyman, Stephen Graham
Maestro (TBD)
A portrait of Leonard Bernstein’s singular charisma and passion for music as he rose to fame as America’s first native born, world-renowned conductor, all along following his ambition to compose both symphonic and popular Broadway works.
Director: Bradley Cooper
Cast: Bradley Cooper Carey Mulligan Jeremy Strong Maya Hawke Sarah Silverman Sam Nivola Matt Bomer
MaXXXine (TBD)
Hollywood here she comes. After the events of X, aspiring actress Maxine Minx continues her journey towards fame setting out to make it in 1980s Los Angeles.
Director: Ti West
Cast: Mia Goth
Napoleon (TBD)
An original and personal look at Napoleon’s origins and his swift, ruthless climb to emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine.
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, John Hollingworth, Youssef Kerkour, Davide Tucci
Argylle (TBD)
A world-class spy suffering from amnesia is tricked into believing he is a best-selling spy novelist. After his memories and lethal skills return, he goes down a path of revenge against the shadowy organization he used to work for, the Division.
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Samuel L. Jackson, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, Ariana DeBose, Dua Lipa, John Cena, Toby Haycock, Fiona Marr
Havoc (TBD)
After a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city.
Director: Gareth Evans
Cast: Tom Hardy, Forest Whitaker, Timothy Olyphant, Justin Cornwell, Jessie Mei Li, Yann Yann Yeo, Luis Guzmán
Bottoms (TBD)
Two unpopular queer girls start a fight club to have sex before their high school graduation.
Director: Emma Seligman
Cast: Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edibiri, Havana Rose Liu, Kaia Gerber, Punkie Johnson
Eileen (TBD theatrical)
The story of an unhappy young woman named Eileen who works at a prison in the 1960s and becomes infatuated with a new co-worker, who pulls her into complicity in a crime that surpasses her wildest imaginings.
Director:William Oldroyd
Cast: Anne Hathaway, Thomasin McKenzie
Thank you for reading! In absolutely no way should my personal opinions be taken as gospel. Talking movies is purely subjective for me, and I do my best to be honest and uplifting for the movies I choose to discuss. Follow me on Twitter and Letterboxd for more of me.
