Honorable Mentions
First off, as always, a special thanks to former Playlist scribe Oliver Lyttelton, who still weighs in on this list every year and helps us put it together. His input is invaluable.
OK, let’s talk about what’s not on the list and why you’re maybe mad. Lay your head down on the couch, shall we? So, coming close to being on the list (and ostensibly on the list at one point and cut for time) were things like ”Ticket to Paradise” (George Clooney and Julia Roberts), “DC League of Super-Pets,” Pixar’s “Turning Red,” “Uncharted” with Tom Holland and Mark Wahlberg, the Dylan O’Brien/Mark Rylance thriller “The Outfit,” Jean-Pierre Jeunet ‘s “Bigbug” and perhaps most painfully, the Netflix movie “They Cloned Tyrone” which features the terrific cast of Jamie Foxx, John Boyega and Teyonah Parris (if it’s a big hit, we’ll be kicking ourselves, but in our meager defense, it was on last year’s list!). Look, again, streaming makes for a glut of extra movies to contend with.
Also, keep in mind, like every year, we do a Best Films Of 2022 That We’ve Already Seen feature. That’ll include any of the films seen at festivals this year—things like Kogonada’s “After Yang” and Joachim Trier’s“Worst Person In The World” to name two film festival favorites —so don’t despair if a film like that isn’t on this list; it’ll turn up later.
Then, of course, there are all the studio films we mentioned, “Morbius” the new “Scream,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” “Legally Blonde,” “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” and the Untitled ‘Super Mario’ movie, Guy Ritchie‘s “Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre,” Roland Emmerich‘s “Moonfall,” “Death on the Nile” (is that actually coming out because of the Armie Hammer situation??), the new “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,””Downton Abbey: A New Era,” “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” and more. Look, all of that could be fine, but it’s not always our bag.
What interests us most in our honorable mention list is the nooks and crannies of films that sound really interesting, but were either cut for time and or we just don’t have any clue if they’ll be ready. They could pop up at a festival, they could land on a streamer. Keep an eye peeled. So here’s a list of stuff that we’re still very much looking forward too (deep breath, look a lot of this stuff sounds awesome, but again, only so much time). Intriguing sounding and possibly coming next year, top of mind is: “Flux Gourmet” a new horror from Peter Strickland starring Asa Butterfield and Gwendoline Christie. Another horror that could be intriguing is David Bruckner’s “Hellraiser” remake starring Odessa A’zion and Jamie Clayton as Pinhead, a straight to Hulu movie. You also might be asking where Claire Denis’ “Stars At Noon” with Margaret Qualley and Joe Alwyn is (Robert Pattinson had to drop out), but she hasn’t started shooting it and she also has to deal with “Fire” in 2022 and considering that’s likely going to have a major festival bow, you should prolly count that film out for next year.
Ok, what else sounds good? “Medieval” with Ben Foster, Sophie Lowe, Michael Caine and Til Schweiger; Netflix’s “All Quiet On The Western Front” (Daniel Bruhl, Edward Berger directs), the upcoming “Sesame Street” film (Anne Hathaway, Bo Burnham); the Chris Pine thriller “The Contractor”; Adam Driver stars in “65” which is the screenwriters from “A Quiet Place” and their first directorial effort and Sam Raimi along for the ride as producer; “Beast” starring Idris Elba, and Sharlto Copley; “Brothers” from the “Palm Springs” director and Macon Blair is a comedy that stars Peter Dinklage and Josh Brolin; Dinklage and Blair maybe have a thing going because they’re also making the “Toxic Avenger” remake. Eric Wareheim (“Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie”) and his new film “Jonty” with Michael Cera, has seemingly been delayed, but it won’t surprise if it turns up at SXSW or Sundance.
“The Crown” director Ben Caron will helm A24‘s “Sharper” with Sebastian Stan, Julianne Moore, Justice Smith and more; the Whoopi Goldberg-produced Emmett Till movie stars Danielle Deadwyler, Whoopi Goldberg and Jalyn Hall as Emmett Till; “Bodies Bodies Bodies” is an A24 horror from the writer of “Cat Person” and the “Instinct” director starring Lee Pace, Rachel Sennott, and Chase Sui Wonders; Jesse Eisenberg make his directorial debut with “When You Finish Saving The World”; “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” is a Peter Farrelly-directed war drama starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, and Bill Murray, for Apple TV+ which could be awesome; Rodrigo Garcia directs Ethan Hawke and Ewan McGregor in “Raymond And Ray”; Joseph Kosinski‘s “Escape from Spiderhead” starring Chris Hemsworth, Jurnee Smollett, and Miles Teller should end up being a big deal for Netflix; Taron Egerton is starring in a “Tetris” film (yes, the video game) that is said to be about the legal battles over ownership that’s similar to “The Social Network” over at Apple TV+; The director of “Mustang,” Deniz Gamze Ergüven, is making “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” with Emma Corrin and Jack O’Connell; the Henry Selick meets Key & Peele collaboration “Wendell & Wild” could really be something; “Disenchanted” is coming, the “Enchanted” sequel with Amy Adams; director Charlie McDowell is making “Windfall” with Jesse Plemons and Jason Segel; Benicio Del Toro and Justin Timberlake star in “Reptile” and what else?
Francis Lawrence directs Jason Momoa in “Slumberland”; Ron Howard is making his own Thai Cave Rescue movie with Colin Farrell, Viggo Mortensen, and Joel Edgerton; Jenny Slate and Charlie Day are starring in the rom-com “I Want You Back”; Ti West‘s (“The Innkeepers”) A24’s upcoming creeper “X” stars Mia Goth, Kid Cudi, Jenna Ortega, and Brittany Snow; the Argentinian filmmaker of “Wild Tales,” Damian Szifron, is finally making another movie, “Misanthrope” with, Ben Mendelsohn; Stephen Frears directs Sally Hawkins and Steve Coogan in “The Lost King”; and finally, Eli Roth directs Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jack Black in “Borderlands.” If we listed everything, we’ll be here all day and we’ve already overstayed our welcome. Hopefully that more than sates your appetite for everything coming in 2022. Get anticipating!