Well, here we are again. With 2023 finally coming to a close, it’s time to look to next year and the Most Anticipated Films Of 2024 (Strike Affected Edition). It’s been a very weird year with the SAG and WGA strike affecting everything, playing havoc with release date schedules in a similar way that the pandemic did. So, right off the bat, let’s discount films that are no longer on the 2024 docket. Chief among them is “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning,” which will evidently drop the ‘Part 2,’ and go with a new title in 2025.
READ MORE: The 25 Best Movie Trailers Of 2023
Also, weirdly, it’ll be the first year with only one Marvel film (“Deadpool 3”) and one DC film total, barring the 2020 pandemic year that hasn’t happened since 2010.
Two Marvel movies were delayed into 2025 (‘Captain America 4’ and “Blade”), and lots of films, once set for 2024, have now been pushed back a year because of the strikes. Some of these titles include Disney’s “Snow White” and Pixar’s “Elio,” and very likely, Sony’s “Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse,” which was reported earlier this year as being very behind schedule and unable to make its March 2024 release date.
Given the nature of these lists, big sprawling, sometimes we overestimate what’s coming and what’ll be ready—and the fact that a ton of currently scheduled 2024 films may not actually make their date as of now but haven’t moved off their date yet (many haven’t even shot yet).
Much of the schedule is up in the air, to be honest. Sony, for example, has an excellent-sounding comedy from “Blockers” director Kay Cannon, “My Ex-Friend’s Wedding,” starring Ariana DeBose, Amanda Seyfried, Chloe Fineman, Megan Stalter set for currently set for May 10. Still, we’re pretty positive it didn’t shoot, so you’ll have to presume that dates gets pulled. “Bad Boys 4,” for another example, was half-shot but shut down production because of the strike. Will it be able to make its June 14, 2024 release date? And the uncertainty could be the case for many currently-dated 2024 movies, so we’re going to proceed with caution.
Follow along with all our Best Of 2023 coverage here.
100. “Lisa Frankenstein”
Screenwriter Diablo Cody returns to the comedically-tinged genre world with an ‘80s-set horror comedy described as a coming-of-rage love story about a teenager and her crush, who happens to be a corpse. The film is the directorial debut of Zelda Williams (Robin Williams‘ daughter) and stars Kathryn Newton, Cole Sprouse, Liza Soberano, Henry Eikenberry, Joe Chrest, and Carla Gugino.
Release Date: February 9, 2024, via Focus Features.
99. “Alto Knights”
It’s rare to see an old-school drama get a major studio theatrical release, but that’s exactly what’s happening with Barry Levinson’s mob drama starring Robert DeNiro and penned by “Goodfellas” and “Casino” writer Nicholas Pileggi. The drama centers on two Italian-American warring mob bosses trying to kill each other, and one of them trying to retire after a near miss wounds him. The catch is this: DeNiro plays both mob bosses: Debra Messing, Kathrine Narducci, and Cosmo Jarvis co-star. Michael Mann DP Dante Spinotti shoots the picture.
Release Date: November 15, 2024 via Warner Bros.
98. “The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim”
While New Line Cinema tries to figure out what to do next with the ‘LOTR’ films in live-action, they keep the I.P. going with a new animated film by Kenji Kamiyama. Set 183 years before the events of ‘The Two Towers,’ the film tells the story of a legendary King who must defend against an army of wild men. Brian Cox stars, Miranda Otto narrates the story as her ‘LOTR’ character Éowyn and other voices include Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Laurence Ubong, and Shaun Dooley.
Release Date: December 13, 2024, via Warner Bros.
97. “Orion And The Dark”
Based on a script by Oscar winner Charlie Kaufman (“Adaptation,” “Being John Malkovich,” this animated Dreamworks/Netflix film is directed by Sean Charmatz (“The LEGO Movie: The Second Part”). Jacob Tremblay, Paul Walter Hauser, and Werner Herzog are the voice cast in a fantasy adventure comedy about a boy afraid of heights and pets and rendered nearly catatonic by the worst of all perils: the dark.
Release Date: February 2, via Netflix.
96. “Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver”
Filmmaker Zack Snyder puts the DC Universe aside for his own “Star Wars”-esque space opera saga. Shot at the same time, ‘Part One’ arrives this December with a cast that includes Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, Jena Malone, Fra Fee, Ed Skrein, and Anthony Hopkins. The sequel arrives less than six months later.
Release Date: April 19, 2024, via Netflix.
95. “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire”
Jason Reitman and Gil Kenan revived the “Ghostbusters” franchise with ‘Afterlife’ in 2021, and for the sequel, Reitman hands off the directed reins to Kenan. The plot centers around a mysterious and evil force called the Death Chill. The entire cast returns, including Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, and Annie Potts. Newcomers include. Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, James Acaster and Emily Alyn Lind.
Release Date: March 29, 2024, via Sony Pictures.
94. “The Electric State”
Anthony and Joe Russo try to break their Marvel dud streak with their ‘Captain America’ and ‘Avengers’ writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Based on a graphic novel, the sci-fi adventure movie centers on a young girl in the future who sets out to find her missing brother after a robot he sent suddenly arrives. The cast is massive: Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt as the leads, with Ke Huy Quan, Stanley Tucci, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito, Anthony Mackie, and Billy Bob Thornton.
Release Date: TBD via Netflix, but it feels like their equivalent of a summer blockbuster.
93. “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 & Chapter 2”
A two-part American epic Western film co-written, produced, directed by, and starring Kevin Costner (and the main reason he basically was fired from “Yellowstone”). The sprawling cast includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, and many more.
Release Date: Chapter 1 arrives June 28, 2024, and Chapter 2 hits on August 16, 2024.
92. “Death of A Unicorn”
A24 earned themselves a few SAG waivers to shoot movies this year, and one of those highlights was this quirky film, written and directed by Alex Scharfman, a producer on heralded indie films like “Blow The Man Down” and “Resurrection,” and shot in Hungary late this summer. The film stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father/daughter pair who hit a unicorn with their car and bring it to the wilderness retreat of a mega-wealthy pharmaceutical CEO. John Carpenter wrote the score.
Release Date: TBD, but maybe late 2024 via A24.
91. “Y2K”
“Saturday Night Live” alumnus Kyle Mooney isn’t just a comedian. He makes his feature-length directorial debut with “Y2K,” a disaster comedy film for A24 that imagines that the dud-Y2K event actually turned into a globe-affecting cataclysm. The film stars Jaeden Martell and Julian Dennison as two loser friends who crash a high school party in 1999. Rachel Zegler co-stars.
Release Date: TBD, but it sounds like a SXSW-friendly film if it’s ready by then.