30. “Next Goal Wins”
Delayed for a couple of years due to the pandemic, and “Thor Love & Thunder” director Taika Waititi finally wraps up his soccer comedy “Next Goal Wins” this year. Starring Michael Fassbender with appearances by Elisabeth Moss, Will Arnett, Rhys Darby, and otherwise, a mostly unknown cast of Samoan-born New Zealand actors, this film is based on a true story and doc. It tells the story of a Dutch-American football coach (Fassbender) tasked with turning the American Samoa national team— considered the weakest football team in the world— into an elite squad.
Release Date: April 21, 2023, via Searchlight Pictures.
29. “Beth & Don”
Coming off her high-profile writing gig for Ridley Scott in “The Last Duel,” filmmaker Nicole Holofcener returns to bread and butter: adult stories about women. Her latest reteams her with “Enough Said” star Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a novelist whose marriage starts to deteriorate after she overhears her husband offering up a frank assessment of her work. While most films of this ilk have retreated to TV, Holofcener remains the last bastion of her female filmmaking generation.
Release Date: TBD, via A24, but this could be a fall film festival player.
28. “John Wick: Chapter 4”
Since Keanu Reeves won the internet, he’s become adored by film lovers. Look no further than the rise of the “John Wick” franchise. ‘Chapter 4,’ set in the Johnnie To-lite world of High Table assassins, sees Laurence Fishburne returning from ‘Parabellum,’ furthering “The Matrix” crossover appeal. Featuring veteran talents Donnie Yen, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Clancy Brown, beside the familiar faces of Lance Reddick and Ian McShane, expect bullets to fly and blood to come out the other side.
Release Date: March 24, 2023, via Lionsgate. – AB
27. “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”
Steven Spielberg bowed out of the final ‘Indy 5,’ but that does give James Mangold plenty of room to flex his action muscles (and he’s proven himself with “Ford V. Ferrari” and the Western “3:10 To Yuma”). Joining Harrison Ford for this last adventure is Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Mads Mikkelsen, and many more. Set in 1969, the backdrop is the U.S./Russian Space race, there’s de-aging to put Indy back in the 1940s, and Nazis are the enemies again.
Release Date: June 30, 2023, via Disney & Lucasfilm.
26. “Challengers”
A mini-series (‘We Are Who We Are“), several shorts, and two films released in 2022 (a doc and “Bones and All”), Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino has been working at a fast clip in the last two years. His latest is a twist, a romantic sports comedy set in the world of tennis where old friends reignite old rivalries on and off the court. Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, Mike Faist, and Heidi Garza star.
Release Date: August 11, 2023, via United Artists Releasing.
25. “Wizards”
Aussie filmmaker David Michôd follows up 2019’s ambitious “The King” with something much more low-key and comedic: the tale of two unlucky beach bar operators who find stolen loot that they really should have left alone. Pete Davidson, Sean Harris, Orlando Bloom, Naomi Scott, and Franz Rogowski star.
Release Date TBD.
24. “Memory”
Following “New Order” and “Sundown,” Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco is now a staple of the Cannes/Venice elite film festival pipeline. The English-language project is said to revolve around a New York City staycation and stars Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard, Merritt Wever, and Elsie Fisher. It was shot last May, so Cannes could be in the cards.
Release Date: TBD.
23. “Civil War”
Following up on 2022’s psychological horror “Men,” writer/director Alex Garland has already shot his follow-up, an ambitious epic action film ominously titled “Civil War” set in the near future in the United States. Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, and Sonoya Mizuno star. Expect the politically relevant as the film is “an allegory for our currently polarized predicament.”
Release Date: VFX could be time-consuming, but it is in post-production.
22. “Megalopolis”
Two-plus decades in the making, Francis Ford Coppola apparently never learned the lessons of “Apocalypse Now” and “One From The Heart” and financing your own films. Though when you are 83 and can afford $100 million, maybe it’s just IDGAF time. In the film, an architect wants to rebuild New York City as a utopia following a devastating disaster. Adam Driver, Forest Whitaker, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jon Voight, Laurence Fishburne, and Aubrey Plaza star.
Release Date: TBD.
21. Untitled Ethan Coen Film
So the Coen Brothers have “broken up,” but the upshot is two more chances at genius every 3 to 4 years. Not much is known about the film, but it’s a road trip film co-written by his editor, producer, and spouse Tricia Cooke. And the cast is outstanding, with a trio of three of the best young actors we have: Margaret Qualley, Beanie Feldstein, and Geraldine Viswanathan.
Release Date: TBD, but it feels like late fall.
