2024 might be the year more of us step out, wipe our eyes, and enter real theaters again. That viral-pandemic thing is gone, right? People learned how to turn off their cell phones in theaters, right? Is it safe? Are there zombies?

Heck with it, let’s get out to the movies. Here’s what’s headed our way. For guano and giggles, add up the sequels: Has any previous year had so many?

DRAMAS

Conflict, we’ve got conflict, we’ve got lots and lots of conflict:

Civil War
Director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) imagines a near future where U.S. political divisons result in a splintered nation of secession and bloodshed. I’d like to believe something like this could never happen, but then I read national political news. Kirsten Dunst is among a team of journalists covering the mayhem. (April 26)

Horizon: An American Saga (Chapters 1 and 2)
Speaking of Civil War… This dual-release saga follows numerous characters through the expanding frontier throughout early America’s bloodiest conflict. Kevin Costner, invigorated by the hit TV series Yellowstone, returns to the actor/director role that made him top dog, so long ago, in Dances With Wolves. A massive cast includes Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Michael Rooker, and numerous others probably wearing chaps or gingham. (June 28 and August 16)

Hedda
Tessa Thompson stars in this contemporary take on Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen’s 1891 Hedda Gabler, whose complex, Hamlet-like title character stokes chaos during an evening party. Let’s call her Hedda the super duper party pooper. Nia DaCosta (Candyman, The Marvels) adapted and directs. (Release date TBD)

The Bikeriders
This period drama is inspired by a 1968 photobook that compiled a decade’s worth of photos taken by a Chicago motorcycle club. The story, directed by Jeff Nichols, involves open-road culture, rival gangs, leather jackets, and what’s known in polite circles as “hooliganism.” Starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus, and a large quantity of scruff. (June 21)

BIOPICS

A study in contrast:

Back to Black
Amy Winehouse, unfortunately, makes a fitting subject for a rags to riches to oblivion biopic. The raw-powered R&B / jazz / soul / pop singer, who won a Grammy for the album “Back to Black” in 2006, died of alcohol poisoning a few years later, when she was only 26. Sam Taylor-Johnson (Fifty Shades of Grey) directs Marisa Abela in the starring role.

Bob Marley: One Love
The singer most likely to show up on a poster above a futon that smells like patchouli is finally getting the full biopic treatment. Produced by the late reggae legend’s son, Ziggy Marley, and directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green (whose previous film, King Richard, turned Will Smith a bit slap-happy), One Love could be what the world needs now. Kingsley Ben-Adir stars. (February 14)

ACTION / ADVENTURE

One action movie to rule them all (we hope) will be…

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Of all the action films in 2024, this holds the most promise. Director George Miller leaves his tersely heroic Mad Max character in the reddish dust and brings us the origin story of Furiosa, last seen in 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road as played by Charlize Theron. This time she’s portrayed by Anya Taylor-Joy, the Queen’s Gambit star who’ll be trading in her chessboard for armored cars and asskicking. The day this movie is released, I’ll be pointing at the theater like Wez from Mad Max: The Road Warrior (1981) and growling, “We go in!” (May 24)

Twisters
I can’t recall hearing anyone say, “You know what we need? A sequel to Twister!” but here it is. The 1996 film was about tornado chasers who found love and thrills while getting fetishy about extreme weather. Sadly, the sequel is not titled Cow-nado, but let’s hope director Lee Isaac Chung revisits the swirling, mooing cattle of the original. Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Kiernan Shipka star. (July 19)

Arthur the King
If the title sounds like it’s a movie about knights at the round table, boy oh boy are you in for disappointment. On the plus side, aren’t you glad Mark Wahlberg isn’t playing King Arthur? Instead the “Arthur” of the title is a wounded stray dog who joined Swedish athletes during an endurance race through the Dominican Republic. It’s based on a true story by Mikael Lindnord, and looks even cuter than Boogie Nights. (March 22)

The Fall Guy
Action director David Leitch (John Wick, Bullet Train) reimagines the early-1980s television show, which followed a movie stuntman whose side gig was bounty hunting. Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt star. Stunts, hunts, grunts, and Blunt. (May 3)

COMEDY / ROMANCE

Challengers
Expect fuzzy balls and menage-a-topspins in this story (as directed by Luca Guadagnino, known for Call Me by Your Name) of a romantic triangle between sweaty strokers Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist. Audiences will turn their heads side to side as these grand slammers serve, smash, score, make a racket…and maybe also play tennis. (April 26)

My Ex-Friend’s Wedding
After receiving a drunken phone call the night before their ex-chum’s wedding, four friends team up to stop the marriage. If the premise sounds like My Best Friend’s Wedding, the 1997 film about a similar sabotage, that’s probably intentional on the part of screenwriter Taylor Jenkins Reid. Stories where characters have a rationale for disrupting social situations are great comedy setups, so let’s hope cast members (including Amanda Seyfriend and Ariana DeBose) make the most of it. (May 10)

If
Former Office mates John Krasinski (also directing) and Steve Carell reteam, along with lead actor Ryan Reynolds, in an imaginary-friends story that appears to be a very colorful combination of Walter Mitty, Harvey, and other inspired whimsy. Voice actors include Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Matt Damon, and Awkwafina. (May 17)

The American Society of Magical Negroes
With any luck, the socially biting title (up there with 2004’s A Day Without a Mexican) accompanies a genuinely funny movie. This one’s based around the trope of “magical negroes” in such movies as The Legend of Bagger Vance (where Will Smith was a mojo-restoring golf caddie) or The Green Mile (in which Michael Clarke Duncan supernaturally binged and purged people’s diseases). Comedian Kobi Lobii directs David Alan Grier and Justice Smith in this satirical tale of a secret society in which African Americans continue trying to save white people. (March 22)

Mean Girls
This isn’t a remake of the 2004 comedy, but a filmed version of the musical based on the 2004 comedy. Which itself was inspired by a previous comedy named Heathers (1988). Got that? Sorta like the 2007 Hairspray was based on the Broadway musical based on the also-1988 John Waters movie that was inspired by teen movies of the 1960s. I hereby declare that singing versions of romps about malevolent young females tormenting highschool newcomers have their place in the cinematic mosaic. (January 12)

The Day the Clown Cried *
Jerry Lewis’s long-buried, unfinished, and ill-advised-sounding Holocaust movie is scheduled to become available for screening by the Library of Congress. Lewis plays Helmut Doork, a clown at a concentration camp. It’s the most legendary unseen cinema since the spider scene in 1933’s King Kong, perhaps a blessing. Yet for those who enjoy Ed Wood-like, cringe-camp kicks, The Day the Clown Cried‘s release might be a day for rejoicing. (Summer)

CRIME / SPY

Argylle
Just because Henry Cavill is no longer Superman and no longer the Witcher doesn’t mean he can’t wear weird clothes. He’ll be whipping out his tartan hose for this devil-wears-“plaida” spy thriller, which involves a reclusive author (Bryce Dallas Howard), an international crime syndicate, and a kitty cat. Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Catherine O’Hara also star. (February 2)

Ballerina
If the Mad Max movies can spawn Furiosa, why can’t the John Wick series spawn its own female badass? That’s the question; Ballerina (Ana de Armas) is the answer. De Armas showcased her killer-in-heels abilities in the last James Bond movie, so let’s see this pulchritudinous professional explosively pirouette. Keanu Reeves, Ian McShane, and Anjelica Huston join in the gunplay. (June 7)

The Beekeeper
As far as I know, Jason Statham does not spend the whole movie wearing one of those protective hats that dangles a screen over his face. (If that’s your thing, try the 1997 Peter Fonda film Ulee’s Gold.) Statham is more of the angry bee type: Revenge, secret assassins, and so on. David Ayer, director of Fury and Suicide Squad, is sure to make this more fun than a hive on your head. (January 12)

Drive-Away Dolls
It would be legally and biologically complicated for the Coen Brothers to break up. Of late, however, they’ve been pursuing individual projects. Writer Joel Coen gave directing a shot with 2021’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. For Drive Away Dolls, director Ethan Coen has co-written (along with spouse Tricia Cooke) a tale of two non-heterosexual women (aka lesbians) whose Florida road trip is disrupted by Florida Man type criminals. I’m hoping for neo-noir kick along the lines of the Coens’ early film Blood Simple. Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan star, with Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal in the mix. (February 23)

Bad Boys 4
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence remain naughty non-adult-adults nearly 30 years after the 1995 original. What’re they gonna do? Belgian directing team Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah are the bad boys behind the camera, hopefully in a so-bad-they’re-good kinda way. (June 14)

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
A generation of older filmgoers will be humming a synthesized “boop boop, boopety beep-boop” for this nostalgic reprise of Eddie Murphy’s star-making role. Murphy’s Detroit cop, whose street smarts expose the complacency of uptight Los Angeles detectives, is joined by original-movie actors John Ashton, Judge Reinhold, and Bronson “with a little lemon twist” Pinchot. (Summer)

ANIMATED

Every animated movie on this list is a sequel or reboot, as if studios are trying to draw dancing money.

Inside Out 2
Pixar returns to this conceptual tale about the anthropomorphized emotions in a child’s brain, but now that child is an adolescent and there are all sorts of new emotions, such as Anxiety and Ennui. Amy Poehler returns as the voice of the emotionally complex young’un. (June 14)

Moana 2
In this follow-up to the 2016 musical, main characters Moana and Maui travel across the ocean to Oceania, which has always been at war with Eastasia…oops, sorry, that’s George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. But they do go to Oceania. Songwriting team Abigail Barlow and Emily Bear, along with Mark Mancina and Opetaia Foa’is, will pick up where Lin-Manuel Miranda left off from the first film. No word as to the voice cast, including the big question: The Rock or not The Rock? (November 27)

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
It’s a video game turned movie turned third sequel starring Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, James Marsden, and Collee O’Shaughnessey. How can there be three Sonic movies, a couple of Mario Bros. movies, but still no movie version of Pong? This is an outrage. (December 20)

Despicable Me 4
These incredibly popular Despicable Me movies make me feel despicably confused, as I can’t keep them straight from the Minions movies, and I still forget who Gru is. I do know that kids and immature adults love ’em, and who am I to judge. This fourth one still stars Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig, and a bunch of other talented and well-paid vocal actors, no doubt. (Release date TBD)

Kung Fu Panda 4
One day there was a Kung Fu Panda movie, then suddenly there were four of them. They reproduce like Tribbles. This one’s cast includes Jack Black as the two-toned bear, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Dustin Hoffman, Lucy Liu, and David Cross. (March 8)

The Garfield Movie
Sorry, Bill Murray fans, he’s not accidentally in this one (he signed on to the 2004 film due to a misunderstanding, and stayed for the 2006 sequel). Now Garfield is voiced by Chris Pratt, because there’s a new rule that Chris Pratt has to play every role. Thomas the Train Fights the Drug Cartels? Probably Chris Pratt. Fozzy Bear: The Movie? Get Chris. If they make sequel to Being John Malkovich, John Malkovich will be played by Chris Pratt. A rule’s a rule. Oh yeah, Samuel L. Jackson is in this, as Garfield’s father Vic, who likely is sick and tired of this motherf—in’ crispy cheese on this motherf—in’ lasagna. (May 24)

Mufasa: The Lion King
Origin stories are the new sequels. Following in the style of the computer-generated but photorealistic 2019 Lion King, this Disney musical charts the rise of Mufasa and his brother Scar in the African savanna. In charge is Barry Jenkins, who won multiple Oscars for writing/directing 2016’s artful Moonlight, so we might learn more about Scar’s experimental college days. Aaron Pierre voices the title character, while Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Scar (known, pre-scar, as Taka). (December 20)

SCIENCE FICTION / FANTASY

Dune 2
The 2021 first part of Denis Villeneuve’s two-part epic left Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya in the Arrakis desert, with Chalamet’s Paul Atreides character having just joined the indigenous Fremen and about to snort some spicy blow. Dune 2 continues Frank Herbert’s sci-fi classic, so it’s time to learn the Weirding Way, become Muad’Dib, drink the Water of Life, ride giant sandworms, fight Sardaukar, defeat the Baron Harkonnen, and make the spice flow. Not necessarily in that order. (March 1)

Mickey 17
South Korean director Bong Joon-ho, who won the 2020 Oscar for Parasite, adapts Edward Ashton’s sci-fi novel Mickey7, in which a space traveler (Robert Pattinson) is sent to colonize a distant ice world. Developments in the story sound somewhat reminiscent of 2009’s cool sci-fi story Moon. Also in the film’s orbit are Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, and Mark Ruffalo. (March 29)

Borderlands
Eli Roth directs this adaptation of the best-selling videogame series, which is a first-person shooter with a space Western vibe. Craig Mazin, who adapted the videogame The Last of Us to an HBO series, wrote the screenplay, and the cast includes Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, and Jamie Lee Curtis. (August 9)

Alien: Romulus
These Alien sequels keep reproducing and luring humans into their gooey pods of xenomorphic muck. This one’s directed by Fede Álvarez, whose Don’t Breathe and Evil Dead delivered genuine thrills. The Sigourney Weaver-lacking, international-sounding cast includes Isabela Merced, Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux, David Jonsson, Spike Feam, and Aileen Wu. (August 16)

SUPERHEROES and VILLAINS

Madame Web
Female superheroes: Are they sticky enough? We’ll find out when Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney join the Marvel Cinematic Universe to declare, “It’s Madame Webbin’ time.” Johnson plays the title hero, a clairvoyant who first appeared in a 1980 Spider-Man comic book. Her crime-fighting efforts are assisted by Sweeney, along with Celeste O’Connor and Isabella Merced, who have spider powers of their own. This female-driven web is spun by TV director S. J. Clarkson, marking her film debut.

Kraven the Hunter
Here’s another Spider-Man spinoff for the masses, this time featuring one of Spidey’s rogue gallery of adversaries, who first emerged in a 1964 comic book. Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as this mercenary antihero with a Russian background, animal-like powers, and knack for hunting the most dangerous game (naughty ol’ humans). Russell Crowe also stars. (August 30)

Joker: Folie à Deux
Joaquin Phoenix returns as the bitter super-loser (and super-bitter loser) who made audiences wince at social decay in director Todd Phillips’s audacious 2019 origin story. The sequel, the title of which translates to “shared madness,” features Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn (her public name that nobody can figure out is Dr. Harleen Quinzel), and reportedly that means there are musical interludes. Brendan Gleeson and Catherine Keener also star. (October 4)

Deadpool 3
Ryan Reynolds needs something to do besides show up in TV commercials. Time to trot out the Deadpool costume again. Reynolds’s smartass superhero is joined by Hugh Jackman (as Wolverine) and Jennifer Garner (Elektra), among several others in this R-rated reprise, this time directed by Shawn Levy, whose recent credits include The Adam Project and FreeGuy. (July 26)

Venom 3
Tom Hardy returns as the Bay Area investigative journalist who gains vicious, big-fanged powers from an alien symbiote. Between this and Deadpool 3, it seems we have two “number 3” funny-violent superheroes in the same year, so have at it, snarkers. Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor also star. (November 8)

Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse
First we were into, then across, and now we’re beyond the verse of spiderness in this third animated installment, in which Miles Morales dons the webby suit. Oscar Isaac, Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, and many others are in the vocal cast. (Release date TBA)

Wicked: Part I
We’re including this in the list of superhero movies, considering that few villains have haunted children’s dreams as feverishly as the Wicked Witch of the West. Nor have many villains have made the retcon transition to misunderstood, sympathetic antiheroes so well. This is the first of a two-parter based on the hit Broadway musical. The director is Jon M. Chu, of Crazy Rich Asians fame, and the green goblinette is played by Cynthia Erivo. Also starring Ariana Grande as Glinda the Good, Michelle Yeoh as Madame Morrible, and Jeff Goldblum as the man behind the curtain to whom you should pay no attention. (November 27)

HORROR / GOTHIC / BOOGA-BOOGA

Nosferatu
Director Robert Eggers reteams with The Lighthouse actor Willem Dafoe in this update of F.W. Murnau’s 1922 landmark work, in which a 19th-century town is terrorized by a creepy vampire with a Mr. Clean noggin and poor posture. The cast includes Bill Skarsgård, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Emma Corrin, the latter recently seen as Lady Di in The Crown. For full gothic effect you need a Depp, so Lily-Rose Depp sinks her teeth in too. (December 25)

Imaginary
The Blumhouse production company has spent the last several years on a roll with scary thrillers like Get Out, The Invisible Man and M3gan. This 2024 entry involves a stuffed bear that apparently has an evil influence over those who play with it (which is what happened to me. It’s no big deal and I got over it, thanks to fruit smoothies and therapy). The cast includes DeWanda Wise, Pyper Braun, and Tom Payne. (March 8)

A Quiet Place: Day One
The third in the series promises to be the most War of the Worlds-esque, detailing the hearing-acute aliens’ primary arrival and attack. John Krasinski and Emily Blunt have silenced themselves from this one, handing the directing reins to Michael Sarnoski (of 2021’s Pig) and focusing on characters played by Djimon Hounsou, Lupita Nyong’o, and Alex Wolff. Let’s hope there aren’t any more stairs with questionably placed nails. (June 28)

Saw 11
If you’re like me, your first question is: “Are there really 10 previous Saw movies? Who’s watching this stuff?” but people like me aren’t the target audience for this puzzle-box, torture-porn, karmic-carnage horror series. Reportedly this is a sequel to 2023’s Saw X, which detailed Jigsaw’s grisly retribution against quack doctors who scam cancer patients. (September 27)

Terrifier 3
If you’re like me, your first question is “Are there really two previous Terrifier movies? What is this stuff?” but people like me are terribly out-of-the-loop about the previous 2016 and 2022 slasher flicks. Damien Leone directs again, as serial killer Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) continues chasing Lauren LaVera and Samantha Scaffidi around, this time on Christmas Eve, and presumably not wearing those giant clown shoes that would likely slow down the killin’. (October 25)

Lisa Frankenstein
Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body, Young Adult) wrote this horror-comedy Frankenstein update about a teenage goth girl who uses a broken tanning machine to reanimate a dashing Victorian blood-sucker. The title character, subtly named Lisa Swallows, is played by Kathryn Newton; veteran vixen Carla Gugino makes an appearance. Zelda Williams directs. Get out your black lipstick, fishnet stockings, and best pierced-septum ring for this one. (February 9)

Night Swim
This co-production by Blumhouse and Atomic Monster is already out (as of January 5) and was widely panned. It seems somebody confused “slasher flick” with “splasher flick” and ended up making a movie about a haunted swimming pool. Let’s hope Kerry Condon, who played Stacey Ehrmantraut in Better Call Saul, towels this off quickly.

OTHER SEQUELS / PREQUELS / REBOOTS

Beetlejuice 2
With the success of Top Gun: Maverick (2022), no 1980s movies are safe: If they can’t be remade, rebooted or prequeled, they’ll be sequeled. (Exceptions include The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, Can’t Stop the Music, and Leonard Part 6.) We’re fully on board with this Beetlejuice (1988) sequel, though, and suspect Tim Burton gave his all reprising the best of his early efforts. Returning from the original cast are Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, and Catherine O’Hara, but not Geena Davis, which makes sense because if she returned it would draw attention to the non-presence of Alec Baldwin, whose recent persona is as funny as actual beetle juice. Also starring are Jenna Ortega, Monica Belluci, and Willem Dafoe. (September 6)

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
Another 1980s ghost story gets further updated in this return to the original 1984 movie’s New York firehouse. Who ya gonna text? Stars include Carrie Coon, Paul Rudd, Patton Oswalt, McKenna Grace, Kumail Nanjiani, and Finn Wolfhard. (March 29)

Gladiator 2
Ridley Scott leaps back even further in time than his 2023 film Napoleon, returning to the Roman Coliseum days of his 2000 film, this time with Denzel Washington in the lead. Also in sandals and togas are Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, Joseph Quinn, and Pedro Pascal — who let’s hope fares better in an arena fight than he did when last seen in Game of Thrones. (November 22)

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
For those keeping count on their hairy fingers, this is the fourth installment of the reboot series that started with 2011’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and continued with Dawn of… (2014) and War for… (2017). Director Wes Ball (Maze Runner) keeps the fuzzy balls rolling along with a cast that includes Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Eka Darville, and Peter Macon. (May 24)

Transformers One
Before you say, “For the love of all that is gunmetal and chrome, not another Transformers movie!”, take a look at a cast that includes Scarlett Johannson, Chris Hemsworth, Jon Hamm, Laurence Fishburne, Keegan-Michael Key, and Brian Tyree Henry. Maybe, like 2018’s Bumblebee, this will surprise everyone by not sucking? Don’t expect Shakespeare-level drama when Optimus Prime and Megatron’s rivalry revs up on planet Cybertron, of course, and do expect to need earplugs. Toy Story 4‘s Josh Cooley directs. (September 13)

The Karate Kid
The original 1980s Karate Kid movies were fun, and they’ve taken on a weird life of their own over the decade. Especially when a recurring joke on the sitcom How I Met Your Mother led to a popular revisionist take on the idea of Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) being the villain and Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) being the actual hero, a theory that became the basis for the clever streaming series Cobra Kai (2017-2019). There also had been an unrelated Karate Kid reboot in 2010, starring Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan. So, you’re wondering, what’s this new Karate Kid about? Details about the story are still under keikogi wraps, but apparently this dojo’s big enough for both Ralph Macchio and Jackie Chan. Stay tuned, sempai. (December 13)

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim
This photorealistically animated film might help erase Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power from memory, for those who found the Amazon Prime show clumsy as an Orc playing Operation. War of the Rohirrim chronicles Rohan’s legendary king Helm Hammerhand, 250 years prior to Frodo’s heyday. Directing is Kenji Kamiyama, veteran of Japanese anime. Brian Cox (of recent Succession fame) and Miranda Otto (Eowyn in the original trilogy) lead a vocal cast that also includes Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Lorraine Ashbourne, Yazdan Qafouri, Benjamin Wainwright, and Laurence Ubong Williams. (December 13)

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire
Godzilla and King Kong team up to deliver Kongloads of colossal carnage and Godzillagondads of gargantuan gobsmacking gigablasts in this monsterchunk of mastercrashing mayhem that sees the earth’s core uncorking craploads of king-sized canker-creeps from its crusty creviced cromulent canyons. Dan Stevens, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kaylee Hottle will gape skyward and duck for cover as director Adam Wingard lobs Brobdingnagian boulders at them. (April 12)