21 Of The Best New Films Coming In 2024, From 'Challengers' To 'Wicked'
From All Of Us Strangers to The End We Start From and everything in between, these are the films to bookmark for 2024.
Was it just us or did 2023 feel like the year that cinema was back?
Hugely hyped remakes like The Little Mermaid graced our screens, concert films from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé arrived in cinemas, gorgeous indie films like Past Lives, Rye Lane and How To Have Sex had everyone talking, while two of the biggest films of the year Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same July date launching a brand new phenomenon of its own: Barbenheimer. In the end, Barbie was the largest global opening for a female-directed movie ever - kudos to Greta Gerwig - while Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer broke the global record for the biggest opening for a biopic. Oh, and need we mention Saltburn (oh, that bathtub scene) and the long-awaited Charlie And The Chocolate Factory prequel, Wonka?
Next year looks set to be no different in terms of must-see movies. Here are the films - starring everyone from Paul Mescal, Florence Pugh and Zendaya - that are going to make you laugh, cry, scream and maybe even dance in 2024.
Good Grief
Starring: Dan Levy, Ruth Negga, Luke Evans, Himesh Patel
Director: Dan Levy
What's the gist?
In his directorial debut, the Schitt's Creek creator tackles grief. He plays Marc, whose husband Oliver (Evans) dies suddenly, so embarks on a soul-searching trip to Paris with his best friends. It's as sleek as it is chic, with a wardrobe of noteworthy labels housed amongst exquisite interiors.
Release date: January 5, 2024
Poor Things
Starring: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos
What's the gist?
Essentially a reimagining of Frankenstein, Stone plays Victorian woman Bella Baxter, who is created by a scientist named Godwin Baxter, played by Dafoe. Godwin makes Bella by taking the body of a young woman near death and implanting an infant’s brain in her head, turning her into a whole new being. What ensues is a story about the awkwardness of forging real human connections as Bella endeavours to find establish a sense of self in her new body.
Release date: January 12, 2024
Mean Girls
Starring: Angourie Rice, Renee Rap, Ashley Park, Busy Philipps, Tina Fey
Director: Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr.
What's the gist?
Written by Tina Fey, who of course penned the original 2004 mammoth teen hit starring Amanda Seyfried and Lindsay Lohan, this is an adaptation of the Broadway musical version. Expect a whole new cast with all of the same laugh-out-loud moments.
Release date: January 13, 2024
The End We Start From
Starring: Jodie Comer, Benedict Cumberbatch
Director: Mahalia Belo
What's the gist?
A gripping drama where Comer stars as a woman with a newborn baby whose world is thrown into chaos after their London suburb is flooded as the result of the climate crisis. Sound familiar? That's precisely the eeriness of the film, which is set in an apocalyptic world with freak weather not too dissimilar to that which we've been experiencing of late. The End We Start From is a story of love and survival and, Comer steals the show completely. Tissues at the ready.
Release date: January 24, 2024
All Of Us Strangers
Starring: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, Jamie Bell
Director: Andrew Haigh
What's the gist?
The film, which explores grief, loss and love, is loosely based on the 2004 English adaptation of Strangers, the psychological fiction novel by Japanese author Taichi Yamada originally published in 1987. The film, which is slightly different to the plot of the original book, tells the story of screenwriter Adam, played by Scott, who, one night in his towerblock in London, has a chance encounter with a mysterious neighbour Harry, played by Mescal, which reroutes the course of his life.
Release date: January 26, 2024
The Color Purple
Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Halle Bailey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor
Director: Blitz Bazawule
What's the gist?
The musical adaptation of Alice Walker's powerful 1985 novel of the same name has finally been adapted for the big screen. It comes 28 years after Steven Spielberg first adapted the novel into an Oscar-winning film starring Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey (who serves as a producer of this film, alongside Spielberg).
Release date: January 26, 2024
Argylle
Starring: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Dua Lipa, Ariana De Bose, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L Jackson
Director: Matthew Vaughn
What's the gist?
Spy novel writer Elly Conway, played by Howard, finds that her novels are eerily predicting real-life events, which before long make her a target too.
Release date: February 2, 2024
Madame Web
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Emma Roberts, Adam Scott
Director: S. J. Clarkson
What's the gist?
The newest installment in the Spider-Verse sees Johnson take on the comic book character in this original story about Cassandra Web, the paramedic who turns out to have clairvoyant abilities.
Release date: February 14, 2024
One Love
Starring: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Lashana Lynch, James Norton
Director: Reinaldo Marcus Green
What's the gist?
The long-awaited biopic about the journey the Jamaican singer Bob Marley, played by Ben-Adir, and his wife Rita, played by Lashana Lynch, overcame to become the legendary reggae stars they continue to be regarded as today.
Release date: February 14, 2023
Drive Away Dolls
Starring: Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Pedro Pascal, Matt Damon, Colman Domingo
Director: Ethan Cohen
What's the gist?
One half of the Cohen brothers' latest film chronicles Jamie, played by Qualley, who, fresh from breaking up with her girlfriend, embarks on a road trip with her friend Marian, played by Viswanathan, which soon goes awry when they cross paths with some inept criminals.
Release date: February 23, 2024
The Fall Guy
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Winston Duke, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham
Director: David Leitch
What's the gist?
Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a professional stuntman, who, after a nearly career-ending accident, is tasked with finding a missing movie star, played by Taylor-Johnson. Though, of course, it's not a straightforward case.
Release date: March 1, 2024
Dune Part Two
Starring: Timothee Chalamet, Zendaya, Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, Lea Seydoux, Javier Bardem
Director: Denis Villeneuve
What's the gist?
Dune's highly-anticipated sequel will explore the journey of Chalamet's character, Paul Atreides, as he unites with Chani, played by Zendaya. Together, the pair embark on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed Atreides' family. According to the official synopsis, 'Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavours to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.'
Release date: March 15, 2024
Mickey 17
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Mark Ruffalo
Director: Bong Joon-Ho
What's the gist?
Parasite director, Joon-Ho, is back with an adaptation of the science fiction novel, Mickey 17, by Edward Ashton. According to the book's synopsis, 'Mickey7 is an Expendable: a disposable employee on a human expedition sent to colonise the ice world Niflheim...on a fairly routine scouting mission, Mickey7 goes missing and is presumed dead. By the time he returns to the colony base, surprisingly helped back by native life, Mickey7’s fate has been sealed. There’s a new clone, Mickey8, reporting for Expendable duties....'
Release date: March 29, 2024
Back To Black
Starring: Marisa Abela, Jack O'Connell
Director: Sam Taylor-Johnson
What's the gist?
Industry's Abela portrays the late Grammy-winning soul singer Amy Winehouse in this biopic about her life, which is directed by Taylor-Johnson, the woman behind the 2009 biopic of John Lennon's life, Nowhere Boy.
Release date: April 12, 2024
Civil War
Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons
Director: Alex Garland
What's the gist?
Described as 'an adrenaline-fuelled thrill ride through a near-future fractured America balanced on the razors edge', this dystopian A24 film imagines what a civil war in the US could look like.
Release date: April 26, 2024
Challengers
Starring: Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist
Director: Luca Guardagnino
What's the gist?
Call Me By Your Name director, Luca Guardagnino, is back next year with Challengers, in which Zendaya stars as a former tennis great, who, after an injury, turns to coaching her husband, played by Faist, in a match against her former lover, who O'Connor depicts.
Release date: April 26, 2024
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth
Director: George Miller
What's the gist?
Nine years after the release of Mad Max: Fury Road, the franchise returns with the origin story of the Fury Road star Furiosa, which was played by Charlize Theron in 2015 and which Taylor-Joy depicts in 2024's flick.
Release date: May 24, 2024
The Bikeriders
Starring: Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, Tom Hardy
Director: Jeff Nichols
What's the gist?
Starring Butler, Comer and Hardy, The Bikeriders follows a Chicago-based motorcycle club and the evolution of the club over the course of a decade. The story it tells is fictional but it's inspired by a 1967 photo-book of the same name.
Release date: June 21, 2024
Beetlejuice 2
Starring: Jenna Ortega, Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton
Director: Tim Burton
What's the gist?
The original cast of the 1988 classic, Keaton and Ryder, will return in Burton's long-awaited follow-up. Burton has also called upon his Wednesday leading lady Ortega to join the production as Keaton's character's daughter... And that's pretty much all we know so far.
Release date: September 6, 2024
Gladiator 2
Starring: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Pedro Pascal
Director: Ridley Scott
What's the gist?
Are you not entertained? You will be when the sequel to this hugely popular 2000 film is released. Mescal takes the lead, Lucius, who in the first film was the young son of Lucilla, played by Connie Nielson. Expect drama.
Release date: September 6, 2024
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