2024 – A Look Ahead
As we start the new year, it’s time to have a look ahead at some of the highlights “coming soon” in 2024.
February – After a fairly quiet January in terms of blockbusters, in February we get Argylle, Matthew Vaughn’s star-studded spy action-comedy. This looks like it has a very different tone from Vaughn’s previous spy films (the Kingsman series), and the first trailer looked very intriguing.
March – In March we’re really spoilt, with the (strike-delayed) releases of both Dune: Part Two and of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. The previous Dune and Ghostbusters films were both in my Top Three Films of 2021, so to say I’m excited to see these follow ups is an understatement. March also sees the release of the action-comedy The Fall Guy, a reboot of the 80s TV show, from stuntman-turned-director David Leitch. Given how much fun his last two films (Bullet Train and Hobbs & Shaw) were, this is definitely one to watch.
April – April sees the release of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. I was a little underwhelmed by 2021’s Godzilla vs Kong (I preferred both of their solo outings TBH), but I’ll still give this a go. The second part of Zack Snyder’s sci-fi epic Rebel Moon also hits Netflix in April, and we also have Civil War, the new film from Alex Garland – not only did I thoroughly enjoy his earlier films Ex_Machina and Annihilation, but the trailer for Civil War had me gripped throughout.
May – May sees a return to two great franchises – George Miller follows up his action masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road with the prequel Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, while Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes continues the story several decades after 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes concluded Caesar’s trilogy. Whether the series can sustain its earlier quality without Andy Serkis’ involvement remains to be seen.
June – June sees a flurry of belated sequels and spinoffs, with John Wick spinoff Ballerina starring Ana de Armas, and A Quiet Place spinoff A Quiet Place: Day One, both hoping to prove that they can recapture the magic that made the original films connect with audiences. We should also be getting Inside Out 2, and, if things stay on track, Bad Boys 4 (although there still hasn’t been a trailer or even an official title confirmation for this yet).
July – As we hit the summer, we’re due to get Despicable Me 4, and the strike-delayed Deadpool 3 (the only official Marvel Cinematic Universe movie of 2024), featuring the much-anticipated return of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine.
Later in 2024 – August sees the release of Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus, which promises to offer a new approach to the Alien series, while September brings us the highly anticipated Beetlejuice 2. October sees the release of Joker: Folie à Deux, the sequel to 2019’s Joker, while November should see the third Venom film, the Dwayne Johnson Christmas movie Red One, and Ridley Scott’s long-awaited Gladiator 2. Finally, rounding out the year is Paddington in Peru, which will hopefully continue the series’ high quality even with the change of director.
So that’s a selection of what to look out for in 2024 and in the meantime, I’ll be working on my cinematic highlights from 2023...
