Our Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

The past couple of years have been unusual, to say the least, and like most other industries, Hollywood has had to make a number of adjustments. We saw Warner Bros. commit to streaming all of their major 2021 releases simultaneously on HBO Max, with mixed results, while other studios incorporated some combination of theatrical and digital strategies. That probably isn’t going to change going into 2023, but it doesn’t mean we don’t have some incredible films to look forward to. Read on for the Most Anticipated Movies of 2023, and as more titles are announced and information is released, we will continue to update this page, so check back often!

FEBRUARY

Knock at the Cabin (2023)

Directed by: M. Night Shyamalan
Starring: Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Kristen Cui, Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Rupert Grint, Abby Quinn
Opening on: February 3, 2023

M. Night Shyamalan directed and co-wrote this psychological thriller based on an award-winning novel about two men and their adoptive daughter on vacation who are terrorized by a group of strangers with mysterious motives.

Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania (2022)

Directed by: Peyton Reed
Starring: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jonathan Majors, Bill Murray
Opening on: February 17, 2023

It may have been delayed a year, but Paul Rudd & Co. are back for round three of this delightful franchise, which promises some exciting casting: namely, Jonathan Majors as supervillain Kang the Conqueror and Bill Murray as… something.

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Directed by: Elizabeth Banks
Starring: Keri Russell, Ray Liotta, Margo Martindale, Alden Ehrenreich, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Matthew Rhys
Opening on: February 24, 2023

Yes, there really was a bear who overdosed on a pile of smuggled cocaine that dropped from a plane in Georgia back in 1985. It didn’t kill anyone, but that didn’t stop a bunch of folks taking some creative liberties to give us this tongue-in-cheek horror comedy.

MARCH

Creed III (2023)

Directed by: Michael B. Jordan
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Phylicia Rashad
Opening on: March 3, 2023

Michael B. Jordan makes his feature directorial debut with the third installment of the Rocky spin-off Creed franchise, in which he plays the son of Rocky’s nemesis-turned-friend Apollo Creed. We don’t yet know how things will play out in this chapter, but Jonathan Majors appears to be Adonis’s opponent in the ring, while Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad are set to reprise their roles as Adonis’s girlfriend and mother, respectively.

65 (2023)

Directed by: Scott Beck, Bryan Woods
Starring: Adam Driver, Ariana Greenblatt, Chloe Coleman
Opening on: March 10, 2023

The writing-directing team of Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, best known for writing A Quiet Place, helm this sci-fi thriller starring Adam Driver as an astronaut who crash lands on a foreign planet, only to discover he has landed on prehistoric Earth — 65 million years in the past, to be exact, hence the title. The film is produced by Sam Raimi, and its score was composed by Danny Elfman, so all-around great pedigree behind it.

Luther: The Fallen Sun (2023)

Directed by: Jamie Payne
Starring: Idris Elba, Cynthia Erivo, Andy Serkis
Premiering on: March 10 on Netflix (February 24 in select theaters)

Four years after the popular British television series ended, we’re finally getting a Luther movie. Idris Elba returns to the role in a feature film continuation of the series that finds Luther in prison as a serial killer terrorizes London. This one will play in a handful of theaters before ultimately heading to Netflix.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods (2023)

Directed by: David F. Sandberg
Starring: Zachary Levi, Helen Mirren, Lucy Liu, Jack Dylan Grazer, Asher Angel Rachel Zegler, Adam Brody, Megan Good
Opening on: March 17, 2023

Zachary Levi’s Shazam returns, along with his teenage form Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and all of his stepsiblings, who have embraced their superpowered . But when new villains Kalypso (Lucy Liu) and Hespera (Helen Mirren) — aka the daughters of Atlas —arrive, the kids have to learn to work together to defeat them.

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023)

Directed by: Chad Stahelski
Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Lance Reddick, Ian McShane, Donnie Yen, Bill Skarsgård, Hiroyuki Sanada
Opening on: March 24, 2023

Chad Stahelski and Keanu Reeves’ blockbuster action franchise finally reaches theaters in 2023 after a two-year delay caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We don’t know much about the film, except that John Wick is at war with — and possibly presumed dead by — the High Table, and Stahelski has gone on record to say that there is a possibility that Chapter 4 will not be a “happy ending” for its central character.

APRIL

The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

Directed by: Aaron Horvath, Michael Jelenic
Starring: Chris Pratt, Anya Taylor-Joy, Jack Black, Charlie Day, Seth Rogen, Fred Armisen, Keegan-Michael Key
Opening on: April 7, 2023

This big-screen adaptation of the iconic Nintendo character and his friends is being produced by Chris Meledandri of Illumination (Despicable Me) and the creator of Mario himself, Shigeru Miyamoto. Chris Pratt is voicing the famous Goomba-stomping plumber, who arrives in the Mushroom Kingdom and meets Keegan-Michael Key’s Toad. Anya Taylor-Joy is also on board as Princess Peach, while Jack Black and Seth Rogen will voice Bowser and Donkey Kong, respectively, and Charlie Day will play Luigi.

MAY

Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023)

Directed by: James Gunn
Starring: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan, Pom Klmentieff, Will Poulter, Elizabeth Debicki
Opening in: May 5, 2023

Writer-director James Gunn’s follows his giddily irreverent 2021 effort The Suicide Squad with the latest Guardians, which is sure to have a winning Chris Pratt, an awesome mix — see what we did there? — of other actors, and, we’re just guessing, plenty of comedic hijinks. We also know that Will Poulter is set to play Adam Warlock, who was teased at the end of Vol. 2.

Fast X (2023)

Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang, Ludacris, Nathalie Emmanuel
Opening on: May 19, 2023

This is only part one of the tenth installment of the most speedy and angry franchise out there. (Part two, rumored to be the last in the series, will drop in 2024.) And while the plot is hush-hush at the moment, we know that Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and the rest of the family will be back to do their thing.

JUNE

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos
Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae
Opening on: June 2, 2023

The Oscar-winning animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a big hit with critics and audiences, and Across the Spider-Verse was one of the most anticipated of 2022… until it got moved to 2023. Shameik Moore will voice Miles Morales again, with Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy and Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara (aka Spider-Man 2099) joining him. We also know that Issa Rae is set to voice Jessica Drew (aka Spider-Woman), and it’s likely that Jake Johnson’s Peter Parker will be back as well. The first trailer didn’t give us a whole lot more on the actual story of the film, but it revealed a whole slew of Spider characters Miles will come into contact with.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

Directed by: Steven Caple Jr.
Starring: Ron Perlman, Anthony Ramos, Peter Cullen, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Velez
Opening on: June 9, 2023

The Transformers franchise takes another step back in time after the 1980s-set Bumblebee, taking viewers back to the mid-’90s as a pair of archaeologists stumble into a three-way conflict between different factions of Transformers. The film is loosely based on the Beast Wars storyline and directed by Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II), with Peter Cullen reprising his role as the voice of Optimus Prime and people like Ron Perlman, Anthony Ramos, and Dominique Fishback joining the cast.

Extraction 2 (2023)

Directed by: Sam Hargrave
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Golshifteh Farahani, Adam Bessa
Premiering on: June 16, 2023 on Netflix

Not long after the pandemic took hold of the world in 2020, Netflix released an ambitious, adrenaline-fueled action flick starring Chris Hemsworth called Extraction, directed by Sam Hargrave and written by Joe Russo (and based on a graphic novel that Russo co-wrote). All three have returned for this sequel, which promises more ridiculous stunts and set pieces you can enjoy from the comfort of your living room couch.

The Flash (2023)

Directed by: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Billy Crudup, Michael Keaton
Opening on: June 23, 2023

Multi-verses were all the rage in 2022, and this movie looks to be DC’s contribution to the trend. Like a lot of the films on this list, we don’t yet know anything about the story, but the casting of Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne is either a super meta stunt or a big hint as to what we’ll see. There are rumors that the plot will follow the “Flashpoint” storyline from the comics, in which case, yes, expect some crossover shenanigans.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Directed by: James Mangold
Starring: Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook
Opening on: June 30, 2023

For the first time ever, a person not named Steven Spielberg is helming an Indiana Jones film. James Mangold (Walk the Line) directs this long-awaited follow-up to 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which boasts turns by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Antonio Banderas, and, of course, Harrison Ford.

JUNE

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (2023)

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales
Opening on: July 14, 2023

This was the slot originally reserved for Mission: Impossible 8, but with COVID being what it is, we’re now getting M:I 7 in 2023 and M:I 8 in 2024. In any case, when this movie hits theaters, Tom Cruise will have played Ethan Hunt for a whopping 27 years. Where does the time go? This installment brings back familiar franchise faces like Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Czerny, and Vanessa Kirby, with Esai Morales playing the primary villain.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie
Opening on: July 21, 2023

Christopher Nolan’s buzzed-about biopic on physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy in the titular role, as well as Emily Blunt and Matt Damon. Like virtually all of Nolan’s films, the IMAX-shot pic should be taken in on the biggest screen possible.

The Marvels (2023)

Directed by: Nia DaCosta
Starring: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Samuel L. Jackson
Opening on: July28,2023

The MCU ain’t getting any smaller, as Marvel plans to release five films in 2023 alone, including this sequel to Captain Marvel, which has Nia DaCosta (2021’s Candyman) at the helm and Brie Larson returning as Carol Danvers. The film will also be the big screen debut of Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel after her eponymous Disney+ series debuts in 2022.

Roosevelt

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio
Opening on: July 14, 2023

The legacy of the 32nd president of the United States gets the Martin Scorsese treatment, with Leonardo DiCaprio — who else? — set to star as the leader who navigated the Great Depression and World War II. This was announced way back in 2017, and we haven’t heard a whole lot about it since then, so take this release date with a grain of salt.

AUGUST

Blue Beetle (2023)

Directed by: Angel Manuel Soto
Starring: Xolo Maridueña, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Guillen
Opening on: August 18, 2023

Originally conceived as a film specifically for the HBO Max streaming platform, Blue Beetle eventually found its way to being a theatrical release when Warner Bros. changed their minds about the film. The DC superhero flick will be helmed by Angel Manuel Soto (Charm City Kings) and star Xolo Maridueña, who has recently made a name for himself on the Karate Kid-inspired hit Netflix series Cobra Kai.

SEPTEMBER

OCTOBER

Kraven the Hunter (2023)

Directed by: J.C. Chandor
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Opening on: October 6, 2023

Originally set to appear sometime in the Andrew Garfield Spider-Man franchise before it was discontinued by Sony, the classic Spidey villain finally makes the jump to the big screen. The film will be directed by J.C. Chandor (All Is Lost, Triple Frontier), with Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who portrayed Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron) set to play the character.

Pain Hustlers

Directed by: David Yates
Starring: Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, Andy Garcia, Catherine O’Hara, Jay Duplass
Premiering on: October 27, 2023 on Netflix

Harry Potter and Fantastic Beasts director David Yates delves into decidedly less fantastical territory with this based-on-true-events crime drama that centers on a woman who takes a job at a pharmaceutical start-up in Florida and finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy. The film stars Emily Blunt, Chris Evans, and Andy Garcia, among others.

NOVEMBER

Dune: Part Two (2023)

Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård
Opening on: November 3, 2023

The first installment’s day-and-date release on HBO Max may have put this sequel into question, but fear not: Dune: Part Two is officially a go, with director Denis Villeneuve claiming the film will cover the remainder of Frank Herbert’s 1965 opus (and open exclusively in theaters).

The Killer

Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton, Kerry O’Malley, Charles Parnell
Premiering on: November 10, 2023 on Netflix

Following up on his Oscar-winning Mank for Netflix, David Fincher turns to something a little darker. We don’t know much about this film, except that it’s a neo-noir thriller based on a French graphic novel series, and it will star Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton, among others.

DECEMBER

Leave the World Behind

Directed by: Sam Esmail
Starring: Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Kevin Bacon, Mhya’la Herrold
Premiering on: December 10, 2023 on Netflix

Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail wrote, directed, and produced this thriller based on the novel of the same name about a family whose vacation at an Airbnb is interrupted by the property’s owners, who have arrived with news of a mysterious widespread blackout. The cast includes Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, and Ethan Hawke.

Rebel Moon (2023)

Directed by: Zack Snyder
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Sofia Boutella, Michiel Huisman, Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, Djiman Hounsou, Dona Bae
Premiering on: December 22, 2023 on Netflix

After the success of Army of the Dead, Zack Snyder’s next project for Netflix is this space epic based on an original story of Snyder’s own. The story centers on a peaceful colony who, threatened by a tyrant, send a young woman to neighboring planets to recruit an army. The film is scheduled for a limited theatrical release before it streams on Netflix, but we don’t know when that will be yet.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023)

Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Temuera Morrison
Opening on: December 25, 2023

James Wan returns to the director’s chair for another go at the world of Atlantis and the DC superhero Aquaman (Jason Momoa), who will be joined by Amber Heard (Mera), Patrick Wilson (Ocean Master), and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Black Manta). No other details about the film are available as of yet.