20. “Creed III”
Michael B. Jordan steps behind the camera for the third film in the “Rocky” spin-off series. While official details are still uncertain, Sylvester Stallone, who is not expected to return this time around, has expressed interest in Clubber Lang’s (Mr. T) son being “Creed III’s” boxing bad. Alongside returning co-star Tessa Thompson, the immeasurably talented Jonathan Majors has been cast in the film, piquing out interest in the franchise’s latest installment.
Release Date: March 3, 2023, via MGM. – AB
19. “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse”
“Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse,” sequel, ‘Across The Spider-Verse,’ looks like it’ll be just as ambitious as the original. Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) return, and they are joined by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac), and many more Spider-People are expected to appear (Jessica Drew’s Spider-Woman played by Issa Rae). Lord and Miller are writing, and directors Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, are behind the reins of the project.
Release Date: June 2, 2023, via Sony Pictures – AB
18. “Iron Claw”
Indie filmmaker Sean Durkin (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”) has scored quite the cast for his next feature based on the tragic life of professional wrestler Kevin Von Erich and the Von Erich family. The film stars Zac Efron with an ensemble cast including Harris Dickinson, Jeremy Allen White, Lily James, and Holt McCallany, amongst others. Yes, the Von Erichs were briefly in the WWF of the 1990s, but mostly fought in smaller leagues, more importantly, spending most of their lives trying to outlive the “Von Erich curse” that plagued their family.
Release Date: TBD vis A24.
17. “The Bikeriders”
American filmmaker Jeff Nichols almost returned in a different manner—he was supposed to direct the “A Quiet Place” spin-off. Instead, we get an original project instead, “The Bikeriders,” featuring the ensemble cast of Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Tom Hardy, Michael Shannon, Boyd Holbrook, Norman Reedus, and Mike Faist. The film is a fictional story inspired by the 1968 photo book of the same name by Danny Lyon following the rise of a fictional Midwestern motorcycle club.
Release Date: TBD via 20th Century Studios.
16. “Blitz”
Following his incredible Amazon five-short film series, “Small Axe,” filmmaker Steve McQueen returns with a historical drama that follows the stories of a group of Londoners during the events of the British capital bombing in World War II. Apparently, in production now, Saoirse Ronan stars alongside Harris Dickinson, Elliott Heffernan, and Erin Kellyman.
Release Date: TBD, but Apple TV+ is behind it, so it smells like an awards contender if it can finish in time.
15. “May/December”
American auteur Todd Haynes returns with a drama and memory piece. This one is about a famous married couple, Gracie Atherton-Yu and her husband Joe (23 years her junior), who are forced to relive their notorious tabloid romance that gripped the nation twenty years earlier, when an actress doing research for a new film enters their lives and probes this past. Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore, and Charles Melton star, and production has already wrapped.
Release Date: TBD, but this definitely seems like a film that benefits from a big festival bow.
14. “El Conde”
In 16 years, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larrain (“Jackie” “Spencer”) has made nine feature films, one short, and one entire TV series. Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that he has another feature that’ll be ready for 2023, a political satire and black comedy that pictures bloody Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire. Longtime Chilean collaborator Alfredo Castro stars (naturally).
Release Date: TBD, but “El Conde” is a Netflix release.
13. “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”
Tom Cruise, director Christopher McQuarrie (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”), and the “Mission Impossible” team are back. The plot is unknown, but who cares, really, when your cast includes Cruise, Vanessa Kirby, Rebecca Ferguson, Haley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales, Rob Delaney, Indira Varma, Cary Elwes and many more? McQ has created a franchise where death-defying stunts, crazy action, and a threadbare plot still seem to totally work and satisfy.
Release Date: September 30, 2022, via Paramount Pictures.
12. “Asteroid City”
Wes Anderson’s follow-up to “The French Dispatch,” takes his merry troupe of actors to “Asteroid City” next. The plot centers on an astronomy convention that takes place in a desert town in the 1950s, and the exceptional cast of Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, Adrien Brody, Bryan Cranston, Jeffrey Wright, Jeff Goldblum, Liev Schreiber, Jason Schwartzman, Matt Dillon, and more. What’s nuts, the follow-up, “The Wonderful Story Of Henry Sugar” has already been shot too.
Release Date: TBD, but Cannes feels like a good bet – AB.
11. “Zone Of Interest”
You apparently can’t rush genius or director Jonathan Glazer (“Under The Skin”). An adaptation of Martin Amis’ novel “The Zone Of Interest,” set in Auschwitz, Glazer’s film is a WWII concentration camp story, reportedly about a Nazi officer who has become enamored with the camp commandant’s wife (which will be interesting given our recent discourse). We’ve been awaiting this one for years, but at least it shot in 2021, so maybe the end of 2023 if we’re super lucky?
Release Date: TBD.
