LOS ANGELES, USA – Timothée Chalamet, Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise and…Barbie (Margot Robbie) are coming to a screen near you this year. As the world continues to recover from the COVID pandemic, movies – big and small – hope to lure filmgoers in droves again to multiplexes and neighborhood theaters.

Here’s a sample of 2023’s most anticipated films:

February

80 for Brady: Based on the story of real-life Tom Brady and New England Patriots fans known as the “Over 80 for Brady,” the sports comedy stars Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Rita Moreno, and Lily Tomlin as friends who fly to Houston to watch their idol and favorite football team in the 2017 Super Bowl.

Tom appears as himself and is one of the producers. Any opportunity to watch the four ladies together should be a treat but the fun quotient increases with costars that include Billy Porter, Jimmy O. Yang, Patton Oswalt, and Bob Balaban.

Magic Mike’s Last Dance: Speaking of the Super Bowl, Channing Tatum has described the final chapter of his Magic Mike trilogy as the “Super Bowl of stripping.” Channing, whose early life as a male stripper inspired the film series, told People magazine, “I want dancing like we’ve never been able to do in the other two movies, because we had to be honest to what the reality of that world is, which isn’t great dancing.”

Because people will troop to watch Magic Mike’s Last Dance for the dancing, right?

Salma Hayek enjoyed her costar perk in one scene – a lap dance from Channing, no less. She said to Entertainment Weekly: “…If you’re gonna start somewhere, why not Channing? But you know what? I deserve it! I deserve that it was the best, because I had to play the stripper in so many movies before and now I just got to sit down and enjoy it. I don’t take my clothes off.”

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania: Kicking off Phase 5 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Paul Rudd returns in the title role to confront Kang the Conqueror (Jonathan Majors) in an epic battle.

Director Peyton Reed promises a fitting MCU spectacle in an interview, also with EW: “People felt like, ‘Oh, these are fun little palate cleansers after a gigantic Avengers movie.’ For this third one, I said, ‘I don’t want to be the palate cleanser anymore. I want to be the big Avengers movie.’”

Evangeline Lilly is also back as Hope Van Dyne/The Wasp in the cast that includes Kathryn Newton, William Jackson Harper, Bill Murray, Michelle Pfeiffer, Michael Douglas, and Randall Park.

Cocaine Bear: This thriller was inspired by an incident that once more proves the cliché that truth is stranger than fiction. In 1985, a 175-pound bear (who later became known as Pablo Escobear) overdosed on cocaine dropped in the forests of Georgia state by drug smugglers to lighten their airborne plane’s cargo weight.

Investigators estimated that the dead bear ate 75 pounds of cocaine valued at around $2 million.

Elisabeth Banks directs the thriller that runs away with the true story and invents a tale of how the bear goes on a murderous rampage in a town (in real life, the bear simply died, its taxidermied body now on display in a mall). Ray Liotta, Keri Russell, Margo Martindale, Alden Ehrenreich, Matthew Rhys, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson star.

March

Creed III: Michael B. Jordan stars again but this time also makes his feature-directing debut. This is the first Creed film minus Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa (he won the 2016 Golden Globe best supporting actor award in the role) but he is one of the producers.

In this installment, Michael’s Adonis Creed squares off against his childhood friend who is released after serving a long prison sentence, Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors).

Scream 6: The latest in the slasher franchise marks the first time that the series’ star, Neve Campbell, is not in the cast because she was reportedly not happy with the offer. But Jenna Ortega, whose star is on the rise with her hit Wednesday series, is back after first playing Tara Carpenter in the 2022 Scream.

Jenna told Entertainment Tonight: “With the last Scream, they were tiptoeing and trying to be very respectful of what the franchise had been up until that point and keeping their inner gory dreams at bay. But with this one, they were like, ‘We’re going all out.’ It’s potentially a hundred times gorier.”

“Who is the new Ghostface?” is the question that tantalizes fans. In the cast are Melissa Barrera, Courteney Cox, Tony Revolori, Dermot Mulroney, Samara Weaving, and Hayden Panettiere.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods: The saga of teen Billy Batson who becomes an adult superhero by saying “Shazam!” continues in this sequel. Zachary Levi returns in the titular part with a fine cast – Helen Mirren, Rachel Zegler, Lucy Liu, Grace Caroline Currey, Adam Brody and more.

John Wick: Chapter 4: Keanu Reeves has done many physically challenging action scenes in his career, so for him to say that his fourth outing as JW was the hardest should get the franchise’s followers and action fans excited.

Keanu said to Total Film, “John Wick: Chapter 4 was the hardest physical role I’ve ever had in my career so far. They really trained me up to be able to have what we call the toolbox.”

Shot in Paris, Berlin, New York, and Osaka, JW4 also topbills Donnie Yen, Laurence Fishburne, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Bill Skarsgard.

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves: Based on the tabletop role-playing game, the action-adventure-fantasy has no ties to the movies issued between 2000 and 2012.

Chris Pine, as Edgin, is joined by Michelle Rodriguez, Hugh Grant, Jason Wong, and Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page. The latter said in the 2022 Comic-Con: “Lots of push-ups, lots of sit-ups. I got to swing a sword around for a living. Do you know what I mean? That is everything that you’d want growing up. And coming into this, I got really, really good with the swords. It was lots and lots of stunts training, so my thighs were killing me and I had the best ass of my life.”

April

Chevalier: This true story of the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner who rises as a fencer, violinist, and composer, who was also called the Black Mozart, couldn’t be more fascinating.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Joseph Bologne, a musical prodigy known as Chevalier de Saint-Georges, who meets the Queen of France, Marie Antoinette (Lucy Boynton), but racism and his love life complicate matters.

The cast also features Samara Weaving, Minnie Driver, and Martin Csokas.

Beau is Afraid: Surrealist comedy horror set in an alternate present is how this Joaquin Phoenix movie, written and directed by Ari Aster, is described. But any film that has Patti LuPone and Joaquin as mother and son has my attention.

May

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: Not one but two Filipino Americans – Nico Santos and Dave Bautista –costar here, in a rare one for a Marvel Cinematic Universe project. While Dave is known for playing Drax (this will reportedly be his last portrayal, by choice, of the skillful warrior Guardian member), Nico’s character has not been revealed.

The star-studded cast is headlined by Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Elizabeth Debicki, and Sylvester Stallone.

Book Club 2: The Next Chapter: After Jane Fonda and her three friends catch a Patriots game in Houston, she and a different set of three pals fly to Italy – am I seeing a pattern here?

Jane, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen take their book club to Italy to finally have the fun girls’ trip they never had. For a change, Hollywood is giving these actresses opportunities to headline movies. In the mix are Andy Garcia, Don Johnson, Craig T. Nelson, and Italy’s treasure, Giancarlo Giannini.

The Little Mermaid: Who isn’t eager for the live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1989 animated treasure?

Newcomers Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King as Ariel and Prince Eric, respectively, are surrounded by a terrific cast: Melissa McCarthy (Ursula) and Javier Bardem (King Triton), and voices by Awkwafina (Scuttle), Daveed Diggs (Sebastian), and Jacob Tremblay (Flounder).

Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is buzzed as the voice of a character, cowrote new songs with Alan Menken who did the score.

June

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse: The eagerly awaited sequel, directed by a new set of directors – Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson – promises a different animation style and look for each dimension.

Fil-Am Hailee Steinfeld is back as the voice of Gwen Stacy/Spider-Woman, with Shameik Moore (Miles Morales), Oscar Isaac (Miguel O’Hara), Brian Tyree Henry (Jefferson Davis), Daniel Kaluuya (Hobart “Hobie” Brown/Spider-Punk), and Jason Schwartzman (Jonathan Ohnn/The Spot).

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: The seventh installment has Michelle Yeoh, who may be the first Asian to win the Oscars’ best actress honors, as the voice of Airazor, one of the Transformers. Michelle is in good voice cast company: Michaela Jae Rodriguez (Nightbird), Peter Dinklage (Scourge), and Ron Perlman (Optimus Primal).

Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback anchor the story as Noah and Elena, respectively.

Elemental: Being described as Pixar’s most important release in recent years, Elemental is the animation powerhouse’s first film to be shown in movie houses since 2020.

Peter Sohn, directing from a script by Brenda Hsueh, tells the story of Ember (Leah Lewis), a fire element, and Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a water element, who form a bond despite not being able to touch each other. They find that they share a  lot in common, more than they expected.

No Hard Feelings: Not to be confused with the 2020 German drama film, No Hard Feelings stars Jennifer Lawrence whose character responds to a Craigslist ad by a mother looking for someone to date her son (Andrew Barth Feldman) before he goes to college.

Matthew Broderick, Natalie Morales, Laura Benanti, and Filipino American Jordan Mendoza round out the cast.

The Flash: Somehow, despite all of Ezra Miller’s seemingly endless run-ins with the law, his debut as The Flash is scheduled to be released this year. The actor has publicly apologized and has reportedly sought mental health treatment.

DC fans are anticipating the movie since it marks the return of Ben Affleck as Batman and Michael Keaton also dons again the cape and cowl.

Untitled Adele Lim Comedy: Crazy Rich Asians and Raya and the Last Dragon writer Adele Lim makes her feature directing debut in this comedy about four Asian American women who bond and find truths as they travel to Asia to look for their birth moms.

Adele, who left the Crazy Rich Asians sequel due to a dispute over pay disparity, instead decided to direct this film written by Cherry Chevapravatdumrong, Teresa Hsiao, and Nina Kim. Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu, Emily in Paris’ Ashley Park, Sherry Cola, and Sabrina Wu star.

Variety quoted Adele as saying, “This journey began with me, Cherry, and Teresa – my friends and comedy writing heroes – wanting to tell a story with characters who look like us, about women who are messy and thirsty, but have so much heart. Point Grey and Lionsgate have been incredible allies and partners from day one, and I am thrilled to be making my directing debut with them on a story that’s so special to me.”

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: Start playing that iconic “The Raiders March” theme song in your mind now. Harrison Ford is back as the swashbuckling archaeologist in this fifth installment. Steven Spielberg directed the first four films, but this one was directed by James Mangold.

The movie is set in 1969, but the first scene takes place in 1944, so James tapped de-aging technology. He explained to Empire that he “wanted the chance to dive into this kind of full-on George [Lucas]-and-Steven [Spielberg] old picture and give the audience an adrenaline blast. So that the audience doesn’t experience the change between the ’40s and ’60s as an intellectual conceit, but literally experiences the buccaneering spirit of those early days. And then the beginning of now.”

Harrison, who turned 80 last July, stressed this is his last movie as the rugged, fedora-wearing adventurer. He told Variety why he made one more Indiana Jones movie: “I always wanted to do it. I wanted to do the rest of the story to see the end of his career.”

The actor has new cast mates: Antonio Banderas, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Boyd Holbrook, Toby Jones, and Thomas Kretschmann.

July

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One: For the seventh installment of this franchise, Tom Cruise revealed in a video on Twitter that he did the “most dangerous” stunt ever. He said in that clip, “We’re going to shoot it in Norway and it will be a motorcycle jump off a cliff into a base jump.”

The stunt of Tom driving a motorcycle off a cliff looks spectacular and very dangerous indeed. Director Christopher McQuarrie said in the video, “Coming up with the stunt is only one of the technical challenges. The other is putting a camera in place so that you can see where Tom is doing it.”

“Finding the right lens, the right platform, the right medium. Even two years ago, the cameras didn’t exist that would allow us to do what we’re trying to do today.”

With Tom in this stunt-filled movie are Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Hayley Atwell, Carey Elwes, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Ving Rhames, and Rob Delaney.

Barbie: With indie film darlings Greta Gerwig (director) and Noah Baumbach (cowriting with Greta), this is an excursion into the Barbie world that may yield a refreshing take.

The IMDb plotline is already promising: “To live in Barbie Land is to be perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis.” Barbie film = existentialism? I told you.

And with Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, respectively, get ready to play. And, kiddies, look who else are in it: Will Ferrell, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Kate McKinnon, Rhea Perlman, and America Ferrara.

Oppenheimer: Nope writer-director Jordan Peele, in a Happy, Sad, Confused podcast chat, said about Christopher Nolan’s first film since 2020’s Tenet: “I don’t work for the film, I don’t have a contract or anything. All I can say is, I am so envious I didn’t get to be on set for this production. The talent is incredible. The images, I have seen a couple of images from it that just look so beautiful. It’s going to be a real…. It’s what I’m most excited for next year [2023].”

The first black and white IMAX film, a biographical drama on American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer who helped develop the atomic bomb, has quite a cast: Cillian Murphy (in the title role), Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Gary Oldman, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Rami Malek, Casey Affleck, and Dane DeHaan.

The Marvels: Part of Phase 5 of the MCU, this Nia DaCosta-directed sequel to Captain Marvel features Brie Larson (Carol Danvers), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Zawe Ashton, and Park Seo-joon.

August

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem: The CG-animated reboot of the franchise features a voice cast led by Seth Rogen and Shamon Brown Jr., and for the first time, the Turtles will be voiced by actual teenagers.

Haunted Mansion: In this second film based on the popular Disneyland attraction, Jared Leto, as The Hat-Box Ghost, leads the spirits that are being driven away from the mansion. Also in the cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Rosario Dawson, Owen Wilson, Winona Ryder, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, and Dan Levy.

Challengers: Jumping from a cannibal love story (Bones and All) to a romantic sports comedy in Challengers, Luca Guadagnino keeps surprising and impressing with his project choices.

This time, the filmmaker behind the unforgettable Call Me By Your Name tackles an interesting premise – three tennis players who knew each other as teens meet again in a “Challenger” championship that sparks old rivalries and emotions.

Zendaya, Josh O’Connor, and Mike Faist star.

Blue Beetle: Harvey Guillen, very amusing as the voice of Perrito in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, joins this DC Extended Universe movie based on the character, Jaime Reyes/Blue Beetle (Xolo Mariduena). Susan Sarandon, George Lopez, and Adriana Barraza are also in the cast.

September

The Equalizer 3: In their fifth collaboration, Denzel Washington and director Antoine Fuqua bring back the vigilante first seen in the TV series. Denzel also reunites with his Man on Fire costar, Dakota Fanning.

A Haunting in Venice: 2023 is Michelle Yeoh’s year, and we just live in it. Michelle in a Hercule Poirot mystery drama sounds too good to pass up. Kenneth Branagh and his mustache also star in the film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Hallowe’en Party.

Kenneth again directs the whodunnit, this time set in post-World War II Venice. Jamie Dornan and Jude Hill, both memorable in Kenneth’s Belfast, Tina Fey, and Emma Laird costar.

The Expendables 4: Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture go at it for the fourth time with “fresh blood” provided by Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, and 50 Cent.

Next Goal Wins: Taika Waititi’s sports comedy-drama, based on the 2014 documentary about coach Thomas Rongen’s efforts to lead the American Samoa national football team, will finally be released this year. Filmed in 2019, Next Goal Wins stars Michael Fassbender, Elisabeth Moss, and Will Arnett.

October

Kraven the Hunter: Keanu Reeves, Brad Pitt, Adam Driver, and John David Washington were reportedly among the actors considered to play Kraven, Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Spider-Man villain. But the producers quickly latched on to Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Sergei Kravinoff when they saw him in Bullet Train.

Russel Crowe, Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbott, and Alessandro Nivola also boarded the project.

The Exorcist: Are you ready for what could be more head-spinning scenes? Ellen Burstyn, who portrayed Linda Blair’s mom, returns in this direct sequel to the 1973 horror masterpiece. This is reportedly the first of a planned trilogy with Ellen set to star in the films.

November

Dune: Part Two: November could not come soon enough so in the meantime, Dave Bautista (Glossu Rabban Harkonnen) teased some bits about the epic to Collider: “This is so amped up from the first film. The first film was just an introduction to what this film is. There’s just so much going on, it’s so much more cutthroat and political and intense.”

But Dave added: “[There] are moments of levity where [there are] some funny moments, and they are kind of absurd humor but there are those moments. So it’s just so much more amped up than the first film.”

As the whole universe knows, this second part, covering the second half of Frank Herbert’s novel, Dune, is directed again by Denis Villeneuve and stars Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Lea Seydoux, Christopher Walken, Stellan Skarsgard, Tim Blake Nelson, and Dave, of course.

Isn’t this one of the greatest casts ever assembled?

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: It has been eight years since the last The Hunger Games movie was released. In this prequel, Francis Lawrence is back in the director’s chair.

Rachel Zegler, in a Happy, Sad, Confused podcast, shared an “embarrassing story” – she initially turned down the Lucy Gray Baird role: “This is such an embarrassing story for me. I was offered it in January of last year after wanting it so badly. I didn’t audition, it was just, I got a call from my agent that was like, ‘Francis Lawrence wants you to do this.’ ”

“I met with him for like three hours at the Soho Hotel in London. And then he told me that they were filming in Germany and Poland and I had just gotten to London and I wanted to disappear because I was so far away from home for the first time ever. And I was away from everybody that I knew and loved and I said ‘no.’ ”

“I regretted it the second I said it. I had another project lined up that fell through that got pushed into 2023 and I just kind of put my name back into the mix and got it, and I feel really bad for any of the girls…because I put my name back in and they were just like, ‘Yup, okay, cool, we’ll do it.’”

Rachel’s costars are Tom Blyth (Coriolanus Snow), Hunter Schafer (Tigris Snow), Viola Davis, and Peter Dinklage.

December

Wonka: Timothée Chalamet ushers in Christmas 2023 with his eagerly anticipated prequel to Roald Dahl’s 1964 novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Based on the sneak photos, Timothée looks perfect as the young Wonka, the budding eccentric chocolatier who meets the Oompa-Loompas.

Costars Olivia Colman and Keegan-Michael Key are already teasing encouraging words about Timothée’s take on the beloved character previously played by Johnny Depp and Gene Wilder.

Olivia said to Variety, “He’s doing something different. It’s such a treat. He’s so beautiful onscreen. He’s magical.”

Keegan told The Hollywood Reporter: “There’s this wonderful effortlessness about how he plays Wonka, not to mention the fact that there’s this hopeful quality that he gives the character, a kind of indomitable quality that he will never quit, he’s always up for the next thing. He’s like, ‘Okay, that didn’t work out? We’ll do this and we’ll try something else.’ This kid, you know, he drips charisma and wonderful confidence. He’s just a really delicious artist.”

Sally Hawkins and Rowan Atkinson also star.

The Color Purple: December also brings the much-awaited film adaptation of the 2005 Broadway musical, which in turn was based on the acclaimed novel of the same name. Fantasia Barrino, 2004 American Idol champion, has the plum role, Celie Harris Johnson. I hope this is the project that finally makes the talented Fantasia a star – she deserves it.

The rest of the cast is equally fine: Taraji P. Henson, Halle Bailey (from Ariel to the young Nettie), Aunjanue Ellis, Fil-Am H.E.R., Jon Batiste, Colman Domingo, Louis Gossett Jr., and Corey Hawkins.

The producers are impressive – Steven Spielberg (who directed the 1985 drama film adaptation), Quincy Jones, and Oprah Winfrey, who starred as Sofia in the 1985 version and earned Oscar and Golden Globe best supporting actress nominations.

Untitled Ghostbusters: Afterlife Sequel: This fourth film in the Ghostbusters movie series finds the Ghostbusters back in New York. Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard costar.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom: On Christmas Day, moviegoers will unwrap this cinematic present by Jason Momoa – his sequel to 2018’s Aquaman. James Wan again directs a cast that includes Ben Affleck, Patrick Wilson, Nicole Kidman, and Randall Park.

Also set for 2023 release but with no specific dates yet are: Maestro, which reunites A Star Is Born director and cinematographer, Bradley Cooper and Fil-Am Matthew Libatique, respectively, in a Leonard Bernstein biopic; Napoleon with Joaquin Phoenix in the title role (need I say more?); Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, with a spectacular cast, from Tilda Swinton to Hong Chau (tentatively on June 23); The Nightingale, with Dakota and Elle Fanning, acting together on the screen for the first time, playing – surprise – sisters; and Reese Witherspoon’s Legally Blonde 3, with Jennifer Coolidge returning as well. – Rappler.com