The best upcoming movies of 2024

Despicable Me 4

Just when you thought it was safe to go back to your regularly scheduled, Minion-free programming, the mischievous yellow henchmen (and their less-than-evil master) are plotting their return to the big screen.

While the powers that be are keeping their cards close to their chest, we’ve got a few juicy details to keep us going while you brush up on your Minionese. In this latest caper, Steve Carrell returns to lend his voice to the ever-lovable Gru, alongside Kristen Wiig’s Lucy, and their trio of daughters—Margo (Miranda Cosgrove), Edith (Dana Gaier), and Agnes (Madison Polan). But there’s a new Gru in town – Gru Jr., poised to give his dad a run for his money in the mischief department.

The plot thickens with the introduction of Gru’s latest adversary, Maxime Le Mal, voiced by none other than Will Ferrell. Together with his femme fatale girlfriend Valentina (Sofia Vergara), they force Gru and his family into a world of chaos and on-the-run shenanigans.

Release date: 4 July 2024

Longlegs

Written and directed by Osgood Perkins (the son of Psycho star Anthony Perkins), this 1970s-set horror thriller stars Maika Monroe as an FBI agent and Nicolas Cage as the serial killer she’s hunting. With lashings of occult weirdness promised, an extremely creepy (and blissfully non-spoilerish) trailer and the delicious promise of Cage absolutely munching the scenery as a villain, this might be our most anticipated indie horror of the year.

Release date: 12 July 2024

Twisters

The beloved 1996 disaster movie gets an update almost 30 years later, but don’t worry: the wind is still the star of the show (despite a leading role for man of the moment Glen Powell). And it’s a timely sequel, given the climate change-fuelled craziness that’s currently affecting the weather. This time around the story focusses on a tornado chaser and a weather scientist (played by Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones) looking for suitable conditions to test out a new storm warning system. Expect flying cars, flying houses and flying people.

Release date: 19 July 2024

Deadpool & Wolverine

Deadpool’s whole ‘I’m a puerile loudmouth’ schtick is a bit Marmite, but those of you in the Love It camp have a lot to look forward this summer. Because Ryan Reynolds is back as Wade Wilson, and this time he’s bringing a pal: Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine (still completely ripped despite the actor’s advancing years).

The team-up comes courtesy of the whole multiverse/time variance thing Marvel is currently using to bring different cinematic timelines and worlds together, but if the previous two Deadpool movies are anything to go by, it’ll be just another thing to be mercilessly made fun of by the fourth wall-breaking mercenary.

Release date: 26 July 2024

Trap

A doting dad (Josh Hartnett) takes his teenage daughter to a pop concert. Noticing the plethora of extra security cameras and strangely large police presence in the arena, he asks a worker what’s going on. The whole concert is a huge trap, he’s told: the FBI are aware that a notorious serial killer dubbed The Butcher is in attendance, and plan on catching him on his way out. Plot twist: Hartnett’s character is The Butcher, with a poor soul chained up in his basement as all this plays out.

We all know that M. Night Shyamalan loves a twist, but the director has never revealed one in a trailer – until now. That suggests to us that he has even bigger narrative rugs to pull out from under the viewer, and we can’t wait to find out what’s in store for Hartnett as he attempts to outfox the Feds.

Release date: 9 August 2024

Alien: Romulus

A group of young colonists decide to explore an abandoned space station, only to discover that it’s abandoned for a very good reason: it’s now home to the galaxy’s unfriendliest species.

Directed by horror maestro Fede Alvarez (best-known for 2013’s Evil Dead remake and the excellent home invasion thriller with a twist Don’t Breathe), Romulus promises to be the scariest film in the Alien series since, well, Alien. In a movie franchise that has disappointed far more often than it should have, given its arresting subject matter and setting, going back to its sci-fi horror roots might be for the best. We can’t wait to find out.

Release date: 16 August 2024

The Front Room

Celebrated director Robert Eggers’ two brothers Sam and Max make their directorial debut with this A24-released psychological thriller. Brandy stars as mum-to-be Belinda, whose life is turned upside down when her husband’s elderly – and incredibly creepy – stepmother moves in. Setting herself up in the pair’s front room, she begins dispensing unwanted advice that quickly develops into outright hostility, setting her and Belinda on a collision course that seems likely to end in violence.

Release date: 6 September 2024

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

The idea of a Beetlejuice sequel has been kicking around since 1990, with original stars Michael Keaton and Winona Ryder both keen – but then director Tim Burton and Keaton got side-tracked making a little film called Batman Returns instead. Now, over 30 years on, we’re finally getting one – and Ryder, Keaton and Burton are all back on board, along with new cast members Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux and Monica Bellucci. Even Danny Elfman has returned to provide the score.

With so many of the original creators involved, we’re hopeful that Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (don’t say it a third time, for heaven’s sake) will be a worthy sequel rather than a cold-hearted cash-grab taking advantage of fans’ nostalgia for a creepy comedy classic. 

Release date: 6 September 2024

Wolfs

Produced by Apple Studios (which means it’ll probably end up in the Apple TV+ library fairly soon after it leaves cinemas), this action comedy stars big beasts George Clooney and Brad Pitt as professional ‘fixers’. These are men who, working alone, clean up messes for wealthy clients, but happen to turn up at the same New York apartment to disappear a dead body. Awkward.

What starts as mutual antipathy gradually morphs into typical buddy comedy prickliness as the situation takes a turn for the chaotic, forcing this pair of lone wolves to work as a team.

Release date: 20 September 2024

Joker: Folie à Deux

After Joker earned millions at the box office, bagged itself a few Oscars and caused some minor social panics along the way, a sequel was bound to happen. That comes in Joker: Folie à Deux. For non-French speakers, Folie à Deux means a shared delusion between two people. That’ll be Joker and Harley Quinn, then.

We know that Joker: Folie à Deux will be a musical, which makes sense given that Lady Gaga will be in a starring role as Quinn. Quinn, the psychatrist turned psycho, will likely follow DC canon and play as some sort of partner in crime to Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker.

Release date: 4 October 2024

Smile 2

Smile was one of 2022’s most enjoyable horror movies and a major box office success – so it’s no surprise to see a sequel looming out of the shadows.

Like the first film, Smile 2 is written and directed by Parker Finn, which gives us hope that it won’t be a lazy re-tread of the same hair-raising ground. Brit Naomi Scott plays Skye Riley, a Lady Gaga-style pop icon who becomes the latest victim of the mysterious and malevolent entity that manifests itself as an unsettlingly false fixed smile on the faces of nearby people. Nearby people who usually proceed to do something absolutely awful to themselves or others. Judging by the trailer, Finn has already cast some of the creepiest smilers in Hollywood.

Release date: 18 October 2024

Venom: The Last Dance

The third and final Venom movie starring Tom Hardy, The Last Dance sees Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote Venom going on the run. On their tails are a whole plethora of beings – not all of them originating from Earth.

It’s a shame that (it seems, at least) Hardy’s excellent portrayal of Brock/Venom will never get to interact with his greatest comic book nemesis Spider-Man. Such are the problems with different studios owning the rights to different Marvel characters, we suppose – but hopefully this movie gives Hardy’s Venom the cinematic send-off his performances have deserved.

Release date: October 2024

Heretic

Is 2024 the year that Hugh Grant establishes himself as a horror movie icon? We never thought we’d be writing those words, but here we are – and its thanks to this A24-produced thriller in which Grant’s outwardly avuncular character invites a pair of young Mormon missionaries into his home. He then skips the tea and biscuits stage to apparently entrap them in some kind of Saw-like maze – one which will put their faith to the ultimate test.

Release date: Autumn 2024

Here

It’s a Forrest Gump reunion! Based on the graphic novel of the same name, Here brings Tom Hanks, Robin Wright and director Robert Zemeckis together again, 30 years on.

The film tells the story of a single spot of land and the people (and animals) that live on it over the history of the Earth and into the future. Shot from a static perspective and making liberal use of ageing and de-ageing AI technology, it aims to offer a unique perspective on the human experience. Paul Bettany, Kelly Reilly and Michelle Dockery also star.

Release date: 15 November 2024

Red One

We’ve already seen Santa does Die Hard (Violent Night) and Santa does Friday the 13^th (Silent Night, Deadly Night and Black Christmas). And soon there’ll be Red One, which takes inspiration from buddy cop comedy films. When Santa Claus (codenamed ‘Red One’) is kidnapped, his trusted head of security (Dwayne Johnson) aims to track him down with the help of the world’s best bounty hunter (Chris Evans). Thus begins a round-the-world chase to literally save Christmas, with the pair bickering and bantering along the way.

The film is being released in cinemas initially, but we’d expect it to be streaming on Amazon Prime Video by the time the festive season rolls around.

Release date: 15 November 2024

Gladiator 2

It’s been 23 years since Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius… father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife, had his vengeance. Now, Gladiator is back.

And while it might seem like sacrilege for a Gladiator movie not to star Russel Crowe – spoiler alert: he dies in the first one – we have a potentially very worthy replacement in Paul Mescal. We’ll also see Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, Djimon Hounsou, and Derek Jacobi all star.

Little is known about the movie plot, but we do know that it’ll follow Lucius (Mescal), the nephew of Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus from the original Gladiator. It doesn’t look like Phoenix will be returning either, which makes sense since he’s been busy leading the French army and dancing down stairs with Harley Quinn.

Release date: 22 November 2024

Wicked

The Emerald City is about to shine brighter than ever before on the big screen, with Broadway’s hit Wicked transforming from stage to cinema in an adaptation that’s got everyone talking. Cynthia Erivo is stepping into the iconic, emerald-tinged shoes of the woman who will become the Wicked Witch of the West, with popstar Ariana Grande sprinkling her magic as the bubbly and effervescent future Glinda the Good. And who better to pull the strings of Oz than the charismatic Jeff Goldblum, cast as the enigmatic man behind the curtain?

Joining this lineup are Bowen Yang, Michelle Yeoh, and Jonathan Bailey, who are set to bring their own dazzle to this journey down the yellow brick road. As the cast follows the yellow brick road, this adaptation is shaping up to be more than just a retelling of the Wizard of Oz saga – it’s a reimagining that explores themes of friendship, identity, and the nature of evil.

Release date: 27 November 2024

Nosferatu

One of the iconic cinematic horror stories is coming back – and it’s quite the flex from writer/director Robert Eggers and studio Focus Features to choose to release it on Christmas Day!

Inspired by both Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula and the original 1922 Nosferatu film, Eggers’ reimaging stars Bill Skarsgard as the vampire Count Orlok and Lily-Rose Depp as Ellen Hutter, the young woman with whom he becomes obsessed. This infatuation spells horrific consequences for anyone that stands between the pair, and if Eggers’ previous movies (The Witch, The Lighthouse, The Northman) are any indicator, we’re in for an audio-visual treat as well as a scare or twenty.

Release date: 25 December 2024

You’re Cordially Invited

We don’t see too many mid-budget star-led comedies these days, but this upcoming film from Forgetting Sarah Marshall director Nicholas Stoller looks set to scratch that itch. Skipping a theatrical release and coming straight to Prime Video, it stars Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon as two strangers who clash when they double book a luxury venue for family weddings.

Release date: 30 January 2025