The 20 Most Anticipated Movies Of 2023

Timothée Chalamet as a young Willy Wonka? Sign me up. The film chronicles how Wonka met the Oompa-Loompas ahead of his time at the chocolate factory and should be quite the nostalgic ride.

C’mon Barbie, let’s go party, but Greta Gerwig style. The highly anticipated Barbie movie has been kept tightly under wraps, except for some (very viral) photos from the set. Regardless, with Gerwig behind the lens and a cast consisting of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside Will Ferrell, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, and Marisa Abela, I’m more than ready to see it unfold.

The French coming-of-age film that follows two 13-year-old best friends has been described as heartbreaking and tremendous. While we don’t know much about the film, its intimate portrayal of young male friendship is sure to be a moving one to witness on the screen.

M. Night Shyamalan, the filmmaker known for his twist endings, is back with a thriller about an existential threat that falls on a happy family of three when four strangers appear at their remote cabin. Based on author Paul Tremblay’s 2018 novel, The Cabin at the End of the World, the premise of what the threat is and what decision the family – Johnathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, and Kristen Cui – have to make remains a mystery as the strangers, played by Dave Bautista, Rupert Grint, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Abby Quinn, upheave their family vacation.

Based on the best-selling non-fiction book of the same name, Martin Scorsese directs the upcoming American Western crime drama Killers of the Flower Moon, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons, and Brendan Fraser. The plot is based on a series of murders that took place in 1920s Oklahoma after oil was discovered on tribal land.

Chris Nolan’s first biopic is based on the life of the physicist and father of the Atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy). Even if you know very little about the history of atomic bombs, the cast is enough to want me to tune in, consisting of Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Josh Peck, and Alex Wolff.

Waiting 5 years after Call Me By Your Name for Luca Guadagnino’s next film was painful. Thankfully, we don’t have to do it again. After releasing the visually stunning film Bones and All in 2022, Guadagnino’s next film is set to release in August. Starring Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, and Mike Faist, the tennis drama is sure to be as visually stunning and emotionally moving as all his work.

Based on the viral New Yorker short story by Kristen Roupenian, Cat Person will premiere at Sundance ahead of its wide release. Starring Emilia Jones from CODA as Margot, the young college student who embarks on a relationship with Robert (Nicholas Braun), a 34-year-old who frequents the movie theater she works at, the story caused such a response based on its subtle telling of power imbalances in relationships ahead of #MeToo.

The third and final Channing Tatum stripper movie is back in theaters just in time for Valentine's Day. Grab your people and watch the self-proclaimed “Super Bowl of Stripping” unfold.

The first installment of Dennis Villeneuve’s Dune felt like the release of the year in 2021, earning over $400 million at the box office and scoring six Oscars. Part Two of the film, which covers the second half of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, will follow Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) as he joins forces with the Fremen to avenge his family. Along with Chalemet, the cast is stacked with returners from the first film like Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgård, and Dave Bautista, and includes new cast members Florence Pugh, Austin Butler, and Christopher Walken. While it might take a re-watch of the first film to prepare for the second, it’s going to be epic to watch.

If you have questions (as did I) about why a movie called Cocaine Bear is coming out this year, you are not alone. The thriller about a bear that goes on a cocaine-induced killing rampage, is based loosely on the real story of a 175-pound black bear nicknamed ‘Pablo Escabar’ that died after snorting a duffel bag full of cocaine in 1985, looks like an absurdly fun time.

Whether you saw the dancing killer doll that went viral on TikTok or the 8-lookalikes that performed at the premiere, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the horror film M3GAN has been on the top of my radar for upcoming releases. M3GAN is an artificially intelligent lifelike doll that was designed by roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) who gifts her young niece with the prototype after she becomes her primary caretaker. What follows is the stuff out of Chucky, but with a little more flair.

The first A24 film of the year focuses on the complicated mother-son relationship between Evelyn (Julianne Moore) and Ziggy (Finn Wolfhard) set against the backdrop of the modern age and all the issues that entail, like streaming and social media. While the two struggle to connect, Ziggy pursues a politically active girl from his school and Evelyn connects with a young boy at the shelter where she works, creating an amusing and emotional film out of Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut.

Wes Anderson’s latest film is set to bring all his notable storytelling skills to the table, but this time at a Junior Stargazer convention in the desert. Like most of his movies, you never really know what his films are about until you’re done watching, which makes it so fun, but his ensemble casts seem to get better and better, with this film starring Tom Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson, Maya Hawke, Liev Schreiber, Jeff Goldblum, Rita Wilson, and Steve Carell.

The musical adaption of Alice Walker’s classic novel, which premiered on Broadway in 2005, is coming to the big screen (again) and features an amazing cast at the hands of the director who helped with Beyoncé’s visual album Black Is King and Oprah Winfrey as one of the producers. Following the female protagonist Cellie (Fantasia) as she deals with growing up as a Black woman in the South, we meet the many different women she encounters like Sophia (Danielle Brooks), Shug Avery (Taraji P. Henson), Mary "Squeak" Agnes (H.E.R.), and her sister Nettie (Halle Berry/Ciara).

Judy Blume’s amazing middle-school novel is finally getting a movie adaptation. Known for its frank discussion of religion, sex, and pondering female adolescence, the nostalgic film is going to be an emotional one to watch. With Abby Ryder Fortson as Margaret, the cast is rounded out with Rachel McAdams and Benny Safdie playing her parents.

With a tagline of “in a city of millions, no one hears you scream,” I’m not quite ready for the added anxiety the latest Scream saga is going to add to what I already feel living in New York. Regardless, the sixth film is coming and I must prepare. The teaser trailer shows the survivors of the last movie – Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Mason Gooding – on a subway train in the city where the next Ghostface runs rampant. Get ready for more Ghostfaces at Halloween and the return of Hayden Panettiere and Courtney Cox, of course.

Ever since Disney announced that they were making a live-action The Little Mermaid, fans have eagerly been awaiting its arrival. After the initial release was pushed back due to the pandemic, we’re finally getting to see the film this year. While we're most excited to see Halle Bailey as Ariel, the whole cast is phenomenal and we can’t wait to go back under the sea.

As someone who went to every midnight premiere of every original Hunger Games movie, I am beyond excited for the prequel to hit the big screens. Following a young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) who mentors and develops feelings for the female District 12 tribute (Rachel Zegler) during the 10th Hunger Games, it will be fun to venture back into the world of Suzanne Collins. Plus, the cast also features Viola Davis, Peter Dinklage, and Hunter Schafer.

After Emma Seligman’s knockout debut film Shiva Baby, she’s returning to the big screen with a movie about two unpopular queer girls in their senior year of high school who start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders. Starring Rachel Sennott, Kaia Gerber, and Ayo Ederbi, it’s sure to be the Gen-Z comedy of the year.

This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US.