If 2023 was the year of #Barbenheimer then what might happen for film in 2024? Will there be anything that could possibly create another culture-dominating conversation where surging ticket sales are matched by prestigious awards buzz? At first glance: no.
Partly that’s because 2024 has forcibly become a transitional, rather hotch-potch year. Many major US studios pushed their big releases back while they were prolonging the (now resolved) writing and acting strikes. It has also, unexpectedly, become Kryptonite for superhero movies, as the once unassailable Marvel Studios and their main rival Warner Bros (custodians of Superman and Batman) both take some time out to regroup in the face of relative box office indifference to all things lycra-clad. But perhaps a non-typical, mutated movie year could be a good thing? Let’s gaze into the Hollywood crystal ball to break it down.
A big year for ghosts
Nothing can match the tingly sensation of being scared out of your wits in a dark room. That’s why horror remains such a resilient movie genre. But 2024 also features a cluster of films that involve communing with spirits in relatively non-terrifying ways. In the heartbreaking, already award-winning All of Us Strangers (out 26 January), lonely writer Andrew Scott discovers that he can interact with – and belatedly come out to – his long-dead parents. Hoping to evoke a less fraught feeling of nostalgia will be Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (29 March), which brings the now multi-generational crew of wraith rovers back to their New York firehouse. Similarly, most of the original gang – including Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder and director Tim Burton – are back for a belated second round of bawdy supernatural hijinks in Beetlejuice 2 (6 September). It will surely be more fun than Keaton’s clunky Batman cameo in The Flash.
Get the latest news and insight into how the Big Issue magazine is made by signing up for the Inside Big Issue newsletter
A wobbly year for superheroes
Poised to capitalise on 2024’s comicbook movie drought is Sony, who own the rights to various characters related to Spider-Man. First up in the studio’s triple-pronged 2024 slate is Dakota Johnson as Madame Web (16 February), a paramedic turned clairvoyant trying to nobble a hero-hunting killer. Then Aaron Taylor-Johnson will don the furry waistcoat of Kraven the Hunter (30 August), a long-standing Spidey villain reimagined as an extremely militant animal rights activist. And Tom Hardy returns for Venom 3 (8 November), the silly but enjoyable saga of a mumbling journalist conjoined with a goopy, petulant alien. But none of these tangential efforts are likely to be as successful as sweary sequel Deadpool 3 (26 July), which finds narky anti-hero Ryan Reynolds celebrating joining the official Marvel family by persuading Hugh Jackman to grow out his sideburns again as Wolverine.
- Paddington the illegal immigrant: Would the UK accept him now?
- Superheroes! Sequels! Surprises? What’s coming to your cinema in 2023
Some sequels that might actually be good
Hollywood still loves sequels – there are apparently over 130 currently in active development – but some look more promising than others. Potential standouts for 2024 include the delayed Dune: Part Two (1 March) which sees the gloomily grand sci-fi epic get a belated injection of fun in the form of Florence Pugh as a galactic princess. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (24 May) jumps decades ahead of the recent trilogy but will need to go hard to escape the shadow of absent motion-capture master Andy Serkis. Joker: Folie à Deux (4 October) has Lady Gaga joining Joaquin Phoenix’s sweaty clown for a musical sequel that is sure to be more transgressive than toe-tapping. More heartwarming will watching everyone’s favourite accident-prone bear head home for Paddington in Peru (8 November). Another cuddly national treasure – the indefatigable Ridley Scott – will be hoping to strike Oscar gold again with Gladiator 2 (22 November), which will feature in-demand Irish dreamboat Paul Mescal fighting a pack of baboons. Nobody tell Kraven the Hunter.
