62 Movies I'm Looking Forward to in 2026- ACT I

 

•It may not be the kind of sequel that the world needed to get made, but seeing as how the material already exists (the script is based on "The Book of Magic," the fourth installment in Alice Hoffman’s series of books and a direct sequel to "Practical Magic"), and since the original cast members (Kidman, Bullock, Channing, and Wiest) have all returned, this is definitely not a sequel I’m upset about.  The original film from 1998 is a cult classic/guilty pleasure I revisit almost every Halloween season, and I’m excited to see what the Owens sisters are up to at this stage of the 21st century.  Susanne Bier has a solid track record behind the camera (I still think her best work was on the original first season of BBC’s, "The Night Manager," with Tom Hiddleston), and even though I’m not the biggest fan of Akiva Goldsman, his work on the first film is still one of his better scripts.  Joey King ("The Kissing Booth"), Maisie Williams ("Game of Thrones"), and Lee Pace (who I could literally just watch peel potatoes and still be completely satisfied) also costar as new additions to the cast.

Release: September 18.

• After serving six years in "director's jail" for "The Rise of Skywalker" (the less we talk about it, the better), J.J. Abrams is currently deep in post on his next film that will mark his return to feature filmmaking.  Was it Abrams who tanked the potential of Disney's Star Wars trilogy, or was it Rian Johnson?  Or was it Disney?  You might as well ask which came first: the chicken or the egg, as answers will no doubt vary depending on who you ask (these are very personal questions after all.)  Regardless of where you stand on the debate though, the fact is that Abrams has got a lot to prove now in his career post Star Wars.  His approach has always been sleek and polished, yet palatable to a fault.  There's a quality to his work that seems too eager to conform and cater to mainstream audience expectations, and he recycles ideas from better, more recognizable films in ways that never feel as bold or fresh as the blueprint they're based off.  In fact, the concept of his next film already bears hallmarks to some familiar properties, which reads like a star-crossed hybrid between "Stranger Than Fiction" and "The Last Starfighter," following the author of a popular sci-fi/fantasy book series whose imagined universe becomes a reality that leaps off the pages, sending him on a heroic, world-saving quest.  The film has a blockbuster-friendly cast led by Glen Powell, who is sure to have good ol' time in this type of setting.  It certainly sounds fun enough.  I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how the chips fall for Mr. Abrams.

RELEASE: NOVEMBER 13.

• Danny Boyle's return to a world ravaged and torn apart by the "rage virus" was well worth the 23-year wait, delivering one of the most visionary and striking zombie films to come out in many a moon while taking the story to new and cosmic heights.  The first in a planned trilogy, Boyle now hands the directing reins over to Nia DaCosta for this exciting middle chapter.  Alex Garland penned the script for this installment as well and plans to return with Boyle for the final third chapter if this proves to be a success (and based on early buzz, it certainly sounds like it will.)  DaCosta's approach is very classicist and straightforward, so I don't expect her to take the kind of artistically bold swings that made Boyle's previous film something of near mythic proportions (even if they were also polarizing for many audiences), however, her reliable penchant for compelling pathos and psychologically fraught human drama should help make this sequel- which teases a fiery showdown between Fiennes and O'Connell's characters- combust and roar to life.

RELEASE: JANUARY 16.

• After the arduous production of his last film, Havoc- which wrapped filming back in 2021 and suffered delayed reshoots and an unusually long editing process before finally dropping on Netflix last April- Gareth Evans was clearly not interested in wasting any more time before getting to work on his next project.  The director, who has a penchant for gory, bone-crunching action and balletic martial arts, wrapped production last September on this remake of Takashi Nomura's 1967 Japanese yakuza film classic.  After the middling results of Havoc (which lands somewhere between the so-bad-it's-good kind of fun of John Woo and just plain bad) I'm glad Netflix has nothing to do with this film.  Hopefully this puts the Welsh filmmaker back on track.  Normally, I'm not super amped about remakes, but as far as choices go, this is actually a pretty inspired one and I'm excited to see how Evans reinterprets it.

RELEASE: TBA 

• Whether or not Skinamarink is one of the greatest horror debuts of the last decade will differ depending on who you talk to.  Kyle Edward Ball's microbudget spookfest- which plays like Paranormal Activity if it was directed by David Lynch- polarized audiences in 2023 (I'm personally somewhere in the middle on this debate), but regardless of how you feel about it, it's clear that Ball found innovative ways to utilize the most of his $15 thousand budget and demonstrated a confident command of tone and atmosphere.  I found it's 100-minute runtime to be a bit excessive for what it was trying to do (it could've easily accomplished the same results at 80 minutes), but Skinamarink is still the kind calling card many burgeoning filmmakers would kill to have.  A24 clearly saw the potential and immediately got behind the new director for his next project, which centers on a secluded Canadian hamlet where terror befalls the local residents during a heavy snowstorm.  No doubt the studio has given Ball a much more promising budget for his next film than $15k, so I'm very excited to see what he's capable of with more funds at his disposal, and they've also surrounded him with some talented producers such as Daniel Noah (Mandy), Eli Bush (Lady Bird), Ronald Bronstein (Good Time), and Josh Safdie!  I think it's safe to say that this project is in good hands.

RELEASE: TBA

• Veteran director Fernando Meirelles is currently at the tail end of production on a new film, reuniting with Netflix for the second time following the success of 2019's, The Two Popes, with Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce.  Working from a script by Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs. Smith), with whom he also collaborated with on the Apple TV+ series, Sugar, Here Comes the Flood is an "unconventional heist" film boasting some A-list talent in Denzel Washington, Robert Pattinson, and Daisy Edgar-Jones as a bank guard, a teller, and a master thief locked in a deadly game of cons and double crosses.  I'm not the biggest fan of Kinberg, but Meirelles has a solid track record behind the camera, and the three main players are certainly strong enough that together, I'm confident they'll elevate what material he's given them.

RELEASE: TBA

• Every time Ridley Scott comes out with a new film, I find myself getting cautiously optimistic that this may finally be the return to form that me and his fans have been waiting for, even though it's been ages since the veteran director has delivered something on par with his most iconic works.  And although I've been burned many times now, there's a very good chance this time around that my optimism isn't entirely misplaced.  Based on Peter Heller's best-selling post-apocalyptic novel, test screenings for Scott's latest have been very enthusiastic and positive, and Scott is already declaring it his "best film."  Of course, it's worth mentioning that Scott literally said the same thing about his last film (Gladiator II), which also tested very well leading up to its release, and that ended up not being the case at all, so the "cautious" part of my optimism literally can't be overstated enough.  However, at least this time around, Scott had much better material to work with than he did with a forced sequel that was never able to justify its existence.  Fans of Heller's thrilling sci-fi adventure, which takes places in the aftermath of a deadly virus that's wiped out nearly all of humanity, have explicitly mentioned how much the novel practically begs for a film adaptation because of how perfect the material is suited for a translation to the screen.  As long as there's no CGI baboons, I think we're in good hands.   

RELEASE: AUGUST 28.

• Paul Greengrass has always demonstrated a remarkable aptitude for shooting action with gritty realism and grounded drama against backdrops with massive scale and scope, which is why his next film, The Uprising, is such a match made in heaven for him.  The historical action drama chronicles the events of the English Peasants Revolt in 1381, focusing on a group of farmers (led by Andrew Garfield) who take up arms and ignite a rebellion against the forces of King Richard II, whose leadership had failed to meet the moment after the country was ravaged by the Black Death and whose citizens became crippled by the high taxes that resulted from the Hundred Years' War with France.  This remarkable chapter of English history has become an archetypal embodiment of class solidarity against the status quo, which in turn has turned it into a deeply resonant symbol for the political left.  While I had some issues with Greengrass' last film, The Lost Bus, this sounds like something that has the potential to be both incredibly cinematic while also telling a story that feels timely in a way that it connects and resonates with audiences on a deeply profound level.

RELEASE: TBA

• After taking us down a rabbit hole of paranoia and impending dread with her thrilling debut, Watcher, Chloe Okuno is back behind the camera for her sophomore feature, Brides.  Okuno's script, which puts a feminist spin on Bram Stoker's vampire narrative that's been described as "gothic, glamorous, and gory," sparked a major bidding war at the 2024 American Film Market, with Neon ultimately coming out on top and securing the rights.  Set in 1960s Italy, the story follows a married couple traveling abroad as they visit a remote villa owned by an unscrupulous count, who takes an interest in the wife, Sally (Olivia Cooke), with the intention to make her into one of his brides.  Things take an unexpected turn though when Sally's post-modern views on society and gender incite the rebellion of his undead concubines, causing chaos and disruption while threatening to tear his patriarchal paradise apart.  Bram Stoker's tale is as old as time and it's been done on screen more times than anyone can count, but this actually sounds fun and could be a fresh take on the material.

RELEASE: TBA

• Oz Perkins recently wrapped filming on what is being called another "dark trip" from the distinguished horror auteur.  While I found his last film, Keeper, to be more interesting than an overall success, I'm still riding the dementedly fun high of last year's, The Monkey, which I think is his most successful film to date.  Plot details are being kept under lock and key for his next feature, The Young People, which features his most interesting cast yet, and while the specifics are scant, we do know the film revolves around two high school girls whose burgeoning friendship takes a sinister turn when one of them begins exhibiting strange and concerning behavior.

RELEASE: TBA

• Josephine Decker's track record is solid!  The indie filmmaker is so good, she even managed make the Sky is Everywhere  (a YA adaptation that would've translated as pure saccharine slop in any other director's hands) into something that felt more than what it any right to be.  She's teamed up with stand-up comic Iliza Shlesinger for her next feature, who penned the script and also stars in this summer-set coming age comedy about a woman who returns to her hometown following a breakup and the loss of her job, only for her trip down memory lane to turn her life upside down.  Programmers from this year's edition of Sundance are very excited about this one and are already praising Schlesinger's star-making turn.

RELEASE: Premieres at Sundance on January 26, with a theatrical release still TBA.

Director: Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Lost Daughter)
Cast: Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, Annette Bening, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Penelope Cruz

• Actress turned director, Maggie Gyllenhaal, made quite the leap with her upcoming sophomore feature, The Bride! : a radical and revisionist retelling of Mary Shelly's timeless tale of humanity, hubris, and monsters.  Although it's not altogether surprising- Gyllenhaal is a recognizable name and face in the industry with a career she's spent decades building- the fact that she went from directing her debut indie drama, The Lost Daughter (which premiered at Venice before winning Gyllenhaal the award for Best Screenplay at the festival and then getting picked up by Netflix), to then helming a $100 million punk rock musical blockbuster inspired by one of history's most classic works of literature is nevertheless impressive and astonishing.  Set in 1930s Chicago, the story follows a reanimated "Bride" (Jessie Buckley, working with the director for the second time after The Lost Daughter) whose quest for autonomy and freedom sparks romance, police interest, and radical social change.  It all sounds very similar to 2023's Poor Things, and I'm quite doubtful it will measure up anything close to Yorgos Lanthimos' modern masterpiece, but with this much talent involved I'm intrigued, nonetheless.  The film supposedly tested very poorly with audiences last year in the lead up to its September release, prompting Warner Bros producers Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy (who also serve as co-chair executives at the studio) to sweep in and assist with reshoots and editing after it was the pushed to March the following year.  Whether or not they were able fix whatever problem it was that audiences had with the initial cut remains to be seen, but even if it's a glorious misfire, I'm excited to see the final product and what they've put on the screen.

RELEASE: March 6.

DIRECTOR: Takashi Miike (Audition, Ichi the Killer)

CAST: Shun Oguri, Lily James, and Liv Morgan

• Abel Ferrara's controversial, NC-17-rated neo-noir, which debuted at Cannes in 1992, is a masterpiece of sleaze and pulp entertainment.  To this day, it's the director's most recognizable and iconic work, with Martin Scorsese even naming it one of his favorite films of the 90s.  A spiritual sequel/remake was released in 2009 by Werner Herzog, much to the chagrin of Ferrara, who publicly voiced his disdain about the movie multiple times despite the film's positive reviews.  Fast forward almost 20 years later to today, where Japan's own cinematic provocateur, Takashi Miike, is currently putting the finishing touches on his own spiritual sequel to Ferrara's classic.  Unlike Herzog, Miike's brand of filmmaking is much closer in tone to Ferrara's, and his graphic, violent and disturbing films are no stranger to controversy.  If anyone could deliver a film that Ferrara would be proud shared the same name as his, it's Takashi Miike.

RELEASE: TBA

• Now that Adam Wingard has had his fun dabbling in mega-budget blockbuster filmmaking with the last two Godzilla vs Kong movies, he's taken a break from the studio tentpole properties and returned to his roots with the type of indie genre fare that catapulted his career.  Backed by A24, Onslaught is an action-horror creature feature about a dangerous government specimen that escapes from a neighboring military base and begins terrorizing the local residents, prompting a mother (Adria Arjona) to flex her survival skills and protect her family and community when the mayhem arrives at their trailer park.  Wingard thrives in this kind of element and I'm so glad he's come back to making these kinds of movies, and reunited with his go-to writer, Simon Barrett, with whom he collaborated with on his earlier work.  You can bet these two have cooked up something gory and fun with this.

RELEASE: TBA

• Back in the director's seat for the first time in over ten years, Oscar-nominated filmmaker, Tony Gilroy, is currently deep in production on his upcoming film, Behemoth!   Within the last decade, the Michael Clayton director has been mostly preoccupied, serving as a showrunner on the Disney+ series, Andor, and contracting his skills out to big studios whenever they need assistance with reshoots or rewrites involving one of their high-profile films.  Described as a love letter to "the music of the movies and the people who make it," Behemoth! marks the first project where Gilroy is credited as a writer, director, and producer, and stars Pedro Pascal as a cellist who returns to L.A. with aspirations of making music for film scores.  With music being central to the film's story, Gilroy has hired a whopping SEVEN composers to contribute to the movie's score, two of which have already been confirmed as James Newton Howard and Alan Silvestri!  While I'll definitely be anxiously awaiting to hear who the other five composers are, I'm very happy with how things are shaping up with this project.

RELEASE: TBA

• After the disturbing and discomforting exercise of his diabolical satire on "cancel culture," Dream Scenario, Kristoffer Borgli is back with A24 for another uncomfortable examination of the human condition, this time zeroing in on the thorniness of interpersonal relationships and the complicated emotions that go hand-in-hand with them.  Robert Pattinson and Zendaya star as a soon-to-be-wed couple, whose relationship gets put through the emotional meat grinder after one of them discovers a secret about the other in the days leading up to their big event.  Expect shocks, surprises, and cringe-inducing laughs throughout.  Early word is already hyping up Pattinson's performance, who supposedly delivers a career-best turn in this new dark comedy.  What else can I say- to the bride and groom!

Save the Date: April 3

• Walking that delicate line between hard-hitting action and white-knuckle suspense (and sometimes even shocking horror as well), Jeremy Saulnier is reliably good at delivering a beast of a thriller that is never afraid to go for the throat.  Reunited with A24 for the first time since Green Room ten years ago, Saulnier is currently in post on his upcoming film, October, an action-horror-thriller set against the backdrop of Halloween that may or may not be his own personal take/homage on the John Carpenter classic.  Hey, a guy can dream, right?  The truth is, very little is known about the movie at this time other than the setting, so the possibilities are endless.  Either way, we know Saulnier's new movie is going to shred and kick ass, and I'm here for it!

RELEASE: TBA

• "Subtle" may not be a word in Emerald Fennell's vocabulary.  The visionary director behind Saltburn and Promising Young Woman leaves nothing to the imagination, her instinct generally being to push it further, taking provocation to levels of extreme that leave her audience reeling.  And although I will be the first person to acknowledge that her work would shine all the more if she did make space for restraint and discipline, I cannot deny that she is someone who fully understands the language of cinema- demonstrating a confident command of images and sounds that cast a hypnotic spell on the viewer.  It's absolutely style over substance, but oh what style it is.  That being said, my conflicted feelings regarding her personal aesthetic have become even more conflicted now that she has adapted one of the greatest books ever written (which also happens to be a book that I deeply love and care about.)  Brontë purists will no doubt have a field day citing all their issues with Emerald Fennell's translation of forbidden love against the backdrop of the English moors (many have already started based off the trailer alone), and while I mostly share their opinions (the casting of Jacob Elordi as the dark-skinned Heathcliffe being a chief one), one thing is for sure: the director's visionary take on the material will definitely be one of the more original interpretations we've seen.  Whether or not that compensates for the liberties she's taken with the book...well, we'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

Release: February 13

• After winning the Un Certain Regard prize for Best Director and the section's FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes in 2019 for Beanpole, Russian auteur, Kantemir Balagov, is now in the final stages of editing on his English-language debut, Butterfly Jam.  The story is set in New Jersey and follows a Circassian circus troupe, centering specifically on a young man who is training to be a professional wrestler while also working in his father's Circassian restaurant.  Beanpole is a brilliantly made film and Balagov has been trying to get his follow-up feature made for several years now, which experienced a delayed production start after the director left Russia due to the country's illegal invasion of Ukraine (of which he and his girlfriend, who are now exiled from their homeland, have been publicly critical of on social media.)  Balagov's new film is said to be a rumination on the fragility of youth and lost innocence, examining how the failings of an older generation often come at the expense of children having to grow up faster than normal.

RELASE: TBA

• Coming off the success of Pacifiction, a sprawling modern-day epic that explores themes of post-colonial malaise, political paranoia, and the corruptive nature of power and the best film of the director's career so far (highly recommend by the way for those who haven't seen it), Albert Serra continues to focus his gaze on stories and ideas at the forefront of sociopolitical consciousness.  The Spanish auteur's upcoming film, Out of This World, follows an American delegation that's sent to Russia in the midst of the Ukrainian war to find a solution to an economic dispute linked to sanctions.  Serra allegedly shot over 800 hours of footage for this one, so I imagine it will be just as layered and richly textured as his last film, and probably just as urgent and incendiary too.  

RELEASE: TBA   

• Quirky as hell and delightfully inscrutable, the Zellner Bros are a fantastic trip in all the right ways.  It's not always easy to get on their wavelength, but the way they pull from a range of influences (from Werner Herzog to unconventional westerns to 1970s pop culture) and fashion them into something that has echoes of the familiar but still feels entirely fresh and remarkably singular is something to be admired, especially in today's formulaic and overly saturated cinematic landscape.  Their latest venture, Alpha Gang, has an A-list cast led by Cate Blanchett (a producer on the film as well), and follows a group of aliens posing as a biker gang whose mission to destroy Earth becomes compromised when they find themselves dealing with that most universal of human afflictions: emotions.

RELEASE: TBA

• It might be a race to the finish line with this one for Mia Hansen-Løve.  Her biopic of one of England's most essential voices in literature, Mary Shelly, is still deep in production.  She's become a recurring presence at Cannes, so if she's going to make that deadline, she'll have to hurry.  Still, the idea of her doing a period piece (her first ever)- and about Shelly no less- is just too enticing a concept to pass up, so I had to include it.  The cast remains a mystery at this time but expect more exciting details to trickle out as we arrive nearer to the big event on The Croisette. 

Release: TBA

40. 1949

DIRECTOR: Pawel Pawlikowski (Cold War, Ida)

CAST: Hanns Zischler, Sandra Hüller, August Diehl, Anna Madeley, Devid Striesow, and Theo Trebs.

• And while we're on the subject of films that may or may not make it to the finish line this year, Polish master Pawel Pawlikowsji just wrapped production on his first film in over five years, an adaptation of Colm Tóibín's best-selling novel, The Magician.  A fictional dramatization of the life of German novelist, Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler), the story follows the Nobel Prize-winner as he embarks on a road trip with his daughter, Erika (the comparable Sandra Hüller), across Germany during the Cold War.  While filming on the project has finished, I know Pawlikowski takes his time in the editing process, and he's even suggested already that this will be no different, giving the movie a tentative release for next year.  Of course, a 2026 release isn't completely out of the question either, but it will be a push if the director wants this to premiere at Cannes.  Tóibín's novel is intimate, poetic, and gloriously ambitious, reflecting on Mann's childhood in Lübeck, his marriage in Munich, and his opposition to the Nazi party followed by his subsequent exile from the country.  if this is completed in time, I expect this to be a major cinematic event this year.

RELEASE: TBA

• One of America's most cherished indie filmmakers, Ira Sachs always brings the kind of lived-in humanity, wisdom and sincerity that often feels nearly extinct in Hollywood.  His films are small (perhaps too small and inconsequential for the average moviegoer), but this year could end up being a kind of breakthrough moment for the veteran filmmaker, who despite having over 30 years of experience is still virtually unknown to most audiences.  Not only does his next film, The Man I Love, have perhaps his starriest cast to date (led by none other than Oscar-winner Rami Malek), but it will mark the director's first time helming a musical!  Set in 80s New York, Malek stars as a downtown artist dealing with a terminal illness, caught in an extraordinary moment between life and death when beauty and love are still possible.  Ramek has struggled since winning his Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody to land an extraordinary role, but perhaps this is the kind of work that puts him back in awards conversations. 

RELEASE: TBA

• Sam Raimi is back, baby, thank God!  And when I say he's back, I mean he's back to directing the kind of grimy, gory, gruesome horror movies he's known for, delightfully deranged and blissfully free of studio tentpole expectations.  His first horror film in over 15 years, the premise for Send Help reads like a twisted hybrid of Misery and Triangle of Sadness, stranding an overworked and underappreciated employee (Rachel McAdams, who is already getting praise for what is supposedly her most iconic performance since Regina George in Mean Girls) with her entitled, abusive boss (Dylan O'Brien) on a remote island after their plane crashes.  What ensues is a dark battle of wits, privilege, and survival.  The movie has been slapped with a hard R rating, so expect Raimi to go...hard.

RELEASE: January 30.

• Fresh off directing his most successful film in years with "28 Years Later," Danny Boyle ditches the zombies and returns to his roots in British-centric drama with this adaptation of James Graham's acclaimed stage play.  The plot follows Rupert Murdoch's hiring of editor Larry Lamb, who helped transform his struggling paper into the sensationalist, scuzzy tabloid it would later become, which was incremental to how the future of news-based media was forever altered.  Graham's play is a sharp, crackerjack piece of entertainment that coasts on electric performances and snappy dialogue in the form of an intimate chamber drama and I imagine that Boyle's film likely play the same way, and with these three dynamite performers (O'Connell, Pearce, and Foy) helping carry the story, expect acting fireworks that will be likely be in lot of awards conversations next season.

RELEASE: TBA

• A-list actor turned Oscar-winning director, Ben Affleck, has built quite the resume behind the camera, flexing a range of creative and confident instincts as a filmmaker that eclipse any of his most solid performances on screen, arguably making him this generation's Clint Eastwood.  His next film, which finds him revisiting the crime-thriller roots of his earlier work like The Town and Gone Baby Gone, is backed by Netflix and features a killer cast, following a mayoral candidate and his wife who resort to desperate measures to pay their son's ransom, revealing dark secrets about their past in the process.  Expect this to be one of Netflix's prominent Oscar hopefuls next awards season.

RELEASE: TBA

• Lee Chang-dong hasn't made a film since 2018 with Burning, which picked up the FIPRESCI prize at Cannes that year, becoming the highest-rated film in the history of Screen International's Cannes jury grid before going on to win Best International Film at major guilds like Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Toronto Film Critics Association.  How it never picked up a nom for Best International Film at the Oscars, I will never comprehend, but I digress.  Lee Chang-dong is a major talent in international cinema, so I suspected that a reputable indie studio with legs (like Neon or A24) would be getting behind whatever project he decided to tackle next.  I could never have suspected though that it would actually end up being Netflix who threw their money behind his next film, but I suppose I can't say that I'm especially shocked either given the studio has made serious efforts to expand their Korean filmography to attract a broader international demographic.  Regardless, I'm happy with it, nonetheless.  Featuring an all-star Korean cast, Possible Love follows the paths of four strangers whose chance encounter leads to complex emotional entanglements that challenge their existing relationships and force them to confront uncomfortable truths about love and commitment.  Sounds like another existential meditation the human condition from the Korean auteur, and I'm very intrigued!

RELEASE: TBA

• Denmark's "Prince of Darkness" has been on a bit of a hiatus the past decade, focusing more on television projects like Too Old to Die Young and Copenhagen Cowboy.  The Drive director's last film was 2016's The Neon Demon, which was met with polarizing reactions at its Cannes premiere.  After pingponging between a few potential projects that would mark his return to film, he's finally set to return to the croisette this summer with his upcoming film, Her Private Hell.  Backed by Neon, Nicolas Winding Refn's Tokyo set neo-noir has been keeping its plot specifics tight-lipped, but the director has stated that the movie's stylish hallmarks are right on brand with his past filmography, promising sex, violence, and (of course) lots of glitter.  I'm always down for a hypnotic, dark trip from NWR, and I'm especially excited to see what a collaboration between him and Neon might look like.  Very game for this!

Release: TBA

• Few music artists have successfully made the transition from producing an album to directing a film, but I think Boots Riley may be able to count himself among that select group who have been able to make that transition while yielding rich and rewarding results.  His polarizing debut, 2018's Sorry to Bother You, had its fair share of execution flaws to be sure, but what could not be negated was the confidence and sheer gonzo energy of Riley's vision, and his Amazon Prime miniseries, I Am Virgo, which uses a young man's coming of age story in Oakland, CA as the template for Riley's unique brand of afro-surrealist comedy, proved to be even more successful.  This is a director who clearly has something to say and is willing to take bold swings in his art form while saying it, which is why I'm sooo excited for his upcoming sophomore feature, I Love Booster.  Boasting the same kind of madcap vision and genre-bending aesthetics of his last movie, the film follows a group of shoplifters who take aim at a cutthroat fashion maven (Demi Moore) after she profits off the stolen ideas of the gang's ringleader, Corvette (Keke Palmer).  Neon has thrown their weight behind this one, giving it a coveted summer slot after it landed the opening title for this year's edition of SXSW.  Word is supposedly very strong, and the studio believes it has legitimate awards contender on their hands.

RELEASE: Premieres at SXSW on March 12th before hitting theaters on May 22.

• In the category of sequels/spinoffs that no one was explicitly asking for but that we're also not mad about, here's this one that follows the adventures of Brad Pitt's cool and charismatic stuntman in Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, Cliff Booth.  David Ficher takes over directing duties from Quentin Tarantino, who returned to pen the screenplay despite not coming back to helm the picture.  Pitt's performance in Once Upon a Time was one of the highlights of Tarantino's breezy and nostalgia-driven historical revisionist pulp fiction, earning him an Oscar (his first ever for an acting category) for his work.  I'm excited to see what Cliff Booth is up to eight years after the events of Tarantino's film, now working as a Hollywood fixer during the height of the 70s.  I'm not expecting this to feel like the breath of fresh air that was Once Upon a Time, but Fincher and Pitt have a reputation for spinning cinematic gold together and I'm confident they've made what will likely be one of the more entertaining films to come out this summer.

Release: August

• After a decade-long hiatus from filmmaking, fashion designer turned cinematic auteur, Tom Ford, is finally back behind the camera, currently in the midst of shooting his first film since 2016's Nocturnal Animals.  The fashion icon officially stepped away from the runway in 2023 after the release of his swansong collection, stating he wanted the space and freedom to focus on other artistic ventures, with filmmaking being chief among them.  Based on Anne Rice's best-selling novel of betrayal, identity, and redemption, Cry to Heaven is a historical fiction set in 18th-century Italy that follows, Tonio, the son of a Venetian nobleman who is castrated by his villainous half-brother and sent to study under a maestro castrato named Guido to study opera.  Under his tutelage, the two form a collaboration that results in Tonio’s rise to fame as an accomplished soprano.  Ford has a knack for putting indelibly gorgeous images on the screen and he's had years to ruminate on his vision for this story and how he wants it told, so I'm extremely confident he will put together something special and truly unforgettable.  The ensemble is stacked to the gills with talent as well, and I'm hoping that Adolescence breakout, Owen Cooper, has the primary role of Tonio.  But even despite the role assignments still remaining mystery, one thing is absolutely certain: Ford's film has all the makings of major candidate for awards talk next year.

Release: TBA