This year is slated to be an enormous success for blockbuster movies. Many beloved franchises are set to get sequels, reboots and even rebirths within their universes. From superheroes, animation, and horror, here are ten of the most anticipated upcoming releases for February, March and beyond.
- Captain America: Brave New World (February 14)
The MCU starts off their big year by continuing the legacy of the star-spangled avenger. Building off the TV show released in 2020, “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier”, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) will star in his first movie as the newly dawned Captain America. He finds himself in an international conspiracy as freshly elected president Thaddeus Ross (Harrison Ford), is being targeted. Complications arise, however, when Ross seemingly erratically turns into the Red Hulk. Giancarlo Esposito and Tim Blake Nelson will also make appearances within the film as Sidewinder and the Leader (both well-known villains within the Marvel comic universe).
- Paddington In Peru (February 14)
Releasing that same day, and shifting gears over to this lovable bear, Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw), in his third installment of the franchise, finds himself in South America. Following the fuzzy friend receiving a letter from his aunt, he travels to Peru to check up on her, only to discover that she has gone missing after looking for the city of El Dorado.
- The Monkey (February 21)
After the success of the 2024 horror feature “Longlegs”, director Oz Perkins will take another stab at the genre, this time, adapting a Steven King (who called the movie “insane”) story with the same namesake. Upon finding a vintage monkey in their attic, previously owned by their father, brothers Hal and Bill Shelburn (Theo James) witness a series of murders that are clearly tied to the toy; however, the two separate after it tears the family apart. Twenty-five years later, though, they become reunited after the killings resurface, in an attempt to stop the wretched monkey.
- Mickey 17 (March 7)
Bong Joon-ho, who previously directed the tremendously, critically acclaimed, South Korean drama “Parasite”, is back, this time with a strange, science-fiction thriller based on the novel Mickey7 by Edward Ashton. Mickey Barnes (Robert Pattinson), has volunteered to become “expendable” in an effort to get off Earth. He goes through several dangerous trials, each with a new body being generated after. Eventually, clone 17 (hence the name, Mickey 17), is incorrectly evaluated and marked as dead. While retaining his memories of the past, he teams up with clone 18 to stop these experiments once and for all.
- The Alto Knights (March 21)
Turning to the crime genre, highly-praised actor Robert De Niro returns in this mobster film. Vito Genovese and Frank Costello both want the spot as the best crime syndicate within the country, but only one can rise to the top and both go to extreme lengths to get there. The catch, however, is that De Niro plays both characters.
- A Minecraft Movie (April 4)
Because the Warner Brothers don’t know how to keep their noses out of media they don’t understand, the best-selling game “Minecraft” now has a live-action movie based on it. Just like in “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” (2016), a group of four (with just as many A-list celebrities!) has become sucked into a world full of blocky textures. While trying to get back home, they meet master crafter Steve (Jack Black), who helps defend them from hostile mobs like zombies and skeletons while they try to leave this cubic wonderland.
- Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning (May 23)
For 29 years now, and over the span of what will be eight movies, we have seen Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) take on numerous tasks within the spy world, each with heavier and heavier stakes. Now, in the character’s farewell tour, and as a continuation of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning”, we get to see him team up with old and new faces as they attempt to once and for all stop the AI titled “Entity”. And yes, Cruise will STILL do his own stunts in this one too, even as he enters his mid 60’s.
- 28 Years Later (June 20)
This next production has been anticipated for quite some time (but not quite 28 years). The third in the trilogy of the post-apocalyptic series “28 Days Later”, this one will focus on, well, the name of the movie, specifically 28 years since a virus outbreak caused mass mayhem on the entire planet. People have now adapted to the virus and found ways to live. Jamie (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Isla (Jodie Comer) are bound to an island with a group trying to survive from the infected. When Jamie, along with his son, Spike (Alfie Williams), venture off the island and onto the mainland, they quickly find a mutation spreading between the infected and the survivors.
- Superman (July 11)
After the success (or lack thereof) of the DC Extended Universe brought to life by movies like “Man of Steel”, “Aquaman”, and “Wonder Woman”, the studio decided it needed a reset. So, they turned to James Gunn, famous for his adaptation of the “Guardians of the Galaxy” trilogy. Gunn, at least within the trailer for the film, has seemed to bring to life the city of Metropolis and the character of Superman (David Corenswet) better than ever before, and, for the first time on film, Krypto the Dog will reside with him.
- The Fantastic Four: First Steps (July 28)
Speaking of superhero movies that flopped, our last movie wraps it up full circle with yet another MCU movie, this one trying to undo the mistakes that 20th Century Fox did with “Fantastic Four” (2015), starring Miles Teller and Michael B. Jordan. This version, however, seems to not be an origin story. With Pedro Pascal as Reed Richard, and Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm, the quartet of characters team up in order to try and stop the evil cosmic Galactus and his messenger, the Silver Surfer.
