The 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

It only took a handful of promo stills of co-stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and an 85-second Kubrick-inspired teaser trailer for Greta Gerwig’s Barbie to effectively set the Internet on fire and send the Hollywood gossip mill into overdrive.

Every movie lover worth their salt should have July 21 marked on their calendars already, with Warner Bros.’ candy-colored romantic comedy and Christopher Nolan’s Manhattan Project thriller set on a collision course for next summer’s box office crown. Bolstered by colorful sets, an exciting young talent at the helm, and a murderer’s row of A-listers including Simu Liu, this seemingly satirical take on the beloved Mattel doll has all the makings of a pop culture phenomenon that should fit nicely into our fashion-crazed zeitgeist.

Dune: Part Two
November 2

Rarely do studio blockbusters feel as expansive, textured, and wondrous as Denis Villeneuve’s 155-minute spice opera—an epic adaptation of Frank Herbert’s once-considered unfilmable novel that improved in spades upon David Lynch’s 1984 rendition to introduce 21st-century audiences to the barren wastelands of Arrakis. Paul Atreides’ journey from young prince to prescient Messiah will be concluded in the second part of Universal’s costly diptych, with Timothée Chalamet’s character vowing to avenge his family and take back his throne from the treacherous Harkonnen clan.

A new project from the mastermind behind Arrival and Blade Runner 2049 is always cause for celebration, doubly so considering the staggering talent at his disposal, with Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, and Léa Seydoux set to join the already stacked cast. If Villeneuve’s track record is anything to go by, we should be in for a treat.

The Killer
TBA 2023

After dipping his toes into streaming at Netflix with two marquee series in House of Cards and Manhunter as well as the 2020 prestige period drama Mank, we’re happy to see David Fincher back in his element doing what he does best: gritty psychological thrillers in the tradition of Se7en and Zodiac that will chill us to the bone and cling to our mind like an unshakable dream.

Michael Fassbender stars as a cold-blooded professional hit man who slowly loses his grip as he begins to question his line of work. That the director chose this particular French graphic novel for adaptation barely comes as a surprise to anyone who’s already flipped through its pages; The Killer should prove an ideal match to Fincher’s stylish calling cards and promises the usual blend of razor-sharp suspense, unpredictable twists, and black-hearted cynicism he’s accustomed us to.

Napoleon
TBA 2023

2022 was a strong year for biopics, with larger-than-life icons from Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Marilyn Monroe all the way to Steven Spielberg himself having their stories told on the silver screen. Next year promises another high-profile example of a tendency that’s become endemic to our multiplex in Ridley Scott’s Apple TV+ epic—billed as a fascinating look at Napoleon Bonaparte’s climb to emperor and volatile relationship with his wife, Josephine.

Perhaps no historical figure remains embedded into the broader cultural imagination with such lasting impact as the French tyrant, who was first put on the big screen in 1897 by the Lumière Brothers. Since then, the 19th Century emperor has been portrayed by countless actors, including Marlon Brando, Dennis Hopper and Danny DeVito, with Gladiator star Joaquin Phoenix next in line.

Killers of the Flower Moon
TBA 2023

Martin Scorsese tends to take his sweet time refining his films in the editing room during post-production, but we’re still holding out hope we’ll finally be able to watch his long-gestating true crime epic at some point in the year to come. Though it might feel a bit old hat to praise a veteran legend of his stature, we’re just grateful that the Queens native shows no signs of slowing down at 80.

Based on David Grann’s bestselling book of the same name, Killers of the Flower Moon splits its focus between a string of brutal murders that took place in 1920s Osage County, Oklahoma and the birth of the F.B.I. as we know it. Only time will tell whether Apple TV+’s $200 million gamble fully pays off, but expect Jesse Plemons, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Robert De Niro to all get heavy Oscar buzz next fall.