2024 is going to be anything but normal for Hollywood, after both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA went on strike for months earlier this year. There's only one MCU movie on the entire calendar, but it's Deadpool 3, so it's not really clear how much that even counts. Everything else Marvel had scheduled for theatrical release in 2024 was delayed, leaving Sony as the dominant Marvel force on the big screen with two new movies about Spider-Man villains and a third Venom flick for good measure--at least those are all currently scheduled for 2024.

DC is likewise taking a bit of a timeout, with Joker: Folie a Deux being the only DC Comics adaptation set for the big screen in 2024. The old DC movieverse is dead, and it's going to be a minute before the new one takes over, apparently--2025 is shaping up to be a massive year for both DC and Marvel.

Without the two dominant franchises, the 2024 release calendar is a fascinating one, full of movies that could be big, but there's nothing on the schedule that feels like a guaranteed billion dollars at the box office--the first Joker hit that mark, but it'll be tough for the sequel to be as much of a flash in the pan the way the original film was.

Instead, like this year was, 2024 could be full of surprises. Let's take a look at the movies we're most looking forward to in the coming year.

The Beekeeper

January 12
Jason Statham stars in what looks to be 2024's requisite banger of an action flick to start the year, about a beekeeper who's out for revenge. But in this case, "beekeeper" apparently has a double meaning: it's both this character's day job, and also the secret government program that turned him into a killing machine. Sounds like director David Ayer's wheelhouse.

Madame Web

February 14
The newest piece of Sony's live-action Spider-Verse without Spider-Man (should we call it the Venom-verse?) is Dakota Johnson's Madame Web--the trailer was a little hokey, but as we've seen with Venom, hokey can be a great thing.

Dune Part Two

March 1
The wait for the second part of Denis Villaneuve's adaptation of Dune has been excruciating, and it was made even worse when the film was delayed during the writers' and actors' strikes earlier this year. Playing Call of Duty with the new Paul Atreides skin is helping a little bit, but fortunately it won't be too much longer now.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

March 29
This new Ghostbusters sequel swapped director Jason Reitman for Monster House and Poltergeist remake director Gil Kenan (who also co-wrote Ghostbusters: Afterlife). looks at least on the surface like a more standard Ghostbusters movie than the divisive Afterlife was in 2021, with more of the original cast returning.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

April 12
After duking it out in Godzilla vs Kong, the two biggest badasses around now must face off against a new threat from the center of the Earth: Cranky Kong. It's not actually that Donkey Kong character, of course, but that's certainly the vibe of this elderly-looking chimp that looks pretty mad about something. We have no complaints, honestly.

Civil War

April 26
Alex Garland, writer of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and also director of several well regarded movies and the creative force behind FX's brilliant Devs, has a big-budget, three-hours-and-change movie about a new American Civil War in the modern day. In an election year in which Donald Trump is trying to once again become president, the discourse around this is probably going to be terrible, but we should expect Garland to have some surprises in store for us.

The Fall Guy

May 3
The director of Atomic Blonde and Deadpool 2, David Leitch, has a new action-comedy flick about a stuntman, played by Ryan Gosling, who has to rescue a kidnapped action star. If that wasn't enough, the trailer has big The Nice Guys energy, and we always welcome that. It certainly looks more entertaining than the early-'80s TV show it's based on.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

May 24
The rebooted Apes franchise has finally arrived at what looks more or less like the world of the original 1968 Charlton Heston movie, with apes fully in charge while treating mute humans as cattle. This time, however, the point of view is staying with the primates, and it'll be very interesting to see how director Wes Ball and company handle what appears to be at least somewhat of a remix of that first movie.

Furiosa

May 24
14 years after Fury Road, director George Miller has finally put together this new Mad Max prequel film that, well, looks a lot like Fury Road. But Anya Taylor-Joy looks formidable as the young Furiosa, and the sight of a villainous Chris Hemsworth sporting a prosthetic nose and delightful facial hair is pretty tough to argue with. We expect big things from this one.

Bad Boys 4

June 14

Bad Boys for Life, which was the last box-office hit before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down movie theaters, was surprisingly great and left the franchise in an excellent spot to move forward from. But then Will Smith slapped Chris Rock at the Oscars and this new sequel was put on the backburner. But with directors Adil & Billal returning, along with all the new cast members, we're holding out all our hopes for another banger.

A Quiet Place: Day One

June 28

The Quiet Place franchise continues with this prequel starring the great Lupita Nyong'o and Djimon Hounsou from Pig director Michael Sarnoski. The Quiet Place premise, revolving around an invasion of blind alien monsters, has proven to be more than compelling enough for a franchise. While John Krasinski isn't directing this one, he did write the story treatment

Twisters

July 19

It's debatable whether the Twister IP was worth mining for a new film. But as somebody who grew up in the most tornado-heavy part of the United States and had several close calls when I was younger, you'll never hear me complain about new weather-based disaster movies, since they don't come around too often. This one stars Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, and Daisy Edgar-Jones.

Deadpool 3

July 26

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is kinda falling apart right now, so the timing couldn't be better for a new Deadpool movie that will supposedly be a part of the MCU. But it's also the only MCU movie currently on the calendar for 2024, while Disney figures out how to correct course after a chaotic couple of years.

Trap

August 2

M. Night Shyamalan is one of our best and worst filmmakers, somebody who's capable of making a great movie and then following it up with an absolute embarrassment--but they're always entertaining, without exception. While we don't know what Trap is about, the cast includes The Parent Trap star Hayley Mills. I'm gonna hold out hope that that's not a coincidence.

Borderlands

August 9

The long-delayed Borderlands adaptation from Thanksgiving and Hostel director Eli Roth has a lot of potential with folks like Cate Blanchett, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Kevin Hart headlining. But it's still a video game adaptation, and The Last of Us and The Super Mario Bros. Movie aside, those still have a shaky track record. Fortunately, Borderlands is great fodder for an action comedy.

Alien: Romulus

August 16

It's another Alien movie, but unlike the two recent prequels, Romulus comes from director Fede Alvarez instead of Ridley Scott. The premise is a familiar one--things go bad on a space colony because of xenomorphs--but with the twist that it'll focus on teens and young adults this time, a unique angle for the series.

Kraven the Hunter

August 30

The second of three currently scheduled non-MCU Marvel flicks from Sony in 2024 stars the always-interesting Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the titular Kraven. This was supposed to be a 2023 movie until Sony delayed everything during the strikes, and now it looks like one of the better action flicks in the comic year.

Beetlejuice 2

September 6

It's a new Beetlejuice movie from Tim Burton decades later, with the main cast returning and Jenna Ortega serving as the new lead. Everything about that description sounds right and proper--which doesn't necessarily mean it will rule, but it feels like it probably will.

Joker 2

October 4

Releasing the new Joker movie a month before a US presidential election is a real choice by Warner Bros. I'm sure everyone will be super normal about it. Regardless, Lady Gaga is joining the new film as director Todd Phillips' version of Harley Quinn and this movie will be something of a musical. You know, because all of those famous comic book scenes in which Joker sings.

Venom 3

November 8

With two other films in Sony's little shared universe coming out in 2024 ahead of Venom 3, it makes us wonder if they're not just planting the seeds for the Sinister Six down the line. Maybe Venom 3 will bring it all together? It's probably not happening just yet, but without knowing basically anything about Venom 3, we can't help but dream.

Gladiator 2

November 22

The first Gladiator was a very earnest and prototypical sword-and-sandals epic, but Ridley Scott's more recent historical films, like The Last Duel and this year's Napoleon--and even House of Gucci, honestly--have taken a much different approach by lampooning their subjects relentlessly. In other words, the Ridley Scott making Gladiator 2 is a very different person than the one who made the first Gladiator, and I can't wait to see how this one goes.

Sonic the Hedgehog

December 20

This cute and reliably amusing live-action Sonic franchise is back for another family-friendly adventure, and the only thing we know so far is the whole cast is returning and Shadow the Hedgehog will appear for the first time in these movies.