Everyone will watch them. The most anticipated films of 2023

In 2023, a huge number of film comics will be released in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Extended Universe, and the villainous Sony universe. However, the main premiere, for sure, will be the second part of “Dune” by Dany Villeneuve. In addition, Transformers, Dominic Toretto and his family, Indiana Jones and John Wick will appear in theaters. And fans have already set aside money for tickets to each of these films. It is not surprising, because comic books, bright action films, large projects from large studios always arouse more interest in people than festival dramas or low-budget horror films.

“Operation Fortune: The Art of Winning” (Operation Fortune: Ruse de guerre)

• Genre: action, thriller, comedy.
• Premiere: 4 January.

Already at the start of 2023, the audience is waiting for a new project by Guy Ritchie, who is primarily known for his crime comedies Cards, Money, Two Smoking Barrels and Big Snatch. Over the past twenty years, many of his fans have repeatedly stated that the director was led in the wrong direction. However, with the release of The Gentlemen, he seems to have begun to return to his roots. The new film is also an adventurous spy comedy starring Jason Statham. In the story, the elite intelligence officer Orson Fortune (the surname translates as “fortune”) must uncover the buyers of stolen deadly weapons. He is forced to team up with the best operatives in the world, as well as a famous film actor, who will provide a convincing cover for the dashing group. Super spies will have to play by the rules of Hollywood. Statham was joined by Josh Hartnett, Aubrey Plaza and Hugh Grant.

“John Wick 4” (John Wick: Chapter 4)

• Genre: Action, Thriller.
• Premiere: 24 March.

Since the 2010s, Keanu Reeves’ acting career has generally not been very good (he practically did not appear in particularly large or successful projects). And it is thanks to the John Wick series that his name is still on the list of the coolest action movie actors of our time. In the fourth part, the hero of Reeves will unite with the “Pigeon King” to give battle to the Board of Clans – crime bosses of the highest level. However, the main goal of Wick in the fourth part will be the Marquis de Gramont, played by Bill Skarsgård. Director Chad Stahelski is back in his chair. Street king Laurence Fishburne and Continental owner Ian McShane are also there. In addition, Donnie Yen, famous for the image of Ip Man from the eponymous series of films, and Hiroyuki Sanada – Scorpion from the new “Mortal Kombat” joined the cast.

“Guardians of the Galaxy. Part 3 (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3)

• Genre: Fantasy, Comedy, Action, Adventure.
• Premiere: 3 May.

James Gunn, who recently took over as CEO of DC’s film division, will, as promised, complete his trilogy for Marvel. Until 2014, few other than avid comic book fans knew about the Guardians of the Galaxy team. And then Gunn made one of the best movies in the MCU about her, and everything changed. Now the Guardians are one of the main driving forces of the space part of the global history in the franchise. The role of the characters in Infinity War was one of the key ones. It’s no surprise that all fans of the MCU are waiting for the third part of the adventures of this motley team, even those who have not been following other Marvel stories for a long time. All the original actors will return to their roles. The only thing that overshadows the situation is that “Part 3” will be the final chapter for the Guardians in the MCU in their current form. Most likely, they will simply disperse, and it is possible that someone will even die.

“Fast and Furious 10” (Fast X)

• Genre: Action.
• Premiere: 17 May.

“Fast and the Furious” back in 2001 set the fashion for street racing and car tuning. The second part of the film and the game Need for Speed: Underground in 2003 consolidated this success. However, the franchise then took a wrong turn. Personally, I don’t really know why, after several frankly terrible films, people continue to take a lot of money for it to theaters and wait for the next part. Even among modern spectacular action films, there are more worthy options for watching in the cinema. However, Vin Diesel and Justin Lin have announced that Fast and Furious 10 and Furious 11 will finally end the story. Therefore, it is obvious that everyone who liked the first films feels that he has an obligation to find out if the Toretto family will live happily ever after after all the ups and downs and adventures. In addition to Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Charlize Theron, Tyreese Gibson and other familiar faces, Jason Momoa and Brie Larson will debut in the franchise.

“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts)

• Genre: Fantasy, Action.
• Premiere: 7 June.

With “Transformers” the situation is about the same as with “Fast and the Furious”. The first films were excellent representatives of fantastic action films, but the further the franchise went on, the more meaningless what was happening on the screen became. The Transformers: The Last Knight was frankly hard to watch. However, unlike Fast and Furious, this franchise had Bumblebee, which, although it had a number of rough edges and shortcomings, nevertheless became a good film and returned the audience’s faith in Transformers. The continuation of this particular tape will be “The Rise of the Hyperbots”. It will introduce three completely new factions of alien robots – Maximals, Predacons and Terrorcons. One of the main roles in the film should be played by the favorite of the current race for Oscar Michelle Yeoh.

“Flash” (The Flash)

• Genre: Fantasy, Action.
• Premiere: 7 June.

The most long-suffering film of the DC Extended Cinematic Universe, although it would seem, about the fastest member of the Justice League. With his help, Warner Bros. bosses. they wanted to rewrite the history of the MCU, to make viewers forget previous failures with a clever script move. The Flash was supposed to travel to the past and reset all events. But then the coronavirus happened and the film was postponed. Then the leading man Ezra Miller started to fly off the coils. But despite all the difficulties, the tape stubbornly continued to move towards the release. However, now that James Gunn has already confirmed that most of the old actors will no longer return to their roles in the MCU, everything shown in The Flash, most likely, will no longer matter. But the film, unlike Batgirl and other canceled projects, will still make it to theaters. Well, maybe it’s worth the effort.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

• Genre: Adventure, Action.
• Premiere: 28 June.

The fifth film about the legendary archaeologist played by the unfading Harrison Ford. Only five paintings, but it seems that the actor has played this role all his life. Although partly it is. Indeed, unlike some Fast and Furious with a new series every year or two, almost twenty years have passed between the third and fourth parts of Indiana Jones, and fifteen years between the fourth and fifth. The action takes place in 1969 at the height of the space race and the Cold War. Jones and his godmother Helena will fight former Nazis who now work for NASA. By the way, this is a real fact. Since the Germans were among the first to develop rockets, the Americans were happy to host a couple of scientists. Phoebe Waller-Bridge played the relative of the legendary archaeologist, and Mads Mikkelsen played the main villain. Antonio Banderas will also appear in the film. The Clock of Destiny was directed by James Mangold (Logan, Ford v Ferrari), making it the first installment in the franchise not directed by Steven Spielberg.

“Oppenheimer” (Oppenheimer)

• Genre: drama, biography.
• Premiere: 19 July.

One of two non-action films in the top ten. What is so special about it that people are looking forward to its release along with epic blockbusters? The answer is simple: Christopher Nolan. The director himself wrote the script (based on the bestseller by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin “American Prometheus”) and produced this tape. It will tell the life story of the American physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who was at the head of the first development of nuclear weapons. Moreover, Nolan decided to shoot the biopic about the “father of the atomic bomb” without computer graphics, even in the scenes of the atomic explosion, choosing physical special effects. The famous physicist was played by Cillian Murphy, his wife – Emily Blunt, in secondary roles solid stars of the first magnitude – Robert Downey Jr., Gary Oldman, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh and many others.

Killers of the Flower Moon

• Genre: Thriller, Drama, Detective.
• Premiere: 6 October.

And the second is not an action movie, about which two things can be said: the director is Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro. This automatically makes it one of the most anticipated projects of the coming year. The project is being funded by Apple TV+. It is known that this will be a thriller-western based on the book by David Grann “Killers of the flower moon. Oil. Money. Blood”. The action will take place in the 1920s in the Osage Indian settlement in Oklahoma. Native Americans are killed one by one after one of them becomes rich by discovering oil, which draws the attention of the FBI. Agents go undercover in the settlement to sort out the situation. However, the main focus of the story, unlike the book, will be shifted from the actions of the FBI agents to the disclosure of the characters of the antagonists (who will be played by star actors).

“Dune 2” (Dune: Part Two)

• Genre: Fantasy, Action, Drama.
• Premiere: 1 November.

In 2021, Denis Villeneuve’s Dune restored people’s belief that normal sci-fi films can still be made. Yes, the movie was not without flaws, but nevertheless, I didn’t want to scold it, since it was noticeably higher level than other modern science fiction blockbusters. Therefore, when the studio announced the start of work on the serial spin-off “Dune: The Sisterhood” and the continuation of “Dune 2”, these projects immediately hit the waiting lists of millions of people. The story shown in the first part was unfinished and actually looked more like an introduction to something larger and more epic, as I, by the way, noted in the review. Denis Villeneuve, of course, will return to the director’s chair, the music will again be written by Hans Zimmer, and the screens will have the same star cast: Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Rebecca Ferguson, Florence Pugh, Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Dave Batista and many more other.

Worthy Mentions

“Mission Impossible. Deadly payback. Part 1” (July 14) is the seventh film in the legendary spy franchise starring Tom Cruise. The actor after the release of the tape “Top Gun: Maverick” is at the next peak of his career and, obviously, attracts viewers to the cinema. Also on the screen you can see Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Pom Klementieff and others.

Marvels (July 28) – A sequel to Captain Marvel and a crossover with Disney+ series at the same time. Superhero Carol Danvers, her fan Kamala Khan (from Ms. Marvel) and an employee of the M.E.H. Monica Rambeau (of Wanda/Vision) will go on a space trip. Interestingly, this film outperforms the Ant-Man and the Wasp sequel in terms of expectation, which should feature Kang the Conqueror, the main villain of the fourth phase.

“Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” (December 25) – the sequel to one of the most adequate films in the not-so-successful DC Universe. Jason Momoa will most likely play the role of Aquaman for the last time. After all, like The Flash, this film will be released simply because it is almost ready. After that, the DC Universe is waiting for a reboot led by James Gunn and Peter Safran.

“The Expendables 4” (September 22) – Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture return to prove that the old guard is still superior to the youth. To make this claim credible, the franchise has added newcomers in the form of Curtis Jackson (50 Cent), Megan Fox, Iko Uwais and Tony Jaa.

“Five Nights at Freddy’s” (Unknown) – Video game adaptations are finally starting to get done well. Uncharted, Sonic, Arcane, Cyberpunk are prime examples of this. Therefore, the movie based on the famous horror Five Nights at Freddy’s raises great expectations. Starring The Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson and Matthew Lillard (Shaggy from Scooby-Doo).