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Critic’s pick

‘La Chimera’ Review: A Treasure Trove

In her latest dreamy movie, the Italian director Alice Rohrwacher follows a tomb raider, played by Josh O’Connor, who’s pining for a lost love.

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A group of people in various outfits stands looking at something offscreen.

By Manohla Dargis

Like the yellow brick road, the bright red thread in “La Chimera” winds through a world that is both dreamy and touched by magic. The thread has begun unraveling from a long knit dress worn by a woman beloved by the movie’s hero. It trails across the ground, flutters in the air and beguiles you, just like this film. And, like all loose threads — in fraying fabric and in certain stories — this slender cord tempts you to pull it, urging you to see what happens next.

“La Chimera” is the latest from Alice Rohrwacher, a delightfully singular Italian writer-director who, with just a handful of feature-length movies — the charming, low-key heartbreaker “ Happy as Lazzaro ” among them — has become one of the must-see filmmakers on the international circuit. Rohrwacher, who grew up in central Italy, makes movies that resist facile categorization and concise synopsis. They’re approachable and engaging, and while she’s working within the recognizable parameters of the classic art film — her stories are elliptical, her authorship unambiguous — there’s nothing programmatic about her work.

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Set in the 1980s, “La Chimera” centers on Arthur (a fine Josh O’Connor), a dejected British tomb raider who lives in rural Italy where he uses a dowsing stick to find buried treasures. When you first see him, he is asleep on a train en route to the village where he lives in a shack, a muddle of junky odds and ends that he’s set against the exterior of the town’s medieval wall. It’s a suitable liminal space for Arthur, whose suits hang forlornly off his body. He never comfortably fits in anything or anywhere or with anyone, whether he’s roaming about with a brotherly band unearthing antiquities or watching women roam in and out of a faded villa.

His lover, Beniamina (Yile Vianello), has gone missing, though it’s unclear why or when. Even so, she remains stubbornly present both for Arthur (including in his dreams) and for her mother, Flora (the sublime Isabella Rossellini), a dowager who lives in a crumbling villa, a glorious wreck with a leaky roof where she keeps an altar dedicated to her errant daughter. Beniamina may be — as the title suggests — an illusion. At the very least, she is a seductive mystery, one that Rohrwacher teases in a movie that playfully meanders here and there, engages with history and mythology, addresses cultural patrimony and commercial plunder and loosely recasts the myth of two other separated lovers, Orpheus and Eurydice.

Once Arthur returns to the village, he resumes his old life and former illegal ways. He visits Flora, where he and a music student-servant, Italia (Carol Duarte), soon catch each other’s eye. They flirt and spend time together, and Italia, in one of the story’s more rambling interludes, helps establish a communal squat filled with women and children in an abandoned train station. (Rohrwacher is an idealist.) At the same time, Arthur also picks up with his gang of tomb raiders — tombaroli in Italian — a largely male group who live on the margins, a space where Rohrwacher likes to linger, though sometimes nearly gets lost in.

The story emerges in bits and pieces — in conversations, expressive faces, penetrating details, faded frescoes and self-mythologizing folk songs — that don’t immediately reveal an overarching narrative logic. Characters rarely explain anything here; instead they chat, sing, trade looks and share caresses that create a tangible sense of the present, one that is always imbricated with the past. In Italy, history constantly burbles up from the very earth; the tomb raiders never dig too long or deeply. History is also in people’s DNA, in their ballads, on their frescoed walls, in the stonework of their traditional homes and in all the stolen (or, arguably, reclaimed) antiquities that, shattered and not, summon up an alternative universe.

Rohrwacher’s digressive storytelling can make “La Chimera” seem unstructured, but she’s going where she wants to go and at her own pace. She likes detours, lived-in (nonplastic) faces and the kind of revelatory details that might go unnoticed, if she didn’t direct your gaze at them. She focuses on the frescoes adorning Flora’s villa but also, in what initially seems like a throwaway shot, pauses on the character’s shabby slippers. Rohrwacher isn’t simply underscoring Flora’s deprivations (though that is part of it); she is tenderly drawing your attention to this regal woman’s complexities — Rossellini’s own history and enduring stardom adds more complicating layers — and finding beauty, grandeur and sustenance in the ruins.

“La Chimera” sneaks up on you. Rohrwacher is a discreet virtuoso with a visual style that is appealing and demonstrably unshowy. She likes to crowd the frame, yet does so coherently, and while she uses different film formats throughout to indicate distinct moments and spaces, she doesn’t make a fuss about it. She reveals beauty rather than pummels you with it, the way flashier filmmakers do, and lets meaning emerge without trumpet blasts. She invites you to look at the world, to follow the thread, assemble the pieces. To trace the path of the sun as it rises on a tattoo on a woman’s back, glints through a smudged train window and retains its aura on an ancient fresco, bathing this world in a light that’s as beautiful as it is evanescent.

La Chimera Not rated. In Italian and English, with subtitles. Running time: 2 hours 10 minutes. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

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Movie Reviews

'la chimera' is marvelous — right up to its most magical ending.

Justin Chang

Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera . Neon hide caption

Carol Duarte and Josh O'Connor in La Chimera .

The wonderful 42-year-old filmmaker Alice Rohrwacher practices a kind of cinema that I've come to think of as "Italian magical neorealism." She gives us portraits of hard-scrabble lives in poor rural communities, but they're graced by a whimsical, almost fable-like sense of enchantment.

Rohrwacher's 2014 film, The Wonders , was a lyrical drama about a family of Tuscan beekeepers. She followed that in 2018 with Happy as Lazzaro , about a group of sharecroppers on a tobacco farm whose story moves from picaresque comedy to aching tragedy.

'The Wonders' Of Family And Change

Her marvelous new movie, La Chimera , follows in much the same vein, with one key difference. While Rohrwacher has generally worked with non-professional Italian actors, this time she's cast the English actor Josh O'Connor , best known for his Emmy-winning performance as a young Prince Charles on The Crown .

But O'Connor's character here doesn't give off even a whiff of royalty, even if his name is Arthur. When we first meet him, he's asleep on a train bound for his old stomping grounds in Tuscany. He's just been released from prison after serving some time for the crime of grave robbing.

Arthur has a mysterious archeological talent: Wielding a divining rod, he can detect the presence of buried artifacts, many of which date back to the Etruscan civilization more than 2,000 years ago. Arthur works with a group of tombaroli , or tomb raiders, who rely on him to figure out where to dig.

Upon his return, many of those old friends welcome him back with a parade — one of several moments in which Rohrwacher briefly channels the vibrant human chaos of a Fellini film. Arthur is a little reluctant to rejoin his old gang, since they let him take the rap after their last job. But he doesn't seem to have anything else to do, or anywhere else to go. He may be an outsider — his Italian throughout is decent but far from perfect — but it's the only place in the world that feels remotely like home. And O'Connor plays him with such a deep sense of melancholy that it feels almost special when his handsome, careworn face breaks into a warm smile.

It's not immediately clear what Arthur wants; unlike his cohorts, he doesn't seem all that interested in making money off their spoils. The answer turns out to lie in his dreams, which are haunted by a beautiful young woman named Beniamina — the love of his life, whom he's lost under unclear circumstances.

And so Arthur's determination to go underground becomes a metaphor for his longing for an irretrievable past: Beniamina is the Eurydice to his Orpheus, and he wants her back desperately.

Arthur is still close to Beniamina's mother, Flora, played with a wondrous mix of warmth and imperiousness by the great Isabella Rossellini. Her presence here made me think of her filmmaker father, the neorealist titan Roberto Rossellini — a fitting association for a movie about how the past is forever seeping into the present.

One of the pleasures of Rohrwacher's filmmaking is the way she subtly blurs our sense of time. La Chimera is set in the 1980s, but it could be taking place 20 years earlier, or 20 years later. Rohrwacher and her brilliant cinematographer, Hélène Louvart, shot the movie on a mix of film stocks and sometimes tweak the image in ways that evoke the cinematic antiquities of the silent era. As sorrowful as Arthur's journey is, there's a playfulness to Rohrwacher's sensibility that keeps pulling you in, inviting you to get lost in the movie's mysteries.

One of the story's most significant characters is Italia, played by the Brazilian actor Carol Duarte, who works in Flora's household. Italia is a bit of an odd duck with a beguiling bluntness about her, and she might be just the one to pull Arthur out of his slump and get him to stop living in the past.

I won't give away what happens, except to say that La Chimera builds to not one but two thrilling scenes of underground exploration, in which Arthur must finally figure out his life's purpose — not by using a divining rod, but by following his heart. And it leads to the most magical movie ending I've seen in some time, and also the most real.

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by Charlie | Dec 16, 2023 | Drama , Foreign | 0 |

A movie that lives in the hazy grey areas of suspended uncertainty

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

by Charlie | Dec 11, 2023 | Action , Comedy | 0 |

One of the ugliest, most obnoxious and creatively bankrupt movie experiences of the year

Sick of Myself

by Charlie | Dec 10, 2023 | Comedy , Drama , Foreign | 0 |

She once told us she had 9 toes

by Max Rios | Dec 6, 2023 | Action , Foreign | 0 |

“Godzilla Minus One” is a 2023 film that was written, directed and had the visual effects done by Takashi Yamazaki, is the 37th film in the “Godzilla” franchise and marks the 33rd film to be produced the...

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (and 3 shorts)

by Charlie | Dec 4, 2023 | Drama | 0 |

A review in 4 parts

Beau is Afraid

by Charlie | Dec 3, 2023 | Comedy , Horror | 0 |

Ari Aster spends his capital on an unwieldly, indulgent, beautiful and hilarious social nightmare

Supernatural Meets the Detective

by Max Rios | Nov 26, 2023 | Mystery | 0 |

“A Haunting in Venice” was directed by Kenneth Branagh and serves as 3rd film following 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” & 2022’s “A Death on the Nile” which also starred...

The Band is Back Together

by Max Rios | Nov 25, 2023 | Comedy | 0 |

“Trolls Band Together” was directed by Walt Dohrn and is the 3rd film in the “Trolls” franchise following the 2016 original film and its 2020 sequel which was also directed by Dohrn. The voice over cast...

Thanksgiving

by Charlie | Nov 22, 2023 | Horror | 0 |

It will scare the stuffing out of you

Killers Can’t Have Empathy

by Max Rios | Nov 12, 2023 | Mystery , Thrillers | 0 |

The Killer was directed by David Fincher and stars Michael Fassbender, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard & Tilda Swinton. This film is based on the French graphic novel series of the same name, written by Alexis...

Sugar, Spice & Everything Nice

by Max Rios | Nov 11, 2023 | Action , Adventure | 0 |

The Marvels was directed by Nia Costa, is based on the Marvel comic of the same name, is a sequel to the 2019 film, “Captain Marvel” and is the 33rd film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film sees Brie Larson,...

The Beginning of the End… Maybe

by Max Rios | Nov 11, 2023 | Action | 0 |

Fast X was directed Louis Leterrier and co-written by Justin Lin. This is the 11th film in the franchise and serves as directed sequel to “F9” while still carrying over events from the 2011 film, “Fast...

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Io Capitano review – chilling indictment of the refugee exploitation economy

Two teenage boys star in Matteo Garrone’s passionate exposé of how greed, trauma and corruption drive the modern-day slave trade in would-be migrants

M atteo Garrone’s new film is part adventure story, part slavery drama; the slavery which did not in fact vanish with the end of the American civil war, but thrives in the globalised present day without needing to shapeshift too much, driven by the age-old forces of geopolitics and the market.

Seydou and Moussa, played by nonprofessional acting newcomers Seydou Sarr and Moustapha Fall, are 16-year-old cousins in Dakar, Senegal , dreaming of escape to the fabled land of the EU as refugees, where they expect to go viral and make a fortune as music stars like the people they’re watching on TikTok. For years they have been writing songs and secretly working on building sites while pretending to go to football practice, amassing cash savings which in the succeeding months they will hand over to various gangmasters, fixers and corrupt gun-wielding soldiers.

The boys get into Niger on fake Malian passports whose obvious inauthenticity generates a handsome bribe-income for crooked border guards. They pay handsomely to join a group crossing the Sahara to Libya in an unsafe van; they then have to go on foot in the burning sand, their hatchet-faced drivers and guides ignoring the people who fall out of the vehicle or collapse with exhaustion on the way. In Libya the boys are separated, one taken to what passes for official custody, the other to a prison used as a torture factory and cash slave-farm by Libyan warlords. Here, terrified migrants are told to get their parents to wire their entire life savings over if they don’t want their children to be brutalised and killed; this is a truly terrifying sequence. The official and unofficial jails are brought by Garrone into ironic parallel.

The boys are ultimately able to offer the tiny residue of their savings to join a crowded boat heading across the Med to Italy. The gangsters chillingly agree on condition that the teenage torture survivor, Seydou, will be the boat’s notional captain – hence the movie’s title. The gangmaster pretends to “train” him on how to navigate and use the GPS and he is then put in charge of all the trusting, terrified adults as they put to sea.

This is a movie with passion and sweep, although I was less sure about the fantasy-reverie sequences. Reality is stronger ground. Apart from everything else, Io Capitano delivers some home-truths about the boats used; they are notionally “captained” by one of the passengers, a wretched soul who, due to a nauseating twist of fate, may well be even less qualified and less able than everyone else. And the film shows a gruesome irony at work: refugees are part of a toxic hoax economy. The fixers know well that these people will almost certainly die en masse in the desert or the ocean, and will be in no position to ask for refunds or warn anyone else.

Garrone shows Seydou battling heroically against this bad faith while growing miraculously into his captain status, despite the existential irony at work. Seydou and the others are not exactly masters of their fate, or captains of their souls, to quote WE Henley’s Invictus. They are swept along by power and inequality, but Garrone shows that their humanity and compassion are still buoyant.

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Biggest Upcoming Movies of 2024: Theatrical and Streaming Release Dates

Not much marvel and not much dc, but plenty to be excited about..

After 2023’s double Hollywood strike scrambled production schedules, a variety of movies (and TV shows) were delayed and/or saw their planned release dates changed. That means that in 2024 we’re only getting one new MCU movie – Deadpool 3 – though really, Marvel Studios probably needed a bit of a breather anyway. DC also will only see one new movie released in Joker: Folie à Deux, but that’s more to do with the switch to the new James Gunn Universe than because of the strikes.

Elsewhere, there’s a host of new titles to be excited about this year, including the long-awaited arrival of Dune: Part Two – the success of which has all but guaranteed a third film – Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, Abigail (a modern riff on Dracula's Daughter from the guys who made Ready or Not), a new Planet of the Apes movie, the return of Furiosa (w/o Mad Max!), and much more.

Read on for the 2024 movies we’re most excited about, and don’t forget all release dates are subject to change…

The Biggest Movies Coming in 2024

Theatrical Releases

Godzilla x kong: the new empire.

US Date: March 29

There’ve been a lot of would-be shared universes that have come and gone in the wake of the MCU, but somehow it’s Legendary Pictures’ MonsterVerse that has persevered among them all, racking up at this point five movies and a TV show. (Perhaps that’s the key? Don’t glut the market with product.) In the confusingly titled Godzilla x Kong , the two monster-bros must team up to face a new giant threat, while the humans of the cast (Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens) work to not annoy us while we wait for the monster fights to happen. You're Next and The Guest's Adam Wingard directs.

US Date: April 5

Dev Patel directs, stars in, and co-writes the revenge thriller Monkey Man from Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Productions about a young man who works in an underground fight club exacting revenge on the bad guys who are responsible for his mother's death. Sharlto Copley (District 9, The A-Team) and Bollywood star Pitobash co-star.

US Date: April 12

Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation, Dredd) writes and directs this dystopian political thriller about journalists traveling across the United States during a Second American Civil War - between the American government and the separatist "Western Forces," led by Texas and California. Kirsten Dunst and Wagner Moura star, along with Devs' Nick Offerman, Cailee Spaeny, and Stephen McKinley Henderson.

Sasquatch Sunset

Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Christophe Zajac-Denek and Nathan Zellner star in Sasquatch Sunset , which follows a family of Bigfoots. Our reviewer Clint Gage gave the film a 10 out of Sundance, saying it's "an emotional masterpiece of experimental cinema and fart jokes."

US Date: April 19

Universal has been trying to get a new take on their Classic Monsters going for a while – remember the Dark Universe franchise that lasted for one movie ? Abigail comes from the Radio Silence Productions team of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett and Chad Villella (Ready or Not, the recent Scream films) and is reportedly a riff on 1936’s Dracula’s Daughter, featuring “a group of kidnappers who abduct a band of young people, one of whom ends up being the titular character.” Radio Silence favorite Melissa Barrera, from the trio's two Scream films, stars alongside Alisha Weir, Dan Stevens, and Giancarlo Esposito.

Challengers

US Date: April 26

Judging by the Challengers trailer, director Luca Guadagnino weaves a lighter tale than his 2022 film Bones and All. But looks – and trailers – can be deceiving. Challengers is the story of a married couple of tennis pros (Zendaya and Mike Faist). When the struggling husband must compete in a low-end “Challenger” event, he finds himself playing against his ex-best friend – who also happens to be his wife’s ex-boyfriend (Josh O’Connor).

The Fall Guy

US Date: May 3

Former stuntman David Leitch (John Wick, Deadpool 2) joins with former Mouseketeer Ryan Gosling to make a movie about a stuntman which also happens to be based on the 1980s Lee Majors TV show of the same name. Judging by the trailer, The Fall Guy looks to be shooting for that fun mix of action, comedy and romance as Gosling’s character is called off-set to investigate a real-life mystery, all in service of saving his would-be girlfriend (and film director) Emily Blunt’s latest movie.

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

US Date: May 10

The last time we met up with those damned, dirty apes was in 2017’s War for the Planet of the Apes, which effectively ended the story of Andy Serkis’ Caesar. But now director Wes Ball (The Maze Runner trilogy) will continue the story of the apes generations after Caesar. The trailer for the film looks great, but will Kingdom achieve the heights of the Serkis movies? One can only hope. Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand and William H. Macy star.

Back to Black

US Date: May 17

Taking its title, of course, from the second and final studio album by Amy Winehouse, Back to Black stars Marisa Abela as the singer/songwriter in a biopic that traces her early work as a Camden jazz musician to her success as a Grammy-winner. Sam Taylor-Johnson (Nowhere Boy) directs.

John Krasinski’s directorial follow-up to A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II is IF, which stars Ryan Reynolds, Fiona Shaw, Cailey Fleming, Louis Gossett Jr., and Alan Kim, plus a host of other actors who will be providing their voices (Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carell, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and more). The film’s title stands for Imaginary Friend, but these aren’t just teddy bears (see Imaginary, opening in March) but rather imaginary friends who have been abandoned once the children who dreamt them up grew to adulthood and moved on. The film will be a mix of live-action, CGI and melted marshmallow monstrosity.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

US Date: May 24

Charlize Theron’s powerhouse character from Fury Road gets a prequel in George Miller’s Furiosa , with Anya Taylor-Joy taking over the role as the young woman who is torn from her tribe and forced into servitude by Immortan Joe and his awfuls. Chris Hemsworth also appears, only ugly, as a warlord of the road called Dementus. The first trailer for the film makes it look perhaps too much like Fury Road, but if anyone has earned our goodwill it’s Miller, so let’s see where this all goes.

The Garfield Movie

Might as well make a new Garfield theatrical movie, this time a fully animated one. In which case, might as well have Chris Pratt voice the famously lazy cat from Jim Davis' comic strip. That’s who we have handed vocal duties for all our beloved characters now, right? What We Do in the Shadows’ Harvey Guillén voices Odie the dog, Samuel L. Jackson takes on Vic, Garfield's long-lost cat dad, and Hannah Waddingham, Ving Rhames, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong, Harvey Guillén, Brett Goldstein and Bowen Yang also are part of the cast.

US Date: June 7

A (sacrilegious, to some) Crow reboot has been in the works for the last two decades and now it's finally arrived with IT's Bill Skarsgård in the iconic Eric Draven role (and singer FKA Twigs as the doomed Shelly). Will this version be going for a more direct adaptation, from James O'Barr's famed comic series, or will it follow the blueprint of the 1994 Alex Proyas film? Danny Huston, Isabella Wei, and Laura Birn co-star.

Inside Out 2

US Date: June 14

Amy Poehler returns as Joy for Inside Out 2, but Riley, the girl Joy and her fellow emotions live inside, is now a teenager… which means Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear and Disgust have to make room for Anxiety (Maya Hawke) and maybe/almost certainly a host of new, disruptive emotions. Kelsey Mann takes over the director's chair for this sequel from Inside Out’s (and Pixar mainstay) Pete Docter.

The third film in the Bad Boys series, Bad Boys for Life, was released in 2020 (and did much better than expected), so Bad Boys 4 – which is not the final title of the film – is coming fairly quickly considering the 17-year gap between Bad Boy 2 and Bad Boys 3, and the eight-year gap between the first film and the second. Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are of course back again, with Bad Boys for Life and Ms. Marvel directors Adil & Bilall also returning for more fun.

The Bikeriders

US Date: June 21

Inspired by a '60s photo-book, The Bikeriders stars Killing Eve/Free Guy's Jodie Comer along with Austin Butler, Michael Shannon, Norman Reedus, and Tom Hardy. Directed by Midnight Special's Jeff Nichols, the film follows the rise of a fictional Chicago outlaw motorcycle club as it evolves into a violent organized crime syndicate.

A Quiet Place: Day One

US Date: June 28

Director Michael Sarnoski left an impression with 2021's Nic Cage drama Pig, and he’s certainly an interesting choice for this prequel/spin-off to the John Krasinski/Emily Blunt horror series. Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn (Stranger Things' Eddie Munson!), Alex Wolff and Djimon Hounsou star in the film, which will presumably fill in some of the blanks regarding the nasty aliens from the first two installments (though Part II did already give us a flashback to the start of their invasion).

Horizon: An American Saga

US Dates: Chapter 1: June 28, Chapter 2: Aug. 16

Kevin Costner loves himself some epic Westerns (He did win Best Picture, Director and Actor Oscars for Dances With Wolves after all!) and so he’s back with “a two-part theatrical event” that he directed, stars in, produced, and reportedly also financed himself . Truly, the American way! Set both before and after the Civil War, the film is about the expansion of the American West, with Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson and many more familiar faces filling out the cast.

Despicable Me 4

US Date: July 3

It was February of 2022 when Illumination and Universal announced Despicable Me 4’s release date of July 3, 2024, and while not much has been heard about the film since – we don’t even have a trailer – the sixth film in the series (don’t forget the two Minions movies) seems like an inevitability. Reportedly, Steve Carell will be back as former supervillain Gru, joined by Kristen Wiig, Pierre Coffin, Miranda Cosgrove and Steve Coogan.

US Date: July 5

The third film in Ti West's X trilogy, after X and Pearl, once again stars Mia Goth (who is also a producer along with West) as Maxine, the sole survivor of the first film who is now living in the Los Angles of the 1980s and ready to take her porn career to the next level.

US Date: July 12

Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat's Daughter, Gretel & Hansel, son of Psycho's Anthony Perkins) directs Nicolas Cage and It Follows/The Guest's Maika Monroe in the story of a rookie FBI agent (Monroe) assigned to an unsolved serial killings case overflowing with evidence of the occult. Longlegs also features Alicia Witt and Blair Underwood.

US Date: July 19

You wanna see cows getting sucked up by tornadoes on the big screen, right? Of course you do! (And we also all hope that the cows will be just fine afterward.) And hence, Twisters was born – the 28-years-later sequel to the memorable Bill Paxton/Helen Hunt disaster flick Twister. Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones will star in the film, with Lee Isaac Chung, who was Oscar-nominated for 2020’s Minari, directing. Getting an Oscar nom is one thing, but successfully getting a cow to spin in a tornado while your leads make wisecracks? That will take true talent.

Deadpool & Wolverine

US Date: July 26

Yep, Marvel Studios has just one movie coming out in 2024, and it’s the third entry in a series that didn’t even used to be part of the MCU! That said, Deadpool doesn’t really play by regular universe rules anyway. And if the leaks from this film’s set are to be believed, that will continue to be the case as all manner of non-MCU Marvel characters could show up here. That includes Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, who teams with Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson again after their unfortunate meeting in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Borderlands

US Date: Aug. 9

Director Eli Roth (Hostel, Thanksgiving) brings the intergalactic Mad Max-inspired game franchise to the big screen with Cate Blanchett starring as the super siren, Lilith - alongside Kevin Hart as Roland, Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Tannis, Barbie and Ahsoka's Ariana Greenblatt as Tiny Tina, Gina Gershon as Mad Moxxi, Florian Munteanu as Krieg, Janina Gavankar as Commander Knoxx, and Jack Black voicing Claptrap. “I didn't want to have to be too slavish [to the game],” Roth told IGN in November. “I didn't just want to film the game. We wanted to tell a great story on its own, but of course it's loaded with Easter eggs for the fans.”

Alien: Romulus

US Date: Aug. 16

How many Alien movies does this make now? Not counting the Alien vs. Predator films (why would you?), Alien: Romulus is the seventh installment. (There’s also a TV series currently in the works.) Directed by Fede Álvarez (Evil Dead 2013, Don’t Breathe), Romulus is set between the first movie and the second, which actually gives the filmmaker a wide time period to play with (since – pushes up glasses – Ripley was in cryogenic sleep for 57 years when Aliens opens). Not much else is known about the film at this point, but Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla) will star.

Kraven the Hunter

US Date: Aug. 30

The second film from Sony's Spider-Man Universe to be released in 2024, Kraven the Hunter has been a long time coming, having previously been scheduled for January 2023, and then October. But the latest attempt at turning a Spider-Man villain into an anti-hero is finally arriving this summer, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing the title role, a master hunter who also has superpowers. Will the film connect to Spider-Man in any meaningful way? Probably not, judging by how Morbius and the Venom films have gone, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice

US Date: Sept. 6

Michael Keaton already came back as Batman, so why not as Betelgeuse? That he’s teaming with original Beetlejuice (and Batman!) director Tim Burton only makes this sequel sound more intriguing. Wednesday creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar wrote the script, and the star of that show, Jenna Ortega, will also appear in the film alongside original cast members Winona Ryder and Catherine O’Hara. Willem Dafoe, Monica Bellucci and Justin Theroux will also be hanging with the ghost with the most for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, which comes 36 years after the first film.

Transformers One

US Date: Sept. 13

The animated Transformers One is an origin story for everyone's favorite robots in disguise that is being directed by Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4). Chris Hemsworth voices a young Optimus Prime opposite a presumably also young Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) in a story that depicts how the two went from allies to legendary foes destined for toy shelves everywhere. Also starring are Scarlett Johansson (Elita), Keegan-Michael Key (Bumblebee), Jon Hamm (Sentinel Prime) and Laurence Fishburne (Alpha Trion).

US Date: Sept. 27

The first Saw movie debuted in 2004 and was such a hit that a sequel came every year after through 2010. There was a seven-year break after that (Jigsaw fatigue, don't you know), but there have been three films since then, including Saw X from September 2023. That movie made about $107 million, and so we’re back on the yearly schedule (for now anyway) with Saw XI coming in September 2024. Will the long-dead Jigsaw return again ? Probably!

Joker: Folie à Deux

US Date: Oct. 4

Hey, like Marvel Studios, DC also only has one movie coming out this year! (Unlike Marvel Studios, however, this one isn’t a part of their shared universe.) Joaquin Phoenix returns as the Joker along with the previous film’s director Todd Phillips, and this time they have a not-so-secret weapon joining them in Lady Gaga, who will be playing Harley Quinn in the sequel. The original Joker came out in 2019 and was supposed to be a one-off, but it’s funny how that can change after you bring in a billion dollars worldwide and win a couple of Oscars (including Best Actor for Phoenix).

US Date: Oct. 18

2022’s Smile was an unlikely horror hit, moving from a planned streaming debut on Paramount+ to a bona fide $200 million-plus theatrical release. So you can bet your pearly whites that a sequel is coming, and that it’ll be perfectly timed to a Halloween release as well. Parker Finn, who made his feature debut with the first film, returns to direct Smile 2, though few other details are known about the project at this time.

Venom: The Last Dance

US Date: Oct 25

Here’s the third and final film of the year in the awkwardly named Sony's Spider-Man Universe line-up, and it’s also the one that has the best chance at success. Tom Hardy’s first two Venom movies were over the top but fun, and there’s no denying the appeal of this character to fans. Hardy’s back of course as the dual-personality man-monster, joined this time out by Juno Temple and Chiwetel Ejiofor, though it remains to be seen what roles they’ll play. You can bet at least one of them will be bonded with a symbiote though.

US Date: Oct. 25

Leigh Whannell nailed his Universal Monster redo The Invisible Man in 2020, and now he’s got a Wolf Man take in the works with Blumhouse producing. Christopher Abbott (Poor Things) stars, replacing Ryan Gosling in what will presumably be the hairy title role.

The Amateur

US Date: Nov. 8

Rami Malek stars in this thriller from director James Hawes, which is based on the novel of the same name by Robert Littell. The book was previously made into a 1981 film that starred John Savage and Christopher Plummer. The Amateur’s plot deals with a CIA cryptographer whose wife is killed in a terrorist attack, and the lengths he goes to for revenge, including blackmailing his employer.

Paddington in Peru

Man, you people really love Paddington. Surprisingly, though, it's been seven years since Paddington 2. The previous film's director, Paul King, was busy making Wonka with Timothée Chalamet, so new helmer Dougal Wilson steps in for his feature debut. In this installment, Paddington and the Brown family do indeed visit Peru, though Emily Mortimer takes over as Mrs. Brown, replacing Sally Hawkins. Ben Whishaw is back as the voice of Paddington, as is Hugh Bonneville as Henry Brown. Other cast members include Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Madeleine Harris, Samuel Joslin, Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas.

Gladiator 2

US Date: Nov. 22

It’s hard to believe this movie is actually happening. Sure, we’ve heard talk about it for years, but the first Gladiator was such a big deal back in 2000 – it even became a running gag on The Sopranos at one point – and the Ridley Scott film ended so definitively, and beautifully, that a sequel always seemed like it ran the risk of becoming too much of a good thing. It still does, as a matter of fact, but Scott is back to direct all the same from a script by David Scarpa, who also wrote Napoleon and All the Money in the World for the helmer. The story focuses on Lucius (Paul Mescal), Connie Nielsen’s son from the first film who is now an adult and, presumably, ready to do some gladiator-ing . Nielsen is back for the sequel and Denzel Washington also stars.

US Date: Nov. 27

Moana 2 is coming this November and it sure came as a shock when it was announced just this past February . Given how massively huge Moana has been for Disney+, the decision was made to convert and rework what was to be a Moana animated series into a solid theatrical sequel. Auliʻi Cravalho and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson will reprise their roles as Moana and demigod Maui, respectively, for an all new roaring adventure.

With a puff of red smoke, the musical Wicked is teleporting to the big screen in this adaptation from director Jon M. Chu (In the Heights). A retelling of how Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) became the Wicked Witch of the West of Wizard of Oz infamy unfolds here, with Ariana Grande playing Galinda Upland (destined to be the Good Witch). This first film is also known as Wicked: Part One, with Part Two currently scheduled for a November 26, 2025, release.

Untitled Karate Kid Movie

US Date: Dec. 13

For this film, Ralph Macchio, the OG KK, is teaming with Jackie Chan, who starred in the 2010 “reimagining” of The Karate Kid – which I guess is now just part of the bigger Karate Kid Cinematic Universe. The pair will play their characters from their respective films, but conspicuous by its absence in the announcement of this movie was any mention of the gang from the Cobra Kai TV show – especially William Zabka's Johnny Lawrence. Sony says a “global search” is underway to find the new Karate Kid who will presumably be trained by Chan and Macchio here. Just give us a high-school-karate-rumble or we riot… with a high-school-karate-rumble, I guess.

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim

Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Blade Runner: Black Lotus) directs this animated feature, which reportedly takes place about 200 years before The Hobbit. Brian Cox will voice Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, the namesake of what we all recognize as… Helm’s Deep! (Hey, I have that LEGO set.) Confusingly, this film has nothing to do with The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV show (that takes place in Middle-earth’s second age) other than being based on a small sliver of J.R.R. Tolkien’s work.

Mufasa: The Lion King

US Date: Dec. 20

This prequel to Disney's "live-action" The Lion King comes from Oscar-winning director Barry Jenkins (Moonlight, The Underground Railroad), and tells of the earlier lives of Mufasa and Scar (Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr.), those lion brothers who are destined for tragedy and betrayal. This is what Jenkins told IGN about the film in 2022: “I think for kids it's really important to understand that people aren't born perfect, they aren't just kings, their experiences shape them. So you can expect to go on this journey and understand how [Mufasa’s] friends, his family, his experiences shaped him and made him the person he is.”

Sonic the Hedgehog 3

The Sonic the Hedgehog world dominance continues with the third installment in the Ben Schwartz-starring live-action (with some animation, of course) series. Presumably Colleen O’Shaunnessey and Idris Elba will also be back to voice the Blue Blur’s pals Tails and Knuckles, and Shadow the Hedgehog will also make his debut in the movie. Sonic 3 is directed by Jeff Fowler, making this a Hedgehog hat trick for him.

US Date: Dec. 25

Robert Eggers, the beautiful madman behind The Witch, The Lighthouse, and most recently The Northman, is turning his attention to the horror of Nosferatu some 102 years after the original F.W. Murnau film was released. Who else but Bill Skarsgård has been cast as Count Orlok, while Nicholas Hoult, Lily-Rose Depp and Aaron Taylor-Johnson are among the humans forced to deal with the vampire. Funnily enough, Willem Dafoe also appears in the film, having already played a vampiric version of actor Max Schreck (who starred as Orlok in 1922) in the fictionalized making-of Nosferatu film, Shadow of the Vampire.

Streaming Releases

Rebel moon – part two: the scargiver.

US Date: April 19, Netflix

Zack Snyder’s latest would-be franchise came from a Star Wars pitch that he had originally taken to Lucasfilm, and he has big cross-media plans for the concept. That of course includes sequels, so Part Two is already slotted for an April 2024 release. Sofia Boutella, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Djimon Hounsou, and Anthony Hopkins star in the story of a ruthless empire that must be defeated by a mysterious outsider.

US Date: May 21, Netflix

Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Mark Strong star in this Netflix sci-fi mystery about a brilliant data analyst (Lopez) with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence who joins a mission to capture a renegade robot. Brad Peyton (San Andreas, Rampage) directs.

US Date: June 7, Netflix

Richard Linklater's latest, Hit Man, tells the story of an undercover Houston cop who poses as a reliable hitman in order to arrest those trying to procure his services. Top Gun: Maverick's Glen Powell stars in, and co-writes with Linklater, this film, which is based on a 2001 Texas Monthly magazine article. Andor's Adria Arjona and Fear the Walking Dead's Austin Amelio co-star.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F

US Date: July 3, Netflix

It only took 30 years to get a fourth Beverly Hills movie off the blocks, after a lot of trying, but now Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot are all back as Detroit police lieutenant Axel Foley returns to Beverly Hills after his estranged daughter's (Taylour Paige) life is threatened. She and Foley team up with her ex-boyfriend (Joseph Gordon-Levitt ), plus Foley's old pals, to stop the bad guys. Also starring Kevin Bacon.

A Family Affair

US Date: TBA, Netflix

Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King, The Bridges of Madison County) helms this Netflix rom-com featuring an all-star cast, including Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman, Kathy Bates, Shirley MacLaine, Joey King, and YouTube sensation Liza Koshy. In A Family Affair, a young woman named Zara (King) works as an assistant for movie star Chris Cole (Efron) — that is until Chris falls in love with her mother (Kidman).

Back in Action

Back in Action, from Horrible Bosses' Seth Gordon, features Jamie Foxx, Cameron Diaz, Glenn Close, Kyle Chandler, and Andrew Scott in a rollicking action-comedy about two former CIA spies, after retiring to start a family, who find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown.

Jungle Cruise and Black Adam's Jaume Collet-Serra directs this thriller about a mysterious traveler (Jason Bateman) who blackmails a young TSA agent (Taron Egerton) into letting a dangerous package slip through security and onto a Christmas Day flight. Logan Marshall-Green, Dean Norris, Theo Rossi, and Descendants franchise's Sofia Carson co-star.

Already Released

US Date : Jan. 5

When I was a little kid, I was afraid to go in the pool after an ill-advised attempted viewing of Jaws. That fear lasted for a looong time (years?), so one can only imagine how folks are gonna do with the latest team-up between mega-horror-producers James Wan and Jason Blum. Night Swim stars Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon in a tale involving a… haunted swimming pool. Sure, laugh now – and then enjoy spending the whole summer sweating in the heat at a safe distance from any refreshing, man-made watering hole.

US Date : Jan. 12

Don’t worry – it’s a musical! The trailer for the 2024 version of Mean Girls that dropped in November weirdly neglected to indicate that small fact, making it seem like an odd rehash. But indeed this film is based on the Broadway musical incarnation of the 2004 Lindsay Lohan classic. Angourie Rice (who you may recognize from the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies among other things) fills Lohan’s shoes, with Tina Fey back again as screenwriter (and as Ms. Norbury).

The Beekeeper

You know how your grandparents fell for that phishing scam that one time? Well, Jason Statham just hates that, and he’s ready to kill a lot of bad people because of it in The Beekeeper. Suicide Squad and Fury director David Ayer teams with the British badass to get revenge for the mom from The Cosby Show (Phylicia Rashad), even if that means cutting a guy's fingers off and then tying him to the back of a truck that then drives off a bridge. That’s what you get for running a call center, dude!

Soul, Turning Red, Luca

US Dates : Jan. 12, Feb. 9, March 22

These three Disney Pixar movies never got full theatrical releases in the US due to the COVID-19 pandemic, instead going straight to Disney+. But now they’ll finally make it to the big screen in the first quarter of 2024, and each will be accompanied by a short film as well (“Burrow” for Soul, “Kitbull” for Turning Red, and “For the Birds” for Luca).

US Date : Feb. 2 in theaters, Apple TV+ date TBA

How perfect is casting Henry Cavill as "Agent Argylle," a super-spy who is actually just the cartoonish creation of novelist Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard)? Matthew Vaughn certainly knows a thing or two about spy movies, and how to play with the conventions of the genre, having directed a Kingsman or three, and Argylle looks to follow suit as Conway encounters “real” spies like Sam Rockwell’s shaggy assassin. Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, John Cena, Samuel L. Jackson, Dua Lipa, and Ariana DeBose also star.

Lisa Frankenstein

US Date : Feb. 9

Diablo Cody scripted this horror comedy about a teenager (Kathryn Newton) who, you guessed it, reanimates the dead – specifically the corpse of her dreams (via a tanning machine). Directed by Zelda Williams (the late Robin Williams’ daughter), Lisa Frankenstein looks to be one part Jennifer’s Body, one part Heathers, and potentially all parts fun.

US Date : Feb. 14

2024 is going to be a light year for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with only one film being released by the studio. But don’t worry, because Sony's Spider-Man Universe, as the studio calls it, is ready to step in with three different Marvel-adjacent movies. The first of the year will be Madame Web, which stars Dakota Johnson as the psychic Cassandra Webb, Sydney Sweeney as Julia Carpenter, Celeste O'Connor as Mattie Franklin, and Isabela Merced as Anya Corazon, all of whom have assumed one Spider-persona or another in the comics. Will Madame Web break the Morbius curse and be, you know, good? Only the spider knows for now…

Drive-Away Dolls

US Date : Feb. 23

The Coen brothers are kinda making their own movies separate from one another lately, and that's OK! For his part, Ethan has this comedy up next, starring Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan as a pair of young women who hit the road in search of one of those good old “fresh starts.” Soon enough, they’re mixed up with a variety of weird and criminal types, not to mention co-stars Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp and Matt Damon.

Dune: Part Two

US Date : March 1

The first installment of Denis Villeneuve's Dune was a hit, and though Part Two was delayed because of the Hollywood strikes, it is now scheduled for a March release. Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya are back along with most of the first film's cast, while newcomers Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken and Léa Seydoux are all landing on planet Arrakis for the first time. We’re particularly looking forward to Butler (Elvis) as Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen, the role played by Sting in the 1984 film.

US Date : March 8

Imaginary friends come in all shapes and sizes, and that includes sometimes just being total assholes. Case in point: Chauncey, the teddy bear in Blumhouse’s Imaginary who, judging by the film’s trailer, has it out for the little girl who finds him in the basement of her new home. Never mind that he’s not really imaginary since he’s a corporeal, well, teddy bear and all. Suffice to say that, imaginary or not, he wants to hurt folks. DeWanda Wise and Tom Payne star in the Jeff Wadlow (Kick-Ass 2, Fantasy Island) film.

Kung Fu Panda 4

DreamWorks Animation’s fourth installment in the Kung Fu Panda series of animated films will be directed by Mike Mitchell (The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Trolls) and Stephanie Ma Stine (She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) will serve as co-director. Jack Black returns for the film, which will be released eight years after Part 3, as his character Po faces off against a new villain named the Chameleon (Viola Davis). Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once) also joins the voice cast as Han, the leader of the Den of Thieves.

US Date: March 21, Prime Video

Though Roadhouse reboot director Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Mr. and Mrs. Smith) pushed hard for a theatrical release (and then boycotted the SXSW premiere because of it), the latest story of zen bouncer Dalton, previously played by the late Patrick Swayze, is headed to Prime Video. Starring Jake Gyllenhaal as a former UFC fighter who ends up working at a roadhouse in the Florida Keys, Roadhouse looks to become a "regular Saturday night thing" for a whole new generation. Also starring the UFC's Conor McGregor, The Suicide Squad's Daniela Melchior, and Shrinking's Jessica Williams.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

I refuse to make a “who you gonna call” joke here, though I suppose I just did despite my best intentions. Anyway, the franchise of ghostbusting continues with a direct sequel to 2021’s Ghostbusters: Afterlife, whether or not that film’s bustin’ made you feel good, as Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Finn Wolfhard, and Mckenna Grace return to action after New York City is frozen by a force from beyond. And yes, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and even William Atherton all return from the 1984 film, though for how many minutes of actual running time remains to be seen.

What films are you most looking forward to in 2024? Let’s discuss in the comments!

Note: This story was originally posted on Dec. 31, 2023. It was updated on March 28, 2024, with the latest information available about the upcoming release slate.

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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, the synanon fix.

Rory Kennedy is a phenomenal interviewer. We’ve seen this before in her other projects like the Oscar-nominated “ Last Days in Vietnam ,” and it’s the main strength of her new project, HBO’s 4-part “The Synanon Fix.” Her skill set in making people feel comfortable allows former members of the self-help group that turned into a cult to speak so candidly about their time in the organization, to the point that some admit things on-camera that they surely never have before. These men and women are remarkably open about not just what Synanon meant to their recovery but how the group descended into darkness under the increasing madness of its leader, Chuck Dederich. As is so often the case nowadays, “The Synanon Fix” isn’t the right length—it would have made an excellent feature documentary—as the first couple episodes take too long to get to the downfall era of Synanon, but there’s something powerful about the sheer bulk of the hard-to-believe stories of a group that felt problematic from the beginning.

Many of the survivors of Synanon would disagree with that last sentence. It’s startling to hear how many of the people involved in this organization still speak about its origins positively, noting that they wouldn’t be here without it. And yet watching “The Synanon Fix,” one can see the rot at the core of this approach to sobriety from the very beginning. Founded in 1957 by Dederich, Synanon was a drug rehab program in Santa Monica that was built around tearing people down. They gained notoriety for something called the “game,” a form of attack therapy wherein people essentially criticize, ridicule, and insult someone, forcing them into sobriety through shame more than anything else. Does it work? There are people alive today who insist that it does. But it inherently creates a deeply flawed power dynamic in that someone has to be in charge of the “game.” It is incredibly easy to draw the line from Dederich overseeing attack therapy to the way he would increase his attempts to control Synanon members over the decades to come.

“The Synanon Fix” really captures how programs like this rely on brainwashing. By the end, Synanon was abusing children, forcing members to swap partners, and even allegedly attempting murder by rattlesnake. Between those early days of letting junkies clean up on a dirty couch and the downfall, Kennedy details the increasingly disturbing decisions by the power structure of Synanon, particularly Dederich. So much of what is captured here is a story of how controlling behavior feeds on itself. Every time Dederich got his followers to do one thing, he had to top it the next time, until he was breaking one of the core rules about violence, broadcasting his members’ personal trauma, and shaving the heads of the females in Synanon. When Kennedy gets to interviewing the children of a neighbor who was well-known for being a sort of Underground Railroad for young people fleeing the abusive compound next door, it’s clear that the group has long ago left behind its higher moral purpose.

And yet what’s so interesting about the final hour is how little judgment the survivors place on Synanon. As a standalone hour, it’s one of the most fascinating documents in a long time regarding how cults form and persist. We all like to believe that we wouldn’t fall for a cult leader like Dederich but listen to these people who have seen so much awful behavior speak about community, survival, and supporting one another. Cults form because people ignore the bad and focus only on the good that they’re getting from that organization. When a gentleman speaks of being forced into a vasectomy in his twenties during a time when Dederich thought their group should be childless—women were forced into abortions too—there’s almost no anger in his voice. One would expect these people to be furious at being manipulated, but they seem to still consider all of the bad stuff that happened as mere cost for the clean community that saved their lives.

All of this could have been accomplished, and arguably more powerfully, in a feature film. The set-up takes too long—the first hour is particularly slow—and there could have been even more blunt power with better pace to the horror show of Synanon. There’s still enough here to warrant a look, largely because of how much Kennedy gets her subjects to open up in ways that feel almost unfathomable, speaking openly about trauma in a manner that reflects how a group like Synanon happens in the first place. We like to think that something like Synanon couldn’t happen today in a world more aware of cult behavior. Watching “The Synanon Fix” reminded me that human behavior can be manipulated in the name of rehabilitation or self-help. That's how cults happen. Leaders can do anything if they convince their members it's related to their best interest.

Whole series screened for review. Premieres on HBO on April 1 st .

Brian Tallerico

Brian Tallerico is the Managing Editor of RogerEbert.com, and also covers television, film, Blu-ray, and video games. He is also a writer for Vulture, The Playlist, The New York Times, and GQ, and the President of the Chicago Film Critics Association.

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