Advertisement

2022 movie preview: Our 35 most anticipated films

2022 movie preview
Left to right: The Batman (Warner Bros.), Scream (Paramount), Black Panther (Disney/Marvel), Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount)

After an up-and-down year at the box office as movie theaters looked to rebound from crippling coronavirus closings, 2021 ended on a high note as the record-smashing Spider-Man: No Way Home swung in and saved the day.

Can the movie biz maintain that momentum into 2022 and beyond? There’s certainly a feast of highly anticipated films on the way. From a wide range of biopics (Elvis Presley! Marilyn Monroe! Whitney Houston! The Bee Gees?!) to a variety of sequels (Avatar 2, Knives Out 2, Clerks III, Mission: Impossible 7) to a whole bunch of new superhero adventures (The Batman, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Adam), natch, we count down the 2022 movie releases we’re most excited about below.

35. Clerks III

Release date: TBD
Directed by: Kevin Smith
Starring: Jeff Anderson, Brian O’Halloran, Jason Mewes, Kevin Smith, Rosario Dawson
The scoop: After a detour to Castle Grayskull with his animated Masters of the Universe series for Netflix, writer-director-podcaster extraordinaire Kevin Smith returns to the View Askewniverse with a follow-up to his 1994 breakout Clerks and its 2006 sequel. The meta plot, if you know Smith’s own health history, has Randal (Anderson) assembling his friends to make a film immortalizing his life after suffering a massive heart attack.

34. Turning Red

Release date: March 11
Directed by: Domee Shi
Starring: Rosalie Chiang, Sandra Oh, Ava Morse, James Hong
The scoop: Disney Animation had an elite 2021 with a trifecta of gems in Raya and the Last Dragon, Luca and Encanto. We’ll only have to wait a shade over two months into ’22 for their next offering, Pixar’s 25th release, Turning Red, the studio’s first-ever female-only directed film. The adventure-comedy follows a 13-year-old Chinese-Canadian girl who “poofs” into a giant red panda anytime she gets too excited or stressed, instantly making this plot the best metaphor for uncontrollable blushing we’ve ever seen.

33. The Lost City

Release date: March 25
Directed by: Aaron Nee and Adam Nee
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad Pitt
The scoop: From Johnny Weissmuller’s Tarzan exploits to Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s Jungle Cruise, jungle adventures are nothing new in Hollywood. But the combination of Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum getting their Romancing the Stone on and a supporting cast that includes the recently MIA Daniel Radcliffe, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Bowen Yang and Brad Pitt? The internet is very, very excited for this one.

32. Jackass Forever

Release date: Feb. 4
Directed by: Jeff Tremaine
Starring: Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O, Chris Pontius and the rest of the gang
The scoop: There have been two largely prevalent reactions to the first footage from the famed MTV daredevils’ fourth film adventure. One: Nwly anointed silver fox Johnny Knoxville is suddenly showing his age at 50, deeming the film’s tagline “Some people never learn” all the more appropriate. And two, the tongue-in-cheek social media battle cry, “Now this is cinema.” Nothing shows the Jackass love out there like a new Jackass film. These guys really could make these movies forever.

31. The Woman King

Release date: Sept. 16
Directed by: Gina Prince-Blythewood
Starring: Viola Davis, Lashana Lynch, John Boyega, Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim
The scoop: Not to be confused with that one episode of Battlestar Galactica, this epic from Gina Prince-Blythewood (who co-wrote with Dana Stevens) traces the history of West Africa’s once-powerful Kingdom of Dahomey, whose all-female military was the likely inspiration behind Black Panther’s Dora Milaje. Speaking of epic, the cast is headlined by force of nature Viola Davis, but look out for Thuso Mbedu and Sheila Atim, who both broke out in 2021’s The Underground Railroad.

30. The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent

Release date: April 22
Directed by: Tom Gormican
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, Tiffany Haddish, Neil Patrick Harris
The scoop: Nicolas Cage takes on a role that only he could play... Nicolas Cage. Tom Gormican’s delightfully meta movie pairs the Face/Off star with a wealthy super-fan (Pedro Pascal), who hires Cage to recreate some of his Cage-iest performances for a cool million dollar payday. That sure buys a lot of Colonel Sanders and champagne.

29. Creed III
Release date: Nov. 25
Directed by: Michael B. Jordan
Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Phylicia Rashad
The scoop: Michael B. Jordan adds “director” to his ever-expanding resume with the third installment of the Creed franchise. Adonis Creed’s latest bout pits him against a lean, mean fighting machine played by Jonathan Majors. And he’ll have to fight this particular fight without Rocky Balboa in his corner: Jordan confirmed earlier this year that Sylvester Stallone won’t be back for the threequel.

28. The Northman

Release date: April 22
Directed by: Robert Eggers
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Anya Taylor-Joy
The scoop: It’s an all-out Viking brawl as a dethroned prince (Alexander Skarsgård) seeks bloody vengeance against the warrior (Claes Bang) that killed his royal father (Ethan Hawke). Robert Eggers’s third feature boasts the same authentic period production design seen in The Witch and The Lighthouse, and adds a boatload of action. It also features a Witch reunion as Eggers re-teams with Anya Taylor-Joy, which means a Black Phillip cameo can’t be far behind.

27. Thirteen Lives

Release date: April 15
Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell, Joel Edgerton, Sukollawat Kanarot
The scoop: We all remember the harrowing events of the 2018 Tham Luang cave rescue in Northern Thailand, in which an international group of more than 10,000 divers, soldiers and police officers worked together to free 12 teenage members of a junior soccer team and their 25-year-old coach. Mortensen, Farrell and Edgerton play just a few of them in Ron Howard’s sure-to-be-taut and nail-biting dramatization of the events.

26. Everything Everywhere All At Once

Release date: Mar. 25
Directed by: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Harry Shum Jr.
The scoop: Marvel Studios doesn’t have a monopoly on the multiverse. The latest head trip from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — the directing duo behind the seriously surreal Swiss Army Man — features Michelle Yeoh as Evelyn Wang, who bounces between a multitude of parallel universes to combat an all-conquering evil force. We’re guessing it’s not Thanos.

25. Untitled Bee Gees Biopic

Release date: Nov. 4
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh
Starring: TBA
The scoop: Disco is back, baby! Forty-five years after supplying the bestselling soundtrack for John Travolta’s 1977 disco-fest Saturday Night Fever, The Bee Gees are coming back to the big screen – this time at center of their own Bohemian Rhapsody-like biopic (from Rhapsody producer Graham King and Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment). Kenneth Branagh is set to follow-up his own acclaimed bio-film Belfast with this one. And while no cast has yet been announced to play a young Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb, Paramount has this one staying alive on their calendar for a fall release.

24. Scream

Release date: Jan. 14
Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Starring: Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette
The scoop: Don’t even get us started on why they’re insisting on calling this direct sequel to the first four Scream movies just “Scream” instead of “Scream 5.” Likely because Paramount hopes Ghostface’s return, which blends a cast of young franchise newcomers with returning vets like Campbell, Cox and Arquette, will kick off its own run of slasher fests (so then is the next one Scream 2 again?). Either way, given major horror’s propensity to kill it at the box office and some major nostalgia factors, we can likely count on Scream (5) to be 2022’s first big hit.

23. Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Release date: Dec. 16
Directed by: James Wan
Starring: Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II
The scoop: Jason Momoa heads back under the sea for the sequel to James Wan’s hugely successful maiden voyage into superhero blockbuster waters. Having assumed the throne of Atlantis, Aquaman now has to protect his underwater kingdom from a recently-awakened ancient nemesis. Good thing that he’s got a new suit to swim into action with.

22. Lightyear

Release date: June 17
Directed by: Angus MacLane
Starring: Chris Evans, Taika Waititi
The scoop: If you’re confused about Lightyear’s place in Pixar’s Toy Story canon, director Angus MacLane’s description of it as a “sidequel” may not be helpful. In the simplest terms: It’s a sci-fi actioner imagining the origin story of the character whose action figure will later go on all those iconic adventures as voiced by Tim Allen. Regardless, there’s plenty to be excited about with this new brand of Pixar thriller between the involvement of Avengers alum Chris Evans in the lead role and the film’s super-sleek animation style.

21. Top Gun: Maverick

Release date: May 27
Directed by: Joseph Kosinski
Starring: Tom Cruise, Miles Teller, Jennifer Connelly, Jon Hamm, Val Kilmer
The scoop: Top Gun fans have been waiting 30-plus years for a catch-up with Maverick (Tom Cruise) and company, what’s been another two? This long-awaited sequel to the 1986 action hit was originally supposed to be released in July, 2019 before both pre- and post-COVID delays. Early word is the action will be on par with Cruise’s recent death-defying work in the Mission: Impossible movies, while there’s also major intrigue on how the film will incorporate Iceman, given returning star Val Kilmer’s recent voice loss after his battle with throat cancer.

20. Bullet Train

Release date: July 15
Directed by: David Leitch
Starring: Brad Pitt, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Zazie Beetz, Joey King, Brian Tyree-Henry
The scoop: After what sounds like a small, stunty role in The Lost City, Pitt (who we haven’t seen headline a film since 2019’s Ad Astra) will surely get more screen time as one of five assassins aboard a Japanese bullet train who realize their assignments are interconnected in this actioner based on the novel by Kōtarō Isaka. The bullet flying will be captured by stunt coordinator-turned-in-demand-director David Leitch, whose credits include Deadpool 2, which featured one very memorable cameo by... Brad Pitt.

19. Jurassic World: Dominion

Release date: June 10
Directed by: Colin Trevorrow
Starring: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
The scoop: From Ghostbusters: Afterlife (and 2016’s Ghostbusters) to Spider-Man: No Way Home to Scream, legacy cast members returning for appearance in new-school sequels is all the rage right now. It’ll happen again with Dominion, which not only returns Goldblum (who also appeared in 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom) but finally lures Neill and Dern back into the franchise fold for the first time since 2001’s Jurassic Park III.

18. I Wanna Dance With Somebody

Release date: Dec. 23
Directed by: Kasi Lemmons
Starring: Naomi Ackie, Ashton Sanders, Stanley Tucci, Nafessa Williams
The scoop: Kasi Lemmons moves from capturing the heroic actions of Harriet Tubman in the Underground Railroad in 2019’s Harriet to memorializing another one-of-a-kind icon with this chronicle of late pop sensation Whitney Houston. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker breakout Naomi Ackie stars as the beloved “I Will Always Love You” and “Greatest Love of All” crooner, while the continually impressive Ashton Sanders (Moonlight, Wu-Tang: An American Saga) plays her troubled husband Bobby Brown.

17. The Flash

Release date: Nov. 4
Directed by: Andy Muschietti
Starring: Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Kiersey Clemons, Michael Shannon
The scoop: DC’s Scarlet Speedster laces up for his first solo adventure, but all eyes are going to be on a certain Caped Crusader. Michael Keaton is back in his form-fitting Batsuit for the first time since 1992’s Batman Returns to play mentor to Ezra Miller’s dimension-hopping Flash, whose attempts to prevent his mother’s murders has resulted in a scrambled timeline. And this isn’t a one-and-done return for Keaton’s Dark Knight: He’s just joined the currently-shooting Batgirl.

16. Bros

Release date: Aug. 12
Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Billy Eichner, Luke Macfarlane, Jim Rash, Bowen Yang
The scoop: After collaborations with Amy Schumer (Trainwreck), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick) and Pete Davidson (King of Staten Island), super-producer Judd Apatow continues to find collaborative opportunities with Hollywood’s most exciting young comedic stars, now teaming with hilarious Billy on the Street rabble-rouser Billy Eichner for this rom-com about two men with commitment problems trying to make a relationship work. It’s the first-ever adult-oriented LGBTQ movie ever released by a major studio (Universal), and proudly boasts an all-LGBTQ cast.

15. Black Adam

Release date: July 29
Directed by: Jaume Collet-Serra
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Pierce Brosnan
The scoop: A Black Adam movie starring The Rock has been rumored and/or planned for so long (since 2006!) that it’s hard to believe it’s actually really happening. But indeed, Johnson confirmed he wrapped filming in July, so we will finally, finally play the ancient Egyptian archival to Zachary Levi’s Shazam (aka DC’s Captain Marvel). To All the Boys superfans sure won’t mind seeing the Netflix heartthrob Centineo in a key supporting role as Atom Smasher.

14. Mission: Impossible 7

Release date: Sept. 30
Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie
Starring: Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson
The scoop: He’s climbed up skyscrapers and leaped out of planes. Now Tom Cruise is trying to pull off a truly near-impossible mission: making a stunt-heavy blockbuster in the middle of a global pandemic. The details of Ethan Hunt’s latest adventure are being kept under wraps, but it involves the return of some familiar faces — including Simon Pegg and Rebecca Ferguson — and the introduction of Hayley Atwell’s Grace, whose allegiances are ultra-ambiguous.

13. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – Part One

Release date: Oct. 7
Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, Justin K. Thompson
Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Jake Johnson
The scoop: The two-part follow-up to 2018’s Oscar-winning animated favorite sends web-slingers Miles Morales (Shameik Moore) and Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) deeper into the Spider-Verse, with the 2099 Spidey (Oscar Isaac) following close behind. Other wall-crawlers making their big-screen debuts here include Jessica “Spider-Woman” Drew (Issa Rae) and Takuya “Japanese Spider-Man” Yamashiro. Here’s hoping that Sony got Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield in the recording booth while they were shooting No Way Home.

12. Untitled David O. Russell Project

Release date: Nov. 4
Directed by: David O. Russell, of course
Starring: Christian Bale, Margot Robbie, John David Washington, Rami Malek, Zoe Saldana, Robert De Niro
The scoop: How much faith do we have in the latest film from Silver Linings Playbook and American Hustle helmer David O. Russell, his first since 2015’s Joy? It’s in our Top 12 despite the fact that we know next to nothing about the premise, beyond that it’s a period piece about “a doctor and a lawyer forming an unlikely friendship.” But really, just look at that cast list, which also includes Chris Rock, Anya Taylor-Joy, Mike Myers, Michael Shannon, Alessandro Nivola, Timothy Olyphant and Taylor Swift.

11. Blonde

Release date: TBD
Directed by: Andrew Dominik
Starring: Ana de Armas, Adrien Brody, Bobby Cannavale, Julianne Nicholson
The scoop: Deep Water, the erotic thriller that introduced the brief, real-life romantic pairing of Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck, has been reportedly shelved from a planned early-2022 release. But the year should still bring about Netflix’s highly anticipated biopic in which the red-hot de Armas (Blade Runner 2049, Knives Out, No Time to Die) goes bleach to play iconic actress and pin-up Marilyn Monroe. Brad Pitt’s Plan B Productions produces.

10. Avatar 2

Release date: Dec. 16
Directed by: James Cameron
Starring: Zoe Saldana, Sam Worthington, Kate Winslet, Sigourney Weaver
The scoop: Avatar 2 may seem like a sequel nobody asked for, but we’ve learned by now that it’s best never to bet against James Cameron... especially when he’s on a mission to outgross his own highest-grossing movie of all time. Returning to the distant planet of Pandora, this new adventure finds Jake (Worthington) and Neytiri (Saldana) confronting an old evil with the aid of previously unseen Pandorian tribes. And because this is a James Cameron film, you’d better believe there’ll be a lot of underwater action.

9. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Release date: May 6
Directed by: Sam Raimi
Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Benedict Wong, Elizabeth Olsen, Xochitl Gomez
The scoop: Having bent — and nearly broken — the Marvel multiverse for Peter Parker in Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange (Cumberbatch) now has to clean up the pieces. But he’s going to need the assistance of Wanda Maximoff (Olsen) and new hero, America Chavez (Gomez) when an evil Strange gets involved. If the prospect of multiple Cumberbatch’s doesn’t excite you, the presence of Sam Raimi (2002-2007’s Spider-Man trilogy) behind the camera absolutely will.

8. Untitled Elvis Presley Project

Release date: June 3
Directed by: Baz Luhrmann
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge, Kelvin Harrison Jr.
The scoop: Former Nickelodeon heartthrob Austin Butler slips into the King of Rock and Roll’s blue suede shoes for Baz Luhrmann’s coronavirus-delayed biopic. In fact, Tom Hanks was in the middle of shooting his role as Elvis’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, when he contracted COVID last year — the first of many signs that this virus wasn’t playing around. With the director of Moulin Rouge at the helm, you can expect this to be a musical feast for the eyes and ears.

7. Don’t Worry Darling

Release date: Sept. 23
Directed by: Olivia Wilde
Starring: Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, Gemma Chan, KiKi Layne, Nick Kroll, Chris Pine
The scoop: Otherwise known as the project that introduced celebrity power couple Olivia Wilde and Harry Styles (who replaced Shia LaBeouf after he was fired for poor on-set behavior), Wilde’s follow-up to her acclaimed directorial debut Booksmart is a psychological thriller about a 1950s couple whose lives are far less idyllic than they seem. This is no WandaVision, but it is now an unexpected Phase 4 MCU meet-up between Pugh (Black Widow, Hawkeye) and Styles after that surprising Eternals introduction.

6. Untitled Knives Out Sequel

Release date: TBD
Directed by: Rian Johnson
Starring: Daniel Craig, Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, Kathryn Hahn
The scoop: He may have handed in James Bond’s license to kill, but Daniel Craig is still on the case as super-sleuth Benoit Blanc. The actor re-teams with Knives Out writer-director Rian Johnson for the first of two planned sequels to their 2019 hit, which once again features an all-star ensemble that includes Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn and Edward Norton. This new mystery was filmed on location in Greece, so expect some warm Mediterranean sun instead of the original’s chilly Massachusetts sweater weather.

5. Thor: Love and Thunder

Release date: July 8
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Natalie Portman, Christian Bale, Chris Pratt, Jamie Alexander
The scoop: Can director/co-writer Taika Waititi (who wrote the script with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson) outdo 2017’s wonderfully wacky Thor: Ragnarok? He’s certainly being given more ammo this time around with the highly anticipated returns of original Thor stars/fan favorites Natalie Portman (Jane) and Jamie Alexander (Sif), not to mention the return of Jeff Goldlbum (The Grandmaster) and the additions of the Guardians of the Galaxy AND a talented Oscar winner/former Batman by the name of Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher.

4. Babylon

Release date: Dec. 25
Directed by: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie, Li Jun Li, Samara Weaving, Olivia Wilde, Tobey Maguire
The scoop: From Whiplash (2014) to La La Land (2016) to First Man (2018), Damien Chazelle has not missed. So it’s no wonder he scored two of the biggest names in the biz in Pitt and Robbie for this period piece set during the golden age of Old Hollywood. While plot details are scant, we do know Robbie is playing Clara Bow, one of the few 1920s movie stars to successfully transition for silent films to “talkies.”

3. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

Release date: Nov. 11
Directed by: Ryan Coogler
Starring: Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, Michaela Coel
The scoop: Emotions will undoubtedly be running high through the duration of the second Black Panther film following the tragic loss of star Chadwick Boseman in 2020. While plot details remain under wraps, Nyong’o told us the film — again co-written by Coogler and Joe Robert Cole — would honor what Boseman “started with us.” The female-centric cast will also be boosted by the arrival of Michaela Coel, creator and star of the acclaimed HBO hit I May Destroy You.

2. Nope

Release date: July 22
Directed by: Jordan Peele
Starring: Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Barbie Ferreira
The scoop: Title aside, we’re saying “Yes, please” to the prospect of a new Jordan Peele joint, especially one that reunites him with his Get Out leading man. As with his previous films, cinema’s new Master of Suspense isn’t tipping his hand to what Nope might be about. That secrecy is guaranteed to make its surprises all the sweeter.

1. The Batman

Release date: March 4
Directed by: Matt Reeves
Starring: Robert Pattinson, Zoë Kravitz, Paul Dano, Jeffrey Wright, Andy Serkis, Colin Farrell
The scoop: Imagine hearing 10 years ago, just as Robert Pattinson was wrapping up The Twilight Saga, that the actor would someday play Batman, then being played by Christian Bale? You’d laugh us off the internet. But in the decade since, Pattinson has proved one of the most dynamic actors working, and now headlines one of the most highly anticipated superhero reboots in years. Bruce Wayne (Pattinson) teams up with Catwoman (Kravitz) to take down the murderous Riddler (Dano) in a movie that only looks better and better with each new footage reveal.

ALSO OPENING

Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o and Penelope Cruz are part of an international spy collective in The 355 (Jan. 7)… Andy Samberg and Selena Gomez are back — but Adam Sandler is not — for one last adventure in Hotel Transylvania: Transformania (Jan. 14)… Jared Leto will be more recognizable as antihero vampire Morbius (Jan. 28) than he was in House of Gucci… The moon is literally falling in Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster flick Moonfall (Feb. 4) starring Halle Berry… Superstar Jennifer Lopez links up with Average Joe Owen Wilson in Marry Me (Feb. 11)… Kenneth Branagh’s Murder on the Orient Express follow-up Death on the Nile (Feb. 11) has Gal Gadot — but also has Armie Hammer… Jake Gyllenhaal is a bank robber using an Ambulance (Feb. 18) as a getaway in the latest from Michael Bay… Bet you didn’t guess Channing Tatum’s (co)directorial debut would be the man-dog adventurer Dog (Feb. 18)… Tom Holland is already returning to the box office, this time alongside Mark Wahlberg, in Uncharted (Feb. 18)… Jason Statham’s super spy recruits Josh Hartnett’s movie star for help in Operation Fortune (March 18)… The Downton Abbey universe continues to expand with Downton Abbey: A New Era (March 18)… Idris Elba joins Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (April 8)… Mads Mikkelsen takes over for Johnny Depp in Fantastic Beasts: The Secret of Dumbledore (April 15)… A ragtag gang of animals pull a heist in the animated comedy-adventure The Bad Guys (April 22)… A Quiet Place’s writers enlist Adam Driver for the astronaut thriller 65 (April 29)… Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart and John Krasinski are animated heroes in The League of Super-Pets (May 20)… A long-running animated favorite goes long-form with The Bob’s Burgers Movie (May 27)… Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback join Optimus Prime in the '90s-set Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June 24)… Ethan Hawke is going to seriously creep us out in The Black Phone (June 24)... Steve Carell’s lovable baddie gets an origin story with Minions: The Rise of Gru (July 1)… Normal People breakout Daisy Edgar-Jones stars in an adaptation of the bestselling book club favorite When the Crawdads Sing (July 22)… Kevin Hart is confused with Woody Harrelson’s assassin in The Man from Toronto (Aug. 12)… A child suspects his father (Owen Wilson) might be a superhero in Secret Headquarters (Aug. 12)… The bully from 2017’s Wonder gets his own period piece spinoff in White Bird: A Wonder Story (Sept. 16)… Antonio Banderas is back as everyone’s favorite sword-fighting feline in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (Sept. 23)... Jamie Lee Curtis will deal with Michael Myers and COVID in Halloween Ends (Oct. 14)… George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite for the rom-com Ticket to Paradise (Oct. 21)… Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan are the journalists who brought down Harvey Weinstein in She Said (Nov. 18)… One of our favorite children’s books is becoming an animated movie starring Javier Bardem, Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Nov. 18)… And yep, Chris Pratt is genuinely voicing Mario in the Untitled Illumination/Mario Project (Dec. 21).