Most anticipated films coming to cinemas in 2024

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1 year ago

December 31, 2023

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It’s been a tumultuous year for Hollywood – from the highs of Barbenheimer to the lows of the strikes.

The double-whammy of industrial action waged by the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and SAG-AFTRA shuttered production for months.

Although it’s back to business, it’s far from back to normal.

The stoppage has already led to delays in the release calendar, which could be exacerbated further if there’s a logjam of reshoots and other production work to slog through.

Studios will be tightening their belts as they face invigorated union members looking to enforce their new contracts.

After COVID all but wiped out trips to see a movie on the silver screen, studios are now having to contend with the cost of living crisis.

However, the simultaneous theatrical release of Barbie and Oppenheimer – two movies collectively known as Barbenheimer – showed that post-pandemic audiences will return box office bonanzas if they believe in the film.

So as we head into 2024, here are some of the movies that are set to entertain audiences.

Wicked: Part One

We’re off to see the wizard…

The much-loved Broadway and West End musical is now being given the silver screen treatment.

The story – based on Gregory Maguire’s 1995 novel – features the characters from L Frank Baum’s 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation starring Judy Garland.

Wicked takes place in the Land of Oz in the years surrounding Dorothy’s arrival and tells the tale of how Elphaba Thropp, a young woman born with green skin, later becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.

The two-part film adaptation will star Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba Thropp) and Ariana Grande (Galinda Upland) and features a supporting cast including Jonathan Bailey (Fiyero Tigelaar), Jeff Goldblum (the Wonderful Wizard of Oz) and Michelle Yeoh (Madame Morrible).

Directed by Jon M Chu (Step Up 3D/In The Heights), expect colourful and big dance numbers as the cast belt out the stage show’s smash hits that include Popular, Defying Gravity and For Good.

Wicked: Part One is scheduled for release in November 2024. The second film is expected to drop a year later.

Dune: Part Two

Denis Villeneuve’s epic science fiction sequel will continue the journey of Paul Atreides (Timothee Chalamet) as he teams up with Chani (Zendaya) and the Fremen to seek revenge against all those who destroyed his family and prevent a terrible future that only he can predict.

The film – which already boasted a stacked cast including Rebecca Ferguson (Lady Jessica), Josh Brolin (Gurney Halleck), Javier Bardem (Stilgar) and Stellan Skarsgard (Vladimir Harkonnen) – has added Austin Butler (Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen), Florence Pugh (Princess Irulan) and Lea Seydoux (Lady Margot) to the bill.

Dune: Part Two was due to be released in 2023 but was delayed due to the Hollywood strikes. It is now set for release in March 2024.

Madame Web

Madame Web is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Dakota Johnson takes on the titular role as Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Webb/Madame Web, a Manhattan paramedic and clairvoyant whose new psychic abilities apparently allow her to see into the future.

Following an incident, Cassie is forced to confront her past while trying to protect three young women from a killer Spider-Man.

Johnson is joined by Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney, who’s playing Julia Carpenter. Sweeney’s character later takes on the mantle of Spider-Woman in the comics.

While there’s been plenty of movies revolving around male Marvel Comics characters – the Iron Man, Captain America and Thor films to name but a few – there have only been a few commissioned with female leads, such as Black Widow, Captain Marvel and The Marvels.

It’s encouraging to see a studio green-light a female-led superhero film and many will be hoping for large box office returns so we get some more.

After the trailer was released, Johnson’s delivery of the line “he was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders right before she died” was given the meme treatment.

So, only time will tell if the film becomes a cult hit or is mocked online like Morbius.

Madame Web will be swinging into cinemas in February.

Joker: Folie à Deux

Joker was intended to be a standalone film but then it became one of the highest-grossing movies of 2019 and the first R-rated production to gross over $1bn.

Todd Phillips’ neo-noir psychological thriller – which saw Joaquin Phoenix pick up his first Academy Award for Best Actor – gave us fresh insight into DC Comics’ most colourful villain and Batman’s nemesis.

The Dark Knight failed to make an appearance in this Gotham City, although we did see a young Bruce Wayne. But audiences were kept entertained by Joker/Arthur Fleck’s descent into darkness.

The sequel is set to be a musical thriller, with Lady Gaga joining the cast as partner-in-crime Dr Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn.

Joker: Folie à Deux is set to be released in October 2024.

Other blockbusters to watch out for:

Furiosa
Audiences should prepare for a wild ride given George Miller’s previous Mad Max films.

The movie – a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road – will see Anya Taylor-Joy take over from Charlize Theron as Imperator Furiosa.

The post-apocalyptic action-adventure will also star Thor himself, Chris Hemsworth, playing Dementus.

Mean Girls
The much-loved 2004 comedy – starring Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams – was turned into a Broadway show, which has now been transformed into a new musical film.

Tina Fey is back in the writer’s chair and returns as Ms Norbury.

American singer and actress Renee Rapp (The Sex Lives of College Girls) will be reprising her Broadway role of mean girl Regina George.

Challengers
Zendaya’s spicy romcom was one of the casualties of the Hollywood strikes and was delayed from its initial release date of September 2023 to April 2024.

The Emmy and Golden Globe winner stars as a former tennis player turned coach who has transformed her husband (Mike Faist) into a Grand Slam champ.

Tensions soon run high during a challenger event that brings ex-love Patrick (The Durrells’ Josh O’Connor) back into their lives.

Twisters
The epic 1996 disaster film Twister, starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton, is getting a reboot. This “new chapter” will star Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People) and Glen Powell (Top Gun: Maverick).

Borderlands
Gearbox Software/2K’s popular looter shooter video game series is heading for the big screen with an ensemble cast that includes Cate Blanchett (Lilith), Kevin Hart (Roland), Jack Black (Claptrap) and Jamie Lee Curtis (Dr Patricia Tannis).

Director Eli Roth (Hostel/The Green Inferno) is behind the camera and co-wrote the script.

Nosferatu
Nosferatu is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her.

Following Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), it is the second remake of the 1922 German expressionist film of the same name written by Henrik Galeen – which in turn is an unofficial adaptation of Bram Stoker’s 1897 novel Dracula.

Fresh from the hot mess of TV show The Idol, Lily-Rose Depp (Ellen Hutter) will be joined by Bill Skarsgard (Count Orlok) and Nicholas Hoult (Thomas Hutter) in the highly anticipated horror.

The film marks Focus Features’ ongoing collaboration with writer and director Robert Eggers (The Northman) and is set to be released in December 2024.

MaXXXine
At the time of writing, MaXXXine is yet to be given a release date. The final instalment of Ti West’s X trilogy will most likely appear at some point in 2024.

The movie will follow Maxine (Mia Goth) – the sole survivor of the first film – as she sets out for fame and success in 1980s Los Angeles.

Fans of the slasher franchise are in for a treat with a cast that includes Elizabeth Debicki (The Crown), Michelle Monaghan (Mission: Impossible III), Bobby Cannavale (The Watcher), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), singer-songwriter Halsey, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) and the legendary Kevin Bacon.

The Strangers: Chapter 1
The Strangers: Chapter 1 is not a reboot of the slasher franchise but is instead the first instalment of a new trilogy of standalone sequel films.

Riverdale alum Madelaine Petsch and Cruel Summer’s Froy Gutierrez will find themselves facing off against thee murderous masked strangers after their car breaks down during a road trip.

The trilogy will explore what happens to the victims and will detail who the killer psychopaths are and where they came from. Chapter 1 is due to be released in May, with the following two films expected throughout 2024.

Beetlejuice 2
More than three decades on, we’re finally getting a sequel to the family horror comedy.

Tim Burton is back behind the camera with Michael Keaton (Betelgeuse), Winona Ryder (Lydia Deetz) and Catherine O’Hara (Delia Deetz) reprising their roles from the 1988 original. Jenna Ortega, fresh from working with Burton on Netflix series Wednesday, will be playing Ryder’s daughter.

The film is due to be released in September 2024 but is said to be at risk of delay due to the Hollywood strikes.

Gladiator 2
Ridley Scott is back in the director’s chair for this sequel to his Oscar-winning film.

Previous leading man Russell Crowe (Maximus Decimus Meridius) has duly been replaced by Paul Mescal (Normal People), who takes over from Spencer Treat Clark as Lucius Verus.

The historical drama – set years after the events of the 2000 film – will centre on Lucius, who is now a grown man.

Connie Nielsen (Lucilla), Derek Jacobi (Senator Gracchus) and Djimon Hounsou (Juba) are returning to reprise their roles from the original, while Denzel Washington and Pedro Pascal have been added to the bill.

Deadpool 3
Ryan Reynolds will suit up for a fourth time as Wade Wilson/Deadpool. He first appeared as the Marvel Comics character in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

This time he will be joined by good friend Hugh Jackman (James ‘Logan’ Howlett/Wolverine) and Jennifer Garner, who’s reprising her role of assassin Elektra Natchios following her turn in Daredevil and Elektra.

Emma Corrin – who played Diana, Princess of Wales in The Crown – has been cast in a lead villain role.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3
The much-loved Sega video game character will rock and roll in another action adventure.

Venom 3
Tom Hardy is set to return for a third outing as Eddie Brock/Venom in the untitled Let There Be Carnage sequel.

Kraven the Hunter
Alongside Venom 3 and Madame Web, Kraven the Hunter is part of Sony’s Spider-Man Universe.

Kick-Ass and Bullet Train star Aaron Taylor-Johnson takes on the titular role as we learn how the iconic villain came to be.

Taylor-Johnson is no stranger to Marvel Comics characters, having previously played Pietro Maximoff (Quicksilver) in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The film is due to be released in August 2024 after being delayed due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

Bad Boys 4
Detectives Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) will reunite once more for the fourth film in the buddy cop franchise.

Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
This sequel to Ghostbusters: Afterlife is the fifth film in the supernatural comedy’s franchise and will see the Spengler family leave Oklahoma for New York City.

The movie will bring together Ghostbusters old and new as they team up to take on a mysterious and evil force known as the “death chill”.

The Fall Guy
The 1980s hit TV show has been adapted into an action comedy starring Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt.

Gosling plays Colt Seavers, a seasoned but aging stuntman who’s tasked to track down a missing film star to save his ex-girlfriend’s movie.

Lee Majors, who starred in the classic TV series as the stuntman/bounty hunter, is set to appear in the film.

Mufasa: The Lion King
The Lion King prequel is expected to hit the big screen just in time for Christmas 2024.

Entertainment

Tommy Fury says his drinking problem led to Molly-Mae Hague split

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3 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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Tommy Fury says his drinking problem led to Molly-Mae Hague split

Tommy Fury has opened up about having an alcohol problem – citing his drinking as the reason for his split from Molly-Mae Hague.

Hague, 25, shocked fans in August when she announced the end of her relationship with her then-fiancé, with whom she shares daughter Bambi, who turns two later this month.

Both stars had, until now, refused to publicly reveal the cause of the split. Fury, also 25, has now said the break-up came after he began “drinking quite a lot” while unable to train after hand surgery.

“I’d go out and just drink and drink and drink,” he told Men’s Health. “It went on that way for a long time.

“Most nights I would to drink to get black-out drunk. I think that’s what really took its toll on me.”

Shooting down claims he was unfaithful to Hague, Fury added: “Cheating was never a thing. You can ask Molly this yourself. It was the drink, and the drink is not a good thing. You need to get a grip of it.

“We broke up because I had a problem with alcohol and I couldn’t be the partner that I wanted to be anymore. It kills me to say it, but I couldn’t. I loved a pint of beer, loved to drink.”

Fury, who was seen spending New Year’s Eve with his ex, added he has “got himself out of that [drinking] now”.

Hague’s break-up announcement came just weeks after she had referred to Fury as the “love of my life” to mark their engagement anniversary on Instagram.

She later told Vogue UK: “No one will ever really know what went down apart from Tommy and I.

“I do think that he will talk about things eventually. I do think that when he’s ready, like, maybe more will be said. But I think that’s for him to do on his terms.”

More entertainment news:
BAFTA nominations revealed
Hollywood events delayed due to fires

Meanwhile, Fury labelled allegations he had cheated as “horrendous” and thanked “everybody who has stood by me through this”.

The pair met on Love Island in 2019 and welcomed their daughter in January 2023. Fury proposed seven months later in Ibiza.

Entertainment

BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed

Published

4 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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BAFTA nominations 2025: Conclave, Emilia Perez and The Brutalist lead the race as shortlists revealed

This year’s BAFTA nominations have been revealed, with papal thriller Conclave leading the race.

Starring Ralph Fiennes as a clergyman responsible for the selection of the next Pope, the film is up for 12 awards – including best film, best director, best actor, and best supporting actress for Isabella Rossellini.

Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, which tells the story of a Mexican cartel boss who undergoes gender affirmation surgery, is another best film nominee and has 11 BAFTA nods in total – with star Karla Sofía Gascón up for best actress and co-stars Zoe Saldana and Selena Gomez both in the running in the supporting actress category.

The Brutalist, an epic drama starring Adrien Brody as a Hungarian architect attempting to build a life in the US after the Second World War, has nine nominations – including best film and best actor, and supporting nods for co-stars Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones.

Elsewhere there are seven nominations each for Wicked, Anora, and Dune: Part Two, six for A Complete Unknown and Kneecap, and five for Nosferatu and The Substance.

In the performance categories, Gascon is up against Cynthia Erivo (Wicked), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Hard Truths), Mikey Madison (Anora), Saoirse Ronan (The Outrun) and Demi Moore, whose performance in body horror The Substance won her a Golden Globe earlier this month.

Fiennes and Brody’s best actor competitors are Timothee Chalamet, for his portrayal of Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, along with Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Hugh Grant (Heretic) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice).

Kieran Culkin, another recent Golden Globe winner, makes the best supporting actor shortlist once again for his performance in A Real Pain, alongside Pearce and Yura Borisov (Anora), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), Edward Norton (A Complete Unknown) and Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice).

Ariana Grande, who stars as Glinda opposite Erivo’s Elphaba in Wicked, and Jamie Lee Curtis, for her performance in The Last Showgirl, make up the best supporting actress shortlist.

For 14 of the 24 acting nominees – including Culkin, Grande, Gascon, Gomez and Moore – it is their first BAFTA film nomination.

Erivo and Chalamet are both previous recipients of the rising star award, which is voted for by the public.

In the best director category, Conclave’s Edward Berger is in the running alongside Brady Corbet, for The Brutalist, Denis Villeneuve, for Dune: Part Two, Jacques Audiard for Emilia Perez, Coralie Fargeat for The Substance, and Sean Baker for Anora.

Baker also has nominations for best original screenplay, casting and editing, making him the most nominated individual this year.

The BAFTAs also includes a category for outstanding British film, with Conclave also shortlisted here alongside films including Steve McQueen’s Blitz, Ridley Scott’s Gladiator II, and Irish-language film Kneecap – which stars the rap trio of the same name in a semi-autobiographical account of their rise to fame.

In total, there are 42 films up for awards, spanning a range of genres.

“The film industry has delivered in spades once again,” said BAFTA chief executive Jane Millichip.

“The skills on display from creative and technical practitioners across the board are phenomenal,” added BAFTA chair Sara Putt.

Could this be the most competitive BAFTAs for years?

Katie Spencer

Arts and entertainment correspondent

What do you get if you bring several priests, a Mexican cartel leader and an architect together under one roof?

Not the world’s most niche fancy dress party, but 2025’s BAFTA film awards shortlist.

Jazz hands and jump scares are the order of the day. Horror is unusually well represented this year, with The Substance, Heretic and Nosferatu all receiving nods, while musicals are also dominating thanks to Emilia Perez, Wicked and, arguably, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown.

Speaking of music, it’s very good news for Irish language rappers Kneecap, whose self-titled semi-true biopic is up for best British film and five other awards. It’s somewhat ironic given that while they rap about wanting Irish independence, the film qualifies as being British as they’re from Northern Ireland.

In the leading actress category, it’s all to play for as none of the nominees has ever won a BAFTA. Fans of ’90s nostalgia will be hoping the Demi-ssaince continues after Demi Moore’s Golden Globe win last month for her performance in body horror The Substance.

Hugh Grant, up for lead actor, last won that BAFTA back in 1995 for his breakthrough performance in Four Weddings And A Funeral. This time around, he’s in the running for a very different role, as a creepy killer in Heretic. He’s nominated alongside another ’90s winner – Ralph Fiennes, who last picked up a BAFTA for supporting actor in 1994.

The nominations this year really showcase a diverse range of genres – and with no clear frontrunners in some categories, could this be the most competitive BAFTAs we’ve seen in a while?

The nominees for this year’s rising star award, which is the only BAFTA prize voted for by the public, have already been announced, with Marisa Abela, Jharrel Jerome, David Jonsson, Mikey Madison and Nabhaan Rizwan in the running.

And Harry Potter star Warwick Davis has also been revealed as the recipient of this year’s BAFTA fellowship, the organisation’s highest honour, for his “trailblazing work” as an actor and for his charity supporting people with dwarfism.

The BAFTA nominations come at a difficult time for the industry, with the organisers of several US awards ceremonies, including the Oscars, pushing their own announcements back and holding more low-key events due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.

However, the Oscars ceremony is still currently scheduled to go ahead as planned on Sunday 2 March.

The BAFTA ceremony will be held at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London on Sunday 16 February.

Entertainment

BAFTA nominations 2025: The full list of films and stars up for awards

Published

4 hours ago

January 15, 2025

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BAFTA nominations 2025: The full list of films and stars up for awards

There are 42 films up for awards at this year’s BAFTA ceremony, from blockbusters to indie breakthroughs.

Organisers have now revealed the shortlists, with papal thriller Conclave leading the nominations, followed closely by Spanish-language musical Emilia Perez, and post-war epic The Brutalist.

The star-studded BAFTA ceremony will take place in London on Sunday 16 February.

Here’s the full list of the stars and films up for each prize.

BEST FILM
Anora
The Brutalist
A Complete Unknown
Conclave
Emilia Perez

OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM
Bird
Blitz
Conclave
Gladiator II
Hard Truths
Kneecap
Lee
Love Lies Bleeding
The Outrun
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

OUTSTANDING DEBUT BY A BRITISH WRITER, DIRECTOR OR PRODUCER
Hoard – Luna Carmoon (director/ writer)
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt (director, writer)
Monkey Man – Dev Patel (director)
Santosh – Sandhya Suri (director, writer), James Bowsher (producer), Balthazar de Ganay (producer)
Sister Midnight – Karan Kandhari (director, writer)

FILM NOT IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
All We Imagine As Light
Emilia Perez
I’m Still Here
Kneecap
The Seed Of The Sacred Fig

DOCUMENTARY
Black Box Diaries
Daughters
No Other Land
Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story
Will & Harper

ANIMATED FILM
Flow
Inside Out 2
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

CHILDREN’S & FAMILY FILM
Flow
Kensuke’s Kingdom
Wallace And Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl
The Wild Robot

DIRECTOR
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet
Conclave – Edward Berger
Dune: Part Two – Denis Villeneuve
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Anora – Sean Baker
The Brutalist – Brady Corbet & Mona Fastvold
Kneecap – Rich Peppiatt, Naoise O Caireallain, Liam Og O Hannaidh, JJ O Dochartaigh
A Real Pain – Jesse Eisenberg
The Substance – Coralie Fargeat

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
A Complete Unknown – James Mangold and Jay Cocks
Conclave – Peter Straughan
Emilia Perez – Jacques Audiard
Nickel Boys – RaMell Ross and Joslyn Barnes
Sing Sing – Clint Bentley, Greg Kwedar, Clarence ‘Divine Eye’ Maclin, John ‘Divine G’ Whitfield

LEADING ACTRESS
Cynthia Erivo – Wicked
Karla Sofia Gascon – Emilia Perez
Marianne Jean-Baptiste – Hard Truths
Mikey Madison – Anora
Demi Moore – The Substance
Saoirse Ronan – The Outrun

LEADING ACTOR
Adrien Brody – The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet – A Complete Unknown
Colman Domingo – Sing Sing
Ralph Fiennes – Conclave
Hugh Grant – Heretic
Sebastian Stan – The Apprentice

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Selena Gomez – Emilia Perez
Ariana Grande – Wicked
Felicity Jones – The Brutalist
Jamie Lee Curtis – The Last Showgirl
Isabella Rossellini – Conclave
Zoe Saldana – Emilia Perez

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Yura Borisov – Anora
Kieran Culkin – A Real Pain
Clarence Maclin – Sing Sing
Edward Norton – A Complete Unknown
Guy Pearce – The Brutalist
Jeremy Strong – The Apprentice

CASTING
Anora – Sean Baker, Samantha Quan
The Apprentice – Stephanie Gorin, Carmen Cuba
A Complete Unknown – Yesi Ramirez
Conclave – Nina Gold, Martin Ware
Kneecap – Carla Stronge

CINEMATOGRAPHY
The Brutalist – Lol Crawley
Conclave – Stephanie Fontaine
Dune: Part Two – Greig Fraser
Emilia Perez – Paul Guilhaume
Nosferatu – Jarin Blaschke

EDITING
Anora
Conclave
Dune: Part Two
Emilia Perez
Kneecap