It's no secret that 2020 was a tough year for movies. The Covid-19 pandemic meant theatrical releases were all-but non-existent, and any new titles that did see the light of day were often confined to streamers like Disney Plus and HBO Max.
2021, though, turned out to be one of the best for film fans in living memory. Not only did we seen four Marvel movies released last year, (Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home), but we also enjoyed the big-budget action of theater-first flicks like No Time to Die, Dune and The Matrix Resurrections.
Thankfully, 2022 looks set to continue in the same vein. Below, you'll find a roundup of the biggest new movies worth getting excited about over the next twelve months.
- Check out our list of new horror movies also coming in 2022
The Tragedy of Macbeth
Release date: January 14, 2022 (Apple TV Plus)
Releasing theatrically before heading to Apple TV Plus in January, Joel Coen's The Tragedy of Macbeth stars powerhouse duo Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand as the scheming Shakespearean couple.
Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive for this one, with Washington, in particular, earning plaudits for his portrayal of the titular king. Interestingly, it'll be presented in an artsy black and white format, and will also mark the first film directed by one of the Coen brothers without the other's involvement.
Scream
Release date: January 14, 2022 (theatrical)
Scream will see Ready or Not directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett breathe (or scream?) new life into the long-running horror franchise. Though marketed without the numerical title, the movie will be a direct sequel to 2011's Scream 4, and the first in the series not to be directed by Wes Craven, who died in 2015.
We're expecting this one to be a run-of-the-mill, jump scare-filled Scream title, though as one of the biggest new horror movies coming in 2022, it has the potential to pleasantly surprise.
The Black Phone
Release date: February 4, 2022 (theatrical)
Wow, an entirely new horror IP? Not exactly. The Black Phone will see director Scott Derrickson adapt a 2004 short story of the same name by Joe Hill, which follows the plight of a kidnapped child who communicates – through, you guessed it, a black phone – with his kidnapper’s previous victims to try and escape. Sounds like a neat premise, at least.
Death on the Nile
Release date: February 11, 2022 (theatrical)
Kenneth Branagh directs the sequel to his Murder on the Orient Express adaptation, where he returns to his role – and that impressively sculpted facial hair – as Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot. As in the first movie, he's taken a dazzling ensemble cast along for the ride, this time including Gal Gadot, Sex Education’s Emma Mackey and Black Panther's Letitia Wright. Don't expect any massive surprises in the plot – the story's over 80 years old – but with whodunits like this, the fun is always in watching Poirot sleuthing up a storm.
Uncharted
Release date: February 18, 2022 (theatrical)
Tom Holland stars as PlayStation-originated hero Nathan Drake in this adaptation of Naughty Dog's games, which also co-stars Mark Wahlberg. This one's been kicking around the schedules for years, and this time director Ruben Fleischer (Venom, Zombieland) is attached to make it. The games themselves were pretty cinematic, so it'll be interesting to see if this film can contribute anything new to Drake's story.
Ambulance
Release date: February 18, 2022 (theatrical)
International man of mayhem Michael Bay returns to the director's chair in February with Ambulance. Based on the 2005 Danish film of the same name, it stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as two bank robbers who steal an ambulance occupied by a paramedic (Eiza González) and a police officer in critical condition.
Now, we're not expecting this one to mount a late Oscars challenge, but throwing Jake Gyllenhaal into a Collateral-esque narrative with the Transformers director at the helm should make for a grand old time, at least.
The Batman
Release date: March 4, 2022 (theatrical)
Robert Pattinson follows in the footsteps of Adam West, Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, Christian Bale and Ben Affleck as the latest man to don the most famous cowl in cinema. Dawn of/War for the Planet of the Apes director Matt Reeves gets the keys to the Batmobile in the latest reboot of the most versatile hero in comics, and he’s promised his take on the Caped Crusader will feel “very psychological, very emotional”.
Gotham City is traditionally defined by its villains, however, and The Batman has plenty, with Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, Paul Dano as Riddler and Colin Farrell as The Penguin. This could be a worthy successor to Christopher Nolan’s superlative Dark Knight trilogy.
Morbius
Release date: April 1, 2022 (theatrical)
Having had a monster hit with Venom in 2018, Sony plunders Spider-Man's rogues' gallery once again, with a movie focusing on one Michael Morbius. The so-called "living vampire" is a scientist who uses an experimental serum to cure a debilitating condition, and ends up turning himself into a bloodsucker.
Jared Leto, who has comic book movie form as the Joker, takes on the role of Morbius, alongside former Doctor Who star Matt Smith as Loxias Crown, a villain with the same bloodsucking affliction as the title star. Daniel Espinosa is at the helm – a remarkable piece of synergy, seeing as his 2017 movie Life was once rumored to be a Venom prequel.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore
Release date: April 8, 2022 (theatrical)
The third instalment in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, and the eleventh film to be set in the Wizarding World, The Secrets of Dumbledore will see Eddie Redmayne reprise his role as Newt Scamander as he digs deeper into the potentially chequered past of Jude Law’s titular wizard. Judging by the title, it's a safe bet to assume that Law’s character – played by both Richard Harris and Michael Gambon in the Harry Potter series – could hold the key to defeating Mads Mikkelsen's silver-haired antagonist, Grindelwald (a role originally inhabited by Johnny Depp).
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness
Release date: May 6, 2022 (theatrical)
Arriving hot off the coattails of Spider-Man: No Way Home's mammoth box office success, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (or Doctor Strange 2, for short) will see Benedict Cumberbatch's titular sorcerer continue his research on the Time Stone. Judging by the film's first trailer, things don't go exactly as planned, and a series of multiverse-opening events force Strange to confront his most dangerous foe yet – an alternate version of himself. We don't know too much more about what to expect from this one, though Doctor Strange 2 will undoubtedly have plenty of surprises up its sleeve.
Top Gun: Maverick
Release date: May 27, 2022 (theatrical)
Tom Cruise climbs back into that famous fighter jet cockpit for the first time since Top Gun made him the biggest star on the planet over three decades ago. Resurrecting the most '80s of movies in the cut and thrust of the 21st century marketplace is a gamble, even for Cruise, but the production team are doing everything they can to recapture the old magic – as well as real action with real planes, they've brought back synth legend Harold 'Axel F' Faltermeyer on music duties. Plot wise, Pete ‘Maverick’ Mitchell is still an instructor at the Top Gun school, while one of his students (played by Whiplash's Miles Teller) just happens to be the son of Mav's late co-pilot, Goose. We're still feeling the need for speed...
Jurassic World: Dominion
Release date: June 10, 2022 (theatrical)
If there’s one certainty in Hollywood, it’s that – like life – major franchises find a way. So, despite production having been halted by coronavirus restrictions in March 2020, the sixth Jurassic movie got back in front of the cameras in July of last year. The big news this time out is that Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard will be joining forces with Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, all reprising their roles from the original Jurassic Park. But with dinosaurs now loose on American soil after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, this movie promises to be very different to its prehistoric predecessors.
We were supposed to be seeing this in June 2021, but you can fill the hole with short film Battle at Big Rock (above).
Nope
Release date: July 22, 2022 (theatrical)
Get Out and Us director Jordan Peele’s next movie will star Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun, and is scheduled to hit theatres in July. Do we know anything more than that? Nope. We’ve got a poster, at least, which shows… a floating cloud. Make of that what you will.
Mission: Impossible 7
Release date: September 30, 2022 (theatrical)
Tom Cruise will have hit 60 by the time the seventh Mission: Impossible movie smashes its way into cinemas. Don’t expect him to give up his mantle as Hollywood’s leading action star anytime soon, however, as there’s still plenty of spectacular stunts for Cruise to risk life and limb for – part of the fun of the series is finding out what its leading man will dare to try next. Having delivered the long-running franchise’s best instalments with Rogue Nation and Fallout, Christopher McQuarrie is back behind the camera for part 7 and its follow-up. Plot details are currently wrapped up tighter than a government vault, but Mission: Impossible is a brand that tends to deliver.
Halloween Ends
Release date: October 14, 2022 (theatrical)
A direct sequel to Halloween Kills – which arrived in October 2021 – Halloween Ends will (supposedly) end the long-running franchise almost exactly a year later. We expect Michael Myers and Laurie Strode to both return, though, which begs the question: was Halloween Kills actually necessary? Expect some near-misses and (another) cliff-hanger ending.
Avatar 2
Release date: December 16, 2022 (theatrical)
James Cameron is anything but prolific these days – Avatar 2 will be his third movie in 25 years – but when he does step behind the camera, you know you’ll be seeing something groundbreaking. He tends to spend the long gaps between releases waiting for filmmaking technology to catch up with his vision, so his return to the spectacular alien ecosystem of Pandora will feature world-first underwater performance capture sequences.
Kate Winslet (who held her breath for an incredible seven minutes during filming), Jemaine Clement and Cliff Curtis join the cast alongside Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang also return, despite their characters being presumed dead.
While this sequel was delayed a year as part of Disney's massive Covid-19-induced release date shake up, you won’t have to wait another decade for more Avatar – part 3 is set for December 2024, with a fourth and fifth movie also in the works.
- Check out our list of the best Netflix movies to watch right now
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