2023 was an interesting year for Hollywood. As the industry went through a game-changing strike, several of fall's most highly-anticipated releases were pushed to the next year, while superhero blockbusters arrived in theaters to mid reviews and disappointing box offices. (The two biggest movies of the year—all hail Barbenheimer—weren't superhero films for the first time in a while.) Suffice to say, the action genre could really use a reset.
Luckily, 2024's action movie slate is already filled with exciting new releases, from the Mad Max spinoff Furiosa to collaborations between A-list stars. Below, we're tallying up the action flicks to look out for throughout the coming year.
The Beekeeper
Release date: January 12, 2024
Starring: Jason Statham, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver, Phylicia Rashad, and Jeremy Irons
Why It's Worth Watching: Statham plays the titular beekeeper Adam Clay, who's also a retired assassin for a secret organization (because of course he is). When his caring landlady Eloise (Rashad) loses her savings in an online scam, he fights his way up the chain of the scammer ring in a highly-entertaining quest for vengeance.
Trailer: HERE
'Argylle'
Release date: February 2, 2024
Starring: Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sam Rockwell, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O'Hara, Dua Lipa, Ariana DeBose, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson.
Why It's Worth Watching: A homebody novelist (Howard) is pulled into real danger when her book's details hit a bit too close to the workings of a real spy organization. Combine a stacked cast (Dua Lipa! Ariana DeBose!) with a fun premise and I'm all in.
Trailer: HERE
'Madame Web'
Release date: February 14, 2024
Starring: Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, Isabela Merced, and Tahar Rahim.
Why It's Worth Watching: This Sony action flick (about yet another Spider-Man side character) introduces Cassie Web, an NYC paramedic who gets clairvoyant powers and has to face dark secrets from her past while protecting a trio of teen girls. Come for the time-twisting action, stay for the meme potential.
Trailer: HERE
'Dune: Part Two'
Release date: March 1, 2024
Starring: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, and Souheila Yacoub.
Why It's Worth Watching: The sequel to the Oscar-nominated film finally comes to the big screen this year, as director Denis Villeneuve continues to adapt the acclaimed sci-fi novel—this time with much more Zendaya!
Trailer: HERE
'Damsel'
Release date: March 8, 2024
Starring: Millie Bobby Brown, Angela Bassett, Robin Wright, Ray Winstone, Nick Robinson, Brooke Carter, and Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Why it's worth watching: For her latest Netflix project, the Stranger Things star plays a "damsel" who has to rescue herself when she discovers she's meant to be sacrificed to a bloodthirsty dragon.
Trailer: HERE
'Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire'
Release date: March 22, 2024
Starring: Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, Carrie Coon, Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts, and William Atherton.
Why It's Worth Watching: This sequel to 2021's Ghostbusters: Afterlife sees the Spengler family traveling to the iconic New York City firehouse to link up with the original Ghostbusters(!), who will reprise their roles from the hit '80s films. "When the discovery of an ancient artifact unleashes an evil force, Ghostbusters new and old must join forces to protect their home and save the world from a second Ice Age.," per the film's description
Trailer: HERE
'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire'
Release date: March 29, 2024
Starring: Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Dan Stevens, Kaylee Hottle, Alex Ferns, and Fala Chen.
Why It's Worth Watching: In this sequel to 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong (with Hall, Henry, and Stevens reprising their roles), Godzilla and Kong must team up to defeat a "colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence - and our own," per the film's description.
Trailer: HERE
'Monkey Man'
Release date: April 5, 2024
Starring: Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sikandar Kher, Vipin Sharma, Ashwini Kalsekar, Adithi Kalkunte and Makarand Deshpande
Why It's Worth Watching: Patel's long-awaited directorial debut is making its way to theaters, thanks to producer Jordan Peele. The Lion actor also stars as Kid, an underground fighter who seeks revenge against the corrupt power brokers who caused his mother's death.
Trailer: HERE
'The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare'
Release date: April 19, 2024
Starring: Henry Cavill, Eiza González, Alan Ritchson, Alex Pettyfer, Hero Fiennes Tiffin, Babs Olusanmokun, Henrique Zaga, Til Schweiger, with Henry Golding, and Cary Elwes
Why It's Worth Watching: Guy Ritchie's latest blockbuster (arriving soon after his Netflix series The Gentlemen) is based on the true story of a secret group of WWII spies who use "ungentlemanly" tactics to fight Nazis.
Trailer: HERE
'Rebel Moon Part 2: The Scargiver'
Release date: April 19, 2024
Starring: Sofia Boutella, Djimon Hounsou, Ed Skrein, Michiel Huisman, Doona Bae and Anthony Hopkins
Why It's Worth Watching: Four months after Zach Snyder's first Rebel Moon film hit Netflix, Part 2 "continues the epic saga of Kora [Boutella] and the surviving warriors as they prepare to sacrifice everything, fighting alongside the brave people of Veldt, to defend a once peaceful village, a newfound homeland for those who have lost their own in the fight against the Motherworld."
Trailer: HERE
'Boy Kills World'
Release date: April 26, 2024
Starring: Bill Skarsgård, Michelle Dockery, Jessica Rothe, Brett Gelman, Isaiah Mustafa, Andrew Koji, Sharlto Copely, H. Jon Benjamin, and Famke Janssen
Why It's Worth Watching: A deaf-mute man with a vivid imagination—and an inner voice (Benjamin) inspired by his favorite childhood video game—is determined to take down the crime family matriarch (Janssen) who killed his family.
Trailer: HERE
'The Fall Guy'
Release date: May 3, 2024
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Emily Blunt, Hannah Waddingham, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Winston Duke, and Stephanie Hsu
Why It's Worth Watching: This blockbuster inspired by the 1980s TV series of the same name stars Ken, I mean Gosling, as Colt Seavers, a retired stuntman who's drawn back into the business when his ex Jody (Blunt) asks for his help to find the star of her studio film, who's gone missing.
Trailer: HERE
'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'
Release date: May 24, 2024
Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Alyla Browne, and Tom Burke.
Why It's Worth Watching: Nine(!) years after Charlize Theron stole the show in 2014's Mad Max: Fury Road, her character Imperator Furiosa is getting a prequel, with Taylor-Joy stepping into the role. After being abducted from her home into a savage Biker Horde, led by the Warlord Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), Furiosa faces many trials as she plots a way back home through the Wasteland.
Trailer: HERE
'Atlas'
Release date: May 24, 2024
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, Gregory J. Cohan, Abraham Popoola, Lana Parrilla, and Mark Strong
Why It's Worth Watching: J.Lo's latest action flick will thrust the star into a futuristic, "galaxy-spanning" adventure. Per the film's description, "Atlas Shepherd (Lopez), a brilliant but misanthropic data analyst with a deep distrust of artificial intelligence, joins a mission to capture a renegade robot with whom she shares a mysterious past. But when plans go awry, her only hope of saving the future of humanity from AI is to trust it."
Trailer: HERE
'Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes'
Release date: May 24, 2024
Starring: Owen Teague, Freya Allan, Kevin Durand, Peter Macon, and William H. Macy.
Why It's Worth Watching: The latest film in the Planet of the Apes franchise continues on nearly 300 years after the events of the 2010s trilogy, at a time where ape civilizations rule and humans have regressed into a feral state. "As a new tyrannical ape leader builds his empire, one young ape undertakes a harrowing journey that will cause him to question all that he has known about the past and to make choices that will define a future for apes and humans alike," per the film's description.
Trailer: HERE
'Hit Man'
Release date: June 7, 2024
Starring: Glen Powell, Adria Arjona, Austin Amelio, Retta, and Molly Bernard.
Why It's Worth Watching: Richard Linklater's new action comedy—based on the wild true story first reported in Texas Monthy—follows a professional killer (Powell) who actually works for the cops. When he breaks protocol to help a desperate woman (Arjona) flee her abusive husband, he starts falling for her and toys with the idea of becoming a full-out criminal.
Trailer: HERE
'Bad Boys: Ride or Die'
Release date: June 7, 2024
Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Vanessa Hudgens, Melanie Liburd, Alexander Ludwig, Paola Núnez, Jacob Scipio, Eric Dane and Ioan Gruffudd
Why It's Worth Watching: Smith and Lawrence's detective duo will return for the fourth film of the franchise, after the hit 2020 revival. Though the plot's under wraps, we do know that Lowery's (Smith) estranged son Armando Aretas (Scipio) will also make a return.
Trailer: HERE
'Horizon: An American Saga' (Chapters 1 and 2)
Release date: June 28, 2024 and August 16, 2024
Starring: Kevin Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Jena Malone, Abbey Lee, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Fahey, Will Patton, Tatanka Means, Owen Crow Shoe, Ella Hunt, and Jamie Campbell Bower.
Why It's Worth Watching: Former Yellowstone star Costner wrote, directed, produced, and stars in this two-part Western epic about the settlement of the American west, which spans 15 years and includes both the lead-up to and aftermath of the Civil War.
Trailer: HERE
'Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F
Release date: July 3, 2024
Starring: Eddie Murphy, Taylour Paige, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot, and Kevin Bacon.
Why It's Worth Watching: Forty years after the original buddy-cop comedy, Detective Axel Foley (Murphy) is returning to Beverly Hills. After his daughter Jane’s (Paige) life is threatened, the father-daughter duo team up with a new partner (Gordon-Levitt) and some old friends to uncover a conspiracy.
Trailer: HERE
'Twisters'
Release date: July 19, 2024
Starring: Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Daryl McCormack, and Maura Tierney.
The 1996 action thriller Twister (which starred Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and Cary Elwes as storm chasers following the most powerful tornado in decades) is the latest '90s classic to get a 2020s revival, following new teams of storm hunters. Per the film's description, "As storm season intensifies, terrifying phenomena never seen before are unleashed, and [the] competing teams find themselves squarely in the paths of multiple storm systems converging over central Oklahoma in the fight of their lives."
Trailer: HERE
'Deadpool & Wolverine'
Release date: July 26, 2024
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Jennifer Garner, Emma Corrin, Matthew Macfayden, Karan Soni, Rob Delaney, and Leslie Uggams.
Why It's Worth Watching: The plot for the next Deadpool movie is still tightly under wraps, based on the film's first teaser, it involves the TVA (from Loki) and the MCU debuts of several X-Men characters, including Jackman's Wolverine.
Trailer: HERE
'Borderlands'
Release date: August 9, 2024
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jaime Lee Curtis, Jack Black, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Haley Bennett, and Édgar Ramirez
Why It's Worth Watching: This big-screen adaptation of the best-selling video game franchise of the same name follows a crew of misfit heroes (think Guardians of the Galaxy vibes), who "must battle an alien species and dangerous bandits to uncover one of [a chaotic planet]’s most explosive secrets. The fate of the universe could be in their hands – but they’ll be fighting for something more: each other," per the film's description.
Trailer: HERE
'The Union'
Release date: August 16, 2024
Starring: Halle Berry, Mark Wahlberg, Mike Colter, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jessica De Gouw, Alice Lee, Jackie Earle Haley, and J.K. Simmons
Why it's worth watching: This action flick is a tale of two high-school exes who went down different paths: Mike (Wahlberg) is an everyday construction worker, while Roxanne (Berry) is a secret agent. When they reunite, Mike is "quickly thrust into the world of superspies and secret agents when [Roxanne] recruits him for a high-stakes US intelligence mission," per the film's description.
Trailer: TBA
'Kraven the Hunter'
Release date: August 30, 2024
Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Christopher Abbot, Russell Crowe, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, and Levi Miller
Why it's worth watching: Another Spider-Man antihero is getting their own standalone movie, with Taylor-Johnson playing a Russian nobleman who sets out to become the world's best big-game hunter.
Trailer: HERE
'Transformers One'
Release date: September 13, 2024
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm, and Laurence Fishburne.
Why It's Worth Watching: This new animated Transformers movie will tell the origin story of how a young Optimus Prime (Chris Hemsworth) and Megatron (Brian Tyree Henry) went from "brothers-in-arms turned into sworn enemies," per Variety.
Trailer: TBA
'Venom: The Last Dance'
Release date: October 25, 2024
Starring: Tom Hardy, Juno Temple, and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Why It's Worth Watching: The third Venom flick will bring the unlikely buddy comedy duo of reporter Eddie Brock and his ruthless alien symbiote back to the big screen.
Trailer: TBA
'Red One'
Release date: November 15, 2024
Starring: Chris Evans, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Lucy Liu, Nick Kroll, Kiernan Shipka, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Wesley Kimmel, Kristofer Hivju, Bonnie Hunt, and J.K. Simmons
Why It's Worth Watching: The Rock and Captain America are co-starring in a holiday action film featuring J.K. Simmons as Santa Claus?? This I have to see.
Trailer: TBA
'Gladiator 2'
Release date: November 22, 2024
Starring: Paul Mescal, Denzel Washington, Joseph Quinn, Fred Hechinger, Pedro Pascal, Connie Nielsen, and Derek Jacobi.
Why It's Worth Watching: The star-studded sequel to the iconic 2000 action film follows Lucius, the nephew of Commodus, who is now a grown man after being saved by Maximus (Russell Crowe) in Gladiator.
Trailer: TBA
'The Lord of the Rings: The War of The Rohirrim'
Release date: December 13, 2024
Starring: Brian Cox, Miranda Otto, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino, Laurence Ubong, and Shaun Dooley.
Why It's Worth Watching: The world of Lord of the Rings is returning to the silver screen...in animated form! This prequel will be set 261 years before The Two Towers and will star Brian Cox (Logan Roy himself!) as the legendary king Helm Hammerhand (a.k.a the namesake behind Helm's Deep).
Trailer: TBA
'Carry-On'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Taron Egerton, Jason Bateman, Sofia Carson, Danielle Deadwyler, Sinqua Walls, Logan Marshall-Green, Theo Rossi, Josh Brener, and Dean Norris
Why It's Worth Watching: Per the description, this Netflix action-thriller "follows a young TSA agent (Egerton) as he fights to outsmart a mysterious traveler who blackmails him into letting a dangerous package slip onto a Christmas Eve flight."
Trailer: TBA
'Back in Action'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Jamie Foxx, Kyle Chandler, Glenn Close, Andrew Scott, Jamie Demetriou, McKenna Roberts, and Rylan Jackson
Why It's Worth Watching: Foxx and Diaz (who returns to acting after 10 years) team up for this Netflix action comedy about every day parents who used to be secret agents. Per the film's description, "Years after giving up life as CIA spies to start a family, Emily and Matt find themselves dragged back into the world of espionage when their cover is blown."
Trailer: TBA
'Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse'
Release date: TBA
Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Issac, Brian Tyree Henry, Luna Lauren Velez, Jake Johnson, Jason Schwartzmann, John Mulaney, Kimiko Glenn, Issa Rae, Daniel Kaluuya, Jharrel Jerome, and Mahershala Ali
Why It's Worth Watching: The final installment of Miles Morales' trilogy may not arrive until 2025, but after the cliffhanger ending of 2023's Across the Spider-Verse, I'm keeping hope alive that the third film may hits theaters ASAP.
Trailer: TBA
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