We live in such strange times. The sequel to a $1 billion hit has been so rejected by audiences that it might lose the No. 1 slot at the box office to a low-budget gorefest. Clearly, the lesson that should be learned from Joker: Folie à Deux is don’t try to make a musical out of a dark comic book flick. Few people loved the musical number in The Marvels either, and there doesn’t seem to be much of a crossover audience between the two genres.
With Joker 2 expected to drop even further than its dismal $37 million opening, Terrifier 3 might have a shot at the top spot. The early projections have it earning $12 million this weekend, while Folie à Deux is predicted to come in just under that number. It would be quite an upset for Terrifier 3’s killer clown to defeat one of the most famous clowns in comic book cinema.
Through the end of the month, Venom: The Last Dance looks like the only real chance that October has for a blockbuster movie. Nothing else coming out before then seems to have the potential to break out. But we love it when films defy our expectations. So perhaps some studio will get lucky and find a hit. In the meantime, keep scrolling down to find all of the best new movies coming to theaters in 2024.
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October 2024
Piece by Piece
Release date: October 11
When is a Lego movie not a Lego movie? In this case, the answer is when it’s actually a music biopic for Pharrell Williams. Piece by Piece could probably have been told as a conventional film, but turning Williams’ life story into a Lego-style animated experience might bring in a much larger crowd. Especially if Joker: Folie à Deux is monopolizing the R-rated audience at the same time.
Gwen Stefani, Kendrick Lamar, Timbaland, Justin Timberlake, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, and Snoop Dogg are also lending their voices and Lego likenesses to this flick, but it’s Williams’ story. We’re intrigued to see if this experiment works.
Terrifier 3
Release date: October 11
It’s Christmas in October with Terrifier 3, but more in a Black Christmas way than a Bing Crosby White Christmas. There won’t be much Christmas joy in Miles County this year because Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton) is playing Santa … and you aren’t going to like what he leaves under the Christmas tree.
Every horror slasher flick needs a final girl, and in this case, Lauren LaVera reprises her role as Sienna Shaw from Terrifier 2. Sienna managed to defeat and slay Art the Clown the last time he went on a rampage. Can Sienna pull off a Christmas miracle and do it again? Because it’s not just her life on the line. Every minute that Art is still on the loose, another victim may fall.
Flight Risk
Release date: October 18
Mel Gibson has been partially let out of mainstream movie jail for his next thriller, Flight Risk, which is getting a full theatrical release from Lionsgate. Except Gibson is only directing this film, which gives Mark Wahlberg to go the full Colin Farrell as an assassin named Daryl Booth. Daryl has been hired to dispatch a criminal informant, Winston (That ’90s Show‘s Topher Grace), and the FBI agent who is escorting him, Madelyn Harris (Michelle Dockery).
While the trailer reveals that Madelyn and Winston survive their initial fight with Daryl, it leaves them in a bad spot on a plane that neither of them knows how to fly. They can’t trust Daryl to set the plane down safely, and he’s not the only one out to kill them.
Smile 2
Release date: October 18
When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you… except in the Smile franchise. The first Smile was a massive hit, especially for a horror film. That film established that there’s a curse that causes its victims to die with creepy smiles on their faces. And if you’re unfortunate enough to witness it, then you’re the next one on the curse’s hit list.
Naomi Scott headlines the sequel as Skye Riley, a very Taylor Swift-like pop star whose life is already cracking under the strain of fame. It’s only going to get worse for Skye when she becomes the curse’s next victim, and she witnesses unnerving smiles on the faces of people around her as something evil moves in for the kill.
Venom: The Last Dance
Release date: October 25
Venom: The Last Dance will supposedly be the “final” Venom movie featuring Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and his alien symbiote. Plot details have yet to be released, but from the trailer, we know that Chiwetel Ejiofor is playing a soldier who is trying to track down and capture Venom. Juno Temple plays a scientist with similar goals. Beyond that, we have no idea what’s going to happen, or if this film can stave off the inevitable collapse of Sony’s weak sauce Spider-Man-adjacent movies.
Your Monster
Release date: October 25
There aren’t a lot of horror rom-coms, but it’s not completely unheard of in Hollywood. Caroline Lindy wrote and directed Your Monster, which features Scream 5 and Abigail star Melissa Barrera as Laura Franco, a young woman who is dealing with a bad breakup and a potentially fatal cancer diagnosis.
Laura’s life takes a turn for the strange when she finds a literal monster in her closet, as played by Tommy Dewey. This monster may be the best man that Laura has ever met, and they start a romance together. But whether their love can survive their respective natures — and Laura’s prognosis — remains to be seen.
November 2024
Here
Release date: November 1
Robert Zemeckis has made some big swings before, and not all of them have been home runs. But he’s still trying something new with Here, a film that reunites him with Forest Gump stars Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. It’s based on a single-page comic, with a story expanded to cover 100 years in a single room, where the camera angle never changes in all of that time.
Hanks and Wright will be de-aged with CGI, and aged up as the story calls for it, as we see snapshots from their life together. Some of those effects look a little suspect in the trailer, but it’s possible the final film will be more convincing. It’s too soon to say how Here will be received, but it will be interesting to see if Zemeckis can make it work.
My Dead Friend Zoe
Release date: November 1
There isn’t a trailer yet for My Dead Friend Zoe, but it’s got a cast that may get some attention when the film arrives in November. Star Trek: Discovery‘s Sonequa Martin-Green stars as Merit, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan who is haunted by an apparition of Zoe (Natalie Morales), who was her best friend in the army.
This doesn’t appear to be a horror movie, so the haunting is likely just in Merit’s mind. The brief description of the film says that Merit will go “head-to-head with her Vietnam vet grandfather at the family’s ancestral lake house.” We’re not sure if her grandfather is played by Ed Harris or Morgan Freeman, but both actors have significant roles in this movie as well.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever
Release date: November 8
Christmas comes early this year with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, an adaptation of Barbara Robinson’s children’s novel. Grace (Judy Greer) and her husband, Bob Bradley (Pete Holmes), are among the townspeople putting on the annual Christmas pageant about the Nativity story. This year’s performance has been hijacked by the Herdman children: Imogene (Beatrice Schneider), Ralph (Mason D. Nelligan), Claude (Matthew Lamb), Leroy (Ewan Wood), Ollie (Essek Moore), and Gladys (Kynlee Heiman).
These kids are the troublemakers in town, and they’re not exactly familiar with the roles they’re supposed to be playing. Through their willingness to learn more, the Christmas pageant might take on new significance for both the children and the town that wrote them off as bad kids.
Conclave
Release date: November 8
The Vatican becomes the scene of a religious thriller in Conclave. The Pope is dead, and ordinarily, the process of selecting his successor would be straightforward. However, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) has stumbled upon a secret that could disqualify several of the candidates to be the next Pope, and it might even be big enough to unleash a scandal in the church itself.
With time running out, Cardinal Lawrence must discover the truth before a new Pope is elected. The film has a very impressive supporting cast, including Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Isabella Rossellini, and Lucian Msamati, which may help its chances during next year’s awards season.
Red One
Release date: November 15
Can Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson save Christmas? Not by himself, he can’t! Red One teams the former wrestler with ex-Captain America actor Chris Evans to rescue Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons). Who has the magic or technology needed to capture Santa in the first place? That’s what North Pole’s security chief, Callum Drift (Johnson), needs to discover.
Bounty hunter Jack O’Malley (Evans) gets pulled into this Christmas insanity because he’s supposedly the best tracker in the world. Those skills will be put to the test, as he and Callum reluctantly team up to face down the threat to the holiday season. Ho, ho, ho.
Ghost Cat Anzu
Release date: November 15
Never underestimate the appeal of Japanese anime in theaters, especially a family-friendly pic like Ghost Cat Anzu, which embraces a retro style of 2-D animation that includes rotoscoped performances. That’s a very old-school animation technique. The story is about a young girl named Karin, who has been abandoned by her father in rural Japan. Now, only Karin’s grandfather is left to look after her until she meets Anzu, the titular ghost cat.
Karin doesn’t particularly like or trust Anzu, but they’re stuck together on this bizarre adventure that will determine both of their fates and whether they will remain together.
Gladiator 2
Release date: November 22
Are you not entertained? The original Gladiator came out 24 years ago, and Ridley Scott only got around to making a sequel within the past few years. Gladiator 2 picks up roughly two decades later, with Lucius Verus (Paul Mescal) no longer a little boy who could inherit the Roman Empire. Instead, Lucius has rejected Rome and its ways while starting his own family in another country. But, Lucius cannot escape Rome’s grasp, especially when his adoptive home, wife, and child are taken by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal).
It’s pretty far to fall from nobility to slave, but Lucius watched Maximus rise from nothing in the first film to get his revenge. Now, it’s Lucius’ turn to become a gladiator and fight in the arena while looking for a way to bring down the entire empire around him.
Wicked
Release date: November 22
Almost everyone knows the story of The Wizard of Oz. But the smash Broadway play Wicked shed new light on the Wicked Witch of the West. The upcoming Wicked film will only cover the early part of the play while saving the rest for an inevitable sequel. Cynthia Erivo stars as Elphaba Thropp, the young witch who isn’t wicked … yet. However, people treat her so terribly that it’s no wonder she went bad.
The lone light in Elphaba’s life is her friendship with Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande). They have a strong bond, but their connection will be tested as Elphaba and Galinda are torn in opposite directions as they come into their magical powers.