Are you looking for all of the new movies to watch in theaters in 2023? TechRadar’s entertainment experts are here to help.
Even if you’re signed up to the best streaming services around, you can’t catch the most exciting new films of the year unless you head to theaters. The big screen is still the place to go to see them first, and this year’s slate is packed with good reasons to spend your hard-earned cash on a ticket.
Our guide to 2023’s best new movies includes something for everyone. Following on from last year’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the never-ending story of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) continues with Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and The Marvels. Meanwhile, DC will be offering up some distinguished competition with The Flash, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
If you prefer your heroes (slightly) more down-to-earth, this summer boasts the triple-whammy of Fast X, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, and Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Part One. You can even treat the kids to The Super Mario Bros Movie and Pixar’s Elemental. There’s more where that came from, too, so read on for the best new movies to keep tabs on.
New movies: March 2023
John Wick: Chapter 4
Release date: March 24, 2023
Everyone’s favorite puppy-loving hitman is back for more gun-toting action in 2023. As per Lionsgate’s official synopsis, John Wick: Chapter 4 will find the titular assassin “taking on his most lethal adversaries yet. With the price on his head ever increasing, Wick takes his fight against the High Table global as he seeks out the most powerful players in the underworld, from New York to Paris to Osaka to Berlin.”
So the Chad Stahelski-directed gun-fu movie will dance to the same tune as its predecessors – which is by no means a bad thing, in our book. Series mainstays Ian McShane, Laurence Fishburne, and the late Lance Reddick will reprise their roles as Winston, The Bowery King and Charon, respectively. Newcomers include martial arts legends Donnie Yen (Ip Man, Rogue One) and Hiroyuki Sanada (Mortal Kombat).
You can also get up to speed with Keanu’s previous hitman adventures as we explain how to watch the John Wick movies in order. It’s the next of our new movies guide entries to hit cinemas, so be quick!
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves
Release date: March 31, 2023
Although Dungeons & Dragons’ first big-screen outing spawned a pair of straight-to-TV/DVD sequels in the early ’00s, it was a critical and box-office disappointment. Now, riding high on a wave of Stranger Things-fueled popularity, the genre-defining role-playing game (RPG) returns for second roll of the movie dice – and there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
For starters, this reboot seems eager to keep tabletop D&D fans happy, with a story based in the game’s Forgotten Realms campaign setting. It features a mismatched party of thieves on a quest, and along the way they’ll encounter familiar obstacles like gelatinous cubes, evil Red Wizards and, yes, dungeons and dragons.
The movie’s biggest ***** card, however, may be a cast of heroes led by Star Trek’s Chris Pine, Fast & Furious’ Michelle Rodriguez, and Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page. If they’re as entertaining as they are in the trailers, Honor Among Thieves could be a fun antidote to the more po-faced fantasy of The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon.
New movies: April 2023
The Super Mario Bros. Movie
Release date: April 5, 2023
Now that The Last of Us has proved it’s possible to make a credible adaptation of a videogame, all eyes will be on a certain moustachioed plumber from Brooklyn. Nobody’s expecting The Super Mario Bros. Movie to deliver the sort of hard-hitting drama we associate with Joel and Ellie’s post-apocalyptic adventures, but this animated movie should at least make amends for the Bob Hoskins-starring Mario disaster from 1993.
The trailers is chock full of familiar elements and Easter eggs from the long-running Nintendo franchise – karting, Donkey Kong, mushrooms – joining Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Toad, and Bowser on the big screen. With numerous Despicable Me/Minions movies behind them, production company Illumination have plenty of experience creating family-friendly entertainment. And, while Chris Pratt was a controversial choice to voice the handyman hero, some of his Lego Movie charm could lend the film some much-needed bounce.
Lastly, UK viewers can catch this one in theaters two days early. In the words of Mario: Yahooooo!
Renfield
Release date: April 15, 2023
It’s such a magnificent piece of casting that it’s hard to believe Nicolas Cage has never played Dracula before – and the Renfield trailers suggest he’s going dead and loving it as Bram Stoker’s Vampire #1. Cage isn’t even the main attraction of this horror-comedy, however, as the story shifts the focus to the Count’s long-suffering familiar, RM Renfield (Nicholas Hoult).
After decades of servitude, Dracula’s eponymous assistant has become disillusioned with his lot in life, and not even the superpowers granted by his master can lift his malaise. He senses a possible route to happiness when he meets traffic cop Rebecca Quincy (played by Shang-Chi star Awkwafina), but starting a new life is going to depend on finding a way to bump off his undead employer.
With The Lego Batman Movie’s Chris McKay at the helm and a story from The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, Renfield seems set to be a lot of very gory fun.
Evil Dead Rise
Release date: April 21, 2023
The first Evil Dead film in a decade moves away from the familiar cabin in the woods setting, but that demonic book is still stirring up nightmares for anyone foolish enough to dip in. This time out the story relocates to a Los Angeles apartment, where a family is torn apart (figuratively and presumably literally) by those familiar trash-talking Deadites – and, while Bruce Campbell’s Ash is nowhere to be seen, there will be chainsaws.
The Hole in the Dark director Lee Cronin marshals the blood and guts – original helmer Sam Raimi is on board as an executive producer – and he believes that moving the action to the city made perfect sense. “[The film] still needed to maintain some of the claustrophobia,” he told Total Film magazine (via GamesRadar). “And that translated really well from the cabin into an urban environment. This is about a family in a rundown building stuck in their apartment, so it follows the same rhythm but puts it in a more contemporary space.”
New movies: May 2023
Guardians of the Galaxy 3
Release date: May 5, 2023
The second Marvel Phase 5 project scheduled for release in 2023 (after Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania) is the third and final installment in James Gunn’s beloved Guardians of the Galaxy series – and one our most highly anticipated new movies to boot.
Guardians of the Galaxy 3 will pick up directly after the events of the titular group’s Disney Plus Holiday Special and will see the franchise’s biggest stars – including Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, and Bradley Cooper – returning for what’s expected to be their final MCU outing. Gunn is on dual writing and directing duties for the last time as a Marvel employee, too, with the The Suicide Squad director having been recently installed as co-head of DC Studios. In other words, prepare for this one to be an emotional roller coaster.
Need to catch up on the MCU? Check out our guide to watching the Marvel movies in order.
Fast X
Release date: May 19, 2023
Fast X director Louis Leterrier was a last-minute replacement for Fast & Furious stalwart Justin Lin, but it seems he has no plans to mess with a multi-billion-dollar formula. Well, aside from bringing things back down to earth after the franchise’s previous installment, Fast 9, literally blasted a car into space.
Vin Diesel and his surrogate family of street racers-cum-heist specialists are back behind the wheel for the penultimate time, and this time they’re bringing Captain Marvel’s Brie Larson, The Suicide Squad’s Daniela Melchior, and EGOT winner Rita Moreno (West Side Story) along for the ride. Aquaman’s Jason Momoa takes on lead villain duties as the son of Fast 5 antagonist Hernan Reyes, though recurring Big Bad Cipher (Charlize Theron) seems set to be the one at the steering wheel. Read our how to watch the Fast and Furious movies in order, too, before you go to watch this one.
The Little Mermaid
Release date: May 26, 2023
Disney’s already given Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, and Mulan the big-budget remake treatment. Now, the Hans Christian Andersen adaptation that kickstarted the animation division’s ’90s renaissance is going live-action. Grown-ish’s Halle Bailey plays Ariel, the eponymous mermaid who falls in love with a human prince, and makes a pact with the devil – okay, Melissa McCarthy’s octopus-like sea-witch Ursula – in order to be *ahem* part of his world.
The trailer suggests that the underwater visuals will have more in common with the original cartoon than James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water, though The Little Mermaid will be selling itself on the fairytale rather than reality. We’ll also get to hear Bailey and her co-stars (including Daveed Diggs as Sebastian the Crab, Awkwafina as Scuttle the bird, and Javier Bardem as King Triton) singing familiar tunes from the original, alongside a few new songs co-written by Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda. Chicago and Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshall is behind the camera.
New movies: June 2023
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Release date: June 2, 2023
The first installment in a two-part sequel to 2018’s Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse will follow Miles and Gwen as they encounter different worlds (and characters) on their travels across the multiverse. The movie’s producers have already revealed that each dimension in the second Miles Morales-led Spidey movie will have its own art style and “feel like it was drawn by a different artist’s hand,” so there’s a good chance that this one will look even better than the excellent original.
What’s more, the same duo have also revealed Across the Spider-Verse may be tied to the MCU after all, meaning we could see Tom Holland’s Spidey in animated form for the first time. We can’t wait to catch one of the most exciting new movies of the year soon.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Release date: June 9, 2023
Michael Bay may have vacated the director’s chair but the Transformers franchise (all-conquering at the box office if not with critics) continues with its seventh installment. The big change this time out is the introduction of characters from Beast Wars, a Transformers spin-off in which the robots in disguise lift their alter-egos from nature, but in all other regards this looks like business as usual.
Anthony Ramos, who was part of Hamilton’s original Broadway cast, leads an all-new group of human Autobot allies, while Cybertron regulars Optimus Prime (once again voiced by Peter Cullen) and Bumblebee roll out once again. Original Hellboy Ron Perlman heads up the new cast of robots as Maximal leader Optimus Primal (he transforms into a gorilla), while Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage will play lead villain Scourge. 2018’s Bumblebee was a breath of fresh air for the franchise, so hopefully this will be more than initially meets the eye.
Elemental
Release date: June 16, 2023
2022 was something of a mixed bag for Pixar. On the plus side they released the wonderful Turning Red, a sweet and clever coming-of-age story that bagged itself an Oscar nomination. On the downside, Lightyear’s ‘movie about the man who inspired the toy from the movie’ premise proved a little too meta for audiences and critics alike (editor’s note: I liked it, though!).
Fortunately, Elemental feels like it could be more solid ground for the Emeryville-based animation studio, because this is a return to the weird, high-concept territory that Pixar has made its own with the likes of Inside Out and Soul.
It’s set in a city where characters representing the four classical elements (fire, water, land and air) live together. At the film’s heart is an unlikely friendship between a fiery woman called Ember (The Half of It’s Leah Lewis) and a watery guy called Wade (Jurassic World: Dominion’s Mamoudou Athie) – we can only assume that things get steamy when they’re together. Peter Sohn (who also voiced Sox the cat in Lightyear) calls the shots.
The Flash
Release date: June 16, 2023
The movie incarnation of the Flash already met another version of himself as part of a crossover event in the CW’s long-running Arrowverse. Now, the big-screen Flash is following the MCU’s lead, as well as that of Rick and Morty and multi-Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All At Once, by diving headlong into the multiverse.
Inspired by Geoff Johns and Andy Kubert’s 2011 comic-book arc Flashpoint, The Flash will see Barry Allen (Ezra Miller, reprising their role from the Justice League movie) using his super-speed to meddle with history in the hope of saving his dead mom. In the best traditions of movie time travel, however, he inadvertently creates a world with no metahumans, and where Michael Shannon’s returning General Zod is free rampant. At least Barry can call on Michael Keaton’s vintage Batman and Sasha Calle’s new Supergirl (among other DC heroes) to help out.
Catch up on the other movies in the DCEU before diving into the multiverse with our guide to how to watch the DC movies in order.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Release date: June 30, 2023
Cue the theme music: the world’s favorite collector of rare antiquities is back. Arriving 15 years after Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – which itself was the first Indiana Jones movie for 19 years – The Dial of Destiny will see Harrison Ford putting on the famous fedora one last time.
Plot details are thin on the ground, but the film’s glorious first trailer did tease the involvement of Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), Mads Mikkelsen (Doctor Strange), Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro), Toby Jones (Captain America: The First Avenger), and Boyd Holbrook (The Sandman), as well as a miraculously de-aged Harrison Ford. We can’t wait to see how one of our most eagerly anticipated new movies of 2023 sends Indy off into the sunset.
New movies: July 2023
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One
Release date: July 14, 2023
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One (or Mission: Impossible 7, if you’re in a rush) has endured so many scheduling delays that it previously featured on our list of 2022’s biggest upcoming movies, but the film finally looks set to arrive in July this year.
Top Gun: Maverick hero Tom Cruise will have hit 60 by the time this entry hits cinemas, and it’ll also mark the penultimate outing for Ethan Hunt, the actor’s famous action hero. Having delivered the long-running franchise’s best instalments with Rogue Nation and Fallout, Christopher McQuarrie is also back behind the camera for number 7 and its follow-up. Plot details are currently wrapped up tighter than a government vault, though the bombastic first Mission Impossible 7 trailer did give us our first glimpse at Hunt and company’s return to action.
To best prepare yourself for the chaos to come, check out our ranking of the Mission: Impossible movies released so far.
Oppenheimer
Release date: July 21, 2023
Having messed around with our perceptions of time in the back-to-front, front-to-back Tenet, Christopher Nolan returns to reality with the first biopic of his career. The subject is J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical physicist who led the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bomb during World War 2 – and arguably one of the most intriguing figures of the 20th century.
Regular Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy plays the titular scientist, alongside a big-hitting supporting cast including Emily Blunt (as Oppenheimer‘s wife, Kitty), Matt Damon (as military supervisor Leslie Groves) and Robert Downey Jr (as businessman Lewis Strauss).
Most eyes, however, are going to be on the superstar director, and how he applies his ingenious storytelling tricks to real life. The structure of Nolan’s Dunkirk played around with the conventions of World War II movies, so don’t be surprised if he takes a similarly bold approach with this biopic. We’re also expecting Oppenheimer to be a big part of next year’s Oscar conversations.
While you’re here, wy not start a rewatch of the director’s greatest hits with our guide to Christopher Nolan movies ranked?
Barbie
Release date: July 21, 2023
Having appeared in a couple of Toy Story movies, Mattel’s iconic doll is no stranger to the big screen. Even so, Barbie’s first outing as the headline attraction is a genuinely intriguing prospect.
The plot is surrounded by Christopher Nolan-like levels of secrecy, but rumors suggest it’ll involve the eponymous doll (played by Margot Robbie) and long-standing boyfriend Ken (Ryan Gosling) relocating to the real world. With Lady Bird and Little Women director Greta Gerwig behind the camera (she also co-wrote the script with Marriage Story’s Noah Baumbach), Barbie promises to be much smarter than your average toy-to-screen transfer. Indeed, the 2001: A Space Odyssey-inspired trailer suggests the film will be less a celebration than a satire on a doll whose original incarnation now feels incredibly outdated.
Haunted Mansion
Release date: July 28, 2023
Disney continues its quest to turn theme park attractions into movies (see also Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise) with its second crack at a Haunted Mansion adaptation.
Star Wars: Ahsoka star Rosario Dawson plays a single mom who moves into a creepy haunted mansion – the clue’s in the title – with her nine-year-old son (Chase W. Dillon). Exorcism advice will be available courtesy of an all-star cast featuring LaKeith Stanfield, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, and Jamie Lee Curtis.
This being the House of Mouse the scares are likely to be of the jumpy variety rather than the kind that gives you nightmares. But, with The Heat, Ghostbusters and Parks and Recreation writer Katie Dippold on scripting duties, there’ll hopefully be plenty of laughs, too. Haunted Mansion arrives in UK cinemas on August 11.
New movies: August 2023
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem
Release date: August 4, 2023
The world’s most fearsome fighting team has had as many big-screen reboots as Spider-Man, so it’s no surprise that this fourth incarnation has seemingly taken inspiration from the brilliant Into the Spider-Verse. Shepherded to the screen by Seth Rogen and regular producing partner Evan Goldberg, TMNT: Mutant Mayhem brings a unique, almost painterly style to its animation, and if the story’s as innovative as the visuals, which look totally cowabunga in its first trailer, we’re in for a treat.
Newcomers Nicolas Cantu, Micah Abbey, Shamon Brown Jr, and Brady Noon voice a younger-then-usual Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Support comes from Jackie Chan on board as rat-shaped mentor Splinter and Ayo Edebiri as April O’Neil, the news reporter who befriends the heroes in a half-shell. Rogen also bags himself a role, teaming up with WWE wrestler-turned-Peacekeeper star John Cena to play mutant henchmen Rock Steady and Bebop.
Blue Beetle
Release date: August 18, 2023
With all the hype about James Gunn’s new slate of DC movies, and Shazam! Fury of the Gods, The Flash, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom all landing in theaters this year, Blue Beetle has slipped under the radar. It’s easy to see why, too, seeing as the movie – which was originally set for an HBO Max debut rather than a theatrical release – centers on a lesser known hero from the DC pantheon.
That said, Blue Beetle is of the same vintage of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, having made his first appearance back in 1939. He gets his powers (most notably an impervious suit of armor) from a magical scarab, and this big-screen debut will focus on Jaime Reyes (played here by Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña), the third man to bear the Blue Beetle mantle in the comics.
Plot specifics are thin on the ground, but Gunn has said the movie is “set in its own world” (much like The Batman). So it’s unlikely to have a significant effect on the post-Flash continuity of the DCEU. Susan Sarandon is also on board to lend some star power as villain Victoria Kord.
New movies: September 2023
The Expendables 4
Release date: September 22, 2023
Nearly a decade after their last mission, the gang get back together for a fourth round of extremely muscular action. Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren, and Randy Couture reprise their roles from earlier adventures, and this time out they’ll be joined by new recruits 50 Cent, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Andy Garcia and, as the lead villain, The Raid’s Iko Uwais.
The team’s latest operation is currently filed under “top secret”, so the best intel we have to go on is an IMDb listing that says “the Expendables will square up against an arms dealer who commands the might of a massive private army”. However, seeing as this is one franchise where you definitely know what you’re getting, fans probably won’t need to learn any more before snapping up their theater tickets.
New movies: October 2023
Kraven the Hunter
Release date: October 6, 2023
Sony dives back into the Wallcrawler’s rogues’ gallery with their latest effort to expand the SSU (Sony’s Spider-Man Universe), which is simultaneously separate from the MCU and tenuously connected (all thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home and Venom: Let There Be Carnage).
In the ’60s, Kraven the Hunter was an original member of Marvel Comics’ so-called Sinister Six (alongside Doctor Octopus, Electro, Mysterio, Vulture, and Sandman), and had been discussed as a potential big-screen foe for Peter Parker. Now, he’s following in the footsteps of fellow anti-heroes Venom and Morbius by headlining his own movie.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson (who has superhero previous after his role as Quicksilver in Avengers: Age of Ultron) plays the titular hunter, and the star told Variety that the character is “not an alien or a wizard. He’s just a hunter, a human with conviction. An animal lover and a protector of the natural world. He’s a very, very cool character.”
As is the tradition with superheroes, Sony are keeping their cards close to their chests when it comes to plot, but we do know that West Side Story Oscar-winner Ariana DeBose will play long-term Kraven associate Calypso, while The Many Saints of Newark’s Alessandro Nivola takes on lead villain duties.
New movies: November 2023
Dune: Part Two
Release date: November 3, 2023
The most disappointing thing about Denis Villeneuve’s Dune movie was its non-descript ending. But, as anyone who’s sat through David Lynch’s flawed 1984 movie will tell you, slicing Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel in two was way preferable to squeezing it into a single film. And, while Warner Bros. weren’t prepared to gamble on shooting the two movies back-to-back, they got the cameras rolling pretty quickly when the first hit big at the post-Covid box office.
This follow-up will see an already impressive ensemble cast bolstered by Elvis’s Austin Butler, Black Widow’s Florence Pugh, No Time to Die’s Léa Seydoux, and the needs-no-introduction Christopher Walken. Expect epic action, trippy sci-fi, and some very big worms when Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atreides resumes his mission to save the desert world of Arrakis. A worthy inclusion in our new movies list.
The Marvels
Release date: November 10, 2023
A direct sequel to a movie and two of the best Disney Plus shows, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s third big screen outing of 2023 brings together Captain Marvel’s Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Ms Marvel’s Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) and WandaVision’s Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris).
We already saw Danvers and Khan inexplicably switching places in the Ms Marvel finale. Footage screened at last year’s D23 Expo also suggested Rambeau will also be pulled into their time- and space-hopping adventures when The Marvels materializes in November.
Samuel L. Jackson reprises his role as near-ubiquitous overseer Nick Fury, so it’ll be interesting to see how the movie ties into upcoming MCU TV show Secret Invasion. Elsewhere, Fresh Meat and Velvet Buzzsaw star Zawe Ashton plays an as-yet-unnamed antagonist, while Goose – the cute cat/flerken sidekick who cost Fury an eye – is also set for a comeback.
New movies: December 2023
Wonka
Release date: December 15, 2023
In Hollywood, it turns out even chocolatiers have backstories. This Charlie and the Chocolate Factory prequel goes beyond the Roald Dahl source material to imagine what Willy Wonka got up to before he went into business manufacturing everlasting gobstoppers and Whipple-scrumptious fudgemallow delights.
Dune star Timothée Chalamet dons the top hat as a younger version of a character previously played by Gene Wilder and Johnny Depp, and has described the movie as “so sincere, it’s so joyous”. And while that could easily be PR fluff, we actually believe him because Wonka is directed by Paul King, the man who turned both Paddington movies into instant, heart-warming classics. Intriguingly, the movie’s also a musical, and features songs written by The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon. Here’s hoping it’s one of the best new movies to debut around Christmas time for a while.
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Release date: December 25, 2023
Despite Aquaman 2 having been originally scheduled to hit theaters on December 16, 2022, it’s now due to wash up in December 2023. Going by the less internet-friendly title of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, this superhero sequel will continue the underwater adventures of Jason Momoa’s DC superhero.
This long-awaited sequel reunites the Game of Thrones actor with original co-stars Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman, and Patrick Wilson – although the level of Heard’s involvement reportedly remains up in the air – and will see the titular character forced to “forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation.” Expect even more comic book carnage, then.