Clockwise from left: The Bob’s Burgers Movie (20th Century Studios), The Northman (Photo: Focus Features), The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent (Photo: Lionsgate), Everything Everywhere All At Once (Photo: A24), The Batman (Image: Warner Bros.), Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Part One) (Photo: Sony Pictures)Graphic: Allison Corr
Every preview of upcoming movies comes with an invisible disclaimer: “These release dates are subject to change.” But that’s especially true at our current moment, when the ongoing rise and fall of infection rates has turned the coming-attractions calendar into a perpetual rough draft, as studios move their major titles to later dates, often with just a few weeks’ notice. All of which makes the following list of our most anticipated movies of 2022 fundamentally tentative and even optimistic; it would be something of a miracle if all of these films came out when their distributors are currently saying they will.
Still, if only some of the 25 pictures we’ve singled out see the light of day before the dawn of 2023, it will still be an exciting year for cinema. And that’s without accounting for the films that will premiere on the festival circuit sometime over the next 12 months, or the ones that haven’t yet been issued a spot on the calendar, even a premature one. In making our selections, we stuck to movies that currently do have a release date, however likely it is to change—a choice that makes this list heavier on studio fare than indies. But we also made room at the end for a bunch of exciting projects currently expected to open sometime before the ball drops next December. Right now, we all need something to look forward to. The following movies provide it and then some.
Every preview of upcoming movies comes with an invisible disclaimer: “These release dates are subject to change.” But that’s especially true at our current moment, when the ongoing rise and fall of infection rates has turned the coming-attractions calendar into a perpetual rough draft, as studios move their major titles to later dates, often with just a few weeks’ notice. All of which makes the following list of our most anticipated movies of 2022 fundamentally tentative and even optimistic; it would be something of a miracle if all of these films came out when their distributors are currently saying they will.Still, if only some of the 25 pictures we’ve singled out see the light of day before the dawn of 2023, it will still be an exciting year for cinema. And that’s without accounting for the films that will premiere on the festival circuit sometime over the next 12 months, or the ones that haven’t yet been issued a spot on the calendar, even a premature one. In making our selections, we stuck to movies that currently do have a release date, however likely it is to change—a choice that makes this list heavier on studio fare than indies. But we also made room at the end for a bunch of exciting projects currently expected to open sometime before the ball drops next December. Right now, we all need something to look forward to. The following movies provide it and then some.
Between Canterbury Glass and The Northman directors are delighting in bringing my straight and…not so straight crushes together in the same film.I haven’t felt this confused since Sony cast Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, the most annoying character in fiction.
Mission Impossible 1 and 2 I can tell apart, but every movie since and I forget which one is which, and which set-piece is in which, because they all feel the same. I hope the new one does something different visually.
“reinvigorated another exhausted franchise with his two Planet Of The Apes movies” It was “exhausted” after Rise of the Planet of the Apes? Wouldn’t Rise be the film that “reinvigorated” the franchise?
“a much larger cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, and the Icelandic pop queen herself, Björk.” My understanding is that the latter two are closer to cameos, while Claes Bang & Anya Taylor-Joy have bigger roles.
His two are much better than Rise, imo, but you’re probably right, I remember everyone (including me) being pleasantly surprised that Rise was as decent as it was
I may be on an island here, but I’m not looking forward to the new Batman after seeing the trailer. It looks dour as hell. The aesthetic may be a plus for a lot of people, but it’s just doing nothing for me.
I was much more interested in it when I thought it was a standalone Batman story and not the introduction to another trilogy and two TV series.(I know it might seem naive to expect a comic-book movie to be self-contained these days, but they kind of did that with Joker, and given Pattison’s disdain for his last franchise role I really hoped he might be one-and-done. I just don’t like leaving a theater feeling like I’ve watched a 2 to 3-hour trailer for the next installment.)
Meh, stylistically it looks like a Nolan film. Even the Riddler looks like an adaptation of the Nolan Joker. I’ll give it a chance when it shows up on HBO Max, though.
You are not alone. The trailer is screechy yet dull, and how on earth did they manage to make that many of the prettiest people on earth look like absolute shit? What could a new Batman movie even possibly have to say at this point? (Also, I’m legitimately annoyed about the fat suit. Fuck your fucking fat suit.)
I knew what we were getting for a while but I’m with you. Looks like they are just rehashing the Nolan movies again. Another “realistic” Batman movie. People forget that Batman use to fucking fight space aliens, clowns and dance
I, for one, will be most anticipating following you and the others wherever you all land. A Dowd “A” has always been an immediate sign of approval. And fuck Spanfeller.
I find it odd that I am a pop-culture obsessive frequenting a site run by pop-culture obsessives for the pop-culture obsessive, yet I am reading about nearly half of these most highly anticipated films for the first time.
I hate GenZ and whatever is after so much, especially for their weird Nick Cage and Keanu fetishes. If they had any sense, they would be giving this love for the guy who really deserves it – Willem Fucking Dafoe.
I think the unnamed generation after Gen Z are currently between elementary school and being born, but fuck ‘em anyway. Ungrateful twats should just get a job.
I mean… if you’re gonna be mad about weird, dumb actor fetishes of The Youth, I say Danny DeVito is much more deserving. I love the guy but holy shit does he have a dumb fanbase. Way too many of whom ONLY know him from It’s Always Sunny.Watch Taxi, you baby shits.
Where you can also see Christopher Lloyd — which most younger folk only know as Doc Brown from Back to the Future. And of course Andy Kaufman which most younger folk haven’t heard of at all except maybe in the biopic Man on the Moon where he was played by Jim Carrey, but even that was a while ago.
And yet they probably haven’t seen Streets of Fire (1984). I love that movie and it’s a good early performance by Dafoe and probably where his psychotic villain character that has been used over and over (including in the Spiderman movies) first developed.
Are you a millennial? Because if so, it’s our fault dude. We encouraged “The bees! The bees!” and there is a direct line from there to where we are now. If you’re a gen x complaining about us though, well, I dunno. Tough titties OLD MAN! (I am thirty seven years old.)
As pointless and stupid and shitty it is to hate on and stereotype an entire generation of kids and young adults with a cool and trendy name, it still kind of hurts that us, Millenials, are no longer recipients of that venom. It makes me feel old.
I thought they split apart He Said, She Said into two separate films, kind of like how they made the two halves in Grindhouse into feature-length movies.
A take so bad, it calls into question their judgement of any other film. Every so often I see an off-hand comment like this in an AV Club article that reminds me that it’s basically Entertainment Weekly up in here these days.
I read the script for Babylon, and, well…I’d best describe it as The Wolf of Wall Street meets Day of the Locust. It looks super interesting, but it’s not going to be a starry-eyed tour of Tinseltown.
We weren’t big fans of Taika Waititi’s last movie, the irksomely huggable Nazi comedy Jojo Rabbit.My opinion of this opinion is that this opinion is trash. What on earth.
Looks like a great year for A24 and A24-esque movies. Of the others, I’m only cautiously optimistic about Nope – rewatching both Get Out and Us, I’d say Get Out either gets better or is just as good on rewatches, whereas Us really plummets. And I haven’t liked many Peele-produced properties either, from Hunters to Candyman. The Nic Cage fascination is so weird because the dude was clearly an excellent actor who took some cash-grab roles and then leaned into everyone’s ironic expectations for him.As much as I was a tad disappointed by Fallout – although I think that was one where the critical hype did impact my experience in the theater, because watching it later I enjoyed it much more – any year with a new Mission: Impossible movie is a good year.I’ve gotten sick of superhero movies but I’ll always love Batman so I’ll watch The Batman. Based on Reeves’ past movies which I enjoy, I feel like even though the trailer looks grim-dark that marketing might just be leaning into that.And is the trend all these older directors doing coming-of-age semi-autobiographical movies? Cause honestly I’m weirdly here for that.
The fact that this even exists is like a real life version of that Simpsons gag Star Trek XII: So Very Tired. I just don’t see any plausible way Tom Cruise’s character can still be a pilot. Unless they don’t set it now but take Cruise’s youthful appearance to allow a sequel set closer in time to the original.
Im here for the sci fi, horror, and thrillers. I cannot fucking stand new Batman bullshit. I also generally dislike Stephen King. Black Panther is meh for me personally as well. I only really genuinely like Thor out of all the Marvel shit, so I’m hoping it will be good.Most excited for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Absolutely gang busters trailer. Most ready to rip to shreds Elvis. I’ve fucking hated Baz Luhrmann’s movies since I was a teenager. The teaser looks awful, and the trashy southern part of me is offended this little Hollywood twat is even approaching our beautiful blue eyed boy. I don’t actually gaf about Elvis, but this is bringing it out in me.
The fact that The Killers of The Flower Moon is not on this list and Bob’s Burgers is shows what a bunch of dopes they have blogging on this site. Pathetic.
Who’s going to miss the voice actor for Jimmy Pesto? Easily replaceable. Also, Elvis has an undeniable place in music history, but he was a racist and a plagiarist, I wonder if they’ll address that.
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Between Canterbury Glass and The Northman directors are delighting in bringing my straight and…not so straight crushes together in the same film.I haven’t felt this confused since Sony cast Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, the most annoying character in fiction.
Mission Impossible 1 and 2 I can tell apart, but every movie since and I forget which one is which, and which set-piece is in which, because they all feel the same. I hope the new one does something different visually.
Which was the one where Tom Cruise did that crazy stunt and almost died?
I’m not sure but I really liked the one with all of the shooting and the jumping. pew pew pew!
you mean sliding across the floor in his stocking feet?
How many have Ving Rhames?
Without looking… 4 of them are Ving enhanced?
Yeah, I don’t get the love for the new MI movies. They’re so forgettable.
The one with Jeremy Renner is pretty good
“reinvigorated another exhausted franchise with his two Planet Of The Apes movies”
It was “exhausted” after Rise of the Planet of the Apes? Wouldn’t Rise be the film that “reinvigorated” the franchise?
“a much larger cast that includes Nicole Kidman, Willem Dafoe, and the Icelandic pop queen herself, Björk.”
My understanding is that the latter two are closer to cameos, while Claes Bang & Anya Taylor-Joy have bigger roles.
His two are much better than Rise, imo, but you’re probably right, I remember everyone (including me) being pleasantly surprised that Rise was as decent as it was
Every Matt Reeves film I’ve seen has been worse than the film it was an adaptation of or sequel to.
Bd opinion
Big deal?
Wait…Jojo Rabbit was a “misstep”????
It’s… divisive. Needless to say, there weren’t many fans here.
Full disclosure, I am Jewish and I thought the movie was fantastic.
I may be on an island here, but I’m not looking forward to the new Batman after seeing the trailer. It looks dour as hell. The aesthetic may be a plus for a lot of people, but it’s just doing nothing for me.
The Bat and The Cat?? I would not watch a film so dour, I would not watch it for an hour!
If an Hour you’d not see, then wait to learn that it is Three!
Fuck, it probably is gonna be three hours long, isn’t it…
175 minutes. Unless it’s been reported wrong.
Nah, it’s only 2:56.
56 minutes if that is the movie explaining how Batman’s parents died
They died on the way back to their home planetarium.Those rich people live good lives.
Are they going to cram 2 more Batmans into the movie the way Marvel re-united 3 spidermen? That might be interesting.
The best Batman film is still and forever will be The Lego Batman Movie.
I was much more interested in it when I thought it was a standalone Batman story and not the introduction to another trilogy and two TV series.(I know it might seem naive to expect a comic-book movie to be self-contained these days, but they kind of did that with Joker, and given Pattison’s disdain for his last franchise role I really hoped he might be one-and-done. I just don’t like leaving a theater feeling like I’ve watched a 2 to 3-hour trailer for the next installment.)
Meh, stylistically it looks like a Nolan film. Even the Riddler looks like an adaptation of the Nolan Joker. I’ll give it a chance when it shows up on HBO Max, though.
You are not alone. The trailer is screechy yet dull, and how on earth did they manage to make that many of the prettiest people on earth look like absolute shit? What could a new Batman movie even possibly have to say at this point? (Also, I’m legitimately annoyed about the fat suit. Fuck your fucking fat suit.)
I knew what we were getting for a while but I’m with you. Looks like they are just rehashing the Nolan movies again. Another “realistic” Batman movie. People forget that Batman use to fucking fight space aliens, clowns and dance
I felt the same way about the last twenty mcu films that all seem so identical, I am just glad fro something different
How high up does the sky begin?
I, for one, will be most anticipating following you and the others wherever you all land. A Dowd “A” has always been an immediate sign of approval. And fuck Spanfeller.
Kimi is 2.5 hours long. I can’t imaging this story can sustain that.
Here’s the list:KimiThe Sky Is EverywhereThe BatmanEverything Everywhere All At OnceNitramThe NorthmanThe Unbearable Weight Of Massive TalentWe’re All Going To The World’s FairThe Bob’s Burgers MovieElvisThor: Love And ThunderBullet TrainNopeSalem’s LotThe Woman KingDon’t Worry, DarlingMission: Impossible 7Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse (Part One)TarCanterbury GlassBlack Panther: Wakanda ForeverShe SaidThe FabelmansAvatar 2Babylon
I find it odd that I am a pop-culture obsessive frequenting a site run by pop-culture obsessives for the pop-culture obsessive, yet I am reading about nearly half of these most highly anticipated films for the first time.
On top of that, most are “we don’t know anything about this” but still most anticipated? Riiight.
They need the space to tell us what Britney’s lawyer’s cousin tweeted
Does anyone have any good alternative websites for AV Club / Kotaku, now that G/O has shown to not care about its employees?
I hate GenZ and whatever is after so much, especially for their weird Nick Cage and Keanu fetishes. If they had any sense, they would be giving this love for the guy who really deserves it – Willem Fucking Dafoe.
I think the unnamed generation after Gen Z are currently between elementary school and being born, but fuck ‘em anyway. Ungrateful twats should just get a job.
I mean… if you’re gonna be mad about weird, dumb actor fetishes of The Youth, I say Danny DeVito is much more deserving. I love the guy but holy shit does he have a dumb fanbase. Way too many of whom ONLY know him from It’s Always Sunny.Watch Taxi, you baby shits.
As long as we agree. I think my bitchery is that these idiots like Cage ironically only. While disclaiming irony.
Exactly. If any of these twats put on Leaving Las Vegas or Raising Arizona they’d be back looking at their phones within two minutes
Hell appreciate DeVito for his really weird directing run!
Yes! I goddam love War of the Roses.
Where you can also see Christopher Lloyd — which most younger folk only know as Doc Brown from Back to the Future. And of course Andy Kaufman which most younger folk haven’t heard of at all except maybe in the biopic Man on the Moon where he was played by Jim Carrey, but even that was a while ago.
Have you seen the Spiderman memes? Dafoe is definitely popular with the Zoomers.
But they only know him from that. They should know him as Jesus, or Charlie Sheen’s platoon sergeant
I strongly agree. My favorite Jesus interpreting and Sergeant Elias is a wonderful character.
And yet they probably haven’t seen Streets of Fire (1984). I love that movie and it’s a good early performance by Dafoe and probably where his psychotic villain character that has been used over and over (including in the Spiderman movies) first developed.
Are you a millennial? Because if so, it’s our fault dude. We encouraged “The bees! The bees!” and there is a direct line from there to where we are now. If you’re a gen x complaining about us though, well, I dunno. Tough titties OLD MAN! (I am thirty seven years old.)
I am a late stage GenXer. A Xennial I think they call me. I hate everyone.
Yeah, Nick Cage & Keanu are 100% on us.
As far as I know that’s more of a millennial thing. But I don’t keep track of what kids are doing.
As pointless and stupid and shitty it is to hate on and stereotype an entire generation of kids and young adults with a cool and trendy name, it still kind of hurts that us, Millenials, are no longer recipients of that venom. It makes me feel old.
E.T. is a metaphor for Elliot’s penis
Elliot’s Tadger?
Penis
Penis?
IT’S NOTHING LIKE THAT, PENIS BREATH!
Although it turns out that in reality it neither glows nor heals people.
Did anyone else know how busty Viola Davis is?Good for her.
I’m hoping that’s a typo.
She is very busy these days.
Which part?
No, it’s not ‘Davies’.
And Soleil Moon Frye is less. She actually had to have surgery for that – her back was killing her.
The end of HTGAWM freed up a lot of her time.
I hope She Said is as good as the prequel, That’s What.
I thought they split apart He Said, She Said into two separate films, kind of like how they made the two halves in Grindhouse into feature-length movies.
JoJo Rabbit was an irksome misstep? I find this assessment baffling.
wouldn’t you much rather have slideshow “articles” on zombie AV Club as your legacy
A take so bad, it calls into question their judgement of any other film. Every so often I see an off-hand comment like this in an AV Club article that reminds me that it’s basically Entertainment Weekly up in here these days.
Entertainment Weekly was good in the 90s
Man I miss Sean O’Neal
I read the script for Babylon, and, well…I’d best describe it as The Wolf of Wall Street meets Day of the Locust. It looks super interesting, but it’s not going to be a starry-eyed tour of Tinseltown.
We weren’t big fans of Taika Waititi’s last movie, the irksomely huggable Nazi comedy Jojo Rabbit.My opinion of this opinion is that this opinion is trash. What on earth.
Confirmed, ItsFletchBro = Perd Hapley
Looks like a great year for A24 and A24-esque movies. Of the others, I’m only cautiously optimistic about Nope – rewatching both Get Out and Us, I’d say Get Out either gets better or is just as good on rewatches, whereas Us really plummets. And I haven’t liked many Peele-produced properties either, from Hunters to Candyman. The Nic Cage fascination is so weird because the dude was clearly an excellent actor who took some cash-grab roles and then leaned into everyone’s ironic expectations for him.As much as I was a tad disappointed by Fallout – although I think that was one where the critical hype did impact my experience in the theater, because watching it later I enjoyed it much more – any year with a new Mission: Impossible movie is a good year.I’ve gotten sick of superhero movies but I’ll always love Batman so I’ll watch The Batman. Based on Reeves’ past movies which I enjoy, I feel like even though the trailer looks grim-dark that marketing might just be leaning into that.And is the trend all these older directors doing coming-of-age semi-autobiographical movies? Cause honestly I’m weirdly here for that.
Jackass 4 and Lightyear are the movies I’m anticipatin’…
That is . . . disheartening.
You want disheartening? Don’t forget Top Gun 2!
The fact that this even exists is like a real life version of that Simpsons gag Star Trek XII: So Very Tired. I just don’t see any plausible way Tom Cruise’s character can still be a pilot. Unless they don’t set it now but take Cruise’s youthful appearance to allow a sequel set closer in time to the original.
From the header pic, I thought this looked like a gritty Jesus movie.JESUS IS RISEN! And boy, is he pissed.
Am I the only one who thinks the plot is basically Conan the Barbarian?
Im here for the sci fi, horror, and thrillers. I cannot fucking stand new Batman bullshit. I also generally dislike Stephen King. Black Panther is meh for me personally as well. I only really genuinely like Thor out of all the Marvel shit, so I’m hoping it will be good.Most excited for Everything, Everywhere, All at Once. Absolutely gang busters trailer. Most ready to rip to shreds Elvis. I’ve fucking hated Baz Luhrmann’s movies since I was a teenager. The teaser looks awful, and the trashy southern part of me is offended this little Hollywood twat is even approaching our beautiful blue eyed boy. I don’t actually gaf about Elvis, but this is bringing it out in me.
The fact that The Killers of The Flower Moon is not on this list and Bob’s Burgers is shows what a bunch of dopes they have blogging on this site. Pathetic.
Oh shit, new Todd Field?! Finally.
DC is ready!
Am I the only one referring to “The Northman” as “The True Blood Prequel” in my head?
Re: Kimi – by Blow Out, did you mean Blow-Up?
Bob’s Burgers movie? Helloooo reason to keep existing!
Who’s going to miss the voice actor for Jimmy Pesto? Easily replaceable. Also, Elvis has an undeniable place in music history, but he was a racist and a plagiarist, I wonder if they’ll address that.
Kimi is ‘Blow Out for the age of Covid’? Has anyone at the AVclub seen The Conversation?