The most highly-anticipated movies of 2024

THE year 2024 promises to be tricky and could go down either very well or very badly as far as the movie business goes.

Given the fact the bar was set rather low after last year’s slew of disastrous outings, I have decided to look at it as the glass half full.

I prefer to view the next couple of months with optimism rather than dread.

Before I give my take on the year’s most highly anticipated outing, I wish to state that these picks are solely based on how excited I am to see them and, as such, this is a personal selection.

The sequels and spin-offs

I couldn’t settle for just one movie here and decided to categorise my selection as the highly anticipated sequels and spin-offs.

Ordinarily, I am not a big fan of sequels and spin-offs, as I view them as nothing more than lazy attempts to milk as much money from successful movie releases.

However, what then sets these films apart is the nostalgia effect — in the instance of films like “Gladiator 2”, “Gremlins 2” and “Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F” — and the room certain selections have for storytelling.

“Gladiator” and “Gremlins” are widely considered classics, and I doubt if Hollywood would sanction their belated sequels if the final product is anything other than good to great.

Contrary to popular belief, “Gladiator 2” will focus on Lucius, who is the son of Maximus’ love Lucilla.

Those over the age of 40 will remember that Russel Crowe’s character Maximus died at the end of the first movie and, as such, there will be no cinematic resurrections here.

The film, together with the Gremlins sequel, is still in post-production and will likely be released at the end of the year barring any delays.

When it comes to “Transformers One”, it is a prequel set in Cybertron and focuses on the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron.

The two have a love/hate relationship which has never really been told on the big screen, anyway and it will be interesting to see this story will be treated.

The hope is that we will see how this relationship started, evolved and then disintegrated.

The film has a September 13 release date and a great cast that includes Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry in the lead voice roles of a young Optimus Prime and Megatron.

One does not need a reason beyond Eddie Murphy returning to his roots as Axel Foley in the belated sequel of the Beverly Hills Cop franchise.

“Dune: Part Two” (March 1)

The jury is still out on how I feel about the movie Dune as I refused to latch onto the bandwagon and give this epic sci-fi glowing reviews.

However, the first installment did enough to pique my interest as it ticked all the right boxes in that it introduced us to the main plot and key characters.

It also did a decent job of setting up the numerous stories for the next film, and there were a couple of noteworthy performances.

More Zendaya (Chani) and Timothee Chalamet (Paul) putting up a solid performance should be the difference between a hit or miss for this flick.

“Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” (May 23) and “Ballerina” (Post-production)

Of the films on this list, these two have more riding against them than any other release that will come out this year.

The problem with these two films is that they are riding way too much on the successes of their predecessors but will lack the star power, great direction and magic.

“Ballerina” is touted as a spin-off of the hugely popular and masterpiece that was the “John Wick“franchise, while “Furiosa: a Mad Max Saga” will centre of the scene-stealing exploits of Charlie Theron’s Imperator Furiosa.

The huge shadow cast by Keanu Reeves (John Wick) and Theron will hang on the work of Ana de Armas and Anya Taylor-Joy respectively.

Still, the earlier works were so good that there are plenty of reasons to be excited.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (post-production)

The MonsterVerse is still to get into its stride after sober introductions that were the largely forgettable — “Godzilla” and “Kong: Skull

Island”. However, it appears that there is still some life left in this fledging movie franchise.

“Godzilla v Kong” back in 2021 did enough to resurrect the monster-orientated movie franchise, and the series “Monarch: Legacy of Monsters” has added another layer to it.

I am five episodes into the new television series, and I believe that giving Monarch a backstory will do wonders for the franchise going forward. For those not in the know, Monarch is a secret organisation that was primarily made to study and understand monsters like “Godzilla and Kong” that have wreaked havoc on earth.

The show focuses on its origins and presumably descent into chaos and should offer some context into the organisation’s interests in the movie. The first “Kong and Godzilla” collaboration was a solid outing that was tarnished only by the shoddy CGI, however, that will be fixed in the next installment slated for a late 2024 release.

“Deadpool 3” (July 26)

Nothing much has been released on the plot details of the third installment of Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool movies except that Hugh Jackman will reprise his role as Wolverine.

That important bit of information was all that was needed to break the internet and build up this movie as by far the most highly anticipated movie of 2024.

The latest coming from the Deadpool trilogy front is that the film will have a direct link into the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Owen Wilson’s Morbius are on the cast sheet.

Their involvement remains a mystery but Jackman’s inclusion, the movie getting a R-rating and Reynolds’ Deadpool character finally joining the MCU are more than enough reasons to be excited.

Hopefully, Marvel will drop us a trailer sooner rather than later and give us something to chew on before the film’s release in July.