The Most Exciting Movies In Spring/Summer 2023
Margot Robbie is fantastically plastic, Tom Cruise defies death (again), and Christopher Nolan takes on the atomic bomb.
Creed III March 3
Michael B. Jordan goes behind the camera for the first time, directing this follow-up, in which Adonis Creed’s boxing empire is threatened by a mysterious, very jacked figure from his past (Jonathan Majors).
65 March 10
Adam Driver leads this sleek sci-fi thriller, from the A Quiet Place cowriters and producer Sam Raimi, playing an astronaut who crash-lands on a planet that happens to be . . . Earth 65 million years ago, and that T. rex looks mighty hungry.
John Wick: Chapter 4 March 24
Keanu Reeves takes his unbeatable, dead-dog-avenging hitman gone rogue for another stylish spin in the fourth entry, roving from Berlin and Paris to New York City and Osaka, Japan.
The Super Mario Bros. Movie April 7
This fully animated adaptation of the video game hopes to erase any memory of the 1993 bomb Super Mario Bros. Chris Pratt voices Mario with an updated, not-so-Italian accent that’s already drawn criticism, while Luigi (Charlie Day), Princess Peach (Anya Taylor-Joy), Bowser (Jack Black), and others ride along in action that also apes the popular Mario Kart games.
Renfield April 14
The Nic Cageaissance is upon us, and this self-aware horror-comedy makes the most of it, with the actor in the role of the overbearing Count Dracula and Nicholas Hoult as the legendary vampire’s put-upon lackey.
Fast X May 19
The Fast & Furious family reunites, using whatever nitrous oxide they have left in the tank to face Charlize Theron’s big baddie and her secret weapon, Jason Momoa.
The Little Mermaid May 26
Disney remakes another beloved animated property into a live-action spectacle, casting Black singer Halle Bailey as mermaid princess Ariel. The underwater visuals are as dazzling as you might have hoped.
The Flash June 16
Every studio executive’s eyes will be on The Flash’s box office performance, as Warner Bros. Discovery desperately tries to save the $200 million-budgeted DC Comics tentpole from star Ezra Miller’s chaotic year of arrests and terrible publicity.
Asteroid City June 16
Never underestimate Wes Anderson’s powers with adult audiences, even if his meticulously arranged, patisserie-like aesthetic can get repetitive. His new comedy boasts an intriguingly epic premise: in 1955, a desert town’s Junior Stargazer convention is interrupted by world-shifting events. Anderson regulars and newcomers show up, including Tilda Swinton, Adrien Brody, Margot Robbie, and Tom Hanks.
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny June 30
At 80 years young, Harrison Ford looks to revive interest in his archaeology adventure franchise, after a mixed response to 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. In the fifth installment, Ford’s Indy is joined in a Space Race journey by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, and Mads Mikkelsen.
Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One July 14
The seventh M:I film may be the biggest, if the box office record-shattering success of Tom Cruise’s last movie, Top Gun: Maverick, is any indication. Hollywood’s most committed action star risked death (again) during filming of Dead Reckoning by driving a motorcycle off a cliff.
Barbie July 21
Director Greta Gerwig (with partner Noah Baumbach cowriting) swings to the mainstream with her candy-colored, winking, live-action take on the Mattel doll. Margot Robbie’s Barbie is exiled from Barbieland (which also features Ryan Gosling as a chiseled Ken) for being less than perfect and looks for flawed happiness in the human world.
Oppenheimer July 21
Christopher Nolan helms another original blockbuster, following scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer (a transformed Cillian Murphy) and his Manhattan Project team developing the atomic bomb. But the arrestingly apocalyptic visuals are likely to steal the show.
The Most Exciting TV Shows in Spring 2023
Political satire and scary AI infiltrate the season’s notable series premieres and returns.
True Lies March 1
James Cameron may be busy churning out Avatar sequels, but one of the director’s beloved 90s thrillers (and Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicles) is getting new life in prime time. The show’s espionage action revolves around married couple Harry (Steve Howey) and Helen Tasker (Ginger Gonzaga). CBS
Daisy Jones & The Six March 3
The 10-episode miniseries adapted from the book, with Reese Witherspoon executive producing, follows a fictional, conspicuously Fleetwood Mac-like ’70s rock band at their sex-and-drug-addled height. Fittingly, Riley Keough, daughter of Lisa Marie Presley and granddaughter of Elvis, stars. Amazon Prime Video
Perry Mason March 6
After a three-year hiatus, HBO is finally bringing back TV’s most undersung criminal defense lawyer (Emmy winner Matthew Rhys) for a second season. The adaptation of author Erle Stanley Gardner’s original character, not the old TV show, sinks into a dingy Great Depression-era Los Angeles whose grays and blues are as murky as its morals. HBO
Yellowjackets March 26
Showtime’s psychodrama earned critical raves and a fiendish cult audience when it premiered in 2021. Season 2 continues tracking the female high school survivors of a plane crash stranded in the woods and their present-day counterparts (including Christina Ricci), in a metaphor for cutthroat teen hierarchy. And it adds another cult favorite in Elijah Wood. Showtime
White House Plumbers March—DATE TBD
Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux lead the cast of this political drama miniseries, from Veep showrunner David Mandel, as E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, the would-be masterminds behind the Watergate scandal who accidentally sabotaged Nixon’s presidency. HBO
Mrs. Davis April 20
From Lost to HBO’s Watchmen, writer Damon Lindelof has proved to be a consistent, and consistently rewarding, hype magnet. His latest sci-fi series pits a nun (Betty Gilpin) against fearsome artificial intelligence for a faith-versus-tech showdown. Peacock
Fatal Attraction April 30
The ’80s infidelity thriller that put bunny boiling on the map gets rebooted in this streaming series, with Lizzy Caplan and Joshua Jackson in the roles once played by Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. Paramount+
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