With a new year comes new movies, and 2024 is going to be a particularly good year for action movies. There are a number of highly anticipated sequels in the pipeline, as well as a few original projects that are well worth keeping your eye on. Action fans may not have it quite as good as they did in the 1980s, but action is still alive and well in theaters. Here are the 10 best action movies we’re most excited about next year.
Dune: Part Two (March 1, 2024)
Following up on the masterful, Best Picture-nominated Dune, Dune: Part Two is set to pick up right where the first chapter of this saga left off. Director Denis Villeneuve chose to be very faithful to the original book in adapting this but used every ounce of his budget to build a world that felt entirely enveloping. Part Two maybe even more action-packed than the first installment, as Paul Atreides attempts to rally the Fremen to take back his home and take on the Harkonens.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (April 12, 2024)
Godzilla and Kong have finally gotten over their differences, and in Godzilla x Kong, it seems like they’re going to team up to take on a new threat. Adam Wingard, who directed Godzilla vs. Kong, will return to the director’s chair for this installment, which will star Dan Stevens alongside a slate of actors who also appeared in Godzilla vs. Kong. Whatever forces these two massive beasts to team up would have to be a pretty massive threat, but until we learn more, that threat is, for now, a mystery.
Civil War (April 26, 2024)
Alex Garland has spent much of his time writing in the world of science fiction (and made some of the best movies in the genre), but Civil War sees the director taking a much more grounded, realistic look at what the future might look like. The film is set in the United States in the near future and imagines a world in which a civil war has broken out within the country between a number of states that have seceded and the rest of the country. The movie looks action-packed and features a cast headlined by Kirsten Dunst, so it feels like a must-see even in spite of its all-too-plausible subject matter.
The Fall Guy (May 3, 2024)
One of the year’s only major action comedies, The Fall Guy stars Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt as a stunt man and director, respectively who are working on a movie together. Gosling’s character moonlights as a bounty hunter, and the two strike up a flirtation that may have some fairly serious consequences. Directed by David Leitch, one of the minds behind Deadpool and Atomic Blonde, the action in The Fall Guy seems likely to be riveting. Let’s hope the jokes are just as good.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (May 24, 2024)
Undoubtedly the most packed weekend of the summer movie season, May 24 sees the release of the first chapter in a new Planet of the Apes trilogy. The last trilogy was widely acclaimed, and this new one seems to be picking up years and years after the last installment. We’re not yet quite back to the point of the original 1968 film, but the Apes have built a much more advanced society, and humans are now no longer able to speak. The first trailer leaves much to the imagination, but it may be satisfying enough to know we’re back in one of the best franchises around.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (May 24, 2024)
By the time Furiosa hits theaters, it will have been almost a full decade since Mad Max: Fury Road was released and melted everyone’s brains. This prequel is set to follow Furiosa, Charlize Theron’s character from that film, in the years before she meets Max. While many of the details about this new film are still under wraps, the first trailer promises us a return to the desert madness and stunning visuals that defined the last installment. Even if it’s only half as good as Fury Road, it’ll be one of the year’s best films.
Ballerina (June 7, 2024)
John Wick may be on something of a hiatus, but there are still more stories to be told in the world of John Wick. Ballerina is a spin-off of the John Wick universe set at the Russian dance school we got a brief glimpse of in Parabellum. This film stars Ana de Armas as one of the assassins being trained at that school, and while details are scant, we also know that Keanu Reeves will be making at least a brief appearance. This film is set between Chapter 3 and Chapter 4, so who knows which other familiar faces might turn up.
Bad Boys 4 (June 14, 2024)
Bad Boys 4 Life was one of the few movies that had a chance to thrive in 2020, and now, four years later, the boys are back. Very little is known about this sequel, but as long as Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are involved, it will definitely be worth checking out. Bad Boys 4 Life was poorly named, given that it was the third installment in the franchise, but regardless of the title of this one winds up being, fans of the franchise seem guaranteed to show up.
Twisters (July 19, 2024)
Lee Isaac-Chong directed a quiet profound film in 2020 called Minari, and you wouldn’t think that would qualify him to make a sequel to Twister, but here we are. Starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, Twisters is being billed as a new chapter in this franchise, and while it’s unclear whether it has any connection to the previous film in its plot, we do know that it will be about a bunch of storm chasers. Past that, we’ll mostly just be riding the charisma of Edgar-Jones and Powell until we know more about the plot, but that charisma is nothing to sneeze at.
Gladiator 2 (November 22, 2024)
Paul Mescal may rise to a new level of stardom after he stars in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator 2. Details about the project are still largely under wraps, but Mescal seems like the perfect man to fill the shoes left behind by Russell Crowe. Whether this movie will have any connection to the first or simply be set in the same universe remains to be seen. What we know for sure, though, is that if Ridley is making another Gladiator movie, we should await it with anticipation.
No matter what kind of action movies you prefer, there are definitely some movies coming out in 2024 worth going to the theater for.
