Let’s start by looking at early summer, and covering the most eagerly anticipated new film releases of the next couple of months.

Forget Netflix and your other streaming packages, it’s all happening at the Cinema this year: there are some crackers coming up!

June 2023

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

Directed by: Joaquim Dos Santos

Starring: Shameik Moore, Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae

Opening on: June 2, 2023

The Oscar-winning animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse was a big hit with critics and audiences, and Across the Spider-Verse was one of the most anticipated of 2022… until it got moved to 2023. Shameik Moore will voice Miles Morales again, with Hailee Steinfeld’s Gwen Stacy and Oscar Isaac’s Miguel O’Hara (aka Spider-Man 2099) joining him. 

We also know that Issa Rae is set to voice Jessica Drew (aka Spider-Woman), and it’s likely that Jake Johnson’s Peter Parker will be back as well. The first trailer didn’t give us a whole lot more about the actual story of the film, but it revealed a whole slew of Spider characters Miles will come into contact with.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

Directed by: Steven Caple Jr.

Starring: Ron Perlman, Anthony Ramos, Peter Cullen, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Velez

Opening on: June 9, 2023

The Transformers franchise takes another step back in time after the 1980s-set Bumblebee, taking viewers back to the mid-’90s as a pair of archaeologists stumble into a three-way conflict between different factions of Transformers. 

The film is loosely based on the Beast Wars storyline and directed by Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II), with Peter Cullen reprising his role as the voice of Optimus Prime and people like Ron Perlman, Anthony Ramos, and Dominique Fishback joining the cast.

Elemental (2023)

Directed by: Peter Sohn

Starring: Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie

Opening on: June 16, 2023

The latest offering from Pixar takes place in a city whose residents belong to the elements of fire, water, land, and air, where one fiery woman forms a friendship with a watery man. We don’t know much else about the story, but the film is directed by Peter Sohn, who also helmed 2015’s The Good Dinosaur.

The Flash (2023)

Directed by: Andy Muschietti

Starring: Ezra Miller, Ben Affleck, Sasha Calle, Billy Crudup, Michael Keaton

Opening on: June 16, 2023

Multi-verses were all the rage in 2022, and this movie looks to be DC’s contribution to the trend. Like a lot of the films on this list, we don’t yet know anything about the story, but the casting of Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne is either a super meta stunt or a big hint as to what we’ll see. 

There are rumours that the plot will follow the “Flashpoint” storyline from the comics, in which case, yes, expect some crossover shenanigans.

Asteroid City (2023)

Directed by: Wes Anderson

Starring: Jason Schwartzman, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Tom Hanks, Jeffrey Wright, Bryan Cranston, Ed Norton, Adrien Brody, Liev Schreiber, Margot Robbie, Steve Carell

Opening on: June 23, 2023

Wes Anderson has gathered another ridiculously star-studded ensemble cast for his latest film, a period comedy set in 1955 about the students and parents at a Junior Stargazer convention. In other words, this might be the most Wes Anderson-y Wes Anderson movie yet.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023)

Directed by: James Mangold

Starring: Harrison Ford, Antonio Banderas, Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook

Opening on: June 30, 2023

For the first time ever, a person not named Steven Spielberg is helming an Indiana Jones film. James Mangold (Walk the Line) directs this long-awaited follow-up to 2008’s Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which boasts turns by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Antonio Banderas, and, of course, Harrison Ford.

July

Insidious: The Red Door (2023)

Directed by: Patrick Wilson

Starring: Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne, Ty Simpkins, Andrew Astor, Hiam Abbass

Opening on: July 7, 2023

Insidious franchise star Patrick Wilson makes his feature directorial debut with this fifth instalment, which takes place a decade after Insidious 2 and focuses on the Lambert family’s older son Dalton (Ty Simpkins), who is terrorised by his family’s demons while away at college. 

In addition to Wilson and Simpkins, Rose Byrne and Andrew Astor also reprise their roles to complete the Lambert family.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning, Part One (2023)

Directed by: Christopher McQuarrie

Starring: Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Vanessa Kirby, Henry Czerny, Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, Shea Whigham, Esai Morales

Opening on: July 14, 2023

This was the slot originally reserved for Mission: Impossible 8, but with COVID being what it is, we’re now getting M: I 7 in 2023 and M: I 8 in 2024. 

In any case, when this movie hits theatres, Tom Cruise will have played Ethan Hunt for a whopping 27 years. Where does the time go? This instalment brings back familiar franchise faces like Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Czerny, and Vanessa Kirby, with Esai Morales playing the primary villain.

Barbie (2023)

Directed by: Greta Gerwig

Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling

Opening on: July 21, 2023

After her stellar adaptation of Little Women, director Greta Gerwig is back with this high-concept original (co-written with Noah Baumbach), which chronicles the most famous doll ever (Margot Robbie) as she’s banished from Barbie Land and introduced to our world.

Oppenheimer (2023)

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, Josh Hartnett, Benny Safdie

Opening on: July 21, 2023

Christopher Nolan’s buzzed-about biopic on physicist and “father of the atomic bomb” J. Robert Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy in the titular role, as well as Emily Blunt and Matt Damon. 

Like virtually all of Nolan’s films, the IMAX-shot pic should be taken on the biggest screen possible.

Haunted Mansion (2023)

Directed by: Justin Simien

Starring: Rosario Dawson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jared Leto, Owen Wilson, Tiffany Haddish, Danny DeVito, LaKeith Stanfield, Winona Ryder, Dan Levy

Opening on: July 28, 2023 (formerly August 11, 2023)

Disney’s first attempt at a feature film adaptation of their Haunted Mansion theme park ride was something of a notorious flop, but that was 20 years ago, so why not try again? 

This time around, the story centres on a single mother (Rosario Dawson) who moves into the titular mansion with her son, and then enlists the help of a priest, a paranormal investigator, a psychic, and a history professor to cleanse their new home of evil spirits.

Check back next month when we’ll cover the rest of this Summer’s new movie extravaganzas. In the meantime, enjoy your popcorn!

Written by Mark Murphy, Film Director