Movies That Will Blow Everyone Away In 2022 And Beyond

Once upon a time, we could count on summer movie season to deliver all the biggest films. Of course, now that "season" seems to be a year-round thing. Granted, 2020 threw a wrench into Hollywood's plans, but it seems that the film industry is finally back in business.

That's especially true if you look at the upcoming projects that studios have to offer. Across the next several years, we can expect continuations of beloved franchises, intriguing reboots, and years-in-the-making dream projects that are bound for box office glory. So, prepare to get super psyched for the biggest films arriving in 2022 and beyond.

Updated on July 5, 2022: Whether you're going to the theater or streaming from home, there's no shortage of awesome movies on the way. And as a result, we've updated this list to keep you current on all the comedies, action flicks, and horror films in the works. From release dates to cast and crew info, here's the latest on all the movies that will blow you away in the coming years.

While the events of "Avengers: Endgame" seemed to signal the end of the careers of both Iron Man and Captain America in the MCU, one other franchise from the pre-"Avengers" days still has a few things left to say. Yes, Thor is returning to his solo series once again for a fourth installment, "Thor: Love and Thunder. "

Marvel Studios made the announcement at San Diego Comic Con 2019, having already confirmed that "Thor: Ragnarok" helmer Taika Waititi would be back as both writer and director for the film. Chris Hemsworth will return in the title role alongside Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, who is set to spend the movie searching for her queen. Then there was an even bigger surprise: Natalie Portman, after walking away from the MCU following "Thor: The Dark World," will also be back, reprising her role as Jane Foster. And what's more, Jane will get to pick up Mjolnir this time around, signaling an adaptation of the 2010s comic book saga in which Foster got to become the new Thor. 

They'll all be up against a truly formidable foe in the form of Christian Bale as Gorr the God Butcher. But at least they'll have some support from the Guardians of the Galaxy, as Star-Lord and his crew are going to show up. You can also expect to see Russell Crowe make an appearance as the Greek god Zeus, and we'll also get cameos from the likes of Matt Damon, Luke Hemsworth, Sam Neill, and Melissa McCarthy. The jam-packed "Thor: Love and Thunder" arrives July 8, 2022.

Announced without a title back in the fall of 2020, "Nope" was revealed as the name of Oscar winner Jordan Peele's third feature in the summer of 2021, along with a cryptic poster that featured a rain cloud with a triangle banner one might see at a used car lot stringing out behind it. We still don't know the full significance of that image, but thanks to the film's Super Bowl trailer in February of 2022, we do have a few more disturbing images to go with it now.

"Nope" packs an all-star cast –- including Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steve Yeun –- and Peele's attention to creepy detail will take us into a still-mysterious story involving a ranching family who's been involved in the motion picture world since its inception. When we meet them, they're touting their experiences as Black horse trainers in Hollywood, but their lives are soon upset by a very mysterious event. In the trailer, the event takes the form of power outages, lights in the sky, strange hands reaching out, and other phenomena both terrifying and fascinating. Those images –- along with the teasing question "what's a bad miracle?" –- are basically all we have to go on at this point, but that just makes "Nope" more alluring. We'll finally get the answers when the film hits theaters July 22, 2022.

After spending several years deeply embedded in the world of Marvel Studios, releasing mega-blockbusters in the MCU, directors Joe and Anthony Russo and writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely have the genre clout to basically take on any projects they want. Lately, they've been keeping busy with non-superhero action films, and the latest one, "The Gray Man," will arrive in 2022.

Based on the novel of the same name by Mark Greaney, "The Gray Man" follows a CIA agent who becomes a fugitive when the agency betrays him. On the run from his former allies, he's targeted by another master spy for what the first trailers reveal to be a cat-and-mouse chase around the world, stacked with awesome action set pieces and impressive stunt work. Greaney has since written 10 more novels in the "Gray Man" series, so there's plenty of franchise potential here, and the cast is absolutely stacked. Ryan Gosling stars in the title role of Court "The Gray Man" Gentry, while Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jessica Henwick, Billy Bob Thornton, and more fill out the ensemble. Markus and McFeely co-wrote the screenplay with Joe Russo, and both Russo brothers are back in the director's chair.

"The Gray Man" will hit select theaters on July 15, 2022 before making its way to Netflix on July 22.

It's a very good time for high-concept action movies featuring major stars, whether we're talking about the world of "John Wick" or the Bob Odenkirk-starring "Nobody." "Bullet Train," the next film from "John Wick" and "Atomic Blonde" alum David Leitch, is another showcase for that kind of filmmaking, boasting a killer story hook, a stacked cast, and what promises to be some of the best action you'll see on the big screen in the coming years.

Based on the Kotaro Isaka novel, the film will follow a group of assassins who all happen to be taking a trip on the same Japanese bullet train. As the journey goes on, they find that their respective assignments have some unexpected connections, and the resulting clashes will present a great opportunity for some fun, close-quarter fight scenes.

The cast of the film is led by none other than Brad Pitt, who used to employ Leitch as his stunt double back in the "Fight Club" days, but Pitt is far from the only major star involved in the production. "Bullet Train" has a jam-packed cast that also includes Joey King, Sandra Bullock, Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Andrew Koji, Michael Shannon, Lady Gaga, Hiroyuki Sanada, and more. The film launched production during the pandemic, wrapped shooting in the spring of 2021, and will arrive July 29, 2022.

We've seen the Predator fight special operations troops in the jungles and in the cities, we've seen it invade Los Angeles, and we've even seen it fight the Xenomorph (twice). We know the Predator will endure. At this point, it's always just a question of where we'll see it next, which probably meant a prequel film was always inevitable. Now, that prequel is finally on its way.

In November 2021, 20th Century Studios finally revealed that "10 Cloverfield Lane" director Dan Trachtenberg's long-developing "Predator" project was indeed a prequel, and they finally gave it a title: "Prey." Set many years before the original film, "Prey" will follow what happens during the Predator's apparent first trip to Earth, when the creature runs into a Comanche woman, Naru (Amber Midthunder), who's trained to be a warrior and will take on the alien hunter on behalf of her people.

The stripped-down approach to the classic sci-fi action franchise will hit Hulu on August 5, 2022.

Almost immediately after "Knives Out" rose to become a major mystery hit over the 2019 holiday season, writer/director Rian Johnson began talking about potential plans for a sequel. Those plans took very solid — and very ambitious — shape in the spring of 2021, when Netflix signed on to a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars that would set Johnson and company up for two "Knives Out" sequel films at the streaming giant. With the backing of Netflix and a lot of goodwill built up from the first film, Johnson set to work and began building a predictably stacked cast.

While the first "Knives Out" film boasted an impressive roster of talent that included Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Ana de Armas, and others, only Daniel Craig is expected to return from the first film, reprising his role as private detective Benoit Blanc to take on yet another mystery. The nature of that mystery remains unclear, although we know at least some of the film has been shot in Greece. Plus, the ensemble Johnson's building to populate the new story is arguably more impressive than the one from the first film. In the first half of 2021, the production added some major stars, including Dave Bautista, Edward Norton, Janelle Monae, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick, and Madelyn Cline to its cast, ahead of a production start later in the year.

The "Knives Out" sequel — titled "Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery" — doesn't have a firm release date yet, but when it finally hits Netflix sometime during holiday season 2022, it might just be the all-star mystery to end all other all-star mysteries.

When it comes to Stephen King, everything old is always eventually new again. The horror author's enduring popularity has produced a fresh adaptation boom in recent years, and the latest project to come out of that boom is a new take on "Salem's Lot," his vampire novel that was originally adapted as a miniseries in 1979 (pictured) and then re-adapted for TV again in 2004.

This time around, the book –- which follows writer Ben Mears as he returns to his title hometown just as a vampire sets up shop and begins to take over -– will get the feature film treatment for writer and director Gary Dauberman, whose previous horror hits include "The Nun" and "Annabelle Comes Home." To fill out the ensemble cast within the town, Dauberman has assembled an all-star roster that includes Lewis Pullman as Ben, Makenzie Leigh as his love interest Susan Norton, Pilou Asbæk as the vampire's servant Richard Straker, and John Benjamin Hickey as Father Callahan, along with Alfre Woodard, William Sadler, and Spencer Treat Clark.

The new vision of one of Stephen King's most terrifying novels begins when "Salem's Lot" hits theaters September 9, 2022.

After "Halloween" proved to be a massive horror hit in the fall of 2018, Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions announced that the sequel would form the first part of a trilogy focusing on the ongoing battle between Michael Myers and Laurie Strode. After a pandemic delay of approximately a year, the second film, "Halloween Kills," arrived in October of 2021 and established a frightening new status quo for Michael and Laurie, setting the stage for "Halloween Ends" to arrive in the fall of 2022.

At this point, we still don't know very much about "Halloween Ends," but director David Gordon Green has offered a couple of tantalizing details. For one thing, the film will feature a time jump to the present day, after both "Halloween" and "Halloween Ends" were set over the course of Halloween night, 2018. That means four years will have passed since we last caught up with Laurie and Michael, and all sorts of things could have happened in the meantime. Plus, Green has made it clear that, as far as he's concerned, the story is over with the aptly named "Halloween Ends," which means we should expect a fiery, bloody conclusion.

"Halloween Ends" is in theaters October 14, 2022.

For more than a decade now, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson has been circling a superhero movie while he's moved through blockbuster after blockbuster, cementing his place as one of the biggest action stars of his generation. Soon, he'll finally make his big-screen super-debut after years of development and teasing.

In the spring of 2022, after several pieces of teaser footage, Johnson finally revealed the first trailer for the film, which will center him as the title character — a kind of dark mirror of the superhero we met in "Shazam!" Chosen to wield the Shazam powers ages before Billy Batson, Adam's power was corrupted when he received it, but that doesn't stop him from becoming a kind of antihero in his own right. Introduced as a villain in comics, Black Adam has become a much more complex figure over the years, and it looks like Johnson's film will embrace that.

Plus, the trailer showed off our first look at the big-screen debut of the heroes of the Justice Society of America, first announced as major players in "Black Adam" back in 2020. The film will feature Noah Centineo as Atom Smasher, Aldis Hodge as Hawkman, Quintessa Swindell as Cyclone, and the great Pierce Brosnan as Doctor Fate. According to Deadline, Uli Latukefu of "Young Rock" fame will be showing up, and young actor Bodhi Sabongui has also been cast in a "secret" but "key role," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra ("Jungle Cruise"), "Black Adam" will swoop into theaters on October 21, 2022.

A sequel to "Black Panther" has been something Marvel Studios has been eager about ever since the first film rocketed to massive commercial and critical success in 2018. We've known pretty much ever since the original film's opening weekend that a follow-up film was coming, but in 2020, everything surrounding that particular sequel changed when its star, Chadwick Boseman, died at the age of just 43. That left a lot of lingering questions, and in December of 2020 Marvel Studios finally started to answer some of them.

During a Disney Investor Day presentation, Marvel Studios Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige announced that "Black Panther 2" would indeed still be moving forward under the leadership of director Ryan Coogler, but we shouldn't expect another actor to embody King T'Challa of Wakanda. Instead, we should prepare for a film that, according to Feige, will honor Boseman's memory while also "continue to explore the world of Wakanda." That's especially true now that we know the sequel will be titled "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever."

However it takes shape, "Wakanda Forever" is now set to hit theaters November 11, 2022.

It's been more than a decade since James Cameron released "Avatar," a massive sci-fi spectacle that eventually became the highest grossing film in history up to that point. Back when the first film was released, we were supposed to get a sequel within a few years. Then Cameron pushed the development back in order to advance filmmaking technology, then it was pushed back again ... and again ... and again.

Now, at last, an "Avatar" sequel is finally, officially on the way. Titled "Avatar: The Way of Water," the film will reunite original cast members Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, and others for a massive new adventure on the alien planet Pandora, showing us parts of that world we've never seen before. As the title suggests, we'll see much more of the planet's oceans this time around, picking up on Jake and Neytiri's adventures years after the first film, when they've had a child and set up a new life together. But that new life means new challenges, including the persistent threat of human intervention on Pandora and internal conflicts among the Na'vi people.

With a supporting cast that includes "Avatar" newcomers Kate Winslet, Jemaine Clement, Michelle Yeoh, and Edie Falco, "Avatar: The Way of Water" will finally hit theaters December 16, 2022.

In late 2018 and early 2019, Warner Bros. did a lot of work to inject some fun into its DC Comics Extended Universe. That effort began with "Aquaman," which was a massive box office hit over the 2018 holiday season, and then continued with "Shazam!," which arrived in early 2019 and attained acclaim in its own right. It never rose to the box office heights of "Aquaman," but the film's $364 million worldwide box office haul was solid for a film of its size. It was also apparently enough to greenlight a sequel.

Warner Bros. announced in late 2019 that a "Shazam!" sequel was on the way. Zachary Levi is set to return to the title role in the film, with writer Henry Gayden and director David F. Sandberg also set to return behind the camera. In 2020, the title was revealed to be "Shazam! Fury of the Gods." There's no word yet on exactly what the plot will be, but the original film set up plenty of opportunities for new foes, including the potential inclusion of Black Adam after his own film drops. But whether or not he appears, we know that Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu will be showing up as villains, playing sisters named Hespera and Kalypso. They're daughters of the god Atlas, which sets the stage for a colossal confrontation. Plus, Rachel Zegler of "West Side Story" will also play one of Atlas' daughters, although we're not sure if she's going to be Shazam's ally or enemy. 

"Fury of the Gods" is currently expected to arrive on December 21, 2022. The film debuted a first look, featuring behind-the-scenes footage and creature designs for various mythical figures, during DC FanDome 2021.

The folks at Warner Bros. have been working to put a "Batgirl" film together for several years, but it all really started to come together in 2021, when the film found its star with "In the Heights" breakout Leslie Grace. With Grace in front of the camera, "Birds of Prey" writer Christina Hodson taking on the script, and "Bad Boys for Life" directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah helming the film, "Batgirl" was off and running as a high-profile feature film project for the HBO Max streaming service.

And once Grace joined the cast, things started to get interesting rather quickly. After the film found the right actress to play Gotham City resident turned vigilante Barbara Gordon, "Batgirl" landed J.K. Simmons, who will reprise his "Justice League" role as Barbara's father, Commissioner Jim Gordon. Then it was revealed that Michael Keaton, who's already set to return as Bruce Wayne in "The Flash," will once again play Batman for "Batgirl." Things got even more interesting when "Doom Patrol" star Brendan Fraser joined the cast as the DC villain Firefly, and Ivory Aquino stepped up to play Alysia Yeoh, a close friend of Barbara Gordon's who will be the first trans character in a major superhero film.

"Batgirl" will arrive, with some serious star power, on HBO Max at some point in 2022.

Even before "Mad Max: Fury Road" arrived to melt our faces off in 2015, writer and director George Miller was contemplating another follow-up film in the "Mad Max" universe, including a story centered on Furiosa, the defiant warrior played in "Fury Road" by Charlize Theron.

Eventually, after several years of potential evolutions for the project, Warner Bros. announced in 2020 that Miller's next film would be "Furiosa," a prequel film focused on the title character's adventures in the years before "Fury Road." Because his heroine is younger this time around, Miller didn't cast Theron again and opted instead for "The Witch" and "Last Night in Soho" star Anya Taylor-Joy in the role. The supporting cast also includes Chris Hemsworth in a still-unknown part, along with English actor Tom Burke.

As for the plot, the official plot synopsis (via Collider) says, "As the world fell, young Furiosa is snatched from the Green Place of Many Mothers and falls into the hands of a great Biker Horde led by the Warlord Dementus. Sweeping through the Wasteland they come across the Citadel presided over by The Immortan Joe. While the two Tyrants war for dominance, Furiosa must survive many trials as she puts together the means to find her way home." We can expect the film to arrive May 24, 2024, provided there aren't any "Fury Road"-length production delays this time around.

Ask any group of longtime "Star Wars" fans what kinds of movies they'd like to see outside the main saga, and at least a handful of them will tell you they want a "Rogue Squadron" movie. The legendary band of starfighter pilots that included heroes Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles was a major part of the old "Star Wars" Expanded Universe, and now it seems set to be part of the new one.

Disney announced in December 2020 that "Wonder Woman" director Patty Jenkins will helm a "Rogue Squadron" feature film for Lucasfilm, and that it will be the next theatrical release in the "Star Wars" universe. In a video introducing the project, Jenkins described the movie as the fulfillment of a lifelong dream to make an amazing fighter pilot movie in honor of her father, a fighter pilot himself. Plot details are scarce, but we know the film will focus on "a new generation" of pilots in a "future era" of the "Star Wars" galaxy. We also know it will be written by Matthew Robinson, who penned "The Invention of Lying" and co-wrote "Love and Monsters" and "Edge of Tomorrow." 

While the release date was set for December 22, 2023, Jenkins is incredibly busy these days, and "Rogue Squadron" has been pulled from Disney's production schedule until further notice. Fingers crossed she'll get to visit the sci-fi world of X-wings soon enough.

In 2018, MGM decided it was time to bring the beloved video game franchise "Tomb Raider" back to the big screen with a new take that hewed closer to the more recent installments of the game series. Starring Alicia Vikander as Lara Croft, the film dove into Croft's first treasure hunt as she followed in the footsteps of her father. The film grossed $275 million worldwide, enough to set development of a sequel in motion.

In the fall of 2019 we thought we'd found out when we'd see that sequel. The studio set it for a March 19, 2021 release date, almost three years to the day after the first film, with Vikander set to return to her starring role as Lara Croft, and director Ben Wheatley attached to helm. But after some reshuffling that briefly saw the project removed from the calendar completely, it was announced in January of 2021 that "Lovecraft Country" showrunner Misha Green is now onboard as writer-director, though the film's development delays mean that it still doesn't have a firm release date.

Acclaimed writer/director Taika Waititi already has something of a history with "Star Wars." After success at Marvel Studios (another company under the Disney umbrella) with "Thor: Ragnarok," Waititi joined the group of directors recruited by Jon Favreau to helm the first season of the "Star Wars" live-action series "The Mandalorian," in which he also voiced the bounty hunter turned nanny droid IG-11.

Waititi must have made an impression on the Lucasfilm crew, because in May of 2020 the official "Star Wars" website announced that the director has signed on to make a new "Star Wars" movie for the company, which Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy reaffirmed during a Disney Investor Day event in December of 2020. Details on the project are still extremely scarce. We have no idea of the title, or the era, or which characters we might see, or even a potential release date. All we really know is that one of the most inventive genre directors working right now is making a "Star Wars" film, and that's good enough for now.

The earliest rumblings about Disney's purchase of Fox immediately sent waves of anticipation through Marvel fandom. By the time the deal was done, nerds everywhere were champing at the bit for any news about the future of the two major Marvel properties that could finally be folded into the MCU: the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. Apart from a few mentions, though, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige kept largely quiet about the future of the characters for some time.

Then came Disney's Investor Day presentation in December of 2020, when Feige announced that a "Fantastic Four" movie is on the horizon. Sadly, we still know very little about what this film — which will mark the first MCU appearance of the title team — will hold by the time we finally see it. And while Jon Watts — the filmmaker behind all three Tom Holland "Spider-Man" movies — was originally set to direct, he has since stepped down from the project. The movie currently remains a mystery, but we're excited to see where things go.

With the arrival of its streaming series on Disney+, Marvel Studios entered an intriguing transitional period in which new stories are set to emerge on the big screen after first taking root on the small screen. "WandaVision," for example, is set to continue its tale in some form via Wanda Maximoff's appearance in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and while we didn't know going in what "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" might do to the picture, we now have a much better idea: It's giving us a new Captain America movie. 

In April 2021, hours after the finale of "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier" arrived on Disney+, it was reported that the show's head writer, Malcolm Spellman, is developing a fourth "Captain America" film for Marvel Studios, which will presumably center around Sam Wilson as the newly installed version of the Sentinel of Liberty. We still know very little about what Spellman's film will cover, including exactly who will appear in it, but his work on the Disney+ series left us plenty of clues. We've got a new Captain America, a vengeful old Captain America in John Walker, a weapons dealer installed in the U.S. espionage community, the Winter Soldier still in the picture, and much, much more. It's not clear yet when this film will hit theaters, but it's a key piece of the Marvel puzzle worth keeping an eye on as we head into the next phase of the MCU. 

It's taken quite a while for Hollywood to adapt Tomi Adeyemi's bestselling fantasy novel "Children of Blood and Bone" into a feature film. In December 2020 during a Disney Investor Day presentation, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy announced that her studio would bring the novel to life. And at first, "Children of Blood and Bone" sounded like it would be a perfect fit for the company behind "Star Wars." After all, Adeyemi's novel tells the story of Zélie Adebola, who teams up with a rogue princess to fight a tyrannical monarchy and restore magic to the land where she lives. 

But eventually, there was drama behind the scenes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adeyemi wanted to write the screenplay, but Lucasfilm said no. The film was also allegedly moving too slow for the author, especially as Lucasfilm was spending most of its time on its various "Star Wars" projects. So "Children of Blood and Bone" said farewell to Lucasfilm and has found a new home at Paramount, where Adeyemi can now write the script. As for when we'll see the finished film, we have no idea. But we're sure it will be an epic fantasy and worth the wait.

For more than a decade, "Borderlands" has stood as one of the most addictive sci-fi shooters in the gaming world, combining crazy action with wild sci-fi designs and unpredictable storytelling. Now, at last, that universe is making the leap to the big screen courtesy of "Cabin Fever" and "The Green Inferno" director Eli Roth. The project was first announced in February 2020 as a loose adaptation of the games, with "Chernobyl" screenwriter Craig Mazin on board to draft the script. Having Roth, who has an eye for brutal genre storytelling, on board as director was exciting enough for some fans, but then he spent the better part of the next year filling out the cast, and things have just gotten more exciting from there. 

So, who's set to star in "Borderlands?" In May 2020, Cate Blanchett signed on to play the film's lead, Lilith, and as 2021 began, the production also revealed that comedian Kevin Hart was on board as Roland. Other stars soon followed, including Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Tannis and Jack Black as the robot icon Claptrap. "Borderlands" doesn't yet have an official release date, but the film finally kicked off production in April 2021, so hopefully that changes very soon. 

Sometimes movies can get you excited based on a single star and a one-paragraph plot description alone. That's the case with "Stay Frosty," a film that didn't hit our radar until May 2021 but has already landed on our must-see list, with very good reason.

Deadline reported on May 7, 2021 that Warner Bros. Pictures had just won a high-profile bidding war for the film's script, one from up-and-coming writer Tyler Marceca, and that the project had already landed "Extraction" director Sam Hargrave to helm it and the great Idris Elba to star. So, what's the project that attracted this much attention this quickly got to offer in the story department?

Elba will star as a man who survives a gunshot to the head, then wakes up with two major concerns in his life. The first, obviously, is that someone wants to kill him, but he's not sure who or why. The second is that it's the holiday season, and he needs to get home to see his son for Christmas. What follows is a kind of '80s action throwback piece that balances a hunt for an assassin with a home-for-the-holidays journey. It sounds like fun even without Elba in the lead, but with his star power attached, it could be the kind of thing that launches a franchise.

"Stay Frosty" doesn't yet have a release date, but hopefully by 2022, we'll know more about when we can expect it.

In the summer of 2019, Marvel Studios surprised fans everywhere during their Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con with the reveal that two-time Academy Award-winner Mahershala Ali had joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Blade. Ali will be the second actor, after Wesley Snipes, to portray the iconic "Daywalker" vampire hunter in live-action, and while it took two years to really get moving, the project is finally starting to take shape.

Deadline reported in July 2021 that director Bassam Tariq, best known for the film "Mogul Mowgli," has signed on to helm the upcoming new incarnation of "Blade." Though the studio was reportedly originally looking for a writer/director to lead the film, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige eventually decided to separate those duties. Stacy Osei-Kuffour, best known for her work on acclaimed TV series like "Hunters" and "Watchmen," is set to write the script for the film. Plus, acting legend Delroy Lindo ("Da 5 Bloods," "Get Shorty," "The Harder They Fall") has also been cast in the film.

Sadly, there's not much in the way of plot information about the film just yet nor do we have a firm release date reveal from Marvel. That said, the studio has two talented up-and-comers working behind the scenes, an Oscar-winning icon set to play a vampire hunter, and a veteran actor in a supporting role, so no matter when it comes out, we're stoked for this one.

When "Birds of Prey" arrived in the winter of 2020, it seemed to provide a couple of key ingredients for the future of the DCEU. The first, and most obvious, was a continued stepping stone for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn to grow and prosper in the universe, and the second was a whole new range of supporting characters who could steal scenes and presumably be spun off into their own films should the interest be there. Well, it took a little while, but the first of those potential spinoffs is finally on the way.

In August 2021, Collider reported that HBO Max is developing a "Black Canary" film starring Jurnee Smollett in the title role, returning as Dinah Lance after she originated the character's big-screen version in "Birds of Prey." Joining her on the project is Misha Green, who developed the acclaimed HBO series "Lovecraft Country," in which Smollett also starred.

As of this writing, there are no plot details available, so we don't yet know what the "Black Canary" movie will deal with or where in the DCEU timeline it'll pick up with the character, but the project joins an ever-growing list of HBO Max projects designed to tie into Warner Bros. theatrical releases for DC Comics characters. Among the other announced projects, we've got a Gotham City police drama tied to "The Batman," a "Peacemaker" series tied to "The Suicide Squad," and a "Batgirl" film that will reportedly feature the return of J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Jim Gordon.

In the summer of 2020, Netflix released "The Old Guard," a fantasy-action film based on the comic of the same name by Greg Rucka and Leandro Fernandez. The film promptly became one of the biggest hits the platform has ever seen. In a pandemic-stricken world where people couldn't safely visit movie theaters, the film — starring Charlize Theron as the leader of a band of immortal warriors — delivered the blockbuster-style action that audiences were craving at the time, and its success paved the way for a sequel.

After months of teasing throughout 2021, Netflix finally confirmed in August that a sequel to the film was indeed on the way, with a new director at the helm. Deadline reported that Victoria Mahoney, who's directed episodes of series like "Lovecraft Country" and "Power" and helmed the second unit for "Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker," has signed on to direct "The Old Guard 2." "The Old Guard" director Gina Prince-Bythewood announced at the same time that she elected to step aside from the sequel to focus on other projects, but she personally endorsed Mahoney's hire.

Theron and "The Old Guard" co-star Kiki Layne are both set to return for the sequel, along with Matthias Schoenaerts, Veronica, Ngo, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. Plus, in June of 2022, we learned that Uma Thurman and Henry Golding had joined the cast. The film will be written by Greg Rucka and co-writer David Ellison, but currently, "The Old Guard 2" does not yet have a firm release date.

Many years ago, writer/director Zack Snyder developed a pitch for a "Star Wars" film in the days before Disney purchased the Lucasfilm empire. He never got to make that movie, but the concept continued to grow and evolve. Now, thanks to Snyder's agreement with Netflix, we're going to get to see it as "Rebel Moon."

Directed by Snyder, who also co-wrote the film, "Rebel Moon" will marshal both an all-star cast and Snyder's knack for epic visuals to tell the story of a young woman tasked with finding warriors to defend a galactic colony in the far reaches of space against an evil regime. In February of 2022, Netflix shared the first concept art for the series, revealing its "Star Wars" influence, and the film also boasts an incredible cast. "Rebel Moon" is set to star Sofia Boutella, Ray Fisher, Charlie Hunnam, Djimon Hounsou, and Doona Bae in the leading roles. Deadline has also revealed that Cary Elwes, Corey Stoll, Michiel Huisman, and Alfonso Herrera will star in the pic.

Like Snyder's "Army of the Dead," "Rebel Moon" is the first installment in a planned franchise for Netflix. The film does not yet have a release date, but it's expected to begin production in 2022 for a release in 2023 or 2024.

Three decades ago, long before the superhero movie boom that's produced whole universes of heroes on the big screen, Disney delivered "The Rocketeer," a period adventure film about a young, high-flying adventurer battling Nazis with a jetpack he got by way of Howard Hughes. The film didn't get a massive reception when it was released in 1991, but time has been very kind to it, and "The Rocketeer" is now remembered as a classic of its era — one that's long overdue for a sequel.

In August 2021, Disney revealed that sequel might finally be on the way with "The Return of the Rocketeer," a Disney+ original film that's set to put the spotlight on a new version of the iconic hero. The new film, which doesn't yet have a firm release date, will be written by "Now You See Me" screenwriter Ed Ricourt, and it will follow a Tuskegee airman who becomes the new Rocketeer. Oscar nominee David Oyelowo ("Selma") is set to produce the film and may also end up starring. At this point, we have no idea how long it will take for "The Return of the Rocketeer" to show up on our screens, but it can't happen soon enough.

After scoring a hit with "The Invisible Man" for Universal and Blumhouse in early 2020, writer/director Leigh Whannell announced that his next project would be a new take on "The Woflman," reimagining that particular Universal monster for a new era. That was intriguing enough, but things got even more intriguing when it was revealed that Ryan Gosling had signed on for the title role in the project, giving a boost to a high-profile horror project before it had even made it to the full casting phase.

Since then, things have changed up a bit. Whannell has moved away from the project, and director Derek Cianfrance –- who directed Gosling in both "Blue Valentine" and "The Place Beyond the Pines" – has stepped in to direct. As for progress on the film itself, producer Jason Blum noted in the fall of 2021 that they're still working on getting the script in a place where Gosling is pleased enough with it to move forward. That means we probably won't see this film for another couple of years, but it's definitely worth keeping on your radar if you're a horror fan.

After the release of "Star Trek Beyond" in 2016, the legendary sci-fi franchise entered a kind of limbo on the big screen. The rise of the streaming service that would become Paramount+ led the studio to focus on new "Star Trek" TV series for the first time in several years, leaving the franchise's cinematic future in doubt.

For a while, it seemed that cinematic future might run through none other than Quentin Tarantino, as the "Pulp Fiction" director and "Star Trek" filmmaker J.J. Abrams announced a partnership to work together on the next film in the series. By 2020, though, Tarantino had backed away from the project in favor of other work, leaving the series once again in limbo even as shows like "Star Trek: Discovery" and "Star Trek: Picard" thrived on streaming.

Finally, in February of 2022, major "Star Trek" movie news arrived again. Paramount announced that Abrams would return to produce the fourth installment in the big-screen series that began in 2009, with offers out to the original cast –- including Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, and Karl Urban –- to return. It's not clear yet if each of the original stars will actually return, but the film already has a release date of December 23, 2023, so we'll know soon enough.

In 2020, the Oscars surprised movie lovers everywhere when they named Bong Joon-ho's Korean thriller "Parasite" the Best Picture of 2019, the first non-English film to earn that honor. The film's extraordinary success, after years of international acclaim for Bong, meant that virtually everyone was waiting to see what the filmmaker would do next. Now, two years later, he's picked his next project.

Deadline reported in January of 2022 that Bong's next film will be an adaptation of "Mickey7," a new novel by Edward Ashton published in February of 2022. The sci-fi story follows the title character, a regenerated human known as an "Expendable," sent on a dangerous expedition to explore an ice world, with many memories of his previous six lives intact. To make the whole package more enticing, Bong has reportedly cast Robert Pattinson, fresh off "The Batman," in the film's leading role. Deadline has also reported that Mark Ruffalo, Toni Collette, and Naomi Ackie of "The Rise of Skywalker" will be joining the project.

The project is still relatively new, so it's too soon to tell how closely the final film will stick to its source material. It's also not yet clear how soon we can expect to see it, but given that the project already has its star, there's a good chance we'll learn more soon.

The last "Deadpool" film came out in 2018, hot on the heels of the first R-rated adventure starring Ryan Reynolds as the Merc with a Mouth. The first two installments in the franchise set R-rated movie box office records and opened the door for superhero films and streaming series to exist beyond the PG-13 constraints of MCU-level storytelling. Then ... everything was put on pause.

A lot has happened since "Deadpool 2." Reynolds has gone on to work on numerous other projects that have kept him busy, and more importantly, Fox –- which previously distributed the character's movies –- was acquired by Disney, putting the character in potential MCU territory for his next outing. For a while, "Deadpool 3" was in serious doubt.

That changed in March of 2022, when director Shawn Levy was revealed as the film's director, reteaming with Reynolds after the one-two punch of "Free Guy" and "The Adam Project." "Deadpool" and "Deadpool 2" writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick are also back on the board for the film. Plus, Kevin Feige has confirmed (via Collider) the film would take place in the MCU and stay in R-rated territory. We don't know much else, but still, that's progress "Deadpool 3" didn't have not too long ago.

The last "Planet of the Apes" film arrived in 2017, when director Matt Reeves concluded a modern trilogy with "War for the Planet of the Apes." Back in 2019, we got word that "Maze Runner" filmmaker Wes Ball would be working on a new iteration of the franchise now that the rights have shifted from Fox over to Disney, but at the time, we didn't know much about what would come next or when to expect it. Now, we have some answers to at least some of those questions.

In March of 2022, current 20th Century Studios President Steve Asbell offered a very brief update to "Planet of the Apes" by noting that the studio is expecting a draft of Josh Friedman's script to arrive very soon. If that's the case, Asbell noted the film could enter production by "late summer" or "early fall" of 2022, which would put it on the release calendar for sometime in 2023 or 2024. Beyond that, we don't know much about what to expect. Ball has previously suggested that he's not doing yet another reboot of the "Apes" franchise, but it's hard to tell at the moment exactly what that means in terms of what timeline the film will follow or where in that timeline it'll pick things up. Now, though, we at least know there's movement.

Steven Spielberg remains a very busy filmmaker with a lot of potential projects on his plate. He's producing the next "Indiana Jones" film, he's working on a semi-autobiographical new movie about his childhood, and now it seems he's also returning to one of the great car chase icons of all time.

Deadline reported back in February of 2022 that Spielberg is attached to direct a new film starring the character Frank Bullitt, who Steve McQueen popularized in the action film "Bullitt" back in 1968. The new project is not a remake but an original story starring the character, which will be written by Spielberg's "The Post" screenwriter Josh Singer. Spielberg has reportedly been interested in the idea for quite a while, but he had to reach out to Steve McQueen's estate to get their blessing on the idea. McQueen's son and granddaughter are now signed on as executive producers on the project.

Beyond that, we don't really know much. The script still has to be written, so there's no clear timeline for when the film might actually release. We do know, though, that this is a chance for Spielberg to deliver some amazing car chase sequences, so it's worth getting excited early.

It's been 15 years since "I Am Legend," the post-apocalyptic hit that remains one of the high marks of Will Smith's blockbuster career. Talk of a sequel to the film, which featured Smith fighting to survive as the last human in a world where everyone else has transformed into monsters, dates back to at least 2012, but for a long time, nothing materialized.

That changed in March of 2022, when it was revealed that Smith and "Creed" star Michael B. Jordan are teaming up for a sequel to the film, which will reunite Smith with the original movie's co-writer, Akiva Goldsman. Goldsman is set to script the film, Smith will produce, and both Smith and Jordan will star in the next chapter of the saga. Given that Smith's character apparently died in the original film, it's not exactly clear how that next chapter will unfold, but now we know it's at least on the way.

The "I Am Legend" sequel does not yet have a release date.

In 2005, actor Robert Downey Jr. and writer/director Shane Black teamed up for "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang," a film still considered to be among the best work in both of their illustrious careers. They followed it up with "Iron Man 3," one of the most financially successful films in either of their careers. Now, they're set for an ambitious new collaboration. In February of 2022, Downey and Black announced that they're re-teaming for a new film starring Donald Westlake's legendary crime fiction character Parker. Black will co-write the screenplay and direct, while Downey will star as Parker, a character Westlake created under the pen name Richard Stark.

Parker has appeared in movies before, including 1967's "Point Blank" and 2013's "Parker," but he's never gotten a treatment quite this ambitious before. In addition to the first film, which will arrive from Amazon Studios, Black and Downey are set to produce a whole series of potential film and TV projects based on Westlake's novels.

The new Parker film doesn't have a release date yet, but you'll want to be on the lookout for this one.

The much-hyped origin story of the Clown Prince of Crime, Todd Phillips' "Joker" emerged as one of the most successful films of 2019, becoming the first R-rated movie to cross the $1 billion mark at the box office and earning 11 Oscar nominations and two wins along the way. All that success meant talk of a sequel was inevitable, but it took a while for the story to actually come together.

In June of 2022, Phillips posted the title page of a new script titled "Joker: Folie a Deux," essentially giving fans confirmation that he and star Joaquin Phoenix were set for a second installment in the "Joker" story. Just days later, the project picked up even more steam when it was reported that pop star and actress Lady Gaga was in negotiations to play the film's version of Harley Quinn. Reports of Gaga's involvement also revealed that "Folie a Deux" is developing as a musical sequel to the original film, generating even more interest in the project.

"Joker: Folie a Deux" does not yet have a release date, but all signs point to it becoming a powerhouse release in whatever year it eventually comes out.