The 25 best 2024 movies, from Nightbitch to Anora and Emilia Pérez
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There's no doubt about it: the 2024 movies game has been strong.
There's been something for everybody. We got a nostalgic sequel in Beetlejuice 2, a Mad Max prequel, Jodie Comer's turn as a biker chick in The Bikeriders and Lady Gaga's entrance into the Joker movie universe. And that's not all.
Plus, the release date and trailer for this tale of trailblazing women of color during World War II.
Kristen Stewart stuns in Love Lies Bleeding, while Scream queen Mikey Madison stars as a sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch in Anora. Kate Winslet's Lee biopic – where she plays a real-life feminist hero of a WW2 photographer – is unmissable, as is Luca Guadagnino's sexy Challengers, starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor.
From Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo's Wicked to Nightbitch and the incredible Emilia Pérez, here's a rundown of all the best 2024 movies that you need to add to your watchlists (or re-watchlists) now.
Kerry Brown/NetflixJoy
Starring Thomasin McKenzie, Bill Nighy and James Norton, Joy tells the story of the pioneering team who worked and fought for the scientific project that brought us IVF. It explores the social stigma that the team – and the women who participated in the experiments – faced, as well as the amazing impact such work continues to have on women and families today.
The Substance
Perhaps not the best movie of 2024 but certainly one that began many, many conversations. It explores beauty standards and the stigma around ages, seeing Demi Moore's Elisabeth, who takes a black market drug that will create a “younger, better” version of herself. Enter Margaret Qualley's Sue. It's a body horror, alright.
©Searchlight Pictures/Courtesy Everett CollectionNightbitch
Amy Adam is amazing in the movie adaptation of the novel by Rachel Yoder, which explores a woman's struggle with motherhood and leans into her more feral instincts – leading her to turn into a dog. It's also great on the complicated and sexist dynamics of parenting for heterosexual couples. Lots of food for thought.
Nightbitch is out in cinemas now.
NetflixEmilia Pérez
This one set a new record for Golden Globe nominations. Starring Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez and Karla Sofia Gascón, this musical movie tells the story of a Mexican cartel drug lord who recruits a lawyer to help him fake his own death and seek out gender affirming surgery, to start a new life as Emilia Pérez.
Courtesy Everett CollectionAnora
A serious awards season frontrunner, Anora is something of a Cinderella story, with a few twists. It tells the story of Ani, a Brooklyn-based sex worker who marries the son of a Russian oligarch, Ivan. When they hear of this, Ivan's family descend on the newly-wed couple to try and annul the marriage. Will love, and the relationship, prevail?
Anora is out in cinemas now.
FlixPix / Alamy Stock PhotoWicked
The movie adaptation of the beloved Oz spinoff musical, starring Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Michelle Yeoh, Jeff Goldblum and Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey, took over our entire minds for weeks. Part 2 is coming in 2025.
Wicked is out in cinemas now.
©Paramount/Courtesy Everett CollectionGladiator II
Set over twenty years after the events of Gladiator, this much-awaited sequel sees Normal People and Aftersun star Paul Mescal take a leading role as Lucius, the grandson of Marcus Aurelius, played by the late Richard Harris in the original film. After soldiers led by General Marcus Acacius (Pedro Pascal), Lucius vows to fight as a gladiator. Sound familiar?
Courtesy Everett CollectionLove Lies Bleeding
Starring Kristen Stewart and Katy M O'Brian, Love Lies Bleeding tells a crazy story of two young lovers, Lou and Jackie, who meet and fall in love. Lou (Stewart) manages a gym while Jackie is a budding bodybuilder en route to her next competition. Trouble strikes when the couple get pulled into the murky deeds of Lou's family, who are involved in all kinds of crime.
Netflix/Courtesy Everett CollectionHit Man
You can't go wrong with a bit of Glen Powell at the moment. Fresh off the back of starring in Anyone But You alongside Sydney Sweeney, in Netflix's Hit Man Glen stars as a professional killer Gary Johnson, who breaks protocol to help a woman escape an abusive partner. Trouble is this: he starts to fall for her.
Metro Goldwyn Mayer PicturesChallengers
Challengers features superstar Zendaya, as well as Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist – it's also directed by Call Me By Your Name's Luca Guadagnino, so you know it's going to be a good'un. Zendaya plays Tashi Donaldson, a tennis pro who ends up managing her fellow tennis pro husband's career after an injury. But there's more to the story.
Firebrand
Alicia Vikander plays Katherine Parr, King Henry VIII's final wife, as she navigates marriage and finding her place in the royal court. Intriguingly, Jude Law plays the scoundrel King. We see a bit more than the history books have ever shown us about Parr, how she found her power and helped prepare her stepdaughter Elizabeth to become Queen.
Lee
This one's a seriously star-studded one and not one to be missed – think Kate Winslet, Josh O'Connor, Andy Samberg, Marion Cotillard, Alexander Skarsgård and Andrea Riseborough. It follows the incredible story of photographer Elizabeth 'Lee' Miller (played by Winslet), a fashion model who went onto become a war correspondent for Vogue during World War II.
Universal PicturesThe Bikeriders
Atsushi NishijimaPoor Things
Based on the novel by Alasdair Grey, Poor Things marked the second collaboration of director Yorgos Lanthimos and actress Emma Stone after 2018's The Favourite. In the visually-daring film, Stone plays Bella, a young woman who learns she was created in a scientific experiment — although she has the body of a grown woman, she has the brain of a newborn. Its fresh take on the coming-of-age story forced us all to reconsider what it means to be a woman. With bold performances from Stone and Mark Ruffalo and an other worldly, candy coloured steampunk design, this film is not to be missed.
Atsushi NishijimaKinds of Kindness
The next offering from Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, incidentally starring Emma Stone once again. The director told The Guardian that the movie is “set in the US – three different stories, with four or five actors who play one part in each story, so they all play three different parts.” Margaret Qualley, Willem Defoe, Jesse Plemons, Hunter Schafer, Hong Chau and Joe Alwyn star alongside Stone.
Gilbert CarrasquilloBlitz
A World War II drama directed by Steve McQueen, Blitz takes an intimate look at the bombings in London. The cast features the likes of Saorise Ronan (Lady Bird, Little Women), Harris Dickinson (Triange of Sadness), Paul Weller and Stephen Graham (Snatch).
Ronan plays the mother of a young boy who is evacuated to the countryside during the war – he escapes, though, and he journeys back home his mother searches for him.
McQueen is one of the most exciting directors around — his series Small Axe that explored the lives of Black Londoners was one of the best things to come out of 2020, so we have no doubt Blitz will be just as remarkable.
AJ Pics / Alamy Stock PhotoBeetlejuice Beetlejuice
Chiabella JamesBob Marley: One Love
Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley was one of the all-time greats. His music not only transformed the music industry but spurred a movement inspired by the ideas of love, understanding and togetherness. Biopic One Love explores his life and career, starring Kingsley Ben-Adir (who recently graced our screens as one of the many Kens in Barbie) as Marley, Lashana Lynch (No Time to Die, The Woman King) as his wife, and James Norton (Happy Valley) as his producer.
INSTAR Images LLC / Alamy Stock PhotoIF
An entirely adorable and star-studded film by John Krasinski, IF (which stands for imaginary friends) tells the story of a young girl who discovers she can see people's imaginary friends who have been abandoned by the children they helped. IF stars Ryan Reynolds as well as John himself and the voice talents of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Steve Carrell, Vince Vaughn, Emily Blunt, Awkwafina, Matt Damon… the list goes on!
Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoTwisters
