Gotham City is swapped for Granite City in Sylvester Stallone’s latest action movie, this time back in the superhero genre with MGM and Universal Artists’ Prime Video original Samaritan. Stallone’s typical superhero stuff has been more sci-fi, like Demolition Man, Judge Dredd, and Guardians of the Galaxy 2, but this movie is as superhero genre as it gets, without being adapted from a comic. As a one-shot story in the realm of Unbreakable, The Crow, The Mask, The Shadow, Let Me In, Hancock, or even The Professional,Samaritan is the story of a world with only one superhero family. The twin sons of that family died in battle with each other years ago, but conspiracy theorists believe otherwise.
Every now and then a movie truly keeps you riveted to your seat. You can usually bank on a movie co-starring Ethan Hawke to be good. This year’s “coming of age, supernatural horror thriller” The Black Phone is much better than good. It’s the best movie I’ve seen in a few years of any genre. Following a brother in sister in a small Denver suburb in 1978 as the town is shocked by a criminal dubbed the Grabber, who is kidnapping and killing young boys, a few years before pictures of missing kids would be the subject of milk cartons across the nation. Based on a Joe Hill short story, the subject matter is not something audiences are expected to be comfortable with, and yet the handling of it, as well as the incorporation of supernatural elements, makes for a movie as stunning as David Fincher’s Zodiac, grounded so much in reality anyone who lived through the era will certainly find elements from their own memories as director Scott Derrickson delivers one of the finest re-creations of the 1970s ever put on film.
It’s that time of year again, time to take a look forward at what movies should be on your radar for 2022. We’re changing up this year’s preview by adding several trailers. Unlike in previous years, we have trailers for most of these movies. These are the genre films we think borg readers will want to know about to make their own checklists for the coming year. In all we pulled 60 movies from the hundreds of films that have been finalized or are in varying stages of final production and slated for next year’s movie calendar. Many of these will be more than familiar to you, as we’ve previewed some going back to 2019.
The biggest surprise is there aren’t a lot of surprises on the horizon, at least for big movies, like Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Thor: Love and Thunder, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Black Adam, Lightyear, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse, Halloween Ends, Top Gun: Maverick,Jurassic World: Dominion, a new Predator movie called Prey, and The Batman.Compare the below list to our 2021 list, 2020 list, 2019 list and even the 2018 list, 2017 list, 2016 list, 2015 list, or 2014 list, and you’ll see the studios continue moving genre content from the big screen to the small screen via streaming services. Hollywood hasn’t made its way back to full production mode yet since the pandemic risks aren’t over yet, and it’s beginning to look like TV will be the location most people watch their movies for the foreseeable future, if not permanently. What do the big movies have in common? They’re all sequels–and more remakes of movies, books, and TV shows are on the way.
First up, the top 15 movies expected in 2022 that don’t have an announced release date yet, followed by our annual month-by-month rundown of trailers. Grab your calendar and start making your plans–here are the movies you’ll want to see in 2022 (and some you might not!):
Havoc –Tom Hardy stars as a detective in a crime drama directed by Gareth Evans (Netflix)
Enola Holmes 2 –sequel, starring Millie Bobby Brown and Henry Cavill (Netflix)
Prey – the fifth movie in the Predator franchise will be a prequel, starring Amber Midthunder as a Comanche who must protect her tribe from the alien threat (Hulu)
Pinocchio– live-action version of the fairy tale stars Tom Hanks as Geppetto and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Jiminy Cricket (Disney+)
The Amazing Maurice – animated young adult fantasy about a sentient cat, based on the 2001 book The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett, starring Emilia Clarke, Hugh Laurie, David Thewlis (theatrical release)
Blonde – a biopic about Marilyn Monroe starring Ana de Armas, with Adrien Brody and Bobby Cannavale (Netflix)
Wendell and Wild – comedy duo Key and Peele create a stop-motion dark horror comedy (Netflix)
The Gray Man –the Russo brothers direct a film about a an ex-CIA agent, starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas (Netflix)
The Adam Project – sci-fi movie stars Ryan Reynolds as a man who goes back in time to get his younger self for help (Netflix)
Spaceman – sci-fi movie stars Adam Sandler and Carey Mulligan (Netflix)
The School for Good and Evil – long-delayed young adult fantasy with Charlize Theron (Netflix)
Slumberland – kids fantasy adventure starring Jason Momoa and Kyle Chandler (Netflix)
All Quiet on the Western Front – remake of novel adaptation, this time starring Daniel Bruhl (Netflix)
Blade of the 47 Ronin – sequel to 47 Ronin, starring Mark Dacascos (Netflix)
Deep Water– another Ben Affleck bad marriage “erotic psychological thriller,” with Ana de Armas (Hulu).
January
The 355 – Spy/thriller, starring Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Penelope Cruz, Sebastian Stan – January 7.
The Tender Bar – Coming of age story starring Ben Affleck and Christopher Lloyd (Amazon) – January 7.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania– Latest entry in the animated franchise (Amazon) – January 14.
Scream– Horror, the big reboot/sequel stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette – January 17.
It’s one of those head-scratching things. Previews for horror movies in October for movies not arriving until around Valentine’s Day. And it happens every year. Valentine’s Day is a big time for horror, and two movies heading your way next year look like you’ll want to see them if not in the theater at least streaming once they arrive on home video. Also, this weekend is DC Fandome, an online streaming event like Disney’s annual D23 fan event (which arrives next month). If you’ve wondered where DC Comics movies have been, they’ve evidently been waiting for next year–even before the pandemic they’ve been lagging behind the Marvel movies. DC rolled out several teasers this weekend, many highlighting concept art as they make their way to their final stages of production. Each of the new movies has promise, and you’ll want to compare them to our single Marvel preview below.
Below check out trailers for two 2022 horror movies, a Marvel series coming soon, and five movies starring characters from the pages of DC Comics, beginning next year.
