Going to the movies is an activity that many of us have just reincorporated into our lives. The end of 2021 brought many new critically acclaimed films to theaters, and 2022 has many highly anticipated movies on the horizon, so which ones should you plan to see? Here’s a breakdown of the new films of the year:
I’m not sure if I would classify Disney’s “Encanto” as “new” since it came out on November 24, 2021, but it has definitely stayed in the public eye since its release and is still in theaters. It follows the story of the Madrigal family, which lives in the town Encanto in the Colombian mountains. Each child in the Madrigal family has a gift, except for Mirabel. When the magic of their town is endangered, however, Mirabel decides that she must be the one to save it. Encanto is rated PG and runs for about an hour and 40 minutes, so it’s a great movie to see with the whole family. It features the music of Lin-Manuel Miranda (you may have heard of his musical “Hamilton”) and the voice acting of Stephanie Beatriz from “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” Wilmer Valderrama from “That 70s Show” and many more. In a “New York Times” review, Maya Phillips says the movie has “stunning animation, a beautifully composed story and spellbinding songs.” I’d recommend giving it a watch!
I can’t talk about new movies without mentioning Marvel’s massive success, “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” According to Variety, It has made over $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the 8th highest-grossing film in history at the international box office and surpassing the original “Avengers” movie, “Frozen II” and many other huge movies. It is the third installment in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man reboot, and it involves guest appearances from past Spider-Men Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire. Garfield and Maguire’s appearances in the film contributed greatly to its success because they engaged fans of all of the film versions of Spider-Man. “No Way Home” depicts the events following the revelation of Spider-Man’s identity to the public and what happens when a spell goes wrong and breaks open the multiverse. Admittedly, I am not a huge Marvel fan, but I have really enjoyed Holland’s rendition of Spider-Man and cannot wait to watch this movie.
Another superhero movie, “The Batman,” originally set to be released in June of 2021, will come out on March 4, 2022. In this film, Robert Pattinson, known for his role as Edward Cullen in the “Twilight” franchise, will be the 10th actor since 1943 to portray the DC comic hero Batman. The movie will depict Batman’s pursuit of “The Riddler,” a serial killer in his home city of Gotham. Pattinson was chosen for this film in part because he had not been in any major franchise films since “Twilight” and thus hadn’t appeared in any of the Marvel Studios (Warner Bros’ rival) projects. However, as reported by Hollywood Reporter, he faced a lot of backlash from Batman fans, who even started a Change.Org petition to remove Pattinson from the role. Personally, I think his past role as a vampire has prepared him well to portray a bat-inspired superhero, but many fans disagreed. We will have to wait until March 4th to see if Pattinson can rise above expectations.
Finally, another much-anticipated, upcoming movie is “Death on the Nile,” a film adaptation of Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel of the same name. As usual for Christie’s plots, it will be a mystery thriller. It was originally intended to be released in December of 2019 but was delayed many times due to COVID-19. “Death on the Nile” serves as a follow-up to another film based on one of Christie’s books, “Murder on the Orient Express” (2017), and will feature its director Kenneth Branagh returning as detective Hercule Poirot as well as Tom Bateman, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer and more. The movie takes place on a steamer boat on the Nile River, where one of the passengers is found murdered. Poirot must find the killer before they have the opportunity to strike again. I am a big fan of Christie’s novels, and I really look forward to seeing what such a seasoned actor and director, like Branagh, will produce with Christie’s plot.
There are, of course, many more movies that are set to come out in 2022, but I hope this article has helped you decide which ones are worthy of your ticket purchases!