By now it’s become clear that Netflix subscribers are not really going to notice the effects of the writers and actors strikes in 2023. Netflix has stocked up on enough original movies and TV series to keep the content flowing for months to come. Whether that will continue to be the case in 2024 seems unlikely, but Netflix is poised to have a very strong lineup of movies to close out this year.
This is the time of the year that Netflix not only shores up its cinematic output, but it also sets its eye on awards season with some flicks that could give Netflix one of the few prizes that it has never gained: the Oscar for Best Picture. Of course, there are also some blockbuster-level films and exciting thrillers that should keep subscribers glued to their screens. As we head into the final months of the year, keep your eye out for the five most anticipated Netflix movies that will arrive in late 2023. These are the films that will be the talk of the streaming-verse.
The Killer (November 10)
In the last decade, David Fincher has only directed three films: Gone Girl, Netflix’s Mank, and the upcoming action thriller The Killer. This film is based on a French graphic novel series by Alexis Nolent and artist Luc Jacamon, but it isn’t widely known in America. That may soon change, because Michael Fassbender is headlining the film as Christian, the titular assassin for hire.
Story details are currently sparse, but the cast includes Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Arliss Howard, Sophie Charlotte, Sala Baker, Kerry O’Malley, Emiliano Pernía, and Gabriel Polanco. This may be Netflix’s biggest action flick since Extraction 2 and Heart of Stone. And with Fincher at the helm, we expect great things.
Watch The Killer on Netflix on November 10.
Leave the World Behind (December 8)
Compared to some of Netflix’s other upcoming films, Leave the World Behind may be flying under the radar. But there’s no ignoring a cast that includes Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la Herrold, Farrah Mackenzie, Charlie Evans, and Kevin Bacon. The movie is based on Rumaan Alam’s novel of the same name and follows a couple, Amanda (Roberts) and Clay (Hawke), who are on vacation in an Airbnb with their kids, Archie (Charlie Evans) and Rosie (Farrah Mackenzie).
The family is surprised when the Airbnb’s owners, George (Ali) and Ruth Washington (Herrold), arrive and tell them that a blackout has apparently taken out all power and communication devices. Much to their horror, the two families come to realize that this is not an isolated incident, and the modern world that they knew may not ever be coming back.
Watch Leave the World Behind on Netflix on December 8.
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (December 15)
In 2000, Chicken Run was an unexpected animated hit. Because of the film’s perennial popularity, Netflix has moved forward with a sequel, Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget. Like the original film, Dawn of the Nugget is a stop-motion animated flick, and it takes place shortly after the first movie. Rocky Rhodes (Zachary Levi) and his wife, Ginger (Thandiwe Newton), led their fellow chickens and roosters to freedom, and now they have a daughter of their own named Molly (voiced by The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey).
In the new film, the flock thinks that they’ve found the perfect place to live out their lives without the threat of being captured and eaten by humans. Unfortunately, there’s a looming threat on the horizon that imperils everything they’ve built. And if Ginger and Rocky want to safeguard their loved ones, they may have to stage a break-in to a human compound to neutralize the threat.
Watch Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget on Netflix on December 15.
Maestro (December 20)
Netflix is throwing its hat into the 2023 Oscar race with Maestro, a new biopic directed and co-written by Bradley Cooper, in which he plays the famous composer Leonard Bernstein. The film will explore Leonard’s relationship with his wife, Felicia Montealegre, as played by Carey Mulligan. Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg are executive producing the film with Cooper, and a very impressive cast has been lined up, including Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, Sarah Silverman, Michael Urie, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Miriam Shor, and Alexa Swinton.
Maestro will get a limited theatrical release on November 22, if you want to see it on the big screen. That’s largely to shore up the film’s Oscar eligibility. If you can wait a month, it will be on Netflix itself just in time for Christmas.
Watch Maestro on Netflix on December 20.
Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire (December 22)
Can Zack Snyder make an epic movie under four hours? That’s a rhetorical question related to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Rebel Moon has been coming for a long time, and it’s best to think of it as Zack Snyder’s Star Wars. It’s got its own evil space empire and everything. The first of two planned films, Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire, will introduce Kora (Sofia Boutella), a woman who will do anything to stop the Imperium from overrunning her adoptive world. That’s why she’s assembled a group of warriors to confront the Imperium army.
Snyder has assembled a cast that includes Djimon Hounsou, Charlie Hunnam, Michiel Huisman, Staz Nair, Doona Bae, Ray Fisher, Cleopatra Coleman, E. Duffy, Anthony Hopkins, Jena Malone, Ed Skrein, and Fra Fee. This is going to be Netflix’s big blockbuster movie of December, but keep in mind that the conclusion, Rebel Moon: Part Two – The Scargiver, won’t arrive until April 19, 2024.
Watch Rebel Moon: Part One – A Child of Fire on Netflix on December 22.
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