2024 could be a tough year at the box office because of the delays caused by the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. However, several big titles on the film calendar will draw audiences to the theaters. These films include Dune: Part Two, the epic sequel to Denis Villeneuve’s Dune; Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the long-awaited spin-off prequel to Fury Road; and Deadpool 3, the highly-anticipated introduction of Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson in the MCU.
One genre expected to have an exciting year is thriller. Several high-profile thrillers on the 2024 calendar have the potential to make headlines within the film community. Below are our rankings for the seven most anticipated thrillers of 2024. Our selections include a sequel to a billion-dollar comic book adaptation, a long-awaited reunion between two A-listers, and a spin-off to one of Hollywood’s best action franchises.
7. Love Lies Bleeding (2024)
Over the past five years, A24 has become one of the most reliable studios in Hollywood and a model of consistency financially and critically. Uncut Gems, Talk to Me, The Whale, and Everything Everywhere All at Once are four of the 10 highest-grossing films for A24, all released since 2019. Looking to add its name to that list is Love Lies Bleeding, the upcoming romantic thriller from Rose Glass.
Kristen Stewart stars as Lou, a gym manager who falls in love with Jackie (Katy O’Brian), a bodybuilder looking to become a big star. However, Jackie begins working for Lou’s criminal father (Ed Harris), complicating their relationship. The rest of the ensemble includes Jena Malone, Anna Baryshnikov, and Dave Franco. Based on the trailer, Love Lies Bleeding gives off hot, sweaty, and sexy vibes that mirror a 1990s erotic thriller.
Love Lies Bleeding will be released in theaters on March 8, 2024.
6. Trap (2024)
EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros. Pictures Group has inked a multi-year first-look directing & producing agreement with 2x Oscar-nominated and $3.3 billion grossing filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan. Projects in the pipeline include ‘Trap,’ dated for Aug 2, 2024 release https://t.co/3liRC0wFlO
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) February 16, 2023
It’s not a list of anticipated thrillers without a project from M. Night Shyamalan. The Academy Award-nominated filmmaker behind The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs returns in 2024 with a new thriller, Trap. It’s a quick turnaround for Shyamalan, who released Knock at the Cabin in early 2023. Shyamalan made headlines in February 2023 when he signed a multiyear first-look deal at Warner Bros., with Trap set as his first directorial project under the agreement.
Plot details are under wraps, but Shyamalan revealed at CineEurope that Trap is a “psychological thriller set at a concert.” The film will star Josh Hartnett, who is in the middle of a career resurgence after his memorable turn as Ernest Lawrence in Oppenheimer. If Trap uses the same ingredients of previous Shyamalan films, expect a supernatural presence and a twist ending.
Trap will be released in theaters on August 2, 2024.
5. A Quiet Place: Day One (2024)
Who would’ve thought that Jim from The Office would be at the helm of one of the most successful horror-thriller franchises of the last five years? To quote Paul Rudd, “Not me.” In 2018, John Krasinski wrote, directed, and starred in A Quiet Place, a post-apocalyptic thriller about a family living in silence due to the presence of blind extraterrestrial creatures that hunt by sound. The film grossed over $340 million and spawned a sequel, A Quiet Place Part II, which became another smash hit.
This summer, the next entry in the franchise is A Quiet Place: Day One, a prequel spin-off starring Lupita Nyong’o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Denis O’Hare. Djimon Hounsou reprises his role as the Man on the Island from A Quiet Place Part II. A Quiet Place: Day One is written and directed by Michael Sarnoski from a story he conceived with Krasinski. Day One will center around Nyong’o’s character living in New York City when the first alien invasion happened.
A Quiet Place: Dy One will be released in theaters on June 28, 2024.
4. Civil War (2024)
A24 has been the poster boy of arthouse films for the last decade. It’s a winning formula as these small-budget and independent films have led to financial gains, critical acclaim, and Oscars, most notably Best Picture wins for Moonlight and Everything Everywhere All at Once. Yet, Hollywood is changing. As tentpole projects and cinematic events dominate the box office, A24 is adjusting its strategy to include “action and big IP projects,” according to The Wrap.
Civil War will be the first film to represent A24’s new strategy. Written and directed by Men’s Alex Garland, Civil War follows a team of journalists covering a war in a “near-future fractured America.” The trailer depicts a tense scene where these journalists are held at gunpoint by a militia as the country falls further into despair. Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Cailee Spaeny, Jesse Plemons, Karl Glusman, Sonoya Mizuno, and Nick Offerman. With an estimated $50 million budget, Civil War is A24’s most expensive film. Let’s see if the gamble pays off.
3. Wolfs (2024)
Exclusive: George Clooney talks to Total Film about his upcoming action-thriller with former co-star Brad Pitt https://t.co/Qnvje2ixsv
— Total Film (@totalfilm) January 3, 2024
George Clooney and Brad Pitt are two of the biggest movie stars of the last 30 years. Clooney and Pitt are the perfect leading men thanks to their good looks, charming personalities, and magnetic screen presences. It also helps to be fantastic actors, as both men won Oscars for Best Supporting Actor. As great as they are in their separate movies, they’re even better as co-stars, with their most famous collaboration coming in the Ocean’s films.
Clooney and Pitt will look to recapture their on-screen chemistry in the upcoming action thriller Wolfs, their first feature film collaboration since 2008’s Burn After Reading. Clooney and Pitt star as two professional fixers hired for the same job. Written and directed by Jon Watts, Wolfs’ cast includes Amy Ryan, Austin Abrams, and Poorna Jagannathan. In an interview with Total Film, Clooney said Wolfs feels like an “R-rated Ocean’s film.” Need I say more?
Wolfs will be released in theaters on September 20, 2024.
2. Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)
To say 2019’s Joker was a hit would be an understatement. Joker won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, an unprecedented accomplishment for a comic book film. Upon its release, Joker set the record for the biggest October opening weekend ($96.2 million domestic) on its way to becoming the only R-rated film to cross the billion-dollar mark. Joker then received eleven Oscar nominations, winning Best Actor (Joaquin Phoenix) and Best Original Score (Hildur Guðnadóttir).
In 2024, Todd Phillips is revisiting the nihilistic criminal for the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux. Directed by Phillips from a script he co-wrote with Scott Silver, Joker: Folie à Deux marks the return of Phoenix as Arthur Fleck/Joker, the mentally ill failed comedian who turns to a life of crime after society pushes him aside. Arthur finds himself in Arkham in the sequel, where he will be studied by Dr. Harleen Quinzel (Lady Gaga), the psychiatrist who eventually becomes Harley Quinn and falls in love with Joker. Thanks to Gaga’s presence, there will be musical elements for the sequel. Can Phillips make it two-for-two with the iconic villain?
Joker: Folie à Deux will be released in theaters on October 4, 2024.
1. Ballerina (2024)
John Wick may very well be Hollywood’s best franchise. From the story and performances to the action and stuntwork, the John Wick franchise raises the bar with each entry. Lionsgate is developing a fifth film. However, and apologies to those who did not see John Wick: Chapter 4, Keanu Reeves’ titular character dies at the end. How can the franchise continue?
One way to carry on the legacy is through a spin-off, and the first theatrical attempt will be the upcoming thriller Ballerina. The film will take place between the events in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and Chapter 4, with Ana de Armas in the role of Rooney, a ballerina out to kill the murderers who killed her family. The ballerina was briefly shown in the third film. Reprising their roles from previous entries are Reeves as John Wick, Ian McShane as Winston Scott, Anjelica Huston as “The Director,” and the late Lance Reddick as Charon.
Ballerina will be released in theaters on June 7, 2024.
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