The 2023 Super Bowl has officially wrapped up, and as per tradition, it's unleashed a blitzkrieg of trailers for your viewing pleasure. Scroll down to discover some of the theatrical highlights headed your way over the next few months.
1. Creed III (released March 3rd)
Early reactions to the third Creed movie are strong, implying a confident directorial debut for Michael B. Jordan and another scene-stealing performance from Jonathan Majors. (He's soon to be seen as Kang the Conqueror in Marvel's Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.)
For the first time in the history of the Rocky franchise, Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa is absent. The spotlight is entirely ceded to Jordan's Adonis 'Donnie' Creed who is now flush with success following his boxing bouts in the previous Creed films.
However, the emergence of old childhood frenemy Damian (Majors) compels Donnie to put everything on the line, including his new-found status as the champion of the world and his ongoing relationship with Bianca (Tessa Thompson).
Can the Creed franchise endure without Stallone? Will Creed III embolden our understanding of Donnie's troubled backstory? And will Jordan make for an efficient, capable director? We'll find out soon enough and ensure that you feel every knock-out punch of Creed III in IMAX at Cineworld.
2. 65 (released March 10th)
Adam Driver faces a terrifying apocalyptic conundrum in this survival thriller from the makers of A Quiet Place. As in Star Wars, Driver is back in space; however, unlike Star Wars, his character Mills is an astronaut who crash-lands on a distant planet.
The twist? Mills has actually arrived on the planet that time forgot: a prehistoric version of Earth populated by all manner of marauding dinosaurs. His only chance for survival is the mysterious young girl Koa (Ariana Greenblatt).
Directors Scott Beck and Bryan Woods know their way around a nerve-wracking set piece, having put the original A Quiet Place movie to paper. Fuse that with Driver's star power and we can expect a tense, popcorn-munching thriller.
3. Scream VI (released March 10th)
The Ghostface killer is about to take a slice out of the Big Apple in the continuation of the classic slasher horror franchise. In the wake of 2022's unexpectedly successful Scream revival, the surviving characters now wash up in New York, hoping to put the Woodsboro terror behind them.
However, it's not that easy for siblings Sam and Tara Carpenter (Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega). That's because a copycat killer has pursued them to Manhattan and is about to change all the rules... again. Following Scream V's riffing on the notion of the 'requel' (a reboot that also acts as a sequel), we dread to imagine what Ghostface has up its sleeve this time.
Returning directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are about to marshal some nerve-wracking set pieces (including a vertiginous escape via ladder) and they bring back some familiar faces, including Hayden Panetierre from Scream 4 (2011). The new Scream movie will be playing in both IMAX and 4DX, meaning you can acutely feel Ghostface's latest rampage from your Cineworld seat.
4. Dungeons and Dragons: Honour Among Thieves (released March 31st)
Role-playing goes widescreen in this Easter's big-screen fantasy adventure. The movie adapts the cult board game sensation (Stranger Things fans will be nodding in appreciation) with oodles of effects and big-name A-listers displaying a light touch. Star Trek's Chris Pine leads as the rogueish Edgin the Bard who must round up a squad of misfits to prevent the end of the world.
Said group must learn not to kill each other along the way, and their number consists of Holda the Barbarian (Avatar's Michelle Rodriguez), Simon the Sorcerer (Detective Pikachu's Justice Smith) and the druid Doric (IT's Sophia Lillis). Perennial scene-stealer Hugh Grant is also thrown in the mix as the brilliantly named Forge Fitzwilliam the Rogue.
The movie is helmed by the duo of Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley whose hit 2018 comedy Game Night showed a sly and hilarious understanding of the mechanics of role-playing games. So, that's got to be another good sign, right?
5. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (released May 5th)
The Fast X crew isn't the only squad facing the end of the road this year. Marvel Studios' irreverent Guardians are back for a seemingly final round of high-japes, retro rock and roll and plenty of homilies about family (OK, so it's not as explicitly stated as it is in the Fast X trailer, but the subtext is there). Are you about to turn out for James Gunn's final Marvel venture before he goes full DC?
After the cataclysmic events of Avengers: Endgame (2019), Peter Quill/Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) must confront the time-contorting impact on his one-time love Gamora (Zoe Saldana). While that's going on, Rocket Racoon (Bradley Cooper) confronts the spectre of the villain who created him: Chukwudu Iwuji's High Evolutionary whose animal experiments are seemingly all over the new Guardians trailer.
It's all there: the bright colours, the nostalgic soundtrack (Rainbow's 'Since You've Been Gone') and the franchise puzzle pieces being locked into place. Will Poulter's Adam Warlock, previously teased at the end of Guardians Vol. 2 (2017), still doesn't do much appear from glowering and charging toward the camera, but he's sure to be a major factor as we approach the remainder of Marvel Phase Five and Marvel Phase Six.
6. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (released June 9th)
Michael Bay's Transformers movies had the cumulative effect of pummelling us into the dirt. However, 2018's distinctly more family-friendly recalibration Bumblebee was a delight, aping the innocent tone of genre masters like Steven Spielberg.
Will Transformers: Rise of the Beasts use Bumblebee as its tonal launch pad? We hope so. The design of Transformers leader Optimus Prime certainly looks pleasingly retro and the titular yellow Camaro looks as endearing as he did before. Meanwhile, we're introduced to three divergent factions of the Transformers: the Maximals, the Predacons and the Terrorcons.
In the Heights star Anthony Ramos takes the lead while Creed II's Steven Caple Jr. directs.
7. The Flash (released June 16th)
This was the biggest preview unfurled during the 2023 Super Bowl. Up to this point, details of The Flash movie were mysterious and highly guarded, barring Michael Keaton's return as Batman. Now, we get to see Keaton back in Bruce Wayne's suit for the first time since 1992's Batman Returns, and his growly delivery has been much-missed. However, there's a lot more going in The Flash than we'd first envisaged.
The movie is a key chapter in James Gunn and Peter Safran's recalibration of the DC Movie Universe. Ezra Miller's titular character, otherwise known as Barry Allen, has the ability to hop between different multiverses and disrupt the time-space continuum at will. This is a useful contrivance as he inadvertently ends up travelling back to the events of 2013's DC film Man of Steel and wiping the 'meta-humans' off the map.
So, in lieu of Henry Cavill's Superman, we now have Kara Zor-El aka Superman's cousin Super Girl taking the aerial reigns. Fortunately, Barry (in fact, there are two of him owing to time-travel quirks) can rely on Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne/Batman, in addition to Keaton's iteration, to help sort things out.
Will we get the definitive Flash movie or a convoluted justification as to why the DC Universe has suddenly changed? Really, the presence of Keaton's Batman is all that we need to get amped up.
8. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (released June 30th)
John Williams' peerless theme opens up a Pavlovian, instinctive level of excitement in the latest Indiana Jones teaser. We've already done our breakdown of the Dial of Destiny trailer and there isn't too much that's new here, barring the implied history shared between Harrison Ford's Indy and Mads Mikkelsen's fiendish Nazi agent Voller.
There's also a slapstick gag involving Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), Jones' goddaughter who follows him into action and inadvertently ends up escalating the situation. After the damp squib of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008), hopes are high that director James Mangold can restore the magic to the archetypal adventure franchise (the reinstatement of John Rhys-Davies' Sallah is one of many elements that gives us joy).
As with Creed III and Sylvester Stallone, can the Indiana Jones series survive without Steven Spielberg at the helm? Judging from what we've seen, including the eerily convincing Harrison Ford 'de-ageing' effects, we're hopeful that Mangold has it in the bag.
Which of these 2023 blockbusters are you most excited about? Don't forget that you can enjoy all of them, and so much more, via My Cineworld Plus. It's a paid-for upgrade to the standard (free) My Cineworld account that lasts for 12 months.
During that time you'll receive a 10% discount on the price of all cinema tickets booked online through your My Cineworld Plus account.
Click here for further details.
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