10 Most Anticipated Fantasy Movies To Be Released in 2024, From Dune 2 to Furiosa

2024 promises to be a fruitful year, with both original projects like Mickey 17 and sequels to major franchises like Dune. So open your calendars, it's time to mark the dates of the most high-profile premieres.

1. Alien: Romulus

Release Date: August 16

Director Federico Alvarez is no stranger to making a movie about a group of people in a confined space – he produced the successful thriller Don't Breathe, about thieves who tried to rob a blind veteran.

The new Alien will take place between the events of the original 1979 film and James Cameron 's sequel. A group of young people on a distant planet will once again encounter an unfriendly and very hungry alien. What happens next is easy to imagine. But maybe Romulus will still be able to surprise us.

2. Borderlands

Release Date: August 9

Borderlands was sent back for reshoots at least twice after unsuccessful test screenings, composer Steve Jablonsky was hired to write a new score, director Eli Roth was replaced by Tim Miller, and the script was rewritten several times. So it is unclear whether the movie is being released in 2024 because it was finally finished, or simply out of desperation.

The movie, like the video game, tells the story of a team of treasure hunters who went to the wild planet Pandora, where mutants, savages and dangerous creatures live. The team includes both ordinary professional warriors and those with special abilities.

3. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes

Release Date: May 24

The original Planet of the Apes, released in 1968, is considered an absolute classic of science fiction cinema, and none of the numerous sequels have been able to reach its level.

The action of the new movie takes place about 300 years after the events of the previous installment, War for the Planet of the Apes, where Caesar died. New communities of apes have emerged, and humans have become savages. The leader of a powerful ape clan will begin to enslave other groups in order to take over human technology. But one ape will escape from the village and begin to fight for freedom.

4. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Release Date: May 24

In 1981, George Miller directed the benchmark post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max 2. And more than 30 years later, he took the genre to new heights with the fourth installment – Mad Max: Fury Road. The brutal yet poetic chase film has won numerous awards and inspired countless imitators.

The new movie will tell the story of the youth of unstoppable Furiosa, who was kidnapped from her home by the ruthless Biker Horde and fought for the scorched wasteland with the army of Immortan Joe. Anya Taylor-Joy took over the role of Furiosa from Charlize Theron, and the villainous biker leader was played by Chris Hemsworth, who clearly wanted to go crazy after the Marvel movies.

5. Rebel Moon – Part Two: The Scargiver

Release Date: April 19

Rebel Moon promises to be Zack Snyder's new favorite franchise. The director has been nurturing the idea of a brutal space opera in the spirit of Warhammer 40K and Akira Kurosawa's samurai films for many years, and at one point even planned to bring his idea to life within the Star Wars universe.

However, the first part of his grand plan was mercilessly panned. Rebel Moon: Part One is criticized for its ragged screenplay. At the same time, critics recognize Snyder's skill in staging action scenes and his vibrant visual style – complete, of course, with offbeat slow-motion. It remains to be seen if the second part will be better.

6. Mickey 17

Release Date: March 29

In 2020, Bong Joon-ho made history by winning four Oscars for the brutal social drama Parasite. So his next project was awaited with great interest. Especially when it was announced that the lead role would be played by Robert Pattinson, who is gaining a reputation as one of the most courageous and talented actors of our generation.

Mickey 17 is based on Edward Ashton's novel about a distant future world where people explore other planets with the help of expendable employees. Each time such a person is sent on a suicide mission, his memories are scanned so that his work can be continued by a replacement clone after his death. But there's a problem: the expendable worker, declared dead, survives and secretly returns, and encounters his own copy.

7. Dune: Part Two

Release Date: March 1

The first Dune stopped mid-sentence, and to continue the story a box office success was required, which was by no means guaranteed in 2021, when Covid was still raging. And yet, Dune became a success. Slow, majestic, and breathtakingly beautiful, Denis Villeneuve's film earned over $400 million at the box office, rave reviews from fans, and six Oscars.

It looks like Warner Bros. has no doubts about success this time around. The release of the prequel series Dune: The Prophecy is slated for release in late 2024, and Villeneuve himself is talking about his intention to make a three-quel based on Frank Herbert's second novel, Dune Messiah.

8. Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire

Release Date: March 29

Frozen Empire will be a direct sequel to the previous film, Afterlife. From the fields of Oklahoma, the characters returned to New York to unravel the mystery of the ominous Death Chill, which threatens the world with a new ice age.

The old team of Ghostbusters (except Egon Spengler – Harold Ramis, who played him, died in 2014) now works with the young ones, and the team will be opposed not only by ghosts, but also by the grumpy bureaucrat Walter Peck, familiar to the viewers from the first movie in the franchise.

9. Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire

Release Date: April 12

In 2024, Godzilla will be 70 years old, and the owners of the legendary kaiju are celebrating the anniversary in a big way. The Japanese movie Godzilla Minus One has already become one of the biggest hits of the winter, and the show Monarch: Legacy of the Monsters is a hit on Apple TV+. The action of The New Empire will also take place in the Monarch universe.

As fans will recall, Godzilla stayed on the surface of the Earth, while Kong rushed to its center – the primordial subterranean reality where his ancestors once ruled. Monarch scientists followed the giant ape, eager to unravel the mystery of the kaiju's origin. But along with the answers, they bring upon themselves and all of humanity an unprecedented threat.

10. Wicked: Part One

Release Date: November 27

Wicked is a true Broadway legend. Stephen Schwartz's musical opened in 2003, and in 20 years, it has surpassed The Phantom of the Opera at the box office and Cats in the number of performances.

Not surprisingly, rumors of a film adaptation began to circulate shortly after the premiere. In 2012, riding the wave of Les Misérables' success, the film was officially announced and then disappeared for a long time. After endless ordeals, the project was picked up by Jon M. Chu.

Chu and Schwartz made the unprecedented decision not to cut Wicked to fit the running time of the movie, but to split the adaptation into two parts, the second of which will be released almost exactly one year after the first – November 26, 2025.