Emily Henry Has Reinvigorated Our Love for Romance Novels—We Ranked Every One of Her Books So Far

When it comes to romance novels, Emily Henry, or “EmHen” as the book community likes to call her, has the Midas touch. It’s been nothing but No. 1 bestsellers for the author since she cracked the genre wide open with 2020’s Beach Read.Having switched her focus from the young adult novels she was previously penning, Henry has sold seven million books since July 2024, with five of her titles getting the book-to-movie-adaptation. But where on Earth does one go to start reading?That all depends on how you’re looking to approach Henry’s collection. Much like Taylor Swift, the millennial author has an affinity for planting Easter eggs in her prose. For that reason, you may choose to read her romance novels in order, starting with Beach Read (2020) and People We Meet on Vacation (2021) and closing it out with Book Lovers (2022), Happy Place (2023), and Funny Story (2024). Her latest novel, Great Big Beautiful Life should come last, as it’s not set for release until April 2025.If you want to go for the deep cuts, you could start with her young adult series, beginning with Henry’s first-ever book, The Love That Split the World. (There’s also A Million Junes, When the Sky Fell on Splendor, and Hello Girls.)However, we suggest you tackle her library by skipping straight to the hits, or Emily Henry’s very best books thus far. But don’t worry: We’ve done the legwork to find out exactly how Henry’s books rank, from her early works to her first star-crossed romance to her latest labor of love. Below, find Emily Henry’s best books, ranked.

9. ‘When the Sky Fell on Splendor’

One of Henry’s lesser-known works, this young adult science fiction novel is also unlike anything most EmHen fans are likely to have read from the author. Exploring the fallout of a steel mill explosion in a small Ohio town through the eyes of the teens who live there, the book touches on the supernatural, with fans noting similarities to Netflix’s Stranger Things. Many found this one fell short, however, noting that the characters—and the plot, for that matter—seemed a bit disjointed and overly ambitious.

8. ‘Hello Girls’

For her fourth young adult novel, Hello Girls, Henry teamed with author Brittany Cavallaro, a.k.a. the best-selling brain behind the Charlotte Holmes mystery series. (Think: lady Sherlock Homes.) The result? A wild ride of a read described as a teenage remake of Thelma and Louise. (It also showcases our favorite cover art of the bunch, but that’s neither here nor there.) Centered on two young women, Winona Olsen and Lucille Pryce, who decide to rage against the patriarchy (and their humdrum lives) by hitting the open road in a stolen convertible, this one’s got a slower start, but once it gets moving, boy, does it ever.

7. ‘A Million Junes’

A modern-day Romeo and Juliet, A Million Junes unpacks years of generational drama between two households, the O’Donnells and the Angerts. For Jack “June” O’Donnell, who has been spared the finer (or actually, any) details about her family’s rift, it’s getting harder and harder to keep her distance from the enemy—particularly when he’s so dang witty. Henry also throws in some ghosts, magic, and a bit of existential crisis.

6. ‘The Love That Split the World’

Love it or hate it, there’s something to be said for an author’s first book. For Henry, that was The Love That Split the World. A young adult story involving time travel, ghosts, folklore, and, of course, young love, Henry’s debut is hard to pigeonhole. It follows a young woman named Natalie who’s dealing with everything from strange visions and unaccounted-for chunks of time to normal teenage jitters that only a crush can induce. It’s the perfect introduction to the author, who appears to have hooked readers immediately with her “beautiful,” “wonderfully written” and diverse prose.

5. ‘Happy Place’

Of Henry’s romance novels, Happy Place is among her most polarizing. One person who’s riding hard for it, though? Jennifer Lopez. The rom-com queen’s production company, Nuyorican, has announced that it will tackle the on-screen version of this tale about two exes who agree to keep their broken-up relationship status under wraps from their dearest friends. (And spoiler alert? There’s some unfinished business between them.)

4. ‘Funny Story’

The premise of this one may sound a little out there at first: Daphne, whose boyfriend just left her for a woman named Petra, seeks solace in the arms of the man who used to date Petra. (Is your head spinning?) But stranger things have happened! (Just ask Shania Twain, who wound up marrying the ex of her own ex-husband’s mistress.) With a film in the works, this one’s also getting the Hollywood adaptation, but there’s one key distinction from all the rest here: Henry herself has signed on to deliver its script.

3. ‘People We Meet on Vacation’

People We Meet on Vacation falls right smack dab in the middle of the EmHen pack. Drawing upon Henry’s familiar themes of polar opposites who shouldn’t work on paper, but somehow do in real life, it follows two besties, Poppy and Alex, whose extraverted and introverted worlds collide each year on their annual shared holiday. Naturally, their platonic love evolves into something more over time, making things a bit messy, and now, they’ve got to figure out just what they mean to each other. Essentially, it’s When Harry Met Sally… with little plastic drink umbrellas—a parallel Henry has all but made herself. Like the classic Nora Ephron film, this one’s also headed to the big screen, with Emily Bader and Tom Blyth set to star.

2. ‘Book Lovers’

At some point, you’ve gotta learn to become the main character of your own life—this is the lesson of Book Lovers, which sees a book-loving literary agent named Nora looking to shake up her routine with a sisters’ trip to North Carolina. Nora and her sister’s vision for a charming, small-town meet-cut for her is thwarted by several less-than-pleasant run-ins with Charlie Lastra, an editor from Nora’s old life back home. She and Charlie don’t seem to gel, yet fate keeps placing him in Nora’s path, making for a novel gushing. It should be noted that while many readers tend to be satisfied with the protagonists’ chemistry and banter, they find themselves even more enchanted by yet another relationship in the book: the one between Nora and her little sister.

1. ‘Beach Read’

The adult romance novel that first put Henry on the map is also her most beloved. Four years after it was released, fans still cite this tale of blooming love between two neighboring authors as an all-time fave. Recognizing how they approach their craft completely differently, January Andrews and Augustus “Gus” Everett decide to take a crack at writing with the others’ proverbial pen. Their resulting antics had author Colleen Hoover reading this book “backwards and then…bottom to top and then…all the even words and then…all the odd words and then… underwater,” as she wrote on Goodreads. Added Hoover: “Five stars! Emily Henry wrote this good.” According to The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Studios is all over this one, and signs point to Ayo Edebiri and Paul Mescal as possible stars. (Yulin Kuang, who has signed on to write and direct the flick, shared a photo Edebiri posted of herself with the Irish actor, as did Henry). As we wait to hear if the rumors are true, we highly recommend checking out The Layover, Beach Read’s extended epilogue, which has an even higher Goodreads rating than the novel itself.

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The 11 Best Korean Movies of 2024

Want to discover the Best Korean Movies of 2024?Look no further: Cinema Escapist has compiled this list of the top 11 Korean films from 2024. Across genres like horror, crime, action, romance, and more, this list includes both independent and blockbuster K-movies which offer a diverse range of options for all tastes. For those who choose films based on their cast, these 11 Korean movies feature top stars like Kim Go-eun, Hyun Bin, Hwang Jung-min, and more. When available (region dependent), we’ve also tried including links to stream these films on platforms like Netflix and Viki. Let’s take a look through 2024’s best Korean movies!•  •  •11. The PlotKorean Title: 더 플롯 | Director: Lee Yo-sup | Starring: Gang Dong-won, Lee Moo-saeng, Lee Mi-sook | Genre(s): Thriller, Crime, MysteryThe Plot is a crime thriller that became 2024’s fourth-highest grossing Korean movie. This film follows a hitman named Yeong-il (played by Gang Dong-won) who always orchestrates murders to appear as accidents. However, when Yeong-il gets assigned to kill a high-profile politician, unexpected issues arise and evoke some of Yeong-il’s past dramas. With themes of betrayal and paranoia amidst numerous plot twists and action sequences, The Plot provides solid entertainment whilst keeping viewers on their toes. 10. FollowingKorean Title: 그녀가 죽었다 | Director: Kim Se-hwi | Starring: Byun Yo-han, Shin Hye-sun, Lee El | Genre(s): Mystery, ThrillerFollowing centers on a real estate agent named Gu Jeong-tae (Byun Yo-han) who has a penchant for sneaking into the homes of his clients in order to observe their lives. Gu’s stalking activities lead him to an influencer named Han So-ra (Shin Hye-sun)—who one day he finds dead in her home. Soon after, Gu begins receiving threats from someone who knows he’s entered Han’s home, and a detective named Oh Young-joo (Lee El) begins to suspect him as Han’s murder. With numerous twists and a fast-paced plot, Following keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. It’s also socially significant with how it explores the intersection of obsession and social media, as well as the boundaries between public versus private life. 9. Citizen of a KindKorean Title: 시민덕희 | Director: Park Yong-ju | Starring: Ra Mi-ran, Gong Myung, Yeom Hye-ran | Genre(s): Drama, CrimeBased on a true story, Citizen of a Kind stars Ra Mi-ran as a woman named Kim Deok-hee who loses her life savings to a voice phishing scam after her laundromat suffers a fire. However, she discovers that the man who scammed her, Jae-min, is also a victim as a criminal organization has kidnapped him and forced him to work at a scam center in China. Despite the somewhat serious subject matter of scams, Citizen of a Kind offers humor and warmth in its story as well. The movie is a relatable and rousing story of how an ordinary person can make a difference, and might resonate quite a bit given the prevalence of phone scams in East Asia and beyond lately. 8. EscapeKorean Title: 탈주 | Director: Lee Jong-pil | Starring: Lee Je-hoon, Koo Kyo-hwan, Hong Xa-bin | Genre(s): Action, ThrillerBlending existential musings and action Escape is another recommendation for 2024’s best Korean movies. This film features Lee Je-hoon as Lim Gyu-nam, a North Korean soldier who’s nearing the end of his 10 year mandatory military service whilst serving in a unit near the DMZ. Because he’s from an unfavorable family background and has limited prospects for life advancement in the North, Lim decides to defect. However, his attempt does not go as planned, and a deranged state security officer named Lee Hyeon-sang (played by Koo Kyo-hwan) tries to capture him at all costs.While Escape is technically set in North Korea, Escape explores existential themes—like whether individuals can self-actualize amidst conformist societal pressures—that feel like a commentary on the pressure-cooker life that many South Koreans have. This makes Escape rather different from other South Korean movies about North Korea, and worth paying attention to. Plus, the movie also has some great action scenes featuring minefields, car chases, and more. Learn more about Escape in our full-length review 7. Hijack 1971Korean Title: 하이재킹 | Director: Kim Seong-han | Starring: Ha Jung-woo, Yeo Jin-goo, Sung Dong-il, Chae Soo-bin | Genre(s): Thriller, HistoricalIn January 1971 during the Cold War, a hijacker armed with grenades tried commandeering a flight from Sokcho to Seoul, two years after another hijacker forced a Korean Air Lines YS-11 passenger plane to land in North Korea in 1969. Hijack 1971 is loosely inspired by these incidents. The movie starts by introducing Tae-in (Ha Jung-woo), a fighter pilot in the South Korean air force who we see get dismissed for refusing to shoot down a fictionalized version of the 1969 YS-11 hijacked aircraft before it crosses into North Korea. After his dismissal, Tae-in becomes an airline pilot, only to have a hijacking incident of his own during a flight from Sokcho to Seoul. With the trauma of his past experience as a fighter pilot in mind, Tae-in tries at all costs to save the lives of his passengers and crew.With its historical authenticity, character development, and tight pacing, Hijack 1971 is a thriller that will not just entertain you, but also give a portal into some lesser-known events of recent South Korean history. 6. Love in the Big CityKorean Title: 대도시의 사랑법 | Director: E.oni | Starring: Kim Go-eun, Noh Sang-hyun | Genre(s): Romance, DramaDespite its title, Love in the Big City is not some saccharine stereotypical romance movie. Instead, it is a nuanced exploration of modern relationships, whether romantic or not. Adapted from an eponymous award-winning novel (which has an English translation), Love in the Big City centers on two opposite gender roommates, Heung-soo (Noh Sang-hyun) and Jae-hee (Kim Go-eun). While Jae-hee is a free spirit who’s not afraid to express herself, Heung-soo has a more reserved personality that’s influenced by the fact that he’s a closeted gay man. Together, Heung-soo and Jae-hee explore what love, friendship, and building connections means in a modern urban setting. Love in the Big City’s depiction of different living arrangements and lifestyles garners special resonance thanks to the chemistry between Kim Go-eun and Noh Sang-hyun as its leads. The two actors bring a high degree of authenticity to their characters’ respective struggles, and Love in the Big City contains both narrative depth and emotional impact. Love in the Big City also garnered a decent degree of international attention, especially with its premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. 5. A Traveler’s NeedsKorean Title: 여행자의 필요 | Director: Hong Sang-soo | Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Lee, Hye-young Kwon Hae-hyo | Genre(s): DramaArt house director Hong Sang-soo remains as prolific as ever, and yet another one of his films has ended up on yet another one our year-end best Korean movie lists. This time, Hong features for A Traveler’s Needs, which follows a French woman (Isabelle Huppert) who tries to find her footing in Seoul after losing her job. As expected for Hong Sang-soo movies, A Traveler’s Needs has patient pacing and meditative sensibilities. Blending humor and poignance, the film explores themes of communication and identity with a magnetism and nuance. Those looking for a reliable art house choice among this year’s top Korean films should check out A Traveler’s Needs. 4. I, the ExecutionerKorean Title: 베테랑2| Director: Ryoo Seung-wan | Starring: Hwang Jung-min, Jung Hae-in | Genre(s): Crime, DramaIn 2015, audiences and critics alike appreciated the action comedy movie Veteran, which starred Hwang Jung-min as a ruthless police detective named Seo Do-cheol. I, the Executioner is the long-awaited sequel to Veteran, with Hwang Jung-min reprising his role as Seo Do-cheol. In I, the Executioner, Seo pairs with a rookie named Park Sun-woo (Jung Hae-in) to pursue a serial killer who taunts the detectives and broader populace through online videos.  With a premiere at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and other screenings at top festivals like Toronto, I, The Executioner quickly became a worthy followup to Veteran with strong action sequences and approachable commentary on vigilantism. The film racked up over US$53 million at the Korean box office, making it one of the highest grossing Korean films of the entire year. 3. HarbinKorean Title: 하얼빈 | Director: Woo Min-ho | Starring: Hyun Bin, Park Jeong-min, Jeon Yeo-been | Genre(s): Historical, ActionKorean independence activist An Jung-geun has featured in numerous South and North Korean movies; Harbin is the latest member of this category. In Harbin, top heartthrob actor Hyun Bin stars as Ahn, with the film’s plot following him as he prepares to assassinate Ito Hirobumi, the former Resident General of Japanese-colonized Korea, in 1909. With well-choreographed action sequences and well-crafted character relationships, Harbin both entertains and educates audiences about a significant figure in Korea’s modern history. Those especially interested in examining the nuances of South Korean historical memory of An Jung-guen might want to compare Harbin to the 2022 musical film Hero, which also dramatized An’s life. 2. The Roundup: PunishmentKorean Title: 범죄도시4 | Director: Heo Myeong-haeng | Starring: Ma Dong-seok, Kim Mu-yeol, Park Ji-hwan | Genre(s): Action, CrimeBeefy action star Ma Dong-seok returned for a fourth member of The Roundup franchise in 2024, specifically The Roundup: Punishment. Like its three predecessors, The Roundup: Punishment proved to be a crowd-pleasure, garnering critical praise alongside US$83.5 million worldwide in ticket sales.In The Roundup: Punishment, Ma Dong-seok reprises his role as detective Ma Seok-do. This time, Ma ends up investigating an online money laundering and gambling operation run by Koreans based in the Philippines. As expected for The Roundup franchise, The Roundup: Punishment features highly physical action scenes, and comedic hijinks that keep the plot from getting too dark. Stream this Korean movie on Amazon Prime1. ExhumaKorean Title: 귀문 | Director: Jang Jae-hyun | Starring: Choi Min-sik, Kim Go-eun, Lee Do-hyun, Yoo Hae-jin | Genre(s): Horror, ThrillerTopping our list of 2024’s best Korean movies is Exhuma. This movie features a group of shamans who get hired by a wealthy Korean American family to deal with an ancestral curse that seems to be making their newborn son ill. A star-studded list of actors plays this coterie of shamans: Choi Min-sik (Oldboy), Kim Go-eun (Guardian: The Lonely and Great God), Lee Do-hyun (Hotel Del Luna), and Yoo Hae-jin (Confidential Assignment). Without giving too much away, Exhuma carefully blends Korean culture with excellently executed horror genre thrills. The film’s cinematography and special effects create a brooding atmosphere, and it offers shockingly realistic portrayals of traditional Korean shaman practices. Furthermore, Exhuma offers some memorable commentary on the history of Japanese colonialism in Korea, allowing audiences to get enlightened while getting frightened.Exhuma had a strong run not just at festivals like the 2024 Berlinale, but also at the box office—where it became the #1 grossing Korean film of the year. •  •  •Want more Korean movies? Check out our lists of 2022 and 2023’s top Korean films! Or, check out our list of 2024’s best Korean dramas. 

Publishers, authors reject state argument picking school library books ‘government speech’

TALLAHASSEE — Major publishing companies and authors are arguing that a federal judge should deny Florida’s request to dismiss a lawsuit over the removal of school library books, saying a controversial state law violates First Amendment rights.Attorneys for the publishing companies, authors and other plaintiffs filed a document Friday that, in part, disputed a state position that selection of school library books is “government speech” and, as a result, is not subject to the First Amendment.“First, school libraries have not historically communicated messages from the state. Instead, school libraries have long served as vehicles to expose students to a broad array of ideas from authors who express unique, personal points of view. … Second, messages conveyed in school library books are diverse and contradictory — not endorsed by the state, as government speech must be,” said the document, which responded to a Nov. 15 state motion to dismiss the case.Also, the plaintiffs’ attorneys wrote that numerous courts have held First Amendment rights exist in libraries.“Here, the challenged statutory provisions impose a statewide mandate from Florida legislators to librarians, educators, and school districts that has resulted in the removal of hundreds of books,” the document said. “These provisions eliminate the traditional discretion that librarians, schools, and school districts have had by requiring them to remove books that they had selected for library shelves based on educational criteria, community standards, and the value of each book as a whole.”Six publishing companies, The Authors Guild, five authors and two parents filed the lawsuit Aug. 29 in federal court in Orlando. It is one of a series of lawsuits stemming from a 2023 state education law and related decisions by school districts to remove books from library shelves or to restrict access.The lawsuit centers on parts of the law (HB 1069) that seek to prevent availability of reading material that is “pornographic” or “describes sexual content.”In the Nov. 15 motion to dismiss the case, lawyers in Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office focused, in part, on the issue of library books as government speech.Gaetz ‘regularly’ paid for sex, used drugs, House ethics panel report says“When the government selects materials to make available in a public-school library, it conveys that, in its view, those materials are of the ‘requisite and appropriate quality’ and will ‘be of the greatest direct benefit or interest to the community’ served,” the motion said, partially quoting a legal precedent. “The government, through public-school-library staff, effectively controls this message because it exercises final approval authority over book selection.”Also, the motion to dismiss the case said the plaintiffs’ First Amendment claims “fail because the government does not generally violate the First Amendment when it withdraws a benefit that merely facilitates the exercise of a constitutional right.”“The First Amendment does not require the government to provide access to particular materials in public-school libraries or to have school libraries at all,” the state’s lawyers wrote. “The students are free to access those books elsewhere, and authors and publishers can still distribute their books to students through bookstores or other libraries.”The lawsuit names as defendants the State Board of Education and members of the Orange County and Volusia County school boards.In the filing Friday, the plaintiffs’ attorneys described as overbroad the part of the law barring access to material that “describes sexual conduct.”“The prohibition on books that contain content that ‘describes sexual conduct’ violates the First Amendment,” the document said. “This provision is overbroad because it encompasses any book with any content that describes sexual conduct without regard to the Supreme Court’s standard for content that is obscene for minors, which is not reasonable in light of the purpose of school libraries.”The lawsuit cited removals from library shelves of numerous books, such as “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison and “Love in the Time of Cholera” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Both of those authors were awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for their novels and other work.The plaintiffs in the case are publishing companies Penguin Random House LLC, Hachette Book Group, Inc., HarperCollins Publishers LLC, Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC, Simon & Schuster, LLC and Sourcebooks LLC; The Authors Guild; authors Julia Alvarez, John Green, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jodi Picoult and Angie Thomas; and parents Heidi Kellogg and Judith Anne Hayes.The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Carlos Mendoza.

Dinesh Vijan’s maddock films presents param Sundari: A fresh love story with Janhvi Kapoor and Sidharth Malhotra

December 24 : Maddock Films, the production house behind some of the most unforgettable cinematic experiences, is all set to captivate audiences once again with Param Sundari, a heartfelt love story that promises to sweep you off your feet. Directed by Dasvi director Tushar Jalota, this film brings together the stunning Janhvi Kapoor and the charismatic Sidharth Malhotra in a tale of love where two worlds—North and South—collide, sparking laughter, chaos, and plenty of unexpected twists.
In Param Sundari, Sidharth Malhotra plays Param, a charming North ka munda, while Janhvi Kapoor takes on the role of the beautiful South ki sundari. Their on-screen chemistry promises to light up the screen as the film weaves a tale of young love set against the picturesque backwaters of Kerala. The stunning visuals of the serene landscapes coupled with the playful love story will keep viewers hooked from start to finish.
Produced by Dinesh Vijan, known for his knack for delivering fresh and relatable narratives, Param Sundari is set to follow in the footsteps of Maddock Films’ past hits like Stree 2, Munjya, and Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya. These films have all struck a chord with audiences for their unique storytelling and memorable characters, and Param Sundari promises to continue that legacy, blending romance, humor, and heartfelt emotions in a way that only Maddock Films can.
Set to release on July 25th, 2025, Param Sundari is already one of the most anticipated films of the year. With the fresh pairing of Sidharth Malhotra and Janhvi Kapoor, a talented director at the helm, and the creative brilliance of Dinesh Vijan’s Maddock Films, this film is poised to be a summer blockbuster filled with love, laughter, and drama. Get ready to fall in love all over again!

Top 10 most overlooked, underrated and unfairly dismissed movies of 2024, and how to watch them now

Open this photo in gallery:Jharrel Jerome stars in Unstoppable as Anthony Robles, a NCAA wrestling champ who took on all comers despite being born with only one leg.Ana Carballosa/The Associated PressI’ve already highlighted my 10 favourite films of 2024 elsewhere. But some of the 127 other new movies I watched this year deserve attention, too. Here is an alternative Top 10 list: a collection of the most overlooked, underrated, underseen and unfairly dismissed films of the year – and how you can watch them right now.10. UnstoppableThere was a moment during this past September’s Toronto International Film Festival in which it looked like William Goldenberg’s underdog sports story might have landed the fest’s coveted People’s Choice Award. Unstoppable certainly checked all the boxes: a fantastic lead performance from Jharrel Jerome as Anthony Robles, a NCAA wrestling champ who took on all comers despite being born with only one leg, plus solid and starry supporting turns from Jennifer Lopez as Robles’s mom, and Don Cheadle as his coach. And then there are the film’s remarkable visual effects, which digitally erase Jerome’s real right leg – proof that the best VFX work goes unnoticed. Yet after Unstoppable left TIFF empty-handed, MGM Amazon seemed to forget about the movie entirely. Don’t make the same mistake. (Streaming on Prime Video starting Jan. 16)9. Didi A wonderfully uncomfortable, deeply hilarious coming-of-age movie, Sean Wang’s Didi plays like an extended and surprisingly welcome visit to the filmmaker’s childhood bedroom, if it happened to be preserved in the amber-ooze of Mountain Dew Code Red circa 2008. That is the year – the summer, specifically – in which 13-year-old Chris, a.k.a. Didi (Izaac Wang), is trying to figure out so much of himself and his ever-changing surroundings. Living with his Taiwanese single mother Chungsing (Joan Chen), college-bound sister Vivian (Shirley Chen), and nai nai/grandmother (Chang Li Hua) in the suburbs of Fremont, Calif., Didi doesn’t seem to be interested in much other than arguing with his family, skateboarding and trying to get closer to his crush. Obviously mining his own youth for the material, Wang does a remarkable job of digging deep into the uglier, more cringeworthy corners of his memory, a courageous route given that so many other storytellers might instead choose to sit in the comfortable corners of sun-dappled nostalgia. (Streaming on Prime Video)8. The Promised Land Mads Mikkelsen has the rugged, dirt-under-the-fingernails gravitas that suggests he could survive the harshest of climates. Perhaps this is simply a perception born from the Danish actor’s choice of productions, whether they require surviving the tundra in 2018’s Arctic or the American West of 2014’s The Salvation. But whether roles make the man or vice-versa, Mikkelsen is someone who you want to be standing next to when the storm arrives. All of which makes The Promised Land a perfect fit for the star survivor. An historical epic that is as grand as it is brutal, the new film from regular Mikkelsen collaborators Nikolaj Arcel (A Royal Affair) and Anders Thomas Jensen (Riders of Justice) casts the hard-eyed actor as an impoverished army veteran who obtains royal permission to farm a desolate piece of land in 1700s Denmark. (Streaming on Hoopla and Crave)7. Kneecap When writer-director Rich Peppiatt first decided to make a fictionalized movie chronicling the rise of the controversial real-life Belfast hip-hop trio Kneecap, who rap in a blend of English and the endangered Irish mother tongue, the filmmaker wanted to cast the musicians as themselves. Except Peppiatt had no idea whether Naoise Ó Cairealláin, Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh and JJ Ó Dochartaigh could act. Turns out, the three young men can, and then some, riffing on both their stage personas and day-to-day personal lives with the kind of slick charm that cements the lads as natural-born performers. Shot with the zigzagging energy of an incendiary rap battle and laced with the sharp politics of a generation that’s been too long disenfranchised, Peppiatt’s film is both a rags-to-semi-riches success story, and a treatise on Irish geopolitics post-Troubles. Think 8 Mile meets Trainspotting, shot through with a lightning bolt of don’t-give-a-fig ferocity. (Streaming on Hoopla)6. Between the Temples“Are you laughing or crying?” That question, posed from one character to another late in the new film Between the Temples, sums up the production’s jagged sensibilities neatly. Directed by Nathan Silver, the movie is a deliberately unbalanced affair about confused souls trying and often failing to navigate the fine line between tragedy and comedy, set in and around a suburban synagogue. But that quick bit of dialogue also conjures up a specific kind of nerve-rattling, nostalgic anxiety that likely courses through the audience Silver is most directly targeting: Jewish moviegoers who have gone through the sweetly awkward pain of being bar or bat mitzvahed. Oy, what a movie this is. (Streaming on Hoopla)5. Kill A film that answers the likely unasked-till-now-but-still-important question of what would happen if John Wick boarded the train in Snowpiercer, the new Hindi-language film Kill is a spectacular exercise in high-speed, throat-kicking chaos. Pushing the limits of Bollywood’s typically conservative tolerance for blood and guts, writer-director Nikhil Nagesh Bhat’s feature is built on a number of sly narrative and stylistic tricks that gradually cement its status as a new action classic full of nasty surprises. (Streaming on Prime Video)4. Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World The confrontational and playful Romanian filmmaker Radu Jude has been alighting the international cinema scene for a good decade now, and just about escaped into the wider cultural conversation with 2021’s absurd, explicit and brilliant satire Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, far and away the best movie made about, and during, the pandemic. But Jude graduates to a new level of controlled chaos with Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World, a bracing and eye-opening snapshot of the current moment. Following a harried production assistant who is helping put together a workplace-safety film for a dubiously ethical megacorporation, the film tackles the gig economy, TiKTok, Romanian history, the immaturity of the European film industry, worker exploitation, and more, all culminating in an epic, wild ride whose presumed destination is hell itself. (Streaming on MUBI)3. Love Lies BleedingShot with an eye for grime and populated by characters fatally allergic to doing the right thing, director Rose Glass’s follow-up to her deeply discomforting 2019 horror film Saint Maud represents as much a levelling up of ambitions as it does an impressively stubborn commitment to pushing buttons audiences might not even be aware that they have. The bad-romance tale between a small-town gym clerk (Kristen Stewart) and the hitchhiking bodybuilder with a dark past (Katy O’Brian) – with an unhealthy amount of guns and double crosses thrown in – is an unnerving yet deeply romantic ride. (Streaming on Prime Video)2. About Dry GrassesA desolate, forbidding landscape. A hero who may not be worth rooting for. Dialogue laced with forbidden politics and sexual desire. And an epic run time designed to toy with the limits of the human attention span. This isn’t Dune: Part Two, but rather another, altogether different kind of cinematic masterpiece from Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan that has disappeared from the art-house conversation after its quick release this past February. Structured like a quietly grand novel, subtle and elliptical, Ceylan’s film unfolds with Chekhovian grace and a cutting understanding of character. Through a half-dozen scenes of intricately choreographed dialogue – long, looping conversations whose naturalism belies their careful construction – the film builds a remarkably real, often uncomfortable world of thorny men and prickly philosophies. (Streaming on Criterion Channel)1. The OrderThere is not much more you can ask for in a movie than watching FBI agent Jude Law, cigarette constantly dangling from his mouth, engage in a gritty cat-and-mouse game with vile neo-Nazis led by a baby-faced Nicholas Hoult in the 1980s Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately lost in the glut of year-end releases – bypassing Canadian theatres entirely – director Justin Kurzel’s thriller based on a real-life case plays like a tightly wound cross between Michael Mann’s Heat (Hoult’s thugs fuel their cause by pulling off bank heists) and Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room (another film in which fascists built their nightmarish paradise in the woods). Keep all your eyes open for The Order once it hits the on-demand market in the coming weeks.

Twisters! Tennis! Transformations! The best movie moments of 2024

The transformation – NightbitchView image in fullscreenAmy Adams’s canine transformation in Marielle Heller’s Nightbitch should be nothing we haven’t seen before. There is a fine history of moonlit metamorphoses in werewolf movies: moans that deepen into growls, the stretching and twisting of muscle, fur sprouting at lightning speed. In fact, some people criticised this film for shying away from the body horror at the heart of Mother’s animalistic breakdown. But there is a powerful whiff of catharsis in this low-key transformation scene: watching Adams sniff the midnight air, dig with bare hands into her own tidy suburban lawn, down on her paws, fully dog in body and mind, before the hair begins to bristle on her forearms. Adams’s eerily calm voiceover (“I have one thought: I am an animal”), follows the rippling fur as her character is reborn as a galloping red husky, with a cloud of strawberry-blond hair on a muscular frame. A hunting dog with a one-track mind: “Blood! Blood, blood, blood!” And it’s curtains for the neighbourhood cats. Pamela HutchinsonThe final match – ChallengersView image in fullscreenOne of the trickiest aspects of sports movies is the win/loss binary: how can you construct something thrilling or unexpected without forcing the outcome of a fictional match into a familiar shape? Challengers, the tennis dramedy from Luca Guadagnino and Justin Kuritzkes, finds a way, despite everything in the movie leading up to a tie-breaking tennis match between former best friends Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor) and Art Donaldson (Mike Faist), with the implicit stakes of the heart of Art’s wife, Tashi Duncan (Zendaya), the woman (and former tennis prodigy) they both love. When the tie-breaking match begins, Art has just learned, through an elegantly silent callback to earlier in the movie, that Patrick and Tashi have recently slept together. In other words, it’s on – and, as in sports, it’s hard to figure how either binary choice (or even a none-of-the-above abdication) would make for a satisfying resolution. Always an antsy stylist, Guadagnino goes nuttier here depicting the boys’ frenzied rally, moving from a dizzying tennis-ball-eye-view shot to an overhead court shot to a fanciful composition from, somehow, beneath the court, making the players appear to be walking on air. They get closer and closer to the net, until they finally leap into a sweat-soaked embrace. Tashi, who has been slow-motion transfixed in the stands, lets out an instinctive cry, another callback to earlier in the film – an expression of adrenalized ecstasy. And that’s it: in a simple yet amped-up, nearly dialogue-free sequence, the film-makers have communicated something profound about both the potential purity of athletics and the messy bliss of true (and multidirectional) love. It’s an act of supreme confidence that the movie can wait until the last five minutes to go from very good to absolutely great. Jesse HassengerThe arrival – Dune: Part TwoView image in fullscreenThere are many good reasons to see a movie in theaters – to witness precision on the big screen, to support independent film, to enjoy the communal experience of, say, gasping in unison at every twist in Conclave. But chief among them, at least for me, is immersion in capital-S Spectacle. No movie delivered on pure cinematic absorption this year like Denis Villeneuve’s Dune: Part Two, which is as gorgeous, ambitious and strange as Part One. And no moment in Part Two hits as hard as the last-act opener, when a breaking-bad Paul Atreides arrives at the Fremen sietch to claim power. There are many layers of sublime spectacle at work here: 1) crowd 2) teeth-chattering score (Hans Zimmer’s rock-tinged Arrival, whose subterranean base recalls the sick Sardaukar throat-singing from Part One) 3) borderline comic self-seriousness 4) Timothée Chalamet power strut 5) giant sandworm power pose. Each of the three times I saw Part Two in theaters, I beamed through this auteur crescendo of teenage angst like a demented child with candy. The analytical brain says: what a thrill, to watch Villeneuve paint with the biggest possible canvas, to see an actually visionary blockbuster. But it’s the movie fan brain at the wheel: let’s fucking gooooooo. Adrian HortonThe Psycho house pursuit – MaXXXineView image in fullscreenTi West’s X trilogy has always been a love letter to important moments big and small in the history of horror cinema – with the series’ conclusion, MaXXXine, West cranks it up to full blast. For starters, there’s a rogue’s gallery of callbacks to films such as Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Psycho and many more (not to mention the trilogy’s first two films, X and Pearl, as well). What’s more, the plot poses Mia Goth’s Maxine as a porn star striving to turn scream queen, helping West drench his film in cinematic landmarks such as Hollywood Boulevard, the BonaVista revolving lounge at the Westin Bonaventure hotel, and of course the Universal Studios backlot, where Maxine comes across none other than Norman Bates’s creepy home. It’s in a central scene where she is being chased for her life by a private detective through one Universal facade after another – ultimately taking refuge within the Bates residence itself – that MaXXXine’s carefully layered approach to deconstructing and reconstructing cinematic history reaches a zenith. It’s a dizzying, hall-of-mirrors moment that poetically splices the immediacy of running for your life with the willful artificiality of the entire X trilogy, letting everything in West’s eXtraordinary trio of films effortlessly telescope together. Veronica EspositoThe thanks – A Real PainView image in fullscreenA Real Pain, Jesse Eisenberg’s second feature, is about two New York cousins, David (Eisenberg, clenched) and Benji (Kieran Culkin, charming/maddening), who go on a Jewish heritage tour of Poland. It is everything you always hoped Eisenberg would produce and more: clever and funny, light and deep, snappy and moving. It is a lot Woody Allen-ish and a bit Noah Baumbach and a dash László Nemes. In interviews, Eisenberg has said he cut the best jokes from the final edit, as they unbalanced the movie. The line that now gets the biggest laugh is one improvised by Will Sharpe, who plays James, their faintly Richard Ayoade-like tour guide. The day before, Benji has abruptly scolded James for making the tour insufficiently feeling or authentic. Later that evening, Benji behaves appallingly in a restaurant; David again apologises for him and explains why he might be like that. The next day, they go for a tour of a concentration camp and the cousins say their goodbyes to the rest of the group. James hugs Benji and thanks him for his honest feedback, for changing his perspective, re-energising his career. Then, walking off, he chucks David – who has put in some much effort and empathy – the most throwaway “Thanks, David” imaginable. It’s just a perfect little detail: telling and shocking and so, so funny. I laugh every time I think of it. Catherine ShoardThe acronyms – Rebel RidgeView image in fullscreenIn Jeremy Saulnier’s thunderously entertaining action thriller Rebel Ridge, there’s a great deal of fiery anger. It emerges from Aaron Pierre’s system-trapped hero and then also from us – not just towards those trying to destroy him but to those trying to destroy the movie itself. It landed on Netflix this September with the weakest of fanfare – a movie perfectly suited for a loud, communal big-screen experience quietly premiering on your iPhone. One of many, many moments that made me wish I was experiencing it with a crowd comes during a standoff at the small-town police station as Pierre’s Terry educates Don Johnson’s fabulously vile police chief on what Pace stands for just as his colleague is discovering what MCMAP means (“I think he’s on the Wikipedia page!” among the year’s finest lines). Saulnier squeezes every single drop of tension before delivering some much-needed, if brief, catharsis as a believably messy and cleverly choreographed tussle ensues. Like the film surrounding it, there’s a hugely satisfying balance of brain and brawn that we just don’t get much of in action cinema these days. I cheered from the couch. Benjamin LeeThe coda – The BrutalistView image in fullscreenThe Brutalist’s flash-forward coda offers itself up like a Rorschach blot: the grown daughter of now-infirm architect László takes the stage at an exhibition honoring his work and explains that while his magnum opus community center was commissioned as tribute to a goy industrialist’s late mother, László covertly turned the project into a monument to the horrors of the Holocaust. But does the young Zionist’s mention of her home in Jerusalem suggest that Israel is the ultimate historical vindication for the Jews? Or is this scene – in which she says “I speak for you now” to a decrepit man who refused to equate Judaism with Israeli identity in life – saying something subtler about who claims custody of the memory of the Shoah? Writer-director Brady Corbet has kept tight-lipped about his own leanings, but he drops his final musical cue as a hint to his theories about appropriation and ideology, two key themes he last visited with Vox Lux’s translation of pop music to turn-of-the-millennium terrorism. Italo-disco group La Bionda sends us out with a mantra so sprightly as to be unsettling: “One for you, one for me!” Charles BramescoThe interrogation – Hit ManView image in fullscreenThere’s a role-playing scene in Hit Man. OK, actually, there’s lots of role-playing scenes. Richard Linklater’s noirish screwball romcom (a genre cornucopia that yields pure cinephile bliss) is about a college professor played by Glen Powell who enthusiastically takes to his new gig impersonating a gun-for-hire for undercover police sting operations. Things really get exciting for Powell’s Gary when, while still in character, he gets involved with one of his marks: Adria Arjona’s Madison, a pouty femme fatale who wants to off her husband. They have an affair, where the role-playing gets steamy and layered. But it’s the (ahem) climax that really seals the deal. The police are on to Madison. Gary, while wearing a wire, is assigned to confront her. And so he does, performing a surprise kitchen scene interrogation, with detectives listening in, while passing notes to Madison, directing her on how to act and react. Throughout it all, Powell and Arjona keep that sexual charge between their characters amped, their eyes tender and flirtatious while their mouths do all the needling and yelling. The two impossibly hot actors are giving performances hitting on multiple levels, and as many erogenous zones, in one of the most joyous and pleasurable scenes the movies gave us this year. Radheyan SimonpillaiThe assistant – MarthaView image in fullscreenThroughout Netflix’s Martha, the riveting docu-biopic on America’s ur-influencer, Martha Stewart is firmly on guard, parrying director RJ Cutler’s probing questions to keep safe wagyu-tender feelings. But then a ray of clarity streaks through late via footage of Stewart at home in a desperate attempt to act normal for another crew of documentarians. Rather than address the elephant in the kitchen (her impending federal prison sentence for fraud), she homes in on an employee sawing at an orange with a puny blade. “Why would you use a little knife to cut a big orange?” she fumes. “You use a big knife to cut oranges, OK? You know how fast a big knife cuts?” She snatches one up to finish the job, but not before cautioning the camera crew not to “get that on film”. Thank God they didn’t listen. We might never have seen Stewart actually living her truth. Andrew LawrenceThe rodeo tornado – TwistersView image in fullscreenIt’s tough to choose between the several excellent tornado scenes in Twisters, the Glen Powell-led reboot of the 90s family disaster flick Twister. For me, it has to be the one in which Daisy Edgar-Jones’s brilliant but traumatised meteorologist Kate and Powell’s Tyler, a bad-boy storm chaser/influencer who sells T-shirts that say “Not my first tornadeo”, get swept up in precisely that – a tornado at a rodeo. A twee Americana bonding scene between the romantic leads gets interesting as phone alerts start pinging and people hang on to their 10-gallon hats as a tornado smacks into the arena. It’s stylishly done – a night of neon-lit chaos punctuated with comic beats as a boorish motel guest is more fixated on complaining than hunkering down and our good-looking tornado experts have to think fast to save a mother and daughter’s life. It’s funny, dramatic, romantic and, most of all, it’s comforting – cars and tornado-deniers might be blown away or squashed by pickup trucks but we know that Tyler and Kate won’t be. Which is why in a year of horrors I loved Twisters, a mindless, glorious adrenaline rush of a movie that promises we’ll be safe in the storm. Francesca CaringtonThe expulsion – Kinds of KindnessView image in fullscreenYorgos Lanthimos’s super-rapid follow-up to Poor Things didn’t attract the same thermonuclear levels of media attention, although its subject matter is equally, if not more, disturbing. Perhaps it’s due to Lanthimos toning down the visual fireworks; Kinds of Kindness is almost restrained in its (largely) subdued colour palette and (mostly) anonymous tastefulness. But in reaching back into his “Greek freak” past (in partnership with Efthimis Filippou, co-writer on Dogtooth, The Lobster et al), Lanthimos reminds us what a strong, sinewy narrative can do, along with seamlessly brilliant acting from his entire cast. It’s hard to pick a single moment from the three fables the film contains (in which Lanthimos reshuffles his pack of actors with dexterity) but I’d have to say that Emma Stone once again shows she’s the leading female performer of her generation, her trademark fearlessness on show in the climactic sequence in the film’s final story: she plays a cult member (her third role in the film) who is tested for “contamination” after being manhandled into a sauna, and then expelled from the order, her face transforming into a mask of agony and fear. One for the ages. Andrew Pulver

Ten films that bend, stretch and play with time, from Citizen Kane to Memento

The festive season can have a strange effect on our perception of time. Days blur together, hours stretch or vanish, and a sense of timelessness sets in. So, what better period to enjoy films that help us to reflect on time itself?

From mind-bending narratives to meditative explorations on time’s passage, these films are perfect for losing yourself – and finding new perspectives on time.

1. Citizen Kane (1941)

Orson Welles’ cinematic masterpiece doesn’t just tell the story of publishing tycoon Charles Foster Kane, it fragments it. It begins with Kane’s death and enigmatic final word, “Rosebud”. The film then unfolds in flashbacks narrated by those who knew him as they seek to discover the word’s meaning.

Each perspective adds a layer to his life while challenging the idea of a singular truth. Welles uses time as a puzzle, showing how memory and perception overlap to shape our understanding of the past.

Citizen Kane trailer.

2. Memento (2000)

Christopher Nolan’s breakthrough film has a reverse chronological structure, intercut with black-and-white sequences moving forward in time. The story is told through a series of scenes that move backwards while the protagonist, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), moves forward with no short-term memory.

The film opens with the end so we know what happens but we don’t know why or how we got there. Each scene ends where the previous scene began, creating a sense of disorientation that mirrors Leonard’s condition.

3. The Clock (2010)

Christian Marclay’s 24-hour video installation turns time itself into art. It includes a stunning montage of scenes from film and television that feature clocks, timepieces or people waiting. More than 12,000 clips are meticulously assembled to create an artwork that itself functions as a clock.

The film’s presentation is synchronised with the local time, resulting in the time shown in any scene being the actual time. This makes viewers acutely aware of time’s passage while simultaneously losing themselves in a hypnotic stream of cinematic moments.

Cinematic and actual time run parallel in a 24-hour montage in The Clock.

4. High Noon (1952)

This landmark Western film collapses real time with screen time. Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) is preparing to retire and leave town with his new wife, Amy (Grace Kelly). But he receives news that Frank Miller, a criminal he sent to prison, has been pardoned and is arriving on the noon train seeking revenge.

Despite pleas from his wife and townspeople to flee, Kane decides to stay and face Miller and his gang. He then finds himself increasingly isolated as the town abandons him. The film unfolds in approximate real time (85 minutes) between 10.40am and noon.

5. The Killing (1956)

Stanley Kubrick’s non-linear “one-last job” heist movie fragments time to brilliant effect. The narrative unfolds in a series of progressive flashbacks and even “flash sideways”, in which the actions and events are repeated from different characters’ points of view.

The studio hated it and asked him to cut it in a conventional fashion. But Kubrick abandoned the re-edit and returned the film to its original structure. As he told film critic Alexander Walker in 1971: “It was the handling of time that may have made this more than just a good crime film.”

The Killing’s official trailer from 1956.

6. Donnie Darko (2001)

This cult favourite merges teenage alienation and mental health with metaphysical time travel. Jake Gyllenhaal’s Donnie is haunted by visions and drawn into a “tangent universe” where time corrupts and loops back on itself. The film’s complex temporal structure involves parallel universes, predestination and sacrifice.

Its ambiguous ending leaves viewers debating whether Donnie’s actions were heroic sacrifice or delusion, making time itself an unreliable narrator.

7. Groundhog Day (1993)

Bill Murray’s cynical weatherman wakes up to the same day – again and again. As he relives February 1’s Groundhog Day in an endless loop, he is able to improve himself. He eventually evolves from selfishness and cynicism to empathy and kindness.

Interestingly, the film doesn’t reflect on why its protagonist relives the same day over and over again, and just accepts it.

Bill Murray’s character wakes up at 6am on the same day, every day.
Landmark Media/Alamy

8. Run Lola Run (1998)

This German-language thriller tells the same story three times, each with a different outcome. It presents alternative scenarios of Lola’s (Franka Potente) attempt to save her boyfriend’s life.

The film explores chaos theory and the butterfly effect through kinetic storytelling, with tiny variations in Lola’s choices rippling into dramatically different futures. The film’s use of different media, including animation and still photography, for different temporal states adds visual sophistication to its exploration of chance and choice.

9. Arrival (2016)

Time is not linear, at least not for the alien visitors in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama. As linguist Louise Banks (Amy Adams) learns to decode their language, she begins to experience time as they do – all at once.

The “Heptapod” language requires understanding the entire sentence before beginning it. This serves as a metaphor for how we might experience time if we could see it all at the same time.

10. Back to the Future (1985)

Marty McFly races through time.
Ralf Liebhold/Shutterstock

Few films play with the concept of time as joyfully as Robert Zemeckis’s 1980s classic, and no list of this type would be complete without it. Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) adventures between the 1980s and 1950s using a DeLorean car retrofitted as a time machine.

It explores time, space and consequence, as Marty races to ensure his teenage parents fall in love to restore the future. It also spawned two popular sequels.

All of these films remind us that time isn’t just a backdrop. It’s a force that shapes our lives, memories and stories. As you sink into the cosy limbo of the season, let these cinematic journeys through time inspire reflection on your own.

Christopher Nolan’s next film announced as ‘mythic action epic’ The Odyssey

Christopher Nolan’s follow-up to Oppenheimer will be an adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey, it has been revealed.Hollywood studio Universal, which is backing the project, posted on social media on Monday that: “Christopher Nolan’s next film The Odyssey is a mythic action epic shot across the world” and that “Homer’s foundational saga” will be shot “using brand new Imax film technology”. The studio said it plans to release the film in July 2026.News that Nolan was working on a new project – following the seven-Oscars-winning Oppenheimer – first emerged in October, when Spider-Man’s Tom Holland was revealed to be in talks to star alongside Matt Damon. Nolan has chosen to stick with Oppenheimer producers Universal, after ending his previous relationship with the studio Warner Bros when it temporarily abandoned exclusive theatrical distribution during the Covid pandemic.It later emerged that Anne Hathaway and Zendaya have also joined the cast. While making the announcement, Hathaway expressed her gratitude to Nolan for giving her a role in his sci-fi epic Interstellar, after “how toxic my identity had become online … [he did] not care about that and gave me one of the most beautiful roles I’ve had in one of the best films that I’ve been a part of.”Nolan has long been enthusiastic about the giant-scale Imax format, and previously employed it in films including The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar and Dunkirk.The Odyssey, composed in the 8th or 7th century BC and attributed to Homer, has been only rarely adapted for the screen, with perhaps the most prominent example being the 1954 Italian film Ulysses starring Kirk Douglas and Silvana Mangano. Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche play the leads in The Return, adapted from The Odyssey’s final section, which was released in the US in December. The 1995 film Ulysses’ Gaze, directed by Greek auteur Theo Angelopoulos and starring Harvey Keitel, uses motifs from Homer in its study of a film-maker returning to his Greek homeland, while O Brother, Where Art Thou?, the Coen brothers’ 2000 comedy, also borrows from the epic poem.

‘Ghostbusters’ And ‘Venom’ Among Movies That Struck Gold At The Box Office In 2024—Despite Critics Saying They Fell Flat

ToplineBig stars, major studios, wide theatrical releases and hundreds of millions of dollars grossed weren’t enough to win over critics of these commercially successful films that were each panned for their respective plot holes, uninspired storytelling and, in one case, being a blatantly “cynical cash grab.”

Key Facts

“Venom: The Last Dance,” the last installment in the Venom trilogy and fifth film in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe, grossed $139.5 million domestically to become the year’s 16th best performing film, but only 41% of Rotten Tomatoes critics gave it a positive rating.

“The Last Dance” had the worst opening weekend of any Venom movie but stayed on top at the box office for three consecutive weeks before dropping off, despite its lackluster critical reception.

“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” earned only a 42% critics score as the lowest-rated film in the franchise’s 40-year history, but it still drew viewers to the box office with a $113.3 million domestic gross.

The best performing biopic of 2024 with $97 million grossed domestically, “Bob Marley: One Love,” was liked by 44% of critics.”The Garfield Movie,” which is rumored to have a sequel on the way, has a 37% critics score and grossed $92 million domestically.

Amazon Prime’s original Christmas movie “Red One” was slammed by reviewers across the board to become one of the worst-rated movies among the year’s top 25 domestic earners with a 30% critics score.

Of the top-10 highest grossing films of the year, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” (ninth highest-earning with $196.3 million domestically) and “Despicable Me 4” (in the No. 3 spot with a $361 million domestic gross) impressed the fewest critics—they have scores of 54% and 56%, respectively.

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Big Number
91%. That’s the audience score for “Bob Marley: One Love” on Rotten Tomatoes, the best audience score among the worst-rated commercial successes of the year. “Red One” had an audience score of 90%.

Contra
Most of this year’s most successful films were also enjoyed by critics. “Inside Out 2,” the best performing film of the year, has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes critics score and grossed $652.9 million domestically, breaking records as the highest-grossing animated film of all time and the fastest animated film to ever hit $1 billion globally. “Dune: Part Two,” which grossed $282 million domestically in the seventh spot for the year, was liked by 92% of critics and “Wicked,” which is still showing in theatres, has an 88% critics score and is the fourth highest-grossing film of the year with $359 domestically.
Key Background
This year’s box office didn’t have the standout movie movements of 2023—when the tangential release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” broke records and dominated the nation’s lexicon—and 2024 struggled to overcome the impacts of months of Hollywood strikes last year, but still performed better than any analysts expected. The strikes meant there were almost no big-budget blockbusters on screens early in the year; the first half of 2024 fell 23% behind 2023’s earnings pace; and the 2024 summer box office was down 10.3% over 2023, despite the releases of the year’s three biggest films. But thanks to “Wicked” and “Moana 2,” which delivered the biggest Thanksgiving weekend in box office history to become the fourth and fifth highest-grossing films of 2024, the year could end just 3% behind 2024 in domestic gross.
What To Watch For
The release of big-budget films originally slated for 2024. Disney’s live-action “Snow White,” Pixar’s “Elio,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts” and “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” are all now set for 2025 releases.

Further Reading