I wrote recently that 2023 has been an odd year for IP on the silver screen - the DCEU faded with a whimper, while the MCU (and Disney as a whole) stuttered to its most disappointing year yet that, combined with Jonathan Majors' firing, could spell the end of Marvel's decade and a half of box office domination.
And yet some fresher IP has shone, with Barbie and Mario clearing one billion as two of the most recognisable mascots in existence, while Wonka overperformed and A24 (now something of an IP in its own right) had its second biggest hit ever with Talk to Me. Most of the established IP - your superheroes and endless sequels - may continue to struggle in 2024, but auteur directors could swoop in to plug that gap.
For a full breakdown of 2024's movies to watch, check out our recommendations here.
The IP Banana Skins
I have a lot more to say about the ideas that I'm far more excited for, so it's easier to rattle through all the movies hitting cinemas next year that are being sold first and foremost off IP: The Quiet Place Day One, The Quiet Place Part 3 (yes, both are planned, though Part 3 will likely be bumped), Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Despicable Me 4, Venom 3, Deadpool 3, Kung Fu Panda 4, Kraven the Hunter, Paddington in Peru, Inside Out 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 3, The Garfield Movie, Twisters 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, Godzilla Vs Kong: The New Empire, Transformers One, Bad Boys 4, The Karate Kid, Saw 11, and the big burrito bowl itself, Boss Baby 3.
I'll see most of these and expect to enjoy a decent amount of them - hating anything with any degree of IP attachment is worse than only watching IP, because it's a conscious choice to shut out stories for your own self-aggrandisement. But when you look at the slate like that and consider how badly Wish, Ant-Man, and The Flash did, it feels like if enough of these miss, studios might be sent back to the drawing board.
The In-Betweeners
Auteurs work on IP too, sometimes (like George Lucas and Star Wars) because they're so successful at building their stories into brands that they become too large and they lose control of them. There are a few cases of IP/auteur crossover in 2024, starting with the sequel to Joker. Though based on the Batman villain, Joker was an inventive, distinctly grounded reimagining of him without the caped crusader. The sequel introduces Harley Quinn (which feels IP heavy) but is also a musical (which seems like a big creative swing), so I've got a lot of love for Folie a Deux.
We're also seeing sequels to Gladiator and Beetlejuice, and a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road, all by the original directors, and it's this fact that makes them feel a bit more earned than a churned out story with a sellable name. But they don't quite have the freshness of some of 2024's most exciting ideas.
The Rise Of The Auteur
Once directors reach a certain level of fame (or infamy), they become selling points in their own right. It's not just success that gets you there though, there has to be something evocative about your work. Joe Russo poked fun at Martin Scorsese's dog Oscar this year by naming his own Box Office, but no one goes to see a Russo movie because it's made by the Russos. Likewise, Jon Watts guided the Spider-Man trilogy to almost $4 billion across three movies, but he's not the one putting cheeks in seats.
Some directors wield that power, and with Oppenheimer set to clear $1 billion with a January re-release and eventual arrival in Japan, it's clear that Christopher Nolan is one of them. Scorsese's own Killers of the Flower Moon, plus Ridley Scott's Napoleon, both exceeded box office expectations, thanks in part to the presence of a seasoned director, though Scott would probably rebuff being described as an auteur (hence Gladiator's position). 2024 sees a lot of auteur-driven movies show up at the perfect time with audiences wanting something new.
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PostsFirst up, there's Dune: Chapter 2, which could be an in-betweener, although to call a literary adaptation "IP" chills me to my core. Denis Villeneuve has excelled in packaging complex, human ideas inside beautiful and resonant imagery, all while appealing to everyday cinemagoers there for the spectacle. Blade Runner 2049's 'you look lonely' remains the apex of this.
Mickey 17 will be Bong Joon-ho's next movie after Parasite brought his work to a new crowd, while the strike-delayed Challengers from Luca Guadagnino might be my personal pick of 2024's crop. Ethan Coen is back with a lesbian roadtrip comedy in Drive-Away Dolls, and Alex Garland's Civil War is already taking flak for having Texas and California team up, but that only suggests to be that it is divorced from modern politics in ways that feel far more interesting than hashing red states versus blue states.
When the first movie hit cinemas, we spoke to the Dune team who brought the worm to life.
Then, for the holidays, we have what my colleague Andrew King referred to as 'a Christmas auteur horror Barbeneheimer' as Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Witch) and Jordan Peele (Get Out, Nope) are aiming for the same release weekend. With the success of Peele's Nope - and relative commercial failure of Eggers' The Northman - making the battle a little less balanced than Barbenheimer, we may see a schedule change. However, Eggers is the much anticipated Nosferatu adaptation, while Peele's is still untitled, so they may be on more even footing than it first appears.
Finally, Argylle's trailer famously describes it as originating in "the twisted mind of Matthew Vaughn", but we're really not having that, are we? However, it underlines that the director is now a selling point, even for a movie with Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, Henry Cavill, John Cena, and Dua Lipa in the cast. 2024 could prove that modern audiences are sick of characters and stories they know already, and want fresh ideas from directors they know instead.
