Happy New Year!  Lots of great movies to look forward to in 2023. As usual, we have more information about big blockbusters that have been in the works for a while than about smaller films that may still be in production. I always look forward to seeing more from my old favorites, but as I say every year what I enjoy most is knowing that there will be some filmmakers I’ve never heard of who will surprise and delight me in the new year. Watch for Jonathan Majors, already one of my favorites ever since “The Last Black Man in San Francisco,” in two giant sequels, “Creed III” and the new Ant-Man film. And watch for Oscar-winner Dame Helen Mirren in two blockbuster sequels as well: “SHAZAM” and “Fast X Part 1.”

Here are some of the films we are already excited about. (Release dates tentative)

Comic Book Movies

SHAZAM:Fury of the Gods (December)

Helen Mirren!

Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (February)

Guardians of the Galaxy: Volume 3 (May)

Deadpool 3 (September)

Sequels and Remakes

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (June)

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are back!

John Wick: Chapter 4

Fast X Part 1 (May)

The series is going out with a two-part bang. It’s still about chases, explosions, and family.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (July)

Chases, explosions, secrets, and Tom Cruise.

Creed III (March)

Jonathan Majors plays an old friend who gets into the ring with Creed.

Magic Mike: Last Dance (February)

Salma Hayek gives the dancers their dream shot.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

Harrison Ford is back!

Avatar 3

The forest people and the sea people versus the sky people, part 3 of 5.

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Part One (June)

Sequel to the Oscar-winning animated multi-verse Spidey story.

Book Club 2 (May)

Jane Fonda, Mary Steenbergen, Diane Keaton, and Candace Bergen reunite for another movie about golden age antics.

Fantasy Games

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (March)

Owlbear! Dragons! Chris Pine!

The Super Mario Brothers Movie (April)

The classic video game comes to animated life with the voices of Charlie Day and Anya Taylor-Joy.

Intriguing New Ideas

Barbie (July)

Greta Gerwig’s “Little Women” was so well done I can’t help but look forward to her take on Mattel icon Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.

When You Finish Saving the World (January)

“The Social Network’s” Jesse Eisenberg wrote and directed a film that looks like it will break all our hearts. But in a good way.

Missing (January)

The clever “Searching” all took place on the computer screen of the frantic father played by John Cho. This follow-up stars Nia Long and Storm Reid.

Sharper (February)

Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan star in a movie about a con.

Emily (February)

Loosely inspired by the writer Emily Bronte, whose passionate story “Withering Heights” continues to thrill readers.

Linoleum (February)

Jim Gaffigan plays the host of a failing children’s science TV show who has always dreamed of being an astronaut.

Revolution (February)

In the 1970s, a church finds its congregation.

Mama Mafia (April)

Toni Collette inherits the family’s Mafia empire and turns things around with the help of Monica Belluci.

Asteroid City (June)

It’s a new Wes Anderson movie. So I’m guessing it will be quirky, curated, and a bit pretentious but worth seeing.

No Hard Feelings (June)

Jennifer Lawrence and Broadway star Andrew Barth Feldman (“Ratatouille the Musical”) plus Matthew Broderick, Ebon Moss-Bacharach (“The Dropout”), and Natalie Morales in an R-rated comedy about a woman hired to advise a socially awkward young man.

Renfield (April)

Remember Dracula’s sidekick? No? Well, here he gets his own story, with Nicholas Hoult falling in love with Awkwafina and Nicolas Cage as the vampire.

For the Family

Elemental (June)

Pixar asks whether Fire and Water can find a life together.

Night at the Museum: Kahmunrah Rises Again (December)

An animated sequel to the popular series.

The Little Mermaid (May)

A live action remake starring Halle Bailey.