With such a wide variety of movie releases last year, many were expecting this year to be a slower year for the cinema industry. However, this year started with a bang, with both “Dune: Part 2”, “Civil War”, and the recently released “Challengers” already enjoying great critical and commercial success. Furthermore, the upcoming slate of movies reveals that there is a lot to look forward to on the horizon. 

  Lots of big announcements from studios in recent weeks have revealed this year will be stacked for movies. For instance, the trailer for “Joker: Folie a Deux” was released, along with an accompanying release date of October 4. Given the all-around success of Todd Phillip’s first entry in the Joker franchise, expectations are sky-high for this musical sequel featuring Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn. 

  Furthermore, many award-winning directors are returning to the silver screen this year. After being nominated for Best Director at last year’s Oscars, Yorgos Lanthimos is returning with his anthology-style movie, “Kinds of Kindness”. The film, which stars Emma Stone and Jesse Plemmons amongst others, is set to release in theaters on June 21.

  With all that being said, the most intriguing potential release of this year is Francis Ford Coppola’s entirely self-funded “Megalopolis”. Coppola is one of the most decorated directors of all time and has been working on this project for almost 20 years. Despite all of his apparent hard work, studios refused (and are still refusing) to back and distribute the project, leading to fans wondering if the project is a complete mess or if the studios are all missing something. Adam Driver is set to star in the film, and a release date has yet to be set. 

  While those are the upcoming projects generating the most buzz, plenty of other intriguing movies (such as “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Nosferatu”) are set to release this year, which should lead to an extremely exciting year to be a movie fan.