This has been a dicey year for the world’s biggest streaming service, with apparently a million subscribers dipping in 2022 and a new ad-supported option coming to the fore to draw new ones in.
But the battle for your streaming attention’s not over yet—in the second half of 2022, Netflix is offering up at least 10 of the year’s most anticipated films, everything from musicals and animated fantasies to German war drama and the latest from Baumbach and Iñárritu.
Here are the hottest movies to keep an eye out for on your homepage in the remainder of 2022, starting with a blonde bombshell dropping this month…
Blonde
Andrew Dominik’s dark and apparently “deeply feminist” portrait of Marilyn Monroe kicks off Netflix’s spree of artsy, difficult cinema in the back end of 2022. It’ll feature Ana de Armas as the tragic screen icon and sex symbol, shifting aspect ratios and colour palettes to show her fictionalised downfall.
White Noise
In this darkly comedic adaptation of the post-modern, hipster fave novel by Dom DeLillo, Adam Driver’s Holocaust professor must confront a whole new toxic holocaust, trying to keep himself and his shambling family together. Noah Baumbach will direct his girlfriend Greta Gerwig as the mum/stepmum of Driver’s four kids, making this a sweetly apocalyptic indie family affair.
Bardo
The next film from Alejandro González Iñárritu is almost three hours long, devoid of any of the stars we enjoyed in Birdman or The Revenant, and currently has a 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. So prepare to be befuddled and mystified, because this thing is also described as an “epic poetic Mexican comedy”. And yep, it has an unwieldy subheading too: “or, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”.
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery
You can expect a stellar ensemble of murder suspects and more hokey Southern accent from Daniel Craig in this Knives Out sequel. But what might surprise you is that, after a short theatrical release, the film will drop quickly onto Netflix, even though the release date is still mysteriously unspecified. Oh well: we can’t wait to see Kate Hudson, Edward Norton, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Janelle Monáe defend their alibis on a deadly cruise.
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio
In a bizarrely fruitful year of Pinocchio adaptations, Spanish fantasist Guillermo del Toro’s looks the most alluring, with creepy visuals and a faithful interpretation of the old Italian fairytale. Apparently del Toro’s little wooden boy is a bit of a jerk, just asking to get whittled down to size by conniving foxes and cats, a hungry whale, and his yearning to become a real boy.
The Good Nurse
A pair of Oscar winners will star in this chilling drama, about a well-liked nurse suspected of murdering hundreds of patients on the job. Jessica Chastain is the single mum who suspects her kind coworker Eddie Redmayne of the foul deeds: don’t read this linked Wikipedia page if you want to keep the shocking truth a secret for now.
Roald Dahl’s Matilda: The Musical
The little bookworm with big mental powers will burst into song around Christmas, bringing Tim Minchin’s devilishly clever Broadway tunes to Roald Dahl’s beloved kids book. Emma Thompson is back in Nanny McPhee mode as the awful headmistress Miss Trunchbull, and Andrea Riseborough and Stephen Graham will play the ungrateful parents on whom Matilda exacts her mischievous revenge.
All Quiet on the Western Front
Back in August, this fresh adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s incendiary anti-war novel was announced as Germany’s entry to next year’s Best Foreign Language category at the Oscars. As if that’s not proof enough that we’re in for something stirring, the 1930 American adaptation is still considered one of the greatest war films of all time. Daniel Brühl should give a gripping performance as German finance minister Matthias Erzberger.
Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
Years ago we reported that Stephen King’s 11th anthology of short stories was already being optioned for countless film and TV adaptations: his tale from the collection has nabbed a particularly spectacular cast, and the backing of spooky studio Blumhouse. Donald Sutherland will feature as a dead man who can mysteriously communicate with his younger friend, even making his darkest desires come true from beyond the grave.
Christmas in Wonderland
Alright, enough of film festival hysteria and Oscars contenders: time for a cheesy holiday delight, perfect lazy December programming on Netflix! This romance has everything—an heiress with amnesia, a twinkling ski lodge setting, discovery of the true meaning of Christmas—but most importantly, it’s the small-screen return of Lindsay Lohan, after plenty of healing years out of tabloid headlines. Seeing LiLo in a corny, family-friendly role is all we could’ve asked for from Santa.
