Seventeen picks products that we think you’ll love the most. We may earn commission from the links on this page.
Get the popcorn ready.
After two years of shuttered movie theaters due to the COVID-19 pandemic, most film productions are now back on schedule, Hollywood studios are cranking out film after film, and seats are filling back up. We’ve already seen the release of box-office action flicks, like The Batman, and streaming services have delivered incredibly heartwarming films, such as Turning Red on Disney+. And there’s still a few months left in the year. So although some of the best movies of 2022 have already debuted, there’s still so many top-tier films to look forward to.
The best movies of 2022 so far include cute romances that you can watch now, spine-chilling new horror flicks, gripping thrillers, and everything in between. The Marvel Cinematic Universe continues to expand as the next highly anticipated installments of franchises arrive, including Don’t Worry Darling and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. All in all, there are a number of noteworthy films making their debut throughout the year and there’s something for every moviegoer.
Grab a bowl of popcorn, pick out your favorite candy, and don’t forget the theater tickets — or your Netflix login — because in this roundup, you’ll find something exceptional to watch for your next big movie night.
The sequel to 2018’s Black Panther returns to theaters this fall. The film will further explore the world created in the first film, and although details of the plot have been mostly kept under wraps, the latest trailer unveils a look at the new Black Panther. Letitia Wright, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira, Angela Bassett, Martin Freeman, and Winston Duke return. One iconic character will be missing, as actor Chadwick Boseman, who portrayed T’Challa, the King of Wakanda, passed away in August 2020.
Release date: November 11, 2022
29 years after the original film premiered, the Sanderson Sisters are back to cause chaos in modern day Salem, Massachusetts in Hocus Pocus 2. But this time, Max Dennison isn’t the reason for their return — rather, three high school teens (portrayed by Lilia Buckingham, Belissa Escobedo, and Gossip Girl’s Whitney Peak) accidentally conjure them up. Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker have reprised their roles as Winifred, Mary, and Sarah Sanderson.
Release date: October 2022
In this psychological thriller from Olivia Wilde, Alice (Florence Pugh) and Jack (Harry Styles) are husband and wife living in a utopian village in 1950s California. This dark and twisted tale shows the breakdown of Alice and Jack’s marriage as Alice begins to worry that her husband is concealing a deadly secret.
Release date: September 23, 2022
Purchase tickets
Amandla Stenberg, Pete Davidson, and Chase Sui Wonders star in this satirical thriller about a group of friends whose party plans in a remote mansion quickly go awry.
Release date: August 5, 2022
Purchase Tickets Now
In this satirical comedy, Zoey Deutch plays Danni Sanders, a young woman who desperately wants to be famous and beloved on the Internet. She has an elaborate plan to pretend she’s on a writer’s retreat in Paris, only for her to find out there was a bombing there IRL. Danni mistakenly gains fame as a survivor of a tragedy, and let’s just say she should be careful what she wishes for.
Release date: July 29, 2022
Watch on Hulu
A group of teens not only have to endure conversion therapy at an anti-LGBTQ+ campsite — they’re also being stalked by a mysterious masked killer.
Release date: July 29, 2022
Watch on Peacock
A dark, ominous cloud circling overhead seems to suggest that some evil forces are at play in NOPE, as Keke Palmer, Daniel Kaluuya, and Steven Yeun’s characters stare up to the sky in sheer horror in the film’s official trailer. Barbie Ferreira, Brandon Perea, and Michael Wincott also join the cast.
Release date: July 22, 2022
Watch on Prime Video
Claire (Talia Ryder) and Aidan (Jordan Fisher) make a pact to break up before college with no regrets and no broken hearts. They embark on an epic final date with the intention of saying goodbye, but it may offer them a last chance at love.
Release date: July 6, 2022
Watch on Netflix
Catch Austin Butler’s breakout performance in the Baz Luhrmann-directed biopic about none other than Elvis Presley.
Release date: June 24, 2022
Watch on Prime Video
In this modern rom-com retelling of Pride and Prejudice, a group of queer best friends head to New York’s Fire Island Pines for their annual tradition. However, a series of events and new changes might make this their last summer on the island.
Release date: June 3, 2022
Watch on Hulu
Following the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home, Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) casts a spell and now must confront the aftermath of opening the door to the alternate realities of the Multiverse. Directed by Sam Raimi, the filmmaker behind the Tobey Maguire-led Spider-Man trilogy, the movie also stars Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier, Rachel McAdams as Dr. Christine Palmer, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, Xochitl Gomez as America Chavez, Benedict Wong as Wong, and Michael Stuhlbarg as Dr. Nicodemus West.
Release date: May 6, 2022
Watch on Disney+
In Crush, Rowan Blanchard plays an aspiring artist named Paige, who’s set on getting into her dream art school. When she’s accused of painting murals on her high school campus, she joins the track team as punishment. She takes the opportunity to hunt down the real culprit and ends up in the middle of a love triangle between two sisters along the way.
Release date: April 29, 2022
Watch on Hulu
Based on the novel of the same name by author Sarah Dessen, Along for the Ride tells the story of college-bound Auden (Emma Pasarow) and mysterious Eli (Belmont Cameli). The two meet while Auden spends the summer with her father in the small, seaside town of Colby. Auden and Eli bond over their shared experience with insomnia, and soon form a strong friendship that allows Auden to be more carefree. The new rom-com comes from the screenwriter behind the To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before trilogy, Sofia Alvarez.
Release date: April 22, 2022
Watch on Netflix
In the latest installment of the Wizarding World, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, Professor Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) enlists Magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and a team of witches and wizards to help stop the growing influence of Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen).
Release date: April 15, 2022
Watch on Hulu
Ryan Reynolds plays Adam Reed, a time-traveling pilot from the year 2050 who accidentally ends up crash-landing into 2022 and must join forces with his younger self (Walker Scobell) and father (Mark Ruffalo) to save the future. This action-adventure comedy from Shawn Levy, an executive producer on series such as Stranger Things and Shadow and Bone, also stars Zoe Saldana, Jennifer Garner, Catherine Keener, and Alex Mallari Jr.
Release date: March 11, 2022
Watch on Netflix
In this science-fiction action comedy film from A24 and the Daniels (Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert), Evelyn (Crazy Rich Asians’ Michelle Yeoh) is an exhausted business owner who’s having trouble paying her taxes. But she’s also been tasked with saving the world, and is ultimately transported into the multiple different universes of all her other lives to do so.
Release date: March 11, 2022
Watch on Prime Video
Noa (Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones) has endured bad date after bad date, suffering from the state of online dating. So when she meets handsome Steve (Captain America’s Sebastian Stan) in the grocery store, she’s amused by his charming ways and agrees to give him her number. The two hit it off on their first date and Noa happily falls into a whirlwind romance. Things could not be better when the two drive off for an intimate weekend away together, but Noa swiftly learns that all is not as it seems when she discovers Steve’s exceptionally warped appetite.
Release date: March 4, 2022
Watch on Hulu
Robert Pattinson is vengeance. When a serial killer who has been wreaking havoc in Gotham City strikes on Halloween, a withdrawn Bruce Wayne — who’s been operating as his alter ego Batman for two years — teams up with the metropolis’s police department to unmask the murderer. Zoë Kravitz stars opposite R-Patz as Selina Kyle.
Release date: March 4, 2022
Watch on Hulu
Pixar’s latest film introduces Meilin “Mei” Lee (voiced by Rosalie Chiang), a confident teen who is determined to not let anything get in her way. But then one night, she suddenly transforms into a giant red panda and discovers that her family has an ancient, mystical connection to the animal. Along with the other hurdles of being a 13-year-old, Mei must now learn how to navigate this new quirk, which is brought on by any strong emotion.
Release date: February 21, 2022
Watch on Disney+
Peter (Charlie Day) and Emma (Jenny Slate) are thirty-somethings who meet and realize that they were both dumped on the same weekend. Desperate to win their exes back, the two team up to help sabotage their ex-partner’s new relationships. But as their plan unfolds, hiccups of course ensue, which leaves Peter and Emma feeling even more hurt than they were before. But an unlikely event leads the two to realize that they might have been chasing the wrong people the whole time.
Release date: February 11, 2022
Watch on Amazon Prime
Minutes before pop star Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) is set to get married before an entire audience of fans, she discovers that her fiancé Bastian (Maluma) has been cheating on her with her assistant. Distressed, she steps onto the stage, spots Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson) holding his friend’s “Marry Me!” sign, and hastily agrees to marry him. Just like that, the two exchange vows in front of millions of concertgoers and fans streaming online. In order to avoid ridicule from the media, Kat asks Charlie to stay married to her for a few months. Eventually, as time passes, these once-total strangers realize that an impulse decision might have been the happiest accident to ever happen to them.
Release date: February 11, 2022
Watch on Peacock
Zoë Kravitz stars in this crime thriller from director Steven Soderbergh, the filmmaker behind projects such as Contagion and Erin Brockovich. Zoë plays Angela Childs, who has agoraphobia and works in tech as a voice stream interpreter. When she believes that she’s uncovered the recording of a violent crime, she goes to report it to the company’s higher-ups — but her concerns are instantly dismissed. So, Angela decides to take matters into her own hands.
Release date: February 10, 2022
Watch on HBO Max
