New movies 2022: what to watch in theaters this year – and which films are streaming

In no small part thanks to the global pandemic, theatrical movie releases were all-but non-existent in 2020, and any new titles that did see the light of day were often confined to streamers like HBO Max and Disney Plus.

2021, though, turned out to be one of the best years for film fans in living memory. Not only did we seen four Marvel movies released last year (Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals and Spider-Man: No Way Home, which, collectively, lengthened the task of watching the Marvel movies in order), but we also enjoyed the big-budget action of theatrically-released flicks like No Time to Die, Dune and The Matrix Resurrections.

Thankfully, 2022 has continued in the same vein. We’ve already enjoyed the likes of Uncharted, The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, Lightyear, Thor: Love and Thunder, Prey, Nope, Don’t Worry Darling and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever this year, but there’s still a handful of new movies to come before the year is out. 

Below, we’ve rounded up the biggest of the lot – from Babylon to Avatar: The Way of Water. For Netflix subscribers, we’ve also collated a list of the biggest new Netflix movies still to come in 2022, too. 

Avatar: The Way of Water

Release date: December 16, 2022 (theatrical)

James Cameron is anything but prolific these days – Avatar: The Way of Water (aka Avatar 2) will be only his third movie in 25 years – but when he does step behind the camera, you know you’ll be seeing something groundbreaking. He tends to spend the long gaps between releases waiting for filmmaking technology to catch up with his vision, so his return to the spectacular alien ecosystem of Pandora will feature world-first underwater performance capture sequences. 

Kate Winslet (who held her breath for an incredible seven minutes during filming), Jermaine Clement and Cliff Curtis join the cast alongside Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana. Sigourney Weaver and Stephen Lang also return, despite their characters being presumed dead. While this sequel was delayed by a year as part of Disney’s massive Covid-19-induced release date shake up, you won’t have to wait another decade for more Avatar – part 3 is set for December 2024, with a fourth and fifth movie also in the works. 

You can check out our breakdown of the movie’s long-awaited first trailer here.

Babylon

Release date: December 25, 2022 (theatrical)

Set during the 1920s, in a transitional Hollywood era that saw silent films make way for ‘talkies’, Babylon looks primed to deliver yet more awards for director Damien Chazelle, whose previous credits include the Oscar-winning Whiplash, La La Land and First Man. A tale of “outsized ambition and outrageous excess”, the movie traces the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity, so says studio Paramount. 

Babylon – which counts Brad Pitt, Margot Robbie and Tobey Maguire among its cast – will receive a limited theatrical release on December 25, 2022, before opening in the US on January 6, 2023 and the UK on January 20, 2023. As with other Paramount films, it’s likely to debut on Paramount Plus in the future, too.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

Release date: March 17, 2023 (theatrical)

Admittedly, we’ve now moved into 2023 territory, but Aquaman 2 was scheduled to hit theaters on December 16, 2022, so it gets a mention here. Going by the less internet-friendly title of Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Aquaman 2 will splash onto screens to continue the underwater adventures of Jason Momoa’s DC superhero. 

This long-awaited sequel reunites the actor with original co-stars Amber Heard, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Nicole Kidman and Patrick Wilson – as well as director James Wan – and will see the titular character forced to “forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protect Atlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation.” Expect even more comic book carnage, then.

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

Release date: June 2, 2023 (theatrical)

The first instalment in a two-part sequel to the 2018 hit, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Part One) will follow Miles and Gwen as they encounter different worlds (and characters) on their travels across the multiverse. The movie’s producers have already revealed that each dimension in the second Miles Morales-led Spidey movie will “have its own art style” and “feel like it was drawn by a different artist’s hand,” so there’s a good chance that this one will look even better than the excellent original. What’s more, the same duo have also revealed that Across the Spider-Verse may be tied to the MCU, after all, meaning we could see Tom Holland’s Spidey in animated form for the first time. As with the Aquaman sequel (above), this one was initially slated to release in 2022, but is now scheduled for 2023.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One

Release date: July 14, 2023 (theatrical)

Okay, we know this list was supposed to detail 2022 movies exclusively, but Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning: Part One (or Mission: Impossible 7, if you’re in a rush) has endured so many scheduling delays that it’s worth including as a footnote here. 

Tom Cruise will have hit 60 by the time this seventh entry in the iconic franchise hits cinemas, and it’ll also mark the penultimate outing for the actor’s famous action hero, Ethan Hunt. Having delivered the long-running franchise’s best instalments with Rogue Nation and Fallout, Christopher McQuarrie is also back behind the camera for number 7 and its follow-up. Plot details are currently wrapped up tighter than a government vault, though the movie’s bombastic first trailer did give us our first glimpse at Hunt and company’s return to action. 

To best prepare yourself for the chaos to come, check out our ranking of the six Mission: Impossible movies released so far.