While fans are caught up in the promotional world tour and release this weekend of juggernaut Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1, there are films waiting in the wings as the cinema experience continues its comeback after the two-year global pandemic.

Two box office standouts, Greta Gerwig’s feminist fantasy, Barbie, and  three-hour epic Oppenheimer (about the mastermind behind the atomic bomb), are both released on the same day in Australia, July 20.

It’s a match made in heaven, and one that has triggered some fun on the internet with fans united with heavily memed posts, planning double screenings, a debate over which one to see first, with online entrepreneurs cashing in on “BarbOppenheimer” merchandise.

Even Tom Cruise took his eye off the MI red carpet rollercoaster between Seoul and Sydney to post an enthusiastic shout-out.

“I love a double feature, and it doesn’t get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie,” says the passionate advocate of big-screen cinema experiences (the less CGI and stuntmen involved for him, the better).

“I grew up seeing movies on the big screen. That’s how I make them, and I like that experience; it’s immersive, and to have that as a community and an industry, it’s important,” Cruise then told the Sydney Morning Herald during a press call on Monday.

“I still go the movies,” says the 61-year-old Hollywood mega-star.

“I want to see both Barbie and Oppenheimer. I’ll see them opening weekend. Friday I’ll see Oppenheimer first and then Barbie on Saturday.”

Tweet from @TomCruise

Putting aside the heated Barbie v Oppenheimer debate, several other major films are heading for the big screen in the lead-up to Christmas.

The hope is that big screen and big sound, sharing the thrill with strangers, the choc top and popcorn will continue to lure audiences out of their homes and away from their laptops.

According to Screen Australia data, $941 million was generated through box office receipts last year, compared to $605 the previous year.

Despite more than 61 per cent of Australian households subscribing to at least one streaming service as of the first quarter of 2023 (according to Kantar’s Worldpanel’s Entertainment on Demand study in Australia), global business consultancy firm PwC forecasts $1.22 billion this year in box office receipts at cinemas.

What this means is that more people are heading back into the cinema.

“Theatres are seeing supply continue to build, with both studios and distributors working through the pandemic-induced backlog … audiences are finally getting to experience an array of heavily anticipated titles,” PwC wrote in its 2022 entertainment and media trends analysis report.

We thank Elvis, James Bond’s No Time to Die, Dune and Top Gun: Maverick for the upward trend last year.

Let’s take a look at what else will break that billion-dollar forecast.

Tweet from @cinemart_com

Challengers

Starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, Challengers is billed as a romantic sports comedy and it’s a story about tennis.

Zendaya, who has swapped tight-rope circus stunts and spider-web theatrics for tennis raquets, plays Tashi Duncan, who helps her husband, Art, compete in a challenger event against her former lover.

As a tennis player-turned-coach, she’s on a journey to transform Art into a grand slam champion.

Training for three months to master the serve, volley and return, director Luca Guadagnino told Variety last year: “She’s wonderful”.

“I mean, wow. We edited the movie and we almost actually don’t use any of her double. She’s so good.”

“They spent like three months working very hard,” Guadagnino said of his leads.

“Everybody – technically, athletically.”

Release date: September, 2023

Tweet from @RealChalamet

Wonka

Timotheée Chalamet started posted of his transformation into the eccentric Willy Wonka two years ago, based on classic Roald Dahl 1964 children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

First there was the musical film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory in 1971, directed by Mel Stuart and with Gene Wilder as the lollymaker with his loyal workforce of Oompa Loompas.

Then came the Tim Burton collaboration with Johnny Depp in 2005.

“Both big-screen versions of Willy Wonka are different from the one in the book, but they keep some characteristics. Wilder’s portrayal of Wonka is eccentric and more subtle, but there’s also a lot of anger in him and a touch of evil at times,” writes Variety.

“On the other hand, Depp’s performance is over the top and childlike, which is funny when seeing how much Wonka dislikes children. Depp’s version also has an evil side, and because his is not subtle like Wilder’s, it’s perceived by most viewers as a psychotic version of the character.”

So what will Dune‘s Chalamet’s Wonka, an origin story, and the third, be like?

At the official launch at CinemaCon 2023, he revealed he swam in real chocolate and says his “is a Willy that’s full of joy and hope and desire to become the greatest chocolatier.”

He also sings and dances around a light pole.

Oh, and rom-com officionado Hugh Grant will play an Oompa Loompa.

Release date: December, 2023

Dune: Part Two

As Hollywood stories go, the real life one is that while Zendaya and Chalomet both have their own big-budget projects ready to launch, the pair come together again in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi epic, Dune: Part Two.

It builds on the enormous box office success of Dune last year, and Collider reports it’s one of the most anticipated films of the second half of 2023.

“This follow-up film will explore the mythic journey of Paul Atreides as he unites with Chani and the Fremen while on a warpath of revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family,” the official synopsis reads.

“Facing a choice between the love of his life and the fate of the known universe, he endeavours to prevent a terrible future only he can foresee.”

Release date: November, 2023

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

The prequel, directed by Francis Lawrence, who helmed the last three Hunger Games movies, tells the story of a teenage Coriolanus Snow (played by Donald Sutherland in the original movies) before he becomes the authoritarian president of Panem.

According to an official synopsis as reported by Entertainment Weekly,
the story is set around the 10th annual Hunger Games.

“Coriolanus, much to his chagrin, is picked to be a mentor to Lucy Gray Baird, a young female tribute from the impoverished District 12.

“But, after Lucy Gray commands all of Panem’s attention by defiantly singing during the reaping ceremony, Snow thinks he might be able to turn the odds in their favour.

“Uniting their instincts for showmanship and newfound political savvy, Snow and Lucy’s race against time to survive will ultimately reveal who is a songbird, and who is a snake.”