Aquaman 2, Sam Bahadur, Dunki, and More: The 9 Biggest Movies in December

What are the largest motion pictures releasing in December 2023? Shah Rukh Khan headlines the largest providing in Bollywood this month with Dunki, by which an Indian soldier provides to illegally relocate 4 locals to a international nation via the donkey flight methodology. Marking his first collaboration with filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani, the movie is out December 21 in theatres. Long earlier than that, we have Zoya Akhtar’s The Archies, which places an Anglo-Indian spin on the beloved comedian guide characters, as they navigate friendship, heartbreak, and highschool politics. It’s been a complete 12 months since manufacturing on the movie ended and it is now slated to launch December 7 on Netflix.

In what is the de facto last entry within the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) — earlier than James Gunn adjustments the course — Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sees Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) attempting to steadiness his duties because the King of Atlantis, whereas a bigger menace looms within the deep seas. The movie underwent its third spherical of reshoots earlier this 12 months, discarding Ben Affleck’s look as Bruce Wayne as a result of canonical shifts on the finish of The Flash film. Aquaman 2 splashes into cinemas on December 21. Zack Snyder’s highly-anticipated intergalactic opera Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, by which a younger Kora (Sofia Boutella) seeks out sturdy warriors from neighbouring planets to struggle again in opposition to the corrupt and oppressive authorities of the Motherworld, additionally launch this month. While the longer R-rated reduce is deliberate for a later date, the PG-13 model drops December 22 on Netflix.

Other notable releases this month embody the Timothée Chalamet-led Wonka, an origin story for the eccentric chocolate maker in a fantasy musical format that ought to enliven the Christmas spirit. It can be out December 8 in theatres. For your comfort, we now have curated the largest December 2023 releases coming to theatres and Netflix, which you’ll be able to take a look at under. Also, be at liberty to browse our Entertainment hub to maintain observe of some other releases that may curiosity you.

Animal

When: December 1
Where: Theatres

Out of devotion for and eager to impress his repressive father Balbir Singh (Anil Kapoor), his son Arjun (Ranbir Kapoor) takes a liking for violence — a collection of actions that does not go well with the wealthy household’s picture, who needs him to journey the world and crash sports activities vehicles like an smug child would do. But when circumstances trigger his father to get shot and hospitalised, his rage grows tremendously, sending him on a revenge path as he leads a military of cultish goons — armed with axes, firearms, and miniguns — right into a grotesque gang battle in opposition to some baddies sporting animalistic masks.

Despite the father-son bond starting to fracture, Arjun vows to remain again at dwelling and shield his household, all of the whereas coping with resurfacing childhood trauma that turned him into an attention-starved lethal Animal. Meanwhile, Rashmika Mandanna (Mission Majnu) performs his spouse Geetanjali, who is usually perplexed by Arjun’s overtly affectionate behaviour in the direction of his father, which might simply be confused with obsession. Sandeep Reddy Vanga — finest identified for the controversial Kabir Singh — directs this movie, which additionally stars Tripti Dimri (Qala) and Suresh Oberoi.

Sam Bahadur

When: December 1
Where: Theatres

Vicky Kaushal (Sardar Udham) heads this biopic on embellished military officer Sam Manekshaw, who grew to become India’s first discipline marshal following the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. Often referred to by fellow troopers as Sam Bahadur, he leads his disciplined troupe into the guts of Kashmir whereas continuously assuring the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (Fatima Sana Shaikh) of success, regardless of his unorthodox ways. Other key gamers embody Sanya Malhotra (Jawan) as Sam’s spouse Silloo, Neeraj Kabi (Sita Ramam) as Jawaharlal Nehru, and Govind Namdev as Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel. Meghna Gulzar, who rose to prominence with Chhapaak, directs the movie.

The Archies

When: December 7
Where: Netflix

Drawing inspiration from the beloved Archie Comics, filmmaker Zoya Akhtar reimagines the fictional city of Riverdale via an Anglo-Indian perspective, laser-focusing on a hard group of youngsters who unite to save lots of the native park from destruction. Leading the gang is the titular Archie Andrews (Agastya Nanda), an aspiring rocker, who’s constructed himself a repute for taking just about each woman from the native highschool on dates. Stuck between selecting finest buddies Betty (Khushi Kapoor) and Veronica (Suhana Khan) as a lover, he fears that darkish secrets and techniques of his would possibly unravel in time. Dancing to rock-n-roll music within the swinging sixties, enjoying dress-ups, and whereas determining their future, the gang is hit with the realisation of how rapidly the hill station city is altering.

Veronica’s father — who’s returned from London — is on the helm of recent growth, shutting down each native retailer and chopping down bushes to erect his new plaza, in what he asserts is solely a enterprise matter and nothing private. Unfortunately, it is private for Veronica, who’s been taking all of the blame at college when Ethel Muggs’ (Aditi Saigal) magnificence parlour was compelled to be closed down. Audiences have typically proven a dislike for The Archies, owing to its incorrect portrayal of Indian youngsters within the Nineteen Sixties, regardless of being based mostly on the Anglo-Indian roots. Only time will inform how the musical fares, which additionally stars Vedang Raina because the wannabe comic Reggie Mantle and Mihir Ahuja because the always-hungry Jughead Jones.

Wonka

When: December 8
Where: Theatres

Timothée Chalamet attempting to behave all whimsical and Hugh Grant’s face being superimposed onto a CGI Oompa-Loompa are totally cringy sights, so hopefully Paul King’s (Paddington) course saves it. Wonka serves as a prequel, a glimpse on the quirky notorious chocolatier’s life earlier than he began his enterprise empire fuelled by a deep hatred for undisciplined kids. After spending years perfecting his craft and magic, a younger Willy Wonka involves the city of Galeries Gourmet with goals of promoting chocolate, solely to see it crushed by the rich and scheming Chocolate Cartel, hellbent on stopping any new companies from flourishing. Seizing this chance, Wonka groups up with a neighborhood youngster named Noodle (Calah Lane) and vows to fireside again by making tasty and inexpensive chocolate imbued with all types of magic.

Hoverchoc makes you float within the air, however extra importantly, it is low cost, which does not sit effectively with the grasping cartel, forcing them to get the regulation concerned. But when the native police chief (Keegan-Michael Key) is drawn by Wonka’s magical chocolate and fattened up, the cartel unites on a mission to destroy his store and goals. Through all of it, it seems that the movie will contact upon his relationship along with his estranged mom, performed by Sally Hawkins (The Shape of Water), as he plots out splendid methods to construct his manufacturing facility up from the mud. The spin-off movie additionally stars Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (The Favourite) because the grumpy Mrs. Scrubbit, Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean), and Paterson Joseph (The Leftovers).

Priscilla

When: December 15
Where: Theatres

While Baz Luhrmann’s biopic on Elvis Presley was headlining the awards season final 12 months, filmmaker Sofia Coppola had been cooking up an opposing tackle it, particularly centring on Priscilla Presley’s romantic life with the rock-and-roll artist. A topic of controversy for many years, the pair started their relationship when Priscilla (Cailee Spaeny) was solely 14 years of age, thrust into the limelight with out warning and compelled to keep up a picture of stardom, characterised by lengthy eyelashes, bougie hairdo, and trendy clothes. All that is worsened by obsessive fan mail and hearsay items in magazines, inflicting her to fret whether or not Elvis (Jacob Elordi) has been untrue to her — and if that’s the case, having to endure it.

By treating the singer as a aspect character, Coppola tells an unseen story about Hollywood’s much-celebrated courtship that started at a German military base and an unstable marriage, as Priscilla succumbs to medicine to maintain up together with her husband’s bizarro way of life. The filmmaker was unable to get rights to any of Elvis’ songs to be used within the film’s soundtrack, and due to this fact, needed to create an authentic tracklist, which for my part, would higher function a response to Priscilla’s mistreatment by the hands of a controlling man. The biopic competed on the Venice Film Festival, earlier this 12 months, incomes lead Spaeny a finest actress award. Other main gamers embody Dagmara Domińczyk (Succession), Ari Cohen (Spiral), and Tim Post (Titans).

Maestro

When: December 20
Where: Netflix

Bradley Cooper returns to the director’s chair to inform the story of the generation-defying American composer Leonard Bernstein within the aptly titled Maestro. He additionally stars in it, elegantly swinging a baton and conducting among the most necessary items of music in opposition to a stay viewers, as his spouse Felicia (Carey Mulligan) watches in awe and satisfaction from backstage. But she’s additionally born witness to his on-and-off romantic affairs with different males whereas being utterly accepting of his sexual orientation and even serving to him preserve appearances within the public eye. Much of this biopic performs out via Felicia’s perspective, from their first encounter at a celebration to their sophisticated marriage, and the eventual fallout when she realises there’s nothing she will be able to do to vary his character. As Bernstein grows as a musician, she mixes into his monstrous shadow, conveyed visually within the trailer.

Maestro will mess around with quite a few facet ratios and hues to finest characterize the time skips, because it focuses on pivotal moments in Bernstein’s skilled and private life, which hopefully, consists of some perception into how his three kids grappled with the huge shifts. As a part of his preparation, Cooper spent six years studying how you can conduct music for an alleged six-minute-long scene in Maestro, which recreates Bernstein’s work with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976. The ensemble solid additionally options Matt Bomer (Doom Patrol) as Bernstein’s shut buddy and clarinettist David Oppenheim, Maya Hawke (Stranger Things) as his daughter Jamie, Sarah Silverman as his second daughter Shirley, and Sam Nivola (White Noise) as his son Alexander. At one level, Martin Scorsese was hooked up to direct this movie however needed to drop out due to his dedication to 2019’s The Irishman — additionally for Netflix.

Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom

When: December 21
Where: Theatres

Four years after the occasions of Aquaman, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) is a father now, balancing duties between caring for his new child and diving underwater to rule the dominion of Atlantis. In the background, returning villain Black Mantis (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is plotting revenge, having obtained the cursed Black Trident and threatening to burn Arthur’s dwelling into ash and homicide everybody he holds pricey. As the worldwide meltdown begins to change into a actuality, Arthur seeks assist from his half-brother Orm the Ocean Master (Patrick Wilson), who’d been imprisoned for crimes of treason in opposition to Atlantis within the first movie. While there is definitely unhealthy blood between the 2 — with Orm nonetheless refusing to just accept Arthur as a legit brother — they do share a love for his or her divine kingdom and its populace.

But it appears the mission in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom will as soon as once more take our heroes up on the floor stage, interacting with historical crypts and displaying off Arthur’s new stealth go well with that lets him camouflage along with his environment at will. Director James Wan claims that the sequel will focus rather a lot on the Atlantean worldbuilding, therefore the in depth use of CGI — albeit it’s fairly regarding that every one of that is futile. You see, Aquaman 2 is the ultimate entry within the long-running DCEU, quickly to be overtaken by James Gunn’s revised DC Universe, the place it is unclear whether or not Momoa would as soon as once more reprise his position. There are rumours of him enjoying the cigar-smoking Lobo subsequent, and given how brutally The Flash film fractured the timeline, I’ve received a sense that the majority audiences can be watching Aquaman 2 to maintain observe of what number of scenes Amber Heard is featured in.

Regardless, I hope this serves as a good send-off to the aquatic world, which additionally brings again Nicole Kidman as Queen Atlanna, Randall Park because the scheming marine biologist Dr. Stephen Shin, and Temuera Morrison as Arthur’s human father Tom. Both Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton had been additionally imagined to return as Bruce Wayne for a scene, but it surely received reduce throughout some last reshoots.

Dunki

When: December 21
Where: Theatres

Hardy (Shah Rukh Khan), a soldier returning dwelling from service, stumbles upon a bunch of 4 — performed by Taapsee Pannu, Boman Irani, Vicky Kaushal, and Vikram Kochhar — with goals of shifting to England, regardless of missing work expertise, visas, and being unable to afford flight tickets for journey. Inspired by their targets, he guarantees to relocate them to the nation through the donkey flight methodology, by having them soar from one European nation to the following to ultimately attain the vacation spot through a backdoor methodology. Of course, such acts require loads of negotiations with journey brokers, which our silver-tongued protagonist is sweet at, for buying visas at diminished charges in change for bizarre guarantees. Dunki marks the primary collaboration between SRK and director Rajkumar Hirani (3 Idiots) and needs to be obtainable to stream on JioCinema, after its theatrical run.

Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire

When: December 22
Where: Netflix

Ditching superhero capes for molten steel swords, Zack Snyder is constructing a brand new dystopian saga in area, particularly on the peaceable farming moon of Veldt, the place an outsider with a mysterious previous, Kora (Sofia Boutella), has taken refuge. That serene way of life quickly involves an in depth when troopers of the oppressive Motherland — led by Admiral Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) — descend upon the village, enacting violence within the identify of snuffing out the insurgent insurgents. Knowing their intentions as a consequence of an undisclosed reference to the tyrannical Regent Balisaurus (Fra Fee), Kora decides to struggle again and to that finish, decides to hop throughout the galaxy to search out fierce warriors. Indeed, she is not alone on this globe-trotting pick-up quest, because the native villager Gunnar (Michael Huisman) tags alongside, eager to study concerning the enemies and the galaxy as a complete — since he is by no means left his dwelling planet earlier than.

Other members of the crew embody the hardened gladiator General Titus (Djimon Hounsou), the sneaky pilot seeking to make a fast buck Kai (Charlie Hunnam), the super-athletic Tarak (Staz Nair), and the cyborg Nemesis (Doona Bae), whose mechanical arms can flip into piping sizzling blades, which she dual-wields. All of them have tragic pasts and due to this fact, discover it troublesome to belief each other because the armies of the Motherworld slowly method to dominate the galaxies. Split into two halves, Rebel Moon was initially conceived as a Star Wars film, however issues went silent when Disney acquired Lucasfilm. Both Part One: A Child of Fire and Part Two: Scargiver will obtain longer express cuts sooner or later, maintaining with Snyder’s liking for ensuring each venture of his is R-rated.

Watch the Trailer for Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, Coming to Netflix

Sofia Boutella in a nonetheless from Rebel Moon
Photo Credit: Netflix