Another year, another 12 months of movie releases.

The slate from distributors this year is thick with delayed projects pushed back after the SAG-AFTRA and Writers Guild strikes of 2023. There is still no shortage however of brand-new films. Plus, strangely enough, a plethora of decades-old films getting their sequels. If you want to hear about all the upcoming releases our latest YouTube video (going live Jan 26th) goes through all films coming out in 2024 month by month. This post however is just going to focus on the releases directed by women because the annual Celluloid Ceiling report from the San Diego State University looking at employment of women in the top-grossing US films found that only 16% of directors in the top 250 grossing films for 2023 were women [1]. Which is actually a 2 point decline from 2022 and the lowest it's been since 2020.

The popularity of Barbie overshadowed much of how women are still severely underrepresented in the film industry and not just as directors. 94% of the top 250 grossing films had no female cinematographers, 86% had no women composers, 74% had no women writers, and 72% had no women editors [1]. I was feeling a little dejected about fighting for gender equity toward the end of last year but hearing statistics like this got me completely fired up again because the lack of progress that’s been made over the last 10 years is incredibly frustrating. So whilst I’m not saying we need to stop watching films directed by men I think we need to increase the amount of buzz we give to female-directed releases and even the playing field with our attention but most importantly with our wallets.

So without further ado here are the female-directed
movies slated for a 2024 release.

JANUARY

19TH JAN - I.S.S - DIRECTED BY GABRIELA COWPERTHWAITE

From the director of award-winning documentary Black Fish, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, comes sci-fi thriller I.S.S. Set to release on 19 January 2024 in theatres; I.S.S takes place on an International Space Station sometime in the near future. When a worldwide conflict breaks out on Earth the U.S. and Russian astronauts each receive orders from the ground: take control of the station by any means necessary. I would say Thriller is one of my favorite genres and this certainly sounds like a film that would be right up my alley.

Sometimes I Think About Dying (Daisey Ridley)

26TH JAN - SOMETIMES I THINK ABOUT DYING - DIRECTED BY RACHEL LAMBERT

On January 26th director Rachel Lambert’s film Sometimes I Think About Dying is set to release. Staring Daisey Ridley as a lonely and socially awkward woman who tries to make a connection with a friendly new co-worker who takes her out on a date. A seemingly simple premise that I’m sure holds weight in the characters and the writing. I haven’t seen any of Rachel Lambert’s other work so I’m looking forward to exploring the work of a new director.

OTHER FILMS RELEASED IN JANUARY INCLUDE:
JAN 26TH - MILLER’S GIRL - DIRECTED BY JADE BARTLETT
JAN 26TH - TOTEM - DIRECTED BY LILA AVILES

FEBRUARY

9th FEB - LISA FRANKENSTIEN - DIRECTED BY ZELDA WILLIAMS

A campy, young adult take on the Mary Shelley classic that sees a high schooler reanimate a corpse who becomes their love interest. The movie is the feature debut from Zelda Williams and features a screenplay from Jennifer’s Body writer Diablo Cody. My hope for this is that they really play into that campiness and make it a dark comedy reminiscent of early Tim Burton, think Edward Scissorhands not Wednesday. Carla Gugino is also in the cast so you know it has to have a level of darkness but, we only have to wait til February 9th to find out.

Madame Web - Isabela Merced, Dakota Johnson, Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor

14TH FEB - MADAME WEB - DIRECTED BY S.J. CLARKSON

Dakota Johnson stars as a clairvoyant who becomes entangled with multiple superheroes in the latest Sony spiderman spinoff. Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O’Connor, Isabela Merced and Tahar Rahim also star with S.J. Clarkson directing. Now I think I am well and truly burnt out on superhero films but there is a conspiracy theory I’ve seen going around that the Sony live action spiderman spinoffs are purposefully designed to be meme worthy and are in fact deliberately not good. I missed the trailer release for this film but apparently it sparked a big meme with one of the lines: “he was in the Amazon with my mom when she was researching spiders just before she died.” And then I read this Guardian article that outlined some of the other moves Sony has made like taking Venom and then making a sequel that “effectively operated as an outright parody of the first film.” [2] And rereleasing Morbius back into cinemas after its commercial failure “just so people could go and mock it as a collective.” [2] Best business decision Sony ever made? I suppose time will tell if the Spiderman Spinoffs are lasting cult classics or just bad cinema.

OTHER FILMS RELEASING IN FEB INCLUDE:
FEB 2ND - HOW TO HAVE SEX - DIRECTED BY MOLLY MANNING WALKER
FEB 9TH - UPGRADED - DIRECTED BY CARLSON YOUNG
FEB 16TH - BLEEDING LOVE - DIRECTED BY EMMA WESTENBURG

MARCH

8TH MAR - LOVE LIES BLEEDING - DIRECTED BY ROSE GLASS

Thats right it’s another Lesbian romance movie staring Kirsten Stewart. Lou is a reclusive gym manager who falls hard for Jackie, an ambitious bodybuilder who's heading to Las Vegas to pursue her dream. Their love soon leads to violence as they get pulled deep into the web of Lou's criminal family. This will be the second feature from Saint Maud director Rose Glass and looks like it will be a gritty action drama for the gays so I’m here for it.

Love Lies Bleeding (*Anna Baryshnikov & Kirsten Stewart)*

14TH MAR - FRIDA - DIRECTED BY CARLA GUTIERREZ

Editor Carla Gutierrez’s directorial debut Frida releases on Prime Video March 14th. The film is a look into the life of Frida Kahlo as told through her own told through her own words from diaries, letters, essays, and interviews. Carla has been an editor on films like Pray Away, RBG, and Wonder Women: The Untold Story of American Superheroines and so this compilation of words and thoughts is expected to be expertly cut together to form an interestingly fresh perspective on Frida’s life.

OTHER FILMS RELEASING IN MARCH:
15th MAR - IRISH WISH - DIRECTED BY JANEEN DAMIAN

APRIL

5TH APR - THE FIRST OMEN - DIRECTED BY ARKASHA STEVENSON

A film I’m not particularly excited for by not fault of its own except that it's a horror film is The First Omen. When a young American woman moves to Rome in service of the church, she soon encounters a mysterious darkness in this prequel to Richard Donner’s classic and notoriously cursed film The Omen. The First Omen stars Nell Tiger Free and is directed by Arkasha Stevenson with an April 5th release date. If I was any sort of horror fan I might be interested in this but I just know its not going to be my cup of tea.

26TH APR - THE FEELING THAT THE TIME FOR DOING SOMETHING HAS PASSED - DIRECTED BY JOANNA ARNOW

Written, directed and edited by Joanna Arnow this low-budget comedy had its world premiere at Cannes in 2023 but is set for a theatrical release on April 26th. An emotionally detached young Brooklynite drifts through unremarkable days and nights. Neither her on-again-off-again BDSM relationship with a mildly disinterested older dom nor her nondescript corporate job appear to bring her any satisfaction.

OTHER FILMS RELEASING IN APRIL:
5TH APR - THE PEOPLES JOKER - DIRECTED BY VERA DREW

MAY

10TH MAY - BACK TO BLACK - DIRECTED SAM TAYLOR-JOHNSON

Marisa Abela stars as late Grammy winner Amy Winehouse in this biopic from Sam Taylor-Johnson. Back to Black is set to release on May 10th and will cover the life of Amy Winehouse in all its glory and tragedy. There is a bit of backlash surrounding the making of this movie with many fans pleading with filmmakers to let Amy Winehouse rest in peace. But with backing from the Winehouse estate [3] plus the respectful intentions coming from the production team Back to Black should be an insightful and probably heart wrenching watch.

10TH MAY - MY EX-FRIENDS WEDDING - DIRECTED BY KAY CANNON

Comedy director Kay Cannon (Blockers, Pitch Perfect) returns in 2024 with My Ex-Friends Wedding. After receiving a drunken voicemail from a former BFF on the eve of her wedding day, confessing that she thinks she’s making a mistake, four former childhood best friends plan to stop her from getting married. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose, Chloe Fineman, Amanda Seyfried and Megan Stalter are all staring with a script also penned by two talented women Ashley Rodger and Jenkins Reid whose novel Daisey Jones & The 6 has since been turned into an Amazon series. All round this crew of comedy gold should mean My Ex-friends Wedding is an entertaining night out.

OTHER FILMS RELEASING IN MAY:
10TH MAY - HORRORSCOPE - DIRECTED BY ANNA HALBERG & SPENSER COHEN

JUNE

7TH JUN - THE WATCHERS - DIRECTED BY ISHANA NIGHT SHYAMALAN
The Watchers is the debut feature from Ishana Night Shyamalan who you would be correct in assuming is related to the infamous M. Night Shyalamlan. Paving her own way into the mystery horror genre The Watchers follows 28-year-old artist Mina who gets stranded in an expansive, untouched forest in western Ireland. Upon finding shelter, she unknowingly becomes trapped alongside three strangers who are watched and stalked by mysterious creatures each night. I’m hoping people don’t try and hold her fathers reputation over her for this debut and simply let the film speak for itself.

AUGUST

9TH AUG - FLINT STRONG - DIRECTED BY RACHEL MORRISON

This biopic is the sotry of Claressa "T-Rex" Shields, a boxer from Flint, Michigan, who trained to become the first woman in her country's history to win an Olympic gold medal in the sport. Another directorial debut Ryan Destiny will star as the lead, alongside Judy Greer and Brian Tyree Henry. I’m not normally a sports person but I’m a sucker for good story particualry one that is base don real life people doing incredible things so fingers crossed this is just that.

NO RELEASE DATE

We made it through the year but there are still some films hanging out on the internet with no release date as of yet that could potentially find themselves on our screens in 2024. And these include:

Janet Planet - Directed by Annie Baker
La Chimera - Directed by Alice Rohrwacher
Babes (Neon) - Directed by Pamela Adlon
Cora Bora (Brainstorm Media) - Directed by Hannah Pearl Utt
The Fabulous Four (Bleeker Street) - Directed by Jocelyn Moorehouse
Holland, Michigan (Prime Video) - Directed by Mimi Cave
House of Spoils (Prime Video) - Directed by Bridget Savage Cole & Danielle Krudy
I Saw the TV Glow (A24) - Directed by Jane Schoenbrun
Lonely Planet (Netflix) - Directed by Susannah Grant
Look Into My Eyes (A24) - Directed by Lana Wilson
Players (Netflix) - Directed by Trish Sie
Rez Ball (Netflix) - Directed by Sydney Freeland
Space Cadet (Prime Video) - Directed by Liz W. Garcia
Woman of the Hour (Netflix) - Directed by Anna Kendrick

It is still a little disappointing to see how few films directed by women are currently on the slate for 2024 and particularly women of colour who appear non-existent in the director's chair from the film lists I could find. But as usual the schedule of releases shifts and changes around the events of the coming year so who knows what could happen between now and December. Let us know what films you’re most excite dabout this year in the comments below.

REFERENCES:

[1] https://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/research/ - The Celluloid Ceiling: Employment of Behind-the-Scenes Women on Top Grossing U.S. Films in 2023, Dr Martha Luzon

[2] https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/nov/16/madame-web-spider-man-trailer-dakota-johnson

[3]https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a42522042/amy-winehouse-film-explained/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/most-anticipated-movies-2024/

https://collider.com/movie-releases/2024/

https://www.vulture.com/article/new-movies-coming-out-2024-release-dates-preview.html