In the transition to 2023, many new movies were groundbreaking or innovative with their ideas or plots. Some are retellings of a story, usually consisting of an idea to make a spin-off of the original story. This makes a unique version of the story and expands the movie in the form of a sequel or prequel.

In late December, Avatar: The Way of Water was released. This movie by James Cameron took nearly a whole decade to produce, with the original date set for 2014-2015. Writing for this project finally started in 2017 and the production of the film ended around late December of 2022. The total run-time of the movie is 3 hours and 12 minutes, due to the 900,000 gallons of water needed to film the movie, and the advanced CGI necessary for the project. James Cameron not only gave us a sequel to Avatar, but also stated that a third Avater movie is underway. This movie is supposed to focus on the Fire Na’vi, a different tribe on the planet of Pandora. 

Released in November was Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, a movie by Ryan Coogler that was made in tribute to Chadwick Boseman who unfortunately passed away on the 28th of August of 2020. The honor was shown multiple times throughout the movie but mainly shown at the beginning of the film, during T’Challa’s (Boseman) funeral. The story revolves around Shuri, T’Challa’s sister, who learns what it means to be the black panther while helping Wakanda stay safe from outside forces that are trying to attack or invade. The released version of the movie used the second script created, since Black Panther 2 was supposed to be about T’Challa and his dad. The original script would have made some major character developments to show how he became king and his strengths and flaws.

We then were given the groundbreaking Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, a movie by Joel Crawford. In this movie we find that Puss has burned through eight of his nine lives and has to give up his life of adventuring. This is difficult as he is being hunted down by Goldilocks and The Three Bears all while trying to escape the newest villain of the story named Death. Death subtly pops up throughout the film in background shots and is referenced during suspenseful scenes.  The movie’s main plot was about Puss looking for the mythical last wish which would allow him to get his eight lost lives back. However, Death would constantly taunt him into fighting or using his now iconic bone-chilling whistle. Puss also had to worry about Goldilocks, The Three Bears, and Jack Horner, who all seek the magical star that would grant anyone a single wish. The movie also explores some psychological emotions for Puss because throughout the film he has panic attacks and PTSD whenever he sees something that reminds him of Death. This makes the hero of the story a bit more relatable. This movie used a fairytale setting along with comic book style art, which is where a 3D model is used and has sketch marks on the character to give them the comic book effect while being fully CGI.

Scream VI, a movie by Tyler Gillet and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, will be about Tara and Sam Carpenter leaving Ghostface behind by moving to New York. Still, according to the trailer, a Ghostface superfan targets the women. This movie will star Jenna Ortega as Tara Carpenter and the movie will be aired on March 10, 2023. The movie is being filmed in Montreal Canada and has a budget of 35 million. The production of the film started on June 9, 2022. This movie will not have Sydney Prescott so we will now see it from the perspective of the survivors of the last film.

Then we also have Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, a movie directed by Peyton Reed. This sequel to the Ant-man series is about helping Janet Van Dyne and Kang escape the Quantum Realm. Scott’s (Ant-Man) daughter has now become a political activist and built a machine that can make contact with the Quantum Realm. Once they arrive in the Quantum Realm they are found by native rebels trying to overthrow their leader. The rebels are then attacked by Kang’s forces under the lead of M.O.D.O.K who is revealed to be Darren Cross who “survived” his fight against Scott. This movie was set to release in 2020 but due to Covid the production of the movie was pushed to December 2021. Most of the film was filmed in Cappadocia, Turkey for the Quantum Realm and San Francisco, California for most exterior shots. The movie also had a budget of $200 million with a good chunk of it being spent on the CGI of the Quantum Realm and on M.O.D.O.K.

 Finally, a major twist in this year’s transition was Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, directed by Rhys Waterfield. This film portrays what might happen if Christopher Robin left the Hundred-acre woods to go to college. In this case, he left all the animals starving during the winter which lead all the animals to kill Eeyore. This event traumatized them so badly that the rest of the animals vowed to never speak again, and to hate anything human. This is why Winnie the Pooh and Piglet kill any human who trespass or are caught living in the woods. The story revolves around a set of college girls who rent a cabin in the Hundred Acre Woods and one by one get targeted by the killer duo. The movie was filmed in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England. Another interesting production fact was that Jagged Edge Productions had to avoid Winnie the Pooh’s iconic red shirt by replacing it with red flannel and overalls to avoid any sort of copyright issues.

Be sure to check out the movies legally by going to theaters or streaming them on certified services.