biography films 2023

  • The Most Underrated Movies Of 2023
  • 19 Movies And TV Shows That Were Better Than We...
  • 15 Moments That Prove 2023 Was An Underrated Ye...
  • 23 Underrated 'Twin Films' We Rediscovered In 2023
  • The Best RomCom Movies Of 2023
  • The Best Superhero Movies Of 2023
  • 14 Flops We Had High Hopes For In 2023
  • Plot Holes We Noticed In Our Favorite Movies Of...
  • Plot Holes From Famous Movie Franchises That Fa...
  • Spooky Movie Fan Theories That We Found In 2023
  • 15 Documentaries From 2023 That Rocked Us To Ou...
  • Real History We Learned After Watching Movies &...
  • Behind-The-Scenes Stories From '80s Movies That...
  • Behind-The-Scenes Facts About Rom-Coms We Learn...
  • Interesting Superhero Movie And TV Fan Theories...
  • 15 Of The Most Jaw-Dropping Game Show Moments W...
  • Most Hated Fictional Characters In 2023

The Best Biographical Movies Of 2023

  • Amazon Studios

The Best Biographical Movies Of 2023

Jason Bancroft

2023 has proved to be a fascinating year for film lovers, especially those drawn to the mesmerizing allure of biographical films. These cinematic creations not only showcase the quintessential nuances of accomplished personalities but also present the intriguing, lesser-known aspects of their lives. With stories that twine around history, culture, sports, and art, the silver screen has been graced by an array of illustrious biographical dramas that are sure to leave you riveted.

Each 2023 biopic presents an entirely unique and stirring narrative. Air throws light on the revolutionizing partnership between Nike and basketball rookie Michael Jordan, a story that carves a significant part in sports history. Contrasting this sports-centered drama is Sweetwater , which takes us back to a defining moment in basketball history – the signing of the first African American player with the NBA. Meanwhile, "True Spirit" detours from the arena of sports to the challenging seas, where a tenacious Australian teen endeavours to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world. This cinematic sampling of 2023’s biographical films demonstrates that whether it's exploring human resilience in face of adversity or narrating the evolution of cultural landscapes, the biopic genre truly is a treasure trove of diverse stories. Don't hesitate to vote up your favorite and be sure to look for the Max, Netflix, Amazon Prime, Paramount+, and Hulu buttons below each title to start streaming them where and when they are available.

Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer

This gripping narrative explores the crucial role played by J. Robert Oppenheimer in World War II's most destructive project. It delves into his invaluable contribution to the creation of the atomic bomb. The film encapsulates the terrifying power of human intellect and the ethical conflict of harnessing it for weapons of mass destruction.

  • Actors : Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey, Matt Damon, Rami Malek
  • Released : 2023
  • Directed by : Christopher Nolan

Sweetwater

This sports biopic is set in 1990s New York and revolves around a conversation between a taxi driver and his passenger, who is a sportswriter. As the drive progresses, the taxi driver unravels his past and discloses that he is Nathaniel "Nat" 'Sweetwater' Clifton, a trailblazer as one of the first African American players in NBA history. The movie provides a peek into the life and struggles of a basketball pioneer challenging and changing the norms in the industry.

  • Actors : Everett Osborne, Kevin Pollak, Jeremy Piven, Cary Elwes, Richard Dreyfuss
  • Directed by : Martin Guigui

Air

Delve into the groundbreaking alliance between the up-and-coming basketball star, Michael Jordan, and Nike's nascent basketball division. This alliance led to the birth of the influential Air Jordan brand, transforming not only the sports realm but also global culture. The film illuminates this historical turning point in sports business and marketing which altered the landscape of American and global sports culture.

  • Actors : Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina
  • Directed by : Ben Affleck

Emily

This story unfurls the imagined life of renowned author Emily Brontë, capturing her journey of finding her voice and creating her masterpiece, Wuthering Heights. It illuminates her treasured relationships; the fierce bond with her sisters Charlotte and Anne, her forbidden love with Weightman, and her adoration for her unconventional brother.

  • Actors : Emma Mackey, Fionn Whitehead, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Alexandra Dowling, Amelia Gething
  • Released : 2022
  • Directed by : Frances O'Connor

Cassandro

  • Actors : Gael García Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, Perla De La Rosa, Raúl Castillo, Joaquín Cosio
  • Directed by : Roger Ross Williams

Flamin' Hot

Flamin' Hot

This film sheds light on the incredible true journey of Richard Montañez, a janitor at Frito Lay, who drew on his Mexican American roots and upbringing to innovate the snack industry. He transforms the iconic Flamin’ Hot Cheetos into an irresistible snack that revolutionizes the food realm. His creation doesn't just disrupt the food sector but also emerges as a worldwide pop culture sensation.

  • Actors : Jesse Garcia, Annie Gonzalez, Tony Shalhoub, Dennis Haysbert, Matt Walsh
  • Directed by : Eva Longoria

biography films 2023

2023 Biography Movies

Unconfirmed release dates, august 2023, september 2023, november 2023, december 2023.

an image, when javascript is unavailable

Movie Biopics on the Way: Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan, Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump, Selena Gomez as Linda Ronstadt and More

Upcoming Hollywood Biopics Bob Dylan Bruce Springstein Donald Trump

The biographical drama, or biopic as it is widely known, is often a staple of the movie release calendar. Paramount Pictures already has one of the year’s big hits thanks to its Bob Marley biopic “One Love,” featuring Kingsley Ben-Adir as the reggae music icon, which has earned more than $170 million at the worldwide box office. And that’s not the only biopic that has already opened in 2024: “Shirley,” starring Regina King as Shirley Chisholm, is now streaming on Netflix, and Angel Studios was behind the eponymous biopic about Catholic missionary Francesca Cabrini, which is nearing $20 million worldwide.

Of course, one of the biggest movies of last year was Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” The Robert Oppenheimer drama earned nearly $1 billion at the worldwide box office and won the Oscar for best picture, although Nolan himself would not call it a biopic . The genre can be a box office goldmine, and it can also be an awards season juggernaut. Just look at some of the recent best actor Oscar winners: Cillian Murphy for “Oppenheimer,” Will Smith for “King Richard,” Rami Malek for “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Gary Oldman for “Darkest Hour.” All of these movies were biopics.

The biopic genre isn’t slowing down anytime soon either. Timothée Chalamet has been making headlines left and right as set photos come in from the filming of “A Complete Unknown,” the Bob Dylan biopic being directed by “Walk the Line” helmer James Mangold. See the list below for a complete rundown of the most high-profile biopic movies on the way.

Timothée Chalamet as Bob Dylan

Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan filming James Mangold's "A Complete Unknown". 17 Mar 2024 Pictured: Timothee Chalamet. Photo credit: SteveSands/NewYorkNewswire/MEGA TheMegaAgency.com +1 888 505 6342 (Mega Agency TagID: MEGA1112213_006.jpg) [Photo via Mega Agency]

Timothée Chalamet is traveling back to the early 1960s to portray Bob Dylan in James Mangold’s “A Complete Unknown,” which will chronicle the music legend’s arrival to New York from Minnesota and his emergence in and disruption of the Greenwich Village folk scene. Photos of Chalamet draped in ’60s garb during the production of the movie have gone viral online , despite the release date for the Dylan film remaining a complete unknown. What is known is many of the supporting cast members, including Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez, Elle Fanning as Sylvie Russo, Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Boyd Holbrook as Johnny Cash and Nick Offerman as Alan Lomax. Dylan himself is also apparently involved behind the scenes, as Mangold revealed he personally annotated the script and has been supportive of the film.

Jeremy Allen White as Bruce Springsteen

Jeremy Allen White Bruce Springsteen

While no deals are set in stone yet, “The Bear” star Jeremy Allen White is in talks to play Bruce Springsteen in a movie about the making of “Nebraska,” the stripped-down 1982 album that marked a new artistic direction for the Boss. Springsteen recorded “Nebraska” on four-track cassette in his New Jersey bedroom a few years before he and the E Street Band would release the landmark “Born in the U.S.A.” The film is based on (and shares a title with) Warren Zanes’ 2023 book “Deliver Me From Nowhere,” and it hails from producers Eric Robinson and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of the Gotham Group. A24 is also in talks to board the project, and Scott Stuber, in his first major film project since leaving his post as head of film at Netflix, has joined as a producer.

Selena Gomez as Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt and Selena Gomez

Selena Gomez is set to portray Linda Ronstadt in a biopic directed by David O. Russell . The music movie is currently in pre-production, with producers including James Keach, who produced the 2019 documentary “Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice,” and Ronstadt’s manager, John Boylan. Gomez, whose acting credits include “Wizards of Waverly Place” and “Only Murders in the Building,” teased the role on Instagram by posting a photo of the country-rock legend and 11-time Grammy winner’s 2013 memoir “Simple Dreams.” No other casting has been announced.

Four Beatles Biopics Directed by Sam Mendes

beatles now then new song single albums remixes greatest hits collections expanded editions vinyl 1962-66 1967-70

Sam Mendes has embarked on the long and winding road to telling the epic story of the Beatles — in four separate biopics set for release in 2027. Each movie will be told from a different Beatle’s point of view, but it’s unclear in which order the Paul, John, George and Ringo films will be released. The movies, from Sony Pictures and the Oscar-nominated director of “American Beauty” and “1917,” will intersect to “tell the astonishing story of the greatest band in history.” Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and the families of the late John Lennon and George Harrison have granted full life story and music rights for the scripted films, so we can expect a soundtrack of the band’s greatest songs. No casting has been announced, but Variety has a few ideas for who should portray the Fab Four.

Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump

Sebastian Stan as Donald Trump

Sebastian Stan  is playing young Donald Trump  in a movie titled “The Apprentice” from Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbasi (“Holy Spider”). The cast also includes “Succession” Emmy winner Jeremy Strong as Roy Cohn and “Borat 2” and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” actor Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. According to the logline, the film is “an exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit. It’s a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of an American dynasty. Filled with larger than life characters, it reveals the moral and human cost of a culture defined by winners and losers.”

Pauly Shore as Richard Simmons

pauly shore richard simmons

After playing Richard Simmons in an unrelated Sundance short film titled “The Court Jester,” Pauly Shore will reprise the role of the fitness icon in a feature-length biopic from Warner Bros. subsidiary The Wolper Organization. Just hours after the film was announced, the reclusive Simmons disavowed the project on Facebook , writing, “I have never given my permission for this movie. So don’t believe everything you read.” Still, the team behind the movie insists, “We respect his desire to privacy and plan to produce a movie that honors him, celebrates him and tells a dramatic story.” Additional casting for the movie is underway.

Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson

Jafar Jackson as Michael Jackson

Jaafar Jackson is portraying his uncle  Michael Jackson in Lionsgate‘s upcoming biopic “Michael,” directed by Antoine Fuqua. The biopic is expected to depict the complicated legacy of the man who became known as the King of Pop. According to the studio, the film will explore all aspects of his life, “including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.” The film is being made with the cooperation of the Michael Jackson estate. The supporting cast includes Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Miles Teller as John Branca and Kat Graham as Diana Ross, among others.

Elon Musk Biopic Directed by Darren Aronofsky

Elon Musk Biopic Directed by Darren Aronofsky

An Elon Musk biopic is in development at A24  with Darren Aronofsky on board to direct. Walter Isaacson’s authorized biography of the controversial tech mogul, published in September 2023, is serving as the basis for the screenplay. Isaacson’s “Steve Jobs” book was previously adapted into the 2015 Universal film of the same name, starring Michael Fassbender as the Apple CEO. Musk  addressed the news on X  when it was announced by writing in response: “Glad Darren is doing it. He is one of the best.”

Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas 

Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas 

Angelina Jolie  is transforming into legendary opera singer Maria Callas in the latest biopic from “Jackie” and “Spencer” director Pablo Larraín. The movie will “explore the life of the legendary, iconic and controversial singer, often described as the original diva,” according to its official description. “Based on true accounts, ‘Maria’ tells the tumultuous, beautiful and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest opera singer, relived and re-imagined during her final days in 1970s Paris.”

Jolie’s costumes will be based on real garments worn by Callas, including vintage fur items from Massimo Cantini Parrini’s archive collection, on which the crew consulted with PETA in order to not use any new fur.

Daisy Edgar-Jones as Carole King

Daisy Edgar Jones as Carole King

Daisy Edgar-Jones is playing Carole King in Sony’s upcoming film adaptation of the stage musical “ Beautiful .” The “Normal People” star and upcoming “Twisters” actor is familiar to Sony, having starred in the studio’s box office winner “Where the Crawdads Sing.” She will be directed in “Beautiful” by Academy Award nominee Lisa Cholodenko (“The Kids Are All Right”). Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg, who co-wrote “Kids Are All Right” together, are behind the script.

“Daisy has a spirit and energy that I recognized as myself when I was younger. She’s a tremendous talent and I know she’s going to give a great performance,” King told  Variety .

Tom Holland as Fred Astaire

Tom Holland as Fred Astaire

“Spider-Man” star  Tom Holland  has long been attached to a biopic on the legendary actor, dancer and singer  Fred Astaire for Sony Pictures, the studio where Holland has made a name for herself as the world’s most iconic web-slinger. The actor is already a trained tap dancer.

“Fred Astaire does have a very particular style,” Holland told Variety shortly after the project was first announced. “‘Billy Elliot’ was very much a kind of like scuffy boot kind of tap dancer whereas he is very elegant and graceful so I’ll probably have to learn how to do that. But it’s something I’m gonna practice, something I’m very excited for and I think it will be a fantastic film.”

Billy Porter as James Baldwin

Billy Porter as James Baldwin

Billy Porter is preparing to portray the author and civil rights activist James Baldwin in an upcoming biopic. He will also co-write the untitled movie with Dan McCabe, which will be adapted from the 1994 book “James Baldwin: A Biography” by David Leeming. An emeritus professor of English at the University of Connecticut, Leeming was well-versed in the world of Baldwin as his friend of 25 years as well as his assistant.

Porter says it has been a career-long dream to tell the story of Baldwin on film. Born in Harlem in 1924, Baldwin was a Black gay writer whose influential works include “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” “Notes of a Native Son” and “If Beale Street Could Talk.” In addition to writing, Baldwin fought for racial justice in the U.S. civil rights movement. In Leeming’s book, he’s described as a “complex, troubled, driven and brilliant man” who has a “gift for compassion and love.”

Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse

BACK TO BLACK, Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse, 2024. ph: Dean Rogers / © Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection

Starring “Industry” actor Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse and directed by Sam Taylor-Johnson (“Nowhere Boy,” “Fifty Shades of Grey”), the upcoming music biopic “Back to Black” tracks career highs and lows of the music icon.

“‘Back to Black’ is a never-before-seen glimpse into Amy Winehouse’s early rise to fame and the release of her groundbreaking studio album, ‘Back to Black,” the logline reads. “Told from Amy’s perspective, the film is an unapologetic look at the woman behind the phenomenon and the relationship that inspired one of the most legendary albums of all time.”

Hari Nef as Candy Darling

Hari Nef as Candy Darling

“Barbie” and “Transparent” star Hari Nef is playing Andy Warhol superstar Candy Darling in a biopic directed by Zachary Drucker. John Cameron Mitchell is also attached to the untitled film about the transgender icon as executive producer. The film traces Darling’s childhood in Long Island through her years alongside underground icons Holly Woodlawn and Jackie Curtis in Warhol’s Factory scene, and her influence on musicians including Lou Reed, the Velvet Underground and Patti Smith. She was immortalized in popular songs including Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side” and The Velvet Underground’s “Candy Says.”

Colman Domingo as Nat King Cole

Colman Domingo as Nat King Cole

Oscar nominee Colman Domingo will be starring as the legendary singer Nat King Cole in a movie musical from a script he co-wrote. He will also be making his feature directing debut on the project. This isn’t Domingo’s first rodeo with Cole, as he co-wrote the play “Lights Out: Nat ‘King’ Cole” with Patricia McGregor that premiered at the Geffen Playhouse. That interpretation imagines what might have been going through the singer’s mind during his 1957 Christmas special on “The Nat King Cole Show,” the first network program hosted by an African American.

“I’ve been working on it quietly for a few years,” Domingo said during  a  Variety  Awards Circuit Podcast episode earlier this year. “It’s something I’m looking forward to putting together with some great partners.”

More from Variety

Kendrick Lamar at Life Is Beautiful 2023 on September 23, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Billboard via Getty Images)

Kendrick Lamar Drops First New Song Since ‘Not Like Us’

Tattered white flag flying with a streaming symbol

The Postwar Streaming Market: A Special Report

Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne Says Super Bowl Snubbed Him for Halftime Show: ‘That Broke Me… It Hurt a Lot.’

Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar to Perform at 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show

Downward line graph with an Apple Vision Pro on fire

Apple Vision Pro Clouds the Bright Future for XR

More from our brands, mrbeast faces lawsuit over alleged sexual harassment, unpaid wages on ‘beast games’ reality show.

biography films 2023

A Famed Travel Writer Lists His Remote Island Retreat in Maine for $1.3 Million

biography films 2023

Coach Prime Hype Peters Out as Colorado’s TV Ratings Crater

biography films 2023

The Best Loofahs and Body Scrubbers, According to Dermatologists

biography films 2023

High Potential Boss Unpacks the Show’s Central Mystery, Teases ‘Slow Burn’ Romance and More — Grade It!

biography films 2023

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Rotten Tomatoes Newsletter

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

  • Upcoming Movies and TV shows
  • Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
  • Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

  • About Rotten Tomatoes®
  • Login/signup

biography films 2023

Movies in theaters

  • Opening This Week
  • Top Box Office
  • Coming Soon to Theaters
  • Certified Fresh Movies

Movies at Home

  • Fandango at Home
  • Prime Video
  • Most Popular Streaming Movies
  • What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

  • 83% Speak No Evil Link to Speak No Evil
  • 77% Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Link to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
  • 96% Rebel Ridge Link to Rebel Ridge

New TV Tonight

  • 89% The Penguin: Season 1
  • 89% High Potential: Season 1
  • 83% American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez: Season 1
  • 40% Frasier: Season 2
  • 17% Emmys: Season 76
  • -- Agatha All Along: Season 1
  • -- Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story: Season 2
  • -- Twilight of the Gods: Season 1
  • 100% Tulsa King: Season 2
  • -- A Very Royal Scandal: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

  • 63% The Perfect Couple: Season 1
  • 99% Shōgun: Season 1
  • 98% Hacks: Season 3
  • 74% Kaos: Season 1
  • 67% The Old Man: Season 2
  • 85% The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2
  • 100% Slow Horses: Season 4
  • Best TV Shows
  • Most Popular TV

Certified fresh pick

  • 95% Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist: Season 1 Link to Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist: Season 1
  • All-Time Lists
  • Binge Guide
  • Comics on TV
  • Five Favorite Films
  • Video Interviews
  • Weekend Box Office
  • Weekly Ketchup
  • What to Watch

47 Best Italian Horror Movies of All Time

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

Awards Tour

The Fight Night Cast on Trolling Each Other on Set

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

  • Trending on RT
  • Hispanic Heritage Month
  • Spanish-Language Movies
  • Re-Release Calendar

New Biography Movies in Theaters (2024)

What's on Netflix Logo

Biographical Movies Coming Soon to Netflix in 2023 & Beyond

All the biopics set to arrive in 2023 or are in development at Netflix for 2024 and beyond.

Kasey Moore What's on Netflix Avatar

Pictures: Netflix / Getty Images

Biopics are all the rage this summer, with Oppenheimer topping the box office and they’ve historically done quite well on Netflix too. Netflix has a bunch of biopics on the way in 2023 and plenty more in development. Here’s a preview of Netflix’s upcoming slate of biopic movies.

We’ve been previewing Netflix’s slate all throughout 2023 and will continue to do so throughout the rest of the year. If you’re into your biopics, you may also be interested to see some of Netflix’s upcoming book adaptations .

Believe it or not, only one biopic has been released on Netflix so far in 2023, with that being True Spirit . The family movie is based on 16-year-old Jessica Watson, who dreamt of becoming the youngest person to sail worldwide.

Biopics Confirmed for Release on Netflix in 2023

Chakda ‘xpress.

Director : Prosit Roy Cast : Anushka Sharma, Renuka Shahane, Anshul Chauhan, Kaushik Sen, Mahesh Thakur

Chakda Xpress Jpg

Picture: Netflix

The Indian production is inspired by the true story of one of the fastest female pacers in the history of world cricket, Jhulan Goswami. It charts her career as she moves up the ladder, despite the countless hindrances, to fulfill her only dream: to play cricket.

Director:  Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi Cast:  Annette Bening, Jodie Foster, Rhys Ifans, Ethan Jones Romero, Luke Cosgrove, Jeena Yi, Eric T. Miller

First Look At Nyad Netflix Movie Jpg

First look at Nyad on Netflix

This new biopic is based on the marathon swimmer Diana Nyad who became the first person at the age of 60 to do what’s dubbed the Everest of Swims.

At the time of publishing, the movie was rumored to be released on Netflix on November 3rd, following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Keep an eye on our Fall 2023 movie preview list for the latest .

Society of the Snow

Director:  J.A. Bayona Cast:  Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka, Tomas Wolf

Society Of The Snow Netflix Movie Jpg

Retelling the true events of a rugby team that was left stranded after their passenger flight crashed in the heart of the Andes, this Spanish movie is one of Netflix’s hopefuls for the upcoming awards season.

The movie is confirmed for a 2023 release following its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

Director: Bradley Cooper Cast: Bradley Cooper, Carey Mulligan, Maya Hawke, Matt Bomer, Sarah Silverman, John Hamilton, Scott Ellis, Gideon Glick, Sam Nivola, Alexa Swinton, Miriam Shor

Maestro Netflix Movie Jpg

Pictures: Netflix

One of the biggest hopes Netflix has at the Oscars in 2024 is Maestro starring and directed by Bradley Cooper.

The biopic, set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, sets out to tell us the life story of Leonard Bernstein, an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian.

Director: George C. Wolfe Cast: Colman Domingo, Chris Rock, Glynn Turman, Audra McDonald, Aml Ameen, Gus Halper, Johnny Ramey, CCH Pounder, Michael Potts, Carra Patterson, Adrienne Warren, Bill Irwin

Rstn 20211012 02946 R F Jpg

Rustin. (L to R) Aml Ameen as Martin Luther King and Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin in Rustin. Cr. David Lee/Netflix © 2022

Another big movie Netflix hopes to scoop awards is Rustin , a highly-anticipated new movie from Higher Ground Productions recounting the gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin who organized the 1963 March on Washington.

The movie is confirmed to hit Netflix on November 17th, following its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Director: Philip Martin Cast: Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Billie Piper, Keeley Hawes

Scoop Netflix Movie Jpg

Cast for Netflix’s Scoop

More a biographical film than a biopic, this upcoming British-produced movie based on a screenplay by Peter Moffat looks at Prince Andrew and his interactions with the BBC that led to the stunning Newsnight interview that’s lived on in infamy.

Netflix Biopics Coming in 2024 or Beyond

Ghost in the machine / sheer crazy nerve.

Sheer Crazy Love Issa Rae

Pictures: Getty Images

First announced in August 2020 (with no significant updates since), this biopic would tell the story of Tanya Smith, who rose to become one of the single biggest threats to the US banking system in the late 20th century.

It’s based on the memoir that was renamed to Sheer Crazy Nerve and looked to be released in bookshops this summer (although we couldn’t quite find evidence of that happening).

Issa Rae and David Heyman are producing.

Director : John Ridley Cast:  Regina King, Lucas Hedges, Christina Jackson, Michael Cherrie, Dorian Missick, Amirah Vann, W. Earl Brown, with André Holland and Terrence Howard

Shirley Crisholm Netflix

Photo by Don Hogan Charles/New York Times Co./Getty Images

Shirley Chisholm is the central figure that’s the focus of this new biopic starring Regina King, who also serves as a producer on the project.

Here’s the official synopsis:

“Shirley is the intimate portrayal of trailblazing political icon Shirley Chisholm, the first Black Congresswoman and the first Black woman to run for President of the U.S, and the cost of accomplishment for Shirley herself. This film will tell the story of Chisholm’s boundary-breaking and historic presidential campaign, based on exclusive and extensive conversations with family, friends and those who knew her best.”

Shout It Out Loud

Director: Joachim Rønning

Shout It Out Loud Kiss Netflix

Picture: Photo by Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images

Music biopics have exploded in recent years, with the biggest of the bunch being Rocketman about Elton John and Bohemian Rhapsody documenting Queen. Netflix’s biggest swing in the genre has been their 2019 movie The Dirt , looking into the history of Motley Crue.

This biopic (expected to release in 2024) will focus on Gene and Paul, the two kids from Queens who formed KISS and a life-long friendship after enlisting guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss.

The Match Netflix Movie

Picture: Moonlight Film, Bh Entertainment, Acemaker Movieworks

From Korea, this movie tells the story of Cho Hun-hyun, a former Go champion who discovers a gifted but untrained young boy Lee Chang-ho in an amateur contest.

The movie was originally stated to be released on Netflix in 2023 , but we’ve yet to have confirmation that’s the case given that the release looks to be held off because of the involvement of Yoo Ah-in, who has been arrested on drug charges . It could be the case the movie never sees the light of day.

The Thanksgiving Text

The Thanksgiving Text Netflix

Announced in early 2022 , this new movie is based on the real story of a grandma who accidentally invited a stranger to Thanksgiving, which soon became a heart-warming annual tradition.

State Street Pictures is producing the title with Robert Teitel and George Tillman Jr. with Abdul Williams writing.

Untitled Hulk Hogan Biopic

Hulk Hogan Netflix Movie

Photo credit should read FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

First announced in February 2019 , Chris Hemsworth was being lined up for a biopic where he’d play WWE superstar Hulk Hogan with Todd Phillips set to direct.

The latest we heard about the project was in 2022, when Chris Hemsworth provided a disappointing update about the project, saying he didn’t know where it was in development.

White Mountains

Barney And Betty Hill White Mountains

Picture: Getty Images

Still yet to be confirmed by Netflix itself is White Mountains, a new production from Higher Ground Productions (the production company founded and helmed by Barack and Michelle Obama).

Netflix picked up the script after it featured on The Blacklist with the movie retelling the story of Barney and Betty Hill who claim they were abducted by a UFO in the 1960s.

Rounding out the preview, here are a few more announced projects in the past, but we’ve had little to no information since:

  • Janet – From Janet Mock, this feature film was announced back in 2020 and would tell the story of a young black woman at the Washington Post and her ambitious and complicated quest to make the front page.
  • Tenzing – A feature film from Higher Ground Productions based on the life of Tenzing Norgay, the first man to reach the summit of Mt. Everest.
  • The Ice Bucket Challenge – Produced by Casey Affleck, this biopic would’ve looked into the activist behind the viral sensation.

What biopics are you most excited to watch on Netflix in the years to come? Let us know in the comments.

 What's on Netflix Avatar

Founder of What's on Netflix, Kasey has been tracking the comings and goings of the Netflix library for over a decade. Covering everything from new movies, series and games from around the world, Kasey is in charge of covering breaking news, covering all the new additions now available on Netflix and what's coming next.

Newest Articles - Coming Soon to Netflix

What's Coming to Netflix in October 2024 Article Teaser Photo

What's Coming to Netflix in October 2024

What's Coming to Netflix This Week: September 16th to 22nd, 2024 Article Teaser Photo

What's Coming to Netflix This Week: September 16th to 22nd, 2024

What's Coming to Netflix in September 2024 Article Teaser Photo

What's Coming to Netflix in September 2024

Anime Coming to Netflix in 2025 & Beyond Article Teaser Photo

Anime Coming to Netflix in 2025 & Beyond

Recommended

‘Shirley’ Review: Should You Watch Regina King’s Netflix Movie?

‘Shirley’ Review: Should You Watch Regina King’s Netflix Movie?

Interview with ‘Exploding Kittens’ Composers Shirley Song and Jina Hyojin An

Interview with ‘Exploding Kittens’ Composers Shirley Song and Jina Hyojin An

The Best 5 New Netflix Original Movies of 2024 So Far

The Best 5 New Netflix Original Movies of 2024 So Far

Editor of ‘Shirley’ JoAnne Yarrow Discusses New Netflix Movie

Editor of ‘Shirley’ JoAnne Yarrow Discusses New Netflix Movie

Netflix Top 10 Report: 3 Body Problem, Shirley, and The Casagrandes Movie

Netflix Top 10 Report: 3 Body Problem, Shirley, and The Casagrandes Movie

What’s Coming to Netflix in October 2024

What’s Coming to Netflix in October 2024

What’s Coming to Netflix This Week: September 16th to 22nd, 2024

What’s Coming to Netflix This Week: September 16th to 22nd, 2024

Search what's on netflix, most recent tags, popular tags, notifications from what's on netflix.

The Ten Best Films of 2023

biography films 2023

How does one sum up a year that felt as tumultuous and unpredictable as 2023? It honestly did feel like an artistic turning point as franchises once deemed too big to fail fell apart, giving way to unpredictable blockbusters and heartfelt cinematic statements from some of the world’s best filmmakers. The list below is really a portrait of the year, one in which two debut films stand alongside works from acknowledged masters. A list that includes films that made millions of dollars alongside ones that are only now building an audience. A list that travels the world to elevate stories that resonate with universal truth and undeniable specificity at the same time. These are the films selected by the regular film reviewing staff of RogerEbert.com as the best of the year. Come back on Thursday to see the specific lists of all of the regular critics, plus those from our extended family of contributors. And click through on the links below, when available, to watch the best films of 2023.

Runner-ups: “About Dry Grasses,” “All of Us Strangers,” “ Anatomy of a Fall ,” “ The Boy and the Heron ,” “ Fallen Leaves ,” “ Godland ,” “ Kokomo City ,” “ Priscilla ,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse,” and “ A Thousand and One “

biography films 2023

10. “ All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt “

Watching Raven Jackson ‘s debut feature film, “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” (produced by Barry Jenkins and developed through the Indie Memphis Black Filmmaker Residency for Screenwriting), is one of those startling cinematic experiences calling into question how filmmakers typically tell stories. We don’t realize the dominance of visual cliches until a filmmaker comes along and does it her own way. Chantal Akerman did it with “Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles,” Julie Dash did it with “ Daughters of the Dust ,” Lynne Ramsay did it with “ Morvern Callar “. Their cinematic language is as distinct as a fingerprint. 

The kaleidoscope of images in “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” shows the past existing alongside the present, memories bleeding forwards and backwards. Repeating sensory motifs rush forth in this story of a young girl growing up in the rural South: hands touching the dirt, preparing a fishhook, braiding hair, trailing through the river water, a mother’s hands washing her daughter’s back, loved ones clasped in wordless embraces. You get to know everyone through their hands, as radical a style as Terrence Malick’s sunlight-through-tree-leaves and whispering voiceovers. “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” is a kinesthetic experience. You see smells, feel sounds, dirt roads are to be tasted. Of course, Jackson also gives us memorable characters, steeping us in the family’s grief and joy, loss and sweetness. 

Raven Jackson is also a published poet. One of her poems, “After the Fire,” opens with:

Plants Mama should have swallowed as seeds swelled from mud like legs.

She’d sit on the porch, a green jar of pickles bouncing on her knees, tires eating stone.

The sensibility of “All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt” are in those evocative words. Jackson has made a film only she could make. It can’t be duplicated. It is hers and it is to be treasured. ( Sheila O’Malley )

Now streaming on:

biography films 2023

9. “Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret.”

Sincerity is what shines through brightest in “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.”

Adapting a book that’s meant so much to so many for so long might have been a daunting task, but writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig tapped into the truth in Judy Blume ’s classic and treated it with the complete respect it deserves—not reverence, mind you, because she made a few tweaks to inventively expand the beloved story. Those changes only made the experience richer, more emotional and hilarious, with moving results.  

What’s so enduring about the film, and the 1970 coming-of-age novel that inspired it, is its relatability across generations. When I read the book as a tween, I saw myself in 11-year-old Margaret (played with awkward charm and deep authenticity by Abby Ryder Fortson ) as she navigated the many obstacles of adolescence. When I watched the movie as an adult—as the mother of a teenager—I saw myself in Margaret’s mom, Barbara, as she did her best to guide her child through this hormonal minefield. Rachel McAdams gives the best performance of her lengthy and varied career here: She’s earthy, funny, sexy and heartbreaking. The supporting performances that get a lot of attention during awards season tend to be the big, showy ones, but what McAdams is doing here is exquisitely subtle in every moment.

The whole cast is terrific, including Benny Safdie as Margaret’s sweetly dorky dad, Kathy Bates as her quick-witted grandmother and Elle Graham as the frenemy who’s more complicated than she initially seems. These all feel like real, interesting people in a real, lived-in place. That’s one of the other miracles about “Margaret”: the way it vividly depicts its 1970s setting without going over the top into period kitsch (thanks to the detailed work of production designer Steve Saklad .) In a movie in which couch shopping serves as a symbolic subplot, “Margaret” lets you sink into a familiar feeling of comfort. ( Christy Lemire )

biography films 2023

8. “ Barbie “

For once, the advertising tagline got it exactly right: “If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.” 

Barbie encompasses multitudes because she reflects all of the conflicted feelings that we have about who we want to be. Is she empowering because there is a Barbie in every possible aspirational profession or is she dooming us to despair because we can never live up to her airbrushed pink perfection? America Ferrara ’s frustrated speech about the impossible standards expected of women encapsulates many of the movie’s themes. 

But, like Barbie herself, the film is irresistibly enticing, with gorgeous settings and delightful songs.  In Barbie world, every day is perfect, and all problems are solved—for the Barbies. The smart script by Noah Baumbach and director Greta Gerwig shows us that characters can be isolated and unsatisfied even in an outwardly perfect world. We can laugh at the insecurity of Ryan Gosling ’s pitch-perfect Ken or the played-with-too-hard but somehow therefore wiser Weird Barbie, but they demonstrate the intensity of the wishes we project onto our toys. Then there’s the unloved Allan and quickly discontinued puberty Skipper, to remind us that as much as we may decry the commercialism of dolls like Barbie, consumers cannot be persuaded to buy everything corporations think up. The movie is so much fun it is easy to overlook how smart it is about humans and how our toys help us define our dreams. ( Nell Minow )

biography films 2023

7. “ Poor Things “

A sexually liberated, lightly sci-fi Art Nouveau period piece is strange enough on paper. Filter that concept through the stylized performances and aggressive fisheye lensing of Yorgos Lanthimos , and you’ve got a true oddity of a film. “Poor Things” isn’t weird just to be weird, however. Every eccentric touch, from the anachronistic costuming to fairytale settings that unfurl like the pages of a pop-up book, reflect a stage in the evolution of our heroine, Bella Baxter ( Emma Stone ), from the reanimated corpse of a suicidal London housewife to a feminist firebrand and a true woman of the world. Bella is a singular force, and the world around her reflects that.

In a lesser actor’s hands, an environment this fantastic might threaten to swallow a character. But Emma Stone’s performance unfolds in stages, too, from the hesitant movements and sudden flashes of understanding of a newborn baby to the cool, bemused confidence of an undaunted woman. The men around Bella all exist on a spectrum, from Jerrod Carmichael ’s hardened cynic to Mark Ruffalo ’s hilariously fragile lothario who’s finally been beaten at his own lusty game. And each of them has something to teach Bella, although her journey—and “Poor Things,” for all of its much-ballyhooed sex scenes—isn’t really about them. Bella, being a Frankenstein’s monster type, doesn’t have a soul to worry about. And her explorations and adventures are free from the conventional restraints of Judeo-Christian morality. What is the journey of life all about without a God to lead the way? Let Bella Baxter show you. ( Katie Rife )

biography films 2023

6. “The Zone of Interest”

In recent interviews, Jonathan Glazer , the writer and director of the eerie, cold-blooded Holocaust drama “The Zone of Interest,” sometimes emphasizes how unsure he was, both about what motivated him as well as if he could even complete the project. You might be uncertain, too, if you chose to make a disturbing fictional drama—and sometimes black comedy—about real-life Nazi Commandant Rudolf Höss ( Christian Friedel ) and his wife Hedwig ( Sandra Hüller ), who lived with their family in a well-maintained home at the Auschwitz concentration camp, with a vegetable garden and a pool.

“I genuinely don’t know why it’s in me,” Glazer told Screen Daily ’s Mark Salisbury . “There must be something in it that’s driving me forward. And often I’m not even sure what that is.” In pursuing his artistic compulsions, Glazer has captured the surreal disconnect between the life that the Hösses clearly preferred to be living and the one that was literally outside their door.

Glazer’s cast sometimes improvised with his encouragement. They were also filmed by Polish cinematographer Łukasz Żal , mostly with ten hidden cameras. The soundtrack, featuring a nightmarish sound design by Johnnie Burn and a typically bracing score by Mica Levi , adds another layer of disorienting, hyper-real dissonance.

The point of “The Zone of Interest” may be to confront us with its grotesque, bourgeois protagonists’ behavior, but the resulting drama often feels like a Kubrickian horror movie about the divide between what we recognize as human and what we’d rather not think about. ( Simon Abrams )

biography films 2023

5. “ Asteroid City “

In the second half of his nearly 30-year career, Wes Anderson has continued to refine and evolve his style, often by taking lessons that he learned while directing animated movies (“The Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “ Isle of Dogs ”) and applying them to his live-action projects, which increasingly embrace a not-meant-to-be realistic, almost-storybook aesthetic (“ Moonrise Kingdom ,” “ The Grand Budapest Hotel ,” “ The French Dispatch ”). He’s become more formally radical with each new project, using framing devices, multiple narrators, nods to other media, and other techniques to comment on storytelling at the same time that he tells the audience a story. That the story is often quietly devastating is a testament to Anderson’s understanding of his own methods—you’d think that a director who conspicuously foregrounds his technique would be incapable of moving audiences, yet here we are, wiping a tear away. “Asteroid City” might be the most innovative and quietly mysterious film Wes Anderson has ever made. 

It alternates a 1950s, black-and-white, squarish-format “televised theater” production (about the short life of a playwright who never finished a play titled Asteroid City ) with a widescreen Technicolor-ish fable, also called “Asteroid City,” set on a military base that gets locked down due to an extraterrestrial visitation, trapping a group of genius kids and their parents. The dialogue and production design amount to a cinematic encyclopedia of mid-20th century art and pop culture references, from the New York Method school of theater and the heyday of live TV drama to the “spiritual death in small-town America” genre of fiction, theater and film drama, represented by touchstones like “ The Misfits ,” “ Picnic ,” and “ The Last Picture Show ”. As the movie unfolds, the viewers begin to realize that neither the black-and-white nor the color sections are intended as “reality,” and that they aren’t going to get any explanations or summations, or for that matter, any hand holding at all. It’s up to you to meet the film halfway, give yourself over to it, and make it make sense to you, on your own level and in your own way. You know, art. ( Matt Zoller Seitz )

biography films 2023

4. “ May December “

It’s fascinating to watch people try to put Todd Haynes’ latest masterpiece in a box. Is it camp? Is it a drama? A comedy? There’s almost a meta level to this conversation because it’s a film about an actress who thinks she can put people in a box too. The Juilliard trained Elizabeth Berry ( Natalie Portman ) comes to visit a woman named Gracie ( Julianne Moore ), who she thinks she’s figured out by researching her crime and its tabloid coverage. The lesson of “May December” is that no one is that easy, especially people who don’t operate in what we would call the normal world. 

Much has been made of Charles Melton’s brilliant turn as a man named Joe caught in a vulnerable eternal adolescence because he was forced to grow up too quickly, but Moore’s predator is just as removed from reality as she manipulates her husband and her children constantly for her own selfish needs. These are people moving in emotional quicksand—Joe reaches for any branch that could pull him out while Gracie pushes away any potential safety for either of them.

The fact that Elizabeth ends the film with no better understanding of Gracie and Joe than when she arrived in Georgia is essential to this film’s success and the daring tone of Samy Burch’s script, the year’s best. No wonder she can’t figure out who Gracie and Joe are—they have no idea themselves. ( Brian Tallerico )

biography films 2023

3. “ Oppenheimer “

Christopher Nolan ’s epic follows its titular character, J. Robert Oppenheimer ( Cillian Murphy ), through the creation of the atomic bomb during World War II. As Oppenheimer trudges through scientific discovery and battles of ideology and ambition, what ensues is a three-hour orchestra of personal and professional histories, troubling tangos of guilt and pride, and a novel look at the horrors of war. “Oppenheimer” is both a searing political portrait of the United States colonial machine and a damning dossier of its titular character’s actions and interiority. 

Nolan’s filmmaking is trademarked by his penchant for grand-scale storytelling. Through each second of its extensive runtime, “Oppenheimer” delivers feats of narrative, performance, cinematography, and, ultimately, pathos. It’s a mammoth film, spanning multiple timelines and a broad array of characters. Yet there’s not a single detail within its complex and wide-ranging web that feels extraneous. And this is not only a testament to the mastery of Nolan’s writing, but also a deeply emotional consequence of how one of history’s most notorious events had no small players. 

There are shots in “Oppenheimer” that should never be forgotten. Intense portraiture backed by an award-worthy performance from Murphy is now woven into this year’s filmic memory. With various tensions building on every side of its story, Nolan doesn’t cast his lead in a definitive light, allowing the audience to engage with history and draw their own impossible conclusions. Questions of discovery and culpability collide with fierce uncertainty in “Oppenheimer,” a staggering achievement in character, context, and execution. ( Peyton Robinson )

biography films 2023

2. “ Past Lives “

There is a knowing slipperiness to writer-director Celine Song ’s debut “Past Lives.” Though Nora ( Greta Lee ) and her family leave South Korea, moving away from her childhood best friend Hae Sung ( Teo Yoo ), this film is not about immigration. Though Nora and Hae reconnect years later via Skype, this film is not about longing. And even though Hae eventually ventures to New York City for one last chance with Nora—despite Nora being married to Arthur ( John Magaro )—this, dismayingly, is not a romance. Desire without lust; flirtation without consummation; these are the ambiguities that some have assumed are pesky glitches rather than intentional features. 

It’s why I cringe whenever I see someone refer to “Past Lives” as a love story. It’s not, and knowingly so. Because “Past Lives” works on a far trickier, subtler spectrum than many have interpreted. This is a film about the act of mourning. Its complications arise not from a character discovering the inevitable; but from them grieving the unavoidable. Within that tight boundary, imposed by Song, an aching Yoo and a tender Magaro must navigate a frightening uncertainty: What if the woman they love adores another? Lee’s Nora, of course, is wrestling with a separate, abstract struggle. She is in a different film, a different time, and unlocking a different deadlock—balancing losing what she never had and what she may never experience. “Past Lives” is Nora’s elegy for her past, present, and future. It’s a film whose poeticism is written in the finite space between acquiescence and acceptance and in the tension between a creator’s desire to depict her life’s reality and in the daydream possibility film so often demands. ( Robert Daniels )

biography films 2023

1. “ Killers of the Flower Moon “

Martin Scorsese ’s monumental adaptation of David Grann ’s non-fiction bestseller contains a bounty of viewing pleasures, but in the main it is something like an anti-entertainment. For the first two hours or so of its 206-minute running time, Scorsese forges a form of slow cinema. The machinations and sins of Ernest Burkhart and William “King” Hale (Scorsese stalwarts  Leonardo DiCaprio  and  Robert De Niro ) are laid out in studious and merciless detail, and often conveyed in static-camera tableaux that evoke not just Griffith and DeMille but Straub and Huillet. The crimes against the Osage Nation members who were the rightful owners of oil-rich Oklahoma land are committed in practically plain sight, and with almost droning repetition. Why isn’t anybody doing anything? Well, yes, that’s a good question. 

Whether you think Scorsese is making you uncomfortable in order to contend with man’s inhumanity to man or to make you undergo a form of white guilt depends on where your head is at, and your response might not be the one you’d prefer. It’s all about the perspectives the filmmaker chooses. Lily Gladstone ’s performance as Mollie is a sonata of stillness and indignation—“No investigation,” a reprise repeated in voiceover early in the film, is said with her voice—and Mollie’s kiss-off of Ernest is the greatest of its kind since Alida Valli walked away from Joseph Cotten in “ The Third Man .” But while in “The Third Man,” the viewer gets to digest the look of utter disdain on Valli’s face as she walks on by, here we don’t have the option of sharing any kind of satisfaction or vindication with Mollie. Here, as all through the movie, form serves function. Because Mollie isn’t merely walking away from Ernest but from us. We are obliged to sit with Ernest in his befuddlement, and with the subsequent knowledge that this criminal will, in real life, die a free man, as will his mentor in murder. ( Glenn Kenny )

Leave a comment

Related articles.

biography films 2023

Book Excerpt: LOST: Back to the Island: The Complete Critical Companion to The Classic TV Series by Emily St. James & Noel Murray

biography films 2023

Short Films in Focus: Young People, Old People and Nothing In Between

biography films 2023

“Risky Business” Remains One of the Most Daring Films of the ’80s

biography films 2023

Experience the Star Trek Movies in 70mm at Out of this World L.A. Event

Popular reviews.

biography films 2023

Lumberjack the Monster

biography films 2023

Janet Planet

biography films 2023

The Big Cigar

biography films 2023

The best movie reviews, in your inbox

biography films 2023

  • Trending on RT

biography films 2023

TAGGED AS: movies

biography films 2023

Best Movies of 2023: Every Certified Fresh Movie of the Year

Welcome to the best new movies of 2023, where you can discover the latest films championed by the critics community! Every movie on the list is Certified Fresh, meaning they held on to a Tomatometer score of at least 75% after a minimum number of critics review — 40 for limited or streaming releases, 80 for wide theatrical releases, with five of those reviews coming from Top Critics. — Alex Vo

' sborder=

The First Slam Dunk (2022) 100%

' sborder=

Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. (2023) 99%

' sborder=

BlackBerry (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Godzilla Minus One (2023) 98%

' sborder=

Rye Lane (2023) 98%

' sborder=

Fallen Leaves (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Joyland (2022) 98%

' sborder=

The Beasts (2022) 99%

' sborder=

Full Time (2021) 98%

' sborder=

The Taste of Things (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Shayda (2023) 97%

' sborder=

The Teachers' Lounge (2023) 96%

' sborder=

Aloners (2021) 98%

' sborder=

The Innocent (2022) 98%

' sborder=

The Three Musketeers: Part I - D'Artagnan (2023) 98%

' sborder=

Klondike (2022) 98%

' sborder=

Return to Seoul (2022) 97%

' sborder=

A Thousand and One (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Monster (2023) 96%

' sborder=

Huesera: The Bone Woman (2022) 97%

' sborder=

Fremont (2023) 98%

' sborder=

Past Lives (2023) 95%

' sborder=

The Holdovers (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (2023) 95%

' sborder=

Anatomy of a Fall (2023) 96%

' sborder=

The Boy and the Heron (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Suzume (2022) 96%

' sborder=

birth/rebirth (2023) 96%

' sborder=

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (2023) 95%

' sborder=

R.M.N. (2022) 97%

' sborder=

Earth Mama (2023) 97%

' sborder=

The Blue Caftan (2022) 96%

' sborder=

Four Daughters (2023) 96%

' sborder=

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023) 95%

' sborder=

They Cloned Tyrone (2023) 95%

' sborder=

Blue Jean (2022) 96%

' sborder=

Nimona (2023) 92%

' sborder=

How to Have Sex (2023) 97%

' sborder=

Attachment (2022) 95%

' sborder=

Amanda (2022) 95%

' sborder=

John Wick: Chapter 4 (2023) 94%

' sborder=

Talk to Me (2023) 94%

' sborder=

You Hurt My Feelings (2023) 94%

' sborder=

Sisu (2022) 94%

' sborder=

Passages (2023) 95%

' sborder=

How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022) 95%

' sborder=

Saint Omer (2022) 94%

' sborder=

Scrapper (2023) 94%

' sborder=

Smoking Causes Coughing (2022) 94%

' sborder=

The Night of the 12th (2022) 94%

' sborder=

Radical (2023) 95%

' sborder=

Falcon Lake (2022) 94%

' sborder=

After Love (2020) 92%

' sborder=

Oppenheimer (2023) 93%

' sborder=

Air (2023) 93%

' sborder=

M3GAN (2022) 93%

' sborder=

Poor Things (2023) 92%

' sborder=

American Fiction (2023) 93%

' sborder=

Flora and Son (2023) 93%

' sborder=

All of Us Strangers (2023) 96%

' sborder=

Reality (2023) 94%

' sborder=

Revoir Paris (2022) 94%

' sborder=

Alcarràs (2022) 93%

' sborder=

American Symphony (2023) 94%

' sborder=

The Zone of Interest (2023) 93%

' sborder=

The Starling Girl (2023) 92%

' sborder=

Perfect Days (2023) 96%

' sborder=

Juniper (2021) 93%

' sborder=

Influencer (2023) 91%

' sborder=

War Pony (2022) 93%

' sborder=

Jethica (2022) 92%

' sborder=

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023) 91%

' sborder=

May December (2023) 91%

' sborder=

Joy Ride (2023) 90%

' sborder=

Dream Scenario (2023) 91%

' sborder=

Afire (2023) 91%

' sborder=

You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah (2023) 91%

' sborder=

Godland (2022) 92%

' sborder=

Other People's Children (2022) 91%

' sborder=

Society of the Snow (2023) 90%

' sborder=

Chile '76 (2022) 91%

' sborder=

The Artifice Girl (2022) 92%

' sborder=

The Unknown Country (2022) 92%

' sborder=

Leonor Will Never Die (2022) 91%

' sborder=

The Origin of Evil (2022) 92%

' sborder=

Bottoms (2023) 90%

' sborder=

Polite Society (2023) 91%

' sborder=

Brooklyn 45 (2023) 90%

' sborder=

Dreamin' Wild (2022) 90%

' sborder=

All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (2023) 90%

' sborder=

The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future (2022) 88%

' sborder=

You Can Live Forever (2022) 90%

' sborder=

Sanctuary (2022) 88%

' sborder=

A Million Miles Away (2023) 89%

' sborder=

Aporia (2023) 90%

' sborder=

Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (2022) 88%

' sborder=

Mutt (2023) 89%

' sborder=

Barbie (2023) 88%

' sborder=

Creed III (2023) 88%

' sborder=

The Iron Claw (2023) 89%

' sborder=

Showing Up (2022) 89%

' sborder=

Missing (2023) 88%

' sborder=

The Royal Hotel (2023) 89%

' sborder=

Emily (2022) 87%

' sborder=

Tori and Lokita (2022) 87%

' sborder=

Sick of Myself (2022) 88%

' sborder=

Il buco (2021) 86%

' sborder=

Infinity Pool (2023) 87%

' sborder=

The Blackening (2022) 87%

' sborder=

The Color Purple (2023) 81%

' sborder=

Totally Killer (2023) 87%

' sborder=

Pacifiction (2022) 87%

' sborder=

Sick (2022) 85%

' sborder=

Brother (2022) 87%

' sborder=

Theater Camp (2023) 87%

' sborder=

Of an Age (2022) 86%

' sborder=

The Five Devils (2022) 85%

' sborder=

The Wrath of Becky (2023) 86%

' sborder=

The Killer (2023) 85%

' sborder=

Fair Play (2023) 85%

' sborder=

Eileen (2023) 82%

' sborder=

Nyad (2023) 85%

' sborder=

Suitable Flesh (2023) 85%

' sborder=

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster (2023) 85%

' sborder=

Cairo Conspiracy (2022) 85%

' sborder=

Wonka (2023) 82%

' sborder=

Evil Dead Rise (2023) 84%

' sborder=

Dumb Money (2023) 84%

' sborder=

Rustin (2023) 84%

' sborder=

Thanksgiving (2023) 84%

' sborder=

Shortcomings (2023) 85%

' sborder=

Jules (2023) 85%

' sborder=

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023) 82%

' sborder=

Priscilla (2023) 84%

' sborder=

Tetris (2023) 82%

' sborder=

El Conde (2023) 82%

' sborder=

No One Will Save You (2023) 82%

' sborder=

Linoleum (2022) 82%

' sborder=

The Persian Version (2023) 84%

' sborder=

Rotting in the Sun (2023) 83%

' sborder=

Monica (2022) 84%

' sborder=

Maestro (2023) 78%

' sborder=

Leo (2023) 83%

' sborder=

Perpetrator (2023) 81%

' sborder=

Saw X (2023) 80%

' sborder=

Biosphere (2022) 80%

' sborder=

Quiz Lady (2023) 81%

' sborder=

Extraction 2 (2023) 79%

' sborder=

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) 82%

' sborder=

Enys Men (2022) 80%

' sborder=

Origin (2023) 81%

' sborder=

Between Two Worlds (2021) 79%

' sborder=

Scarlet (2022) 79%

' sborder=

Blue Beetle (2023) 77%

' sborder=

Plane (2023) 78%

' sborder=

Chevalier (2022) 76%

' sborder=

The Lost King (2022) 77%

' sborder=

Scream VI (2023) 76%

' sborder=

A Haunting in Venice (2023) 75%

' sborder=

Red, White & Royal Blue (2023) 75%

' sborder=

The Lesson (2023) 76%

' sborder=

Sitting in Bars with Cake (2023) 75%

' sborder=

Asteroid City (2023) 76%

' sborder=

Leave the World Behind (2023) 73%

' sborder=

Strange Way of Life (2023) 77%

' sborder=

Moving On (2022) 75%

' sborder=

The Offering (2022) 74%

' sborder=

The Inventor (2023) 75%

' sborder=

Elemental (2023) 73%

' sborder=

Medusa Deluxe (2022) 71%

Related news.

47 Best Italian Horror Movies of All Time

Weekend Box Office: Beetlejuice Beetlejuice Holds on to Top Spot

30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming

More Countdown

25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming

Movie & TV News

Featured on rt.

The Fight Night Cast on Trolling Each Other on Set

September 17, 2024

Renewed and Cancelled TV Shows 2024

September 16, 2024

Top Headlines

  • 47 Best Italian Horror Movies of All Time –
  • 30 Most Popular Movies Right Now: What to Watch In Theaters and Streaming –
  • 25 Most Popular TV Shows Right Now: What to Watch on Streaming –
  • 50 Best New Action Movies of 2024 –
  • Toronto Film Festival 2024: Movie Scorecard –
  • Netflix’s 100 Best Movies Right Now (September 2024) –

a photo of a person holding a stack of books

The Best New Biographies of 2023

The best new biographies of 2023 explore full lives and historical events in ways that speak meaningfully to the present.

' src=

CJ Connor is a cozy mystery and romance writer whose main goal in life is to make their dog proud. They are a Pitch Wars alumnus and an Author Mentor Match R9 mentor. Their debut mystery novel BOARD TO DEATH is forthcoming from Kensington Books. Twitter: @cjconnorwrites | cjconnorwrites.com

View All posts by CJ Connor

Read on to discover nine of the best biographies published within the last year. Included are life stories of singular people, including celebrated artists and significant historical figures, as well as collective biographies.

The books included in this list have all been released as of writing, but biography lovers still have plenty to look forward to before the year is out. A few to keep your eye out for in the coming months:

  • The World According to Joan Didion by Evelyn McDonnell (HarperOne, September 26)
  • Einstein in Time and Space by Samuel Graydon (Scribner, November 14)
  • Overlooked: A Celebration of Remarkable, Underappreciated People Who Broke the Rules and Changed the World by Amisha Padnani (Penguin Random House, November 14).

Without further ado, here are the best biographies of 2023 so far!

Master Slave Husband Wife cover

Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom by Ilyon Woo

Ellen and William Craft were a Black married couple who freed themselves from slavery in 1848 by disguising themselves as a traveling white man and an enslaved person. Author Ilyon Woo recounts their thousand-mile journey to seek safety in the North and their escape from the United States in the months following the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act.

The art thief cover

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel

Written over a period of 11 years with exclusive journalistic access to the subject, author Michael Finkel explores the motivations, heists, and repercussions faced by the notorious and prolific art thief Stéphane Breitwieser. Of special focus is his relationship with his girlfriend and accomplice, Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus.

King cover

King: A Life by Jonathan Eig

While recently published, King: A Life is already considered to be the most well-researched biography of Civil Rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. published in decades. New York Times bestselling journalist Jonathan Eig explores the life and legacy of Dr. King through thousands of historical records, including recently declassified FBI documents.

Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters cover

Why Willie Mae Thornton Matters by Lynnée Denise

This biography is part of the Why Music Matters series from the University of Texas. It reflects on the legendary blues singer’s life through an essay collection in which the author (also an accomplished musician) seeks to recreate the feeling of browsing through a box of records.

Young Queens cover

Young Queens: Three Renaissance Women and the Price of Power by Leah Redmond Chang

Historian Leah Redmond Chang’s latest book release focuses on three aristocratic women in Renaissance Europe: Catherine de’ Medici, Elizabeth de Valois, and Mary, Queen of Scots. As a specific focus, she examines the juxtaposition between the immense power they wielded and yet the ways they remained vulnerable to the patriarchal, misogynistic societies in which they existed.

Daughter of the Dragon cover

Daughter of the Dragon: Anna May Wong’s Rendezvous with American History by Yunte Huang

Anna May Wong was a 20th-century actress who found great acclaim while still facing discrimination and typecasting as a Chinese woman. University of California professor Yunte Huang explores her life and impact on the American film industry and challenges racist depictions of her in accounts of Hollywood history in this thought-provoking biography.

Twice as hard cover

Twice as Hard: The Stories of Black Women Who Fought to Become Physicians, from the Civil War to the 21st Century by Jasmine Brown

Written by Rhodes Scholar and University of Pennsylvania medical student Jasmine Brown, this collective biography shares the experiences and accomplishments of nine Black women physicians in U.S. history — including Rebecca Lee Crumpler, the first Black American woman to earn a medical degree in the 1860s, and Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.

Larry McMurtry cover

Larry McMurtry: A Life by Tracy Daugherty

Two years after the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s death, this biography presents a comprehensive history of Larry McMurtry’s life and legacy as one of the most acclaimed Western writers of all time.

The Kneeling Man cover

The Kneeling Man: My Father’s Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by Leta McCollough Seletzky

Journalist Leta McCollough Seletzky examines her father, Marrell “Mac” McCollough’s complicated legacy as a Black undercover cop and later a member of the CIA. In particular, she shares his account as a witness of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. at the Lorraine Motel.

Are you a history buff looking for more recommendations? Try these.

  • Best History Books by Era
  • Books for a More Inclusive Look at American History
  • Fascinating Food History Books

biography films 2023

You Might Also Like

10 Must-Read New Books Out in Fall 2024 to Preorder Now

an image, when javascript is unavailable

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

Most anticipated movie releases of 2023.

From 'Cocaine Bear' to 'Fast X,' Ant-Man to Aquaman, 'Barbie' to 'Blue Beetle,' and everything in between.

By Kimberly Nordyke, Editor

Kimberly Nordyke, Editor

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share to Flipboard
  • Send an Email
  • Show additional share options
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share on Tumblr
  • Share on Whats App
  • Print the Article
  • Post a Comment

From left: 'Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,' 'Creed III,' 'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' and 'Barbie'

From a cocaine bear to a Willy Wonka origin story and the latest in the John Wick , Aquaman and Mission: Impossible franchises, there is a lot to look forward to in 2023. Next year, we will see new movies from Martin Scorsese, Wes Anderson and Nia DaCosta and long-awaited titles like the live-action Barbie movie and the Spider-Verse follow-up.

Check out some of the most anticipated 2023 feature film releases below.

Related Stories

Netflix's ted sarandos says "audiences don't care about windows," touts 'baby reindeer,' 'supacell' for "authentic" britishness, audience focus, pamela anderson to receive golden eye honor at zurich film festival, house party.

The reimagining of the 1990 classic follows two friends who throw a massive party in the house of NBA superstar LeBron James, who also produced the movie and appears as himself.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania

The latest installment in the Ant-Man franchise will see Paul Rudd’s Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly’s Wasp exploring the Quantum Realm and battling a new big bad, Kang the Conqueror, played by Jonathan Majors.

Cocaine Bear

From director Elizabeth Banks, a bear in Kentucky ingests cocaine that ends up in the forest after a bungled drug run and goes on a homicidal rampage.

Franchise star Michael B. Jordan is stepping behind the camera for this entry, which will see Adonis Creed face off against a childhood friend and former boxing prodigy, played by Majors.

The franchise update continues with the next gen of Ghostface survivors attempting to leave Woodsboro behind for a new start in New York City. Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Melissa Barrera and Mason Gooding return, along with Scream vet Hayden Panettiere.

Shazam! Fury of the Gods

Pushed from 2022, the Shazam! sequel will see Zachary Levi’s hero square off against Helen Mirren’s Hespera.

John Wick: Chapter 4

Dungeons & dragons : honor among thieves.

The movie adaptation of the beloved role-playing game from Game Night duo John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein stars Chris Pine as the head of a band of adventurers searching for a lost relic. Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis, Regé-Jean Page and Hugh Grant round out the cast.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The latest attempt at bringing the video game to the big screen is an animated feature that has the eponymous Italian plumber voiced by Chris Pratt, with Charlie Day as Luigi and Anya Taylor-Joy as Princess Peach.

The horror comedy sees Nicolas Cage playing Dracula, with a focus on his henchman, played by Nicholas Hoult, who starts to consider life outside his servitude, finding a new lease on life in modern-day New Orleans.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

The final Guardians film takes place after Endgame , with Peter Quill reeling from the loss of Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora.

The second-to-last installment of the Fast franchise will see Vin Diesel and his team back together, this time joined by franchise newcomer Brie Larson.

The Little Mermaid

Spider-man: across the spider-verse.

The follow-up to the Oscar-winning Marvel animation will see Miles Morales diving into the multiverse, meeting new Spider-Mans and foes voiced by franchise newcomers like Oscar Isaac, Issa Rae and Daniel Kaluuya.

Transformers : Rise of the Beasts

The first Transformers movie since 2017’s The Last Knight stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback and centers on Brooklyn archaeologists in the 1990s who uncover an ancient conflict.

No Hard Feelings

This coming-of-age comedy-drama stars Jennifer Lawrence as a woman who answers a Craigslist ad that was placed by a mother for someone to date her son before he enters college. The project has been described as being in the vein of Bad Teacher and Risky Business .

The Pixar film hails from The Good Dinosaur director Peter Sohn. It takes place in Element City, where fire, water, land and air residents live together. It follows the adventures of Ember (Leah Lewis), a twenty-something tough and quick-witted fire element and Wade (Mamoudou Athie), a fun, go-with-the flow water element.

Ezra Miller, who has been mired in controversy, will lead the DC superhero stand-alone that will see the return of Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton as Batmans.

Untitled Adele Lim Comedy

Indiana jones and the dial of destiny.

The latest Indiana Jones is set in 1969, against the backdrop of the Space Race, and sees Jones — along with a goddaughter played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge — attempt to uncover whether the U.S. government recruited their former World War II enemies in desperation to beat the Soviet Union.

Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning — Part One

The seventh installment of Tom Cruise’s spy thriller series will no doubt include globe-trotting and outsize stunts.

Oppenheimer

The latest from Christopher Nolan tells the story of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he develops the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy leads a cast that also includes Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr. and Matt Damon, among many, many others.

The long-awaited movie based on the best-selling toy has Margot Robbie starring as Barbie, Ryan Gosling playing Ken, and Greta Gerwig in the director’s chair.

The Marvels

The Captain Marvel follow-up will see the team-up of Larson’s Captain Marvel, Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) and Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris).

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

An animated feature based on the 1980s cartoon about humanoid, pizza-loving and crime-fighting turtles, produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

Haunted Mansion

Based on the Disney attraction, Haunted Mansion stars Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson and Dany DeVito.  Dear White People  creator Justin Simien directs the film, which   follows a mother and son who come across a mansion that is more than it seems.

Blue Beetle

Previously destined for HBO Max, the stand-alone superhero movie is getting a full theatrical release. It follows a Mexican American teenager, Jaime Reyes, who gains superpowers thanks to a blue scarab beetle.

Equalizer 3

Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington are back for the latest movie about retired U.S. Marine and former DIA officer Robert McCall.

A Haunting in Venice

Kenneth Branagh returns to star and direct a third Agatha Christie mystery for 20th Century. The sequel to Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile stars Branagh as detective Hercule Poirot and also stars Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Michelle Yeoh, Jude Hill and Kelly Reilly.

The Expendables 4

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren return as mercenaries, who are this time tasked with taking down an arms dealer who commands the might of a massive private army. Iko Uwais and Andy Garcia also star.

Kraven the Hunter

Aaron Taylor-Johnson stars as big-game hunter Sergei Kravinoff, a Spider-Man villain. Russell Crowe and Ariana DeBose also star.

The Exorcist

After finishing up his take on another horror classic, Halloween , David Gordon Green is now back in theaters with The Exorcist , a sequel to the 1973 film about a 12-year-old girl who is possessed by a demon.

Dune: Part Two

The second half of Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi adaptation will pick up where Part One left off, with Paul Atreides looking to avenge his family by teaming up with the Fremen. Joining Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya will be Austin Butler and Florence Pugh.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snake s

The Hunger Games prequel stars Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird, the girl tribute from impoverished District 12 who is mentored by a then-18-year-old Coriolanus Snow.

Frozen filmmakers Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck are behind Disney’s Wish , which stars West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose will. The feature tells how the wishing star that so many Disney characters have wished upon came to be.

Paddington director Paul King is behind this Willy Wonka origin story that stars Chalamet as the future candymaker. The story will center on how he met the Oompa Loompas on one of his earliest adventures.

The Color Purple

Aquaman and the lost kingdom.

The sequel will see the return of Jason Momoa’s DC superhero, along with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Black Manta and Nicole Kidman’s Atlanna. Franchise newcomers include Randall Park as Dr. Stephen Shin, a marine biologist obsessed with finding Atlantis, Jani Zhao as Stingray, and Indya Moore as Karshon.

Beau Is Afraid

The logline for the latest film from Ari Aster, previously titled Dissapoint Blvd. , reads: “A decades-spanning portrait of one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.” Joaquin Phoenix leads a cast that includes Patti LuPone and Nathan Lane.

The Leonard Bernstein biopic has Bradley Cooper back in the director’s chair for the first time since A Star Is Born . He will play the famous composer, with Carey Mulligan, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke and Sarah Silverman also appearing in the Netflix project.

The latest historical drama from Ridley Scott will track the French leader’s origins and, as the logline reads, “swift, ruthless climb to Emperor, viewed through the prism of his addictive and often volatile relationship with his wife and one true love, Josephine.” Phoenix plays Napoleon, with Vanessa Kirby starring opposite him as Empress Joséphine.

Asteroid City

Killers of the flower moon.

The latest team-up between Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio is expected next year from Apple TV+. Based on the book of the same name, the story takes place after members of the Osage tribe in the United States are murdered under mysterious circumstances in the 1920s.

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

Eva mendes reveals if she would return to acting: “who knows”, david schwimmer recalls turning down ‘men in black’: “that would have made me a movie star”, ‘mickey 17’ trailer kills robert pattinson again (and again), oscar predictions via feinberg forecast: scott’s post-venice/telluride/toronto read of the race, toronto: ‘russians at war’ director on political reasons for russia-ukraine war: “i don’t know”, meet arthur conti, jenna ortega’s scene partner and “date from hell” in ‘beetlejuice beetlejuice’ .

Quantcast

Advertisement

Supported by

Best Movies of 2023

It was a terrific year for film, whether art house or mainstream, even if the main subject the movies wrestled with was deeply pessimistic.

  • Share full article

A woman in an old-fashioned military-style coat is smiling as she holds a hand up to her hat, which is bedecked with feathers.

By Manohla Dargis and Alissa Wilkinson

Manohla Dargis | Alissa Wilkinson

Manohla Dargis

A Thrilling Bounty

I had a terrific movie year — you? I saw hundreds of new films with a variety of plots and styles made on every imaginable scale and budget. Some were from newcomers like A.V. Rockwell and others from the ever-new Martin Scorsese. Some you’ve heard of or will, while others scarcely made a ripple. Some were released by independents like A24 and the tiny KimStim; others came from tech companies and still others from what are now often called legacy studios, a vaguely eulogistic term that suggests influence but also obsolescence.

The movies have ostensibly been at death’s door at least since the shift to sync sound, which isn’t to undersell the industry’s business woes. When the year began, it was still recovering from pandemic-forced shutdowns and slowdowns. “As 2023 Begins, Worry and Fear Linger After a Topsy-Turvy Year,” The Hollywood Reporter fretted , calling the ups and downs of the 2022 box office “dramatic.” Yet some Wall Street analysts were bullish on moviegoing. “We’re seeing a resurgence of interest back in the theaters,” one analyst told Yahoo in late January. I had just returned from the bounty at the Sundance Film Festival and was feeling bullish, too.

As winter gave way to spring and summer, several of my favorite movies had been released in theaters and I had previewed several others at Cannes, where I had again been buoyed by what I had seen. At the same time, the drumbeat of worrying industry news continued when the Writers Guild went on strike on May 2 and several sure-bet blockbusters failed to charm audiences into theaters. “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” was “ cursed ,” read one headline; “‘Mission: Impossible 7’ falls short of expectations ,” ran another. The moaning in the trades gave way to klaxon horns when much of SAG-AFTRA went on strike on July 14. Two days later Barry Diller, who once ran Paramount, warned that the strikes could lead to the industry’s “absolute collapse.” Five days later, “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” opened.

That phenom dubbed Barbenheimer buoyed the box office, the strikes ended, and here we are. It’s tempting to repeat William Goldman’s axiom that “nobody knows anything” and leave it at that. Except that this year also reminded us of some things that we have known for a while, including that women directors can make any kind of movie, from the intimately scaled to larger-than-life productions that become monster hits. This year also reminded us that a mass audience will happily get out of the house for movies without superheroes. And, on occasion, it won’t show up for movies with them, which was evident after disappointments from both the DC and Marvel studios as “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” “Shazam: Fury of the Gods,” “The Flash,” “Blue Beetle” and “ The Marvels ” sputtered in theaters.

Two other words that popped up regularly in the news this year were “superhero fatigue,” which should have surprised absolutely no one. Old Hollywood embraced genre films but it also banked on variety, churning out musicals, westerns, dramas, comedies, historical epics, detective and gangster tales and genre hybrids. Some were interchangeable; others had fresh stories, distinctive visual styles and authorial flourishes. Now, though, the big studios are largely in the business of action-adventure franchises and serials; they bank on similarity, not variety. As of Nov. 30, half of this year’s top 20 grossing domestic releases fall in the action-adventure category, including a clutch of superhero flicks.

The mass turnout for both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” has been credited to everything from timing to originality, their meme-ability and people’s fear of missing out. Whatever the reasons for their success — and talent played a part, too — they proved that those Wall Street analysts bullish on moviegoing were onto something. That’s what else this year reminded us, and what I’m reminded of each week: Films can be great! They can embrace genre, play with it, transcend it. Their stories and their telling can be diverse, their quality thrilling, their art transporting. There’s more to movies than the industry, its crises and convulsions. In 1951, David O. Selznick, the producer of “Gone With the Wind,” rued that “there might have been good movies if there had been no movie industry.” The thing is, there have always been good movies despite the industry but, then, I’m a shameless optimist — I’m a film critic.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and  log into  your Times account, or  subscribe  for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?  Log in .

Want all of The Times?  Subscribe .

2023 Movies

Complete List of All New 2023 Movies Released In Theaters

Amy Renner photo

The Top & Best 2023 Movies

Deep Sea Movie

Magazine Dreams

The Marvels Movie

The Marvels

Teddy's Christmas Movie

Teddy's Christmas

January 2023 movies.

January 2023's best movies were A Man Called Otto, Plane, Left Behind: Rise of the Antichrist and Imani.

Released Jan 3 , 2023

Released jan 4 , 2023, released jan 5 , 2023, released jan 6 , 2023, released jan 10 , 2023, released jan 11 , 2023, released jan 12 , 2023, released jan 13 , 2023, released jan 17 , 2023, released jan 20 , 2023, released jan 22 , 2023, released jan 23 , 2023, released jan 24 , 2023, released jan 25 , 2023, released jan 26 , 2023, released jan 27 , 2023, released jan 29 , 2023, released jan 31 , 2023, february 2023 movies.

February 2023's best movies were Emily, Jesus Revolution, 80 For Brady and Among The Beasts.

Released Feb 1 , 2023

Released feb 3 , 2023, released feb 6 , 2023, released feb 7 , 2023, released feb 8 , 2023, released feb 9 , 2023, released feb 10 , 2023, released feb 14 , 2023, released feb 15 , 2023, released feb 17 , 2023, released feb 20 , 2023, released feb 21 , 2023, released feb 22 , 2023, released feb 24 , 2023, released feb 28 , 2023, march 2023 movies.

March 2023's best movies were Wildflower, Scream VI, John Wick: Chapter 4 and Southern Gospel.

Released Mar 1 , 2023

Released mar 3 , 2023, released mar 6 , 2023, released mar 7 , 2023, released mar 9 , 2023, released mar 10 , 2023, released mar 14 , 2023, released mar 16 , 2023, released mar 17 , 2023, released mar 20 , 2023, released mar 21 , 2023, released mar 22 , 2023, released mar 24 , 2023, released mar 27 , 2023, released mar 28 , 2023, released mar 30 , 2023, released mar 31 , 2023, april 2023 movies.

April 2023's best movies were Gringa, Nefarious, Guy Ritchie's The Covenant and Air.

Released Apr 2 , 2023

Released apr 3 , 2023, released apr 4 , 2023, released apr 5 , 2023, released apr 7 , 2023, released apr 8 , 2023, released apr 11 , 2023, released apr 12 , 2023, released apr 13 , 2023, released apr 14 , 2023, released apr 16 , 2023, released apr 18 , 2023, released apr 19 , 2023, released apr 20 , 2023, released apr 21 , 2023, released apr 22 , 2023, released apr 25 , 2023, released apr 27 , 2023, released apr 28 , 2023, may 2023 movies.

May 2023's best movies were John Wick: Chapter 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, A Father's Heart and Air.

Released May 2023

Released may 1 , 2023, released may 2 , 2023, released may 3 , 2023, released may 4 , 2023, released may 5 , 2023, released may 9 , 2023, released may 12 , 2023, released may 14 , 2023, released may 16 , 2023, released may 18 , 2023, released may 19 , 2023, released may 22 , 2023, released may 23 , 2023, released may 24 , 2023, released may 26 , 2023, released may 29 , 2023, june 2023 movies.

June 2023's best movies were Mending the Line, My Fault, Elemental and A Beautiful Life .

Released June 2023

Released jun 1 , 2023, released jun 2 , 2023, released jun 6 , 2023, released jun 7 , 2023, released jun 8 , 2023, released jun 9 , 2023, released jun 13 , 2023, released jun 14 , 2023, released jun 15 , 2023, released jun 16 , 2023, released jun 19 , 2023, released jun 20 , 2023, released jun 21 , 2023, released jun 23 , 2023, released jun 24 , 2023, released jun 27 , 2023, released jun 28 , 2023, released jun 29 , 2023, released jun 30 , 2023, july 2023 movies.

July 2023's best movies were Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom, The Miracle Club and The Baker.

Released July 2023

Released jul 4 , 2023, released jul 5 , 2023, released jul 7 , 2023, released jul 11 , 2023, released jul 12 , 2023, released jul 13 , 2023, released jul 14 , 2023, released jul 17 , 2023, released jul 18 , 2023, released jul 19 , 2023, released jul 20 , 2023, released jul 21 , 2023, released jul 23 , 2023, released jul 24 , 2023, released jul 25 , 2023, released jul 26 , 2023, released jul 27 , 2023, released jul 28 , 2023, august 2023 movies.

August 2023's best movies were Deltopia, The Hill, Jules and Blue Beetle.

Released August 2023

Released aug 1 , 2023, released aug 2 , 2023, released aug 3 , 2023, released aug 4 , 2023, released aug 5 , 2023, released aug 8 , 2023, released aug 9 , 2023, released aug 10 , 2023, released aug 11 , 2023, released aug 14 , 2023, released aug 15 , 2023, released aug 16 , 2023, released aug 18 , 2023, released aug 22 , 2023, released aug 23 , 2023, released aug 25 , 2023, released aug 29 , 2023, released aug 30 , 2023, released aug 31 , 2023, september 2023 movies.

September 2023's best movies were The Blind, Elemental and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie.

Released Sep 1 , 2023

Released sep 5 , 2023, released sep 6 , 2023, released sep 8 , 2023, released sep 12 , 2023, released sep 13 , 2023, released sep 15 , 2023, released sep 18 , 2023, released sep 19 , 2023, released sep 22 , 2023, released sep 23 , 2023, released sep 25 , 2023, released sep 26 , 2023, released sep 27 , 2023, released sep 28 , 2023, released sep 29 , 2023, october 2023 movies.

October 2023's best movies were The Burial, Five Nights at Freddy's and Impuratus.

Released October 2023

Released oct 2 , 2023, released oct 3 , 2023, released oct 5 , 2023, released oct 6 , 2023, released oct 8 , 2023, released oct 9 , 2023, released oct 10 , 2023, released oct 11 , 2023, released oct 12 , 2023, released oct 13 , 2023, released oct 17 , 2023, released oct 19 , 2023, released oct 20 , 2023, released oct 23 , 2023, released oct 24 , 2023, released oct 25 , 2023, released oct 27 , 2023, released oct 30 , 2023, released oct 31 , 2023, november 2023 movies.

November 2023's best movies were Journey to Bethlehem, Trolls Band Together and The Marvels.

Released Nov 1 , 2023

Released nov 2 , 2023, released nov 3 , 2023, released nov 4 , 2023, released nov 5 , 2023, released nov 7 , 2023, released nov 8 , 2023, released nov 10 , 2023, released nov 13 , 2023, released nov 14 , 2023, released nov 15 , 2023, released nov 16 , 2023, released nov 17 , 2023, released nov 21 , 2023, released nov 22 , 2023, released nov 23 , 2023, released nov 24 , 2023, released nov 28 , 2023, released nov 30 , 2023, december 2023 movies.

December 2023's best movies were The Boys in the Boat, Finestkind, The Shift and Night Train.

Released December 2023

Released dec 1 , 2023, released dec 4 , 2023, released dec 5 , 2023, released dec 6 , 2023, released dec 7 , 2023, released dec 8 , 2023, released dec 11 , 2023, released dec 12 , 2023, released dec 15 , 2023, released dec 19 , 2023, released dec 20 , 2023, released dec 21 , 2023, released dec 22 , 2023, released dec 23 , 2023, released dec 25 , 2023, released dec 29 , 2023, get the latest on upcoming movies before everyone else.

IMAGES

  1. The Best Films of 2023 … So Far

    biography films 2023

  2. The Ten Best Films of 2023

    biography films 2023

  3. The 2023 Academy Awards Are Sunday Night: Here’s What to Watch For

    biography films 2023

  4. The 25 most anticipated movies of 2023, from Mission: Impossible 7 to Oppenheimer

    biography films 2023

  5. 35 Best Movies of 2023 So Far

    biography films 2023

  6. Film Release Highlights for 2023

    biography films 2023

COMMENTS

  1. Biography Movies 2023 List

    MaXXXine. $1 million. 9. The Bikeriders. $1 million. 10. Horizon: An Ame... $1 million. Biography Movies 2023 List: Air • Big George Foreman • Ferrari • Maestro • Nyad • True Spirit • BlackBerry.

  2. The Best Biographical Movies Of 2023

    Cassandro. Actors: Gael García Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, Perla De La Rosa, Raúl Castillo, Joaquín Cosio. Released: 2023. Directed by: Roger Ross Williams. Also ranks #44 on The Best Amazon Studios Movies. Also ranks #77 on The Best Movies About Underdogs. Also ranks #103 on The Best Biopics To Watch About Real People.

  3. List of American films of 2023

    The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment / Williams Street / Astro Base GO! / Titmouse, Inc. Jackson Publick (director/screenplay); Doc Hammer (screenplay); James Urbaniak, Patrick Warburton, Michael Sinterniklaas, Chris McCulloch, Doc Hammer.

  4. 2023 Biography Movies

    The latest and exclusive 2023 Biography Movies coverage from MovieWeb. The latest and exclusive 2023 Biography Movies coverage from MovieWeb. ... December 25, 2023. Ferrari. Unconfirmed Release ...

  5. 2023 in film

    2023 in film is an overview of events, including award ceremonies, festivals, a list of country- and genre-specific lists of films released, and notable deaths.Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios celebrated their 100th anniversaries this year. The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Barbie were the only movies that made $1 billion in 2023. Full River Red and The Wandering Earth 2 did not have a ...

  6. 15 Most-Anticipated Upcoming Biopic Movies: Amy Winehouse ...

    The film is based on (and shares a title with) Warren Zanes' 2023 book "Deliver Me From Nowhere," and it hails from producers Eric Robinson and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein of the Gotham Group.

  7. 11 Best Biopics of 2023, According to IMDb

    Bearing all that in mind, let's take a look back at 2023's fantastic run of biopics, each one deserving of a spot on any film enthusiasts' watchlist. 'Napoleon' (2023) IMDb Rating: 6.6/10

  8. New Biography Movies in Theaters (2024)

    Watch the trailer for Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln. Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln Opens Sep 06, 2024. Watchlist. The Cowboy and the Queen Opens Sep 06 ...

  9. Biographical Movies Coming Soon to Netflix in 2023 & Beyond

    At the time of publishing, the movie was rumored to be released on Netflix on November 3rd, following its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. Keep an eye on our Fall 2023 movie preview list for the latest. Society of the Snow. Director: J.A. Bayona Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Matías Recalt, Agustín Pardella, Esteban Kukuriczka, Tomas Wolf

  10. The Ten Best Films of 2023

    These are the films selected by the regular film reviewing staff of RogerEbert.com as the best of the year. Come back on Thursday to see the specific lists of all of the regular critics, plus those from our extended family of contributors. And click through on the links below, when available, to watch the best films of 2023.

  11. Best Movies 2023

    Best Movies 2023. After an explosive run in theaters, including generating over $900 million worldwide and a revitalizing IMAX engagement, Universal's creative gamble pays off as critics crown director Christopher Nolan and star Cillian Murphy for Oppenheimer.

  12. The Most Anticipated Movies of 2023

    The Exorcist: Believer (2023). Directed by: David Gordon Green Starring: Leslie Odom Jr., Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd Opening on: October 6, 2023 After capping off his trio of Halloween films, director David Gordon Green jumps right into another beloved horror franchise. As with his tackling of the Michael Myers story, The Exorcist is a follow-up to the original — and the 1973 original only ...

  13. Oppenheimer (film)

    Oppenheimer is a 2023 epic biographical thriller drama film [a] written, directed, and produced by Christopher Nolan. [8] It follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist who helped develop the first nuclear weapons during World War II.Based on the 2005 biography American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin, the film chronicles Oppenheimer's studies ...

  14. New Biography Movie Release Dates

    Have you been looking for a comprehensive list of every Biography movie premiering this month and in the future? Look no further, our Biography movie release date schedule below is the most up to date and comprehensive list of every Biography movie release date! You can find our list of Biography TV series release dates here.

  15. Best Movies of 2023: Every Certified Fresh Movie of the Year

    Welcome to the best new movies of 2023, where you can discover the latest films championed by the critics community! Every movie on the list is Certified Fresh, meaning they held on to a Tomatometer score of at least 75% after a minimum number of critics review — 40 for limited or streaming releases, 80 for wide theatrical releases, with five ...

  16. The Best New Biographies of 2023

    Anna May Wong was a 20th-century actress who found great acclaim while still facing discrimination and typecasting as a Chinese woman. University of California professor Yunte Huang explores her life and impact on the American film industry and challenges racist depictions of her in accounts of Hollywood history in this thought-provoking biography.

  17. 20 of the best films to watch in 2023

    3. John Wick, Chapter 4. Keanu Reeves returns as the assassin-but-hero John Wick, now scowling, kicking and killing his way across continents. He travels through Paris, Berlin, Osaka and other ...

  18. Most Anticipated Movie Releases of 2023

    The movie adaptation of the Broadway musical, itself an adaptation of Alice Walker's novel, stars Fantasia as Celie, with Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Aunjanue Ellis and Ciara among ...

  19. Best Movies of 2023

    1. ' Killers of the Flower Moon ' (Martin Scorsese) Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone in "Killers of the Flower Moon.". Melinda Sue Gordon/Apple Original Films. In this harrowing epic ...

  20. Category:2023 in film

    S. Film series introduced in 2023 ‎ (1 C, 1 P) 2023 in South Korean cinema ‎ (8 P) 2023 in Spanish cinema ‎ (6 P) 2023 in Swedish cinema ‎ (2 P)

  21. 2023 Movies

    2023 Movies: A list of movies in theaters + released in 2023. We provide 2023 movie release dates, cast, posters, trailers and ratings. Top movies 2023: M3GAN • Trolls Band Together • Air • Barbie

  22. Den lilla sjöjungfrun (film, 2023)

    Den lilla sjöjungfrun (engelska: The Little Mermaid) är en amerikansk musikal-fantasyfilm från 2023.Den är regisserad av Rob Marshall, med manus skrivet av David Magee och Jane Goldman.Filmen är en nyinspelning av Disneys animerade film med samma namn från 1989, som i sin tur är baserad på sagan med samma namn från 1837 av Hans Christian Andersen. [9]

  23. Life (2023 film)

    Life (Turkish: Hayat) is a 2023 Turkish drama film directed by Zeki Demirkubuz. [1] It was selected as the Turkish entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. [2] Cast. Miray Daner as Hicran; Burak Dakak as Rıza; Umut Kurt as Mehmet; Melis Birkan as Hicran's mother; Cem Davran as Orhan;

  24. Le Croque-mitaine (film, 2023)

    Pour plus de détails, voir Fiche technique et Distribution . Le Croque-mitaine (The Boogeyman) est un film américain réalisé par Rob Savage, sorti en 2023 . Il s'agit de l' adaptation de la nouvelle Le Croque-mitaine de Stephen King , initialement publiée en 1973 dans le magazine Cavalier puis dans le recueil Danse macabre (1978). Synopsis [ | le code] Encore sous le choc de la mort ...

  25. Category:2023 films

    Category:2023 films. Category. : 2023 films. For convenience, all 2023 films should be included in this category. This includes all 2023 films that can also be found in the subcategories. This category is for Films originally released in the year 2023. The main article for this category is 2023 in film. See also: Category:Films set in 2023.