8 Movie Franchises Making A Comeback In 2024

2024 is set to be a massive year at the box office, with long-awaited returns from several major movie franchises. Hollywood has been relentless in delivering reboots, sequels, prequels, and spin-offs, and 2024 will continue the trend, reviving a number of dormant IPs. 2023’s year at the box office proved reboots may not be the fool-proof moneymakers the industry hopes for, with Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny being one of the year’s most significant flops. While Barbie and Oppenheimer demonstrated a desire for original stories, the cogs are already in motion for more franchise revivals.

Beyond the return of successful film franchises, there are anticipated reboots and sequels to be released in 2024. Gladiator 2 will finally happen over 20 years after the first movie. The Crow is being rebooted, a Mean Girls musical is on the way, and ’90s classics Beetlejuice and Twister have sequels coming, testing the waters to see if their titles are still profitable. Specifically referring to a franchise as a property that already has multiple film installments, many will be making returns in 2024 after years away.

8 Kung Fu Panda

Po returns in 2024.

The Kung Fu Panda films are some of the most beloved family-friendly adventure movies of the 21st century. Kung Fu Panda 4 will finally be released after eight years in 2024, with much of the Kung Fu Panda cast expected to return along with newcomer Awkwafina. Sky High director Mike Mitchell is directing the project, exploring a new vision after Jennifer Yuh Nelson led the second and third films. The return to the franchise will see Po continue on his path to becoming a Kung Fu master, with a mysterious villain known as “The Chameleon” announced for the movie.

7 Mad Max

Anya Taylor-Joy will lead the Furiosa prequel.

Mad Max: Fury Road was considered one of the best movies of the 2010s, with George Miller returning to his beloved sci-fi franchise decades after the previous installment. 2024’s release of Furiosa will see another nine-year gap between installments as a prequel origin story for Charlize Theron’s Furiosa character. Anya Taylor-Joy will play the younger version of the titular role in the new film, with Chris Hemsworth set to play a younger version of Immortan Joe in a supporting role.

6 The Lion King

Barry Jenkins directs the Mufasa prequel.

The 2019 Lion King remake was far from a critical success, but the franchise’s appeal still made it one of the highest-grossing films ever. Naturally, Disney seeks to repeat this success in 2014 with a prequel film following Mufasa. Mufasa: The Lion King certainly has promising talent involved, with Barry Jenkins directing. Mufasa will be a musical, returning to the photorealistic animation style of the 2019 reboot, with new actors set to play the younger versions of Mufasa and Skar.

5 Deadpool

Wolverine and Deadpool team up in the MCU.

Deadpool 3 is one of the most anticipated sequels of 2024, with the titular character returning to the screen for the first time since 2018. The long wait for the film is primarily due to the lasting effects of the Disney-Fox acquisition in 2019, which put a halt on 21st Century Fox’s X-Men franchise, as Marvel Studios seeks to integrate those characters into the MCU. Deadpool 3 will be the MCU debut for Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool and Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine, with significant excitement building to see the two beloved heroes paired up on screen.

4 Planet of the Apes

The story continues in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.

Matt Reeves found success both commercially and critically with his Planet of the Apes films in the 2010s, proving that blockbusters with heavy CGI could also offer thought-provoking narratives. In 2014, Wes Ball’s Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes will pick up the story years after War for the Planet of the Apes, following a future generation of apes now living as the dominant species on Earth. The last installment premiered in 2017, making the upcoming sequel a highly-anticipated summer blockbuster.

3 Garfield

Chris Pratt is going to house some lasagna.

After The Super Mario Bros. Movie and The Lego Movie films, Chris Pratt hopes to continue his streak of animated success as the titular character in The Garfield Movie. Replacing Bill Murray in the role, who played the famous cat in Garfield: The Movie and Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, Pratt has enormous shoes to fill with the upcoming performance. The film will also star Samuel L. Jackson and Nicholas Hoult, with Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham and Brett Goldstein. Chris Pratt’s Garfield voice was revealed in a trailer, and he seems to be just using his normal voice like with Mario.

2 Alien

The Alien franchise takes a new direction.

Many sci-fi films are set to release in 2024, and the return of the Alien franchise is one of the most anticipated. Directed by Fede Álvarez and starring the magnificent Cailee Spaeny (Priscilla), the film should hope to offer a new voice to a title that’s seen divisive responses in its previous installments. Despite Ridley Scott’s return for Prometheus and Alien: Covenant, both were below the bar for the franchise expectations set by the original two movies. The reported title for the film is Alien: Romulus, which will be the ninth film in the franchise.

1 Lord of the Rings

A Lord of the Rings animated prequel is on the way.

Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the most successful and beloved film sagas of the 21st century. However, the subsequent Hobbit trilogy and Prime Video TV series have received more divisive responses. In 2024, fans will experience Middle Earth like never before on film in The Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim, an animated prequel to the original trilogy centered around Helm Hammerhand, who Brian Cox will voice. Miranda Otto is also set to star, returning as Éowyn. Since the film will take place hundreds of years before the War of the Ring, Éowyn will be the narrator.

Anime director Kenji Kamiyama leads the film. A Lord of the Rings anime might seem strange, but it could offer a refreshing take on a franchise that’s recently struggled in public appeal. Helm Hammerhand was a legendary king of Rohan, after whom Helm’s Deep is named. The historic war won’t tie into the events surrounding Sauron and the One Ring. Still, it will provide context into the political world existing in The Lord of the Rings, including the strenuous relationship between Rohan and Gondor.