2022 is shaping up to be the biggest year yet for Netflix original films.
The streaming service—which you can access directly through select internet-connected DISH Hopper devices by hitting the “Menu” button on your remote—is expected to release over 65 original movies this year. That’s more than a movie a week on average, including films from some of the biggest stars (like Daniel Craig, Ryan Reynolds, Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Gosling, Henry Cavill, Kerry Washington, Charlize Theron, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Queen Latifah, Jamie Foxx and Adam Sandler) and best filmmakers (Guillermo del Toro, Rian Johnson, Anthony and Joe Russo, Judd Apatow, Noah Baumbach, Richard Linklater, Kenya Barris, Paul Feig, Tyler Perry, Shawn Levy, and Francis Lawrence) working today.
In fact, there are so many new movies coming to Netflix, we had to pick out just a handful to include in this preview. Watch Netflix’s new trailer below and stick around for 10 titles we can’t wait to watch.
All descriptions courtesy of Tudum.
The Adam Project
Ryan Reynolds reteams with Free Guy director Shawn Levy for this new sci-fi film about “a time-traveling pilot who teams up with his younger self and his late father to come to terms with his past while saving the future.” Zoe Saldaña, Catherine Keener, Mark Ruffalo, and Jennifer Garner co-star.
Blonde
Ana de Armas plays Marilyn Monroe in this Andrew Dominik-directed film, which is based on Joyce Carol Oates’ celebrated novel (the author maintains it is not a biography but a work of historical fiction). The film’s status was in limbo as recently as last December, reportedly due to graphic scenes of sexual violence, but it’s now slated to hit Netflix in 2022, and features a score composed by rock icons Nick Cave and Warren Ellis.
The Bubble
Judd Apatow is a master at a certain type of comedy that’s at once ribald and relatable. His latest looks to continue that trend, as it’s described as a comedy about “a group of actors and actresses stuck inside a pandemic bubble at a hotel attempting to complete a sequel to an action franchise film about flying dinosaurs.” The ensemble includes Fred Armisen, Maria Bakalova, David Duchovny, Keegan-Michael Key, Leslie Mann and Pedro Pascal.
Day Shift
Jamie Foxx is equally adept at action and comedy, and his latest film sounds like it will take advantage of his talents at both. Co-starring alongside Snoop Dogg, Dave Franco, Meagan Good and Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Foxx will play “a hard-working blue collar dad who just wants to provide a good life for his quick-witted daughter, but his mundane San Fernando Valley pool cleaning job is a front for his real source of income, hunting and killing vampires as part of an international Union of vampire hunters.”
Enola Holmes 2
We’ll be seeing a lot of Millie Bobby Brown on Netflix this year. In addition to the long-awaited return of Stranger Things, Brown is back for a sequel to her Netflix hit Enola Holmes, in which the kid-sister sleuth, “takes on her first official case to find a missing girl, as the sparks of a dangerous conspiracy ignite a mystery that requires the help of friends — and Sherlock himself — to unravel.”
The Gray Man
Although they got their start on sitcoms like Community, Anthony and Joe Russo ascended to the top ranks of action filmmakers thanks to their work on the last two Avengers movies. They’re reunited with Captain America himself, Chris Evans, in this political thriller, which also stars Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, and Bridgerton heartthrob Regé-Jean Page.
Hustle
The last time Adam Sandler starred alongside an NBA player—Kevin Garnett in Uncut Gems—he gave arguably the best performance of his career. He’s at it again in Hustle, this time with an active NBA player (Spurs’ big man Juancho Hernangómez) in a film about a “down-on-his-luck basketball scout” who travels abroad to court a “once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past.”
Knives Out 2
Netflix reportedly paid $450 million for the rights to two sequels to Rian Johnson’s superb 2019 murder mystery Knives Out. The first sequel will arrive later this year and finds Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc traveling to Greece to solve a new case, alongside a cast that includes Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Kate Hudson, Jessica Henwick and Madelyn Cline.
The School For Good and Evil
Adapted from the best-selling book series by Soman Chainani, the story centers on a pair of best friends who, “find themselves on opposing sides of a modern fairy tale when they’re swept away into an enchanted school where young heroes and villains are trained to protect the balance of good and evil.” Paul Feig of Bridesmaids directs a cast that includes Charlize Theron, Kerry Washington, Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Yeoh.
You People
And finally, we’re very intrigued by the new collaboration between Jonah Hill and Kenya Barris, creator of black-ish. The stellar ensemble includes Hill, Eddie Murphy, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lauren London, David Duchovny, Nia Long, Molly Gordon, Rhea Perlman, La La Anthony, and more, while the story explores “a new couple and their families examining modern love and family dynamics amidst clashing cultures, societal expectations and generational differences.”
