The 11 Most Anticipated Movies

It’s the last rodeo for the Sundance Film Festival—or at least, for the festival as we’ve known it. For 47 years, Sundance has screened thousands of movies, serving as the launching pad for filmmakers like Paul Thomas Anderson (Hard Eight), the Coen Brothers (Blood Simple), Ava DuVernay (Middle of Nowhere), and actors like Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station), and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me By Your Name), all from Park City, Utah.

But with the festival making its big move to Boulder, Colorado next year, this will be the final Sundance in Utah, and the first since the passing of founder Robert Redford, the legendary actor and filmmaker who died last September.

In an effort to honor its past and celebrate its future, this year’s festival lineup is stacked with legacy screenings revisiting classic Sundance premieres (Little Miss Sunshine, Saw, House Party, Mysterious Skin), alongside a buzzy slate of new films. Expect unconventional romances, inspiring stories of survival, and surprising examinations of trauma, fame, and desire. Here are just a few of the films we’re most looking forward to.

I Want Your Sex

Gregg Araki has always known how to get people talking. A pioneering visionary of the New Queer Cinema movement of the early ’90s, the director became known for his provocative, visceral explorations of sexuality, identity, and trauma, with cult films like Totally F***ed Up, The Doom Generation, and Mysterious Skin. After a 12-year hiatus from the big screen—the longest gap in his career—Araki is back with the highly anticipated erotic thriller, I Want Your Sex. Calling it a “love letter to Gen Z” in an interview with i-d, the film centers a young intern (Cooper Hoffman) who becomes the sexual muse of his boss, renowned artist Erika Tracy (Olivia Wilde). Charli xcx, Daveed Diggs, Mason Gooding, and Chase Sui Wonders also star.

In the Blink of an Eye

An ambitious love letter to humankind, In the Blink of an Eye begins with the Big Bang and stretches 200 years into the future, telling three interwoven stories about the common threads that unite us all. Directed by Andrew Stanton, the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Pixar classics Finding Nemo and Wall-e, the film follows a Neanderthal family fighting for survival, a present-day anthropologist (Rashida Jones) studying prehistoric remains, and a space traveler (Kate McKinnon) whose only company in the vastness of the cosmos is a sentient computer.

Josephine

After their eight-year-old daughter accidentally witnesses a violent crime in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, her parents scramble to navigate the turmoil of her emotions as she attempts to recover a sense of safety. Led by Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum, Josephine explores the complexities of trauma. As with director Beth de Araujo’s Gotham-nominated debut horror, Soft & Quiet, Josephine draws loosely on real life—in this case, a childhood incident in which she witnessed a sexual assault at Golden Gate Park as a child, an experience she previously recounted for the storytelling program, The Moth, in 2019.

The Brittney Griner Story

It’s been four years since WNBA player Brittney Griner was arrested for cannabis possession at a Moscow airport and became the subject of an international media frenzy. For nearly a year, Griner was imprisoned in Russia, unable to speak with her family, and designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. Eventually released as part of a prisoner swap, the documentary will explore how Griner came to be playing basketball outside the U.S., despite being a two-time Olympic medalist and six-time WNBA All-Star, her experience in a Russian penal colony, and the fight to bring her home. Directed by Alexandria Stapleton (Sean Combs: The Reckoning), the film features letters from Griner’s time in prison, as well as exclusive interviews with Griner, her wife, and her loved ones.

The Gallerist

Ahead of Art Basel Miami, a determined gallerist (Natalie Portman) desperate for success is faced with an unthinkable task: turning a dead body into a marketable piece of art. A biting dark comedy thriller set in the cold-blooded and absurd world of art, The Gallerist is one of the most eagerly awaited premieres on this year’s lineup. It’s not hard to see why: the star-studded cast includes Portman, Jenna Ortega, Sterling K. Brown, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Charli xcx.

The Invite

When a couple invites their neighbors over for dinner, their floundering marriage is pushed to the brink, triggering an evening where secrets, pent-up frustrations, and repressed desires are brought to light. Written by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack, who last teamed up on 2012’s lovable rom-com Celeste and Jesse Forever, the film is an adaptation of the spicy Spanish date-night comedy, The People Upstairs. The Invite marks Olivia Wilde’s third directorial feature following Booksmart and Don’t Worry Darling, with Wilde also rounding out the tight-knit cast alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz, and Edward Norton.

The Moment

It was the album that ruled 2024, defining the summer and catapulting Charli xcx from a singer-songwriter-producer with cult status to an international, inescapable superstar. And her time’s not up yet. The Moment is Charli’s attempt to crystallize and immerse viewers into the insanity of the Brat era. Based on her original concept and directed by Aidan Zamiri, who also directed the singer’s “360” and “Guess” music videos, the film is decidedly not a tour documentary or a concert film, but a mockumentary following a version of Charli xcx in the midst of promoting her critically acclaimed album. With cameos from Kylie Jenner, Alexander Skarsgård, and many more, The Moment will surely make for a wild ride.

The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

How do you keep up in a city that’s always changing, in a line of work that’s on the brink of extinction? In The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, Harry (John Turturro) is faced with the reality of his dwindling opportunities as an old-school pickpocket living in a world of traceable phones and digital wallets. When he winds up on a city-wide quest to recover stolen goods from a robbery gone wrong, Harry is forced to consider his next act. With a stellar cast that includes Giancarlo Esposito, Tatiana Maslany, and Steve Buscemi, it’s hard to imagine where this intimate character study could go wrong.

The History of Concrete

To the uninitiated, the subjects that documentarian John Wilson zeroes in on might seem devastatingly boring. Episodes from his critically acclaimed HBO docuseries, How To With John Wilson, include “How to Find a Public Restroom,” and “How to Watch Birds.” But if you’re willing to go along for the ride, you’ll find that Wilson can turn even the most mundane questions into hilarious, unpredictable, and thought-provoking meditations on humanity. His feature debut, The History of Concrete, follows that formula. This time, Wilson attends a workshop on how to write and sell a Hallmark movie, and is inspired to use what he’s learned by making a documentary about concrete.

Antiheroine

Maybe you think you have Courtney Love figured out. At 61 years old, the singer-songwriter has long held a reputation as one of the most controversial and polarizing women in rock music. Antiheroine, the documentary from Edward Lovelace and James Hall, is an opportunity to rethink that narrative. Sober and set to release music for the first time in more than a decade, Love reflects on her journey, from her rise in the alternative scene to her tumultuous and tragic love story with Kurt Cobain, plus the relentless media scrutiny that followed. Antiheroine is Love on her own terms, in her own words, without pretense or apologies.

Wicker

Oliva Colman and Alexander Skarsgård star in an unorthodox love story about a pariah’s quest for romance. Adapted from the fantastical, offbeat Ursula Wills short story, The Wicker Husband, Wicker sees an outcast in a fishing village (Colman) draw the ire of her neighbors when she asks a local basketmaker to weave her a handsome husband (Skarsgård). With Elizabeth Debicki and Peter Dinklage in the supporting cast, the film is a funny, whimsical send-up of the rigid and arbitrary social norms that often get in the way of true love.