Film lookahead: 23 highlights to look out for in 2023

That's the good news for film fans and the cinema industry.

The bad news is that this year's audience numbers still aren't close to pre-pandemic levels.

Could 2023 be the year when the industry triumphantly declares that things are back to where they were before Covid?

Here's a selection of 23 titles coming out in 2023 (in chronological order of release) that could be crucial in dictating how fast cinema recovers.

Based on true and shocking events in America's Deep South in the 1950s, Till is the story of 14-year-old Emmett Till who was abducted and murdered after being accused of wolf whistling at a white woman.

It shows how Emmett's mother Mamie Till-Mobley's faced an almost impossible struggle to try and achieve justice for her dead son.

Danielle Deadwyler who plays Mamie gives a particularly powerful performance which may well receive Oscar recognition.

(Released in cinemas 6 January)

Sir Sam Mendes' love letter to the movies is set in a small coastal cinema during the 1980s and stars Oscar winner Olivia Colman as the cinema's manager.

When a new ticket seller played by Bafta winner Micheal Ward is hired, the two find an unlikely connection. Mendes' story explores everything from romance to racism, misogyny to mental health.

And Colman, as ever, is being talked about as contender for acting honours in awards season.

(Released in cinemas 9 January)

Cate Blanchett has been constantly winning awards and plaudits from critics for her performance as fictional composer and conductor Lydia Tár, a musician who's reached the very pinnacle of her profession. But things change when unexpected pressures begin to affect her life and her work.

Blanchett is already a double Academy Award winner. She won her first Oscar in 2005, her second after a nine-year gap in 2014. So, mathematically at least, with 2023 being another nine years later, she's due to win again in a few months' time. And she probably will.

(Released in cinemas 13th January)

This real-life inspired drama is based on the crimes of Saeed Hanaei, an Iranian construction worker who murdered 16 sex workers in the city of Mashad.

The film, which has fictionalised much of the story, follows a female investigative journalist Rahimi, played by Zar Emir-Ebrahimi, who plays a crucial role in pursuing the serial killer.

Emir-Ebrahimi won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival for her intense, multi-layered performance.

(Released in cinemas 20 January)

This is undoubtedly the most personal film of Steven Spielberg's half-a-century long career. It's a fictionalised version of his own childhood, growing up in a damaged family.

It shows his sometimes difficult relationship with his parents, as well as how as a young child he fell in love with cinema. And how that obsession grew into the career that's already netted him two directing Oscars, and which could bag him a third with this.

(Released in cinemas 27 January)

Brendan Fraser is tipped for an Oscar for his extraordinary performance in one of the year's most unusual and moving stories. He plays a morbidly obese lecturer, living in a tiny apartment who's desperately trying to reconnect with his estranged daughter.

The film has won acclaim at several film festivals, and it's expected to be a serious awards contender. Strong support comes from the other members of the cast which includes Hong Chau, Sadie Sink and Samantha Morton.

(Released in cinemas 3 February)

The first Magic Mike film released in 2012 electrified audiences with its brand of well-oiled entertainment. A sequel followed three years later.

And now this third and final is due to arrive in 2023. The stories are expanded from star Channing Tatum's experiences as a young male stripper. This instalment will see Mike venturing into new territory by experiencing a committed relationship with Salma Hayek's Max.

(Released in cinemas 10 February)