2023 Netflix Movies That Should Be On Your Must-Watch List

After Sam Hargrave found critical success with 2020's "Extraction," the director is back, along with the Russo Brothers, with "Extraction 2." Due to hit Netflix sometime in 2023, "Extraction 2" will again focus on Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth), a black ops mercenary who must carry out a life-or-death mission.

"Extraction" was a refreshing entry in the action genre. Hemsworth delivered a career-defining performance, which he received praise for from audiences and critics alike. The film became one of Netflix's most-watched original films ever, reaching 99 million households in its first month on the streaming service (via the Independent).

In the first film, Tyler must save a drug lord's son who has been kidnapped in Bangladesh, and the electric, memorable narrative is carried out with energetic direction and expert stunt work. It quickly became apparent that audiences were clamoring for more. Besides Hemsworth, a definitive cast list has not been made public, though Goldshifteh Farahani is set to reprise her role of Nik Khan, Tyler's partner. No release date has been pinned down yet, but filming is said to have wrapped last April (via the Prague Reporter).

Adaptations of renowned children's book author Roald Dahl have often been successful endeavors. Beginning with "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" in 1971 all the way to "Roald Dahl's The Witches" in 2020, Dahl's work has been a linchpin in cinema for five decades. In 2021, Netflix acquired the rights to the Roald Dahl Story Company, paying over $680 million dollars for the author's bibliography.

When a picture of Timothee Chalamet dressed as a young Willy Wonka hit the internet last year, fans speculated whether or not Netflix was planning a new Wonka movie. Titled "Wonka," Chalamet's turn as Dahl's most infamous character will be released by Warner Bros. at the end of 2023. Instead, acclaimed director Wes Anderson is helming Netflix's first Dahl project, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar."

Published in 1977, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" follows Sugar, a gambler who dares to use meditation to count cards. Anderson's adaptation will be cut into three chapters, exploring the destruction of greed that Dahl's fairy tale initially examined. With Benedict Cumberbatch set to play Sugar, and a supporting cast of Ralph Fiennes, Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, Rupert Friend, and Richard Ayoade, "The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar" should be a marvelous entry in the Dahl cinematic universe.

Fans of the "Beverly Hills Cop" franchise have been waiting 28 years for another installment and, in 2023, their time will finally come. After "Beverly Hills Cop III" floundered among critics and failed to make as much money as the first two films, the franchise was shelved. Now, with Eddie Murphy set to return as hero detective Axel Foley, the buzz is greater than ever.

"Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley" marks another great turn in Murphy's ongoing career renaissance. Hoping to capitalize on the acclaim he received for his performances in "Dolemite Is My Name" and "Coming 2 America," audiences can only hope that the comedian can slip back into the persona of his most beloved character without fail.

The story follows Axel as he comes back to Beverly Hills to sniff out corruption in his old police department. Many of the franchise's original cast, including Judge Reinhold, Paul Reiser, John Ashton, and Bronson Pinchot, are set to return, while Taylour Paige, Kevin Bacon, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt will take on brand new characters. "Beverly Hills Cop" has a storied legacy, with the original film consistently labeled as one of the funniest movies ever made, so "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley" has a lot to live up to, though it'll be exciting to see the old gang back in action for the first time in almost 30 years.

In one of Netflix's most high-profile releases of 2023, Tom Harper's "Heart of Stone" has garnered a lot of attention thanks to its illustrious cast, which includes Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan in the leading roles. "Heart of Stone" will serve as Harper's first directorial effort since "The Aeronauts" in 2019.

The story revolve around Rachel Stone (Gadot), a CIA agent navigating through altercations with dangerous global powers. Most of the plot is being kept under wraps — we just know that it is a spy action thriller.

"Heart of Stone" will be Gadot's first film since Kenneth Branagh's whodunit mystery "Death on the Nile" in 2022, for which she and the rest of the cast received praise for their performances. Dornan didn't grace the silver screen at all in 2022, making "Heart of Stone" his first credit since Branagh's acclaimed coming-of-age drama "Belfast." Sophie Okonedo, Matthias Schweighofer, Jing Lusi, and Alia Bhatt are set to play supporting roles.

In what will be his second release through Netflix within a year, Jonah Hill has teamed up with "black-ish" creator Kenya Barris to make "You People." Following his documentary "Stutz," which opened to widespread acclaim in November 2022, Hill and Barris co-wrote the script together, with Kevin Misher attached as an accompanying producer.

The film is meant to examine the intersection of culture disparities with modern love. There will also be themes of generational divide explored, as Hill and Lauren London play an interracial couple meeting each others' families for the first time.

"You People" features many Netflix alums. Before "Stutz," Hill played parts in "Maniac" and "Don't Look Up." Last year, London had a role in Eric Newman's series "True Story." The third top-billed actor in the film will be Eddie Murphy, who will be looking to add another great performance to his now rejuvenated career, which began with "Dolemite Is My Name" in 2019.

"You People" has an excellent cast lined up, with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Mike Epps, David Duchovny, and Rhea Perlman set to appear alongside co-leads Hill, Murphy, and London. After Barris's success with "black-ish" and Hill's ability to perfectly blend comedy and drama, "You People" is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing releases of 2023.

Director Rawson Marshall Thurber has been tapped to helm Netflix's new dystopian thriller "The Division." It's his first credit since "Red Notice" in 2021, although he is perhaps best known for directing the comedies "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" and "We're the Millers."

Echoing the COVID-19 pandemic, "The Division" details how a futuristic, fast-spreading virus is being contracted through people handling paper money. The events reach an apex on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, in New York City. What unfolds is the dissolution of society amid a great viral catastrophe, in which the fate of the country rests in the hands of civilians who must fight against bio-terrorists while the government races to find a cure.

As of right now, the only cast members confirmed are Jessica Chastain and Jake Gyllenhaal. Both actors have recently worked on acclaimed movies, with Chastain fresh off of a role in Netflix's "The Good Nurse," while Gyllenhaal was in Michael Bay's "Ambulance." Chastain and Gyllenhaal are both some of the most reliable leading actors working in Hollywood right now, so "The Division" should be a thrilling story worth watching unfold.

"High in the Clouds" is easily Netflix's most unique impending release. Based off of a children's novel co-written by Philip Ardagh and Paul McCartney in 2005, Netflix acquired the film rights in 2019 and will release it in collaboration with Gaumont sometime next year. The book's illustrator, Geoff Dunbar, worked with McCartney on the 1984 animated movie "Rupert and the Frog Song."

"High in the Clouds" focuses on Woodland, an animal home about to be demolished by humans. Wirral, a squirrel, is left orphaned by the destruction and goes on an adventure to find a new place to live. His destination is Animalia, a sanctuary for animals. Surprisingly adult, the book tackled themes of war, loss, and companionship, and the movie adaptation should do the same.

The adaptation has been in development off-and-on since 2013, with a number of filmmakers slated to direct. Officially, "Head over Heels" creator Timothy Reckart will helm the film, directing a script written by Jon Croker. McCartney will compose songs and an original score for the film while also executive producing. Beatles fans and animation buffs alike are sure to adore this film, another addition to the still-growing legacy of McCartney, one of the world's greatest rock stars.

Based on the BBC psychological thriller of the same name, Netflix will be releasing a film adaptation of "Luther" in March. Written by series creator Neil Cross and directed by Jamie Payne, "Luther" will, as star Idris Elba noted in a conversation with Empire, "peel the onion back" on the character of Luther and broaden the scope beyond just the "gritty streets of London."

"Luther" enters an elite company of television shows turned into movies, joining "Charlie's Angels," "The X-Files," and "Star Trek," among countless others. Elba will reprise his role as the titular Luther, a police detective who often has to balance the horrors of his job with the genius of his procedural methods. Andy Serkis and Cynthia Erivo are set to provide supporting roles.

Over the course of five seasons, "Luther" was well-received by audiences and critics alike. A BBC fan-favorite, "Luther" should make for a solid film adaptation, especially with the show's creator in charge of shaping the plot.

Produced by Todd Phillips, Martin Scorsese, and Steven Spielberg, Hollywood star Bradley Cooper will direct "Maestro," a biopic about composer and humanitarian Leonard Bernstein. Cooper co-wrote the movie with Josh Singer, who won an Oscar for best original screenplay in 2015 for his "Spotlight" script.

In addition to directing, Cooper will play Bernstein, with the film is set to focus on his life, especially his marriage to Felicia Montealegre (Carey Mulligan), an actress who later became an anti-war advocate during the Vietnam War.

A terrific cast is already in place, with Jeremy Strong, Matt Bomer, Maya Hawke, and Sarah Silverman set to appear in support of Cooper and Mulligan. Initially, Scorsese was supposed to direct the film, but later stepped down to direct "The Irishman."

The film has been met with scrutiny for Cooper's use of a prosthetic nose. Critics have lambasted the decision for Cooper, a non-Jewish person, to wear prosthetics, while Canadian Jewish News reporter James Hirsh proclaimed that Cooper should not be playing Bernstein at all if he is unable to do so without the fake nose, a practical effect that plays negatively into cultural caricatures of Jewish people. "Maestro" will certainly generate enough buzz come awards season, but not without its controversies being held up to the light first.

Not much is known about "Reptile" yet, other than the fact that Grant Singer is slated to direct and the cast is full of names audiences likely wouldn't expect to see come together in the same movie. "Reptile" marks Singer's feature film debut, though he's spent the last nine years directing music videos for Sam Smith, The Weeknd, Ariana Grande, and Troye Sivan.

"Reptile" revolves around a man named Nichols (Benicio Del Toro), who is a New England detective working a mysterious case that quickly bleeds into his own personal life. The lines for Nichols are blurred, as he often can't tell what's real and what's not, which leads him down a dark path.

The cast is brimming with big names, including Frances Fisher, Alicia Silverstone, Justin Timberlake, Eric Bogosian, Sky Ferreira, and Michael Pitt. "Reptile" will mark a reunion between Silverstone and Del Toro, who played each other's love interests in "Excess Baggage" in 1997.

"Society of the Snow" is set to be one of the most dynamic films of 2023. The only Spanish language entry on the list, "Society of the Snow" is an adaptation of Pablo Vierci's book "The Snow Society: The Definitive Account of the World's Greatest Survival Story," which details the experiences of the 16 survivors from the Andes flight disaster in 1972.

Vierci's book is particularly emotional, as the author knew many of the survivors as a child and felt a particular connection to them. J.A. Bayona will translate Vierci's story and documentations onto the silver screen. The story of the Andes flight disaster is legendary for how unfathomable the chances were that anyone could withstand the mountain range's treacherous conditions, as well as the fact that the survivors were forced to resort to cannibalism or starve.

The cast comprises mostly newcomers who don't have any credits to their name, but interestingly, Carlos Páez, one of the real-life survivors of the flight, will play his own father in the film.

After ceasing production on his hit series "Mindhunter" to create the blockbuster biopic "Mank" in 2020, David Fincher has returned to Netflix to direct "The Killer," an adaptation of Alexis Nolent's graphic novel series of the same name. Fincher has been attached to Nolent's book since as early as 2007, the project bouncing from various production companies before landing at Netflix's feet.

Only Michael Fassbender and Tilda Swinton have been announced as principal cast members. Audiences last saw Fassbender in 2019, when he played Magneto in "X-Men: Dark Phoenix." Swinton had a busy 2022, as she performed in "Three Thousand Years of Longing" and "The Eternal Daughter," as well as voicing the role of the Wood Sprite in Guillermo del Toro's "Pinocchio."

Nolent's series tells the story of a nameless assassin who makes calculated decisions quietly. Later revealed to be named Christian, he doesn't have many goals, except for making enough money to retire and leave the public eye completely. Nolent's work is meant to test the limits in which audiences can draw empathy for a bad person. If any director is capable of making that premise work on the big screen, it's Fincher, who found great success with dark, brutal dramas, including "Fight Club," "Zodiac," and "Gone Girl."

Matt Charman is back for his first feature film since 2015, when he co-wrote the script for Steven Spielberg's "Bridge of Spies" with the Coen Brothers. Charman secured an Oscar nomination for best original screenplay, but has been awfully quiet since.

Charman's new movie, "The Mothership," follows a single mother, Sara (Halle Berry), and her kids, who stumble upon an extraterrestrial on their property. Sara's husband disappeared without a trace a year earlier, and she believes her new discovery will help bring him, or the truth of his whereabouts, home. This marks Berry's second collaboration with Netflix in 2023, along with "Our Man from Jersey," in which she stars alongside Mark Wahlberg.

Berry, Molly Parker, Omari Hardwick, and Sydney Lemmon are among the names that will round out the cast. Parker is set to have a strong 2023, as she will also play Mary Darling in Disney's "Peter Pan & Wendy." Hardwick was last seen in the TV series "Pieces of Her," while Lemmon appeared in "Tar," alongside Cate Blanchett. A release date hasn't been set yet, but expect "The Mothership" to arrive sometime in late 2023.