2024's Most Exciting New Kids Movies
Image Credit: Rudy and Peter Skitterians /eParenting
When cinemas reopened after the Covid lockdowns, many wondered whether movie theatres could survive. But it turned out that the excitement of watching a film on the big screen has not dimmed. The popularity of huge movies such as Barbie, Oppenheimer in 2023 brought people back to the cinema in their droves.
So what will 2024 bring? Here is our round up of what's on at the cinema for kids in the 2024, as we look ahead to the most hotly anticipated family movies coming next year.
These are the movies that are currently scheduled for release, so please be aware that in the movie industry, release dates move all the time, so any dates given are subject to change. All dates were correct at time of writing. Certificate information is also not available at time of writing – many of these films will not be completed yet, but if you want to know more at about film certificates here is an explanation of BBFC UK film ratings.
The films we have to look forward to include the return of Ghostbusters, a live action re-make of Disney’s classic Snow White, as well as sequels to Kung Fu Panda, Despicable Me and Paddington. There are also Karate Kid, Inside Out and Sonic the Hedgehog sequels in the pipeline too.
So are there any new ideas out there? Um…. Not really. There is a movie version of the smash hit musical Wicked coming to the big screen and an adaption of children’s book The Tiger’s apprentice, but there is very few truly new family movies scheduled for release in 2024.
So let's switch our phones off, dim the lights and get ready to watch some fabulous movies. Here are the most anticipated family movies that will have you counting the days to their release in 2024 to watch in the cinemas.
15 New Family Movies For 2024
- The Tiger’s Apprentice.
- Kung Fu Panda 4
- Snow White
- Spiderman Beyond The Spiderverse
- Ghostbusters Afterlife 2
- The Garfield Movie
- Inside Out 2
- Despicable Me 4
- Mufasa: The Lion King
- Harold and the Purple Crayon
- Wicked: Part One
- Paddington in Peru
- Sonic The Hedgehog 3
- A Karate Kid Sequel
- Rumoured Fantastic Beasts 4
The Tiger’s Apprentice, based on action-adventure fantasy novel by American author Laurence Yep is finally out on 26th January after much delay, just in time for Chinese New Year.
Tom Lee, a Chinese-American boy, is brought up by his Grandmother who teaches him ancient Chinese magic. When is Grandmother dies he is apprenticed to the talking tiger Mr. Hu and has to learn to become the new guardian of an ancient phoenix.
This animated adventure includes the voice talents of Henry Golding, Brandon Soo Hoo, Sandra Oh, Bowen Yang and Michelle Yeoh.
On 8th March, Po returns for Kung Fu Panda 4. Many were surprised when the movie was announced, and while plot details are sketchy at present, we can be sure that Po will combine his wide-eyed enthusiasm and appetite.
The voice cast includes all the big names from the previous films in the franchise including Lucy Liu, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, David Cross, Seth Rogen, Jack Black and Jackie Chan
Disney continues its series of live action remakes of its greatest animated hit movies with Snow White on 22nd March. Directed by Barbie director Greta Gerwig, you probably know the plot, so you can be guaranteed a magic mirror and a poisoned apple. Some of the more old-fashioned aspects of the original are expected to be updated, as so many of the other recent remakes have.
The movie stars Rachel Zegler as Snow White, along with Gal Gadot, Katie Hardwick, Leon Ung, Andrew Burnap and Dean Nolan
The final part of the Spiderverse trilogy is scheduled to be released on 29th March 2024. Expect more of the same trippy fluorescent animation seen in the first two instalments. The upcoming third film has been described as “the Avengers: Endgame of this animated world”.
Starring Shameik Moore, Issa Rae, Luna Lauren Velez, Karan Soni, Jason Schwartzman, Brian Tyree Henry, Amandla Stenberg, Oscar Isaac, Daniel Kaluuya, Jharrel Jerome and Hailee Steinfeld.
This next instalment in the Ghostbusters reboot franchise has tentatively been called Ghostbusters:Firehouse, but this is yet to be confirmed. Due out on 24th May there is not much in the way of plot details available yet, but it has been confirmed that the film stars Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Logan Kim, Celeste O'Connor, Carrie Coon and Paul Rudd all reprising their roles from Afterlife.
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Ernie Hudson, Annie Potts and William Atherton reprise their characters from the earlier films and Kumail Nanjiani, Patton Oswalt, James Acaster and Emily Alyn Lind will be joining the cast.
Everyone’s favourite orange lasagne-loving cat returns to the big screen on 24th May in animated form. Again there are no plot details available at time of writing, but we can probably expect lots of snark and lots of pasta gags.
Starring the voices of Chris Pratt as Garfield with Samuel L. Jackson, Bowen Yang, Hannah Waddingham, Nicholas Hoult, Cecily Strong and Ving Rhames.
Inside Out was one of Disney Pixar’s biggest hits of the last few years, as we got the inside view on how the different emotions deal with whatever life throws at them. It’s due out on 14th June.
So far we know that Amy Pohler will return as the voice of Joy, and has been quoted as saying "A lot has happened since the first film in terms of the emotional intelligence and how we think about mental health and how our emotions can affect us physically, and what's really going on inside our head."
Diane Lane, Phyllis Smith and Lewis Black are also expected to return as the voices of Riley’s Mom, Sadness and Anger.
Gru and the Minions are scheduled to hit UK cinemas on July 5th,just in time for the school summer holidays. Since 2010’s original movie Despicable Me this franchise has just grown and grown. Along with two spin-off Minions movies, this 4th movie is bound to be a hit. No info on the plot yet but expect fun and mayhem from Gru and the Minions.
Voice cast confirmed include Steve Carell, Kristen Wiig, Steve Coogan and Miranda Cosgrove.
Mufasa: The Lion King, also due out on 5th July 2024 continues the story of Simba, who has now become king of the Pride Lands. He is determined for his cub to follow in his paw prints while the origins of his late father Mufasa are explored.
Made by Disney in the same live action style as the recent Lion King remake, voice artists Seth Rogen, Billy Eichner, and John Kani reprise their character roles and are joined by Aaron Pierre and Kelvin Harrison Jr., who voice their young versions of Mufasa and Scar, respectively.
Originally slated in for release in February Half Term 2023, Harold and the Purple Crayon is now due out on 2nd August 2024. This live action movie is based on the book of the same name written by Crockett Johnson. The sweet-hearted film tells the story of Harold, who uses his magic purple crayon to retreat into his own fantasy world. Soon he realizes that he's been selfish with his crayon, so he then uses it to help his parents and friends, and he even goes on a mission to Mars.
The film will star Zachary Levi, Zooey Deschanel, Lil Rel Howery and Ravi Patel.
The massive smash-hit Broadway musical Wicked, first produced in 2003, is coming to the big screen for Christmas 2024. This prequel is the story of how a green-skinned woman, framed by the Wizard of Oz becomes the Wicked Witch of the West.
It’s the first of a two-part feature film adaptation of the Broadway musical due to be released on 27th November. The two lead roles will be played by Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande, with Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater and Jonathan Bailey alos confirmed to appear.
The third Paddington movie is scheduled to be released in cinemas in the United Kingdom on 8th November 2024. As before it will feature the same mix of live action and animation. Paddington and his adopted family – the Browns – decide to visit his aunt Lucy in Peru, but inevitably circumstances lead them towards misadventures in the Amazon rainforest and mountains of Peru.
An all-star cast includes Hugh Bonneville, Emily Mortimer Madeleine Harris and Samuel Joslin as the brown family along with Julie Walters, Jim Broadbent, Olivia Colman and Antonio Banderas. Ben Wishaw returns as the voice of Paddington.
As we get to the end of the year, details about future movies are kept under wraps, especially as the film writers dispute is delaying many movies currently planned for 2024.Here is all that we know so far about the December 2024’s anticipated movie releases.
A sequel to the two hugely successful Sonic the Hedgehog animated movies in 2020 and 2022 is currently pencilled in for release on 20th December 2024.
The film stars Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, and Lee Majdoub all reprising their roles from the earlier movies.
It is expected that Shadow the Hedgehog, a red-striped hedgehog with Chaos energy powers, and the main result of "Project Shadow", is expected to have a major role in the film after making a silent cameo appearance in the mid-credit scene of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
The 13th December is the forecast release date of a sequel to the 2010 reboot of the 1980’s film franchise. It is reported that Jackie Chan will reprise his role of Mr Han, but plot details are currently unconfirmed.
A fourth of the planned seven Fantastic Beast movies is also tentatively pencilled in for December 2024.
Want to know what's on at the cinema for all the family right now? Here are the Latest Kid's Movies, which is updated regularly.
November 5rd 2023