Keep the popcorn coming (and maybe pop some M&Ms on top...)
Whether you are planning a trip to the cinema or opting for a cosy movie night at home, there are plenty of family-friendly movies hitting our screens in 2023 and some highly anticipated ones coming in 2024.
From animated adventures to heart-warming dramas and whether you have little kids or teens, we’ve rounded up a list of the most anticipated family movies coming to cinemas and streaming services soon.
Grab your popcorn and get ready for some movie magic!
Family films coming to cinemas and streaming in 2023
New movies to watch with your kids
Scroll down to see the new films coming throughout the year.
Garfield
Exclusively in cinemas May 30, 2024
Garfield(voiced by Chris Pratt), the world-famous, Monday-hating, lasagna-loving indoor cat, is about to have a wild outdoor adventure! After an unexpected reunion with his long-lost father – scruffy street cat Vic (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) –Garfieldand his canine friend Odie are forced from their perfectly pampered life into joining Vic in a hilarious, high-stakes heist.
Inside Out 2
In cinemas June 2024
Disney and Pixar’s Inside Out 2returns to the mind of newly minted teenager Riley just as headquarters is undergoing a sudden demolition to make room for something entirely unexpected: new Emotions!
Elemental
On Disney+
Set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together.
The story introduces Ember, a quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about their world.
Wade is an empathetic 20-something water guy who isn’t afraid to show his emotions, Clod is a street-smart earth kid with a gentle heart and Gale is an air element with a big personality.
(Image: Disney)
Indiana Jones: Dial of Destiny
On Disney+
Harrison Ford returns tothe role of the legendary hero archaeologistfor this fifth installment of the iconic Indiana Jones franchise.
Set in 1969 against the backdrop of the Space Race, we see Indiana Jonesteaming up with his goddaughter (Phoebe Waller-Bridge of Fleabag) on a new quest.
(Image: Disney)
Barbie
In cinemas now, and streaming on Prime Video
The Barbie movie not only starsAustralia’s own Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling, but a host of stars including Michael Cera, America Ferrera and Ncuti Gatwa.
The colourful characters, LOL comedy moments, eye-popping outfits, catchy songs, amazing dance moves and actor spotting is hugely entertaining. Adult themes are subtle and mostly hidden from younger audiences who are distacted by the flamboyance.
(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
On Paramount Plus
Fourteen years since the orginal Transformers film hit cinemas, the sequel will take audiences on a 90s globe-trotting adventure as it follows a group of humans and Transformers as they unite to stop a global threat from a new enemy faction known as the Terrorcons.
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
On Disney+
Miles goes on an adventure with Gwen Stacy / Spider-Woman across the multiverse where he meets a new team of Spider-People, known as the Spider-Force, but comes into conflict with them over handling a new threat.
(Image: Disney)
The Amazing Maurice
On Apple TV, Foxtel Now and Stan.
The story follows a streetwise cat named Maurice, who leads a group of intelligent rats in a scheme to scam humans by pretending to be a pied piper and ridding towns of their rat infestations.
However, their latest target, the town of Bad Blintz, has a dark secret, and the group soon finds themselves in the midst of a dangerous adventure.
(Image: Sky Cinema)
Peter Pan & Wendy
On Disney+
Another amazing live action adaptation of the classic story, following Peter Pan and Wendy as they journey to Neverland and battle Captain Hook.
The adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s classic novel Peter and Wendy tells the story of a young boy who never grows up and his adventures in the magical world of Neverland.
(Image: Disney)
The HauntedMansion
On Disney+ August 31, 2023
Inspired by the classic theme park attraction – and a remake of an earlier movie – the film follows a single mum named Gabbie (Rosario Dawson) who hires a tour guide, a psychic, a priest, and a historian to help exorcise their newly bought mansion; after discovering it is inhabited by ghosts.
The star-studded cast includes Jamie Lee Curtis, Winona Ryder, Owen Wilson, Jared Leto and more.
(Image: Disney)
September movies
The Little Mermaid
On Disney+ September 6, 2023
After hitting cinemas in May, The Little Mermaid is coming to Disney+ on September 6, 2023.
The movie features a star-studded cast, with Halle Bailey playing Ariel, the young mermaid who dreams of exploring the human world.
The film features both new and classic songs from the original movie, including Under the Sea and Part of Your World.
(Image: Disney)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem
In cinemas September 7, 2023
This upcoming reboot of the popular Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle franchise centres around a group of four turtles, Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello and Raphael (who we know and love) that mutated into humanoid superheroes and trained by a rat sensei to fight crime.
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken
In cinemas September 14, 2023
Ruby Gillman is a sweet and awkward high school student who discovers she’s a direct descendant of the warrior kraken queens.
The kraken are sworn to protect the oceans of the world against the vain, power-hungry mermaids.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie
In cinemas September 29, 2023
All of her life, Skye has felt like she has been unappreciated by her friends (Chase, Marshall, Rubble, Rocky, Zuma, and Liberty). Eager to prove she can be an asset to the team, Skye gets a chance when a magical meteor crash-lands in Adventure City, giving her and the others superpowers as they become the Mighty Pups. In order to steal the pups’ powers, Mayor Humdinger escapes from prison and teams up with a meteor expert named Victoria Vance to steal the pups’ crystals.
(Image: Paramount Pictures)
November movies
The Marvels
In cinemas November 9, 2023
Following the events ofMs. Marvel(2022),Carol Danvers,Kamala Khan, andMonica Rambeaubegin swapping places with each other every time they use their powers, and must team up to determine why.
(Image: Disney)
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget
Streaming on Netflix from November 10, 2023
After successfully escaping from Tweedy’s farm in Chicken Run, Ginger and the flock have found a peaceful sanctuary on an island.
However, a new danger arises for all chickens on the mainland, prompting Ginger and her team to devise a plan to infiltrate and address the threat.
(Image: Netflix)
The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
In cinemas November 16, 2023
Set in the world of Panem, 64 years before the events of the first Hunger Games book, the story follows a young Coriolanus Snow, a student at a prestigious school for the Capitol’s elite.
Snow is assigned to mentor a tribute from District 12 in the 10th Hunger Games, and he sees this as an opportunity to restore his family’s fortunes.
As Snow becomes more involved in the games, he begins to see the cruel reality of the Hunger Games and how they are used as a tool of oppression by the Capitol.
(Image: Lionsgate)
Leo
On Netflix fromNovember 22, 2023
Leo, a lizard in his 70s, and his companion turtle make the decision to flee from the terrarium they’ve occupied for decades inside a Florida classroom.
(Image: Netflix)
Trolls Band Together
In cinemas November 30, 2023.
In the third instalment, we will see Poppy (Anna Kendrick) and Branch (Justin Timberlake), who are officially a couple, attempt to rescue Floyd (Sivan) while reuniting Branch’s brothers after the boyband phenomenon, BroZone, was disbanded.
(Image: Dreamworks)
December movies
Wonka
In cinemasDecember 15, 2023
Wonka is a prequel to the beloved story, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and will follow Wonka’s early life before he became the eccentric candy maker we know and love.
(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)
Illumination Migration
In cinemas December 26, 2023.
This wholesome film about a family of ducks that convince their overprotective father to go on a trip of a lifetime that takes them from New England through New York and onto the Bahamas.
We cannot wait for this heart-warming movie about the importance of family and sticking together through thick and thin.
(Image: Universal Pictures)
Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
In cinemas December 26, 2023.
When an ancient power is unleashed,Aquaman (Jason Momoa)must forge an uneasy alliance with an unlikely ally to protectAtlantis, and the world, from irreversible devastation.
(Image: Warner Bros. Pictures)
Family films coming to Australian movie theatres in summer 2024…
Elio
In cinemas February 29, 2024
For centuries, people have called out to the universe looking for answers – and in Disney and Pixar’s new flick, Elio, the universe calls back!
Elio is a young boy who is abducted by aliens and beamed up to the Communiverse, an interplanetary organisation with representatives from galaxies far and wide.
Mistakenly identified as Earth’s ambassador to the rest of the universe, and completely unprepared for that kind of pressure, Elio must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, survive a series of formidable trials and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.
(Image: Disney)
Watch the Elio trailer below.
