Motion Picture: Upcoming 2023 Films Starring Actors Of Color

Micheal B. Jordan - Creed III (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures / Chartoff-Winkler Productions / Balboa Productions / Proximity Media / Outlier Society), Teyana Taylor - A Thousand and one (Focus Features / Sight Unseen / Makeready / HILLMAN Grad Productions) and Dave Bautista - knock at the cabin (Blinding Edge Pictures / FilmNation Entertainment / Wishmore Entertainment)

As we ring in the New Year here at A Hot Set, we’re looking forward to the following films being released in 2023, which feature actors of color in leading roles. 

Action/Fantasy Sci-Fi Nathan Frankowski’s The Devil Conspiracy, with a release date of January 13th, follows a group of Satanists that create a biotech company that allows them to clone historical figures with a few pieces of DNA. They decide to clone Jesus Christ, offering the ultimate sacrifice to the devil. However, Archangel Michael, played by Peter Mensah, attempts to put an end to their plans. 

Plane, starring Mike Colter and Gerard Butler, tells the story of a pilot and his passenger’s survival attempts as they land on an island ransacked with war and dangerous rebels. The pilot (Butler) must find companionship in and trust Louis Gaspare (Colter), an accused murderer being transported by the FBI on his plane. Plane will be released on January 13th. 

Being released on January 27th is Fear, a horror film that follows a vacation gone wrong as an airborne disease begins to spread. The cast includes Andrew Bachelor, Annie Ilonzeh, T.I., Tyler Abron, Terrence Jenkins, Jessica Allain, Joseph Sikora, and Ruby Modine. 

Anthony Ramos and Naomi Scott star in Distant, where they will play the only two survivors of a crash onto an alien planet. Andy Ramirez (Ramos), an asteroid miner, must navigate unfamiliar terrain infested with strange creatures to find Naomi Calloway (Scott). Distant will be released on January 27th. 

Knock at the Cabin, featuring Dave Bautista, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Rupert Grint, Jonathan Groff, and Ben Aldridge, hits theaters on February 3rd. The horror film will follow a young girl and her fathers on vacation when they are approached and taken hostage by a group of people preparing for the apocalypse. The family is faced with an impossible choice that may prevent the end of the world. 

Jonathan Majors will play Kang The Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Marvel’s latest film that will follow Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) and the Wasp’s (Evangeline Lilly) journey into the quantum realm. This new Ant-Man installment hits theaters on February 17th. 

Idris Elba will reprise his role as Luther, the detective chief inspector that is imprisoned after solving a string of serial murders. Elba will be joined by Cynthia Erivo, Natasha Patel, Lauryn Ajufo, Andy Serkis, and Dermot Crowley. Luther: The Fallen Sun will be released on Netflix sometime in March. 

Scream 6, starring Melisssa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Courteney Cox, will be released on March 10th. This new installment follows the survivors of the Ghostface killings as they attempt to leave their past behind them and build a new life in New York City. 

Regé-Jean Page, Michelle Rodriguez, Justice Smith, and Chris Pine will play a group of unlikely companions that go on a journey to secure a lost relic, only to run into a group of dangerous people. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is set to be released on March 31st. 

Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, and Chris Pratt will reprise their roles as Marvel heroes in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which hits theaters on May 5th. The film follows Peter Quill (Pratt) and his crew as they embark on a mission to save the universe on their own—something that could mean the end of the Guardians if they fail. 

Comedy Allen Maldonado, Jacob Latimore, Tosin Cole, Karen Obilom, Bill Bellamy, and Rotimi are among some of the actors who will star in House Party, a remake of the 1990 film of the same name. The comedy will follow a high schooler who decides to throw a party while his parents are out of town. House Party hits theaters on January 13th. 

From writer Kenya Barris, Eddie Murphy, Lauren London, and Jonah Hill will star in You People, which follows a young man (Hill) as he asks his girlfriend’s parents (Murphy and Nia Long) for permission to marry her. Culture clashes and family dynamics ensue in this Netflix comedy that will stream on January 27th. 

Strays, which is expected to be released on June 9th, follows a stray dog that decides to take revenge, along with other strays, on his former owner. The cast includes Jamie Foxx, Randall Park, Andrea Laing, Tyler Antonius, Jade Fernandez, Tinashe Kajese, Isla Fisher, and Will Ferrell. 

The Blackening, a horror-comedy film by Tim Story, follows seven Black friends as they take a vacation in the woods and end up trapped in a cabin with a killer, forcing them to use their “street smarts” to outwit the murderer. The film will be released in the United States (after a Toronto International Film Festival debut in September 2022) on June 16th, and features Antoinette Robertson, Dewayne Perkins, Sinqua Walls, Grace Byers, X Mayo, Melvin Gregg, Jermaine Fowler, Yvonne Orji, Jay Pharoah, and James Preston Rogers. 

Drama Justice Smith, Briana Middleton, Philip Johnson Richardson, and Sebastian Stan are set to star in Sharper, a drama that follows a con artist that challenges Manhattan’s billionaires. Although not much else is known about the film, it will stream on Apple TV+ and hit theaters on February 17th. 

Hitting theaters on March 3rd, Creed III will tell the story of Adonis (Michael B. Jordan) after his success in the boxing world. However, when a friend from his childhood (Jonathan Majors) enters the picture, a face-off is in the making. Jordan and Majors’ co-stars include Tessa Thompson, Selenis Leyva, Wood Harris, Phylicia Rashad, Spence Moore II, and Florian Munteanu. 

Ernie Hudson will star alongside Woody Harrelson in Champions, a film about a basketball coach that is ordered by the court to lead a team of intellectually disabled players. Champions’ theatrical release is set for March 24th. 

A Good Person, being released on March 24th, follows Allison (Florence Pugh) after her involvement in a fatal accident and the subsequent downturn of her life. Daniel (Morgan Freeman), Allison’s would-be-father-in-law, helps her through her struggles. Other cast includes Celeste O’Connor, Chinaza Uche, Nichelle Hines, Toby Onwumere, and Molly Shannon. 

A Thousand and One, starring Teyana Taylor, William Catlett, and Don DiPetta, follows Inez (Taylor) after she kidnaps a six-year-old boy from the foster care system because she deems it necessary for her redemption. This crime drama will be released on March 31st. 

The life and career of boxing star George Foreman will be explored in the upcoming biopic Heart of a Lion. The film will be released on April 28th and will star Forest Whitaker, Sonja Sohn, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Erica Tazel, Jasmine Mathews, and John Magaro. 

Documentary As for documentaries, the following will be released this January.

Released on PBS on January 2nd, Children of Las Brisas tells the story of a youth orchestra group that offers children a respite from poverty, murder, and corruption in Venezuela. Children of Las Brisas is directed by Marianela Maldonado. 

The Big Payback, which follows the “passage of the first-ever tax-funded reparations bill for Black Americans” and the controversy surrounding it, premiers on PBS on January 16th. Filmmakers include Erika Alexander, Whitney Dow, Ben Arnon, and Xan Parker. 

Also on PBS, Zora Neale Hurston: Claiming a Space, follows the 20th-century author’s life, story, and anthropological work that “challeng[ed] assumptions about race, gender, and cultural superiority.” The documentary is directed by Tracy Heather Strain and will be released on January 17th. 

Roberta Flack will tell the story of the music icon’s rise to fame and devotion to civil rights through her own words and the words of Rev. Jesse Jackson and Peabo Bryson, among others. It will stream on PBS on January 24th. 

On January 30th, also on PBS, Phil Bertelsen’s The Picture Taker will detail the story of Ernest Withers, a civil rights activist, photographer, and FBI informant. The documentary questions if he was a “friend of the civil rights community, an enemy—or both.”